Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Not Sure What's Up

I feel so blah. I have been sleeping horribly. My hormones are all out of whack I have no drive what so ever to exercise, in fact I haven't been to the gym since last Wednesday. The only thing that I have been doing rather well on is the eating (except for Adrienne and her damn chocolate cakes!). I have been trying to eat more intuitively and having smaller portions of lots of different flavors to help satisfy my pallet. Plus my stomach hasn't been right for several weeks now which more than likely has something to do with it. Other than that I have been sucking at everything. I am not sure if I am a little depressed due to the Dr.'s office job not working out. I did kinda put all of my eggs in that one basket. Not to mention that work has been crazy slow for the past two weeks and the only people calling me for appointments at my office are gift certificate holders, so no new money coming in.

I hope to break out of this funk soon. I think it would help if we started to get warmer weather then maybe I would feel more motivated. Or maybe I just need an attitude adjustment. ;P

Friday, February 20, 2009

Back To The Drawing Board

Howdy. Gosh, where to begin...
Okay, I'll just jump right in, shall I? Monday was my first day at the Dr.'s office. The night before I barely slept because of the fear that I would over sleep and miss my first day (silly). So needless to say I was running on adrenaline that morning. I get to the office and unbeknownst to me I have a half hour massage scheduled right at 9am (when my shift starts). Cool, massage I can do. No biggie. The office manager is apologizing profusely about not calling me to let me know on Friday so that I could come in earlier and get my bearings. Again, no big deal. So the rest of the day I have about 4 massages, sweet huh? I have time to fill out paper work, eat my lunch, get the lay of the office and try to get to know my new coworkers.

Long story short, through a few pointed questions and some random overheard comments I discovered something truly crappy, that I was completely mislead as to what my monetary compensation would be. I was told at the beginning that I would be getting a salary based on a 40 hour work week with a half hour paid lunch and half hour paid administrative time. NOT SO! Come to find out I would only be paid when a massage was booked and only $16 for a one hour deep tissue and $8 for a half hour session. WTF!! Market prices are $85 and $45. Had I known that I would never have taken the job in the first place. That amount of money is almost third world. My work is worth far more than that. I am good at what I do and I can't believe that this Dr. thinks that amount of money is okay.

At the end of my shift on Monday I asked to speak to the office manager. I told her my concerns and how I felt misled and she completely understood. Since there was no room for improvement in compensation I said thanks but no thanks and have since moved on. I am back at the spa and feeling really welcomed and appreciated. I took Tuesday off to process some emotions. I felt really sad and pathetic and a little stupid and the more I explained it to my friends and family the more stupid I felt. Yesterday I just felt angry and wanted to hit something. Today I am feeling a little better.

I managed to keep my eating just so-so and I did make it to the gym on Wednesday and have plans to go to two classes on Sunday. I have to come up with a new schedule now since I am back to a on call work. On a positive note I did join the three free months of Weight Watchers on line that I won courtesy of Token Fat Girl. I am still playing around with it and will let you know how it goes and if I have any questions that you all could help me with.

Here's to another bump in the road. :)

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Quiet Before The Storm

Today I went shopping for these:


I had decided a while ago that I wanted to start wearing scrubs for massaging I just hadn't gotten around to buying them. So when I was offered the medical massage therapist position at a local rehabilitation doctor's office I made it a priority to stock up on scrubs so I could stop ruining my "street " clothes with oils and creams. Well, today I had to go to THREE different places, two Walmarts and Home Healthcare America, to try to find scrubs in my size. Needless to say it was extremely difficult to find matching colors in 3x, which must be a hard size to keep in stock. That or they make very little large sized scrubs that people like myself snarf them up. It did not feel good, in fact I felt my heart sag a little in my chest.... kinda like other parts in that same region.
So once again it reaffirmed what I must do because it has been abundantly clear that I haven't been the past 2 months. So I have devised a schedule that I aim to steadily work up to and would like to share it with you to see what you think. Here goes:
  • Monday: work 9-5 then hit the gym for a class or workout of my choice. Or if I have clients work at my office for no more than 2 sessions
  • Tuesday: work 10-7 then hit the gym for at least an hour
  • Wednesday: work 11-6, gym or take no more than 1 client at my office
  • Thursday: work 10-7, gym
  • Friday: work 10-5, gym or take no more than 2 clients at my office
  • Saturday: off two or more a month, work at my office no more than two a month
  • Sunday: two classes at the gym back to back

Now I know there will be some week to week tweaking involved because it will depend on how busy I am at work and at my office as to how much I will make it to the gym during the week. If I am able to work out during the week I may decided to take Saturday or Sunday off from workouts. On the food front, I only get a half hour for lunch which means that I will have to brown bag it. Breakfast I will eat before I go to work but then I will have to pack lunch, snacks and possibly dinner depending on my workout schedule. I may just wind up eating A LOT of salads for dinner. So what I have gathered from what I want to do here is that I will have to be super organized; meal planning and cooking in advance, packing my gym bag the night before, going to bed the same time every night and waking the same time every morning. Which is probably what I have needed all along. Wish me luck and let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, February 9, 2009

And Now You're Back...From Outer Space

Good Lord it has been forever since I put up anything. So in order to fix that I am posting a quick blurb to let ya'll know what this little southern belle has been up to. Tomorrow is my first day off in I don't know how long. And by day off I mean that the day is my own. I don't have work, or any family obligations, no events to attend just a day to call my own. So I will be spending it catching up on blog goings on, cooking, cleaning and getting a heavenly massage tomorrow morning. Sigh. So here is a break down of the haps in my neck of the woods:
  • Yes, I got the job! I will totally be doing massage for a Dr.'s office and making great bank with benefits and vacation time. Sweet!
  • I have found a fellow massage therapist to share my office space with me so that it wont be going to waste. Plus since we work so well together we can now offer couples massages.
  • I said goodbye to one fabulous roommate and hello to another. So far things have been awesome, of course I really haven't been around much... ;)
  • I haven't been to the gym in almost two weeks.... ugggg! However starting next Monday (my first day of work) I will be going at least 4 days a week cause it's, get this, right next to my new job! So really, there is no excuse. :)
  • I haven't started my 3 free months of Weight Watchers but I plan to rectify that this week.
  • I have been extremely busy with massages these past couple of weeks.....life is good, money is good. :D
  • For the first time in a very long time I feel as if a great weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I will actually have health and dental insurance, something I have been without for about 6 years now.

So all in all a crazy, wonderful, stressful, happy, sad, lovely couple of weeks.