Ok yes I've been meaning to post an update for a long time. Been super busy. Last thing I told everyone was that I got my old job back. That was just over three months ago. I made permanent team member a month early and just last week I got a promotion. Very excited! Full time hours and a raise and a stepping point to an even better position! I've been also getting a lot work done on the building. Landlord is happy and the place is looking great! It definitely seems that our efforts are paying off. Not stopping here either. Got more plus pictures to post but as I'm on my phone waiting for it to be time to clock in its gonna hafta wait.
Absent but fantastic-----We'll decide that part! Xavier? Who is this? Do we know anyone named Xavier?
Thank you! Everyone! Denny. You keep this up and I'm gonna start calling you LolCat! Yes so things are great for those in my home. As most know I am a cart attendant. But now I do 2 jobs. I do carts and now I'm the bike builder. My bosses (supervisors and store manager) are happy with my work. Where I've felt like I hadn't accomplished enough I've been met with positive response and thanks... So I try harder. I've been pushing myself to do my best more and more always telling myself that if I can do this then I can do more. I feel appreciated at my job. So. I have also expressed my interest in store maintenance. This was taken well and encouraged. I do this for 6 months and if I'm still interested in store maintenance I will begin training for it. Once accomplished my pay should almost double. I'm very, VERY excited about the chance for that position. Zoe is doing great! And so are the cats. I put a small, but effective clear plastic roof on what we call the walk so that we can watch the storms and be dry. This also allows the kitties outside time without being able to escape into the city. The walk is a small section of roof over the first floor that is also mostly wedged between our building and the next one connected to us. Anyways. Its really cool. A few months ago our landlords came over one weekend and hung out with us with their kids. They told us that it was really good to see this place looking like a home again. They used to live here right after they bought the building. It made us feel good and we took it as a sign that things were on the way up. We have been deep cleaning the place, and that is an on-going work in progress, as well as fixing things. I've fixed the pipes under the sink, cleaned the pipes in the bathroom, fixed the toilet and light fixture, ripped out badly made make-shift walls, so on and so forth. Still got a lot of work to do. Sometime before winter the landlord and I have to do some repairs to the roof. Odd to get leaks in the winter but not summer. Not really sure how normal that is since I grew up somewhere unfairly hot. But I know where the leaks are. Long term goal... Since we are the only building with roof access via an actual stairwell to the roof, we want to put in a garden area for vegetable, hanging out, and grilling. Again that is a long term goal but if all goes well, by this time next year I will be making enough money to make that dream a reality sooner rather than later. Finally, ending with a few pics. The first are of a couple wagons I snapped quickly in the parking lot. The Olds is owned by a college student who is fixing it up and planning on selling it after he graduates. No info on the other. The last is a bike I built. Keys -X
Nice post Xavier. You really do live right down town. I'm sure that gives you and Zoe chances to get out and visit people and see the many sites. Hopefully the Lake is not far away. We always loved going up to Lake Michigan any time of year. Swimming in January wasn't part of it but just walks along the beach and sidewalks are great. Hope you still have time to make things of glass.
Downtown is just down the street from us. Living on one of the main streets gives us 24 hour bus service and the stop is almost right outside our door. Its about a 30 minute bus ride to get downtown and another 10-15 to get to the lakefront if we stay on the same bus which goes straight to Navy Pier. Not really any people to go visit honestly. Mostly I just go to visit my old cart attendant friends at the Target I used to work at. But we do go out exploring the city. Found some pretty cool places and we discovered Polish beer. Its better than most think. I've heard lots of jokes about it and many other foreign beers but I really like them. Believe it or not but we still haven't gone swimming in the lake yet. We're not really the bathing suit types. BUT the lake did decide to throw a wave up on shore at us the last time we went there (last month) and soaked our boots just as we were taking a picture of ourselves. When it comes to my carving, I do still do it. I just recently finished setting my art station back up after taking it down to do some cleaning and painting in that corner of the art room. If I can remember the password to my photobucket account I will upload some pics to it so I can post them here better.
We're not really the bathing suit types.?????????????? I think those things are manditory around the Chicago lake front. But I've heard rumors not so much in more secluded areas. Also from what I remember the water is almost liquid ice even now so swim suits may not be required but preferred. I understand the crowded cities and still not many to talk to. We visit more total strangers right here in the tiny town we live than back in Pekin where I am from. People in larger cities seem to be snobs and in a hurry. As for drinking, I stick to cheap domestic beer like those made in Milwaukee and St Louis.
Glad to hear everything is going so well. Congrats on the promotion. Love that 1960 Ford Country Sedan. Thanks for thinking of us and snapping a pic when you saw it.