I gave my notice today, at the store. Not sure if anyone who knows me remembers, but our manager quit last month. He was a great guy and we were all bummed out about it. The only bright spot was the manager's position was taken over by one of the assistant managers that we all liked. So, today I went to work and saw Linda in the office when I first got there and asked her how she was doing she looked at me and said, "Well, I gave my notice yesterday." I looked back at her and said, "Well, I guess I'm giving you mine now then." Everyone's upset now at work. Linda was great, so was Mike before he left, now it's going to suck. There's already talk by one of the new assistant managers that schedules are going to change. Many of us worked there BECAUSE they were so flexible with the scheduling. We sure aren't there for the big paycheck because that doesn't exist. I'm kind of relieved anyway, now I'm open to working whatever hours the Group Home wants me to work except for nights I have parties to do and those are going to end as soon as I get full-time.

I worked my overnight and held up pretty well. Got home a little after 6:00 AM, surfed the WD for a bit, made a teensy post in testing in which NO ONE replied [tongue] and went to bed around 7:15 AM. Got up around 3:00 PM, took my shower and was all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for my 5:00 meeting for the Group Home. Actually, my appointment at 5:00 was at the main office to go over all the tedious paperwork. You know, tax forms, direct deposit, receiving of the Company Handbook, etc. Staff meeting at the Group Home at 6:00 and Training Meeting at 7:00 until 8:00. All in all for the week I've made more money than in two weeks at the store. Nice. I'm on the schedule for the overnight on Sunday and I have to go to First Aid/CPR training next Wednesday from 9:00 AM [ACK!!!] until 3:30 PM. But hey! I get paid for it. Nice. Also, in March I'll have to go for my Med Certification, in which I will then be certified to give out meds to the residents. The classes take place over an hour away. I'll get paid from when I leave to go until I get back AND I'll get mileage too. I'm making it very clear that I want full-time. In fact, I'm basically mentioning to the House Manager at least twice every time I see her. I wouldn't want her to forget. The other trainee wants full-time too. And she's nice but hey, I have age and experience over her. Not to mention a really neat thing called an Associate's Degree in Human Services. I think I should be the first choice. I'm a snob that way.

In an unrelated note, yesterday made 19 yrs since my grandmother died. I was quite alright, don't get me wrong. No depression or hurting or anything, just a bit of a bittersweet feeling and general missing of her but I feel that whenever I think of her anyway.

I was going to quit smoking today. My mom's emphysema and the spot on her lung has made me really want to quit. Hubby's doing really well. He's gone 2 weeks using the patch and hasn't had a cigarette. AND he's not being an ass either. [thumbs up]. Anyway, I said I was GOING to quit today. For the past month I've been buying my cigarettes by the carton on a Friday. I figured since I ran out on Fridays, this would be a good day to quit but NOOOOOOO, I still have FOUR packs left this evening. So, I'm trying to smoke my lungs out and I think I'm succeeding. I just opened my third to the last pack. Once they're gone, that's it. So, I'm thinking Sunday might be the day. Wish me luck! *

It's currently around 4 AM and whereas I normally am forcing myself to bed at this time so that I can get up around 11 AM to go to work for noon, I have to work Wednesday night/Thursday morning from 10 PM - 6 AM so am trying to keep myself up in order to sleep very late. So, of course, now I'm really tired. Go figure.

I started my new job in the Group Home yesterday. It was interesting to say the least. I worked 2 PM - 10 PM. The girls were pretty wild and I think the House Manager was a bit worried that they were going to scare me and another trainee off. It really didn't bother me though and was pretty much what I expected. There's seven girls there now, ages ranging from 13- 17. One is leaving to go back home this week but I believe another one will be coming in to fill her spot. The youngest *A*, is very temper tantrumy. She gets upset because she can't have the same options as some of the other girls and accuses of being discriminatory even though it's explained to her that as you get older you get more responsibility. Ten minutes after arguing that she's just as responsible as the other girls, she drew all over her face with make up during the House Meeting and then an hour later started a food fight with pudding pie and had two handfuls of it while running upstairs through the bedrooms. Another girl *KI* was bound and determined that she wasn't going to stay at the Home after today and packed all her stuff up so she could be ready to leave when she called her social worker. I'm pretty sure she's still there. *KA* is an extremely sexual girl from what I've been told and what I've observed. She also tends to go AWOL fairly often. There's not much we can do if they decide to leave since we're not a lockdown facility/detention center. All we can do is call the police. Then she comes back when she's good and ready. The girls have different "levels" they can achieve although that might be changing to a point system. If they're a Level 1 then they have no privileges and with each higher Level comes more privileges. *KA* is at Level 1 and so looks at leaving whenever she wants as having nothing to lose. *C* is an older girl who is looking at leaving the program in a few months to be out on her own. She seems to be the most mature and has been at the Home for over a year, as has *S*. They both are a bit easier to deal with at this point.

The other new trainee and I didn't have a ton of interaction with the girls since we're mostly supposed to observe and do a LOT of reading right now. The policy book is in a 3" binder alone plus we're still reading case files on each of the girls and trying to learn how sign-outs and levels, etc work. We're both scheduled to work again tomorrow from 3 PM - 11 PM. I'll have a 10 PM - 6 AM shift this week as well and that will complete my training. I'm actually on all by myself next Sunday for the 10 PM - 6 AM shift. I'll know more later this week how many more days I'll get this month and next. According to the House Manager, it shouldn't take long to get full-time for either the other girl or me since we're the first ones who applied and were interviewed and trained. There's a couple of others who are in the beginning stages but they might end up being relegated to back-up substitutes.

On the home front, I had to call in to my store job today. Patrick has an ear infection and needed to go to the doctor. We waited an HOUR before they even called me up to take his information. Luckily, it was only a half hour from that point until we were out the door and on our way to his orthodontist appointment. I don't have to be back at the store now until Friday. Only thing I'm bumming about with the new job is that it pay every two weeks and I won't get a first paycheck until the 31st. But things are looking up. I hope.

And even MORE testing...hey look! I figured out how to change my font. Go Team Me!

more testing

Testing...one, two, five, seven (hey, do I have to be predictable?)