Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Going Home This Weekend, God Willing

I've been out of town for the past week due to a family situation which I can't go into details about. However, it turns out that, barring anything unforseen, I will no longer be needed where I am after this week and will be able to go home this weekend.

It's hard to believe that I will have spent half the month of February out of town.(I think this is the longest non-summer and possibly non-holiday time I have ever spent away from home.) When I return, I will resume my job search as well as return to the Doggie Bag. (I'll need to work extra hard on the former during the month of March to make up for lost time between the weather and the family emergency.) I'm hoping things didn't pile up too much in my absence, but just to be safe, I might put in extra time during the next week or so to get back on top of things. I also have a novel to finish up. (I need to finish up the plot.) Monday will be the last day to finish it up before time to edit. (Whatever I have left to do then will have to be done in the evening as Monday is one of my usual "work" days. I'll be there for my usual six hours unless there is absolutely nothing to accomplish...which is VERY unlikely.) I'll probably work on it mostly on Saturday or Sunday, depending on which day I go home. In other words, I'll have a lot to go home to.

I know I haven't been in much this week. It should change this weekend when I can resume regularly scheduled programming.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Out Of Town This Week

This week I'm staying at my sister's due to a family emergency. I can't go into details due to the sensitive nature of the situation, but it looks like I'll be here until Saturday, if not longer, depending on how long it takes for things to get resolved.

I don't know if I will be posting any more here this week. It depends on what kind of time I have. I just wanted to let you all know that I'm okay.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Doggie Bag Days Season 2: Day 80

I started out the day with pricing and putting out clothes. (Someone else took over on the latter part of that for a while.)

Today was the manager's birthday, so we had a small party for her. The HSP and the person doing the publicity for the Doggie Bag and the Humane Society were there for that.  After said party, I resumed pricing.

One of the shirts that I put out today was one that said "Rule #1: He did it." My sister's having a baby late this summer (Lord willing), and if it turns out to be a boy, I might just get that shirt for her 8-year-old.

Someone else took care of tagging until their shift was up. After I put out clothes that had been tagged, I looked for some more in the back to tag, price, and put out until I ran out of tags. Then, I grabbed some tags from the front that had been written on but taken off of stuff when it was sold or gotten rid of, and ran the white-out over them so they could be used again.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I might be going out of town for a week as of tomorrow, which would mean I wouldn't be around to help with stuff at the Doggie Bag. If that's the case I'm hoping I can get back on top of things upon my return. (At least the back room isn't as cluttered as it had been for a while.)

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Stayed In Today

This morning, because I hadn't been otherwise told, I presumed that the Doggie Bag would be open today despite all the snow, so I had called the manager to let her know that there was a chance that I'd be late getting in. It turned out that I caught her just when she was about to call people to let them know that it was questionable at best as to whether or not the store would be open today, but she wasn't necessarily expecting me to take any chances with this weather. (She knows that I'm one out of two staff members who do not drive.) I found out on Facebook that the place did open after all, but I stayed put.

From my understanding, the weather's expected to be a little better next week. I might put in some extra time then to make up for what I was unable to accomplish today and last Wednesday.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Doggie Bag Days Season 2: Day 79

This morning, after I had come in and taken my coat off, I went into the back room to see what I could start on back there. I noticed that some hangers were on the floor, and since the manager has a "no hangers on the floor" policy, I started picking them up until the manager walked in and told me that she wanted me on register (at least until the cashier that is usually on duty in the afternoon came in).

Today, the manager decided to go through the clothes on the main rack and decided to have some items either marked down for the bargain room or put into a bag to be recycled. For the clothing that fit the former category, I marked a red line through whatever price was on there (which is the standard procedure) and placed it accordingly. For the latter, I cut the tags off and set the rejected items aside until I was able to get a bag to put them in.

After I did all that, I had some lunch (and I tend to just take long enough to eat and eat lightly).  After that, I applied the white-out to the tags that had been taken off of rejected clothing. When I got done with that, I think I was in and out of the back room for the remainder of the day. There were some areas that needed cleared out, so I helped with that. This included moving some items around as well as hanging up clothes that were in the pile in question.

I was almost a half hour late getting off as I wanted to finish up clearing up an area that needed it. I went through some bags and put some clothes on the counter so that the next person that was in a position to hang them up would have somewhere to start. In one of the bags was some magazines, which I set aside, and a Sudoku book which I bought on my way out.

That's been my day. The plan on Wednesday (God willing) is to get clothing that had been hung up today tagged, priced and put out to whatever extent space up front will allow.  I hope I'll be able to accomplish that.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Attended A Funeral On Short Notice

The fashion show that I was supposed to participate in today was postponed by a month because of the weather, so I went to church like I normally do.

When I was hanging up my coat, someone informed me that the person I normally sat with had passed away on Thursday and her funeral was this afternoon.(I don't normally attend funerals on such short notice, but I decided to make an exception.) After church, I went home, had some lunch, changed from the red sweater I had been wearing to a white blouse and black blazer (but remained in the slacks I had been wearing) and got a ride from my mom to the funeral. (Mom volunteered to do this for me.)

This person had family that came as well as people from church (including myself). The pastor spoke about her life and read something written by something in her family, the song "Amazing Grace" was played, and a couple of her family members spoke as well.

This person will be missed. May she rest in peace.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Doggie Bag Days Season 2: Day 78

I had to hit the post office on the way over so that I could send out a package to someone as well as some thank-you notes I had written for Christmas presents. The snow on a lot of the sidewalk was pretty deep still, so I ended up walking on the street (but close to the curb).

After I hung up my coat and took some hangers from the register to the back, I marked some shirts for the bargain room per the manager's request. Sometime after that, I started looking for clothes to tag, price, and put out. (As had been the case with Monday, I was selective as to what I grabbed due to space constraints.) I mostly did ladies' tops, ladies' jeans, and t-shirts.

That's been my day. Hopefully I'll get more done on Monday.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Reporting For Duty Tomorrow

I found out on Facebook that the Doggie Bag was able to re-open today, and it'll be open tomorrow as well. As tomorrow is one of my "working" days, I'll be going in. I normally stay until four, but I might stay until it's current closing time (six) and possibly either go in on one of the days I don't normally work or stay extra hours on one of the days I do to make up for what I wasn't able to go in and do on Wednesday (not that it was my fault).

I'm not sure if I'll be able to find the sidewalk tomorrow as I go over there. (I'm also hoping to make my belated post office run while en route. I've got a package to send out and not to mention some thank-you notes once I get the respective postage.) The commute is going to be rather um, interesting.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Staying In Today After All

Normally, I'd be over at the Doggie Bag today. However, not only is it not open today due to the weather, but even if it was, I would not have been able to make it over there. For one thing, it'd be difficult, if not impossible for my mom or stepdad to get their respective vehicles out of the driveway. And me walking over there (which I do by default) did not appear doable either.

I decided last night that, since we were all staying in (as both the Doggie Bag and my mom's work were both closed today and my stepdad had the day off anyway), it'd be better for me to skip setting my alarm for today and risk sleeping in. (And I did sleep in somewhat.)

This morning, my stepdad and I had eggs, sausage, and biscuits. (My mom, on the other hand, opted for for one of her weight loss shakes as her "breakfast".) So far, today has been pretty quiet. Right now, my mom and stepdad are in the living room partly watching TV and partly doing stuff on the computer. I've basically been jumping back and forth between the Internet (including being in and out of Facebook's Cafe World) and some Sudoku. Once again, I don't think I have had that much of an urge to turn on the TV. Maybe it's because, as was the case with yesterday, it's a time frame in which I'm so used to not being at home that my TV wouldn't be on anyway. It could also be that I've got enough to occupy my mind as it is.

Oh, and it turns out that the chili feed that was scheduled for Sunday (which was planned to include a fashion show for which my mom and I had signed up to be models) has been postponed to March out of concern that people would be unable to make it through all the snow. At least that leaves me more time to look for a pair of shoes that I'd be willing to wear with the outfits that I planned on modeling.

The rest of the day will probably be pretty quiet. I think I'll go back to my sudoku and Cafe World.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Snowed In Today

Tuesday is one of the days that I'm either running errands (which may or may not include anything towards my job search) or doing stuff at home (at least laundry anyway). Today ended up being in the latter category if for no other reason than all of the snow we've been getting as of this morning if not late last night.  I was going to make a run to the post office, but the weather was such that the office that my mom works at was closed, and if commuting through the snow was out of the question for her, it was out of the question for me.

My stepdad, on the other end, had to work this morning. However, the store he works at decided to close early, so he got off four hours earlier than he was originally scheduled to.

Today, I mostly busied myself with the Internet (including Facebook's Cafe World) and some Sudoku. I also checked my email a couple of times. Interestingly enough, I did not have my TV on at all today. (Maybe it's because the time frame has been one in which I'm used to being away from home and thus I wouldn't be watching TV at that time.) It'll be on sometime tonight I'm sure, though.

I don't know if I'll be going into "work" tomorrow. The manager promised to call me if she elected not to have to store open tomorrow. If that's what ends up happening, I'm sure I'll find plenty of other things to do.