Discovered today that I had a gift card for clothes that I hadn't used yet, so ordered two pair of pants! YAY! I've ordered this pair in black, and this pair in chocolate.

Boychild is 100% back to normal, which is lovely, if tiring.

And the bank was wonderful to us; all fraudulent charges - and the resulting overdraft fees - were reversed, so things are smoothing out a bit. I'll have to shop for a new wallet on Saturday, and get my ID and library cards replaced, but otherwise things are going all right, finally.

Just thought I'd post some good news, for once. ;)

I did not get the job.

BUT.

I'm neither surprised nor horribly upset. It was a good phone call. Greg (the only guy on the interviewing panel and one of the assistant nursing managers) said that for never having done a panel interview, I did really well and my skills were really great, and the whole panel was just very, very impressed with the questions I asked at the end. He said that he is absolutely positive that I could do this type of job, but feels that the size of the department and the time frame available before the existing person retires will make the learning curve too steep even for me, because I don't actually have the experience and I'd be the ONLY. ONE. doing the job. He also said that he thinks it's awesome that I took the risk to apply and interview for such an ambitious position, and hopes I'll keep trying.

He was even worried and asked me if I was OK. I was, and told him that I was really glad to hear the feedback, and also pleased to have received a phone call as opposed to one of those "WE REJECT YOU, LOSER" letters. And I really am OK with this. I was very apprehensive about calling him back (the assistant nursing manager) when he left the message on my cell this afternoon, because I was worried that he was going to offer me the job, so I know it's right that I didn't get it.

I called hubby to tell him, and explained that now that I have a proper, impressive resume, and a fresh, recent interview under my belt, I'm more confident about looking outside the place as well as inside. And he was bummed for me, but understands that I'm OK with it. And he even pointed out that now would be a good time to go to Jim, to go to Victoria and say, "Look, things have to change."

And almost as if the fates are finally in accordance for once, Victoria had Jim and I in her office this morning to discuss how things are going with the new director, changes we have to be making and areas where we need to stand up and not be worried about people not liking us because we need to be firm about new rules and regulations that are being put in place. She also said that many of my Mentally Disabled Child's mistakes are finally coming to light and can be used as examples, and HR is wanting to seriously consider moving her to someplace better suited to her skills so we can get someone competent in here. We'll have to see how that goes, but for now, it's a start.

Jim mentioned to me after I told him about not getting the job that he's relieved I'm not leaving him in the lurch now, and that he can start on his "plan B," which involves working toward bumping both my title and my pay. I made sure he understood, too, that I wasn't even concerned about the money portion of it, but about the principle of the thing. It's flat-out WRONG that I should know more, do more and be a lead over four to six people - for over a YEAR now - yet have a lower job class and pay range than three of them.

I don't expect a lot to happen in that area, of course, but it means a lot to me that of his own volition, he's going to work on getting a satisfactory result. I do not feel that I should have to run crying to the union to get something I should have been given to begin with.

And, of course, not getting that job means I can still have my vacation in August. WOOT!!

Anyway, just wanted to update everyone - thanks so much for all the support and thoughts and prayers. It is greatly appreciated and I love you all. ♥♥♥♥♥

Chunk: "Have you ever seen them give you a code that isn't in the code list?"
Me: *taking the paper to scan it* "I've seen this code, but can't remember it ever being..." *sniffs paper* "I smell lotion." *sniffs air in general* "Did you put on lotion?"
Chunk: ..."Not since last night."
Me: *dissolves into immediate laughter*
Chunk: *sigh* "That's not what I meant..."
Me: *face now pink, tears of helpless laughter leaking out*
Chunk: *snickering, and grinning* "I use lotion for dry skin. I use something else for THAT."
Me: *tries unsuccessfully to hold in the giggles with hand*
Chunk: *shakes head with a smirk and walks away, then stops* "Do you think someone down there would know the code?"
Me: *still giggling* "Yeah, go ask...oh, just go away."

OHMYGOSHILOVEHERSOMUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I may be premature, but I have the BEST feeling about this. She is SO EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED, from what I can tell so far. She's been sitting with me for the last hour and a half, and I want to cry, I'm so relieved that someone's finally listening to me, to what I think and what I have to say.

I can honestly say that I've now met a decent Victoria.

I am so disjointed right now, my brain's flying in eighty thousand different directions because there's so much to do, to tell, to show - and she's eager to understand it all.

I'm going to take her on the hike to the cafeteria soon, I just wanted to get this initial SQQQUUUUEEEEEEE out of my system. There might be more later...fair warning.

1. Sarah's been dropping not-so-subtle hints for me to watch The Office for the last, what, year? Two? How long have I known you, Sarah? Anyway, I still haven't managed to watch it. Clips here and there, and pictures all over the place. And then, last night, we watched a completely ridiculous Will Ferrell movie called "Blades of Glory." And Jenna Fischer was in it, and why did I never really look closely at this woman? She's so beautiful! Look at her!





2. Work is...ridiculous. It's month end. My desk looks like somebody threw a truckload of paper bombs at it. I already mentioned this to Beth, but I've got a folder full of stuff labeled "Miscellaneous Stuff I Receive That I Should Probably Be Doing Something With, But As I Don't Quite Know What That Is, I'll Keep Sticking It In Here Until I Do." Seriously. I took a picture today just so I could show you, but then forgot to load it off the camera, so it'll have to wait because it's just not on my list of priorities right now. Sorry.

3. My calculator - you know, my pretty, printing, amazing calculator that I use at work? It's been buried for two weeks. I've been doing all my figuring longhand because moving everything on top of it is too much to contemplate right at the moment. I realized today how much I miss it. And don't tell me to use a handheld calculator. I can't use those properly, the figure never comes out right for me because they do calculations just a little differently. And I have enough to do without having to reestablish muscle memory just so I can use a damn handheld.

4. Chuck. He's made of win. Nothing makes my heart soar more than when he comes to find me in search of work to do. Especially when he takes the reject reports, which he regards with near abject terror. He LOATHES them and they are always the very last thing he'll take from me. He will completely deplete my keying pile and wring out every last drop before he'll consider taking a reject report. He took half the pile yesterday, which gave me that lovely, giddy feeling because I was backed up into mid-December with them.

5. Michelle gets some major props, too. She's a bit of a problem child in that she's not very good. At anything. But she's been keeping up with her stuff, and has been running out. Because of that, I had to find something I could trust her with so she'd have something to do. And as a result, the majority of my filing is now done. SO. AWESOME. Yes, OK, I get a thrill from people willingly taking on tasks I can't get around to myself. Sue me.

6. Mikey's been pretty good lately, so things are OK there. We're making him read about fifteen minutes to half an hour each night recently. Awesome for me because it means that much more time with no screen on.

7. I still have to go apartment hunting. Suckish.

8. I have been having BATSHIT CRAZY dreams lately. Classic, completely MESSED. UP. Kim-dreams. It's got to be my brain letting go, since it can't do so in real life, during waking hours. Right? Either that, or I should really be committed*.

9. Tired now, and I have to pee. If I think of anything more, well, I guess y'all will just have to wait until I manage to get here and post again, not that anyone's exactly waiting at the edge of their seat to hear about my life...or lack, thereof. *snerk*

*Please don't. Commit me, that is. I really, really don't have room in my life right now to be taken away by the nice, young men in their clean, white coats.