Kinda Long Post....But if you are bored or something.....

I now have a part time job that involves actually LEAVING the house! Now the job is NOT glamorous in ANY sense of the word, but it is hard to find something from 3pm-11pm, just 3 days a week on a rotating schedule, you know?

I feel kinda funny about it though. I guess it is just a "confidence" thing. I mean, I have done LOTS of things, cashier at Wal Mart, waitress in dives and fine dining, I have been an insurance agent (hated that, give me back the dives!), I have some college education (18 credit hours in things like computers, English Comp, Communication, Psychology, etc.), I am proficient in MS Office Professional and a MYRIAD of other applications, and I know this about myself and I am proud of myself that I COULD go to just about any office and plop down my resume and get the job. I should have confidence in THIS job. But I just feel kinda funny about taking this job because I feel I have stepped down. And then I am ASHAMED of myself for feeling that way too because there are a LOT of people that do this type of job, that is all they are skilled for and they should be admired because they are holding down very honorable work. And let's face it, there are some people that would give their right arms to have ANY job now, and I am feeling weird about mine? I should be shot. Period.

I have looked everywhere. I have sent in resumes, filled out online applications, begged, pleaded and I may have even made promises of sex, to find a PART TIME job that would allow me to do what I need to do and still make a decent amount of money. It just wasn't happenin' folks.

Let's put it this way. We have 2 cats and 2 dogs. I also babysit for a special needs little boy, he has recently started in the preschool here for special needs kids, but if he is sick (and on Saturdays) he comes here for the day. Even on the days that he goes to school, I put him on his bus and then his mom pays me to "be here" until 2pm as an "on call" kind of thing in case he gets sick and needs to come home (he has a heart condition and a gastric feeding tube). She doesn't pay me much AT ALL, but I am obligated and this little boy has come to mean a lot to me (I have watched him since he was 5 months old). So I HAD to have something that would allow me to stick to my "put-him-on-the-bus-then-be-here-until-2pm" obligation. Let's face it folks, those are few and far between.

So basically, in the last several years, between cats, dogs, babies and then Rat Man and now The Tomboy, (between working in my mom's accounting office during tax season here and there) I have swept, mopped, cleaned up vomit, snot, poop, pee, slobber, (babies and toddlers are always LEAKING from somewhere, what is the FREAKIN' deal with that??? We need to invent some "Stop Leak" for them! NOW!) and even though the "little guy" is in school and potty trained, etc. I am STILL deal with vomit, poop and pee, sweeping (mostly cat litter and spills from the cat and dog food bowls), doing laundry, mopping, etc. etc. etc. etc. so I decided if I was going to do all that shit (no pun intended) anyway, then by God it was time I was being paid for it.

So I applied for a part-time housekeeping job at a small community hospital.

A woman that I have known for a long, long time works there, she is going full time and basically she helped me get her part time shift that she has had for a long time. (She begged on my behalf! Can't let her down now! EEK!) She has told me that it really is NOT that bad. You scrub the toilets and make the beds, use the dust mop, wipe the window sills, and you very rarely get anything really gross (that is what the CNAs are for!) So I don't think it is going to be a bad job. And like I said, I feel kind funny about it, and then I feel ashamed of myself for feeling so funny about it.

There is NOTHING in this world that is wrong with ANYONE that has to go out and do a very hard days work to make a buck. Not that "office work" isn't very tiring, I have been there and it is. But it isn't hard on the body in the way that something like cleaning, laying bricks or building a house is, you know? And I have rejoined those hard working people (albeit on a part-time basis).

To tell you the truth I DESPISE office work. I don't mind if I am working on my own website, making a flyer or something for friends, or even building a site for people (which I have done several times), but that is right here at home and I have more control of my time. But sitting in someone else's office everyday is torture to me. I really would rather scrub toilets and make beds that to do that. I would rather carry a heavy tray and refill coffee cups all day than do that. I know, I am nuts.

So I think this is going to work out fine. I mean, there is just no way I could have gotten, an evening shift (which I need and frankly prefer), 3pm-11pm, just 3 days per week and they rotate so it isn't like I will always be working the same nights and get stuck on Sunday all the time), and I will make enough money to pay the rent EXACTLY with what I'll get from this part time job and added to what I get from the little boy's mom. So basically it will be like I am working for the rent money, and removing that expense from Rat Man's pay is going to be like winning the lottery for us.

There are things that we want, there are things that we need, badly, and the only way we are going to get them is for me to earn them because poor Rat Man is already doing MORE than his share. So be it. I want to be able to sleep at night. I want to stop getting panicked when the doorbell rings that they are here to shut off the gas and we are going to be taking cold showers. And there are some things that I want Rat Man to have. I want to buy them for him, because he DESERVES them. He has worked his ass off FOR YEARS and he deserves more out of life than he gets, and I want to make some of those things happen over the next couple of years.

And then, I want to go back to college. Once we get caught up and I have have given Rat Man the things I want to give him (which really aren't all THAT expensive, but it is important to me that he have them) then I will return to school and get my degree in graphics design with an emphasis on web design and desktop publishing. That is my ultimate goal in all this.

So if I have to scrub some toilets, make hospital corners and clean up some vomit now and then to make that happen, then I will. And really, I would be a big baby if I said I couldn't or wouldn't do it. I mean, really, what kind of a person would that make me?

So here goes.

But first I have to pass the drug test, TB test, background check, etc. so gee I HOPE they don't find out about that hospital patient that had TB that I killed while I wasn't wearing a protective mask and snorting that line of coke.

So keep your fingers crossed on that part;o)



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