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A day late and a menu plan short; or, better late than never. My plan of getting the weekly menu plan done yesterday went up in smoke on Saturday night when I received an email requesting an interview.
I am the cavalry. I'm the one who gets called up to the front when the financial need arises. The need arose when Finola got into such a prestigious private college. College was in our budget plans. But we just need a little extra for the private school part.
My job search had not been going very well for several months. It's very difficult to get to the interview stage when online applications sort potential candidates based on certain words or phrases used in the answers. It's like a guessing game to figure out what the computers might be looking for.
Finding a job is always about who you know. Mr. Gaelic's colleague (Mr. A) passed along a copy of my resume to the son-in-law (Mr. B) of the colleague's (Mr. A's) former boss who passed it along to the chief of staff (Mr. C) of the man (Mr. D) I want to work for. Since I have been a full-time mother for the past 13+ years, I needed to find out what has changed in my field in the meantime as well as find out a bit about Mr. D so that I know what he's looking for in an employee. After church yesterday, the afternoon was spent researching all sorts of information and biographical sketches. Never go to an interview unprepared.
That's my excuse for not getting my menu plan posted on a Sunday as I have in the past.
- Monday
- Breakfast: grapefruit, toast
- Supper: potluck (where did all that food come from?)
- Tuesday
- Breakfast: cereal
- Supper: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, broccoli
- Wednesday
- Breakfast: oatmeal
- Supper: steak, baked potatoes (meat co-op delivery day!)
- Thursday
- Breakfast: cinnamon toast
- Supper: baked beans, dirty rice, fried okra, cornbread
- Friday
- Breakfast: cream of wheat
- Supper: cedar-plank salmon, roasted root vegetables, lentil salad
- Saturday
- Breakfast: cereal (have to be at church at 7:30 for meal delivery at a retirement home)
- Supper: pizza for girls, eat out with Mr. Gaelic (date night)
- Sunday
- Breakfast: bacon, eggs, grits, toast
- Dinner: roast chicken, green peas, mashed acorn squash, dinner rolls
Wow! I didn't realize just how busy this coming Saturday is until now. 7:30 a.m. meal delivery (similar to Meals on Wheels), 9:30 Deirdre's Girl Scout troop cleanup (at a different retirement home), also at 9:30 Deirdre's Girl Scout home-baked cookie drop-off (as a fund-raiser but not the official boxed Girl Scout cookies yet - those are being sold by our troops beginning December 22nd), 11:00 local charity pick-up of our old mattress and box spring (same group as is organizing the early morning meal delivery), 6:00 p.m. Deirdre to babysit, and finally Time To Be Determined date with Mr. Gaelic (whom I haven't seen much of lately due to his travelling on business).
Whew! I'm tired just typing that. Good thing it's potluck tonight and I don't have to think about cooking.
Today’s blog is in video format. And a reminder. There are 102 days until Christmas. Remember, Christmas is a fixed holiday. It doesn’t move around the calendar like Easter.
Here’s one of the things I wanted to share. And here’s the other.
How does one offer best wishes for Advent? My solution? Have a Meaningful Advent!
Every couple of weeks I donate platelets at the Red Cross. If you don’t know anything about platelet donations, it takes about three hours to give platelets. Your whole blood is collected by needle, sent through a centrifuge which separates the platelets from the other blood components, and then the remaining blood components are returned to you by needle. I have to use a one-arm apheresis machine, meaning that the blood goes out and comes back through the same needle. It’s a big mother of a needle.
Since the process takes quite a bit longer than a regular whole blood donation, donors get to stretch out in these comfy table/loungers and watch a movie on a private screen with earphones. Because my blood pressure is normally low, I need a heating pad under me and two or three blankets on top to keep my temperature up so that the machine doesn’t think I’m in distress. Imagine having to lie down all warm and cozy with a movie for a couple of hours! Forced relaxation, ahhhh.
The Red Cross called me a few days ago to ask that I come in for a donation because I’m a match for someone. I’ve been a match in the past, most recently for a young cancer patient named Abigail. Platelets are used for premies, burn victims, trauma victims, organ donation patients, and cancer patients mostly.
Yesterday, I was all set for my early morning appointment with a needle and a movie. On the way to the donor center, I noticed that the brakes on the car didn’t seem to be functioning properly.
Is it me? Did I do something wrong?
Maybe it’s not me. That feels like I don’t have any brakes.
Uh-oh! I don’t have brakes! Now what?
Call the husband to come trade cars with me and drive mine back to the house. Drive him into his office. Then call the Red Cross to tell them that I won’t make it for my scheduled appointment and, since yesterday was their early-close day, I’d have to reschedule for another day. Try explaining to whomever was supposed to get my platelets that they won’t get the best-matched platelets because of faulty brakes. They’ll have to settle for no-so-well-matched platelets from someone else. Boy, I feel like I really let someone down.
