Cleaning Lady

I was not a clean child. Ever. My room was constantly a mess and on more than one occasion my mom would have to go through my entire room and get rid of "stuff" because I was too attached to do it on my own. I have always been a bit of a hoarder (not enough to deserve a TV show but I definitely like to hold on to things longer than I need to) and probably always will be. I also come by it honestly (looking at you, Dad). My 9th birthday party was almost cancelled because my room wasn't clean and I was taking my dear sweet time to get it to acceptable. It didn't go over very well. I also told my mom once, "Black is the new clean!" to describe why I wasn't cleaning the bathroom. In my defense there was no visible mold but it did need to be cleaned, that's for sure. While I was not terribly good at cleaning, I developed some OCD tendencies (courtesy of the Pierce family). If I was going to clean, by golly the thing was going to be perfect and we were not stopping until things were spotless.

Fast forward to young adulthood (still living at home, but capable of taking care of myself) and I have cleaner habits than childhood. I put my clothes in rainbow order in my closet sometime in middle school and they have been that way ever since. I've lived with a few people that have made fun of it but I don't really care. It makes me feel better and know what's missing. It also is helpful when I'm out shopping: I have a lot of pink and blue shirts so by necklaces or scarves with those colors is a wise investment. I don't own much yellow or green so I don't gravitate toward those colors for accessories or staple pieces.

Also during young adulthood I developed my "pile habit." In my mind everything has a place, even if that means it is in a pile. Piles are this-or-that: clean/dirty clothes, stay in this room/go to another, recycle/throw away, etc. It probably drove my parents crazy but I knew exactly where everything was (even if it was hard to see the floor).

The pile habit came with me to college. I had one roommate that was equal parts messy as me and it was a great living situation. I made a pile by my closet and she made a pile by her desk. We were each a little messy but kept it very contained in a single area. Come senior year I lived with two girls I knew were clean. I was faced with the challenge of having a closet in our apartment living room. I was forced to keep it clean or my roommates and guests would have to see my dirty clothes. However, I had a fair amount of free time at night senior year and tidying up became a form of therapy for me. I also did a lot of stress cleaning: I'm talking a spotless bathroom toilet and sink and vacuuming every inch of carpet about twice. It relieved stress and was a nice form of procrastination because it was productive too. College was also where I really realized I'm bad at doing dishes. Nothing was ever growing in them but I put off doing dishes way longer than I should have.

Now in an adult apartment many of my previous habits have come with me. I am still really bad at dishes and have a boyfriend that reminds me every other day the importance of our dishwasher and wants the ability to use the sink. I'm working on it. I promise. My rainbow closet is still there. If I ever end up in a nursing home I will probably demand my clothes be hung in rainbow order and the poor nurses will have to draw straws to see who has to put my clothes in order. I still believe in nightly tidying, as my dog has no sense of clean and takes all her toys out of her toybox and drops them wherever she pleases. I clean them up each night, along with straightening pillows and blankets (disheveled by the dog too). It makes me feel good and I know I won't trip on something during the night or early in the morning when I have to take my dog out. I have made Sundays designated cleaning days. I vacuum nearly every weekend because of the constant stream of doghair and dust. Bathrooms get cleaned about every other weekend (lately because my dog thinks they are cool to explore and there is dog hair in there now too) but also because toothpaste in sinks is gross to me now. My dog also has no concept of keeping water in the bowl and tends to drool all over the kitchen floor and leave food crumbs everywhere too.

I think the moral of this post is if you are really bad at cleaning get a dog because it forces you to clean up everything all the time. And they're pretty cute even if they make mess doing about anything.

This is my dog Pretzel. Don't let the cute face fool you. She can make a room go from spotless to spotted in less than a second.

I don't know about you, but she doesn't look 52

Sunday is my mom's 52nd birthday. (Sorry Mom if you  weren't planning to tell anyone your age.) I figured the least I could do for my mom is write her a blog post, since I already sent her a pretty sweet card and flowers. I am here to share some fun facts (and even more fun pictures!) about my mom, the lovely Lori.

A lot of people tell my mom and I that we look alike. There are days and pictures I seriously disagree. Then there are other days I can't fathom how genetics work and replicated so closely. Let us examine exhibits A and B.

More often than I want to admit I find myself saying things out loud and immediately following up with a look of shock and saying, "I sounded just like my mother there." It makes me panic a little that even though we no longer live together we share the same tone of voice and mindset. While the following facts are mostly about my mom, the world needs to prepare for this to be me in a few decades too.

Fun Facts About My Mom

1. She is the youngest of 6 siblings, with 5 older brothers (see them below.) Look at that rainbow! And they didn't even call each other! They are in order my age and by rainbow. How cool!

 

2. Mom grew up on a dairy farm in Minnesota, quite successfully showing lots of Holsteins at the state fair.  

2b. She was also a dairy princess for her county. She once said, "I knew I was going to win when the other girl didn't know what the Real Seal was for cheese!" Know your dairy facts, folks. They come in handy.

3. Like many kids who grew up on a farm Mom was also involved in 4-H. (My grandparents helped with it for years and had the plaques to honor their level of dedication.) One time she made a meal that had too many foods all the same color. The judges docked her points for it. We still make fun of it if she ever makes a meal like that now. However, keep in mind some of the best meals of the year (read: Thanksgiving) are all one color and we all seem to enjoy them.

4. Mom is in the Luther Athletic Hall of Fame.  She had multiple top place finishes at state cross country and track meets during middle school and high school. Some of her high school records still stand to this day ;) (The high school she went to doesn't exist anymore after consolidating with another school, so she will be the record holder forever!) Mom also has an All-American honor from college in the 1500 meter run.

 

5. The vast majority of my childhood Halloween costumes (among other random outfits, like some matching dresses we had and I pioneer outfit) were made by my mom. She was (and still is) pretty handy with a sewing machine. I have been a witch multiple times, Hershey's Kiss, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz,  fairy, and many more. Mom made them all. There were a few store-bought costumes over the years but not many; and even those usually ended up with some sort of alteration.

 6. Mother has an affinity for purchasing themed/party/holiday napkins. We have an entire shelf at home devoted to napkins that are not just for regular dinner. Pretty sure she has every holiday covered. All the time. Glad I can count on the napkins come the holidays though. They are a nice constant in a time typically filled with chaos.

7. Mom is a big fan of giving Christmas decorations to people. Not that she thinks your decorations are bad but because she knows people don't buy them for themselves. Several of my cousins have received Christmas decorations as wedding gifts because she wants them to have something special and they are often not the first thing people think to ask for. (Sidenote: I recently purchased Christmas decorations for an upcoming wedding gift. We all know where I'm headed.) 

8. Like I mentioned earlier Mom is 52. She looks pretty dang good for 5 plus decades on this planet. God bless the Kietzer/Schwanke/Phipps women for their lovely skin and being wrinkle-free into their elder years. Grandma Linda looks pretty dang good for a woman into her 90s. Bring on those genetics! They've served Mom well so far and I can only hope to get them too.

 

9. I miss her daily. Being an adult is hard and you can never have too much encouragement and support from your mom. I would be lying if I said I didn't cry when I left home (and I definitely didn't tear up seeing my old bedroom turned into her sewing room) because I knew I would miss her (and my dad and brother but this post is for my mom, not them). And I was right. You never know what life is going to throw you or the next time you will see your parents/family. I talk to my mom more now that I don't live a few blocks from than when I was at Luther. She has done a lot for me–I'm positive there is stuff she has done that I'll never know. So, thank you Grandma Linda for your wonderful daughter and thank you Mom for being mine (and Bryce's too I guess). 

Enjoy every minute of your day and I'm sad I'm not there to celebrate with you. Happy Birthday!

Welcome!

As I begin my 23rd year I thought I would start a blog. I currently lack some hobbies and I thought having a blog would be a nice way to sort out thoughts. While I was thinking about a theme for my blog I decided "adulthood" would be good idea, as it is my current stage in life. I also realized that even though I am questioning a lot of my decisions in this phase, it is also my only chance to "do" this thing called life. So, without further ado, I welcome you to:

Adulthood: Attempt 1 of 1

I am a bit of a perfectionist. I love having plans and knowing what I will do next. Being a college senior in May without a job lined up after graduation was not my idea of good. I was nervous to move away from my hometown/college town. I was nervous to learn a new a city. I was nervous to make new friends. With very little planned and very few leads, I packed up my college apartment and home bedroom and moved to Des Moines. I had a couple job interviews after I arrived there but nothing quite went my way. I was either a company's second choice or never got an interview for jobs I thought were a perfect match to my skills and career aspirations.

Fast forward a couple weeks and I do not have a job (still) but I have an 8 week old puppy. She was fun (still is, and cute as can be!) but even she did not give me a ton of purpose to my day. She needed to be constantly monitored or would get into trouble and potty training could be a struggle some days. While laying around, taking naps, drinking coffee, and playing with my dog was fun I needed more in life–in more ways than one. I needed an income as my meager bank account from college was starting to dwindle and no funds were coming in. I set out to find some part time job to give me a greater sense of purpose and income. After a scanning a few job boards, I applied for several retail jobs (introverted Bre was regretting this decision instantly but she did not have a lot of options at that point). I ended up applying and being hired at Von Maur.

For those who are not familiar with Von Maur it is a department store in malls mainly around the Midwest though it is expanding into the southern United States. It is suuuuuper customer service based and prides itself on high level customer interaction and satisfaction. Being courteous and pleasant at all times was a must. While I am not a Chatty-Cathy by any means I did enjoy my (short) time there, meeting a lot of cool women. Being patient and polite are two of my strong suits so I was not completely out of my league.

The two most important things I learned working retail were:

1. Some people are meant to work in retail. They love people and love to sell.

2. I am not one of those people.

I was pretty decent at selling and pretty good at interacting with people. (Mostly I was starved for human interaction after spending all day with my dog.) I grew up in a small town knowing what seemed like everyone and everyone knew me from something. It was difficult to come to Von Maur and know absolutely no one that walked through my department. I made due and learned how to talk to just about anyone. However I did learn a few key life lessons working there:

1. People are as real as they want.

2. Women love compliments.

To address point 1, it is very obvious when people are faking their personality to sell. Keep that in mind beyond retail. I worked with people who could turn on and off a caring personality in less than two seconds. I could not fathom how polite they were to a customer and how much crap they could say after they left. Their was a frown and glare as soon as the customer left the cash register. Sure, I had my fair share of grumbles after customers who were a challenge but never as much as a few girls I worked with. Be kind. Be gracious. Be humble.

To address point 2, I worked in the petite women's department (so can't say much for men's clothing) and women love hearing they look good in something. There are a lot of body-conscious women out there–I met dozens each day. People should compliment each other more. I have made it a goal at my current job to compliment one person per day. Tell someone you like their sweater. Ask where they got their earrings. Say how cool a shirt and sock combination is. It is not difficult and helps lift people's moods. I cannot begin to tell you how many people have asked me if their butt looked ok in a pair of pants or if a sweater fit right. "Does this jacket make my stomach look flatter? If I suck it in the whole day I think it could look pretty good!" Do you like how you feel in it? If you don't feel confident in it, don't buy. This is probably not the best sales technique to use but it helped women be honest with themselves and only walk away with things that felt right to them. PS- I did have pretty good sales numbers for someone who wasn't pushy about buying clothing. I even talked some women out of very expensive clothing (got a few warnings from my manager about that but she left 2 weeks after I started) but those customers valued my honesty and praise and asked for me the next time they came into the store.

While I was pretty good at selling clothes I knew that was not what I wanted to do with my life. Results still pending what the answer is to that question but I can certainly tell you the next step I took. After working at Von Maur for a few months (part time, random hours was not my favorite either) I eventually found a full time job at Wells Fargo working in loan servicing (I sit in a cubicle for 9 hours a day on a computer). The very basic version of what my job entails is fee reconciliation. Mortgages, deeds, affidavits, powers of attorneys, and beyond are recorded at the county/town/parish/municipality in every state as a public record whenever some takes out a home loan or refinances their current one. My job is to track down a copy with a recording stamp and type up how much it costs. The entire loan is passed along to another team at work that makes sure people are refunded money if they paid too much money up front for recording.

Do I love this job? Eh. Do I want to do this job forever? Not particularly. Is it better than what I was doing at Von Maur? Perhaps. That's where I am after my first summer in the adult world. Slowly I'm figuring out what I want out of a career an developing some skills along the way. I try to see each day as a new task that needs to help me grow. I only have this one chance at any given day. Before I know it I will be middle aged and I do not want to look back at 2016, my first steps in the adult world, with regret.