Work Pants

Those are the work pants I picked up at Goodwill for $4.99 each. Not bad at all for the price considering even a new pair on sale at Target last week was $15.99.

These are not pants I would have normally bought; I wear jeans almost exclusively because these kinds of pants are boring and drab and I happen to like how I look in jeans that fit well. Plus, these types of pants are so IT looking. I was in IT once (full blown network IT manager and user support for a decent sized construction company) and even then I didn't wear Microsoft pants.

Yep, that's what I call them "Microsoft Pants". Granted it could be worse but in my thrifty/forced to be frugal life, Goodwill was the best option for me.

Two are brands I am not familiar with (left two) and the second to right is Merona (Target brand) and the last pair are Dockers. I am kind of bummed because I had gone and picked out the first pair, the black and the last pair of Dockers along with another pair of Dockers. The other pair of Dockers were the same size but longer in the leg yet they were too big around the waist and hips. I was quite surprised because Dockers is a Levi's brand and I rarely have problems with Levi's jeans except for the length. But what was a real drag was they were a red tag and red tags were 50% off last week so I would have had three pair at $4.99 and one pair at $2.49. Eh, I returned them, found those Meronas and that's that.

I will admit, I am in a state of sadness today. While I am still semi self-employed, I now am working outside the home for someone else and I am not real happy about that. I am a very independent woman and the thought of having to be at some place at certain times through the week (with the same walls and same people) makes me a bit sad and a bit frustrated too. I've been able to set my work schedule for most of my life since January 1994 when I moved from Colorado Springs to Grand Junction to start my outside sales career. That's close to 16 years of me calling the shots.

But for some part-time work here and there, a stint at a tile company (that's a long story), tis a long time for independence.

Anyhow, yeah, quite a bit of uneasiness about this combined with working for a large corporation. I know I can do a good job and I will do a good job but with the loss of my independence I worry.

I just hope that tonight I get a good night of sleep and this first week doesn't send me into "What am I doing? What have I done?" I do not want to be a bad employee.

Last weekend my brothers and I got the rest of the stuff out of the storage unit:



If you look carefully you can see Sonny (cat) hanging out on a very old and ugly comfortor I've had since the mid 80s. It was useful for a lot of things through the years (not on my bed though) so I will hang on to it for a while longer.

But it's kind of sad to see all your stuff fit into an 855 sq. ft. apartment when I took up a good majority of the 1400 sq. ft. house I lived in for 11 years. A ton of it is gone and thinking through some of the things I got rid of, I really wish I had just hung on to them until I had a good chance to go through my stuff. I only had three weeks from rehab to the move to get my bearings together and that was just not enough time to think things through.

I made snap decisions about what was donated and such and in hindsight, there's a lot of stuff I am regretting having gotten rid of. The clothes I donated HAD to go but some of the things that were my mom's, things I had picked out that I really liked, my own little jewelry collection, etc are gone and there's no turning back on any of that.

I guess you could say that today I am sort of in mourning. My independence is partially gone and the things that I didn't have time to make good decisions on getting rid of are somewhere in the world.

I will snap out of it but there's a lot of apprehension, sadness, anger, etc today.

I'm employed outside the home!

Had an interview today with an animal daycare/kennel. I got the job!

Tomorrow I go for my pee test (I will pass with flying colors) and then when they get the results back, I am to start the day after they receive them soooo, yipeee!

I will primarily be dealing with the pet parents, taking phone calls, processing payments and such. I will also be trained to take care of those wagging tails and meowing faces and help out in the main store as needed. I think it's a good fit for me.

It's part-time and I am just fine with that. Being self-employed for so long, this will be a transition for sure but since it's part-time, the transition will be a lot easier to swallow.

Now I am thinking of all the things I can start to work towards that I have put off for so long and some of my immediate needs are a new pair of Danskos because they are the only shoe brand I own that doesn't make me want to cry (I have horrible feet). New glasses and not the cheapest either, I need glasses that can handle me using a tshirt to clean them without the minor scratching...the pair I have now weren't the cheapest but they weren't like my LensCrafters glasses (that I still have) that took a heck of a beating. Also, I can finally look for a comforter for my bed so I am not making it twice a day. Then there are the not so fun things like paying down some debt (all private as I don't have any credit cards, thankfully).

So YAY! That takes a load off my mind and I think it will be a good fit for me. I am confident I can and will do a good job because I am that way. I am not a wuss.

A couple of small projects are in the works. I went to Hobby Lobby to look at the fabric remnants on Saturday because I am tired of using a towel to block the cold air at the front door (it faces north) from the winds we get here. I found a 7/8 yard remnant (52" wide) of basic canvas for $3.67 which would have been $6.11! They had poly fill on sale so I got two of those - one for one of the dog beds (it's gone flat) and the other for making a door draft dodger. I also got two adhesive strips of Velcro to attach the draft dodger to the door so it will keep the air out when I leave the house. I will have to hand sew it but that's okay, I am going for function over beauty here.

The other project will be to use the remaining canvas to cover the front of my craft and computer shelves:


Photo from Sept. 16

I only have black thread so I thought I would have a bit of fun with it using a blanket stitch - we'll see how that goes, I haven't done embroidery stitches in years. How I am going to attach it, that's another story. In my travels tomorrow, I will see if I can find a simple tension rod like you might find for showers but on a small scale. I figure I can fit one up inside and behind the part that comes down in front. I will think more on it. I just want it to look cleaner than it does now.

So, I have a place that I will report to for work, a couple of small projects in the works and feeling like a bit of weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Life is good. It's not perfect but this will do by golly. I hope everyone has started off their week in such a positive way too, no matter how mundane you may think it is. Sometimes it's the smaller things too.