Sunday, March 30, 2008

the end of the first fiscal quarter.....

used to be the end of a fiscal quarter would bring about reports, reviews, and more reports. but......not this time around. nothing special about it when you aren't working.

HOWEVER.......I still have my quarterly to-do list at home. see, I have found that I am not good at remembering the last time I changed my toothbrush, or when dh changed the air filter, etc. sure we could write that stuff on the calendar. but do I really want my in-laws to know that today I am going to replace my razors in the shower?!?!? NOPE! so since the quarter end was such an easy point in time to remember, I have used this as my reminder.

  • toss and replace toothbrushes
  • toss and replace razors (I use 2 different ones in the shower so think that changing them every 3 months instead of the recommended month is fine)
  • check all medicine and toss out of date stuff
  • check canned goods and toss out of date stuff (anything going bad in the next 3 months either make a plan to use or donate to charity)
  • replace air filters
  • pull out magazines over a year old and reread before cutting things out or recycling
ideally I think the toothbrush industry should really focus on the whole fiscal quarter brush replacement idea. instead of a steady stream of commercials telling us how great a brush is they should have a campaign to target changing them every 3 months. you know plenty of people don't and this way they could save on advertising dollars AND sell more toothbrushes at the same time! seriously........I don't jump up to buy a new toothbrush when I see a commercial. but I WOULD put it on my shopping list if I saw an ad that said "hey....this is your reminder that next week is time to change your toothbrush. buy ours!" lol!! heck, if they were uber smart they could sell toothbrushes in packs of 4 with seasonal themes! snowflakes for winter, flowers for spring, sun for summer, and leaves (or a nice teeth-cleaning apple) for fall!

maybe I should be looking for a job in advertising?!?!?

Thursday, March 13, 2008

12 of 12 - the unemployed edition

can't say this is very exciting! in fact, I had to find a few things to do so I would have some photos to take. hopefully by April 12th I will have a job so I won't have to work so hard to take pictures! lol!!

the first is my traditional odometer shot. we are in those fine spring days where it is cold in the morning and beautiful in the afternoon. except it never quite got beautiful yesterday. I guess a storm is coming in. but look how dark this photo is. that is because it is PITCH BLACK OUTSIDE courtesy of ridiculous daylight savings.


I missed my normal gas price shot. actually I took one but because it was SO FREAKIN' DARK you couldn't see anything. but.....J filled up both cars Tuesday night and paid $3.41/gallon at 6am and $3.44/gallon at 6pm.....at the same station!

breakfast. remember those wonderful days of Strawberry Frosted Mini-Wheats? well those days are over.....kinda. I had a physical a couple weeks ago and it was determined that my cholesterol is a bit high. (not shocking considering what I eat, huh?!?!?) no heart attack yet.....but I need to work on it. thus....oatmeal! I have compromised with myself.....I alternate off and on between the oatmeal and the mini wheats! today was an oatmeal day.

blech! don't so much like the oatmeal days! one of the reasons is because I get hungry really quickly again. trying to be a little healthy I had cottage cheese and carrots. I really like this as a snack but don't frequently have cottage cheese around. this was leftover from the lasagnas I made last week.

while eating my snack I decided I needed to do something so you all wouldn't end up with a day of food shots. I called and made appointments for oil changes on the cars. mine was for 1pm this afternoon! on the way out to run a few errands beforehand I saw this lovely sight......nothing better than packages........especially when one of them is from LM!

J changed the antennea topper on the car a couple weekends ago so I took a shot of it. with Easter so early it really won't be there for long. sad, huh?!?!?

before getting to the car dealership I ran a few errands.....one being going to Bath & Body works. I am getting near the end of my shower gel (currently cucumber melon) and the boys were out of their all-in-one stinky shower stuff! I got myself sweet pea this time and them frozen daquiri and banana split. there was one other flavor, frosting, but it smelled gross! I don't think I could handle the boys smelling like that for the 15 minutes before their stinky boy smell took over! lol!!

after dropping off the car I walked over to Frys. I had seen a cafe inside the last time I was there and thought it HAD to be a better lunch than Sonic. on the way I passed a guy getting on his motorcycle with this cool denim jacket. I knew I could always use a few more photos and since it was really nifty (the mouse......not so much the machine gun) I asked if I could take a picture. he said his girlfriend free-hand drew the picture and did the jacket for me. how cool!!

I got a pastrami sandwich (YUM!!!!) and some loaded potato soup (not as lovingly loaded as Black Angus but decent potato soup) for lunch and sat reading my newest mystery series. I found this one because I needed a name for my new black cat Webkinz. I am naming them all after fictional mystery characters and wanted someone Halloween or witchcraft related. so great what search engines at bookstore sites can find for you!! I am almost halfway through the book now and it is holding my interest. kinda slow starting but I think she is trying to build the foundation for the characters. I ordered the rest of the series from the library. (you can see my lunch a little in the background.)


picked up my car. you can see that I drove about 25 miles from the start of the day until the time the oil change was done......courtesy of the morning school carpool.

Wednesday is bowling day/night for R. since I am not working I take him over early so he can get a little practice in before league. tonight their team shirts came in. the shirts are a little thin (good because R sweats like his dad) and oversized. the boys want them to last the next 2 years. I think they will! R might be able to wear this through high school! lol!!

dinner was leftover/fendforyourself night courtesy of all the cooking I have been doing so there is no cute shot of my dinner: a couple mouthfulls of lasagna, some green beans, and pasta alfredo. wow! how nutritious!! I had a dessert of leftover Baskin Robbins from Tuesday $1 scoop night for dessert. probably totally counteracted that healthy oatmeal, huh?!?!?

with R we watched the most recent episode of New Amsterdam. not a bad show! I am trying to figure out how long they can keep the whole "love of a lifetime" thing going. after R went to bed dh and I enjoyed the sanitized version of Dexter. we don't get HBO so hadn't seen it yet. I can't say they did a decent job of cleaning up the language. it is rather obvious and most of the time you can tell what the guy originally said. but if the FCC doesn't mind then neither do I!

finally........like almost always......I am at the end of the day and have no photo of myself. so here I am with my newest Webkinz, Ophelia. isn't that a great name for a black cat?? I really need to remember to take my self-portraits earlier in the day so I don't look like crap!



what? no photos of me submitting resumes or surfing Monster.com to find a great new job?!?! yeah.....well.....I have applied for the TWO jobs in my field that were out there already. one I was already turned down for. I am trying to think about what nifty new field to enter. I need to think quickly!!

Thursday, March 6, 2008

no one has filed a missing person's report....

but I have really been MIA around here. fact is, I am not big about posting negative things and I am struggling to find the positive right now.

I was laid off and I am worried. the economy bites and my industry has really been hit hard. yes, I am smart, well-educated, and have lots of experience. but all that doesn't matter when there aren't jobs.

so.....instead of posting totally fake posts or whining about how I am depressed I just haven't posted.