I think I'm going to need smelling salts!

The predictions are getting worse. We moved up into the grey area in the last 2 hours. Now it's looking like OVER a foot of snow for us!!! Thank goodness we just spent some time doing some additional cleaning and clearing of the pretty white stuff. We dug out the trash barrel from last week and moved it to somewhere that the company can get at it. We took a quick store run to make sure we had necessities for the next couple days. Thankfully we didn't need much and the stops were quick.

I suspect that we'll break the '95-'96 winter snowfall record tomorrow. And we'll have done it in slightly more than 1 month v. the entire snow season of that year. Woohoo!!! ;)

Thud...

We live right on that line dividing orange and red. Which, loosely translated, means another foot of snow. Again. Oh my...

I don't even know what to say except...More Snow???

[insert horrified smiley here!]

Yes. More freakin' snow! I know I said I love it. And I really do. But my driveway resembles a luge course and pretty soon I'm going to be able to climb UP and out of a window. I've lost the bottom steps on my stairs. The dog area is now like a fenced-in yard and we can actually put them out without leads or leashes. They can't go anywhere. The little one can't even stand up high enough to get to the top of the piles! And it's taking money out of John's pocket. He's had to lose 3 work days this month due to the snow and it's looking like he's going to lose at least one more. This is causing him lots of stress and for that reason alone I wish we could catch a break. You know...maybe the next few storms only bring an inch or two. Or we get a few warmer days in between to allow it to melt a bit and people to clean things up a little more. But that's just wishing and the reality is that today I'm going to bundle up and see if I can move at least a little of this stuff and make a little more room for it. John is going to try and widen the driveway a bit if at all possible. And I'll be chipping at the ice mounds on the steps to try and get rid of some of that. Good times. Good times.

On a positive note, I have a screening call for a job that is 20 minutes from home today! A bit excited about the prospect, but daunted knowing that this is just the beginning of the process. A 10 min. call today that will hopefully lead to an actual interview in a week or two, to be followed hopefully by a second interview in a week or two after that. If all goes remarkably well, the actual job offer will come in a month or so. It's such a slow process when all I feel is urgency. I'm trying to convince myself that it's a good lesson in patience...one I need and should embrace. And I'll keep repeating that to myself.

I'm also filing for unemployment today and starting that process. I hope that it goes quick and that the wait for the money to start won't be too long. Off to get that started...

Ummm...snow yesterday....more snow today...

The forecast for today is somewhere around 8". On top of the 2" we got yesterday. On top of the 327" we've had since the beginning of the year. (that might be a SLIGHT exaggeration, or not!) I still love snow, but even I, a die hard fan, is having a bit of a tough time with the sheer quantity of it that's been coming our way this year.

I've started researching health insurance plans on the possibility that I may still very well be unemployed at the end of February when my COBRA kicks in. I haven't received the official COBRA letter from my last job, but I suspect it will be more than I can reasonably afford and I'll need to find another alternative. Unless Congress restarts the subsidies from last year. Or John's company magically gets a decent plan that allows for an "individual plus 1" plan (because it's silly expensive to add me to his plan - it has to be a family plan for the 2 of us). And for the first time in my life I have a pre-existing condition and a state law that says I must have insurance, cost be damned.
I've been watching the progress of the icicles on the house lately. They are a dangerous thing of beauty to me (one almost fell on me the other day!). I love how clear they are and how they are all different. So pretty!
A shot of the temperature on Monday. At 9:30 in the morning. Which means it was about -10 when I let the dogs out at 4:30 in the morning. And it warmed up to a whopping 5 by the end of the day. Thank goodness there was no wind! Good times! (NOTE: While I love snow, I don't like really cold weather)
And this is the nut that still crams herself under the coffee table and then tries to stuff her big head through the opening to chastise us and get us to play with her. She's doing her weird growl/chatter in this photo and won't stop until someone acknowledges that she's there. And she'll move from the opening near me to the one near John just so no one feels left out! She's just not right...

John is heading back from Maine today. It was just an overnight, but it was good for me to have some alone time. The past few days have been hard and I'm struggling with the situation I find myself in. The call about a job that was set up on Friday never came. And that was OK because I really suspected that I wasn't truly qualified for the position. But I have applied for a few jobs that are just what I used to do and have heard nothing. I know the process is slow, but it's hard to wait right now. I want to work. I want a job that I can enjoy. I want to be a productive member of society. I am feeling frustrated because it seems that all the jobs are at least an hour away. I don't live in a rural area. It shouldn't be this hard to find a job that doesn't require me being out of the house 12 hours a day. I'm mad because I feel that all my prior work experience means nothing. I worked so hard to get to the level where I worked for the key people in a firm. I am by no means an entry level candidate. But the pickings are slim for anyone who wants to make more than entry level pay. ARGH! I know that things will turn around and that these feelings are just part of the process of dealing with the changes, but I want it all to be better now.

There is a bright part to this time off. This time I have been good about using the time wisely. My kitchen cabinets are on their way to being spectacularly clean and organized. I've taken care of a pile of personal filing that has been growing for a year. Yesterday was the first day in a week that I've kind of dropped the ball on productivity. I ran to drop off John's work FedEx and get a few things at the grocery store. And then it was home for too much computer time and getting set up to do some scrapping. I didn't do much more than organize the things I want to work with, but it's a start and I'll take that.

Today, it's job applying/following up and working on this project: Special Delivery: Share Your Love. I can't think of a better way to use some of my downtime.

Sorry for the epic (and mostly boring) post. It'll get better...

Some visitors from yesterday...

This mountain ash is just outside the window in front of my desk and all day long I get visitors. (The feeder is just around the corner, so it's not really me they're coming to see!). Sometimes one of them will actually sit on the window ledge looking in, but, of course, there's never a camera ready when that happens.

John is home from Maine, the driveway has been plowed and the kitchen cabinets are almost all scrubbed. I installed many new fonts on the computer, did a little filing of recent downloads and purged a bunch of emails. Signed up to take Mouse, Paper, Scissors at Jessica Sprague.com so I can finally learn how to use PSE the way I've wanted to. A productive day that feels good!

Tomorrow John is threatening a visit to the gym for us and then maybe a Sunday drive to an antique store or two. We'll see how cold it gets and how much we feel like being out and about in single digit weather. Maybe I'll do a little scrapping instead, while he plays with the Wii. Lots of possibilities for how to spend the day.

Off to get dinner started (baked fish, couscous w/pine nuts and snow peas). Yum!

A good day...

Despite getting 8" more of snow (the pretty fluffy kind this time) and more or less being stranded until John gets home tomorrow, it was a good day!

I was "crowned" Blog Commenter of the Year at the blog for Meyer Imports. And I'm getting a box of glittery sparkly goodness for it! I'm honored and really would like to look like the lovely girl in the picture they posted! If you love bling, their glitter is amazing and their blog has lots of great ideas and tutorials.

And even better...I was contacted by a recruiter for a very large company that has a location near my house and they are looking for an Intellectual Property Assistant to work with the lawyers there! I've got a preliminary call on Monday. Not getting to excited because even though it's a job in law, it's not my specialty (I've done pretty much all real estate and commercial work), but I'm a quick learner and I've done lots of project management at my prior jobs and that should help. But it felt good to be "found" and even better to have a call set up. The ball is rolling now!

Working the new morning routine...

Coffee, computer, job applications and bickering pups...oh and a bit of snow falling outside. :)

(The pictures came out looking kind of cool - not technically perfect though. I was just playing around with some of the settings and these are what happened when I did. I like how they came out and that I accidentally captured that bird coming in for a landing!)

Oops...maybe I should stop saying how much I like snow!

Just checked and the estimates have gone up. I am very grateful that I don't have to commute right now. And I'm very grateful that I have a bunch of treats in the house and streaming Netflix so I'm all set for the next couple days!

The view from my window...

Sunrise on the snow while I was having my coffee and reading the want ads. Beautiful!

I had a good, productive day yesterday getting things done around the house and applying for a few more jobs. I never turned on the TV for background noise. The quiet was lovely. I started watching a movie that's been on my list forever (Sex and the City) and enjoyed a lovely dinner with John. He left for Maine for 3 days this morning.

Today was running errands and making sure I was stocked up for the snow (yes more snow!) coming tonight in case I can't get out tomorrow or Saturday. The Smart Car may be stinkin' cute and wonderful on gas, but it is not good about getting out of the driveway that has snow on it. UGH! Normally this isn't an issue, but John's work car is out of commission right now and he has the SUV with him in Maine. So it's hunker down time for me! My big plan is to clean out/rearrange the kitchen cabinets. It's long, long overdue and much needed. Wish me luck!

A much needed laugh...

This was the message that came up when I clicked on a job posting this morning:

We are currently upgrading the treadmill that powers the TweetMyJOBS engine, and looking for a replacement hamster. We should be up and running shortly.

Another beautiful snowy day and the job search is on...

It's snowing out. Beautiful, big, fluffy flakes of gently falling snow. It looks like a winter wonderland out my window! I'm enjoying the quiet (I love how the world sounds so "soft" when it's snowing outside) which is only broken up by the sound of the "noisemakers" (see earlier post this month) and my sick husband snoring away. LOL!

Here's a little update on what's been going on.

Friday I went to the office and picked up my things before everyone got in for the day. There wasn't much since I'd only been there 9 months. Made me a little sad because I really liked the people I worked with. I had a nice chat with the CFO and I'll head back next week to have lunch with everyone. I consoled myself with one last trip to Panera and drowned my sorrows in a frosted valentine's shortbread cookie and bought John a couple of his beloved cheddar & jalapeno bagels as a treat. Then it was time for a little retail therapy at Michael's and AC Moore because I won't get to Bellingham any time soon and they're both on the same exit. I was pretty well behaved and didn't go over my budget! Yeah! For dinner, John and I tried calzones from the new pizza place we're test-running (because our favorite place became just awful when the owner stopped supervising). They were delicious and huge and are now going to be a Friday night regular. :)

Saturday I got to have some fun with my friend Julie. A girls' day! So long overdue and so much appreciated! We took a drive through the backroads of CT and MA and headed to Woodstock and Putnam for a little antique shopping and lunch. Of course, since I had given myself permission to get myself a little something, the only that I saw that I really, really, really wanted was a vintage letterpress draw filled with letterpress alphabets and numbers...for $375! It was a thing of beauty and was screaming "take me home...you know you want me...c'mon you can do it!". It took all my willpower to not buy it and justify it as a gift to make up for a difficult past year. I'm still thinking of it and hope the desire for it fades soon! I also updated my Monster.com resume posting and crossed my fingers that someone will see it and find it interesting enough to contact me (besides the insurance sales people from last year).

Sunday was just a lazy day at home with a sick man and lots of tissues and TV. I did a quick Wal-Mart run to stock up on medicine and supplies and then it was quality time on the couch and taking care of John.

Yesterday I got to babysit the 3 girls for my cousin. The little dude is sick (double ear infection) and he had a doctor's appointment. It was not one of my best times with them. I was not in the best of moods (bad, bad morning with the dogs getting up early, one big accident from the old guy and hitting that angry phase of getting through the layoff and the new hand of cards I have to play in this life) and I was short with G when we were playing Sorry. I need to work on that. But overall we had fun playing with the crafting kit I got them for Christmas and just being silly together. John got home early so we got to have lunch together and then it was just more relaxing so he'd relax and get better.

Today I'm going to do some laundry, make my wish list of projects to accomplish with this unexpected time off, update my journal and clean up the bedroom to get it ready for the new bed coming later this month. John's home today so maybe we'll head out for a bit to take some pictures and enjoy the pretty winter scenery.

Here's to a productive and good week for me. I've got some following up to do on the 5 jobs I've applied for and more to apply for. Fingers crossed...

Some pictures from this morning...

Olive and Enzo demonstrating how they plan to spend the snow day...

Doesn't the Smart Car (that snow pile in the middle) look like it's been breathing through those 2 little holes in front?
The bird feeders and one of the many visitors this morning...
John trying to make some headway at the end of the driveway with our redneck plow...
Stuck in the snow trying to make it to the street...
It's going to be a great day for pictures I think!

I got my wish...

There's at least 8" of snow out there this morning and more on the way! It was too dark for pictures, but I wish I could have got a few of Miss Olive venturing out into snow that came up to her chin. She was NOT happy! Enzo is used to it and just went about his business. Miss Olive...not so much. Came running back in and waited until I went out to shovel a path for her. Then she wasn't pleased with the size of the area I cleared and kept trying to venture out farther only to freak out when the snow covered her face. It's going to be a long day with her. LOL!

John won't be working today (no place for a private investigator to park during a snow emergency) so we're going to watch movies, eat some junk food and enjoy the day together.

Happy Snow Day!

Day One of the next chapter in life...

I think it's pretty interesting that it's happening on 1/11/11!

Last night I got laid off. Again. By email. Which wasn't as bad as it sounds. This layoff wasn't entire unexpected (I'd adjusted my schedule/pay to 3 days a week to avoid it recently), so getting the email (with a text alert that I should check my email) allowed me the opportunity to have my little breakdown in private and to talk to the boss when I had pulled myself together and could do so calmly. And it helped me avoid her having to do it in her office which is a fishbowl and everyone would have been able to see it. And I would have had to try to control the mess I would be while saying goodbye to people I really liked and enjoyed working with each day. So as of today I have a little less than 3 weeks to find a job or file for unemployment. I'll go to the office later this week to pick up my stuff and say goodbye. And I don't have to worry about getting to work tomorrow during the Nor'easter heading our way!

I'm working on updating my resume and there were several good prospects I found today. So I'm going to hold onto the belief that my job is out there waiting for me. The one where I don't dread going in each day and the one that doesn't make me feel dumb all the time. The one that challenges me and allows me to use and expand my abilities. The one that I'll be at until I retire. (That's my dream right now.)

I am lucky to have very supportive friends and family (and an amazing husband). I'll get through this and come out better off than today. I have faith.

And to make sure I really try to get that job so I can start saving money again, I made big travel plans to celebrate John's 50th birthday with our good friends. We're going to Disney and we're doing it right! 2 years to save...gotta get that job soon!

And now on to daily life. I ran a couple errands this morning and got the supplies to get snowed in for a couple days (another small dream LOL!). I've got plenty of scrapbooking projects to play with, Netflix movies/streaming and good food/junk food a plenty. Bring on the snow!!!

Checking off my "To Do" list...

and making the best of having today off. So far I have ordered copies of some family pictures from the photographer's website, finished and ordered an 8x8 book of the wedding from Shutterfly, undecorated the Christmas Tree and put it away, and had breakfast (not on the list, but important to do!). All of this productivity brought to you by John having to leave just after 4:00 am this morning and the dogs thinking this was a good time to get up! I also edited the picture of my cover for the One Little Word class I'm taking at Big Picture Classes so I can post it (part of keeping myself accountable for getting things done this year). It definitely needs something else, but that can come later.

Yesterday I made reservations for John and I to go visit Rockland and Camden again. We're going to be staying at the Samoset Resort in Rockport (between Rockland and Camden - I still don't get why there's a Rockport and a Rockland next door to each other). We drove by and checked out the resort on our way home from Wedding Week in August. It's a lovely place with a fabulous location. We can walk to the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse and there's lots of beach area to do some beachcombing. We're hoping to get some kayaking in and definitely dinner at Prism again and lunch at Cappy's. If we can fit it in, we also really want to go back to Brevetto. Ok...there's a food theme here as you can see! Some of our favorite places to eat are in this area and it's always hard to choose among them. We can't wait to get back up there for a visit!

Time to walk away from the computer for a bit. House cleaning and laundry are calling me...

A new love for me...

I was so excited when I saw them for 50% off when we were checking out at Barnes & Noble last night! I wanted them, but couldn't justify the $40 just in case I wanted to try and journal every day for 2011. But I've been doing it every night on scrap paper and this weekend my project was to find/create something to keep by my bed. The rainbow of color just makes me smile to see it and the books are beautifully made. They were a great deal at $18 (love my member discount)! In case you're loving them too, they seem to be sold out online, but check your local Barnes & Noble store.

And as a follow up to yesterday's post, I woke up this morning to 2-3" of beautiful white fluffy snow! My world is covered in a lovely white blanket!

Have a beautiful Sunday!

It's snowing...

(picture from last year)

I'm going to just say it and run...

I love, love, love snow! I love how the world looks fresh and clean. I love the way it makes the world sound softer. I love watching the dogs play in it. I love looking out my window and just watching it fall. I hope this time we get more than a dusting.

Noisemakers...

This is what's laying at my feet. Snoring. Kind of loudly. Too cute!

Still dark outside...

I love getting up early, but sometimes I miss the summer when it isn't so dark outside. Sometimes it's a little bit odd to see the night sky when I take the dogs out, but I do love looking at the stars and searching for that elusive shooting star. And since I tend to keep farmer's hours and go to bed long before everyone else does, the winter mornings are the time for me to do my star searching. I need to give myself some kind of reminder to take my phone outside and use that Google app so I can learn the names of the constellations I'm seeing. Maybe a big post-it on the door will do the trick. So now here I sit waiting for the sun to come up and catching up on blogs I read and email and message boards, listening to the dogs bicker over who's getting which bone, and enjoying my coffee.

This week I start my new temporary (hopefully only for January) work schedule of 3 days a week (I had Monday off and today off). It was 4 days a week for November and December. That was nice and I was OK with the pay hit in exchange for the time off. This month I think will be a bit tougher. It's hard to get a good work groove going when it's in one day, out one day. But I'm going to try to make the best of the extra time off and find creative ways to save money so that the pay hit doesn't feel so bad. I know in these times that I need to be grateful that I have a job. I need to be grateful that even though I'm not working as much, I don't have to be out there looking for a new one (at least not yet). And that even though my hours have been reduced, they are still covering my health insurance. So I will look at this as an opportunity to cultivate some of the habits/projects I have on my list for 2011 and do my best to look on the bright side of this gift of extra time.

A good Sunday...

Dinner with the family yesterday was good. The turducken was yummy and the fixin's my cousin and aunt made to go along with it were delicious. And any time I get to spend playing with the kids is a bonus. Nothing makes my heart happier than seeing the little ones come running when I come in the house. Love, love, love them!

My friend Dawn and I went to Topsfield to help do inventory at one of our favorite stores, Absolutely Everything. We did a little shopping, a LOT of counting, got a nice paycheck and had a good time chatting and laughing. We got a bag of vintage mica flakes to split and I can't wait to use it on these snowflakes for next year's decorating:

I grabbed 3 boxes of these on Friday at Crate and Barrel on clearance. $9 for 72 ornaments! They're lovely now and will be even prettier (I think) when I'm done giving them a little bling.

John is still suffering with a wicked cold and I'm still chugging AirBorne like it's my new best friend. So far, so good. I hate being sick (even more than John). Fingers are crossed to see if I can miss out on the fun.

Off to relax a bit, maybe play a crossword on the Nook and listen to the dogs snore. It's a good Sunday.

And this year's word is...

Cultivate

Wasn't even in the running until I saw this blog post from Becky Higgins. It summed up perfectly what I was reaching for.

Now it's time to get the title page for my 2011 journal for this class done.

But first it's time to get ready to go to my cousin's for turducken for dinner. Yes really. Turducken. A turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. With sausage stuffing. (This was a gift to my aunt from a colleague - not something we bought).

We're starting 2011 on an adventurous note!

A new year, a new decade...and a new post!

Clearly the summer plans fizzled out...my life is just not that interesting! Here's how I'm starting this new year...

Playing with Wordle to create something fun and inspiring while I try to narrow down my One Little Word for 2011.

Reflecting on the past year and dreaming of the new one.

Being grateful for all my blessings and for all the hardships during the past year. They are all part of the journey.

Wishing everyone a joyful, healthy and prosperous 2011!