Un-Fazed: Moving Beyond Phase 2

[Chris55]

Cranky, stressed, and downhill the past two days. Yesterday I wanted to strangle the twit from the employment agency, hit another dead end I guess. It was DS's birthday, so more bad food and cake. Only had a sliver of it today, but need to throw cold water on my face and start over.

Tomorrow the boys are going to NY to move the kid back from college. Called him today and he hadn't started packing! Anyhow, I will be gloriously by myself tomorrow and am eating veggies all day. Maybe with an egg for breakfast and only a little bit of cheese the rest of the day for some added flavor. Will walk in the morning, do my volunteer work in the afternoon, and drink wine in the evening. Aaahhhhhh!

[happymo4]

Hi Chris! I hope you got to eat all of your veggies and got a walk in! I am finally feeling my funk lifting and I hope yours does too. It is a good feeling to get back in control of my eating. I am trying different ways to eat my veggies and definitely drinking a lot of water and it is helping. I might have a beer or 2 tomorrow with my sister because she is coming down and we rarely get to enjoy a drink together so I am excited and I am going to live my life and be good on most days. Hope you are having a good day and enjoy your wine!!
Maureen

[jhderm]

Hi Chris, hope you had a good day while the boys were gone! And enjoyed your wine too.

I am back, same old same old. Never a dull moment. Just changed receptionists. Not sure if I want to keep my new OM.

However, my doggie is FINE, after a $4000 workup from Xrays to CT's to echos and ultrasounds. They had mistaken a shape on the xray, which was an enlarged heart chamber for a mass (=cancer). TG it wasn't the case. Phewwww. Now, just worry about paying the cc bill when it hits, but it's the best money I have spent in a long time, on good news.

I was under the impression you found a job but I see you are still looking. How is it going w that?


Judi

[bethy]

Cheer up Chris! The twits we have always with us. I have two new wine glasses with butterflies on them and i just put up the umbrella, come on over. We'll do feet up, hair down, girl talk.

OMG! JH! The Explora's ALL RIGHT! I'm so happy

[jhderm]

Thank you, Bethy! I am THRILLED. A dark shadow removed from above me.

[Chris55]

Glad the puppy is fine, though spending so much money to find that out must be frustrating!! No, I haven't worked since the end of the year, Judi. My work at United Way was just for the fall fundraising campaign, then I did a few weeks at LLBean for Christmas. I've been volunteering once a week at United Way just to keep my contacts there, since I'd love to work with them permanently. The frustrating thing yesterday, though, was that I ran into one of the 10 people who interviewed me for various jobs in a social service agency in the same building as the United Way office, all three jobs that I was well qualified for. Anyway, the woman does a kind of double take when she sees me, heads back into the office like she forgot something. i just smiled and said a friendly hello. Well, this is the agency that didn't have the courtesy of letting me know I wasn't hired last time around, whose director was very embarrassed by that fact at my second interview. So, guess what I get in the mail today (postmarked yesterday!). YUP, my rejection letter. That cost 3 glasses of wine last night, lol!

The kid is back from college, car is unloaded, crap is everywhere. One load of bedding washed, want to do his comforter and all the other layers, too. Then at some point this weekend, we tackle the boxes and store them somewhere, sell the books back to Barnes & Noble, etc. It's very nice to have him home, and he's thrilled to be here. Making him some rare steak tonight, mashed potatoes, and a cake that I should have in the oven by now but DH is sleeping off the trip in the room connected to the kitchen and I don't want to turn on the mixer. But his time is up! Gotta get cooking!

I did buy a huge bag of baby kale and one of arugula/mesclun mix at the farmer's market today - our first of the season. Very exciting!! Had some salad for lunch, will cook the kale for dinner.

Walked with my buddy this morning, over the meadow and through the woods.....then it got soggy and we had to turn around. Should be a beautiful weekend here to play in the garden and plant the tomato seedlings I bought at the farmer's market.

OK, time for cake batter and that bottle of wine!

[Chris55]

Went off the deep end eating this weekend. It was gorgeous out, so I did a lot of gardening, hoped to do something fun with the family, but there was no cooperation. Couldn't even get DH to put the grill on the deck so I could BBQ. Then they wonder why I get cranky Finally got to BBQ some burgers and corn last night.

Did a major grocery run with DS yesterday so he could carry packages and apply for a grocery store summer job. I'm determined to get back on track today with my veggies. No walking, since it's gross out - drippy and buggy alternating with downpours. I may have to do my Total Gym today and some stretching instead.

B: red pepper and lf swiss omelet
L: chili
D: roasted chicken/salad/green beans
Snacks will be SB and veggie based. Need to whip up some hummus, I'm thinking. And get back to either nuts or cheese, but not both. Today will be a good day for staying home and cooking.

[bethy]

men.
mine will just sit there and Watch me work.
NOT manly.
it makes me crazy.
I want to say "if you're just going to sit and watch, go inside and watch TV because the TV's not going to call you names and I'm fixing to".
making lists for my big shopping expedition right now. goal is no store-going this weekend.

[Chris55]

I'm with you on the shopping, Bethy! I used my member appreciation week discount at the health food co-op today, got cheese, lots of almonds (PLAIN ones, $4.79/lb + 10% off), beans, bread for the boys, etc. Was hoping to get some of the fish from the fish co-op but somehow they didn't get a delivery or switched the day or something. It would have been a great thing for a discount since it's expensive. At any rate, could only use the discount once, so that was that. Also hit the grocery store, got protein to grill, a head of cauliflower for me, and stocked up on milk, eggs, etc. Tomorrow I hit the farmer's market for greens and spring veggies. Then hopefully I won't have to go out the door all weekend except to walk to the parade. I plan to dig in the garden, grill (he finally moved the grill onto the deck), and drink wine/beer.

Had a better day in terms of job searching today. Keeping fingers crossed. Got my pretty Goodwill clothes on and marched into the employment agency that has been giving me the cold shoulder. Perfect timing - the ditz I've been dealing with was on vacation so I got to actually sit down with the manager who was impressed with my resume and promised to make an effort to place me. Also had a pep talk from my women's career counselor and she made me feel a WHOLE lot better. Sigh.....

B: 2 eggs
S: veggies/hummus
L: leftover chicken/leftover veggies
S: yogurt
D: small portion real mac and cheese/roasted cauliflower/salad/wine

[bethy]

Happy Long Lazy Weekend!
You deserve one, you are so Persistent about the job hunt. Don't know how you do it.

[Chris55]

Persistence. I'll use that as the new answer to "What is your greatest strength?" Persistence is born of necessity at this point, need the money. If it weren't for that I'd happily be taking art classes, volunteer work, and sitting on the beach eating my favorite unhealthy snack.

Went way off track this weekend, so what else is new? Luckily I'm out of damaging snacks right now and it's pouring buckets, thundering, lightning, so I probably won't get to the store until late today if at all. So self-imposed restriction of junk food and grains, even almost out of fruit, so it looks like a P1 day is possible if I don't count the slice of bacon I had for breakfast.

Will spend the day doing laundry, cleaning the inside of the house. Where is that vacuum cleaner anyway? Or, maybe just take a nap. Thunder woke me at 4am, couldn't fall back asleep, so will need a nap later.

[SBMike]

Persistence..... I like the answer. I sit in on interviews often and that is an answer I could live with. Just have examples at the ready to show how your persistence was instrumental in uncovering or solving a problem, saving a company money or efficiency, increasing client satisfaction or safety, etc. I'd want to hear how your greatest strength becomes an asset for ME as an employer.

As for the reverse -- the Greatest Weakness category.... make sure you give a believable answer. I not only look for landmines (examples are answers like "My kids are sick a lot" or "Sometimes people say I am too abrasive" or "I don't take criticism well") but I also look for honesty. Am I hearing a carefully coached and rehearsed "turn your positive into a negative interview answer" like "I want to do such a great job that I sometimes have to remember that other people don't place the same priority on excellence that I do"? -- that answer doesn't score any points with me, even if it doesn't hurt you.

Strictily as an example, what I'd rather hear, if you've done a good job selling persistence as your strength, is that sometimes you need guidance on priorities, that sometimes you get so focused on an assignment (at this point, smile embarrassedly and as an aside say "and this is the downside of being persistent") that you consider the assignment a higher priority than it actually is to your boss. Then you MUST continue that, knowing this about yourself, you try to make sure to communicate regularly with your boss to make sure you understand priorities, deadlines, and "how good is good enough" on an assignment.

But that's just me. I wish you good luck!

[Chris55]

Thanks for the advice, Mike! I've been interviewing mostly with social service agencies and am not getting the classic questions, but a panel of people staring at me asking "behavioral" questions, throwing situations at me and expecting me to think on my feet. Have been getting good feedback when I get my rejections and got a call about a job I didn't get last time around but they have another opening and wanted to make sure I knew they were hiring. So I'm doing things right, just the job market up here is very very challenging. Most jobs I've lost out on have involved losing out to people who had the right connections or were previously employed at the agency and laid off. So I just keep plugging along, networking, volunteering, and trying not to let my eyes glaze over during an interview, now known as "interview fatigue". Hopefully I can keep it up and make that one connection I need and get an offer.

Didn't do so well with the food yesterday, caving in and having a hunk of bread, but at least I had it with olive oil. I managed to get my walk in, though, thanks to my persistent walk buddy, who dragged me out when the rain let up. Plus I moved some furniture around DS's room - he's cleaning and sorting after moving home from college.

Today's major chore will be hauling in groceries. Sirloin tips are on sale, so will stock the freezer. Love those, can easily cook them to order for the family - DH likes his cremated, DS likes them still mooing.

[Chris55]

Ended up paying some bills this morning and noticed that our electric bill has gone up significantly. No A/C on yet. Only thing I could think of is that our chest freezer is in dire need of defrosting. So before I went to the grocery store, I piled everything from the freezer into insulated bags. It's amazing what I found - 2 turkey carcasses (evidently my soup making slowed down), lots and lots of chicken breast, some sirloin tips (which I was going to stock up on!) and some portions of soup that had gotten buried. So I did my haul, came home and chipped off the ice from the freezer, then rearranged everything. I did end up with some more sirloin tips and some turkey thighs that were on sale - thinking I'll grill them. Loaded up on greens, but need to go to the other grocery store in town later for more fruit and veggies since their prices are better.

Today's plan:
Already did 45 min yoga stretching. May take a walk later this afternoon.
B: bacon (1 slice ), egg
S: couple slices deli turkey, nuts
L: eggplant/tomato/feta salad
D: will be sirloin tips, kale, cauliflower?

[SBMike]

men.
mine will just sit there and Watch me work.
NOT manly.
it makes me crazy.
I want to say "if you're just going to sit and watch, go inside and watch TV because the TV's not going to call you names and I'm fixing to".

All men are pigs. I apologize on behalf of my subspecies.