Mailmen ...

oy, you'd think a box in a mailbox with the little red flag up would be a clue that you're to take the box out and deliver it elsewhere? Not a chance. Not our mail carrier. Nope, he removes it, puts my mail in it and puts the box back in the mailbox. You know the one, I blogged about it yesterday - the one from QVC that got mis-delivered.

At least he put my box in the right mailbox! Ya, I finally got my new cell phone today. It only took a month and a half from application to delivery.

So, I got a Kyocera Jax. I'm not a fan of Kyocera, but I sure won't look a gift cell in the mouthpiece, ya know? It's a simple phone, no bells and whistles like my smartphone has  - but it's all good. It's temporary anyway until I'm working again and can get my smartphone turned back on.

I was surprised to see that for a simple bare bones basic plan, it does have voice mail, voice dialing, caller id and even a speaker phone. No camera, no internet access and no texting (unless I buy airtime for texting and their version of the web), but I can deal with that! Really!!

Yes, I know it's sideways. I put it that way ... lol.

*****

Another snow day today. DIL and Grandson took off for places unknown (at least to me, but then I'm never in the loop). That's fine, I'm enjoying the quiet!!

The Proof Is In The …

Dryer?

And we're not talking dryer lint this time.

We're talking boots. Yes, boots. Heavy duty (leather) size 13 work boots to be exact. For my friends who are not familiar with American shoe and boot sizes, that's a damn big boot!

It proves that I really am living with morons. It sounds like the house if falling in, thud, thud, thud, as they tumble.

And why, you ask, are those boots in my dryer?

Seems FedEx drivers have an odd way of drying their work boots after a long day of jumping in and out of their trucks making deliveries to houses that haven't yet shoveled their driveways or walkways from yesterday’s snow storms.

And then he wonders why I call him (them) the Wrecking Crew.

I just had a thought … brb … K ... Back. Those boots are rubber soled. That means they may melt in MY dryer! Had to go tell Married Son (a.k.a FedEx) about my thought … and now the thud, thud, thud has stopped. Yay!!

Hopefully he took them out in time so that there are no “skid marks” in my dryer!

*****

I didn’t go anywhere because of the icy roads. Heck, they cancelled school in over 200 districts today (including ours). No sense going out if the roads are that bad the call off so many districts. And from the news that's on right now, it's looking like there's a chance school may be cancelled tomorrow, too.

*****

I’m still waiting for my Assurance Wireless (a.k.a. the “government cell phone plan”) to come in. It should be here before Thursday. It’ll be so nice to have a cell phone again. I think I mentioned that a few times already.

I thought it had come in today, there was a smallish box visible in my mailbox (you can see what's in my door-less mailbox from the front window) but it turned out the box was delivered to the wrong address (happens often out here). Some neighbor I’m not familiar with, from QVC … so I left it in the mailbox for the letter carrier to pick up tomorrow and hopefully get it to the right destination this time.

So, why is my mailbox door-less? Little vandals in the area for the past five years have been playing smash the mailbox every time someone puts up a new mailbox. We don’t know who is doing it, but have a few suspects. It gets expensive if you’re replacing mailboxes every few weeks (learned that one the hard way), so now we just leave it alone. They don’t bother with the contents of the mailboxes, I guess even mailbox vandals have some respect for the power of the USPS.

Have I mentioned that I really hate living here anymore? Between falling trees, mailbox vandals, and the fact this is a dying neighborhood (notice I didn’t mention idiot neighbors, LOL), I’ve wanted to move for a while now. And it finally looks like that’ll happen within the next few years. Mom’s still talking about selling this house within two to five years, and I’ve narrowed down where I want to move to about three different areas. It’ll take me two years to figure out which one I really want to move into! LOL.

Of course, there's the apartments in Port Huron, my favorite place, but with lake effect snows and real cold temps in the winter this one will take a lot of thinking! The other two are about a dozen miles north of the town my folks live in. Rural settings pretty much., but not too far from small town civilization.

Thankfully I have time to not only figure out where I want to move (and have a job so I can save the funds to move, lol), but sort through the 16 years of memories (and crap) that living in this house have produced.

Baby It's Cold Outside ...

So much for my promises to blog more, eh? Can't blog when there's nothing happening. Well, some talented people can ... they have the ability to take something "routine" and through their creativity they shed new light on their topic. I, sadly, have misplaced that ability.

It's true, if you don't use it, you lose it.

So, what's happening in the mundane world of Moi?

*****

That winter storm is finally on it's way. I fell asleep a few hours ago to the sound of rain, now there's snow on the ground. I'm pretty sure that there's ice under that snow. And I'm not going to find out!! I'm stayin' inside today! Especially with the forecast of about ten inches of snow in our area by tomorrow morning.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful ...

I have the morning news on in the background. They're covering the mad rush people are making for supplies - at this hour no less. Hello? We live in Michigan people. Shouldn't you have realized there'd be snow at some point, and to have these supplies on hand already? I mean ... common sense says snow scrapers, snow shovels and de-icer are pretty much a given 'round these parts. I know where my snow shovel and snow-melting de-icer is .. and it ain't on the shelves of the store. And I won't even get into the lady they just interviewed who dragged her kids out of bed before dawn to buy them snowsuits!

Pretty sad that I, the Queen of Procrastination never leave certain things for the last minute. Like food, or warm clothing, or snow removal supplies. Oy.

*****

I've had my Christmas shopping done for a week now. Wrapped, tagged, and waiting.However, now I'm NOT done with shopping. Mom called last night and asked if I would do her Christmas shopping. Grrrrrr. Sure, I said. Luckily I had a few ideas for each kid (and grand) left, thanks in part to my really tight gift budget this year. But now it's unavoidable I hit the Maul again.

Ah well, the best part of this is that I get to shop for myself, too!! I know part what I want to buy myself, it was just a matter of being able to order it.

And what's got me so excited, you ask?

A dryer cleaner kit from Flylady of course. After that little mishap where DIL thought the dryer was on fire - remember that? The poor moth got bbq-ed in the lamp, it was NOT a dryer fire. But with the way *someone* doesn't clean the lint traps after every use so this is the perfect gift for myself - peace of mind that there's no lint to worry about, and it's affordable at $15.95.

Heaven helps if one of them touches it!

Then again, like they'd do a chore without threats or personal gain? This of course, does not apply to Single Son - just the Wrecking Crew. Single Son is good about his chore list (and helping me when I ask or he sees the need for something to be done).

I'll clean Mom's dryer, I'm sure it needs it, too. And a friend of mine said once I own one she'd pay me to use it on her dryer, too.

LOL ... what a job possibility ... "Dryer Lint Removal - $20". My slogan could be "Dryer Blow Jobs" ... or "Let ME Suck Your Dryer Clean".

*****

Mom told me to spend about a hundred on my combined gifts (being it's my birthday this weekend, LOL) ... I have no idea what else I want or need. Oh, Oh, Oh!! Maybe a new comforter? I'm getting a new bed within the next three weeks ... a nice new comforter would be great. Maybe I can find a good sale on one of those bed-in-a-bag thingies.

Yup, that's what I'm getting ... a bed-in-a-bag set.

Thanks for the help, I really wasn't sure what I wanted.

*****

LOL, speaking of chores ... DIL wants the tree up this year. I didn't put it up last year. Why bother when no one was going to be here? Anyway ... she's been vocal about wanting MY tree up. I told her she'd have to go into the crawl space to get it and the ornaments, she'd have to clean the living room of their crap that's been dropped in the corner, that my 90 year old dollhouse has to be moved to the top of the entertainment center from the table it stands on now (she thinks she's going to move it to the lower level - NOT) ... and their crap on the entertainment center needs to be put in storage.

Needless to say, the tree and ornaments are still in storage, the dollhouse sits on the table the Christmas tree goes on, and the entertainment center still has her crap on it.

She also wants to string lights all over the front of the house. Not a chance of that happening!! The house is covered in vinyl siding (including the soffit), there's no way she's putting holes in MY three year old siding!! She can string 'em on the inside of the front windows, providing she uses NO nails!!

Call me Scrooge. OR Maxine. OR the Grinch.

*****

I'll be sooooo glad when the holidays are over!

Thanksgiving 2010

Snowy Monday ...

I'm sooooo glad I live on the east side of the state ... that weather is pretty much missing us. South, north or west, but not here. The west side of the state is predicted to get between a foot and twenty inches of snow today. We've only seen a few inches of snow so far.

Yuck.

I'm finding that the older I get, I'm not liking the snow as much. Or maybe it's just this stupid diabetic neuropathy? The colder I get, the more pain I feel. And snow is cold!! Even with my fur lined snow boots and arctic winter gloves.

But it better snow for my birthday and for Christmas. After that, I have no use for it.

So, why exactly an I up and blogging at this hour? Hellifiknow!! I didn't sleep well ... four or so hours of tossing and turning. Gave up at about six this morning and came online. Applied for four more jobs, after searching through hundreds of listings on Fox2's Job Shop. Two Retail, one office and one hotel service. Figure it's time to expand my search.

Oh ... Em, you suggested volunteering ... Single Son and I were talking last night about our charity event for our Star Trek geek club. We're going with Habitat for Humanity in 2011. Since I'm limited in my physical abilities I was worried that I wouldn't be able to help. He assured me that they also need office volunteers. And with all the volunteers both in the office and on site, talk about a great networking opportunity!

Good news!! I'm about to get a cell phone again. Since I'm on food assistance I qualified for that Assurance Wireless service (free phone and 250 minutes a month) that some of you see advertised on the boob tube. They accepted my application just two days ago (a month in the acceptance process). Now to get it in the mail. It'll make it easier for me to apply for jobs ... I can leave the house and not worry that I'll miss a call for an interview - like I did when the thrift shop called. They had to leave a message. How inconvenient when they have to wait for me to call them back ... and possibly give MY interview to someone else who answered their phone immediately!

I am tired ... I want to go back to sleep. But I won't. My food assistance card was "recharged" at midnight so that means I have the funds and can go grocery shopping! After that, maybe I'll take a nap. Or search for more jobs.

Oh!! I finally got pictures off Single Son's camera from Thanksgiving. Yay!! Now I can upload 'em all and share 'em with you. And to think I got them before Christmas!! In fact, I'm gonna upload those before I venture out to the grocery store.

Now where did I put my shopping list? And the snow scraper ...

On a Happy Note ... Happy Birthday Butterball!!

Today was Butterball's first birthday party, even though his birthday was yesterday. It was the first time since Thanksgiving that I've been out of the house. I'm so glad I went!! Here's a few pics of the Birthday Boy ...

 

Just need to vent ...

I know I said I'd try to blog more, but obviously this week I sure didn't keep that promise. Fifty lashes with a wet noodle ...

Honestly I haven't been in the best mood. Depressed, but that seems to happen this time of year. Add the frustrations of still not finding a job and I'm not exactly the best company these days.

Doesn't help that on Thanksgiving my mom had to tell me about an article she'd read in the paper, that those over the age of fifty are having real problems in finding jobs - more-so than the under thirty crowd especially. No kidding? Really? I wouldn't have known had she not said something (insert sarcasm here).

Since Mom's telling me about it, I've seen numerous reports on the news about the same thing. Nice to know (I guess) that I'm not the only one having the difficulties I do.

I've applied to literally hundreds of jobs, both online and in person. I keep records of where and when (and the person I've talked to if in person), outcome (interview or no word). There's over three hundred job application entries in my spread sheet!! Only five resulted in interviews, and obviously none have hired me. I send thank you notes to the interviewers for the interviews. I re-apply every cycle possible (some say 90 days, some say six months), there's not much more I can do.

I study every article that comes out on how to sell myself, what to say (and not say), how to make my resume pop, follow ups, thank you notes, you name it.

And I go un-hired. Yup ... the age. You'd think with my qualifications, my record, my service oriented (and people oriented) skill sets that I'd be one highly sought after asset for their companies. And I am. It's gotta be the age thing.

Thanks for letting me vent ... I've needed to release this tension for days now.

I'll plug along, I'm sure someone, someday, somewhere, will recognize what I can offer their company and be happy to have me aboard!