Christmas Vacation...Hurrah!

As of tomorrow, I’m officially on vacation. I’m quite excited about that. It’s nice to have time away from the office.

This week leading up to my vacation hasn’t been quite as festive as I’d have liked due to the impairment of my tastebuds and ability to smell the gingerbread/pepperminty scents of the season. However, I’m recovering my senses slowly and defeating this pesky cold.

On the plus side, I still have been able to get all my festive activities completed. I did finally build the gingerbread house, believe it or not. It actually wasn’t nearly as hard as I remember though actually a lot messier. It turns out that it’s all to do with the consistency of the icing. All these years, I’ve been making it too runny. You’d have think I’d have figured it out before this but, finally, I realized if I make the icing very thick, it sticks better and dries faster. Granted, this epiphany occurred after almost drowning in a cloud of powdered sugar. Note to readers: If you’re going to use a bowl that’s too small for all of the powdered sugar, don’t accidentally put the hand mixer on high when you first start mixing the sugar with the water. This induces a rather large cloud that is hazardous to ones breathing apparatus.

Once I got my house standing, it was a piece of cake to decorate it (pun intended). My only disappointment was that the kit only had three types of candy to decorate the house and the picture on the box showed a lot more. I tried to get creative but at some point, I had to concede, when you stick candy on a prefabricated gingerbread house, it still sort of looks like you stuck candy on the gingerbread house. In my mind, I always envision one of those beautiful, immaculate Hansel and Gretel type houses with the perfectly placed icicles, candy cane pathways and everything else you see in catalogues and magazines. In reality, it’s a slightly splotchy, drippy gingerbread house with gumdrops stuck on it. I did manage to pipe a design on the roof but it dripped a little and instead of having a perfectly symmetrical artistically swirled roof that matched on both sides, I had a bit of a Jackson Pollock thing going on.

Nevertheless, the gingerbread house stands. I was triumphant. Next year, I shall try not to suffer from Gingerbread House Amnesia and will not invest in kit. We’ll see if I remember that when I’m feeling the need to dive into Christmas.

I also got all my gifts wrapped. I managed to bake cookies although next year, I’m using a cookie press. I wanted to make these German cookies that my grandmother used to make. They’re hazelnut cookies that are piped onto baking sheets and baked. I managed to get the recipe right but the piping was not quite so successful. The dough was rather stiff and my disposable decorating bags didn’t hold up very well. I managed to get them done but I used up quite a few decorating bags as well as having to resort to cutting the corner off a Ziploc bag and using that. Next year, I think it’ll be worth using a cookie press instead.

Tomorrow, I head to my parents for a while where I’ll spend Christmas and New Years. I’m hoping it all goes smoothly. My dad has a new puppy who is rather adorable. Unfortunately, my own pups aren’t very fond of her. Sookie, especially, does not like the new puppy to come near me. I didn’t realize quite how possessive of me she was until last weekend when she got rather upset every time the new pup came near me. I’m clearly HER person. I’m hoping that since the puppy won’t be quite so new and unfamiliar that my girls will be a little more accepting this weekend. Unfortunately, you can’t lecture dogs on the spirit of Christmas because they just look up at you like you’re demented. Yes, I have tried and yes, I have firsthand knowledge of that look.

We’ll see how it all goes. Regardless, I’m ready to submit fully to the season. Since this will be the last blog until after Christmas, I’d like to wish every one of you a safe and happy Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Muddled Near-Winter Days

Some days, it just rather hard to be productive. This week at work has already been a bit of a muddle. Yesterday, when I got into the office, I was later than normal because I’d had to drop a candidate off for her first day of work. When I logged in, I discovered that I had no internet access.

Now, even a few years ago, this would have been a pain but not a HUGE problem. Nowadays, however, it’s actually quite a paralyzing thing not to have internet access. In my job, I use both my email and the web almost exclusively to do my job. Oh, sure, I have a phone but in order to call people, I generally need to have access to my email and the web to locate resumes, phone numbers, etc.

It turned out that we had quite a large problem with the internet. My boss, always trying to help people out, had allowed one of clients to come in this week and use our conference room for training. There were five people in there using the internet. Combined with the eight of us in the office, there were 13 users. Our internet firewall only has room for 9 users so as soon as we exceeded that amount, we started having issues.

Since we can’t kick out the trainees, my boss had to come up with another solution. Our IT Guru did something with a new router which finally arrived in our office today. In the meantime, he let the account managers work from home. Since I’m not an account manager, I didn’t get to work from home. I’m not bitter but I was a little disappointed. I suppose my bosses logic made sense: Recruiters need access to the phone and the printer more than the account managers. However, since I have two phones and two printers at home, I would quite easily stayed at home on this dreary, drizzly day, worked in my comfy clothes and had the girls curled up nearby.

Alas, it was not meant to be. Thus, I’ve been in the office all day which is a little like a ghost town since half the staff is working at home. I’m not quite sure how hard they’re actually working since, well, I’ve only actually heard from one of them today but, well, that’s not my business.

Fortunately, even though it was difficult to be productive, I have had a productive day. Lately, it’s been a little too quiet in the office. While I adore the holiday season, it’s not a very popular time for employers to be seeking candidates for jobs or for candidates to be looking. Generally speaking, if it’s their choice, employees generally like to keep working around the holidays rather than quit a job to find a new one.

It hasn’t helped that it’s been dreary outside. Yesterday, it poured with rain to the point where my back garden was nothing but one giant puddle. The poor pups had difficulty finding anywhere to do their business where they weren’t standing in two inches of water. It finally stopped sometime last night but since then, it’s been bleak and grey outside. We’re supposed to have some flurries tonight which would be nice. I’m ready for some real snow now. Not only do I very much want my traditional white Christmas but, also, I just love my snow.

Still, on the plus side, it’s a lot easier to leave the office when it’s already dark outside knowing that I have the glow of my Christmas tree in my living room. The dogs haven’t quite got used to it yet. Sookie casts it a suspicious glare whenever she bumps into it. I’ve hung jingle bells on the bottom row of branches to discourage too much roughhousing underneath the tree. My little dachshunds are just the right height to roll underneath the branches and when they’re playing with one another, they often get a little rough. It’s fun to watch because they’re having fun but it’s a bit alarming to see them tackle one another and bounce off one another into inanimate objects. They never hurt themselves, thankfully. More than anything, they just seem surprised that a table has appeared out of nowhere in the middle of their game.

The problem with the darker evenings is that they don’t get to spend much time outside. We try to walk when the weather cooperates. The girls do go out and play but they just don’t stay out as long as they do in the summer. On one hand, it’s nice not to have to keep checking to make sure they’re not Up to No Good but, on the other, I feel a little bad that they’re not as active and they can’t go exploring outside the way that they like to when the weather is warmer. The ground under my toolshed is probably thankful, there are a couple of holes that are becoming craters thanks to my industrious pups. They haven’t figured out that they really won’t dig under the shed as much as next to it but I think it’s funny that they’re trying.

It’s just a change from a few months ago where I sat outside, glass of pinot grigio in hand, watching the fireflies. The variety is nice and I like my cosy evenings inside where the wine has been replaced by a mug of tea and the fireflies have been replaced with a good book. At the moment, I’m reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern which I’m enjoying very much. It’s a dreamy book but it’s compelling and I’m fascinated to see how it ends. Since it’s a two-week Kindle library loan, I have an excuse to read greedily and quickly instead of savouring the book. By nature, I’m a greedy reader. I like to gobble up a book instead of chewing slowly. It’s a bad habit but one that’s been cultivated since childhood when I learned to read and all I wanted to do then was…read.

After a muddled day at work where we did finally get things up and running, it’ll be nice to go home to have a cosy evening indoors. Things should be back to normal tomorrow since our internet is supposedly fixed. We shall see if that actually happens once everyone is back in the office working.

Part of me hopes that it doesn’t work. That’s awful, I know…it’s just that it’s actually kind of fun when things are muddled.

Happy Wednesday!

Snow at the End of a Strange Week

It snowed today. It was rather unexpected but also rather delightful.

Two days ago, we had a day where it was 71 degrees. We didn’t wear coats. Two days later, it’s snowing. This is actually quite typical for Ohio but it’s still rather fascinating.

This whole week has actually been a little bizarre. Workwise, it’s been very uneven. Some days have been so slow and have dragged on for what seemed like forever. Other days were so busy they flew by before I got everything done.

Aside from work, it’s been a strange week. I signed up to participate in National Novel Writing Month again. I’ve found it’s an excellent way for me to, you know, write. Lately, I haven’t been writing so regularly. I don’t know why. I still love it. It’s just that I haven’t really felt like it. I don’t know if it’s laziness or my brain has just not wanted to write anything since last year at this time when I wrote “Emmy Goes to Hell.”

I’m not writing another book in my demon series. I need a break. I know there are a few people out there wanting a sequel but I don’t think the demand is enough that I HAVE to write one for a while. I don’t really want to at the moment anyway. While those books are entertaining, I’d like to think I’m a better writer than that and I’m capable of something more interesting and better written.

The ironic thing is that I really don’t know what I’m writing in this current book. I have a few vague ideas but I’m returning to my old habit of just letting the story come out on its own. My past few books including the demon ones have felt forced to me. They haven’t felt like my writing. I like it much better when I find my characters and connect with them and they guide the story. I like being surprised and I’ve got into the habit of not being surprised.

Thus, since I’ve written every night this week, the story I’m writing has become quite interesting. I rather like having no clue where it’s going next. As I said, I have a vague idea but, to me, that’s the best way to write.

I think the weirdness of the week is partially due to the time change too. Ever since we “Fell Back” an hour last weekend, I’ve felt a little out-of-sorts. The pups have too. I’ve noticed they still seem to like to get up at the same time as last week which is all very well but the same time as last week is actually an hour earlier this week. Did you follow that. To put it more simply- Rory Wrigglebottom Gilmore now becomes a wide-awake Rory Wrigglebottom Gilmore at 5:45 a.m. instead of 6:45 a.m. For the past few moments, I’ve awoken to find a doggie nose inches from my face, big brown eyes wide and staring, just waiting for me to open my eyes. The minute I do, I get pounced on. I suppose it’s good that they don’t pounce while I’m sleeping but both dogs tend to be a little restless a lot earlier than they used to be.

The problem is that they’re going to bed earlier too. They haven’t figured out that humans feel the need to change the clock an hour backwards and thus their internal clock is still telling them it’s ‘bedtime’ at the same time it was last week. This means they’re passing out on the couch, legs sticking up on the air, flat on their backs at 8:30 p.m. instead of 9:30 p.m. This probably explains why they wake up earlier too but it’s a little hard to sleep at the moment.

Now, it’s snowing. I’m quite happy. It’s not the type of snow where I’m inspired to go home, make hot chocolate and enjoy it since it’s rather furious flurries that are over in moments and it’s still far too warm on the ground for it to do anything other than land as wet splodges. I do, however, have Hungarian goulash in the crockpot which I think might make the perfect meal on a cool, snowy evening.

I’m just hoping that I actually get to relax a little with my TV shows tonight. The last time I furiously wrote to get my word count for the day, I did so with the promise to myself that I could watch “Glee,” “Ringer” and “Parenthood” after as my ‘reward.’ Then I discovered that DirecTV was having trouble with their HD channels. The non-HD version of each channel was working, however. This would have been fine if I’d have, you know, watched the shows live rather than rely on my DVR but, alas, my DVR didn’t record anything and thus, I missed all three. Hopefully, tonight, I will get to watch “Vampire Diaries” (remember: NO MOCKING) and “Grey’s Anatomy” with no problems. I’m also watching “Person of Interest” because I love Michael Emerson who endeared himself to me as creepy Ben Linus on “Lost.” Unfortunately, “Person of Interest” is becoming one of those shows that I don’t feel like I really want to watch until I have nothing else left on my DVR to watch. It’s…ok but it’s a bit….boring.

Ah well, perhaps I’ll watch it over the weekend. I think it’s supposed to warm up this weekend again. Knowing Ohio, it’ll probably warm up to 90 degrees and we’ll be sweating in our thick coats and gloves that we got out to deal with this snow.

You just never can tell.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Having a Growl...

Today was one of those days where I realized I was a foul-tempered beast right as I got into work. I was fine when I got up this morning. I was tired and quite comfy in bed and not really in the mood to get up but, as I do every morning, I got up anyway. As usual, I got up just in time for “Fox 19 Stormtracker Weather” which was actually right for once. As usual, I got dressed and then let the pups out.

As usual, I went to do my normal bathroom routine and the pups came back inside and watched me the whole time, waiting for their morning treat. As usual, I made my tea- pumpkin spice this morning- and headed to work.

Then I got to the office and realized I was in the mood to throw things at people. It wasn’t even like they were doing anything worthy of me throwing things at them. It was just that it was one of those days when I really, really was not in the mood to be in the office.

It didn’t help that I’d worked a little late last night trying to lure in a candidate for a job that, based on his resume, would be a great fit for him. I got him excited about the job. I got him to fill out the required paperwork. I was happy that I’d finally found someone for the job who actually fit. Then I discovered that he had actually worked for us before at the same client site where I wanted to place him. Not to worry- that doesn’t mean much since it was six years ago and he seemed to have left on good terms. In addition, during the six years afterwards, he’s garnered a ton of experience and was far stronger than he was when he left the job.

Still, I thought I better check with the hiring manager, just in case there was a reason they didn’t want him back.

Sure enough, the email we got in response to my inquiry is that they had no interest in him. There was no explanation. He even still has references from the company. I was irritated. It’s fine if he’d done something bad, you know, like stabbed one of his coworkers, brought down the entire system or stolen a ton of money. However, all I could discover was that, at the time, he didn’t have the experience they needed so they didn’t renew his contract.

So, that didn’t help my mood. There’s nothing like investing a lot of time into a project only to realize it’s been a complete waste of time.

Thus, I found myself declining into Foul Tempered Beast territory. I’ve been surly and irritated all day long. My coworkers have been irritating me even though they’re doing nothing different to usual. I’m just not in the mood to listen to them laugh and joke around. Also, the new boy is irritating me because he’s cocky and arrogant and likes to try to steal my candidates. Also, it was dark and rainy all afternoon and all I really wanted to do was go home and curl up with the pups.

Instead, I have a meeting to go to tonight for work. It’s part of our extra-curricular attempts to network. I’m not excited. It’s a two hour meeting. It’s two hours when I could be playing “Angry Birds”, writing or do something completely non-work related. On the plus side, I don’t have to go alone- one of my coworkers is meeting me there. It’s just not what I feel like doing on a cold, rainy bad-moody evening.

I think perhaps if I walked around the office and had a good growl it might help. I do that at home sometimes. Growling is fun. Some people find it a little odd that I growl but it’s actually quite a good way to make yourself feel a little better. It’s more fun if I growl at the pups because this inevitably leads to them trying to jump on me and doing their little cute grumble-growls but it’s also fun to do it when you’re simply having a bad day. The only problem is that as I’m still trying to keep up the façade that I’m not a weirdo, I can’t do it when my coworkers are around.

Ah well, I will have a good growl on the way to the meeting tonight. That should help. Also, tomorrow is Friday and that’s a good way to make sure that tomorrow is not a Foul Tempered Beast Day. Fridays are good days by default, I find.

And, if it’s not, I shall simply have a growl. Oh, go on…try it. It works….trust me.

Happy Friday!

A LIttle Too Early...Pre-Trip Excitement

I’m going to England in a little over a month, provided my green card gets renewed. I have an appointment to get a temporary one on Thursday so wish me luck. Hopefully I’ll be successful. If not, I find places like the USCIS offices a very interesting place to people watch and make up stories in my head about who the people are.

I’m excited about England, I think. I’m a little nervous about leaving the pups for so long but they’ll be with my parents so I’m sure there’ll be fine. It’s just hard with dogs because unlike, say, with kids, you can’t call them on the phone. Granted, I confess, I am one of those insane pet parents who likes my parents to hold the phone to Sookie and Rory’s ear so I can say hi but that generally confuses them and forces them to try to find out why I’m trapped in the weird little box thing and why I’m not there petting them.

Still, the trip should be fine. Even though it’s paid by my office, it’s primarily a reward trip and thus will not be as much work as just having fun. My office has a nice policy that spouses and partners are also allowed to go and have their expenses paid because the theory is that they’re the ones who have to put up with our sometimes insane working hours/habits and thus they too should be rewarded. I like that theory. I think it’s kind and very generous.

For me, I don’t have a spouse nor a partner. Dogs are not permitted. Neither are mothers, sisters or friends. Thus, like a few others in the group, I will be going alone. I actually don’t mind at all. We get an allotted amount of spending money and if you bring someone, you have to share. As I’m a singleton, I get that money all to myself. Stingy…probably? Luxury? Definitely.

Most of the trip will involve lots of free time. The office will give us a list of activities that we can either choose to do or not and if we choose to do them, the company will pay. The beauty of it is we don’t have to do anything. We can simply enjoy London.

I know, I know…I’m very lucky. I know it and I’m already grateful even though the trip hasn’t happened yet. It’s simply nice to be working for a company who has a Top Performers trip. Even if I hadn’t have qualified, I’d still admire the fact that the company has been doing this for 30 years, each time somewhere new. It’s a very generous way to show your employees that they do matter and they make a difference.

I’m even luckier that not only have I qualified for my first possible trip but also that it’s to London. Usually, it’s somewhere like Key West, Las Vegas or Miami. That’s not to say those places wouldn’t be a ton of fun either but London is definitely better- I’m planning on staying a few extra days to visit my friends and family.

The interesting part of the trip for me is watching our branch administrator plan it. For me, a natural born Brit, things of a British nature are, well, second nature to me. Yet, viewing things through my coworkers’ eyes, I get an entirely different perspective. Everything is new and different. For example, normally when she plans the trip in the U.S., she finds a resort hotel or a hotel with a good concierge who will assist with setting up dining, entertainment and amenities. In England, that is not the case. The concierge will assist to some degree by making recommendations. They might even book theatre tickets. However, when it comes to planning group activities, that’s all up to my branch administrator. She’s finding it a lot more work than usual.

I admire her efforts. Setting up a trip that will end up including around 30 people is not easy, particularly an international one. She has to take care of everything from booking things all the way down to researching how our Blackberries will work, how much a second suitcase will cost to check and how to go about getting tube passes. Then there’s the issue of money. For me, I grew up using pounds and pence. She grew up with dollars and cents. Even how to say the amounts of money is new for her. She’s getting the hang of it though and the trip is coming together nicely. It’s actually quite fun- it’s like I’m Harry Potter trying to show Mr. Weasley how to deal with the muggle world.

I think it’s going to end up being a lot of fun. I think my biggest dilemma will be trying to decide if I’d rather go shopping at Harrods with a gift card from the office or using the time to do more interesting things like go to the Tower of London. I’m leaning towards the Tower just because I’ve never been there and due to my “Game of Thrones” obsession of late, it seems like the closest thing England has to that world. Being a little dark and twisty, I find the idea of seeing where they used to put heads on pikes and conduct torture to be rather intriguing. I know that’s a little sick but, well, it’s more interesting to me than seeing something like the crown jewels.

It’ll be nice to get back to England. It’s been a couple of years since I went back and I’d like to see my grandparents again. If timing had worked out better, I’d actually see my mother there too- she’s leaving for a trip to the UK tomorrow but she gets back about three weeks before I leave.

It’s definitely something to look forward to and even on not-so-great days at work, it’s a reminder that there are good days too and those good days can lead to trips to England. I can’t wait.

Happy Wednesday! (And Bon Voyage, Mummy Monkeypants- have a safe trip!)

Long and Squirrelly Weeks

This is turning into one of those weeks. I’m very glad that tomorrow is Friday. I could use a break; this week in the office has been rather stressful.

Our office is not having a great month. We’ve had a string of bad luck with candidates who accept our job, are about to start and then, at the last minute, decide to take a different job. Or, in the case of my coworker and fellow recruiter, he’s had people start a job and then leave within a week. The thing is, this isn’t something we can help. It happens. In the case of the people who leave after a week, it’s usually the same reason that the other candidates don’t end up starting- they find another job that pays a little more and as is so often the case, it’s all about the money.

Today, I had a great candidate who was supposed to start work on Wednesday. I had a bad feeling after not being able to reach him yesterday to set up a time for him to fill out his paperwork. Today he informed me he had a better opportunity and he couldn’t turn it down. He was very apologetic and I know it wasn’t personal but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

To top it off, I got an email from the consultant I’d fired unfairly a few weeks ago. He was formerly very nice and polite to me. He was understanding that it wasn’t our fault that the employer didn’t want him back. Then, today, he sends me a rather snotty email informing me that he’s suing us. This, of course, came as a shock because we weren’t expecting it. He wants to be compensated for the cost of traveling and accommodations for the time he worked for us. This would be completely understandable if we hadn’t have paid him a government-decreed per diem to cover the cost of yes, you guessed it, the cost of traveling and accommodations for the time he worked for us. I feel bad. I know he’s angry and he’s doing what he can but from a legal standpoint, the reason we pay a per diem is to avoid this type of situation.

It still made things a little ugly though. It’s just been that type of week.

Still, outside the office, things are a little brighter…for the most part. I did come home and find out that the infamous trampoline had been relocated so that it was less than six feet from my fence which meant I had screaming, bouncing kids even close to my garden than before. Fortunately, I think the move may just have been temporary because Dog Whisperer and Wife moved it back later that night. Either that or they heard me loudly complaining to Mummy Monkeypants about it but since I did that indoors with the windows closed, I doubt it.

The dogs and I had an interesting walk tonight. We got out the front door and were almost immediately mown down by Lemonade Stand Girl on her bike. We jumped out of the way only to see her stop short, slam on her breaks and throw her bike down. She’d spotted something.

That something ended up being a squirrel. The poor creature had clearly fallen from a tree. I instantly felt bad, as though I’d cursed it with my harsh anti-squirrel blog. I thought the creature was dead at first but then I saw it was hyperventilating. The little girl squealed quite loud and asked if I thought it was dead. Meanwhile, my avid little hunters, Sookie and Rory, were pulling like mad because they’d scented the squirrel. They wanted that squirrel badly. The little girl bent down to try to poke it with a stick- I told her to do it gently. Then with no warning, the squirrel lurched up and stagger-flopped over the grass. The little girl squealed again which attracted some of her siblings/friends. Meanwhile, my dogs were whining and salivating, trying to get at the squirrel. The squirrel didn’t do itself any favours by stagger-flopping close to the dogs. I tell you, pulling two focused dachshunds away from their prey is not an easy task. With great effort, I got them away although Rory would NOT forgive me for quite some time. I got rather reproachful glares thrown back at me for the rest of the walk.

I would like to have helped with the squirrel situations but having the dogs meant that the only way it would end is with a dead squirrel rather than a maimed one. My dogs are as sweet as can be, normally. They’re loving, good natured girls, always up for a cuddle. However, when it comes to hunting, they are VERY SERIOUS and they turn into to demon creatures who MUST HUNT. I haven’t decided if they’re hunting to kill or just to play with their prizes. So far, aside from one baby bunny last year, it seems that they’re much more focused on substituting their captives for their chew toys. i.e. they get them in their mouth and toss their heads from side to side, trying to get them to squeak.

So, we left the squirrel. I was relieved to see that the kids had got the Dog Whisperer to assist and he was on the scene with a box. The sad reality is that I bet the squirrel didn’t make it through the night but I was glad that someone was helping it. Despite my aversion to the ratty little things, I still don’t like seeing any animal hurt.

It’s just been an odd week. I’m hoping that tomorrow being Friday will automatically make the day good but given the way things have been in the office, I might do better to just hold my breath until the weekend and hope that next week will be full of new hope and new possibilities.

I do, however, hope that next week is a little less full of squirrels. They’re definitely not helping matters. Oops, there I go again…sorry, squirrel. RIP little squirrel who fell from the tree.

Happy Friday!

Stormy Starts...

Today began with a rather nasty storm. It’s been very hot here for the past couple of weeks and also very humid so a storm was not a surprise. It started thundering in the night, tapered off and then started back up just as I was getting ready for work.

It was the type of storm which makes the sky so dark, it seems like nighttime. The lightning was coming down in every direction- bright gashes that stretched from sky to ground. The rain started to pour. I was rather happy about the rain- my garden sorely needed it and watering with the hose just isn’t the same.

The only probably was that I had two rather jumpy dachshunds who are a little schizophrenic when it comes to storms. Sometimes, when we have a storm and I’m home, they run outside at the first sound of thunder and seem to take delight in capering around under the lightning filled skies. Last time we had a storm, Rory ran out into the pouring rain and gleefully came inside, soaked from head to toes just a few minutes later.

Today, however, both dogs were very skittish. Rory followed me around like, well, a lost puppy and Sookie was not far behind. Then Rory did her strange trick of jumping up with all four feet off the ground in front of my knees. This trick means that she wants me to catch her mid jump, scoop her up and cuddle her. It is a little odd, I admit but it’s rather adorable. When I did catch her, she immediately snuggled up to me, put her little head on my shoulder and just let me hold her. Of course, then I had to do the same with Sookie because otherwise, she’ll slink off and sulk.

Naturally, it made it rather hard to come to work. I’d much rather have stayed home and cuddled a couple of pups, kicked off my shoes and watched the storm rain down. Instead, I drove to work, a little alarmed at the intensity of the lightning and arrived just as it really began to rain. I keep an umbrella in my car but it did nothing against the wind and the stupid thing blew inside out as soon as I stepped out of my car. By the time I made it across the 25 yards between my car and the office building, I resembled a windblown, half-drowned rat.

This is not the best way to start the day. I prefer not to resemble a rat at all.

The storm eventually passed but it’s left a nasty, heavy, humid world behind it. The entire day had that heavy sort of feel, in general. It’s the kind of day where I never felt like I really woke up and where time moved slowly. Things are a little stressful in the office. We haven’t had a good couple of weeks. A lot of our candidates have fallen through or quit or been fired for no reason. It’s just the way it is, unfortunately and that’s the peril of working with humans- they’re unpredictable creatures. No matter how much you try to make a jump to a new job easier on them, how much you hold their hand and assure them it’ll be fine, there are always those that decide that they’re not ready to jump and they decide to stay where they are.

We do a lot of counseling against counteroffers. They’re only a good idea if it’s entirely about the money. Most of the time, it isn’t. There’s always an underlying reason for leaving. It can be lack of appreciation for the work you do, it could be because you’re not doing the job you were hired to do or it can simply be because you’re bored and you don’t like what you’re doing. Money doesn’t make that go away. Besides, if you do take a counteroffer, it tends to work against you because your company knows that you can be ‘bought’ and, also, that you’re not as loyal to them as they’d like. It works against you.

My advantage is that I know what it’s like to work in a job where they don’t react well to your leaving and they sort of made me a counteroffer even though it wasn’t a good one. Part of me wanted that. There is comfort in familiarity and the everyday routine of your life. Some people embrace change but many of us like consistency and change is scary. So, it is tempting to stay in the same job if they offer you a promotion both in duties and salary. You think that maybe, just maybe, that means they recognize your value and can’t stand the thought of you leaving.

The sad fact is that your leaving is a huge pain in the rear for them and while there might be some disappointment that it’s you personally who are leaving, much of their desire to keep you stems from their lack of desire to have to replace you. Replacing employees is a pain and way more expensive than just giving a willing drone a little pay bump. If they really wanted you personally to stay because they like you so much and don’t want to lose you because you’re fabulous and brilliant, chances are they would have told you that earlier, not because you’re threatening to leave. It’s like any relationship: If the person you’re with can’t tell you that you’re valuable to them and there’s a reason they like being with you, you shouldn’t have to give them an ultimatum to get them to admit their feelings.

So, you see why it’s hard when someone decides to stay with their company even when I’ve worked hard to find them a better opportunity. It’s worse when they accept my opportunity and then, at the last minute, back out. When you’ve already got a start date, agreement letter and offer in place with a client company, it’s a little embarrassing to tell them that they don’t have a new employee after all and have to start from scratch.

Still, as I’ve said before, it’s the nature of the business particularly one where humans are your resource. Like with my dogs and thunderstorms, I can never predict what they’re going to do. In my dogs’ case, they sometimes frolic amidst the crashes and flashes of the storm and other times they simply want to be cuddled and hid in my lap.

On the plus side, it makes each day a new adventure. On the downside, not every adventure is a good one. Yet I learn something every time and I suppose that’s something, isn’t it?

Happy Thursday!

Showing Appreciation for the Good Things in Life

Today has been an interesting day even though it’s been rather quiet at work.

For one thing, I received my official notification that I had made the ‘elite’ group who will be rewarded for my efforts with a trip to London at work. I knew it was coming but it was still a thrill to get the email that congratulated me and made it ‘official’.

It makes me appreciate my job and my company even more than I do already. While I do think that good workers shouldn’t need incentives dangled in front of their faces like a greyhound at a racetrack, I do think that they make things more fun. I’d like to think that I’d do my job just as well with the incentives but it definitely makes the stakes a little higher.

The interesting thing about incentives is that they play a dual role. Certainly, they give us something to work towards. You dangle a free trip to London in front of me and I’m going to bloody well make sure I get to go. Yet there’s another side to it. It creates a huge sense of loyalty and pride in my company that they actually want to reward us like this and that they actually do. Compared to my last company whose main rewards included awkward bagels and even more awkward organized social events, the differences are glaring. Even on my worst days here, I don’t have to talk myself into getting out of bed and going to work. I don’t have to blast rebellious music as I drive in order to psych myself up to face another day. I don’t have any overwhelming urges to throttle my boss with a yoga strap. Nor do I have to retreat to The Most Optimistic Bathroom in the World in order to make myself giggle at the absurdity of it all.

No, even without the rewards, I like this job because they make me feel appreciated. Even without the trip to London or the occasional cash bonuses we get, the fact that my boss tells me that I’m doing a good job does wonders. Our company CEO makes sure he comes to our branch from the main office in Chicago once in a while just to see us all and make sure he knows that our work is appreciated.

So, even though the rewards and incentives are nice, I find that I want to do a good job because I don’t want to disappoint any one. It’s amazing how much of a difference it makes to like and respect your boss because he actually knows what you do on a daily basis. Yes, there’s a little bitterness still there towards my old boss but it’s slowly dissipating in response to my current boss.

I think appreciation goes a long, long way with most human beings. Because there have been times when I’ve done things without so much of a thank you and been hurt, I do try very hard to make sure I thank people when they’ve done something good or nice for me. I try to be a good tipper in a restaurant. I try to make sure people know when what they’ve done means a lot to me. It’s one of those small things that goes a very long way.

Like most humans, I respond well to appreciation. Granted, when the appreciation comes in the form of being granted a free trip to London, I tend to respond rather more excitedly than, for example, with a free leftover promotional favour from a past conference. My old boss once gave me a coaster he found in his office. Sad to say, I was extremely grateful. Needless to say, I’ve made a step up I think.

Another reason my day was rather interesting was because I received another form of appreciation: Fan mail. Now that I’ve made The Reluctant Demon free for e-book download, I’m finding that my “sales” have literally doubled. I’ve had two rather lovely emails already telling me how much the reader has enjoyed my book and demanding to know when the sequel comes out.

It’s a very humbling feeling, I admit. I may not ever make the bestselling lists but to know that people are out there, reading my book and actually liking it is a pretty amazing thing. It’s exciting. My lovely friend, Ms. P, is a librarian and she’s actually put The Reluctant Demon on their library’s “hot summer reading list”. I’m in the company of George R.R. Martin and Jane Austin. I’m slightly awestruck by this but I think it’s pretty fabulous of her. Thanks, Ms. P!

All in all this email is pretty much my way of saying how nice it is to be appreciated. There are times in life when I feel quite the opposite and I do a lot of venting so I thought it would be nice to write about the flipside. I find that one of my flaws is that I’m quick enough to complain and vent but I don’t always remember to be grateful and happy about the things that are good in life. It’s too easy to see the bad sometimes and not so easy to see the good.

So, today, I’m seeing all of the good and appreciating every moment of it. And, to top it all off, tomorrow is Friday and weekends are something else to be truly appreciated, no matter how much we enjoy our jobs.

Happy Friday and thanks for reading!

Job Gratitude...

You know, one of the things that I always tell myself if I have a bad day at work is that someone always has it worse than me.

This is not to say I had a bad day at work today. In fact, it was pretty decent. I may have just got another candidate a job if everything goes well. I like working with good candidates; they make it fun. Now I’ve been doing this job a while, I’m learning the way I like to do things. My strategy is simply to get to know the people I’m working with. I was taught in my early training that building relationships is important and I’m finding that to be true. I have one candidate who is going to start a new job with us in a week and he’s so comfortable working with me that he tells me the contents of his freezer. This sounds odd but it’s actually kind of endearing, believe it or not. In a job like mine where there’s a lot of completion to get the good candidates, it’s nice to have that type of relationship with your candidate. It means they trust me and feel like they know me which is exactly the way it should be. Changing jobs is a big decision in life and I like to make it easy for people by making sure that it’s the right thing for them.

I’m sure I’m a bit of a sucker. Some of the other recruiting companies out there are all about the resume. They pull thousands off Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com each day and just call the people, promising good jobs, high pay and benefits. However, they have a bit of an impersonal approach. Even if the candidate doesn’t really fit, they’ll try to shove them in a job anyway because they have a quota, they need the revenue and their client needs an employee. It’s a quick turnaround.

I could work this way but I don’t. I try to find out what the person behind the resume wants. Are they fed up of their job because they’re bored? Is the commute too long? Do they work overtime and they’re missing their kids sporting events? There’s always a reason and I like to find out. This way, it’s easier to find them jobs that actually fit rather than trying to make them fit the job. My way is slower than the ‘resume farm’ companies but it means I build up relationships and my candidates remember me. In turn, they recommend me to their fellow IT job seekers. It’s a nice feeling to hear that I was recommended because I did my job well.

Granted, hearing the contents of someone’s freezer is a little extreme but it’s all part of a day’s work. It’s nice to have days where I really get to work with people.

As I said before, working with people was one of the reasons I left my last job. I didn’t get to work with people unless you count my coworkers and, well, I really didn’t. Certainly, there were some good people there but it was such a cliquish, awkward atmosphere that the rather insane quiet of the cubicle farm where I worked was just not a healthy environment for me.

Now I have my own office and the buzz of my coworkers is around me. We communicate here. We have meetings. We have gatherings. We chat. We laugh. We do our jobs. It’s the way things should be in an office.

So, I’m not blogging today to whine about my job. My original intention was just to say that I’m quite lucky to have the job I do and I’m thankful for it every time I see someone doing a job I most certainly would NOT want to do.

One of the jobs I find the most baffling are the sign-holders on street corners. They hold signs advertising a store or restaurant. Sometimes, the more interesting sign-holders get bored and do a series of spins and flips with their sign to get attention. Of course, this means you can’t actually read the sign but, well, it’s sort of fun to watch.

I don’t look down on the sign holders. They’re clearly doing it for the cash/paycheck at the end of the day. Instead, I question the need for sign holders. If there’s a big neon sign visible during daylight and darkness only 400 yards down the road for a business from a sign-holder, what’s really the point of the sign-holder? Am I really more likely to go to Bob’s Furniture Emporium because there’s a guy on the corner holding a sign and pointing me there than I would be if I drove by it?

I suppose some people might pay attention to the sign- people who, say, didn’t know Bob’s Furniture Emporium was there. But, really, it seems a little silly.

I’m always amused by the Chick-Fil-A cow too. Someone dressed as the cow is often outside our local Chick-Fil-A trying to get cars to honk at him. I suppose those that recognize it as the Chick-Fil-A cow as they’re driving by may suddenly think, “hey…cow. It’s the Chick-Fil-A cow! Oooh, Chick-Fil-A!!! MUST STOP, TURNAROUND AND GO BACK TO CHICK-FIL-A RIGHT NOW BECAUSE I WANT A #1 COMBO WITH WAFFLE FRIES AND A COKE!”

Most likely, however, people can see there’s a Chick-Fil-A right there and a waving cow isn’t likely to make them decide to detour through the drive through any more than seeing the restaurant might.

Other jobs I’ve noticed lately that I’m glad I don’t have are being a salesperson on those carts at the mall. More specifically, those that sell the lotion-type stuff. If you don’t know what I mean, you’re lucky. They are usually manned by pushy salesmen who have some type of ‘miracle’ lotion and they’re rather aggressive as people pass by, trying to get people to try their free lotion sample. This also applies to the hair straightener sales people and the mineral makeup that isn’t the name brand stuff. What I’d like to see is a stand for something like, cupcakes, where the salespeople chase you down to eat their free cupcake samples. Alas, the closest I come to this is the person standing outside the cookie place with teeny samples of cookies on toothpicks. These people are NOT aggressive and often give you a look as if to say, ‘cheapskate. You know what a chocolate chip cookie tastes like. Just buy a damn cookie instead of eating my free ones.’

I’m also glad I’m not a furniture salesperson. In the extreme heat that we’ve been having, I’m very thankful I don’t have to work outside and I feel bad for people who do.

Though the list of jobs I am glad I don’t have could go on for pages and pages, I won’t bore you any longer. Just watch “Dirty Jobs.” I don’t want any of those jobs. Nor would I want “Billy the Exterminators” jobs because he deals with dead animal corpses, bugs and alligators. You get the idea. What it comes down to is that even when I have bad days at work, I’m still grateful to have the job I do. It doesn’t involve chasing people with lotion, flipping a sign or crawling into a basement to pull out a rotted raccoon corpse.

I admire the people who do those jobs because it means that I don’t have to and, for that, I am immensely grateful to them. I’m also appreciative that I have the job I do. And though sometimes I do have to remind myself of that, all it takes is the sight of the Chick-Fil-A cow outside on a 95 degree day to drive that home.

Happy Thursday!

Some Days Are Just Not My Days...

Today was one of those days again where I woke up and needed at least another hour of sleep. This is my own fault for staying up too late. The problem with reading instead of watching TV in the evenings is that with TV, there’s usually a set schedule and when the program is done, you turn off the TV. When you’re reading, it’s so easy to talk yourself into “just one more chapter” that another hour can pass before you realize it.

This is why I’m crotchety today. I stayed up too late reading and then had trouble sleeping for no apparent reason.

When I got to work, I realized I was not in a good mood when I got an email from one of my coworkers with a resume she’d found on Monster.com and a subject line of “CALL NOW!!!!!!!!”. As soon as I saw the email come in, I had an uncontrolled burst of irritation and I was annoyed.

The reason I was annoyed is that this coworker isn’t a recruiter like me. She’s an account manager. This means it’s her job to bring in jobs for us to fill and the recruiters will fill them. She still likes to recruit though and it’s a compulsion of hers to go on Monster first thing in the morning and find new resumes. Most mornings, it irritates me a little but I don’t let it bother me because that’s what she does. Today, it irritated me because I was already grouchy. The major problem I have with it is that Monster.com is one of my resources and I have my own system of finding resumes. Half the time she sends me resumes, they’re people I’ve already called and talked to or I haven’t been able to get hold of them. The other half are for jobs we have open that I’m not really working on and the emailed resume serves as a distraction because I’m in the middle of doing something else.

Still, most days, as I said, I can live with it because it’s just what she does.

The rest of my morning, I felt tired and useless. I’m having another one of those periods at work where I’m just not getting anywhere. Even when I find good people for jobs, the companies either move too slowly and my candidate takes another job or there’s something that the company doesn’t like and my candidate doesn’t get the job. Mostly, it’s just part of the package of being a recruiter. Yet there are some days where it just makes you feel beaten down because there’s no real positives happening.

By lunch time, I was hoping for a break to revive a little. It didn’t help that my left eyelid was twitching all morning which, according to Google, is a sign either of allergies or tiredness. Since it only twitches when I’m already stuffy and watery-eyed from allergies and I’d run out of Claritin, I figured that, at least, was something I could take care of to make the afternoon better.

So, I decided to stop at CVS on the way home to buy some Claritin. Because I find that the stuff you can buy off the shelf doesn’t really do anything, I had to go to the pharmacy for the ‘controlled substance’ version with the pseudoepinephrine (sp?) in it. No problem. I got my little cardboard picture of the medicine and took it to the pharmacy county. I handed them my driver’s license with my normal flush of resentment towards the crystal meth makers of the world for making hayfever make me look like a druggie. The pharmacist took my license, swiped it and…it froze. I stood there for ten minutes while she and the other pharmacists tried to get their computer working but, in the end, they couldn’t and I left empty-handed having killed 15 minutes of my lunch hour waiting in line in addition to actually driving to CVS. Irritated, I headed home to let the dogs out. Naturally, at the place where I turn into my neighbourhood, there was a utility truck and the road was closed so I had to go all the way around.

When I did get home, I greeted the pups, let them out and started to make a quick plate of salad for lunch. Then I heard a peculiar sound- it sounded like something heavy fell over followed by a high pitch whine of what sounded like pain.

I abandoned my salad-making and went outside, worried one of the girls had hurt herself. Instead, I was greeted by a small brown rabbit that ran right by my feet, pursued by two avid dachshunds.

The rabbit ran, the dogs followed. Around and around the garden they went. They were whining with their ‘need’ to catch the bunny and the poor creature, no matter how hard it tried, could not find its way out of my fence because of the security measures I’d taken to keep Rory in.

The bunny kept running, throwing itself at the chain link fence to try to find a way out. Seconds later, the dogs caught up and the bunny ran again. Given that it was so hot outside, I was getting worried that the dogs would get overheated but they obviously didn’t share the same concern.

Finally, just as I was about to open one of the back gates to try to shoo the rabbit out, it found a small gap under the fence and ran for its life across Possibly-Joe’s garden.

My dogs proceeded to try to follow it. I checked to make sure that the fence was secure. It seemed to be but the problem with dachshunds is that they’re obsessive. They won’t stop until they find a way out if pursuit of a small furry creature is possible.

Thus, though I brought the girls inside, they insisted on going back out and since they had to do their business still, I let them. This meant I spent the time I was eating worrying about if they’d find their way out. Needless to say, it was not relaxing.

So, when I went back to work this afternoon, I still was not in the best of moods. The afternoon didn’t get any better as my coworker delivered the news that one of my most solid candidates did not get the job for which she was literally quite perfect.

By the time I’d left, I wrote the day off as being ‘just one of those days.’ I’ve had a few of those lately and I need to do something about it.

I think I’ll start by getting more sleep. Even if tomorrow is bad, it’s easier to face if your brain isn’t fuzzy and, well, you have to start somewhere.

Happy Thursday. Thanks for reading!

Random Ramblings of An Uneven Week

I’m very glad that it’s Friday tomorrow. This has been one of those weeks that has been uneven. Sometimes, time has rushed by so fast I can’t seem to catch it and then there are other times when it’s slowed down to a crawl. Even though I know the weekend will go by way too fast, I still am looking forward to it.

I have a busy weekend ahead since it’s Father’s Day. The pups and I will head to my parents’ tomorrow night. My mum and I will be garage-sale-ing for part of Saturday and then I get to cook my dad a Father’s Day dinner. Interestingly, I don’t have the menu finalized the way I did with my Mother’s day meal. I have a rough idea of what I want to make but nothing completely finalized. Since I’ll have far prep/cook time than I had last time, I have to adjust.

I’m sure I’ll figure something out. My dad is a lot fussier than my mother when it comes to things like cooking. He can be a little…difficult. If he doesn’t like something, he’s not terribly subtle about letting people know. He tends to make faces and not eat it. Sometimes, he gets a bit dramatic and refuses to eat it. When we cook for him, my family has learned to make sure to always make things he’s going to like. It’s just easier that way.

Since it’s Father’s day, I’m going to try hard to make sure I do cook things he likes.

Still, before the weekend, there’s one more day of work to get through. I’m hoping it’s a good Friday since today wasn’t necessarily a good Thursday. It was a very inactive Thursday meaning that I didn’t have any luck filling any jobs nor finding anyone who was likely to do so. Like I said in the beginning, this week has been uneven- full of activity one day and then dead as a doornail the next.

So, it’s no wonder I’m already looking forward to the weekend. I’m looking forward to seeing my parents’ again since it’s been a couple of weeks as well as the rest of my family who will probably stop over on Sunday before I leave to pay court to my dad on Father’s Day.

Speaking of paying court, I also can’t wait for Sunday night when the season final of “Game of Thrones” airs. I’ve become quite addicted to that show even though last week, the ending made me gasp out loud with shock. Even though I love to read and I’m usually horribly impatient to find out what’s going to happen next, I’ve enjoyed watching “Game of Thrones” so much that I’ve avoided reading the book ahead to see what was going to happen. However, since it’s going to be a year before I see the second series, I know for a fact I’m going to have to read the books. I can be patient…but not that patient.

I’m rambling but, as I always say, knowing is half the battle, right? Days like this inspire me to ramble. It’s actually quite nice to let my brain shut down and just wander freely through the odd thoughts I have sometimes. For example, I was wondering again if there are ever male miniature poodles. I posed this question to my mother. I suppose there are but does anyone ever picture miniature poodles being boys? I mean, they’re usually all frilled up and dressed in pink.

Also, why do people leave chicken bones all over the place? It seems like whenever I walk my dogs, there’s some bones discarded left over from a chicken wing and I have to drag the dogs away before they try to eat it. This is not fun. I’ve never actually seen someone walking down the street munching on a chicken wing so where do they come from?

Also, Possibl-Joe, the neighbour who lives behind me is chopping down most of his trees. He keeps cutting them down and then dragging them to the front of his house and dumping them on the strip of grass between sidewalk and road. There are so many, the sidewalk is impassable now. Yet he keeps going. There’s nowhere to put them so he’s putting them in front of his neighbours’ houses. At some point, the City will pick them up but I’m a little surprised he doesn’t wait until he has more space. Also, it’s a pain when I’m walking the dogs because we have to either cross the street or walk in the road. I don’t like doing either.

Also, I liked his trees. I don’t know why he’s chopping them down. I’m thinking he may be getting ready to put a fence up so his dog can run freely without being tied down. I’m sort of hoping he builds a privacy fence because while he’s pleasant enough to chat to, it would be quite nice to have a bit more privacy. If the neighbour puts up the fence, I don’t have to. I wish Dog Whisperer would follow suit but that will NEVER happen.

I’m also wondering about my seeds. This year, I planted several packs of vegetable seeds and yet, of all of them, I managed to grow four zucchini plants and two tomato plants. That’s it. Usually, I have far more success than that. Why didn’t my seeds grow?

I have a lot more random thoughts in my head but you probably don’t want to hear them. I actually apologize for sharing as many as I did. It’s just that, as I’ve said before, there are times when I blog that I don’t really know what to write and then it just comes out.

Hopefully, since tomorrow’s Thursday, my blog for Monday will be a bit more focused. Of course, it may be about food since I’m cooking this weekend but I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to see what comes out when I start to type.

I do appreciate you reading though. Thank you.

Have a great weekend and happy Friday!

Beautiful Weather, Mundane Days...

Today was one of those sort-of-nothing days where not much of any significance happened at all. I was woken early to the wonderful sound of Dog Whisperer’s Beasts barking themselves into a frenzy very close to my bedroom window. They like to stand at the gate and bark. My window is probably six feet from the gate. Thus, when they bark and I’m trying to sleep, it’s frustrating. Even Rory had a good moan about it. My pups used to sit upright when they’d hear the yapping. Now, like me, they grumble and try to shut it out so we can sleep longer. I find that amusing.

When we did finally get up, it was to a day at work that was busy but not terribly productive, if that makes sense. I’m trying hard to fill jobs but the ones we have are the hard ones that no one in Cincinnati has been able to fill. I did manage to get two interviews set up for candidates but since it’s for the same job, it really only counts as one since only one of them can get the job.

I also did lose a candidate who my account manager and I have been working very hard to make happy. He got an offer from our client which was a very good offer. Unfortunately, he had another job offer- ironically from my old company- for a lot less money.

For some reason, he decided to reject our offer and take the one with my old company. I’m sure something about it appealed more but, well, I can’t help but think he’s making a bit of a mistake. It’s not just about the money. When we met with him, he told us he was looking for a position where he could move up, learn new technologies and rise in his career. I don’t think that’s possible at my old company, honestly.

Still, it’s his choice. I didn’t tell him that in my soon-to-be-published novel, Emmy goes to Hell, there’s a whole level of Hell dedicated to my old job. Maybe I should have done. Still, he made his choice and as frustrating as it is, there’s nothing I can do about it.

Aside from that, my day was rather dull. I had another candidate come in who’s been out of work for a while. He actually lives in my neighbourhood and the dogs and I walk by his house on our sojourns fairly regularly. He was very nice but a little odd. Still, at the very least, it was nice to meet another neighbour.

All-in-all, it wasn’t the most exciting day on the planet. My boss is out of the office. This, of course, means that Mr. Lazy Account Manager in our office left at 1 p.m. Today, he had a stomach ache. Last week, he left each day by 3 p.m. One day, he had to pick up his kids, another day, one was sick, another day, he had to go help his wife, another day, he had a meeting. He’s very good with excuses. He only does it when my boss isn’t around. Also, since he tells our administrator his reason for leaving, it’s oddly different from what he tells the rest of us. While I think it’s nice to get out of the office early once in a while, he’s got to the point where everyone knows he’s just not doing any work. Well, everyone except my boss and I have a feeling that, thanks to my endearingly interfering coworker, he’ll know very soon.

Fortunately, it’s a beautiful day outdoors which redeems the somewhat dull indoor day. On days like this where it’s in the mid 70 degree range, my favourite thing to do is sit outside and either read or, as I’m currently doing, edit the proof copy of Emmy Goes To Hell. I got it back from the publisher last week and while I like the cover, there was still quite a lot of edits to make inside. It’s nice to sit outside with a cold drink, my book and my pen. Usually, I have a Sookie trying to sit on my lap which not only makes it a little hard to edit but, also, makes her sister rather jealous and having two dogs on my lap is just downright uncomfortable. I don’t have that much lap.

The trouble with the evenings is that they go so fast. By the time I get home, walk the pups and make dinner, the evening is waning away. I probably could cut down on the time I spend making dinner but where’s the fun in that?

On the plus side, after a slightly dull day at work, it’s a sheer pleasure to sit outside and relax with the pups milling around my feet. Except for the barks of the Beasts next door, it’s a peaceful thing to do. While I still hate their incessant yapping, I’ve got to the point where I can literally ignore it when I’m outside. It’s all I can do.

Besides, it’s an even nicer pleasure when they finally go inside and, suddenly, there’s a blissful silence.

That makes it almost worthwhile.

Happy Wednesday!

Up and Down Sort of Days

Some days are harder to blog than others. I can’t explain why but it just happens. It’s not that I can’t find anything to ramble about, it’s just that every time I start to ramble, I suddenly feel like it’s an asinine topic and no one will want to read it.

Today is one of those days. It’s been a weird day. It has been an up-and-down day at work. In our morning meeting, our boss, away in Chicago at the moment, attended via phone. We have a couple of new jobs to fill and so, during our morning meeting, I got to select which ones I’d work on while my fellow recruiter, who was out of the office, would get his assignments later. My boss is a little worried we’re not getting many candidates to fill jobs lately so he was in his most extreme, “work hard, get candidates” mood.

This would have been fine except what we’re working on at the moment is very hard. They’re the type of jobs where there’s maybe 5 or 6 people in a city who can do the job. I spent all morning trying to fill a job because my boss said I needed to have at least one candidate by tomorrow. Taking him seriously, I did absolutely everything I could to find someone…and still had no luck.

Then, my fellow recruiter comes into the office, gets his assignments and…manages to find a candidate for the job I’ve been trying to fill all morning. This is annoying by itself but given that he wasn’t even supposed to be working on it, I was a little frustrated. Our office is generally not competitive so I don’t begrudge him filling the job and not me. It’s just that he has this horrible habit of pretty much doing what he wants despite what he’s supposed to be working on and this happens quite a lot.

My boss doesn’t mind who gets the candidates, as long as someone does. Thus, I can work on my fellow recruiters’ jobs too and fill those. It’s just that…I don’t. I think it goes back to the fact that I have a touch of the Hermione Granger in me. I always worried about breaking school rules as a child and I always saw the teachers as points of authority. As I got older, even if I didn’t like my boss, I’ve always respected that they were, in fact, my boss and even if I thought them the worlds’ biggest idiot, I still did what I was told because that was my job.

This job is no different. It’s just that in this case, I like my boss and, again, like Hermione Granger, I want to be top of the class to prove that I’m good at my job.

It just doesn’t always happen that way. My fellow recruiter is not a rule-follower. He doesn’t have to be because he’s been working as a recruiter for 17 years. I, on the other hand, am now approaching my 8-month mark and I still feel as though I’m learning.

On the plus side, I did manage to find out that one of my favourite current candidates was offered a position for which I submitted her. This is a good thing on many levels. Mostly, I’m just happy because I really like her and she’s been a pleasure to work with. Also, she really, really wanted the job and even postponed another offer to see if this one would pan out. I like it when someone gets a job when they really want it. As an added bonus for me, it’s a new company which means I get a little boost in my commission at the end of the year. I really do count that as a bonus because as corny and altruistic as it sounds, I really do like my job because I get to help people more than I like it for the money.

I don’t think all recruiters have this approach. It’s probably not a good thing I do have that approach because it means I’ll never be as successful as some of the other recruiters in the field. I met one of them the other day. He’s just been hired by one of our branch offices and he was in town to do some training with my boss. All of the staff of our office had to meet with him and talk about how we did our jobs.

It became quite apparent about five minutes after meeting with him that I did not like this man. For one thing, every time I started to talk, he’d bulldoze over me with a story of how successful he’d been in his past job and how fabulous he’d be working for us. He really is quite fabulous according to himself. Also, it sounds rather rude but he was just…creepy. He had a bit of an air of “hey, little girl…do you want some candy?” if you know what I mean. By the time he left my office, I was very relieved and also quite glad he wasn’t going to be working in our office permanently.

It turns out that all my coworkers had the same impression. The younger account manager even got the same pediophilic vibe from him that I’d had so it wasn’t just me. He was just unpleasant. It didn’t help that he told me lots of stories about as a recruiter, you have to show your candidates who’s boss and if they didn’t like it then tough, he didn’t want to work with them.

That is not the attitude I have. To me, being a recruiter is a partnership. There is no boss. Sure, the candidate will end up working for our company in due time if they’re successful but as far as the job interview process goes, there are no absolutes. If they hear the description of a job during an interview and it turns out to be double the amount of work that we were originally told, they have every right to think they should probably get paid a little more than we’d initially agreed. It doesn’t mean they will get paid more but it’s not unreasonable to try. According to Mr. Slimeball’s philosophy, “They’ll get paid what I want to pay them and that’s all there is to it.”

So, you can see why he rubbed me the wrong way. That’s not my approach. While I’m not a doormat who does whatever my candidates want, I do try to listen to their needs and try and approach them in a way that works out best for all. I don’t like to bully them. I’m a firm believer in the fact that when working with humans, for better or for worse, it’s best to let them act like a human. It comes back to haunt you later on if you don’t. It’s best to build a relationship with someone rather than treat them like a commission check. That’s my philosophy, anyway.

It might be a childish, inexperienced philosophy but, for now, it’s working for me. It means I can be excited to call my candidate and be happy to hear the joy in her voice when I tell her she got the job. She earned it and I’m glad that she was rewarded for her efforts. So, even on days when things don’t go quite my way in other areas, there are these moments that make it worthwhile.

It’s nice to have a job where no two days are the same even when the days don’t always go completely your way.

Best of all, even if you have a string of days like that, there’s always a weekend at the end of the tunnel. I, for one, am looking forward to the weekend even if it does involve tiling a floor and most likely very little else.

Thanks, as always for reading and I hope your weekend is a good one!

Happy Friday.

Wunderbar Wonderbar....Cupcake

I have decided that it’s quite hard to get back to work after a rather nice little mini-break. Even though this week is shorter because of Memorial Day on Monday, time seems to have slowed down.

It doesn’t help that things are a little slow in the office either. It’s the type of week where people are sliding out a little early each day and going home. It’s also been a nice week, weather-wise. Since we’ve had so much rain lately, the rare treat of a warm week with sunshine and no rain makes it a little hard to focus.

I didn’t sneak out early yesterday but I did leave on time. I’ve decided the best way to not be sad that my trip to NYC is over for a while is to throw myself into some projects I haven’t been able to get to because of the rain. The number one project is finishing my pesky Tuscan room. I’ve had the floor tiles for ages but because the room is an add-on to the house, it’s the only way out to the back garden for the dogs and for me. This means that trying to do the floor while it’s raining would be a little silly because it would constantly have wet dog footprints on it. Also, I have furniture in there that needs to go outside while I tile the floor so rain doesn’t help that matter either.

Fortunately, this weekend is going to be dry and hot. I figured I wouldn’t get another opportunity for a while so I decided that this is the weekend the floor goes down.

This means that the carpet in the room had to come up. Since it was rubbish day yesterday, I wanted the carpet to get pulled up and taken away immediately. Thus, last night, I spent the evening pulling up carpet.

I do not enjoy pulling up carpet. It’s not so bad cutting the actual carpet up and getting rid of it. It’s just that around the edges there are these nasty little things called tack strips. Since these look somewhat like one of those weird bed of nails that people sometimes lie on in order to get attention in a public place, they’re not a good thing to leave sticking up. I know they’re there so I wouldn’t accidentally step on the but try explaining to two dachshunds that they should watch where they walk.

So, I had to pull up those tack strips. Fortunately, thanks to Google, I already knew the best method of doing so was to buy something called a Wonderbar pry bar from Lowes. So, last night, I stopped off at my neighbourhood friendly Lowes and bought one.

I have recently discovered that it’s quite nice to pretend I don’t know what I’m doing in Lowes. I actually do know where most things are there and, even if I don’t, I’m quite good at locating them. Until very recently, I got annoyed that as soon as I walked in, I’d be asked if I needed help by some male employee of the store. I know it sounds sexist but that’s the way it was- I think they assumed because I was female, I needed help. This used to annoy me.

However, recently, I’ve found it quite fun to pretend I need help. It sounds silly but it’s rather nice to have someone make sure I find exactly what I want. Even though there are times when I know where I really need to go and the employee doesn’t, it’s actually quite fun to watch them get a little stressed until they help me locate my item.

Yes, yes…I know. I’m betraying feminist strength all over the place. The thing is, I’m a single woman and I do find that being very independent is rather intimidating to men. It’s a stereotype but it’s a stereotype for a reason. Thus, I’m trying to be less intimidating. Hey, you never know.

Anyway, I did finally get my Wonderbar last night and I’m rather glad I did. That thing is a bloody marvel. All I need is my handy dandy hammer and the Wonderbar and the tack strips came up with just a few taps. I like that.

In the end, I actually did get the carpet up and all the tack strips removed. I also removed these evil metal things that may or may not be called bullheads that were firmly fastened to the floor near the entranceways.

The room is looking better. Under the carpet was a nice thin layer of vinyl tiles that is smooth enough to provide a good surface for my new tile. All I have to do is finish pulling up a few stray nails in the floor with my Wonderbar. I’m very pleased with that purchase. I’m actually amazed at the things I now own that I’ve discovered are quite useful. For one, I now own a hacksaw with a blade for cutting both metal and tree brances. I also own a nifty screwgun that is WAY easier than using a screw driver for things. Also, I own a pipe wrench. Now I own a Wonderbar. Who knew being a homeowner would inspire me to own such an interesting collection of tools.

Of course, the problem with the Wonderbar (and I realize this is a highly personal problem) is that every time I write it, say it or think it, it reminds me of something you’d get out of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. This, in turn, makes me suddenly want something sweet which, thanks to Saz and Magnolia Bakery’s introduction of good cupcakes into my life then makes me want a cupcake quite badly.

As I said, I realize this is a highly personal problem. Only I could turn a prybar into a cupcake in my mind. I don’t know what’s more annoying: The fact that I’m now craving lemon cupcakes with buttercream frosting even though I’m not a cake person or the fact that I can’t have one.

Ah well, maybe finishing up prepping the floor for the new tiles will help take my mind off cupcakes. Of course, I will be using the Wonderbar so maybe not.

Crap, I did it again. Now I want a cupcake.

Happy Thursday and thanks for reading!

Simple Reminders...

Today was one of those days where, no matter how badly things are going, you realize someone always has it worse.

My day began at work as it usually does: We have a daily staff meeting to discuss who is working on what and what our priorities are. Unfortunately, this was the meeting where I had to announce that not only had two of my people quit yesterday but one of my candidates didn’t want a job.

This is never a good way to start the day. Even though it’s not my fault the consultants quit, it feels like I did something wrong. It doesn’t help that my boss and the other account manager in the office are stressed that we now have to replace my candidate. In short, I felt like I was lousy at my jobs.

So, one of my tasks was to try to replace the consultant who quit with no notice. This situation did not make me happy. Rather than be professional and call me to tell me he wasn’t happy, he couldn’t afford the gas and he was going to try to get his old job back he instead signed a contract with his old company before he told me he was quitting. Thus, even though I asked for him to provide us with a weeks’ notice, he couldn’t.

You can see why I was both upset and frustrated. Fortunately, I had a resume from another candidate with a similar background to call. So, I called her.

It was then that I realized that my bad day with irritated account managers and low work-esteem was really not that bad. You see, this poor woman had been laid off two years ago. She’d been trying to find jobs but, unfortunately, she’s an older programmer and technology is evolving. Thus, there is less and less need for someone with her skills. As a result, she’s currently living with a friend because she’s homeless. Prior to getting laid off, she’d been laid off at two prior jobs.

Talking to her made me realize that I was incredibly lucky to have a job. I already knew this, of course but having it affirmed is always a good thing. Things can always be worse. Way worse.

By the time I got off the phone with her, I wanted to give this poor woman a job. She’s running out of unemployment and she really, really wants to work. She could easily do the job I was calling her about and I want her to get it.

Unfortunately, it’s not my decision. The way it works in my office is that when I find a candidate, I have to present her to the account manager who is in charge of the position. This is easier said than done when dealing with this particular account manager. She worries constantly about little things and looking bad and thus, she hesitated when I told her my candidates tales of woe. She doesn’t think she can get this woman a job because she hasn’t worked in a while. However, she knows as well as I do that the market has been horrible and there are lots of people looking for work.

I can’t do anything about it. Even with a good reference, I don’t think she’s going to help me out with my candidate. This, unfortunately, happens a lot. It’s one of the few things I don’t like about my job- both me and my fellow recruiter spend hours finding candidates for positions. We phone screen them, interview them in person and then present them. This takes a lot of time.

Unfortunately, it only takes a few minutes for my account manager to say, “I don’t think so.” Many times they’re right and, even in the case of my Virtually Homeless Candidate, she might be right.

It’s just that I’m a softie. This is why I end up with a pile of resumes from desperate candidates who just want a job, any job. I can’t say no because I want to help them.

This is probably not very good. However, even when I’ve tried to change, I still can’t really say no because I don’t want to say no. I want to help them. I’d want someone to help me.

Unfortunately, in the world of IT recruiting, there are times when I’m going to have to say no. I’ve done it but I don’t like doing it. Sometimes, it’s easy- particularly when the candidates aren’t very pleasant or, worse, are greedy. Case in point, yesterday, I called a consultant who I’d spoken to just a couple of weeks ago. Back then, he was looking for a job and wanted $70K a year which, for his skillset, is very reasonable. Just two weeks later, he’s found himself a cushy little short term project that pays well. Short term projects do pay well because there’s no overhead fees for the company. He now feels as though he’s worth at least $70/hour and, ideally, “should be making $75/hour”.

I’ll do the maths for you on that. If he had a job that paid $75/hour that was fulltime, his equivalent salary would be almost $150K. Given that he wanted under HALF of that two weeks ago, methinks he might be in for a rude awakening when this contract is over and he realizes that while he’s good at his job, there are a lot of other people out there who are better and way more affordable.

Sorry I’m blogging so much about my job this week. It’s been one of those weeks. On the plus side, I actually saw the sun today! It came out for ten minutes. Yes, that is all…ten minutes. Yet it was ten minutes we didn’t have yesterday.

I’m hoping that next week will be a better week, workwise. Yet, even if I have another week full of quitters, disappointments and gloomy days, I will remind myself: Life could be far, far worse. I do, after all, have a job and, what’s even better, I like it most of the time.

But, really, what more can you ask for in a job really?

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Almost Sunshine

I think I might have seen the sun today. It was brief and it was filtered but, for a few brief minutes, I think the gloom tried to go away.

Of course, it didn't go away. Instead, the sun went away. Then it rained. The end.

Just kidding. If I ended the blog there, anyone who is even a slightly regular reader would probably fall off their chair in shock at the mere fact that I wasn't rambling.

Tomorrow, we're supposed to actually see the sun for real. I'm holding out a little hope, I must admit. This lack of sunshine is making everyone crotchety and cranky...not just me.

I suppose I could argue that maybe I really am the crotchety cranky one and I'm projecting but, well, for once, that's not true. My entire office has been bickering all week. Case in point- our youngest account manager was yelling at our branch administrator to buy chewing gum with sugar in it. She usually buys sugar free gum. She was getting rather angry with him about it. Of course, I helpfully stepped in and told our young 'un that there was a nice cannister of sugar in the kitchen and perhaps he should stick some of that in his mouth when he chews the gum but that didn't go over very well.

We don't seriously bicker in our office. It's actually quite like sibling bickering. Mostly, it's sort of endearing although sometimes, as in the case of siblings, there are times when I'd quite like to throw something at someone elses' head but it's all done with fondness.

Actually, we're a little spoiled in our office anyway. I mean, not only does our branch administrator provide gum for us but she also buys Coke and Diet Coke and Mountain Dew for the boys as well as microwave popcorn, large pretzels and Cheeze Nips.

I find this all rather nice. The 'boys' in the office tend to take it for granted. When I explain that at my last job we had to pay 35 cents for a can of drink, they think my old office was cheap. I'm not going to say they weren't but, honestly, I didn't mind having to pay. For one thing, when something isn't free, you tend to think before you indulge. Because I get Diet Coke for free at work, I drink it almost every day.

All in all, my office is a good place to work. Even on days like today where two of my candidates decided to quit their jobs and another one turned down a position we were offering him, I like my job. Granted, it would be nicer if everyone stayed in the jobs I found for them forever and people were lining up in the street to work with me but, being a realist, I celebrate the small triumphs such as finding someone a job who really needs it and being able to make sure that someone's contract is extended.

As I always say, it's the small things in life that make it worth celebrating. On gloomy days like today, yesterday, the day before that and the day before that, I find that finding something to celebrate is necessary. In my case, it's that I had a productive day even if it wasn't the most successful. One of my 'quitters' is a man who's finally found a permanent job and though I'll be sad not to work with him anymore, I can't help but be thrilled for him that he's going to have some stability. That's something I think worth celebrating even if its not really a triumph for me.

I'm hoping that tomorrow, I'll be able to celebrate seeing some real, live sunshine. If not...I'll try to find the silver lining on the rather heavy cloud deck that never seems to go away.

But I'd rather it was sunny. Even for a little while.

Happy Thursday

Sticky Weather...Bad Moods

I hate it when I wake up in a bad mood. It never bodes well for the day.

It was one of those hot, sticky nights we usually don’t get until July or August. Even though I caved at put the air conditioning on for a couple of hours in the evening, the house quickly got hot and neither I nor the pups slept very well. We tried sleeping with the windows open but Sookie, ever alert, woke up at the sound of any abnormal noise on the street outside and it was hard to get back into a slumber.

It didn’t help that I had one of those dreams that felt like a movie and I was disturbed when I woke up. I don’t remember the details but had something to do with a secret government facility that kept and raised children in captivity to see what would happen if they were trained from birth to do specific functions like eat stones and things. They would torture the captives by blasting some type of evangelist sermon. There was some man who found the secret facility under the ground and he ended up breaking in and rescuing one of the captives. The rest wanted to stay so they stayed. The head of the evil operation was Laura Innes who is the actress on that show, “The Event” who’s an alien. She was also on ER as a cranky doctor.

Anyway, so you can see why sleeping wasn’t very relaxing. When I woke up, I had a headache and just generally felt tired.

The headache went away but I felt like the whole day passed in some kind of haze. I was yawny and my head felt swimmy.

The humidity outside doesn’t help, either. It just adds to the sluggishness.

As a result, I passed the day quietly in my office, getting work done but not joining in the social camaraderie of my coworkers. As a result, they all wanted to know if I was ok. This is very thoughtful of them but it’s hard to explain that some days, you just feel like being solitary and not being social.

It wasn’t a terribly social day in the office anyway. We have some days, particularly when the boss isn’t in, where we’re horrible about working and at any given time, we gather and start talking and laughing about something.

Today wasn’t one of those days though some of us did have a wee bit of gossip via email about our newest employee who doesn’t seem particularly fond of working. The thing is, when he does work, he’s very good at it. He’s got one of those ‘salesman’ personalities where he can sound like an expert even when he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

It’s just that he doesn’t really work that much. He manages to find reasons to not be in the office- he has appointments that no one can really confirm but no one can really disprove either. He has a lot of sick children. Well, actually, I think he has two children but they’re sick a lot. His wife is also sick a lot. He goes home sick a lot.

When he is at work, he can often be found watching television on his phone. This is what we were e-gossiping about today. I had noticed he was doing this last week and my fellow recruiter didn’t believe me. Today, my fellow recruiter saw our naughty employee watching TV. Now he believes me.

I’m wondering how long our lazy employee will be around. He’s not doing too badly but he’s also obviously not nearly as motivated as the rest of us. I think he likes having a job. I just don’t think he likes the work part of it much.

This was pretty much the only discussable thing in the office all day. Thus, it wasn’t just a slow day for me, it seemed.

The rest of the week is supposed to be hot and muggy. I’m not happy about this. I like spring. So far, spring has been very, very, very wet. Now it’s very, very hot and very, very muggy.

Even when I took the normally enthusiastic pups for a walk, it was clear I wasn't the only lethargic, sluggish one. We cut our walk short because Rory started sitting down in protest every few steps. Then, when Sookie started to join in, I realized it would be easier to go home. It wasn't just us, either. One of my neighbours was walking his beagle across the street from where I stood, trying to persuade the girls to get moving. The beagle decided simply to lie down in the middle of the pavement. The man tried very hard to get the dog to stand up but the beagle was not having it and it simply just lay there, looking up at his master, panting. His owner did finally get him to stand up but it clearly took effort. I tried not to smile but it was comforting to know that the heat was affecting everyone.

I want a few more weeks of spring before we’re sweating every time we move. Now that the ground is finally drying up, it’d be nice to get outside and pull some of the weeds before the heat becomes too much to bear.

According to Mr. Weatherman, it’s supposed to cool down for the weekend. It’s also supposed to rain, alas.

So, it seems my weeds may grow bigger, the ground may stay soggy and I must find things to do indoors. Fortunately, I really need to do some shopping this weekend- I pulled out my summer wardrobe last night and I realized that most of my clothes are at least 5 years old. I could really use some replenishment. Most of my clothes still fit thanks to the fact I was determined to lose some weight but they’re also faded and worn.

There…that helped. The thought of shopping definitely can help take away a bad mood. Perhaps if I get a good night’s sleep, tomorrow will be better.

Here’s hoping there’s no more government experiements in my dreams.

Happy Thursday!

Termites, Lawnmowers and Work...Oh My!

I think this is just going to be one of those weeks. I’ve resigned myself to it and I’m ok with it. I’ve been trying to think more positively these past few weeks and it’s working out well. Or, at least, it’s preventing me from going a little mental and throwing things and whining to everyone I know about how much my life sucks. My life doesn’t suck. I know this and I’m very grateful to that.

I’m also grateful that Terminix came today and though I discovered that I had nasty termites in another area of my house, it’s not untreatable. Also, my house isn’t going to fall down. By this time tomorrow, my house will have been treated for the nasty critters and I’ll be far less itchy.

I find that a fascinating thing, by the way: The Itchies. I find that I get them under the following circumstances:

- Seeing large quantities of creepy crawly things on TV
- Seeing large quantities of creepy crawly things in real life
- Seeing a creepy crawly thing that takes me by surprise in a place where I didn’t expect it (spider in my bed, for example)

Basically, The Itchie’s make me feel like the creature/s are crawling on me even though I rationally know they aren’t. This is why that, ever since I discovered the termites, I’ve had a case of The Itchies.

Fortunately, Terminix is coming to save the day. I’m not thrilled that it’s going to cost a lot but it’s reasonable to make sure my house doesn’t get eaten by termites and it is one of the expenses homeowners have to face. Other expenses are things like new lawnmowers, new air conditioners and other things that I used to be able to call my landlord to get fixed.

All in all, the termite issue, while yucky, is under control. My new mower is on its way. I’ve solved the frustrations fairly easily.

It still doesn’t stop me from being very glad that tomorrow is Friday. Last week wasn’t a great week as far as work went. This week hasn’t been so bad but it’s been a lot busier and a little more stressful because I’ve been going it alone due to my coworker dealing with his mother’s death. I don’t mind covering for him, naturally. It’s just a lot for one person to handle, particularly when we’ve got some urgent things going on in the office.

The nice thing is that even though it’s meant bringing work home with me, making some phone calls in the evening and staying late at the office, I don’t mind. I think that’s the difference between my last job and this one. Working extra hours and extra hard doesn’t bother me because I LIKE my job. I don’t feel as though I’m watching the clock, waiting for it to hit Going-Home-Time.

Yet, tomorrow is Friday and I’m quite happy about that. It’s supposed to be cold and gloomy this weekend. I’m not sure what that means for me and the pups. My original plan was to start replacing the hideous mustard coloured carpet in my Tuscan family room with the vinyl terracotta tiles I’ve picked out. I have half the tiles. I need the other half. Unfortunately, between checking three different Lowes’ (who are the exclusive sellers of this tile), no store carries enough for a decent sized room at one time. Thus, I bought half at one Lowes and was planning on getting the other half this weekend. However, the extra expense of the termites as well as the cost of a new lawnmower means I might have to put Project Floor Tiling on hold for a couple of weeks.

It also doesn’t help that I’d need to be able to leave the dogs outside while I tiled since that room is their passageway to the garden. If it’s raining, I’d end up with two wet, soggy, unhappy dogs.

So, it means I’ll have to come up with another plan for my weekend. My alternate plan if I couldn’t do the floor due to rain/cold weather was to wrap up warm and do some landscaping. Unfortunately, I need to mow the lawn to do that and without a mower, that will be hard since the mower isn’t due to arrive until Tuesday.

Ah well. My homeowner mishaps this week have put a wrench in the plans for the weekend, it seems. The best laid plans and all that, I suppose. Sometimes, the best weekends are those that aren’t planned at all. Given the chaos of the week, perhaps that’s not a bad thing and perhaps I should just accept that I can’t control everything.

It’s just hard because, as you know, I’m a control freak. Which is probably why busy work weeks, termites and exploding lawnmowers have thrown me through a loop.

You just don’t see them happening until it’s too late. But they keep life interesting…right?

Happy Friday!