A visit to the Arch

I was just looking through some pictures from the past year and found some fun ones, so I thought I would share them.

Last February, there was a pretty and warm weekend, so my friend Erica and I took our kids down to the Arch. We had to wait a bit on tickets, so we decided to take a riverboat ride, something I have never done. While the St. Louis riverfront is not always beautiful (particularly in the winter when the trees are bare), it was fun. For information about visiting any of the attractions on the riverfront (or buying tickets in advance), visit http://www.gatewayarch.com/.

Our riverboat ride:

We also went up in the Arch. Just a sidenote, it is never good when you step off the tram and hear, "Welcome to the St. Louis Arch. Yes, the Arch is moving. It is a windy day." Yep. The ground was moving, outside of my control. Like freshman year of college all over again. But we had fun in the 10 minutes we were up there before the adults in the party decided we needed to descend before blowing chunks. :)
The kids also enjoyed running on the Arch grounds and posing on the stairs.

Snow days

Thanks for the support on my last post. I just needed to vent and I don't like doing it with friends and family by phone or in person because they will probably think I am falling apart. I do my best to keep the negative thoughts at bay, but sometimes I just need to get them out.

Onto happier things...pictures from sledding the past few days. Corbin loves playing in the snow. We went over to my sister's both days to sled and have snow ball fights. We had a blast.

Feeling low

So I have officially been unemployed for over two months. And it is slim pickins. I just went to the job bank for a PR professional association, and where there would normally be 4-5 jobs listed, there is now one. And this is after weeks of being blank. I have my network working for me, but there is just not a lot out there in PR.

My former employer just increased the monthly Cobra payment by $50, and I am afraid that they are going to go out of business before I get the vacation money they owe me.

I am expanding my search to retail, etc. (I've never waitressed before and am kicking myself for that now). I am also looking in Jeff City.

I have an interview tomorrow. I am trying to get pumped for it, but recognize that there are a lot of smart professionals looking for jobs right now so I don't want to get my hopes up.

Ugh. I am just emotionally spent. I try not to dwell on this, but I am just kicking myself for not accepting the other job that I was offered last spring. Or staying at the one I had. I was an idiot to go back to this employer, even though I enjoyed the work and he offered more money.

At some point I need to decide whether it is worth putting my condo on the market and moving in with my parents. I am sure at this point that I will lose money (that I don't have) on it, but it seems like I am in denial if I keep plugging money into a mortgage only to run out of money a few months down the road and have to get rid of it anyway. The thing that is really discouraging is that I feel like through the years I have made the right decisions - I didn't get into a mortgage I can't afford, I've lived frugally, going without so that I can make ends meet. Building (what I thought was) a successful career. I have never had anything less than stellar reviews from employers. I just don't get it. Logically, I know that bad things happen to good people too, but in my heart of hearts, I just trusted that things would turn out okay if I made good decisions. Now I am just not sure how things will turn out. And it is really depressing.

Sorry, I just needed to vent a little. Please pray that my interview tomorrow goes well and I am employed soon, putting this nightmare behind us. Or that something else comes along in the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I just need to stay centered on one thing:

As long as he is healthy and his life turns out well, everything will be worth it. I am a lucky lady. :)

Anyone else hoping for a snow day tomorrow?

The reward of being lazy

So let's say that HYPOTHETICALLY, you roll out of bed one Saturday morning, take a shower and then discover that all of your jeans are in the laundry, except for the pair that you wore the day before. When you got ready for bed the night before, you took your clothes, under garmets and socks off in one swift motion. So Saturday morning, as you shimmy into the jeans, you dig the socks out of the pants, put on your boots and head out to pick up your child (who went to a sleepover the night before so you are meeting the other parents at the McDonalds). You begin to walk into McDonalds and realize that you forgot your purse so retrieve it from your car. As you are walking up the sidewalk for a second time, you happen upon a pair of underwear...that looks suspiciously like one of your pairs. Plum colored, mesh hipster panties to be exact....not the basic colored Hanes. And it dawns on you that you may have worn those panties the night before. You don't pause for too long because this is all going through your head very quickly. And you are faced with a dilemma: do you quickly and discreetly pick up said underpants and stuff them in your pocket (risking that perhaps they aren't yours after all, plus the fact that someone you know might see you picking up underwear off the sidewalk), or simply ignore them and pray to all things holy that no one saw purple panties falling out of your pant leg?

Hypothetically, I chose option two. And I always wondered how underpants or socks end up in the strangest places.

Just a dating question...

Okay. So it was chilly tonight. But not freezing. Questionable on whether you need a coat. Is it totally out of line to tell a dude to stop being a pansy when he has bitched about the freezing weather 5 TIMES...and it is not that cold?! I said it in a nice way...but seriously.

This is why I'm not married. :)

Trip to Kansas City

Last weekend, Corbin and I went to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Kansas City. We got over there at about 7:30 p.m on Friday. For dinner, we made these yummy little pizzas that I recommend trying. They are super easy and relatively healthy.

You just need:

English muffins

Pizza sauce

Mozzarella cheese (shredded)

Turkey pepperoni

Begin by cutting the english muffins in half and toasting them (typically one per person). Once the muffins are toasted, place them on a cookie sheet (with the outside of the muffin on the bottom). Add pizza sauce, mozzarella and pepperoni (you can use any other toppins you like, but you may have to saute veggies first). Once your mini pizzas are prepared, broil them until the cheese is melted, and you are done. We had ours with salad.

Easy peasy and very yummy. Corbin likes to make the pepperoni in the shape of everyone's initials (see below).

We also went to Cabela's at the Legends at Village West to check things out. Corbin had fun looking around and taking pictures.

My brother got a smoker a few weeks ago, so he treated us to some very yummy smoked ribs!

I know - I take a little to much joy in photographing food before I eat it.