Old Work

Things have been pretty strange around here the last few weeks. Aaron was offered a job opportunity out of state with the option to start out on a 3-month contract. We weren't sure about relocating, so we went with the 3-month contract to give us time to decide. The company provided housing, as well as flights for Aaron to come home and visit us. Since Aaron had been the main caregiver for our daughter when I was working, I knew would have to start arranging babysitters for each of my evenings of work.

Things at work were kind of stressful to begin with. There were some inherent challenges with the evening workload, as well as some frustration with the other staff (I had actually begun applying for other jobs). I started feeling rather overwhelmed by the prospect of lining up childcare help for the next three months (although we do have some incredibly willing and accommodating family members living in the area). In addition, we were pretty pleased with the Aaron work company's willingness to meet all of our requests, and we really thought it was a high likelihood that we would be making progress toward a move. Moving was an easy excuse to quit my job (even though they have a constant struggle with staffing on the evening schedule, and I knew they wouldn't be pleased). So I decided to cut out some stress in my life and put in my two-week notice. Over the next two weeks, Aaron had started the job. He enjoyed it, but we realized pretty quickly that the likelihood of us wanting to move there was dwindling. I started to regret my hastiness in quitting my job. I could have easily just reduced my working hours to limit some of the stresses of the situation. The day after my "last day" at work, I talked to my supervisor on the phone, and I said that in hindsight I should have had just made some schedule changes instead of quitting. My supervisor surprised me by saying that it would be easy to reverse the decision, and he could keep me off the work schedule for the next three months while my husband was out of town. He offered to discuss it with HR, and the next day he sent me a text to verify that's what I wanted to do. I said yes. Then my daughter and I went away to visit Aaron. 

After I came back from the trip, I was surprised when I was still locked out of my work account. I called HR, and they told me that my supervisor had not submitted the request until more than a week after he told me he would. HR didn't know if they could still reverse the decision. They had already cashed out my PTO, disconnected my work phone, and a few other things that can't simply be undone. I talked to the supervisor, and he told me he had accidentally hired someone into the same position I left. He had lots of open similar job postings, but it was just that fact that for the person he hired, he happened to select that particular job posting which would have been connected with "my" spot. And for some reason that affected my ability to be rolled back into my former spot. I was invited to reapply and they would certainly hire me back. I was pretty annoyed about my supervisor not doing what he said, and since it had already been finalized, I decided to ride out the decision and stay unemployed for several weeks, caring for our daughter full time. 

It was really nice to turn in all the supplies I had to carry with me for the job. It was nice to not have any work responsibilities. 

I know they hired two traveling nurses to cover the shift I left (two other nurses left a little before I did). I'm frustrated that in all the discussion about my potential to stay, they did not make much/any effort to keep me, even though clearly they were desperate for help. They could have offered a sign on bonus, or a higher pay during the discussion about hiring me back. I might have accepted such an arrangement. The job is tough, but I was doing good work there, and I can put up with a lot for more money. Here's another weird thing: when I put in my two-week notice, no one from my work reached out to me about it at all. My supervisor did not even reply to the email when I sent my two weeks notice. How is that for feeling appreciated at work? None of my "superiors" said anything at all. They didn't even say anything about turning in the supplies from the job, including the electronics like the phone and the computer. I have to wonder how long it would have taken for someone to realize I still had them. I finally had to reach out to them to make a plan to deliver the items (I no longer had access to the building, so I couldn't just take them in myself). There is one person who reached out to talk to me on my last day: the educator who trained me for this job. This person is not necessarily a supervisor over me, but she is just very kind and genuine and wanted to wish me well and thank me for doing good work and for helping to train new nurses. She is the one person who made me feel a little bad leaving. 

All in all, it has been a positive change. I have had much less stress during Aaron's absence due to leaving my job. It has been a relief to just have it off my plate completely. Yet I also feel truly that this job was a blessing for our family the last two years. Yes, there were a lot of hard things about it. Yes, I complained about it at times. But it allowed us to save money and prepare for some big expenses we had this year. It allowed me to work at maintaining skills and gain a lot of confidence in my abilities. I wanted to quit at first, but I really stepped up to the challenge because I felt that God had led me to the job for a reason. The schedule for this job let me work without requiring outside childcare (at least not very often). I know I was guided to apply for this job two years ago by inspiration because God knew that this was what our family needed at the time. The growth I experienced by working through this job - knowing it was what God had placed before me - was worth the struggle.

Supplies for work

Gas

Here's how we did not get carbon monoxide poisoning this week: 

A few days ago we had a big snow storm overnight. It had been a lazy morning, and I finally was ready to take a shower. Unfortunately, when I started the water, it was lukewarm and then cold. Our water heater is an instant gas heater in our crawlspace (For more information, you can refer to a post about replacing our old water heater early last year ).

Normally, I rely on Aaron to fix things like that, but he was out of state, so I texted him for ideas. He suggested I check the indicator light on the appliance to see first if it has power. I don't enjoy going down into the crawlspace, but I also don't enjoy freezing cold showers. So I donned some clothing and opened the crawlspace lid. 

Whoosh! The smell of natural gas emerged from the crawlspace. Supposing it might not be safe to go down there, I again reached out to Aaron for next steps. It seemed like we had a gas leak or something. Aaron called the gas company for me, and they told us to exit the building and wait for the service technician. I scooped up a few supplies and carried my daughter through a foot of snow (I had not gotten around to shoveling) to our favorite neighbors' house. We hung out there until the technician came. They consider these calls emergent, and he arrived within the hour - pretty quick considering traffic was a mess due to the snow.

Upon arrival, the technician used a sensor to assess the air. He quickly determined there was carbon monoxide and natural gas filtering throughout the house. At this point the CO level was only a little lower than the threshold to trigger our CO alarm. He checked each gas appliance, and while he was evaluating the crawlspace, he noted that our water heater exhaust vent exits the house rather close to the ground. He suspected the new snow was obstructing the exhaust. Upon inspection outside, sure enough, the pipe was completely covered. All it took was a couple of shovels of snow, a few minutes to circulate the bad air out of the house, and the problem was resolved. 

We are grateful that 

1. The water heater had a safety feature which shut it off when it detected a problem with exhaust.

2. The crawlspace had a gas odor, so I did not climb down. It would have been highly concentrated with CO exhaust. 

3. The solution was obvious, simple, and quick to implement.

4. Our neighbor was kind enough to give us a warm place to wait. We have family nearby offering to help also. The problem was resolved so quickly we were able to walk home and carry on with our day without needing to travel in the snowy weather. 

Now we know: We need to bring the pipes up higher. And until then, check the exhaust vent after a snowstorm.

What a roast!

 We have dinner at my parents' house most Sundays. My mother usually makes the main dish, and those joining bring sides. Sometimes I like to make the main. Sometimes I like to smoke delicious meats. This time, I did both.

I volunteered for the main dish, not knowing beforehand what I would make. I remembered seeing chuck roast on sale, so after a quick search I found my favorite online grilling recipe site had a one for a smoked chuck roast. Pretty straightforward, and after reading some comments sounds like (as with a crock pot roast) I could add the carrots and potatoes too. 

It was a bit more work than a crock pot, and as it was in progress Jamie and I were talking about if the extra work would be worth it. Especially as this particular Sunday I had some other responsibilities that kept me occupied while tending the meat. It reached temperature right on time, and we transported it without looking or tasting yet (except for a carrot). Finally at the destination, we made a gravy from the drippings and sliced it up. I finally took a bite, and I think I gasped. My sister looked worried, "too spicy?" she asked. "No", I said, "it's phenomenal!"

The extra work was completely worth it. This thing had a perfect smoke ring, so much flavor, so much delicious. The potatoes and carrots were similarly spectacular. Words do not adequately describe the dancing and singing the taste buds engaged in.

My deviations from the recipe: salted the meat generously the night before (always a good choice for beef), and used McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning for the rub. When I do it again, I'll give it more time at the 200° zone, let it get more tender. Not that it was tough, but it wasn't quite to fork tender yet. But it was time for dinner, so we had to move forward.

In conclusion, it is absolutely worth the extra work to smoke the roast.

 Helping to load more pellets, one small handful at a time