Yesterday and today I had some interviews. This is complicated by the fact that I am three months pregnant. I'm not exactly waddling into the interviews (yet), but it minimizes my clothing options significantly and also means that I have to find a time during the interview process to insert the information that I am expecting a baby to pop out in August. I know that there is no legal requirement for me to say anything about my pregnancy, but I just feel it's starting off on the wrong foot with a potential employer to not mention it.

The consensus I seemed to find in the online community was to mention the pregnancy after having discussed the position and qualifications at length. And then to follow up the pregnancy mention with a qualifier about my plans for returning to work postpartum. At interview one, this worked out very well. The third individual who was interviewing me asked me to tell him a little about myself, so I threw out there that I had a daughter and was expecting #2 in August. He then asked about my plans postpartum and I told him, and it all went very smoothly. At interview two, however, there wasn't an opportunity for a smooth transition into the pregnancy mention. I also got the vibe throughout the interview that they were either A) in the preliminary stages of the process and there would be more interviews or B) not that interested in me. So I didn't put it on the table, and will have to deal with it if I make the cut for their "round two" in two weeks.

All in all, I feel that the interviews went no better or worse than any other interviews I've been to, some of which have resulted in job offers, and some of which have not. So I feel a little more confident going forward with the job search at this point.

Today I'm going for an interview and this has spawned a button dilemma. I have actually been having a button dilemma for a year - I think. A long time ago - so long ago that I can't remember for sure if it WAS last winter - the third of four buttons on my nicer winter coat came off. I'm sure I put the button somewhere "safe" so that I could sew it back on (yes, I do buttons), but of course here we are a year later and I have no idea where said button has gone.

So this leaves me with three options: continue wearing coat with three buttons and large gaping hole in the middle; move unused top button to third button's spot, hence making coat appear whole again; purchase new button. I suppose option four would be to search the entire house for the missing button, but given the relative cost of button versus time to search ... I have ruled that option out.

I investigated proceeding with option two, as I am dissatisfied with option one when I look in the mirror and see myself looking so sloppy (oh dear, poor disheveled lady missed a button when she was buttoning up). However, it turns out the coat designer had put a smaller button on the backside of the coat on each of the bottom three buttons, but NOT on the top button. So now I'm really down two buttons. I also discovered I lack the right color thread for reattaching button one in button three's position.

So after all this, I will be making a trip to purchase two buttons and tan thread in the near future. And after all this, I've decided the coat can definitely NOT be worn anywhere near an interview location, which means I hope the walk from car to door is very, very short this afternoon.

It's the last day of 2009, which just may rank up there with my least favorite years ever. Not that I've seen oh-so-many years, but I can't ever recall wishing a year would just be over and done with as much as I have with 2009. I was pretty ready for it to be done back in July. Unfortunately, there were still five months of un-fun left at that point. Between terminal illness, hospitalizations, deaths, and job losses, 2009 went above and beyond the rule of three in making sure that all of the terrible bases were covered.

I realize, of course, that time doesn't pay any attention to the calendar on the wall. But a new year is a good time to draw a slightly-less-than-arbitrary line in the sand and say - bad things are now behind us! And that is what I will be doing at midnight tonight. I'm moving to the other side of the imaginary line, to a year where I look forward to spending time with healthy family and friends, sharing and creating happy memories. After last year, I think we all deserve a small break from the un-fun life likes to throw at you.

Here's to 2010!

Today I'm going to play Guitar Hero. I have been waiting for this day for years. Just over two years ago, when I was pregnant and looking forward to maternity leave as if it was going to be a fabulous vacation, I planned to play Guitar Hero every day, becoming an expert, able to beat anyone who challenged me.

This did not pan out, and I did not play Guitar Hero once during my maternity leave. Maternity leave consisted of holding and feeding my newborn daughter, and watching judge show after judge show on daytime TV. I also drank large quantities of Diet Coke through a straw and wore a huge green matronly robe. On occasion, I successfully managed to put my daughter down in her swing long enough to wash some dishes or do some laundry. But there was no way, as far as I could tell, to successfully hold a newborn while also vigorously playing the fake guitar.

So here I am, jobless, on a cold winter day, with the wind howling around our condo, and the perfect opportunity to play some Guitar Hero. Will it be the start of a long and successful pseudo guitar career? An abysmal failure that lasts 15 minutes? Most likely, it will be something in between. And it beats watching daytime TV.