Don't Waste Good Cologne on Bad Boyfriends

It occurred to me as I stood at the cologne counter, opening bottles and holding them to my nose, either to scrunch up my face in disgust or close my eyes and smile (as if that prolongs the enjoyment)...that I have wasted far too many of the good scents on ex-boyfriends! At least three scents reminded me of someone, and by someone I mean a man that is not my father.

So here is my advise for all the single ladies, do not buy a cologne you'd like to smell for the rest of your life on some boyfriend you just met, or some jerk of a man you're dating...because when you finally do meet Mr. Forever (a.k.a The One) you don't want to have to go to the perfume counter only to purchase your second or third favorite scent because the best smelling cologne now reminds you of some guy that it didn't work out with. Just a thought.

My Favorite Earrings...

How could I have missed this...my favorite earrings are now available in silver. I bought a pair today as soon as I came across them!

These would make a great Christmas gift for any lady on your list!

www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35409064

holycraptheroadsarebad!

I knew the drive would be bad but I had no idea I would be risking my life, driving through blizzards to get here. This is a temporary job...I think I need to weigh "temporary" against the damage that will incur on my vehicle and mental/physical health by coming to work! I experienced near death at least a million times as I white knuckled my way here this morning...ugh!

It's all about who you know...

Well, I wanted work and I've got it. I start a two week gig at Bissell tomorrow. We'll see if I change my mind about it after driving to Grand Rapids at the crack of dawn so I can be there by 8. I am not exactly known for being on time to anything so I hope I can pull this off.

My friend Katie hooked me up. She works there and really needed some temporary help, and since we worked together at Pfizer doing facility design she called me since she knew I was out of work. So that saying is true, it's all about who you know...

Macy's & Ethics

Not long ago I purchased some bed sheets at Macy's and this week saw them advertised for a lot less during a "2 Day Sale." I decided I'd just return the unused, unopened sheets and re-purchase them at the sale price. It had been less than 30 days, and I had the receipt, so I figured I wasn't breaking any return policies...

I approached the counter with my return, and ad in hand described to the sales lady my intentions. She fumbles with her response and lets me know that she's not sure I would be able to purchase the sheets back unless they have the same sheets on the shelf. She leaves the counter and goes off looking for them, even though the set I want is currently sitting on the counter. When she returns I tell her that it's not a problem she didn't find any sheet sets that are identical to the set I am returning because I can just buy the set back, to which she replies, and I quote, "It's against store policy because that would be unethical."

Against store policy is a little sketchy, but unethical?! Of all the cards in her deck that's the one she wants to play? Really, unethical? Really?

Did I mention the sheet set in question is from the Martha Stewart Collection? In fact, Macy's is currently covered head to toe with the light teal Martha Stewart trademark. And Macy's is questioning my ethics? Their very own poster child is a walking talking billboard of what unethical behavior is. Am I the only one who remembers that this lady went to prison...and why?

And further more, what ethical person can sell a set of flannel twin sheets for $60.00, put them on sale for $35.99, and days later mark them down to $23.99? They're probably not even worth $10 but I thought they would be so cute to get for my little brother. How can the guy who priced those sheets even sleep at night? Oh wait, I know, on a bed of money made up in free sheet promos from the Martha Stewart Collection.

Also, they were made in Pakistan...do we really even know what kind of labor regulations are set up in that country, let alone the environmental footprint the textile industry is leaving on this planet? And my ethics are those in question?

I guess my purchase is a bit unethical when I look at it from these perspectives, but asking to return the sheets and re-purchase them for a fraction of what I paid is not the reason. Macy's moral compass went all wacky long before I attended that 2 Day Sale.

I fell off the wagon.

I have to admit that blogging became another thing that I just didn't fell like doing, but I'm going to give it another try. I am still unemployed and depressed so the title still fits. However, you can only complain for so long about yourself! I'm going to try and write about the nicer things in life, however limited they may seem to be.

Stay posted everyone!

Retail Therapy

Last week, as I tried to get over the depression associated with being unemployed and married to a man who thinks I am a housewife, I tried some therapy...retail therapy. You might be wondering why someone on a small fixed income is shopping, as am I, but I couldn't stop myself. I have always been a sucker for a deal and now that I have time to look for these deals I am finding them everywhere.

I started at Meijer, grocery shopping and using all the coupons I cut from the paper. If you bought 5 Campbell's soups and a loaf a bread you got a $5 Meijer coupon. That's like getting it all for free! So I stayed at that do it yourself lane and kept doing it over and over. I now have a lot of bread & soup.

Then I had to go to Menards to pick up parts to fix our wood stove (wood heat is cheap) and found some other good things, like these balls to put in your dryer that cut down on dry time, and really cheap rakes we'll need this fall. You know, the necessities!

But all this shopping got me feeling like more shopping and so I went to Ulta. And bought some makeup that was on sale, that I didn't really need. But I saw this advertisement on TV aimed at unemployed persons and it said to "invest in yourself" so I did.

The trip to Ulta then led me into TJ Maxx & Old Navy, because they're in the same plaza. I needed to find Ben new jeans but I also found me a new sweater. And I had to go to Old Navy because they so nicely had sent me a coupon.

So that was all Monday. The next day I met Marie at the mall, and on another day I met my mom at TJ Maxx, and by the weekend I was feeling a little guilty about buying new things so I went to some church sales on Friday & Saturday. There I filled bags for only $1.00 and got so many more things! I bought items for basically everyone I know so if you are reading this and I know you I probably have a bag in my dining room just waiting for you!

I don't know how well the therapy worked...but I think it did a little because I read my post titled "I'm a Loser" and thought to myself, "That girl is pathetic, I am way cooler than her."

I never wanted to be a housewife...

I'm feeling more like my old self again. I had completely underestimated how much of my self identity I placed in my job, and not having a job has really created a void that the Oreos are just not filling! It doesn't help when my husband makes comments like, "I thought the house was going to start looking more clean since you're not working?" To which I start sobbing and screaming that I did not sign up for this $%&# and I never wanted to be a housewife. I once did consider the life of a housewife, but only in a dream, and in this dream I was filthy rich and had maids and housekeepers. In reality I am not cut out for it .

On a positive note, today was my first day as a mentor through Kids Hope USA. Every Tuesday I will be meeting Isaac. He is a 3rd grader at Lake Center (the same elementary school I was working on) and he is really cool. He told me he has never had a mentor before and I told him I have never had a mentee before, so this is new to us both. I left him today unharmed and he had learned no new swear words, so pretty much I did great!

Disability vs. Unemployment

I was just thinking...does disability pay more than unemployment??? And would plastic surgery qualify? Just thinking outside the box folks :)

I'm a Loser

Seriously. Is this my life? I am pretty much a loser. I received my last paycheck Friday and now the real life adventures of an unemployed Interior Designer begin. Only, I am a loser. We'll see what adventures I can actually embark on.

I stay in bed late and barely make to do list (I am a to do list kind of girl.) And even when I do have things to do I put them off until tomorrow or the next day. At least Mark Twain was in agreement with me, "Do not put off until tomorrow what can be put off till day-after-tomorrow just as well."

I'm going to have to resort to my old stories in order to fill this blog with interesting reading material...I do have some pretty great stories though. I am prone to self imposed embarrassment, clumsiness, and saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

In case you're not picking up on it, this post is laced with a wee bit of self pity which directly correlates with the title. I will write again when I am not feeling like such a douche.

Me...A Guest Speaker

Today I was a guest speaker for an Interior Design "Professional Practices" course at Western Michigan University! If you know me at all you would be asking yourself what I asked myself: Who would let me speak to impressionable young adults on purpose? Well, let me explain.

I got a call from the professor, Beth Jarl, last night. She had a speaker all lined up and they got sick or something. Beth then called Meghan at TMP, who was too busy to fill in, but gave her my name and I decided to do it. It seemed like a good reason to roll out of bed and get dressed.

So even though I was like the third string I got a chance to tell a bunch of seniors about my professional life post graduation. I didn't really have much time to prepare and Beth asked me not to dwell to long on the "lay off." (Isn't that crazy...she didn't want me to freak them out too bad with the economic crisis.) So I talked in my usual fast paced, sporadic, mess of a vocabulary and hopefully wasn't a total let down to the profession!

I even think I was able to sucker a young lady into interning at TMP with Meghan. (Pro bono of course!)

Beth told me that the Interior Design program at WMU and other colleges around the country are in need of NCIDQ certified Designers with a Master's degree to teach the Interior Design curriculum. So keep that in your back pocket!

Autodesk Assistance Program

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=13107886&linkID=12338624

Check out this link to learn more about the Autodesk Assistance Program. Great for "displaced" professionals like me who want to stay in the know and learn programs that will give me an edge on the competition!

You can get a free 13-month term student license of an Autodesk program like AutoCAD, Autodesk Revit Architecture, Autodesk Inventor Professional, and/or AutoCAD Civil 3D software. Awesome!

Morning Jogger My Ass

Remember that dream I had about becoming a morning jogger? Scratch that. I'm out.

Yesterday I completely bailed on a five mile run with my friend Betsy. It was muggy and wet outside and I just could not bring myself to get out of bed for that kind of torture. Today I felt guilty so I pulled myself from the sheets for a easy two mile run. Sounded a lot more do-able when I agreed to it. I was supposed to meet at her place at 8:30. I showed up at 9. Strike one. I have never been a morning person. I think at age thirty you just come to grips with the fact that you're never going to be a morning person.

I got there, hair unbrushed, no makeup, clothes-who knows if they matched. I literally think I scared an old man as we ran by him. Strike two. Not the cute little morning jogger stereotype I had in mind.

And lastly...I thought I was dying! Strike three. Usually two miles is great, not that bad. But I have not ran in a while and Betsy is so fast now. I got that scratchy throat thing from all the hard breathing. I hate that. And then when it was all over I thought I was going to puke, but I didn't.

I'm not giving up on running...just the morning part, the looking cute part, the being good at it part, and the part where you do it in bad weather. And well, since I live in Michigan that eliminates a lot of running :)

Just another day off...

Just another day off...and I think I can get used to this. I cleaned up a bit, painted the trim upstairs, did some drywall patching, and watched a movie. Now that I am feeling more like a productive citizen again I am working on my to do list. My main "to do" is finishing our master bedroom and bathroom. We've been working on it for a year now, so needless to say I have this huge unfinished hole in my house. Now is the perfect time for me to finish it!

Having all this time off also means that my dog Lola gets less time in her crate and more time just lounging around the house with me. This is good and bad. She is so great most of the time that I forget she is still a puppy and just expect her to be behaving herself. In this past week I have lost a bra and three pair of underwear to extreme chewing. Ugh! And of course they're not the old nasty underwear that you've had since college. They were all new, cute, and are now either in the garbage or missing a crotch.

No Worker Left Behind

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/nwlb/NWLB_Fact_Sheet_Final_203216_7.pdf

I was going to check out this program at Michigan Works, but I won't qualify because Ben makes too much money :) However, if anyone else is interested it seems like a great program...You don't necessarily need to be unemployed to take advantage of it. Check it out!

Moping

I started out with good intentions but moping seems to be getting the best of me. Before being laid off, when just the thought of being laid off was a fog lingering around the office, I told myself it wouldn't be so bad. I thought off all the things I could do with my free time.

I was going to be one of those morning joggers. You know the type - the lady you pass on your drive into work, looking fabulous in her little Nike outfit (complete with matching shoes) just running along the street. I thought, she must not have a job, and I thought I could be her...if I didn't have a job. Well, now I don't have a job. The thing is, I don't like getting out of bed, it would take to much effort to match my clothes, let alone run, and why start all this today when I have nothing to do tomorrow? I'm going to save that dream for another day...

I have currently been preoccupied with eating Doritos, both the ones in the bag and those that land on my chest, as I lay on the sofa in my pajamas watching what appears to be daytime television. I didn't realise how horrible it really was (daytime television). Yesterday Maury had a show and the whole premise was to guess if these scantly dressed guests were male or female. WTF?

On a positive note, I did manage to make it down to MI Works, which I thought was the unemployment office?! It's not. So after I left there I went to the real unemployment office and met a lady named Tina who was super friendly and very helpful.

Day One

On the same day I read the recession was over...I got laid off. That was last Friday, September 11th of all days (as if the memory of that day couldn't get any worse, it did.) I knew it was coming, but it was still like a punch in the stomach when I got pulled into the conference room for the talk. What sucks the most is that I really liked my job. I worked with my best friend and a bunch of other cool people, and I was doing what I liked. I was an Interior Designer.

I wallowed in my own self pity for the entire weekend.

Today I have managed to shower, defer my student loans, pack up my desk and clean out my "inbox," and have been rejected by the online unemployment claim system of Michigan. I guess I will need to stand in line just like the next guy. That's a job for tomorrow...well today actually. (Only the unemployed me would be up this late, but even that new me is getting tired.) I've got a lot to do tomorrow. Getting out of bed alone will take a tremendous amount of will power :)

But before I leave you...an interesting tidbit. Today I learned to never hit send on a mass email before double checking who is included in your entire contact list! I accidentally, and stupidly, managed to let all my friends, and a dozen or so customers ($%^&!) know that I was no longer with the company - and in a very blunt, mildly sarcastic way. I then proceeded to try and recall the message and respond with another less harsh, and hopefully warmer message, that will ensure I have a job with the company if this market ever picks up, and they decide to call me back to work! You know, when the recession really is over.