February

Since I had the interview I have done a lot of waiting. I found out the Tuesday after the interview I got the job! I am excited! I get to meet new people and use skills I have learned throughout school and previous jobs. I am also looking forward to expanding my Excel skills.
I was supposed to start my new job this past Monday. Unfortunately, there were a couple of complications. #1: I had to get a hair sample drug test. This was not a big deal as I have had other drug tests in the past. This was though, my first hair sample test. I was not sure how much hair they would take. I assumed they wouldn't take a lot. When I got there the nurse put some of my hair in the back in a clip so she could take the hair underneath. I could feel her cutting some hair but wasn't real sure how much. When she finally finished she walked around me to get the bag for the sample. I finally how much she cut; it was more than I was expecting haha! Anyway, she labeled the sample and filled out some paperwork which I had to sign and date as well. Everything seemed to be going well and it wasn't going to take long to get the results back. A week later I get phone call from the contract employer asking if I was busy and told me the results of my drug test were under the wrong chain of custody. Luckily, I was not busy that day and was able to go back to the hospital and get another drug test taken. I was not very happy about this because I didn't really want to drive 45 minutes to get more hair taken and I didn't want to get my hair cut again. I did request that they take less hair so I didn't have a bald spot haha. While I was initialing more paperwork for the sample I asked the nurse how a sample could get sent to the wrong lab. The nurse said it was human error. Someone else had pulled the wrong paperwork by accident because the codes are similar. This had been the Thursday before I was supposed to start. My representative told me she was hoping the results would come back the next day. If they did not, I would not be able to start Monday.
#2: The Friday before I was supposed to start my representative called me to tell me I would not start Monday because my manager was at another facility and would not be able to get away due to software issues. I was also told my drug was not back yet. So either way I would not start on the original start date. We were hoping I was able to start on Tuesday or Wednesday instead.
On Monday morning I received a phone call letting me know my drug test came back and I passed (no big surprise since the 1st results were available quickly as well). I was told I would start in 2 weeks.
Now I am just waiting around for this date to come so I can start making money. Since I had planned on starting earlier in the week I had gotten everything done that I wanted to get done/needed to get done. I still had projects I wanted to get complete but these could be completed in my free time. However, now I have extra free time so I have started to make progress on finishing my quilt which I had started just under 4 years ago.

The quilt needed ironed

Here are some of the food dishes I have made.

Cheesy Biscuit Bean n' Beef Casserole

Cheesy Rice Casserole
This dish has salsa in the ingredients

Easy Risotto

Homemade Pizza
Pepperoni, black olives, jalapenos,  mushrooms

Kale Chips
Healthy alternative to potato chips

Spaghetti Bake
This was really good!

Waffle
Made with our new waffle maker we got as a Christmas gift
I guess I didn't pour the batter correctly the first time...

Food & Interview

Since I had some extra time on my hands on Tuesday I decided to make 2 more casseroles for later this week. Making things ahead of time really saves me time in the future. 
The first casserole I made was called Hamburger Pie. It took around 30 minutes to prep and 30-35 minutes to bake. Mashed potatoes and cheese top the hamburger, green bean, onion, and tomato soup mixture. 
The second casserole I made was a Broccoli & Rice Bake. The ingredients include broccoli, rice, milk, sour cream, and cream of celery soup. I ended up using fat free sour cream since that is all I had in the refrigerator. Cream of chicken soup can also be used. Both casseroles taste good! 

Those are tomato soup spots; not burnt cheese

1st Interview in Joliet!
Wednesday I got a phone call from Chase Staffing at 8:30am telling me I got an interview for the parts catalog administrative position. Chase Staffing had sent my application last week to Navistar for this position. After waiting and waiting to hear back on whether or not I got an interview. I scheduled the interview for Thursday February 2 in the afternoon. The job is located in Lisle, IL and should be around a 45 minute drive. I got my portfolio ready with extra resumes along with the email stating the job responsibilities. In the afternoon I had to take a skills assessment on Excel 2003 through Chase Staffing. The assessment consisted of a mock Excel spreadsheet with 30 questions and 1 question displaying at a time. This was a timed assessment but there wasn't a time limit. Once I finished a question (whether it was right or wrong) I was asked if I wanted the next question or to repeat the question. It only took me 17 minutes for 30 questions and I only missed 1 question! The question I missed was how to center the document vertically and horizontally on the printed page (we were not allowed to use any help references). I did not know how to do this before the assessment but I do know how to do this now. :-) Since the assessment was over Excel 2003 and I am used to Excel 2007 it took a little thinking as to where things were located in 2003 vs 2007 ha ha!
Hopefully the interview goes well!

Busy Morning

This morning was a very busy morning. I got up at 8am and got ready for the day. Then I got busy cooking. I knew Kristopher had to be at work by 12pm and he was not going to have anything to take to work for dinner so I had to get up early enough to have lunch and dinner made. As I was making enchiladas for lunch (before he left for work) and about to start making something for later in the day Kristopher told me he had to be at work at 11am. This did not leave me much time to make what I had planned. So I opted to heat up brussel sprouts and told him he had to take them along with a hot pocket and apple for dinner. I then continued to make lunch along with making a casserole which will be eaten tomorrow. By 11:00 both the enchiladas and the broccoli and bacon casserole were out of the oven and the clean up was almost done. I felt very productive this morning! 

Dish #1 Enchiladas
(After Kristopher ate lunch) 

Dish #2 Broccoli and Bacon Casserole

So Much Time

I have a lot time on my hands since I, unfortunately, do not have a job. I have applied to several jobs and have not heard too much back, yet. One staffing agency did call me and I went to an "interview" or what I like to call a 'get to know you' meeting. The agency did send my resume to 2 companies. However, I have not heard back from either company but I'm still hopeful. 
Even though I do not have a job yet I have kept myself busy.


Activity 1) 1000 piece puzzle
Okay...998 pieces since there are 2 pieces missing. 

It took longer than I expected...haha!

Activity 2) Applying to around 40 jobs
I have found the time in my "busy" schedule to apply to several different kinds of jobs. 
These are a few:
Caterpillar
Walgreens
Red Lobster
Parts Catalog Analyst
Sales Administrative Assistant
Sales Compensation Analyst


Now I just have to wait and hope I hear back from an employer. I know I will hear back from someone but it can be frustrating at times to wait. I don't even mind the rejection emails. I know that I will no longer be considered for the job and can stop waiting to hear back. 


Activity 3) Scrapbook 
It is nice to have time to scrapbook. I made 12 page layouts for a small 5X7 album. So far only a few pages have embellishments. 


Activity 4) Food
The amount of time I have has made it easy to make several different food dishes. 
#1 Mulligatawny Soup

#2 Butternut Squash and Green Apple Soup
I would recommend getting the pre-cut butternut squash.

#3 Creamed Corn Casserole

Activity 5) Organization
After looking at a few sites for organizing I finally got around to creating folders for keeping track of receipts and bills. This way I can better match each receipt with bills. Office organizing things are a lot of fun! Haha!!


Well, I have more to do with all my free time. 

New City

There was a lot of unpacking to do the first week we were here but we got everything in place. 

My cookbook rack :-)

Some things still need organizing and a place to live...haha!

The shower curtain we had to buy the 1st night here
in order to use the shower

Just added a little decoration and smell to the bathroom 

At least most things are in place.