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May 12 What am I doing?I have been unable to find work here since I lost my job at the end of March, so my sister and I have been talking. Right now the whole family is recovering from pink eye and an upper respiratory virus that my nephews brought home from day care. We have pretty much decided that since I'm not working and the boys have been sick with one thing or another since they started going to this daycare that I would watch them while she is working. I'm good with this because the state will pay me for taking care of them, so I will be making some money. That means I will be getting paid for doing something I actually enjoy. Spending time with family. May 01 No freakin' Job I hate this town. I lost my job at the very end of March. I was working in Lander, living in Riverton decided to take a day off to help my sister. One day. I could afford to lose the pay. My sister couldn't. Anyway, my boss told me if I really decided to do this I could find a new job. Essentually, making me choose between my family and my job. There are 5 pharmacies in Riverton. I've applied at 4 of them. The other one isn't even a consideration because one of the pharmacists there is the brother in law of my old boss and he and I already have a bit of history. Long story short...He filled in for my boss one day and let's just say things didn't go so well between us. None of them are hiring and I've applied for just about everything else I feel I'm qualified to do aside from fast food. Why did I ever come back? If I had waited and followed my gut, I would still be in Salt Lake and things would be okay. I felt down deep in my bones that things were turning around down there and I could have made it. Instead of waiting it out though, I did the one thing I always do when I get scared. I tucked my tail and came home. What a fool I am!!! April 09 I'm still here Been a long time. Did you miss me? I bet you didn't. Probably didn't even realize I was gone. Well, I'm still here. Been spending most of my time over at Facebook and Myspace. Not many people around here anymore. I think the only reason I keep this e-mail address, and therefore this blog, is because the address is linked to my Myspace page. So many blog spots to choose from now, it's hard to keep up. So, if you want to find me, go to Myspace or Facebook. That is where you are likely to find me lurking. December 14 I live in a totally boring townJust coming in to say hello. Nothing new to report. I did pass my certification exam so I'm now nationally certified to work as a pharmacy technician. Other than that, life is boring. I go to work, I come home, I take care of my sisters two boys while she works, I go to sleep. Then I start over again the next day. What fun. November 05 And a Good Time was had by allThe Boy and I just got back from Casper where we went to the Avenged Sevenfold/Buckcherry concert. We had a great time!!!! I couldn't believe how much energy these guys had. The lead singer of Buckcherry was bouncing all over the stage. My only complaint is that we were so far from the stage and people going in and out kept getting in the way. We decided to keep our eyes and ears open for the next good show to come to the area so we can get better seats closer to the stage.
Well, that's about it. Till next time...Have a great week!!! October 13 Stuck in BFE for nowI'm bummed. There are several pharm tech jobs open in Salt Lake at the U of U Medical Center. I would rather do hospital pharmacy than retail anyday. I'm doing retail now and it isn't something I can see myself doing for the long haul. I would love to put in for the jobs at the U and move back to Salt Lake, but The Boy is doing good in school right now. He's making friends and enjoying his classes. So, it looks like until he gets out of high school, I'm stuck in BFE with no way out.
I'm unhappy here and think that I made a mistake coming back. I could have done my internship at a pharmacy there and taken my certification test down there, but money was tight and I got scared that I wouldn't be able to make it. So, here I am. Living at my mom's house because the housing market is tight here and rentals are hard to come by. Especially if you aren't willing to pay 1/2 to 3/4 of your income for rent. No, that doesn't include utilities. September 28 A7X in concertIt has come to my attention that Avenged Sevenfold will be playing in Casper on November 4th. That is just two days after The Boy's 15th birthday. I bet you can't guess what I am getting him. This concert has sort of redeemed this forsaken place in my eyes. I still wish I hadn't come back to Wyoming or this little burb called Riverton, but what choice did I have. It was this or live on the streets.
I have finally reconnected with one of my friends here. I think of all the people I left behind, she was one I missed the most. I love this girl. She's been one of my best friends for the last eight or so years. She's vivacious and fun, but at the same time down-to-earth. Her and I share a passion for photography which we don't get to indulge in as often as we would like. We both have lives that take up a huge chunk of our time and photography just hasn't found it's place in those lives.
I got side tracked. Sorry, back to the music. You should check them out. My favorite song is "A Little Piece of Heaven." The boy and I call it "Psycho Circus" because the music sounds like something you would hear at some dark and scary back alley circus. I also like "Beast and the Harlot" from their last album. These are just a couple. If you like good hard rock, give them a listen. You'll be glad you did!!! September 12 revamping revisitedIt's taking me a little longer than I thought to get to the revamp. My sister moved back from Las Cruces and I have been spending time getting to know my youngest nephew. I met him for the first time when they pulled up in front of Mom's house. I am also getting reaquainted with the notion of life around little kids. I will make changes to this. Ipromise I will. September 02 I'm revamping this spaceI'm going to revamp this space. I'm not quite sure exactly what I want to do, but I think I am going to change everything including the name. Stay tuned. This will be my weekend project. August 14 I'm backDon't know if I said this, but just after we moved in with my mom, The Boy broke her computer. Yes, indeed. Busted the screen on her nice laptop. The computer geeks at Radio Shack said it couldn't be fixed. Broken beyond all repair. Best to just buy a new computer. So, we hooked up my POS for a bit. Good grief!!! Anyway, that sort of explains my long absence. That and the fact that until very recently, I have been fighting with The Boy about his abuse of the fact that my mom has internet. Read this as "I couldn't get him off and it was really starting to make both me and my mom very irritated."
Anyway, I came home from work today and to my surprise (sort of), Mom bought a new Dell. I had to get it set up because...well, let's just say that my mom is not the most computer literate person in the world. Even I had problems with the speakers on it. Did you know that it helps to locate the on/off switch on the speakers themselves to get sound to come out of them? Damn, you learn something new everyday.
 So, I am back and will try to post more often and keep you abreast of what is happening in my life. Right now, there isn't much to tell. I was hired on permanently at the pharmacy where I trained. The pharmacist I trained under passed away just before I completed all of my hours. Luckily, his father and brother are also pharmacists and they helped me finish my training and hired me to work more or less full time. I'm having a tough time finding my own place to live. Housing is tight here and expensive. I thought Salt Lake was expensive, but holy shit. Down the road they have small two bedroom apartments available for rent, but they want $1000.00 a month for them. Believe me I saw these apartments and I wouldn't give them $500.00 a month for them.
I miss Salt Lake terribly. I wish I had never left, but at the time I was desperate and I needed to be with family. I hope that someday I can return and hopefully things will be better. June 12 Havin' Fun ... Maybe NotI've found a local pharmacy to do my training. I love the work, but I'm not so sure about the pharmacist. I am learning a lot from him, but he sure does like to toot his own horn. Can you say narcissistic? Every time I turn around he is saying how nobody can get anything past him and how he is sooooo smart. Yes, he is smart. Genius even, but it gets really annoying listening to him tell me just how smart he is. Like I said, I am learning a lot though. Last Saturday, he taught me how to compound some drugs. Totally interesting and fun. Especially since he left me to do the work on my own. I could get completely lost in my work if all I did all day was compound drugs. The fact that this is the only pharmacy in the county that does it's own compounding was one reason I wanted to train at this pharmacy. I'm not getting paid for my training, but I can accept that for now. I don't think I would accept a paid position with this pharmacist if it was offered. I train 3 days a week, about 9 hours a day, so I should have all of my training hours in about 7 weeks. Then, I can take my certification test and submit the information for my license. Once I am certified I can work anywhere in the country. I have always wanted to go to Colorado, so maybe I will check out job options down there. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks. Since I'm not getting paid for my training hours, I talked to my sister about a job at her hotel. She is the general manager for the local Comfort Inn and Suites. She put me on in house keeping. Not exactly glamorous, but it's gas money until I finish my training and get certified. I won't have to mooch off of my mom anymore for money. That makes me happy and I'm sure it makes her happy as well. May 31 TrafficCall me crazy, but I think I prefer the traffic in Salt Lake to the traffic here. I got used to the speed limits around Salt Lake and the fact that the majority of the people there, including police, don't follow them. Here the highest speed limit on "city" streets is 30 mph and believe me, they follow it to the letter, some even go 5 miles under. ARGH!!! It drives me crazy!!!! I have never been one for sticking to limits. The Boy says I suffer from LFS (lead foot syndrome). I don't like to lolly-gag on the road. I like to get from point A to point B and stop.
I know...I know...If I would take my time and slow down I might see something new. I think I have seen all there is to see of this forsaken town of 9,000 bodies. Don't forget, I delivered pizza here for nearly two years. There isn't a road in this town that I don't know. May 21 Back In WyomingWe have had a long week. Friday I picked up the U-Haul and we got it loaded. That took about 5 hours. We were going to toss some pillows and blankets on the floor and sleep at the apartment on Friday night and leave bright and early Saturday morning, but The Boy was anxious to get on the road, so we left Friday afternoon around 6 pm. That put us in Wyoming around 1 am. Generally,it doesn't take me that long to make the trip, but top speed in a U-Haul pulling a car transport is about 65 mph. At least when I am driving, it is.
Anyway, the truck is still sitting in front of Mom's house until I can get it unloaded tomorrow. Then I have to go through all of the boxes and find my high school diploma so I can send away for my Pharm Tech in Training license and get started on my Externship hours.
I will tell you right now that if you are planning on moving to Wyoming, I would start looking right now for housing. It is nearly impossible to find a place to rent around here and if you have pets...forget it. You might as well buy. There isn't any place that will knowingly rent to pet owners. Not even for an extra fee.
The Boy has been arguing with me all week because he would rather spend the day on the internet chatting than out finding something productive to do. Not that there really is anything around here to do. Wyoming, more specifically Riverton, is a sucking void. There isn't a lot to do around here, unless your into high school sports. Unfortunately, we are not.
We aren't big fans of the small town, country, cowboy culture here either, which generally consists of rodeos, demolition derbys-now that I can kinda get into-and county fairs. I have always said I was a city girl at heart. These small towns make me ill. That was one of the reasons I left in the first place. Riverton has a Super Wal-Mart and a K-mart. Ye-Freakin'-Ha. The nearest mall is Eastridge in Casper, two hours away, but it isn't anyway near the caliber of shoping that Salt Lake offers. Oh!! They do have a brand new casino right outside of town on the reservation. That might be interesting-for about an hour.
Now, you may be wondering what brought me back if I hate it so much. It was money-or rather a lack of money. I loved Salt Lake. I loved being close to great shopping, art galleries, the zoo, the mountains,music venues. Everything I wanted was right there. I just couldn't afford any of it. Between rent, gas, utilities, and food, we were sinking. I made nearly $2000 a month and we still couldn't afford everything we needed. It was either eat or put gas in the car and since I had to work and needed the car to get there, gas usually won out.
Here's to end of a long week. Hoping next week will bring a little more excitement as I get ready to start my extern hours to complete my degree. May 05 It's Over...Colorado was Defeated by DetroitFirst of all I just have to say that I wish there were more font choices on here. I think if you write your entries through Live Writer, there are a few more, but I don't think the school would appreciate me downloading something onto their computers. Oh, well.
So, Colorado is out of it. They were swept by Detroit. I didn't get to watch any of the games this year, but apparently they managed to get Peter Forsberg (The God of Hockey) and Adam Foote back during the last half of the season. However, the entire team has been plagued with injuries and it would seem that no amount of hard work could make up for that.
This may be Forsberg's last year as a player for any team. He can't seem to get healthy. Looking at his stats over the last 3 years or so, it seems he has spent more time on the Injured list than he has on the ice. And Joe Sakic, their wonderfully talented team captain and all around great guy, was sidelined a lot this season. Rumor has it this may be his last season and that it may be time for him to retire. Well, for the sake of the rest of the Colorado Avalanche team, I hope that isn't true, but he has to do what is right for him. If he does retire it will take some getting used to and fans will need to adjust to not seeing their hero on the ice.
Anyway, here's to a job well done!!! Even though they didn't make it all the way, they did the best that they could. It will be interesting to see how thing turn out next year. April 24 Nail Biting TimeI am a HUGE Colorado Avalanche fan. Unfortunately, I don't have a television with cable so I can't watch the games. It's now the semi-final round of the playoffs and Colorado is playing their biggest rival--the Detroit Redwings. Don't get me wrong. Detroit is a great team. They should be. They won more games than any other team in both conferences. I'm hoping that Colorado is going to bring their game with them. Detroit will be tough to beat. Oh, I wish I had cable!! This is going to be an action packed round. So, let the nail biting begin.
Best of Luck to the Mighty Colorado Avalanche!!! April 21 Teens and FashionI am constantly amazed at the things teenagers will wear. The Boy? If it's black he'll wear it. I don't mind black. Not from head to toe, mind you, but black is okay. That is all he wants to wear. Black shirt, black jeans, black boots. He has more colors in his wardrobe. I should know. He still lets me help him pick out his clothes.
But what The Boy likes is nothing compared to some of the insane stuff I see on kids walking down the street. A while ago, it was all the rage to wear jeans 3 sizes too big so the pockets hung down to their knees. Thank the Gods The Boy thought that was as unattractive and tacky as I did. Now, what I am also seeing are kids wearing jeans that are 3 sizes too small. They can't even pull them up past their hips, so their butts hang out as they are walking down the street. Do they think that is attractive or cool?Why bother wearing clothes at all?
I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm a mom or an adult or something, but I think it would be more attractive if they wore clothes that fit. Do they like looking like welfare children? Another thing I think about is comfort and ease. How comfortable is it to be wearing clothes from your little sister's closet? How easy is to move around when you have to stop and pull your pants up every 5 seconds?
I know kids these days are struggling to find their own unique style and personal identity, but I don't think wearing ill fitting clothes or all one color (sorry, son) is the way to do it. I know my reaction when I see what kids are wearing. I stare with horrid disgust and dismay that their mothers let them go out in public like that.
Maybe that's it. Parents aren't paying enough attention to their children as they are walking out the door in the morning. They could say they we are trying to be the cool parent, or the parent who is up on all the fashion trends, but let's get real. What these kids are wearing is not cool or fashionable. It's downright horrifying! April 10 5 Weeks and Counting5 weeks to go!!! I am almost done with school!!! My uncle has made arrangements to come and get me and The Boy when I am finished and take us back to Wyoming. Once we get there I will do my externship at a pharmacy in either Lander or Riverton. The move to New Mexico, I found out, hasn't been canceled. Just postponed until September or so.
Money has been a serious issue with us living here. I know that money isn't everything, but when you are barely making ends meet and according the work force services you make too much money to qualify for assistance, there is a problem. A big problem!!! Luckily, I qualified for finanial aid so I could actually go to school. Then maybe in the future I won't have to worry so much.
Don't get me wrong in any of this. I like Salt Lake. There are great things about living here. For the most part, the people are great. There's tons of shopping and entertainment. The mountains are...well, RIGHT THERE!!! But I can't afford to live here, so I am going back to Wyoming.
Oh, and it might please you to know that The Boy is bringing his grades up. I know that the 4th quarter has barely begun, but as of right now, he has 4 A's and a C+ or two. I don't expect perfection, even though I know he is capable of all A's (he's so smart!!!), but up to now he has failed every class because he wasn't making any effort what-so-every to do his work. So, this is a big deal!!! Hooray for The Boy!!! He deserves a big pat on the back. March 25 Money really is EvilDon't you just love the curve balls life throws at you? Here I am letting everyone know that I am getting ready to move and...Wham!!! from out of left field comes a set back. Of course, it's financial. When isn't it with me? Anyway, when I went down to get my tags for the car, I didn't realize that my insurance company hadn't taken their money out of my account yet (they are supposed to take it automatically on the 15th). So, between the tags and the insurance I managed to overdraw my checking account. Now, after fees that is a whopping sum of money. It's going to take all of this pay check and then some to pull my account out of the shitter now. And why does it always seem to happen right when my rent is due? I swear this is getting ridiculous. I don't know what to do now. My rent is due no later than the 5th of each month and I know that I won't have enough to cover it.
So, now we aren't moving because every bit of money I have coming in has to go to get my rent and car payments caught up. There is no way I could afford to even think about moving right now. Why does this always happen to me? I know I am not that smart with my money, but this is getting out of hand. I don't know what to do or who to turn to. Funny thing is, I have some extra money coming to me, but when... I don't know. I still have close to $700 dollars in income tax refund coming to me. Hopefully, I will get that this week. There is surplus money in my financial aid for me, but I have no idea when I will have access to that. Then, sometime in June I guess the government will send me the money they promised everyone as part of the Economic Stimulus program. That should be another $900. I don't now how much longer I can take this financial vacuum I seem to be in.
Sometimes I think it would be great to be part of a two income household. I don't see that happening anytime in the future. Well, anyway...So bottom line. We aren't moving at least not to New Mexico. I am going to try to find a different apartment. I'm tired of paying $800 a month to live in a cave. I know there are places out there that are less expensive and I won't have to get rid of my furry babies.
Till I pop in again. Have a great week!!!
March 18 MovingIt has been a while. Things have been moving very fast for me. I started my final term in school. I am totally excited that this long and often tiring journey is almost over. I still have to do 120 hours of extern work, but I should be able to crank that out in a hurry.
I had to take The Boy to court yesterday. He broke the glass on a fire extinguisher case and the school filed Destruction of Property charges against him. So, we went down yesterday and found out what his sentence is. He has to pay $10.00 restitution and perform 20 hours of community service (does anyone have a yard they need cleaned up?) I thought that it was a little ridiculous to press charges for a $10.00 piece of glass. When I was a kid (uhoh, here goes the then and now analogy) they called our parents, we paid for the damages and that was that. Now, they feel the need to press charges for every stinkin' little thing and that drives me crazy. No wonder we're raising a society of juvenile delinquients. That the way the schools feel about them. Okay, I've got that off my chest.
I had my own run in with the law recently. My tags were expired and I got pulled over for them. No big deal, but when you don't have the money right away to fix the problem, it can turn into a big deal. So, I drove around for two more weeks on expired tags and the citation in my glove box just in case I got pulled over again. Not that it would have helped. I got my tags yesterday and took care of my citation at the same time The Boy was taking care of his thing.
Now, to the reason I am writing today. It is to let you all know that I am moving again. This time to New Mexico. The school has agreed to let me do my externship down there which is great! I think this will be a good move for me. My sister is down there and my mom will be there shortly (most likely around the same time I get there.) Also, the rent is comparatively less down there, so I may not have to struggle as hard to survive. I may actually get to live. Did you know there was a difference between living and surviving?
We will be leaving in mid-May, so I have been telling myself that we need to start packing. I know that it is still two months away, but I'm a procrastinator. The sooner I get started, the more likely I am to get it done. I have to be in New Mexico to start my externship by June 1st so I don't have to reapply for financial aid to cover it. The aid I have should just carry over. I hope.
Have a great week!!! Happy Ostara!!! For my non-pagan friends, that's Spring Equinox, most closely related to your Easter. Anyway, that's all I have for now. I will try to write some more later. It's really hard because my internet access is seriously limited. |
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