Tuesday, February 17, 2009

I have an excuse...

Really, I do have an excuse for the lack of blogging, commenting and phone calls lately. All of a sudden my life has gone to full steam ahead! I posted about my sister being here and all that entails and then we signed Andon up for soccer this spring. Practices begin next week, he is soooo excited about it! We went this past weekend and got his shin guards, ball and shoes.

Well, if that isn't enough to add to cooking, cleaning, taking Andon to school and just having a life.... I decided to take a job!! In the end of 2008 Jared and I talked about our financial goals for 2009. We both decided that we wanted to be debt free by the end of this new year if possible. We are currently living in an apartment and want to take advantage of this opportunity to get rid of excess bills. We still have our house in Florida and are continually praying to be able to sell that. We are so blessed to have a wonderful renter at this time so that takes A LOT of the stress away regarding our house. But besides the house we have one credit card one loan and one auto loan. These things could be paid off with the extra money from Jared's pay but if I took a part time job it would be all that faster!! So I did. We talked about my options... I have a FL massage therapy license and a FL skin therapy license. But they are expired in FL and not valid in TN. To get them current here in TN would take a lot of time and money and neither did I want to spend. My other option was banking. I did personal banking (mortgages, loans, opening accounts,CD's) for a couple years and loved it. But, that is a 9-5 job and I didn't want to leave Andon for a job. So, I went back to my college job, serving tables! ;) I haven't done it since 2001! We live in a great area where you drive by the restaurants on a Monday night and they are all packed. So this seemed to be the best option to make some quick money to meet our goals. I started a week and a half ago at Carraba's and it has been pretty crazy! I had to go through 5 days of training and take a menu test that was so hard! I had to memorize every single item on the menu word for word!!

For example: Rigatoni Martino- large tubular pasta tossed with sauteed mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, grilled chicken in a tomato cream sauce and topped with ricotta salata and scallions.. there were about 50 of these food items and some had a paragraph description.. i did get them all correct but i studied like crazy for a week with flash cards just like i did in massage school with all the anatomy. :) My boss said in all his years he had never seen a menu test taken so good! I guess I took it a little serious but I was nervous I would fail! Anyway once I passed that test I was able to start work and train with the other servers. My first night was very hard, a few of the girls were so mean to me. They were talking about me and wouldn't even look me in the face all night. I left out of there sobbing and not wanting to go back. But I did and it has gotten better. I am in a totally different element than I am used to. But hopefully, maybe I can be a witness there. I am only working 3 to 4 nights a week but it has definitely been an adjustment around here! We're just looking so forward to the end of all of this and no debt!! How exciting! Then we will start to look for a house here in Tennessee and start getting more serious about adoption! :)

Now that my training is over and I have had a chance to breath I promise to catch up on all the blog reading and phone calls! I miss all of you so much! Love~ Jen

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

#1 Love Carrabbas
#2 Love waitressing did it for 9 years - great way to make quick and easy money - there are other ways to make quick and easy money but we won't discuss that.
#3 About the other girls being mean to you - you can ignore it or Andrea and I can be in Tennessee this weekend and we'll kick some ASS.

love amanda

Jen said...

you are so funny amanda! i'll keep that in mind! :)

carrielkg said...

So proud of you! I know that was a hard decision - but you will love being debt free!!
Miss you!
Carrie

Cassie - Homeschooling Four said...

I actually miss waiting tables. Is that weird? I looked into that a couple years ago but the restaurants around here just seem to be getting slower and slower business.

btw, I'll head up with Amanda and Andrea if you want :)

Brittani said...

I am proud of you, too. It is hard to juggle that much stuff. I will pray for you.
PS I don't know Amanda, but she sounds hilarious! and... I will go up with her & Cassie to mess those girls up, too . ha ha ha

Brandi said...

Oh my dear. . .these girls crack me up!

I love the idea of waiting tables. . .

PS Found out more info on adopting from Uganda too! It is shaping up nicely!!!

Brandi

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you have Amanda and Andrea on your side!!! You are so brave and proactive...I am impressed!! I'll be praying for you and these changes! I sure do miss you! Love ya, Christie

Jackie Sue said...

So impressed with your test taking skillz :) You go girl!!! I'm totally scared of Amanda and Andrea so you are completely safe with them around! Heading to TN sounds fun though so Ill just come and watch. Love you. So proud of you and Jared!!! Miss you sweet girl.

Largaespada Family said...

I was a waitress for years also! I loved it. You really can make some good money! Although, the atmosphere can be kind of yucky! I'll be praying for you. I know you will be a "light!"

You got some great comments here girl! You know you are loved!

Anonymous said...

Hope things get better at work for you, I know they will after those girls realize what a good person you are. I love ya, give Andon hugs for me. Mom

Kelly said...

Those stinky girls are probably just jealous of you! Don't underestimate the power of cuteness! I'll pray for their hearts!

Amanda and Andrea - glad you have Jen's back. You're too funny!

Valarie Daly said...

Isn't it tough going to a secular job? I know when I started @ Costco, I came home crying for the first few months. No one would talk to me and one lady was soooooo mean to me, she always made me feel like an idiot. I am impressed with memorizing the menu :-) That's why I never try anything new, I get afraid that I will fail! I think I can reach deep down and pull out some of that OLD NATURE in me and help Andrea and Amanda kick some butt!