It seems my life of leisure has kept me off the blog for a bit! And not much has changed! I dragged myself back to the gym today for the first time in two weeks and felt, ironically, just as sapped of energy as I did on the day of my most recent blog nearly three weeks ago! I attribute today's lack of motivation to the extra five pounds I seem to be hauling around as well as the general post-excitement letdown that follows a period of flurrying activity.
Thanksgiving was lovely - M and her roommate arrived on time and they spent a pretty low-key few days here. We had eight for Thanksgiving dinner and everything came out just wonderfully despite the fact that the pop-up timer popped an hour sooner than expected. I had bought a three crock-pot unit for the side dishes so they would stay warm while we waited for the bird, but they were not even prepared when the popper popped! But it all worked out, and everything was great. Well, except for B, who cut off the tip of one of his fingers chopping carrots for the meal. All was good, though, because the injury allowed him to exempt himself from any further service, and to sit for an hour with the hand elevated and watch a movie on his laptop. As of today, we are down to a bandaid for a cover, and I can see new skin beginning to form.
Otherwise, my professional life remains mundane. I was selected for participation in a workshop through the state, so I and about 50 or so other misfortunate souls gathered at the reemployment office to listen to our fate for the next month. We are to report back three times within this period, and we must document our work search efforts as well as bring resumes along for critique. A motley crowd we were, too, although I will say that the average age was perhaps even a few years greater than my own, which was interesting. I did somehow manage to secure a telephone interview for another job I had applied for online, but I have the feeling I just didn't quite answer half the questions correctly (that would be one of the two) so I may be among the group not granted the in-person follow-up. I'm to hear on this by the end of the week. If I do not, I am just to surmise that my rejection is complete.
And so there it is. I have passed some time by enlisting as an SPCA volunteer. I am a certified cat entertainer now. I completed my training on Saturday. So I go in and sit with the cats and pet them and play with them, and they sneeze all over me. Tonight I went out to the dollar store for a bag of tricks that I can bring the next time I go. My own neglected feline friends ripped everything out of the bag within two minutes of my having placed it on the table! After that we had a great time with all the feather toys, mousies and laser pointers. I hope my SPCA friends don't mind slightly used offerings. Even the dogs got in on the festivities. One of the toys I got for the resident kitties was a puff on a spring, attached to a carpeted square. I put that down by the front door, and five minutes later found it soaking wet on the opposite side of the house.
But in other news, today is Kevin's original birthday, but he prefers to acknowledge the event tomorrow; which he will do in Scandinavia. At the time of this writing he is en route to Finland, to return on Thursday afternoon. B had the day off from school today, so he will have a hard time shifting himself back into gear tomorrow. And as for me, I'm just thankful to have had a nice holiday, and a relatively presentable house!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
hope through the fog
What a miserable morning! The fog was so thick you couldn't see to the end of the block. A perfect day for a two-fer-one filling endured with severely chapped and unhealing lips! My lips have been so sore and dry and burning that I almost canceled this awful appointment, but in the end I felt like they would never heal anyway, so might as well just get it over with. Also, I have an appointment with the dermatologist tomorrow (the last of my scheduled torture sessions) so if there's a recurrence, maybe he can help me.
But the fog has lifted and the sun is shining, whether or not this is a metaphor for my near future I will soon see. I spent the better part of the morning just waiting to get feeling back in my lip, nose and eye but also enjoying the lack of the burning sensation! That has returned, unfortunately, but the good news is so has the rest of my face. Now if only I were motivated to do anything.
Yesterday was not a good day. I know why. It's because when I was driving to the Y in the morning, I was just driving along when a work van suddenly drifted out of its parking spot right into my path! I was so mad! So of course, I cursed him: "I hope you have a terrible day!" I hollered at the back of his truck, through the ladders and ropes. Punctuated with a glare when I passed him at a stop sign, I do believe that my curse came back to stick to me instead.
First, I had no energy at the Y. I have been battling a muscle pain in my hip since the summer and it flared up during the workout. The two machines that I like to use were both occupied, so I had to settle for one that faces a wall. Then, when I reached the indoor track to do my laps, the preschool exercise class came up and pitter-pattered around while their mothers recorded the event on their iphones! None of his phased me much, because, as you're probably thinking, this is pretty much a normal day for me so far. But it didn't really end there.
As the day wore on, I received in my email TWO rejections from online job submissions. Plans I had made to "mall walk" with a friend were foiled when B stayed at school longer than usual, and darkness fell. Not wanting him to suffer a goring at the antlers of a doe-hunting buck while walking home, I put his warm food in the microwave and waited around to pick him up. Then, while racing to get to the mall to get in a few quick laps, I came to a grinding halt in the mess of traffic, having completely forgotten that the rest of the world still goes to and comes home from work at a certain time every day.
But I got there and had a nice couple of laps and a few toothpick-servings of dueling Chinese/Japanese fast food offerings on the way. Thinking maybe God thought I'd learned my lesson, I decided it would probably be best just to keep to myself. Incidentally, I never did hear back from that interview a few weeks ago. Or so I thought. Kevin got home from work and announced a letter from them! It must have been sitting there since the day before, when I had my hands full and dragged up the empty garbage cans, wrapping the small mail in the large and then just setting it down amidst the mess, never to be given a second thought. Until the twist of the knife. Of course, it said, "NO JOB FOR YOU!" So, after that I went to bed.
And in other news, today will be the day that B finds out if he has secured a role on the mock trial team. I hope that he does, because two years ago he did not, he was told he was a "juror" and I had to drive him back and forth to the courthouse for the "trial" and all he did was sit there and listen. The "jurors" don't do anything because the judge decides the case; and he is an actual lawyer who volunteers to sit as judge. Then last year he wasn't able to make it that far because he decided to do swim team and had to start going to practices. This year, he isn't doing swimming and he's been to every meeting. But he's also working on the stage crew and they have their final meeting preparing for the play (which starts tomorrow) so if he gets put on the jury, he said he'd just leave and go to where he's really needed. So, fingers are crossed. More on that later!
Oh! And why did I forget? The meeting with the 'friend' of my former employer actually went quite well. I am, I have to admit, cautiously optimistic. But he's a pretty busy dude, so I hope that when the time comes, he remembers that he said he would help me. I'll follow up with pestering emails. So that's that.
But the fog has lifted and the sun is shining, whether or not this is a metaphor for my near future I will soon see. I spent the better part of the morning just waiting to get feeling back in my lip, nose and eye but also enjoying the lack of the burning sensation! That has returned, unfortunately, but the good news is so has the rest of my face. Now if only I were motivated to do anything.
Yesterday was not a good day. I know why. It's because when I was driving to the Y in the morning, I was just driving along when a work van suddenly drifted out of its parking spot right into my path! I was so mad! So of course, I cursed him: "I hope you have a terrible day!" I hollered at the back of his truck, through the ladders and ropes. Punctuated with a glare when I passed him at a stop sign, I do believe that my curse came back to stick to me instead.
First, I had no energy at the Y. I have been battling a muscle pain in my hip since the summer and it flared up during the workout. The two machines that I like to use were both occupied, so I had to settle for one that faces a wall. Then, when I reached the indoor track to do my laps, the preschool exercise class came up and pitter-pattered around while their mothers recorded the event on their iphones! None of his phased me much, because, as you're probably thinking, this is pretty much a normal day for me so far. But it didn't really end there.
As the day wore on, I received in my email TWO rejections from online job submissions. Plans I had made to "mall walk" with a friend were foiled when B stayed at school longer than usual, and darkness fell. Not wanting him to suffer a goring at the antlers of a doe-hunting buck while walking home, I put his warm food in the microwave and waited around to pick him up. Then, while racing to get to the mall to get in a few quick laps, I came to a grinding halt in the mess of traffic, having completely forgotten that the rest of the world still goes to and comes home from work at a certain time every day.
But I got there and had a nice couple of laps and a few toothpick-servings of dueling Chinese/Japanese fast food offerings on the way. Thinking maybe God thought I'd learned my lesson, I decided it would probably be best just to keep to myself. Incidentally, I never did hear back from that interview a few weeks ago. Or so I thought. Kevin got home from work and announced a letter from them! It must have been sitting there since the day before, when I had my hands full and dragged up the empty garbage cans, wrapping the small mail in the large and then just setting it down amidst the mess, never to be given a second thought. Until the twist of the knife. Of course, it said, "NO JOB FOR YOU!" So, after that I went to bed.
And in other news, today will be the day that B finds out if he has secured a role on the mock trial team. I hope that he does, because two years ago he did not, he was told he was a "juror" and I had to drive him back and forth to the courthouse for the "trial" and all he did was sit there and listen. The "jurors" don't do anything because the judge decides the case; and he is an actual lawyer who volunteers to sit as judge. Then last year he wasn't able to make it that far because he decided to do swim team and had to start going to practices. This year, he isn't doing swimming and he's been to every meeting. But he's also working on the stage crew and they have their final meeting preparing for the play (which starts tomorrow) so if he gets put on the jury, he said he'd just leave and go to where he's really needed. So, fingers are crossed. More on that later!
Oh! And why did I forget? The meeting with the 'friend' of my former employer actually went quite well. I am, I have to admit, cautiously optimistic. But he's a pretty busy dude, so I hope that when the time comes, he remembers that he said he would help me. I'll follow up with pestering emails. So that's that.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
week three is underway
And alas ... it happened. I have settled into complacency. I think I have applied for every listed position at every major university, hospital, business and employment agency in the NJ area, and as well as a few in NY. My careerbuilder and monster daily updates contain nothing but jobs I've already seen and submitted. And still I wait. No word on the interview from two weeks ago either. And remarkably, I don't even feel sad. Insulted, of course; not sad. That must be significant.
Over these three weeks, I've had a continuous onslaught of miserable personal appointments. I suppose it's convenient that all of this takes place with no disruption to an employer, but it sure is making it difficult for me to appreciate this little home-time I've suddenly been granted. On the other hand, being able to go to the gym whenever I want, be home when B gets back from school, and wander the empty house without interruption does soften the blow. And I *have* gone to the gym! Four times so far, and I'll go two more this week! I also replenished my supply of jeans, since the same few pairs were plenty when I wore work clothes five days a week. (Maybe I should have waited for the gym results to set in!)
I wander around town and everywhere I go, I bump into someone from my former life, when I didn't spend seven hours a day at a desk, wondering where my boss was and if he had anything he needed done. It reminds me of just how miserable I really was there, and how I need to focus on making the right move for my next chapter rather than jump into something that leads to nowhere and returns nothing.
Today is a noteworthy day, because I have a meeting with a cohort of my former employer; the poor man agreed to the meeting just to get the former boss off his back, and he has already rescheduled me once. I almost feel sorry that I have to take up his time, but I'll try to shake that feeling by the time I step into his office.I also discovered that there was also a career fair to which I had been 'invited.' I thought the fair was tomorrow, but in my spam folder this morning I found a notice that the day had arrived - today. Sad to say, I won't be able to make it due to the conflict with the aforementioned meeting. This revelation was not hard to accept: every single company is either an insurance/financial services firm looking for salespeople or an employment agency.
On the home front, we had a great weekend driving down to Virginia for M's meet. The girls did great, they did not expect to win any of the meets but in fact they beat two of the other four teams. A couple of the freshmen, one especially, are exceptional, and there are a few strong older girls as well. M is pushing herself harder than she ever did at this point in the season and her times are reflective of the effort. Unfortunately, in this D1 arena, those times aren't quite enough! I also believe she is training for distance, which is slowing her down on some of the shorter races. Her longer events are consistently impressive compared to past years' performances. It will be interesting to see how she does next weekend, when they rest for the meet in Boston.
And in other news, B has managed to complete the first marking period with only one grade below a B, and a GPA for the marking period in the low/mid-80s. This may not sound impressive but at his school and with his record, it's cause for celebration. He's also continuing with the tech crew, waiting to hear if he has a role for mock trial, attending the law explorers meetings and volunteering at the nursing home. He met with a guidance counselor yesterday who really wasn't too helpful other than suggesting a couple of 'safety' schools, which is where we were coming up short. It's really easy to come up with a long list of reach schools! But still we await the PSATs and then have to schedule the SATs before any of it means anything concrete.
Over these three weeks, I've had a continuous onslaught of miserable personal appointments. I suppose it's convenient that all of this takes place with no disruption to an employer, but it sure is making it difficult for me to appreciate this little home-time I've suddenly been granted. On the other hand, being able to go to the gym whenever I want, be home when B gets back from school, and wander the empty house without interruption does soften the blow. And I *have* gone to the gym! Four times so far, and I'll go two more this week! I also replenished my supply of jeans, since the same few pairs were plenty when I wore work clothes five days a week. (Maybe I should have waited for the gym results to set in!)
I wander around town and everywhere I go, I bump into someone from my former life, when I didn't spend seven hours a day at a desk, wondering where my boss was and if he had anything he needed done. It reminds me of just how miserable I really was there, and how I need to focus on making the right move for my next chapter rather than jump into something that leads to nowhere and returns nothing.
Today is a noteworthy day, because I have a meeting with a cohort of my former employer; the poor man agreed to the meeting just to get the former boss off his back, and he has already rescheduled me once. I almost feel sorry that I have to take up his time, but I'll try to shake that feeling by the time I step into his office.I also discovered that there was also a career fair to which I had been 'invited.' I thought the fair was tomorrow, but in my spam folder this morning I found a notice that the day had arrived - today. Sad to say, I won't be able to make it due to the conflict with the aforementioned meeting. This revelation was not hard to accept: every single company is either an insurance/financial services firm looking for salespeople or an employment agency.
On the home front, we had a great weekend driving down to Virginia for M's meet. The girls did great, they did not expect to win any of the meets but in fact they beat two of the other four teams. A couple of the freshmen, one especially, are exceptional, and there are a few strong older girls as well. M is pushing herself harder than she ever did at this point in the season and her times are reflective of the effort. Unfortunately, in this D1 arena, those times aren't quite enough! I also believe she is training for distance, which is slowing her down on some of the shorter races. Her longer events are consistently impressive compared to past years' performances. It will be interesting to see how she does next weekend, when they rest for the meet in Boston.
And in other news, B has managed to complete the first marking period with only one grade below a B, and a GPA for the marking period in the low/mid-80s. This may not sound impressive but at his school and with his record, it's cause for celebration. He's also continuing with the tech crew, waiting to hear if he has a role for mock trial, attending the law explorers meetings and volunteering at the nursing home. He met with a guidance counselor yesterday who really wasn't too helpful other than suggesting a couple of 'safety' schools, which is where we were coming up short. It's really easy to come up with a long list of reach schools! But still we await the PSATs and then have to schedule the SATs before any of it means anything concrete.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
just me and the other 6,999,999,999 people applying for those jobs
So I am officially on the unemployment line now. Thank goodness they do it all electronically these days, but even that has been a pain and I've been amazed at the amount of correspondence they sent. Maybe they could save some of that tax money if they would wait and send one comprehensive notice. First they told me they had received my claim, then they sent me the amount I would get. The next day I got a letter telling me that I had to have a fact-finding interview because I "may be receiving wages" after my last day of work (I'm not so I got that canceled at least). Then they sent me a hard copy of a handbook which I had been linked to and told "you will not receive this by mail so bookmark it." And yesterday I received a prepaid debit card on which I will be paid unless I sign up for direct deposit (which I was pretty sure I had done).
Anyway, tomorrow is the first day for me to certify my benefits. I'll see what happens after that.
As for the job search, it's bleak. I send out about ten or more resumes a week, mostly online either through one of the job sites or directly on an employer's website. I have filled in so many that I had to start a spreadsheet to track them, and still I don't even get a call. I have a meeting with a contact from my former boss next week, and I also signed up for a job fair which I found about via email from the state. I had an interview last week but although I felt I had a good rapport with the woman who interviewed me, I carried out the fear that I don't have the background they're looking for. That's the problem today. Any one person might be perfectly capable of performing these jobs and performing them well. But the odds are that at least one of the other 6,999,999,999 people will have done *exactly* what they want, and will know the exact computer software and office procedures.
So I sit at home and wait for something to happen.
It's very inefficient, too, this having nothing to do. The dogs follow me around every time I stand up, expecting great fun to materialize with each move I make. So we go for a walk and they get barked at, they bark at me when I stop to talk to neighbors, dogs chase us, one chases cars, the other chases squirrels, and I vow to never walk them again! I think we'll try the dog park this afternoon.
Otherwise, even the house cleaning proves elusive. I should probably just buckle down and do it but with such a vast expanse of TIME, what is the hurry? Not like it's going anywhere and maybe I'll need something to do tomorrow! At least this week I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday. But it's 45 minutes away and it's at 8am, because I made it nice and early so I wouldn't be very late for work.
And in other news, B's marking period is winding down and he is doing OK. At least he is showing a great interest in the college search and his top choices are out of his current range of GPA and PSAT scores. Of course, we will get the new PSAT scores next month and that will put him on a track for the SATs, which I guess he will take in March, if not before. He's also doing a law explorer program and volunteering at the nursing home, in addition to a couple of clubs at school. He won't swim this year, but I think that is the right choice. The commitment of time and money just don't justify the return that he receives, because he'd have to give up everything else that I just mentioned.
M should be coming into midterms but I have stopped asking after the jolt of her anatomy immersion shock (the bad first test, which was rectified by the second but I figured it stresses us both more if I keep asking) so we won't know how she has done until grades are posted somewhere, whenever that is. We will see her this weekend, probably briefly and from afar, when she swims in their meet in Virginia. Then in two weeks we go back to Boston, and after that, Thanksgiving! Time flies. I should probably put my time at home to better use.
Anyway, tomorrow is the first day for me to certify my benefits. I'll see what happens after that.
As for the job search, it's bleak. I send out about ten or more resumes a week, mostly online either through one of the job sites or directly on an employer's website. I have filled in so many that I had to start a spreadsheet to track them, and still I don't even get a call. I have a meeting with a contact from my former boss next week, and I also signed up for a job fair which I found about via email from the state. I had an interview last week but although I felt I had a good rapport with the woman who interviewed me, I carried out the fear that I don't have the background they're looking for. That's the problem today. Any one person might be perfectly capable of performing these jobs and performing them well. But the odds are that at least one of the other 6,999,999,999 people will have done *exactly* what they want, and will know the exact computer software and office procedures.
So I sit at home and wait for something to happen.
It's very inefficient, too, this having nothing to do. The dogs follow me around every time I stand up, expecting great fun to materialize with each move I make. So we go for a walk and they get barked at, they bark at me when I stop to talk to neighbors, dogs chase us, one chases cars, the other chases squirrels, and I vow to never walk them again! I think we'll try the dog park this afternoon.
Otherwise, even the house cleaning proves elusive. I should probably just buckle down and do it but with such a vast expanse of TIME, what is the hurry? Not like it's going anywhere and maybe I'll need something to do tomorrow! At least this week I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday. But it's 45 minutes away and it's at 8am, because I made it nice and early so I wouldn't be very late for work.
And in other news, B's marking period is winding down and he is doing OK. At least he is showing a great interest in the college search and his top choices are out of his current range of GPA and PSAT scores. Of course, we will get the new PSAT scores next month and that will put him on a track for the SATs, which I guess he will take in March, if not before. He's also doing a law explorer program and volunteering at the nursing home, in addition to a couple of clubs at school. He won't swim this year, but I think that is the right choice. The commitment of time and money just don't justify the return that he receives, because he'd have to give up everything else that I just mentioned.
M should be coming into midterms but I have stopped asking after the jolt of her anatomy immersion shock (the bad first test, which was rectified by the second but I figured it stresses us both more if I keep asking) so we won't know how she has done until grades are posted somewhere, whenever that is. We will see her this weekend, probably briefly and from afar, when she swims in their meet in Virginia. Then in two weeks we go back to Boston, and after that, Thanksgiving! Time flies. I should probably put my time at home to better use.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
facing the future
So now that I have had three weeks to adapt my thoughts to the fact that I won't have this job that I have, shall we say, grown used to - I am trying to get a grip on what my next move should be. I think I have finally been given a date, which is the end of the month. But I am stuck in this freakish twilight zone where I am working harder than ever and knowing that this will be nothing to me in a few weeks. It's a very dichotomous life!
I finally did receive a response from one of my resumes, but it is a travel into the Big City, so I have to give it some thought. I'm going to go in for a meeting (it's only an agency so nothing concrete will come of this initial meeting, and they also have an NJ office so that's good) on Wednesday. The agency places a lot of temps, which I learned are now called "contracted positions," which was my reason for responding to this ad in the first place: I thought, if I'm not sure if I'm ready for city travel yet, what better way to find out than through a "contracted position?"
The problems, of course, with that would be B and the pets. As long as B is still home, he can solve the latter issue. Once he leaves, presumably, for college, I guess we'd have to get a dog walker to come in. But this year is the immediate quandary: I won't be able to drive him anywhere during the week, which means no swim team through school. He can ride his bike to the gym, and the school is full of activities that he can stay after school for. But in bad weather I have always driven him, and with a foot or two of snow on the ground, he will not be able to get to school. But this is all the cart before the horse for now. On the other hand, the pay is double. And the cost is $330 a month on the bus + travel time. Local jobs seem scarce. It is a quandary indeed.
As for M, we 'skyped' with her the other night and she was sick with a cold, and she had a cut on her shoulder from the bathing suit strap! (I would have rather not seen that). I told her t take some medicine, which she did and said the next day she felt better. My little package of vitamins also arrived on that day; hope she is taking them.
Just today, she received the present I sent her, a small 7" TV so that she won't have to miss such historic events as The Office premiere ever again. Except that it's not just plug-n-play. She is going to have to figger out how to work it 'erself!! (Another reason to let your kids manage their own lives just a little before they leave your nest).
Well that is about all I can think of for now. Oh, yeah - in other news - I just found out that we have to go up to Boston on the 15th for a special sort of team parents weekend! I had had no idea. So I did get a hotel for just $125 a night. Kevin said he would try to find a freebie (I guess our impending poverty has him concerned, well I know it does, since his solution to the demise of our big TV was to plug in an old 13 inch on the family room rug!)
I finally did receive a response from one of my resumes, but it is a travel into the Big City, so I have to give it some thought. I'm going to go in for a meeting (it's only an agency so nothing concrete will come of this initial meeting, and they also have an NJ office so that's good) on Wednesday. The agency places a lot of temps, which I learned are now called "contracted positions," which was my reason for responding to this ad in the first place: I thought, if I'm not sure if I'm ready for city travel yet, what better way to find out than through a "contracted position?"
The problems, of course, with that would be B and the pets. As long as B is still home, he can solve the latter issue. Once he leaves, presumably, for college, I guess we'd have to get a dog walker to come in. But this year is the immediate quandary: I won't be able to drive him anywhere during the week, which means no swim team through school. He can ride his bike to the gym, and the school is full of activities that he can stay after school for. But in bad weather I have always driven him, and with a foot or two of snow on the ground, he will not be able to get to school. But this is all the cart before the horse for now. On the other hand, the pay is double. And the cost is $330 a month on the bus + travel time. Local jobs seem scarce. It is a quandary indeed.
As for M, we 'skyped' with her the other night and she was sick with a cold, and she had a cut on her shoulder from the bathing suit strap! (I would have rather not seen that). I told her t take some medicine, which she did and said the next day she felt better. My little package of vitamins also arrived on that day; hope she is taking them.
Just today, she received the present I sent her, a small 7" TV so that she won't have to miss such historic events as The Office premiere ever again. Except that it's not just plug-n-play. She is going to have to figger out how to work it 'erself!! (Another reason to let your kids manage their own lives just a little before they leave your nest).
Well that is about all I can think of for now. Oh, yeah - in other news - I just found out that we have to go up to Boston on the 15th for a special sort of team parents weekend! I had had no idea. So I did get a hotel for just $125 a night. Kevin said he would try to find a freebie (I guess our impending poverty has him concerned, well I know it does, since his solution to the demise of our big TV was to plug in an old 13 inch on the family room rug!)
Friday, September 23, 2011
fall frenzy
It's fall this morning! In an effort to further procrastinate having to go get ready for work, I've decided to tend to the long-neglected blog. Where to begin?
So B is back in school and so far he has had a few tests with moderate success. I'd like to see him ace everything in the beginning because it never gets easier than it starts out and he needs the scores to bolster his GPA. But so far so good as far as we have been told. He's been to a few afterschool activities, including mock trial and he had planned on attending a swimming meeting, but they postponed it until next week. We're not sure if he will be able to swim because (a) they said they might effect cuts this year and (b) the pool is half an hour away and I don't know where I will be working or what hours by that time.
He also joined a gym and has been going a couple of times a week, as well as playing tennis. So he is beginning to feel better about himself, and he's gained a fair amount of weight so he no longer looks like a skinny string bean, and he doesn't have paunch either.
As for me, the job life is not good! Just as I was getting used to the longer hours (and nearly normal sized paychecks) they have been sucked right out from under me! My boss has informed me that he will be moving his practice an hour away, and I am not invited. I think I have been offered the opportunity to inquire as to whether or not I am needed there, but I get the feeling it's not with him. Or, if it is, I'd have to take less pay and drive farther to earn it. He is joining forces with a guy who has an existing staff of three, so I have become a redundancy.
My plan for now is to continue to put out feelers: my original agency says things are very slow right now, and I have completed countless online applications for jobs that have had hundreds of other applicants. As luck would have it, I am still on a sub list as a classroom aide (not a teacher anymore) in the schools, and I plan to keep my job search at this level until he finally cuts me loose. At that point I will file for unemployment, try to sub as much as possible, and contact temp agencies for interim assignments. With the economy, who knows if this will work. It's served me well in the past, but it did take me a full year to find the job I have now, last time I looked. The difference this time is that I am willing to move to full time now. It's only four hours a week more, and financially pretty much a requirement!
Just a few latitudes to our north, M is loving her new life as college student, Division 1 athlete and dorm dweller. Although I hate that she is in the dorm she is in. It's so far from everything else and her roommate seems to march to the beat of her own drum, which often finds M out alone late at night and needing to get back to that remote tenement safely. The campus has an escort service which I hope she will use when the weather is cooler and the streets are less populated. We have only 'spoken' to her once via skype, but we have almost daily contact with her through texting and messaging. No grades or swim results yet, but we are looking forward to next weekend when we can watch their intrasquad meet on the university's internet sports channel. Exciting!
And in other news, one of the downsides of the fuller time work schedule has been the neglect of home, garden and pantry. If I do end up with a break between jobs I plan to buckle down and whip things into shape. Since M is bringing her roommate with her at Thanksgiving, I really have to make sure the house is presentable! I booked their plane tickets the other day and they were $300 each! I could have had them for $100 had I booked in August but I didn't know swim schedules or if the roommate was really coming. They had discussed it online, but In Real Life can sometimes be another story. Although in retrospect I should have just done it, even paying the $200 and losing half of it would have been less than the $300 I spent on M's share. The roommate will pay us back, but not for a while. I booked them both together just to make sure they got on the same flight!
So B is back in school and so far he has had a few tests with moderate success. I'd like to see him ace everything in the beginning because it never gets easier than it starts out and he needs the scores to bolster his GPA. But so far so good as far as we have been told. He's been to a few afterschool activities, including mock trial and he had planned on attending a swimming meeting, but they postponed it until next week. We're not sure if he will be able to swim because (a) they said they might effect cuts this year and (b) the pool is half an hour away and I don't know where I will be working or what hours by that time.
He also joined a gym and has been going a couple of times a week, as well as playing tennis. So he is beginning to feel better about himself, and he's gained a fair amount of weight so he no longer looks like a skinny string bean, and he doesn't have paunch either.
As for me, the job life is not good! Just as I was getting used to the longer hours (and nearly normal sized paychecks) they have been sucked right out from under me! My boss has informed me that he will be moving his practice an hour away, and I am not invited. I think I have been offered the opportunity to inquire as to whether or not I am needed there, but I get the feeling it's not with him. Or, if it is, I'd have to take less pay and drive farther to earn it. He is joining forces with a guy who has an existing staff of three, so I have become a redundancy.
My plan for now is to continue to put out feelers: my original agency says things are very slow right now, and I have completed countless online applications for jobs that have had hundreds of other applicants. As luck would have it, I am still on a sub list as a classroom aide (not a teacher anymore) in the schools, and I plan to keep my job search at this level until he finally cuts me loose. At that point I will file for unemployment, try to sub as much as possible, and contact temp agencies for interim assignments. With the economy, who knows if this will work. It's served me well in the past, but it did take me a full year to find the job I have now, last time I looked. The difference this time is that I am willing to move to full time now. It's only four hours a week more, and financially pretty much a requirement!
Just a few latitudes to our north, M is loving her new life as college student, Division 1 athlete and dorm dweller. Although I hate that she is in the dorm she is in. It's so far from everything else and her roommate seems to march to the beat of her own drum, which often finds M out alone late at night and needing to get back to that remote tenement safely. The campus has an escort service which I hope she will use when the weather is cooler and the streets are less populated. We have only 'spoken' to her once via skype, but we have almost daily contact with her through texting and messaging. No grades or swim results yet, but we are looking forward to next weekend when we can watch their intrasquad meet on the university's internet sports channel. Exciting!
And in other news, one of the downsides of the fuller time work schedule has been the neglect of home, garden and pantry. If I do end up with a break between jobs I plan to buckle down and whip things into shape. Since M is bringing her roommate with her at Thanksgiving, I really have to make sure the house is presentable! I booked their plane tickets the other day and they were $300 each! I could have had them for $100 had I booked in August but I didn't know swim schedules or if the roommate was really coming. They had discussed it online, but In Real Life can sometimes be another story. Although in retrospect I should have just done it, even paying the $200 and losing half of it would have been less than the $300 I spent on M's share. The roommate will pay us back, but not for a while. I booked them both together just to make sure they got on the same flight!
Saturday, September 3, 2011
the end of our life as we knew it
So, a chapter has ended and a new one has begun. In a flurry of summer-end activities and last minute preparations, M is a college student. The move in actually went fairly well, we had the great fortune to be offered lodging with family just twenty minutes (in an ideal world, which we now know Boston at rush hour is not) from the school. We arrived and were given thirty minutes to unload into "bins" which were really just giant garbage cans for M's building, because the halls and elevators are so narrow that nothing else will fit.
We set about preparing when some hired movers converged upon us, and began to boss us around and rearrange. I, who had prepared a nice "bin" filled with manageable (for me) and easily controllable items, was told to take one of the containers packed by Kevin instead, and the professional mover took my light one. The one I was left with had a printer and a television perched and about to fall off, and I had to wheel the heavy bin about two blocks through the streets at a trot, trying to keep up with the rest of them. M was charged only with carrying a few handheld items. B had wisely opted not to join us. Good thing, because he would not have fit anyway!
So in the end, we managed, the printer had to be rescued and I managed to keep the TV at bay. The poor thing was returned home anyway, as M's room is so pathetically tiny that there was no place for her to put it. Her roommate has a large monitor which she put on her desk, and says she can stream live TV through that if they ever want to watch. Whatever. How do you live with no TV? Beats me. I can't sleep without it. But she will have to!
It is strange not having her around, but really not all that different. She responds to our texts, not prying but if we have something to tell her, such as that one of her classmates - yet another - was killed in a car crash yesterday morning. It wasn't someone she was close with, and perhaps not even someone she knew at all. But I texted her to let her know and that opens a short dialogue: so as best we can tell, she is having a great time, she eats but doesn't seem to exercise (I guess there will be plenty of that to come shortly) and she gets along well with her roommate ::knock wood:: but doesn't seem to be finding many kindred spirits in her dorm; they missed a meeting last night because they didn't know about it until later, they have been spending their time with kids from a neighboring dorm, I believe.
There are a couple more days of this welcome week, and then they have some mandatory advising and information meetings, as well as the President's Convocation and the Freshman BBQ. Classes will start on Wednesday. I hope she has her books! I got her two on amazon and left the rest up to her because I couldn't find them any cheaper than what the bookstore was charging at school.
Otherwise it's been quite a summer. We have survived almost nightly thunderstorms, random tornado watches and warnings, a hurricane and even an earthquake! M became as always unnaturally brown after spending every single day in the blazing sun, although I was grateful for at least a few cloudy days this summer. B had a busy summer as well, with volunteering at the hospital and a nursing home, and tennis camp on his days off. Now he has one more week to study his summer reading books before he has to return to school on the 12th. But his big news will be the driving. He should have his permit by Tuesday afternoon. Only one more two hour session with the driving school stands between him and the piece of paper with his name on it. And lastly on B, his neurologist rescheduled his appointment this year so it's been put off until the 20th of September. It's quite likely he will be sent for an MRI this year since it's been so long and he's grown so much. So please remember to storm the chiari gods for good results! He has been feeling fine. We even bought him a gym membership for his birthday. He goes on Monday for his inaugural session.
And in other news, the house is a disaster as my job has moved to full time, but I plan to spend the rest of this weekend trying to whip it into shape. We were lucky not to sustain any Irene damage, thanks to the waterbug in the basement that alerted us to the fact that water was just pouring in through a hole in the foundation, which was supposed to be sealed off around the pipe it had been cut to house. We only lost power for about ten hours and the backup sumps worked wonderfully.
After this weekend, it will be back to reality. Kevin has been on vacation but goes back on Wednesday. And our next big excitement will be when we go for Parents Weekend the third week of October. We are bringing the dogs because (a) it's cheaper to do that and (b) this way we know M will be sure to come and see us for a minute!
We set about preparing when some hired movers converged upon us, and began to boss us around and rearrange. I, who had prepared a nice "bin" filled with manageable (for me) and easily controllable items, was told to take one of the containers packed by Kevin instead, and the professional mover took my light one. The one I was left with had a printer and a television perched and about to fall off, and I had to wheel the heavy bin about two blocks through the streets at a trot, trying to keep up with the rest of them. M was charged only with carrying a few handheld items. B had wisely opted not to join us. Good thing, because he would not have fit anyway!
So in the end, we managed, the printer had to be rescued and I managed to keep the TV at bay. The poor thing was returned home anyway, as M's room is so pathetically tiny that there was no place for her to put it. Her roommate has a large monitor which she put on her desk, and says she can stream live TV through that if they ever want to watch. Whatever. How do you live with no TV? Beats me. I can't sleep without it. But she will have to!
It is strange not having her around, but really not all that different. She responds to our texts, not prying but if we have something to tell her, such as that one of her classmates - yet another - was killed in a car crash yesterday morning. It wasn't someone she was close with, and perhaps not even someone she knew at all. But I texted her to let her know and that opens a short dialogue: so as best we can tell, she is having a great time, she eats but doesn't seem to exercise (I guess there will be plenty of that to come shortly) and she gets along well with her roommate ::knock wood:: but doesn't seem to be finding many kindred spirits in her dorm; they missed a meeting last night because they didn't know about it until later, they have been spending their time with kids from a neighboring dorm, I believe.
There are a couple more days of this welcome week, and then they have some mandatory advising and information meetings, as well as the President's Convocation and the Freshman BBQ. Classes will start on Wednesday. I hope she has her books! I got her two on amazon and left the rest up to her because I couldn't find them any cheaper than what the bookstore was charging at school.
Otherwise it's been quite a summer. We have survived almost nightly thunderstorms, random tornado watches and warnings, a hurricane and even an earthquake! M became as always unnaturally brown after spending every single day in the blazing sun, although I was grateful for at least a few cloudy days this summer. B had a busy summer as well, with volunteering at the hospital and a nursing home, and tennis camp on his days off. Now he has one more week to study his summer reading books before he has to return to school on the 12th. But his big news will be the driving. He should have his permit by Tuesday afternoon. Only one more two hour session with the driving school stands between him and the piece of paper with his name on it. And lastly on B, his neurologist rescheduled his appointment this year so it's been put off until the 20th of September. It's quite likely he will be sent for an MRI this year since it's been so long and he's grown so much. So please remember to storm the chiari gods for good results! He has been feeling fine. We even bought him a gym membership for his birthday. He goes on Monday for his inaugural session.
And in other news, the house is a disaster as my job has moved to full time, but I plan to spend the rest of this weekend trying to whip it into shape. We were lucky not to sustain any Irene damage, thanks to the waterbug in the basement that alerted us to the fact that water was just pouring in through a hole in the foundation, which was supposed to be sealed off around the pipe it had been cut to house. We only lost power for about ten hours and the backup sumps worked wonderfully.
After this weekend, it will be back to reality. Kevin has been on vacation but goes back on Wednesday. And our next big excitement will be when we go for Parents Weekend the third week of October. We are bringing the dogs because (a) it's cheaper to do that and (b) this way we know M will be sure to come and see us for a minute!
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