After The Rain

It's been raining here today. This gray weather matches my mood lately.

It's been a month since I've been out of work. I've sent out 985 resumes and I've gotten zero response. Zee. Row. It's kind of depressing and I can't help but feel unwanted. Yes, I know that many thousands of others feel this way too but this is my blog so I can wallow momentarily.

I've been trying to keep busy with catching up on the wedding details and the girls' fundraiser planning. I've called repeatedly to book the fundraiser venue and no one has called me back. Let's add more frustration to my plate, shall we?

However, today when I called the venue, I got someone on the phone, and booked the room. (July 19, 6pm to 11pm, details forthcoming). I also followed up on the applications for which I have contact information (which isn't many). I didn't get anything concrete yet but I feel like I've done something proactive. I also sucessfully designed and made my wedding bouquet. I was quite impressed with me.

As the afternoon progresses, the sun has started peeking through the clouds, and when it does, my surrounding are brightened and bathed in warm light. It lifts my mood as well.

It's All About Mom

Mother's Day is about six weeks away. If you're like most moms, you might have to drop some not-so-subtle hints to your family. Here is a great opportunity - It's All About Mom.

Join us on Saturday, May 2 at the Brentwood Center of Health, 2558 South Brentwood Boulevard, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Does the thought of enjoying wine tasting, chair massages, and sweet treats sound heavenly? While you are being pampered, Dad and the kids can shop from nearly 20 of the hippest boutiques and mommy friendly businesses in St. Louis, sporting both practical and inspired Mother’s Day gifts. Kids can also enjoy creating cool crafts as gifts as well. I cherish the handmade gifts my girls gave me over the years.

A few of the sponsors include Build-A-Bear, TLC for Kids, Time for Dinner, The Market at Busch’s Grove, Dotdotdash, Angelina Accoutrements, Mandy’s Candies and Kangaroo Kids.

As an added bonus, those who register before April 15 (happy birthday to me!) are entered into a raffle for some fantastic prizes, such a night of babysitting from TLC for Kids or a three-course dinner for four prepared and served in your home by Australian Chef Roman Petrack.

More info and registration can be found here. Hope to see you there!

TGIF!

Well, it's Friday again, which means Shoe Friday at Jodifur. I must say, the shoes featured on there today must belong to a woman with fantastic taste...oh wait, those are mine!

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I've been walking through my neighborhood for the past couple of weeks, watching the trees and flowers bloom out a little more every day. I'm waiting to see what pops up at my new house. Summer is my favorite season, but Spring is a close second.

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We are having our engagement pictures taken tomorrow. Maddy will be in a few of the shots. I'm glad we decided to have them done inside - the weather forecast is for wind and rain. Once my talented photographer, Jonathan Pollack, gets the shots to me, I'll share a few here.

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Enjoy your weekend!

Cast Away

The bright pink cast is no more. I don't think she misses it one bit.

Man, did it stink! Her arm was all flaky and pale, bless her heart. We washed her up, put on some lotion and she felt much better.

Let's hope it's a looooong time before we have to do this again.

Back to School

As Maddy is wrapping up her school year, I'm starting to plan mine. In the event I don't get a job (and it's not been encouraging thus far), I am going back to school. I sent off my application and filled out my FAFSA form. I'll start applying for aid once I'm accepted.

I'm not really sure what direction I want to go yet. I could look into law but I'd be close to 50 when I was finished. Although my dad suggested that I do it, and practice Medicare law. He's pretty funny.

Too bad I can't apply for Jessica's scholarship. Wouldn't she be proud?

In Other News...

Things are finally starting to move forward with the court proceedings. The criminal trial will probably be scheduled at the next hearing in May, and hopefully will be held in late summer or early fall. The civil trial has been scheduled for October 19 and 20.

My attorney has suggested that at the civil trial, we present statements about how the deaths of Jessica and Kelli have affected not only their immediately family, but the community as well. We want to show the Court that not only did Brian and I lose our children, many other people lost them as well. Even people who didn't know them have been affected by this.

To that end, I have a favor to ask of the interwebs. If you would like to write something to be submitted, please either leave it in the comments, or you can email it to me at lakegal180 at yahoo.

Thank you, as always, for your support.

Happy Birthday to The King!

No, not That King.

My blogging buddy, Hola Isabel, asked some of us bloggers to take a picture of ourselves with a fake mustache and post it for her husband's birthday. She's all clever and fun like that.

So, here is the contribution from Maddy and I. We used shiny sparkly pipe cleaners to fashion our fake mustaches.

Happy birthday to Mr. Hola Isabel!

Thanks

Thank you for all the positive thoughts, prayers and well-wishes after this post. It's overwhelming, again, that I have such a great support network.

Thank you, thank you, a million times.

When Last We Spoke...

I know, it's been a while. I'm trying to get back in the groove of life. Because losing my job wasn't enough, some other things are starting to gear up and it's been a hard couple of weeks for me. (more on that coming soon).

I've wanted to write but I didn't want to turn this into a "wah poor me" episode, so I buried myself in trashy fiction and M&Ms. I realized I needed to stop that because if my pants don't fit, I don't have a job so paying for new pants might present a problem.

I also managed to send out my resume to, oh, about 25 different job postings. Of course, nothing has transpired yet, but it's really only been over a week, so I'm keeping hope alive. (PS - thanks to Jaelithe, I have a snazzy new web-searchable resume. She is most awesome).

Anyway, I haven't been a total hermit. Here are a few things we've done recently:

Maddy met the kids next door. I'm so glad she was finally able to get together with them. It's helping her enjoy the new house a little more now that she's got someone to play with (and the fact they have a trampoline elevates the coolness factor).

We went to the Science Center and saw Sue, the T-Rex. Maddy and I both thought it would be bigger. It was still pretty darn cool, though.

Maddy and I had a girls' night this week, and we went to the park and had a picnic dinner.

One positive to not working right now is I have time. I can pick up Maddy after school and spend more time with her. I have time to work on wedding plans and fundraiser plans. I have time to sit and enjoy the quiet and reflect on the gifts I have. Time with my family is one gift I'm going to enjoy.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

The recent balmy temperatures have me in the mood to plant flowers. Here are some pictures Maddy took last year - I think she might have an eye for photography.

I Never Thought It Would Happen To Me...

but, here I am, at home on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, combing the web for job postings and updating my resume.

Yes, I am a victim of the economic downturn.

I told Maddy, and bless her heart, she burst into tears and asked if we were going to lose the house and live in a cardboard box. I hugged her and replied, "well, I haven't thrown out the steam cleaner box, so that could be your room." She pulled back and shot me a look, then she laughed a little.

I'll be honest, I'm scared. I had an interview with a placement agency on Monday, and I'm waiting to hear from her. I have a couple more applications to send out, and I've applied for unemployment. I'm being proactive, which is all I can do. Oh, and pray.

I know I'll survive and I know I'll find something. This isn't the worse thing I've lived through.

Oh For The Love of...

Did you ever read something and it caused this, this feeling of ire to rise up in your chest, threatening to move northward until your head exploded? And then you wished you could vent or rant about it, but you chose not to because you didn't have a forum for such a tirade? And then you remembered you had a blog where you could do that?

Here, let me share with you what has caused me to lose my mind today:

"A new article in the Journal of Experimental psychology makes the case that Sarah Palin's looks -- and the focus on them -- hurt her and John McCain in November's election."

"'It wasn’t her appearance per se' that soured people on Palin, Heflick said in an interview. “It was the effect her appearance had on their perception of her competence and humanity. Those variables made people less likely to vote for her.'..."

"The study suggests that their confidence in her abilities may have decreased the more they focused on her looks – and thus, in feminist terms, objectified her."

Why does this upset me so? Several reasons, and here they are, in no particular order:

• The election is OVER. Let it go. Move on. McCain/Palin lost the election for myriad other reasons - looks had nothing to do with it.
  
• At what point do we stop judging a woman's abilities based on her looks?
  
• What kind of message are we sending to our children, the future voters of this country? Especially our daughters?
  
• Why does the existence of an intelligent AND attractive woman always seem to be a surprise?

Yes, we've come a long way, baby, but I'm not so naive to think that a woman's looks don't open doors that otherwise would remain firmly shut.

It just makes me mad when I hear a woman being described as "She's attractive. Oh, and smart, too." Like brains is an afterthought.

/end rant

EDITED: Jezebel has a better breakdown of the study, which is here.

Remember

Last year as a supplement to the Jessica and Kelli Uhl Fundraiser, we sold pink rubber bracelets for $1 with "Remember Jessica and Kelli" embossed on them. I ordered them at the last minute, so I had to get the plain ones.

Apparently people didn't mind much, because last month I sold the last one. If you have one, keep it - it might be a collector's item some day.

Today I got the new bracelets. I received the shipment today. Since I wasn't under a deadline, I ordered a darker pink, with green lettering, so that the message stood out, and also put their date of death on the back side. I'm very happy with how they turned out.

I think that I will change up the pink and green colors each year, to keep it interesting.

We also sold car magnets for $3, and I still have about 1oo or so of those left.

If you are interested in a magnet, bracelet, or both, please email me with your order, and I'll send them to you. All the proceeds go toward their scholarship funds - Jessica's at SIUE and Kelli's for the Collinsville Middle School cheerleaders.

Our next fundraiser will hopefully be in July - stay tuned for more details.