Friday Fill-Ins

And here we go...

1. It was a dark and stormy night, and Aero insisted on standing in the yard, looking into the sky wondering where the rain was coming from....

2. No one seemed interested in the scrapbooking mysteries so I offered to take the books myself.

3. Rushing out, I didn't realize that I had left the envelopes I needed to mail on the coffee table - I was headed to the Post Office for just that reason!

4. Aero's whining ...I think I heard a howl!

5. Shhhh... If you listen, you can hear the crickets chirping.

6. I want a treat so give me something good to eat!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to catching up on the shows on my dvr, tomorrow my plans include working for a couple of hours at the gym and then handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters and Sunday I want to relax and prepare for my temp gig that starts Monday afternoon.

Until Next Time,

Kel

Do You Believe What Your Horoscope Says?

I'm not a real believer in following my horoscope or what the stars are saying when they align a certain way with the planets. But, on my home page, I do have the daily horoscope come up. I enjoy reading it, usually at the end of the day just for the fun of it.

Today, I might just become a staunch follower of my sign and what the universe is saying to me.

Let me start the story with a quick time line: Tuesday I got a call from the recruiter and a law firm in San Francisco who has had my resume since the beginning of October is finally moving forward with the position and the liked my resume. They wanted to do a phone interview with me, so we set it up for Wednesday morning. Unfortunately, the HR person that I was supposed to talk to got tied up in a meeting and the call was postponed to Thursday at 1:30.

So, yesterday at 1:30 the phone promptly rang and I had a nice conversation with a woman named Stephanie (who was in Washington D.C.) and became my charming, southern belle alter-ego rattling on about how wonderful I am and why this firm should hire me. At the end of the conversation, she invited me to go to a face-to-face interview with the San Francisco office's IT Manager and Office Manager at 10:00 this morning. Woo-hoo!! I gladly accepted that invitation and planned me day around the meeting.

This morning I arrived a the office at 9:45 sharp after completing the rigorous grooming routine required to make myself business-like and presentable (remember - I've pretty much been living in sweats with my hair pulled up every day for the last 5 months) and driving and navigating through downtown SF. The office manager was bubbly and very easy to chat with. When she invited the IT Manager to join us in the meeting, he was just a down-to-earth guy who wasn't too nerdy and was quite pleasant for a computer geek. I answered all their questions, asked a few of them; they both seemed interested in me and my skill set and I left there with a feeling that I had aced the interview and this was going to be my job soon.

This afternoon when I logged on, there was my horoscope and I nearly fell off my chair:

Gemini (5/21-6/21): Talking will get you anything you want today -- your way with words is especially captivating right now, and you will have the perfect terms right on the tip of your tongue. Verbal communication has long been one of your strengths, adn today even more so. So this is a wonderful time to meet new people, especially people you want to impress. Job interviews, first dates, or any other type of potentially monumental appointments are going to go well.

O.M.G.!! Are you kidding me? Holy job interviews, Batman. That kinda freaked me out!

So, do you believe your horoscope? I do now....

Until Next Time,

Kel

Close Encounters of the Rodent Kind

This morning, I took my cousin Ryan to the airport. He was heading for a close encounter with a rodent. A very pleasant, charming, happy six-foot tall rodent that wears red pants and yellow shoes. And is named Mickey.


I wish I would have jumped out of the car, grabbed his ticket and headed to Anaheim myself.


Early this afternoon, I was headed to the gym for a dance class (more on that in another post!) and when I rounded the back of my car, there it was, staring right back at my on the the driveway. A rat. A very nervy, ugly, nasty, small rat.


I let out a blood curdling scream, worthy of an Oscar for best sound effect in a quiet neighborhood before Halloween.


The rat didn't move. He just stood there, staring me down. And of course, he was right in the path to the door of my car, so it's not like I could just hop in and drive away, leaving him there. No-ooooooo! He was defending what he thought was his territory.


So my next move? I started stomping my feet and yelling at the rat. Yes, that's right. Yelling at the rat. Yelling obscenities at the rat, no less. He finally moved, backing away from my car and moving ever so slowly toward Ryan's truck, which was parked next to my car. I saw my chance to jump in the car and drive away.


When I returned, the stupid rat was gone. I ran from the car to the house, hoping the stupid little thing hadn't headed in the direction of my half of the duplex. And of course, Aero had to go out for his afternoon constitutional, so I was a nervous wreck as we headed outside. I wouldn't put him down until I had thoroughly checked the yard to make sure the critter wasn't there.

I did spot him - over in the neighbor's yard. Ha! Stay over there you stupid little thing. He wasn't moving at that point, so I was hoping he had gone to rat heaven (or hell!). Aero and I happily returned to the couch.

A couple of hours later, it was time for another doggy outing. Mr. rat wasn't dead - he was back on the driveway, moving very slowly. I'm guessing he must have gotten into something that didn't agree with him and he was dying (there were flies circling his slow-moving carcass).

Each time we went out tonight, I carried Aero into the yard and did a full inspection which included a flashlight after dark. I was just afraid that it would end up in my grassy knoll and Aero would get nosey and then we'd be heading to the vet emergency room. And there's no money in the budget for that!!

So far, so good. I'm guessing Mr. rat is finding a nice place to draw his final breath - in the neighbor's yard. When the gardner comes tomorrow morning, I plan on telling him about the critter and instructing him to look for it and dispose of it where I don't have to see or smell it.

I'd really rather see Mickey.

Until Next Time,

Kel

Friday Fill-Ins

And...here we go!

1. The crickets sing, and I stop to listen.

2. I hope you're having fun wherever you are.

3. I want to get far away from the swine flu.

4. I won the big lottery jackpot; this was a dream.

5. But as for me I'm hopeful.

6. I love the place I come from

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to finishing a scrapbook, tomorrow my plans include watching the LSU game and Sunday, I want to enjoy the Thriller dance class I'm taking at the gym!

Until Next Time,

Kel

Channeling Her Inner Jillian....

I haven't talked much lately about working out or going to the gym or being tortured by Denise, queen of the personal trainers. So let's talk about it today!

Back in September, the gym offered a personal training special - 10% off the price of 10 sessions. Well, being in full 'I can't spend any money' mode, I took this as a great opportunity to buy 10 sessions with Denise. After all, it's for my health, so I can justify spending that money while I don't have a job, right?

So, since there was a session of boot camp during September, I deferred using those sessions with her until October. I let Denise talk me into meeting her on Thursday mornings at 8:00 a.m. Holy Moly!! Not being a morning person, exercising at 8 is a real challenge. But I keep telling myself that if I can survive 3 weeks of boot camp at 6:00 a.m., 8 is a piece of cake.

Sure.

I think Denise has found a new mission in life: pushing Kel to her limit and ability, and then pushing a little harder. O.M.G.!!!!! These workouts have been tough! From heavier weights to new exercises to more cardio, it's been rough. My elliptical workout is now on incline 10, resistance 4, over 100 strides per minute for at least 3 minutes. Man, was I huffing and puffing! But, it got my heart rate up to where it needs to be to get the burn going.

Oh, and while I'm huffing and puffing on the elliptical, Denise was happily changing the settings on the machine, smiling and laughing... I told her she was channeling her inner Jillian. And she needed to stop it.

But she didn't. She just cracked the whip, pushed me a little harder and gave me 'homework' to do before our meeting next Thursday.

As I left the gym dripping with sweat and breathing heavily, I only had one thought:

Thank goodness for Denise!

Until Next Time,

Kel

Friday Fill-Ins

Before I forget and Linda has to remind me... :-)

And...here we go!

1. So are we going to get fall weather soon?

2. Happiness is what's up ahead.

3. I love to listen to the rain as it falls on the skylights.

4. I need a job of some sort. (Notice a pattern here lately?)

5. I walk a tiny dog who gets tired quickly and lays down on the sidewalk when he's had enough.

6. Laughter is the true elixir of life!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching the season premiere of "Ugly Betty", tomorrow my plans include cleaning house and going to the gym and Sunday, I want to spend some time with my goddaughter Adrienne!

Until Next Time,

Kel

The Numbers Game

Do you know how many days go by in 5 months? I do. 161. Yep. 161 days. That's 3,864 hours. Or, since I've been bored lately, 231,840 minutes. I won't calculate the seconds. That would just prove how bored I am.

It's hard to believe that I was laid off 5 months ago today. It still seems like yesterday that a tenure of nearly 9 years was just tossed aside like white paper in a recycling bin. Some days, it still hurts like it was yesterday, but for the most part, I've gotten over the hurt and the anger and am just ambivalent about the whole thing. I figure their loss is the bigger one.

I went through my notes I've been taking since this started and have counted up the number of job applications I've submitted: that would be 25. Of those 25, I received exactly 1 rejection e-mail thanking me for my application. Oh, there was the 1 phone interview. That was an exciting day. 23 non-verbal "we don't want yous" is kinda hard to take.

There is the one job that the recruiter has submitted me to. It's been a week and still no word. I always say no news is good news and maybe this is the ONE. Maybe, just maybe, I'll get past the phone interview and actually get to talk to a person or two in person.

Yeah, these last 161 days have been interesting, to say the least. Oh yeah. One last number: 3. I only have 3 more unemployment checks coming my way and then that runs out.

I'm 10 times more scared than I was 5 months ago.

Until Next Time,

Kel

Friday Fill-Ins

Okay, Linda, this one's for you!! :-)

And...here we go!

1. Sweet dreams need to come true.

2. There's a job out there especially for me.

3. Silliness is best when shared with a friend.

4. I need to decorate this Halloween.

5. Outstanding or not I hope my Shaw Eagles play a great game tonight.

6. Frozen Yogurt is what I want right now!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to catching up on some shows I've recorded, tomorrow my plans include taking Aero to the groomer and possibly going to an art & wine festival and Sunday, I want to attend a Bollywood dance workshop at the gym!

Until Next Time,

Kel

Friday Fill-Ins

And...here we go!

1. I have a history of not cleaning my house.

2. Playing the piano is something I wish I knew.

3. I'm eating (or recently ate) my morning bowl of Cheerios.

4. I can't wait to get on the road.

5. So that's it, that's the end of boot camp.

6. "Volunteering" at the gym is better than nothing!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to dinner and scrapping late into the night with my Scrapshare friends, tomorrow my plans include scrapping and having fun with my Scrapshare friends, and Sunday, I want to have an easy drive home from the retreat with my Scrapshare friends!

Until Next Time,

Kel