Playing Catch-up

Where was I?  Oh, yes, my"launch party".  It went pretty well, considering most of the people who said they'd be there suddenly had "something" come up to stop them from showing up.  About what I'd expected, though.  It's too bad more people can't just be honest enough to say "No, thanks, not my kind of thing."  The ones who did show up had a great time, and so did I.

A few days later I had my older daughter help me re-dye my hair, as my roots had grown out almost an inch and I had a job interview scheduled.  Problem was, it was originally scheduled for four days later, but they bumped it up on a few hours' notice, which gave me the morning (the interview was for 2:30 in the afternoon) to get the hair taken care of, instead of doing it over the weekend.  Panic time!  Rushed out to get the hair dye, found the store was out of what I usually use, so I picked another product by the same manufacturer that was, supposedly, the same colour.  Well, not so much ... with two hours to interview time I rinsed out my hair, looked in the mirror, and ... I looked like a tiger cub.  Yes, my dark brown hair now had ORANGE roots.  Too late to do anything but comb it, braid it back, and act like I'd done it on purpose.  I have my faults and shortcomings, but I'm not unprofessional enough to reschedule a job interview just because I'm having a bad hair day!

The interview itself, I think, went fairly well.  Usually it's pretty easy to tell after the first ten minutes whether or not it's going to go anywhere ... at this one, they kept me there talking for over an hour  -  a very good sign!  And at the very end, the HR gentleman described the tests they ask their "second interviews" to do and asked if they'd be a problem for me. Well, of course I said they wouldn't!  But I can't help wondering why he'd ask me that if they weren't seriously interested in bringing me back for the second round ... my mood right now is best described as "cautiously optimistic".  It hasn't stopped me from continuing to send out more applications and resumes, though.

June 30th was the day I was really thankful for having no reason at all to go shopping for anything.  Apparently all the malls and shopping centres were absolute madhouses as everyone and their grandma went shopping for everything you can think of, to get it all before the HST came into effect the next day.  About the only things I can think of that we still buy that might have HST applied are cat food, cat litter, toilet paper and cleaning supplies ... if there's anything else (and I will be checking), well, as far as possible we'll just stop buying whatever it is!

That was also the day our new water meter was installed.  It's too bad we won't really know until the end of next March if it was worth it.  I find I'm already being much more conscious of how much water we use, and looking for ways to cut it back.  The rest of the family thinks it's all about the money, but for me it's also about conservation and respect for our resources and our environment.

Canada Day was croquet party time at my sister's place.  Cool and cloudy, but it didn't actually rain, so we all played terrible croquet on her crazy, lumpy, unmowed back lawn and had tons of fun.  Good food, good people, lots of lemon meringue martinis, green apple martinis, and raspberry vodka punch (except for me, damn, because I was driving).  A very, very good day.

Friday and Saturday were nice, slow, lazy days.  The basics still got done, of course  -  the dishes got washed, animals got fed, and so on  -  but not much else happened.  I spent lots of time on the sofa reading and watching movies and just enjoying a little down time.

Today I was over at my Mom's for a few hours again.  All her windows are now clean, all the drapes are washed and back up, all the paintings and photos are on display again.  She'll probably want me to go back during the week to help her get all the books back onto the shelves, and her china and crystal back into the display cabinet, but then (with luck) we'll be done.

Tomorrow  -  Monday  -  I'll be back to the same old routine again.  Check all the job boards and postings, touch base with all the agencies, figure out how to make the money last all month.  The rest of the week, once all the housework and so on is done, will be spent looking for more possible ways to bring in a little extra money and maybe even hang on to a little more of what we already have.