I’m allergic to a lot of things – dogs, cats, peanuts, mosquitoes – but I never expected one of our dogs to develop allergies. We woke up this morning to find Fenris’ face swollen up like a football and managed to get an emergency appointment at our vet. She’s now being switched to a new diet, had shots of pregnosone, and has to take Benadryl for a few days *sigh*

Technorati Tags: dogs, allergies, food

Laughing Muse has been amazing these past few weeks – offering tips and hints for lil’ ole unemployed me – from the consultant/contractor employee perspective. So, while I keep my fingers crossed and wait for more interviews, I’m going to do something I’ve been meaning to spend time on for months – finish off the websites for some non-profit organizations and friends. They may not pay much (or at all) but it’ll give me something productive to do next week.

Now, if only I could remember why we chose this colour scheme in the first place…

Welcome to the 21st edition of the screaming pages Thursday Thirteen.

Thirteen random thoughts. Working at my previous company seems like the kiss of death. I’ve only had three interviews this week and I’m getting nervous at all the times I’m being told I may be bored in the position I’m being interviewed for. After my previous job, perhaps boredom would be a good thing for a while. The only people that seem to be really interested in me appear to be head hunters *sigh* I have a tonne of email I need to respond to. The hubby has a four day weekend this weekend. It’ll be nice to spend some extra time with him before he heads off to play in the mud for a month. When you’re a workaholic, it’s really hard to face days off with nothing to do except clean the house. For the first time in days, the sky is blue. Now if only it would stop snowing! I can’t believe how long it takes to find a new career. Sure, it’s easy to find a mcjob, but I don’t want to be asking people if they want “fries with that” for the rest of my life. I think I should just go back to bed for the rest of the day… Perhaps I’ll spend some time writing instead. My dogs are nuts. They refuse to go outside in the snow (and cold) unless I go out with them. Where are my mittens? They also act like big aggressive monsters when the mail is being delivered. However, when you open the door they run away and hide. I need to mail letters to friends. They’ve been written for over a week and I can’t believe I haven’t sent them off yet. I have NO patience with myself these days. Walking on the treadmill while watching a movie seems like a great idea until you stop. Then you ache for hours. Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

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We’re a quarter of the way through the new year and I’m over half way to my goal of reading 52 books this year. This week I’ve been reading a lot of Nora Roberts – mainly because I have a tonne of her books sitting on my bedside table that need to be read before I can pass them on to friends. Once I’ve made it through these ones I’ll move on to the Kathy Reich’s (Bones) books piled next to them…

I’m breaking the list down into two parts. The fist list will contain paperback and hardcover books I’ve been able to find and list on Shelfari and the second list contains all the eBooks I’ve been reading that I can’t figure out how to add to Shefari yet. Their ISBN’s don’t bring up any information. If anyone knows how to get an eBook added to Shelfari, please let me in on the secret.

Hardcover/Paperback

1. A Dirty Job – Christopher Moore
2. The Last Juror – John Grisham
3. Goal Analysis – Robert F Mager
4. River’s End – Nora Roberts
5. Rebellion – Nora Roberts
6. Don’t be Afraid – Rebecca Drake
7. Who Moved My Cheese – Spenser Johnson
8. On The Run – Iris Johansen
9. Every Which Way But Dead – Kim Harrison
10. Five Point Someone – What Not to do at IIT – Chetan Bhagat
11. One Night at the Call Center: A Novel – Chetan Bhagat
12. Jack Knife – Virginia Baker
13. The Opium Clerk – Kunal Basu
14. I, Lucifer – Glen Duncan
15. Our Iceberg is Melting – John Kotter, Holger Rathgeber, Spenser Johnson
16. The Thirteenth Tale – Diane Setterfield
17. Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris
18. Living Dead in Dallas – Charlaine Harris
19. Club Dead – Charlaine Harris
20. Dead to the World – Charlaine Harris
21. Dead as a Doornail – Charlaine Harris
22. Definitely Dead – Charlaine Harris
23. Practical Demonkeeping – Christopher Moore
24. Mind over Matter – Nora Roberts
25. Island of Flowers – Nora Roberts
26. Unfinished Business – Nora Roberts
27. Irish Thoroughbred – Nora Roberts

eBooks

1. Stripped – Rhonda Stapleton
2. Improper Longings – Dawn Ryder
3. High Seas Desire – Mlyn Hurn
4. Call of the Untamed – Michelle M. Pillow
5. After Sundown: Redemption – Eden Robins
6. Crime Tells: Lyric’s Cop – Jory Strong
7. Elisabeth’s Wolf – Lora Leigh
8. Malachi – Shiloh Walker
9. Mythe: Vampire – Shiloh Walker

Technorati Tags: 52Books, reading, ebooks, books

I’ve been tagged! Oh my, I wonder if this means it’s hunting season for unemployed Instructional Designers. Perhaps that’s a good thing…

I was tagged by Laughing Muse from Title Deleted for Security Reasons with a meme started by Lillie at A Writer’s Words, an Editor’s Eye:. To participate, write a post about balance in life and link back to this post. Answer any or all of the following questions or simply share your thoughts about life balance.

It’s interesting that this plopped on my blog-step just days into my unemployment. Why did I quit? Well, there’s a myriad of reasons, but one of the best is that I’m in desperate need of a better work/life balance. What does that mean? I’m not sure. I just know I’m desperate to work fewer hours, spend more time with my husband, and make more connections in my community.

At the moment, I’m balancing the anxiety of being unemployed with the need to be a better wife. I’m re-learning to cook, caring for my cats and dogs, writing, sleeping, reading, and trying to get rid of some of this excess weight.

How do you achieve balance in your life? As soon as I figure that out, I’ll let you in on the secret.

What is your biggest challenge in balancing your life? Learning to say no. One of my biggest problems from a work standpoint was that I had a lot of difficulty saying no to crazy deadlines and walking away after an 8-10 hour day. Many times I nearly killed myself working a series of 16-18 hour days just to meet deadlines and ensure that I never failed at a meeting a project deadline. Sure, I developed a reputation for being the “go-to” girl when a difficult project needed to be completed on a tight timeline, but I had no semblance of a social life. I’ve had the same issues in my personal life.

What are your priorities? Right now they’re simple. Family. Friends. Community. Work. I want to improve my sleeping habits, spend time volunteering in my community (preferably in an adult literacy program), go back to school and finish a few degrees, learn to play dad’s bagpipes, spend more time with my husband, cook, read, and write.

How have your priorities changed over time and why? I am a recovering workaholic. See, the first step to recovery is admission. My world revolved around work, work and more work. When I wasn’t working, I was thinking about work, reading papers and texts relating to work, talking about work, and planning what to do next at work. Finally I’ve grown up. I’m trying to take a step back from the work world and take a moment to relax – perhaps smelling a few flowers along the way. I’m actively looking for new employment since I can’t be unemployed forever. I’ve got a mortgage to pay and all that. On the other hand, I’m being more selective about where I’m applying and the types of jobs I’m considering.

What advice can you share to help all of us balance our own lives? Ha! If I knew the answer to that, perhaps I’d never have allowed myself to get into the situation I’m in now. I think it’s important to know your own limits and to set limits around the time you’re spending on things you do to survive (work, etc.) versus things you do to live (relax, hobbies). Now all I need to do is figure out what my limits are and put it all into practice…

Now it’s my turn to tag five other people. Unfortunately, some of my intended victims have already been tagged. I’ll need to dig deep and beg forgiveness from my new blogging friends for tagging them. It’s always better to beg forgiveness than ask permission. I’m tagging

• Joy T at A Spot of T. She’s going in for surgery and won’t be posting for a while. Don’t expect to see her answers for a few weeks.
• Caylynn at Caylynn’s Contemplations. Us military spouses have got to stick together.
• Haley-O at The Cheaty Monkey. Haley-O just rocks!
• Daisy Mae Maus at DaisyMae Maus & the Feline Americans. I always want to know what the kitties are thinking.
• Christine D’Abo at …Fantasies Unleashed. Fellow Maritimer and an author to boot!

Technorati Tags: meme, life, balance