(I figure the best thing to do is just keep on going like there wasn't any hiatus in writing at all. Nope, nothing to see here...)
When I was a kid, our family Christmases were HUGE. At the time, they didn't seem like anything unusual - 20-30 people at our place for the holidays was par for the course. My sister and her family would come over from Seattle and stay for a few days, and my three brothers and their families were all local so they'd drive out on Christmas day for dinner. It was chaotic, messy, and fun, but most of all it was our tradition.
There were a few years where the kids outnumbered the adults, so we did two Christmas trees - the pretty, sparkly, white-lighted formal one in the living room, and the kids' tree in the kitchen with the beaded fake candy garland, the felt and plastic toy ornaments, and gaudy multicolored lights. I loved the formal tree, "Mom's tree" as Dad would call it, with her angels and crystal icicles and collectible glass ornaments. She'd put velvet bows and gold garland on it, and it just shone and sparkled like one big neon "DO NOT TOUCH" sign. The kids' tree, however, was right in the middle of the traffic zone in the kitchen - there was nothing breakable or fragile about it. It was a rough-and-tumble tree, meant to be bumped and prodded and dug around under with abandon. It wasn't pretty, and it was awesome to us kids that we had our very own tree. But the sheer beauty of Mom's tree was captivating in a way that the kids' tree just couldn't hold a candle to.
So you'd think that, as an adult, my taste in Christmas decor would run along the lines of my Mom's - sparkly, pretty, a bit more formal. But when I look at my tree now I see that kids' tree. I have the original candy garland, the wooden beads, and a lot of the kids' ornaments that we hung on the old tree. B has contributed all of his ornaments that he made or had from his childhood. Almost all of the new decorations that we've acquired follow this theme too - Beaker from The Muppets (he meeps "Ode to Joy" when you hit a button!), a GI Joe action figure, Strawberry Shortcake, Mr Potatohead, snowmen and S'moremen and felt Pac-Men and penguins. I did go a little bit the other direction when I bought glass icicles and red velvet bows, but I think there's only three glass balls on the entire thing. When you look at the tree, you definitely see the childhood memories of two 30-something-adults reflected there. And I love it.
I can't believe I forgot to post the end result of the kitchen repair fiasco. The maintenance guys, whose praises I was singing, totally failed. Sure the drain line got fixed, but when it came to patching the walls & repairing the cabinet they punched a hole through, well, let's just say a monkey could have done a better job. Two weeks and a new set of maintenance guys later, the wall was fixed properly, and I got the blue paint up. I did wind up using the Behr ultimate fancy whatever stuff with the primer in it, and it only took two coats, but lordy did that black & white monstrosity cover a multitude of sins. Now every crack, bump, and uneven spot in the plaster sticks out like a sore thumb, but at least it's a pretty sore thumb.
We're still not sure if we're going to paint the living room. We got our bookshelves arranged and art on the walls, and if you keep your eye-line pointed somewhat down it's really not that bad. The palm trees are still ugly, but they're ignorable. We've really just lost interest in trying to make this house better. Which is sad, but really isn't that how renting is supposed to be? I can't even bring myself to garden.
Beyond the kitchen, I survived another adventure - flying to Seattle, picking up a 10-foot moving truck, loading up furniture and stuff that my sister had been storing for me for the past 10 years, and driving back to Ohio with Mom following in her car. o.O It really wasn't all that bad though, and we made it in one piece with Mom only getting lost once (and that was the last HOUR of the trip, when trying to get off the Turnpike to get to the house!). She's staying in the apartment at the in-law's house for the rest of the summer, and it's been fun having someone to shop and craft and generally rat around with. Of course it's so much better because she's not staying at MY house - and she agrees with me on that too so I can get away with saying it! :-)
Work is... meh. There might be something happening at the bookstore for me, and the work-at-home job is still waiting on further negotiations, so it's the whole "up in the air" thing happening all over again. Which is really getting old.
Other than the "life update" I don't have much else to talk about I'm afraid. But Mom and I are going shopping for fabric today - I'm starting a big quilt project, so I'll share all of that.
I think the official Random Tuesday Thoughts meme died, but I'm doing one today anyway just because.
***
The neighbors behind us are having their landscaping guys do their leaf-blowing today. It's a good day for it, because (a) it's a weekday, and everyone but me is at work, and (b) miraculously, it's not raining. But, here's the incredibly stupid part (you knew this was coming, right?) - we live in the woods, and the dudes are leaf-blowing the wooded area. As in, not lawn, WOODS. Where the leaves are supposed to be. *facepalm* I don't know whether to blame the homeowners or the dudes with the noisy backpacks, but either way - some people just should not be allowed near nature.
***
I finally broke down and bought two tee-shirts yesterday, thanks in part to Lucy and the Betties' discussion of great geeky shirts. Holy crow, were there some awesome ones! But these particular two that I bought have been on my wish-list for a while now. I bought this one for B:
(It's hard to see, but the speech bubble says "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!" If you don't get it, you need to watch Firefly and then Serenity. Look it up on Netflix, and thank me later.)
The one I REALLY want is this one:
But when I went to place my order a whole HOUR ago, the size I need was backordered. NOW, when I go to get the link for the picture, it's in stock. BOOO. (Also, hint hint! I made a wishlist for the website! Because I'm subtle like that. ;) )
***
Work has been going well, thanks for asking. This initial project I've been working on is coming along smoothly, and while the *coughimpossiblecough* deadline won't quite be achieved, everyone is on the same page. I'm not sure where we'll go from here - I'm hoping they'll keep me on for more projects, which sounds like a very real possibility. But, there's another opportunity lurking in the shadows too, and I hope I won't have to choose between the two. But I won't jinx it! I won't!
I will say though, that I have an interview Friday for a part-time spot that's open at Barnes & Noble (the one in Akron where I worked before - I'm glad I stayed in touch with some of the people there!), so that will fill out my days nicely. It'll be good to get out of the house too.
***
Why yes, Friday is my birthday! How kind of you to remember. :D Oh, no big plans really. We're going to see if we can get a table at the new B-Spot, Michael Symon's burger/brats/beer place. Since we do live in Michael Symon's hometown after all... sorry, inside joke... okay I'll explain. There was a commercial on Food Network or the Cooking Channel or something, with Michael Symon as the new spokesperson for Calphalon, and they were advertising a contest: "Win a trip to Michael Symon's hometown!!! And now we'll distract you with these SHINY POTS AND PANS!!" Never at any point in the commercial did they mention that, well, that's actually Cleveland. Yep, in Ohio. No, there's really not anything more there, except OMG MICHAEL SYMON'S HOMETOWN. When we saw it, B and I absolutely died laughing. We could just imagine the winner: "WHOO HOO I WON!! Wait, Cleveland?? Seriously??! Ugh."
But back to my birthday. I'm turning 31. THIRTY. ONE. *shudder* And yet, I'm buying myself tee-shirts with dinosaurs and geeky movie quotes on them. I've got a death-grip on my youth, dammit! Edited: Oh holy snotballs people, I'm turning THIRTY TWO. 3-2. Math was never my strong suit. *headdesk*
But really, the only thing I want for my birthday this year is a house. But I'll settle for gift cards or something from that wish list I mentioned. (KIDDING. No one had better get me ANYTHING. Except B. I want a house.) :P
Some folks were witness to this spectacle today. If you missed it... OMG I DIED. It took me forever to come up with any sort of comeback, and it was pretty lame too. But I could NOT wipe the stupid grin off my face all day.
B, of course, gave me a high-five and told me to say that if Stana Katic (aka Beckett) was invited, to count him in too.
I failed to mention how the dream ended though... with me chickening out because I hadn't shaved my legs. Man, I HATE when reality creeps in and ruins a perfectly good dream.
I think it's a sign that we're doing the right thing when:
On the first day of our drive back to Ohio, I get a call to set up an interview...
On the last day, B gets a call to set up an interview too...
The sun shines, the roads are mostly clear, and we only encounter bad weather in the last 20 minutes of the whole trip...
And the cats are absolute angels in the car for the entire four days.
It's true! My interview was last Tuesday (I know, I'm way behind with the updates) and it went really well. B's was Friday, and it went really well too. We probably won't hear anything else until after the holidays - I do know that I'll have a second interview then, and the job B applied for would start in January, so he'll hear a definite answer soon. The catch is, B's is in Toledo, and mine is here in the Cleveland area - for those who don't know Ohio geography, they're two hours apart. So we'll have to make a decision, but for now we're just going to enjoy the holidays.
***
Driving around town, running errands or Christmas shopping, I keep seeing empty storefronts in really great areas. It keeps reminding me of an idea I've had in the back of my mind for many years now - I want to have a little shop. At first it was a little gift shop, with custom framing and local artists mixed in with collectibles and cards, located in a little cottage in the tourist district of a beach town. I still think that'd be fun, but switch it to a craft shop with beads and yarn instead of the custom framing, and offering classes and perhaps a club of some sort, a sort of local co-op for crafters and artists to interact. My friend Julie is a crafty bitch (or witch... literally!) like me, and she made a comment to me once about "subversive crafting" which I thought might be a fun name for a shop. Then today I commented back on something she'd written, saying I was a "fickle crafter," which I think is a good one too. I think with that one, I would have the opportunity to offer a wider variety of things - "when you can't decide what to create" or something like that. My heart was always set on a beach town, like Seaside, or even Port Townsend, but seeing some of the places around here that are open made me realize that I could do this anywhere, any time.
For right now, I've got my little Etsy shop up and running. An idea like this takes capital, which I absolutely do not have. So it'll sit on the back burner, simmering away, while I add new ideas and start saving some money.
Not much new to report. Mom headed to Arizona a couple weeks ago so we've moved into her little house, much to the joy of the pets. Jake has the couch, the cats can play race-cars up and down the long hallway, and we have a real bed to share with all three of them. It's staying warm enough inside (surprising, since we're relying solely on portable electric heaters) and there's snow on the mountains across the river today.
We're both still applying for jobs like crazy - the job interview in Bend went well, but afterwards I realized that I really wouldn't fit in at the company (six people, all hard-core liberal hippies, and me, an only slightly left-leaning Republican... kinda hard to hide your differences in an office so small), and that B would have to take a job completely outside his realm. It would have been miserable for me and unfair to him, so we decided to keep looking. So, here we are, still looking. I have a handful of applications out that I'm really hopeful about, and B has a couple to apply for this week that would be awesome too. We have days where we just ignore the fact that we're unemployed and essentially homeless and just sit with a book and a crochet project and veg out. Then we have days where we just want to scream and give up. Mix in a couple completely productive get-shit-done days and that's where we are. It's draining.
But we've been spending time with my long-lost friends and family, getting reacquainted with my hometown, and enjoying the scenery, if not the inconveniences of living in the sticks. We drove past the house I grew up in a few days ago, which I was incredibly nervous about. Mom had to sell the house a few years ago when she realized she couldn't take care of it by herself anymore, and the impression I'd gotten was that the people that bought it we're taking very good care of it. In reality, it was just a matter of different taste - they painted it a dark pine-green-gray color with white trim, as opposed to the light gray with blue trim that Mom and Dad had liked, and they fenced a portion of the side yard for their dog and to keep the deer out of their sizeable vegetable garden. I was surprised to find how much I liked what they'd done to it.
I drove though my college campus too, which has grown tremendously since I was a student nine years ago. I haven't visited my old high school yet, and I kind of want to catch a football game there to try and catch up with the coaches and teachers that are still there that I knew and loved. It's been quite a trip down memory lane, and exciting to see how much the city has changed. To think, all those years ago I couldn't wait to leave, and now I'm actually glad to be here.
I sent out a mass-email to my fam & friends yesterday, outlining our plan (as much as we have one) & I've been talking about it in Facebook & Twitter, so I figured I'd make it all official and shit by writing about it here too. (Since we all know I'm so good about writing...)
We're leaving Ohio on Friday!
The stuff that we had out here at the in-law's has been crammed into our now over-stuffed storage unit, awaiting further instruction. We'll stuff our clothes into suitcases, fill up a cooler with caffeinated beverages and beef jerky, drug the bejeezus out of the pets, and down the road we'll go, across I-90 through such joyous places as Mitchell, South Dakota, until we land in Spokane. We'll crash there for a couple of days, then dump the pets on my mom and drive down to the booming metropolis of Coquille, Oregon to meet with some folks that might actually want to hire B, and pay him to do watershed-type-stuff. The job seems to be in the bag, so when we get a confirmed "welcome to the company" we'll drive around down there to find a place to rent. Thankfully there are a couple of good-sized towns nearby where we should be able to find a place - otherwise we'd probably be shit out of luck in that tiny little town.
Now, obviously there are a plethora of ways this could all go south of cheese. I started listing all the possible things that could go wrong, then I started getting the shakes. Traveling across the country is one thing, but traveling with two cats and a dog is another. Then there's the whole, what if B doesn't get this job bit, which... while the idea of living and trying to find a job myself in such a smalltown-rural-middle-of-nowhere area kind of makes me a bit OMG, I'd much rather face that challenge than face starting all over again on the job hunt for B. Me, well, there are dream careers and then there are jobs, and I can find a job doing whatever. B needs this job to kick-start his career, and I'm willing to wait a couple of years for him to catch up before taking the next step with mine. Besides, I grew up in hickville, and the area down there looks awesome from what we've been able to see. I think I can make it work.
I'm still left thinking about what I'm going to do though. I'm getting the federal unemployment extension and have about 5 more months on it. It's possible I might get a second extension too, since I last worked in Michigan. So I could keep leeching off the government for a while. Or I could find a retail job and have flashbacks to those despairing years right out of college, which wouldn't be too bad but might wind up paying less than I'm getting from UIA. There are a couple other complete-leap-of-faith ideas, in other words absolutely insane and not entirely realistic, that are floating around in my head. But both require either a good amount of capital or a good amount of experience, neither of which I have at the moment, so I think they will continue to sit on the back burner.
A couple of things I know I'm going to do though, are the farmer's markets and volunteering with the watershed association that B will (hopefully) be working for. I don't want my marketing & PR skills to get rusty, so I figure I'll loan them to the CWA. And I've always wanted to have a booth at a market to sell not only our garden veggies, but my crafty bits & bobs too. Smalltown Oregon seems to be the perfect place to start, so I'm really looking forward to that.
Last night I read through my own archives. I'm not sure why, but I'm glad I did. For one thing, I noticed some things to edit. But what stood out the most is how I've changed as a writer. My Inner Critic tells me that I'll never be a real blogger, that I have no voice, that I'm an okay copy-writer but not a story-writer, that I'm not interesting whatsoever. But reading my own words, comparing two years ago to last winter, I'm starting to see that, once again, my Inner Critic is full of shit. I've gotten better, I'm learning to write as I think, as opposed to as I think others might want to read, I've got a bit more focus, and I'm starting to feel a bit more confident, if not prolific. It's still hard to get motivated though.
I mentioned in a conversation on Twitter the other day that once I have something to write about, I really like the writing process. But thinking of something worthwhile to write about is where I get stuck every damn time. That notebook I was keeping beside the bed to write my blog ideas in has been packed (in the same box as my alarm clock, I think) and despite having plenty of time to sit down and type, I just tell myself that nothing is happening, therefore there's nothing to write about. My blog has always been a simple journal - I share it with my family & friends through Facebook as a way to keep them in the loop on what's going on with me, so I've always had to have some sort of event to write about. I'm trying to change that mindset, and just write for the sake of writing, to exercise my brain and exorcise some demons.
I think once life settles down and I have a routine again it'll be easier, but these past few months have been anything but settled.
***
As for news, there's nothing to report really. B is hoping for an interview in the next week or so with a watershed organization in southwest Oregon (around Coos Bay). He's had some great communication with the Executive Director there, so we're taking it as a good sign considering he's had nothing but form emails ("Don't call us, we've had a bazillion applicants & really don't want to hear from them all" kind of thing) or no communication at all from anyone else that he's applied with. The supposed "Veteran's Preference" with federal jobs is apparently a load of crap, as he's gotten nothing but rejection after rejection from every department he's applied with, including the Corps of Engineers. It's disheartening.
Me, well, I was officially terminated at the end of July (which makes sense, considering it's been six months since I was laid off), and I will finally admit that I'm a little bitter about it. I put two years of hard frickin' work into their green program, and now what? They're just ignoring it, I think. I can't even think of an adequate word to describe how I feel when I still see my name on their website, see that they haven't changed any of the information there to reflect that they're not doing the programs anymore. It's a combination of pissed, yet slightly hopeful, like maybe they're not ready to drop the idea of picking me back up just yet. Who fricking knows?? Regardless, I've still been applying to jobs out west, but have gotten squat for real leads. Same shit, different day. I'd still go back to my old job in a heartbeat, though.
***
As for the move, well, if B gets called about the job in Oregon, then we'll coordinate it with that. Otherwise, we're leaving Ohio sometime around the beginning of September, no later than the 4th. B's mom is flying to Missoula to visit B's brother (Little B? B-Dubz? Shit, I hate trying to think of nicknames to ensure anonymity, especially when their initials are the same) and B's dad is driving with us, so we're going to time it so we get to Missoula on the same day. B and I will continue on to my nephew's place outside Spokane and crash there, and our stuff will actually stay in storage here in Ohio until we know where we're going. It keeps us from having to move our stuff more than once (or twice, really, counting the move from Toledo), and saves us a lot of effort.
So we have a couple of weeks yet for everything to change. Since it's inevitable that something will come along to screw up our plans.
Last year I wrote my Bucket List. I thought at the time that it was pretty concise, but that's the thing with lists - they're never really done.
Ashley over at The Accidental Olympian just wrote her first "Life List" (a term I like better than Bucket List for sure, which was coined by Mighty Girl, who has a kick-ass list I might add) and so I've revisited mine and changed a few things.
See Live:
Flogging Molly on St. Patrick's Day
Handel’s Messiah at Christmas
Jimmy Buffett
Penn & Teller
A Seahawks game
An NHL game (no team preference at this point)
A bluegrass festival
An honest-to-god Highland Games
Travel to:
The Outer Banks, NC
Walt Disney World/Orlando (again)
Epcot Beers & Wines of the World Tour
Greece, Italy, Paris, British Isles (Art History Tour)
I've mentioned it here and there, in passing, vaguely. I don't want to jinx it.
But here goes: we are making every effort to move west this summer!
By west I mean Washington or Oregon, maybe Montana, possibly Idaho or even Colorado.
B is graduating in May, and he's looking for jobs out there. I'm still holding hopes that I'll get called back to my job, mainly because when I mentioned the possibility of a move to them before I left, they were pretty enthused about having someone based in that area and were open to the idea of me working remotely. But in case that doesn't pan out, I'm looking too.
We have no idea what our timing will be - as early as June, as late as August. Our landlords are willing to work with us on the schedule, and we've promised to work with them on making the house sellable.
Our friends here in Ohio aren't too happy, but our friends and my family out west are ecstatic.
So, that's the general idea. As plans come together, I'll post some more. And if anybody has any recommendations for places to apply for jobs in the environmental sector, let me know!
I've planted myself on the couch today, with no plan to move. I didn't even do anything that exciting these past couple of days, but it left me a bit painful.
On Sunday I got a bug in my butt to finish the basement bathroom project that I started, oh, sometime last year. (Or was it two years ago...?) When we moved in, the floor was done in indoor-outdoor carpeting (which my cats decided would double as a litter box) and bright blueberry walls and cabinet. So we ripped out the carpet with plans to put in vinyl tile, and re-painted it in cream and aqua with matching paisley curtains. But the floor, it waited... and waited... and waited... until finally on Sunday I opened the box of tiles and started laying them out. It really wasn't that hard of a project, except that (a) every wall in the room was crooked, so there was nothing to square the tiles up to, (b) the toilet was permanently affixed to a concrete slab, so I had to cut around it, (c) the rest of the floor was wood sub-flooring, which was fine except that (d) it wasn't level with the concrete slab, and (e) there was an access panel cut into to it to get at some of the plumbing. So okay, it really wasn't that easy, but it's a tiny room so it only took me one day despite the challenges. I still need to run a bead of caulk around the base of the toilet to cover the cut edges of the tiles, and the sink is still not functional, but it looks pretty good for what we were able to do.
I had some tiles leftover, so yesterday I decided to rip out the badly stained and fraying carpet on the landing inside the back door and re-do it with the tile. I also went stair by stair, trimming the carpet to fit better and re-stapling it to the underside of each stair. The carpet is still pretty worn out on the stairs, but it looks much tidier and the landing will be easier to keep clean. I have one piece of trim left to install once B cuts it to size for me. Not bad for a weekend amateur DIY'er like myself!
So after all this bending/kneeling/climbing/cutting/whathaveyou, I'm a little sore. My hands are dry and cracked, and my back and legs complain every time I move. You'd think I'd done something a little more strenuous, but I'm just that out of shape.
But the house is really starting to look sharp - just in time for us to move this summer! But if it helps our landlords sell it, I'm all about helping. They've been so understanding and such great people to deal with. (And if anybody is looking to buy a house in Toledo this summer....!!)
I was inspired by Lucy March's post to compose a list of things that make me happy. I've been working on it for the past few days, adding a little at a time. Have you ever noticed it's harder to think of good things in your life than it is to think of all the things that are wrong with it? I'm totally stuck in that rut... have been for ages. Although I'll admit that this time at home has given me a different perspective, and I'm learning to appreciate the things I enjoy.
1) A cat on my lap. They're like furry, rumbling hot water bottles.
2) Sunshine as my alarm clock. It's helluva lot better than a screeching buzzer.
3) iTunes. I can create a soundtrack for whatever it is I'm doing, which makes even the mundane things a bit more enjoyable.
4) My Macbook. Using a computer used to be a pain in the ass, but now it's actually FUN again.
5) The little happy-dance that Jake does whenever we come home.
6) Cute socks. I can appear all professional on the outside, but my socks reflect what I really feel.
7) Books. If I had a million dollars, I could very easily spend it all on books. And no, I have no interest in a Kindle.
8) Making things, from a massive quilt to something as simple as decorating an old jelly jar to hold safety pins. I go through "crafty cycles" - one month it's making jewelry, the next it's sewing handbags, later it's glass painting. I always have something I'm making.
9) Cooking. I never thought I'd say it, but cooking makes me happy. Unless I burn it or screw it up somehow... but at least I tried.
10) Getting long emails or letters from friends. I don't like talking on the phone, so getting notes or messages or wall comments or whatever makes me happier than hearing the phone ring.
11) Unique-smelling candles. No plain vanilla for me!
12) Shopping for other people. As much as I like shopping for myself, I love finding something that makes me think of someone else, and then seeing them light up when I give it to them.
13) Being near water. Lake, ocean, river, creek, whatever. I love the sound of it rippling or crashing, and the way light sparkles across its surface.
14) Songs that remind me of my dad. I was listening to my iPod the other night and had just put a new Nickel Creek CD on it, and this song "The Fox" starts up and immediately I recognized it as one my daddy used to sing in the car.
15) Leverage, and Bones. The two shows I actually get excited about watching.
16) Teaching someone something I've learned through my job or my experience. I wouldn't ever want to be an actual teacher, but I like passing on things I've learned myself to my friends and family.
17) Gardening. Being out in the sun, the smell of the dirt, watching something grow, seeing and tasting the results - all very therapeutic and rewarding.
18) Walking in a big city. Weird, because I'll be the first to say that I'm a country girl at heart, but I love walking through a place like Chicago or Boston, being able to take the time to really look at and enjoy the city. I think you feel more of a camaraderie with a place when you can walk in it, rather than just drive through it.
19) French fries. And cupcakes. And Whatchamacallit bars. And a really good burger. And fresh seafood.
20) The way Jake curls up in a ball with his tail covering his nose.
21) Lilacs.
22) Flipping through the channels and stumbling upon a great movie I haven't seen in a while.
23) Having people over. We don't do it as often as I'd like, but I enjoy being a hostess.
24) A rocking chair perfectly situated in front of a fireplace or in a sunbeam (or both!).
25) Putting on sweatpants the minute I get home from work. (Of course now, I just wear them all day, but it's not the same.)
26) Playing hooky. When I don't have to do anything or be anywhere, and I can just enjoy the day however I choose. Which, even being laid-off, is still a special occasion.
27) Shopping for fabric for a sewing project or quilt. Every time I go to the fabric store I find something cute or pretty, and wish I had something I could make out of it.
28) A sunny day at a park with my camera.
29) Splurging on something at the grocery store. Today it was Dove hearts with almonds from the Valentine clearance bin, and Fritos.
30) Finding a great blog and reading through the archives.
31) Browsing an arts & crafts show, and finding something truly unique and beautiful that I just have to have.
32) The Menagerie, aka when both cats and the dog are piled on the bed with B and I at night. It's a little crowded, but it's fun anyway.
34) Birdwatching. Sounds a bit fuddy-duddy, but growing up in the sticks we had lots of birds that would visit our yard. Here in Toledo, we have sparrows. And pigeons. And starlings. That's about it.
35) The heated seats in my car.
36) Completely oddball, ridiculous humor. Like Robot Chicken.
39) My cat Lily's noisy, sputtering purr. She sounds like a car with a bad muffler.
40) Clearance sales at my favorite stores, especially when I have a gift card or two.
41) Good coffee. I've gotten spoiled, and I can't drink Maxwell House or Folgers anymore.
42) Also, good beer. I refuse to drink Bud Light or anything like it, if there's something better available.
43) Decorating. We've been lucky to have a landlord that lets us paint and such, but I cannot wait to have our own place to do anything we want.
44) Flip-flops, or better yet, my Croc sandals. (and the appropriate weather of course!)
45) Browsing a thrift store for fun things. I found the perfect pillowcase today to make another one of these (I've already made two), and also spotted a pretty blue & white plate that I kind of wish I would have bought.
46) The nights when B and I look at each other, say "screw it," order a pizza from Papa John's and watch TV all night.
47) My hairdryer/brush combo thingy. It makes covering up my cowlicks so much easier.
48) Having a craft room. One day it'll be a full-blown studio, but for now, a cheerfully messy craft room.
49) Fixing something or figuring something out all by myself.
50) Realizing that there are a lot more happy things in my life than I originally thought.
So you would think I'd be blogging and twittering and such every day now, right?
Since I have all this free time.
*snort*
In the past week, I have cooked a couple of elaborate meals, baked cupcakes, painted the breakfast nook in the kitchen, painted the wooden dog-baby-gate-thingy that guards the doorway to the kitchen, painted the kitchen island/recycling station thingy, done several loads of laundry, vacuumed and dusted, rearranged the furniture in the bedroom, reorganized my closet and dresser, gotten groceries, gone to the library, reorganized my entire iTunes library, finished our taxes, filed unemployment, gotten hooked on Lost, and slept in once or twice.
I know I'm missing some stuff too. This being unemployed is wearing me out already.
Financially, I think we'll be okay for a month or so (knock on wood or wood byproduct or wood-based material or whatever you have readily available to you, please), due to a big ol' tax refund (thankyou, educational credits!) and B's last GI Bill check that should be here any day now, and of course the unemployment benefits I've applied for. And hopefully by then I'll have a better idea of whether this lay-off is really as temporary as everyone said, or if "temporary" means "Don't sell the bike shop, Orville." In which case, I'll find something equally temporary to get us through until B's graduation, then adios muchachos. I hope it doesn't come to that, but closing doors/opening windows and all that. You never know. It might be time for a change.
Having time to work on the list of house projects that I was afraid would never happen, including some that were strictly optional yet potentially fun
Working on half-finished craft projects, like the quilt I'm making out of fabric from when I was a kid and the cross-stitch for my sister I've been working on for over ten years
Not being too tired to cook in the evenings, and cooking more things from scratch
Mid-morning naps
Mid-afternoon naps
Catching up on Dexter, Burn Notice, and Angel
Putting a bunch of stuff on Craigslist sooner rather than later
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Filing for unemployment in one state while residing in another is apparently too complicated to do online
Having to get rid of our unlimited text feature on our cell accounts
Having to get rid of cable TV (but substituting Netflix/Hulu)
Turning down the heat even more to save on the gas bill
Stressing out over our lack of groceries and also lack of grocery money
Potentially going back to retail just to have some income
Anticipating having to pay out the nose for COBRA insurance coverage
Having to borrow money from our parents (at least it would be interest-free.... right, Mom?)
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(At least the cons are all in future tense. We're hoping we won't have to do all of them.)
I'm not sure how many other people were in the same boat as me today (at least 6 that I'm sure about). The exec's that I wound up speaking to all reassured me that this was totally temporary. Whether we all define temporary the same, well, I guess that remains to be seen.
In the meantime, I'll be filing for my slice of the gov'mint cheese, and working on some projects around the house that have been put off for a while. And I'll keep hoping that temporary means sooner rather than later. And I'll update my resume, just in case it doesn't.
I'm undertaking a couple of big projects at work, which look like they might turn into another one or two or ten bullet points on my job description. This is good! This is exciting! And once it's certain I'll tell you all about it!
There's also some other big plans in the works that I don't want to jinx by shouting them from the rooftops just yet, but let's just say it'll involve a change in scenery. (!!!) And maybe some other changes too... but like I said, it's all still in the works. Which, being the control-freakish-gotta-have-a-plan type of person I am, is like making me sit in a big tub of broken glass.
So basically, I have stuff to write about, just not quite yet. In the meantime, here's this. It almost makes me want a puppy... but then my brain turns back on.
1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Learned to teach a class, and somehow managed to teach it several times without making a total ass of myself. Earned a fancy "title" to put on my business cards. Told off a co-worker when stuff he did made me look like a fool. Started sewing a real quilt. Made a bunch of homemade stuff like salsa & pasta sauce & pumpkin puree.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Kind of.... I didn't really make any last year though, come to think. I really don't like making yearly resolutions. I've found it's easier to set monthly goals - it gives me a better sense of accomplishment which in turn motivates me to keep going. It worked for me this year with going to the gym, until I caught a cold & couldn't go, then spent a weekend in the hospital and still couldn't go... threw me completely off. But this year, each month I'll re-set my goals of eating healthier and getting more exercise, creating things and staying motivated at work.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Friends back home had another little girl, & cousins did too.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No. Which is good of course.
5. What countries did you visit?
No foreign travel yet. I think I visited one new city in the U.S. - the booming metropolis of Yuma, Arizona. Good times!
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
I'm hoping that the company will have more money so that I have more opportunities to DO stuff. Also a kitten.
7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
God, I suck at dates. My trip to Phoenix & Yuma, and when B & I went to Chicago. Whenever those were.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Teaching that class, especially the one time in Phoenix when I totally had to wing it. That felt pretty good.
9. What was your biggest failure?
My attitude about a lot of stuff. And dropping out of therapy.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing major, but there was this story which was kind of funny. Also was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome which sounds unpleasant but it just leaves me a bit sore.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
I would say my Macbook, but I didn't buy it. Woot! Hmm, maybe my food processor? It gave me the means to turn a mountain of tomatoes into a freezer full of pasta sauce and salsa.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
I'll have to say B again, who made a difficult decision to ensure his well-being and take some strain off our relationship.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The aforementioned co-worker that I finally worked up the nerve to tell off. But then he apologized and was pretty sincere about it, so while he royally pissed me off I've managed to let it go.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent, groceries, credit card debt, and the university. Did you know that when you cook at home, you have to buy a lot of groceries? It's appalling.
15. What did you get really excited about?
An idea I ran past my bosses that was completely out of left field, and they are so far totally supportive & enthusiastic about it. Ask me again in May, and we'll see where it goes!
16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Sara Bareilles' cover of Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay, from her live album. It gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it, and both B and I love it.
Also, Supermassive Black Hole by Muse, it was my go-to driving song all year.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
– happier or sadder? Neutral. Things have changed, but not for the better or the worse, just changed.
– thinner or fatter? Fatter I think. It's all this cooking.
– richer or poorer? Always poorer!
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
I wish I had gotten off my ass more. At work, at home, with exercise and creative things... I could have done so much more than just SITTING.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Spazzing out about stupid stuff that wasn't worth spazzing out about.
20. How did you spend Christmas? Just B and I, a lazy day. We'll celebrate with the family tomorrow.
21. Did you fall in love in 2009? Erm... well... I developed a couple newcrushes. But they don't really count.
22. What was your favorite TV program? Leverage and Bones. Which, if you haven't seen Leverage, you should! January 13th! Season two starts up again!
On DVD, I caught the Wire bug (ha!!) and have gotten a little hooked on Angel too.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? There were some people that I severely disliked during the course of the year, but it's mostly okay now.
25. What was your greatest musical discovery? The White Rabbits
and Sara Bareilles. If you get beyond the annoying song from the radio, the chick has an amazing voice.
26. What did you want and get? An awesome computer, and Photoshop Elements 8.
27. What did you want and not get?
Something out of therapy.
28. What was your favorite film of this year? Avatar and Star Trek. Done and done. Those two will always be on my favorites list.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? We had a real party this year! And I have no pictures except this one, which is sadly sober! Considering I turned 30, I would have thought I'd be drunk off my ass by this point...
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? More work opportunities.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? Getting away with jeans when I could - or at least until HR sent out a memo.
32. What kept you sane? The couch.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
34. What political issue stirred you the most? Climategate and the whole climate change/global warming load of crap. Urgh.
35. Who did you miss? My friends from home.
36. Who was the best new person you met? Lisa, one of our reps in Chicago who unfortunately isn't with the company anymore. But she's still awesome.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009. My inner critic is a raging bitch. I'm waaaaay too hard on myself and take things waaaaay too personally.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. I couldn't think of one last year, but this year I'm cheating a bit because I have a particular song lyric typed out and taped to my computer monitor:
"You don't always have to hold your head higher than your heart." Hope - Jack Johnson
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