Welcome back!

Yes I'm still alive yay! I have been super busy with work. Sorry for the lack of posts. I hope to post here more often, so those who don't live near me (pretty much everyone now) will know what I have been up to.

So far: I have taken on another job. Yes I am insane. It is inside Sam's Club, so it isn't a strain on me running to another building. I am the HR assistant. I train new recruits, and enter in their personal information as far as W2s and I9s. I work here maybe four times a month. No pay increase ... sadly. I am hoping I can train in as many areas as possible, so when management positions arise I am well rounded. I am trained in: Member Service Desk, Cashier, Jewelry, Check-Out Supervisor, HR department, and Marketing Team. I went on Blitz with the marketing team not too long ago. We basically go around to outside companies and ask them if they are happy with their membership, or ask if they would like to sign up for one, since Sam's Club is "in business for small business." It was fun, I got to do what I like most, talk! I hope I can get in the accounting scene soon. I am buddies with the team lead in the area. I have a little experience on the floor as well, walking with a fork-lift and restocking items. Like I said, well-rounded.

Speaking of well-rounded. I am less rounded myself. :) I have lost 24lbs since Christmas last year! My new years resolutions/library health program goal. The library has a new program kinda like the biggest loser program. We each paid 5 dollars to a pot and who loses the most BMI by July wins the pot. I have told everyone there, they should throw in another five dollars, I could use the extra money. They just laugh at me, and then bring doughnuts to work for a snack. I see what they are doing there ... sneaky people. Lucky for me I am not a doughnut fan!

Besides that, my life consists of going to the library, then Sam's, then home where I crawl into bed to do it all over again. Hope things are going well for you out there. Enjoy the warm sunshine today, it feels like a spring day, something to put anyone in an upbeat mood!

Funny thing this chivalry

I have been enlightened today. Most days when I work at the library I follow people into the building, no one holding the door, glancing my way, or even acknowledging me.

Today I wore a dress and things seemed to be different.

Patrons held the door open for me. The guy who walked in front of me made me laugh. He didn't notice me at first, but when he opened the door he caught my reflection. I was at the uncomfortable distance. The one where you question wither or not to hold the door because you will be standing there for a while, and they will want to speed up/jog to get there to make it a quick exchange. But he fumbled and stood there waiting. On the way into the second set of doors he opened it and stood back letting me walk through. I thanked him and walked the opposite direction to end our uncomfortable exchange.

A second interaction occurred at Sam's Club. On my way inside I had someone get a cart for me. No questions asked. On the way out someone else took my cart to the cart return, so I didn't have to return it myself.

So I have come to the conclusion: "Chivalry isn't dead ... it's just confused."

When Life Gives You Bills You Get a Second Job

Yup, I now currently work two jobs ... thus the reason I hardly post here (hardly meaning never haha). I applied for the Idaho Falls Public Library around September thinking I would never work there. I have no experience, haven't lived in the city much, and it had been a few months since I heard from anyone.

Funny how things work. I got a call close to Christmas time asking if I would like to show up the following Monday for an interview. I called them back (having gotten the message during a break from Sam's), and left a message saying I would be there.

I showed up in black jeans and a nice shirt. I had to run from Sam's to there and I don't (or didn't) own any nice pants. They shook my hand and asked the typical questions "What will you bring for the company ... How do you work with others ... How many light fixtures do you think are in the building? ... etc." I was perfectly honest with them, not thinking it would go anywhere. They asked if I didn't finish my job for the night how would I feel. I told them pretty good if I got a big chunk of it done. I can always come back tomorrow and get the rest done. Lazy in my opinion, but honest.

They called back the very next day and offered me the job. I was in shock really. Now I work at the library in the morning, and Sam's at night having one day off every month and a half, and it being on a Sunday (it's my day off today yay!). Having two jobs is hard, I can work 14 hour days if I have to close on a Saturday at Sam's, but we have to do hard things in life sometimes.

I have read several books since starting there, some of which were very dumb, and couple not so bad ones. Anna and the French Kiss is a good one, YA about a girl who spends her senior year of high school in an American school in the middle of France. The author is a budding artist and I found her book a quick easy read, and very light and entertaining.

When I do get days off (being Sundays) and I can't really get out and shop I find myself wandering my apartment, exploring. Here are some friendly faces:


Don't get the washer, plug in, and picture? They look like faces to me ... Happy, surprised, and crazy. Yup ... that's what I do with my free time :p

There's a reason it's called BLACK Friday

I was scheduled to work the 5am shift at Sam's Club this morning. My first real Black Friday. I had never shopped for them, didn't find anything I really needed to be up before the crack of dawn. Who does that?

A lot of people I tell you. But most of them sleep in till noon.

3:40am I got out of bed, showered, ate breakfast (Thanksgiving left overs, something everyone is thankful for!), and left for work. I snuck in the backdoor around 4:40am and got the run down on the sales for the registers. We didn't really know what was going on with the floor sales, I didn't even notice any differences. When a member would bring something up and say "Wow! It's only 45 dollars!" I would nod and smile like I knew all along.

People were lined up outside, and then the doors opened and they all lined up at the member service desk. The cashiers just stood there. I didn't get my first member till around 5:20am. They all bought electronics.

I was chipper, selling Plus memberships for a 25 dollar gift card, until around 7. The store died. Members were shopping for the normal stuff, and they weren't in a rush to get out the door, so I had no one. I started falling asleep. I had to walk in circles, pat my cheeks, clap my hands. It is very possible to fall asleep on your feet, mid conversation even. I didn't want to go on breaks, I didn't want to go home. I was happy to be working and making Plus membership sales.

It didn't get busy in the store till around 12. And it wasn't just busy it was super busy, lines all the way down, every register open. Busy. I couldn't get to my break without someone stopping me and asking where something was.

Finally, 1 hour after my shift ended they kicked me off a register and told me to go home. I did reluctantly. I get to go in tomorrow, but it will be at 2, so i won't make as many sales. We don't sell that many in the afternoon.

Overall it was a crazy day, full of laughs, patience testing, sales, and shouting (my voice is tired tonight, it is cracking). Can't wait till tomorrow. Sales at Sam's don't last a day, they last a weekend. Wish me luck!

P.S. The ice started melting today, we have road again!

The Big Move

This is going to be a big picture/movie post so be prepared. I took pictures of every room in the apartment (except Amanda's).

First lets start off with how Gus is handling the whole thing. Below are a couple videos of our trip to Idaho Falls. You can see how well he took it:

This is how he is now:

Relaxed, fat, and happy.

Now for some pictures of the apartment! (caption below the image)

Staircase leading downstairs/view from my room

My room from the hallway.

Bathroom from the hallway.

Staircase/first thing you see when you walk through the front door. You see this and to the right the hallway to the living room.

Hallway from the living room to the front door. We keep our shoes there ^_^.

Kitchen, it looks small but it isn't half bad.

The living room, Amanda is putting a puzzle together. We keep dvd's on that bookshelf for now. They will be moved into the white hatch when it is fixed. Just waiting for Amanda's brother to come back with all the parts.

My closet, it is huge, and super messy. Surprising how messy you can get when you just move in.

Other side of my closet.

My computer desk. I just pack the whole thing like it was at my parents and moved it here. Tyson said I didn't move, I just picked up my room and put it down, no boxes. It looks like that too.

I was watching You've Got Mail while I unloaded, the credits are on the TV I believe. Gus is chilling on the bed here, completely relaxed. Spencer (the dragon Spencer gave me and named for me from Lagoon) is next to my TV.

My bed.

I keep my shoes under the hotel like air-conditioner.

My bookshelf.

My bedroom door.

Notice anything odd in any of the pictures? The blue tabs on the walls? Our landlords said they wanted to fix up the holes in the walls, but never got around to it. We are going to give them a month before we rip those suckers down and start hanging more things up. The apartment echoes too much with nothing there.

A scary story, one night while we were sleeping some random kids decided it would be fun to shoot Idaho Falls up with a BB gun. Our kitchen window was hit. The bullet went through one panel of glass and bounced back out. Luckily it didn't go all the way through. We did have to file a police report, the cop said it was the thing going around so there were no worries about living in the area.

Here is a picture of the shot: It is about the size of a 50 cent piece. Not sure when it will be fixed, or if it will ever be fixed.

Not a bad place to live. I am happy here, I love my job, my apartment, etc. You should all stop by to visit if you are in town. Text and I will send you the address/directions.

I will be sure to keep you informed on whats up!

Intermission

I am just posting to tell you I will be posting soon. Its like a meeting to plan for another meeting. I have a lot of pictures and videos I want to post, and I want to make it fun and interesting, so it might take me a bit to work it all out. I don't close any night this week so I will work on it when I can.

In the mean time here are some highlights to look forward to:

-Moving to Idaho Falls
-Gus moving with me to Idaho Falls
-Starting a new job
-My new singles branch
-My apartment

Till then.

Apartment Shopping

Can you guess what I did all day today?

We called EVERY apartment listing in the paper that didn't say No Pets! I got through to about 1/2 of them, the other half I left messages. We visited two and set up appointments for another two.

The first little apartment was across from a cemetery, smelled like old socks and had the rudest land lady. She hardly spoke to us and when we had a question she snapped like we were criticizing her. I just wanted to know if she would fix the plug-in cover sheesh.

The second apartment we went through was a basement apartment, looked newish, was being cleaned at the time. The guy couldn't be there so he stayed on the phone with me while we walked through it.

Strange.
Other strange thing: He wanted to know people who know me to verify Gus didn't stink. O.o he wanted to know if he could talk to my sister or mom and ask them if he was stinky. Very strange. He said he will charge on the stinkiness of Gus. $10 being less stinky and $25 being really stinky.

It was just down the street from the place we picked.
Yup I found a place to live. Just have to put in the application and hope we get it. The guy said we can stop by tomorrow sometime and sign paperwork. It sounds like things are going to go through, we just have to wait till the current tenants move out.

Its a townhouse across from Westmark bank in Idaho Falls. It is about 2 miles from Sam's Club so I can drive or ride a bike to work (if I had a bike). I will be right down town, the mall about 5 minutes away from the house.
I am excited for the move. I will take pictures of the place as soon as we get the keys. I haven't been in the unit we are looking at renting, I was in number 6, we would be living in number 8.

I would show you the google picture of it, but for some reason it looks like the area hasn't been updated in a few years. I will give you the google image with my additions:



We would live in the orange unit on the far right side (hidden by the old apartments). They look like the yellow ones, but are townhouses, so no upstairs neighbors. There is no front yard, just parking lot, but there is a small backyard (all dead grass and shared with the neighbors). I should have taken a picture of it before we left today. Maybe next time I am by there I will snap a quick shot of the outside.

Anyway, that is whats going on in the world of Ashley. Enjoy