Coma

So last weekend I trimmed the hedges and got a nice case of poison ivy. It still itches, of course. It bothers me more at work than at home because I can distract myself better there, but there isn't a lot I can do about that.

So I'm at work, trying not to scratch. And of course it's on my chest too. Can't scratch that at work. So to avoid some impropriety I took some benadryl...and am now in a nice little near coma state.

I just went outside to send some puppets out and the sun seemed a bit too hot on my chest. Odd since it was covered by an orange tank top. So I come in and head to the lady's room where I take a little peek...yup, sunburnt my boobs at the beach yesterday. Itchy and burny...isn't that a hemorrhoid commercial or something?

*sigh*

So this past Friday Frank did something no mere mortal male would dare: He went shopping with me. Now this might normally not be a daunting task, but this was for specific clothing...business attire. And did I mention he gave blood before we assaulted the stores?

Anyhow, after sticker shock at Talbots, lunch and then JC Penny's I found something I felt was appropriate and that he thought would work, though he wasn't so sure about the pants...hey, I gotta have some bit of me in a suit. Then came shoes. By the time we left the mall is was 9 PM, he'd been shopping with me for 6 hours. The man is a saint.

So the reason for the need of a suit was that I had an interview in the city this morning for a job that doesn't exactly light my fire, but I figured the practice would be good. It was kinda fun taking the train together this morning, I teased him about walking me to school on my first day.

Here are the directions I was given for the interview:

Time: 9:30 AM
Date: Monday 06/22/2009
Position: Department Assistant
Hiring Manager: Mary Pratz
Interview Location: The Wannamaker Building 100 Penn Square Philadelphia, PA 19107

And there was a map of center city attached. Have you seen the Wannamaker Building? Do you know how many offices there are? Well the company I was interviewing with wasn't even listed in the directory! It was under another company umbrella and if the security guard hadn't known the woman I was to meet I'd still be standing in the damn lobby!

Oh, and it was like getting into Ft. Knox! I had a little badge from security to use the elevators, then had to call someone to come let me into the office from a phone in the hallway! AND I was told "Professional attire required" which would be why I felt it necessary to have a suit instead of ensemble, but of the 3 people who interviewed me 2 were in jeans and one was in sweat pants! In fact, the only person I encountered who wasn't in jeans or sweat pants was the lady in the maternity dress! Seriously people, if your office is casual the least you could say is "business casual" to interviewees.

The position itself is a no brainer, which isn't really a plus to me, but if they offered me good enough money I might consider it...of course I have no idea what the job pays because THEY had no idea what the job pays. When I asked they were surprised the HR person I spoke to didn't tell me. In fact when I asked her she said to ask at the interview. And as far as the questions I had for them, the big one was about turnover and though there was a lot of talking I really have no idea if there is a lot or not. I really wanted to say, "I realize you are interviewing me, but do you realize I'm also interviewing you?"

So that's the latest. Frank's awesome, the job wasn't so impressive.

Huh...

So really, this shouldn't be a surprise, and yet it was. Yesterday my boss announced that she was going to have to cut our hours down to 32 a week. It isn't permenent, hopefully, but this way no one has to be laid off. I know she agonized over it. She isn't paying herself at the moment. One thing I will say, she never asks us to do what she won't.


We are a little office. None us us can really afford the cut. Tony just came back today from being on leave after heart surgery. Not a great welcome. He supports his wife.


Connie's mom was laid off over 6 months ago and still hasn't found work (though how much of that is the market and how much is her I can't say). She announced last week that they would have to sell the house...then let 2 of Connie's sisters and a friend move back home without paying rent. As Frank points out, if everyone could pitch in a few hundred they could pay the mortgage, but there he goes again, being all logical. Connie's mom's reaction was "well you'll just have to get 2 more jobs". Nice.

Beverly wasn't full time to start with, lives with her parents and is getting out from under 2 divorces and 3 kids who are finally grown.

Will has been saving for an apartment so he can move out of the house he shares with his brothers. He just got a loan to finally replace his 25 year old truck.

Then there's me. Paying off old debt and new. So what's a girl to do? She goes home and talks about it with the man in her life and lets some ideas rattle around in her head for an evening. She crunches the numbers, realizes she's okay for a month or so, and the next day she sends out resumes.

Its been 12 years since I've had to do that, with the odd one passed around at interesting opportunities but nothing serious.

Life is an interesting ride...

Badlands, Highlands and Outer Space

Monday morning we slept in a bit then headed to the Bisti Wilderness Area. This is the part of New Mexico referred to as The Badlands. It isn't as harsh as Road Warrior or anything, but its pretty desolate and there are some very neat rock formations called hoodoos. Its kind of like physics went a little wonky here:
Neat, isn't it? I'll have more pictures later. After wandering around a few hours we headed back to Mom and Dad's for some lunch then took Dad to see Star Trek. Oooh it was good! Dad and I have seen every Star Trek movie together and it was great to include Frank in the tradition, even if the poor guy did have to sit 3 rows from the front-I let Dad pick the seats.

Initially I wasn't going to see it, but was assured by 2 trekkies in the lady's bathroom at another theater that I wouldn't be annoyed by the movie. They were right. I highly recommend it. Not only is Shawn of the Dead playing Scotty, Harold (of Harold and Kumar...) is Sulu! Such fun.

After the movie Mom made dinner and we all caught up for a while. Dad is giving me a copy of my favorite rug of his for my birthday/Christmas and I'm sooo excited! Frank got a weaving tutorial and he and Dad got to talking about aerospace I think...Mom says Dad hasn't talked that much in years!

We made plans for Sunday's trip to Mesa Verde and Durango then said good night. It was nice just to get back to the hotel and crash. Oh, and make fun of the Lion's Club which was having a conference at the hotel. Hee hee.

Sunday we loaded up my folk's Highlander and headed for Colorado after a pit stop at the 7 to 11. You see we had no regular coffee in the room, so Frank went to the front desk to get some. They were out, but there was a pot of coffee in the lobby. He came back up to the room for a mug and by the time he was back downstairs they'd taken the coffee away. And of course this is the morning we learn that my mom's stopped drinking coffee, which made me wonder if she was trying to quit smoking (hey, unfiltered Pal Mals for close to 50 years isn't an easy habit to break).

The drive up to Mesa Verde was beautiful as always. Switch back roads up into the mountains, you start seeing trees, and prairie dogs! Mesa Verde is a national park with several cliff dwelling structures that you can hike up to and check out. It's always hard for me to wrap my head around how people built homes there. We headed down into a canyon then up to The Spruce Tree House site which is just so neat. Frank went down into one of the underground areas while I stayed topside with Bear Bear.

We joined Mom and Dad for a picnic lunch in the car and made our way to Durango to see my aunt and uncle. Aunt Janette was goofy as usual but opted not to nag my uncle Truman while we were there so that was wonderful. I love my uncle, he's like a giant Texas teddy bear. We caught up on the back porch then made our way back to Farmington for dinner at the Chinese buffet. On our way out to the car I realized I hadn't seen my mom with a cigarette yet so I asked if she quite. She responded "maybe..." She's taking it day by day but I think it's fantastic!

We sat around talking for a good bit after dinner then said our goodbyes since we were leaving early in the morning. Always so nice to visit and sad to say goodbye. Sigh. But I appreciate them more and Frank was wonderful about it as always.

Mom and Dad both loved Frank (of course) and say he's welcome anytime which just makes me smile.

The trip home was long and I proved to be a bad traveler. I forgot a bottle of water in my carry on so had an extended visit with security, and when we landed in Philadelphia I realized I never turned off my cell phone. There goes that myth. But we were home and in bed shortly before midnight and now we are back to the day to day stuff. One vacation down, 2 to go!

On the Road Again...

Last weekend was a whirlwind trip to New Mexico for me and Frank. The fun started Thursday night around 11 PM when our sweet landlady called to ask if we were doing anything in the bathroom because the crazy lady downstairs said there was water dripping on her leg. Notice it wasn't "the ceiling is leaking". Anyhow, I'd gotten out of the shower 30 minutes before so we guessed there was a pipe leak. The plumber would be by on Friday and I told her to let him in since we'd be on the road. Plus: We didn't have to deal with it. Minus: No shower for Frank Friday morning.

So a few all to short hours later the alarm goes off at 4 AM and we wander around the apartment like zombies and out the door. We get to the airport valet, they drive us to the airport and we have tickets in hand a little after 6 with time to pee before the 7 AM flight. Yay! Soon enough we are boarded and sleep most of the way to Phoenix.

We had a 3 hour lay over there so we embarked on the adventure known as lunch. Frank was craving a burrito so we found a place that does them veggie...and it was a lot of egg as it turns out. I think the veggie fajita rice bowl may have made up for it. A little waiting and we were in the sky and heading to Albuquerque.

Once we landed and happily received our bags we headed for the rental car. A little travel tip: When renting a car in the Southwest always get the extra insurance. There are a lot of gravel roads and uninsured drivers. While traveling along US 550 we stopped in the Apache Nugget Casino (read: giant blow up tent) to pee and get more water and in 3 hours had made it to Farmington.

We checked in at the Best Western where the plan was to drop our bags, freshen up a bit, see Mom and Dad then get dinner. We deviated from schedule a bit.

Upon opening the door to room 236 we immediately noticed the shoes, coffee mug and iron which hinted perhaps the room was occupied. Back down to the front desk where the manager was stunned and embarrassed and found us another room. First though he sent someone up to make sure it was empty. Nope, people in it. We then learned that Jonie the trained monkey was apparently on desk that morning and made some boo boos. So on to room #3. We troop down the hall and enter an empty room...that reeked of cigar smoke. Sigh. Back to the front desk, promising I wasn't trying to be a problem but this wasn't going to work. Finally we ended up back upstairs in room 238 where we stayed.

It was at this point that Frank's hands, which had been itchy, decided to get really bumpy. Enter one of the things I love about Farmington: The Urgent Care Facility. When you need a doctor and can't get and appointment but don't want to go to the ER. So I called Mom for directions, assured Dad he didn't need to meet us there and headed out. 45 minutes later Frank had a prescription and we were filling it at Walgreens while we picked up some drinks and cereal.

We finally made it to Casa Pierce for introductions and stories, leaving around 9:30 only to realize we'd been up for around 20 hours and hadn't had dinner. Of course most things were closed, but Papa Johns delivers and we managed to stay mostly awake until the pizza got there, ate then passed out.

Next: Badlands, highlands and outer space!