Okay, I know my blogging has been slacking, but I'm okay with it. I have nothing to report. Until lately, when I'm dying to post pictures of some stuff and can't find my stupid camera cord. I was feeling particularly crafty last weekend and I managed to finish the projects I started. One was a huge jewelry board. I got tired of staring at all my jewelry on my dresser and bathroom counter so I got a piece of plywood and some moulding and went to town on this sucker. I absolutely love it, and I did it in a very (what I think) is a Tricia-esque style. I will post pic. I will find that cord. I also did a pearl and ribbon bracelet that Tricia put up on her blog. It turned out great. I did make a few modifications, though. I added a snap so that I would be able to put it on by myself and I also sewed a bow on it, so it will never come untied and will always be pretty. Plus, it hides the snap. Very, very pretty.
I also am dying to post pictures of the concert I went to last night. Mom and I went to go see the Trans Siberian Orchestra in Pittsburgh. It was an amazing show, and of course, amazing music. I have all of their CD's anyway, but a live show just kicked ass. The show incorporated lasers, light shows, hydraulics, smoke, fireworks, etc. It was just a good show. And I could go on for ages, but I won't, because it's not like I can show you. Because I can't find my cord! But I will post pix soon.
In other news, my phone broke and I'm pissed. I'm going to have to go get another one today. There goes my mad last minute christmas money. But the upshot is that the phone I'm getting is a smart phone and will post pix and videos without my stupid computer cord. :o) Right now I'm on my sisters old phone, which is a flip phone that won't stay open, is held together with tape and won't access the internet. Which sucks because I don't have the internet at my house. I do everything on my phone. So I'll be glad to get my new one.
Okay, I'm updated now. I have to go get to work. At least for now. I had a second interview at Davis again yesterday and I've been told that with one or two more people to interview, I have an 85% chance of getting the position. But more on that later. I just think it's time for a change. And the $3000 per year tuition reimbursement. Yes, you read that right. So hi-ho, it's off to work I go. Mock tax returns and energy funds, oh my!

I have not quit blogging. I was just saving my words for something important. But I haven't figured out what that my be yet. Anyhoo. My life in bullet points:

• DC was the single most awful event that I have endured in recent memory. It was so unbelievably awkward and just skin crawling awful. I got there Friday afternoon and left Saturday, there by achieving self actualization.
• I achieved self actualization. Two years ago I would have just stayed in DC because I wouldn't want to be rude and leave. I got over that. I couldn't stay there another minute, so I made my excuses (Shelby got sick) and left.
• I visited Gettysburg. Because I was so ticked off that I didn't get to see anything fun while in DC, I detoured on my way home to see Gettysburg. I'd never been there, so I went. By myself. And it was great. The best part was the BYOB strip joint I saw on my way there. I HATE that I didn't get pictures, but I swear it was there.

That's about it. Pretty darn boring. I know that one may ask why I had such a crappy time in our nations capital, and I will tell you that there is no good reason. The guy I was hanging out with was just skeezy. Yes, skeezy. There is no other way to describe it. Like the hair on the back of my neck stood up skeezy. And he wore way too much cologne. Now I have some kind of knowledge of what Tricia deals with every day. I nearly asphyxiated, and I have no sensitivity toward anything of that nature. And he was rude. I'm not from DC so it would be nice if you would just check to see if I'm behind you when you make a running leap onto the metro.

So now I'm back home doing my normal stuff. Working and sleeping. With a good chunk of time carved out for eating. And for doing homework. Good God, does Shelby come home with inordinate amounts of homework. Work is actually doing very well. I think my red-headed fire breathing broom riding excuse for a boss got herself in a position to quit, which makes me happy. I've been put in charge of several programs and even found a new one this agency hasn't dealt with before. Some of it is daunting, but I'm happy. But I'm still poor. Poor enough to have to pick up a second job just to pay the heating bill. Grrrr.

I never did hear back from that bakery in Alabama, but I'm okay with that. I would have loved to have had a chance to interview with them, but oh well. I still hope something along those lines comes up again, I really would like to explore that line of work. I love doing it, and I'm fairly good at it, so.....

Life this weekend: Trick or treating on Friday night (pix to come, I'm sure), then Costume Swing Dance with my girlfriend, Nica and her husband. I'm slightly excited about that. I'm going as a swing dancing pirate. Definitely going to have lots of pictures.

In other news, JESSICA IS PREGNANT!!!! I'm so excited! It'll be practically a year old by the time I get to see this new addition, but I'm still overly excited about it. Can't wait to see her all pregnant when I come down again.

And that's all folks. More to come later, but that is a mentally stimulating account of the life of Caroline.

I am so bored. Just sayin. There isn't too much to blog about unless you want to hear me gripe that I had to scrape frost off of my car this morning. Yes, you heard it right ladies and gentlemen. Frost touched down today in Buckhannon. Its a tad chilly out.
I do have a mini-trip this weekend that I'm pretty excited about. I'm heading over to DC to visit a friend I graduated college with. I'm really looking forward to it, actually. I haven't been to DC in years, so I'm really excited about seeing some of the new things like the Holocaust Museum, the WWII memorial and the 9/11 memorial. I haven't seen any of that. Cory works "on the Hill" for an OH Representative and as such an employee, we get to do the "important people" tours of the Capitol and the Library of Congress. I'm heading down there on Friday and I'll be back on Monday morning, so it'll be a nice little trip to break up the monotony of life in the thriving metropolis of Buckhannon. Next month, Thanksgiving (CAN NOT believe that this is coming up so fast!) with dad in Huntsville.
Speakng of Huntsville, I emailed that bakery to ask if I could do a phone interview at first, as opposed to making the twenty hour drive down there, especially if they can't pay what I would need to be paid to move down there. I haven't heard back yet though. Fingers crossed that I hear from them soon!

Detour Ahead!

Well, I had my interview at Davis on Friday, but have decided not to take the job if it is offered. The schedule was rotating shifts, which would be mostly nights and weekends since I would be the low man on the totem pole. I just can't be gone nights and weekends. If it had been rotating weekends and holidays, I could have handled it, but not every weekend and four nights a week. The money would have been about the same, so it was not even a lateral move. So right now, I'm still in the same job with every intention of staying here until something better comes along. I found out that my current job isn't in danger, and that my title will undergo a change for the better and I will be able to move into our satellite office and have a new supervisor. Mainly all of the things that were making me suicidal will be fixed. Yay!

In other news, there is a bakery in Huntsville that wants to interview me!!!! This is actually a funny story. The week before last was so unbelievably awful that I googled a list of Huntsville bakeries and started emailing to see if any of them were hiring. This is the only bakery that got back to me and asked that I send my resume and pictures of things I've done. I did so, but also let her know that I have absolutely no professional baking experience, that I just bake because I love it. She loved my pictures and asked if we could set up an interview, and to also send her an availability date and my salary requirements! I'm not convinced that this will go anywhere, simply because I don't think they could pay me enough to warrant moving, but I'm still tickled. I'm going to email them again today to see if we can interview on the phone to see if there is a mutual interest before making the 10 hour one way trip down there.

And as a side happy tune, a girlfriend of mine is getting married next summer. She just hired her photographer, who recommended me for the wedding cake! This was the shock of this still very young century as I hardly know the photographer from Adam, but she said she had seen some of my cakes for events that she's photographed and my pictures on facebook and that the bride to be needs to give me a call. How fun is that?

Now it is officially fall. It never got above 63 degrees yesterday and it's rainy and damp and the leaves are changing. So in celebration, I made pumpkin scones with sweet cranberry butter yesterday. That, in addition to the fact that I am wearing a sweater today, means that it's fall.

So here are a couple of pictures of the cake I made for the baby shower. They actually are worse than the one I took with my phone, but oh, well. Actually, it was Shelby who took these pix. I was too powdery to use my camera and it was fast approaching midnight and I just didn't care about taking pictures of the damn thing. :o) But here we are. The mom-to-be thought it was cute, so I guess that's all that counts. During the baby shower the little fondant balls started getting used as projectiles, so now I know to not do that anymore.

In other news, I won a bottle of Saucy Mama's Lime Chipotle Marinade from Megan! That made me very very happy. The news that I will be getting a package in the mail soon makes me very excited. I found out about this right after I had come from a presentation that I completely bombed. Lets just say that if anyone there had wanted to be a child advocate, they probably don't now. ;o)

Anyway, I'm going to lunch now. I love it when my good buddy Jackie comes to town (she works for the same company in a different county). Heading out for Mexican!

CAKE!

The baby shower is today, and it occurred to me that I forgot to post a picture. I took good pictures with my camera last night but forgot to bring it today. I'll get them up tomorrow. So here is a crappy one I took with my phone. Shelby saw fit to add the plastic tigers and foxes from her toybox, and I wasn't about to tell her no. It is a jungle theme, after all. But the monkey on top is fondant. The cake started to fall last night, thus the buckling near the bottom. I do believe this is the crappiest looking cake I have ever made, but here you have it...

Flipping and figuring

I love how I can completely stress over something for so long, and then it gets magically fixed. Not only does it get fixed, but I actually have options as to how to fix it. Go flipping figure.

At this particular juncture, I'm referring to my employment situation. I had a long talk with our new Executive Director on Monday and she told me definitively that I do not have to worry about my job. She said that I bring more to the organization that I have been led to believe and not only do I not have to worry about my job, but I will no longer have to report to the boss that is currently making my life suck. All of this is good.

Then I find out that I will be receiving a job offer for our Child Advocacy Directors position. I interviewed for that position last week. I also got called (yesterday) for yet another interview (this one makes #7) with Davis Health Systems. Now, as it is my eleventeenth interview and now I don't actively have to look for a job, it just make sense to someone in the universe to make sure I get this job offered to me.

So now I face decision time. It is so unbelievably reassuring to know that I'm not going to be unemployed. However, do I want to move into child advocacy? That answer is a very loud and resounding no, but I do think it would add to my resume in a very good way. The position deals with law enforcement, medical personnel, lawyers, families and victims. Plus, the word director is always happy to add to a resume. And I'd like my boss a lot better. I wouldn't lose any benefits that I currently have (sick/vacation time) and since I was hired forever ago, my medical benefits are crazy awesome.

For a long time, I have been convinced that getting a job with Davis would be my best bet. They have an academy where I can take classes for free and get certified with medical terminology, medical coding and billing, phlebotomy, and transcription. Not only is the academy free, but upon finishing each class, I am eligible for a cash bonus. Also, I know that when you get into a hospital, it makes it hellsa easier to move to another hospital in another location. As that is my goal, maybe I should consider it. And the certificates are all transferable as well. My stepdad works for Davis and has never had anything but good things to say. Their turnover rate is almost nonexistent. People like the atmosphere so much they simply stay until they retire. And this ties into my Huntsville fixation. Huntsville Hospital Systems is Huntsville's number one employer and I would like to try to get in there if I can, this being made much easier with a certificate in something medical. I know I'm being slightly premature here, but I know the HR department at Davis has seen my application so many times and now knows who I am. I know staff have been pushing to get me hired there, as I would be an asset to the company, and I have a good feeling about this position (which, by the way, is insurance billing stuff). If nothing else, it would just be classically ironic for me to get this job offer simply because I no longer need the job. Major drawbacks: not as much annual leave, 40 minute drive one way, less pay (but better medical).

So as I take the next week or two to make some decisions, please be sending happy thoughts my way. I'm completely lost as to what I want/need to do at this point. I'm leaning toward Davis at this point. I blogged earlier about feeling like I've taken my position within this organization as far as I can, and that opinion has not changed. If I stay, I'm just going to be cooling my heels until I can move. Spinning my wheels, so to speak. I can't move up here. At least with Davis, I'd be doing something to further my education and increasing the chances that I'll get a job somewhere else. Any thoughts?