when the past comes around...

met my old lover in the grocery store / the snow was falling Christmas eve
i stole behind her in the frozen foods / and i touched her on the sleeve

when i was in 9th grade, i fell in love/developed a crush/had it bad for a guy i had gone to school with since kindergarten.

it was bad.

the guy and i were friends. always had been. but it killed me when he would date my friends, leaving me alone on the sidelines with my secret crush.

ah, the stuff Hollywood romantic comedies are made of.

she didn't recognize my face at first / and then her eyes flew open wide
tried to hug me and she spilled her purse / and we laughed until we cried

we recently reconnected again, like so many of us are, via Facebook. we've texted back and forth, as is the custom of the day. he's married. kids. i'm married. no kids. two cats. 

he emailed a while back, to let me know he was changing jobs and would be out here in the Smogberry Trees for training. we need to get together for dinner and such.
bring la-la too, he said.

la-la is my code name for his old girlfriend, my friend in the day. suddenly, i was 15 again, with my feelers hurt. 'um, hello? what about me? am i so invisible to you that you can't see me standing here?'

went to have ourselves a drink or two / but couldn't find an open bar
we bought a six pack in a liquor store / and we drank it in her car

it's amazing that, no matter how we age, or how mature we are, or even whether we're married, single or other...that all it takes is one blast from the past, and we are immediately transported back to that age, that situation...that feeling that you had then.

the three of us sent emails and decided on a date for dinner. being that we're all Mexican food freaks (and that he, having lived WAY out from the Smogberry trees, does not have the best access to good Mexican food), decided as well on a place the Husband found with killer food and a open access refrigerator with beer. help yourself, be honest and tell your server how many you had.

the date approached when la-la came down with the flu...texting to say that we would need to reschedule for a different date when she felt better. i passed the message on to him, feeling that pit in my stomach. dang it, i was so looking forward to that night...to seeing him and to take that oh so fun trip to Yesterland. 

imagine my glee when he said he didn't want to cancel. he wanted to see me.

we drank a toast to innocence / we drank a toast to now
tried to reach beyond the emptiness / but neither one knew how

so the Husband and i met up with him  - and like the lyrics from this Dan Fogelberg song, it was was another auld lang syne. we're both the same...and we've both changed. time has worked it's evil magic.

we've lost parents. loved ones. had heartbreaks. job change & loss. and while time for us has stopped from where we last saw each other, it has marched on and left its scars.

we laughed - all three of us. the Husband has things in common with him...they talked. i would look at him and think that his eyes were still as blue as i remembered. he talked quieter than i remembered. i could still make him laugh...hard.

we drank a toast to innocence / we drank a toast to time
we're living in our eloquence / another auld lang syne

dinner was long...we ate slow (for a change), talked, talked, and in between beers, talked.
i found out about his kids. talked about the high school reunion we had last year. he talked about how he didn't have many friends in high school.

i didn't realize that. i seemed to be the social butterfly, flittering between different friends that brought different colors to my page. i, in my cocoon of innocence (read naivete) just assumed he did the same.

youth can be oh so self centered.

although i didn't share with him, i remembered a time where he & i went to a ball game and we cuddled and semi-made out in the back of the bus. i thought it was a turning point. apparently it wasn't, but i wondered if he remembered or thought about it.


i was sure he didn't hold it in a gossamer-lined box in his heart for a good part of his adolescence like i had.

we finished dinner, paid the bill and walked outside, still talking. he said the next two Thursdays would work for a rematch of dinner...hopefully with la-la this time. my 15 year old heart soared and then plummeted. but i looked at him, and at my Husband and realized that a) he wanted to see me even without la-la and b) despite issues every marriage has, that i got to go home with my Husband and not be hundreds of miles away from a family i missed.

we hugged. and kissed. my 15 year old self was happy. my 48 year old self was happy as well. happy to reconnect. happy to be where i am in my life. happy to be the Husband's wife.
happy. and still a little bit of 15 again.

the beer was empty and our tongues were tired / running out of things to say

just for a moment i was back in school / and felt that old familiar pain
and as i turned to make my way back home / the snow turned into rain

'Same Auld Lang Syne' - lyrics Dan Fogelberg

here we go again...

interview #3 @ 3pm today.

i did my best peptalk before he left: it's only an interview, it's not life or death, i'm not leaving you even if you DON'T get the job...blah, blah, blah.

and i do talk a mean b.s.

so, i'm off to take some pictures and hopefully it'll keep my mind off the whole stressful time.

but i doubt it.

updates to come - hopefully followed by a employment start date.


edited: he just called, a little bummed. after dang near three hours interviewing, there's MORE interviews to come; they want him now to interview with another mucky-muck in the company, the managers he would be working with AND their client.

let's talk about frustrating, shall we?

stimulating the economy - at home and a broad.

hmmm. rather TITilating, TITle, wouldn't you say?

c'mon - 'stimulating'? 'broad'? 'TITilating'????

that's funny. because i still have a junior high sense of humor. don't believe me? check this out.

so - after a horrible, angst-filled day yesterday, and a beyond boring, horrifying and humorous night at school last night...

horrifying & humorous you say? read on...

last night, i'm at photo class, waiting for it to start, playing solitaire on my Nintendo DS. there's a woman in front of me and a man next to me (the very same man who gave the most gawd-awful, boring lecture on Adobe Lightroom - for a moment, i was back in beginning algebra, wishing for death to take me.) and another woman next to him.

those two were chatting away, with the woman in front of me occasionally jumping in the conversation, then jumping out again.

then -

woman in front of me turns around to the other two. chipper as can be. "oh, i've wanted to ask! how's your husband liking retirement?"

wait for it....

"he died. two years ago."

you could've cut that silence with a knife.

the woman in front of me apologized most profusely. wishing, as i know i was, for the floor to open up and swallow her whole. and while i was horrified, feeling terrible for this poor woman, at the same time, i was biting the inside of my lip, realizing the black humor in the situation.

and black humor for me rocks.

after a few minutes, woman in front of me got up, walked over and apologized most profusely to the other woman, who accepted it graciously. as she should.

the boring part - the man next to me who did the presentation on Lightroom. (linda, my friend, you should've been there. he would've cured your insomnia in a heartbeat.)

i dang near dislocated my jaw several times during the presentation. and high tailed it out of there at break.

so today, my mom & i had a date to hit the Scrapbook Expo, down in the OC Fairgrounds. i sometimes dread these dates, only because my mom, God bless her, canNOT get around worth a darn, and does not recognize her own limitations. so - she does too much, messes herself up again, and THEN my stepfather gets mad at ME because I was the one who invited HER.

so, after a so-so shopping experience, in the rain, we came home. and before i could share my limited purchase with the Husband, he announced his own economic stimulus package:

he has a third interview up in Chatsworth next week.

i was ready to rejoice, when he said that they had called and scheduled it for next Wednesday, THEN they called again and moved it up to Monday - at 3:30 p.m.

(not that i understand why it is that these people don't understand that AFTER the interview, the Husband has to drive home. in prime drive time gridlock.)

now there is much rejoicing in the land - not about the gridlock, about the third interview.

makes me almost wish i had bought more stuff today.
more to follow.

B's Big Day - Part Two.

after a 2 hour & 20 minute interview, he's still not employed.
but he's a little closer - and has one more person to interview with.

at least this time they told him more about the company: health plans, 401k, stuff like that.

y'know - the IMPORTANT stuff.

he's thinking he wants to buy a round trip ticket on Metrolink (our local commuter train service) just to see how long it would take from here, to L.A. (where he'd have to change trains) to Chatsworth.

then he heard from the company in Mission Viejo (remember? the one with FOUR INTERVIEWS) that they are considering him for a temporary position OR that they decided to take the one job he interviewed for and split it into two jobs and that he could be a candidate for that.

all the while, he found a few more possibilities and turned in resumes.

*sigh* the saga, unfortunately, continues.

B's Big Day.

fingers crossed?
check.
four leaf clovers picked?
check.
rabbit's foot rubbed?
check.
wishbone pulled?
check.
goat sacrificed?
ch...um - check that.

the Husband has an interview today - it's up in East Egypt, but hey - it's a job. i'm very interested in becoming one less of the 8-10% of the unemployed in this country.
and i know he is too.

updates to follow.

there is a disturbance in the Force.

here, in Mostly Smoggy Southern California, we are currently experiencing a phenomena that has, quite literally, set the populous on its ear.

it's been raining.

rain, i realize is no big thing. heck, in the Land of My Peoples (aka Oregon), it's a common occurrence.
here, not so much.

it's been raining off and on for the last three days. and, while just one day of rain is frustrating, have it rain for that many days and you can watch my fellow citizens slowly be driven insane.

Southern Californians have no idea how to deal with rain...or any weather for that matter. as a society that lives in our cars on the freeway, when it does rain, the experts tell us to slow down.

it.doesn't.work.

people here do one of two things as they drive in the rain: they freak out and s-l-o-w w-a-a-a-a-y d-o-w-n, or freak out and drive like maniacs.

wait. we drive like maniacs anyway.

while the rain makes my Husband depressed, it makes me feel all giddy inside. i would be perfectly happy watching it rain for hours.

just not from the inside of my car.

speaking of us driving like maniacs...when the Husband and i were commute dating (he lived in San Diego County, about an hour and a half from where i lived), before i discovered the glory & wonder that was the train, i drove.

and i could tell you, without even seeing a sign, what county i was in just by the way folks were driving. in San Diego, if you wanted to change lanes, the attitude was "cool, dude. just go for it, save the whales, heal the bay and stay cool." by the time i would hit the O.C., it was "duuuude. do you really have to change lanes? OK, then - be cool."

in L.A., it was "dude. change lanes and i will bust a cap in yer ass."

driving here is fun. pack (heat) accordingly.


in unemployment news...
a couple of weeks ago, the Husband had his 4th interview with a company in the O.C.
they sent a Dear John letter, stating that they've decided to not fill the position, due to the recent economic downturn.

really? recent? where HAVE you been?

but he does have another interview with a company in Chatsworth on Tuesday. the rumor is that they really, really like him; i just hope they really, really hire him.

Chatsworth, by the way, is about 45 minutes from us. not a fun drive.

especially when it rains.

psyche.

well, he's back, but he's back here.

apparently he forgot the password for the original, made a new one, found the password and merged everything back together.

boys. whatcha gonna do.

stalkers - take your marks!

well, lookit who's back in the blogging world.

'bout time, too.

please adjust your links accordingly.

oh, Magoo...you've done it again.

and dang it, if you have to ask who Magoo is, you ARE young.

get out.

kidding!




yesterday i went to my hair appointment. and before you start yawning, trust me. there is a point to my story.

really. i'm not just rewording my daily planner.

and while i'm leaned back in the shampoo bowl, my stylist (i know - it sounds Hollywood, but i can't stand the word hairdresser. don't ask me why.) says, 'hey, i have a proposition for you.'

well - i'm laying on my back and you've got a hose full of water. if i say no, i'll be drowned. i'm good with whatever you say.

'i was wondering,' she said, 'what you were doing November 1st?'

nothing, i say. i'm pretty sure my calendar's clear.

'well,' she says, 'maybe you would be willing to come over to my daughter's first birthday party and take pictures for me. if you would, i would comp today's services.'

wait....what?

look, i say, i'll be more than happy to take pictures for you. i'd love to, i'd love the practice and all but please let me pay for today.

'nope. that's the deal. you don't take pictures, you pay for the cut.'

that went on for a few minutes. finally i caved.

and now i have non-buyers remorse.

what the heck was i thinking? taking pictures of someone's child? and their first birthday party to boot?

i get lucky sometimes with the camera. and my ego gets all that, and thinks it can do anything.

now, i guess i gotta prove it.




in other news....

Brendan started up with a service called Job by Fax - for x amount, they will fax his resume to all the companies in the categories he picks. he joined up on Thursday.

on Friday he got four calls. one want to see him Monday.

this could rock.

i'd be oh so happy if this pays off. fingers crossed, kids. prayers sent. no goats, though.

we've got standards y'know.

oh boy.

the Husband got cut loose from the sleep study early yesterday and wasn't too happy.

not about getting cut loose, but about the results. turns out he has sleep apnea, and they want him on a C-PAP machine. i'm hoping insurance covers it, because if it doesn't, i told him he just may have to die in his sleep.

SO kidding.

at the hospital, (which he said was more like a hotel room) he was probed, prodded and hooked up to electrodes from head to feet. the worse part, was the goo they attached the probes to on his head...he kept washing his hair over and over after he got home to get the goo out.

then there was the fact that he couldn't sleep. well...he could sleep, but when he would pause in his breathing, the nurse would come in and wake him, taking vitals and such.

it reminds me of being in the hospital...you can't get any rest because the nurses are in every hour or so taking your temperature, blood pressure and asking how you're sleeping...which i know they have to do, it's just ironic that you need to rest to heal but can't.

they fitted him last night with the 3 Bears of CPAPs. one was too tight (claustrophobic), one was too weird (tubes in his nose, felt freaky) and the other was just right...well, as right as something over your face is gonna feel.

now that work calmed down somewhat, for me anyway (i was covering for one of my teammates who had a dozen ants in her house and lost her mind...but that's another post. maybe. i stayed until 6:30 pm Tuesday and missed my photo class, came in @ 6am yesterday and stayed until 4:30) i can satisfy my control freak issues and do some research on this whole thing...and see if i can hear the radio commercial again, where the local news sportscaster had used the CPAP, but went to something else.

being a control freak is fun.



in other news....

my 14 year old self is coming out to play and should be in full force by Friday.

i'm seeing the Osmonds.

ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh
ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh.

a friend i work with, who is another Osmond freak, got the tickets. i don't remember if i was here with y'all when we got tickets to see Donny @ the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. totally cool. totally fun. totally hysterical to see an auditorium filled with mostly pre/post menopausal women, acting like they were teenagers again.

not me. i never was a screamer - sorry. and yes, you can read into that whatever you want.

so Friday, it's back to Cerritos to see Wayne, Merrill, Jay & Jimmy. it'd be totally cool if Donny would make a surprise appearance, but i'm not holding my breath, since he & Marie are doing a show in Vegas.

what's funny is, while my friend and i both like Donny, she actually liked Jay better. now that we're both (sort of) grown up, we're both thinking that Jimmy was the one we should've liked.
even though he was a butterball as a kid, he was starting businesses at the age of 13 and turning in tax returns.

he's been doing a lot of different businesses since. real estate. marketing. performing. i think that, even when the Osmonds lost most all of their money in the 80s, he was the only one not in financial trouble.

dagnabbit. mom was right - always go for the smart one.
i hate it when she's right.

rock on, Sleeping Beauty.

the Husband spent the night Tuesday night at the hospital.

no worries. he's not sick, and no, i didn't smack him in the back of the head with a frying pan.

not that the thought hasn't crossed my mind occasionally.

he's always been a bad sleeper and B's doctor decided to sign him up for a sleep study. thank heavens. the man never has slept well, usually waking up in the middle of the night, and, comes out to eventually fall asleep again in our recliner. with the TV on.

at least here, perhaps they can do something to help. although, i know i'll be hearing about it, especially if it involves one more med for him to take. and, of course, the other scenario is that last night was his best night's sleep ever.

talk about irony. especially if you consider i've been up since 2:45.
maybe i should be there, too.


in other news...

i had decided i wasn't going to bitc....er, complain any more about work...at least for awhile. i'm still working and i'm blessed. i know it.

but...

yesterday was a bad day at Black Rock. my group was short a person...due to an ant invasion at her house. (and the scary thing is, there only was about a dozen or so...according to her neighbor and my friend)

so i got pulled off of my temporary query coordinator post and back on the incomplete reports. with lots of books going to the printer, we were hopping. then, @ 3:45 yesterday afternoon, the paging supervisor came over and wanted to know if we were going to be complete on the El Paso, TX book.

um, excuse me? you sent out a paging schedule for the day with the book broken down into four sections and now you want to send the whole thing in one shot?? and you ask this an hour and 15 minutes before the book is due?

oh good grief.

it turns out that this is one of those books that is published in full size AND a mini size. it involves reducing the size at the printer. OK. we forgot. but duuuude. remind us of that earlier in the day.

ready to start running around insanely? GO!

we, the supervisors, myself and another lead, ended up staying until 6:30 last night. and we weren't done with the book. heck, how could we? we had no ad designers left in house, our vendors weren't responding to my many desperate emails.

so today doesn't bode well for paging success as well, which is why i woke up @ 2:45...i honestly cannot remember if i emailed on EVERYTHING paging today or not.

then came the bloody nose.

i'm sitting here, freaking myself out that i haven't emailed, when i think my nose is running.
looking down on the blanket i wrapped around me, i find i am wrong.

so now i'm tired, stressed AND i have a bloody paper towel i need to get rid of before CSI starts investigating.

man. i wonder if i can get in on that sleep study.

someone out there wasn't on board with the snake oil.

no such luck for the job.
now he's incredibly cranky because of the economy, and the bail-outs and all.

dang.

prayers again. that he finds a job soon, and that i don't lose my mind before that happens.

prayers, por favor.

whether you believe in prayer or not, light a candle, say one, or sacrifice a virgin - good thoughts would be oh so appreciated today. the Husband has an interview @ 10 am today...

he needs a job. and i need to stop being the man about the house.

well. they'll let ANYONE on the internet these days, won't they?

well, look who's back, kids.

and i think the only reason i AM posting is because the Husband is not currently at our domicile. he's been hogging the damn thing worse-n-a crack whore.

hmmm. crack whore. that's a little strong, isn't it? so - where were we?

Brendan
after all was said and done, the first job of 2008 gave him the heave-ho. sorry, but we can't afford you. sorry, but i think you should get a clue as to how much money you make and spend before you do anything else and inconvenience anyone else in your current or former employ.

still bitter? you betcha.

he's been looking off and on, now since he's officially out of work, more on. i talked him into driving up to his brother's in Northern California to do some camping with the Bro and Bro's boys. good on them, a little male bonding is always in order. it also gave B a chance to do a road trip with the new wheels.

oh and to not shower for three or four days. gross. OH and to go poo in a hole in the ground. totally gross. once again, the Princess sez i like camping at the Marriott.

he was gone for a week. i missed him like crazy.

back to the unemployment crap - fingers crossed, kids, he got a call from a VP of HR for a company he had gotten a hit on, they want to talk to him next Tuesday. it would do everyone in the family good to have him working again. all i can say is, thank God i'm covering him on my insurance and the car payment. it would be beyond stressful (or more than it is, already) if i had that on my plate.

it's all about me. deal with it.
after all, it is my blog.

needless to say, it's been a little stressful here, and, with no 'net to vent on, well...i remember why i have a blog - it's cheaper than therapy.

last week, i had a breakdown. the kind where you work too late, walk out to your car, start crying and cry the whole.way.home.

yeah. that's fun.

at my work, we've been offloading work to overseas vendors - that sucks. it was hard enough to clear reports when everything was in one house, much less when it's in two overseas locations. so as our vendor commitments grew, so did my job. add to that we have two deadlines for our paging departments - one @ 11am, the 2nd @ 5.

i wasn't making a 5pm cut off, much less an 11am one. i hated my job.
i hated myself.

but after crying for an hour after i got home, i knew something had to give. i couldn't any more.

the next day - we on the reports team had a meeting with the graphics manager. what's going on, why are we having problems, blah, blah, blah. she started out with some other points, then went around the room and asked my compadres what teams they were responsible for, what they did, and did they feel overwhelmed?

girl #1 - oh, i care for one team. everything is good.
girl #2 - me - i care for one team, no problems here!
me - um, i care for 7 teams, i create the schedules we use and I AM COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED!

hmmmm - balance in all things, and there ain't none herebouts. the manager, having pity on me, split up seven of my teams between the three of us, and gave girl #1 one of my schedules to care for.

and yes. i feel better. but, after the meeting, the manager (who also hosted one of my showers before we got married, i've worked for for years and am friends with) came by my desk and says, 'do you feel better?'

well, yes. it's just been so much, and...

manager: i know. you've got too much on your plate, and not only that, i know it's bad when i see you and you look like shi....ca-ca.

well. that's reassuring. not only am i not doing my job, but apparently i look like poop.

manager - you lost your smile. i need that.

i do too. i just wasn't finding anything to smile about.

i am now.
now just give my Husband a job and i'll be freaking hysterical.

i started school Tuesday - a photography class offered by the local community college. 10 weeks of one night a week that's all about me.

i'm so superficial.

we'll be covering f-stops and all the stuff i have no idea how to do. then at the end of the class we go on two field trips - Balboa Island and another location to be named later.

cool, huh?

i'm really excited about it. i cannot wait till Tuesdays.

there you go, Gentle Reader. a way too long synopsis on what's going on in our bloody boring lives.

and to think you waited weeks for this.

it's good to be back.

you know what sucks?

this year.
this year totally sucks big (and small) ones.

it started out with B being unemployed. which went on and on and on.

then his truck was totalled out by the insurance company.

then he finally got a job.

then he got a new car.

yesterday he was put on hiatus.

really? i didn't know you could do that to a person. perhaps a crappy TV show for retooling. but a job?

this year sucks.

now, while neither of us are exactly sure what a job hiatus is, we do know this. the company he works for, their largest client cut their advertising with them by half. so, their knee-jerk reaction was to put B on hold for two weeks.

decorum and respect for my husband prevent sharing my opinion here. but if you know me, and most of you do, you've got a pretty dang good idea what i thought.

and what i still think.

so we'll see what happens - they should know if B stays or is voted off the island by end of next week.

in the meantime, i for one will be glad to kiss off 2008.

and it's only August.

happier posts later.




OK - that was long enough.
the Kindergartener and her mom called me today - and believe me, that call made my day.

the Kindergartener lost her first tooth today - it was sideways, and, when she showed her mom, my sister in law told her to pull it out.

which she did.

ohgoodmoogleygoogley. not a chance in hell i could do that.

so the Tooth Fairy is making a stop in Reno tonight, extracting teeth and leaving a fiver. why a fiver? because the Fairy ran out of cash when the Boyo lost his first tooth and it was either a $5 or a $20.

sometimes, the Fairy needs an assistant.

but, they both know now that, while the Tooth Fairy leaves $5 for the first tooth, every subsequent one only nets $1.

i'm hoping for photos of the toothless wonder. hint, hint, Maureen.


here's hoping tomorrow is a better day.

monday.

he went to an auto parts swap meet out in Pomona yesterday; Pomona is about 40 minutes from us, and sits next to what we call mountains out here.

it gets hot out there. Africa hot. and lately here tis been hot AND humid. what a lovely combination! it's like getting poison oak AND an infection down there.

and girls, you know what i mean.

he came home looking like he should be on a plate with some lemon wedges and lotsa drawn butter.

i didn't go, i stayed home and had the fun of laundry. i was gonna play with some stuff, but it was just too dang humid in that room to do that, so, i let him have the fun.

new one here. happy monday, y'all.

i lost some days.

what did YOU do this weekend?
if it involved anything other than spending it in car dealerships, my hat's off to you.

we started the Glorious Fourth at a restaurant with my parental units and our Special Guest: my stepbrother, in town to visit his mom in San Diego, then his dad (my step-pop), then a road trip to Nevada to see a friend and visit wine country and bunches of other fun stuff.

off we went.

i do believe we've been to every Honda dealer in our local area...some of them B went to without me.

we've looked at cars a-plenty. driven some. heck, we even made a game of it: how long does it take before the sales weasels, er...staff hit us up. one dealership, it took over a minute. at another, it took 15 seconds.

15 seconds. i won that one.

it's possible he's narrowed it down to one, but he left work for awhile to take it to a repair place his friend recommended, in order to have it checked out.

so there could be a new-to-us car in our future. not to mention new-to-us-car-payments.

oh well.

i have to laugh, i think my boy is having a mini midlife crisis. he's insisting that this car have leather interior and a moon roof.

hmmm...beats the hell out of wine, women and song. but - he's diabetic, so no wine for him. women, well - he's married so that's out. that just leaves song...

he can have the leather and moon roof.

look who's back!

all i can say is, 'bout time.

go here.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiii've just gotta ce-le-brateeeeeee....

time to be gettin' do-wn wid mah own funky self.

jump back!!!

this year, we have gone from dual income-no kids, to dual-income-on-the-Government's-dime-no-kids.

and now i'm back to dual income no kids. no Government allowed.

he got a job.

yes, there is joy in Mudville. the Mighty Casey struck a home run.

can i possibly think of any other euphoniums? give me time.

this job is at one of the places i had said were commitment phobes; it wasn't an 'interview,' just 'chatting.' it reminds me of dating, i said. remember, i added, no one has a second date with anyone that puts out on the first one.

apparently he listened.

he had a second inter...chat this week.
they offered him a position.
he asked to think about it over night.

see? he is trying to kill me.

we talked. i lovingly told him if he didn't take it, i would hurt him. badly. then he decided to 'negotiate.'

oh great googly moogly.

his offer was, since he's on my insurance, could he instead take that money the company would be spending anyway and get a little more pay?

at this point, i was on the floor frothing at the mouth. and again, if you mess this up, i will not only hurt you but i may hurt you to death.

lovingly, of course.

the guy went for it. Brendan starts Wednesday. i think i heard angels singing.

the only drawback? i gotta go back to my very unprincessy ways. you see, while he was off, he would do things around the house: dishwasher, bathrooms, vacuum, laundry. (but not the litter box. apparently he couldn't smell nor see the toxic cloud wafting from the room it's in.)

duuuuude. laundry.

i got kinda used to this princess way of life. i'm gonna miss it.

but i like him employed so much better.

what's happening in the clean world?

well then.

i think that's enough silence for, oh - say a monastery, wouldn't you?

and no worries, all is well in O'Mahonyville. just a few bad patches in a sucky year. believe me when i say that 2008 has blown.huge.chunks. and i will be truly glad to kiss it goodbye.

no tongue.

so - let's catch up, shall we?

B is still gainfully unemployed. the employer in San Diego turned him down for another candidate, and, while Brendan was ranting about how he was the best person for this job, i countered with reminding him that a) the job wasn't meant to be, so he should just get over it (i know. i am SO sympathetic), and b) the job wasn't meant to be because remember? we would need to move. THAT COSTS MONEY. and even if we didn't move right away, there would be the commuting. WHICH ALSO COSTS MONEY.

and c) if i had to, i would take the commuter train, but wasn't relishing spending 2-3 hours of my day on the bloody Metrolink.

which brings us to the job he's been chasing, right around the corner from our casa. they've played grab-ass for a few weeks now; employer making an offer, B countering with a slightly higher offer, employer saying no, well, what about this amount, B coming back with another offer. finally, employer said well, let me think that one over, call me in a few days.

B calls back in a few days. employer says, 'hey, you were supposed to call me on Friday.' B replies no, we decided on Thursday, remember? employer says, 'oh. you're right. well, sorry, but i can't swing that amount.' B thanks him for his time, and tells him to keep his resume on file.

B's fine. i'm pissed. this guy had already decided that he wasn't willing to pay what Brendan was asking, but did not have the common courtesy to call him and let him know before Brendan had to call? sheesh.

if he treats people like this who don't work for him, imagine what it must be like to work for this man.

but really...i've let it go.

really.



so - other than that...my mom says she's doing better with her knee healing after surgery, but, since she's compensating for the bad one, her good one is acting up. i know she's not feeling well when she cancels on her quilting social groups.

such a thing just does not happen.

i'm hoping she can get in to some PT soon...it made a difference with my back and i only regret i didn't get in before i went back to work.

meanwhile...i'm looking for a pedicure, a massage and peace for my soul.

oh, and a winning lotto ticket so i can sit around all day taking cooking & photography classes and making slightly cuter stuff out of other stuff.

if only.