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Despite all of the uncertainty of being unemployed in this job market, on Wednesday I realized that I was very happy that I never had to see any of those people again.  I am less stressed out, less annoyed, and more sociable-feeling than I've been in a long time.  I joked a lot about my job being soul-sucking, but the longer I'm out of there, the more I realize that I may have been on to something.

So, my soul is slowly recovering, but my bank account needs some work.  Now that I have some time to do things, I am not doing much of anything due to money worries.  I have some savings in the bank, and I have over a week of temping under my belt, but I know that I have to think about it, because if I don't have a job in Feb I will most likely have to give up the apartment and move back in with the 'rents.  Which would be dire, but it does have the advantage of being...You know, free.  In the meantime I can pay rent for the next 3 months unless I need to go to the hospital after my insurance runs out Sunday, so life is pretty damn good.  I wish I'd had more in savings, I had 6 months rent behind me when I moved, but the last couple of months have been hectic and I had taken some money out to cover stuff.  So, there you are: if you are worried about losing your job, or eager to move on to another one, you MIGHT want to be careful how you spends the monies.

I have been trying to think of someone at the old job I would be interested in talking to, but I find that there is no one I care to talk to.  The one person who might be a bit interesting is in danger of being fired herself and has health troubles, so I don't want to go asking her to do anything for me.  The rest of them, I could care less.

I haven't posted anything about my new digs, it occurs to me.  Pics later, for now just the dirt.

I'm almost done purchasing furniture, thank goodness.  I have a little cabinet in the kitchen to use as a pantry, the couch is on order, I have a bed and nightstands, and all of the shelves are up, including a very nice hanging shelf my Dad dropped by to help me hang 2 weeks ago.  Most of them are full, too, which is pretty satisfying.  

I can has my books again!  My books, oh how I missed them.  It's been two years without seeing some of my old friends.  I'm thinking of reading them all over again, which would also include all the stuff I've acquired and intended to read, but never gotten around to.

I've started putting up pictures, which makes the place feel more homey.  I think I'm going to fill the wall over the couch (or, where the couch will be when it is delivered in a few weeks) with black and white photos.  Fortunately, I think that between family photos and art pictures, I have enough to do a good job of it.  My maternal grandmother's wedding photo is very pretty, and I found an old picture of Paris in a thrift store not long after I got back.  There are a couple of others.  We'll see what develops.

I'm doing the floor coverings (which I am unfortunately required to have, I'd much rather leave the hardwood naked) in mismatched area rugs.  So far I have a tapestry mat under my desk chair, and a black and tan rug in a circular pattern for the living room area, which matches the round tan mat the cat uses to clean off her feet as she leaves the litter box.  In the bedroom I'm putting a faux-sheepskin rug that's being delivered tomorrow.  I'm excited to see if it lives up to the photo on the website.

I haven't really decided what to do with my great-aunt's painting.  She became a semi-professional oil painter with a strong local following in Florida after she retired from nursing, and she gave me a painting when I moved into my first apartment in college.  I've had it in the dining room everywhere I've lived, and now I don't have a dining room, so I'm at a loss.  The kitchen seems like a bad place for it, and it's kind of bright, so I'm not sure I want it in the bedroom. 

The closet in the living room, which I am using for storage, is packed full of I-have-no-idea-what.  Once I've got everything else in place, and I'm looking for something to do with all the free time, the first order of business is going to be ripping that apart and putting it back together in some manner that at least vaguely references logic.

Still left to purchase: an end table for the living room (I'm specifically looking for something to put over the litter box, so that it is less glaring that there is a catbox in my living room.  If the bathroom were larger than a narrow hallway, the box would be in there).  I am also in need of some type of dresser or vanity for my bedroom, to contain all of the things currently hanging out on the floor for lack of another surface to inhabit.  A dresser would be sensible, as there are still clothes to be contained, but then I could box things up seasonally again; I have an unused shelf in my clothes closet I could employ.  A full-length mirror is also a high priority; I walked out wearing about 5 different shades of blue the other day.  I think it worked, but I'm still not entirely sure.  Need a mirror.

I think I've re-mastered cooking on the gas stove.  I haven't used one since college, so it was a bit awkward at first.  And I could've kicked myself for not realizing what would happen when I put the oven on that day ti was 90 degrees; I almost melted.  Fire and heat equal more heat.  Should've figured that out sooner.

When I get around to posting pictures, I have one I took of the first meal I cooked.  Not just heated things up, but at least one component made entirely from scratch.  Or two, in this case.  I got very excited and took a picture, so that's floating around somewhere.

Okay, time to sleep, I've been awake for 18 hours at this point and I have a delivery coming tomorrow. And I'd like to make it to the farmer's market at some point.  I slept through it last Saturday.

It's the 17th, and I'm still not done Christmas shopping, sending out cards, or writing my Noel of Spike fic.  The company Christmas party is tonight, and it was snowing and raining this morning...You can imagine how much fun it was carrying my dress and laptop to work.

Still, I have declared today a Good Day, and this month a Good Month.  I certainly can't complain about anything significant; my mother's health is good, by brother is safe at home, I have a roof over my head and have made a huge dent in my bills this year, and I actually love my job even with the crazy hours and stuff. 

Thanks to the advice and encouragement of everyone who weighed in on the question of my father's gift. I decided in the end to get the USB record converter, and do the records for Dad if he has trouble.  So, that was one more thing decided and done. 

Also, I saw Hilary Clinton speak Monday night!  She held an event to pay off her campaign debt, and it was a lot of fun, even if there wasn't a whole lot of new information.  I kept expecting to hear her say something new and different, since she's now the appointee for Secretary of State rather than a Presidential candidate, but the closest thing was the fact that she'd been in Chicago that day.

On a secondary note, Bill spoke for a little bit, kind of as a filler between the host (America Fererra) and his wife's Q & A...And, that man is still hot.  I have no idea what the attraction is, but every time I'm in a room with him I feel it.  Fortunately, I have the good sense not to get too close...

Guess who's going to have to pass on a trip to Martha's Vineyard because she's dog sitting that weekend.  Yup, that'd be me.

EDIT:  As of Friday, the trip has been cancelled, so I will not be missing anything at all!!!

It was a wild, wild weekend.  Okay, it was not so wild, but I haven't been doing any partying in a while, so it was a little much for me.  I'm only now really recovered.  And by that, I mean that my thought processes seem to finally be clearing up.  Woo!

Eventually I'll get my stuff together and maybe get a few pictures up (I think by this time few of you actually believe me.  I've cried posting-wolf a few too many times).  There are some good ones. 

The laptop has been on the way out forever, it seems like.   My poor little green iPod mini has certainly seen better days, and lately has not been working quite right at times.  And then last night, my Kindle died on me.  Completely, totally un-responsive dead.  Not responding to reboot protocol (which has been successfully performed before) dead.  USB cable port breaking off dead.  Flickering screen dead (this was before the complete lack of response). 

So, I put an actual paperback in my bag this morning, along with the iPod that says I have no battery life left, then plays for three hours, and brought my Kindle to work stuck back inside its original packaging.  I was hoping that there would be handy 'If it breaks you do X' instructions on Amazon.  I found the return instructions, but had to e-mail Amazon for repair/exchange instructions.  I'll keep everyone posted on how it turns out.

Also, FYI, today is one of those days where I hate being female.

I've spent a good deal of time over the last two days shopping for the company's gifts for Administrative Professionals Day (next Wednesday).  I've had bosslady review my first 5 ideas, and came away with three 'survivors'.  Then I was asked to think of more ideas, at which point I enlisted a couple of friends over chat.

The hard part here, is hearing the gifts given in the most recent past, and trying to make them allign with what I would want or expect in the position of receiving the gift.  Most of the recently given items, I would have been so uninterested in I would have re-gifted them or thrown them out.

So, am I out of sync with my co-workers, or does bosslady not know her audience?   Taking into account the gifts I received from my old job the last few years leaves me even more confused.  I have another two more ideas now, but neither of them, in my opinion, are as good as the two ideas that got tossed earlier in the day. 

I'm ideally looking for something high quality, in the $50-$100 range, to give to about 70 people.  It has to be unisex, and a practical gift for the secretaries and legal assistants, as well as the mailroom, kitchen, and IT staffs.  Wallets, keychains, picture frames, food, candy, alcohol, and gift certificates are all out.  Anything for computer data storage is out, due to security issues and the fact that the IT director is not in this week to clear anything iffy.  There isn't enough time to monogram anything, trust me, I looked.

Anyone have a brilliant idea for me?

So, the evil I mentioned yesterday, turned out to be poison ivy.  In a big way.  As in, they sent me home from work, fearing I would infect the whole office.  I can barely use my left hand, the swelling is so bad, and that's after mineral baths, alcohol rub, benadryl, and several applications of calamine lotion.  And, I never even saw the sneaky bastard plant that infected me!

Okay, so I'm starting to see their point about infecting the whole office.

Anyway, I've been sleeping since I got home, due to the benadryl.  Which means I'll probably be up all night.  I may not be back here, though; the pain is just too much to justify typing.

Edit:  Thanks to everyone for the kind words and good wishing.  There has been some speculation that I was actually infected by a sumac tree, not poison ivy.  The doctor didn't do any tests to figure it out, just labeled it a 'severe allergic reaction to a chemical irritant' and treated it as such.  Evidently plant allergies fall into the same treatment category as man-made chemical allergies.