Windows and Pencil Skirts and Fancy Soaps, Oh My!

Hokay, so, the interview. 

I started applying to jobs about 2 weeks before my job ended.  I’m going to go ahead and admit, I was being pretty picky.  After having a job where I woke up every morning full of anxiety, I was ready for something I felt confident that I would enjoy.  Also, my super hubadoo made it very clear that he would not allow me to accept a job unless I really wanted it and was excited about it.

All of this added up to me preparing to be patient and go through quite a few applications/interviews before finding something.  When I got the call for this interview, it went pretty much how I expected it to go.  The man on the other end said something along the lines of “So I see you’re a nanny… what experience do you have that’s relevant to this position?”  To which I responded politely, “Why, none at all sir!” in my cheeriest voice. 

No, I didn’t do that.  I made up some answer good enough that he invited me in for the interview.  But I was not optimistic.

Now in order to give myself a teensy bit of credit, I prepared crazy hard for this interview.  I did research on the position and the industry and practiced the answers to like 40 common interview questions.

The morning of the interview, I walked into the office and my first thought was “What am I doing here??”  When you walk in the door, you’re greeted by a huge glass wall that offers views of the river, the city, and the mountains.  The bathrooms had all those fancy soaps and things that scream “I AM EXPENSIVE AND YOU WILL NEVER USE ME!”  And oh baby, did I feel out of place.

However, once I sat down, the man who was interviewing me made me feel immediately at ease.  I had practiced most of the questions he asked, and felt like the interview was going well.  He talked a lot, which helped me have time to gather my fleeing thoughts, and he had me meet with 2 other people, the manager of the office and his daughter, the other person I would potentially be working for.  By the time I left, I had been pretty much guaranteed the job.

And it was surreal, friends.  This job was an upper-level job where I would work as an assistant to these 2 financial advisors.  The pay was at the top end of what I was hoping for, plus had bonuses and paid transport and other such fun additions!  In short, I was completely unqualified for the job and had no idea why they were offering it to me.

But I am sly and clever, and I did not let on!  I smiled and nodded as my brain was doing flip-flops of joy, and I sat professionally in my pencil skirt with my legs crossed (at the ankles of course!).  I walked out confident and with my head held high, and then I sat in my car and stared at the concrete wall of the parking garage, trying to figure out what had just happened.

But I think I know what happened… there is simply no explanation for this whole chain of events other than that God was behind it.  And I’ll be honest, I was expecting to be out of work for weeks, if not months, simply because I’m impatient, and haven’t you heard that God always does things that make you crazy in order to make you a better person?

But for some reason, God decided to give me a break on this one.  I’m not going to try to explain why, but I am going to continue trying to be thankful.

Now if you thought I was done with storytime, you were sooo mistaken.  I won’t let you off that easy, silly!  Stay tuned…

Storytime on Steroids

Holy Smoky Mountains, readers.  I hope you have noticed my absence, because I have missed writing!

Basically, I now lead a completely different life than when I last wrote, but we'll get to that.  I'm going to backtrack like mad, and tell you some stories about what has been happening in the last 3 weeks.  It's pretty crazy stuff, so please hold on tight.

Let's start with the last day of my nanny job.  I knew it was coming, but it was still bittersweet.  Saying goodbye is always hard for me, can I get a witness?  Here's some snippets into the way my last week or so went.

Monday: "Nolan, I need to tell you something.  Starting next week, I'm not going to be around much.  Mommy will be done with work for the summer, so she'll get to be home with you all the time, and you guys will have so much fun together!  But that means I won't be around much, since mommy will be here."

Nolan: "But why?  I think you should stay".

Me: Tiny fissures appear in my heart. So. Sweet.

Tuesday afternoon, while doing something completely unrelated: "Hey Kaitlyn, I have an idea!"

Me: "What's your idea?"

Nolan: "I think you should stay with me and mommy and daddy and Colby, and we can all watch Geotrax! (movie)."

Me: Fissures becoming larger. Oy.

Thursday, my last day together: We spent the whole day doing fun things.  We made puppets, went to the park, and then ended at Nolan's favorite place in the world, a Chuck E. Cheese-like indoor amusement park and arcade.  This pretty much sums it all up:

Anyway, it was just a really hard day, and I do miss the boys and the family. But at the same time it was such a relief to be done and begin to look toward the next stage in life, whatever that may be.

Well, how interesting that you brought that up, because I happened to have my first job interview the very day after my nanny job ended.  Would you like to know how that went?  Because I would like to tell you.  More on that later my friends. (Cliffhanger whaaaaat??)

Playing Catch-Up

Oops.  I did that thing again where I think of all these great post ideas and then go eat a sandwich or take a nap and never do anything about it.  So instead of working up the motivation to write a whole post about some mind-blowing theme, I'm just going to play a little game of catch-up with you!

First, I do want to share some fun financial news.  Fun is the only word that fully embodies the essence of finances, right?? Wrong.  But this one is pretty jolly: we have finally paid off all the interest on our loans!  So in essence, we are back where we started, which could be really depressing, but not for this gal!  From here on out, all we'll be doing is make progress, and that's pretty darn neat-o.  

Also, a small update about groceries because I told you I would. My savings for March were $83.42 and 29.8%, which is less than February, but we also spent $98 less on groceries overall plus I tried my hand at shopping at more than one store for the first time, so it obviously still counts in the win column.  

So I started a little countdown... 33 days of work left!  That sounds ridiculously do-able until I also tell you that it's 11 1/2 weeks, but I'm ignoring that part and focusing on the 33 thing.  About a month and a half from now, I'll be able to start looking for a new job and relive this and also this whole process over again.  Yippee.  But really, yippee!

What else?  I have been horrible to the dear H lately, I am sorry to say.  Last night, he said something along the lines of, "Why are you snapping at me like a gosh darned sea turtle?" and I sat for a good ten minutes thinking about it, and realized I just really wanted to fight.  Not with him, not at all.  But I wanted to give someone a good spank in the brain with my ferocious words, and he happened to be the only person close enough to practice on.  I took many deep breaths and re-calmed myself, and hopefully I learned that spouses do not make good practice targets.

In better news, I just got back from a wild spring break trip spent with my new baby niece, who is adorable beyond words.  I got sunburned twice and giggled like a schoolgirl about it, and also laid around and marveled at my niece who is so much better than your niece.  I am sorry about that part, but the truth hurts.  I may have cried after leaving her because my sister is one of the most important people in my life, and one of the most important people in her life will never really know me, and if that's not a cause for a good cry, I don't know what is.

Other than that, I spend my days on bended knee asking the good Lord in heaven above to please send some sunshine and maybe not so much rain?  And then to go ahead and send a massive heat wave while He's at it.

What have your recent days been filled with?

P.S.  I pretty much never take naps, so that beginning part was a lie.  Oops again.

Welcome to My Kingdom

I have been feeling vastly uninspired by pretty much everything lately.  I’m not sure if it’s just a case of the winter blues or if my burned-out-ness (don’t judge me) is rearing its nasty little head.  Either way, I’ve been wanting to write even when I do feel like the Queen of Blahs, and I saw this wonderful post which did, in fact, inspire me.  You should thank this person, though I have no idea who she is.

If I could, I would most definitely take each and every one of you lovely people reading this blog out to coffee.  We could chat about life and where we’re at and laugh and just be together.  I would like that very much.

But since many of you who read this live far far away from the great state of Oregon, here’s what would happen if we could.

We would go to any number of trendy hipster coffee shops downtown, and make small talk as we perused the menu, deciding between coffee or hot chocolate or my signature drink, the chocolate chai.  Maybe we’d decide to share a scone or maybe we’d both agree we didn’t really need it.

We’d gather our drinks and make our way to a quieter table in the back, where after settling in, we could really chat it up.  I’d ask how you’ve been doing, how you’re enjoying things and what you’re looking forward to.  Then I’d tell you that things are just ok in my neck of the woods, that I get kind of lonely sometimes and don’t love my job.

If we were really close, I might confess that in reality, my nights of sleepless anxiety about my job have returned for no known reason, and it’s wreaking a small amount of havoc on my life (is there ever really a small amount of havoc??).  I might tell you that it’s been really hard because we don’t have many friends, and after being so close to so many people in college, we are going through withdrawal like woah.  

But then I’d put a positive spin on it, because I’d hate to leave you feeling sad or sorry for me.  I’d tell you that our finances are going well and we’re hoping to even have enough to escape somewhere for a weekend.  I’d tell you that I’m excited to go visit my sister and meet my new niece next month, and that the weather has been so nice lately, how could I possibly be sad?

No matter what, I’d leave feeling better and glad to know you, and to know you care about my life enough to meet with me (or read my blog, see how I did that??).  I’d thank you just for being my friend and leave with a smile on my face, for sure.  

So thanks, everyone.  And when my life has something exciting enough happen to write about it, I promise you’ll be the first one to know. :)

Confession #1

Confession: I have no idea what I want.

Exhibit A- last night, even though our budget is no good for this month, the Mr. and I went on an adventure!  Here is how it happened:

Enter the room.  Zoom in on girl laying in bed moaning. Boy finally notices and asks whatever could the problem be?

Girl: “I need chocolate.”

Boy: “Do we have any?”

Girl: “No.”

So it was that we traipsed in the rain across the parking lot to the grocery store across from our apartment.  This should be easy, right?  I wanted chocolate.  The store has chocolate. But in the chocolate aisle which is also the ice cream aisle, I started to think maybe I wanted ice cream? So we spent five minutes looking at ice cream, but nothing sounded good. 

Back to chocolate. I spent another five minutes debating the merits of a bag of chocolate vs. a candy bar.  Finally, we walked out of the store with two bags of chocolate and some ice cream for the boy.  After eating two mini chocolate bars, I decide what I really wanted all along was some ice cream.  I steal boy’s ice cream to satisfy this longing.

Exhibit B- I start my job next week.

This is good.  Really, it is. I know this.

BUT I have gotten quite used to laying around reading blogs and books and emails and facebook stalking everyone I know all day.  A part of me is sad to give this up.

Once I bring home the first paycheck, I think I will be convinced that a job is for the best.

The lesson in all of this, really, is two-fold. First, never live across the street from a grocery store.  Second, find a boy (or girl) who loves you so much they are willing to put up with your nonsense, even when it means spending 15 minutes deciding if what you think you want is what you really want.  Don’t marry them until you’re sure they will do this.

Words from the wise.

Only the Beginning...

To welcome you into this little life of mine, I’d like to share some of the things God has done for the hubster and me since moving to Portland.  (It is a goal of mine to somehow incorporate every nickname for “husband” into this blog.  Ideas are welcome.)

You see, whose-bond (say it aloud!) always told me that he wanted to move to this great city, going so far as telling me he felt called here.  I didn’t feel called anywhere, so along I came.  But even before arriving, I began to see that God really was at work in this decision. 

First thing’s first: a job.  Sadly, money really does make the world go round.  The boy moved out here in May and lived with his grandma while he made searching for a job his full-time job.  He eventually found one, and we felt lucky because they were willing to give him 2 weeks off for a lovely wedding and honeymoon with yours truly.

However, this job was not ideal.  So the search continued, and he went on interviews during his lunch break in hopes of something better. 

Then the big day came.  Well, the big week actually.  He flew to good old Missouri for the wedding, and while we were picking up some of the wedding party, he got an email.  Casually, he said, “Well, I got another job offer.” 

Naturally, I snatched the phone from his unsuspecting hands and began to devour all attachments detailing benefits and pay and such.  Turns out, this job was a $12,000 raise.  I’m sorry, for those who didn’t catch that, let me repeat it.  This job was a $12,000 raise. 

So as not to keep you in suspense for too long, yes, he took that job.  Not only did he take it, he was given much more responsibility (which he somehow thrives on??) and was so much happier.

Needless to say, this was the first of many many blessings to come! I’ll share more in my next post!