Various updates

Well goodness. Here it is, almost a week since I last posted, and have I gotten any paperwork in the mail yet from crack head woman? NO! And, guess what I found out about her last week? She was on vacation all week, and didn't bother to put it in the mail on Friday like she claimed she would, or leave it out for someone else to do. What a freakin' MORON! So, it should be in my mail box today, or else I'm going to call and bitch about her yet again.

Other news... I started looking at houses again last week. I was motivated by 2 things. The first being the realization that my lease expires the end of October. The second.. I got a letter in my door from the rental office saying that they noticed that I had 3 dogs, and was only allowed 2. So I needed to remove one or face possible eviction proceedings. WHAT? Hello, 7 months later. Onex doesn't even count as a dog anymore, all she does is sleep on the couch or in her little bed. So, anywho. I called Monday am and told them a great big story about one of them being my sister's dog that I'm taking care of for a few weeks, because she's just had surgery and can't do it herself. HA. And it bought me 3 weeks of having them, which is when I'd start the moving process. Hot diggity dog!

So, anywho. I started the search of houses again. I won't bore you with the details of all I've looked at.. right now it's down to 3. One is awesome!! It's 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, very new looking, nice condition, screened in porch, quiet little neighborhood. It's the most expensive, but I can afford it with the new salary. It's $200 more than I'm paying now, but it's HUGE and has a yard. The 2nd is this tiny little house on a TON of land that feels like you're living in the mountains. It's all hard wood floors, little rooms, and a really small kitchen. The washer/dyer hook ups are in the basement, which you can only get to from the outside. And, there is hardly any storage in the actual house (closets, cabinets, etc), but a good sized basement that could store stuff in rubbermaid tubs. The people that own it own their house and 1 on either side along with roughly 40 acres of land. The front yard is fenced in, and the back is just land and trees. It has a nice big deck too, and is only $100 more than my rent now. It's on oil heat, which I've never known anyone to use. It's cute and small and I could probably get some closets or cabients at Wal mart or something to make storage. The 3rd, which my mom didn't really like, and needs a bit of cleaning up, is in the middle of the other 2 prices. It's also in a quiet little neighborhood, no fence in the yard. The kitchen is also small on this one, but it has an attic and a basement, and closet space. It's got a huge looks to be added on living room area and 2-3 other bedrooms. One of the "bedrooms" is actually a living room/family room ish thing. It's cute and I can see a lot of potential in it, along with a lot of cleaning either by the owner or by me & various friends. The appliances are not that great in it, no dishwasher... So, the dilemma lies in that I LOVE the biggest and most expensive of the 3, but wonder if I should just take the littlist and cheapest one to save money. The big one could possibly be doable with a roommate at a future time if I decide it's too expensive, and if I found someone I could live with. I'm really stuck. I can see all of them being nice and cute, and the owners of all 3 are really nice and easy (so far) to work with. I think I'd be happiest in the most expensive one, b/c it's very new and updated and a lot like my apt in terms of being spacious.

My dad wants me to buy a house, but I can't see doing that right now, in the limited time I have available. I want to make sure that I like this new job, that it plays out, and that I'm going to be staying here for a while. This may mean that I have to move again within a year.. but I think it makes more sense for me to NOT buy one right now. David's experience makes me wary of buying a house, seeing how difficult it can be to sell it fast if you need too. Then, of course, there is Tucker & Don's experience of selling the house too fast to find one to buy. But, if something should suck at this job and I'm struggling, it's easier to get out of a lease than to unload a house on someone, ya know? This way, I can really take my time and find one that's perfect for me, and at the right time, and feel that it's right.

Ok, one other piece of news. The case manager supervisor here at TCH called me today to come talk to her. She again told me of her concerns about me not having the family piece and some other stuff, and then said if she were to hire me, I'd have to have a lot of supervision, observe other family and individual sessions as often as I could, and be in constant contact with her. She also talked about goals I'd need to set for myself, like being more assertive and take charge. Again, I explained to her that I've seen myself grow a lot while in this job, and that I don't feel like I need to yell and be loud and all outgoing to get my points across. My supervisor told me a while back that I should be more like so and so and so and so, and I was like "no, I'm me. I don't feel like kids or parents are walking all over me or abusing me. I feel like I tell them what they need to do, and they listen because I'm NOT in their faces." Different styles work for different people and I'm not changing who I am to get this job. That kind of aggravated me that she seemed to be suggesting that. And she kept talking about being assertive in advocating for myself... NEVER have I ever not stood up for myself to other coworkers or supervisors. If I hadn't, I wouldn't be having this interview right now, would I? Jesus. So, she said she was going to reccommend me for the job to the HR woman, and wanted to know if I'd take it when she called me. (She said she'd heard that I'd put in a resignation already) . SO, I told her it'd come down to salary and I'd have to compare the 2 jobs. She did tell me the salary range was $27-33K. So, I think I'm going to use that info to see if I can boost my salary at the new place, esp since this biotch is jerking me around so much and I've not yet seen any official papers. But there is no way I'm taking the job here with so much pressure to do this and do that, when I've already got the confidence of this new place based on 1 interview. BITE ME!

Ok, this is long enough. I think I've talked myself into which house I want by posting this, as well as confirming even more my want to NOT work at TCH. Hurray for cathartic posts.