Interview #2

I called a man about scheduling an interview this morning and he's like "can you come in an hour", whoa! I said "of course, I'll be there!" So, I went to this guy's house (he runs his business from home) and knocked on the door. He came to the door...IN HIS PAJAMAS! And he was talking on the phone so I waited for like five minutes for him to finish his phone call then we just chatted. Well, the interview was more of a visit than a formal interview. As the "visit" was winding down he said "well, I want to hire you, is that okay?" Is that okay? That's more than okay. I am officially an employee of United Wildlife. My job duties are as follows: Research how to trap small animals such as skunks, raccoons and little tiny mice, write articles about it for the website, other odd jobs my employer wants me to do (such as typing his personal history). I will be working from home and in his office if I am needed there for any reason. It pays decent and I agreed to 20 hours per week but more if I want. So, the job hunt is OVER, what a relief!

The results are in!

I received an email from the Human Resources department at McKay Dee hospital. They "regret to inform" me that I was not chosen for the phlebotomy position but they appreciated me coming to interview. It's okay though, I actually don't feel to bad about not getting the job. I have already applied for three more this morning! I thought I would be totally disappointed so that fact that I'm totally fine is great! There will be other jobs, other interviews to go to, I certainly can't expect to get the first one!

Here is my uplifting thought for this day, this one is taped to the inside of every journal I own:

Let me have the courage to believe in myself
Not only on the days when I'm going great and nothing seems impossible
But on the days when the world looks lousy and I'm losing
And the road ahead seems too hard;
When I wonder if I'm brave enough, smart enough,
Strong enough and I must be crazy if I try,
Don't let me quit-let me have courage in myself.
No matter how many people discourage me, doubt me,
Laugh at me, warn me, think me a fool...
Don't let me listen, let me hear another voice saying,
"You can do it,"...and, "You will."
If no one else in the world cares of believes in me...
Let me have courage to believe in myself!

Interview #1

Yes, it's true, I finally had an interview and I'm so happy about it! I no longer feel discouraged and frustrated as I did before. Something has come of all this hard work I've been doing and it's an exciting feeling...a rush! I got a call from McKay Dee Hospital where I had applied for a phlebotomy position, they wanted to interview me and so yesterday I went for my interview. The ladies that interviewed me were way relaxed, they were eating their lunch while they talked to me. I answered all the questions so good except for one phlebotomy specific question but I'm not too worried about that one. Overall I feel confident that I, in fact, did a great job and this position will be mine! The hours are weird for this particular job, it's PRN so I would be called in whenever one of the regular staff can't be there even if it's in the middle of the night! How crazy is that? It pays well and it seems like such a great environment. In case I don't end up getting this job (I won't know for two weeks) I applied for two more today and even had another interview set up for monday. The job search is looking up and I'm so hopeful now!

Fact of the day: scolding hot hot chocolate will burn your taste buds off :)

My photoGRAPHY

This is some of my most recent photography, I just chose my favorite ones to share at this point but I'm sure more will follow!

Positivity

In an effort to keep Blogalicious a positive environment I will periodically post my favorite quotes, stories etc...I believe that they are very powerful. So, we'll start off with my Halloween night story: I thought I wasn't' going to dress up, I thought I would just take Timini around to trick-or-treat but then I decided that I would like to dress up because it would be so much fun! So, I got a white ball cap and stuck letters on it forming the word "pickle" and then I bought a green t-shirt which completed my costume. Also, I put green face paint under my eyes. Timini was a teddy bear and I was a pickle. We went to a halloween carnival at the junior high school and played games, I decorated a sugar cookie with licorice and candy corn and did a ring toss and won a root beer, we also ate pizza and visited with a bunch of people that we know. After the carnival was over we went across the street to the church parking lot and did the trunk-or-treat. I had so much fun! So, that was halloween night!

MM Saga

It's time to tell the Michael McLean story. First I must say that he is awesome and he is absolutely my "hero of the music writing world". That being said I must tell about why we are good buddies. It all started at ladies night out at Deseret Book a few weeks ago. I went with mom and Manda. We went to see Michael McLean perform early in the day, we showed up about 3/4 of the the way through his performance, I was able to request a song though. I requested "Sick and Tired" which describes my life perfectly. He invited me to sit right in front of him and started singing this song to me. Then, with the help of some inspiration I'm sure, he told me not to move because he was going to sing me one more song entitled "You Don't Know". Afterward we went and talked to him, did the whole "will you sign my CD" thing and we became buddies. Then the songwriting workshop happened. I emailed him my music and asked him to critique it and his response to that email was "call me, I want to talk to you about this" then gave his number. He ended up calling me on Friday morning which was a fabulous surprise. We talked for a long time and he said that he loved my music. WOW! That's a huge compliment. Before we hung up he said "well, it looks like you're stuck with me now, we're going to be best buds from now on, is that okay?" then he told me I'm the coolest and the convo ended. He's really such a neat guy. That's the story of Michael McLean an our buddiness.

Tip of the day: wear padded pants when riding a trotting horse

"Grey's" Anonymous

"Hello, my name is Cassie"
"Hello Cassie"
"I am here today because I have a problem (sympathetic look from group members). I am addicted to Grey's Anatomy (gasp). I began watching Grey's just for fun, just to see what it was about and everything went downhill from there. I must confess that I have purchased the first three seasons on DVD (looks of horror from the group). I have watched them all TWICE! I thought that watching the first episode was harmless but I seem to find myself in the never-ending cycle or addiction, spiraling out of control. I need help. I waste countless hours of my life thinking about Grey's and Patrick Dempsy and his hair, I record every episode in case I need to get a "fix" after it has ended. What do I do? Have I completely lost it? I would just like to tell all of you out there...don't even get started. This is no way to live and if you have found yourself in a situation similar to mine, please seek help as soon as possible, don't let it go on forever."
(Supportive remarks from the group)
I have just shared with all of you one of my deepest, darkest most personal secrets. I love Grey's Anatomy. Every episode seems to draw me in deeper and deeper. Not only are there a bunch of seriously cute doctors but it is also intriguing and suspensful and funny (what would we do without humor!) There are times when I just want to strangle the characters or shake them or slap them...but it all turns out in the end.
Please turn your attention to the top of the screen, you will noticed that I have recently changed the name of my blog, blogalicious has a nice ring to it don't you think?

Food of the day: Chocolate Chip Teddy Bear crackers...mmm mmm good!

Unemployment rate = 100%

I am unemployed, as an unemployed individual I make up approximately .0000001% of the unemployment rate in Utah, how special. For what seems like decades I have been actively looking for a job but, since I am still unemployed I obviously haven't found one yet. Do you know what frustrates me? I've sent out probably 15 resumes to various companies and haven't got a single stinkin' call!! Also, I had a weekend job that was supposed to start soon and was informed YESTERDAY that they no longer are offering this position...suck! My unemploymentness is starting to cause me consternation (I learned that one from my padre) and all sorts of stress. I thought "how cool, I don't have a job, I can sit around and watch movies and eat cheez-its all day" but NO this is not fun. I cannot accurately describe my boredom with this routine. Today I applied for two more jobs and I am currently using the "power of the secret" and harnessing my chi and all that weird stuff in hopes that I will get one of them.
Just for kicks and giggles I will describe to you a typical day in my life:

7:30 a.m. - hit the treadmill

8:20 a.m. - hit the shower

9:00 a.m. - hit the refrigerator

9:30 a.m. - sit at the computer doing pointless things (unless my dad has something for me to do)

11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. - wander aimlessly

After 4:00 my lovely sisters are home from school and I can bug them or we can go shopping or head to Starbucks...whatever. So, that's a day in my life, I'm not even joking.
So, everyone pray that the "job gods" have pity on me and hook me up!

RANDOMNESS

The official link http://www.memoryexpressionsthroughstory.com/ (I guess I forgot to come back and post it, don't I feel sheepish!)

Anyway, a few great things have happened in the last couple of days. On friday I went to Salt Lake with my mom and it was fabulous! First, we went to the car dealership to talk about trading my car for a BRAND SPANKIN NEW Honda Civic (it's soooo cute!) and then we went to a songwriting workshop that Michael McLean was holding and it was awesome.

New Character: Lisa-the wonderful woman who writes the music to my songs

So, Lisa was able to come, I've only actually met her once, she lives in Idaho so it was so incredible to see her and talk with her more. She is a great person. The workshop was so helpful and I feel very privelaged to have gone...hee, hee and my good budy Michael (long story, saving it for another post) took a picture with me

Observe...the picture

After the workshop we went back to the car dealership to test drive the two civics I've been looking at and picked out the one I wanted. So, that was Friday. Saturday I finished my very first Heritage Makers book and because I love all of you so much I'm going to let you be the first to see it (the pictures in the book...yeah...I took them!)

Today I gave a talk in church and surprise! I volunteered to do and it was dang good, thank you very much. It seemed to go well. The second I said Amen my family was out the back door of the chapel on their way to a missionary farewell in Orem-ish area but I decided I didn't know the missionary (my mom's cousin's son) so I stayed for sacrament meeting like a good girl and now I seem to have found myself alone. I watched Carousel and for your information it was slow, boring and the actors couldn't sing and it was made in like the 40's or something, I don't recommend it.

The end!

No ball for you Cinderella

So, my mom and I are doing this totally AWESOME new storybooking business. It's called Heritage Makers (the official link to the website will follow at a later date, probably tomorrow), it's the best way to tell your story for future generations and it's absolutely priceless. Anyway, we decided to hold a workshop so we could let others know about this new exciting thing and give them a chance to tell their stories as well. We decided it would be best to plan to hold a workshop on two different days that way the people we invited could choose the best day that worked for them. We chose October 14 and October 22. Last night we got set up and even put out some yummy treats and waited....and waited....and waited. Finally at 7:15 we saw lights in our driveway signaling that a spaceship had just landed or someone had actually come to hang out with us!! It was the later. It turns out however that this neighbor had just come to get some new reading material from my dad's vast library of thrilling, mind engaging novels and then she told us that she would be coming to our "party" next week. Oh well, we tried. We are going to have an excellent turn out next week though so we can look forward to that! My mom came to tuck me in after we had cleaned up our party stuff and said "well I guess I'm turing in" and I said "turning into what?" and she said "a pumpkin" and thus the night ended.
My next rambling has nothing to do with this "no party" that happened rather it will focus on my ED group. I have been going to ED group for about a year and have made some friends. Well, during my little "sebaticle" in Cedar City recently the group changed. I showed up at group three weeks ago and there is not one single person that I know and it's scary. I skipped a week because I was nervous and wanted to watch Timini barrell race instead but I went last week. Today I showed up for group expecting to see the faces of these lovely ladies who I don't know but I was the only one who showed up. It was actually more like an individual therapy session because Robin is the group leader and my therapist as well. It was fun to hang out with her for that hour and a half. We talked about all sorts of things and laughed a little too much. This ends the my random speaking for the day.
OH! It's Fat Talk Free Week!!!! Don't forget to sign the promise! http://www.bodyimageprogram.org/action/fattalkfreeweek/

Tip of the day: don't eat vegetable soup unless it contains alphabet noodles!!

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's...bike ride?"

New character: Robin-my incredible, well educated, booty kickin' therapist
I went to therapy land today, I always love going to therapy land. I sat on the couch (it's a new couch btw, very comfy) across from Robin and got all prepared to talk about deep, dark, twisty stuff but instead we started talking about...activities! I love activities. One activity that came up was bike riding which I have develope a new love for. Robin decided this would be a good place to insert an analogy (therapist seem to be quite good at these) . She said that breaking bad habits is a little bit like riding a bicycle. For years and years you have a bad habit and then it comes time to change the habit which is like getting on a bike after not riding for a long time. At first you are hesitant and wobbly and even a little scared to get back on the bike but after a while it becomes easier and less scary. Overcoming a bad habit is scary and you feel a bit hesitant at first but the more you do the opposite of you bad habit, the more comfortable it becomes and BOOM! No more bad habit. Also, as you ride along on your bike (or new, good habit) there will be hills to climb and when you see the hills you think "oh crap, I'm gonna die before I make it up that thing!" but if you take it slow and steady you will get to the top and then you can coast down the other side! How awesome is this?

Tip of the day: don't get up at 6:00 a.m. to have your hair curled

In the fertile month of January

September 23 marked the first day of a whirwind of family birthdays. My grandma has the great honor of heading of weeks filled with celebration. After grandma's birthday we found ourselves indulging in cake and ice cream for my mom's birthday, by the way her birthday happened to be crazy awesome due to some incredible daughters (not bragging...I'm just saying...). Two days later is Aunt Teen's birthday, I think she's like 40 or something now? The very next day Amanda and Timini celebrate the day they came in to the world together only 6 years apart. This was a fun day, we had twice the presents, twice the cake and twice the balloons. October 1st came around and my cousin Braxton turned 11. I must insert a great story here: Timini was born on September 30, while my mom was at the hospital having her, my Aunt Brenda was just down the all preparing to have Braxton who did not come until the next day, thus Timini and Braxton are only hours apart from each other, the end. It is October 2nd today and it's my dad's turn to be in the "one year older" spotlight. There will be no cake today, instead we will enjoy a fresh peach cobbler complete with candles. October 7th will be the last of this massive clump or birthdays and it is my grandpa who will bring up the tail end.

Yes, January must be the fertilest (word?) month for my family because nine months goes by and BAM we have all these birthdays. Happy birthday everyone!

Recipe of the day: Cut up one carrot in the shape of wheels and put in steamer dish with 1 Tbsp of hot water, microwave for 1 minute and COVER with salt...enjoy!

Post without a name

I went to my Grandma's house over the weekend and enjoyed a lovely time surrounded by the smell of Idaho potatoes and dirt! I actually went with my mom and Amanda to attend a craft fair which was awesome! It was seriously a party. We spent most of the day at the craft fair. It was also my mom's b-day and we totally surprised her with presents and we bought balloons and a cake for her and celebrated. I bet it was the best b-day she ever had!
Sad story: when it was time to go home I put the balloons in the car and accidentally let go of them and they are now orbiting the earth.

Completely different topic: I've found myself wondering what to do when boredom seems to be the most exciting thing in life. I've tried various things such as staring at a wall, talking to a stuffed bear I might possibly be crazy...note to self "seek help" and stuff like reading but my attention span is nonexistent so I could use some ideas because I've exhausted all of my own :)

Since I can't think of anything else to say this post seems to be over!

*tip of the day: don't lock your keys in the trunk of your car

Cowgirl up!

Recently I have developed a great love for all things "cowboy", yes that is correct. What I love most about this most rececnt phase in my life is horse riding. I've been riding a pony named Cimmaron

Observe... Me on Cimmaron

So, at first I was like "no way am I getting on a horse, EVER" because of a traumatic horse experience a few years ago but I went ahead and got on. As I was riding the horse was sneezing and this was the point where I freaked out and jumped off. I've become more comfortable with horse riding and can now stay on the horse for a whole five minutes. I decided to reward myself for my bravery and invested in a pair of boots...I never thought I would ever say that and they are almost my favorite pair of shoes.

Observe...the boots

So, basically horse therapy (as I prefer to call it) is a wonderful way to get therapized.

The day of celebration I forgot

It's the lovely month of September...actually it is quite a lovely month. This month marks the second anniversary...of my singleness. Ah, I'm lovin' life! We all hope to be happily married one day, in my case it was just plain "married" nothing happily about it and now I'm happily not married which is even better!
I once thought "I'm single now, a reject, a failure" but NO! Life is better now, life is actually good being single. I attempted marriage in all my youthful stupidity and now as far as I'm concerned it never even happend. I'm movin' on, I'm bustin' out! There are brighter days ahead my friends and I'm going out to celebrate my anniversary without a husband!
September 14th is the actual day of divorce paper finalization and it came and went without me remembering but I'm remembering now and there's a party going on in my tiny little head! I think I'll buy myself a present...

Tip of the day: nobody actually cares what you will be eating for lunch on wednesday

Some vital info

First let me introduce some of the characters of whom I will speak:

Me, I, Myself etc: Cass, the author of my life
Mom: she who birthed me, my hero
Dad: my male parental unit
Kade: my bro
Manda: my sister and best friend
Timini: the baby of the fam, my other sister and best friend
Little Man: my very adorable kitty
Addi: my friend of the k-9 variety
Tucker: the baby k-9, my puppy
Lyn: my very good friend, one of the most important people in my life
Sarah: my california friend, a very funny person
ED: my eating disorder, anorexia, life sucker, dream killer...

*All other characters will be introduced at the time of their appearance