Thursday, Mar. 17, 2005 - 6:45 p.m.

If I'd known what the past two weeks were going to be like, I never would have gotten out of bed on March 2nd....

So, yeah... 15 days since my last entry. I cannot believe everything that has happened has occurred in such a short amount of time. But I guess that's what happens when you pretty much work 15 days straight with only two real days off. Even this morning, which should have been a day off, consisted of phone tag between TB, a machine repair company, and the Owner's daughter, starting at 10AM and lasting until 2PM. And I was woken up by the phone, to boot, at 8AM, by someone that wanted me to pay one of the myriad of bills that have gone unpaid for the past month and a half. When J lost his job, I kinda freaked and stopped paying the bills, hoping A> he would get a job in a relatively short amount of time, B> his unemployment checks would start coming in shortly after he applied, C> I would win the lottery and never have to worry about money again. Needless to say, my only remaining option was D> pay the over $1400.00 in over due bills and pray A, B, or C happens in the next few days. So, I spend this afternoon paying bills, which in actuality, the only one that was over due was the company that called this morning. And it was J's credit card bill, which he over spent his limit by almost $200.00! Not too happy about that one. After the bills were all paid and on their way in cyberspace to their perspective recipients, I looked at J and said, "You owe me BIG!" Because the fact of the matter is, 78% of our bills and debt is his. School loans, credit cards, the need for digital cable... But I also said, in the next breath, "I just had to say it once, and now I'm done." Meaning, I needed to say it, so I could gauge his response to see if he knew how hard this was for me. I've always made more money (its the only reason we are still above water, financially, with all the debt we actually do have) and I've always paid the bills and managed our finances. BUT I've never had to do it all by myself, monetarily. I do not like being the only one bringing in a paycheck. We don't even know if he's been approved for unemployment. If he just had some money coming in, I don't think I would be so borderline nervous breakdown.
And work hasn't gotten any better. Not in the least. Our new uber special manager has been hired and will start training March 23, but he has also been given the title General Manager. What, you say? You thought that was my title? You're slightly confused? Well, join the club! I received an e-mail from the Owner's daughter to order this new manager's uniforms, but I didn't know his last name yet, so I couldn't order him a fancy new name tag with his name and title. So, I called, asking his last name and what title I should put on the name tag, giving examples to her on what options were available. Because up to this point, I was being kept out of the loop... No one was telling me anything, let alone what this guys title was, what his duties would be, when he would work vs. when I would work... Anyway, Senior Assistant Manager is the position J was and the only logical title, being right under General Manager. And her response? "Wendy, he isn't in a position below you, I thought you knew that... why else would we be hiring someone to take over certain duties for you?" Um... let's see... how would I know that, without actually being told?!?!?! Contrary to anything you've experienced with me in the past, I DO NOT HAVE ESP!!! Even the subtly written e-mails went unanswered:
Dear (Owner's Daughter):
We still have male black uniforms for managers, and I still have a few pants, if he could let me know what size pants he takes, I'm sure we might have a pair already. If we don't have his size, he will just need to wear black khakis until I can order the pants for him. I need to order a few extra hats, too. On Monday and Tuesday (the 21st and 22nd) what would (new guy) like to do as far as working in the store? Get acquainted with employees? Learn the basics of how we do our paperwork at the end of the night? Learn our opening procedures? Please let me know and I will schedule him in for those two days. Will he be an hourly or salaried employee, so I can program him into the register to clock in and out? (no reply)

It was just skipped over... no answer, no correcting of my assumptions... zilch. But, apparently I was already supposed to know what he was and what he's going to be doing. (I still don't know, by the way)
This was her response after our phone conversation about "nametags"

IF WE HAVE PANTS SIZE 34 GREAT. I'LL BE UP NEXT WEEK AND WE CAN GO OVER A PLAN FOR (NEW GUY). THANKS, OWNER'S DAUGHTER
So he's a little guy, I can take him... oh, I'm just kidding.
Needless to say, I was slightly devastated. And yes, there was some tears involved. I take an immense pride in my job performance and I felt like I was losing my store. But the Owner quickly laid my fears to rest. He said nothing at all would change with me, I am not getting a demotion or anything closely related, the "new guy" is just here to help me, to take over some of the things I've been slowly killing myself trying to do all by myself. We are equals. Which quickly brought to mind the age old adage "Too many cooks in the kitchen..." makes Wendy want to kill the "new guy." Oh, just some more silliness... I jest. This could possibly be a very nice and welcomed relief from the heinous amount of stress I put myself under with this job. Only time will tell... and time will also tell if this guy is full of shit and falls flat on his face and can't really handle working for someone as demanding as The Owner or TB corporate, for that matter. And I will be here, to... kick him while he's down. hehehee

I've been trying to paint. My mother and brother are amazing artists, so I figure there must be some artist talent in here somewhere, so I bought a paint kit (frivolous spending, but I wanted it) and I've been trying to paint and get comfortable using different types of brushes and painting styles. I've been using acrylic and water colors, and some pastels, too. I'm in no way Monet (heeheee) but its been extremely fulfilling to just make up stuff in my head and then try to paint it. Some examples:

My attempt to draw my cats eyes as sunflowers.


Just a little experiment with making sky vs. land.


Using acrylic paint for the first time, experimenting with mixing colors from 2 or more paints. Its a lot thicker than water colors.
Well, that's all I'm willing to share right now. My pastel picture looks like my cat drew it... and he could've probably done a better job, seeing he doesn't have any thumbs! Maybe I'll get the guts to post it later.

I've also read four books in the past two weeks, and I've been introduced to Job Lot and Building 19, which are amazing thrift stores, but this entry is way too long and I probably lost half of you back at my money woes, so I will wait for another day (probably tomorrow) to continue my escapades for the past two weeks. Hope everyone else has faired better. Until we meet again...
Oh yeah... Happy St. Patrick's Day.