There's an option to bounce back upon. <3

Urggh...my mom is getting kinda on my nerves again. Scratch the moving bit. I called up tonight to talk and vent. Dad was super willing to listen and gave me some wonderful pointers -- mom seemed very agitated with me and using her 'you're not trying hard enough' speech on me. I almost hung up the phone on her at one point as I felt really, quite emotionally charged over her attitude.

Anyways, my dad was giving me some of his experience as an independently contracted merchandiser and I've got some links for Aaron to check out when he gets home. He's then going to give my dad a ring for further input. This isn't a permanent solution, but my dad says it is lucrative, there's always work, and it will allow Aaron to pick and chose his assignments and try to tailor it around his schooling.

BTW - I'm making a little thread on the stuff I do, as well as hoping to get some feelers for what Aaron is going to attempt to do: http://www.menewsha.com/forum/commun...type-work.html

I know that both yourself and Cole have more education, and can do better...but if that ever falls through the cracks there are options. Some require or prefer college degrees, but most of it is just needing a can-do attitude and a little bit of clerical skills, transportation (d'oh for me) and the ability to lift heavy objects (usually under 60 lbs, and some physical requirements for the stuff he would do. All stuff he can do.)

---------- Post added 05-01-2013 at 03:08 AM ----------

Edit: Oh and Aaron wants to talk getting assistance from my parents. (To help fix up his Jeep or at least have that 'cushion' in case something major goes wrong -- it's way past 120k miles from what he says) I told him there is no way in hell from my mom. I think she's sitting on some inheritance from my granddad passing away as she's building a greenhouse. (She's already bought a car, $3k clavinova, Ipad, and other trivial crap....But hey it's her money, whatever) My dad has been on seasonal unemployment the past couple weeks and claims he's poor. I told him the best he might be able to do is get my dad to part with the soft-top jeep. Even then, I have a feeling my mom will make him sell it to us in the long run. :/

I guess I could try my Aunt but you know I really hate asking anyone for money...I've always taught it's a rude thing to do.

I'm not sure it would work here where we live. We're the poorest county in Maine, and doubly, the poorest in the county. To boot, we're very rural. The cost of self transportation would be at least half the earnings. When I did case management I used a company car, and if there wasn't one, I got reimbursed. Some days I drove 300 miles to see just a handful of people. That's a lot of driving!

Something like what you do would be more feasible. But, did I tell you that both his and my degrees ALSO include the ability for in home care? I thought that was neat. Depending on who employs us, we can go into homes and provide services. I have more freedom with that than Cole. He would need to be employed by a company/agency (there are many here BECAUSE we're so rural, poor, and without transportation for most folks). Me? With my own license I can bill insurances myself. I can be wholly self employed with my license, and even provide online counseling.

That is FREAKIN awesome you can do that on your own, Chi! That gives you a lot of room to work from and if push comes to shove you can be your own employer. It's scary, as you're having to answer to your short fallings if you have a financially disappointing quarter.

It's a shame Cole doesn't have as much freedom. I'm assuming on the medical side of things it's very strictly regulated?

Well turn of events for you. My boss actually cornered me outside of work and through a private IM outside of work convinced me to to go to the phone based company. I may only have a week and a half to cleanse, but she actually said straight up that it's possible. I told her point blank my circumstances and she actually gave me pointers on how to cleanse the body to pass the test. She's pretty cool like that.

How do you feel about the potential switch? Is it more stable? I know we talked about it once, but we've talked about many things since. I need a refresher. <3

If it means I can keep a stable job, I'm all for it. I'm still keeping the same rate of pay, even through the training as well, which is awesome. The training is 7 weeks long, and I'm sure I will get a feel for it within that time. I don't know if I could line up different work before going live, but I can definitely get a head start in it. I've been taking look at freelancing websites and work at home jobs and there is plenty out there. I'm sure they're always hiring, in waves like normal.

I'm sad as I really do enjoy the type of product I work with, and I am VERY good at what I do. At the same time if the company isn't willing to keep the contract with my company, apart wanting to move for the sake of my job. At $11 an hour I can't really justify that. I would love to work with other gaming companies, if they offered a work at home environment...I haven't heard of them doing such. I had applied for a job with Apple awhile ago and they never got back. I'm shocked as I work with a technical product and have a good 5+ years working on a technical support desk and I know I could rock it. (I'm sad as it was several dollars more per hour too. :<)

I may have to reapply for that position. I have found out second hand that Kelly services hire for them, as well as direct. I need to get in contact with my work colleague who had made the move to it. Last I spoke to her she said she REALLY enjoyed it. I have also read on other forums that the training is BRUTAL, but what I survived to do what I do now I'm sure I could rock it. Trust me, my mom and I had a running gag that there was a short, stumpy man covered in acne who wrote these quizzes with the intention of mental torment. Then top it out they had a really strict two times you're out. The first time you did it on your own, the second a trainer had to go over the material with you personally (and I have heard that some trainers will spoon feed, although I think it is totally against protocol...)

Gosh I remember having to run to the Library in town to finish up training as 100% attendance is MANDATORY. It was the day before Thanksgiving and our power had unexpectedly gone out in the middle of the day. We had a huge study session I missed out on and I had gone ahead and jumped into the quiz. I failed it the first time as I was trying to do it in a rush, without any sort of reviews off the cuff. The second time the trainer was mid assisting the rest of the class with a cram session and he couldn't really review with me of be of much help to me. I think if I would of missed one question more I would of failed and been kicked off the program.

At that time I was covering ALL lines of business...Hardware, billing, AND connectivity. I was a wave where we were expected to know it all. They found that it was challenging to get a well rounded customer support agent and a few months in they moved hardware to another call center. Since then I haven't been able to do more than best effort, but I have been having to do billing and connectivity ever since. I've been there nearly 3 years now...and I know it like the back of my hand. In fact I'm SUPPOSE to transfer cancellations to our saves department, but I'm so use to doing it myself it is AWKWARD to do so!!

Well Hardware I never cared much for anyways so I wasn't too sad...I could do the troubleshooting, however I always got mixed up when having to describe the different cables - Component, Composite, and HDMI. I knew how they worked, where to plug them in...but sadly component and composite I constantly confuse which one to call which. Kind of how I struggled telling the difference between a PS2 and the older type of port...you know the round one you use to use to plug mice in? Or wait I think that's USB and PS2? Terminology was always hard. I'm bad with names. I can describe to you what it looks like, and how/where to plug it in but cords and plugs look all so similar that sometimes I just revert to that 'thingy' there. Embarrassing. D;

All of that went over my head. I dunno if I'm too tired or too ignorant to follow. xD

Sorry. XD I could water it down for you if you really wanted to know. It isn't anything all that important, though.

It's just been "a day", one where I can barely function. I really should just go to bed. At least tomorrow is Friday!

It's been a long ass week. Another week where I have not slept more than 5 hours in one night. I have been let go early every day this week, too, and now because of it I have pulled a couple of shifts this weekend. 9am until 4:30 tomorrow and 9 till 3:30 on Saturday. I'm fully expecting to be told to go home early too...so I figured I would pick up two days worth.

I'm in a fairly grumpy mood. Just means we have to juggle kids this weekend, on top of him still on a 3rd shift schedule. I was hoping he would take a raincheck but he's in a 'got to have the kids' mentality.

I'm looking forward to the day I get paid for doing stuff. I like my internship, but this whole 35-40 hours a week unpaid thing really stinks. I know it's for a greater good.

Hang in there with the hours. Not knowing what's available is nerve wracking. How many hours do you have at this point?

right now for this week I think I had like 25-30 ish. I would have to double check. I only had 27 last week as I called in on Thursday. I was DEAD tired then.

That being said, I think I'm going to load up on some mennies and get me one of the CIs. $10 isn't going to make or break us and I really want a pair of those golden horns. I was hoping that there would be more variety for me to purchase as I would rather just maybe get 2 of that CI and then 2 of another, or break it up however much. I asked, but got no response so I'm expecting it has to be that CI? I dunno. It is beautiful.

I think it has to be the CI it's linked to, if I had to guess. I haven't donated in forever. /badsupporter
Maybe someday when finances are a bit better. Right now if I had to choose coffee on the run over CIs, the coffee would win. Vicevicevicevice.

See I'm not a big coffee drinker, and I'm cutting out my soda intake. My drink of choice right now is sometimes I will dive into Aaron's herbal teas or I have recently discovered fruit infused water. Cut up a piece of fruit into small slices and then throw it into a mason jar or other jar with lid and throw water in there. Seal it up and leave it in the fridge over night. Really yummy. I also put like maybe a 1/4th of a teaspoon of sugar in a 16oz bottle just to give it a little sweet kick. I was using zero cal sweetener but I'm out so I've been using sugar. I figure with what little I use it won't hurt me much.

I've been meaning to do the fruit-infused water. I will tackle it soon, likely after Cole graduates and things get better in general. Here's hoping, anyway.

Thanks for the CI! <3

It isn't an expensive indevor. Just need some fresh fruit (frozen works but I prefer fresh, especially when in season) and a mason jar, or other sealable container. I guess you could use a non-sealed container, but I don't like using anything not sealed or covered because you get what I call 'fridge funk' that absorbs into your food/beverage. Not cool.

And you're very welcome. I know times are tough, but I still would like to continue contributing when I can. I talked with Aaron and he said go ahead and do it as a treat for myself. I've been really good lately. :3

I need to get some mason jars. Like you say, fridge funk is yuck. I always taste it too. :s

The work week is done!! TGIF. I put in 35 hours in four days. I'm beat.

Whew!!!

I picked up a couple more hours today and tomorrow to try to help cushion out the week. I should break 30 now. It's a little bit better. That being said, I'm trying to do all I can do to stay upbeat and positive. I'm trying to motivate people and make them happy. I find it yields better progress.

I'm also finding through talking with another girl I met through my husband's friends just how inter-related and circular this world really is. She is such a pretty girl, yet she hides a secret under the hats she wears. She has alopecia and nothing she has tried will bring it back. She had long hair on the sides of her head but the top of it is all shaved. I found out that she use to be anorexic, too. It's sad as she is naturally beautiful to look at and I would love to swap her bodies even without hair. (I've gone bald twice before - once in a dare, the other over a headlice scare. I honestly do not care. I'm an odd one.)

Well I've been trying to send her PMs of encouragement telling her she is beautiful, and would remain beautiful even after shaving what is left and to embrace it rather than letting it imprison her. Except not quite as metaphoric. I also was opening up to her about my situation and trying to show her how it's made me grown. (She has really bad problems with her mom which is totally deja vu, and she's still torn with her dad's death...it's been 11 years but for some reason which she hasn't gone into depth about she has been struggling with it.)

Now where it becomes kind of cyclic as first impression I honestly thought she was standoffish and a bit of a snob. I tried to give her a chance and thought eh maybe it wouldn't be. Well I was looking up uses for lavender oil from my oils kit and I found that there had been a scientific study using scalp massages with and without lavender oil to help stimulate growth. Those in the test who used the oil did have significant growth. It immediately made me think of her, so I brought her a small tester of it and told her that I would give it a shot. It may work, it may not...but I'm always trying to encourage a more holistic approach. That one little action I immediately felt the tension and wall melt around her and she has been opening up and talking with me.

I really hope I can continue to have a positive impact and nothing I have said so far will push her away. I told her tomorrow she will meet Tristan and I will tell her his story, about his small hand...and about how much he's adapted. My friend Jenna told me that the first thing he did when introducing himself when he went to go play with her son was "Hi I'm Tristan, and this is my small hand." and then smiled. He then went on to play and she was like well OK then, but he has honestly not brought it up with her and she says she honestly forgets he has it. I'm just so proud of him that he has accepted it for what it is and has overcome that obstacle. :)

Positivity always does win out in the end. I've also noticed that depending on the person, the more we push help, the more they block it and hide. Just something to be on the lookout for. It'll likely be fine.

I need to get groceries at some point today. I'm beyond unmotivated. >_>; And tired in general. What are your plans this weekend?

Quite a lot, actually! I've picked up extra hours on both of my days off. The kids came down, and MIL is coming over at noonish. We're going to have a nice lunch with sandwiches and finger food, watch the next Twilight movie. Then I'm hoping to fit in a small nap, then go over to a friend's house and bringing the kids and another one of our close friends with us.

That close friend stayed over until midnight last night talking. He is a real trooper and I would love to share more of his experience with you if you were up for it. I am very proud of him.

Sounds like a busy weekend. :)

I'm indifferent--so if you wanna share, share. If not, no biggie. XD

*laughs* The skinny of it is he went through an UGLY divorce (she was calling cops on him, and trust me the guy is not a fighter, not a mean spirited guy at all...to anyone), got full custody of his son, lost his job and on unemployment and going to school full time. He's really having to work his tail end to make ends meet and I just am so proud as a year ago today he was a mess and really struggling over getting his ex. Aaron and I helped him by just being a friend, and a shoulder to cry on/console. He's such a better person now. Just so calm and composed and just really doing the best he can and seeming to make it work.

We're dragging him out there with us to the friend's house to introduce him to more friends (single fathers there too, which is a plus as I think they will have a LOT in common) and I'm hoping it will help him relax and enjoy himself (especially without Aidan there since he loves his son and is still trying to make his own personal identity without his son) and also give him a chance to network and meet people.

I don't want to push him towards a new relationship, but rather if it happens it happens and I think that having him practice some of his social skills and come out of his shell would do him a LOT of good.

Sounds like it'll be a good time then. :)

*pokes thread* Are the rares that scarce? x_X

*pokes back*

Hey up to anything tonight?

Finally it's settled down a bit. Kids are back with mom and we're getting into another week. Still not sure what's going on with my job. I think I'm moving? I don't know. We're still doing the videogame thing.

Aaron seems to think he will get his foot in the door for where his friends work. It will be through a temp agency and he'll have to do x amount of months at $10 an hour. It's a bit of a drive, but he's going to carpool with friends. I guess it'll work out?

He wants me to keep my day shift until things settle down and he figures out what he's doing long term. I guess in case things go pear shaped. I'll be glad once we're on the same schedule again. It sure gets lonely working different shifts.