This Time Last Year...

1. I started my tarot blog. Happy blogaversary to it!

2. (As Sandy reminds me) I was told I was no longer needed at my job at the beloved Dysfunctional Nonprofit Organization. Yeah, but they keep sending me 800 number counseling referrals. No thanks--I'm not good enough to work for you, I won't do your volunteer work for you. I'd been expecting it--I didn't do as I was told well enough, kept advocating for the clients and volunteers and not the wishes of the Board and consultants...well, now all I regret, and continue to regret, is losing some of my most beloved friends. I guess I am not as good at writing someone who means a lot to me out of my life as they are. But, they have a philosophy of discarding people who don't "get with the program," and I do understand that it is a lot easier to have faith in your course of action if you don't keep people around who have other input. I certainly have that impulse on occasion.

3. I had given up on having a partnership relationship that fulfilled my needs and was based on mutual respect. I had decided to accept a practical, pragmatic compromise with a quirky and egotistical roommate who I had once tried to partner with.

4. I expected I was talented and useful enough to get a job with benefits, an office, and interesting tasks to do.

So, lots has changed. I have learned to work in big corporations as a contractor, thankfully found the kind of partner I always dreamed of, and found other interests besides volunteer work to fill my time (yay knitting). I also know who my real friends are (blog readers stand a huge chance of being one of those) and where it is best to focus my loyalties: my children, my partner, my parents and the friends who have stuck with me.

In other news, I saved a sweet female warbler yesterday, who was flapping frantically at the glass windows along the long walkway from the parking lot to work. I opened a sliding window, and before she left, she looked at me like, "What are you doing??" then gratefully flew to the safety of a tree. I love warblers.

I've still been sick, and missed a visit from a friend and a birthday dinner because of it. Today I haven't blown my nose once, so maybe it is fading. The sickness has slowed down my planned cleaning and straightening, but I will get on it tonight after a dental appointment and a dinner featuring quinoa and yellow cauliflower.

We still have Tina rooming with us, and have reluctantly agreed to watch her dog (which has been left at the first boyfriend's house) while she is at her anime convention. 5 dogs. Ack. This IS the most well behaved dog of the bunch, though. I convinced her, I hope, that she needs to take responsibility for the animal and make some sacrifices to take care of her. I really feel like you can't just dump a family member because they become inconvenient. Of course, that is the reason I didn't get a dog until I had a house, the kids were old enough to not kill it, and I knew I could afford its care. Cats were better for my single apartment-dwelling years. I know Tina cares for animals and even if she's in love will remember her responsibilities because it's a LIFE LESSON, right, Tina? :-) Me, being a mom-like person.

Lots to do coming up. We have picked colors for the walls in the media room, and I hope we can furnish it soon. Woo.