Advancing Autumn

It's cold here. Really, really cold.

JLB tells me I'm crazy; it's not as cold as I think. But then I stick my icicle fingers down her shirt, and her screams let me know I'm not crazy after all. It's cold here.

But, I'm trying to cope. I wear layers. Usually 3, and a 4th when I go outside. My jeans have been enough so far. I should start planning for Winter, though, when I'll be needing more.

I'm trying to embrace it, too. Go outside, enjoy the sun. Take walks. Drink extra coffee. Take hot showers. Appreciate the colors of the leaves as we drive around with the heat on the lowest setting.

Today, for example: JLB has a thing for apple picking. I like it enough, but can't remember doing it since I was a Girl Scout (in other words, about 15 years back). We got the info and made a dash for the orchards today, one of the last good weekends for picking apples.

What a treat!! We went to Hawks, in Millbury, and the place was great. Small, not very busy, super nice people working there / owning the orchard. We have big eyes, and each demanded a half-bushel bag to take out. The bags are half-priced when you pick the ones off the ground (which I thought would be gross, bruised, wormy, etc.). They were stellar! In the end, JLB & me got...

You wanna guess?

Go on, guess how many pounds of apples we picked!!

Ready?

45 pounds!

Swear it to ya! We have forty-five pounds of apples in her garage right now, waiting for us to bake, boil, mash, and dry. It's going to be F-U-N!!

So, if any of you out there have an especially tasty recipe for freshly picked (or, collected, rather) apples, send it my way! Just post that recipe right into the comments box.

Go out and get your own, before the season turns too cold!!

Staying Here

So, like I said, I now live in Mass. The objective now is to stay here. Meaning, find a job, find some money, find a school, find some purpose. If I'm going to be a waste, I should go back home where I can be a waste for free. JLB will be expecting rent soon, and that's not going to be cool if I don't have an income.

I did apply to some jobs here. 2. I interviewed for one of those jobs and would LOVE to be hired. It sounds fabulous. Personally, I felt the interview went really well. It seemed like they did, too. But, who knows? They said they will call within the next 2 weeks to let me know. ack.

I'm waiting.

I know I should be applying to other jobs now. And I will! I just... don't want to find.. and maybe get.. a job that would keep me from saying 'yes' if this job calls me back. In the meantime, though, I wait.

I have a ton of things to do to keep me busy and my mind from overanalyzing every moment and every questions, deciding what was good, bad, ugly, and what may be the factor that keeps them from loving me. I have to clean up the paint supplies from my room and move in. Unpack clothes, unpack kitchen things, desk things, bathroom things, etc. Clean my mess from the house. Wash clothes. Buy food. Etc, etc, etc.

Study for the GRE so I can actually go to school in the fall (next fall, not this one, there's no option for this one. And, NO, I don't know what school) and not be a complete waste.

Find a school so I can answer people with something other than a snarl when they inquire.

Get a couple of jobs so I can afford to go to the school I've selected and applied to (NO, I don't know which schools!!!).

Goddammit. I hope they call me. I hope they hire me.

I need that job!!!!!!

Getting Here

I moved.

My new residence is Spare Room #1 at the home of Ms. JLB, Worcester, MA.

It's nifty. I painted is brown with a spring green stripe along the upper border. JLB is buying material for curtains this week, which will be a help. Then we need to drag home a bed for me, so I can stop sleeping on the floor. Maybe get a floor rug, too. Then it will be a cozy little nest for me. :)

I arrived a week ago now, on the 24th. Hugo and me made the drive out here. 12 hrs by car. It was good -we left early in the morn, crossed into Canada without a problem, and just aimed East.

The roads were awesomely smooth and, once we got out of the civilized area, gorgeously wooded. My only regret is the season; if this were a month later, the colors would have made me drive the speed limit, gasping all the while. In reality, I relied on my ignorance of conversion to the metric system to permit reckless speeding. Sorry officer! I'm American. You don't expect me to understand this, do you?

We stopped in Niagara for cheap food (it wasn't) and Canada's best Fish 'n' Chips (it wasn't). Also, of course, for a glimpse of the big falling water. I was more impressed by the numbers of foreign tourists than the water itself. As we struggled to leave, we wondered at Canada's genious for circular road signs that would never let us leave the country vs. Canada's idiocy for marking a path on their otherwise friendly roads. In the end, we made it to New York.

New York sucked. Sure, it was pretty, and the roads so glossy smooth my tires sang in joy, but the speed limit was 65 and you had to pay tolls the whole way. And, it lasted 4-Ever. New York state is, apparently, Huge. Seriously Huge.

Eventually we arrived in Massachussetts. Hoorah!! We only needed to get to exit 10A, do some twisty-turny-manuevering and we'd be there!! But Massachussetts is evil, and it's traffic system designed by a.) a moron, b.) a really mean person, or c.) someone who's never driven before. Exit 10A was about 100 miles into the state. The milage between exits 10 and 10A alone was 12 miles.

I don't remember when we arrived. I do remember my bladder being in the midst of a tantrum, my butt being too numb to help, and the darkness laughing as we missed roads and took unneccessary detours.

But we arrived. I am now an unofficial resident of Worcester, Mass.