Bewildering Balderdash

Today marks the first job interview that I've had in over 16 months, it also marks the first earthquake that Ive been through.  Perhaps more importantly than all that it marks 10 months since daecabhir and I met.


And, yes, you read that correctly ... we had a 5.9 earthquake here in Virginia today. Not only did we have a a 5.9 earthquake here in Virginia today but said earthquake happened just as the guy who was interviewing me and I had greeted one another.


Freaky stuff!


There is good news however - the interview (once thing settled down) went very well and it looks like I will have a second interview. The dogs seemed no worse for the wear once I returned home (there were a few toppled knick knacks though).


Since we finally picked out the color for the master bathroom, I went to True Value to get the paint mixed this morning, Since we're covering a darker color, I put two coats of white on walls today when I got home from the interview. The color (sort of a periwinkle) should go on tomorrow. I really want to get this project over with so that we can use our bathroom again!


I wore two regular shoes to the interview and made the exectutive decision to don my Nike tennis shoes to paint in. My foot is a little ouchy but I am suspecting the Nike's (which are not long for this world anyhow) may be the culprit. Maybe tomorrow I will spend some time in the boot and some time in a different pair of shoes to see how that goes.


Tomorrow is daecabhir's last day with the 'bait and switch' company. Thankfully we have a four-day weekend together before he starts his new gig.

Sent off a resume for a job that I assumed was a pseudo-marketing gig yesterday morning and was pleasantly surprised when I received from the company later that afternoon requesting an interview. I'll be meeting with them on the 23rd - boy, do I feel rusty at this stuff.

This weekend represents that last free weekend that daecabhir and I have until Halloween so we are trying to make the most of it. Lots of household chores are getting attention ... from painting the master bathroom to fixing (we hope) the garage door opener.

For the second time the dogs (no idea which one) have gotten into the garbage when we've been away from the house. They've been so good lately but I think they have gotten spoiled by having me home with them all of the time.

So we were enjoying a very pleasant spring here in Virginia* until Mother Nature decided to jump the gun and go straight to August.

*Well, okay for at least half of it, I have been in Baltimore, but it was a nice spring up there as well. 

Today the temps hit close to 100 degrees and he air was horribly humid. Tomorrow will be more of the same. On Friday, we are due to get some relief in the form of thunderstorms.

Enough of the weather report though and time to tell you what I have been up to.

Unpacking.

Yup, that is pretty much it. That and trying to figure out where stuff should live and how to make all of the stuff fit in the space we have.

Today apparently was wildlife day here at our humble abode ... we had crows feeding on the ground outside our bedroom window when we awoke. While watching them we were treated to a young squirrel scampering about the back yard. The young squirrel tried to stalk an older squirrel and end up doing a hilarious move that had him moving in all directions at once for a few seconds.

Later in the morning, when I was washing dishes, there was a horrible thud on the back side of the house and I knew that something had hit the glass door. That something was a male red-bellied woodpecker. He knocked himself silly but I checked him over and found nothing broken, nor any blood, so I just gave him a safe place to recover. After about a half of an hour, he was able to fly away to a nearby beech tree.

In the afternoon, a white-tail doe came through the front yard and took her time feeding as she went. Judging by her size, she is a fawn from last year and most likely the same deer that we have seen a few times since we've been back home. The temptation to get my crossbow or rifle was great as she stood broadside to me several times. Of course, hunting season is not in and as daecabhir pointed out, I do not have a place to hang a deer set up yet.

Tomorrow will find me in Culpeper - we need a few things from the grocery store and - believe or not - I have to get another lawn mower tire repaired due to a roofing nail.

No news on the job front - not that I have really been looking very hard. A quick check of the local government sites revealed that none of them are hiring yet. The only paying gigs open are for 911 dispatchers.

Well, I finally got around to hooking up the scanner (thanks to daecabhir) and decided to test it out by (you guessed it) scanning something! Since I have a box of mostly ignored marketing material that I created while at CFC, I figured that I might as well take care some of it and get it digitized. Of course, it still frosts me a little that I don't have the electronic versions, but it's in the past.

Mostly took it easy today since I am trying to ward off the con crud. I did bake a date bread since I have been jonsing for a baked sweet something since last night.

Sent in my resume for a part time job that sounded nice - only to receive a request for my credit report within minutes. Seriously, this scam crap is getting old.

Headed into Culpeper today to meet up with Mom, retrieve the dogs and run some errands. The dogs both deserve gold stars for staying in Mom's van for much longer than planned and being good puppies. (Sadly, Tucker negated his gold star when we got got home by peeing on Duchess. /sigh)

Rumors of the Fashion Bug in Culpeper closing turned out to be true and they are having a huge clearance sale. Among the bargains I came home with are some tank tops for summer, a cami, and a little black dress for $15. They say every woman needs a little black dress. Now I finally have one. (Well, really I already have one with sparkles but that doesn't count.)

Another big score was hitting Belk's for my Clinique moisturizer. Mega bonus goodies with purchase (several of which I can actually use for a change).

The replacement window for the garage door is in place. The glass was particularly cranky and I pray that no one looks at the window up close.

Nothing to report on the job front. There does not seem to be much to even apply for now.

Gave my attorney the okay for the name change for the second time. It's been a rather frustrating process that has become a moot point but it is wise to play the legal game just in case.

Two days until daecabhir comes to country home. YAY!

Ventured out on my own this afternoon to get a few errands done - post office, bank and a storage unit run. Managed to find everything with little or no trouble. I may be used to getting to Charm City but I still am a country girl at heart.

This evening daecabhir and I will be at the meditation center for a talk by a visiting instructor. We were informed in our Shambhala level 1 training that this instructor is an "experience not to be missed" so how can I pass that up?

No word at all from the company that I had two phone interviews with. It was looking like I was going to be included in the third round. Not finding very many positions to apply for and I hope daecabhir has better luck when he starts seeing what Virginia might have to offer him.

In truly adorkable news, he admitted to me this morning that he misses the dogs.

Can you see why I love this guy?

Get your mind out of the gutter. Came back to the country home today and I'll back to the city home on Thursday.

Stopped by mom's on the way home to pick up the dogs and Tucker gave me the best "I missed you" receptions ever. He kept bouncing and making this little noise as part of his happy dance. Duchess seemed happy to see me, but nothing like Tucker. (Both dogs got excited when I asked them if they were ready to go home.)

Shadow's pups are growing fast; I can't believe just how solidly they are built. The little brindle girl is just too adorable and she looks like a wee Tucker in some ways.

Poor daecabhir is having to deal with a finicky furnace AND carpet cleaning this week while I am gone. While it's tempting to try to get back up there sooner, I really have to get some things done around the country home.

Today's fail goes to UPS who apparently has been trying to deliver a package to me since last Thursday with no success. Their tracking feature tells me all this as well as informing me that the package was out for delivery today. Since above package is still AWOL, I tried calling the 800 number only to learn that I can learn more about my package whereabouts once it has been delivered. Really?

Got an email about a job that I put in for but something smells funny about it to me. Scheduling a phone interview at the holidays is not that easy; we'll see what we can sort out for next week.

Tonight marks a very special solstice - there is both a full moon and a lunar eclipse! I am hoping to stay awake long enough to get a peek at it since this one happens in the middle of the night.

The dogs and I are back in the country home. While we are safe and sound, we are also chilly because the temperature was 22 degrees the last time I checked the thermometer and it's still dropping.

daecabhir and I had a very nice week plus during my stay at the city home. Things between us seem to happen quite effortlessly; especially in the kitchen where it is often difficult to work well with another person. He is truly a special man ... and not in the short bus way either!

Not much new on the job front save for a flush letter via email today. Brains cells aren't abundant enough to do any searching tonight, but I will be checking several places tomorrow to see if any new openings have been posted.

Sadly nothing has yet come of my attorney's good news. Hopefully things will happen before the end of the year.

Baltimore is known as the Charm City. Personally the only thing I find charming is dreamtigress and daecabhir. Traffic can be ugly and since parallel parking is not my cup of tea, I have to be happy with what I've got. And yes, Virginia, I am happy with that!

Found a promising job yesterday that I have applied for - Director of Marketing for the Maryland Historical Society. Keeping my fingers crossed to at least score an interview. There wasn't anything to even apply for in VA yesterday.

Today's agenda includes puttering about in the city home to help get it a bit more organized and a solo shopping jaunt to pick up some supplies for for  daecabhir and I. Also (of course) more job searching.

Outside of getting my holiday cards out in a record-setting timely fashion this season, I am otherwise totally unprepared for the season. With the schedule of being between two homes, I have decided that putting up a tree this year would not be prudent. Home is where you make it though, and for right now, daecabhir and I have the odd advantage of having two homes to call our own. Somewhat giddily, we look forward to the day of just having one home to live and love in. Where that home is located really does not matter because we will have each other.

Since some friends have suggested that daecabhir and I "take things slowly" [TM] we're not rushing into moving in with each other anything. Instead we have come up with what we think is a brilliant solution - we will just have a city home and a country home for the time being.

See? Aren't we using our heads?  ::: innocent smile :::

An extra day in Charm City was a nice thing since I got to spend more time with dreamtigress while my panda was at work. daecabhir and I stayed for game night [trademark pending] and had a fun, albeit late, night. This morning found us working on our timing to get out of the city house in better time than we have done to date. Not too shabby for a first serious attempt but I think we can do better.

Since today was a very rainy day, so was my drove back to the country home. We've not had any precipitation in quite some time so I am sure the earth is enjoying a nice long drink. Somewhere over the weekend the oaks in my yard decided to shed immensely and now the place is covered in 413 tons of brown leave. Brown wet leaves, in fact.

Had a nice lunch with Mom when I picked up the dogs. Seriously, isn't she the best Mom ever? She watches her grand-dogs for four days and then feeds me to boot. Shadow's puppies are getting big and their eyes are just starting to open. They have the puppy smell already too which is one of the best fragrances on the planet.

Even though I drink a lot of iced tea throughout the year, the cooler weather signifies my return to warm teas; between dreamtigress, daecabhir, and Eric, it seems I am always drinking some very nummy tea or another.

Despite applying for a few jobs yesterday, I have not heard from anyone. The days of phone calls are long gone and it seems the good, old flush letter is oh-so-1990's so I am sitting on the edge of my seat until someone likes my resume it seems.