It's One of THOSE Days

Today has turned out to be one of "those" days.

One of "those" days when nothing quite seems to go right, yet it isn't so horrible that I can justify sitting down in the middle of the living room in a huff and crying.

It's tempting, but not justifiable.

Yet.

I had an appointment this morning at 10:30 with one of my legions of doctors, and since I typically show up in gym clothes (intending to proceed there immediately after my appointment), I decided I would dress nicely today: J. Crew blue-&-white striped shirt, skinny jeans, sandals, jewelry.

Casual, but nice.

My hair disagreed with my planned outfit, however.

I didn't wash it last night, and I didn't plan to wash it this morning, because if I wash it more frequently than every other day, my scalp mutinies, and I have to appease it with lots of Benadryl.

I hoped I'd be able to spray it with a little dry shampoo and get it to obey my will.

Nope.

By the time I realized my hair was a lost cause, it was too late to wash it and blow dry it and style it if I wanted to be able to eat breakfast before my appointment. I tried on a baseball cap with my planned outfit, but it just didn't work.


So the cute J. Crew shirt was jettisoned in favor of a chambray maxi dress, hoping I could pull it off with the baseball cap.

Chambray maxi dress had stains all down the front, that I apparently missed during the last laundry blitz, despite the fact that I specifically checked the dress for stains.

Finally, I tossed on one of my husband's cast-off T-shirts (which I've claimed, and wear more frequently than formerly due to my, um, well, my little belly. And love handles. Yay).

So now my doctor probably thinks I just run around in super-casual clothes all the time, rather than wearing more civilized, ladylike garb.

Sigh.

I ran a few errands, post-appointment, and came home. I took off my baseball cap.

My hair looked perfect.

Sigh.

Time to do laundry, bake, monitor the crock-pot, pay off the rest of the taxes the IRS claims we owe them, but that Turbo Tax said we didn't, and work on my Mystery Blog (with perfect hair).

Several items in the laundry needed stain treatment, so I applied Shout spray like a mad woman, and made sure to add OxyClean to the load, as well.

The load of lights finished washing, and I pulled out the clothes to toss them in the dryer, being sure to check each and every garment that was spot-treated before tossing it into the dryer.

All of the garments looked great, except - of course! - my favorite shirt, a white J. Crew button-down identical to today's intended blue-&-white shirt, which is the inspiration for my house-wife "uniform".

Of course, the spot on my favorite shirt - iced tea, a little tiny amount - was darker. And bigger.

What. THE. HELL?!?!?!?!?!?!

Lots of angry fuming, cursing, and stomping around the laundry room ensued (it's a huge laundry room, relative to the size of our house). I tried spraying more Shout on it and rubbing it with a white cloth.

No dice.

I rinsed out the Shout, and poured liquid OxyClean on it, waited 15 minutes, and then rubbed it with a white cloth.

Nada.

I poured a leeeeeeeeeeeeettle bit of full-strength bleach onto it and let it sit a few minutes, then rubbed it gently with a white cloth.

Nil.

So it's now sitting in a bucket filled with water and bleach, while I pray that my fairly expensive shirt isn't ruined forever.

I started working on my Mystery Blog, and was experimenting with different layouts/visual themes for the site. Unlike this personal blog, I want my Mystery Blog to be immaculately laid out and designed, because I intend to try to make money off of it, damn it.

I had one scheme I kind of liked, but wanted to look at another, so I wrote down what I thought was all the pertinent info, design-wise, and began monkeying with the font, text size, background color, etc.

At which point I realized I hadn't exactly written down all the pertinent info. Fortunately, I had taken a screen shot of the first design, so I was able to MacGuyver the information I needed, using PhotoShop and Apple Preview, but it was a tense few minutes, there, before I found the HTML color code converter I needed.

Sigh.

I also used a bit of Barkeeper's Friend to clean some rust of the washing machine interior (it's now going through its Clean Tub cycle to remove any residue), and I happened to get a tiny bit of the liquid cleanser on my thumb. No big deal. I rinsed it within 30 seconds.

But my skin doesn't care. My skin is angry. It is livid. Specifically, it is a livid shade of red, and it itches, because it's a primadonna.

And I haven't eaten lunch, yet.

So I'm going to go throw myself onto my sofa, now, with a slice of coconut-flour pound cake and a handful of cashews - which I'm calling "lunch" - and I'm going to watch Parks and Rec on Hulu while I finish my niece's Christmas stocking.

Because I'm obviously not meant to succeed at being a housewife today.

Unless that housewifeliness involves sabotaging my diet, because the pound cake turned out perfectly.

A Day Lost, A Day Found

A day lost, because I did not spend it at work.

I used a vacation day, today, for a much needed mental break from travel, work, and puzzling out a schedule of portfolio projects. I literally did not sleep at all last night (I've had one hour, as I type, since Sunday morning), which was awful, since I did everything I knew within my power to coax myself to sleep. I trotted out the Sleepytime Tea, the extra Benadryl, the warm milk. Nada.

Possibly, the insomnia is due to the fact that the old bug bear, the "side business," is lurking on the edges of my consciousness. It's actually what's provided the kick in the pants to get me started working on my portfolio, once more. So, of course, I kept thinking about my portfolio, too. Essentially, I couldn't locate the "OFF" switch for my brain.

A day found, because I accomplished an awful lot during this day of vacation.

I bought the gift I will give my sister at her upcoming baby shower.

I visited with my apartment management, and as a result now have a repaired washing machine and will soon have new weather stripping at the bottom of my door (either this evening, or tomorrow morning).

And my end tables will be delivered tomorrow at lunch, because I called the gentleman from whom I bought them. He informed me that he could have sold them 20 times over, this weekend, and that the man who founded Freed's Furniture, a local furniture store, said they reminded him of a line of furniture he once sold for Baker, a line akin to the Thomas Pheasant for Baker specialty lines they do these days. He couldn't remember exactly who designed them, but swore up and down they were vintage Baker.

I don't care who made them, though, because regardless, they're vintage gorgeous.

I carted home my brass lamps from Houston, this weekend, in the back of my mom's minivan, but they need shades. I think the shades will have to wait a month or two, though. I've spent enough money, for now, so they'll sit shadeless and embarrassed on my end tables until I feel comfortable buying the shades for them. Twenty-two inch Coolie shades don't come cheap, you know.

I also brought home some pillows, courtesy of my sister, and 5 yards of black silk jacquard with an orange, yellow, and peach Oriental motif on them. Perfecto! And I'm thinking of the best way to arrange my bookshelves, once I get them moved around and all my furniture is in place. How should I arrange all the linen-covered boxes that hide the hideous DVDs and CDs I've accumulated over the years? The file boxes that house my tax forms and insurance information? It's a tricky design question, and one I'm pondering, since the bookshelves provide the backdrop against which I eat my dinner.

It will probably be a matter of trial and error, in the end.

Discouraged

I still haven't heard from the firm with whom I applied last week.  I mailed thank you notes yesterday - late, I know - so hopefully they'll arrive tomorrow to provide the "Oh, yeah, her" that I need for them to call me and HIRE ME.

I also sent an updated Curriculum Vitae to a headhunter with whom I registered back in November.  So far, I've heard absolutely nothing from them.  Back in November, they told me they could get me a job if I was willing to move to San Antonio.  I should have taken them up on the offer.

I have a feeling that part of what is keeping me from receiving positive feedback - in the form of interviews - is my lack of a Master of Architecture degree.  I understand that most people would see that I only have my B.S. Architecture and say, "Well, she hasn't finished her schooling, yet.  We don't want to hire her," but I was managing master planning projects at my former job, and managing people who had M. Arch. degrees, to boot!  It's difficult to convey that in the standard Internet submission required by most firms, these days.

So now, I'm starting the really nitty-gritty work of going through Internet databases of architecture firms, looking at their websites, and deciding if I'm going to submit my resume to them as a cold-call deal.

Scary.

Of course, if I the firm decides not to hire me, I still have that trick card up my sleeve, but the difficulty is that I might not be able to play that card for months.  I can always go to work for my dad's company as an employee, and I'm working on starting my own business, but those are kind of iffy, if you know what I mean.

* I am in no way supporting the book used for a graphic; I have not read it.  It's just a CC Licensed image I found online that doesn't require attribution.