I am about halfway through the laundry room and am pretty pleased with the progress in there. There are two sets of standing shelves in there and one of my goals is to reduce that to only one set. That will give me a little more room when I am in there actually working on the laundry. I have managed so far to consolidate the cleaning supplies to like groups. I even have some shelf room leftover, which is good. And I have come to learn that I have more light bulbs than I will ever need. The good thing about light bulbs these days is that they last a lot longer than they used to. The bad thing is that the extra ones sit on the shelf for years just waiting to get used LOL Oh well.
My next area in the laundry room will be the area around the machines themselves. I definitely need to clean the outside of the machines themselves but there's just chaos around them. The ledge behind them is filled with cleaning products and plants. I'm not sure if the products are still good and several of the plants I can't tell if they are dead or not. There's still some green but there's brown too. BTW, plants are not my thing. It's not that I do not like them, I'm just not good with them. They're inconsistent, at least for my taste, as to which ones need watering when. If they were all on the same schedule they would be much easier to tend to.
So, that's where I am so far. Happy with the progress and looking forward to making more room and being better organized in a utilitarian space! That is all.
With daylight savings happening tonight, or in the morning depending on how you look at it, I am looking forward to the longer days ahead. To look at the clock and see that it's still light out at 7:00 p.m. does me good. While I do not mind the shorter days of winter, it's those longer spring and summer days that I truly love. Growing up, Saturdays were mainly for chores. We got up, had cereal and watched cartoons, then we were put to work by Mom and Dad. There was always something for us to do around the house, either indoors or outdoors. As much as I did not enjoy it then, I would give anything to go back in time and do it again. It is a schedule that I try to keep up with today. While I do chores during the week, Saturdays are really a day to get things done.
Other things I loved about those days were when the spring weather arrived, and the windows would be opened. Feeling that fresh breeze come through the house is like no other feeling. We had double front doors that opened up and let so much air in. My bedroom was on a corner, so it was the coolest room in the house when the windows were opened. I loved it. But one of the things I remember most about those Saturdays is that Saturday nights were for bridge. Mom and Dad loved playing bridge. It's something I wish I had learned. They tried to teach me, but I was too young to grasp the game very well. I think Bill knows how to play. There's still time to learn though.
When I was very young, Grandmother and our cousin Isobel would come over for bridge nights. Mom and I would pile into our burnt orange Granada and go pick them up. I was always tasked with going up to Isobel's front door and walking her to the car. I remember going to and ringing her doorbell. Her dog, April, would often bark at the bell's ringing. Then we would hold hands as we went back to the car. This was also a lesson for me in being a gentleman. I was instructed to open the car door for her and make sure she got in safely. By the time bridge was over, it was past my bedtime then, so I did not accompany Mom on the return trip. In later years, our neighbors the Goodsons would come over and play bridge. They usually played in the den, so I would be watching tv while they played. Hee-Haw came on Saturdays at 7:00 p.m. so I watched that a lot during the summer. And this was back in the days when Mom and Mr. Goodson both smoked. It was my job to empty the ashtrays during the game. I felt so responsible then!
I miss those simpler times in my life. I would go back in a second if I had the power to. Still, I enjoy my quiet Saturdays now with the example set for me early on in life. Now I just need some friends to come over and play cards. That would be nice!
That is all.
Well, here I am at the end of spring break. One class is down for the semester and one left to go. I am trying hard not to stress myself out and get burned out right now, but that's easier said than done. I have not been able to get anything done towards my capstone project. There just has not been time. In between working full time, hours of homework each night and trying to run a household on my own, I just have not had the chance to search for an internship.
I think an internship is the way for me to go instead of field work at my job. An internship would open me up to something different where my degree would be useful. Having said that, I want to make sure that I find exactly what I'm looking for and not settle on just anything because it's available. That is going to take time. My advisor asked me to think big like my dream job. Right now, my dream job is something that goes above living paycheck to paycheck. So, I have no clue what that's going to be. Also, one of the cons of an internship is that it will be unpaid, and I am going to have to save up for my living expenses during that time. That will take a while. It's doable, but it's not going to magically appear in my bank account overnight.
While this will push my graduation back a year, I think that is what is best. This capstone is going to be the only real-time, hands-on experience that I get in this degree program, and I am NOT going to waste it. I just need time to find it. That is all.
I have taken a few days off of work during my spring break. It has been nice, and I have spent some time reflecting on my position at work and my importance to my department and fellow associates. Not a huge amount of time because, after all, I'm on spring break. But I have been thinking about it. As far as my position goes, I believe it has come time for me to do some reshaping. I have a hard time saying no to things at work and that needs to change. I am overextended in a lot of areas, and I need to do some culling of that. Basically, I have taken on too many things over the years and it has become way too stressful for me. I want to get back to what my actual job is...a CSR (Customer Service Representative). While it's not the most glamorous job in senior living, it is a vital part of the system. But most of what I do at work these days has nothing to do with being a CSR.
That needs to change for a couple of reasons. One is that my stress level is incredibly high. When I take time away from work, my level is really down but when I'm there it's not. Many of the things that I do that are non-CSR related either do not take much time to do or they are only occasionally like once a month or once a week. The rest of the time I am sitting at the desk behind the front desk waiting on the phone to ring and that's all I do. It stresses me out to be just sitting there doing next to nothing for hours. But I don't want to add to what I already have to do even though it's not consistent on a daily basis. The other main reason is because I now do not do many things that are part of the CSR job description. Yes, I can rationalize things that I do and make them be CSR related but that's stretching it. I am a certified trainer at work, but I don't train anyone. And right now, I am thankful for that because I would not have the foggiest clue as to what to train a new hire in besides answering the phone. It's just where I am right now and not where I need to be. If I am going to be a CSR, I need to master all the things our CSRs are expected to do. I have definitely fallen behind on that.
So, when I go back into work next week, I am going to have to do some talking and getting things set up differently. To be honest, I'm not really needed at work. I'm the most expendable one in my department. And I need that to change for my future. That is all.
Several years ago, at Christmas, my sister-in-law Heidi made this for us to munch on. I just loved it and ate way too much of it. Of course, I had to have her recipe. And I've since come to learn that there are many different dips referred to as crack dip. But I love this one. I have made it multiple times and it is always a hit. Hope you enjoy!
Crack Dip
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 package ranch dressing mix
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 cup shredded cheddar
1/3 cup bacon bits*
2 green onions, sliced
Mix cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, ranch dressing mix and garlic powder with a mixer on medium speed. Fold in remaining ingredients. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.
*you can eliminate the bacon if you want a vegetarian dip
