The Fun, It Never Seems To End...

Hello faithful readers. I'm back. Taking a break from the job search to give you an update on how little else is happening in this house right now (except for Eric, who is doing some serious reorganizing of his Pokemon cards, so at least something important is being accomplished around here).

And here is what I've discovered. Mike and I studied all the wrong things in college. Because 20 years later his Marketing degree and my English degree are doing neither of us any good (well, to be fair, I think we all knew that English degree was never going to take me places). In doing my daily job searches, it appears that nursing, occupational therapy, and anything ending in -ology is where the jobs are. You know, there are some jobs you can fake and embellish on your resume. Urology is not one of them. And by the way, I find it a little bit disconcerting that there are notices for Neurologists, right next to part time bank tellers and cashiers at K-Mart. Do they really need to advertise for Neurologists on job boards? I kind of assumed that something like that would be part of a closer circle. Like rocket science. Or UN delegate. Can I really just submit my resume and write in "Neurologist" when they ask which job I'm applying for?

Here is what we know: Mike's job is ending in a few days. And he has applied for roughly 5 kazillion jobs. There are a choice few that he is very very excited about. We have contacts at these jobs, we've been told very unofficially that he has a good chance, but as of yet, no interviews have been scheduled. And as much as I would like to call each of these places and go over my calendar and pile of bills with them, I'm thinking that may hurt Mike's chances a bit. I would bake each of them a plate of cookies, but you know how much I hate baking cookies.

I've applied for a fair amount of jobs as well. Not nearly as many as Mike, but I have been applying when it makes sense. Yesterday I found pretty much the job of my dreams and I did apply for it. I know my chances are slim to none, but I truly think I'm qualified, and it's a part-time-work-from-home-on-the-internet (and don't worry mom, the company is legit) job that would be so perfect it makes me ache. I could stay home with Eric, keep my Cultured Purls job, and earn some more much needed cash. With my luck these days, I'm sure I'll never hear from them again, but in the off chance that every other applicant falls off the face of the earth, I think I may have a shot.

How did the craft show go, you ask? Well, I pretty much sold nothing. My loss is Willow & Blooms gain and I will have a healthy pile of hats for them tomorrow. And how is the knitting coming? Well, remember the update I gave you last week? You can review that for a current update.

My plans for today include finishing up two more hats for Willow & Bloom, taking Eric to the library to pick up some Junie B Jones First Grader books, since we're just finishing up the kindergarten series, picking Ryan and his best bud Zach up from school for a play date, and then trying to find more jobs that don't involve blood or other bodily fluids. Because I can't think of a worse job right now than a Phlebotomist. Unless it's a Urologist.

Update from the Castle

So, I'm giving you all an update. Not that I feel like writing about how much my life sucks right now, but I do have a couple of people who actually read this. And if I want you to continue reading my blog, I should probably update it every now and then.

But I haven't felt much like writing these last few weeks because my life is all consumed with helping my husband find a job. And, as Plan B, finding a full time job for myself (but you know what I've discovered about that? When you've been out of the corporate world for 9 years, you're not qualified for much. There is software people expect you to use that I've never even heard of before! And when I WAS working, I was making a fraction of Mike's salary. So I don't see myself getting a 6 figure salary offer anytime soon. I mean, when I left my last job, I was making about $34,000. Would someone pay me even close to that now when I've done nothing to hone my skills in the last 9 years? So, yes, I'm looking for myself, but let's be real about this...).

My book group is meeting tomorrow night to discuss the book I selected. I have about 300 pages to go to finish this book. My book. I'm doing a small craft show on Sunday (yes, this Sunday) that I am ill-prepared for. The woman running it was so sweet and offered to sell my hats for me since I have to work at the shop. And she is a friend of Mike's cousin Audrey. So I want to do this. But I should probably have some hats for her to sell. Hats that I have knit. Which involves spending time knitting them. And none of this is working out because I spend every waking moment looking for jobs.

And I'm spending all this time because Mike is still employed through the end of the month, so he has no time to search for job. So I spend hours finding jobs, email them to Mike, and then he reviews them in the evenings. It's a fun little system we have. Only it's not fun. My house is not getting cleaned, my children are not getting cleaned, emails are not returned, lever shocks are not being sold (well, to be fair, I'm still selling them. It's just that no one is buying them), and--now brace yourself--the knitting is suffering. Yes folks, as talented as I am, I have a hard time knitting cupcake hats and using the mouse at the same time. Apparently that is I where I have to draw the line.

And, to add insult to injury, that annoying know-it-all Dr. Nancy Snyderman from the Today show informed America today that women who drink wine are going to get cancer and die. Apparently men can drink all they want, but women who drink wine will get cancer and die. I hate her. AND Matt Lauer was absent today. See, my life sucks.

My life is so bad right now, I'm actually watching The Golden Girls. I Love Lucy had the 1:00-2:00 time slot on the Hallmark channel, which made my life bearable. I watch Lucy while knitting hats, and then MASH (I'm not a bum people, but knitting does involve sitting down, so I might as well watch some fun tv while I'm at it), and then I pick the kids up from the bus. But the Hallmark Channel has replaced Lucy with The Golden Girls. And since there is nothing else on, including my local ABC affiliate STILL, I have succumbed. I blame Dr. Nancy Snyderman. She is a killjoy and I'm pretty sure she moonlights at the Hallmark Channel, as President In Charge Of Bad TV.

How many jobs has Mike applied for this month? Oh, about a kazillion. He's lunching, he's coffee-ing, he's Linked In-ing, he's Facebook-ing. He actually does have a couple of jobs he is very very excited about and we've done some major networking to give him an edge for those jobs. And now we wait.....Let's just hope Dr. Nancy Snyderman is not involved.

Weekend Update

Pat's Socks

Fine--it's been a bit longer than a weekend. I have bigger fish to fry here.

First of all, before we get down to it, I need to express my alarm and utter dismay that we got 3 inches of snow this afternoon. Today, March 9th, we got 3 inches of snow. It stopped snowing for a bit, and, looking out the window, it has started up again. The schools were so caught off guard that I had to pick Ryan up from school because his bus got stuck on a hill somewhere.

And now back to your regularly scheduled blog.

Life here around the royal residence is, in a word, stressful. The King's job is ending in 3 weeks and he is desperately trying to find another one. And since I hate for him to have all the fun, I've been searching for him, while he is at work. So now we have 2 of us frantically searching for something, anything that will pay the mortgage. If it turns out to be the job of his dreams, FABULOUS. If he ends up bagging groceries at Safeway, we'll take it if it means we can eat.

I'm convinced that we'll end up living in a tent somewhere because this job market is pretty dried up. So I'm spending my precious blogging time (and knitting time, and cleaning time, and being nice and friendly time) helping Mike look for a job. Because you all know how much I hate camping.

The little time I have been spending knitting, I have been making these socks for a friend at church. This is some of the Lorna's Laces that Jane gave me and I am loving the pattern. Tons of cables, but it's a fun knit. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

Mike's Smooshy Sock

I have one of Mike's Dream in Color Smooshy socks finished. I tried this twisted rib pattern and it looked awful. I then tried this retro diamond pattern and I made a ton of mistakes in just the first pattern repeat. Now he's getting garter rib and he's going to like it.

Caroline's socks

This is some more Lorna's Laces from Jane and my sister Caroline claimed it. I'm trying to find a fun sock pattern that won't make me crazy, but so far I'm not having much luck. I have been given so much fabulous sock yarn, I have this obsessive need to knit it all right now. You don't need to remind me that I'm in the middle of 2 pairs, still owe my mom a mitten, have Mike's sweater to do, and all the baby hats. And I'm also working on this:

Raha Scarf

This is from the Estonian Lace book and I'm using some stash yarn (because jobless homeless people don't buy much yarn). It a very simple pattern and it would be knitting up quickly if it were not for all of the mistakes I keep making. This is the easiest and smallest project in the book and I have had nothing but problems with it. You would think I had never read a chart before. You would think that counting to a number higher than 21 was a foreign concept to me. Because this simple little 21 stitch lace pattern is winning a game that I didn't even realize we were playing. This easy scarf I was going to whip up in a couple of evenings has turned into my arch nemesis. Which sucks because there are more things in that book I want to knit. And I already have the yarn in my stash. This does not bode well for my temper.

That's all the news around here. All job search all the time. If anyone wants to hire a very nice man who drives a messy car, has a secret crush on Elizabeth Shue and is married to a frantic woman with a dwindling yarn stash, you know where to find me.