Friday, April 3, 2009

Temp jobs, Aldi's, Celtic Woman, and Check Engine Lights

I was a bit worried after Wednesday's post, where I found myself scrambling around a bit to come up with topics for the blog. Was I running out of ideas? Could i really only come up with a couple of weeks of posts on something as big as the recession? Well, I've got a few ready topics this time around, so hopefully Wednesday was just an 'off' day.

Jenny got a temp job through one of the temp agencies that she has applied at. She will be doing data entry work for a company for the next "1-2 weeks, maybe more". She is not exactly excited about doing data entry 8 hours a day, but I think she realizes that this is a great opportunity for her to prove to the temp agency and the company she will be working at for the next couple of weeks that she is a hard worker with a lot of great skills and ideas. Who knows, maybe this could lead to her next permanent job? If nothing else, the pay will be better than unemployment, and the unemployment well will dry up that much later, so I think this is definitely a positive.

I forgot to mention in Wednesday's post that, based on getting multiple suggestions to the effect, we shopped at Aldi's last Sunday. Jenny was a bit miffed the whole time we were there, being accustomed to shopping at 'ritzy' Schnucks. But the simple truth is that, as she mentioned afterward, every single item that we bought at Aldi's, milk included, came in at under $2.00. The store was also clean, much less crowded than Schnuck's, and we were able to get about 80% of our groceries from them. Overall, a positive experience, so I'm sure we'll be going back.

I am happy to report that my Check Engine light has turned off. I had tried to disconnect the battery, as suggested by quite a few people, but either I'm completely incompetent under the hood of a car (the most likely scenario), or my battery terminal screws are a size somewhere in between both 7/16" and 1/2" and 11mm and 12mm. I swear to you, 7/16" and 11mm were both too small, and 1/2" and 12mm were both too big!

In closing, I wanted to mention a concert that Jenny and I will be attending next weekend- Celtic Woman, at the Fox Theatre. I was searching for Celtic music on Amazon.com one day, happened across this DVD, which had the surprising combination of more than 300 reviews and a 5-star rating. Usually, when you get that many ratings on Amazon.com, even the good stuff tends toward 4 or 4.5. So, i took a chance, got the DVD for Christmas, and immediately fell in love. A few days after Christmas, I bought two orchestra pit seats to their show on April 11. I am REALLY excited about seeing Celtic woman live, having been so blown away by the DVD. If you're interested in checking them out, but you're not ready to commit to buying a DVD, they have plenty of videos available on Youtube.

Well, that's it for now. We have a busy weekend ahead of us, with a "Final Four" party on Saturday at our friends' house, and a dinner on Sunday. See ya! Oh, and I'd love to see some more comments here. Blogspot doesn't track views, so I have no idea how many (or few) readers I have.

4 comments:

  1. I like my "ritzy" Schnucks! At least I know where everything is!

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  2. That is true- it's hard to find stuff in a new store. However, Aldi's is maybe 1/4 the size of Schnucks, so that makes it much easier. When you don't have to display 10 different brands of every item, it saves a lot of space...

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  3. Aldi's isn't that bad. I have to tell you two something tho. DO NOT GO DURING THE FIRST WEEK OF A MONTH!!!! Maybe it's better in Missouri but I'm still at the Alton Aldi's (you know they closed the one by block buster and the one in East Alton to coming to one by Kmart). It is HORRIBLE experience and even makes me long for Schnucks or even Shop N Save (not the Alton one). It is so packed in there during the first of the month because of the public aid that comes in. But for sure it is a great place to shop. I get all of our groceries there except for a few of those "non-negotiable" food items. My coffee and cheese I need to go to SNS for. I like the quarter cart idea too. Plus it's helpful when some one "buys" a cart from some one else or just flat out gives it. I usually "give" my cart to some one and dont worry bout the quarter. Just a way to be nice in this crazy world. Well things will look up you too. Just keep up the positive thinking. Oh and Doug, you want Tony to come show you how to disconnect a battery? He can show you how to check the oil too. lol Ok I'm ducking the tomatos now!!!

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  4. Thanks for the comment Kristin. We'll keep that in mind about Aldi's on the first of the month.
    And I really do know how to disconnect a car battery, and I have done so before, I just can't figure it out on my current car!!! (sorry, kinda frustrating). And after the one time of checking my oil, I decided it's worth the extra $10 to have it done for me. Just a personal preference of course.

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