Still feel I made the right decision

It was nice not doing much of anything yesterday. I am still processing the whole job situation, but I’m pretty sure I made the right decision for me. I didn’t like it there. And I don’t think it would have improved. I am relived that I don’t have to go back. I still feel a little guilty about the way the whole thing went down, but it is done now. 

The one person who friended me on FB from the new job seemed to think my feelings were hurt from the girls talking about me. Well, they aren’t. You have to care about someone to be hurt by them and I don’t care about them, haven’t been there long enough. It wasn’t what made me quit, I could deal with that crap if I had liked the job, it was just the catalyst. While sitting there listening to them, I realized that I didn’t have to stay at a job I didn’t like. So I am actually grateful they did what they did, otherwise I would still be there and none of us would be happy. She thinks I should have stayed and talked to the Judge, but I don’t feel that would have done any good. The judge has bigger things to worry about than dealing with petty office politics. It wouldn’t have changed how I felt about the job itself either.

I got a two hour nap in the afternoon and that felt good. I needed it. But of course I am up in the wee hours again. 

The last two bags of soil and my second set of soaker hoses came yesterday and I decided to put them in the shed. But that meant I needed to do a little reorganizing because once again  I couldn’t walk in there. Things had been going in, but nothing had been coming out. That created more stuff that needed to go to the dumpsters, so after I got the shed reorganized, I took the over loaded golf cart and off I went. 

Spent some time proof reading Pat’s new book. I had told her a couple of weeks ago that I would, but with the new job and all, I forgot. I haven’t finished it yet, but I should today. It’s kind of kool that I get to read books before they go to print. 

While organizing the shed, I realized that I am missing one of the clothesline brackets. I had one unboxed, but am not sure if it is the missing one or not. The tracking info says it was delivered, but I can’t find it. I will look again today, and then if I still can’t find it, will send an email. I am planning on stringing the ones that Mark put up for me so they will be ready the next time I need it. 

There is a whole list of things I could do today. Not sure I will do any of them. We’ll see what I feel like doing as the day progresses. I will be working mostly nights now, so I will have my mornings back and will have some time to do some things. 

It rained last night. It was just starting to sprinkle when I got back from the dumpsters. We had a full fledged thunderstorm. The power even went out long enough to screw up the clocks and my outdoor light sensor. I will have to make sure the light is back up and running by tomorrow as I will need it when I get home from work. Hopefully this sensor survived the outage, the last one didn’t and I had to replace it.  It was cloudy all day and was actually kind of nice. Doesn’t happen very often. A little break from the sun. But the humidity is back up and is supposed to hang around for a couple of days. I didn’t get to watch DWTS last night as I couldn’t get the TV antenna tweaked properly. The storm probably had something to do with that. I will try again tonight to get that lined up and working again. Not that I have been watching all that much TV lately anyway.

I have one more snowmobile website to do. Just got a batch of emails. Not sure I will deal with them today tho. It is supposed to be my day off. I go back to DG at 3 tomorrow.  I can do that in the morning. This one is easier as there are no special scripts or forms involved.

Yesterday was kind of an eating day. I think it probably had to do with stress and upset. Hoping I do better today. I really don’t want to start gaining weight again. Plus, I have to stop buying junk food and bringing it home. If it isn’t here, I can’t eat it.

An unexpected day off

I quit my new job this morning. As I had mentioned before, I was concerned that it was all women there, and I overheard a conversation about me this morning, while sitting at my desk waiting for 8 o’clock, that I wasn’t meant to hear. I pretty much knew I didn’t like the job, but was willing to give it a chance until I overheard what they were saying about me. I don’t need that crap in my life, so it was the catalyst for me grabbing my stuff and leaving. I only told my supervisor it wasn’t working out, and that I was sorry. To be honest, I am relieved. I don’t do drama, told them that when I interviewed, and just don’t want  to have to deal with that crap along with learning a very difficult job. A job that I am pretty sure I wouldn’t be happy at. Better that I got out now before I found myself stuck in a job that I hated.

I immediately went to DG and got my job back. Tom was very happy. So I have an unexpected day off and I am planning on doing absolutely nothing until I feel like doing something. And I am going to get a nap too!

I a conflicted. I am happy I don’t have to deal with that, yet I have never walked out of a job in my life. You should have seen the girls faces when I confronted them and asked them if they were talking about me. It was priceless. One of them said “it is what we do”. Well I don’t and I won’t, so I'm not.

I still have hopes that I will find a job that I would be happy with for several years. As we well know, not everyone works out. But until then, I still have my job at DG. I even got my Sunday mornings off so I can go to breakfast with the neighbors again. Still have my Monday and Tuesday’s too. I am giving up holiday’s off, but I think the trade off is worth it. Especially since I wouldn't have gotten paid holidays like everyone else. I had a bad feeling about that place. I would have been in direct line of fire if someone had come in and gone postal...Just one more thing to be happy I don't have to deal with.

Garden is almost ready!

I started my new job on Monday. There is so much to learn! I have no experience with the legal system, so it is all brand new to me. Lots of little details, lots and lots that I don't know. 

It is an interesting group of ladies. I'm hoping I will eventually will find my niche in the office. For now I am the new girl and I don't know anything. They tried to ease me into it slowly, I did nothing but read and listen for four days. Then Friday afternoon, I took my first phone calls. I fumbled my way through them, asking lots of questions and putting people on hold. I hope I improve considerably this week. I really hope once I get a handle on things that I will like this job.

Mark got started on my garden on Monday too. He came back Tuesday, Thursday, and today and it is finally finished!

It is now done except for adding more soil. I got an early start and got my laundry washed and hung, got the shelf installed over the washer but had to modify it. It was too wide so I had to cut it down some and I didn’t have room to use the actual mounting brackets that came with it, so I ended up just putting a couple of screws in the wall to hold it in place and rested it on top of the washer. It works, I have a place for the laundry bottles. Will get a pic at some point. 

Then I went to DG for a few groceries, chat with Tom and get my cardboard. I literally filled my car, I unloaded two rolltainers. I was only going to get one, but there was plenty there so I did two. I could have used a third. Oh well. 

I unloaded the cardboard over the fence so I wouldn’t have to make 500 trips back and forth from my driveway. That is a lot of cardboard.

When I got back, Mark was just setting up to install the door and the last of the chicken wire. I relaxed while he was doing that.

He even installed my new clothesline brackets, now all I have to do is string them. I did have to move my scrap lumber rack around the corner, but there should be plenty of room to hang clothes. I’m going to use paracord for the clothes line initially. I have spent enough money and will use what I have on hand. Hope to have that strung next weekend.

I started filling the base with cardboard. Like I said, a third rolltainer would have been better. I didn’t have enough soil. :( I ordered more, six bales this time and that cost me $400. The soil has now officially exceeded the cost of the garden itself. Not good, but I need it. Good thing I won’t have to do this again. I can just top it off as it settles.

I got the weed cloth installed, ran out of staples and the ones I have don’t fit my staple gun. I only needed about three more, so I used the three hammer in staples that Mark left behind to finish that up. I didn’t get a picture with just the weed cloth.

Then I started filling it with soil. Started with the coconut coir. I had six blocks of that, but again, could have used more. But it will be a good thing to hold the moisture in. I also dumped all my pots of soil from last season in as filler, then my six bags of pro mix. Still waiting for two, but that still wouldn’t be enough. I will keep those for filling plant pots and use the bales that I ordered to finish filling the garden when they get here. Hopefully Wednesday, give it a couple of days to settle and I hope to plant next weekend.

The coir pretty much quadrupled in size once it got rehydrated. Looks like pretty kool stuff and I will keep that in mind for the future.

I need about another eight to ten inches of soil or more to bring it up to where I need it.

It is definite progress and once I get the soil, it will be ready to plant. Yay. It is going to take years to recoup what I spent on it tho. Assuming I actually get produce. 

I got the rock raked back around the garden and into the walk way. Mark literally wore a path thru the yard going back and forth. I really need a load of rock for the yard as it is way too thin and I have nowhere to steal from to cover the nekkid spots. Really could use a couple of inches of new rock. I guess I will have to see where I can get it and how much it will cost. I have been putting that off for a while because of the expense.

Tossing around the idea of building a false front for the top and putting up a sign of some sort. I think it would finish it off nicely. I also want to put a couple of window boxes on the front and a couple of metal flowers that I want to get at DG today. It looks kind of funny as is. I would probably make a sign of some sort to go on it too. 

Maybe something like this.... I like the one on the left.

Ants were already crawling over the fresh pine. I will need to spread some bug stuff around the outside. Mark and I are both very happy with the finished product. 

I wore myself out yesterday. Fell asleep even earlier than usual, so I have been up since about 12:30. I hope I can get another hour of sleep before I have to get ready for work this morning. I have so many things I want/need to do, but with my work schedule the last few weeks, I just don't have the time or energy to get things done.

Talked with Mark about the wall for the trailer, he doesn’t think it will be a problem and is going to do it for me. We are going with a pocket door. That will be the last big project for that and the rest will be finish work. I’m going to get one of those screens you hang over the door to finish that part up.

That about wraps up my one day off in 15 days. Long shift at DG today, so I won’t be up to doing anything when I get done. And back to Quartzsite Justice Court tomorrow. I will be very happy when Saturday gets here and I will have two days off. A couple of weeks after that a three day weekend, and then there will be Thanksgiving weekend shortly after that. Hoping to be able to start going to Sunday breakfast with the neighbors again next Sunday.

Chad and SusAnn got back on Tuesday. Was nice to see them. We visited for a few minutes Tuesday evening and I have seen them several times since. The park is filling up.

First Day

Today I start my new job at the La Paz County Courthouse. Wish me luck.

This last week at DG has been very stressful and very busy. Things not getting done, dealing with not getting things done and the general public. I am so happy I am out of retail before the season really got started. People are mean, rude, impatient, and just generally assholes. I'm sure I will still have to deal with that at the new job, just not in the volume that DG manages. I didn't even manage to get my meal break Saturday or Sunday. Our new cashier just needed too much help and there were too many issues and returns to allow more than five or ten minutes to myself. I did manage to inhale my food, but that was about it. And that was after heating it up and then having it sit there waiting for me to get back to it.

Mark is also starting on my garden today. Showed him where the water lines were last night and discussed the plan one more time. Good thing, he hadn't considered the supports at the top. That changed his plan a little. I am hoping to have the garden filled and planted by the end of the weekend. I was too tired to fill the back of the car with cardboard yesterday afternoon so I will still have to do that at some point this week. And I haven't planted up any of my pots so if I need extra soil I can take it from them and replace that soil later.

I am hoping with the new job that I will be happier than I have been all summer. The DG job just wasn't a good fit for me and I wasn't happy and didn't have a life. Hoping to get a little bit of that back. I dreaded going to work every day. And I am looking forward to a normal schedule and something I can plan around.

The park is filling back up for the season and there will be more things to do and people to visit with. Hoping my work schedule won't interfere too much with that, but we'll see. Retirees tend to do things mid afternoon and on week days. Those events I won't be able to make, but am hoping to start Sunday morning breakfasts again very soon. I will have to give up Monday morning coffee tho.

Gotta move the cinder blocks I have under the grow bench, there are bunnies snoozing behind it and quite a bit of rabbit poop. My yard isn't that big, so I will have to consider where I am going to move them too, or just rearrange them so the bunnies can't get back there after I sweep up their droppings.

I will be glad when Saturday gets here. It will be my first day off in ten days. DG worked me right up to the last day so I didn't get a chance to rest up for my first day. I will be going in tired today, tomorrow and the rest of the week. Would have been nice to have had at least one day off before I started my new job, but it is what it is and I just have to deal with it.

Prepping for the new garden

Yesterday I got ambitious and took down the ugly old clothesline. I had to dig out the base as it had been set in concrete so it took a little longer than I had hoped, but it is done and waiting. I also raked back the gravel where the garden will be sitting, no sense in wasting good gravel when I already need more. At some point I will have to break down and order a load since there are several spots in the yard where it is very thin. But that can wait for now.

I filled the hole and watered it down to compact it. That is just about where the walk way will be. I would like it to be solid under foot. I may pave it eventually, but for now will rake the gravel in to walk on.

I found some clothesline brackets on AmazonUK that I can mount on the far side of the garden that will use otherwise unusable space and still give me a clothes line. I considered mounting a folding one on the back of the house, but it is difficult to get there since the back of the patio is closed up. Had to search far and wide to find the ones I ordered as they aren't sold in the US. Go figure. I hated the old clothes line, it is ugly and wasted too much precious yard space. I will now be using that area to grow food and can hang my laundry off the outside. Multitasking.. :) I will end up with four 7 foot sections of line to use. Should be plenty.

I have the coconut coir, the weed cloth, some bags of soil, waiting for the soaker hoses, and have the worm castings. So I am just about ready to go when Mark get the structure done. Hoping to have seed planted by the end of next week. I am already about a month behind in the season. But with the sides and top I should be able to cover it and extend the season with any luck.

I have some cardboard to fill the bottom before putting in the soil, but will need more. And I know where I can get some. Planning on loading up some at work this weekend and if that isn't enough there is a dumpster for cardboard only here in the park. It will eventually turn into soil. No sense in wasting money on bags of soil to fill such a large area when I can do it for free without all the heavy lifting.

The soaker hoses will go on a timer so I won't have to worry about stuff drying out if I don't have enough time to water in the mornings. I may even put up the mister hose I have sitting in the shed doing nothing. I'm sure the plants wouldn't mind.

The modified version of the U shaped kit is going to cost me about $700. That is still less than the kit and it will be high enough to enclose and turn into a greenhouse of sorts. It will be pine/fir instead of cedar, but should be good for a couple of years. I will eventually have to replace pieces, but I am so looking forward to some fresh greens. I am hoping it will pay for itself eventually.

Got some pieces of railroad tie for the driveway. I don't know if they will work or not, will find out tonight when I get home from work. I may have to dig them into the ground and possibly stake them. They need to be removable since they are right in front of the double gates. Time will tell.

Catching up

There are changes coming and I can't say that I am sorry. I had a job interview on Monday, and on Tuesday I was offered the job. I accepted. I will be happy to be out of retail and especially DG. I won't miss the unreasonable demands and expectations, the winter season behind a cash register in Quartzsite and the crazy, ever changing, schedule. I will be working Monday through Friday, 8 to 5 at a real job. Weekends and holidays off. Unpaid holidays, but at least I will be off. It is a grant funded job, so it could end in July, or could last for years. But it is also a foot in the door for a real full time position. Doesn't pay as much as DG, but there will be 40 hours, so it should all even out. It does have health insurance.

The job is Clerk of Courts at La Paz County Courthouse right here in Quartzsite. A five minute commute. If I ever got a bicycle, I could even ride to work. It might be about two miles, maybe three. I will have to measure it one of these days.

I'm not saying this is my dream job or that I will even like it, but it has to be better than the one I am doing right now and certainly a lot less physically demanding. From the job description there looks to be plenty of variety to keep me from getting bored.

With the new job I will have to give up Monday morning coffee, but I will be available for Sunday morning breakfasts again. I miss doing that. It is my social time.

I put a call out to Mark about building a raised bed garden. I saw this one online and like it.

This particular one is a kit and is built with cedar and it runs about $900. We are planning on going with pine and the sides will be six feet so I can cover it when it gets cold. I plan on putting a soaker hose on a timer to make the watering much, much easier. I am hoping the larger soil area will help with growing some veggies and that they won't dry out so fast. If I miss one day of watering the pot garden, it is all over. It isn't going to be cheap, but I hope it will pay for itself within a couple of seasons. The bunnies will have a difficult time getting into this. I plan on putting it beside the shed where the clothes line is now. I will have to relocate the clothes line or do a different one on the patio. Lately I have been using the indoor line because most of the clothes that are getting washed are my work clothes and they are black. Keeping them out of the sun to extend their life. I do miss being able to have a garden a grow some of my own veggies. It is going to cost more than I wanted to spend, but I am going ahead with it. Hope it will be worth it.

Yesterday was the first day with no AC. The nights are cooler now so I can cool the house down and close it up in the morning. Not running the fans as much either. My electric bill for last month was almost half of what it was this time last year. The vinyl over the windows may not be all that great, but it has saved me a fortune in electricity this summer. I am hoping it will do the same in the winter.

I am going to have to rework my wardrobe. New job, new clothing requirements. I need pants. Going to go to Sal's on my day off tomorrow and see what I can come up with. I am also going to have to start walking again since I won't be getting my exercise at work any more. I will have to be very careful about what I eat or I will gain all the weight I lost at DG back. I would still like to loose more.

I have also decided this is the last season I am going to maintain the snowmobile websites. I am planning on sending out a notice after all the updates have been done for the season. I will still host the sites since it is minimal work for me, but I have dreaded working on the sites every fall for several years now. I have been doing it for free and get nothing in return. I struggle with the PHP that Jake set up and loose hours and hours of my time, and he has been gone seven years. Time to pass the baton to someone else. 

My last few shifts at work have been demanding and miserable. Business is starting to pick up and I am having to spend more and more time behind the register limiting whatever else I can get done. Sunday I opened, it was very, very busy. My cashier came in at 10. The only problem with that is that it was his very first day and I was too busy to even deal with it. I worked from 6:30 AM to 1:30 PM without a break, finally got Darrell on the register two hours after he got there, and basically had to babysit him. He did well considering I threw him to the wolves. Last night I had a cashier the whole shift, but we got the truck in. I lost almost two hours of productivity between that and Michelle showing up and wasting my time. (Michelle is the district manager.)

I found a few more grapefruit on my tree, but the first two that Charlene spotted are no where to be found. So the current count is 5. It's a good thing, I was getting ready to cut the tree down if it didn't produce anything this year.

As for the internet, it went out again last week. I didn't hesitate to call this time. Again, it was on their side. Has been running for about a week now. So far so good. I am able to stream without issue, and it is nice to be able to be online, watch a video and do whatever I want without worrying about how much I am spending. Still figuring out the TiVo, haven't spent a lot of time on it. For now it is working even if I have to manually program it. I will figure it out and fix it at some point.