There must be a herd of elephants living upstairs

I hate for this to become a rant blog, but at this point I'm so irritated that I have to share my frustration somehow. My upstairs neighbors (a 20-something couple) are very nice, but they're ridiculously loud. And I think it's unintentional, which makes it difficult to complain to them. They're just loud, and I don't think they realize how loud they are. They're all about slamming the doors when they come and go. Apparently, just shutting the door is impossible; it has to be slammed really, really hard to make sure that it actually closes. Which is not a problem that I have when I come and go... And it's almost as if they're intentionally stomping when they walk up and down the stairs. This isn't just a normal tread; they are incredibly loud! It lasts from them walking up the stairs to their floor, to them walking around inside their apartment. And finally, why is it that it always sounds like they're remodeling furniture up there? It doesn't matter what time of the day or night, but it constantly sounds like they're moving the largest pieces of furniture in their apartment around all the time. Like now, for example. I find it amazing (and thoroughly infuriating) that two people can make such an extraordinary amount of noise and not realize it.

Left by the wayside

I realized that I haven't been engaging in some of my favorite hobbies lately. I don't remember the last time I read a book or did a crossword. All of my free time (and I have a LOT of it) has been consumed by knitting. And it's not that I don't enjoy reading; I love burying myself in a good story, but I realized today when someone who knows of my love of reading asked what I'd read lately, that I didn't have an answer! That's so uncharacteristic of me! What happened to me devouring the written word as if it was the air that I needed to breathe to keep myself alive? I need to get back onto the horse. I have several books that I've bought over the last few months and not touched, plus I have a few that I've borrowed from people, including the first in the Twilight series... I really enjoy knitting, but it's about time I got back to my first love.

Stupid pet peeve

I don't know why this drives me so nuts, but I think it's the height of rudeness to be a lone person in a restaurant sitting at a table a 4.

I've noticed it 2 days in a row where, in a crowded campus eatery at the height of the lunchtime rush, there are a couple of individuals or pairs sitting at booths or tables meant for 4.

I have no clue why this bugs me so much. Perhaps it's because I couldn't find a table when I was with a large group the other day!

Ok, rant over...

A welcome break

I'm not usually one to say that I have to get out of town, but this weekend, I really did need to see something other than the walls inside my apartment.

So, a quick jaunt to Baltimore for the weekend was a perfect remedy. Who knew that an evening at home could be so relaxing?! Of course, having the cutest baby girl in the world to entertain me didn't hurt either!

My god-daughter Katie is absolutely the most happy, cheerful baby I have ever seen!! We literally spent HOURS cracking up at her antics!

The other thing that I realized is that I'm not alone in feeling the way that I have been lately. It's so reassuring in a way to find out that someone who I thought has the perfect career and family, also has moments of anxiety and self-doubt. And they've gotten past it.

Anyway, time to sleep... I have lots of baby time tomorrow that I have to rest up for!

When life gives you lemons...

...you're supposed to make lemonade.

I've been having a really hard time making that lemonade. Or, maybe it's that I've consumed so much of it that I'm up to my eyeballs in it. I've been trying to put on a brave face and act like I'm not (that) worried or stressed out about my life right now, but in reality, I'm terrified. I have no idea what's going to happen. I haven't the faintest idea of when I might finally get a bite with my job search. I think that's what bothering me the most... I haven't had a single bite. Not a single person has responded to me from all of the resumes that I have sent out thus far. I think I would still be stressed out if I hadn't found anything but I'd been on an interview or two, but this is immense. I keep worrying that someone is looking at my resume, thinking that I'm vastly underqualifed, or that they don't want someone who will have to relocate, or have to learn something new...

I'm definitely trying to be as active as I can, because I refuse to sit at home and mope, however, the inertia is trying to suck me in. I have pretty much stuck to my rule of leaving my home every single day; the only time I didn't was once when I was sick (with the stomach bug that wasn't). But the life of leisure definitely isn't for me... Class twice a week and a couple of hours a day in a coffee shop still doesn't do nearly enough for me to feel like I'm being productive. And there's only so much knitting that one can do with their free time, as well!

SO I suppose the big question of the day is... what do I do with my free time, other than trying to find a new job? I need something to motivate me, something for me to be excited about.

**Sigh**

So what DO I do with all of these lemons?

Knitting Needles from Anna!!

On Thursday I had lunch with Anna, and I siezed the opportunity to get some knitting needles from her. They're from her godmother, and Anna decided that knitting wasn't really the craft for her.

They're SO pretty. They're metal needles, and are in a variety of pretty pastel colors. And they're so dainty and delicate (they're sizes 0-3), and I just can't wait to use them!

And the best part? They're all in their original plastic sleeves that they came in, and they're clearly pretty old, and the cost stamped on the packages are like 65 cents. Knitting needles are so f-ing expensive now, at least for us beginners who have to build our collections of needles...

Who knew that anxiety causes upset stomachs?

I certainly didn't!!

So my stomach bug that I had a couple of weeks ago wasn't actually a stomach bug. Nope, it was anxiety. So for over a week, the debilitating nausea and stomach cramps were the result of me being anxious. And I didn't really think I was THAT anxious. I mean, not working is definitely stressful and anxiety-inducing, but I didn't think that it was so bad that I was going to be laid up for 2 days straight, and unable to eat for days. Ugh. And what makes it worse is that there's no solution to the problem. Not really. Taking Zantac helps with the symptoms, but it doesn't solve the problem. And I'm not sure (aside from finding a job!) what will solve the problem. This is frustrating. Because anyone who knows me knows how I feel about food, and anything that impedes my ability to eat is a very, very, very bad thing.

When does a hobby become an obsession?

I have become a knitting fiend. I re-learned how to knit in December shortly after I got laid off, and it's practically consumed my life! I love learning something new, and seeing how I can keep pushing myself to try interesting and fun and more difficult patterns. But sometimes I feel like I want to knit instead of doing anything else. And that's probably a bad thing. I've had to impose knitting restrictions on myself so that I can get other things accomplished, like, say... finding a job!! Because as relaxing and interesting as knitting has been, it's certainly not going to pay the bills (no, I'm not going to sell the things I knit). Sigh.

Super BlogDay

Well, I'm finally getting around to writing and posting all of the blog ideas that have been floating around in my head all weekend. I think it's funny that I started this blog because I thought that it would be something entertaining to do to occupy my time while I'm not working, and then of course I head right into a super-busy weekend. But hey - I'm not complaining... I'm genuinely thankful that I had something to do this weekend; I think the boredom would be exponentially worse.

Anyway, yay, Super BlogDay!!

Everybody else is doing it...

So I've decided to join the blogging world. I don't know what my main "theme" is, or who my audience is but I'm looking at this as an experiment. I can say with a reasonably certainty that my random thoughts and ideas may not be remotely interesting to anyone else, but I might not share this with anyone else, so who cares!

So, here goes...