I’ve been on Rover for many months. Never got anything but scam artists contacting me. And I paid $30 for the background check. Net -$30 lol I couldn’t finish the app for Meowtel because I didn’t have references that I cat sat for 🙄 I just own a cat. I did exactly one pet sitting job and it was booked through Facebook. Their usual sitter was out of town. I’ll see if I can change my zip code on Rover but I don’t know if it will allow. I started to sign up for care.com this week. The website wanted me to pay for my profile and said “up to $15 (or $16?) an hour.” I scrolled through a few jobs in my dad’s area and these people want to pay like $10-12 for you to look after their elderly parent. People do not like to pay. You can sign up for both elderly care & child but neither pay well. I’m sure the site takes a cut. The nanny agency I’m employee with pays me a min of $18/hr and a min of a 3 hr shift.

I saw a UPS job but I can’t stand all day at the counter and I always see them standing. As far as USPS, I noticed they come in on Saturdays to sort mail or something even if the window is closed. I’m nervous to get a job that requires weekends since my visitation is limited to weekends. Well it is on the books right now as Thursday and every other weekend but I lost a bunch of Thursdays when he moved. The weeks I had weekends I drove to my dad’s on Wed night so I could pick dd up on Thursday after school. With a typical job I really can’t do any weekdays with the kids. I can’t afford to live in their school district so getting her to class or picking her up would be logistically likely impossible. I can’t do a restaurant job because of my feet. You name it, they are standing (cooks, hostess, waitress etc). You’d likely have unfriendly hours for parenting, too. Can’t work at a restaurant and say I need every other weekend off… most will dismiss you immediately. Target might pay $15. I heard that Best Buy started paying that at one store but again, standing all shift and possibly hours that affect my visitation. I found one apt this week that’s $700/month. I asked if it was a safe area. My friend said it used to be bad but has improved. So I dunno. I could barely afford that on $15… and remain in the 30% of income on rent goal. Some places make the rule for you… require you earn 3x the rent to even qualify to live there. My aunt suggested airline, too. She worked for one. I’m gonna investigate it. ETA: I did apply to some jobs that pay ok but many jobs are slow to respond to applicants. I do try to follow up. I emailed HR to ask the status on a state job I applied for in early June. They ignored my email.

Re: remote work I have looked at some, but I don’t want to do a sales job and/or or cold calling. Customer service… I am unsure. I was mostly looking at remote data every jobs. I didn’t see a good fit. Like some remote desk jobs need you to know programs I don’t (bookkeeping, etc). I am partially sick of working from home. I’ve been doing it since Feb 2020. I only go into the office on occasion, but my gas consumption has mostly been from things like going to the dr, grocery shopping, and any form of entertainment (meeting friends for trivia night). At times I love it and at times it’s very isolating.

I don’t want to be a vet tech. My best friend was one and hated it. Do they have to administer shots? I couldn’t do it. I don’t know how accurate this pay scale is but it’s not very promising. One time I did research getting a teaching credential. I was interested in second grade - you cannot get an alternative method certificate for that age. You can get a masters degree and teach 7th and up? I asked what I would need for the early elem. They sent me a huge list and it amounted to the equivalent of earning a bachelor’s all over again. Teacher satisfaction is low (imo). And even after years of teaching they don’t make much. One of my siblings is a teacher. But she doesn’t have kids.

I applied to a city job (jumped through tons of hoops and got rejected), a few state jobs through the government jobs website, and looked again last night at one city job list. They need a clerk in the police dept but it pays $14.50. I can’t afford even a one bedroom on that. I did apply at a hospital job recently that I thought I was suited for and got a rejection letter. They even asked if you heard about it from an employee and I answered yes and put the name of the guy I met at the 80s/90s networking event (he shared the job posting on his linked in). I’ve applied to several communication jobs, receptionist, clerical type things. They either don’t pay enough or don’t interview me. But now that I’m at my dad’s I’m putting his local address on everything. Before I was just saying in the cover letter that I was relocating soon. I dropped off my resume in person as requested by an ins company that wants a secretary but I’m not holding my breath because they probably pay like $13-15 and close at noon on Wednesdays which means I’d be considered PT and get no benefits I’m guessing… and definitely need a second job to cover rent. I went into a PT office this week and he said he would have hired me on the spot but it was filled and doesn’t pay much. He did keep my business card & said they have a high turn over rate so might call me later for another location. but not sure that is useful since it won’t cover rent. I might need to apply for govt assistance but the most I think I’d get is SNAP and only for a household of one right? Because I don’t get to claim the kids. So I’ll just keep applying.

What’s funny is compared to my peers I run cold lol I always bring a jacket into the theatre just in case.

Yes on another page of this thread I explained I looked into school jobs. I can’t teach and the clerk, assistant teacher etc jobs pay peanuts. No amount of benefits can really offset it. And they probably have crappy state ins through BCBS. I was on that with xh as well as on my own with the library job. You pay out of pocket every visit til you meet your deductible. The only time we met it was like in Dec when it’s useless. The yearly salary was under 30k for those jobs. Sub teaching is not appealing to me, though I did consider it. I want stability and to deal with adults in my daily job. The pay is I think 70-100 a day. Let’s say max you work 20 days a month at $100. That’s less than the magazine job and I can’t even make ends meet on that. I really don’t think it’s $100/day though.

I noticed the thermostat on 78 the other day (not done by me). So I think he was trying to help. And it was more comfortable yesterday. When his a/c was broken we did open windows but it didn’t help much. I’d go to the gym at night and then shower and go to bed with damp hair and the ceiling fan on. That helped. he’s always been anti pet (hence why my cat isn’t here) but my aunt shared that he discussed possible places to put the litter box so I know he at least considered letting my cat come which meant a LOT. She ultimately was the one that said it won’t work… the laundry room is too tiny and she is scared the cat would zoom out of furniture causing her to trip/fall. She’s still recovering from a knee surgery gone bad (does swim therapy every week) and is older so I totally respect her concerns/fears with getting hurt. I ended up not totally giving up on casinos. I applied to several positions at a different casino and their application asked what shift you wanted. The Pet Smart application was the worst!! lol I did get to include salary expectations so I hope we don’t waste each others’ time. It asked if you could do the job with reasonable accommodation. I said yes assuming they let me sit sometimes (reasonable accommodation being having access to a chair and I could bring a dr’s note). While typing this post the income-based apt complex called with an opening. I thought about it and I’m going to pass. When I first went there a couple months ago it was $699 for a 2BD. It’s now $764. That’s really not that much better than that $800 townhouse I turned down. I don’t have a local job yet so given the income restrictions, location etc it’s just too risky to commit. I have job applications in several cities so I’m just gonna stall a bit longer. I did scour the internet for 1 bedrooms (even looked at one studio) and the only affordable ones were dumps (read reviews etc) or by the shipyard on the other side of the coast. Everyone says get a job at the shipyard. I applied to the one job I was semi qualified for. The rest are things like pipe fitter, journeyman etc. I’d only be eligible to work there after the extended construction class. I don’t want to do this but I will have to bite my tongue, focus on my job hunt and stall a bit longer before I can move out.

I broke into a sweat right out of the shower as I was blow drying my hair this afternoon. Anyone here have any insights on the dog bather/groomer trainee position at PetSmart? I probably can’t do it (might be too physically demanding) but I’m looking into it, anyway.

Ok just for reference, it is currently 8:48 PM here. The weather app says 75 degrees with 94 percent humidity. But I don't need to know the figures. My curly hair poofs up the minute I go outside LOL

79 F. 26 c factor in humidity

I made resume copies today and a short list of places to stop tomorrow to follow up with. But I might not even be able to do that depending on if I leave town a day early to do one car load/trailer load without the kids. My car doesn’t have a way to attach a trailer hitch. I’d get the parts but they are 99% done setting up my dad’s. We thought it was ok but realized something was actually not right. My car has no backseat vents but after a while the backseat cools off. My dad’s car has backseat vents but they don’t work. I’ll drive the kids in it if necessary but most likely I’ll do a trip without the kids and with the trailer — then unload at my storage unit and drive up with them the next day. Hopefully only need the trailer one day. I feel just awful. I couldn’t find my cat when I left town because she was hiding. I called out to her and IIRC I did look under my bed before I closed my bedroom door. My room was a mess and I didn’t want the neighbor or landlord (if they had to come over) see a mess. I left town Sunday… today my neighbor that’s cat sitting said your car was trapped in your room. I heard her today and noticed because the litter box. I thought geez I screwed up and I can’t keep asking others to watch my cat. It’s one thing after another.

I looked up one bedrooms in several cities. I found one for $750 which isn’t much better than the 2BD townhouse for $800. I drove to the complex and it was horrible in person. Like they staged the website great because this place looked like a dump. Dudes outside, car on a jack with a broken windshield, bunch of items in the yard.

I bike all the time. I own an upright and use one at the gym. I just limit the treadmill time. I don’t like the recumbent but I like upright.

I went to the gym and took my aggression out on the rowing machine, treadmill and weight machine. Feeling better 🤣 I’m going to shower then visit a business I need to follow up with.

Well it was dark/night time. So I wanted to leave the light on and just pop back in in a few min. I personally don’t ever turn off all the lights to the kitchen when something is in the oven. It says to me “don’t forget the oven is on!” I have had timers mess up, not be loud enough etc or get distracted and it helps me. the way his light switches are laid out it was hard to leave a lit path without lighting up the hallway and foyer and my aunt was in bed so I didn’t want to brighten up the house. If that’s makes sense. there's usually a method to my madness but it’s exhausting to explain and insteady family just assumes I’m a careless energy hog. Like seriously 3 min leaving the light on bs turning it off and back in. I think some say it uses more power to turn off and on again. —— this thread just confirms I’ll never follow suit with his rules/methods so maybe give up on the 2 bedroom apartment (to accommodate the kids) and just look for a 1 bed. Ds can’t sleep over if xh makes a big deal about the legal bedrooms required. Im running out of options.

I think that’s true… and I tried to explain last time that a min with the car door ajar wouldn’t kill the battery. But what so I know…. I’m a dumb girl not a man that works on cars (this is how I feel around my dad — like it doesn’t matter coming from me). I have to micromanage all my actions or be sniped at and it puts me in fight or flight mode. I did flight before and my gf got fleas at her house and then decided to move in with her bf so I lost that option. I have no where to go. I was baking off chicken (he agreed to pay if it was the right healthy food… you know his standards are so high I’d starve at most grocery stores because of lack of options or them being only sporadically stocked… so I lucky they had organic chicken). I checked on it when the timer went off but it needed a few more min and he didn’t want me to leave the kitchen light on if I was leaving the room. Like good grief. I get that some people are anal about that stuff. But it stresses me the eff out. So he turned off the kitchen light and I tripped on his pickleball bag coming back to the kitchen from my room a few min later lol

Ok, ladies. Thanks for your feedback. I am officially enrolled with one staffing agency and started the process with 2 others. One fell off the face of the earth. The other I need to return on Friday for an appt but they showed me what they currently have and the only one above $16/hr is paralegal ($16-18/hr). So basically I will need 2 jobs or work weekends which defeats the purpose of living close to the kids sorta… Im just very frustrated. I can’t get my insoles yet but even if I had them I’m not sure I could stand on my feet to work nights at Target etc.

I skimmed the link — I don’t see a year listed to define old vs modern. His car is only 2 years older than mine. Mine is 2010 and I’ve had to sit in car pick up lines where you aren’t moving immediately. Yes, it was his car because only his car can attach the trailer and we carpooled to the friends’ home for a 4th of July meal. This is humid Mississippi. No one I know can tolerate their house at 79. I am fine some parts of day, but others it’s really uncomfortable here. I do own shorts and T-shirt’s but “skimpy” is not a look I’d advise to anyone staying with their dad lol I just need out. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. My mental health is constantly affected when I come here. I can only job hunt. I have no friend to stay with… and that doesn’t work with the kids, anyway. I have court soon, my lawyer is on vacation. I’m under an immense amount of stress.

I had a phone screening for a casino job. My fears were dead on. I wouldn’t be able to justify the hours. They wanted me to work 3-11pm and my days off would be Wed/Thurs. Not child-friendly hours. I’d never have weekends off. I told them I couldn’t do those hours and we didn’t move forward. A family friend is loaning me their trailer. I’ll load as much as possible this week (washer/dryer, couch, maybe dining room table etc). This should avoid a uhaul rental. I blew up at my dad last night because I’m immature and impulsive. I said it’s ridiculous he thinks running the a/c will hurt the car by sitting in the parking lot parked and I’m gonna have to move out in like a week or 2 because I will die in a house kept at 79 degrees. To which he said he was “freezing.” My aunt and I were sitting in the car because we didn’t feel like going into Lowe’s. He rolled down the window and tonk the keys. I felt like a dog and I wouldn’t even leave the dog out there like that.

It wasn’t really an interview. It was more like another bait & switch. They are a staffing agency and said they might just list “office coordinator” as a catch all for any clients they work with that have similar positions. I filled out all this paperwork on their computer… basically says I’d be the employee of the agency and not entitled to client benefits unless at some point the client asks to hire me directly. They will let me know later this week if they see any job matches. I told them availability, salary minimum etc. I went in person to follow up with a few places. One said they never received my application but would have hired me on the spot… when I asked base pay he said it’s not much $13-14/hr. I would have to work 2 jobs at that rate. Another place has decent salary but says no benefits til you’ve worked there a year. One place was a wild goose chase. The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. Apparently they don’t really communicate and have 2 buildings but one is off limits to the public. They literally cannot tell me if the position has been filled and just say, “your application remains on file 30 days. Why don’t you reapply?” I said it was a snail mail only application (specifically said mail us a hard copy of resume) and I mailed it weeks ago. She said best I can do is hand you this paper application and tell you to drop it off here and I’ll try to show to the owner when they are here. Ok ummm if the owner comes in a few days a week (her words) why didn’t you just freakin ask them if they filled the position since I called about it like 3x. some people are ridiculously unhelpful

Can you just close the garage? Is there a door? So the cat has a safe space. sprinkle pepper or something around a perimeter to deter the stray from coming too close to your property?

Well the stray sounds more adaptable than your cat so maybe you could rehome the stray. I’d also say you kinda adopted it assuming you began feeding it and interacting with it. I had a stray come to our home and I put out food for it but I knew we couldn’t keep it and if my cat lived in our carport I might have been meaner/less welcoming to the stray and ran it off/not put out food. You’ll have to stop feeding it so it stops coming over or you’ll need to find another person to take it. I guess. I think it’s kinda unfair to give the stray more priority than the one that’s yours. If my kid was being a butt I’d still need to give them priority over a nice neighborhood kid in regards to living arrangements or such.

My bad you said last remaining animal so the dogs aren’t there.

Are the dogs still around? That could be an ongoing stress from the trauma. Even if they are kept apart, their smells, sounds, presence are in the home.