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Sister
My sister and her family drove down from the midwest for the graduation of one of my nieces. I got to hang with my sister on four occasions.
First, she and my four-year-old niece picked me up and we met up with another gal and her two younger kids to play at a splash park, then eat (Torchy's Tacos), then play at a playground. It was good to see them and catch up a little. But little kids are so tiring! Also, the slide was too slippery (I bounced off my feet at the bottom onto my knees and then my hip). Also, I'm out of the habit of being thorough with my sunscreen.
Second, I went to a slumber party with a bunch of folks from her family and another family they like to hang with. It was fun learning a bit about all of them. Plus we had make-your-own English muffin pizzas, which I'm not sure I've ever had before. Yum. Though the sauce got really hot. We also watched "Warm Bodies." I had already seen the preview that's basically just the first several minutes, so I was interested. And I did enjoy the movie. Enough even to watch it again with Robin (who was not invited to this all-girl event). Even though it's cheesy and probably has some plot problems. I am a sucker for internal monologues.
Third, Robin and I joined 15 other people at the County Line (barbecue). The folks who wanted (all-you-can-eat) family style segregated themselves to one end of the long table. That was nice for the rest of us with smaller appetites who got off cheaper. And that's never happened before when I've gone there (or the Salt Lick). Great idea. One of my nieces worked there and helped our waiter out quite a bit. Afterwards, we went out back to feed the turtles.
Fourth, I went with the same people as the splash park outing to Freebird's, one of the many Tex-Mex places my sister has been missing. I learned that they now have ground beef (tasty, but too greasy for me) and crispy tacos. It's good to know of a less disgusting place to satisfy any future taco cravings than Taco Bell. Then we went to my sister's favorite embroidery shop, where I decided that I would like to figure out a reason why I need beautifully hand-dyed silk ribbon. Maybe for the top of bookmarks? Then we went to Amy's Ice Cream, which she had also missed. We saw one we'd never been to between Freebird's and the embroidery place, with a playground, so we tried that one. My sister got the Mexican Vanilla mixed with strawberries, one of my favorite chocolate-free combinations. I got the dark chocolate. Alexandra got Mexican vanilla with sprinkles and allowed me to learn that I don't really like sprinkles anymore except to look at. Then we let the kids play on the playground. Another tiring day.
Closet
A couple friends of mine recently got laid off and have been being super productive at home. Me--not so much. But today I went through my whole side of the closet.
Sadly, I didn't get rid of much. But I did get rid of enough to be able to fit all the big things in out of the way just like I wanted to (thanks mostly to a vital piece of plastic on my roller blades having broken in an unfixable way, so tossing those left a lot of space). And I got rid of enough less important old papers to make room for more important old papers from the office.
I also put all my clothes on my favorite hangers. All my skirts are on matching wooden pants hangers. They are pretty but don't allow enough space for some of my thicker pants, so I'm using them for skirts. And now all my pants are on matching plastic pants hangers. And virtually all my other clothes are on the plastic-coated wire hangers I like (my favorite compromise between protecting clothing and having room for lots of hangers in a small space). Most of these clothes are even on hangers that are (sort of) the same color as the clothes, which is not just weirdly control-freakish, but also makes it easier to find specific shirts when some of them are not showing in the front.
Wisdom Tooth Update
Things are healing well and I am no longer afraid of eating any foods. Still doing a little extra maintenance. Oddly, some of my bottom teeth are moving around. In a way that I don't like. I've got an extra triangular hole between two teeth when I'd prefer my teeth to be parallel to each other. Once the surgery sites are fully healed, things may move back into better positions.
Shoe Update
I went on a very short jog with my new shoes. That caused one of my feet to hurt from a lump on the outside edge of the shoe that I don't remember during the testing phase. Maybe I was running funny because I had sunburn on the tops of my feet? Unlikely, eh? It seems wrong to return shoes I've run in outside. Part of me wants to just dig out the offending lump.
Job Update
Neither colleague who had previously expressed interest has said anything one way or another about whether they would like to hire me. Do I have to call them on the phone? Drop by their offices? Just a yes/no/don't-know-yet would be handy.
So I'm trying to decide my next job strategy. Currently (and my plan can change hourly), I may just take one of the low-paying full-time jobs that sound easy and kind of fun. Working full-time, I wouldn't need to get my own health insurance, which would save me $200/month. And if I got one of these jobs quickly enough, I could use most of my don't-have-to-work savings to max out my Roth IRA. So I really could live just fine on much less than I was making before. I really enjoyed working half time (and now--not at all), but working just over 1.5 more years and being able to keep maxing out my IRA sounds good, too.
Other possibilities if no degree audit jobs become available:
* get a half-time job at UT (no good ones open now)
* get a (part-time, no-benefits) tutoring job at Austin Independent School District at a school in my neighborhood; probably would count as service toward my pension
* get a job at Austin Community College (also would count probably count toward my pension)
* don't work anymore and just suck down my 9.67 months of savings and then my Roth IRA contributions (don't worry; I already know that no one but me thinks this is a good idea, not even early-retirement extremists)
My sister and her family drove down from the midwest for the graduation of one of my nieces. I got to hang with my sister on four occasions.
First, she and my four-year-old niece picked me up and we met up with another gal and her two younger kids to play at a splash park, then eat (Torchy's Tacos), then play at a playground. It was good to see them and catch up a little. But little kids are so tiring! Also, the slide was too slippery (I bounced off my feet at the bottom onto my knees and then my hip). Also, I'm out of the habit of being thorough with my sunscreen.
Second, I went to a slumber party with a bunch of folks from her family and another family they like to hang with. It was fun learning a bit about all of them. Plus we had make-your-own English muffin pizzas, which I'm not sure I've ever had before. Yum. Though the sauce got really hot. We also watched "Warm Bodies." I had already seen the preview that's basically just the first several minutes, so I was interested. And I did enjoy the movie. Enough even to watch it again with Robin (who was not invited to this all-girl event). Even though it's cheesy and probably has some plot problems. I am a sucker for internal monologues.
Third, Robin and I joined 15 other people at the County Line (barbecue). The folks who wanted (all-you-can-eat) family style segregated themselves to one end of the long table. That was nice for the rest of us with smaller appetites who got off cheaper. And that's never happened before when I've gone there (or the Salt Lick). Great idea. One of my nieces worked there and helped our waiter out quite a bit. Afterwards, we went out back to feed the turtles.
Fourth, I went with the same people as the splash park outing to Freebird's, one of the many Tex-Mex places my sister has been missing. I learned that they now have ground beef (tasty, but too greasy for me) and crispy tacos. It's good to know of a less disgusting place to satisfy any future taco cravings than Taco Bell. Then we went to my sister's favorite embroidery shop, where I decided that I would like to figure out a reason why I need beautifully hand-dyed silk ribbon. Maybe for the top of bookmarks? Then we went to Amy's Ice Cream, which she had also missed. We saw one we'd never been to between Freebird's and the embroidery place, with a playground, so we tried that one. My sister got the Mexican Vanilla mixed with strawberries, one of my favorite chocolate-free combinations. I got the dark chocolate. Alexandra got Mexican vanilla with sprinkles and allowed me to learn that I don't really like sprinkles anymore except to look at. Then we let the kids play on the playground. Another tiring day.
Closet
A couple friends of mine recently got laid off and have been being super productive at home. Me--not so much. But today I went through my whole side of the closet.
Sadly, I didn't get rid of much. But I did get rid of enough to be able to fit all the big things in out of the way just like I wanted to (thanks mostly to a vital piece of plastic on my roller blades having broken in an unfixable way, so tossing those left a lot of space). And I got rid of enough less important old papers to make room for more important old papers from the office.
I also put all my clothes on my favorite hangers. All my skirts are on matching wooden pants hangers. They are pretty but don't allow enough space for some of my thicker pants, so I'm using them for skirts. And now all my pants are on matching plastic pants hangers. And virtually all my other clothes are on the plastic-coated wire hangers I like (my favorite compromise between protecting clothing and having room for lots of hangers in a small space). Most of these clothes are even on hangers that are (sort of) the same color as the clothes, which is not just weirdly control-freakish, but also makes it easier to find specific shirts when some of them are not showing in the front.
Wisdom Tooth Update
Things are healing well and I am no longer afraid of eating any foods. Still doing a little extra maintenance. Oddly, some of my bottom teeth are moving around. In a way that I don't like. I've got an extra triangular hole between two teeth when I'd prefer my teeth to be parallel to each other. Once the surgery sites are fully healed, things may move back into better positions.
Shoe Update
I went on a very short jog with my new shoes. That caused one of my feet to hurt from a lump on the outside edge of the shoe that I don't remember during the testing phase. Maybe I was running funny because I had sunburn on the tops of my feet? Unlikely, eh? It seems wrong to return shoes I've run in outside. Part of me wants to just dig out the offending lump.
Job Update
Neither colleague who had previously expressed interest has said anything one way or another about whether they would like to hire me. Do I have to call them on the phone? Drop by their offices? Just a yes/no/don't-know-yet would be handy.
So I'm trying to decide my next job strategy. Currently (and my plan can change hourly), I may just take one of the low-paying full-time jobs that sound easy and kind of fun. Working full-time, I wouldn't need to get my own health insurance, which would save me $200/month. And if I got one of these jobs quickly enough, I could use most of my don't-have-to-work savings to max out my Roth IRA. So I really could live just fine on much less than I was making before. I really enjoyed working half time (and now--not at all), but working just over 1.5 more years and being able to keep maxing out my IRA sounds good, too.
Other possibilities if no degree audit jobs become available:
* get a half-time job at UT (no good ones open now)
* get a (part-time, no-benefits) tutoring job at Austin Independent School District at a school in my neighborhood; probably would count as service toward my pension
* get a job at Austin Community College (also would count probably count toward my pension)
* don't work anymore and just suck down my 9.67 months of savings and then my Roth IRA contributions (don't worry; I already know that no one but me thinks this is a good idea, not even early-retirement extremists)