Discouraged

Well, today marks day three sitting in Starbucks all day applying for jobs.  Let me start by saying that I hate writing resumes...If I could pay someone to do it for me I would.  I've been applying to places left and right.

E and I walked around the neighborhood where our soon to be new apartment is and asked for job applications.  As it turns out, everything is done online.  So after looking at all of the websites, we found that nobody is hiring...not even the grocery store.  I am feeling mighty discouraged.  It feels like I will never find a job. 

I recently updated my nannying profile, and I applied to the Target here in Tacoma, hoping that my experience would get me into one of those two.  I am getting desperate.  Everyone keeps telling us there are lots of jobs here.  They ask what my degree is and tell me it should be easy to find a job in my field.  They are all wrong.  The next time someone asks me what kind of work I'm lookinf for I'm going to say "anything I can get"  Through all of this we just keep reminding ourselves that this is all a part of the plan...but it's stressful...It's also frustrating to know how much money  I paid for a degree that I can't even use now.  Everyone wants you to have years of experience, but how do you get experience if nobody will take a chance on you?  k

E is on orders doing what he thinks is just a pity job this week so that he can have a little bit of income while he continues to look for work.  We have met a lot of people who are state troopers, so E just needs to get his act together and finish his resume (which he hates doing more than I do, if that's even possible) and submit his application.  The state trooper opportunity looks promising, seeing as so many people are retiring right now...but the application process takes about 3-5 months I guess...so we still need to find something temporary.

I am feeling so discouraged.  I started looking for jobs over four months ago...and nothing.  I have spent all day long the last three days in a coffee shop looking, applying, writing resumes, writing cover letters...and I have nothing to show for it.  It feels like we will never have anything.

I will try my best to be patient.  To keep applying.  Keep trying...

We both agree that we have a new appreciation for homeless and unemployed people.  We are qualified individuals, with education, and even WE can't find anything...

Please pray for us.  We can use all the help we can get.

Crazy, but blessed

Crazy, but blessed.  That's the best way to describe how we feel about our life here.  Although we still haven't moved out of the company commanders' house, we have a lead on an apartment.  Just waiting for things to go through and we can potentially move in the first week of November...feels like forever away.

We have spent a lot of time looking for jobs as well.  We went and got help on our resumes, and have had lots of help finding opportunities.  To start, the company commander asked around and came home with a couple of leads for me.  He also got E to talk to someone about jobs as well.  E had an interview when he didn't realize he was being interviewed until later that night when the company commander was talking about the job that was supposedly offered to E.  E called the guy back yesterday to get more information.  That would be a security job for Starbucks...Not perfect but a great temporary job!  He also called someone in the State Troopers and got to talk to a guy who encouraged him to apply for a position there, since there are many people retiring now.

On top of all of that E went to work with the company commander today because there might be a way to have E do office work (active duty) week by week until he finds another job.  E just told me that he might be able to even get a more permanent job there...wouldn't that be nice?

It seems as though we have a lot of people trying to help us out, and lots of opportunities to pursue.  One of them is bound to work out!

I am so glad I have E through all of this.  His positive attitude and outlook on life has really helped me to stay calm throughout all of this.  Today I am taking a little breather.  We really hit the ground running and it hit me today.  I woke up feeling like I just needed to breathe.  So I am.  I'm hanging out doing nothing.  Worrying about nothing...at least for a little while.

Some things we think are interesting/cool about Washington:

• E just can't stop talking about how nice the roads are, since they don't get snow here
• I am amazed at how nice their cars look, since they don't get snow
• They have big slugs!!
• They must like Teriyaki, because they have restaurants everywhere that say "Teriyaki"
• There are a lot of "bikini bar" coffee shops...which I think is odd
• People are very friendly, nicer than the MN nice so far!
• OCEAN
• MOUNTAINS
• Weird names that don't sound like how they're spelled.
• http://www.cohp.org/wa/notes/placenames_pronunciation.html
• If you want to ask about the weather, your answer really depends on who you ask.  Some say it never snows and hardly gets cold, others say it gets cold and complain because it snows...
• If you go to to Seattle, carpool so you can use the expressway that goes under the highway.
• Speed limits change.  They have electronic speed limit signs along I-5 that tell you how fast you can go in that lane (usually faster in the HOV lanes)
• It might rain a lot, but that just means super cool rainbows
• People still say "MinneSOOOOOOTAH" when you tell them where you're from

I guess that's all I have for now.  Hopefully by the next time I post we have a job and a place to live!

Photos from the journey

New beginning

For all you followers old and new, my husband E and I just embarked on a grand adventure.  We moved to Washington! (Washington state)  Before I dig in, I need to explain the title of this blog.  I chose "getting lost in the woods" for a couple of reasons.  Reason number one, we are in Washington, where there are woods...hmm...clever.  Reason number two, it ties into my last blog "fort not-so-lost in the woods".  We moved out west for a grand adventure, figuring if we didn't do it now, we probably never would.  We picked a spot that reminded us of Minnesota, only with more adventures.  This is a fresh start for both of us.  Neither of us have jobs, and we don't have a place to live yet (which I will get into more later).  I think that this chapter of our lives is aptly named "getting lost in the woods" as we aim to "get lost" or immerse ourselves in this new phase of live.

Now, from the beginning!! We spent the last week at my parents house and left Saturday.  Our adventure started out with a bang when E came back with the UHaul saying that the guy who booked our truck messed up our departure date, resulting in them not having a truck the size we thought we reserved.  We were mildly nervous that we wouldn't have enough room, but on the bright side, they gave us a discount.  As we began loading our stuff into the truck we came to realize that this truck was actually still too much room for our stuff! Someone was looking out for us because we would have been in trouble if the truck was any larger.

Departing on our journey we scooped up our cat and packed up the dog, said our goodbyes and drove off on a cloud.  It really didn't feel real.  It took about two hours in the car for it to sink in that Minnesota was no longer our home.  That we were now those relatives that lived far away and nobody sees.  We won't get invited to dinners, bonfires, bowling, movies, or yard games...This was sad for me.

We arrived in Fargo at around 8pm.  We unloaded the dog and cat and took our friends out to a German restaurant for the evening before going to bed.  Our friends were so happy to see us and it was really nice that they allowed us to stay at their place.

We woke up at 7am and got our day going.  Loaded the dog and cat up again and hit the road.  When we stopped to get breakfast at Panera, Harper (our 5 month old puppy) ate the whole bag of calming kitty treats...poor Katniss...For a while we couldn't decide what to do with the cat.  She really hated the cage, and just wandered back and forth looking out the windows, behind the chairs, in our laps...on the dog.

We drove all the way to Billings, MT where we stopped in a hotel for the night.  We arrived sometime around 9pm.  We thought about going to the hot tub, but I couldn't find a bathing suit top in all of my stuff.  We also tried ordering a pizza since we didn't stop for dinner, but the ordering process got too complicated so we gave up.  We fell asleep just about as fast as our heads hit the pillow.  Katniss enjoyed her night of freedom roaming the hotel room.  So happy to see us and snuggle with us.

We woke up at  6am to shower, get our free breakfast, and hit the road again.  This time we kept the cat in her crate and let her cry it out. We drove and drove and drove and drove.  The drive was so pretty through Montana.  I have to say, although it is a long trip, I would recommend the drive to everyone at least once.  You won't be disappointed.

We thought about stopping for the night in Spokane, but after thinking it through decided to push on.  Our entrance into Washington greeted us with a light mist that turned into a medium drizzle.  Washington looks so clean!  And the people are so nice! Someone pulled up along side us to tell us something, and then stayed behind us until we pulled over.  Apparently a chain was dragging on the ground, she was concerned for us.  How nice.  We plugged along and came to a town called George....as in George, Washington.  I think we should live here.  Just so I can tell people I live in George, Washington.

We kept driving and arrived in Lacey at 10:30.  We were greeted by gracious hosts who fed us and gave us a tour.  After a good nights rest E and I begin our search for jobs and a place to live.

We would appreciate any and all prayers at this time.  I will post pictures that go with our trip later!

That's it for now, I gotta go get lost in the woods...