So how goes the interview....

Glass studio Assistant, Kensington, MD-pay is not enough to live on in DC maybe TN but by far not DC, benefits = none, a cool studio =yes, could I learn lot= yes, and will they have me for just a week= yes, if I want to take them up on the offer to help them with the holiday rush. I could learn a lot and it would give me contacts for the future, in fact Gary gave me one today who will be building a studio in VA. in the next year which could be fun, but the guess would be low pay and no benefits. Who do you know, who can live in (a safe place without food stamps) DC making less than $30,000 w/o benefits? So maybe if you are married and the other half can cover the benefits and you are doing it for the fun of it, but in reality could I do it and still have a quality of life and not have to go back to Gap full time part time...NO - so the search continues for another week, and reality sets in with the bank statement from last month, of what really bare bones living is all about - NO FUN No sushi and No extras and that in the end of the month the basics start to run out and you have to replace them, yes the price of gas has dropped but others have gone up up and away- plus it is Christmas time and I would like to give a few gifts, not made of glass. There is another design job out there from the same company that I got my belt "drink beer" from, so I have to work out a design for them and send it in...I did send out 3 resumes and cover letters this morning so the word is out there that I am looking. I have more work to do on the teaching front and it is time to figure out what I want to say to the Field School. (I drove past it today on the way to this interview) . It might be time to sign up for sub-teaching, to get my foot in the door.

This morning was a successful one -- and I have to say that I need to keep the TV off to get a lot done, but it is good company. I had a list from last night of what I needed to do today and i have to say that by noon I was marking off things left and right...so there are still things left to do there always are, but I feel better about those that I crossed off...the harder things to remember are dates and that the end of the month creeps up on you and you have to send that car payment and rent out again. So this morning was dropping off the resumes and bills at the post office, renewing books, dropping gap cards off, hitting the bank and having lunch with Rita. While standing on the sidewalk, an old friend was walking down the street -- who I had not seen in a long time -- she has that glow going on, she looks happy with a baby on the way.

Glass Glass Glass- well I did start on another Christmas gift request and a challenge something that I had not done before the 3-D kind _ you will have to wait to see a picture cause I am not sure if she is reading this or not_ I have a large credit with Madeline that I need to start tapping into, I picked up some glass fixes that I had tried last week, some of the fixes worked and others did not, a few that I might have to refire again to get the look that I was going for...i did play with one that had wire in it - need to place those in the book as debit.... I have found the one pattern that I was in the search for in the oddest of places but it works and I will reveal it later when the window is complete and the gift is unwrapped- so it is time to do some tweaking of the pattern and keep moving on. maybe I need to keep glass as my passion and hobby and not as a full time job - cause I dont want to hate it in the end. need to go work on more resumes, let me know if you find anything....

A new direction for the job search

In the last 3 weeks things have changed a lot in the job search. I have been helping Madeline teach the stainglass and fused glass classes for the last 3 weeks and with that it has changed my direction for the job search. So here I am 3 weeks out of work and I think I have figured out for now what I want to do…I think I want to go and teach art and coach swimming. Now the grades that I want to teach, that remains a question, they all have their advantages and disadvantages, the little kids you can still do all of the holidays with them but most of their projects are short so there are a lot of lessons to come up with…middle school – I hated middle school – but you can do more with them in terms of longer projects but they don’t know what they want from one min to the next and there own bodies are changing faster than they can think…high school you get tricky – most of the kids who are there want to be there and you have some who are doing AP art so there are some set things – but at that stage I feel that some might be better artist than I am, and they can talk with you and those are the teachers that I remember most and I can coach swimming too … I do know that for now I want to go to independent / private school…The school that I would really like to teach in is the Field School but the chances of them hiring me mid year – highly unlikely but I have seen a good selection of art teacher openings mid year- so those make you wonder a little too -but at this point, mid year I am not sure how picky I can be –

What do I have to lose at this point in the job field, search, market…Anything that will keep me away from a dark office sitting behind a desk 40 hours a week sounds like a good change to me…I have found a book at the library called “Great jobs for Art Majors” so that was the morning reading…the other one I found …getting from fired to hired…so those are the books and guides I and going to use to see where I need to go next and what the next steps are…So I have put my resume up on the NAIS.org site (how my brother in law and 2^nd cousin both found their teaching gigs) and I need to go a few step further with this and get the cover letters all set up plus the books have a list of other organizations to check into…So that is what I will be doing over the next few days. I also got a copy of the Washingtonian, this month, 55 of the great places to work in DC…and the funny thing is I was looking at one of the pictures and I think one of the girls who I worked with when I first moved up here is in the photo. There are a few places on the list that sound creative and most of them are based on the good and different benefits the companies give…from free lunch, Fridays off, 3-4 weeks vacations and the week between Christmas and New Years (the full office is closed) and other little perks…And AOL was far from being on the list.

Well we have a new glass addict…she started with the stainglass and is moving fast to the fused and with that she has gone out and found the magnetic hook necklaces …little did she know when she offered sale of the necklaces at wholesale that she had a few bite and the order went up drastically. Tuesday was a fun night up in glass – and I never cut anything …I was showing the resume (which everyone was like it looks good) and I was trying to work on a new stainglass pattern, and Madeline had to go get Adina from the airport at 10, so we ended up leaving close to one time …ok so I was going to fuse but its not like there were any kilns open in time… so I was just going to cut and then fuse it when I was teaching on Wed –Tuesday was just a social night and then again so was Wednesday, met up with a friend for coffee in the morning and then had another friend come over to the house, which I had to kick her and her friend out of my house at 6:55 so that I could make it up to the church to help with the stainglass class. It was just one of those good days and I spent so little time in front of the computer stressing about what I will be doing next. I just have to keep telling myself it will all come together…

oh well – I have the big box of glass filled to the top…in fact J is taking the box to her office again to try and get the holiday rush started in case I need to make matching earrings…the holiday season is here and I guess that Is how I can make some holiday money, for now, but I would love to have a job before Christmas for sure.

Hadleys Park - I need a spark

I found my own park this weekend, ok so it’s named after a little girl named Hadley (there is even a hotel) ...I knew that it was out there in Dulles but I never took the time to find it till this weekend. A playground for all kids, and on a sunny day, what a great place to be...we made it there after there was a mild baseball accident earlier in the afternoon when a ball hit Ash in the face and knocked her glasses off of her face and needed to be adjusted at the mall. I then looked up to see if Hadleyspark.org was hiring - and I found out that they are no longer designing playgrounds so that’s out - I thought my name would give me a foot in the door. So today it is 2 weeks that I have been unemployed and the first real day of separation (what ever the hell that means)...I don’t really miss going into work, and I think that I am a little happier not going there every day, I do miss the girls and the group lunches, I don’t miss the drive. So I have to think that most drives will be shorter than the one I did for the last 5 years. I am still not sure what I want to do next - but at this point anything other than Gap might be nice. I guess I should take another test online and see if I get any closer...

Halloween was yesterday...over the weekend I had a wedding party on Saturday night, I went as an Oscar...but I think that next year I am going as a gold digger- I can wear the gold dress again and carry a shovel covered in gold...Last night we went over to the Sees old neighborhood to find some candy (and to check out the changes the new owners have made to the house - the kitchen is now red and the hallway is khaki and not lime green) Just the little changes you can see from the outside - it made me miss them and miss Dixie...and then this morning I get an email from Shannon with new picture of her parents new yellow lab puppy Rose. One day when I have a backyard I will have another yellow lab.

Not sure what I will do in glass tonight...fuse I guess unless I find a stainglass that I want to do today...Since things have not come up today, I think that I will help Madeline again on Wednesday night with the stainglass class and build up some credit...I should be there today but I am here in front of a computer looking to see what is out there for me. (Ok you know it is bad when I have figured out what shows come on when - yes a real sign of no job) I need to start somethings on the list...like post a new roommate notice, call media barn and Boss and see what they can do for me. I need to find something sooner rather than later...