All about meme...

My young friend Kristen has posted 30 random and obscure facts about herself on her blog and so I though I might copy her and do the same just to liven things up a bit.

1. Despite all outward appearances I am really a pretty insecure person, I hide it well most days

2. I tell people I didn't want any children but secretly we tried and it just didn't happen and now I am thankful it didn't as my husband requires more attention than any child and I think a child would resent that.

3. I read all 4 of the Twilight books and I didn't hate them.

4. I have read all 7 of the Harry Potter books and LOVED them.

5. I am probably going to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 today because I can't wait much longer.

6. I love The Biggest Loser - and I aspire to get off the couch and get working at it one day, but I also secretly think about gastric bypass and how that might be the easier route.

7. I am a Christian, I don't attend church as often as I should but I do work with the youth group religiously. I get much more from our youth group meetings and the kids than a regular service.

8. I dream of building a barn and having a goat farm.

9. I am an officially licensed Dairy Goat judge and have been for 18 years.

10. I have an MBA and sometimes think about going back to school again for more degrees

11. Despite #10 I am not a highly ambitious person anymore, I would love to be a housewife and a student rather than have a career.

12. I am a dog person - love the unconditional love you get from a canine companion.

13. I am also a cat person - adore the independent spirit of a cat and how the deign to love you despite your imperfect humanness.

14. I am a waitress - part time - and have been off and on for years. Of all the jobs I've had I think I love waitressing the most, people are typically happy and having fun and I get to have fun with them.

15. There are mistakes I've made that I would totally go back and change if I could, even if it means I'm a different person today because of it. Maybe ESPECIALLY if it would change who I am today.

16. I am a republican, conservative, and not ashamed of it. I don't talk politics because I consider it a waste of time, but I am not ashamed of what I believe in.

17. I am pro-life and proud of it. I am working on a trip for our youth group to take them to the 2011 March for Life on January 24th. I think it's an experience they will never forget and will change them for the better.

18. I love to sing, I once dreamed of being a professional singer when I was very young and a big fish in a very tiny puddle. I still love to sing but I know I'm not all that.

19. I wish I could play an instrument and I own a keyboard and a guitar and cannot play either.

20. I am stubborn, very, very stubborn when pushed.

21. I can be very competitive when challenged. A competitor in my job (a competing paper) recently challenged me and I told her straight out "game on"! I want to crush her.

22. I love Facebook - and spend too much time on there

23. I twitter too but am mostly over twitter, just do it now and again and have cut back on who I read.

24. I have been married 10 years, things are far from blissful these days. :(

25. I recently found out that I qualify for free healthcare through the VA because of my husbands disability. As long as I stay married to him it's for the rest of my life.

26. I say I can't stand reality TV but I watch Survivor again.

27. I was a LOSTie and I am very sad without LOST every week. I was not thrilled with how it wrapped up and ended.

28. I am tired most of the time, would sleep 15 hours a day if I could. Maybe it's depression?

29. I dream of getting on a plane for a tropical destination with a suitcase full of good books and my bathing suit and sunscreen. I would lay under an umbrella by a pool sipping frozen fruity concoctions and reading for a week. I would not tell anyone where I was going.

30. RE #29 I'm not sure I would come back.

Hell Froze Over

Seriously, my husband admitted he was wrong about something major. It might be a first for him.

I went back to work full time about 4 weeks ago and I am no longer home to be at his beck and call, to drive him to everything he needs/wants to go to. He has driven himself to the VA twice without major incident (which is great because I was afraid he couldn't managed that) BUT he doesn't like it. He wants me to go with him, wants me to be able to go to Ohio for a week or more at Christmas and I can't because I don't have vacation time yet. He admitted that I was right in my original desire to only work part time so I could be available to take him all these places.

Now I'm working too much and I'm tired all the time and I don't want to go places or do things with him. I just don't feel like doing anything after I've spent all day in my car driving around and talking to people and being rejected over and over (I sell advertising and for every yes I get there are 10 no's). When I get home I want to relax, make some dinner, watch TV and not deal with people. He has been home all day and wants to go out to eat or to Walmart or Target just to get out of the house.

Something will have to give 0r maybe I will just get used to it all but my crazy schedule has me home only 2 nights during the week and on those nights the husband wants to make me go out too and I have to revolt.

Get out there today and VOTE!

Whatever your political leanings - get out there today and exercise the right to vote! For those of us who are of the female persuasion it was a hard earned right and has been less than 100 years since some very brave women fought and were horribly persecuted in their quest to earn that right for us - let's use it!

Happy Halloween!

Things you see in a small town...

So far I really am enjoying my new job - I am out and about 95% of my time in my car driving from business to business asking for advertisements. My success rate is low but I'm just starting out and many of these people will make me do face time - I will have to see stop in to see them week after week after week before I may be rewarded with their advertising. I can handle that.

So in my travels the last two weeks here are some strange things I've seen:

• A man with a fishing pole sitting on a bench on main street, as I walked by he winked at me and I said "catch anything?" and laughed - his reply "maybe - you are the first nibble I've had all day" LOL!
• Today was 75 degrees out - a beautiful sunny warm fall day - there was the lady in the down parka walking along main street.
• A few days ago saw a guy mopping the sidewalk in the middle of the bridge over the river, no water or bucket just him and a mop swirling it around on the concrete. Weird.
• There is the guy who drives his riding lawnmower around town, have seen it parked at the bank, the diner, the grocery store, yep AWESOME!
• And today I saw a woman in a motorized wheelchair laden down with bags of laundry and a basket of laundry in her lap, she could hardly see around it all as she drove up main street toward the laundromat.

Yes you indeed see some very odd sights in small towns.

It was an up and down kinda week...

I started my new job on Wed - UP, but my husband didn't get to to go his adaptive sports lunch because it was on Wed and he decided not to drive himself - DOWN (good he didn't drive himself but sad I couldn't take him).

On Thursday - Day 2 of the new job and only a 5 hour day - UP, after a nap went to restaurant for shift and had a great night - UP. Friday at 6:30am alarm ringing - DOWN!

Husband scheduled an appointment on Thursday next week which is not a day I can manage to take off work so I arrange for my parents to take him. He pitches a royal fit about not wanting to be dependent on my parents for anything. I tell him he's an ass and then tell my parents I may not need them as I want to go with and am going to try and reschedule his appointment. But I can't -so Friday my husband concedes that when the appointment can't be moved he can let my parents drive him.

Friday night at the restaurant - sucky. DOWN :(

Saturday - spent the evening with my nephews - they are so cute and happy and full of life - BIG UP!

Sunday - slept in, laundry, made beef stew - UP. Felix the cat is sick - poor Felix - DOWN.

Starting week 2 of the new job tomorrow and now I'm on my own - so time to show what I can do. UP!

Just a quick update...

I got the job - 32 hours a week, flexible hours/days, base salary covers what I made from unemployment, mileage is paid, commission on sales made too, I am super hopeful and ready to get started next Wed is my first day!

Had a great night at the restaurant tonight - made up for not making a great deal last night - lots of great tippers tonight made me $22 an hour while I was there - AWESOME!

Tomorrow - off to Six Flags - hoping for a GREAT day with friends and hubby.

Goodnight interwebs - things are looking up a bit.

Having a better week...

Have had one job interview (for a job I did not get) on Wed and another on Friday for a job I hope to get still.

Husband has not mentioned moving to Ohio once this week.

Saturday we are going to Six Flags with some friends and taking the kids from our youth group band. Sunday we are spending the day with our friends who are part of the youth group band/leadership group. Sunday night we are back to youth group at 6pm and my good friend who is the youth minister and I will be making pizza for the kids all afternoon while my husband and her husband will be playing XBox and doing things boys do. :)

Hopefully I will soon be back to work - the job I am interviewing for tomorrow is one that I did 18 years ago and at that time was too young, too insecure, too green to really do well. But now? I can kill this job - I have more skills, more confidence, more people skills, and I will be able to relate to people as a peer and not as some kid right out of school. :) It is 32 hours a week mostly on the road locally and flexible so will fit my life much better than full time 8-5 in an office.

So here's hoping that soon I will be employed again and that things continue an upward trend.

I'm going to pretend nothing is happening here...

that is what my husband does when he does not want to answer a question or face the music - he pretends he didn't hear it or didn't do it, etc.

So I'm pretending that he isn't trying to force me to do what he wants.

His latest is that he can't drive after dark. So he's trapped at home with darkness coming earlier and earlier each day. But you can bet if he ran out of cig's he'd drive after dark to go get them - just not to come for dinner while I'm at work. It's okay I can keep up this game for awhile.

When he starts to really push and insist we list the house is when it will have to come to harsh reality. I have to wonder if I force him to choose which he would choose? I mean he is trying to force me to choose. So will he choose his mom or me? And does she really want him full time? I know the answer to that NO SHE DOES NOT!

It may be time to have a heart to heart with his mom and let her know my bottom line. If he's coming to Dayton he's coming without me and he will be her responsibility. She may start encouraging him to stay put.

But until his VA claim is settled - if it's in his favor - there is no way he can afford to go so now I find myself hoping the VA continues to drag it's collective feet.

Cover Letter Worked After All...

I will be having a phone interview on Thursday for this job that I sent the cover letter in for.

Now I have another dilemma - I also just applied for a Director of Marketing position - one that will likely take a long time to go through the steps if I'm considered. The job that I have the interview for will likely be decided quickly and if I get offered it I should take it. BUT the other job is a career and I would have to take it if I got the chance.

The dilemma is after my talk of loyalty and all that jazz if I got a better offer and I left would that make me an extreme hypocrite?

And am I counting my chickens before I even have the eggs that might hatch some day?