Day 5: Big!

I have no photo today, so I stole one off the internets. I went to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Manitowoc today to talk about opportunities to volunteer and to become a "Big". I started the application process today. They will do a 10 year background check in the 3 states I've lived in, then I will have a formal interview. For some reason I am super duper excited to volunteer for this organization. Keep your fingers crossed!!



I did nothing else today. What a bum. I played hours upon hours of Sim City... and I accidentally stayed up until 2 in the morning playing that addictive game.

Future Plan: Be less of a bum.

Day 4: Cooking Adventure: Another Fail

Since I've become unemployed I have made it a goal to make dinner every single day. And to make everything I can from scratch. So far I've made:

• Spaghetti sauce (never made before from scratch)
• Cinnamon raisin bread (never made before from scratch)
  
• Banana nut bread (never made before from scratch)
  
• Gingery bread (never made before from scratch)
  
• Banana chocolate chip muffins (never made before from scratch)
  
• Cinnamon rolls (never made before from scratch)
• Meatloaf (never made before PERIOD)
• Chicken crepes (Jenkins family favorite, never made before, took 3 hours)
  
• Fajitas (Adam had never had before but now is one of his favorites)
• Chicken fingers (special recipe I found)
  
• Rice crispy treats (made before BUT I fudged up and had to start over!)
• Apple pie (never made before, and I still don't know how to "flute" a pie)
• Slow-cooker berry cobbler (Awful recipe. Burnt and smelled up my kitchen for days)
  
• Fruit pizza (omg delish!)
  
• Chicken and rice (easy peasy)
  

Today I took on biscuits and gravy. Adam had never had it before and I thought he would really like it. It's a simple idea and simple ingredients, how could he not like it? I had a fabulous image in my head of what it would turn out like and how tasty it would be. My mouth is literally watering right now just thinking about it. Nomnomnom!


Easy enough, right? WRONG. I burnt the entire bottom of my saucepan and after days of soaking and trying to clean it, had to trash it. Fail. I also didn't have any breakfast sausage (or any meat at all) so the gravy was plain and tasteless. Also HOLY COW biscuit batter is sticky. And gross.

Bless Adam's heart. He tried it, the poor thing. He didn't like it. What a surprise. BUT! I will make this again, this time I will make the gravy NOT suck, I will NOT fudge up another sauce pan, and he WILL like it!

*The photo is not a picture of what MY biscuits and gravy looked like. To spare your virgin eyes I shall not post a picture of the tragedy.*

Day 3: Fail

This also is not an actual photograph, rather a screenshot of what I call Project Fail.

Erin needed some buttons to be created for her company website. I'm not very good with graphics. I created these from Microsoft Word 2007.

That was the extent of my day today.

FAIL

Day 2: Work for the Unemployed

This entry has nothing to do with photography, but it does have to do with creativity in a sense.

My friend Erin works for a weird company. They are a new business and have a product that they sell to businesses. They have a lot of odd jobs that still need to be done. Erin requested help from me to create an order form. I whipped this up in 30 minutes to make sure I had what she wanted in mind. It happened to be perfect as it was. Easy!

Day 1: Wedding Dress: SOLD

I've been trying to sell my wedding dress since the wedding in July. I originally purchased it on Craig's List for $250 from a bride in Random Lake, Wisconsin. I took my mother in law with me on the hour and a half trip and we both knew it was perfect. The one. And so cheap! It was made by designer Maggie Sottero and the gown is called Paigely. I loved it when I saw it online when I was first browsing for wedding dresses, I loved it when I saw it in person, I loved it when I tried it on, I loved it every time I tried it on again, I loved it when I wore it on my wedding day, and I still love it. Redundant? Maybe. But I can't get over how gorgeous it is.

Most brides keep their dress, right? Pay to have it professionally packaged or wrapped or boxed or something? Why? As much as I loved this dress, I wouldn't love to never see it because it's in a box I can never open. I want money, baby!

I had a listing on the classified page of one of my favorite websites, Weddingbee, for several months with no responses. Eventually a soon-to-be bride in California contacted me and I sold it to her for $250! (with shipping included). What a blessing to have a little extra money in our time of need!

Before I sent it off, I had to take several more detail pictures in case I ever forgot what it looked like.










The Cali soon-to-be bride has received it and loves it! Hurrah!!

The Start: 365

March 8, 2011 was an incredibly challenging day for me. I was fired from my job; a job I thought I was going to be employed at until I retired or died. The week prior I had a difficult call and I did not handle it to the best of my ability. I became heated and said things no one in the customer care profession should say. Did I do wrong? Yes. Did I see myself getting written up for it? No. Did I see myself getting fired for it? Absolutely not. But the decisions were made and I left 30 minutes after I arrived to work that day. And I sobbed uncontrollably for hours.

I since have been granted unemployment as it was deemed I did not do what I did out of retaliation of the employer, but rather lack of judgment. I like to believe that this was a blessing in disguise. I really was not happy at my job and I was sick with anxiety every day, worrying about if I was going to get into another confrontation with my boss over something as silly as adding simple addition formulas in an Excel spreadsheet. We certainly did not see eye-to-eye. We had several meetings where I would end up crying and wondering if the pay was worth dealing with the ridiculous drama. She would get mad when I would cry, and only when her supervisor stepped in did she realize she was out of line and would apologize.

I digress. It's a blessing. It's in the past and I can only move forward from here. I've been able to "come back to me," as I like to call it. I'm focusing on my thoughts, my actions and my feelings. I'm going back to the things I've always loved to do. I have been exploring cooking and baking to a degree I haven't ever before. I'm scrapbooking again. I'm working out again. I've decided to volunteer and hopefully *fingers crossed* will be a "Big" for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Manitowoc in a few weeks. I've started to write in my journals again.

I have a lot of work to do on myself. Overcoming my obstacles (anxiety, depression and chronic pain) and bettering myself. Doing what I love to do. I've decided to start the 365 Project. You can read about it here from the official website. I will take a photograph a day. I will probably take a photo of something I've done or accomplished that day, otherwise I will make it a duty or a commitment to try to take an artistic photo. And I will blog about it here.