November epilogue

It's almost December 1st and my Christmas shopping is underway. We had a great Thanksgiving here last week. I made everything on my own, which included heating some things in the microwave too. (Post of dinner on my foodie blog.)

I worked on National Novel Writing Month for the first time. I "won" because I had done some work ahead of time but I never verified anything. I ended up with fatigued eyes and a painful wrist that slowed me down a lot the last few days. Consequently, I didn't go near the PC yesterday and today I just used the computer to do some more shopping. I have to take a break.

I had an interview yesterday - my first official library job interview. It was for an awesome school too. I was one of six people they chose out of 50 some applicants so that's not too bad. I'm not sure if I'll get it but I really would like to. Being unemployed gets old really quick. I wore my first ever power suit and even left the tag on so another girl being interviewed had to let me know. Classy. Oh well, I heard it’s good luck. I hope so.

But for now I'll keep swimming. I'll do my shopping, take a break from the PC then get back to my work at home. I'm super excited about Christmas because we have a lot we want to do this December to get ready. Plus, I hear that snow stuff will be coming soon.

Technorati Tags: NaNoWriMo,computer,health,holiday,Christmas,December,U.K.,England,Advent,writing,interview,library,jobs,employment,shopping,Santa

Being thankful

This year I’m thankful for my husband, my parents, and my friends and family to whom I thank Facebook for allowing me to keep in touch with even after years of not seeing one another.  I’m thankful for our cosy house, our crazy cat, my fun life and the complete contentment of knowing we have so much more fun for us in the future.

I know it’s easy to get irritated with things, especially around the holidays, but think of what all we have. We’re here. We have family, friends, jobs, hope of jobs, hope of all things good and the wonderful world to live in. 

Being a chronic ex-complainer, it’s been increased concern to me how much the internet is used just to complain.  I don’t mean anyone specific or certainly not any of my friends.  I mean in general, when you go on Twitter, especially, all you see if some kind of “I don’t like…” comment.  And, yes, things get irritating and we all get into the habit of ranting now and then.  But when you’re complaining about the smallest things just because it’s something you do, it gets to me.  I just can’t put up with that kind of negativity anymore.

I read complaints of all kinds.  A lot of it is political and you know the person posting the statement just wants someone to start a debate. We have the religious comments that are just made to incite arguments as well.  But the ones that get to me the most are the inane, itty bitty things.  For example: “I hate this carpet in the bank lobby. I hate the bank teller being slow. I hate the money being too crisp. I hate the bank being next to a store where I can spend my money.” And so on and so forth. 

Don’t get worked up over that kind of stuff, guys.  Seriously. What is the point in doing that when it’s just going to make you more upset about the situation and no one else in the world is going to give a flip?  As I said, I do this too.  I get irritated when the stores are crowded and there’s only one door to enter and exit from.  But it passes.  The neighbour with the crazy crap in my hallway drives me up a wall but I stopped letting myself get that upset about it. It didn’t do me any good to keep complaining about it.

I hear parents complain about teachers. Teachers complain about parents. Librarians complain about patrons. Patrons complain about books. Book sellers complain about ebooks. Brits complain about Americans. Americans complain about Brits. Bus riders complain about cars. Drivers complain about pedestrians. When does it end?

Okay, never. You’re right.

Anyway, just be thankful. Some of us are still looking for work. We’re still struggling to keep calm and carry on but we can if we just get on with what we need to be doing. Appreciate what you have and enjoy the holiday. (Heck, not everyone even gets Thanksgiving day off anymore.)  You don’t need a lot of money and things don’t have to be perfect.

Technorati Tags: Thansgiving,thankful,Twitter,complaints,happy,life,family,holiday,calm

A blog from the couch

I'm trying out my Blogger app on my HTC for the first time. I've put myself on break from the computer tonight. Since I've been working on my project and treating myself with Saints Row 3, my left thumb (my driving thumb) and wrist has started hurting. Plus my eyes were fatiqued over the weekend so I didn't type at all again until Monday.

We're almost all prepped for Thanksgiving on Thursday. We had to get a pastry crust and a sandwich tin (which looks like a regular small, round cake pan) to make the pumpkin pie. I had the pie mix, spice, noodles (still on the look out for anything like Pennsylvania Dutch noodles here) and yams shipped from Florida. We have just a small turkey joint & some ready made mashed potatoes but it should be plenty for just the two of us. We don't have room for a lot of leftovers either and Steve doesn't have the day off so it will be a nice feast for an otherwise normal Thursday.

NaNoWriMo will be over in 8 days so I'll have a nice chunk of work to edit afterwards. It hasn't been horrendous as some people say it is. I enjoyed it for the most part (except for the thumb and eye thing.)

I'm excited because Christmas is coming and I'm finally in a place where it feels like Christmas is approaching. Usually Florida just tells us that it's Christmas and we go back outside in our shorts and get on with it. But here our Continental and Christmas Markets are already underway. That will give me plenty of reasons, along with Thanksgiving, to update my foodie blog.

November fifth and beyond

This photo was my not so great attempt to show how many people were at Saltwell Park on Bonfire Night last Saturday.  As I’ve been updating about all week, I was sick with a cold so on Saturday I was a little reluctant to go out in the 40 some degree temperatures and stand in a muddy field.  However, after a little crying and whining I bundled up and we headed up the hill to send out my application for a provisional driver’s license.  Major excitement.

I told Steve that I would see how I felt after I was outside.  We planned to go to the Metro Centre that day for our first Christmas shopping and Lord knows I love going to the Metro Centre.  We went to Boots where I stocked up on cough drops, tissues, hand sanitizer and cold medicine. Then we jumped on the bus and headed to the greatest place in town.

Now, since there’s no Thanksgiving here, the mall was all lit up with a Christmas tree, a Nativity (God bless the United Kingdom) and even Santa was there (now we know where he hangs out in November.) That was enough to get me into the holiday spirit.  We spent a lot of time in the new Primark (two stories with awesome design) and grabbed some things for ourselves that we wanted Santa to leave under the tree. 

I have been infatuated with winter clothes.  I’d been in Florida for 22 years and needing a lot of coats and hats and sweaters was just not really necessary.  (We can get along with dressing in the same sweater or two on cold days and maybe one coat that lasts all of January.)  Now all I want are warm fuzzy clothes.  And books.  Can’t forget the books.  Anyway, I didn’t find much for Steve so next week, once I feel up to it, I’ll be headed back to the mall alone (weee!) to visit Santa (weee!) and find some presents. 

Once I had my Costa Coffee and we got back home, we had dinner and went back out into the cold for my very first Bonfire Night.  As far as Wikipedia explains, we celebrate King James not dying from an assassination plot.  It was much like our Fourth of July without the heat, bugs and picnics.  However, since it is held in the winter, they had lots coffee and hot chocolate to go with the burger and hot dog stands.  I approve.  Plus, people were allowed to drink at the park.  I even saw some students mouthing off to cops who weren’t particularly interested.  Something you just would not see in the States. We estimated that about 5,000 people showed up at the park. It was crazy to see my usually quite, peaceful park being full of people trying to get in and out of the gates. Still, it was really neat to see our neighbours out and about on a Saturday night.  Everyone was walking up and down the streets, fireworks were going off at various houses and it was just a neat kind of celebration.

By the time we got home that Saturday night, I was done.  I sat on the couch and have spent 90% of my time there ever since then.  I’ve been keeping up with NaNoWriMo and watching shows on my V+ box.  I’m still trying to finish Eclipse too – only 10% more to go. 

Until then, Project Well is in effect at our house.

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