Crossing Fingers and Clean Toes

So I've always been a big sweets fan. Yes, I may have a few un-filled cavities that I've known about for a while. No, I will not refrain myself from that which I most desire (at times). Gummy anything (bears, worms, kids, fish...), licorice anything, chocolate chocolate chocolate! But what tops the lot of my favourite candy list is Raffaello. I'm not sure what made me first try them as a kid living up in Custer, but the only place to get them was at the small country store (the average gas station minus the gas, plus video rentals, plus homemade cake slices, plus tables to sit and "dine" at). These Raffaello pieces are small, hollow wafer spheres with a diameter about the size of a quarter, covered in coconut sprinkles and filled with a delicious creamy substance--plus a macadamia nut in the center. I've loved them for years and literally about a month ago found (with the help of Andrew's eagle eyes) that Fred Meyer carries them. The only reason I felt the need to write about these bites of Heaven is because after a video rental for my sister and myself to watch, we got some sugary snacks--including the Raffaello dream. Websites apparently don't have much comment on the tasty treats, other than the candies are made in Belgium and are "pure pleasure without chocolate" [source]. But I mean, what else do you really need to know? I should use my Amazon.com coupon to buy some.

I type this blog as I listen to a homemade mix of Jason Mraz's album "We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things" [amazing!! If you don't already own it, make a change quick] and Moses and Murphy playing. I just gave Murphy a bath and I can honestly say [without much experience to back it up] that Murphy is the best pet to give a bath to. He enjoys spending quality time, even if it's getting clean in the tub! He just stands there and lets me lather him up in Puppy Suds, yawning every so often. He is amazing! He doesn't stink usually but today he sure did! Every morning between 6:30 and 8:30 the dogs wake me up to get let outside for potty and play. They play for a few hours out there and when I get up for the day and get dressed, I let them inside where they rest their tuckered bodies on the living room floor. It's become somewhat of a daily ritual. The only variation in that was sometime during potty+play time, Murphy found something stinky and decided to cover himself in it. Why do dogs do this? Goose and Cracker (Mom's dogs) do this in the field on walks. It's the oddest thing. I don't want to smell nasty!! I wouldn't do this if I were a dog!

So I called the coffee stand on Sunday morning (Saturday was the day I spent with my sister and spaced calling) and was unfortunate to receive the news that the position had already been filled. Oh well, I supposed, and went to do the floorset at work.

A floorset is the dumbest thing in the world. I understand that newer and more popular products should be placed toward the front of the store, but the detail required in displays, folding requirements, color orders, sizing, etc. is absurd! For example: there are 3/4 mannequins (cut off mid thigh and with the help of a stand are placed on a table top) with removable arms. The outfits are shown in a photo with a description of each article of clothing [I.E. a t-shirt with a lace tank underneath, a denim skirt, and a belt]. Thanks for letting us know exactly which items to put on the mannequin, honestly, but why the hell is it a requirement now to remove the arms from the mannequin and stuff the sleeves with printer paper?? "It's artistic!" our district manager says; if you ask me, "It's bullshit!" Okay, getting over the fact that the details are ridiculous and not necessary, there is an entire store to get done by 2:00 in the morning (starting at 6:00pm with 2 managers, having 2 associates working a 7:00-11:00 and 2 associates working 7:00-12:00). It's kind of impossible to have this get done when A.) we have to re-size all of the denim so that all of the available sizes are "within reach," B.) the windows need to be re-done with mannequins, posters, window clings, and hanging merchandise, and C.) we only have two ladders and we need about five to have everyone doing something productive. Even with these obstacles, the manager with me from 6:00-2:00 spends 45 minutes doing paperwork (unnecessary at this point in time), drags me around the store for another 45 minutes making a list of things we need to do [FYI: everything needs to get done; why not just do everything and then go back and see what we missed?], and then does paperwork for the next day [unnecessary!] until 9:30. I'm not sure if this would bother anyone else, but when this happens every floorset without fail, it gets a little annoying and aggravating. THEN, she has the nerve to stress out and ask why everything isn't getting done. Try watching what you're doing for a few hours and you'll understand: YOU'RE NOT HELPING! She then was in a pissy mood the whole night getting on everyone's cases if she couldn't see what they were doing and being productive at the same time [I.E. if someone was in the backroom getting hardware for a wall section]. So basically it was a stressful 9 hour shift.

A little stress was alleviated when Andrew came and visited me. Now, if you don't know me, I'm a small-gestures-means-more-than-big-ones type of gal. He came to see me, was on the dot when I said would be an okay time, had showered, dressed nice, and brought me a beautiful hemp necklace that he surprised me with. I looked at him and said, "I thought you didn't know how to do this stuff!" to which he replied, "I was making room on the table and I found your instructions. It said 'Start Here!'... so I did!" It is an amazingly perfect necklace and I'm wearing it as I type. It's not the fact that my boyfriend gave me jewelry; I'm not that materialistic. It's the fact that he spent his own personal time doing something he doesn't normally do in order to show me that he really cares. Knowing that I've been really into hemp jewelry lately, he took the time to learn something new in order to give me a present. It was honestly one of the best gifts I've ever received.

There were two more small gifts at home after work that made the stressful night obliterate: Andrew hung up our living room picture so that there is now room on the mantle for me to put some 8x10s [that I've been wanting to put up for a while], and he also cleaned and put away my panini sandwich press that we used earlier in the day to make quesadillas ["cheese things!"]. I'm not sure if it was the fact that I was tired or what, but this all brought tears to my eyes. I'm not quite sure why the little things get to me so much, but it goes to show that thought and time was put into doing something for someone. I try to do these things for people every once in a while [breakfast for a friend, making people jewelry, cleaning up, etc.] because I assume that other people appreciate the little things like I do. Andrew also later consoled me when Murphy was barfing everywhere [ate something fuzzy and it got stuck in his throat]. Poor thing! But it was very thoughtful, considerate, and caring that he put up with my new-Mommy reaction to Murphy getting sick. Today I came home from my break and Andrew had vacuumed up the dogs' toys' fuzz from the carpet so Murphy wouldn't eat anything he wasn't supposed to. Seriously, I'm getting overwhelmed with the good things!

Today at work my dad came to visit and bought me a strawberry-banana smoothie at Orange Julius [another good thing to add to my overwhelming list!]. It was absolutely delicious! We talked a bit about how [news to everyone and I'm not supposed to really talk about it] I put in my notice at work last night during the floorset and September 20 will be my last day, and about how my dad lost his wedding ring at a job site down in Tacoma. Poor thing! My mom isn't upset over it; she has the "it's just a ring!" regard for the situation which isn't a bad thing at all! But my dad has all the emotion and meaning behind it. It was a symbol of love and with the help of five different coworkers, they couldn't manage to find it. Sad day! While he was getting my smoothie, my mom called to relay a message to him that she loved him. How romantic!

So yes, I put in my notice. Ashley and I are going to San Diego on the 22nd; I'm staying the first 4 days and she's staying for the full two weeks. So that way I won't have the stress of PacSun on my shoulders while I'm in California. I figure that way my manager will have enough time to get a replacement, and I'll have enough time to find a replacement job. At work today (Monday) my manager got a two-minute phone call, hung up, and called me over.

Her: "If you want to use me for a reference, give them my cell phone number."
Me: "Was that a reference check?"
Her: "Yea."
Me: "For who?"
Her: "For you."
Me: "Me?!"

Apparently the coffee stand that I applied for called my current job to see what kind of employee I am or something. Don't they usually do that after an interview though? Either way, maybe it's not out of the picture that I work there. I'm not getting my hopes up, but I'm crossing my fingers for five days and if I don't get a call from them, I'm going to turn in applications for other coffee stands. I feel the drive and the need to work at one for some reason and I'm not going to go against my instincts. That's not what Mulder does!

Speaking of... Andrew is, if I'm not mistaken, on the last X-Files episode [two episodes long] and he's waiting until he, Ashley, and I can all watch it together so that when the movie comes out and if Ashley wants to accompany us, she won't be confused. Rumor has it that the movie doesn't have much to do with the underlying storyline throughout the series [conspiracies, Super Soldiers, black oil, etc.] but still. The movie comes out on July 25 [more] and I'm super excited!!! I hope it's not too far off from the X-Files vibe.

I have a personal X-Files case going on right now: the left 1/3 of my head has been hurting for the last five days or so. I was sitting on the couch and somehow when I scooted back, the camcorder that was sitting up above on a shelf fell and hit me in the head (before hitting my laptop and denting the part right above the mouse pad--great aim, huh?). It's the only thing I can think to be the cause of this non-stop pain. Caffeine, Ibuprofen, food, sleep... none of it really helps. It just comes and goes whenever it pleases, but is always around 10% there. It's not worsened by light or sound much; mostly by bass, altitude, and random times where it simply paralyzes me. WebMD says that "Migraines are painful, sometimes disabling headaches that are often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light, noise, and smell. These throbbing headaches usually occur on only one side of the head" [source]. Also, it says that "Most migraines last about 4 hours although severe ones can last up to a week" [source]. I feel better knowing that it's probably just a migraine, but you can't completely discount the fact that there could be some new neighbor that has fly DNA grafted into his flesh and he's sending out pheromones to tell all kinds of bugs to crawl into my left ear at night and devour my brain. Maybe that's why I didn't really care much that our district manager was making a visit to the store today: I don't have that section of my brain anymore.

My manager was freaking out today, stressed for no reason about this visit. She literally started bawling when I asked her to help me get stuff done instead of doing paperwork for an hour. If she's so stressed out about not getting things done, why wouldn't she help out? So she started crying and I told her she had nothing to worry about. She then looked at me like she knew she was getting fired or that I was getting fired or something. It didn't really make much sense. Turns out, she was freaking out for no reason (my thoughts precisely) and she ended up joking around with the DM the entire time. Waste of stress wrinkles, if you ask me.

Lately I've been trying to de-wrinkle my feet [not my face--I can live with those wrinkles] and it's working out pretty well. I used a type of hydrocortisone cream at first because my feet (especially my right one) itched like no other. And yea, when bug bites, scratches, or anything itches, you're not supposed to itch it, right? Well, it feels so good when you do! I would itch my foot until it bled. It was disgusting and not attractive. Anywho, I put this amazing cream on my feet every morning and every night. After it ran out, I used Victoria Secret Foot Spa Creme. Now, my feet don't itch and they are getting smoother and smoother by the day! I'm so excited! My toenails are another story. I can see a visible improvement with the nail stuff I got, but until they are perfect, no images will show. No images.