Snow-y Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I got a new bird with feathers filled with catnip - I mean, what could be better?

It's been a kinda quiet day here; it was raining, A LOT, this morning - loud thunder which made me a little jumpy. I'm fine when I'm in the house however. After a while it got quieter. My staff person looked outside and said, "Well, it's snowing now."

Living in Texas I have to admit I totally forgot what 'snow' is. However, I do not like to go outside after it's rained, because, well, you know....it's WET. I really hate for my tender little paws to touch the damp, ya know? So I took a couple of naps and then this afternoon I decided it was time to go outside - surely everything was dry now, right? So, I started whining. And meowing. And moaning. And groaning. And finally my staff person could. not. STAND it anymore so she got up and said, "Fine. We'll see how you like your toes being frozen." First she just opened the door and that cold blast of air hit me in the whiskers and I changed my mind (Women are allowed to do that, you know....).

So, I took another nap. When I woke up I had forgotten about the weather outside, and only wanted to BE outside. So I started up again, and she didn't say a word, just walked to the back door and let me out. Well, I zipped out this time...only to suddenly realize...the deck was now an inch deep in that cold stuff. Well, I tried to act like it really didn't matter, and I was going to go over, go down the stairs and go out into the yard. Only, my toes kept getting colder and colder.

I got to the top of the stairs and decided that, really, this was NOT what I wanted to do. I gingerly turned around and carefully picked my way back to the door, where my staff person was, sorta, well, smirking at me! She opened the door and I ran in to the kitchen where the warmth felt soooooo good!

Anyway, that's my Christmas story. I hope all you felines and canines (oh, okay, the two-footed staff people too, I guess...) have had a wondermous day, and enjoyed spending it with those near and dear to you. Oh, and got special treats, too! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good mouse!

Tis the season

Well, it's been a little busy here; hope you'll cut me some slack. My wonderful nephew married his sweetheart on November 2, which entailed a trip to Austin. The wedding was wonderful and the weather was perfect. However, I'm sure glad I don't live there - the traffic is worse than horrific.

I was next privileged to get a quick weekend trip up to Amarillo to see one of my dearest friends for two days, then came back on Sunday and dumped the suitcase only to repack for an 'official' business conference Monday morning in, wait for it, Austin. The hotel was closer out than in, and I never left the hotel vicinity until time to head back home. I also was not driving this time. Managed to miss a dental appointment while in Austin.

For some insane reason I invited my brother and sister-in-law for Thanksgiving, volunteering to cook. Now, you must first be apprised of the fact that I do NOT like to cook, yet I put together a complete Thanksgiving meal with home-made Pumpkin-Ginger Soup, a Turkey, dressing, baked sweet potatoes, rolls and desert. My sister-in-law brought broccoli for something green. We had wine with the meal, and hot tea with the desert. It was mahvelous and I think I surprised them. ("You mean you did all this by yourself?") Oh, I can cook. I just don't like to and choose not to so much.

The day after Thanksgiving I had out of town company, including the dear friend I had seen only two weeks before (Yay!), and my oldest friend - someone I've known since we were in 7th grade Sunday School together. We did the town, ate some barbeque, drank way too much wine, met another friend...for drinks...had pizza, saw the largest liquor store I've ever been in and just had a great time. Oh, and did I mention I was also frantically trying to put up Christmas decorations?

I almost didn't decorate this year, because, well, it's an ordeal getting everything down the tiny attic stairwell, putting everything up (including my almost 20 year old tree that looks almost brand new), and then carting all the empty boxes back up to the attic to yet come down again after Christmas to be stuffed full and taken back up. Whew. But I did it. My main reason this year is I received a substantial Macy's gift card last year and 'misplaced' it. After searching downstairs, I finally decided it must be up in one of the boxes. Today I went up to put some empty boxes away. There are still boxes up there...just let me say I have a LOT of decorations. I started going through more boxes and found a little box with an ornament I received last year. I opened it and VOILA! My gift card. I need to get my Christmas stuff a little more organized. ☺

So. Christmas has arrived at my house and I love the way it looks. I'm glad I put some of it out. Oh, and I had a lot of good help...see for yourself...

Of course, she needs plenty of little, um, 'cat' naps too...

Hope everyone's Christmas Season is wonderful and brings peace and joy to your heart.

Life in the very fast lane

I'm settling into my new job. I know it takes a while (up to a year has been mentioned) before you feel comfortable. My current problem is I don't know what I'm doing. The State software is intensely confusing and non-user friendly. I've just come off of 2-1/2 days of training and am still sketchy on the whole thing. I did discover that what I thought I knew is mostly wrong and so most of the stuff I've already done is, likewise, mostly wrong. No chance to redo it at the current time, so...oh, well! The training was geared as a refresher course for employees and everyone else in the class was there for that reason only. Being new, I didn't 'get' a lot of what was being said and the instructor was on a tight timeline to get it all covered in the time he had. I never could get the exercises completed either, which was a frustration at best and didn't allow me to follow through. I do have manuals, which will help as a resource. Anyway, I'm guessing I'm just going to have to work through the 'exercises' in real time with real cases, which if done incorrectly will come back to bite me later. I'll just claim lack of knowledge, which is true.

The drive to work and back has been, um, well, let's just say 'Fast'. I'm amazed at all the traffic, and even though I'm on the road sometimes before 6am, I'm amazed at the bumper to bumper traffic. I can't help but wonder if there's anyone in the entire area who's not on the roads going somewhere. It's amazing. And then when I think that each of those vehicles takes $30-70 to fill up...my mind boggles.

Roommate is due back today from his Summer cat-sitting gig. I certainly enjoyed having my house back to myself for a little bit. I've been musing about looking for a bigger house after I get my finances back in shape. Also thinking about seeing if it's a possibility to build a master suite up in the attic. Comments from anyone who's done the attic construction aspect would be very welcome.

Cheers, everyone!

Not an excuse!

So. Haven't been on here in a while. Been too busy chasing the occasional bug around the house, waking my staff person up at, oh, 4am, and of course, sleeping. Just can't fit in much computer time, ya know? Not that I think I owe any sort of excuse, of course.

Mom, oh, er, 'my staff person', finally got a job. I'm excited because it means she can continue to buy the expensive prescription kibble I eat (I have dietary problems...nuff said...), but she's gone all. day. long. We have a great reunion when she gets home, though. She drops all her stuff, I do a 'boomkitty' on the floor, and she rubs my belly and my head. Then I roll over on my side and stretch way out and she rubs my back. It's my own little massage session - it works out all the kinks from sleeping all day!

I hear rumors the guy in the front room will be returning soon from his, (ahem), cat care-taking chores. I personally think I'm such an amazing, wonderful cat he shouldn't go looking after other cats, even if they are on a beautiful lake. Am I not enough for him? Of course, I don't belong to him - I belong to my staff person only - but he's fun to have around when Mom is working. Keeps me from being bored, doncha know? In another way it's been nice and quiet. I heard them talking once when he stopped by for a visit about a new cat that had wandered up. He seemed quite taken with 'July', and there was a discussion of perhaps trying to bring it here. All I can say, is "THEY BETTER DON'T!" This is MY house, and no other cats are allowed. I'll boot 'em out the door as soon as it's open. However, they must have re-thought this acquisition, 'cos I heard Mom say, "I think this is a one-cat house." I knew Mom was pretty smart!

Maybe when the weather cools down, I'll get the persistent itch again to communicate with you humans and get a few things straight. Or...maybe not...

At last!

Most of my friends already know this, but I wanted to post about it anyway. After 1,681 days of unemployment, temporary jobs and more stress than I care to remember, I have finally (finally!) gotten a job. Apparently I made an impression at the current State office I'm temping at, and was encouraged to apply. I found out last week (officially that is) I had the job. People keep asking me if I'm excited, and I have to tell them "No." since this place is a real mess. People are leaving every week, either by retiring or moving on to public sector jobs. I can honestly say however, I'm relieved. Relieved to have finally found a permanent job. Relieved to finally have health benefits (it's been almost 5 years since I've had health insurance). Relieved to know I can quit worrying about whether or not I'm going to lose my house, like so many other people have done. Relieved to feel like a contributing person once again, instead of one relying on unemployment compensation and the low cost health clinic I've always referred to as 'the poverty clinic'. Pure, utter relief.

I'm going to try and keep my head down and just do the work so I can bring home a paycheck. I've already worked with the gentleman who is going to be my project manager and I'm happy to say he's very, very nice. He apologized for having to bring me in at the entry pay grade, but has promised he will get me some merit raises if I continue to work as hard as I have been. I know no other way to work, so am looking forward to the raises.

So that's pretty much the only thing worth writing about right now. I become a permanent State employee on August 20. Whew. Please join me in heaving a huge sigh of relief. Ahhhhhh...

Summertime blues

Well. I'm just pretty darn disgusted. My staff person has another 'temporary' job, and gets up early to go wherever it is she has to go. Then she doesn't get home until late. The guy in the front room is somewhere else (I heard a nasty rumor he's taking care of a house out by a lake and looking after OTHER kitties. I mean, REALLY!) He stops by every so often, and, I have to admit I know he's been cheating on me....I can smell other kitty smells on him.

So I spend my days wandering forlornly around the house, meowing for someone to play with me. Well, not really. I usually just sleep the day away, but - shhhh - don't tell anyone I said that! But I do feel like I've got the ol' Summertime blues. Whatever they are. Blue's a cooling color, after all. And it is hot.

There's something going on this next week, some sort of holiday or something. Meh. I don't really care. If it means my staff person will be here to pay attention to me, I'm all for it. Oh, I just looked at her calendar book thingy. It's called 'Independence Day'. Well, I'm pretty independent. So maybe I'll enjoy the day as well. Happy Independence day!

Doin' what I do best...

Yawn....

Ah, the joys of having a 'four-footed' alarm clock! You get awakened by the tromp of feet walking across your stomach, the joy of having something furry draped across the top of your head, and the loud, jack-hammeresque sound/feeling of deep purrs drum down into your brain. And...you're awake! The alarm was set for 6am; however I've been up since just after 4am and have already slurped down a mug of tea and am thinking maybe I should make another. It's going to be a long day, I can tell.

I must reiterate my delight in the 'essence' drops my friend Jan in Oregon told me about. Ms. Jypsy, as you know, started having some problems again so off we went to the vet. He wanted to see her again in a month, and I started using the drops since she was starting her little paranoia thing again. We've been back to the vet and she's clear, but he asked me again about the drops and were they working. Unqualified "YES!" response on my part and he just nodded. I think I've made him a believer. Jypsy is like she was a couple of years ago - playful (which I like, except at 4am), loving, and, did I mention playful? She's like a kitten again, leaping out when you walk by to tap you on your leg (is that the cat form of 'tag - you're it!'?), rolling herself up in throw rugs, burying her beloved mouse underneath aforementioned throw rugs and then attacking said rug, barrooming from one end of the house to the other just daring you to chase her...it's wonderful. And you can see when she's laughing at you just by looking in her eyes. I've never had a pet that you could recognize humor in their eyes - but you can with Jypsy.

Anyway, she's fine, and hopefully will continue to be. My lack of sleep is a different question, however...

The Best Dreams

I had the most amazing dream the other night. Sure wish I could remember it to tell it to you. The dream actually came to a logical end just as I was beginning to climb up out of sleep; I stayed in bed with eyes tightly closed, willing myself to remember it in detail. But then my leg cramped and I had to jump out of bed to stand up to get the cramp to quit, and then Jypsy came in and rolled over on my feet so I could rub her belly, and *poof*, it was almost totally and completely gone. It would have made a fantastic movie from the itty bitty parts I can remember. All I remember is it involved an extremely handsome man who looked suspiciously like Nathan Fillion and was wildly in love with me. There was mystery and intrigue, dark ill-lit streets we were creeping along, colorful clothing...can't remember specifics or why or what though. And was there a parade?? I think maybe there was. Oh, well. As I was doing a kitty belly rub, I thought that my reality at that particular point in time was much, much better than a dream.

I've said before Jypsy makes me laugh every single day, even when she's not feeling well. She's much better however, and here's just one of today's laughs...

"You can't see me, 'cos I'm hidden!"

"I'm weary, oh so weary..."

I've started a new temp job with the state. It's a different division than where I was, but a further drive to get to. I can't give a qualifier yet on it, and several people have told me they want to try and get me on full time but, truthfully, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that a job opens with the last place I temped. I really enjoyed the people there, and while I've met a lot of nice people where I'm working now....you get it, right?

Mz. Jypsy had another little relapse, but I think she's mostly over it. It's amazing what those drops do. Tonight we were playing on the floor...she is so silly and goofy sometimes - just makes me crack up laughing all the time. Such a sweetie.

Short post tonight - the new job has worn me out and all I can think of is falling in that big ol' comfy bed in the next room. Gah - I'm getting so set in my ways, it's ridiculous. I used to love going out and dancing and partying until all hours....now all I can seem to think about is "when can I go to bed? Is 8pm too early?" I guess I'm okay, as it's currently almost 11pm and I can sleep in tomorrow. Suddenly I'm feelin' old. I kinda feel like this sometimes....

Sigh. Again???

Well, you know, things had been going pretty good lately, but then I started, um, not feeling so hot. Kinda like last year, if you remember. I didn't wanna move much, spent a lot of time sleeping (even more than I usually do...) and things started buggin' me again. Things like shoes. Anything black. Those bags Mom takes to the grocery store and hangs on the door knob so she can remember to put them back in her car. Those kinds of things. She caught on pretty quick this time and took me to that awful man with those metal tables and all those captured animals back in the back room in cages. She calls him a 'vet', I call him a scarey human person. He checked me out, you know, back there, did something I really don't want to describe in polite society, handed me back to Mom and we came home. I'm back on those drop things, too, but no medicine like before. Whew! The drops I can stand, but not having Mom put that stick in my mouth and shoot a pill down my throat! I feel better today, but am not quite up to my old self.

I spent a lot of time outside today while Mom was doing stuff out in the back yard. I supervised to make sure she did it right, even though I have no idea what she was doing. I have to admit I fell asleep in a chair I was using to observe her work, and then later fell asleep on the deck. Does it look like I'm pretty comfortable here? Huh. Well, I hope you said yes.

Time and its imperceptible movement on

Man, time flies doesn't it?

My temp job is over, but I made some very good contacts there, including the CEO through my friend John. (Remember him? I blogged about him on here when he left the long term temp job we were working, thinking I'd never hear from him again. He's managed to stay in touch, and I'm delighted about that)

So, here I am with nothing to do except apply for more jobs, go on interviews and practically finish my second book. It's really close to being done, I just need to flesh out a few scenes (ugh, and then edit it) but all in all I'm pretty pleased with it. Book one is not doing so hot; my nephew sent me an email with a bunch of suggestions on doing some P.R., but I had to send him back a note and let him know it's almost impossible for me to do any of the things he suggested.

There's only one I'm even faintly comfortable with and that's lowering the price a bit. It's set at 2.99, and that's only because I've been working on it for about 4 years; really hate to lower it even more. He suggested other things like starting a book blog, but I have enough trouble even keeping up with THIS one, much less another, and also going on Science Fiction and Fantasy sites and making some comments and then after people get used to me on the sites, mentioning the book to try and drum up some traffic. Well. See. I don't really consider this book to be either Science Fiction or Fantasy. Yes, it does take place in a non-designated time in the future, and yes, it does have some pretty, um, fantastical elements to it, but it's basically a story about two best friends who run a delivery service and all the trouble and problems they run into.

On the aggressive marketing part - I grew up with a Southern Belle for a mother. We wore white gloves to church, and those little hats that wouldn't stay on my head unless there was some sort of elastic restraint digging into my throat. She drummed it into me there are just some things, as a lady, you do NOT do. 1) You never ask anyone how much money they make or what they paid for anything. 2) You never, ever call a boy. (I managed to get over this one, but only if we were dating.) 3) If someone takes you out to eat, eat before you leave the house so you won't make a pig of yourself at the restaurant and 4) You never push yourself on anyone for any reason, or beg on bended knee for anyone to buy your book you just put online. Okay, she didn't actually say that last one quite that way, but she did always tell me to never be pushy about anything; it was just plain rude and a lady didn't do it. So I'm kinda stuck being not-pushy and so not aggressive. I mentioned it to my brother over Easter steaks and he just nodded - he's not very aggressive either. Of course, the really funny thing about my mother is my friends used to be very intimidated by her; she really was a tough lady, but she was always a 'Lady' first, sort of on a Julia Sugarbaker aspect.

I've mentioned the book on here a couple of times and put the website url up, I've mentioned it several times on Facebook, but got no response from that either. Several of my close friends downloaded it to help me check the payment process - love you guys! The best response I've gotten was when I mentioned my first 'review' by my friend Jan up in Oregon. As a matter of fact, I'm going to mention it here, just because it makes me feel good that the book made her feel good.

"I finished reading ‘Dude’ last night and it put me in the best mood I’ve been in for awhile. I’m a mostly non-fiction reader, so getting into fiction is always a bit of a challenge for me. I really liked it. I liked the main characters and I think your character development is a real strength along with strong humor and subtle points. It sort of reminds me of good fiction I’ve read in ‘Yankee Magazine’ and ‘The New Yorker’."

So, if you stumble across this blog while looking for something else, please, I'm on bended knee, begging, please go to www.spacedude.co (yes, co., not com.) and read the first two chapters for free and buy the book for 3 bucks if you like it. I know there's some typos; they've been corrected but we haven't put the corrected version online yet. Wait a week or so if you want the non-typo'ed one, but even with typos it's not bad. At least Jan in Oregon didn't think so. Oh, and if you're on Facebook, check out 'Space Dude - the Novel'. Thanks folks, I appreciate it. Tell your friends and neighbors too! There, that's as aggressive as I can be, looks like.

Whoa. This is long. Well, I do have a photo of the Jypster and her absolute favorite toy...a stick.

Those quickie temp jobs

I got a call a couple of weeks ago for a short term temp job. I've been helping a non-profit by entering data into their system for the people they've been helping with income taxes. It's very monotonous, but it's money. We started with 6 temps, but we're down to only 3. The project manager told us Friday we're so good, he expects us to be done by the middle of next week. That's a almost two weeks early. It's in a beautiful building and the people have been really amazing. I'm going to keep checking their web site in case something there pops up.

Just as this temp position was starting, I had an interview for a state job. Reading the job description, it sounded like they had written it by looking at my resume. I thought the interview went very well, but then I think most of my interviews go well. I haven't heard a word from them, not even the standard email or letter saying "We have chosen to go in another direction with someone who more closely meets our qualifications..." (translation: we don't want someone quite so old as you) so have already written it off. I guess I will continue to work what temp jobs I can muster up, and learn to be satisfied with that. I think it's sort of funny though - I see people in positions similar to what I've applied for, and they are pretty much incompetent, and, to my mind an even worse sin, absolutely unprofessional. All I can do is just wonder. It really does seem to me a company would want someone who could do the job and age shouldn't matter. Apparently I'm wrong.

Back yard missions

The weather has been pretty nice here recently. In the 70's, not much rain, although I can smell it coming. I've been going out a lot lately - gotta check and make sure the yard is secure, ya know. My staff person took the picture of me in my disguise, but the outfit didn't seem to help me catch any birds, darn it. As you can see from the photo, I've been rolling in the grass for camouflage.

Sometimes it's soooo nice outside I don't even get down off the deck - just laze around, sleep a little, stretch a little, and just enjoy the perfect weather.

She joked about this one of me, saying I had no head and no front legs. 'Course, I knew she was funnin'.

I knew I was there....didn't you?

It's out there!

A teenaged dream has finally come true. After the last few years of writing, editing, then editing some more, and finally editing again, I have put my first novel online.

I have no idea if anyone but my dearest friends and family will read it, but I have accomplished something I set out to do a long time ago. When I tell people I've written a book, their first question is always, "What's it about?" And my reply is always, "Well...it's kinda hard to describe." The closest I can come is it's about 2 young men who are best friends in a not-designated future time and run a delivery service between planets out of their revamped VW van. See what I mean? They have problems they run into, of course, and the overall theme is the importance of friends and family. I named the book 'Space Dude - the Novel', because the main character has a propensity for using the word 'dude' so much it's become his nickname. It's got humor and drama both; there were times when I was laughing as I typed away, and there were other times I could hardly write through the tears I was shedding (although the most tears have been shed in book two). I guess to say I became involved with these characters is an understatement.

Anyway, for those of you who didn't graciously act as guinea pigs for me and download the book so we could test the payment system, or those of you who I haven't already given the url for the website to....here it is:

www.spacedude.co

And yes, it is '.co', and not '.com'. Jypsy is on the website as well. My nephew, who put the absolutely cool site together, wanted a picture of me to put on the author's page. Photos of me are almost always horrible and I don't have any good ones to put on the site, so he used one of my very favorites - Jypsy sleeping on a clean pile of laundry.

I had an idea for the cover I really like, but as I'm not a graphics person, I had to paste a picture of a VW van onto a space shot; the green grass the VW is sitting on still shows. Oh well. It's not on the website but maybe someday I can get someone to do an actual cover. Here's what I came up with:

Please check the site out and let me know what you think. The first two chapters are free!

Spring!

I'm sorta thinking it's time for what my staff person calls 'Spring'. Stuff is growing out in the back yard, stuff that wasn't there a few weeks ago. And it's nice out there - not so hot I can hardly breathe and just wanna lay around in the shade, and not so cold my little paw pads freeze as soon as I step out the door. I wouldn't mind being out there all day, and tell my staff person that, oh, 8-10 times a day. I've learned if I keep asking to go out, she'll eventually get tired of me asking and go sit outside with me. Sometimes she'll check some of the stuff that's popped up and growing, occasionally grab a huge spoony-looking thing and dig some of it up, water other stuff and then finally go sit in the sun and read. She seems to think it's still a little chilly out, but I think it's purrfect. I like to make a circuit of the yard and make sure everything is as it was when I was last out. Sometimes it's not - you know - it doesn't smell quite the same (sniff and then rub face on it to re-mark it as mine), it's different (huh. this stuff was only this tall a couple of days ago and now it's a few inches taller), some stuff is in a completely different place (sniff chair leg, rub face on, claim as mine), and whoa! Where did that leaf/bug/limb/rock come from! (jump on, subdue, sniff, rub face on, claim as mine.) My favorite thing to do though is to roll in a particular dirt patch out there or roll over and stretch in the grass that hasn't really started growing yet and leaves me with pieces of brown grass from last year all over me. You women know how important it is to accessorize! She doesn't care much for that though, and always brushes me before I can come back in. Shoot, and I looked good!

Anyway, if she resists my plaintive requests to go out, which she does on occasion, I usually get miffed and go someplace and take a nap. I use a lot of energy caterwauling to go out, and have to replenish my reserves. My current favorite place is on her bed in this nice little sunny spot. It's almost the same as sleeping out in a sunny spot on the deck, but don't tell her that, 'k?

More thoughts on Weather

Texas has been in a drought situation for a while now. We've been on water restrictions for the last two years and predictions were that we would continue to be dry and parched at least through this upcoming summer, with no foreseeable moisture. Lakes have completely dried up in the Panhandle. Large established trees died last summer, so I had visions of losing even more trees this next summer.

Of course, this IS Texas. We've had a wet winter so far, and as I sit here listening to the rain that's been falling since late last night, I just keep thinking, "More rain, please." Lakes around my area are close to full; the lake I grew up swimming and boating on up in the Panhandle is still empty and dry. Sad, really sad. Although I did lose a pair of glasses off the front of a boat once...guess I could find them now.

The job hunt is not going well, but that's an entry for another day. The web site for the book is almost complete and I'll share the url when it's up and running. I hope everyone has a great weekend, and if you've got some spare rain, please send it on to the still parched areas in the South and West states. Our lakes need it and will thank you for it.

Winter comes to Texas

People around here, including neighbors, radio personalities, newspapers and television weathermen, have been talking about the mild winter we've been having; bringing up the terrible ice storm we had a little over a year ago that shut down this area for almost a week. I kept hoping they would all just be quiet and not jinx us. Alas, it's cold outside (for here), and predictions are for snow and sleet tonight. So, okay, that's the only good reason for not having a job. I can sleep in tomorrow while everyone else skids and slides all over the streets. There's something good about everything I guess. (Pollyanna said something like that, right?)

Jypsy has been such a joy. She's been very playful lately - she likes to play, oh, well, I guess we can call it "Hide and Swat", where we hide around doorways from each other and I worm a finger around the doorway and she jumps up and swats at it (No claws! She knows not to do that and I didn't teach it to her either...), then she runs away to another doorway and we do it again. I can see the smile in her eyes - they're twinkling. (I was able to tell when my dog was laughing at me too. Guess I amuse my pets.)

So, I'm planning a cozy day at home - laundry, house cleaning, and who knows? Maybe a nap.

Tomorrow? Another round of job applications and visits to hiring companies. It's just too exciting, isn't it?

Cheering up my Staff Person

Well, Mom, oh...er...my main staff person, has started staying home again. She isn't working anymore. She sort of goes back and forth between being kinda angry and then really sad. She says things like "What do I do if I lose the house?" Which I think is pretty funny - we're here in the house...how do you lose it? Anyway, she's home most of the day typing on this silly keyboard (she's off in the kitchen getting something called 'breakfast' right now), and only going out on occasion. I guess she could get lost on the way back or something and that might be considered 'losing' the house, but...I dunno. She got all dressed up yesterday morning and left for a few hours but came home and told the guy in the front room "It was a very perfunctory interview, he only asked 4 questions and kept an eye on the clock the whole time." Don't have a clue what any of that means, especially perfunctory. ??

Anyway, I know she's really blue, so I've been spending more time with her. I jumped up on the bed the other night and slept next to her until about 4 o'clock in the morning. I hadn't done that in a long time, but it seemed to make her feel a little better. I tried it again a couple of nights later, but then the guy in the front room went into the kitchen and started banging pots and stuff around and my curiosity got the better of me and I had to go check it out. And then I kinda forgot to go back. She's such a good mom, uh, staff person I thought she should get a job doing that, but then I realized it would mean I'd have to share her with some other...(shudder)...animal...and I don't think so much of the idea now. I've got my little paws crossed that she finds another job soon.

Bad Day in Black Rock

Well, I lost my job today. I had been working a temp job with the State for 14 months, but all it took was someone from the state office to come in for two weeks and - boom I'm out the door. She was inept, and apparently took offense at some of the ideas I suggested to streamline the project I was forced into with her. (I was a temp right? I'm supposed to do what I'm asked to do, but I felt is was a fruitless endeavor and a waste of everyone's time. Then again, it IS the State...)

So. Guess I get to sleep in on Monday. Maybe do a bit more writing. Clean a little more on the house. File for Unemployment on Wednesday (have to wait three days for some reason), and start looking for another job. Problem is... and let's face it.... I'm old. Not a lot of people want to actually hire an older someone with experience. I know the people in the office I worked in liked my work ethic, and thought the State should just hire me permanently.

So. I guess that's it.

Bob Dylan and E-reading

When E-readers first came out I was vehemently against them. "You'll never catch me with one! I want to sit down with a BOOK in my hands and turn the pages!" I raged.

Well, Bob Dylan nailed it - the times they are a changin'. I still love hard cover books but can see the wave of the future. Much as it bothers me, I can still see it is, after all, still reading. I received a Kindle Fire for Christmas thanks to my brother and sister-in-law. And, let's face it, I actually asked for one. Back when my ire started to turn, the first thing that made me go 'hmmm' was the fact if you wanted a new book to read, at midnight say, you just went to the book tab, then the 'store' and looked at titles - and then downloaded a book. You could be reading in as little as a minute once you found what you wanted. No getting in the car and driving to a book store, looking at books, deciding, driving home.....nope. I was a convert. I've already downloaded and read 5 books. Some were free, some were as little as 2.99. Others are more, but I'm staying with the more inexpensive ones that appeal to me.

Oh, and get this - I can download games as well. Things I'd heard of, but hadn't a clue what they involved, are now something to do on a break at work (if I'm not reading that is...). Angry birds? Love it, but I'm stuck on one of the levels. Fruit Ninja? I can slice with the best of them. So silly, but so fun!

So that's my latest blog post. And now - I gotta go finish another book on the Kindle....☺

A Brand New Year

Happy New Year to everyone! Lots going on; some good, some really sucky. Let's just start off with the sucky stuff, 'k? I got a horrible cold two days before Christmas. I thought I did pretty well keeping myself dosed with cough syrup, mucinex, and chloraseptic lozenges and was feeling better, but a couple of days ago started feeling bad again. Oh well. It's winter. I get sick in winter. Last week it was in the 30's, tomorrow it's going to be 72. So be it.

Christmas was amazing, made even more so by the fact my nephew FINALLY proposed to his girlfriend the Wednesday before. The entire family loves Jamie and we're excited. The two them think the wedding will be sometime in October. I can hardly wait!

No new Jypsy news. Still leery of black shoes, but doing well otherwise. So happy! She's currently curled up almost upside down on the back of the sofa, making these teeny, tiny snoring sounds.



Did get all the Christmas stuff down per my mother's rules when I was a child. It didn't get back in the attic, but as far as the 'celebration' part of it goes it counts - now there's just a big mess in the house. Soon as I get my energy back...