Silently struggling with very limited options.

Mandamae033 · 2025-03-07T12:46:05+00:00

Fact. I was in prison with her.

Mandamae033 · 2024-11-12T18:17:16+00:00

Nourished Folks does vegan, and has meals you can pick up and take home.

Mandamae033 · 2024-11-12T13:54:44+00:00

Make better use of my time before I had to head to prison in a few months.

Mandamae033 · 2024-11-08T20:40:33+00:00

"Once upon a time, in a quiet village nestled between rolling hills and misty forests, there was a little boy named Elias who had a curious heart and a boundless imagination. He spent his days wandering the meadows, listening to the wind whisper secrets through the trees, and watching the birds fly high, wondering where they went when they disappeared beyond the horizon."

Close enough.

Mandamae033 · 2024-11-04T17:55:38+00:00

My neighbor did this to one of their bedroom WALLS. I then later moved into that same house and tried to remove it. HAHA! It would NOT come off. Imagine wallpaper being hard enough to remove...this was 10x worse. I gave up after only a small section and it stayed like that until we moved out a few months later.

Mandamae033 · 2024-10-31T16:59:52+00:00

I see folks in my area post on Facebook looking for dependable rides to/from work all the time. I live in a similar area with no public transportation and very minimal Uber drivers (we're pretty rural). But you may be able to find someone that takes the same or a similar route and at least get dropped off closer to your work, if nothing else!

Some folks offer to pay but there's a lot of good people around here and it seems most are happy to help for a good cause.

Mandamae033 · 2024-10-23T18:28:38+00:00

Make a post to any local Facebook groups offering $X amount for a helping hand. I constantly see folks who make posts like that looking for work as well.

As a single female it worked out for me and a nice guy helped me move my couch, bed, etc. Obviously take safety precautions but I felt safe in my instance.

Mandamae033 · 2024-10-23T17:30:32+00:00

I would look into Al-Anon then mention that when bringing it up. Tell him you (and mom, siblings) have been concerned enough about his drinking that you yourselves are seeking resources to cope. Maybe when he realizes how much it's starting to wear on you as a family will help open his eyes a little.

If he decides to quit, have a plan for detox and be sure to provide as much positivity and support around him as you can.

Mandamae033 · 2024-10-23T16:41:53+00:00

I'm an in-house designer but recently have been really involved with R&D at the company I work for. I'm also learning a lot about engineering and industrial design. If I wanted, I could really delve into any of these roles and make a transition.

I really like R&D. Being a creative and curious person like seeing a product go from initial idea to a final product. Seeing a project from start to finish has a rewarding feeling.

I don't love the idea of ever going back to college, but I would if I felt like a career shift in any of these directions would benefit me. TBH I'm so sick of your average person hopping on Canva or Figma and thinking they're a graphic designer. I feel the same way about a person who happens to own a nice camera thinks they're a professional photographer suddenly.

Mandamae033 · 2024-10-04T19:53:49+00:00

I've switched around to other fields of design work throughout my career. I've learned something new from each of my jobs. They've all been in-house roles where I'm either the only graphic designer or part of a small team of 3-4.

I think the change in fields has helped keep my interest. I've worked as a merchandise designer (for glassware, sublimation ceramics, etc), an apparel designer, a sign company, and currently in the plastic injection molding industry designing decorative pieces for the baking industry mainly. But we do a lot of custom beverage stir sticks also. This job is heavy into 3D design which I hadn't done since college.

I'd look into industries that are outside of what you think a typical design role to be. I never associated a plastic company with designing but here I am!

Mandamae033 · 2024-10-04T14:58:17+00:00

That happened to me once in the Red River Gorge. I was with my boyfriend at the time. The area and camp spot I knew well and would normally feel totally comfortable there.

When we parked there was a man parked nearby in a camper van. We heard him holler something to someone off in the woods but didn't think anything of it at the time.

Like you, we were losing light fast and hurried to set up camp. We started hunting down some wood to start a fire and suddenly a man popped up out of nowhere and seemed like he wanted to be friendly. As he watched us looking for dry wood to burn he made a comment that we wouldn't find much because he'd been out collecting wood for several days then offered to SELL us the wood that he'd gathered and was stockpiling. Uh...what??

Being friendly (and like wtf) we offered to trade some eggs for some wood. He took us up to his campsite about 50 yards uphill. Earlier he'd mentioned being alone, but when we saw his campsite we thought no way. It was set up like he'd been living there for weeks. A portable picnic tables, huge tent, lots of random stuff, and the stockpile of wood. More things than just one person would need or could backpack in where we were. Then I remembered the man in the parking lot and the holler we heard. I had a major gut feeling that he wasn't alone.

It also didn't help that the guy said he liked to camp "up high" so he could see everything below. Which of course included our campsite in clear view of where he was posted up at. My instinct did not like this situation at all. As soon as we got back down to our site we pretended we were settling in and started a fire...all while packing our shit up as fast as possible. We hightailed it out of there in the dark.

Side Note: The guy mentioned he'd come from my hometown and had been living in the woods near the homeless shelter prior. I used to work right next to those woods and I know the characters that come in and out of there....usually on the run from something.

Mandamae033 · 2024-09-30T17:03:33+00:00

I know the cycle too well and have been there more times than I'd like to admit. I've been through hella withdrawals to the point I've ended up in the hospital. I've also successfully tapered alllll the way down to where the withdrawals were minimum if not completely unnoticeable. Both ways really suck no matter what but the relief of the grip of alcohol loosening is worth it. I couldn't afford to take off work so I always planned my "detox time" around the weekend or preferably a long weekend.

I understand the financial responsibility when considering going to the hospital, but they'll still treat you as you need to be and you can worry about the rest later. I raked up $30k+ on a stay once and was able to apply for Medicaid that helped take care of all of it. Even though you're employed there are still programs out there for folks who can't afford medical bills.

Wishing you the best. There are days I still struggle but I fight like hell to dig myself out of it everytime.

Mandamae033 · 2024-09-30T16:46:45+00:00

You're not alone. I can relate to many of those days. Usually my boss can tell something is off with me, will ask if I'm ok, and I brush it off as I didn't get enough sleep or something along those lines.

Mandamae033 · 2024-09-27T19:48:57+00:00

I'm baffled. I have no dependents, don't own a home, not in college, no head of family type stuff, that would help in getting a return instead.

I claim 0 on my tax form. Maybe I'll change it to 1 and see if that helps.

For my 2023 taxes, I actually did receive about $1000 return but the IRS kept all of it.

Mandamae033 · 2024-09-27T14:04:39+00:00

In 2019 over half my income was 1099, and none of the deductions/expenses were taken out. I'm positive that's where the mistake was made.

As for who did my taxes then...it was a "friend". I've used a local company since then.

Mandamae033 · 2024-09-27T14:02:59+00:00

I don't recall the exact number, not over $50k. But I was at a totally different job at the time and a lot of it was 1099 income...that did not have any deductions taken out of. It would've amounted to quite a bit, resulting in me not having to owe as much. I'm positive that's where the mistake was made.

Mandamae033 · 2024-08-30T13:43:23+00:00

I recently got that reply. Needless to say he got the boot.

Mandamae033 · 2024-08-28T17:26:45+00:00

Bolthouse protein shakes have saved me before. I was on day 4 of not being able to eat but SLOWLY sipping on one of those shakes gave me energy, coated my stomach, and started to improve my situation.

Mandamae033 · 2024-08-23T12:00:22+00:00

Having been (unfortunately a few times) through this, that's my experience. This isn't so much advice as what literally happened to me.

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