:0) What a difference a day makes

24 little hours!

Called the company back that I had interviews with last week to get an update and they offered me two jobs.

2 jobs!

The first I'd applied for and had two interviews for turned out to be the lower paid.  There was lots about that job that I could get excited about with new things to learn, a team on site and knowing a few people already there.  But I'd expected it to be the higher paid of the two.

The second job I'd applied for was a Project Support role.  I'd told them I was happy to take a step back to gain experience and then move up within the company to be a Project Manager again.  When I spoke to the nice HR girl today she said that between her and the manager they had decided that although I would get the experience I would get bored quickly.  Sooooo they upgraded the job to the Associate Project Manager role.  Woo Hoo.  Was not expecting that :0)

Actually didn't take me more than a few seconds to decide.  I had thought that if I could get the support job I'd get promoted pretty quickly.  I was right I got promoted before I even started.  I took the Associate Project Manager job because it has better prospects and it's the one I feel most excited about.  Plus it was higher paid although I'd decided money wasn't the deciding factor unless it was significantly different.

Anyway what I'm gradually getting to here is that I GOT A NEW JOB :0)

I am really really really (repeat to end of page) happy.  I'm also relieved that I have found something that interests and excites me and that I don't have to face a period of unemployment.

I think a lesson has been learned here and I will be trying doubly hard to keep in control of my finances.

Yesterday I was feeling really down with rubbish at work and all the uncertainty, now I feel so excited.  I can't wait to get out of my current job and start something new.

Thanks bloggers for putting up with my job searching blog, Normal service will be resumed shortly!

Mrs M

PS.  Now I think I should buy a new bag to go with the new job.....................

Well hello blog, remember me

Dear Blog

I'm sorry I have neglected you for months but I have been really busy.  Work continues to be a source of problems.  The site I work on is closing and the staff are leaving, well all be over by the end of August. 

In true Project Manager style I analysed the risks and decided that the major risk would be that the global Project Manager vision wouldn't work and our group would be next out of the door.  I did a quick gap analysis (get me with the worky buzz words) and realised my CV was missing an actual Project Management qualification.  Everything has been on the job training from one company.  So I decided that the way to go was to get an official qualification and show I know how the job should be done not just how the company I work for does it.

So I put myself in for an exam without doing the course, bought the books and spent the last few months revising in preparation.  I sat the exam recently and frightened myself because I found some of the questions very easy making me think I may have missed something.  One of the 10 questions I totally messed up but overall I think I will pass.  Fingers and toes crossed, results should arrive in the next few months.

My next step was to polish my very, very out of date CV.  When I say polish I mean start from scratch as it is 10 years since I updated it.  Finally completed a basic CV that can be easily customised for different jobs and all ready to start applying.

JUST IN TIME:

Last Wednesday we got the notification that plans have changed and our jobs are now at risk!  Spent the remainder of the week listening to the rest of the group saying they saw this coming and that now they need to start updating CVs etc.  Confused, if you saw it coming why have you done nothing?

Have 5 job opportunities to apply for, all of them have things that sound interesting and I know I can do them although all but one would be somewhat different from my current job.  CVs will be winging there way through electronic mail early next week.  Wish them luck if you have a spare moment!

On top of all my planning for this I have had to deal with work itself.  It has been horrible.  Without moaning too much I just need to say that the company has decided on really unrealistic timelines for closure and transfer.  So many things haven't been considered and it has been a nightmare recently.  As none of you know who they are I think it is reasonable for me to say that I am disgusted by their lack of customer focus and consideration.  They haven't treated staff well but we are costs so that's business but customers are your profits and future income, you'd think they would be trying to protect relationships.  Bitch over, not really my problem but when you have worked with clients for years it is hard not to care about them.

Away from work all is good, Mr Midnite has been very supportive and continues to infuse me with his positivity.  The furry girls are as usual wonderful and always ready with hugs and doggy licks when the day has been stressful!

Mental health wise the stress of work hasn't been a great help.  The situation is pushing my pharmaceutical support system to it's limits but I refuse to let it break me.  The doctor has let me have a few sleep tablets and the difference the occasional good nights sleep makes is unbelievable.  I have heard before that there is nothing you can't handle if you get a good nights sleep but now understand this. 

Knowing that I have been doing positive things to improve the situation as helped massively and I'm confident I'll find  nice new job soon.

Hoping my blog will forgive me for my extended absence and that I can get back to writing soon, I do miss it.

Lots of love
Mrs M

Decisions, decisions

I struggle making some of the easy decisions that occur everyday, like should I have dessert or not, and if yes then what should it be?  Or which handbag to buy?  That's how I end up buying 5, they are all so nice.

So imagine the difficulty when it comes to really big, life changing decisions.

With the situation at work I am trying to decide if I am going to stay put and see how it turns out, or start looking at options now.

The company are closing 2 of the 4 Scottish sites, my job is safe but it will be different.  Whatever I do there will be changes.  I could move for a complete change or stay put for a potentially complete change.

I've been there nearly 10 years, maybe now is the time to move?

Some of the possible outcomes of staying put look exciting but some don't, it's a risk waiting to see which way it goes.  There are a few opportunities floating about that interest me but I have some new job fear going on, what if I don't like it?

I visited our new site in Italy last week and the boss there seemed keen for me to go back for a longer visit and get to know everyone.  This for me would be vital to my job.  When I discussed it with my boss here she didn't seem very enthusiastic.  She said "you wouldn't want to move out there would you?"  I just said that I hadn't really thought about it.  Her reply was "I was asked to put forward a list of people who might be interested but I didn't include you because of the dogs and Mr Midnite."  Firstly I don't see that the two things are connected,  I want to spend some time over there so I can do my job better.  If other people want to transfer I don't see that this impacts my request.  Secondly, who is she to make the decision about moving for me, I might have had a life long wish to live in Italy.  Dogs and Mr Midnite are mobile, if I'd decided to go then Mr Midnite would need to make his own decision.

I think this and a few other things are putting me off staying but there are lots of new opportunities that I hope are well managed so that they work out.  I'd like to stay for some of them.

But, there are some interesting looking alternatives.  There are possibilities to move locally to other companies in the same industry or to change completely.  I just can't decide if I should send my CV out and give something new a try.

I'm too good at risk assessment for big decisions, I see risks everywhere

When maybe I should be seeing possibilities

Anyway I haven't decided what to do yet, I haven't even attempted to update my CV yet.  Lack of action is that an unconscious decision to stay put?

Bad Blogger

I realise I'm neglecting my blog and my blog reading.  It's been really hectic here so far in 2011 and after the storm I have been hit by a second bout of Gorilla flu.  The calm after the storm but unfortunately I don't feel well enough to look at the screen and catch up on your exciting posts.  I will though!

I've been doing some thinking about something that keeps cropping up in my life and wondering if it is a coincidence or a sign that I should accept it.  I need to think more.

A funny thing I find is what I take as signs and what I ignore.  I had a day when I was feeling fat and unhealthy.  I saw a few programmes on TV that inspired my last post and made me feel motivated to lose a few pounds.  The next morning with motivation high a leaflet for weight watchers dropped through my door, free membership and first class.  A sign?  Anyway I joined, and no that doesn't mean this is going to turn into a weight loss blog.  I like the system so far, got to say the Gorilla flu is helping as I'm definitely not hungry.  Will see if the universal signs that it's time to lose my spare pounds is really a sign or just a coincidence.

I wonder what other signs I miss?

The furry girls 2011 declarations

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential. ~Ellen Goodman


I was talking to the furry girls about New Year's Resolutions.  I try not to date a resolution, this year I have two goals, I started one on Boxing day and the other on 29th December.  If you have decided to do something why wait until the 1st of the 1st 2011?  The furry girls however decided the resolutions were good.

I suggested the following options:
1) We will not chase children!
2) We will eat our doggy dinner when it is put down.
3) Sasha - I will not roll in stinky dead animals or smelly piles of unidentified poo.  This is not perfume!
4) Sasha - I will give up my 6 a year slipper habit, shops think mum has a slipper fetish.
5) Star - I will stop stealing underwear and hiding it in odd places around the house. 
6) Star - I will accept that I am not Princess of the Universe, just Princess of this house.
7) We will stop leaving snot marks on the window
8) We will accept that the basket is our bed and the big comfy bed is mum's

They disagreed and decided the following were better:
Both:
1) Grow opposable thumbs so that we can help ourselves to food in the kitchen
2) Perfect the sad doggy face for getting extra food
3) Get mum to take up less of the big bed so we can stretch out.
Sasha:
1) Prepare marketing plan for a new range of perfumes, eau de fox poo will make me millions
2) Kill all slippers, they are evil and must die.
3) Steal all Star's toys and pull the stuffing out.

Star:

1) Prepare plan to take over the universe, I am a Princess you know.

2) Steal all underwear and hang in the most embarrassing places

3) Get more cuddles

Tattoo Trouble

I sort of want a tattoo but the road to body design is paved with problems.  I'm not sure if I will ever be able to make a decision on what and where to permanently colour myself!

First issue is the what.  This is going to be on me for ever, it takes me ages to decide what to wear on a morning.  So careful consideration is required:

Anything with words is dodgy in case of an illiterate tattoo artist:

I also worry that tattoo man might get carried away and forget to stop:

I guess I'm thinking that it just won't look right:

Like seriously my dogs with some coloured pens could draw a better panther and WTF is that unicorn doing?

The other worry is that I pick something that dates really quickly or that I hate after 6 months. 

Remembering the various tattoo fashions I have seen through the years that I sort of liked - dolphins, butterflies, devils moving on the Chinese symbols and tribal designs.  I think you can kind of tell when a tat was done if they fall into one of the fashion tattoo areas:

I'm not sure I'd still love Flipper now although I did really like them about 15 years ago.  I suppose not sticking to the fashion but getting something that appeals specifically to you is the secret.  I need to watch out in this too because a lot of the tattoos I see and think wow are really more for men:

I have always had a thing about dragons so have strongly considered getting one of those. Slight issue with that because Mr Midnite has a black dragon already and I suspect people would think I got one to match. His and hers tattoos!

So if I narrow down to things that actually mean something to me am I considering a cavalier tattoo?  Well it would be original because even the power of Google can't find one:

Actually I have it narrowed it down to a dragon, something with a Star and a Sash or some sort of flowery thing:

So with the what in progress I have to consider the where?  I want something I can hide if needed and reveal when I want to.  I think I also want something I can see.  Some places that have been withdrawn from discussion because they don't fit these requirements:

The head or face -

Anything around this area -

The back, partly because I can't see it and party because the lower back ones are now known as slag tags -

Don't fancy anything on my stomach, not my favourite body part and I would hate to see it stretch if I got pregnant or just fat.  Not really wanting anything on my upper arms of legs either and anything on my chest is totally out, best feature does not need anything added -



Have I left anything?  Oh yes, sides, wrists, hands, ankles and feet.  Not much to choose between so why can't I decide?

Any suggestions or advice will be appreciated and I promise if I ever make a decision I'll share.