Good things about new employer/new job:
1) Employer has not filed for Chapter ANYTHING. In fact, if anything they have too much work! (Supposedly, if I’d started a few weeks ago I would have been insanely busy at work).

2) Free lunch on Fridays.

3) Jeans are OK any day of the week. (So cool. I know it sounds silly, but at my old job they refused to let us wear jeans unless it was Friday).

4) Benefits are…pretty good! (Not totally the boondoggle I was hoping for, but I still think there is a savings in there)

5) Job security. One of the ladies I interviewed with told me at lunch today that she really wanted to hire me to work with her but that the HR lady overruled her. Oh well. Maybe next time! And that’s something else…I truly believe I will go places at this company.

6) Sign with my name on it. I saw my cubicle and it says “Elaine Last Name” on it. YES! 9.75 years and I never got that! Sounds dumb, but I am so excited!

On an unrelated note: I’m going to use the Mahjobiscrappis category for this post, but only because I haven’t made a category for “Mahjobbis::crossingfingers::”.

So, Wednesday was it. I got to work a little early and worked my ass off (seriously, I was in the middle of writing an insurance procedure at zero hour – never finished, btw) until Boss Gwen announced that lunch was ready. She had ordered a huge range of Chinese food for us all to eat and enjoy!

All of us sat in the conference room and ate and talked talked talked. Everyone signed a very sweet “farewell” card and pitched in to get me a membership to the Chocolate of the Month club. Once a quarter for the next year I’ll get a box of candy! What a great idea!

After everyone went back to work, Gwen and I talked for a few minutes. Mostly about my replacement and all I could really say was, “It’ll be fine!” (Privately, I told D that “It’ll be a nightmare!”).

Then, we loaded up the car with the last of my stuff (and leftover Farewell Cheesecake, leftover Chinese food and Good Luck balloons). Gwen and I tried to stay very stoic about it and not cry (well, OK, it would have been more along the lines of WAHOO from my side of the table).

Yesterday, I hung around the house until noon, then I picked up lunch for D and I and drove out to her house where we ate and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked. Since I hadn’t seen her for more than an hour since her surgery, it was so freaking nice to spend all that time with her. Especially since I didn’t have to keep an ear out for Gwen (who was understandably annoyed to see her two underlings yammering instead of working). Oh, it was a wonderful day.

Today, I again hung around the house until noon and then Gene and I went to see the new movie Inception. OMG, it was a great movie but it was very confusing. I wonder if Leonardo DeCaprio will ever evolve into a comedic actor or if he’ll stick to playing troubled men (Revolutionary Road, all those Scorcese movies, etc)?

And now I’m geeking although I should go be a good girl and clean the kitchen, which is just…in need of a good sweeping, wipe down and steam mopping.

Monday, I start a new adventure.

The new washer (btw, “warsher” is how it is pronounced sometimes in Indiana) was delivered and installed Thursday. I got as far as hearing the little tune it plays when you raise the lid but didn’t use it yet.  (I was at D’s house so I got home late and ehhh, wasn’t inspired to do laundry yet).

Therefore, I am now using it for the first time and it is so great to have the option of clean clothes again.  The new washer is ginormous – 5 cubic feet of laundry goodness. I’m glad I bought the really big one because two weeks of dirty clothes for the two of us = 10+ cubic feet. I will be curious to see if the machine acts any different when it’s merely one week of dirty clothes.

Anyway – one load into this, I am so glad to have the new machine and I am glad I stuck to my guns about buying another top loading machine. At Lowes on Tuesday, I was down to either the Maytag or a Whirlpool. Maytag had a better warranty (plus, it was cheaper thanks to the price match at Home Depot), which is goofy since Maytag is owned by Whirlpool.

So, this is my life. I’m 33 and excited about laundry.

(Wait, water’s necessary to wash clothes? Boo, then).

Anyway, until Monday the water would eventually come out and I could do laundry (hooray!) but Monday, no water, no matter long I waited (and yes, I did wait 4 hours, thank you!). So the repairman came over this morning. Gene called me to let me know that the gizmo I mentioned above is the culprit and that a fancy one would be $100 and would require a day or two to order the part or a standard one would be $50 and the repairman could fix it right away.

And then Gene called back an hour later. The repairman suddenly doesn’t think it’s the gizmo after all. Instead, he thinks it’s the whatchamacalit or the doobamaflochie. The whatchamacalit is $50 and the doobamaflochie is $75. “Well, fercryingoutloud, order it!”

Bad news: While both of those items have existed somewhere in the history of Planet Earth, they are no longer available. Damn. (Washer is 10 years old, top loading, Maytag, love it dearly). Repairman says we can call Maytag and hope they have a spare part laying around – I can hear that conversation “Hello, Maytag. I need a part for my top loading washing machine. What kind is it? Ummm, white?” – or we can suck it up and go buy a new one.

(Oh, why why why why WHYYYYYY did I not just buy a new one during the 4th of July sales?)

(Yes, I know… if I had purchased a new washer, the problematic part in the old machine would have been readily available to the point where we could have built a washing machine out of a case of the part)

And in case you’re curious why I am relating this tale at midnight it’s for several reasons:

First, after we went to Lowes we limped across the street to Chick-Fil-A* and I got a large Diet Dr. Pepper.

Second, I am beating myself up for not getting one of those handy 10% Lowes coupons because I googled it and I could have combined the coupon with a price match of the identical machine at Home Depot (cheaper at HD but I don’t care for them) and saved $100 plus the price match. Arrrrgh. I was going to go to the post office at lunch and get one of those moving kits because that has the coupon inside, I hear.

* Do you think that in France they spell it Chic-Fils-A?

So anyway, I have a dilemma. At my new job, I will have 2 weeks of vacation a year (plus sick time and my birthday off). I start the job on 7/19. Gene still wants to go to Germany to visit his friend and his family. How on Earth do I ask for a week off less than two months into starting a new job? What if they say no? And say I can’t have the job after all? And then I end up with zero jobs?

I know the answer is I should call the HR director at the new company and talk to her about it but I am so very scared. When I had an interview with another company in March, they made it clear that I’d be lucky to have 5 consecutive days off anytime in the next year. New Employer seems more laid back than that but am I pressing my luck?

Ugh.

*More horrifying, I tried to spell the word “spell” as “spelle.”

I am glad to pass them on (especially to a friend) but, still. (I feel like such a Debbie Downer saying that, but, still). Gene and I talked about it a week or two ago and he apologized for stopping Plan B but I admit that the Stash is something I brought on myself. But, still.

Talked to The Almighty D this morning. She is still in the hospital (and will be THRILLED to find out I said that here). She’s doing OK and I am sooooo very glad. (Again, I know that none of you have met her but believe me, she’s my Advisor of all Things Culinary, Medical, Relationship and Misc so believe me, you’d love her!)

Work related: Having Job Acceptance Remorse. Sigh. I know it’ll all work out but I’m scared I jumped too quickly. Maybe I should have just waited for the current company to go toes up.

Entertainment: Just watched Beavis & Butthead Do America. It still holds up after fourteen years. I love Beavis & Butthead.

Even a real live doctor agrees. She* even prescribed luscious Prednisone for me to take for the next 9 days along with some over the counter Zyrtec. So, I may be itchy, but (as I already said on Facebook) my house will be clean.

As you may know – and I know I have covered this because a search for “prednisone” on my blog brings up no less than 8 different posts where I have extolled the virtues of Prednisone – it gives me a crazy amount of energy. My plan right now is to clean my entire house  (hahahahahahahah) and then when I finish the Pred, go to the Almighty D’s house and repeat the process. (She will be incapacitated).

* Had to see Dr. Ladydoctor because Dr. Hottie is out of the office all week. WTF Hottie? Whither the Doctor Hottiness? (Wait, what does “Whither” mean?)

Ugh. Woke up this morning with hives. I have never had them before in my entire life. Ick. Feel so gross. WebMD said to take an antihistamine and smear some hydrocortisone on the spots so that’s what I have done. If I don’t look at least 50% better tomorrow morning I am going to the doctor.

Grumble, grumble.

Hmm. What? I have no idea what to think, so I’m just going to hang out and wait to see what happens. Did I mention that Boss Gwen (as opposed to Niece G-Dawg) knows I was at an interview yesterday? I haven’t verified it but I imagine that she’ll know for sure soon enough.

This whole process is so weird. I have never been pursued for a job. I started as a temp at the company I work for now – basically, after 90 days of temping if you aren’t obviously a moron or stealing, you got hired on. And nearly 10 years later, ta-da!

This brings me to my next point: I’m supposed to have the last week of June off. Originally we were going to Berlin but then (Duh) I priced the flight and realized that THAT wouldn’t happen. Then we hit upon the idea of a road trip to Arkansas to visit my grandfather. And, well, I haven’t really planned THAT either. So now I don’t know what I’m going to do that week. (I did price flights from Cheesecake to Indianapolis and from Indianapolis to Little Rock – inexplicably the whole thing costs less than a flight from Cheesecake City to just Indy or Little Rock. Airlines you are too confusing).

(However: someone – not me – is having surgery that week  so maybe I’ll just stay here and see if she can get me a hook up for an IV built for two).

(really, I don’t know. It would be so much easier if I were unemployed and independently wealthy.)

First, I love coupons. I am a geek with my purple plastic envelope full of them. (Speaking of coupons, I just sent my brother and his wife an envelope full of diaper and formula coupons – act surprised, Bill!). Right after I hand over my Store discount card, I also shove over the coupons I want the cashier to apply mostly because I get so excited and/or horrified watching the total that I would forget if I waited.

Second, I have a list of items that I Will No Longer Buy Full Price. This includes soda, paper towels, health and beauty items, laundry stuff, condiments and basic staples. Yes, I will literally go without diet soda if I haven’t bothered to stock up on any when it’s on sale. Alternatively, yes, I will live in a house with 6 or more 12 packs of Diet Cherry Pepsi (it’s really not THAT many) when it’s on sale for buy 2, get 3 free. I try to combine store sales and coupons whenever possible.

Third, when I’m shopping on the internet, I have learned that www.ebates.com and www.bing.com are my best friends. I am still kicking myself for not using Ebates when I booked my flights to Malaysia back in 2008 – 1% would have been a nice chunk of $. I started off using Ebates but lately I’ve had better luck with Bing cash back. I also love Slickdeals.net – the people in those forums are crafty (like D). When I’m excited about a tube of toothpaste for $1, they’re annoyed they can’t get it for free. Plus, they have sources for finding out the drug store ads weeks ahead of time, which is great (until I get to the store and think, HEY why isn’t soap on sale??? and realize it’s on sale in July – sigh).

Fourth, I am working on becoming patient and not buying stuff I don’t need. I am also trying to teach this to Gene in terms of video game prices. That said, I am glad I am usually at work on Black Friday because a day devoted to getting a low price on stuff is dangerous for me. Sometimes I think I am a dangerous shopper when I see a deal on something I absolutely do not need (example: washer/dryer set) but….aarrrgh! I still want it! The phrase “The deal will be there later” sometimes works. Other times…well, let’s put it this way: after I finish this post I’m going to scoot over to CVS and turn some Extra Care Bucks into more stuff.

Finally (because I really want to get to CVS!!), I have stopped carrying cash. Gene and I each had a sum of $ on us for the trip to Las Vegas, which made sense because we were traveling and valets, etc do not take debit cards. However, once that money is gone I’m back to plastic only. Dave Ramsey advocates getting out all your spending money (gas, groceries, etc) in cash and once that $ is gone, it’s gone. For me, it’s better to have no cash and have to explain why I went to Wendy’s for lunch. And needless to say, if I did have a ridiculous amount of cash on me, I’d just spend it on stupid things (witness my multiple McDonalds trips this week). Which is how I got the Gymboree stash (now, who wants some boys Gymbo??).

So, those are my thoughts. Yes, pretty obvious stuff to anyone but me, but I’m glad I came up with them. And, it makes me feel like I did something of value.

* RRRRRGGGH. Bra shopping is the only thing worse than swimsuit shopping. At least I don’t wear a swimsuit every day.