Ditzy 101

Its been a busy and lazy kind of week, if that makes any sense. I have been at work every day, so all that previous free time is gone now, and when I get home I am just too lazy to do anything. It doesn't help that I am home all alone, what with the kids being in Greece. How nice is it to be completely free to do nothing if you feel like it. No dinners to cook, no picking up for anyone, no laundry if you have enough clean underwear to get through the week! Sorry, is that TMI?

The first day at work was such a riot! Within the first hour, I got my boss in trouble, am I not amazing or what. Is that a record? Our building has security locks everywhere and to get around you need these magnetic cards to unlock the doors. Because I started working there only 2 days after the job offer, they had not had time to set me up with the card and I needed to go downstairs to arrange parking for my car. My boss gave me his card and told me to go down to the security office to get set up. Well, when I got there, being the dummy that I am, I plopped the card on the counter and started asking for information. They barely heard a word I said. The gaurd's eyes went directly to my boss's card and asked where I got that. Being the clueless one that I am, I of so innocently said, "Why, my boss gave it to me" Picture wides eyes and cutie eylash batting. She grabbed that card off the counter so fast, it was almost a magic trick and then turned to me and said "I have to confiscate this card. Its against policy to lend your card to others. He will have to come here and pick it up himself." OMG! Can you hear the thunder claps? I have only been on the job an hour and already I have fucked up! I had to return to my boss's office, and let him know that security had taken his card and they needed him to go down there. He was really nice about it though. He was mad, but not at me, and he was nice enough to repeat it over and over that it wasn't my fault.
I found out later that week, that there has been some turnover in that department and my boss is being super nice with me, because he wants me to stay. In fact there was a bit of a running joke, where some of the other ladies (all very nice people) pretended they were surprised I was back the next morning. Little do they know, that I have wanted to work in this company for at least 2 years, and now that I am finally in, you could not get me out if you tried!

Friday was B's (devoted bf) daughter's 21st birthday and she wanted to see a movie and have pizza at home, and that's what we did. We went to see Stepbrothers (her choice-very funny but some may find it too coarse) and then we got some pizza and beer and went back to their place. It was fun and we talked and laughed a bit. B plied me with lots of very strong beer all night long and got me so drunk I had to stay and sleep it off on the couch till 4 AM!
I gave K the last of the presents I got her, which were a trip to the zoo ( I know she is 21, but she begged me), a plastic adirondack chair in a bright pink color for their apartment's pool area, and a really nice dinner out, with just the two of us, where we celebrated her birthday and my new job . Last night I gave her a small amethyst pendent shaped like a tear drop on a nice white gold chain. She really loved it, and I hope she will have it for many years to come and that it will remind her of this time when she was 21 years old.
Today we go to the country side to visit B's Mom, bringing with us the requested Strawberry mousse birthday cake to continue the birthday celebrations. B's mom lives about half an hour away from the city, in a really nice small country town. She lives there with her sister in an old house surrounded by a beautiful garden with lots of flowers. She is 93 and her sister is 82, and they are both healthy as a horse, God love them! If the weather is nice, we'll have our cake in garden. And if I'm lucky, we'll get back early enough to dump everyone, so that B and I can come back to my place for some private time alone. That would really make my weekend! BTW, have I mention I simply adore B? There, now you know. That is a whole other story right there.

I realise that I am writting a lot of dreary details. Its still new and I am not sure what kind of blog this will be. I am trying to get the "blog" perspective and to open my awareness to things that occur that are interesting enough to write about, without long boring details. Hopefull I will improve with each post. Thank you all for your patience and have a great day!

Life is comming up roses

I had not written anything about my job search, because believe it or not I was depressed about being out of work. Incredible, isn't it? You would think that having the opportunity to leave a low paying job in a small private company, where the owner's wife was the V.P. of Human Resources (or inhuman as I like to say) and how no matter what I did, I was not doing anything right for her, you would think this would be a positive thing. Yes, but I am a responsible person, who will not sleep at night thinking about paying the mortgage and the cable bill. Its just the way I am.

But that has all changed!!! Yes.....I have landed me a job!!!! OMG...you don't know what this means to me! First of all, I will be working, so that means a steady paycheque and that means things like food, keeping my house, gas for the car, and taking the kids to a movie now and then and as a speciial treat, Chinese Buffet! I have warded off the Bag Lady Syndrome for a bit longer.
I am so happy, that I can now talk about how everything is going.
This new job is with a large national company, doing what I know and yet there will be a lot of new things to learn. Changing from a private company to one that is publically traded, changes the way you work in the accounting department. There are lots of new tasks to learn and to re-learn, but I am very excited....can a 50 year old say pumped??
I will be making lots more money and I will have excellent benifits that will cost practically nothing for me. They have a savings type pension and if I work my butt off, they have bonuses too! If you knew the size of my butt, you would understand that this is a double bonus!
The offices are located a bit further away from where I was before, but its a beautiful building, with very nice cubicles, (had to give up an office, but I think its so worth it). I am lucky enough that one of my best friends works there and the piece de resistence? A gym. Yep! you heard right, they have a gym on the premises for the employees. For free.....for employees! I think I have died and gone to heaven. I finally have no more excuses to excersise.

I am seriously considering sending a Thank You note to my previous employer to thank them for kicking me out and waking me up to the infinate work possibilities out there. If it wasn't for them shaking up my world, I would still be there, underpaid, over stressed, and miserable!
I also wanted to thank them for the one month paid vacation and the extra month of pay, that will now help pay off some debt. How many people are lucky enough to get a month off paid....at 50? Not many, let me tell you.

In the meantime, this past week has been very hectic. My kids left last Monday for a 5 week vacation to Greece with their Grandma (Thanks Grandma for this wonderful vacation, they really do appreciate it). I have take a moment here to mention that even though my imediate family immigrated to Canada 46 years ago, most of my extended family is still in Greece and we have gone back to visit for summer vacations many, many times.
For the trip, I was running around like a maniac getting things they needed for their trip, such as sandals and new shoes, so that they wouldn't look like hobos, making sure all their favorite T-Shirts were clean and ready to be packed, and packing the suitcases. Its was very chaotic, but I got it all done and had them ready, and at the airport on Monday. We were on time for a carefree check in, and a chance to sit together for a snack before boarding time. I really wish I was going with them. We would have had a blast, but its just not possible this year. My older son and I were there in 2004, with the Olympics, but my younger son has not visited Greece since he was 4 years old and doesn't remember anything at all from that trip. They have taken their laptops in order to upload photos, but right now they are in a location where there isn't any wireless internet, and so I have to rely on our phone calls for all the latest news.
Tomorrow, my cousin will be taking them to the archeological museum in Athens, and she has scheduled an English speaking tour guide to give them a private tour, just for them. I think they will get a kick out of that!
In a few days they will be going to the small town my mother's family is from, and as its a college town, we think they will be able to find wireless internet to hook into, or barring that, they will have access to an internet cafe. I just can't wait to see all the pictures and video they have so far.
Tomorrow is my first day of work, and I am experiencing equal amounts of joy and terror. Being the mature and strong woman that I am( Ha!), I will take it all in my stride. Please do not look at my shaky knees!
Hope you all have a great day!

New Here

Wow, I am 50 and I've just lost my job. Its a first for me, being fired for not having the skills needed to do my job. Especially since I was doing it for 3 years. Its scary, as I have a mortgage, 2 teenagers who live with me every second week and a few bills. But, on the positive side, I do have good work experience and very supportive kids and a most wonderful boyfriend. Lets see if I can find something before my severance pay runs out. Lets see if I can buy groceries, or pay for the gas needed for the interviews. Lets see if I can pay the cell phone bill, or will they come in the middle of the night and repossess it straight out of my hands, as I am begging them if they can look into their evil hearts for one more chance to pay last month's bill. Well, we'll see. I hope I can make it ...only time will tell if the house has to go.
In the meantime, even though I feel guilty about it, I am enjoying having this time off, enjoying the summer weather, and yes even enjoying registering with every personnel agency in town.
So far I've had a few interviews, with no responses yet, and I have two more this week. I am not really interested in these two jobs, because they are six and ten month contracts and I don't want to be tied to a temporary position, if a really good full time job came up. I'll go for the practice and because its better to get all the info before I make a choice, but at this point, it doesn't look good.
I am also trying to find very short term temp jobs, that I can easily give notice, if something good comes along. Sounds like I'm really working hard looking for that job, right? You betcha!
And that's why today I will spending the day at the pool with my cell phone, in expectant anticipation of further interview news!
Have a good day all!!!