Wild Blue Yonder

I took the exam this morning with about 16 other wanna-be "enumerators." I was supposed to be there at 9:45 am but the 30-minute exam didn't start until 11 am; it was a little disorganized. After he told us no one would be allowed to leave the room once the exam started, people starting running to the bathroom and running out to feed quarters into the parking meters.

Anyway, I think that score qualifies me for a job there. I asked him if I shouldn't expect to be contacted until the spring (it's for the 2010 census), but he said not necessarily, because they're hiring some temporary clerical workers now. It would be nice to get another gig going to supplement my freelance writing.

The freelance work I got has temporarily stalled; I'm waiting for a callback and the client's reaction to my outline of specific topics.

After the exam, I felt extremely liberated. I stopped at Costco to stock up on 3 gallons of milk, 2 of which I stuck in the freezer for later use. Being a regular milk drinker, buying in bulk cuts down on the number of trips I make to Costco.

I also learned from someone else taking the test that there's another census test you can take for a census supervisor, and I'm guessing the supervisors get paid a little better. So I'll look into that too, perhaps on their website.

My friend R. came over earlier on Monday to help me replace a wall sconce in my bedroom with a new one. Yeah, I bought it after I was laid off, but I thought it was a great price at $50 and is what is called "art glass," kind of a bubbled amber-colored globe with spiral-like design below and another glass teardrop shaped pendulum hanging from that. He couldn't finish the job becus the screws that came with the fixture did not allow it to lie flush with the wall, so he/I need to find 2 more nuts that fit the screws and then, he said, he could make it work.

I haven't had a chance to scrounge around in my basement for some loose nuts, but I could have some there, somewhere.

Tomorrow I have to drive my friend H. to a doctor's appointment; she's been feeling dizzy and is afraid to drive. I think it's an ear thing. Tomorrow night is our dinner/talk at local Masonicares on knee replacement surgery. She's going for the talk, I'm going for the free dinner!

Yesterday was one of those days.

I had to make my mandatory appearance at the unemployment office's re-employment services program, a fancy name for here's all the ways we can help you. I didn't see anything they could do to help me. (My former employer provided job coaching services as part of my severance.)

Some people get so caught up in signing up for every single class and service that they forget that the responsibility for finding a job rests with them. As if busy work will somehow help propel that next job into your lap. Well, anyway, I'm grateful that the 3 hours they allot for this program really only lasted an hour and a half. It was sort of a waste of my time, plus the gas, but anyway...

Back at home, I spent considerable time wrangling some more with my healthcare provider/pharmacy, which keeps billing me for a MS medication that the manufacturer/pharmaceutical company is supposed to be paying for. The drug-maker created a discount program whereby they pick up 100% of my co-pay for the drug, which was very exciting when I was first informed of this by letter in September. (Injectable drugs have a low rate of compliance since no one likes to stick themselves with a needle, so this is the drug company's way of boosting the likelihood that patients will keep buying their product.) The only problem is that the program's not exactly up and running as it's supposed to, and the latest computer-generated late bill payment informed me my account would be "frozen" until I paid up.

The pharmacy has put a "temporary $0 balance" on my account until the drugmaker pays the bill and she assured me it wouldn't mess up my meds when I need to renew the prescription.

After getting off the phone with the drug maker and the pharmacy (this was the 4th round of phone calls), I felt the need to de-stress via physical exercise, so in the waning daylight I went out to do a bit of raking and yardwork. It's so easy to find little chores for yourself to do simply by strolling around the property.

It's 7:30 am and I'm leaving at 9 am to take my US Census exam. I really want to do well since it will impact how much work I get (from 5 to 10 weeks next spring, from 20 to 40 hours a week, $17 an hour), and perhaps even my choice in working in the field or in their office. Although "the field" would be in my hometown, my preference would be to work in their office, about 20 minutes away, simply becus I don't like the image of unexpected loose or ferocious dogs when approaching unfamiliar houses. A lot of people around here have that Invisible Fence for dogs, but I could see some dogs feeling they have every right to get aggressive once you cross that invisible line. If I do end up working in the field, I will invest in a spray bottle of Mace. I'll push for the office work first.

Of course, best case scenario is that I find a new job before the census work gets into high gear in the spring of 2010, but I like to have a plan B. In this economy, I won't be at all surprised if I become a newly minted "enumerator," aka, census worker.

But first, just a quick note....Waldo is so doing so well and becoming accustomed to the routines and sounds of domesticated life with a human.




Even the camera flash bothers him a little less.

Since I'll be traveling for Thanksgiving, I was looking for a quick and easy, but delicious, recipe for something I could bring with me.

I was thinking about making chocolate, fruit and nut clusters and decided to try out the recipe today before deciding.

It's so incredibly easy, even a child could make this:

Put 1/2 cup of semisweet chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. (I like dark chocolate, so I used that instead.)

Heat on high for 1 minute.

Stir. Heat on high for another 30 seconds.

Stir until chips are all dissolved.

Add 1/2 cup walnuts (or pecans) and 1/2 cup dried cranberries to bowl and mix all together.

Drop by spoon in small clusters onto waxed paper and refrigerate.

Late, you can remove the clusters and store them in a lidded container. Keep the clusters refrigerated.

It's delicious! And oh so easy with just THREE ingredients.

I feel like I got a lot today. I did my grocery shopping at 8:30 am. Then I spent over an hour doing the practice test for the US Census exam whic is coming up on Tuesday. On my first try (it's a timed, 30-minute exam and I needed all 30 minutes), I got 3 wrong out of 23 questions, or 89%. I then studied those questions I got wrong, and determined that all 3 errors were due to carelessness alone.

I did also review how to do some very simple calculations manually. I'm so used to using a calculator I nearly forgot how to multiply using numbers with decimals, and how to divide a number longhand to get a percentage. Geez!

Tonight I also spent a few hours developing a detailed list of blog topics for the new real estate blog I'll be writing. The topics all relate to new construction and design trends, which should be quite interesting (green trends, outdoor "rooms," etc.) I also outlined my thoughts on what the blog should look like in terms of images, a title and so on. I want to make sure me and the client are on the same page, and once i get his blessing/go-ahead, I hope to start, and finish writing the first blog this week so it's out of the way before I leave for Thanksgiving.

I did a fair amount of yardwork today becus it was so warm (low 60s). Being around more means that for the first time that I can remember, I'm doing many yard cleanup chores now, in the fall, that I normally leave til spring. Things like cutting dead foliage, more leaf removal, etc.

I have some major pruning jobs planned for late winter, for some very overgrown mountain laurel (so I can see out my windows), forsythia (so it will bloom again) and burning bush (so I have a nice view of 3 evergreens that are now blocked from view when looking out my front door). I'd love to do it now, but it would not be good for the shrubs to do until they're dormant.

I've been walking on my lunch hour for many years. When I got laid off last September, I decided there was no reason not to continue and up the ante a little.

So I set a goal of a minimum of 225 minutes of exercise a week; that works out to 45 minutes 5 days a week. What's acceptable exercise? Walking, kayaking, biking, mowing the lawn or snow shoveling...anything that boosts the heart rate and could be considered cardiovascular.

Sadly, I haven't always hit my weekly quota. Of the last 7 weeks, I hit my goal just 4 times.

So on Thursday, I saw that I still was short by 90 minutes and would need to do 4o or 45 minutes on Friday and Saturday. Yesterday, I just vegged out. So that left me with 90 minutes of walking today. I started out this morning with good intentions. I debated whether to bring the camera but decided since it was a walk i've done recently, there would be nothing to take pix of. But then i ran into the farmer's heifer escaped from the pasture and standing gazing at me in the middle of the road. It would've been a funny photo. She eventually moved on over to the roadside where overgrown grass tempted her.

But anyway, it started to rain lightly. I turned to head back and abort the full walk. I told myself "Wimp!" and turned around again, but when the rain became steady, I turned home again. So I only got in 50 minutes. (The heifer was still loose by the roadside upon my return.)

With just 40 minutes remaining, I was determined to hit my weekly target and despite the fact it was still raining by around 3:30 pm, I just returned from going around the blcok 2 and a half times.

I don't know why I'm always sore when I go walking. It's not like I'm totally sedentary and not used to it. It often seems hard to figure out if it's muscle soreness or joint soreness (my hips). Today I know the back of my thighs were very sore, but I think my hips were too. Does this have anything to do with my being 50?

I'm debating whether or not to start doing yoga with H. I can pay $12 and do classes for a year, Mondays and Thursdays, with the 50 and older crowd. Maybe I'm lacking in flexiblity and need to stretch more.

Since I've been home more, I've been doing as many Toluna surveys as I can. I just got a $20 check in the mail and I see from my account I have another $30 coming to me, but not til December and January. (They're very slow in paying.)

I sent in the magazine story I did freelance, and my contact at the real estate company had just a minor few changes to make. Once we put that piece to bed (he was out Friday and so hasn't seen my revisions yet) I hope to have one more phone conversation with him that will enable me to start writing the first blog for his company's divison, which is commercial real estate and new construction. I'd like to get it written next week, well before Thanksgiving.

On Monday I have a 3-hour "enhanced re-employment services program" to attend in nearby city. My state's DOL tells me my attendance is mandatory, and from the sound of it, I will have to attend future such programs as well. I hope they don't tell me I need to change my career and become a firefighter or something.

On Tuesday, I will be taking the US Census Bureau exam. How well I do on that exam will determine how much work I get, so I plan to study the practice quiz pretty well.

Just had a long conversation with an old colleage still working at my old employer's. He caught me up to speed with what's going on there. He is job hunting himself and in fact would like to return to TX, I think, to be closer to family, if he could only find a job.

On Wednesday night, I'm going with H. to a Masonicares talk by a physician on joint replacement. She needs a knee replacement and feels nervous about it. It will be another free dinner (that's why I'm going and is right in town.

On Tuesday, I couldn't get online. My AT&T modem, which I'd only had for a few years, broke. They said I needed to buy a new one and the price had risen from $50 to $75. I'd have to wait a few days to receive it in the mail.

Thank God, I got the new modem tonight and with a technician from the Philippines helping me through a mystifying part of the installation process, I am once again connected to all things cyber.

Oh, the pain of not being able to check my email over a cup of tea in the morning, and then throughout the day.

Of course, wouldn't you know it, I got a boatload of freelance work yesterday and needed to hit one fast approaching deadline of this Friday for one of the assignments, an article for a local magazine.

I wrote the story here at home last night, and my friend/neighbor H. lent me her house key and said I could let myself in whenever I needed to come over. I needed to check a number of facts, etc. on various websites. I was there all morning while she was at yoga and emailed the story in around noon.

Boy, have I felt so disconnected for the past 48 hours.

Yesterday my dad and K. made the 3-hour trek back up here with a new wheelbarrow tire for me to replace the flat one. While my dad put it on, K. and I took the dachshunds around the block for a brisk walk. Then we headed over to my sister's place to drop off a cooler full of elderberries my dad had grown and was giving her. She was working, so we left them on her doorstep.

Then we headed for a YUMMiLICIOUS lunch at a new Asian Fusion restaurant in town. My first time there. I really liked the seaweed salad, the little shrimp dumpling things which name escapes me, my own incredibly flavorful salmon teriyaki with sweet potato and the ginger ice cream. Small servings, but packed with flavor, every bite.

Before they left, I gave my dad a large, two-tiered copper fountain with a recirculating pump which I spent a mint on a number of years ago, but hadn't used since a mouse chewed through some plastic tubing that connected to the pump. My dad could easily fix that, I just am too busy, plus I now prefer solar fountains that don't have to be plugged in. So I made some extra room in my garage. I think he'll enjoy it and it would look nice near his koi pond.

So I'm back in business with my wheelbarrow AND my Internet AND some freelance work.

Tomorrow, as it turns out, Jule & Julia, which I'd so wanted to see but never got around to, is now playing at my town's $2 theater, so we'll see the 4:30 pm showing. Cool!!

I used up my surplus mushrooms on a homemade pizza using Naan bread instead of the usual Boboli crust. It was very good, with tomato sauce, the mushrooms, some chopped up ground turkey and feta cheese on top.

I'm so relieved. Life is good. I'm back online.

Yesterday was such a nice day that I ended up doing a fair amount of yardwork, and housework.

I raked and mowed up a bunch more leaves, this time raking them out from underneath shrubs and trees. In the past I left these leaves in place becus i thought it protected the plants from the cold, but I was reading somewhere that it provides shelter for mice, and I get plenty of those each winter. Plus everything in my yard is mulched, so i think the plants have enough of a winter coat to make it through the season.

A few nights ago, in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep, I heard coyotes howling. Very primal sound.

I also vacuumed, up and downstairs and did some tidying up.

I'm glad I did (often i let it go way too long and cat hair is everywhere) becus around 3:30 pm, as I was sweeping up yet more leaves from my driveway, who should pull up my driveway but an old fisherman!

Well, actually, it was my dad, but he had grown a full beard (a remnant of when he got a bad cold) and it's all white so he looks like the fisherman on the cough drops bags. Or maybe the guy from the Gorton's seafood commercials.

It was funny that they came becus I'd been thinking of him and K. a lot, since my last phone conversation with them.

Anyway, he and K. had been to visit my sister and plant some mums with her and popped in on me afterwards. My sister passed on dinner with them, but I gladly accepted the invitation to my dad's favorite restaurant around here, a German restaurant that does a brisk business.

My dad noticed I was collecting the sweepings of leaves on the driveway into a little red child's wagon becus my workhorse, the wheelbarrow, had acquired a flat tire. I had no idea how to fix it, or even remove the flat tire. I knew I couldn't even buy a new one becus there's no way I could fit it in my Honda.

So dad took it all apart quick as a flash and we stopped at 2 hardware stores on the way to dinner to look for a new tire, but both were closed, it being late Sunday afternoon. I asked him for the one part back he had taken with him, and he told me he was taking it home and would find a better tire for me and return with it to finish the repair in a few days. How many people would drive 6 hours round trip for such a little thing? That's my dad. Being a single, inept woman with very little do-it-yourself skills, I am eternally grateful.

Dinner was very nice, but the prices still shock me. Dinner for 3 including my dad's glass of wine ($8) and a shared dessert came to $105 before tip!!

Ever on the lookout for ways to generate a little cash, I am planning on on taking the exam that enables you to become a census taker. It also requires 4 days of training, but it's paid, and by the way, they pay quite well. In my area, $17 an hour. It would mean 5 to 10 weeks of work, most likely in my own hometown, 20 to 40 hours per week in the spring of 2010.

Today I'm also heading over to the Registrar of Voters and will sign up to be a poll worker, just for a day this spring at our town's referendum. That also pays, but not nearly as well as the census work.

Hopefully this week I'll be hearing more about what the real estate blog job entails.

I love this old cemetery. It dates back to the 1700s.

As the days of joblessness wear on, I've begun to have difficulty distinguishing between one day and the next. A weekend day is much the same as a week day. And, no longer being bound by the 9 to 5 clock, I find myself working at the computer any time of day or night.


This picture is so beautiful to me. I love those magnificent old cedar trees and the old gravestones. Doesn't' this look like a scene out of the Bible, where Jesus talks to the disciples in a grove or something?

This morning I figured I would kill a few birds with one stone. Oh, I hate that expression. About killing birds. Let's just say I was multi-tasking. I decided to squeeze in more exercise toward my weekly quota on this, the last day of the week, by walking to the library to return 2 DVDs, and then across the street to the Episcopal Church craft show.

What business do I have going to a craft show when I have no income? None at all. I considered it a form of cheap entertainment, with strings attached. The strings are the risk I'll buy something, and I did.

You see, I'm getting to the point where I'm living so frugally, I end up feeling deprived. When I start feeling deprived, I end up spending frivolously.

Well, it was just $10. What kind of ring can you buy for $10, anyway? Well, i think it's very nice. Sterling silver with a topaz-looking blue stone, but it's not real. I don't care, it just was the bluest blue that caught my eye. (As I said in a previous post, appearance, not cost, matters to me when it comes to jewelry....although this is the first time I bought something that wasn't a real gemstone.)

I tried taking a picture of it but it just wasn't working. So anyway, I will have to remind myself about that $10 ring for the rest of November as I live inside a chilly, dark house where I try to keep the heat down and the lights off.

After the craft show, i decided to walk a little further, to the supermarket, to pick up one more package of mushrooms. I want to make my mushroom/barley casserole, and it calls for 3 cups of mushrooms. I had already bought 2 packages yesterday, and now I'm kicking myself because I don't think I needed the third package after all. Three cups of sliced mushrooms will use up less mushrooms than those sitting whole in the container.They aint' cheap, either, at $2.79 a container. I also picked up the largest acorn squash I'd ever seen, as well as a bag of brown sugar and some feta cheese.

I added 45 minutes of walking to my weekly quota, but I'm still shy 20 minutes for this week, and it's turned dark as I've been writing this post.

Once back home, I made a very easy but delicious chicken dish. I laid 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts on a bed of stuffing consisting of breaded cubes, diced onion and celery and a couple cans of cream style corn. The chicken is painted with a mix of brown sugar, mustard and melted butter.

Yum, yum.

I also made a pumpkin pie which, with 1.5 cups of light cream, is not exactly low cal, but it's oh-so-good.

That was the extent of today's accomplishments. As the days wear on, I find I'm doing less and less, often because I can lazily tell myself, well, if you don't get it done today, you can do it just as easily tomorrow.

Hmm.

Just got some email from one of my oldest and best freelance contacts. He asked me if I'd be able to write a monthly real estate blog for him...just one post a month, on an ongoing basis.

Yes, yes! I said. Can't wait to hear the details.

I picked some lettuce in the garden this afternoon. the leaves are small, but the plants are still alive and well, though we've had some frosts already.



I took a long, 85-minute walk around town this morning, and picked up litter along the way.

Also did a load of laundry. I looked down my dryer filter, and yes, there was lots of lint stuck on the sides of it. I was able to get my hand down the chute and clean some of it, but i will need to get that brush that Lux told me about. Sort of trying to defer all nonessential costs, especially after being forced to spring ($73) for 2 ink cartridges for my Dell printer. Outrageously expensive. And it's the kind of expense i overlooked when calculating my unemployed budget.

I had my interview yesterday in Hartford at the agency that finds temp jobs for writers, designers and other creative types. But before seeing "Rich" to discuss things, I had to complete a gauntlet of forms, paperwork, and a little computer quiz to satisfy all their requirements. (Hate that stuff.)

Rich seemed pleasant enough, although personally I found the interview a little dull. He really didn't delve into anything too deeply, just did a perfunctory review with me of each of the jobs I've held.

He seemed to feel they could get me some work. I asked what % of applicants get work through them and he said only 4 out of 12 or so, which surprised me somewhat. It sounded like the people who are good get repeat assignments.

We talked a fair amount about compensation. He said several times that employers are paying less now in this economy than they did while things were booming. I have to wonder, though, if the agency's strategy of offering up employee temps for a lower hourly figure to win the client's business only hurts the employee, not the agency nor the employer. Cus whatever hourly rate I make, I can be sure the agency has already taken their cut, right? And the employer is getting a discounted rate.

I've worked for this group once before. It's basically a take it or leave it offer. They tell you the pay, and you can either accept or decline. They also tell you next to nothing about the company or the job, so you really have to be on your toes and do what you do well, IMO. Becus unlike a regular employee, you don't have a chance to get to know the company or its products over a period of weeks or months, or get training from coworkers. You just have to be able to dive right in, be confident that you know what you're doing and do it well.

I remember declining one or two temp jobs years ago becus they were just too far away or I wasn't confident it was the kind of work I could do, and i'm guessing now that even if I had a legitimate reason, declining even one job made the agency less inclined to call me back again with other jobs. I think there's a point where you go from being a hot, new job candidate they want to market to one they pass over becus you're too fussy or particular.

So I'll have to be cautious in that regard. The one job I did for them years ago was a proofreading job at a book publisher about an hour away from me, on the shoreline. It lasted for a few weeks, as I recall. I never got a lot of feedback about my work and I assume it was ok. It was pretty basic work and didn't exactly give me a chance to showcase my expertise, but it was a paycheck.

While the agency often stresses that hey, if they love your work, they may want to hire you full time, it doesn't always work that way.

If you've ever temped anywhere, you may remember how people may kindly ignore you becus 1. they know you're only going to be there for a little while, so why go out of your way to get to know someone, and 2. they assume that if you're a temp, your work background is inferior to theirs (so not true!) That's what I remember, anyway, from that one assignment.

I was annoyed to have to pay $9.50 in the parking garage for about 2 hours of time, but at least I can deduct that from my taxes, along with the gas it took to get up there and back.

I have a pretty light schedule for today and tomorrow. I need to go back to the tire place and get the free front-end alignment which i didn't get when i bought the tires becus i could've sworn that when i asked if it was included in the purchase price, he said "no," when in fact, it is. I went thru my car file records and couldn't find any evidence of having had the front end aligned for the past 6 years! So I guess I'm due. Oops.

I need to go for a LONG walk today as I'm falling behind on my exercise goal of 225 minutes of walking/biking/kayaking/mowing/raking each week. Those are the only activities that i feel are vigorous enough to warrant being counted toward meeting my goal. I have about 200 minutes to go and it's already Thursday!

I told my dad again when he called last night to expect me for Thanksgiving. I'm a little fearful about damage I can expect from Luther being on his own for 48 hours, but i guess I'll have to try to cat-proof the house before I go and hope for the best. Put breakables away, the toilet paper away, stuff like that.

I'll be excited to deposit about $1,100 in my checking account, from 2 unemployment checks and the money i got from selling my gold necklace.

I finally got around to selling my gold necklace. Let's make this fun. Here's the picture below. It's a Cleopatra style necklace, 14K and 11.6 pennyweight, tri-colored gold. Can you guess how much I got?



Let's put it this way: I got a LOT less than I was hoping for, but then again, I didn't buy it. It was a gift from an old boyfriend, someone I don't care to remember, a good 25 years ago. As I recall (I was with him and picked it out at a local Mall) he said it was marked for $500 and he got it for $300. So i figured after all this time, it should be more than $300. I was hoping for $500.

I went to 5 local jewelers. One wasn't in the store that day and the woman wanted to keep the necklace until the following day. I declined. Another jeweler said he'd also need to keep it overnight to "test" the gold, even though I showed him where it was stamped 14K. (If it's just 10K gold, it's not stamped, only 14K and 18K is stamped.)

So i really just got 3 prices. The 1st one was the best: $228. The 2nd was $200 and the 3rd was $187.

This is the price i got, not for resale as is but for melting down. (2 of the jewelers said the style, yellow, rose and white gold, was "dated." Didn't know jewelery styles could go in or out of fashion, but i guess they do.)

I know I could have gotten more money if I'd tried to sell it myself, like on eBay, but I just don't feel like learning how to sell on eBay.

I figured that with the vast majority of "stuff" you buy, very few of it is ever redeemable for cash once you purchase it. Sure, you can sell stuff on eBay or at a tag sale, but you're likely getting .50 on the dollar, right?. It seems like only jewelery or antiques can be converted back into cold, hard cash, so i felt fortunate to be able to take a piece I rarely wear, that, sitting in my jewelry box would always be a target should my home ever be robbed, and get enough cash to pay for a month's worth of groceries. I value a month's worth of groceries more than yet another doo-dad necklace.

The store that gave me the best price was the one that looked most reputable and upscale from the outside.

Unfortunately, I really have no other jewelery to sell. I have a few pieces, a strand of old pearls and a gold heart with 3 rubies, from my grandmother, and i would never sell those. The rest of my jewelery is not necessarily gold, nor expensive. I have jewelery that looks like very nice jewelery, but it's actually gold-plated over sterling silver and was thus inexpensive. i don't really care, the appearance is what counts to me, not how much was spent.
I voted today, did you?

And already it's 12:30 pm and i feel like it's time for a nap.

I did spend a good part of the morning painstakingly putting together my "top 10" writing samples for my Wednesday interview with the creative temp/perm hiring agency. I felt that I needed to write a few sentences of explanatory copy for each item to better describe its intended purpose and use. I had to rummage around in the attic for a few items, but it's all put together now, including my list of 4 vetted references.

A friend of mine, also out of work, called and encouraged me to join 2 local networking groups. Well, they're local to him, but a good 45 minutes to an hour away for me, as would be many of those jobs. These groups get 75 or 100 people, he said, so i think i need more practice at my small group before i move into the big leagues.

He also mentioned he's working the polls tomorrow and getting paid a modest amount, which is something I've wanted to do in the past, but couldn't, since i was working.

I had to interrupt our phone conversation to break up a fight between my 2 cats, which have been at it all morning, adding to my stress. I had to give Luther a time out in his carrier, which is where he is now.

I called my local registrar of voters and she said it's too late to sign up now, but i could sign up after tomorrow's election for the expected spring referendum. I will do that, and also see about any possible p/t, temporary jobs at the town hall.

I'm trying to get onto my college's job center, but they have to give you an ID number, so I'm waiting for that.

Just spinning my wheels.

I made a very good pumpkin black bean soup the other day.



Ingredients: sauteed onion and garlic, broth, pumpkin puree, tomatoes, black beans and, believe it or not, balsamic vinegar.Pretty easy to make cus much of it comes from a can. Psst. That's not wine in the glass. I've admired the way others (here and elsewhere) have photographed their food, so i thought i would go for an artsy look, but it's really just clear-colored birch beer (soda) in there

Some random photos:


The reservoir


Rotting tree and leaves


Local horse farm

I freaked out 2 days ago when we got all that heavy rain becus as i sat here at my computer, water dripped down from between the window and frame. It's an old leak that's been repaired/caulked (on the outside, where wood trim meets the house siding) at least 3 times, every other year or so. Usually i discover it in the dead of winter, when you can't caulk cus it's too cold and won't dry. So i guess i should consider myself lucky to have discovered it now, becus tomorrow will be in the 60s and that gives me a single day to haul the ladder out (it's the 2nd floor) and try to gouge out the old caulk and apply the new. I don't know why the caulk doesn't hold. It's one of those jobs i hate, partly becus my ladder, fully extended, barely enables me to reach where i need to reach.

That book sale at Audubon society was a bit of a letdown. There were just a bunch of older, mildew-smelly books. I didn't buy any but i did admire the countryside where the sanctuary was located. The people there were extraordinarily friendly. I kicked myself for not bringing my camera with me, for then i would've done a walk on the trail. It was a beautiful day, and i should have done so anyway, but i sort of needed to use a bathroom and i didn't see any facilities, so i just headed home.

I applied for another job today, curiously it's located about a mile or so north of my old job. It's more of a journalist type job for a print/online publication that goes out to public school superintendents and tracks trends and news in the schools.

There was another job in Stamford, one i didn't apply for, which nearly made me gag with envy. They wanted a financial writer for one of those white glove, extremely profitable capital management firms with lots of high net worth clients. My background is in financial services, but they also required you be a graduate of an ivy league school. I met all their other requirements except the ivy league one. The pay was up to $175K. Yes, you read that right. I daydreamed a while about what i could do making that kind of money.

I have an interview next week with a temp agency that specializes in placing writers, designers and other creatives in temp or perm jobs. I've worked with them before but i hate all their stickler requirements, like, you have to bring with you 6 to 10 references, at least 1 has to be from most recent employer, they test you on whatever software programs you say you know, etc.

This year I've been trying something new to pick up all the falling leaves. I would never use a noisy leaf blower, and so raking, while good exercise, is a laborious process and very time-consuming, first raking leaves up into big piles, then dragging my tarp out, raking the leaves onto the tarp, then dragging the tarp to behind the toolshed or elsewhere and dumping them. Repeat.

This week I've been mowing every day, weather permitting, because it seems a heck of a lot easier to simply mow over the leaves (the suction sweeps them up into the bag), then all that bending over and raking, raking, raking. The new process seems to be working more easily, though i will never get every single leaf in my yard.

That's what I'm off to do now: mow. After that, maybe I'll start rummaging through all my old sample files (2 2-drawer file cabinets in the attic filled with nearly 30 years' worth of writing samples) to select the 10 best for my interview next week. I have a ton of stuff but i already have an idea of what I'll pull.

Few trick or treaters want to trudge up my driveway, so i may suggest to H. that, rather than sit in darkened homes tomorrow night, we escape to the local coffeehouse to while away a few hours.

I did my expense statement for month of October a few days early, and talk about frightening experiences.

I'm netting $1900 a month from unemployment and so, of course, I'm wanting to stay as close as possible to that in terms of monthly expenses, but October's expenses were over $5,600 because i had to pay off my sun room builder ($2,176) and then i got hit with 2 big expenses: $744 for my homeowners insurance and $748 for car repair and 4 new tires, plus shelling out $121 for my brother's wedding.

Hopefully, November expenses will be a fraction of that.

I still haven't gotten around to selling my Cleopatra necklace. I was going to do it last Monday, but all the jewelry stores were closed, as is the custom around here, which I'd forgotten.

Not a terribly exciting title, I know. that's an accurate reflection of my day.

It rained hard, all day long, so I was cooped up all day. I applied online for 2 interesting freelance writing jobs.

I finished reading the book club choice, World of Wonders. (Didn't really like it.)

I was also browsing Craig's List, where there are a surprising number of jobs, some of questionable merit, and I saw that a nearby Audubon society in NY state was selling off a whole bunch of books it originally got from Cornell Lab of Ornithology, all for $2 each. The sale lasts about a week, so I called and made arrangements to check out the books tomorrow morning. At those prices, I can't do too much damage. Initially, I did what I often do, talk myself out of it, by saying why bother, I can't afford to spend much money now and it's about a 40 minute drive. But then I talked myself back into it, telling myself this is just the kind of fun thing I like to do but ordinarily wouldn't have the chance to becus I'd be working. Bird-watching is a hobby of mine, so this little book sale was tailor-made for me and the price is right. So....I'm going.

Shortly before I was laid off by my employer, I suggested to my managers that I submit several of my stories and blog posts for the 2009 MarCom Awards, an international competition sponsored by the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals. They agreed, and I took care of the whole thing, submitting several items.

I checked their website several times since my layoff but they hadn't announced the winners. I woke up about 3:30 am this morning and couldn't sleep, so i sleep-walked over to my computer and checked my email. Lo and behold, it appears my submissions won in both the Platinum and Gold categories for Electronic/Social Media category! That would be the blog posts.

There's not a whole lot of other info on the site, so I plan to call them tomorrow to try to find out which entries won what, specifically, I hope they tell me, since I'm now an ex-employee. I doubt they even know at my office since I used my work email address as the main contact, but I've already sent an email to a friend who works there if he wanted to spread the word and maybe embarrass some people a little.

It's quite ironic and bittersweet that I should win this award(s) for people who deemed it fit to lay me off. But at least it will look very good on my resume. Blog writing is an art, especially if you're doing it to drive traffic. (What I do here, quite honestly, is more of a diary/journal.)

Here's who has already turned on the heat (boo hoo):

Canoineag (Denver): Oct. 1
Dido: First week of October
creditcardfree (Iowa): Oct. 3
wowitsawonderfullife (Toronto) Oct. 8
AnnLink (Buckeye)Ohio): Oct. 8
Boomeyer: Oct. 10
Fern (CT): Oct. 12
JoanoftheArch: Oct. 12
NorthGeorgiaGal (GA): Oct. 16
LuxLiving: Oct. 17

To Debtfreeme, Househopeful, monkeymama, imasaver, momfrommissouri, Patrick and PrincessPerky, are you still in the contest?

So the story continues with my search for healthy but not insanely expensive canned cat food.

For me, healthy means no meat by-products and preferably no preservatives.

I used to feed my old cat an all dry food diet, which is inferior quality nutrition and which i do believe contributed to her somewhat early death at 13. Plus, cats really need moisture in their food or they become prone to urinary tract infections and cystitis in their older years, and dry food offers none.

I've settled on 3 or 4 brands that are locally available and range in price from a cheap .48 for a 3 oz. can of Fancy Feast Flaked Tuna & Shrimp Fest to a pricey $1.39 for a 6 oz. can of Natural Balance. (Getting food online at some place like Amazon is out of the question since you pay a steep price for shipping.)

So I will only feed the cats that one flavor of Fancy Feast; the rest of the Fancy Feast flavors, even the other seafood ones, contain meat by-products. For some reason, this one flavor does not.

The other brands are Innova, $1.19 for a 5.5 oz can and, surprisingly, Triumph, an old brand that's hard to find, but doesn't really have a bad ingredient list and goes for $1.09 for a 5.5 oz. can, putting it on the cheaper end of the spectrum. The cats have yet to try that brand, though.

(The Innova i have somewhat mixed feelings about, as i read about a pending class action lawsuit against the company by someone who found bits of ground FEATHER in the food, which is supposed to be free of "by-products.")

I'll alternate these 4 brand with a high quality dry food (Natural Balance), but it is really working out to be wet food about 75% of the time. Unfortunately, there are 3 different stores that have the best prices for these 4 different wet foods I've settled on, so it'll be Wal-Mart for the Fancy Feast, Petco for the Natural Balance, and Pet Choice for the Innova and Triumph.

I went to my first meeting with a local job networking support group today. It's a small one, just 7 people came, but i was surprised we were all well over 40 and all professionals, 4 men, 3 women. They meet twice a month; i think it's worth it to go again.

I applied for a marketing copywriting job at a bank about a 50-minute ride from here. It sounded like a very close fit to my background, but I'm remembering, and a friend confirmed, that banks generally pay low. I guess we'll see what happens.

I made a tray of brownies tonight and oh my! i ate too many! But Trader Joe "truffles" (aka brownies) are the best!

I am still preparing to sell a Cleopatra style gold necklace with yellow, white and rose gold. I don't know what karat it is, but assuming 14K and then of course, i need to know its pennyweight or weight in grams. Perhaps on Monday I'll make the rounds of local jewelers. I'm pretty sure when it was purchased for me as a gift by a boyfriend I don't care to remember, it cost about $300, talked down from $500, and this was about 25 years ago.

From what i've read, the main thing to remember is that when selling gold jewelry, deal with a local jeweler who has a reputation to maintain and steer clear of online sites or anyone you can't deal with in person. And obviously, you can't expect to get $900 an ounce or whatever the current price of gold is becus most gold sold today is either 14K gold (48.3% gold) or 18K (75% gold). And unless your jewelry is exceptional enough to be resold as is, it will be purchased from you as scrap to be melted down, thus netting you a lower price.

With temperatures expected to reach into the low 70s yesterday, I knew it could be one of my final chances to take Little Minnow out for a fall foliage cruise. So I set out yesterday and put in on the lake at one of my hometown's boat launches.

I've learned from experience that one can look mighty foolish getting into a kayak in shallow water, only to find yourself unable to move because the hull of the kayak is wedged on the water's bottom. Unless you have a boating companion who can push you out, you really need to wade into deeper water so the kayak is truly floating before you get in. So, because I knew I would get wet, I wore a pair of sweatpants with those elasticized cuffs on the bottoms. I scrunched them up to my knees before wading in. I was expecting freezing cold water, but in truth, the air temperature was so warm it didn't bother me.

Once on the lagoon that leads out to the lake, I can only say the view was exquisite. It reminded me of a John Denver song.

Like a night in the forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses



The lake really did fill up my senses. A warm breeze riffled through low hanging tree branches and sent cascades of leaves floating down to the water's surface. That's what I heard, too...the wind in the trees and acorns raining down, some of them plunking into the water. Even the air seemed incredibly fresh and clean.



Once through the lagoon and on the lake, I decided to head south toward the dam, hugging the shoreline. The rhythmic sound of my paddles dipping into the water put me in a meditative state as I gazed upon the birch, beech, hemlocks, maples and mountain laurel with their impressionist-like palette of rust, gold, rose, red and amber foliage.

One or two motor boats made a few passes down the middle of the lake, creating broad swells that smacked against the banks of the lake. I thought it ironic that these same boaters, who evidently enjoy being on the water as much as I do, could be so disrespectful of the environment. There was quite a bit of floating debris, all of it plastic. I fished out about a dozen objects ranging from a motor oil bottle to bait containers, along with the usual food and beverage containers.

Once down near the dam, I turned round and headed back from whence I came. I considered crossing over to the other side of the lake, but in truth I was afraid of getting mowed down by one of the motor boats patrolling up and down. Kayaks are low-lying boats and I doubt you'd even catch my profile in the bright sun, doing about 30 mph, until you were practically on top of me.

So I contented myself with the same view, only in reverse. It was a picture-perfect day, so no regrets.

The cost of a kayak, roof rack, life vest, paddle, anchor, and assorted pulleys and ties about 5 years ago? About $1,500. Two-and-a-half hours out on the water in late October? Priceless.

As an MS person, I've gotten invitations to MS conferences for many years. They're sponsored by the various drug makers and include an evening talk given by an area physician, with free dinner thrown in.

I've always wanted to attend (as much for the free meal as anything else), but never could becus they're usually held in a local hotel in early evening, and i could never make it when i worked.

Now, being laid off, I could attend, and i took my friend H. with me with the bribe of the free meal at the Courtyard by Marriott.

The first hour, a talk given by a PA, was a total commercial for Copaxone, the drug i take for the MS; the 2nd hour was a talk given by the doctor at a new MS clinic in Hartford, and went over all old research showing the effectiveness of Copaxone.

So the conference achieved the dual aims of both the drugmaker, to pitch the importance of staying on their drug, and the doctor, who got to pitch his new clinic.

Did I learn anything new regarding MS research? No, not at all. But I still enjoyed going. I got to chat a little with other MS people sitting at my table, the food was pretty good (chicken, fish and ravioli plus salad and roast potatoes, plus chocolate cake and tea and coffee), plus I got to load up on free pens, markers, a free tote bag i'll use for my groceries and a nifty gadget that makes holding a pen easier for those with grip problems. Perhaps my mother with her arthritis could use it.

Today H. and I took a long, leisurely drive up to a small country town with a covered bridge.



There wasn't much to do there aside from look at the covered bridge, and the few small shops there were only open on weekends for the tourists.

but on the way back we stopped at the pottery place...



and we also spent some time at the lovely Kent Falls State Park.


It being a weekday, it was very crowd-free, which was nice. I was determined not to spend much, and i was afraid that once i got hungry, i'd cave in and agree to eat lunch out, but i gently turned H. down and declined her suggestion, so we both ate lunch home.

I've now been out of work for a month, and here's what I've been doing with my time:

1. Applied for only 6 f/t jobs. Had 1 job interview.
2. Revived all my old freelance contacts, but have not yet gotten any assignments, somewhat troubling.
3. Done a number of nice fall walks around town.
4. Squeeze in a bike ride around town.
5. Today's fall foliage drive with H.
6. My brother's wedding
7. Finished the sunroom and garage windows and paid the contractor off.
8. Finally got my car repaired (axle boots) and 4 new tires yesterday, which means i can now:
9. Visit my dad in NJ soon, maybe next week.
10. Spent a lot of time, not all of it productively, doing job training webinars and working with my job coach on my resume. The resume looks great now, but the webinars were less than useful, IMO.
11. Met once with my little support group, 2 other laid off friends; looking forward to another one soon and the group has grown to 6 people.
12. Got my colonscopy, 2 polys removed and due to "poor prep" have to do it again in 2 years, not 5.
13. Took steps to volunteer again for CT Radio Info. System, a closed circuit system where i act as a "radio announcer" reading the news to visually impaired from a local studio. Also start my 1st volunteer at the food pantry since having stopped volunteering there when i started my last job, which left no time for it.
14. My 1st job networking session is with a small (17 people) group this Saturday, so i'll get to meet some people and hopefully have a nice time.
14. Am reading my 3rd book now, all 3 were book discussion group choices, but i have yet had the time to attend the actual book discussion!

Umm, yeah, not doing so well not spending money while being jobless.

Last night, a powerful spending urge came over me and I blew $80 I probably shouldn't have spent. Oh well, it was just $80. I decided on a whim that this was the time to replace a perfectly good, albeit outdated looking wall sconce in my bedroom that i've lived with for 14 years. What triggered this compulsion was seeing a lovely art glass wall sconce with amber glass and an artsy looking design in Lamps Plus catalog for just $50. It inspired me to browse the online site and while i narrowed my favorites list to 5 or so sconces, i ended up going with the one i originally saw in the catalog.

The other $30 I spent was on a fleece-lined quilted vest with corduroy trim, color green, from QVC. I don't usually buy clothes on TV becus they rarely sell petite-sized clothing, but with a sleeveless vest, it doesn't much matter.

Then I realized I really need to get going with getting new tires for my car ($700) and replacing the axle boots on my car ($450) since I was toying with the idea of going down to Jersey to see my Dad and K this week and I don't feel comfortable driving long distances now with these 2 items needing attention.

I've had quite the fiasco with Petco. I needed more canned cat food and was determined to find something that would meet my 3 criteria: 1. The cats must like it, 2. Healthy ingredients, meaning no meat byproducts, filler carbs or preservatives, and 3. reasonable price.

This may be an impossible quest. I am now feeding them one variety of Fancy Feast (flaked tuna and shrimp fest) which meets those criteria and costs just .48 a can at Wal-Mart. However, the cats recently started turning up their noses at the Trader Joe's catfood which they've been eating for months, which had received nods at www.consumersearch.com. It, too, was reasonably priced, at about .59 a can. I don't want to feed them that one flavor of Fancy Feast exclusively becus i think it does have preservatives, tho this one flavor was still mentioned favorably by a consumer rating service I came across.

I spent a long time browsing the aisles at Petco and reading the fine print of the ingredients. I finally settled on Max Cat, where the first 5 ingredients were all meat, no fillers or by-products. I bought a case or two, but looking at the label at home, i realized Max Cat is made by Nutro, and I remembered reading some thing bad about that company, so i went back online and got an eyeful, enough to convince any cat owner never to buy their products. Excessive amounts of zinc leading to death as recently as last month and that kind of stuff.

So I schlepped back to Petco and returned it all, browsed the shelves once more and was really not wanting to shell out $1.39 a can on the top-shelf brands like Natural Balance or Wellness, though they're top-rated. I found something called Natural Cat at about .99 a can, bought a bunch of it, brought it home. Like an idiot, i was so preoccupied reading the ingredients labels that i failed to notice on the front of the label that this food is also made by Nutro! AAAGGH.

I'll have to go back to return it tomorrow. I wish there was something mid-priced I could find that was healthy and safe. The supermarket brands, 9 lives, friskies and so on, are filled with junk. The good brands are very pricey, and my 2 cats go thru a lot of catfood. Sigh.

If anyone's curious where I'm getting my info from, go to www.consumersearch.com and type in "canned cat food" in the search box and you'll see a very informative article ranking all the various canned cat food brands.

I figured that fasting for 24 hours would be the hardest part. Wrong. Sure, I was hungry, but by watching a movie and running a few errands, I kept myself occupied with other things. Although I did eat 8 servings of Jell-O.

I picked up some groceries at Shop Rite so I'd have some good things to eat today after the procedure. Even though I KNEW I was fasting, apparently, if you're not constantly mentally focused on that, your body still instinctively gravitates toward food. There was someone handing out food samples there and without even realizing what I was doing, i picked up one of those little cups and got as far as lifting up the fork with some canned peaches on the end when i said, You idiot! You can't eat that!

Later, when i was watching TV that night, all the food in the commercials looked SO good, even the stuff i wouldn't normally eat, like Taco Bell. It was kind of funny. I found myself daydreaming about food.

The fun started last night at 6 pm, the time at which I was supposed to drink the "Movi-Prep" which I had mixed that morning and refrigerated. It's about a full quart of clear, syrupy liquid. You drink one-quarter of the bottle every 15 minutes so that after 1 hour, you should have drunk the whole thing, and then you chase it with 2 glasses of water.

Well, Movi-Prep tastes god-awful. I mean, GOD AWFUL. I could only manage 2 swallows at a time, and then i had to pause to let the involuntary gag reflex pass. It was really, really difficult to down that whole thing, and after also drinking the water, I felt like a bloated Blimp.

I figured I'd go to be early, at 10 pm, since i knew i had to get up at 5:30 am, 4 hours before the actual procedure today, to drink another quart of Movi-Prep.

Things were relatively uneventful prior to 10 pm, but from 10 pm until 4 am, i was up roughly every 15 minutes to go to the bathroom. My stomach was doing somersaults and loudly protesting the invasion of this disgusting syrup i had drunk. I was exhausted, but managed to sleep from about 4 to
5:30 a.m. I tried drinking the 2nd liter, but could only finish a third of it. I don't care, I thought to myself, the docs are probably just wanting to be "thorough" and they probably won't even notice any difference when they do the procedure.

Another reason i chose not to finish the 2nd dose (even tho the instructions said in bold, all cap letters that i must) is becus i realized that if i was running to the bathroom for 10 hours after the first dose, that would mean i'd be doing the same right up until the colonscopy and for hours afterwards. I seriously wondered how i'd make it in the car ride there (H. was driving me) in that condition.

So we got to the hospital. I hate hospitals and I'm a bit of a baby whenever I have to go to one. I'm in the room and 5 different people are fussing over me, the anesthesiologist is asking me about allergies, someone's sticking an IV in my arm, someone's rolling me over on my side to position me for the Grand Event, someone else is putting the heart monitor pad on my other arm, an oxygen tube goes up my nose, geez. It was a little alarming if you're not expecting it.

When I came to, the doc said she had removed 2 small polyps and that I have to do this again in 2 years, not 5, partly due to "poor prep." I then admitted i hadn't drunk the full 2nd dose and complained to her about the taste. She said they were soon coming out with something different.

I'm just glad it's over and done with and i guess it needed to be done. My step-mother died of colon cancer when she was just 3 years older than how old I am now.

It wasn't one of my best, in fact, it was fairly unpleasant. It was supposed to be a lunch interview with 3 people, but when i arrived, the lunch was off becus V. had to pick someone up from the airport. Fine with me. Having to worry about slurping soup or getting lettuce stuck between my teeth while doing my best dog and pony show is not my idea of fun.

It was a fairly unorthodox interview. He started right in asking probing questions about my experience in a certain area and i felt like he was trying to expose all the fallacies in my resume. I was feeling very much aware that I did not have answers to all his questions about driving traffic to a website and SEO stuff, until later in the interview he acknowledged that they didn't have all the answers either, but i felt that he was testing my knowledge.

What was just as troubling to me was the demeanor of the 2 men who worked for him and who sat in on the interview. The one brought in a laptop and was typing away on it for the whole interview, presumably taking notes on our discussion. Both were very stiff, unsmiling and seemed very ill at ease in their boss' presence, perhaps becus they knew how he was going to grill me. I noticed once, glancing down, that the other guy, who seemed extremely introverted, had his hands clenched together under the table. He said very little.

I have to contrast all this with my interview at my last job, where everyone seemed so welcoming, encouraging and friendly.

After I left, i took the elevator down from the 9th floor, found the 4th floor atrium, from which you take a different set of elevators down the garage. I had trouble finding my car. I wandered around for some time, even though i had written down that i had parked on Level 1I. As a woman, i have never liked parking garages from a safety point of view. Then I tried to leave through one gate, but no one was in the little booth and there seemed no way to punch my parking ticket, which the office i'd interviewed at had validated for me. The woman in the SUV behind me said i'd have to exit out the other exit, and i got thru ok.

I decided after that interview that, though i don't expect an offer, I would decline one should I get one, based solely on the commuting distance. I tried driving down there one way, and driving back another way, and it was a full hour during non-rush hour part of the day. I really couldn't picture myself dong that drive every day. On top of that, i just got bad vibes from these people and it didn't seem like a very nice place to work. The money's not so important that I'll sacrifice my happiness, or my sanity, for it.

I caved this morning and have the heat now set at 62. It was 55 in the house this a.m. and that's just too darn cold.

Over the weekend I was contacted out of the blue by someone i didn't know, who said he owned a mortgage company and wanted to talk to me. We set up an interview today for tomorrow am. It's a lunch interview with 3 people. I'm just a wee bit nervous.

What was cool is that this person contacted me via Linked In, which is a testament to the power of LI.If it wasn't for Linked In, he probably wouldn't have found me.

The big problem is that the job is about an hour's drive. I've so wanted to get OFF the treadmill, not go back on it.That commute in bad weather can expand to 2 hours +. He did indicate on the phone they'd be amenable to my working 4 days in the office, 1 day at home, but they really want someone there most of the time.

My town doesn't have train service. Neighboring towns do, but by the time you factor in enough time to get to the train station, it's a pretty early start. Many of the town parking lots have waiting lists for parking spaces, so that's a hassle, too.

So i have mixed feelings. The job looks very much like what i was doing at my last job, which i liked, and the pay should be good. In fact, if i end up committing to that commute, i'll be damn sure to name a much better salary than i made before.

So my reluctance over a long commute, which i've done before, very much overshadows my initial enthusiasm for the job.

Still, I sort of got the sense that this job wasn't necessarily being advertised on the job sites, which, if true, would be a huge advantage to me. Perhaps they didn't want to be inundated with unqualified applicants.

When i called the guy, i was a little unprepared as i browsed their website and assumed they'd be offering me work as a freelancer, so when they offered me a permanent position, i was both pleased and surprised.

But working down there would likely end up being a 12-hour day if you include the commute. Being single and having to maintain my home, etc., that means being exhausted and tired at the end of each day, and not wanting to go anywhere on the weekends. Been there, done that. However, i am quite confident that if i took this job, it would easily be $15K more than what i made before, or more. That's not chump change, and i do have my long-term financial goals to think of.

AAGGHHH.

So my sister picked me up for the wedding reception around 4 pm. Then we drove to next town over to pick up her boyfriend.

We hung around there for a while. I admired their now fully grown Rottweiler female, CJ. I saw her when my sister first got her as a puppy; she had been abused and was very timid and skittish. The dog proved too much for my sister to handle, so she gave her to her boyfriend. My sister, a cat person, had no idea what was involved with training a dog.

The change in her was amazing; she was very calm, laid back and friendly. She is also huge, about 75 pounds. It's too bad that breed has such a bad name. It's really all in how you treat an animal.

Both my sister and i had printed out Mapquest directions to Manhattan, but surprisingly, we had 2 different routes. We chose her route and aside from the traffic we encountered before the Whitestone Bridge and the rest of the way, it was uneventful and we made no wrong turns.

There was the most spectacular vivid red sunset behind the NY skyline; you could see the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. I realized it had been a long time since I'd seen such a sunset becus CT is so hilly.

Becus my dad had mentioned the place had valet parking, I pictured it as a banquet hall, but it was really just a restaurant in the heart of Chinatown. We lucked out and found a space on the street practically in front of the restaurant. There were still members of the public eating in the front while the wedding party was blocked off in the back.

We were asked as we entered to sign a large red (for good luck) card for the couple. Then, in a sea of about 200 Chinese faces, we found my dad and K. and my brothers and my older brother's new wife. She looked really lovely, with the perfect, petite and slim figure many Asians have. (I'm so jealous.) She wore a lovely wedding gown-looking gown without the veil or train. (Later, she changed into an elegant, tight-fitting, sleeveless Asian dress.) The 2 of them looked very handsome together becus they are both slim and have black hair.

They were taking pictures, so soon my sister and i joined the other family members for the family photos. I hope they come out well.

Then to officially start the evening, they had various people walk under the flowered archway down a carpet and to the head table as they were announced: my dad and K., my brother and the maid of honor, the bride's parents and then my brother and M. When i watched my somewhat shy brother with M. on his arm, everyone applauding, out of nowhere a few tears came to my eye. He's all grown up now. I remember when he was just a toddler and a little boy. I used to throw a softball around with him or play with his Tonka trucks together. (My sister and I, from my dad's first marriage, were born about 10 years earlier.)

I sat at a table of 8 with my sister and her boyfriend, an older couple who are good friends of my dad's and 5 other people (2 couples) who were all friends of my brother's. They were all young (in their 30s) and very attractive looking, right out of Melrose Place. I tried striking up conversation with them, for instance, learning that the guys knew my brother from playing 8th grade hockey together, but they weren't especially friendly, just keeping to themselves. I notice that kind of thing a lot. When you're out socializing with people you don't know, there are 2 kinds of people: those who are mature enough, and i do think it's a sign of maturity, to want to get to know someone new and will find things to talk about, and those who don't. Se la vie.

Now for the food, which i was greatly anticipating. There were 12 courses (!), and each course was placed on the lazy susan in front of us as a waiter served up plates for each of us. The restaurant was a "seafood palace," and so almost all of the food was seafood, which normally i would like, but i guess much of it was a little too far from what I'm accustomed to and i passed on a lot of it.

It's not that I'm not adventurous, but most of the food seemed to have the same consistency: gooey and stringy. Even the crabmeat and shark fin soup, which i know is a delicacy, was incredibly stringy and goupy as the waiter ladled it out of the big bowl; it just sort of turned my stomach.

Most of the others at our table also watched the food suspiciously and poked at what they were given. Everything was served with the entire animal. The unknown fileted fish had its head of course, as did the sole chicken dish, with the chicken head. The lobster head was outfitted with blinking colored lights in place of its eyes.

Then there were red baby octopus which i rather felt sorry for, as well as huge shrimp (these were good), snap peas (good) and wilted spinach (good), plus a bit of pork (good), jellyfish (!! not good, I thought it was sauteed onion).

The first course, lobster, was good, but it was strangely paired with little sliced pickles and gobs of mayonnaise with a side of cubed green melon also coated with mayo! There were various seafood items I couldn't tell what was what. Each serving was pretty small, so if you found something you liked, you weren't able to get more of it.

There was an emcee with a microphone who was so loud and obnoxious it was difficult to talk the entire night, with or without the music. Some people gave up on shouting in others' ears, so we all sat mutely, looking at each other.

The emcee would say everything in English, and then in Chinese. There were various little Chinese games that I've never encountered at other weddings. He had us take out all the $1 bills in our wallets and look in the serial number for the wedding date, 10/10, a good omen. (I know my brother and M. had wanted originally to get married in September, and I'm quite sure they were trying to do so on 9/9/09, as the Chinese are big on these lucky dates.

Surprisingly, many of the guests began leaving not long after dessert was served, so the 3 of us from Connecticut were relieved to get going as well with our long drive ahead of us. We bid farewell to all our family, big hugs all the way around and promises to visit later this month. We left around 9:45 pm and got home a little before midnight.

My sister got a little testy driving back becus despite her having said on the way down that her sense of direction was like a homing pigeon and she "always knew" how to get home from someplace, she didn't know where to go and was demanding that either me or her boyfriend tell her. So since i was the only one with reverse directions, we went home my way this time and it worked out fine.

It was an interesting experience. I'm glad I was able to be at an important milestone event for my brother and i hope they are happy together. I think financially they will do quite well together. They had met at work. She has a good job now at a different place. My brother had been laid off a while back but lucked out with a temporary p/t job that payed $70K. Now he's been hired on full-time at the same place. My dad tells me that both are big spenders and always "buy the best." I guess with that type of taste they will need good incomes.

I was also happy to meet someone I had only met once before, probably 30 years ago; the brother of my dad's late second wife (my late stepmother and my brothers' mother, whom they lost when they were around 20, to colon cancer...she had never been screened, and she died at 53). Hence my colonscopy this Friday. Anyway, he looked older of course, but he still had the same mustache after all these years. He's a dentist.

I also had little snippets of conversation with various others. I had asked my younger brother, a mechanic, for advice on axle boots, and he launched into a very detailed answer. I could see out of my peripheral vision that his date was there, perhaps wanting to be introduced, and i wanted to interrupt him to have him do so, but by the time i had a chance to do that, she had wandered off, probably thinking us both rude for not acknowledging her. Oh well.

I started reading November's book discussion club choice; i think the title is Dixie Land Jam. For some reason, i thought it was about the Revolutionary War, but it's not at all.

I was reading all day, and I'm nearly halfway through the novel.

In a little while, I'll be getting ready for my brother's wedding. Or reception, that is. He and M. already got married so he could get on her health insurance plan after he lost his job a while back. They got married by a justice of the peace, but tonight is the big dinner reception. Since she is Chinese-American, I'm anticipating lots of great, authentic Chinese food.

Actually, that's not a bad way to do it. Never one for the spotlight, I'd just as soon skip the wedding with all its expenses, and just have a nice party. This one is going to have lots of Chinese people there who don't speak English; my side of the family will be much smaller. I hope they seat me with my dad and K. so i have someone to talk to; my sister will be ill at ease, i'm sure.

Despite having no job, my gift to them is a crisp $100 bill inside a card. I'm sure they'd prefer the $ above anything else, and i don't know their taste anyway. Still, it hurts to part with that money, but weddings don't come around in my family that often... i think my brother's around 39,and the 1st of 4 of us to get hitched. My sister and I, from my dad's first marriage, are much older than him and won't likely ever marry.

My sister and boyfriend are coming to pick me up in an hour, so i don't have to drive alone. I'm pretty sure sis won't want to stay very late, which is just fine with me. She's allowing 3 hours to get down to Brooklyn, which is pretty ridiculous, 2 would work fine, but i guess it's up to her.

I'm wearing some very nice black velvet kulats, for lack of a better word. They come down to about knee height but are pretty wide, so they look dressy. My top, a v-neck and 3/4 length sleeves, is also velvet, but a burgundy color. And simple black pumps which i haven't worn in like 10 years.

Well, better get ready.

Just a reminder for those participating in the No Heat Challenge...you have to tell me when you do turn it on, and in what state you live, so we can all compare.

Next week looks chilly here in CT with daytime highs just in the 50s, so I hope I can still squeak by. I need to get past Oct. 18 to beat last year's personal best (for me).

I had a flicker of interest from 1 of the 6 jobs I've applied for. They wanted to see writing samples, which was easy to supply, i have so many. This job doesn't pay as well as my last job, though, and it's another longish (45 minutes) commute. Still, it would pay better than unemployment. The top of their pay scale is still $5,000 less than my base pay at last job, or $12,000 less if you count my bonus there, too. I should get a job interview there, I'm fairly confident.

Didn't do a darn thing today. It's always the way it goes with me. When I'm super-busy is when i get the most accomplished, and when I have plenty of free time, I get lazy and get much less done.

I had planned to do some job-related work today, attempting to apply what I learned in the resume development webinar to my resume, but the warm and blustery day beckoned.

As often happens, the forecast was full of warnings of power outages and tree branches down after a night of heavy rain followed by gusty winds up to 50 mph.

Perhaps my town was lucky. No outages, but the gusty winds sounded like a mid-winter nor'easter, except that the temps were in the 60s, it was sunny and this was October.

I'm trying to use my time productively and not obsess over the job hunt. I'd also like to shed some pounds, so out I went for a long walk, about 85 minutes in all.






These gourds were on display outside a local apple orchard.

The walk was lovely. Acorns rained down, threatening to plunk down on my head, but didn't, and the leaves were blowing around in the sunshine. I coaxed one small snake to the relative safety of the roadside; it's that time of year they often get killed as they try to soak up the last bit of warmth on the asphalt. Another garter snake quickly slithered away without any coaxing from me. I saw a house with a sign for free range eggs and i committed the phone number to memory. Ever since eating my sister's chicken eggs for the past year or two, i really find a huge drop in freshness and quality in commercially bought eggs, so while i don't eat them every day, I think it's worth it to spend a little more on them every once in a while.

Also went to the dump, got a card for my brother's wedding and a crisp $100 bill as my gift.

Caught in the Act: Cow in the Cornfield

Snapped this photo on a recent walk near home. It reminds me of one of those children's puzzles where they ask, How many animals can you see in this picture?

On my return route, the cows were in a separate area where the farmer was repairing fence posts and we chatted briefly. He said, How've you been? I haven't seen you walking lately. This startled me, becus we actually haven't really met before. It reminds me of how, when you're a walker, everyone seems to know you becus you're so visible, although you don't know them!

I did once meet the farmer's wife. I'm in the habit of walking on this road becus it's low traffic, scenic and peaceful, but it means i have to get in my car to go there cus the road connecting us is very busy. It's just a 2 minute drive, and then i park away from the farmhouse, by the cornfields. One time, the farmer's wife was passing and she stopped, rolled down her window and said, you're not stealing our corn, are you? But she said it in a friendly way. I didn't want her to worry, so I assured her i was only there to walk and told her where i lived.

Here's a beautiful old barn I pass along my route.


Weathered, austere, functional. That says New England to me.

On the same walk I came to another old farm. I was saddened and shocked to see it's being developed. I knew it was coming because as long as a year or more ago, i saw pipes stuck int he ground at intervals; perhaps they are for gas lines. An old man lived there; he had a home health aide I often saw at the house. Perhaps he died, or went to a nursing home. In any event, the property is beautiful. The old house, close to the road, was in bad repair, with the front porch sagging, but it had at least 5 extremely large barns. When i walked by, the dozer had just finished flattening the main house and nothing was left but a whole lot of dust and an old stone foundation. The dozer had already made passing slashes, it seemed, at one of the barns, whose roof was caved in. I felt so sad, as if i was witnessing the death of a friend. I'm sure luxury homes and new roads will go in there. What a shame to lose yet another small piece of my town's farming heritage, and the peaceful views they held.

There was a group of men standing and watching the remains of the house. The scene to me just inspired incredible sadness at something being lost, but I could tell, looking at them, that this was all in a day's work. I was tempted to ask for one of the 2 weather vanes on the barn closest to the road, but i didn't , assuming they would sell it to salvagers since everyone knows the value of that stuff nowadays.

I continue to tinker with my resume, both the one I use for job applications and the very similar version that's on Linked In. I've spent a lot of time on it, but i do think it's a great deal better. With careful cuts to much older jobs, I have managed to keep it to 2 pages still. I'm only showing the last 10 years worth of jobs, which also camouflages my age.

I'll be starting a series of job training modules for the coming weeks, a perk that came with my layoff. I can tell from the orientation that it will be worthwhile, addressing topics separately like negotiations, resume development, interviewing, etc.

Yesterday i did very little. My excuse was the rainy weather. I did squeeze in a walk right before dark, so i hit my 225-minute weekly quota of exercise. The rules I've set for myself is that the exercise has to come from either walking, biking, kayaking or lawn mowing.

I also did a lot of reading of a book that it turns out i won't be making the discussion for as it will be the night that i'm prepping for my upcoming colonscopy. But i figured I'm halfway thru the book so i should really finish it. It's a WWII novel.

I've got money on the brain, lately.

My unemployment benefits haven't even started yet, but I'm still thinking, aside from my freelance work and full-time job search, of little things I could do to drum up a little extra money.

The price of gold, i think, is still up there, and while i don't have a lot of valuable jewelry, I do have one piece i'd be willing to part with. It's a pretty Cleopatra style necklace in yellow, white and rose gold. It was purchased as a gift for me by an ex-boyfriend in a very unhealthy relationship, so in a way, i wouldn't miss that memory of him. I recall he paid about $300, having negotiated the price down with the jeweler from some higher price over 20 years ago. So i'm thinking, if i could sell it to a local jeweler here for at least $500, i'd be pretty happy. I only wore it on special occasions and while i might miss it a little, i think i'd get over it.

I keep calling my contact who manages the focus groups to try to make a quick $100 or so giving my .02 but i can't seem to reach her. I keep getting her machine. Since she never returns calls (she deals with too many people), it's no use leaving a message, i just have to keep trying. She's always there; maybe she's on vacation or something.

I was also thinking of posting some things on Craig's List. I have 6 brand-new windows screens of a specific size. You never know. Plus a hanging pendulum style, punched tin lamp and assorted stuff like that. I just don't feel i have the energy to "learn" how to eBay. It seems too complicated to me, so i prefer to stick with CL and not have to worry about schlepping to the PO and shipping stuff.

I got a 2nd recommendation from a colleague on Linked In. An old boss and longtime patron of mine has also agreed to do a recommendation, but i think she's having trouble navigating the Linked In site. She's also trying to get me work at her company. Another freelance contact who owns a local fitness club returned my email and as a matter of fact might have some PR work for as they're undergoing renovations now and their 10th anniversary approaches. A college roommate has also agreed to trade recommendations with me, though hers will be tougher to write since we've never actually worked together. They'll have to be based more on character and generalities, not specifics.

About that "patron" reference of mine. We all meet a lot of people, on and off the job, but over the years, i can look back and say with certainty that their have been 2 people who (aside from my parents) have been my biggest fans and supporters. One was the woman i mentioned above. She was my boss and thought everything i wrote was great. I worked for her once, a very long time ago, and then 15 years later, she needed a writer again and tracked me down. We talked on the phone and i got the job, the only time i ever got a job without the interview, the portfolio, the references. One reason i did so well when i worked for her was becus she gave me a great deal of freedom and latitude to develop my own ideas without being forced to conform to an arbitrary set of directions or guidance.

The other big supporter in my life is my friend Barb. She's about 10 years older than me and long ago when i was in my 20s i rented a room in her beautiful home on Cape Cod. Years ago she moved to PA and is there still. Our friendship has been mostly long distance, with few visits, yet still there is a very strong bond. I don't know why, but she see something to be admired in me. I'm certainly unaccustomed to that kind of attention, so i'm extremely grateful.

I decided to look up in my old blog posts what date I finally turned the heat on last year. I figure, that's the date I want to beat this year, by at least one night, preferably more!

I turned on my heat in 2008 on October 18.

Brrr. So i have a few more weeks to go, and it got mighty chilly here last night, down to 59 degrees inside.

It's harder this year becus I'm home all day long.

A friend V. stopped by after she got done with a job interview in my town. She thinks she did ok.

Another person who got laid off, a graphic designer, helped me reformat my resume once, and then today he sent me his resume redesigned a 2nd time, and all i could say is "WOW" and can you do mine like that too? It looks very professional, very clean and very much like a resume of a graphic designer should look like. It really stands out.

Another former colleague returned the favor and wrote me a nice reference for my Linked In profile.

Gosh, i'm so in touch with everyone, it seems like we're all still working together!

Then my dad called this a.m. and invited me down for a visit since i now have plenty of time, so i think i'll go down there for an overnight after the wedding.

Tomorrow is my first scheduled webinar from the job training/consulting service my company provided me, for just a month's time. I plan to most if not all of the modules, including a free critique of my resume. It can't hurt.

As for who won the No Heat Contest last year, I see from a December 13 08 blog I wrote that I still had, as far as I knew, 3 semi-finalists:

1. sevenofseven - Northern California
2. nomorecredit- NY
3. swimgirl - Northern California

No one ever got back to me, I don't think, so I'm not actually sure who won!