2 Prayers for my next stage in life

 Once upon a time, I used to document my prayers each year and look back on it at the end of the year and essentially give God a score. It's just the pragmatic teacher in me, I guess.  Well in the last year or two, I just stopped praying for things. My life was more than adequate, and I was borderline ungrateful for the things I did have. Yet, I was always looking for the "more life." And sometimes, it was just difficult to understand how prayer worked (especially when you didn't get exactly what you prayed or hoped for).

Mostly in the last few years, I say to God, usually on my ride to work, thank you for taking care of me.

Because regardless of if my prayers are granted like the wishes I often confuse them for, I am alive and well. God has fulfilled His Promise to take care of me.

But now with the unknown of the coming 6 months, I am praying the following things (abbreviated here).

• I pray that I reach flow in my new job. I pray that I love it!
• I pray that I can work completely remotely after 6 months at my new job. 

Today is May 10, 2020. We'll check back and see how it all goes! 

Saturday check-in

Somehow I spent 4 hours out of the house this morning running errands. I was mostly in a sour mood because I got hungry soon after I started. It was supposed to be a short run to the dump. Yes, I still have not settled on a solution for my trash.

If you don't know, we have to curb our own trash or pay someone to pick it up because I apparently live outside the city limits.  I tried a third container site, and it was the experience I anticipated - just large garbage disposal containers for different types of trash. It seems doable. I just drove in, emptied, and could have driven out. But I wanted to read all the signs. So I did that.

I drove home ready to start my day of TV watching, but since the self-service trash removal seems doable now, I decided to try to find an outside bin to store trash. The easy choice is an outdoor trash container. However, that wouldn't really fit in my car, so I've been eyeing the horizontal totes that you normally use for indoor storage. I found one with wheels when I first moved in but couldn't get my life together in time to purchase. When I finally went to Walmart yesterday, they were nowhere to be found. Much like many items. I don't know when they stock the store, but when I first moved here, everything was well stocked. Now it was slim pickings!

I drove to another Walmart that advertised having about 10 in stock in different colors. Nada! Considering the online price advertised it at $5 (from $20), I'm willing to bet I'll try again.

So I left Walmart and headed to Spectrum to return their wireless router. The line was about 8-12 deep, and we were waiting outside. Returning this router is not essential to my life, so after awhile I left.

I was getting hangry at this point, so I tried to find some "Chinese near me." The pictures looked okay, but I couldn't figure out what to order. My default spicy foods were out of the question because I wanted to be able to sleep tonight.

I ended up with 2 boxes of cereal and cantaloupe from Harris Teeter.

Luckily, yesterday I made spaghetti w/ meat sauce and I invented a crockpot kidney bean stew to go over rice. I devoured the spaghetti when I got home; watched 3 scary shows on ID; then hung out on my computer for the last 3 or 4 hours. I'm obsessed with the Doctor of Credit site for bank bonuses.  I'm at 10 accounts so far. I hope not to open anymore in May and take a breather from financial transactions for awhile, considering I'm mildly distracted with the pending new job and possible move.

But I did find 2 more bonuses for June that I might try for.

I've already received 2 payouts from the 10 accounts, for a total of $375!

I updated a few items on my calendars; spent some time absorbing my possible new budgets as well as my current house budget; and now I'm about to plop in front of the TV with a satisfying bowl of beans and rice and try to engage with some of these TV shows!  Happy Saturday!

I did a thing

So I did a thing.

In my community, some yard signs went up in the yards of local graduates congratulating them. There were two in my neighborhood. I noticed it yesterday when I picked up 2 hamburgers at McDonald's on my lunch break.

This morning, I needed to get produce so I forced myself out of bed and promised myself it'd be a quick run for mango, 1 bagged salad, 1 cucumber,  1 bag of baby carrots and maybe a pint of strawberries. Maybe. I wonder if I can get there and back in 30 minutes, I thought to myself.

It took 2 hours. Don't ask me how. I think I went to Walmart last Friday, and I remember thinking don't come to Walmart on Friday mornings because it's pretty busy.

Part of why I was motivated to get out of bed was because yesterday on my hamburger run, I had the great idea to get balloons for the grads. I mean can you imagine graduating from high school (or college or grad school or Harvard Medical school), and not being able to celebrate or walk the stage?

Mind you, I missed a couple of my own post-secondary graduations, but I feel like high school graduation was still the best one. It's the culmination of TWELVE years of work, while the others are 3 or 4. And sometimes, you've known these people your whole life. Say what you may, but high school graduation was special for me. It marks time. It's the end of an era. The other graduations that came after for me were kind of blurry in terms of delineating one life stage from the next.

One of the things my high school graduation held for me that the others didn't was hope. I just knew my life was only going to get better!

So back to the present. In my 2 hour foray in my house dress and hair a mess... I purchased 2 helium graduation balloons ($2) + 4 cards ($2, I made a mistake with the cards and had to get 2 extra) + 2 Walmart Gift cards ($20).

I couldn't remember where the 2nd house was so I slowly circled our little block. I nervously delivered my goods inside the jamb of the screen door of House 1, a dog barked but luckily no one came to the door.

House #2 is across the grassy patch from mine, so I walked it over after parking. They had a doorbell cam instead of a doorbell, so I wedged my little parcel in between the door and the doorjamb there too. I prayed the balloon wouldn't fly away because I just wrapped the string around the card before tucking it in and walking away. My colleague assures me that usually doorbell cams will alert the owner with a video if they sense movement.

So that's my good deed for the day! The issue wasn't the money for me as many of us are flush in free money these days; it's just interacting with strangers. I'm happy to do nice things anonymously from the comfort of my own home; so for this I had to mentally tell myself to pretend I was a delivery person to convince myself something bad wasn't going to happen.  I've been wanting to volunteer with all this free time I have, but haven't found a good way to do so. This has helped ease some of that. 

Happy Friday!

What is making me anxious this Thursday morning?

I was just happy yesterday, yet again my bind is abuzz with racing thoughts.

Here's what's on my mental docket:

• Wespath left me a message yesterday. Ugh.
• I got some less than optimal feedback on my work yesterday.
• Why am I so ungrateful for a job that asks so little of me, yet I gripe so much? (It pays me 6 figures.)
• Am I ready for this new job offer?
• That dumb bug by the window.
• I'm really happy the dishwasher cleaned all the dishes last night. I think I'll go ahead and use all those old dishwasher tabs after all. I just have to remember not to overload the dishwasher or be prepared to do two loads. How do I remember?
• Should I buy a washer and dryer if I could possibly be moving in 6 weeks?
• The house budget is $822/mon; will I really be able to live off $20k/yr in early retirement/ pre- Death Date Years? 
• Ugh...having to document this 36 minute phone call. (Mind you it's one of only three calls I received yesterday.) 
• Where is my stimulus check?
• I wonder what Wespath will do? I hope they'll just deposit the money without me having to contact them further? What if they put it back in the name of the Estate? Sometimes, when I bury my head in the sand, things resolve themselves; sometimes it makes things worse. I wonder what will happen in this case? 
• I need to go to the store; what do I buy?
• When will I take this trash to the dump? It's all wet. What's my long-term trash solution? 
• Where is my Chase card?
• Why isn't one of my banks sending me alerts?

That's enough for now, my shift starts in 30 minutes. 

I got the offer!!

I just spoke to the recruiter, and I got the offer. It's official. I mean, they technically extended the offer on Monday, but I countered with an ask of a sign-on bonus and a few minutes ago they accepted.

The timeline

2019 - One year of actively looking to change jobs, move up, move away, and increase my salary.

Jan 2020 - My colleague recommended me for the role...we'll call it Widget Specialist.

Jan 17 - Recruiter phone screen.

Jan 2020 - Offer to come on site.  I accepted, but they never confirmed.

Jan 31, 2020 -  My beloved aunt dies.

Feb  4 - Tentative on site interview (that was never confirmed).

When I didn't show up to the onsite interview, the recruiter emailed me to check-in. Twist! I told her I never received confirmation. She felt really bad and said there was another position I might be qualified for. Twist!! The new role we'll call Manager, Widget Services, basically my direct report would be the Widget Specialist (the former role). Triple Twist!!!

I have to say no other recruiter has ever followed up or advocated for me in the last year of active job hunting. They mostly ghost you and offer very little advice.

March 2020 - COVID reaches the US and the world goes berserk.

March 25 -  Five-person panel interview, virtually due to COVID, for Manager, Widget Services.

One week later - I follow-up. Recruiter writes back to confirm my interest. I advise I bought a house, contrary to the advice of my peers.  My intent was to encourage them to make me an offer I couldn't refuse.

In a follow-up phone call, recruiter advises the position pays $115k. She advises they are concerned about me wanting to relocate. I do my best to assuage her concerns.  Having been strongly encouraged by my peer and knowing first hand some of the salaries at the company, I test the waters and ask for more money. I advise the recruiter I may not be getting a bonus at my current company if I leave by a certain date. She asks for a number, and not being able to think much more on my feet, I dodge the question and follow-up with an email.

April 7 - Phone interview with hiring manager's boss.

April 2020 - Recruiter sends periodic check-in emails that she's still waiting for more information. I am both discouraged and encouraged intermittently.

April 21 -  Despite the periodic check-ins from the recruiter, I officially give up hope.

In the past 4 months to 4 years if you look at how long I've been trying to improve my current station in life, other companies have checked-in with me and still not extended an offer.

May 1 - Recruiter emails me to connect.

I am not hopeful. I thought who waits to tell good news. But in retrospect, she was just busy that day and couldn't wait to hint at the good news coming my way!

Mon, May 4 - Verbal offer of $120k. In a bold move, I ask for a sign-on bonus of $9,100.

Wed, May 6 -  Sign on bonus of $10k confirmed! Quadruple twist!!!! ( I secretly think my aunt is watching over me and laughing.)

Can you believe my life right now?! Shoot, that extra $900 is just enough to pay for the those darn "facility charges" the power company accosts us with yearly.

I am absolutely humbled in this moment by this experience.
I am keeping it a secret for some reason... I don't know who to tell exactly.