So I know that I have been quiet for a while...things continue to go well with my new job. I lost a couple of cases due to the parents being noncompliant with the services, but am going to be taking on two more cases, in addition to one that I am still working with (who knows how long that may last for though...the clinician who was on the case with me had to leave because of a family emergency and the mom is worried about how the kiddo is going to react to the new clinician and if there are going to be any problems...not that I blame her, we basically are starting over from square one again). I'm finally going to be full time next week, which will help a lot with the finances - plus I will finally be able to get benefits.

School is done for the summer. I enjoyed my class and think that I did well in it. Hard to believe that in the fall, I will have 2 years left. Here is hoping that it speeds by quickly.

Chris and I are going away for the weekend to Baxter State Park to go camping. Although we won't be able to see any fireworks, we do plan to do a lot of outdoorsy stuff - hiking, boating, just walking around the trails. He took me up there a couple of weekends ago to go hiking and it was absolutely beautiful. We need a break from Portland, so this will be good.

The big excitement yesterday was that there was a moose wandering the streets of Portland. I didn't see it, but I guess that Chris's brother Brian did...literally walked right through his backyard and by his front window. There have been a couple of moose wandering around in civilization recently. I heard today that it may be because of the bugs and the recent heat.

Well, I accepted a job. I am now going to be working for Providence Corporation as a Behavioral Health Professional and working in a home with a family whose kid is affected by autism. Basically, my role will be to support the family and help them, and a clinician, come up with an effective behavior plan. I don't know what my hours exactly are yet but we will see. I ended up not getting the job as the case manager, mainly because their program cannot support a flex-type position at this moment, and well...I need the flexibility to be able to go to school and finish my degree. I did ask the program director who I interviewed with if I could keep in touch with her and look into being an intern for the company during my final year of school and she said that will be fine. We will see. I start my new job on April 12th. Very excited.

Tomorrow is Easter. This is actually the first Easter I have not spent with my parents in the 25 years I have been alive. Very strange. I was planning on having to work on Easter Sunday, then all the drama happened and I am basically now a relief staff for my company (which is fine with me). Some things are totally out of our control, and unfortunately, the drama that happened was out of my control. Necessitated a job transition much sooner than I was expecting to say the least. Anywho...back to Easter. I am going to the Easter Vigil with Chris tonight (first time ever) and I have to say that I am excited for it. Tomorrow, we are going to be celebrating Easter with the rest of his family at his aunt's house in Buxton. I talked to my father the other night about the fact that we are not celebrating Easter together this year and bascially told him that the longer I stay in Maine and get more settled here, unless they move up here very soon, I may not be able to spend every holiday with them anymore. He was pretty understanding. We will see how this transgresses...

Ugh

Okay, so I thought that the case management position I applied for would not really consider me because of my internship and school (the impression I got last week). However, I got a very different impression today when I was there. Basically, the clinical director told me that the woman I interviewed with last week really liked me and that they were very interested in me. It also seemed like they would do anything possible to work around my schedule so I could work for them, and continue to work for them next year (2011-2012) when I do my concentration internship. They also said that they would let me know by the end of the day about their decision. I also had contacted them yesterday to let them know about my job offer and when I would be moving along with the internship. The woman I interviewed with said that they were going to be doing stuff after Wednesday but when I told her I had another offer and they needed a decision, she asked my availability and when I said I could meet today, she arranged for me to meet with the clinical director and program director at noon today. I had a tour last week of the office and they even went as far as to tell me what the dress code was. All in all, all signs are pointing to yes, I have the job. I will probably take it because it would be a guaranteed 40 hours and I would be salaried. And I would have weekends off :-). I hate feeling conflicted though...

*sigh*

The drama continues. I really cannot get into it on here for privacy reasons, but basically, for the unforeseen future, I will basically be a filler at different houses in my company. I had two more interviews yesterday (one to be a Behavioral Health Professional where I would be working with a clinician to help a family come up with and implement a behavior plan in their home; the second was to be a case manager at a neurorehabilitation center in Portland).

I am trying my best to remain positive through all of this and keep reminding myself that in the week and half since I learned that I was being demoted, I have had three interviews. There are other jobs out there that I haven't heard from yet but my resume is probably in the stack and they'll get to it eventually (maybe...gotta love the black hole of resumes). Even yesterday though, one of the women I interviewed with said that she really was interested in me and the second woman talked with me for an hour, gave me a tour of the office and even went as far as to say what the dress code was. Both are positive signs, but I need to remain realistic.

More on the job front

I'm at work right now waiting for the next shift to arrive at 9:30a. Hurray for overnights. I was going to do a project for school but I just could not concentrate on it. I think it is the fact that my mind does not work 100% at night. I never did an all nighter in college (much to Chris's surprise) and I value my sleep way too much. I understand that because my client needs to have 24 hour staffing and my supervisor wants us all to have 40 hour schedules that I need to do this, but I really don't like how basically my day becomes wasted because I go home and sleep all day to catch up on the sleep I didn't get. Last week, I did the overnight on Wednesday and then on Thursday, right before I was planning on going to sleep, one of my staff called out because she had to go to the ER (she works at a movie theater on the side and a sign dropped on her face and poked her in the eye....ouch). Well, I couldn't find anyone to take the shift so I had to go in and do it...on 2.5 hours of sleep. Yay. I came home and slept for a couple of hours, had a meeting for my internship and then went back home and slept some more. Today, I get to go home in an hour, sleep until 2:30 or 3 and then go to class.

The interview yesterday went really well (that's the thing I don't like about overnights either...my days get all mixed up). I think that the guy who interviewed me seemed impressed by what I have done. He said that he would call me by next week. I hope that he does. The job seems interesting and challenging. It would also give me weekends off, which I have not had in almost 2 years. That would be a very welcome change. I would also be able to work in an office, which I have not had in almost 2 years as well. I miss interaction with people. Sure I have my residents, but they're asleep half the time. When I got home, I actually got an email from another company asking me if I could meet with them next Tuesday. I'm pretty excited about that interview as well. I keep looking to see if there are any more jobs in Cumberland or York County, but there haven't been the past couple of days. It's also the middle of the month so there may be more by the end of the month (I hope).

I need sleep. That's what is most important right now.

oh the joys of working in social services!

So I need to look for a new job. I had a meeting yesterday with my supervisor and his supervisor and I was basically demoted for financial reasons. One of my residents is in a rehab facility right now because she fell and broke her arm and fractured her hip and we don't know when she is coming back. We get paid based upon how many hours are billed for and since we are billing for half the time...they cannot afford to keep me on. I suspected this was going to happen sine my supervisor sent me an email requesting a meeting last Monday so I spent time last week looking for other jobs. Luckily for me, I was able to find quite a few of them and I actually have an interview tomorrow morning. I however need to purchase a suit tonight because the last time I wore one, I was a good 15lbs heavier than I am now. My other choice is just to go back to school and get it all done. That right now is looking like the better option since I haven't had the interview yet and don't know who else is being interviewed.

I was totally expecting this to happen, but it still was a bitter pill to swallow that it did and didn't happen necessarily on my own terms.