Where Did She GO?

Ahhh my cats. I love them dearly. Currently I am listening to the plaintive cries of my fuzzy orange one named Tug.

You see, for a change of scenery I have taken to sitting with my computer in our "library" i.e. second bedroom, to conduct my job search. (And write emails, And play on facebook, And write on this blog) I had previously been spending my days on our couch in our living room and bugging my husband who works downstairs in his basement office. So, this week, I am in the library. It gives my husband and me more separation and honestly I feel a bit more productive.

Here is the problem. My cats can't stand it. Our guest room (library) is cat-free. We have a few wonderful friends who stay with us on occasion who are allergic to cats, so we do not allow ours into this room. Tug and Osita have become quite accustomed to having someone around ALL DAY. My being in this room has thrown them into a downright tizzy. Periodically, throughout the day, they will come to the door and tell me all about their displeasure with the new arrangement. Tug, our puffy, short haired, orange, Garfield type, rubs against the door and meowowowow's and rowowowrrr's for a solid ten minutes. Occasionally, he pulls his signature move and sneezes all over the door.


Osita on the other hand, has a slightly different tactic. She is a beautiful, sleek, black, short haired girl who is, shall we say, pear shaped. Bluntly, Osita has a booty and she uses it. I will be sitting quietly, typing away, and all of a sudden schhhhhh-BOOM! Osita will begin her dance with a flirty rub against the door finished with a hip-check that makes me jump out of my skin! Then she proceeds to trill and purr and meow for her ten minute turn. Of course this is all punctuated with intermittent hip-checks.

I may feel guilty at times for depriving them of me and all of my wonderful-ness, but one day my children, I WILL have a job.

What to feel, What to feel

I have an interview!!
I began this job search about a month and a half ago and here I am with my first interview. I am quite excited by this fact. More excited then I might have expected and here is why. In these past weeks I have gone through a whole range of emotions. Unfortunately for me, the predominant emotion involved in this job search has been guilt.

Guilt has been the overriding feeling because I fear what other people must think of me as the new wife with no job. For that matter, what do I think of myself? Who do I think I am? This lazy mooch sits on the couch and eats bon bons while watching soaps and her husband slaves away making a living. This is not true of course, I have been trying to make myself useful by making three meals a day for us and doing the general cleaning, all the while spending a couple hours a day on the job hunt. But then I realized that the guilt isn't completely because I don't have a job. I think that I feel guilty for kind of enjoying not having a job... That in turn makes me feel ashamed which guilt and shame combined can bring you pretty low.

But let's throw in feeling a little lost as well! I realized recently that for four years I was defined by my job. It was who I was in every way I could mean that. I was on call 24/7 so every time my phone rang I got a little crawly feeling in the pit of my stomach. I worked nearly every single weekend, feeling like I was not doing a good job if I arranged to have a weekend off to go away. Every time I did go away it was for a reason such as a friends wedding or to see a dear grandmother. I don't know of any time during my last job that I went away with my husband just for the sake of getting away. Don't get me wrong, I was and am very happy. But now that I am not defined by this any longer, it has left me feeling strange and volatile.

THUS, I am excited to have an interview. It may not be for my ideal job, but either way it makes me feel productive, gives me practice in an interview situation, and gives me something to tell people. Wish me luck!

$MONEY$

That is what it is all about isn't it? We are in recession and I am in the midst of my big job search. Probably not the most opportune time to be in such a position. I have spent the first three hours of my morning on Philadelphia Craigslist, Monster, and inadvertently the Career-Network.
I say inadvertently because I was lucky enough to fall prey to a bogus craigslisting. I found something that sounded remotely interesting (hooray!) and took the time to send my resume to the email address. I received an immediate automatic response from HR with a link asking me to fill out their application and re-attach my resume to expedite the process.
Ok....
So I took the time even though this is highly annoying. At the bottom of this particular posting it asked me if I am interested in continued education or not. If I said possibly, it took me to many online schools for me to choose from
Alrighty... that's strange.
Things seemed to be definitely getting off track from this job that sounded just enticing enough. So I went back, and clicked the button that snootily says, "No, I am not interested in continuing my education." and I immediately got redirected to good ol' Career-Network.com (BOO!).

Thank you jerks-trying-to-get-my-information for wasting my time when I am frustrated enough with the job search. Check out this link to see that I was not the only one swindled by these pirates http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/378/RipOff0378747.htm