I feel a little like throwing up.  Gonna vom.  The interview is over and I think all is well, I just really feel like I need to go home and do a shot of whiskey or something. 

I will try to breathe now!  Hey - maybe I’ll go take a walk.  It’s a beautiful day outside and I could use the air.

Have a good rest of the day, y’all!

Today I have a job interview.

*gulp*

This is my second job interview within two years.  And for this one?  I have no idea what to expect.

Wish me luck?

Thanks!

This is sure to please my friend, JeffA.  He’s seen an overabundance of girlie things around the weboblogosphere lately.  So I’m just adding to the mix - I do what I can, ya know??

You may notice a new link in my sidebar that mentions free jewelry.  “What’s that?” I hear you ask yourself.  “Could it be true?” Well, yes and no.

The jewelry itself is free.  The company is “giving away” their jewelry so that you can become familiar with their quality and styling.  I have gotten several pieces from them and they are all very nice; made with real sterling silver and real gemstones.  The only thing you pay for is shipping, which is $5.99 per piece.  It’s not a bad deal at all if you like silver jewelry.

So check it out.  The setup is pretty fun.  They display four items at a time for five minutes.  After five minutes, one of the pieces drops off and a new item is displayed.  Then after five more minutes, another piece drops off and another new item is displayed.  This way, you get to view every item for 20 minutes while you make up your mind.  If you see something you might like, you click where it says “Get this for FREE!” and it will display the description and tell you things like what gemstone it is (if it has a gemstone) and how big it is, etc.  If you don’t want it, just hit your back arrow button and wait for the next new thing to pop up.  It can get to be quite addictive!

And before you ask, yes, I will make a very small commission on each sale.  I figure that since my husband is having a hard time finding any celebrities to pay our mortgage (darn selfish celebrities!), I’d better try and do my bit.  But rest assured that I wouldn’t be plugging this stuff if I didn’t think it was worth the plug.  This is exactly the kind of thing to help a hopeless jewelry addict!

Oh, and can you beat $5.99 for a gift of jewelry?  Think of your nieces and daughters and mothers and (ahem) blogger friends (heh!) who would love to have a pretty piece of real jewelry and all it costs you is shipping and handling!  Naturally, they don’t have to know that part of it!

Go on - give it a try!  You know you want to!

Found over at Dare to Dream.  You pick an artist, and answer the questions using only titles of their songs.  (This is my version, edited for content.)

Name of band/artist:  Kate Bush

• Are you male or female? Rubberband Girl
• Describe yourself. Strange Phenomena
• How do you feel about yourself? King of the Mountain
• Describe your partner. The Man with the Child in His Eyes
• Describe where you want to be. Under the Ivy
• Describe how you live. Moments of Pleasure
• Describe how you love. L’Amour Looks Something Like You
• What would you ask for if you had just one wish? Be Kind to My Mistakes
• Share a few words of wisdom. Don’t Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake
• Now say goodbye. Get Out of My House

Whew!  I resisted so many sarcastic responses to those (except for that last one - I couldn’t help myself!).  That was fun.  Give it a try!

And now, a gratuitous picture of Kate so you have an idea of what this incredible woman looks like to go along with just a few of her many song titles.

OK, I am about to write about something that sounds sort of disgusting - especially when you consider it to be “sausage”.

Now, up until our first trip to New Hampshire, I had never heard of this stuff.  But while we were at our very favorite bed & breakfast place, they served us this chicken and apple sausage.  We were both very reluctant to try it but that’s what was for breakfast and, since we were the only guests, it would have been difficult to disguise the fact that we didn’t eat it.  So we ate it.  Yum!

But I thought that would be the end of that.  Until now.  I found Emeril’s Chicken and Apple Smoked Sausage at the grocery store.  I think it’s better than the stuff we had in New Hampshire, to tell you the truth.  It is so good! 

We had some friends over last weekend and made up a platter of regular Jimmy Dean sausage and just a few links of the chicken and apple sausage (’cause I’m “cooking light” and all).  Everyone tried the chicken and apple sausage and it was a big hit - I wish we had made more!

So if you’re like me and frightened off by the weird sounding name, don’t be.  It’s really tasty - trust me!

Today, I’m in the need of some comfort.  Comfort food, comfort hugs - you know what I mean.

For breakfast, I had blueberry muffins.  Comfort food.

Right before I entered the building where I work, Buzz gave me a hug.  Comfort hug.  (Thanks, Buzz!)

And I just stumbled across some comfort music.  Oh, yeah!  I found an album that I haven’t heard in years but one that I used to listen to incessantly in the past.  It’s Kerri Anderson’s album, Labyrinth.  She did just this one album (or possibly one other, depending on what site you choose to read on the internet about her) and I don’t think it received good reviews but I lived and breathed this album for months!

Comfort music.  I am totally digging it today!

I have a warped sense of time.  (A time warp??) I cannot imagine that I can possibly get all of the things done that I need to get done when I have a day off from work.

Today, for instance.  I took a vacation day and slept in.  I slept until 9:00 unexpectedly.  I awoke in a panic, sure that I could not possibly get myself up, showered, dressed and out to the card store and to get my nails done by 5:00 tonight.  Now, tell me what is my problem?

And to complicate things, I launch into self-fulfilling prophecy mode and I start the dilly-dallying (my mom’s word).  I putz around looking for something to eat, then I read blogs or CNN and maybe play a game or two of solitaire - all before getting dressed.

Maybe I just answered my own question.  On my days off, I guess I feel like I deserve a little “play time” but there’s always still that panic in the back of my mind. 

Here it is - 11:47.  I’m finally showered and dressed.  I’m about to run out to the card store and then I’ll go get my nails done.  Do you think I can accomplish all of that in 5 hours?? 

**UPDATE:  It’s now 2:17 and I just got home - card store, gas in the car, money at the ATM, nails.  It took me 2½ hours to do that!  Time to eat lunch and then do a couple of things before I have to run out again.  Sheesh!

I’m sleepy today.  We went to a memorial/happy hour last night for the person I wrote about a bit ago.  It was really nice.  A lot of people gathering to celebrate her life - and they did it all in a mocked-up bar!  It’s too hard to explain but, trust me, it was appropriate and fun.

My mind was filled with memories and they stayed with me all night.  I awoke many times during the night thinking about it all.

So I’m sleepy today.  I went and got a sugar-free Red Bull.  It’s supposed to give me wings, yes?

So far, not so much as the nub of a wing appearing on my back.  I’m still dragging and I’m about to launch into serious meeting mode.  This should be fun.

When I went to bed last night, I had trouble calming my brain down.  My mind was racing and I didn’t feel like sleep was coming any time soon.  I took a course of action that I don’t normally take - I took an Ambien.  It was 9:15 when I took it, giving me just over 8 hours to sleep until the alarm went off.

I did get to sleep pretty quickly after that.  And I slept soundly the whole night.

But today, I’m still sporting an Ambien buzz.  I feel like I’m surrounded by mist and fog.  Like I belong in an Irish landscape.  The coffee doesn’t seem to be helping.  But it’s not unpleasant.  I just hope I don’t have to make any snap life-or-death decisions this morning…

Do you remember my post about this time of my life being scary and having to engage my coping devices?  Well, it seems that this time of my life is really just switching into high gear.  Here’s a conversation I had yesterday.  It started with me walking down the hall toward the elevator.

Her (poking her head around the corner, sees me):  Do you want the elevator, Pat?
Me:  Yes, please!
Me:  Bad knees.
Her:  Tell me about it.  I’ve been taking chondroitin for it.
Me:  I’ve been taking that, too, for my hands.  So far, it’s not doing much.
Her:  How long have you been taking it?
Me:  About four weeks.
Her:  Oh, because the cancer medicine really makes my hands hurt.

*blink*

I didn’t know.

From the title of this post, you may be expecting my usual complaining, whiny tone.  I’m happy to surprise you!

Everything is fine.  My brain is calm (or is it non-functioning?), my physical woes are minimal and the only thing that’s even remotely negative is that I wish spring would get here already (in reality - not on the calendar) and I wish lunchtime would get here sooner.  My belly is growling!

Those are very vague discomforts.  So that’s not bad for a Monday, now, is it??  And I’m even at work!

Hope your first day of spring is filled with flowers and butterflies!

Good thing I have the ability to have a “small day” today because we had a “big night” last night!  And I don’t mean that we went out and painted the town red, no.  We stayed in and watched some “Angel” and played some pool and sat at the bar and listened to music and drank.  A lot.  We haven’t done any significant drinking for a long time.  It was a lot of fun.

So, yeah, it’s a good thing I have the ability to have a “small day” today.

Now, where’s my greasy breakfast sandwich??

(Thanks, Keith, for introducing us to the concept of a “Small Day” via Janis Siegel - it’s a great phrase!)

...Marc Broussard.

Dude - I’m not kidding.  Check this guy out.  I first saw him on the country music channel.  Yeah.  Country.  Riiiiiight. 

How about NOT??  This guy is total blues, gutsy sex music. 

Just got his album “Carencro”.  Love it, love it, love it!

Today, it’s a story of Maddy, my pretty girl.  See?  Isn’t she pretty?

Buzz and I are making fried rice for dinner tonight.  One of the ingredients is 4 cups of cooked chilled rice.  We have about a cup and a half of leftover rice in the fridge so I needed to make some more to fill out the rest of the 4 cups.  I brought the chicken stock to a boil (I ALWAYS cook my rice in some kind of stock!), added the rice, turned down the heat and covered it.  The steam from the cooking rice was making the cover of the pot dance just a little tiny bit.

Maddy heard it.  She thought that maybe she could help.

“If only...I could...reach that...I could...make it...STOP!  I’ll save you, Mommy!”

She’s so helpful in the kitchen!