I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! We had five different varieties of stuffing (fruit, oyster, vegan, regular, and mushroom), pies (cherry, pumpkin, cranberry-pear, and cottage cheese), turkey, corn, lima beans, sweet potatoes, homemade applesauce and a Tofuturkey for my sister, plus more… we have quite a bit left, since we only had 11 people there (not counting Ethan, so 12.) But leftovers are the best part of the Thanksgiving feast, in my opinion, because I love turkey, and I can eat it for lunch and dinner, and stuffing… yum.

Good news! I got a phone call from the job I interviewed for, and I moved to the next level… I get to take the Civil Service Exam December 10th at 1pm. So, wish me luck.

Of course, Thanksgiving isn’t all about food… and I am very thankful for my family, my friends, and all the wonderful people I come in contact with through this blog.

And I’m reading Fast Food Nation… and my sister’s right. I’m not sure I’ll look at hamburger the same way ever again…

Just an update before I hop in the shower…

Just finished reading Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. (I finally got my books from the State Library.)

The book in itself was interesting; the author went undercover, worked low-wage jobs and tried to make ends meet. She reminds me of the lady (I don’t remember who or when) who “became” homeless for a period of time and wrote a book about her experiences.

I didn’t learn anything; not really, at least. Hell; I was a low-wage worker when I started out at the library with a $7/hour wage. If I had been trying to support myself on that, I would have failed. I can’t imagine what lengths people have to go to support themselves on so little money per hour. If I had no debts, and no car payment, then I could manage, but with them, I couldn’t (on that wage, that is.) And I know it’s worse if you have children.

It was an interesting book.

Also in my pile-to-read are Fast Food Nation, which my sister assures me will make me want to become a vegetarian, and four writing books of varying ages from 1930s-1980s. These are for research purposes; I’m reading them to see how the advice of the ages holds up to the twenty-first century. I’ve never heard of the authors, fwiw.

And I cashed in my three-year-old credit to the Science Fiction Book Club to buy the two latest Terry Pratchett books, Night Watch and The Last Hero. Yes, I’m behind. And I have a rant coming on about the price of books these days, so watch for it…

Oh, and every day that I sit in front of my computer at work, I get horrible eyestrain from the glare. Even now I’m sitting here attempting to get rid of the scratchy sensation in my left eye, and it’s not working. At all.

This sucks. All weekend long, I was fine. I can sit in front of my computer at home and not have problems. I go to work for one day, and wham! Instant headache/scratchy eye. Argh!! If I didn’t have so much stuff to do tonight, I’d head to bed early.

The interview went well, I think, for those of you who care. I have to wait and see what happens, though; and if I’m one of their top candidates, I’ll have to take the Civil Service exam anyway. I’m not really worried about that.

I’m rather worried about the fact that no one else has called, though. I have a backlog of at least twelve jobs that I’ve applied for, and that I’m qualified for (with one or two exceptions) and I’ve heard nothing. Now, government is notoriously slow (after all, I heard from the job I interviewed for a month after the posting ended) so I’m not anxious yet; just worried.

I have to believe things will work out for the best. If I’m meant to move (and I have this overwhelming feeling that moving is the right decision) then I will find a job that will pay enough for me to pay off my credit cards. It just takes time.

Job or no job, I’m moving by the end of December. “D-day” is December 16th, which would be the date I’ll have to give my two weeks’ notice, even if I don’t have a job.

That isn’t very far away, but I have faith. At the beginning of September, I had no earthly idea if I would have a vehicle on October 1st, and look what happened there.

I’m praying for another miracle.

The Great Ebay Fiasco is over. The last overdue-and-not-so-overdue packages went to the PO this evening.

And I have learned my lesson. I will never again attempt to do so much in such a little amount of time, because I was behind before I began, in truth. But desperation will do strange things to people, and I was desperate. And, in truth, I couldn’t have gotten this far without the money I made on ebay.

I’ve contemplated taking down my userid, but I think I’m going to let it stay up. I know I didn’t do a good job keeping caught up with shipping and email. That was my fault for taking on so much at once. I don’t blame the people who gave me negatives for being angry, but I do thank the wonderful people who gave me so much support.

I still don’t know why aol and other email providers wouldn’t let my replies go through. I’m sure there are people still out there wondering why I am or was ignoring their email. *sigh*

I have decided not to post the lots of books, craft supplies, and clothes I still have here. It’s very doubtful I’ll end up making much money with them anyway, and frankly, I’m sick and tired of ebay at the moment. So I’m taking a break, for now.

After I move, I will post what’s left in my room (like the 10 years of Writer’s Digest and other stuff) but I’m not going to do a huge gout of posting ever again.

This post is here to remind me, if I ever get a wild hair to post everything in one fell swoop again, but somehow, I doubt that will happen.

I went to bed last night feeling like I’m actually getting somewhere on this list. It’s not finished yet, but I’m actually crossing stuff off (cleaning the bathroom, packing more stuff, cleaning the office, doing the dishes, and other stuff I kept putting off that I really needed to do.) I’m working on one of the major procrastinators today, and if I get finished in time, I’m planning to head to my parents’ house late this afternoon instead of tomorrow morning. That way, I can go to church with my family.

I’ve also quite… lost the desire to spend umpteen hours on the computer, doing nothing much at all. Therefore, I’m behind on email (even more so, since I was at a meeting all day yesterday) but that’s on my list to get caught up before I leave. Or, at least, caught up until I’m only a day behind.

And I’ve been writing, a little. In fact, I woke up this morning at 7:30 from a really cool dream that will eventually become another short story. Oh boy! But it was fun. And Thursday at work I had another cool idea…

I’m feeling cautiously optimistic that I might actually get my list done early. That’s what I’m aiming for, because after the list is finished, my only task is to write in the evenings. So, it’s in my best interest to get it finished as quickly as possible, no?

Oh, give me a break. There are people suing McDonalds (among other fast-food restaurants) and claiming that eating their high-fat, calorie-laden food made them obese.

Well, yeah. Who in their right mind doesn’t know that most fast food is bad for you?

The article says that these three teenagers ate at McDonalds almost every day for five years. It doesn’t say what they ordered, or if they ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner at McDonalds, but I, for one, would get very tired of the menu before three days had passed. The food is just not appetizing. McDonalds remains my least favorite fast food restaurant, actually, even with the advent of their salads (which I have yet to try.)

What I want to know is if these kids exercised at all over the years they were eating at McDonalds, or if they spent most of their time in front of the TV. Hmm. Do you suppose that might be part of the problem, there?

I can’t believe people actually get away with stupid lawsuits like these. My. The mind boggles.

The only way I’m going to get anything done on my list is to leave email and the internet until after I get something done on my list. Last night, I spend 2 1/2 hours on one thing, and didn’t get finished until after 11pm, so I haven’t had a chance to reply to any email yet. (At least I got it downloaded this morning.)

This is seriously the only way. I know myself too well. I’d sit down “for a break” and never get up. And I wouldn’t be writing, either; I’d be searching for something online or replying to email, or… you get the picture. I’m even putting the List before writing, so you can only imagine how much I’m actually getting done.

Last night, I crossed off a pretty major thing on my list; I split up the bills and got them sorted into separate boxes. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for weeks. I also swept and rolled one of the rugs, and intended to clean the bathroom, but I didn’t get around to it. Tonight, I will choose something else on my list and do it before I even turn on my computer. And that’s the only way I’ll get my list done.

–crossposted to stick-to-itiveness.

Yes, things are better today. The impending disaster has been averted, at least it had better be averted. *narrows eyes*

I ordered a couple of books from the State Library of Ohio the other day, and I’m going to miss the delivery service when I leave here. (I love the fact that you can renew forever, and not pay any fines, too.) I wanted to read Nickel and Dimed to Death: On (Not) Getting by in America (or whatever that book is called) and Fast Food Nation. I also ordered a couple of old writing books, just for the heck of it. Unfortunately they aren’t here yet. Maybe tomorrow. It’s getting so bad around the house book-wise, that I’m rereading books I just finished, just to have something to read. ‘Cause everything’s pretty much packed, and what’s left are books I really don’t want to read at all. Doesn’t that figure?!

Tonight I’m dragging out the sweeper and cleaning a bit around the house. I have my list of things to do, and because of last night’s stressful junk, I didn’t get started on it at all. So, tonight.

I’ve been getting an awful lot of hits lately. I’m not sure why. I haven’t done anything that I know of…

I am having a horrible evening. Hopefully things will be better tomorrow, after I make a phone call or two, but damn it all… I don’t need this extra stress!!!

More later.