Long time no see

Well, howdy.

For my re-entry blog, a vent. Woo hoo, bet you're super excited? And what is this wonderful vent about, you ask? My lovely job! Super exciting, no?

So, here we go...

Backstory: we get our schedules on Tuesdays, that schedule runs through the following week. They're subject to change, which is understandable, however, one would think that if a schedule changes they'd be wanting to let the person know, right? Apparently not.

For instance, my schedule this week read: Sunday - 3-8:30, Monday - 6-10, Saturday 3-9:30.
So, that left Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off. Sweet.

I took the kids in today so that they could each pick out a toy and so that I could check my schedule for next week. Something had been nagging at me all day and I was honestly thinking I'd been rescheduled to work Wednesday or something. Not quite, but pretty close.

They'd changed it so that I was to work tonight. I did not receive a phone call or any other sort of notification. They didn't bother to ask me if I even could work tonight. My guess is that they assumed that I would stop in on every one of my off days to make sure I was actually off.

I was absolutely livid when I saw it. There's one manager there who I don't really get along with. She and the store's main manager were there when I got this little tidbit of Jenna screwing over today. Rather than go to the store manager, I went to the one I don't like. She's made MANY comments over my time there about how f'ed up the scheduling is, and she has kids, so I figured she'd understand.

Shockingly, I was right. She was totally cool about it, because really, am I psychic? And really, can this really be considered calling off? If I didn't know I was to work, it can't be a call off, so ha ha ha.

Needless to say, I'm on the lookout for a better job.

Happiness

I use StumbleUpon and today I stumbled into this site: The Happiness Project. It looked like fun, so here's my happiness interview. =)

1. How do you define happiness?
Happiness to me is more than just a feeling. It's peace, contentment and a physical sensation of well-being. It's doing good things and making a difference. It's knowing all is right within yourself and with your surroundings.

2. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your happiness now verses when you were a child?
My childhood was varied in happiness. Up until I was 4, I'd say an 8. From 4-14, I'd have to go with a 2 or lower. After 14, it would be a 7 or 8 again. Adulthood has also been a mix, but to average it out, I'd say a 7.

3. What do you do on a daily basis that brings you happiness? (and how consistent is the feeling of happiness throughout your day?)
On school days, I wake Helena up with kisses and tickles, which makes us both pretty happy. I clean the house, which brings a feeling of satisfaction. While satisfaction isn't exactly happiness, it's close. I play with Ollie, I talk with Matt. The consistency varies, it depends on my interactions with others and the way I feel upon waking. Sometimes I just wake up "on the wrong side of the bed."

4. What things take away from your happiness? What can be done to lessen their impact or remove them from your life?
The way I'm treated by others has a direct effect on my happiness. If someone around me is in a bad mood or is rude to me, it has a drastic impact on my mood for the rest of the day. There isn't much I can do about it, honestly. It's so deeply ingrained into my being that it would be a complete change of personality to adjust it.

5. What do you plan on doing in the future that will bring you even more happiness?
Finding a job that is more satisfying would be beneficial, I'm sure. However, in the current economy, those are hard to come by. I wand to go back to school and earn my degree. Buying a house eventually, gaining a better self image.

So, if you want to participate, here's the link: Happiness Project Guidelines

It appears as though I've lied

But I really didn't. I had the best intentions of posting a blog yesterday, but I ended up with a busy day.

My mother-in-law had carpal tunnel surgery on Thursday, so Ollie and I swung over there to check on her and we took Penny, her dog, to the dog groomer's. Stayed for lunch and while we did that, my father-in-law took the Santa Fe I'm buying and got a new battery installed.

Once we got home, I had to get Helena and then to Taco Bell. Helena and I then cleaned the vast majority of the house last night. She earned her allowance by helping dust, clean windows and fold laundry. By the time all of that was done, I was one tired momma.

Around 3:30 this morning, Helena came into my room, crying. She'd gotten cold in her sleep and had an accident. Unfortunately, she'd been laying with her knees locked at the edge of her bed and her arms tightly curled under her. Her legs and arms hurt and she'd been calling for me, but since I was asleep, I didn't hear her. =( Talk about feeling like a bad mom. So, once she woke me up, I got her changed and resituated in my room.

So, clearly it was a frantic day!

Today's going to be a bit better and more lowkey.

Coming soon

Yeah, here I am again. I've never been one to be on top of things, but I swear, tonight or tomorrow, a meaningful, well-thought out blog. Okay, well, maybe a rambling, less-than-thought out one, but one none the less. I'm sure you're excited and wondering how you'll manage to wait it out, but keep steady and try to not obsess, it'll be here soon enough.

Trouble sleeping

I'm having a hard time falling asleep at night. I end up hitting the snooze button repeatedly and it never fails that I get up way too late. This makes Helena late for school, which is bad, for obvious reasons.

I was concerned that this was a side effect of my anti-depressant, Celexa. However, it seems to not be. Celexa is known to make people tired, not keep them awake. I went to the doctor today and we decided to try to fix the problem without sleeping medication, because I honestly would prefer to not be medicated to sleep. I know what some people do on those medications (eat, drive with no memory of the events) and I'd really rather not have those effects.

So the plan is this: I'll start by tapering off my caffeine consumption. Once I get the caffeine out of my system by bedtime it should help. I'm also going to start a nightly bedtime routine and force myself to get up at the same time every day.

She said that the act of forcing myself awake will alter the time I get sleepy over time, which I'd read not too long ago somewhere online. So I'll start tomorrow. The big thing is no naps, which is not going to be fun because I love to nap, but I have to get up in the mornings, so I'm going to go all out for this.

I'm clumsy

I am not graceful, I've accepted it.

I frequently walk into things, bump the wall or table, fall down stairs. Usually I don't hurt myself too badly, but my stairs are brutal.

If you look at the above photo, you'll understand why I think they're out to get me. The first time I fell, I was up near the top (where Helena's foot is). The second time, I was about even with the filing cabinet.

The first time I managed to stop the fall with my legs. I also had Helena as a passenger, yes, piggybacking adventures are my speciality. The second time, well, I couldn't really stop the fall, per se. I sort of landed at the bottom on my feet.

The first time, I was pretty banged up. My left calf hit that metal tube in the center pretty hard, and my right shin ended up banging along the rail, which is also metal. The second time, I went straight on my back.

I don't think I should go up or down them anymore.

Elsewhere in the world

I'm already 30.

Imagine my joy at logging onto my last.fm account and seeing it tell me I'm 30 a day early. Technically, not seeing as it is tomorrow in England. However, that doesn't detract from the fact that it's there.

I'm weird this year. I usually really look forward to my birthday. Even if nothing happens, it's still my birthday, so it's always been a good day. I'm not looking at it with the same reverence this year is all.

30's not looking so bad, I guess.