The Scenic Route . . .

I started babysitting outside the home when I was 12 and had taken the Babysitter's course.  I was a babysitter at home for my mom and dad for free, so why not do it for others and get paid.  Of course, if my mom and dad were also going out, they took priority, which was as it should be.  I did babysitting for quite a number of years. I remember the worst baby sitting job I took. It was for a couple who ended up staying out ALL night and they didn't have a television. Talk about boring! That seemed like the longest night of my life and they only paid me 25cents an hour, which was the going rate for back them, but all night?  I should have had a bonus! My mother was beside herself.  She never went to bed until I got home. I babysat for lots of people however, and most of them were very nice and very fair.  I could get my homework done and be paid at the same time.  More often than not the kiddles would already be in bed, so it was easy money, plus once my homework was done I had control of the television, something which I didn't have at home, and they provided snacks!  Usually soda pop and potato chips, something which was a real rarity at home.  I hated it when they said help yourself, because I was afraid to take anything really.  I was happiest when they just left something for me.

 

When I turned 16 I was keen to get a real job and so I applied for and got a job at our local Metropolitan store. It was as a floor walker and so my job was to straighten shelves and put out products, watch for shop lifters, etc. I was lousy at it really.  I was incredibly shy and I didn't like talking to people.I seriously hated it, so it was somewhat of a relief when I got canned.   

 

I really wanted extra money though, for clothes and things and so I found another job, this time working in a Jewelry Store at the local Mall.  DLR Jewelers.  I worked there on Friday nights and Saturdays. My job was to dust all the shelves and figurines that they sold, and handle the customers when the boss wasn't there. They had a lot of really expensive stuff in the shop so I can remember being afraid I would break something.  

 

 The cash register was a very old one where you had to push all the keys for the price down at once. It was kind of scary, but not as scary as my boss.  He used to fancy himself as being an artist and was always saying he wanted to paint me, and kind of leer at me when he said it.  On Friday nights he would turn off all the lights and chase me out of the store trying to grab me when it was time to go. I was petrified of him.  That would be against the law now!

 

When I finished high school I went to the local community college and got a Secretarial diploma.  I really wanted to be an artist, but my mother said artists were always starving and it wasn't a real job, so Secretary it was. The idea of my sister or I ever going to University never really occured to us.  We were really only supposed to get a job that would keep us until we got married and started having a family.  I think it was like that for lots of women back in the late 60's early 70's. You could be a teacher or a nurse or a secretary.  That was about it.

I did really well on my course and graduated with distinction.  I could type 80 wpm and take shorthand at 120 wpm.  I ended up getting a job at Atlantic Speedy Propane in Kentville, Nova Scotia as their Posting Clerk. My job was to post accounts, do the banking, send out bills, take payment, etc. I was still very shy however.  I was boarding with what seemed like a little old lady, but who was probably not much older than I am now, in a big old Victorian House across town.  The idea of doing anything on my own at night just never occured to me.  I got up, went to work, carried a packed lunch, came home, had supper, had a bath, washed my hair and went to bed.  That was it. I did gad about a bit on my lunch hours, window shopping and such and every pay day I would treat myself to lunch out at the Met store.  Fish and chips. 

So predictable.

  

I got married after that however and I started working at Acadia University, first in the Admissions Office and then in the Purchasing Department. I got pregnant however and was fired for being pregnant. My boss said he didn't want a pregnant woman working for him.  Again, you would not get away with that now. I couldn't get another job after that because I was pregnant and nobody wanted to hire anyone who was pregnant, which was kind of understandable.  The marriage didn't last though and I ended up back at home, baby in tow at my parents.  I did take whatever work I could get then, but it all had to work around my parents needs/wishes and I had to be able to pay for childcare and lets face it . . .  waitressing and store clerking did not really pay for child care.  In between those times I also worked as the Pastry Chef at the Old Orchard Inn, which was a great job.  I loved that job.  I got to make all the desserts and appetisers. I loved working in the hustle and bustle of the kitchen. It was great! 

I ended up getting married again and moving out West. My second husband didn't really want his wife working outside the home and that suited me fine because all I had ever really wanted to be was a wife and a mother, plus he was in the Military and unless you were in the Military yourself, back then, as a Military wife you couldn't really have a career. I spent the next 22 years basically having and raising a family and taking care of my home, with a husband who was largely away from home most of the time.  I did used to do things that brought some income in . . .  child care, typing for people, cleaning . . .  I used to clean houses for military personel who were posted and wanted to leave with their furniture.  I would clean their homes ready for inspection by the housing officer. It was hard work, but I could work it around my own responsabilities at home. I also used to work for a cleaning company at night. We cleaned the offices on the base and the local school.  I hated cleaning the school. It was a horrible job.  You never knew what you were going to find.  

 

After having our fifth child my ex husband decided that I needed to go out to work though.  I got a job as a shift supervisor at one of the Base shops where we were living in Borden, Ontario. It was okay.  Hard work, but I did enjoy it. I was in charge of a shift and making sure everything ran smoothly, running the tils, cashing up all the cash registers at the end of my shift, etc. It was a busy job but by then I was not quite as shy as I had been in the past and I realised I actually liked people a lot.  I enjoyed that aspect of the job.  The my ex got the bright idea of us purchasing a coffee shop in the Military Police School that he was an instructor at.  I started running the coffee shop.  That was such a demanding job.  Not that it was hard, but the hours were very long.  

I had an infant, and four other children, one who was going through his teenage hormone phase. I was having to get up and be out buying newspapers and donuts by 6 am so that I could have everything in place and opened up for 6:30. I did get home by 4 in the afternoon, but in the evenings, I had to make all the sandwiches for the next day, bake the muffins and cakes, do my bookwork, take care of my children, cook their supper, get them into bed, do laundry, etc.  The job at the coffee shop was a full time job, five days a week. I was exhausted.  Physically and mentally.  

It was a relief a year or so later when the new Commandant of the school decided that she did not like the idea of having a coffee shop where the students could mingle with the staff and shut the coffee shop down.  We lost our shirt, but I was secretly pleased . . .  I was tired.  Really tired and I wanted to take care of my little boy and my other children, of my home . . .  and that's what I did for the whole rest of the time I was married.  Stayed home taking care of my children and the house, etc.  Oh, I always did child minding, which I did not mind.  It allowed me to be at home with my own family. 

 

It wasn't until I got separated and divorced many years later that I started working outside the home again.  I had two jobs at first, one as a respite care giver to a lad with muscular dystropy and then as a nanny/housekeeper for a single dad.  I was able to work both of those jobs around each other and together they made a whole job and I had a pretty decent wage coming in between the two.  Then the lad I was caring for sadly passed away, and the single dad got married.  I got a job in Tim Hortons, which I liked.  Making coffee, serving customers.  My boss was a nasty piece of work however.  He was a tyrant, and one day he was throwing a fit because he had not booked enough people in to work and was short staffed and he threw cups at me.  I quit.  I gave my two weeks notice and quit.  My working for minimum wage didn't give him the right to throw cups at me and swear at me because he had not done his own job properly.  

I realised that through the years I had developed something

called courage in the face of fire.

 

I had already met Todd at that point and then I came over here and we met in person, decided to get  married and I moved over here to the UK for good. I worked first as a Care Assistant in an old people's home.  I was demoted for caring too much to a cleaner and kitchen assistant.  I hated both those jobs, but I did them because I needed to work.  I hated working in the Care Home.  They treated the residents appallingly.  I would come home every night and cry.  At the same time I  went back to school and was taking a Chef's course several days a week.  I also did Medical Secretary course at night.  I jacked in the job at the care home as soon as I could.  We, both Todd and myself, got jobs working the same shift at a Petrol station. I worked around my classes and we worked together at the Petrol station.  The idea was that when I was done my courses whichever job came up first, that is the job I would take. I volunteered one day a week and was working in the offices of the Mental Health Department at the Countess hospital, but then I got the job working at the Manor down South and we moved down there and the rest is history as you know it.

 

There were many aspects of that job that I really enjoyed.  I worked in a beautiful environment, and lived in a beautiful cottage.  I had the best equipment etc. to work with, the finest ingredients.  I got to stretch, and explore and develop my culinary skills to the umpteenth degree. I loved that part of the job.  My boss was a bit of a nutter . . .  but you can't have everything.  It was really hard when my boss and her husband got separated, and I was made redundant.  Not only did we lose our main income, but we also lost our home, and then our Jess died.  Everything seemed to happen at once.

Things always have a way of working out for the best, however and in all truth, I had not been really happy working at the Manor for  the last couple of years that I was there.  My boss had become very difficult and almost manic to work for.  I was coming home and sitting in the garden crying some nights because she had been so difficult and I did not want to go in and upset Todd about it. Moving back to Chester was really the best thing for us. 

Within six months my arthritis had gotten so bad I would not have been 

able to keep up that job anyways.  God knew that

and He also knew I would never have

quit that job no matter 

what.

As always, He was taking care of me in the best possible way.

Everything works for the good.

Even the bad.

  

Since then I've been able to explore my abilities as an Artist and to write . . .  and I am living what I think is the most beautiful life. My arthritis makes it almost impossible for me to work these days at anything other than being at home.  We were able to serve a mission and I was able to write my book (hopefully published soon) and those are things I would never have been able to do otherwise. God is indeed very good.

When I look back at my job life, I have to say honestly

My favourite job I ever had was being a wife, mother and homemaker.

And there you have it. My full CV.  I took you on the scenic route.

♥

I am off to the church today.  They are having a ladies pamper day. There is a part of me, that is saying I don't want to go  . . .  but really, I need to go and do things on my own sometimes. I can't always be with Todd and I will probably enjoy it once I am there.

A thought to carry with you . . . 

.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

 *.˛.° When you look at life through eyes of gratitude,

the world becomes a magical and amazing place.

~Jennifer Gayle  •。★★ 。* 。 

Spiritual Enlightenment 

 

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Spotted Dick with custard.  This is one of Todd's favourite desserts!  A very traditional pudding!

Have a great Saturday!  Don't forget!

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And I do too!