My Birthday Rocks!

Ok, that's a bit of an exageration. It did rock, but my body is so tired that it stopped rockin' somewhere around 10 am. As I have mentioned before, my mother is freakishly strong. She also will not stop until a job, no matter how big, is completely done. While my mother and I are very much alike, we differ on one major thing: she is best first thing in the morning, I'm best late at night. Before I even rolled out of bed around 8 am, she was already outside working on the walkway. However, while I am in here updating my blog, she is already fast asleep in bed. I've had to poke her the last 1 1/2 hours to keep her up long enough to finish the show we were watching.

We got a lot of stuff done and I promise to post photos when I have the time and energy to do so. We finished mulching, (which very similar to munching--which we also did a lot of), we finished the pathway and worked on another project that we had not planned on. We won't have a chance to paint my spare bedroom or work on the mural for MayLing's room, but for the first time since I have moved into this house, I actually like the way the front of it looks. It looks like a real house and it is very inviting. AND, I don't think anyone is going to break their ankle on my walkway anytime soon!

1 Day to B-day

Ok, for any of you that have tried to get a hold of me by phone or e-mail, I've been incommunicado. Since I have dial-up my phone rings busy and I don't have call waiting...I know, I know but it always feels rude and it's more expensive so I don't have it. So, since I am still anxiously waiting to hear about the job I interviewed for last week I'm trying to keep my calls and e-mails to a minimum during the day.

I'm feeling pretty nervous about this wait...I was told they would have a decision by mid to late week and I have 1 day down and 2 more days to go. Fortunately my mom is visiting for my birthday and we are keeping very busy. Otherwise, I think I'd be going to crazy from boredom and anxiety.

We are keeping very busy. I was just about passed out on the couch at 7 pm tonight until mom got me moving again. Those of you that know me or follow this blog know what a nightmare my yard has been for me. For my birthday my mother is volunteering labor and $$ to pay for yard stuff. So, today we got some mulch put down and tomorrow we will finish mulching and work on creating a better walkway. The current one is just beggin' for a broken ankle. Yesterday an elderly lady and her grandson came to the door asking to use the phone because their car broke down in front of my house. I was embarrassed that they had to walk through the mess. Well, no more! I will soon join the cult of people proud of their yards. I forgot to take 'before photos', but I will definitely get some 'after' shots.

Exotic Feline Rescue Center--Part 2

I really wanted to post a video I shot while hangin' with the big cats on Sunday, but I have dial-up. So, right now I am at Tony and Fil's house with a high speed cable modem and I'm ready to download!
The picture quality isn't great, but you can see the lions straight ahead. What I really want you to notice is how loud they are. It was incredible! So, turn your speakers up, shut your eyes and see if your pulse races a bit.

Enjoy!

Birthday Week has Commenced!

I know the majority people only get to celebrate their birthday for a day, but I have been fortunate to stretch mine out all week! Officially, I think it commenced on Friday evening when mom and dad came to town to take me out to dinner. However, Michael upped the ante today by taking me out for my "birthday surprise". Yesterday he started dropping hints--wear comfortable walking shoes and clothes you aren't afraid to get dirty in. What the heck? Today I was told that I might want to bring a camera and there was potential for sweating. I was really wondering what he had planned, but it was awesome! I don't know how he'll be able to top this for next year or what I am going to do for his big day this year!

He took me to Center Point, Indiana, about an hour west of Bloomington. Really, there is nothing out there except for the Exotic Feline Rescue Center.

It really is incredible! They have 190 exotic cats (big kitties!) and it is an amazing experience. Truly very Jurassic Park. Some of the cats have double fences and all are electrified, but it is nothing like a zoo. The greenery is grown up and you get the feeling that you are walking through the jungle without fences. HOWEVER, you can hear the big cats talking to each other. It is very loud and reverberates throughout the compound. I gotta tell you, it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up!

Saturday Morning Musings

What...can it be? I actually have some moisture on my patio? Did it actually rain? Hallelujah! Although our brothers and sisters an hour north of us have been hit by multiple storms the last few weeks, Bloomington has not had any rain in over a month. Really, it's been a month since we had any recordable rainfall. I'm not quite sure this will even count, but at least it looks wet. It's August in Indiana and I haven't mowed my lawn since last month. No joke. It's been 4 weeks since I last mowed. Everything in the yard is dead and brown, I have huge cracks in the dirt going through my flower garden and let's not talk about my vegetable garden. The poor thing looks scorched. I did have some good eatin' though. I ate my corn, green beans, and tomatoes. The rest, well, the rest looks like the butt end of a crematorium.

I had Part Deux of my two part interview yesterday morning. While waiting for my name to be called my former co-worker/supervisor came in. She is currently working for this company and has really enjoyed her work. It was so great to see her. I think the interview went fine. Some of these questions I just don't have a response for. "Name an event that happened while working at Select that you really disagreed with management. What did you do and what was the outcome?" Honestly, short of closing us down, I never really had any significant complaints. What am I supposed to say? For the most part they treated me well and I respected their decisions. Whenever I didn't understand their requests or disagreed with them, I would speak to my CEO privately. Problem solved and most times I was happy. The interviewer would not indicate if she thought I would be hired or not. She did say that were looking "at a lot of internal candidates". I do know that they always hire insiders first, but there are 2-3 open positions and I've had insiders advocating on my behalf for over a month now! Hopefully my interview on Thursday was strong enough to sway them towards me. I REALLY want this job (ok, that was a whine in case you couldn't hear it). Say a prayer for me, friends.

PS--I had the strangest sense of deja vu while sitting in this woman's office and being interviewed. It was bizarre. I know I have not met her prior to this week, but it was so familiar I could have sworn I had been there before. What the heck does that mean?

Why does summer TV suck so bad?

Really, why does summer TV suck so bad? I was deperately wanted some mind numbing TV last night (more about why later) and I tuned into "According to Jim". I've only seen 3 episodes EVER, and wouldn't you know, 1 of the ones I had seen was on last night. Same problem tonight. I watched Supernatural (ahhhh) and tried to find something else to watch afterwards. The only thing I could find was the show about people that go missing (the title escapes me) and again, I had seen this exact episode last season or the season before. I really dislike violence against women or shows where women are victimized so I quickly tuned out.

Ok, onto why I needed mind-numbing TV. Yesterday morning I received a phone call from the business I submitted my application to again on Monday. I went from dead sleep to doing a "phone interview". Seriously. I had to spit my retainer out before I answered the questions. So, I must have passed that phase because then she asked to set up an interview for next Friday. I agreed. She also wanted me to fill out some sort of online personality test (just to prove I'm not coo coo). Within half an hour of completing that task she called me back and asked to move up the interview time to Thursday afternoon, the following day. Today I received a phone call in the afternoon asking me to bump the appointment up another 15 minutes. Sure, thing. No problem, I'll be there.

So, I was quite excited because this is the job I have really wanted and since I was already turned down once, I was even more anxious to make a good impression.

I think the interview went well. I liked what she had to say about the job and when she gave me the tour and introduced me to people, I realized I had already worked with or known these people in some other capacity. And I love Rita, the nurse that runs the CPR education department on the third floor, because as we walked past her office she asked what I was up to. I told her I was in the middle of a job interview and she turned to the woman interviewing me and said, "You have to hire her. She is the best." Awww, thanks, Rita! I was able to meet with the physician who oversees the department and he grilled me for a few minutes. He seemed to like my answers so that is another good check in my box. She wants me to job shadow a nurse before we proceed any further. The nurse is someone I met through a friend several years ago. We both attend the same parties, so there is another connection. I have one more interview with HR tomorrow. Pray/cross your fingers/send some good vibes that everything goes well! I'm so excited. And if I don't get the job my poor friends are going to have to scrape me off the floor.

Disclaimer

I have no idea why the last paragraph of my previous post is in large print or why the color looks "off". I've attempted to correct it, but with no success. Sorry.