So yesterday I'm convinced and prepared...I'm going to sit at the pc and bang out resumes and cover letters. I get my newspapers, some web sites (monster, the job bank, etc.,), my cup of tea etc..,

The phone rings...

It's my neighbor. Can I help her move the mare and filly? I did this the other day and it took us maybe 15 minutes so I say sure. Didn't bother putting on my jeans or a coat, left my sweatpants on and just threw on muck boots. I get over there and she gets the mare and filly. By all rights the filly should just follow her mama into the paddock....not today. The filly comes out of the barn, stops and says..oh my, look at me, I have legs. She starts trotting and cantering around my neighbor's back yard. In the meantime, the neighbor is circling the mare trying to corral the filly. I start moving toward the top of the yard so she doesn't get the swift idea to run into the street.

The neighbor's kids told her not to keep the foal halter on so the filly has nothing to grab onto and she's got a mind of her own. The mare is an uber protective mom and she's starting to get hot. Needless to say this took a bit more than 15 minutes. More like 2 hours later, we finally had the filly and mom in a pasture and a back barn and had managed to get a halter on the filly for future use. I won't bother the details ... I'd rather forget, but I do have a nice bruise on the top of one wrist and hand from trying to hold mama while that haltering procedure was accomplished.

So now I go back to the homestead to complete my task. I still have to clean the bathroom so I whip through that and sit back down.

I start my first resume and cover letter. This one wants three references so I print out my three letters and resume. I finish the cover letter and print that out. I start to print the envelope, which jams the printer. I clean all that out and start over....Uhoh....print's getting awfully light.

Sure enough...I'm out of ink and no back up.

So let me think what I'm going to make for dinner because time's a wasting and I can always go to the store later. At this point I figure what's the rush, I've already missed the mailman. Can I find the meatloaf recipe...nope. It's not where I think it should be, it's not where it might have been...(I know, meatloaf, how hard is that...but there's only one I like and now I can't find the recipe). Back to square one. I finally settle on a dish and decide I can at the very least send out on line resumes.

By now it's about 3:30 in the afternoon, my son is due home, Wolf walks in the door and I've just about had it. Wolf made the mistake of asking how my day went. I just started laughing. I told him about the adventure, the ink, etc..., He's laughing by the time I'm done and asking if I need a beer. It's then I realize I opened one about an hour ago and left it right where I opened it.

Guess it was just one of those days. Good thing I have a sense of humor. Today I'll go get the ink cartridge and register with a couple of temp agencies while I'm out.

Hey, it could be worse...it could be raining or I could have trolls in my toilet.

glad it's humpday
kitt xxxx

I dried my hair with a blowdryer last night for the first time in God knows how long. I generally just let it air dry. When I can afford it I get a perm so I can pay even less attention to my hair. I guess you could say I never was much of a girly-girl. I wore makeup in high school and college and then got out of that habit again. I wear it only once in a while now although I do try to remember to put on some mascara and eye liner simply to accentuate my eyes. Depending on how high the pollen count is I don't even do that. It's hard to look good when you're constantly rubbing your eyes ... you just end up looking like a racoon or a junkie.

Anyway, as I was standing there, in front of a mirror, flipping my head around, upside down etc.., I got to thinking...this is a colossal pain in the ass. Which only led to me thinking about all the things women do to make ourselves look good. We shave our legs, our underarms, our pubic hair. We style our hair, blow dry, curlers, etc.., We put on make up...some to the nth degree with foundation, coverup, blush, eyeliner, eye shadow, mascara, lipstick...geez. We make sure our skin is soft with various products from soaps to lotions to shea butter to vitamins to God knows what. We wear nylons, high heels, corsets, girdles etc..,

Some of us do this to a lesser or greater degree but all of us do make some concessions to beauty and fashion. Which got me thinking of metrosexuals...are they nuts? If I were a guy I would glory in the fact that I don't have to go through all these machinations to make myself desireable or attractive to the opposite sex. Guys...really...all you have to do is wear a pair of jeans, a button down shirt, roll your sleeves up a bit and be clean. In my experience, women are fairly simple to please in that respect.

We like our men to be men. We like them to be confident in who they are and we hate to have to share the mirror. I don't want a man who takes longer than I do to get ready. We want you to spend all that money on us not on your hair care products (just kidding). Don't get me wrong, it's nice that men care about how they look. I do prefer a man who can match his own clothes but, I'd much prefer a man who has a boatload of testosterone than a man who is concerned about messing up his manicure.

Save your money metros...buy yourself some nice levis and a pair of boots, forget the stylist and the manicurist. Just be a man who knows he's a man and you'll have your choice in women.

just my two cents today
kitten
xxx

I've got two sunday papers from two different states, I got my pen, I got paper and my pc...the search goes on. I'll find a job yet! Hey, worst case scenario I'll go through a temp agency. It worked for Wolf.

In the meantime I'm left wondering about people. There's the bill character that's hijacking the threads in the forum, there's those folks who insist on judging others for their lifestyle choices (who cares? are they hurting you?), there's others who just love to spend their time spoiling others' fun, there's others who obviously have issues in their lives that are spilling out to injure others, then there's the rest of us who just want to live and be happy. Sometimes it seems like we're the minority. We aren't, but we're not loud and squeeky so we just get pushed into the background.

Those of us who just want to be happy, to live our lives well and to treat others kindly need to remember that we only give these other folks the ability to affect us when we allow it. It's like the saying "don't feed the trolls". The squeeky, loud folks just need the attention. They need to know that they're hurting others or spoiling fun. When we remove that form of reward from them they cease to exist. It's simple yet difficult.

The first reaction to any attack on one's self is to defend. You get angry ... emotional. But think about it...what are they attacking? Is it you or something within themselves that has yet to be addressed? Think of the spoiled child in the store throwing a tantrum. It's all about them, not you. They want the attention, they want what they want, they don't care what you want or how you feel. The best defense is ... nothing. No response whatsoever. When their actions cease to illicit a response from you they cease their actions. It's no fun anymore and it doesn't get what they wanted.

Just a thought. There's already too much strife in the world without my adding to it.

Well I'm off to help the neighbor with her horses...

ciao for now
xxxx
job hunting kitt

Saturday...another Saturday in which I got nothing accomplished...I knew it would happen. I should just resign myself to the fact that Saturdays are lost days for me.

I managed to sweep the floor and throw a load of laundry in and that was about it.

I did find a tex-mex restaurant for the texan though so we ventured out to the southern part of the state for grub. The funny thing is that I heard the ad on the radio one day and the owner was saying he decided to offer us Yankees a taste of the dishes from his home of Texas. I couldn't quite remember the name of the place though...I knew it had times in the name and I knew it was on Main Street of a certain town. And that my friends is why the internet exists...so you can find random facts about random things...and to suck you in to waste time.

Dinner was great. We brought a good portion of it home so we'll be snacking on enchiladas and burritos later. Wolf lost $10 at the casino but we had fun people watching and window shopping.

Maybe today I can finish my laundry

lazy but content
kitt xxx

We were expecting snow to start around noon today. It was supposed to snow lightly til about 4 then the heaviest part from 4 to midnight. They said expect about 1 to 3 inches. Well, the snow started at 11 am...by the time Wolf got home around 3:00 we already had 3 inches. By the time my son's dad came to get him, around 6pm, we had 5 inches on the back porch. It's now around 7 and it's coming down just as hard as it was before with no sign of stopping real soon. 3 inches MY ASS!!!

Oh well...the joys of living in New England. You just never know.

I'm back to job searching...the job with the diocese fell through. I kind of got that feeling when the priest asked me if I could go through the day without smoking except for breaks. Ahhhhh yeah...I did have a full time job before. Plus I just didn't hit it off with him like I did with the other priests. I seemed to have a great interview with the nun but we'll see if that comes through or not. In the meantime I can't waste more time waiting so I'm sending out resumes again.

Time to check the fire....

snowbound kitten
xxx

Yep...it's that time again..time to pay bills...ugh.

I'm sitting here freezing my butt off because it's windy and the breeze is blowing through one of the only windows I didn't cover this winter (of course the one right on the side of the pc right?) and I'm paying some bills. The mortgage being the largest. Of course there's the car too...and the horrible oil bill that was 2.8999 per gallon...yikes.

While I'm doing that I'm thinking "I NEED a job!". My savings are almost gone and I'm still searching for job, which I've never had to do. I can usually get a job in no time. This is the longest I've been without work and it's an odd position for me. I have plenty of skills and experience in a variety of jobs so I can't quite figure out why it's taking so long to find something ... there must be a reason that I'm not aware of yet.

Oh well...gotta pay the bills and at some point in time something will "pop" as they say. And you know how that goes...you get a job offer, accept it, then everyone and their brother is calling you to work for them. I just wish it would happen sooner than later.

doing the drudge...

kitt xxx

I have to drop off my tax papers this morning. I have to have them done because of the farm. There's extra work involved and they depreciate items etc.., They cost a bundle but they usually get back far more than they cost so here's hoping for another year of a good return. I really need it.

Right after that appointment I'm off to the second interview today. Seems I'll be meeting with someone who wasn't there for the first interview and a first interview with the diocese school department. They need help there as well and the Monsignor thought it would be good if I met with both so that I could have a choice if both like me. That sounds promising if nothing else.

Picking clothes for these interview is tough....what to wear, what to wear...I'm interviewing with priests and nuns...guess the thigh high boots are out...

Well, wish me luck...

running out the door...
kitt xxx

We went to the store yesterday to get fixings for chili and we ended up talking about things we used to eat as kids.

Remember those malted milk balls? When was the last time you had one of those? We used to think they were awesome but the last time I had one, which was years ago, I realized that they were awful...

How about the Circus Peanuts? They were these god awful sugar things shaped sort of like peanuts and they were a color that has yet to be identified. You would melt them in your mouth until they turned into this solid mass that could be neither chewed nor swallowed. Nasty.

My favorites were the Flying Saucers. Two colored wafers stuck together on the edges and filled with these tiny multi colored balls of sugar. The wafers always made me think of the hosts at mass and as kids we would pop the wafers open, eat the balls and then play church. It was a great thrill to be the priest who gave out communion. Now that I think of it, it was probably to avoid eating the wafers.

Penny candy, which has gone the way of the doctor who makes housecalls, was a favorite for all the kids. You got a nickle or so and would run off to the neighborhood store and spend a half hour just looking at the candy trying to decide what you were going to spend your precious money eating. Swedish fish, orange slices (those gummy gobs covered in sugar), Mary janes, Squirrels (still can't remember the full name of those), Bazooka Joe (so you would have a comic and a chew), gumballs, jelly beans, Mike & Ike's, Red Hots, Fireballs (one of my favorites), Jolly Ranchers (the sour apple and watermelon of course), the wax bottles with the sugar water in them, rock candy, etc..,.

If you had a dollar you could eat swedish fish for a whole day and still have some money left for more. Your jaw might be sore but you'd be happy.

There's a candy store in Woonsocket, RI that still sells all the old candy that I remember eating as a kid. It's a bit over a penny now but it's still like a trip to childhood just to walk in there. I wouldn't eat half the stuff that's in there because I now have functional taste buds but it's still makes me laugh to think of them.

tripping through childhood candyland
kitt xxx

I woke up this morning when Wolf got up to go to work. I guess that's what happens when I go to bed early...what's that saying...oh yeah, early to bed, early to rise...makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. I wish.

I was beat last night so I think I fell asleep around 10pm. Needless to say I heard the alarm this morning at 5 and I was up like a shot. So now I'm kicking around wondering what to do for a few hours until I can leave for RI. I already cleaned the house top to bottom and did laundry....looks like I'll have to cruise NN....

I do have to say I enjoy early mornings though. I like watching the sun rise (no sun today but it is lighter) and I like the silence.... despite the roosters crowing and the birds chattering.

Here's hoping I don't wake early tomorrow when he leaves. Saturday? No way I want to get out of bed early....at least not at this time of year. If it were nice I could work outside but we're expecting snow showers and nasty cold.

I applaude his efforts though. He's a worker for sure. This job goes permanent after he puts in 500 hours and he's hell bent on getting them as soon as he can. He works an hour over every day and he's taking the Saturday hours as well. He loves the work and he's already being noticed. The other day he came home with a bunch of plywood to fix one of the barns. His boss was going to throw it away and asked if he wanted it. Hell yeah! They aren't full sheets but they're plenty to work with and they're free!

Happy Friday folks!!

if it's free it's for me
kitt xxx

Well, my son went over to dad's last night...it's school vacation week and he has plans at a friend's house for Friday so I thought it only fair that dad got to see him earlier than usual. Besides I think he was a bit bored. Dad bought him an alienware computer (which he kindly said was from both of us) and it's still over there so all he had was his regular old pc here. BORING..lol

So today I have the house to myself. I plan on getting the house cleaned from top to bottom and the laundry done. I have to make a quick run to the post office because the little flap on my mailbox is broken off so now I have to mail my mail in a box somewhere. I also want to make a quick run to a store and pick up a few items. Other than that my house calls. Thankfully it's not too bad but you can't help the floors when you live on a farm. They need to get done at least once every two weeks if not more often...I aim for once a week.

Now...I don't know about y'all but I hate peeling potatoes. I love potatoes in all their varied forms but I hate peeling them. In the past if I had them I would just wash the skins and cook them as is...sliced, baked, fried...didn't matter. The texan moves in and the first potatoe I made for him was baked. He left the skin...the best part in my opinion. Then he informs me that he doesn't eat the skin. Oh crap...well...then he can peel them if he wants them peeled. Of course now he's got this job where he works physically all day, comes home and works on the farm and I'm here at the house or at my part time job so I cave...I find myself peeling taters because I feel bad...sucker.

Mind you, I don't do it all the time. Sometimes I actually leave the skin on anyway and he seems to be getting used to it a bit. Most of the time he ends up peeling them. I suppose we're managing a compromise on potatoes. Next up...white rice.

LOL, who knew food could be so complicated.

off to do laundry...
kitt xxx