Diversity

Today I had off from work (day after Christmas 2011) so I decided to take a much needed walk around my neighborhood in attempts to work off some of this heavy Christmas food. haha So as I was walking around looking at all the different types of houses I thought to myself wow..there are so many different types of people who live in this area...there are conservative, funky liberals, artistic and war hero houses in this area. One house will have a bunch of junk (tables, mattress, dead plant and blanket) in the front yard and then right next to that one there will be a "conservative" looking colonial house with pale yellow siding and stark white columns on the front porch. I tend to like looking at the cleaned up cute "so called perfect" houses more than the junky yard ones with their dead plants and junk. I like to think about what the people in the house are like too. I know my neighbors are very nice, yet the woman has about 3 teeth total and lives with her brother who is somewhat slow. They are on social security or disability or something and she likes to gossip about all the neighbors due to lack of anything else to do. She told me one day, "You sure do run to and from a lot dont ya!?!??" I said ummm yep! hahha I guess I dont know any other way really. I'd like to slow down though and be able to take long walks like I did today. Love my little diverse neighborhood (good and bad) and feel somewhat safe.....there is a cop that lives down the street! hahha and I do have my weapons in here just in case. Maybe someday I'll own a house but for now renting is just fine for me. You know....I heard a song the other day that said you can't buy a house in heaven, which is true so why buy right now!? :)

Christmas was fabulous this year. Christmas Eve I spent with Mom, Michael and Brooke at her place and we had a nice breakfast brunch with biscuits and fruit and egg souflee! Got lots of great things and I enjoyed giving my gifts out to them. Michael got cologne, mom got a gcert to get her hair "did" and Brooke got candy and a candle. We had a lot of laughs and at the table we each said what we loved about Christmas. Yesterday I went to my uncle Ken's house and then over to my Dad and Steph's...it was very nice and fun as well. :) My favorite gift this year is the Brookstone pillow my mom got me!!!!! I never thought I'd actually get that, it was going to be a gift to me from me in January when I got some $. She really surprised me! Thank you Jesus for blessing me with such loving family and friends, I can't get over how much I have and have been given. :) So very happy and will continue to try to do His work throughout my life.

To be continued........

Cars and SUV's

Ok so I "traded" my cute lil Honda Civic for a 2001 Ford Explorer Sport a few weeks ago. I bought my Civic brand new in 2003 as a graduation present to myself despite what my parents may have thought at the time (they were none too happy with my extravagant purchase). Hell, I dont need anyone to give me cars, I just buy them for myself! haha They should be happy. Nonetheless, that lil Honda served me VERY VERY well over the years until recently I decided I wanted a small SUV just for kicks. I put an ad on Craigslist thinking no one would truly want to actually TRADE for my sedan. Well....wonders to wonders...some college girl emailed me and we made it happen! She had just purchased the Ford used and needed a sedan that was more gas efficient for her commute. We just traded titles, simple as that. I must admit though...I was and still am a bit sad that I let my cute maroon 03 Honda Civic LX go. That car was me, I practically lived in it! I drove it back and forth between Richmond and Charlotte many many times and it was just a great trustworthy car! I do miss it but my new SUV ROCKS my socks off. It is so much fun to drive and makes me feel bigger on the road and its just FUN! Now.....the downside of course, you guessed it....the gas is expensive and it seems I do need to fill er up much more often these days. My commute to work is literally 5 minutes from my house so the gas situation is not that big of a deal really. I have to drive to Pennsylvania for a friend's wedding soon and I'm dreading the gas bill for that trip so we shall see how much that hurts the purse!

Isnt it cute though!??!?

Now I'm beyond the Late 20's....

Ok, so I have to admit I was absolutely TERRIFIED of turning the BIG 3-0 this month. I had been dreading it since the new year and got pretty anxious up until the actual date....APRIL 7, 2011. Now that it's come and gone I can breathe more freely. I've decided this is the year to get fit, get my shit in gear and really LIVE LIFE. I've been living just fine up until this point but just recently I realized I need to get out there. I need to plan trips and get into crafts and take classes and maybe just maybe I'll learn something else about myself along the way. I'm embracing my 30's and not looking back bc really arent the 20's about dating loser guys and drinking mostly anyways?

11 lbs down and many more to go. I'm proud of myself.

Crocheting Fun!

So my coworker/friend Anna taught me how to crochet a couple weeks ago and I'm now officially addicted! I find myself in a trance almost when I'm working away on the little yellow baby blanket and find it very calming. I've always been in awe of those crafty people who can make jewelry, knit, crochet, needlepoint and mold clay pots...I've never really been the arts and crafts type of girl but it does intrigue me. I wish I was more artsy-those people are very laid back cool...the effortless kind of cool ya know? At first this whole crochet business was a bit hard I must admit but with patience Anna was able to teach me how to single crochet and then work into the basic stitches. I have this "beginner" book and really I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to do the pretty flower loopy or zig zag stitches but this regular stitch is already pretty so I'll stick with that for a while. My great grandmother, Bee Bee, was an avid crocheter who made blankets for our entire family. She even crocheted nativity sets one time! I love my pink, white and navy blue blanket she made for me years ago. Bee Bee is in Heaven now with all the rest of our loved ones and the Lord, and it brings me great comfort to be able to wrap myself up in her love each winter. I hope to be able to make something so beautiful one day to give to my friends and family. It may seem a lil crazy but I am making this soft yellow baby blanket for my future child...he or she will like it I think. One day. No, I'm not pregnant...dont freak out. It's cool...there's a long road to travel before that happens, but in the future I hope to be. Next on the agenda-a red blanket for Bella to use in her bed!! :)

The ITCH

Havent blogged in a while so I figured I'd give it a whirl today. I often wonder if anyone even reads these crazy things I write..wonder if I can track that somehow, I'm sure I can somehow. Anyways the point of this blog is to express my thoughts on my career, job, what ever you'd like to call it. I have a 2 year itch I believe when it comes to any given job that I've ever had. At the 2 year mark or slightly earlier I get an overwhelming desire to change it up and either find another company or an entirely different career altogether. It has happened to me twice now and I must be able to conquer this "itch" to change. The itch often comes because I am bored with the company or with what I'm doing in that particular job. With retail I got extremely bored and just stopped caring about my store and staff...I wanted out in a bad way-I was done. I couldnt build up the excitement I once had to sell, manage, and merchandise and decided retail was NOT the career of choice anymore. That being said I truly enjoyed working at Crabtree & Evelyn and had a really great District Mgr who I respected. You'd think nothing at all was wrong but once the economy took a turn for the worse I was done with retail and North Carolina and wanted out. I did get out too-(a year later, after taking yet another retail mgr job at stupid Solstice)and found the lovely world of recruiting. I enjoy recruiting and often think this is the career I should have been doing all along...I feel I've found my calling so to speak. I got that looming itch though with my last company and decided I needed to switch up companies this time....but the question is ...WHY? What is causing this? The real question is how do people stay enthused with their job/company for longer periods of time? I'm going to fight that itch in 2 years and this time I will win! I absolutely love where I am right now...let's keep it that way!

Redneck Family Outings

I'm not sure why but my family is certifiably 100% REDNECK. I mean, they all dont really mean to be pure rednecks but we were all just born into it...it is what it is. I guess some of us are proud to be red, others deny it but its still there. As for myself, I'm fine with it...until it gets embarrassing. I'm proud of my southern heritage and dont mind the twang in my talk at all. I'm glad I'm a southerner because I dont think I'd make it as a northerner.

Last night mom, Michael and I went to a new Italian restaurant my mom had heard of. Well, when we get there we are seated at a booth....that is until Michael decides to try to squeeze in next to mom in the booth and well, he doesnt exactly "fit" comfortably in the booth because it was one of those small ones...he proceeds to tell the waitress that obviously he's a "Large Man" therefor we need a table. She laughs and seats us at a nearby table. We pop open our menus and notice the prices are really kind of high-much higher than we were expecting! We order and then the redneck in us all comes out. This is a fancy pancy restaurant and we cannot act all proper and fancy like, its just not us at all. So we act our normal redneck self (being loud, laughing and carrying on) much to the embarrassment of my mother (who thinks she's proper when really she's just as bad as us). The meal was great-Michael and I got Stromboli that was bigger than anything I'd ever seen and it was delish. Well on our way up and out Mom knocks over a full glass of tea-ALL OVER our table. Nice finish to our redneck meal...that will be the last time we go there I'm sure of it. I really dont care what they thought of us because all in all we had a great time. A great time was had by all. I love my redneck family. Truly, I do. :)

Welfare vs. Work

I've been so stressed out at work lately and it has a lot to do with our economy right now....has our economy fallen even lower than it was when we were in the "recession"?!!?! I feel like it possibly has because the state is loosing money left and right and the struggle for those out of work and who WANT TO WORK is harder than ever. I work for a staffing agency as many of you know and we mostly staff for state agencies and some other corporate businesses locally and nationwide. What I truly hate is when I'm working my tail off trying to place a person and call to inquire if they'd be interested in working a job that pays, for example...$12/hour, and they say (without hesitation I might add) "Oh well no I make more than that on unemployment" or "Ummm would that mess up my unemployment bc I wouldnt want to do that" Are you freaking kidding me?!?!! REALLY!??! U enjoy being on welfare seriously? Meanwhile I'm working my tail off trying to find your lazy butt a job??!?! For what? No, no, no. Those programs are set up for those individuals who truly need them in times of real struggle and hardship. People abuse the system all day long and it really makes me angry. Contract positions are there and if you're currently unemployed I'd recommend signing up with as many agencies as you can and keeping in contact with them on a weekly basis. I've learned to recognize those people who truly want to work and those who are sending their resume or filling in an application just bc they're required to.

I'm thankful that I've never had to be on any kind of welfare but I know many people who have and I'm glad its there for them. Someone who is very close to me has been on unemployment for a while and it is about to run out and that person is running out of ideas and hope. It's not for lack of trying though either-if this person was offered a job tomorrow he'd snatch it right up!! uhhhhh...........I wish there was more I could do to help people who have been relying on government aid for a while but want to work so badly. I hope things start to look up soon.

Those of us who are working are often having to take on additional tasks (that others once did, but who were laid off due to budget or whatever) which makes our jobs even harder and more stressful and most of the time we don't get a raise or anything. I feel overworked, underpaid, stressed out, and overwhelmed at times. I know its crazy but I wonder what it would be like to be in others shoes-just for a week or so. What would happen if I was laid off? Current financial struggles have been getting me down lately, although I am blessed to have a roof over my head and food still in my kitchen. I'm confident in the fact that God will always provide for me and my family. Will the stress at work subside and things get a bit easier? What do the next few years hold? I dont know but He does.