Yesterday I worked my tail off…the kitchen is 90% clean, the laundry is 90% done, the house is 90% tidied. The bunny & lizard cages were cleaned out, and I handled/played with Peyo for longer than usual…his claws are now large enough to actually scratch up the thinner skin on the backs of my hands quite a bit, so a thorough hand-washing and application of Neosporin after handling him is necessary — although he’s generally quite calm and doesn’t scratch much, if he’s startled he digs in his claws. Geoffrey and I tried using an emery board (very carefully!) to dull down the sharp edges, but it didn’t help enough to notice, so we won’t bother with it again.

Geoffrey and I also tackled the major chore of replacing the rollers on the glass sliding door to our back patio. The door was virtually impossible to open; I had to grab the handle by both hands and give it a concentrated yank. Claire (being so tiny) couldn’t open it at all, and Lyse (being somewhat disabled) had problems with it too. It took about an hour of fighting with the damned thing to get the rollers replaced, but now it opens with barely any effort at all! I love being able to make home repairs!

I was lucky enough to get today off, so I’m going to veg out until Geoffrey gets home, and then we’re all off to Molly’s for Anxiety to have the bodice fitted on the dress for Molly’s wedding, and a bit of shopping either on the way there or back.

Last Friday, Anxiety brought home the paperwork for her Catalina Island trip, which will be the 21st – 25th of May. We have 90% of the stuff she needs to take with her, so I’m guessing we’ll need to do just a little bit of shopping next weekend. I have to get her to the airport by 5-freaking-ay-em (for a 7 am flight) the day she leaves!!! I just hope the other passengers on the plane aren’t entirely horrified by the 67 eighth-graders they’ll be flying with. But then again, if they’re crazy enough to be on a plane that early in the morning, they deserve it.

I gave my notice at work, and the funny guy manager made a special point of telling me that if my new job didn’t work out, I was always welcome to work there again. There are 2 female managers (the nice-but-uptight one, and the shrill one) and 3 male managers (the funny one, the charming one, and the cute one). As I was about to clock out this afternoon, the cute guy manager asked me how many tattoos I have, and I cheerfully replied, “Five.” The nice-but-uptight female manager looked shocked and disapproving, so I couldn’t resist adding that when my eldest turned 18, we got “mommy-and-me” matching tattoos. I think if I’d mentioned my piercings, my two boyfriends, or the nude photo shoot I did when I was 28, she would have fainted dead away. (If I didn’t have a strict policy about not mentioning my personal life at work any more than I absolutely have to, that is. But damn, sometimes it’s sooo tempting!)

Anyhoo, yesterday some apparently-famous rappers (who I’d never heard of) came in to the restaurant while I was working. They seemed like any other rowdy, arrogant customers — other than having one guy following the rest around with a videocam, or the manager who apparently recognized a couple of them and asked for their autographs for his teenage sons. It was Young Buck and most of G-Unit (minus 50 Cent). All I can say is that I was underwhelmed by their public behavior. Lyse was astonished by my blase attitude toward it, but hey — this is Portland! I’ve seen Art Alexakis shopping at Lloyd Center, for crying out loud. (He’s damned good-looking for a man his age, and with his history, I must say.)

I’m just really glad it’s the weekend…I’m pretty wiped out. Other than taking my Number One Internet Fanboy and his lovely lady out to dinner tomorrow night, I’m going to do as little as possible.

Not everything. Just most things. And their moms.

I got the job! I got the job!!!

This was practically the only good thing that’s happened this week (migraines 3 of the last 4 days, due to the Goddess’ Dubious Blessing), but it’s absolutely fantastic news!!!

I start May 14th, day shift for training (probably first 2 weeks), then I start with the wonky schedules. The center is open 24/7 — “we never close!” — because it’s a switchboard/call center for a major local medical facility. So I’ll be not only doing some swing and graveyard shifts sooner or later, but I’ll also be covering parts of shifts that other people called in sick or had pre-scheduled days off. It’s guaranteed 40 hours a week, though, and full medical/dental/vision benefits start Sept. 1st! The only downside? They don’t cover the full cost of parking, and it’s not likely I can afford the difference, so I’m back on TriMet for transportation. However, when I work late swing shifts or graveyard, I can park on the street for free (Portland street meters run 8am to 7pm, Mon-Sat), and graveyard shift gets a handsome shift differential, so I’ll actually be hoping for those graveyard shifts!

I got the job!!! *happy dance*

My firstborn phoned fairly late Tuesday night, all freaked out over a relationship situation. I’d just spent about 90 minutes immediately prior to that trying to help her sister with homework without too many episodes of bursting into tears, so it’s fair to say I was feeling a bit aggravated and frustrated, and not inclined to be especially tactful or sympathetic. I utterly adore my children…but that doesn’t mean I’m always a nice mommy. Hopefully they’ll forgive me someday.

And now for something completely TMI…

I have the best boyfriend EVER. While clicking through the various options for the Comcast OnDemand tonight, I couldn’t find anything I wanted to watch, until I checked the music section and found out that Avril Lavigne is the Comcast’s Artist of the Month. Take this as you will, but I really really like her music — and she’s so damned cute, she’s fun to watch in music videos. (I skip the interview-type stuff, though…she’s not the brightest crayon in the box, but then it would just be a horrible injustice if she were talented, lovely, and smart, now wouldn’t it?)

So I told Geoffrey I would watch all the Avril videos another time, when he wasn’t watching TV with me — and he said I should go ahead and watch them! Now, what kind of fabulous, thoughtful, considerate, darling, exquisite, delightful man is willing to sit through 45 minutes of Avril Lavigne videos just to make his girlfriend happy?!

Mine, that’s what kind. *smug grin*

~~~~~~~~~~

And my other terrific boyfriend got a new toy that is sooo fun, so I had to get one too!

It says I’m a wildcat! Damn straight.

It’s about freaking time! Now military veterans of the Pagan and/or Wiccan persuasion can have pentacles inscribed on government-issued memorial markers for their graves.

Here’s the scary part…

The VA has a list of 38 approved symbols for government gravestones, markers and plaques, which includes emblems for Christians, Muslims, Atheists, Hindus, Humanists and members of the Eckankar, Serbian Orthodox and United Moravian faiths. The VA was first petitioned for approval of the pentacle years ago. Officials at the agency dragged their feet on the request but in the interim approved the symbols of six other religions and belief systems. Among them was a Sikh emblem, which the VA approved in just a few weeks.

WTF?! Let’s think about this a moment: Ask yourself — “How many Pagans do I know, even peripherally? And how many Sikhs or United Moravians do I know?” Gee, it sure reminds me of back in 1999, when George W. Bush (as governor of Texas, opposing the right of Wiccan military personnel to meet at a military base in that state) said, “I don’t believe witchcraft is a religion and I think the military should re-examine their standards.”

Before reading the article, I had never even heard of Eckanar, so I did a little Internet research. Gee, a religion that was founded in 1965 (and so is at least a dozen years younger than modern Wicca), has a 2004 estimated American membership of 36,700 (far less than a tenth of the most conservative estimate of the number of American Wiccans), and at least as many odd/wacky/weird practices as Wicca — but they’re not witches, so they got their religious symbol approved with far less hassle. Gotta love the guv’mint.

Amazingly, Monday wasn’t a disaster. I had a pretty tightly-scheduled day, and everything went off without a hitch (good thing I allowed extra time for navigating & parking downtown, though!). The lady I interviewed with actually thanked me for being there 10 minutes early, and I thought it all went quite well — there were a couple times during the actual interview that the two interviewers actually said, “That’s really good!” So I’m holding my breath waiting for a job offer (I’m supposed to hear by next Monday at the latest…and I really hope I find out by Friday so I can give a full 2 weeks’ notice for my old job). In 20 years of job interviews, I’ve never not been offered a job after an interview, so hopefully that trend continues! *fingers crossed, knock wood*

Lately I’ve been having a mini re-evaluation of my life…I’m not all that far from turning 40, after all (just barely more than two years away). Getting this job would be a really excellent step toward accomplishing a few of the goals I want to work toward. I’ve spent the last 18 years mainly focusing on being a mom, with any paid employment revolving around that, but in the very near future I’ll be able to concentrate on putting myself first a little more often — and to do that, I need to keep the finances straightened out and on track.

OMG, I hope I get this job!!!!

I knew Saturday was going to be a busy day, since there were a bunch of errands to run. Geoffrey had left the house early on an errand of his own, and when he got back, Lyse and Anxiety and I loaded ourselves into the car. We grabbed coffee and a bite to eat, then dropped Anxiety off at school so she could complete the service hours she needs for her 8th-grade requirements to graduate (and to go to Catalina Island for the 8th-grade trip next month!). The day looked promising, not too rainy, but after dropping off Anxiety the weather started turning less hospitable. I didn’t mind; if I have to do shopping (which I generally hate), I’d rather do it when there will be less people out on the streets and in the stores.

Unfortunately, this is Portland, and rain doesn’t deter as many people from leaving their homes as I might wish. We picked up Geoffrey since he’d decided it would be fun to hang out with us crazy gals while running errands (and because we wuv him!). The grocery store was about as crowded as usual for a Saturday afternoon, but we slogged through the shopping. Then we headed to the feed store.

And now for something completely TMI…

I just finished watching the first two hours of the 12-part (each an hour long) From the Earth to the Moon, and I could kick myself for not renting it sooner! The American space program is one of the most wondrous accomplishments of all time, and every American should be well-versed about it. Lyse and I were talking about how wrong it was that many people don’t realize that the space shuttle Challenger disaster was not the first fatal incident of our space program, or that the first moon landing (which happened 39 days after I was born) was not the only manned mission to the moon. It seems that the Sixties are mainly remembered for the Viet Nam war, Woodstock, and flower children…which is truly sad, because the American space program was among the greatest scientific achievements of the 20th century, and certainly the greatest exploratory program in the history of the world.

I personally find it egregious that the first woman in space was Valentina Tereshkova, a Soviet Air Force pilot, in 1963 — while NASA failed to get an American woman into space until a full 20 years later! But From the Earth to the Moon is so inspiring and so well done that everyone should see it!