Case in point: I got paid this week, and after rent and other bills, including an inflated utilities bill that must be related to the ever-increasing cost of flushing my toilet (???), we had a finite amount of money left with which to get our groceries. I had anticipated another bare minimum shopping trip, like we've been doing for the past month or two, getting only the necessities and living off of what we had stored up in the pantry till a good sized paycheck surfaced. The number we had to work with tonight was by no means the size we usually have to do a decent restocking of the groceries and toiletries that we were out of, and I was a little nervous because my special face cleaning bar (the one that keeps me from completely reverting to adolescent puberty skin) had been stretched so thin that you could see through it, and I wasn't sure we would be able to afford another one this go 'round. Not to mention the hair color that I know I don't need, but boy wouldn't it be nice to have something to cover the grays that have multiplied since the last time I let my color grow out too far....
Well, not only did we have enough to get everything we needed to make it another two weeks , but we restocked most everything we had used over the past couple of months (yay skin bar and cheap hair color!) and got all the fixin's we needed for a great Christmas dinner. Plus, I have enough to put gas in the car and get our daughter's annual Christmas eve ornament, and have just a little bit left over to keep the account open. It's not that we found tons of sale items or wiped out the dented can section of the grocery store. And it wasn't luck, or coincidence, or good fortune. The good Lord always knows what we need and takes care of us in His time, not ours. We have yet to run out of or truly want for anything, and for that I am truly thankful and consider myself blessed.
I had to laugh when, while shopping at our large local retail-and-grocery-combo store (name withheld), our daughter said to me "Mommy, why don't people say excuse me?" and "why don't people seem happy? They just don't have any cheer." She was right, for sure, as we watched people frantically search for something, anything, to buy for Christmas. Because, for goodness sake, we wouldn't want to forget anyone in the gift-giving frenzy....funny how the looks of hurried frustration were shadowed by looks of despair and worry. I only saw one other person shopping off of a list, and I'm pretty sure I was the only one perusing the aisles with a calculator in hand. But what frustrated me the most were the selfish, unfocused bozos who didn't care who they ran over to get to the "great deals". I was just there for my bi-weekly grocery shopping, which I do faithfully every two weeks, so I should have been the one giving the dirty looks when someone cut me off on the way to the green beans. You're on my turf, buddy. Step aside, or at least say excuse me. Golly.
So, if I haven't bored you to tears and you're still reading, you've probably gathered that we aren't spending tons on Christmas this year. We did some very economical (read: cheap and frugal bargain) shopping at ChristianBook.com late last month, but that's the extent of our financial expressions of love and joy at the coming of our Lord. Oh, wait. I think I heard somewhere that that's not what Christmas is about...but nobody wants to hear about that selfless, religious dribble, right?
I interviewed with a local hospice on Friday for a case manager position. I don't know how it will turn out, but I was lovingly notified by my buddy today that she was contacted for a reference and (thankfully) provided a glowing recommendation. At least I know that they weren't so turned off by my interview that they threw my application in the trash. My new, and completely irrational, fear is that I will get hired and not be able to perform as well as I do in the ER. I have a comfort zone, and it's very difficult to think about leaving it for new and unfamiliar territory. What if this job isn't the right one? What if the reason there's a vacancy is because it's a wolf in sheep's clothing, and I'll have resigned from the ER and have nothing else to do but suck it up and take on the new problems that were left behind by the person before me? Aarrgghh. And I wonder why I've never been able to leave the ER before....
No comments:
Post a Comment