Skeleton candles are better than flowers any day

I've been going through a process for about a month and a half now. Well, longer than that, but we'll just start with a month and half ago. I'd been watching the state website for state government jobs (that's where the "longer than that" comes in...). I have a good, steady job with Burt Brothers. They've been really good to me. But accounting isn't where I wanted to be. Now that I had solid footing from recovering from my divorce, it was time to take me life where I wanted it to go. So I watched the state job postings, being very particular and selective in the things that I applied for. Applying for jobs online is kind of harsh. It's almost like a dead end. You answer the questions on the screen and then.... nothing. You don't even know who you can contact after the application is sent. And most of the time there's no word after you click the send button. Though I did hear from one job posting, telling me that state jobs get about 300 applicants per posting and they'd let me know... they never did.

Well GUESS WHAT! After applying online for a job at the Attorney General's office, I forgot about it. Brick wall online applications do that to you after awhile. But then I got an email. A mass email sent to only 25 people asking for an actual resume to be emailed in. So I did. And then I was contacted again for a typing test. Which I bombed. I CAN type. But not on that day. I was raving pissed. West went out mowed the lawn for a really long time after I got home on that day. So I forgot about that job.

A week and a half later I received a phone call asking to set up an interview for me. Really? I mean, really?

And I ROCKED that interview. Rocked it. We laughed through the whole thing. I was getting ready to go on a cruise with my family (more on that tomorrow) the following week and figured I would hear from them when I got back if I got a second interview. They called me two days later, the day before we left on vacation to let me know they wanted to meet with me again when I got home. We left for our vacation, had a fabulous week, and on Friday while waiting in LAX for our flight back home, the director of the department called me to talk about some things. He wasn't going to be there for the second interview and wanted to talk to me. West was impressed that he'd taken the time to call me. I met with the rest of the interviewing group on Wednesday and it went well but... I was so nervous. I came home and mailed a Thank You card to get one more jab at it.

Today they called my references and by 10:30 a.m. I had a voicemail from them on my phone. By 10:30 they had called my references and done a background check and now I had a voicemail to call them.

I got the job.

I got the job.

I got the job.

I got the job.

I got the job.

And now I can work closer to home, for the same amount of money, with better benefits, a retirement plan, paid holidays (as in all holidays, as in I can't start in 2 weeks on Oct. 10th because that's Columbus Day, duh. I get paid to stay home on Columbus Day now).

Do you know what he said to me? He said I wouldn't have enough time off accrued in time for me to take time off around Christmas so he'd have to figure out a way for me to work from home.

I can be OK with that.

I drove right after work to pick up the girl circus from their dad, and when I got home...

Have I mentioned how much I love my man? Because I'm pretty sure that skeleton candles are way better than flowers. And I'm not even being sarcastic. L.O.V.E them.