Nice wedding gown! Really romantic. At my sister's wedding I wore a bustier type contraption under my bridesmaid dress :o :lol: Luckily it was a shade of pink, which works ok for me.

I think the salaries will be more important, say, 10 years down the line, when you're really into a profession. The beginning salaries in any field can be very low. When I started out in New York in publishing, a couple of years ago, ahem, I knew people making $12,000; considering how expensive it is to live here, that's an extremely low salary, even then. Lawyers and doctors don't make much when they start either, and they work like dogs.

Tomorrow is the funeral for Rob's brother. It's going to be a long day.

Take it easy, chicas.

Your families are in my prayers, Marge. That's just so rough. :(

Jill, that dress is *gorgeous*. WOW! :love:

Aimee, how about talking with a good local temp agency? Once you know your schedule for a week, maybe you could tell the temp agency you're available on your day off and go through their assessments. It's a good way to find out just where your skills lie and to see what kind of work you can do with them.

You might well make more than what you're making at the shop. Around here, if you do a great job for a temp agency and are available, they keep you busy. Many of the jobs lead to full-time, permanent positions; your temping is a way for the employers to give you a trial with little risk to themselves. Here in the US, we depend on our employer health benefits, so switching jobs can be dicey. You have a great advantage there since you're not having to worry about an employer offering health insurance.

So, it's Wednesday. I would say I've done about 2 hours worth of actual work so far this week in the office. 2 of our managers are out all week, so you know how it is; while the cat's away...

Of course, I"m not just sitting here doing nothing. I'm working on things that are swarming in my head--I called the electric company to end my service next weekend, called ComCast to get my cable and internet straightened out (thought it's not quite yet), called my dentist wondering why I had gotten a bill for nearly $200 :o , emailed my sister about bridesmaids dresses...So I have been busy, just not with work-related activities :dizzy:

In any case, according to the scale this morning, I have successfully rid my body of the weight I put on over the weekend, which is always good (I am finding myself in this evil weekend pattern entirely too often), though I know my TOPS weigh-in tomorrow night is all that really counts. I did drag myself to the gym yesterday, though I almost had myself convinced that it would be okay to go home and take a nap instead :devil: I will head to the gym again after work this afternoon. I think next week, I'm going to start going to the gym at 6am and coming to the office from 7am-3pm. My manager wants me here till 3 when I have more direct contact with our client, which I don't yet, but I might as well get into the habit.

Marge, you make an excellent point about salaries. I know lawyers especially have to start out as basically legal secretaries and gophers (sure, Mr. partner-of-the-firm, would like cream in your coffee?). It's just so hard when you're trying to make ends meet and living month-to-month or even paycheck-to-paycheck--so frustrating!

And on the topic of careers...I'm thinking of going back to school for nutrition :o How's that for turning my world up-side-down? I can get an MS from the University of Bridgeport in CT through all online courses and a comprehensive exam on campus. There are more affordable schools (this one is $550 per credit, and it's a 31-33 credit program), but it was ranked well in the U.S. News top colleges (or whatever), so I think it's a reputable online program. I would have to take some undergrad-level prerequisites first (like biochemistry and basic nutrition), but I can likely do those at a community (or at least local) college. I'll have to look into more, of course, but the wheels in my head are certainly turning...:chin:

Phew, I'm SO tired and looking forward to a couple days off... which starts TODAY at 5:30pm!! Woohoo! Sorry I've been MIA, when I get home I barely have enough energy to make dinner, nevermind sit down and type.. which requires my brain unfortunately... lol.

Jill, How'd the weigh in go at TOPS?

Kimberley - today is YOUR weigh in, have you been going to the YMCA 3 times a week?

Marge - hi! :)

-Aimee

Thanks, Kimberley.

Aimee, I've done temping and it can be a great way to get into a company. It can give you lots of flexibility, you can turn down a job if it doesn't suit you.

Usually an agency will give you all kinds of testing on computers etc, and they sometimes will help you get training -- since it's in their best interest to have you as highly skilled as possible.

Usually an agency will charge a company as much as $5 to $10 more an hour than you make, so the more money they get for you, the more money you get. Also, if a company hires you permanently the agency gets a commission. The company gets a chance to try out different employees before they invest in benefits, etc. Or sometimes they just need someone skilled to fill in for a short period.

If you work for a temp agency long enough you can become eligible for benefits too. I once knew a man who worked for a big bank here who worked through a temp agency so that he could take a month off every year to travel around the world with his wife.

Ok, that was probably much more than you wanted to know :lol:

Jill, sounds like you have lots of interesting things going on. Good luck with the dietician degree.

Hi, everyone. No weigh-in until tomorrow. And, I must confess I have not been to the YMCA in a week. That last time I went with my MIL, I flipped around weird when attempting to dive and pulled my lower back and hip - it's better, but still has been dogging me. I've also had some kind of crud going on with my lungs and sinuses; I'm hoping it's allergies, and getting back on the meds will clear it up. The last two weeks, I am wiped out before I even start! LOL Feeling pretty sluggy. :( TOM came and it's raking me over the coals - since getting off the pill, they've been heavy with bad cramps. It's like they're making up for "playing nice" over the 14 years of nice, regulated months.

On an up note, I'm doing the newsletter for one of the web hosts' clients now, so a little more work and extra income. So far, so good - I'm enjoying it. :)

Okay, I know I should have gone to the Y, but did y'all have to quit posting? :stress:

:lol3: I know it's not that...You all always post in the wee hours. Well, tomorrow I'll be up at that ungodly hour because I've got an appointment at the doctor's at 9:30am.

Anyone catch Jay Leno tonight? That George Cloony is such a cutie-pie, and I love the Blue Man Group!

Originally Posted by Gardenwife:
Well, tomorrow I'll be up at that ungodly hour because I've got an appointment at the doctor's at 9:30am.

:lol: Oh, to not have to get up until 8:30am would be DIVINE! So here I am at the office (it's 6:20am--been up since 4:30), and I just can't WAIT for the work day to be over! I want to go home and PACK (I know it doesn't sound very exciting, but it's such a big step toward MOVING!!).

TOPS weigh-in last night--I lost a whopping 1/4 pound :p Still better than gaining, plus it's great considering the food orgy of last weekend :o And dang it, I'm moving my ticker down to 279! :D

Goodmorning!! Oh wow, I slept SO good, we are talking just over 10 hours!! It felt good :) I decided this morning/yesterday at work, that I'm done with retail.. I was having an off day yesterday.. mostly because I was SO productive and my manager basically said to me that I wasn't productive at all... grr! So in the New Year I'm going to look into temping, I really need consistant income before then.. and I worry I wouldn't get enough from temping.. on the other hand.. maybe I'd get MORE? Hmm, I need to think about that for a while. Where do I find a temping agency anyways? I almost live in the boonies here.. I SO SO appreciate all this help advice and knowledge you gals are passing on to me. I honestly never thought of temping before, didn't really know it was an option.. though you needed to have certificates on how to use certain computer programs... all that stuff. I am a pretty good typer though! LOL, that comes from getting angry at someone online and having to type really fast to yell at them... teehee...

Jill - sometimes that 1/4 of a pound makes such a difference eh? If you got those weekends under some control... you'd be unstoppable!!

Kimberley - I ususally post at night... but lately I get home,have no brain power...so I watch TV.. heh. I gotta get more organized!

Alrighty, believe it or not, we are going to go Christmas shopping today... we like to get an early start! Have a great one! Wish me luck at the mall... all the teachers in my province are on strike, so kids will be EVERYWHERE!

-Aimee

Wow, Jill, you're getting up when I'm heading to bed some mornings. ;) Congrats on the loss this week!

Aimee, happiness is good sleep followed by shopping! For temp agencies, try going to google.ca and doing their local search for temporary employment agencies.

We did a little shopping online yesterday, but it was for us. ;) Howie's laptop battery only holds a charge for about 1/2 hour, so he got a battery on eBay. Since I've been doing more work on my notebook, not just puttering around, the need for RAM has been more noticeable, so I picked up 512MB on eBay. Later this month, we start socking this extra I'm earning into savings.

The doc says I have walking pneumonia (basically, pneumonia in its beginning stage). I didn't realize how short of breath I've been until I did some stuff around the house yesterday and felt like it knocked me on my butt. I watered some plants, came inside and showered...Part way through the shower I felt like I wasn't going to make it through it without sitting down. That's so not like me, especially since losing weight!

When the doc was listening to my lungs and having me take deep breaths, I realized how comparatively shallow my breaths are lately. It made me feel dizzy, too. And $10.50 later for Rx's, I have an antibiotic and inhaler. He also had me do a blood draw so the lab can see if I'm anemic; these heavy TOM's are very different for me, so they might be contributing to my tiredness. I swear, I can sleep 7 hours or 12 hours and I still feel like I could use more.

Here's to feeling better soon! And here's to weight loss: down a pound this week to 208. Whew!

Holy hannah Kimberley!! Good thing you went to the doctor, heal, forget the Y! Well Iguess you pretty much have to now for the next week or so.. I hope you heal fast, it's just not fun being sick!! Yesterday we did a fair bit of shopping for ourselves, oops! We did buy some things for Josh's neice, and we are giving Josh's cousin a bottle of wine for christmas, so I got a basket for it to go into, from Pier 1, I LOVE that store! We then hit up IKEA where we got some new kitchen stuff, and I bought some boxes to organize my closet... we both have SO SO many clothes, and right now they are in piles... it's bad..

Josh just called me from work, turns out.. he doesn't have to work today at all... so he got up early.. showered and went there for nothing! Of course when he figured it out he sat down and got some work done, that boy just works TOO hard! I guess we'll have some time to get things accomplished around the house today.. which is much needed...

Hope you all have a great Saturday :)

-Aimee

walking pneumonia, holy cow, get thee to bed, Kimberley! The Y will still be there. (you are dang close to one-derland! you must feel great about that)

I think I'd try looking in the telephone book too, for temp agencies.
http://www.salary.com/careers/layout...05_Par202.html

Great job going Christmas shopping, it will probably take a good month before my head gets there. :lol:

The teachers were threatening to go on strike here too. They really don't get paid good salaries in the city. Usually the teachers in the suburbs get paid more, which doesn't make much sense considering how much higher the cost of living is in NY.

We've been eating out way too much the past week. I'm ready to get back in gear this week. One thing about keeping a journal and tracking the weight with my little charts is that it's too painful to let any excess behavior go on for more than a week :lol: I have it in black and white right there in front of me -- DIDN'T DO ALL HER EXERCISES, heh heh.

I met a friend of the family this week and she's a registered trainer and professional dietician. She sent me a bunch of articles to read. Anybody who'd like to read them too can pm me and I'll send you copies. I'm not sure they'll be anything we haven't already heard, but I usually find some tidbits.

Cloony is adorable! and with that Italian villa he lives in on Lake Como, forget it!

congrats on hitting the 70s, Jill. I know it always feels like a milestone to me when I make into the next set of 10.

I am taking it easy today...Slept until almost 4:00pm (about 4 hours late for me) and have been just snuggled up in my jammies and robe. Howie went to the coffee shop with my MIL, but I didn't feel like going anywhere. This has bee my whole evening. Nice! :D

Got a new hairstyle last night, not that you can tell with it all bed-mussed. My mom got a new 'do as well, a real departure from her norm. It's similar to mine (when I've not slept on it). :^: Lord, I'm going to start matching my mom!

I had a great shopping day! Josh and I napped... until about 2pm (like 1.5 hours), and then I headed to the mall with my friend. We tried on jeans (ick), bra's (more ick, what kinda push up bra pushes them up and OUT?!?). I bought a cute long sleeved t-short, some pj bottoms, and I needed some tinted moisturizer. We have fun, tried on some tacky clothes.. and I realized I might be smaller than I actually realize.. woohoo! Josh and I had japanese for dinner.. I guess our tastes are changing because it tasted VERY salty! Very good day for me :)

Marge - I always like to read weight loss related articles! I think it's always valuable to learn something new.. or at least refresh.

Kimberley - sounds like you've had an equally lovely day! You look super tanned in your pictures, I can't really see the hair cut.. I'm totally jealous of the tan!

Alrighty! I am off to get some cuddle time, and watch a movie! I like these long weekends, things just FEEL more relaxed! :) Plus Josh and I only have to work 4 days this coming up week... TGF Thanksgiving!

-Aimee

Happy Thanksgiving -- I forgot about that! Alas, it's not an awesome tan, just the lighting. My arms are nice and tan, but my face is beginning to lose its glow.