New addition.....

First I want to let you guys know I have not fallen off the face of the earth, despite my good intentions to be a better blogger again I have fallen by the way side...

Anyway moving on, work is great, no major automobile mishaps, haven't been affected by the flooding, thankfully.

We have a new member in the house hold , a kitten. We picked her up last Tuesday evening got home and that was the last we saw of her until yesterday morning..
The only thing that assure me she had not escaped was the fact that every morning I checked her food bowl and food was missing....Of course that could have been mice, but the I doubt mice would use the kitty litter box in the basement.

Thursday I searched the house high and low, I looked in the washing machine, the tumble dryer and even the dishwasher. No cat. Then on Saturday morning I went into the basement to do some laundry and saw a movement out of the corner of my eye, low and behold there under the stair she was.

So up the stairs I came cat in had, she sat with me on the sofa, purring away, she had a bit of cream from my starbucks frappuccino and then she was gone for the rest of the day.
This time her hiding place was into the demoed bathroom wall, through the wall under the bathtub in our bedroom- still purring away.
I coaxed her out and after around 30 minutes was able to grab her while WP secured the hole to thwart further attempts.

This time she stayed around and did all the usual kitten things, ate my hair attacked the chain around my neck, pounced on her twitching tail ( which at the time was on my leg).
Then she came to bed with us, but for her it was not bedtime of course so she made do with eating my hair again and trying to get as close to lying across my neck as possible.
Some time in the night she must have got up to use the bathroom or eat or something because she then woke us up meowing to get back on the bed.

The the same thing again a few hours later, anyway I think the only time she has ventured in to the basement today has been to use the litter box then she has spent the rest of her time clawing, pouncing and purring.

WP and I have been thinking up names but both seem to have settled on "Cat"- so Cat it is maybe I will spell it with a "K" so it looks more like a name.

Little brat.

Yes those claws are sharp, I have the scratches to prove it...

And thats about it, I cannot think of anything else of interest, work, dinner, sleep, dismay at the snow flakes today but they seem to have all melted away.

Happy Easter everyone and I will try to catch up with you all in the week.

:)

Driven to distraction...

Well I am still loving the job- its getting a little easier, I am starting to remember the sales mens names and what area they cover, which saves a lot of time I would have to spend looking them up on my list.

WP took Monday off to sort out getting my car,he picked me up from work in it. I did not like it at first, not the style or colour but the way it felt to drive and sounded, its got a really loud sporty exhaust.



So Monday night we went to bed and I had a mini meltdown (with tears) about the thought of driving to work the next morning, mainly the prospect of crossing two lanes when I get onto the dreaded I-270. I even suggested we not only move house but I could maybe rent an apartment near to work- By this time I was probably a little delusional...

WP, the sweet man he is he offered to drive me to work the next day.I bet he thought I was pathetic though too, but he did not say it, which was nice, because I thought I was pathetic too....

Monday night I hardly slept, I had stomach ache, I was up long before the alarm and left the house by 6.30.
I started the engine, fiddled about with the seat and mirrors,I still was not happy with them but I wanted to try and beat the rush hour, which I think I ended up at the start of it.
I drove down the road with my heart banging against my ribcage , my knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel so hard and my lower back was aching by the time I got to work from being scared to relax in the seat.

I made it! I made it there by 6.50 ish ( I start work at 8am) LOL. Good job we have electronic keys to get into our office.
I tried to get down to work but the little nagging thought of having to drive home again was at the back of my mind the whole day.
4.50 came and so did the stomach cramps... I emailed WP at work and said I did not want to go home, I even thought about driving to his place of work and waiting for him there ( I know the non highway way).

But by 5.15 I plucked up the courage to leave, and I was on my way again, I was on 270 doing ok and my phone rang, it was WP wondering if I had left yet- I told him I had to get off the phone quick because I had to have both hands on the wheel, then the traffic slowed right down which was great- I must be the only person who does not mind being stuck in highway traffic!

I got home around 5.50 ish.

Next morning I left a little later, my hands were not gripping the wheel so hard and I sat back in the seat.
Thursday was even better, I have my mirrors set up to just where I want them so I know when I look in my left mirror I am seeing the lane to the side of me.

Friday he drove me so he could take the car to get new brakes.

Saturday I went out and about to do a few errands, and it was great, had the windows down, the radio on....

I think its going to be all ok!

This was in the mailbox..

when I got home.

TA DAH!

*I wish I could say I looked this good on the green card but think more along the lines of mug shot after sleeping rough for a few weeks.

I am so sorry I have not have the time to post properly or visit you guys, have been ever so busy. I am going to make time to tell you all my news on Sunday.

Look forward to hearing all about my car, my "mini" panic attack and my driving to work.

Happy Friday( wow Friday already!)

I am shattered...

Work: well I will try to fill in as best as I can without rambling on too much...

Everyone seems really nice, of course I have met that many people I think it will take a while to remember all the names!

I think it's going to be a lot of hard work, for instance I have been there one week and already worked two and a half hours overtime ( and I don't know what I am doing yet!)
I think my longest lunch hour has been something like 20 minutes.

Still its really interesting, basically we take orders from salesmen and companies for TV ad space.
I print off the faxed and emailed orders as they come in, sort them all out into deadline and non deadline, then log them all and pass them onto the billing dept as soon as we can so they can work them and then pass them on to the people who assign air times.

Added to that I have to log and send off to the bank all the checks that come in, keep on top of the faxes and mail for the rest of the department,collect any customer videotapes, order all the office supplies and lots more!

Of course I am still only learning, the woman who does the job now (and types a million times faster then me) is really nice and is very patient with dumb ole me.....I hope I can get the hang of it because on my first day the other assistant (for a different region) was "let go" because she could not do the job *YIKES*.

So we both have been doing her work as well,hence the quick lunch hours and overtime.

In short I am shattered, its going to take a few weeks to get back into a work routine, as well as still having to make dinner, do the laundry, the housework and all the usual stuff.

*My desk is still tidy btw...well apart from the huge pile of orders to face on Monday.....

We were out of the office on Thursday (which added to the pressure on Friday)- We all (and the area salespeople- more people to meet and try to remember their names....) had to meet up at a local hotel, of course that was the day with all the bad weather, I made it there by the skin of my teeth but some people coming from the south were stuck in traffic 5 hours!

It was a day spent listening to various company presidents, professional speakers, video watching and then team building exercises which included teams having to create a "jingle" for the company and then getting on stage to sing it!!!! We were the last (and most reluctant) group to get up on stage, we tried to get out of it but were basically FORCED by the women running the "fun" part.

Not only were we the last group but by far the WORST group to, we also had the added humiliation of being filmed as well- I blush now at the very thought of it.

Yes the less said about that day the better....

Moving quickly on:

So today was spent driving around area car lots looking for some wheels, there is not a great deal out there in my price range, added to the fact that I don't even have any proof of an income yet so WP is probably going to have to be on the loan with me. we have one possible but of course they don't finance themselves and the bank was shut by this time.

Tried to fill out the online loan application but the stupid thing kept freezing and playing up so things are going to have to wait until next week now, then probably til next Saturday before I can physically do anything- Gosh I don't know how people have time to work and fit in everything else thats needs Mon-Fri attention.


I have decided against posting the wedding photos, they are not that great, but to paint some sort of picture, the groom wore a pimp suit, hat and cane and had white spats on his black shoes....

Tomorrow I get to grocery shop- alone weeeee.

and then its early to bed to try and catch up on some sleep!

Happy Sunday folks.


P.S I hope this drivel makes some sort of sense, I am not at my sharpest tonight - thank goodness for spell check!

The Last Friday...

Just came to me this is the last Friday I am going to be sitting here blogging (well for a while anyway), not only that but the last Friday I will spend with WP (he has Friday and Saturday off).

I am sure he won't miss me in the least ( he is taking a nap as I type this) in fact he will be glad to get rid of me.

Yesterday I drove on the HIGHWAY Wp's bro decided he wanted to go to the Dr's (without an appointment) but whatever it was not my gas being used.

I drove him there and back- for you St Louisans I drove from St Charles all the way to Big Bend, wooo.

It was not too bad, I only had to make sure I swapped over 2 lanes as I got onto the highway and coming back I never had to swap at all, nice and easy just stayed in the inside (or is it outside?) lane the whole way back and then crossed over to my exit.


Then I drove to the post office from the house into St Charles SOLO!
Yay, I was in the wrong lane coming back but I pushed myself over and got there and back in one piece, with nobody having to sound their horn or give me the finger....

It still feels "naughty" to be driving alone, guess it's something I will have to get used to.





Last night we went to thee the Jumper, it was ok- the effects were really good but the storyline could have been better.Hayden Christensen the main character was bugging me where I had seen him before, well I just looked him up and of course he played Anakin Skywalker. Duh!
Other then having a piece of popcorn thrown at me, the couple behind us talking for about the first hour and then the guy half of the couple falling asleep and snoring through the last 15 minutes of the film it was pretty uneventful...
oh I nipped out halfway through to get WP another soda and the three (young) men at the counter were gushing over my accent and asking me about football (soccer)- Phfft do I look like a football fan? I said no I did not like football and one of them said did I like to watch Darts???errr no, finally to shut them up I said if I had to watch sport I preferred baseball.

Thats about it! we have a wedding reception this evening, should be interesting, however I am not sure how "secure" this blog is so I may never mention the goings on ala wedding reception again.

Oh and the best laugh, we drove all the way to the Dr's only to find they had closed at noon. Haaa Haaaa, guess thats why it's a good idea to call first.


Happy Friday Folks!

Scary stuff...

I just got back from taking my driving test, I did not think I was ready (having not practiced parallel parking since the other day behind the trash can).
The fact is I start work on Monday and I figure once I am working Mon- Fir 8-5 when would I get time to get it done. The test stations are Mon- Fri and they close at 4.30.

WP's bro did not seem too pleased when I asked him this morning I could tell he wanted to say no, he though I should wait til I have more experience and then do it...(Can you tell he has a lot of faith in my driving)

Which is great but When I am working all week and he works til 11pm when am I going to get the extra experience?

So we got to the station, thankfully (or not) there was one person before me.

The guy before me got called by out and he held the door open for the woman examiner to go out before him, she declined and told him to go out first- Yikes a feminist,Not that I am against opening a door myself at all.I would never ever dream of waiting for a guy to open the door, if I reach the door first I will open it.
But I thought she could have just accepted his kindness and gone through the door without a word!
This did not help my nerves I can tell you, luckily for me there another lady them came out to take me, I did not dare hold the door open for her but just went through first...

We did all the signal, brake light checking and then she had me show her the wipers, high beam, defrost etc.

Then she told me to turn right as we left the parking lot, so what did I do signal left and had it in my mind to turn LEFT!

This is going to be bad...

But she kindly said we need to turn right, so I apologised and corrected myself.
Next sticky moment turning left at a traffic light (Left turn yield on green) I was waiting for the actual left arrow to turn green and the car behind sounded it's horn at me, upon which the light turned to red anyway.
I could feel the glare from the 4x4 behind me, as the light turned to green I asked the examiner if she wanted me to just take her back to the test station now (thinking I had blown it). She said no, I think it went ok from there on, I parked on the hill, reversed in a straight line, and then pulled over to the side of the road as though an emergency vesicle was coming.

We headed back, my knees began to shake at the sight of the dreaded parallel parking cones...

But then I thought what the heck I have failed anyway so there is nothing left to loose....


I remembered to indicate, I began to turn into the space, I just winged it, I waited until the right hand cone was in the middle of my rear window and just turned the wheel the other way, put the car into drive and pulled forward to center myself.

I bloody well did it!!!!!! I think I was a little bit lopsided at the front but it was a far cry from the horror stories I had had in my head of me knocking the cones over, people stopping to look and laugh etc.

She then asked me to pull over into the parking lot and park, I turned off the engine and all she said was "well you passed".
I have to say It took a few seconds and then I found myself gushing with thanks like an idiot, my eyes welled up and she said that she did not want to make me cry LOL.

I wanted to hug her, we got out and went back inside and guess what, I held the door open for her, and she went through.


Happy Valentines day folks, oh and to my dear WP Happy Anniversary ;)

OK, So I am mean...

..but what the hell.

Yesterday I went to Walmart with WP's bro. I finished shopping before him so I stood by the back of the checkouts to wait for him. I had lots of time to take in the staff (because he is so slow) I saw this woman...



She went to work dressed like this? The picture does not do real justice but in short her hair was all greasy and looked like it had not seen a brush in a while, she is wearing what I suspect to be her (much larger) husbands jacket for cutting the firewood in, and please if you are going to be short and wear cropped pants:
Get a shorter leg length ( I admit I have this problem and it's easier said then done) Or at least wear some no-show socks.

Jeeze, you would think even Walmart had some dress standards, why cant they shell out and supply everyone with a uniform of pants, a polo and a sweatshirt for the cooler days, they sell clothes for god's sake.

Anyway, lets move on:

I got a voice mail from work ( have to get used to saying that) I passed my drug test (oral- Sorry Corky) and seems I am not on Americas most wanted list so they look forward to seeing me next Monday at 8am.

Now onto the driving:

I attempted to parallel park this morning, first I moved WP's truck forward on the driveway and then I turned his Bro car around ( on the same same driveway- no mean feat- well for me anyway).
Then I had a go, not so good. I did not hit anything but was aware all the time of how close the garage/trash can and porch posts seemed. this put me off a little ( my story and I am sticking to it)

I persuaded WP to come out with me, because I need to know when to turn this way and when to turn that way- When I say need to know when , I mean I need a reference point on the inside of the car so when it lines up with X I know to go the other way.

Anyway he was a lot of help- Not. We changed places and he did it in like 1.5 seconds, before I had time to take anything in.

*Sigh

So when he went to work I moved the trash can to "pretend" it was the end of a car and had another go, I think I did ok....

Before

and after.

Not bad, I did it again and then decided it was too cold to carry on.

I want to take the test but I also don't want to because I am scared (lol), I know if I fail it the first time I won't want to go and do it again in case I get the same examiner.
But I want to get it over with, because lets face it once I pass I am hopefully NEVER going to have to parallel park anywhere. I will look at all the other options: Walk the extra distance/ not go/ make sure I am not the one driving.

What I need is someone who is kind and patient to tell me that I did it right (or show me when and where).

Do people like this exist?

Quickie

Just a quick update:

I went in on Monday to sign the acceptance letter, the hourly pay was a pleasant surprise...
I have been given a start date of Feb 18th, providing my criminal background and drug tests come back ok- Which I am pretty sure they would.
They wanted to see my drivers license which of course I was still waiting for immigration to approve so I could not give them that number at the time. But I got the license the next day through the mail (permit of course), so I sent off a quick email to the lady in HR with the number.

One thing I noticed is the DL expires on the same day as my work permit- which is annoying because IF when I do pass my driving test I am going to have to re-new it before the year is out!

As for the parallel parking, I still have not attempted it because when the boys have had their days off the weather has been terrible.

I have to say though I doubt very much it will be WP showing me, he has the patience of an angry wasp...

His brother is not much better but because he and I are not married it works out just fine, he manages to hold any annoyance in.

We will see if anyone has time tomorrow....


One last thing I have a favour to ask...
I have discovered this new font which I love, to quote:

Calibri is a sans serif with soft rounded corners. It has a warm, friendly personality that isn't found in fonts like Arial and Helvetica. It is also the one typeface in the collection that is appropriate for use both in text sizes and larger headline sizes.

In Microsoft's promotional booklet, "Now Read This," Calibri's designer Lucas de Groot says, "Its proportions allow high impact in tightly set lines of big and small type alike."

He adds, "This font is suitable for documents, e-mail, Web design, and magazines."

Calibri set in regular, bold, or italic is a pleasure to read. The rounded corners create a smooth reading experience. As de Groot says, "The family has a generous width that makes reading easier by emphasizing the reading direction."

Well I am trying it out on one of my test sites and it works, but I read somewhere that it does not work for Mac users so if you have a Mac can you please look HERE and let me know if it looks the same as the picture below.

Even if you don't use Mac can you have a look what it looks like.

If it doesn't show for the majority then there is no point in using it!

Thanks a bunch, have a happy Thursday.
:)

Look Out Workforce...

Here I come.

I got a job offer today!!!

Of course it depends on me passing a drug test and background check ( I think I should be ok there...)

I have to go into the office on Monday and sign the acceptance letter, tie up the loose ends and then I will be one of you.

Don't want to say too much about where it is/what it is because I am sure most companies would frown upon things like that.

So I will just say:
Its a large company.
Office based Mon- Fir.
Health insurance, vacations and all that good stuff.

I am so excited, but now the little nagging voices are starting, "What if I mess up" "What if I don't fit in and nobody likes me" " What if everyone dresses better/ looks better" "What if I cant do the job"

Enough already, I am going to think positive.Its going to be a culture shock thats for sure, no more slopping around in Jeans and a T-shirt or worse, PJ's all day.No more tennis shoes but real shoes, maybe with a heel.

And then there is all the cosmetics and hair brushing..not to mention the driving in rush hour.

Its going to be fun, Really! I will meet new people, have something to talk about other then what was on TV this morning or what the mail man delivered.


Talking about jobs, remember the first interview I went to the She said/He said? Well she emailed me the other day and said he had still not come to a decision (it's not like it was such a huge decision right ?),but would I still be interested in working from home (maybe an office meeting or two) helping her get the website side up and running by the end of Feb.

I said I would because I had not yet found a job, now I don't know what to do. I would feel bad saying no now because I said yes, but I don't know if I would have the time to put into it.
Its not like a blog design, it's a huge website with lots of scripts I am not familiar with and loads of data to be entered in.

I will wait until I hear from her again and then decide, perhaps I could just do some of it, the banner, move it over to the new domain etc?


I just looked out of the window and snow! OMG how will I ever drive in Ice and snow....

Well thats about it.

Have a great weekend and if you are in a bad weather area, stay warm, drive safe.

and if you are not...Lucky b*&%ers!

Chapter 2 : I said too much...

...or be careful who you get irate with on the phone.


Edit: Chapter 1 below this post.

So last Thursday I thought it was time to bite the bullet and go and take my written drivers test.
After a bit of digging around I discovered where the St Charles test station was, mapped it out and got ready to set out.

I thought it best to call them first to make absolutely sure I was not going to be turned away for not taking something I needed to show them.
I had my Passport, my work permit, marriage certificate, a utility bill, SS# and birth certificate.

I call the office and explain I am not a US citizen, but I have a work permit and a SS#, what else do I need to show them to get a learner permit?
The lady on the other end of the line asked what my visa status was, I don't know? I said I did not know but I had been for my immigration interview on Tuesday ( more about that in chapter 3) and I was just waiting now to hear the outcome.

Apparently the state of Missouri do not issue Driver licenses or permits without knowing the visa status of the applicant.

What ? I have a work permit but I cannot get a DL to be able to drive to a job?
In total she asked me 4 times if I had a work permit- Umm Did I not just say I had one when I first spoke to you ?

By this time I was getting a little irate ( not rude but certainly irate)
She said she would put me on hold ( note the word hold) and get her supervisor to speak to me.
A few seconds later another lady came on the line and asked if she could help me.

I was not sure if it was just another staff member who had picked up the call ( seeing it on hold or something) so I said I had been speaking to a lady and she was putting me on hold for the supervisor.
She said ( quite cuttingly I thought) That she was the supervisor and first lady had just handed her the phone to speak to me.

Okay so I am dumb, but she did not say she was handing the phone over she said she was putting me on bloody hold.

So anyway I start from the beginning again, she said the best thing I could do would be take all my documents and all my immigration notices down there with me so they could see them.

By this time I was totally stressed out and starting to see the whole thing as another waste of time.
We left the house with me ranting about what was the point of having a stupid work permit if I could not drive to a job. I have still not seen a single bus around here.

We arrive and I walk in , only to see ALL the staff are State Highway patrol women S%#t!
I want to turn around and go home, but being as WP is with me and is not known for his patience at the best of times I bite the bullet and walk up to the counter....

Of course they are going to know its me, how many English people do they get in there in a day!
So using my most pleasant voice I hand over all my many papers and documents...
She looks in my passport and asks where my visa is ( I think it not a good idea to tell her I have no clue- More in chapter 3) instead I tell her they took it from me at my immigration interview on Tuesday.

She seems to buy that and starts taking all my information, points to the computers and says I am on number 5.

So I sit down and begin the test. Question 1 - correct.
Question 2- incorrect. Damn I totally misread the question, got too blasé and checked I was sure.
I began to panic- its going to be all down hill from here...

But as it was that was the only question I got wrong and I passed with 95%!

So then they test my eyes, road signs-Bit of a sticky moment when I cannot remember the STOP sign- (I thought it was a trick question because the word "stop" was not on the picture they showed me) It eventually dawned on me though....

Ask me if I want to take the actual test today ( no -I haven't parallel parked in like 8 yrs and the tiny space between the orange cones has freaked me out!) send me next door to the license bureau....

I wait my turn and then go up to the desk.
She explains to me that they can only give me a paper permit today as they have to send the original off to Immigration for them to check that I am eligible for a license.

Fine.

BUT it usually takes them around 60 days to process the request and then send me the actual license direct through the mail!

ALSO I can take the drivers test before I get the actual license back BUT because I wont have the actual license I cannot upgrade it to the real drivers license... I hope you are keeping up with me here?
So I can pass my test but I still cannot drive unaccompanied until I get the actual first license to swap it in for the actual real driver license.

Grrrrrr

So I have driven WP's bro to the gym a few times and he and I went to Walmart over the weekend (none highway).
I haven't done the dreaded parallel park yet though....

So look out people.

hee.


I have just realised that I should have started with chapter 3 because now chapter 2 will be above chapter 1- oh well you will have to read upwards if you want to read it in order.

Now I have to rest before chapter 3.

;)