I was on such a high the other week when I was sending in job applications. This week has dipped so fast it has almost given me nosebleed. I’m feeling frustrated, tired of being unacknowledged and underestimated. I know I have abilities, I just can’t seem to convince other people of that. I’m unsettled by all the unknown factors at work – people moving on, not sure where I am going to fit in. Will I be out of a job? what if I can’t get another one. Doors keep closing in my face. God please give me strength!
Author: Melissa
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Acting treasurer
The dog rehousing group needed a new treasurer so I put my hand up, and found I have my work cut out for me. No one in the group seems to have any idea about being on a committee (what committee?) and there are a few housekeeping issues that need to be sorted out. Most of the workload of running the group has fallen on Ludelle and unfortunately I think a lot of it has been beyond her with everything else she does for the program.
The financials haven’t been done for a couple of years. Some bookkeeping was done by the previous treasurer, but I’m finding the accuracy leaves a bit to be desired (the lady works at a bank and was apparently supposed to be a whiz at figures). I’m not checking off any receipts or dockets, just checking the additions and entering everything into MYOB so I can get a proper accounting system going. I’ll be more stringent with the accounting for this financial year and onwards.
There is also a bit of education needed with the recording of financial transactions – writing receipts for all donations, getting invoices for all expenses etc. The group has a bank account, but it is rarely used. Cash donations are just used directly to pay bills and a lot of bills are paid directly out of members pockets. Makes it difficult to determine the exact financial situation of the group, not to mention scary from a governance point of view. Have stipulated that if I am treasurer all of these things must be handled properly.
The local council has granted some land for erection of a shelter and kennels so there are building costs for that project, as well as ongoing costs for the program. I’m hoping to get the group registered as a charity with DGR (deductible gift recipient) status at the ATO, this will be of great advantage with grant applications, as well as for general appeals out in the community.
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Big animal shelter
Today Hubby and I drove down to the Animal Welfare League shelter at Coombabah to pick up some donated dog food for our local group. Huge place and what an awesome set up. One of the workers was telling me that at any one time they have 100 dogs there, with 200 fostered out to carers. They re-house dogs at the rate of about 15 per day. The shelter is open 7 days and was packed with people looking for a new pet. Beautiful big pens with plenty of space for exercise, I overheard one of the other workers telling a visitor the dogs get walked twice a day.
The dog food has been coming in by the truckload thanks to a community drive they’ve been running – they had two huge container loads full of cans and dried food, one of the containers had been filled in a week! They were running out of space to store it all so the AWL very generously invited other animal welfare groups to take as much as they can carry. Managed to load about a ton of food on the back of our Defender ute, far more than our group was expecting us to carry I think, but very welcome.
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Some short term goals
On one of my favourite online discussion forums we were discussing what we would like to achieve by the end of the year, and I thought I should take note of what I listed as a reminder to do something about it!
- Finish study module 2, start module 3 of my Public Relations & Events Mgmt course
- Get a second part-time job
- Help the dog rehousing group I’m with get up to date with their paperwork (two years behind apparently 😯 )
- Sort out my almost dormant home business
- Take lots more photos and improve my photographic skills so I can ask Santa for a new camera
- Finish painting the stairs and landing in our house
- Finish the online drawing classes I began last year
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Job interview today
As someone who gets a touch of performance anxiety it surprises me that job interviews have never really phased me. I guess there is the simple fact that you’re halfway there anyway, having been asked in after they’ve already checked you out from your resume. I think it is important to present well of course, but just as important to be yourself. Silly to try and pretend to be someone you’re not.
I always seem to have done ok in interviews, even when I thought things hadn’t gone particularly well. Hospice is a perfect example of that – I walked out thinking I didn’t have a chance, I felt like a square peg trying to fit a round hole. Then had the shock of my life a couple of days later when they phoned to offer me the job. Then there was the interview at the uni a few years ago, where they phoned to tell me they didn’t think I’d be suitable for the web developer job, but offered me a job in admin instead (in hindsight it is a shame I was so determined to work as a web designer back then!)
Today’s interview was a little different. I guess I was a bit more anxious to make a good impression, since the job was at the parish office of my church. I was still a little bit shaken from a dog attack incident earlier this morning (not serious – just woke some bad memories of when poor Kel was mauled). I walked out wishing I’d put more thought into some of my answers. The interview only went for 30 minutes, and poor Father was getting fidgetty towards the end of it (he was one of a panel of three). Since the job starts on Monday I guess I’ll know the outcome pretty soon.
There isn’t a terrible lot riding on me getting this job. I have two other applications I’m fairly confident of. There was some interest in my web publishing skills so regardless of the outcome, I’ve offered to help build the parish web site if one is wanted.
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Well done Jo!
It was a thrilling moment when Jo earned her first CCD pass yesterday with Ilse, at the Lockyer Obedience Club trial. This was Jo’s first time back in the ring after an absence of nine years, and was Ilse’s first trial. It is an absolute joy to watch them work together, you can almost sense a mental telepathy happening between the two, such is Ilse’s response to Jo’s commands. I am so pleased for Jo, who has never let physical disability dishearten her from resolutely doing what she sets out to do.
