Going to use the same layout as my last journal as I thought it kept things nice and neat.

My job situation...
I applied for a ton of jobs and finally got hired by one. The longer I stayed at my last job, the crazier things got. My boss stopped paying me via direct deposit and would give me a paper check days after payday. She'd ask me to work 10 hour shifts for two weeks with the perk that I wouldn't work Saturdays but then turned around and gave me smaller shifts so she could schedule me to work basically every Saturday. By the time I got hired elsewhere, I was just happy to leave her. But then my new job- the one I have now- is just as bad but for totally different reasons. They hired me on as part time. For less money than I was making before. At first it was OK because I was out of the last job and I'd been told I was going to be a manager trainee and get an actual state license through the new job and my hours would increase with the additional training. That did not happen. 3 weeks in and I'm only getting 23 hours a week and my manager doesn't even give me my training materials; I have to get a shift manager to print them out for me. The manager didn't do the things he said he would do and the company policy is ass-backwards in that it basically encourages its customers to steal from them in the form of coupons. (Customer buys item on sale and uses coupons to make it even cheaper. Customer comes back the day after the sale to return the item. Computer doesn't seem to realize they bought it on sale or that they used a coupon. Computer refunds them full price.)

Looking for a new job...
After being there for like 2 weeks, I started applying to jobs again. It didn't take long at all to see that I wasn't going to survive on 23 hours a week for that level of pay. By keeping me at part time on purpose, I am not eligible for health insurance or retirement or vacation days or sick days or anything. I have heard back from 3 jobs already. One called me to ask about an interview; said she would ask her boss about it and never called back. Another one called and scheduled an interview a week from now. A third one I only found out about because a person I have on my references list told me they had been contacted. So there's possibilities there. 2 of those 3 jobs are full time. 1 is freelance, which I figured would supplement the income of the job I have now if I can't get anything else. I'm trying not to get my hopes up.

My cats...
We lost Ginger Cat on Saturday. He was our yard's protector, keeping other cats at bay. Yesterday we had a new male cat (I have to assume he's a male.) in our yard who was bold enough to go right into our garage and eat the food in there. Getting a good look at him, my theory is this new cat is the father of Delaney, Connor, and Victor- given how similar they look. Our plan is to get friendly with him and as soon as we can, take him to the vet and get him neutered.

Life in general...
Outside of work, things are going pretty well. I'm at a point in my life where I'm overcoming my pack rat tendencies and have been cleaning out my house of old crap we don't use or need or even want. I'm going to the dump with bags of trash and more bags of recycling every single week, sometimes twice a week. I've filled bags of usable things and donated them to libraries, schools, and churches. My house is looking cleaner every day. I've also realized that the cleaner I get my office, the more I feel like making stuff again. I want to draw more and create more. I've gone through my old art piles and recycled most of the papers and kept only things that inspired me and that I wanted to finish. I hope when (not if) I get another new job and things become less stressful in terms of trying to figure out how I'm going to pay my bills, I would like to start being more active here again.

As always, thanks for sticking with me!