The Update

I signed on as a temp worker at UT (UTemps) and begin an assignment in the Office of Accounting tomorrow morning. It's supposed to last until May 15th. I also have an interview (FINALLY!) with the Department of Chemistry for an Admin. Assistant position on Thursday morning. Hopefully, the temp thing will work out into a permanent position and all my troubles will be over (yeah, right).

My pal Misty and her family came to visit last Thursday night! It's been almost 20 years since I last saw her:

She brought her husband and her two youngest boys with her. The boys had fun playing in the yard and with my stuffed animals, our fellas sat out back and Misty and I caught up. I was so good to see her! I've missed her so much. They took us out to eat later that evening before they had to head back to Lampasas.

The day after was the 6th anniversary of my mother's death and my nerves made me sick as a dog. I was sick all day and didn't feel better until Saturday afternoon. I finally received my first unemployment payout on Saturday. They send out debit cards now and make you wait forever for them. We had started panicking about our money situation, then it finally showed up, a week later than TWC said it would. I also appealed a ruling by TWC that I shouldn't be paid for the last week in February, and that hearing was this morning. Luckily for me, my former employers realized their mistake with the date of my severance pay (the problem) and didn't fight me on it, so I should get an extra week of unemployment. They'll probably make me wait forever for that too.

Dinsy and the Skwerl

Every time I let Dinsdale out in the back yard, the skwerls torment her. Today, it was this particular skwerl's turn.


The skwerl started out high up in the tree......


Slowly making his way down the tree, barking furiously all the while, the rodent prepares to skwerl it up on poor unsuspecting Dinsy.....


Closer, closer, ever closer......


Until they were almost nose to nose.......


Then the rodent runs back up the tree and Dinsy misses her chance at skwerly stew....Better luck next time, Dinsy!

Stuck In My Head

Outside in the cold distance
A wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching
and the wind began to howl

-"All Along The Watchtower" - Bob Dylan

Winnie the Pooh Test

Your Score: Rabbit

You scored 15 Ego, 16 Anxiety, and 14 Agency!

IT was going to be one of Rabbit's busy days. As soon as he
woke up he felt important, as if everything depended upon him.
It was just the day for Organizing Something, or for Writing a
Notice Signed Rabbit, or for Seeing What Everybody Else Thought
About It. It was a perfect morning for hurrying round to Pooh,
and saying, "Very well, then, I'll tell Piglet," and then going
to Piglet, and saying, "Pooh thinks--but perhaps I'd better see
Owl first." It was a Captainish sort of day, when everybody
said, "Yes, Rabbit " and "No, Rabbit," and waited until he had
told them.

You scored as Rabbit!

ABOUT RABBIT: Rabbit is generally considered Clever by his many friends and relations. He is actually a much better reader and writer than Owl, but he doesn't consider it worth mentioning. Instead, Rabbit's real talent lies in Organizing Plans. He organizes rescue parties, makes schemes to reduce Tigger's bounciness, and goes on missions to find out what Christopher Robin does when he's not at the Hundred Acre Woods. Sometimes, however, his Plans do not always go as Planned.

WHAT THIS SAYS ABOUT YOU: You are smart, practical and you plan ahead. People sometimes think that you don't stress or worry, but this is not the case. You are the kind of person who worries in a practical way. You think a) What are my anxieties about and b)what can be done about them? No useless fretting for you. You don't see the point in sitting around and waiting for things to work out, when you could actually work them out today and save yourself a lot of time and worry. Your friends tend to rely on you, because they know that they can trust you help them work things out.

You sometimes tend to be impatient with people who are less practical in their ways. You don't have much patience for idiots who moan about things but never actually DO anything about them. You have high expectations of everyone, including yourself. When you don't succeed at something, or when something goes wrong despite your best efforts to prevent it, you can get quite hard on yourself. You need to cut yourself some slack and accept that everyone has their faults, even you, and THAT IS OKAY. Let yourself be faulty, every now and then, for the sake of your own sanity.

The Deep and Meaningful Winnie-The-Pooh Character Test

What to do?

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday, and the one month date of my being unemployed. I can't make his birthday as special for him as I would like, but I have some presents for him and maybe he'll let me take him out to dinner. I don't want him to be any more miserable about our situation than he already is, but I would like to celebrate his birthday with him.

No more interviews since the one last month. I've applied to more than 70 jobs in the last month. I'm thinking of attending a free job fair on March 18th and handing out some resumes. It couldn't hurt, I suppose.

On the plus side, my house has never been cleaner and I'm cooking a lot more. I made chicken taco soup last night and today is slow cooker gumbo. I've also been exercising almost everyday when my pain level allows. The Vicodin helps with that. Pop a Vicodin, do a short 30-minute Tae Bo workout, then collapse on the couch and sleep for 3 hours.

Here's the latest addition to the menagerie: Vicente Fox.