Dismayed, Disillusioned & Discouraged

Ugh! Job hunting has never been one of my favorite activities. I've put up with an amazing amount of crap before deciding to even look for a new job. In Germany it was easier not to work. Most jobs on base ran to the food services & child care route, both of which are not for me (baby sitting horror stories are for another post). The brief job I did have there turned into a horror story of epic proportions. So, lack of jobs & desire to travel meant no job for Stacey.

Which leads us to the here and now, back to the tanked economy and a three year employment gap. I've applied for every job I'm qualified for and some I'm not and haven't even received a phone call for an interview. There hasn't even been a thanks for sending in your resume letter (less politely known as a blow off). The internet seems to make things worse. The multitude of employment websites and the amount of jobs they offer is insane but none of them seem to be a correct fit for me and my bizarre employment background. I'm not quite to the point of ponying up the cash for some of the shady work at home offers but it's getting close. It still seems wrong to me to have to spend money to receive a job.

I could go back to school and get my master's but this doesn't address the cash flow issues that it would cause. I just cant justify gettting more student loans, as it is I'm going to be paying for the ones I have until I'm eighty (at least). I could possibly talk the hubby into transferring his GI Bill over to me, but then he can't use it. Not to mention it doesn't give you any extra spending or textbook money to spouses, kids yes, spouses no (annoying!!).

As with every dillemma, there will be the proverbial straw. Hopefully it won't be my or my husband's sanity. I'm still hopefull that I will be able to find a job, but the hope is fading rapidly. I'm also running out of ideas/places to look for employment.

Bitch, bitch, moan, moan. I really need to start blogging about happier topics.

Moving

I've moved a few times now, each time it seems to get bigger and more involved. The last two moves have been to and from Germany. These moves are more involved than your typical state to state or cross town move. Military moves are also different than civilian moves. The big, huge, wonderful difference is that everything that isn't nailed down gets packed for you, and when it finally arrives, the big stuff gets unpacked and put back together. Obviously this means less work for you, although you feel awful as a group of guys works their tails off to get you all packed and ready to go. The downside to this is they just pack stuff in boxes by room, and you have NO idea where anything is in these boxes.

When we left Germany I decided that all of the old moving boxes that have seen a few moves needed to be taken care of. The pack rat in me couldn't take the advice of de-clutterers and just throw them out (sacrilege!!). Which means it's up to me to go through every stinking box, and every stinking thing in these boxes and decided what to keep, toss, or store for another day. Which seems to mean double the work and double the stress since I have an eat in kitchen that's been taken over by boxes & totes and a dining room table that's serving as a staging area for all my decorative crap.

I LOVE MOVING!!

On Owning A New Home

We've been in our new house for about three weeks now and are in the full throes of unpacking and organizing all of our stuff. I've learned a few things about new homes in these three weeks.

• There is such a thing as a new home smell which is just as distinctive as new car smell, albeit with a much higher price tag.
• The first mark on your nice clean walls is a catastrophe, consecutive gouges, scrapes dings and smudges just add character and more to clean.
• Prior to moving in the house is perfect, after moving in you can't wait to start changing things. We already have a list of stuff we want to do.
• I used to enjoy going to Lowe's and looking around and dreaming about the stuff I'd get for a house. After going to Lowe's every day for a week, the shine has worn off and it's just a chore.

I definitely miss the German Shrunk closets we had at our old base. One side was rods for hanging clothes, the other was shelving and a couple of drawers at the bottom. Those shelves and drawers came in handy for storage for our home office stuff, my ever expanding craft stuff and the random stuff you collect and have no place to stick. I now have to come up with storage in our new closets, which are just double rods and I'm finding that storage solutions are EXPENSIVE.

All in all, I love our new place, I can't wait to get everything put away, and I really can't wait for people to come and visit.

Can a blog...

substitute for actual human conversation? I spend most of my days talking to my dog, which is sad. I would blame this phenomenon on just moving to a new place, but it's more me, I tend to be extremely insular. My husband pointed out to me the other day that I tend to ramble on and on when I talk with other people. He understands why and finds it cute but also has to drag me away from said conversations. So will rambling out to the nameless faceless internet help?

I've tried this blogging thing once before, with a picture blog from our time in Germany but it didn't last to long. This blog will probably last just as long.