Midnight Cravings

It is the middle of the night and I am jonesing for some chocolate. I searched relentlessly through pages and pages of recipes on the internet, each one as unsuccessful as the last. Most of them take too long to satisfy my impatient appetite, but then I remembered this one, which my friend Joel sent me a few months back. It would be great except for the fact that I have no microwave and don't have a clue as to what temperature my oven is actually heating (not that the recipe says how to make it in the oven, but I'm open to a little experimentation). The reason why I have no microwave is due to a recent move, and I have been having a daily microwave vs. vacuum cleaner debate. I need both, but have only money enough for one, and I'm thinking that quick-midnight-chocolate-cake-recipe almost weighs out dead-bug-and-dog-hair-sucker-upper. Anyway. I then rummaged through the cabinets to check out all my ingredients, briefly debating making tapioca pudding before deciding that that is just the gross and desperate result of a tormented, snacky mind. After consuming a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips, I decided to make the chocolate cake recipe after all. Then I realized I have no idea where the dish I would bake it in has gotten to. So I ate another handful of chocolate chips and some coconut flakes, wrote this blog, and am now going to bed. Tasks for tomorrow include finding the baking dish and purchasing a microwave... maybe. I will probably just try the oven experiment.

Product Review #1: The Dark Roast is Yum

I absolutely cannot make it through the morning, at least not with the appearance of being any sort of human life form, without a cup of coffee. I'm pretty picky about the selection of my caffeinated beverage-- only certain brands are acceptable, and I like to grind the beans myself. I usually like to drink Dunkin' Donuts tasty blend, but here in MS the Double-D's are pretty difficult to come by (the stuff they sell in the grocery store is produced by Proctor & Gamble, so it's not "real," unfortunately). 

About two weeks ago, I ran out of my DD beans, so I switched back to the old standard, Community Coffee Medium Roast beans. They are a close second to the DD's, and waaaaaay more palatable than Folger's or anything else you can buy for a reasonable price at Kroger. Yesterday, I finished off my Community beans, and headed out to Kroger to buy some more. Much to my chagrin, Kroger had put the beans on sale, and the only bag left was Dark roast. Dark roast?! Noooo!! How am I supposed to drink dark roast in the a-m? Price speaks louder than any other variable, though, and when I compared the $4.99 beans to a lovely $10.79 bag of Starbucks, the Community beans won out. Well, I am sitting here now enjoying the most delicious cup of coffee I have had lately. The dark roast is not so bad!

On a side note, a DD's just opened about 30 minutes from my house, so I will be going there tomorrow to stock up. Nothing will ever beat out the DD's!

The Hunt

Although I have found gainful employment making old ladies believe that no shoes will love their feet like the shoes at my store, I do not feel that shoe sales will be a fulfilling job forever, so I have been busily hunting for another job. I am a licensed teacher, so it would make sense for me to find a teaching job. I'm having a lot of fun filling out tons of paperwork, and occasionally I find something excellent, like this recommendation form for one of the counties with which I am applying:

2. Check any traits below which characterize the applicant:
__Nervous
__Tense
__Discouraged
__Depressed
__Irritated
__Critical of others
__Argumentative
__Impatient
__Intolerant
__Domineering
__Sullen
__"Cocky"
__Easily embarrassed
__Frequently worried
__Prejudiced toward race or nationalities
__Lacks humor

(Later on the form...)

3. Is there any reason this person should not be considered? ____________________

So... any check marks in question 2 should probably answer question 3, right? Or is question 3 just in case my references haven't already said enough bad things about me? Just saying.

Musical Obsession: Azure Ray

Please enjoy the musical stylings of Azure Ray.

Musical Obsession

Needtobreathe.

Encouraging music for a change. Enjoy

Buy my stuff, y'all

You know you want to. Check out my etsy.com store, featuring some awesome knitted cards... as can be seen below.




Also, I got a job. Gainful employment!

Unemployment Blues

So here I am, back in MS after the holidays with noooo job. I had an idea in my head that perhaps one of the jobs I applied for before I took a month vacation would pull through, but that was not the case. Silly me for thinking that a Master's degree would be the answer to my employment problems! In any case, I've been back in the south for three full days so far (working on the fourth as I type), and I've spent those three days trying to find gainful employment. (Read : I have not applied at the strip joint. Yet. Nor do I hope to have to.) What follows is a step-by-step chronicle of my employment search so far.

Step 1: Do some laundry. Because, you know, if you're going to get a job, you won't have as much time for that anymore, right? Right. Laundry done. Interview-ready outfits clean. That was Monday.

Step 2: Drive to Columbus to use the internet because Tom, the guy who manages YOUR internet, decided to mess it all up and then not answer your e-mails. Thanks, Tom. Spend the day searching frantically through anything that looks like you could do it (waitress, census worker, babysitter? um, no thanks) and compile what feels like a mostly complete list of potential employment. Breathe a sigh of relief, which is followed shortly by a migraine that lasts all afternoon and puts a stop to your application process. That was Tuesday.

Step 3: Go through the entire list and figure out what you will need to do in order to apply for these jobs. Then, start doing those things.

Step 4: Resign yourself to the fact that you might actually have to use your degree. When I got my Bachelor's degree, I had just finished up sixteen weeks of student teaching hell, and so decided not to ever become licensed to teach in the state of MS. Bad decision! A year and a half later, I am shuffling through old paperwork and making trips to campus in order to complete the licensure application packet so that I can hopefully make some money. Steps 3 and 4 were Wednesday.

Step 5: Return to Columbus to use the internet, because Tom is still a biznatch. Tom, if you're reading this, FIX THE DAMN INTERNET. I don't pay you $25 a month for nothing. Hey... maybe I could have Tom's job! Anyway. Step 5 is now, Thursday, and I just finished applying for a sweet secretarial job that I found. The next step is to go take a timed typing test, which should be pretty easy to pass seeing as how I grew up in the age of IM. Then I'm going to apply to Lowe's. And the strip joint. Just kidding.