Current tally: 30 35

With 1 bite and 1 nibble.

Stuff I do besides responding to job postings


I present to you: this year's hat, mitts, scarf iteration!

The hat and mitts are knit in Mission Falls' 1824 Wool, adapting this awesome (and easy!) hat pattern I found on knitty.com last year and the reversible twice-as-warm mitten pattern I started tweaking several years ago.

The scarf was developed by building a long chain up in single crochet, using 5 skeins of Luxury's Alpaca Peru.

Matt likes the mitts so much, he wants me to knit up a pair for him.

Tally update

Another 6 resumes sent out today: 26.

Come, Mr. Tally-man...

Current tally: 20 job postings responded to

Thusfar, have had 1 nibble, which may or may not develop into being added to an agency's freelance roster.

I'm on a roll...
...this time

Responded to another 4 job postings. Current tally: 17.

Crocheted a scarf in black and pale green alpaca wool. Photos to follow once I've completed my matching mittens.

Homemade bulgogi on the weekend. Mostly sugar-free cashew-butter cookies too.

First class in Tagalog happened yesterday evening. Mostly a refresher, for me.

Finally got around to ironing my button-down shirts.

Began procedures to get leaky shower fixed.

Making progress...

Another 3 job postings replied to.

Served a variation of this pumpkin pie for dessert at mom and dad's yesterday.

Knit a new hat, based on this pattern this weekend.

Diabetes Prevention clinic later today, followed by a class in Tagalog with Caty.

Otherwise productive

Okay, so I didn't end up going swimming, or accompanying Bruce on his home-search. I did, however:

• finish organizing the files on my external hard drive (where I keep just about everything that isn't an application)


• back up everything on the external drive


• wind all 13 balls of yarn I picked up from Romni Wools on Thursday


• re-organize "my" shelves on the bookcase in the office


• watch Heroes s.2, ep.1


• lift weights to help my shoulder feel better


• finally get around to doing my Pilates work-out again

Not bad, for a day's work.

Other things I've been up to

I've been fielding a lot of questions about what I've been doing with my time off, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to summarize here.

Since the wedding was earlier this year, I feel like I put off a lot of tasks and projects that I had been wanting to get to since mid-2006, so I'm addressing a bunch of these now.

Early last week, I gave the apartment a thorough cleaning, including mopping the tiled floors, something which I've been meaning to get to since January, at least.

Last Thursday was, of course, the Grand Cook (as it shall henceforth be referred to as).

Over the weekend, I revised and reprinted my own personalized recipe cards. I omitted several recipes that I can no longer eat, included several more which I've added to my "roster" over the years, and revised the existing recipes to substitute milk for soy milk and butter for margarine or oil.

This week, I've been handling bills, running errands and doing minor cooking duties.

Today, some of my former co-workers from Scholastic were kind enough to buy me lunch at Sushi & Bento. It was good to see them again, but it also highlighted just how out-of-place I felt while I was working at Scholastic — that the fact that I would see them regularly wasn't worth the stress I got from working there.

Tomorrow's plans include swimming (yay!) and accompanying Bruce during his home-search.

Tally

10 job applications and counting...

One week later

It's unbelievable, how much calmer I feel after leaving my last job. I knew that the stress of the workload, scheduling and political situation was bothering me considerably, but I had no idea that it was this much. The fact that my only concerns pertain to what's going on in my home/personal life makes each day so much more manageable.

I've been eating far fewer foods that are bad for me. I had a five-hour cook-a-thon last Thursday which produced the following yummies (and a sore back!):

• Chicken thighs, pan-fried and seasoned with salt and pepper. Today, I made a chicken salad with the meat.


• Chicken soup 'cause Matt's been sick, made with organic vegetable boullion cubes, chicken leg meat, 2 de-seeded jalapeno peppers, 1 head of garlic, 1 yellow onion, 1 grated ginger root, chopped celery, chopped carrots and a jar of Classico Bruschetta Topping


• Celery sticks for dippin' into the roasted red pepper hummus I picked up


• Ratatouille made with roasted red and orange bell peppers, roasted garlic, sauteed onion, sauteed green and yellow zucchini, pan-seared grape tomatoes and black olives


• Sweet potato mash with goat cheese, crispy prosciutto, chives and roasted garlic

On Friday, I made homemade marshmallows which are far denser than commercial marshmallows, and probably just as bad for me.

A trip to The Big Carrot on Saturday yielded non-dairy creamer, so it's likely that I'll be making up another batch of non-dairy ice cream this week. I've been thinking of doing a brownie version this time.