Lesson Learned and Lives Passed On.

So, the other day I decided to kick my new job hunt into full gear, mostly due to panic. I am 30 years old, with 8 years of graphic design experience, there is no reason for me to be struggling this much. I have experience in web, print, marketing and illustration I should be able to find a good job! Not to mention worry about being able to make my house payment. So, I decided to look at all the job boards I could find, there are more out there than I knew of just by googling. Well, to tell you the truth, there aren't many jobs out there for graphic designers that don't have both print and web and flash and html experience, which actually isn't totally fair as all those jobs require specialty training and skills. However, due to Michigan's current economic status, many companies want an all-in-one kinda employee and to be honest, they don't want to pay for it. Sadly, in my current job, I have positioned myself to have much flexibility and decent pay, enough to be the breadwinner of the family and pay the bulk of our bills. But, when suddenly work drops off and because I'm working mostly from home, it becomes a case of out of sight, out of mind with my boss. Don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy for the most part and he's really come a long way in the organization department but you just simply can't make a life on 20 hours a week, not with any kind of home and certainly not in Michigan these days. So, as I said I was looking on all those wonderful job boards and decided to return to old trusty Monster. I hadn't updated my resume on there in a couple of years and decided to go ahead and do that. Well, let me just tell you, not that it's been a complete turn around, but companies have been looking at my resume left and right and I have been contacted by 2 recruiters for ACTUAL JOBS THAT REALLY EXIST TODAY, RIGHT NOW, NO KIDDING! To me, this is so exciting, I was starting to really worry that nothing was out there for me, but I have been redeemed. There is hope out there, at least that has been restored. And, just a tip, to get your Monster resume back at the top of the pile, make small changes to it and save them and that updates them as if they are new and more new employers will see yours. Good tip huh? Got that one believe it or not from my MIL who has never used the internet, but talks a hell of alot with the ladies that work at the dentist office. Thanks mom!

On a different note poor miss Stella is dealing with the croup again, uh, and so is mommy, not daddy so much as it is momma. We are on day 4 of this wonderful thing that is causing me, to have to sleep in her bed, which is ok, but I bought a cheapy mattress from Ikea, which works just fine for her, but for me on the other hand, I'm so worried I'm gonna ruin it because of my weight, not sure of the weight limit. So far, so good. Also, on Wednesday, I was heading to my MIL's late as usual but today we were going to her fave scrapbook store, so it was OK. I was supposed to be at her house by 10:45, which would mean I would leave our house at 10:30. Well, we didn't end up leaving our house until 11:15 but in the process of trying to take our normal path, we were blocked off by police cars in that direction due to some horrific accident. All I said to Stella was "God, I hope there were no kids in the car." A few hours later, our neighbor Cindy is knocking on our door with a card in her hand. I invite her in our home and she proceeds to tell me that the elderly gentleman that lives across the street with his wife, died tragically today in a car accident. I was paralyzed, I said "don't tell me it was the accident I saw this morning right off our street?" And she confirmed that indeed it was. By her understanding, he was hit head on and died on impact. It took the paramedics 30 minutes to remove him from his vehicle with the jaws of life. So sad, I didn't know Mr. Price much at all, but Bob and Cindy did, and Bod was Mr. Price's buddy. Always over there from what I could see, no matter the weather. Matt wonders if maybe this Spring and Summer, Bob may wander to see him if he's muddling in the garage, I think he really wants a "buddy" so this would be good for Matt. It's just scary about the accident, because who knows if it could've been Stella and I that got hit if I'd actually been on time that morning. I think my lesson here, at least to me is find the signs in your life that indicate that you need to slow down, it may just be the thing that saves your life.

Here's just a little before and after of Stella's first real haircut.