Once Again, Another Day Not As Productive As I Had Hoped For

I got some laundry done today, like I normally do on Thursdays. I was going to go do some follow-ups on some job applications, but I wasn't able to because of timing.

I've got projects and challenges going on in Cafe World that involve serving certain dishes or types of coffee x number of times. (The coffee thing is new and requires a certain amount of "energy" to brew. As I type this I'm waiting to have enough energy points to brew a type of coffee called Depth Charge.) I also have a challenge in Petville where I pick up 2000 pieces of litter by clicking on them. (I've picked up over 400 so far.)

I also need to get some more time in on the Bookcrossing read-a-thon, which ends at midnight tonight. I so can't see myself making it to the 24 hours at this point, but whatever I can get is better than nothing.

One thing I did get accomplished is reading my daily Bible passage for the "Read the Bible in a year program" I'm involved in, Zechariah chapters 8-14. Tomorrow's reading is the book of Malachi, and after that, I'll be done with the Old Testament.

That's all the news I have on this end. I might come back in later...maybe.

Doggie Bag Days Season 2: Day 27

This morning I had even more clothes waiting for me to deal with that when I had left. Apparently, a church in the area had a rummage sale, and someone donated all of the "leftovers". I was able to get through some of the bags of it, but once again, I ran out of time before getting through it all. Some of the clothing was stained, out of season, etc. and had to be recycled. There also happened to be a scrub shirt and pants, which I set aside for the HSP to take over to the Humane Society. (The shirt had a few spots on it, but the HSP assured me that it would really show. I wasn't sure if it would matter or not given the probable nature of the work done over at the Humane Society.)

As a rule, we don't use wire hangers for anything that we sell. However, there's something that our current manager uses them for herself, so she took some with her when she first left. I also set some aside for her for the next time she was in. (She came in later to close.)

The next day I go in is Friday. I don't know if more clothing will come in by then or not.

Doggie Bag Days Season 2: Day 26

I had left on Friday feeling pretty good about the dent put into the clothing waiting to be hung up and tagged. However, there were apparently a lot of "leftovers" from rummage sales on Saturday as there were huge donations then and today.  One of groups that came to donate stuff was a couple who donated some of their stuff to us but apparently saw how full we were getting as they decided to take whatever they had left somewhere else. (According to our current manager, who has worked at the Doggie Bag off and on for quite some time, in the past, the Doggie Bag didn't have as much help as it does now, and some of the staff members would resort to turning donations away, which really bothered her. As far as I knew, that was never an option despite how crowded the back room would get.)

One person donated some outdated dresses that could be sold as costumes, if we're lucky. However, I think the manager is going to see if someone she knows in the theater business (or the theater department of the high school or college) might be interested in them.

There's still no word yet as to who is responsible for the break in/robbery that happened on Thursday night. We may or may not ever know, but maybe the tension of it will die down over time.

Doggie Bag Days Season 2: Days 24-25

I went in yesterday to move around a few things that needed to be moved around.

This morning, I was on my way to the Doggie Bag, thinking of all of the clothes that I needed to get hung up and taggged. When I got in, I found out from somebody else on staff that we had been robbed/broken into last night. The only thing taken was the money. (I don't know the amount myself.) However, whoever did it had apparently gone through the back because the glass on one of the doors was shattered. The manager had to call the police. A cop came in to get the fingerprints.

We don't know who it was that did it. It could have been someone who had left during the summer on bad terms and is no longer welcome on the property and is trying to retaliate. The robbery could have been in connection to other ones in town. Hopefully, we'll know sometime next week.

I was able to get more clothing hung up and tagged. I ran out of time before I got through all of it, but at least it wasn't as big as when I had left on Monday. Barring more incoming donations, I might have a chance at catching up at some point.

Pulling An All-Nighter Tonight

I have a catering project that I'm doing on Facebook's Cafe World. The timing on some of the things I'm "cooking" is such that it'll be done at an hour when I'm normally asleep. In order to get them off the stoves in time, I'll need to stay up extra late tonight.  I can't simply turn in for a couple of hours and have an alarm wake me up as Mom is home, and ruining HER sleep could get me in trouble. My phone has changed, so I don't even have the option of a discreet vibrating alarm on that anymore. So, little to no sleep it is.

Despite my best efforts, I may end up missing the deadline for the three-star rating once again. (I have 1 hour and 17 hours left to be eligible for it. I have to have a three-star rating in order to be eligible for a certain recipe. I got a two-star rating last time. Maybe I'll try it again some other time if I fail. But I'll make sure I have more "cafe cash", spices, and/or stoves for my next attempt.)

I'll have to find things to do to pass the time. I have two hours and 23 minutes until time to take some devil eggs off the stove. (I have to serve them 72 times. So far, I've served them 35. They take 18 hours to serve. I have 14 stoves. At the moment, all but three of the stoves are spoken for by the turkey I need to serve a couple of hours after the devil eggs.) I'll maybe get a couple of hours of sleep tonight at best. Oh well. At least I don't have anywhere I abosolutely need to be by a certain time tomorrow.

Doggie Bag Days Season 2: Day 23

Today, I started out hanging up some of the clothes and tagging them. After a while, I switched gears and checked to make sure that the clothes that were already hung up had tags on them. The person who does the window display and is presumably the new manager, has decided that she wants to take care of the pricing herself, and the new rule is that if something in the window or elsewhere in the store doesn't have a price, it's not for sale at the moment, and if someone asks about an unpriced item, we should suggest that they come back at another time. (The presumed new manager also happens to be dating a guy that used to be roomates with my sister's boyfriend, so anything wrong I do in front of her could be used against me in a conversation with my sister.)

A couple of guys from the recycling center came. It's always a relief when they come because it means space gets freed up in the back room. However, after they left, I ended up with a bag of stuff that was stained, torn, or otherwise unacceptable for display for the next time they come.

I may or may not go in tomorrow. I've got a combination of laundry and job search stuff to take care of.

Anxious About Tomorrow

Tomorrow is my next day at the Doggie Bag. I don't know what's going to happen then now that our most recent manager has had to resign (unless something has changed her mind). I don't know if a new manager has been chosen or will be anytime soon or if it'll a be a thing where whoever is on duty at the time is manager for the day.

On the days that I went in, it was usually the manager that opened and closed the store. I'm guessing that, at least for the time being, either the HSP or someone on the staff who does have a key will have to take care of that.

On Friday, someone came on behalf of the manager I had before my haitus to get some things that said manager had left behind. Little did I know that if that was the case it was really their loss and they shouldn't have taken the things they did. (I think I mentioned this story already.) I'm not in trouble for letting that happen (that I know of, especially since it's not a situation I had been warned about or ever had to handle),  but the HSP has gotten the cops involved. Hopefully, everything has been/will be handled quietly, and all of the drama can come to an end.

Again, I'm anxious about what tomorrow will hold for the Doggie Bag, what with all of the recent, um "excitement". Hopefully, things will go smoothly.

Doggie Bag Days Season 2: Day 22

The manager had come in early today in an attempt to get back on top of things as she was out sick on Friday. However, she left within an hour or two after I had gotten in. At first, I thought she was stepping out for a smoke. (While I don't smoke myself, it doesn't seem to really phase me when others do.) However, according to the Humane Society President (who comes in periodically to check on things, and who I will be referring to from here on out as the HSP), said manager has decided to resign for personal reasons. Who it is that ends up taking her place remains to be seen. (This is the second time a manager had left the Doggie Bag since I started. I have thoughts as to who would likely become the new manager, but I'll have to wait and see.) Between losing a manager as of today and the drama that ensued on Friday regarding the manager before her (and which I and at least one other staff member have tried to stay out of but to our dismay have gotten caught in the middle of), things have gotten a bit, um, interesting.

I think I did a bit of hanging up, but I mostly tried to straighten up the back room a bit, per the HSP's request. I've been able to have one side of the room consist of clothes and the other side everything else. I also went through some of the clothes to see what should stay and what should go and put that which was to be recycled in one section of the room. I've also gotten some of the colored plastic hangers (which don't swivel at the head) bundled up as we're trying to get rid of those. That might be one of my projects for the next week or two, especially if there's no room to hang up any of the clothes. (The rack for the pants that are on reserve is basically full.) Even though the manager had left for good, there was someone else to run the register, so I mostly took care of the back room.

Shortly after I had returned in August, I had been put on the same schedule as now ex or about-to-be ex-manager, which was Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but it may not matter if I go in on the other days as well now that she's gone.  I might at some point end up doing so in order to better the chances of getting caught up on things.

Doggie Bag Days Season 2: Day 21

Today, we were late opening up as the manager didn't show up. One of the people scheduled to work today was around. They went home to check for messages. As it turned out, the manager was sick, and the Humane Society President (who comes in and checks on things) had to come and unlock the doors.

Because the manager was sick, I ended up filling in for her on the register. I won't go into how much was made, but it wasn't all that impressive. One of the things that I did sell was a wedding dress that was in the window. I sold it for $10.00. I found out all too late, from the person who does the window display, that I shouldn't have done that as she wanted to get feedback from the HSP as to how much it should run for.  I apologized and told her that I didn't know any better and that I'm not the one who normally runs the register all day (both of which were true). She said that it was okay, and that 1) she was not in a position to leave any kind of note and 2) the manager probably would've done the same thing I did if it came up.

At some point, the former manager's significant other and another former staff member came to reclaim a chair that had  been left behind over the summer. Later, the FMSO came to reclaim the open/close sign and some carts that the FM supposedly left behind when he had left the Doggie Bag over the summer. (After that, I found out from the person who does the window display that if the manager or somebody else that had walked out over the summer left something behind it was really their loss as it had become store property.)  I had heard all sorts of things about what had happened with the FM, but I was not around to witness any of it so I don't know whether or not it was even true.

That was my day. I don't normally go in on Saturdays, but I may end up having to make an exception tomorrow in order to get back on top of things.

Doggie Bag Days Season 2: Days 19-20

I forgot to do an account for Monday, and I've messed up my account for Wednesday, so I'll do my account for both of those days here. I think basically, there were just some clothes to be hung up and tagged on both days. On one of those days, the manager was five minutes late. I don't remember which one it was though.

At some point on Wednesday, a friend of the manager's had an emergency, so said kids were around for the last couple of hours before closing time.

That's all I have for those two days.

Ugh! Another Barely Productive Day

I didn't get out of bed as early as I had hoped to. (When I get off to a late start, I can't seem to get myself going as much as I had hoped.)

It was raining a bit this morning, but then it dried off, so I was able to get an application to a gas station in. When I left, I realized I made a mistake on a phone number I had put down, but it was too late to correct it. I have more applications to fill out and turn in. I also need to go out and get more.  Next week, I'll probably turn to a temp agency and see if they can't help me out.

Today's been one of my laziest days. Not good. I should be super-productive nearly every single day until I have a job. Maybe Thursday will be better.

At My Sister's House Last Night And Today

My mom, a friend of my sister's and I went to my sister's house for her 30th birthday celebration. There has been some roofing work going on lately, so the only way to get in an out of the house right now is through the garage. The other guests consisted of one other friend, some neighbors, and some guys helping with the roof.

For supper, we had hot dogs with chips and veggies to go on the side. There was also some punch with alcohol in it. I had some of that and some beer, but I don't think I got drunk. There was cake, but because of timing, we didn't have that until this morning. (The cake was a yellow bunt cake with chocolate frosting and multi-colored sprinkles, so it looked like a big donut.)

At various parts of the night, Cosmo the corgi had me or someone else play fetch with him. At one point, he tried to get me to play fetch with part of a milkbone (which is awkward at best in my book). There was also some fetch this morning. It's funny, but despite being up late like the humans, he was very energetic this morning.

In addition to the cake, we also had eggs for breakfast. Mom was the one scrambling them. At one point, a piece of already scrambled egg fell to the floor, and she playfully told Cosmo to get her "mess" which he did. (That dog will eat almost anything offered to him. This includes veggies, which his "big sister" Millie doesn't like. He's also more willing to take medicine than she is when/if it comes up.)

That's been my weekend. Who knows what will happen next weekend?

Going To My Sister's 30th Birthday Party

My sister's birthday is technically on Monday, but it's followed the next day by work for her and her boyfriend.

My mom and I are going to her house in the afternoon. A friend of my sister's will be riding along with us. Due to the timing of the party, my mom and I will be spend the night there and come home on Sunday.

My nephew won't be there, though, as he is/will be out of town visiting his dad. Usually when my nephew is around, he'll want me to play with me. Even though he won't be around, my sister's two-year-old corgi Cosmo (whom I've mentioned in previous posts) will be. How much do you want to be that he will "ask" me to play fetch? (Too bad he's unable to burn enough calories from that to help with his alleged "fatness", though it's a relatively mild case.)

So, that's what I'm up to today. I might be in to post sometime tomorrow after I get home.

Doggie Bag Days Season 2: Day 18

Today, one of the counters and something else in the back room had to be rearranged, so the first priority was to get things moved around in the back room in preparation for this. It happened sometime after noon. We've got more space to work with now.

Another thing that had to be done today was getting hangers that weren't being used to their respective rack. We've got more hangers than places to put them, so a lot of the plastic hangers have been put up for sale.

We also had a lot to send to recycling. It was sometime in the afternoon when they showed up.

There were also a lot of clothes to be tagged or checked for tags. (I ran out of time on one of the racks.) The person who ranks above the manager and comes in to check on things plans on coming in on Sunday to take care of pricing.

In conclusion, it's been a busy day at the 'Bag. On Monday, I'll have a lot of hanging up to do unless someone is able to take care of that in my place tomorrow.

You Know That You CAN Comment, Right?

I have yet to get any comments as of late. For a while, I thought that maybe I didn't have any audience whatsoever, but my Blogger Stats indicate otherwise, and that part of said audience is outside the US.

I don't know if you all simply had nothing to say or if this blog or what, but I would love to hear from those of you stopping by.  Maybe you could tell me a little bit about where you're from and where YOU are on life's journey.

If you're worried about being off-topic by any means, that's okay too, just so long as you aren't exactly posting your memoirs here or posting spam. But anyway, I'd love to here from those of you taking the time to read my blog (or any of my other blogs). I hope you have a good day.

Doggie Bag Days Season 2: Day 17

On the way over to the Doggie Bag today, I happened to run into the former manager and his significant other, but I've been sworn to secrecy as to what they were up to. (Don't worry. It's nothing illegal.)

We still have a bunch of clothes waiting to be hung up and tagged. At some point, some of said clothes had to be priced so that they could be put out on the floor to fill in some gaps in their respective racks.

At some point, the person from the Humane Society who periodically comes in to check on things was in. She noticed that the pants racks weren't as organized as they could/should have been. So, per her request, I held off on putting any more stuff out in order to re-organize the pants racks according to size. This also involved putting some size disks (I think that's what they're called) on said racks. Was I able to get all of the racks organized before I ran out of time? I wish, but at least I'll have Friday to do it.

Another New Blog

In case anyone here is interested, I've just started a new blog called Moderate Mouse's Musings where I will be posting my thoughts on various topics from time to time.

My Day Today

I didn't do much today. I didn't think I'd get out at all today because it was raining this morning, but the rain was short-lived.

I read my bible, read the current novel I'm on: The Eyes of Darkness, worked on some stuff for my Facebook games, loaded/unloaded the dishwasher, took some stuff over to the college campus's recycling bins, and picked up a job application.

I'm still working on the dinner party project for Cafe World. I don't see myself getting done in time for the three star rating (which means I won't get the rack of lamb recipe), but I hope to get done in time for the two-star rating so that I can get the next order. (You have to have at least two stars to qualify for the next order.) I may re-do the dinner party order after I help a friend with her birthday party order. (I don't think anything I do will help get that done in time for the full three-star rating, though.)

That's been my day. Tomorrow, it's off to the Doggie Bag once again.

To My US Visitors, Happy Labor Day

As those of you from the US are aware, it's Labor Day. Some of you may be going about your usual business regardless. Some of you may have the day off.

As for me, I've got the day of from my volunteer work at Doggie Bag. I had thought about doing some yard work, but my mom and stepdad are both outside doing something, so I'm staying out of their way.

I'm watching Money Hungry right now. I might do some reading during the commercials. Who knows?

Labor Day Weekend

As those of you from the US know, this is Labor Day weekend. I've had some stuff go on so far.

Yesterday, I went to the local Little Balkans festival off and on. In the evening, I went to the street dance. Every year at the street dance, one of the bands that plays there is a polka band and there's space in front of the stage for people to dance. As I had no dancing partner whatsoever, the only time I was on that dance floor was when the "chicken polka" was going on. (And it was done twice this year.)

I happened to run into an old friend of mine from middle to high school. I had dated said friend off and on for a couple of years. Sometime in high school, he dropped out for personal reasons. We kept in touch for a while, mostly by phone. I think that died down, especially after I met my later-to-be-boyfriend (now longtime ex) at Winter Homecoming during my junior year of high school.

There was a time, when I thought I'd eventually reunite with the old friend for good (or at least that's what I thought would be ideal). However, he eventually got married and had a child in said marriage. (There were actually two children that had resulted in that marriage, but the second child was a preemie that didn't survive.) The marriage, unfortunately, ended up not working out. Later, after my friend and his wife split up, he started dating someone else (and still is) who recently has had another child by him.

Something that my friend brought up was that he was looking for a ghostwriter for some of his books. He has the plot, twists, turns, etc. down, but it's a matter of how everything happens. I have accepted the offer, but he has asked that I make sure I have my own life sorted out (as there are some complications to it) before I start. He says he'll talk to me more about what is going to happen with the ghostwriting.

My mom and stepdad have had a busy weekend themselves. My stepdad had multiple band gigs yesterday. Today, he and my mom are out of town to help clear out some possessions of a recently deceased distant relative. I was unable to go with them as someone needed to look after the dog. (I've got stuff I can do around here, though.)  They said that they might be home tonight, but there were no promises.

I don't know exactly what I'll be doing tomorrow, since it's Labor Day, and the Doggie Bag will be closed (so I was told). I'll probably do yard work, work on my Cafe World catering, read, etc. I don't have a blow-by-blow agenda, but I can still find things to do.

Doggie Bag Days Season 2: Day 16

It's funny. On Wednesday, I had ended the day feeling good about how much I had been able to get caught up on. However, this morning, there were TONS of clothes waiting to be dealt with. I wasn't there yesterday, but among the clothes that had been donated, some of them were to moldy and smelly to be worth keeping.

The recycling people normally come on Wednesdays. However, arrangements had to be made for them to come today just because we had so much to get rid of.

Whatever was still in good shape that wasn't especially summer was to be hung up. Unfortunately, on two of the racks, there wasn't enough space for everything that's supposed to go them. Maybe that'll change within the next week.

Well, I'm off to work on some catering stuff for Cafe World. It turns out that extensions have been granted, so I have until Tuesday to get it done for a top rating.

Shifting Gears A Bit Today

Normally, this would be one of my "job search days," but for some reason, I've decided to shift gears a little.

This morning, I finished a up a catering order on Cafe World and started on a new one, which is for a dinner party. The order calls for me to serve jumbo shrimp 180 times (of which I've done 22 so far), angel food cake 40 times (12 of which should be ready for me sometime tonight), savory stuffed turkey 41 times, and spicy devil eggs 72 times. I have to make sure I time the preparation of these in such a way that I'll be able to "serve" them before they go bad. I've had to ask for "help" (which I may or may not get) on this as it has to be done by a certain time on Sunday in order to get top rating. I only have 12 stoves and can therefore only cook so much at a time, plus with real life to take care of, computer time is also limited. (Until this order is taken care of, the only servings of bacon cheeseburgers that I'll be able to sell to Wholesale Dale will be those that I'm given as a result of spicing up a neighbor's bad ones. I know, a web game shouldn't require so much of a person's time and energy, but that's the way it is.)

I also have laundry and dishes running as we speak. Other things I plan on doing today include reading my bible, putting in read-a-thon hours (which I'm not likely to have a lot of this time), writing to my dad (lest I hurt his feelings) and going up to a bookstore to see if they have books that my sister is looking for and if they do, how much they cost.

In conclusion, I have quite a bit I can do today.

Another Cafe World Update

This morning, for the party I'm "catering" in Cafe World, I've been able to serve the clubhouse sandwiches all the seven times that the order called for and the triple berry cheesecake five out of the needed 23 times. Tonight, I've served it twelve more times. I have six more times I need to serve it left. Since the cheesecake takes 12 hours (and I mean real hours) to cook, it'll be ready in the morning. I should be done with the order in enough time to be eligible for a cupcake recipe as well as another order (which has to be within the next 22 hours and 17 minutes).

I still have my order for Wholesale Dale to complete. So far, I've sold him 24,583 servings of bacon cheeseburgers and have 64,121 servings to go. As six of my stoves are occupied with the cheesecake, I'm using the other six for the cheeseburgers.

The order to Wholesale Dale doesn't have a deadline (that I know of). I do want to get it out of the way as soon as I can though. I don't have anywhere that I absolutely need to be tomorrow, so I might stay up to take care of more of the order (though it won't be at the same pace that it would be if I had all of the stoves free). One of these days I'll get that order finished!

Doggie Bag Days Season 2: Day 15

It has been raining off and on today. My jeans had gotten somewhat soaked on the way over (though not bad enough to cause any problems and they did eventually dry...sort of).

Someone named Sheryl (I may have spelled her name wrong; I was just guessing) started their first day at Doggie Bag. The day started out by clearing the particularly summery clothes from the main racks and bagging them up for recycling.

Like any typical Wednesday, a couple of people from the recycling center came to pick up the rejected clothing. As I was helping them load the truck, I had a sarcastic conversation with one of them about how lovely the weather was.

Sheryl and I were able to finally catch up on clothing that needed to be hung up (something that hasn't happened lately). So then, it was down to making sure everything was tagged and facing in such a way that if it was on a rack, the curved end was facing us and the front of the garment was facing left. (I've been guilty of messing up on this, but I've supposedly not been the only one to.)

The manager decided to let me and Sheryl go home early, partly because of the weather and partly because business had supposedly gotten unusually slow. While I was on my way out, the manager told me that I wouldn't have to come in on Friday if it turned out to be raining. (If it's a light drizzle, I might still go in, but not if it is really severe.)

Oh, and it turns out that there is a kitten staying at the store temporarily. I think it's up for adoption, but I'm not sure. The person from the Humane Society that ranks above the manager and comes in to check on things brought it in. It's being housed in a big cage for now.