I walked dogs Friday morning instead of Saturday. Oddly enough...I didn't take pictures. I walked Studley first, spent some time sitting outside with him. Walked two other dogs also. The place was half empty. Charlie Brown and Tommy got adopted, and some others that didn't pass the temperament tests got taken away while I was there.

Went to Panera for brunch and had the spinach artichoke souffle. Did my crosswords, and bought a Baby Ruth bar from some kids for $1. Some people were looking at the kids with disdain which pissed me off. The kids were nice, and not pushy, and the one kid actually looked scared. So I displayed my Baby Ruth on the table for everyone to see.

Saturday Brad and I took the train downtown to shop around off of some L stops. We took the brown line to Wellington, and walked a few blocks to La Creperie. I had a delicious cheese crepe. Brad had a mushroom crepe. I loved that place, wanna go back already. Wonderful!!






Then went in and out of shops. Vintage clothing stores, The Alley and all connecting shops, Belmont Army Surplus, Uncle Fun, and had a cinnamon roll snack at Ann Sather. One of my favorite stores was Hollywood Mirror. Free pinball machine that I played and sucked at. Lots of cool toys and odd stuff. Fun and cheap clothes. I pranced around the store in a blue long tutu thing I pulled up over my shorts doing graceful leaps and bounds all over the store.....I should have bought it...it was only $18....I shoulda shoulda SHOULDA!!!

One of the shops had this really sweet missing/reward signs. Be on the lookout!




Then on the L back to the loop this weird woman fell asleep and almost fell over in my lap.




It was fun, I wanna do that stuff more often with Brad. We wrapped up the evening by watching "The Mother" I liked it, but it was sad.

Today we hung out at Panera to have brunch and read the sunday paper. I'm in a bitchy mood. No reason, just feel like being a pain in the ass it seems. Every girl Brad checked out today, I wanted to kick her ass. Normally I enjoy ogling with him, but not today. The bitches were going down!! At least I dressed the part....I wore a white denim low-cut tight dress and white strappy heels. Now I am prancing around the house in my grandmothers silk lacy floor-length nightgown.

I like playing dress up.

Gonna watch Trekkies 2 tonight, and this coming weekend I have Comicon/Wizards World to look forward to.

Yesterday I reorganized bedroom drawers.
Took everything out, folded stuff that was just thrown/shoved in. So now all the socks, underwear, sleeping t-shirts, tank tops, bandanas are all neatly folded and separated by name brands, colors and cuts. Then I mowed the lawn after the great long rain we had on Tuesday. Stopped to talk to neighbors coming back from the dog park.

Then went out with Emily to go see "Me, You and Everyone We Know" Emily didn't like it...didn't hate it, just thought it was weird. I enjoyed it, it was weird. There were only 4 other people in the theater and 2 of them walked out in the first half. They were two really old ladies who I don't think were prepared for a casual almost clinical sexual act that occurs. And some of the subject matter does have the possibility to make some people....uncomfortable. But I think thats why I enjoyed it so much. :)
At one point Emily told me if anything bad happened to that little boy she would hate me forever. Just in case I started whining to her that I didn't really know what this movie was about or where it was going when I picked it out, which was true. She asked me what it was about...and I just mumbled, quirky...relationships...yeah. She asked the ticket guy what the movie was about and he couldnt come up with anything either except that he wanted to see it too. After we watched the movie, I asked her how she would describe the movie...and quirky relationships was the best we could come up with.

Oh yeah, on our way to the movie theater some 10 year old boy was making passes at us from his mom's van. "Looookin' gooooood today ladies!" It was very sweet.

Here is my favorite quote from the movie that I repeated several times today:
"I’ll poop into your butthole and then you’ll poop it back into my butt and we’ll keep doing it back and forth with the same poop forever."
))<>((

Yeah...who said it and how they said it made all the difference. I thought it was really sweet actually.
But I could see where people might walk out of the theater at this moment. Emily and I just laughed really loud.

Nothing really bad happened to any of the kids, but both of us where just waiting for it several times. I'm so glad since we expected it, it didn't happen. But that just it...like when something is nice or enjoyable, especially in a movie...you prepare yourself "Ok, these people are too happy...someone is gonna die." And they do. Like all those stupid "hey look at this picture and see what wrong with it" and then some scary face jumps out on the screen with this loud screaming and scares the crap out of you! Now we are used to that, expect it, even when thats not the case. A family member sent me some motivational spiritual movie thing a year or so ago. It was so over the top...sweeping music, motivational text, kind of a patriotic tone. I sat there on the edge of my seat waiting for Batboy to jump out screaming. Any moment now....any time...now....ok now...now? And it never happened!! It was really that sappy...and no Batboy. I felt kind of gypped. I feel like those kind of expectations have ruined me in some way. I can't just enjoy the movie or scene, I'm used to all the trite, over-used cliches. I love movies, all movies, good and bad. And most movies tend to be on the bad side and are written with all the same formula, and just re-used.



Today I went downtown. First stop was the bathroom after taking the local train that takes over an hour to get downtown. So of course I have to go to my special bathroom at the W Hotel.

I even took some of their disposable hand towels to show Brad. They are really nice..and unbelievably disposable!! On my way out I grabbed a few apples. They always have fresh green apples for their guests, and I always go bring them to my favorite homeless person. He sits on the corner of Franklin and Adams by the parking garage, across the street from Sears Tower. He such a sweet grandfatherly type. Always makes funny signs about current events and such. Has the brightest white dentures too.

Then met up with Brent on LaSalle to decide where to eat. We ended up going to Italian Village. His first time, my second. He wants to bring his brother there when he visits in a few weeks. We need to keep our ears and eyes open to get Brent in some sort of food eating contest. I think he would really kick ass. He is truly amazing. I'm serious. Then we walked across the street to Bank One Plaza just to sit by the fountain for awhile.





I like talking to Brent, we have some out there conversations, and it's ok to do so. No such thing as a weird question or thought. We laugh a lot...especially at ourselves.

Then we walked back to his office and then I left to go get a slurpee. Walked to Millennium Park. I took pics of kids playing in the spitter fountains (Actually called the Crown Fountain), and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Took a nap in the grass there. They really do have the best grass there....the softest and cushiest I have ever slept on....REALLY! Then walked to Water Tower Place, and then took the free red trolley back to Union Station to head home. Took pictures of people from the trolley too.

Tomorrow I will find more projects to do around the house, and maybe go see the dogs tomorrow, cause I don't think I will on Saturday. Saturday Brad and I are going downtown and making a day of it.

Pics of the park and random people on the street:

Re-did my and Brad's closets.Took everything out of his closet, sorted his shorts, pants, swim trunks by size and by summer and winter.Took out his sweaters and winter stuff and put them in a guest closet. Sorted his shirts by work long sleeve, work short sleeve, golf shirts and tee-shirts. Then sorted his tee-shirts by color.

Put in 2 big shoe shelves in my closet and put away my big pile of shoes. Sorted my clothes from summer and winter, formal and casual dresses, skirts, tee-shirts and tank tops. Then vacuumed them both out.

LOOKS MUCH BETTER!!

Also resorted my pj drawers, moved them to larger drawers and sorted by summer and winter.
I still need to sort Brad's sock, sleep tee-shirts and underwear drawers. Not sure how to attack that yet though. They are all overflowing. Might need to empty them out and just fold everything...that might help. Maybe tomorrow.

Went grocery shopping, and went to Wal-Mart to get the 3 shoe organizing shelves for my closet.

Called Brent made lunch plans with him for Thursday. So I will be coming downtown and hanging out on Thursday.

Raining really good right now, tomorrow is supposed to be nicer and cooler, so tomorrow I'll mow the lawn, and call my sister to hear more about her trip visiting family in Birmingham, since she should be just getting back home tonight.

Also supposed to be nice this weekend. Brad and I are talking about going downtown Saturday and riding around on the El, shopping, eating and hanging out all day. Sounds fun.

Gonna watch Big Brother 6 and INXS Rock Star tonight.

Watched Undertow tonight. Good movie, we both liked it.
I picked up Suspiria for me to watch tomorrow.

It wasn't very hot yesterday, but sticky..humid. It's gives me headaches.
Charlie Brown was still there, and this time up for adoption, so he passed his tests. Another volunteer got to walking him before me, but I called out to him when I saw him and told him hello. Before I left I went and sat with him in his kennel for a bit, for some love time.

I first walked Valentino, (I like that name) a small Basset mix. He is 1.5 to 2 years old, very happy dog, playful. Likes all attention and touches.





I then walked Tommy. He is now up for adoption too, just like Charlie Brown! He is such a pretty boy.



Next I walked Scout...I like that name too. Golden Retriever. Looks to have some kind of skin condition, his fur was all thinned out in spots. He is still gorgeous though. A great hugger, puts his paws around you. Quite the lover.





Last I walked Studly. I HATE HIS NAME!!! It makes me sad, cause I think of the stud dogs at the breeding places. So I prefer to call him Stanley. He has been there a few weeks, I have been scared of him, so this was my first time walking him. He sits in the back of his kennel and was hard for me to read. Has that junkyard dog look, very compact and muscular, and would just sit back and watch me with no emotion like we both were hesitating and waiting to see what each other would do first. He really surprised me. He was SO submissive and non-threatening. Left slack on the leash too! We sat down in the shade and he immediately rolled over for me to rub his belly. 2 other volunteer girls came over to where we were sitting and brought their dogs too. He was submissive with their dogs, showing them how harmless he was, letting the puppy jump all over him and being so sweet. The girls were surprised too, they also thought he looked scary and he is such a big hearted lover for his tough guy look. I told one of the staff people that maybe they could put another smaller dog or a puppy in the kennel with him to show the people that walk through looking for dogs how sweet he is, cause he isnt getting adopted because he looks scary. And I've seen them do that before with other dogs, they put a big and little dog together and both get snatched up right away. It shows the softer side of the bigger dog. But they said they were in contact with a Pit Bull Rescue about taking him. If people that walked through could see what a gentle giant he really is they would "oohh and ahhh" over his big sweet mug. After we went back inside I cleaned his poor chopped up ears out for him, they were dirty and itchy looking.




Didn't do too much after dogs, due to the headache. Watched a documentary last night "Long Way Home" about life after the holocaust. Had a lot in it I didn't hear about. I just heard "Hooray the war is over, everyone is liberated and all is well". Really good movie.

Just about to go to Panera, for brunch, to hang out and keep out of the heat. Supposed to be disgustingly hot today.

I cleaned out the downstairs hall closet, the laundry room, a bunch of drawers in our bedroom, the closets in our bathroom and the guest bathroom closet. Put the shelves back up in the back guest room and put out all of Brad's Simpsons action figures, and cleaned off all clutter from our dressers today.
Oh yeah and cleaned out the refrigerator too.

Next week clean out our bedroom closets (we have 2), and steam cleaning carpets.

We bought driveway sealcoat tonight, Brad is gonna do that tomorrow morning while I am walking dogs.

Watched Constantine tonight, I liked it, Brad didn't.

Had a good day yesterday.I got going early cause I was taking the train downtown to meet a friend for his birthday lunch.I passed a nearby farm while I was out running a few morning errands and some horses were out. I've seen them out before but never up close to the road by the fence like that. So I turned around and pulled over to go say hi to them. They were really friendly and very curious. Stomped their feet a lot...clompy clomp clomp, like I have seen counting horses do. I wasn't sure if it was a good sign or bad. But they stayed up at the fence so I approached. The reddish brown horse was the most curious and kept pushing the other 2 horses away. He liked me petting his face. I could only pet the black horse as long as I was petting him at the same time and didn't stop. He tried to eat my shirt. Blew his hot horse snout all over me smelling me from head to toe. They were a bit muddy and needed to be brushed. The brown one had some burs in his mane that needed picking out. I was wearing my cha-cha shoes and had to stand on my toes so my heels didn't sink in the dirt. I stayed for awhile talking to my new friends but then I had a train to catch.

Went downtown, got there a bit early before the scheduled lunch so I met up with Brent at McDonalds. It's been awhile since I've seen him and I miss him. If I have an interview next week or not downtown I will have to schedule a lunch with him. Then went to Weber Grill for the birthday lunch for Don. Shoved a bunch of atomic fireballs from the hostess stand in my purse. After lunch on my way to get a dessert Slurpee a lady stopped me on the street to admire my shoes. She said they were so happy looking, I told her that's why I call them my cha-cha shoes and told her where I got them.

After riding the train back home I stopped at the grocery store and bought a bag of carrots, hoping I might see my new horse friends again. I stopped by this morning, hoping they might be in the same field as yesterday as their morning routine...but they weren't. But I will keep checking.

Vince Vaughn just sent me 2 dozen beautiful roses with a lovely note.

"Hang in there and enjoy your time off.
You are a good person, and good things are bound to happen for you.
Love, Vince"

Isn't he the dreamiest?!?!

I love you Vince!

I walked Charlie Brown first. I wonder if they named him that cause he has a big blockhead?
The sweetest loviest dog ever. Jumped up softly (not to knock me over) for hugs. Liked crawling up in my lap. Loves kisses and hugs. We had a big love fest. He had what they call a "happy tail". He wags his tail so hard it was bloody. I didn't notice until I got him out, and I looked down at my legs and wondered where all the blood splatters came from. His hind legs had tiger stripes of blood from his wagging. I took him back in and cleaned him up, put some ointment on his tail and then we wrapped it up to protect it from his "happiness". He is such a good boy.










Next I walked Tommy. Tommy walked really close to me at all times, tripping me up if I didn't watch out. Always slack in the leash. He likes to chew on sticks, and loves to have his belly rubbed. His ears flop over...it's so cute. Another super gentle dog. They took it easy on me today.







Next I walked Buddy, a Great Pyrenees. Him and his puppies got adopted later today. I wasn't sure of him at first, he is really big (can't tell from the pics) and his fur is really thick and fluffy around his face like a lions mane. Someone must have just bathed him cause he was so super fluffy and smelled really good. Such a bright white fur, almost blinding in the sun. Once we got outside he was just as huggy and lovable as my other two great guys today. He was shy about having his picture taken though.

I didn't get the original job.
They said they liked me but I wasn't at the higher level they were looking for. But then they added, they really liked me and if they filled the position in a week or two they would still be interested in me to work with that person. See the main admin guy told me he trained a few people for a few months and then they all left. So they wanted someone that could go in running, and that isn't me.
But nice of them to say they liked me and were still interested in that way.

I had another interview with a different recruiter this morning.
First, it was nice that the recruiter and her boss were both women, second, it was nice they didn't sound like bad DJ's. Most of the recruiters that call me sound like bad DJ's/used car salesmen. It's really annoying. I think they tell them all to sound that way. I told the girl that today and she told me to tell her boss that cause they kept telling her they couldn't hear her excitement on the phone. Anyway, turns out the recruiter today said she really likes me and her boss really likes me, they are gonna pass me on to this really cool company I would be totally be psyched to work for. Then they said if I don't get it, they are sure they can find me a job because just about all of their clients don't have any women working unix for them, and it doesn't hurt that I'm really cute. They were women, so they could say this. I think some of the male recruiters I talked to thought the same but would sound much more out of line coming from them. (I think this is why I feel like such a phony ***see a few paragraphs down***)

This morning on the train to go to my interview I stuck a note in a guys pocket. He was standing to get off the train. I opened my book and wrote a note while the asian woman standing behind him leaned forward a little to see what I was writing and then watched me stick it in his front pants pocket. It said "You play your music too loud." Folded up really nice.

Went to Starbucks, got my coffee, spent a little time with Katerina and said "hi" to some other people from my old work. Went and bought a book for Brad that I decided I wanted to get him called "Spanking the Donkey". I saw the author on Daily Show a few nights ago and sounded really good. Gave it to him tonight. Picked up an Esquire to read an article Steve Elliott wrote about Jimmy Wallet, a guy who lost his family in a landslide.

Went to my trusty W Hotel to have a breakdown and had my imaginary friend Vince Vaughn talk me down. It nice and dark, with music and cold in there. I got sick an hour before my interview which wore me out and then I just started getting really worked up and talking to myself about what a loser I am, and who the hell did I think I was fooling. Interviews really brings out my low self esteem, for as full of myself as I can be at times, my self worth is really low. I always feel I lucked into all the jobs I had and my salaries, I'm lucky to have my husband, I am lucky to have any friends, I don't think I am a good friend, and same goes for my family. I should be better. Better to other people, a better worker, smarter, etc. I feel like I con my way into things, like I am the worlds biggest bullshitter, and people are just stupid enough to buy into my shit...and there just happen to be a lot of stupid people out there.

But...as my imaginary friend, Vince Vaughn pointed out. I really haven't lied about my qualifications. I actually am honest, cause they could easily ask me details on anything I say. I don't sell myself as some Unix guru. But I know enough to get by, I can do the job, I'm just not some idiot savant at it. I just feel like I am being phony and bullshitting, but it's really not true. I can do all the things I put down on my resume. Vince and I even posed for some pictures on the way to my interview. At one area I was on some steps behind him and stuck his head underneath my dress for a pose. We are quite the pair!

But I did the interview, they really liked me and will help me find a job. I did it, it's done for the day. As a treat..I went to Cereality across the street from the interview place. I saw it on my way there, and used it as something to look forward to when it was over. It's a new place and I like cereal. I got a mix of Apple Jacks, Frosted Flakes and graham bits to eat on. I took off my shoes and curled up on their sofa watching Nicktoons. It was nice. Then I met up with Katerina during her lunch break and we got pedicures. My polish was starting to chip, I was ready for one, and it was a nice treat. I like treats....

Walked through a farmers market. Same old stuff, so I passed and went to Union Station to take the train home. Came home and went back to bed and told Brad in greater detail about my day. Then had some dinner at Burger King and then he went to work. This is an unusual week, he is working nights, ending tomorrow morning when he comes home. So I zoned and watched Big Brother 6 on TV.

Today I took apart the bunk beds in our guest room and took all the parts to the basement, except the mattresses, they are a bit too big for me. I spent 8 hours (if not more) shredding and filing 5 years worth of bills, and did some grocery shopping. Not to mention my usual water flowers, water grass seeds and make a pitcher of fresh iced tea.

I had the phone interview with the company I interviewed with last week. He didn't ask me that many questions so my first thought was I bombed. I think they were looking for a person at a higher skill level then I am. The guy I was talking to today is the oldtimer that shows the new people what to do and from what he said he usually spends months getting them to a higher level and then they leave and go somewhere else. So I kept the guy on the phone and generally shoved my enthusiasm and excitement about the job down his throat. Then he was asking me about being on call and how the on call set up works, which I think is a good sign, cause why would he even go there unless he saw me possibly being on call with them in the first place? The recruiter people called me back and said the company said the interview went very well and they like me and will have an answer by the end of tomorrow. So I think I am still in the running.

Tomorrow I'll do laundry and find some other projects to work on.

Thank god for Hank. I was happy to see him the other dogs were really rough on me, lots of big dogs that I had to fight just to remain standing and not have them knock me over. And very good news, Hank is on hold for a family so he might of been adopted today! He was so cute the way he was crossing his feet and being so dainty.I LOVE YOU HANK!!


The other super nice dog I walked is Colby. Cocker Spaniel. Recently got shaved down for some reason, but looks really cute that way. Colby loves his belly being rubbed. When I sat in the grass he would just tumble over into me on his side. Very sweet, he loves his belly being rubbed.


On the way home I bought 10 bags of mulch, and put 7 in the back and 3 in the front. It looks really good. While I was doing that Brad power washed the driveway and put down crack repair. The crack repair needs to set for 7 days so we won't do the seal coating until next weekend. So then we were super tired, showered and laid down for awhile.
Then later, after cleaning up and resting up I put on a cute little outfit for my honey, highlighted by my cha-cha shoes. I just bought them and love them so much. So happy and festive! Also makes my ass look great from the heels! :)

I have been obsessively cleaning.
I guess it's not the worst thing in the world to be obsessive about.
But I have had trouble sleeping, wanting the morning to be there now so I could start attacking my to-do list of the next day. The house has never looked better though. 4 years of clutter and piles GONE! I feel better, happier when things are in order.
One of our extra bedrooms was used for storage, so much so you couldn't really walk in there. It is completely empty now except for the bunk beds, which we will be taking apart and moving to the basement. I washed each leaf of our fake ficus tree by hand yesterday, 4 years of dust gone. Vacuumed all the lampshades in the house. Pile in the bedroom..gone. Pile behind kitchen table...gone. Pile on the kitchen table...gone. Our office was a mess, you can see tabletop now, and I washed them clean, stacked all the papers up for Brad to go through sorting out which I can shred and which needs to be filed (since I have the habit of wanting to throw everything away) I got the vacuum hose and went over the baseboards and corners, under dressers and other hard to reach places. I bought flowers for the pots and backyard. I water flowers daily. Water the lawn every other day. Keep the bird feeder full. Washed and replaced the slipcovers and bathmats. Helped the tile guy replace our bathroom tiles. Brought a lot of stuff down to the basement. Spraying weeds in the garden...and other general straightenings.
Also we are going to seal coat the driveway on Sunday after we fill in cracks later today. I am gonna purchase 10 bags of mulch and lay that out.
I want to move the exercise bike and inversion table up to the newly emptied out bedroom (the table is now in our dining room, and bike is in the front room) once I take apart and move out the bunk beds. Use that as the exercise room, and then put the shelves back in to display Brad's Simpson's action figures. I want to go to Ikea and look at table to put in the dining room to use as a work table for my paint-by-numbers, Brad's watercolors, my jigsaw puzzles and such. (So we don't clutter up the kitchen table) Then I want a sofa and chair in the front room to turn the room more into a reading room since we have our huge bookcases in there. Now that I moved so much shit out of the way I can actually visualize this.

The only other big project things I can think of that I have been wanting to do is get the house power washed and have the shutters taken down and repainted a glossy chocolate brown.

Other than that...all the stuff we have thought about doing for the last 4 years is done, all the projects we have put off, of the piles we have stacked up. It feels good. So now I follow Brad around the house putting things back in place. Putting stuff on his dresser back in his basket. Straightening pillows. Making the bed. Putting away his slippers. Yes...a bit obsessive.

I don't have the job yet, they want me to do a phone interview with this guy Larry that was too busy working on a problem to meet with me the day I interviewed. Then that will seal the deal. That should happen Monday or Tuesday, then I should hear something back.

Off to walk dogs!!

I got in 2 interviews today.
One with the recruiter, and one with the company I used to work for.
The first one with the recruiter was a breeze, and usually is.
The second interview with the main company went well.
He was an intimidating guy but seemed to like me. He chased the recruiter out of the office without saying a word and just glaring at him....I felt bad for the kid (fresh out of college) Then went down a checklist of what I know and what I don't know and was willing to learn. I can work from home sometimes, he has a DBA that is working from home all summer since her kids are off from school. My other team mates are scattered around in other states and some work entirely from home. I would learn SAN and Oracle on the job. I would start out as a contractor with benefits for the first 6 months. 30% to 40% pay raise for me. He has a few other people he will be talking to this week , but I should hear something either Friday or Monday. The recruiter already got feedback from them that the interview went very well and they liked my work ethic and background. I think it looks really good, but we'll see.
I called the guy from another company that had called me last week to see if he had time to meet, but only left him a voice mail. So then I had lunch with a friend, and then lunch (since I ate, just hung out) with another friend. No return call from the 3rd place, so took the train home to unwind.
I'm tired but relieved.

My interview outfit today

Got an interview tomorrow in the loop with a staffing firm. They have a job lead with a company I used to work for back in Ohio. I am kinda hoping I can meet with the company tomorrow too and just get moving on it. So I am bringing extra copies of my resume just in case. Also have another guy I am calling tomorrow to see if he has time to meet with me. He called me last week about an opening with his company, so I am also hoping to get him moving on it by telling him I'm in the area for another interview if he has time to meet with me. All the job leads are in the loop so far.
I've got a dress picked out, gonna wear my hair up, got 3 pairs of shoes out to pick one from, got the extra copies of my resume, got my train pass. I think I'm all ready.Not too nervous either.
Had a nice relaxing weekend with Brad.Watching fireworks shows on TV.

Good day with the dogs.
I walked Hank first, a Pit Bull mix, only 7 months old. I can't believe he is still there! He is so cute and sweet. I think it's cause he has a bad back leg, so he limps. He doesn't seem to mind it though. He looks more like a handful then he really is. Outside, he was so gentle and sweet and nudging up against me. We just laid in the grass, while I pet him. He'd push his head into mine, and I'd kiss him and hug him all over and he would look all relaxed with his half closed eyes. I really like Hank a lot.



Next I walked Maggie. I think she is a Lab mix. Another lovey dovey dog. She likes to give big hugs. She would jump up on me spreading her paws out to grab me in and then just hang there. She also liked to sit in my lap, or stand on me in some way. She would get coy when other people or dogs came around and push into me like she was trying to hide. Wants to be constantly touched.