Spring cleaning!

I've been bit, hard, by the spring cleaning bug.  For about a week now, I've been tackling small projects every morning before work, and then running boxes and bags of stuff to the thrift store/clothing dropbox on my way to work.  I've even mostly cleaned out my car!

I wish I had taken before and after photos of everything!  Right now, the hugest difference is my living room.  It was completely cluttered by boxes that I had always planned on taking to the thrift store, but had never actually sorted through.  I'm proud to say that's finally taken care of, and despite being covered in cat hair (something I don't think I'll EVER get control of, as Major Tom sheds like it's his job!) it's spotless.

Today I'll be picking up my nice clean laundry and shipping some items back to some old, distant friends.  (Isn't it funny how you accumulate things that don't even belong to you?)  I'm looking forward to the absence of that guilty feeling.  I hate looking at something and thinking, I've been meaning to get this to them... It just makes me feel awful!

I still have a big list of things I need to get done, as well as items I want to replace...but I'll get there soon! I'm excited to do a bit of furniture re-arranging too.  Maybe I'll finally post an apartment tour when I'm done!  I always promised I'd do one...

What's today?

I am shocked that NO ONE I spoke with yesterday knew what day it was.

I don't mean Pi day, either.  Or Taylor Hanson's birthday.  Or the Ides of March.  (That is today--3/15.)

I'll refrain from naming it here, only because my mom is reading (hi mom!), but it's sort of like the male version of Valentine's Day.

Post it in the comments if you know it.  (And, additionally, post what state you're from, if you're so inclined.  Thus far, 100% of people I've spoken with in CT have never heard of it and thought I was making it up!  Maybe it's a Massachusetts thing?)

And, if you're not shy, tell me--do you actually celebrate it?

Favorite things.

 I realized the other day that while I have some adorable heart-shaped measuring spoons (a gift from Lauren's wedding!) my measuring cups were very blah.  They also didn't fit properly in my kitchen drawer, causing me immense frustration whenever I tried to open or close it.

Lucky for me, Newbury Comics had these super adorable measuring cups in the shape of Russian nesting dolls!  (The other smaller measuring cups are inside.)  Love them.

I'm not sure if I fully have "writer's block", as they say, but I've definitely been in work- and bill-paying mode lately.  It's been difficult to concentrate on my creative work--which I really need to do, as I have a deadline looming before me and it's coming up FAST.  I had tried to force 1,000 words a day for a finish date of April--but I must admit, that's not going to happen.  I'll be a little more generous and forgiving of myself.

I had a small victory yesterday by clearing an hour to write and actually doing so.

 Today my beautiful coffee press arrived!  Sadly, it came after I had JUST finished my morning coffee.  Boo, UPS!  Poor timing.  I can't wait to start tomorrow off with some experimenting though.  I've never used a coffee press before, but I hear it's the way coffee is meant to be brewed.

Done!

The other day, sick of always emailing things to my mother and asking her to print them for me, I purchased a printer.

I bought it at the same time as my Macbook (it was an optional add-on at the Apple site) and I didn't even give it much thought.  It was literally like, "Oh, hey.  A printer. I oughta get me one of those.  $99?  Sounds fair."  *click. Add to cart.*

Now, because FedEx has the tendency to be dumb, my printer was several days late.  During these days, I had time to surmise what my new printer might be like.  Damn, I thought.  I should have ordered a wireless one.  I bet this one isn't wireless.


The next day, I thought, I should really pick up a scanner with my next paycheck so I can scan and get rid of all these old photos.


Imagine my shock (and happiness) when my printer arrives and it is BOTH wireless AND a scanner!  Needless to say, I have spent the past three days on task, scanning and uploading all the loose photos I owned.  Over 800 photos later, I'm finished!  Phew!  I didn't realize I was such a photo hoarder.  (Still am, but digital format is just so much cleaner.)

Next up, I'm hopefully having Shaun rip some of my old VHS tapes to DVD, and having Mike transcribe some of my old (super embarrassing) writing.  After that?  Well, my clutter problem might be damn near solved.  That'll be pretty sweet.

In other news, my job has me so turned around that I just looked at the clock and realized it's 2 AM. My first thought was not, "Wow, I should sleep." but instead, "No, that can't be right."  and I proceeded to check multiple clocks.

Bed now.  Maybe.

Don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted.

It seems like 2012 is going to be "my year", as they say.

In the past month, thanks in great part to my friend Mike (who is a WIZARD when it comes to doing my taxes) and this new pretty sweet job (which allows me not only to work full-time, but weekly overtime as well) I have...

-cleared most of my credit card debt
-put a decent chunk of money into a savings account for the first time in roughly 4 years
-bought the Macbook Pro I have spent TEN.YEARS lusting after and trying (and failing) to save for.

A little story:  when I was 19 and first wanted an Macbook, I figured the only way to get one was to get an Apple credit card.  So, I applied and was denied due to lack of credit.  Understandable.  I realized credit was something I had to build, so I tried smaller--I got a Target credit  card first, then a Sears card.  (The Sears was a Sears Visa--I hoped maybe my credit limit would be high enough to get a Macbook.  Nope.)

Long story short, I racked up a ton of debt on those two cards, plus an Old Navy card.  I was never approved for an Apple card--but I was approved for a Dell credit card.  Enter my really crappy 2002 Dell Inspirion laptop, which cost $700 on the site, but after all the interest and late fees I accrued over the years, probably ended up costing more like $2,000.

Anyway.  Long story short?  Pay for things in cash.  If you want a Macbook Pro, wait ten years until you get a sweet tax return.

Other good news?  I passed my junior year a week or so ago, and am now an official college senior.  I also finally got the tattoo I've been wanting for a year or so.  (it's in the horrid itchy phase right now.)

Next up?  I'm seeing The Addams Family (the musical) this weekend with my friend Christie.  It's our second time seeing it, this time with the touring company, but I'm still really excited about it!  It was a great show, despite all the bad press it received.

Besides the continued bill paying and getting caught up on any financial things that have fallen to the wayside, I plan on improving my organizational skills, forming better habits and minimizing things around the house even more.  And hopefully pretty soon I'll be able to take some financial-worry-free weekend trips with Shaun.  I'm dying to go back to NYC!  It's been too long.

Hope you are all doing well also, and that tax time was good to you.  I know many people owe this year, even those who claimed zero.  I can't imagine how terrible it is to expect a decent return and instead be told you need to give up some of your own money!  I was definitely fortunate to be spared that.

Mini-rant.

It makes me angry when people assume that just because something has worked for them, that it will work for everyone.

A friend of mine recently posted a blog that implied pretty much anyone could obtain a job in 14 days--and if they didn't, they simply weren't doing things right.  Now, I'd be all for this if it was titled something like "How I Found a Job in 14 Days", but it's not.  It's a how-to.

I first read this article because I was curious.  Really? 14 days?  You mean I was doing something wrong these past six months?  I looked forward to the pointers he had to offer, but finished the article feeling unimpressed and insulted.

"Submitting resumes online is not job hunting" was one of the first pieces of advice.  If I followed this advice, I not only wouldn't have gotten my last three jobs--I wouldn't know where to even begin looking for jobs.  Of course, his advice is to "go in and speak to a manager", which might work just find in a city setting, but aside from the center of town (which has roughly 10 businesses that are either not hiring or I'm not qualified to work for), there are no businesses near me.  I NEED online job searches in order to find places that are hidden just off the beaten path, as I'm not terribly familiar with my rural area that consists of mostly houses and farms.

Also, out of the managers I've spoken with, most are too busy to give you the time of day.  They'll either say, "Fill out an application online" or, "We aren't hiring right now, but we're always accepting applications."  (This is retail code for: sure, apply, but by the time we're actually hiring we'll have lost/thrown out your application.)

What's that? You don't think retail establishments throw away applications?  I can't tell you all the times I've personally crumpled applications just seconds after receiving them. 'we're always accepting applications' means 'don't waste your time'.

When I tried to explain to this person that I was happy for him, but he was fortunate he had the luck to get a job in 14 days and this was the exception rather than the rule, he told me luck has nothing to do with it, it was simple preparedness and opportunity (one could argue that "opportunity" IS "luck", at least I think it is!), and that I should keep my eye on the goal or face the consequences and stop making excuses for my failures.

I find it hard to believe that someone who found a job in 14 days really grasps what the economy is like out there.  In the past six months I've applied for between 5-10 jobs a DAY (that's 1,800 jobs! But let's be generous and say I took a weekend off here or there, or maybe couldn't find 10 jobs every night--still, it is a huge amount of jobs, at least a thousand.) and you know how many interviews I was called for?  TWELVE. (Actually, I was only "called" for ten--I stormed in and secured interviews twice.)

I was also called for two interviews, one with an insurance company and one for a book store, but when I returned their calls (two to three times) they never got back to me.

Out of these twelve interviews, I was offered ONE position--the one I accepted.

And don't get me wrong, I am extremely hireable and a good candidate for many positions. (This is not simply my personal opinion--I have been told this by hiring agencies who absolutely salivated over my skills and resume.)

If it took me six months to find a job, it's just insulting to claim anyone can find a job in 14 days.  It's brutal out there.  Don't tell me luck or good fortune has nothing to do with it!

This is not about celebrities.

I GOT A NEW JOB YAY!

I started on Monday, it's full-time (yay) with benefits (yay) and more than I was making at my previous job (yay).  Also, I don't have to deal with customers (yay) or anything of that nature, AND it's a casual dress code so I can wear my usual dress/leggings/boots/cardigan attire (yay!).  It is absolutely great for right now, and it couldn't have come along at a better time.  I can't wait to bask in the glory that is my first paycheck.

(The basking will be short-lived, followed by frantic bill paying of course.)

Also, as of this time next week, I will be a COLLEGE SENIOR.  Which means I will be 29 by the time I have my diploma in hand.  Which means I'll have a bachelor's degree before I'm 30.  (This is awesome, because I used to always whine "I'm going to be THIRTY by the time I graduate..."  Shaving a year off that time feels good.)

I'm still undecided if I'm going to pursue my masters degree or not...I suppose it all depends on what my social and work life is looking like at that point.  If I can secure desirable employment without it, I may skip it altogether.  Who needs the additional student loan debt?  We'll see.  I am, however, excited for semester break.  I have around 50+ books waiting to be read!  But let's be real, I'll probably spend my break working, sleeping, and hanging out with Shaun.  Fine with me ;)

Life has been good lately.  My friend Mary has been helping me out with some photography: she needs photos for her portfolio, I need new shots for my website.  I just got a new fridge and it's seriously gorgeous.  (And yes, I realize being excited about appliances makes me an OFFICIAL loser adult.  Even more so, the fact that I thought, "Hmm, maybe I should buy a washer & dryer with my tax return..."  WHAT HAVE I BECOME?

I think I'm going to have to eat some ice cream for breakfast just to assure my inner child I'm not  a total waste of an adult. ...too bad I vowed to eat less ice cream this year.*

*I've made it an entire month without any ice cream, mostly thanks to my gluten allergy and the fact the boyfriend likes gluten-y ice creams.  But I did get some Friendly's frozen yogurt a few days ago, fudge berry swirl, and I am happy to report it is delicious.  Although it does have corn syrup in it, blech!!