I have company coming so I was making up the bed in the guest room. Katie, always the helpful Sheltie-girl supervised.
I’m sure Sara had a similar post when Oreo was helping her…hope she doesn’t mind a little plagiarism. Maybe we could get Katie and Oreo to make the beds together! A little chore off our own lists. It’s a thought.
So yesterday I wrote a post, then figured out how to get it to post after midnight (this morning). I thought. I checked at 3 a.m. when Katie and I came in from camping. It was COLD out and I decided enough was enough so we abandoned the tent. There was no new post, but the draft was still there, still supposedly scheduled to post at 12:00. I figured that maybe that meant noon. So I waited some more.
Guess what? It’s not posted but it’s no longer in the draft section either. So probably at noon it went somewhere…just have no idea where! Maybe I’ll recreate it.
Technology got me again! LOL
Yesterday I attended an AARP sponsored job fair for unemployed people age 50 and up. I haven’t had to get up so early and dress so nicely in a long time, and it felt strange. It started at 9:00 in a city about an hour away, so I got to experience rush hour traffic again as well, and I have to say I was OK with that. Skills long unused came right back as I maneuvered my way down a familiar freeway with all the normal stop and go spots.
I arrived about 8:30 and the huge parking lot of the civic center was filling up. Inside a couple of hundred people just like me were already in line. By the time they opened the doors at 9 there were a few hundred more behind me. All of them dressed in suits, looking quite employable. All of them over 50. All of them unemployed.
I talked at length to a couple of women, one used to work in the federal government’s drug enforcement and left to raise her kids. Now divorced and years away from any work experience she can’t find anything. She’d welcome a receptionist job if it paid for her health insurance. Another has been a lawyer for many years and doesn’t want to do that anymore, but can’t find anything else.
The speaker, a volunteer with AARP started out by stating that we might be sitting there feeling “a little bit old and a lot beaten up” as we searched for work. All around me heads nodded. She told us to stop feeling sorry for ourselves, that we had a wealth of experience and employers wanted that experience. But that we had to stop automatically closing doors, that some of us were more inflexible than we realized and we needed to show that we were open to ideas and new things, not just focus on who we were and what we did in our old job. We need to show a prospective employer what we can do for them NOW, not what we might have done for someone else some time ago. And she said the young recruiters didn’t want to see us as like their moms and dads, they wanted to see us as more like them.
I have an interview next Monday for a position that would take me back to my old line of work. I’m going to practice being hip and young and open and inventive and creative over the weekend.
Because I don’t want to be in the nicely dressed older and unemployed demographic anymore.
More than a year ago Melanie posted about putting together a list of 101 things she wanted to accomplish, enjoy, experience or learn in the next 1001 days. I think there was a website that helped her set up her list but I don’t remember. A while ago she updated us on her progress…which reminded me that the whole thing was something I was interested in doing.
Sort of my own bucket list.
So I started building my own list of 101 things I wanted to do. But I got stuck. So far I have only listed 52 things. And I’ve been working on this off and on since the first of August. I’m thinking that because I’m already over 50 and have experienced many amazing things that I just might not have 101 things left to do. I’m not sure if that is a good or a bad thing.
Maybe I should take the leap and just do it. Just because I can’t find 101 things there’s no reason I have to wait to start this. Who made the rules anyway? Who says you can’t add to the list even as you’re checking things off? Or is it cheating if I only have 52 things to accomplish in 1001 days? Should I get the 52 things done in 500 days?
And how do you figure out the date 1001 days away anyway?
I started reading blogs this morning, stopping at Jane’s blog where she lamented that the bad news in the world came up free on the newspaper sites, but the good news was only available with a paid subscription. I laughed at that and continued on.
Poor Faith had to go to the vet because she has an ouchy spot on her tummy and we are hoping it’s nothing serious. Then Miley who is having laser and ultrasound therapy appears to be getting worse. And Misty who is just the sweetest thing ever isn’t happy anymore and seems to be in pain, so she’s on her way to the vet too. And the guys down in the Florida Keys are mourning the loss of their Grand-Paw and have posted a moving tribute to their Dog-Dad’s father. Riley’s Mom who has been ill since last December is having even more surgery this week. Mika, who’s Mama has already endured too much heartache was hit by a car today and is at the vet with crushed legs. And to top it off last night I stopped at Huskee & Hershey’s site and saw a picture and story about a dog that was killed on the streets of Singapore by it’s owner…and no one stopped the man. No sleeping for me last night with the image of that poor pup sliding in and out of my dreams.
After all that I just stopped reading. Way too many dogs and people suffering today. I’m giving thanks because I’m lucky that right now there are no calamities going on in my life. And I will keep all those worried parents and furkids in my thoughts, sending them cyber hugs and healing thoughts.
Hope you will too.
This week I decided to take Katie to a place she’s never been before with smells she’s never smelled before and sights she’s never seen before. She was all happy to be GOING SOMEWHERE! She loves to travel and we had her car back from the shop so she got to travel in her very own comfortable and safe crate. Happy happy dog.
But as soon as I arrived at my surprise destination and opened up the back she started to shake. Typical Katie; new smells, new sounds, new everything is just so scary! So. Do you want to know where we went? Is this a clue?
We visited a local dairy farm where they sell the most wonderful ice cream. People buy the ice cream and then wander among the dairy cows. It’s a pretty unique experience – to be eating the sweet ice cream while smelling the sweet …well… smells of cows. Up close and personal.
From the start Katie wasn’t too keen on the whole thing. There’s a covered picnic area quite a ways from the cows, and we walked around there for awhile till she stopped shaking. Then I started doing obedience patterns with her and since I had cheese, well cheese trumped fear, which was a good sign that she was adjusting. When she’s really scared she refuses cheese, and we were never in that place on this adventure.
Eventually I heeled her over nearer the cows, and then we just walked in the middle of the walkway, not too close, all the way to the back of the barns. She was interested in all the animals but not pulling on the leash to get any closer to them. Till she saw the baby pigs. THOSE she wanted to meet, and they wanted to meet her too!
Then it was back through all the big cows, and she tried to sit where I told her to, but it was just too close and she decided she’d rather not. LOL I didn’t push the issue, my whole goal was for her to get comfortable quickly in a totally foreign environment and I think she did that.
On our way back to the car we stopped to let a family with three young children pet Katie. Another thing we need to work on. She allowed all three to pet her gently on the side, but only after I asked her to sit, and got down there with her. Otherwise she continues to shy away from people that want to meet her.
All in all it was a successful trip. And mama didn’t even eat any ice cream!
When I was a kid my parents had a list of chores that had to be done Saturday mornings. The list was generated after we were in bed on Friday nights, and awaited us on the kitchen table when we got up the next day. Chores were grouped in relationship to how hard they were. And every chore had a little box in front of it where we would put our initial, indicating we’d do the work described. We each had to chose one of the harder ones first, and had to finish it before we could choose another easier task. We were allowed to sign up for only one chore at a time.
Here’s the trick and the reason this worked. There were four of us. And if any of us wanted to make sure we didn’t have to do the really yucky jobs we’d be up and out of bed before our siblings so that we could claim the least worst job for ourselves. And we didn’t dawdle doing the work either, because we wanted to make sure we got the next least horrible chore.
So this Saturday as I mentally list the things I should get done I picture that chore list with it’s little boxes ready for initials. And I smile. We might have thought it was terrible back when we were teenagers, but right now I’d be thrilled to share my list of jobs with my three siblings!
Cause there isn’t anyone else here that’s going to initial the boxes on my list of things to do!
Katie and I are out on the deck this Friday morning mostly because she’s so persistent. She’s been bugging me constantly and I’ve done all the things this usually means including going outside with her so that she can do her job 3 times. In an hour. Which apparently is not what she really meant when she whined at me 2 of the times.
Now we’re outside and finished practicing weaves. I’ve settled in with my laptop and she’s bugging me again, poking her nose against my leg, sniffing my pocket. Just in case. When most people check their pockets before doing laundry it’s to look for keys or, even better, money. I check to make sure they’re empty of dog treats. I know many of you relate.
I notice it’s not so humid nor as hot as it’s been for the past few weeks. And when Katie and I went off to do our weekly adventure yesterday I saw a tree that was turning colors. This morning the goldfinches are fighting over the thistle feeder, eating like pigs in preparation for migration…but at least they are still gold. Geese are beginning to fly in formation when all summer I’ve seen them in pairs. Just now the wind picked up and I am saddened to see golden leaves dropping from the birch trees, gathering on the deck. And a burning bush in the back yard glows with just a hint of the red that is coming.
So…my response to Katie begging for attention is the same as my response to the subtle clues that summer is ending: WHAT!!????
This afternoon Katie and I went out to hunt for chipmunks. Well, she went out to hunt for chipmunks; I was just enjoying the pretty day. We stopped for a sit underneath the red bud tree. I noticed the heart shaped leaves against the blue sky. Katie noticed the chipmunk under the deck.
I dozed a bit, thinking about stuff; my employment situation, the housing market, what to have for supper. You know – important stuff. Katie did not doze. When I came around she was sitting at attention exactly where she was before. I’d like to think she was guarding me as I napped. But I think she was just waiting for that chipmunk to venture out from under the deck.
Silly girl.
Change Is Hard 