One positive thing. . . and more stupidness that is March

*Edited to add link

Let's start with the positive news: it's now been THREE YEARS since my dad's lung surgery. You know, the one where he kicked cancer's ASS? Yeah, that surgiversary. He's been smoke-free ever since. So, so, so proud of him.

Rock on, Daddy!

Otherwise, crappy March rages on. This is always a terrible time of year in Minnesota. Just when you think it might be spring, you hear you'd better prepare for six inches of snow.

As I think I've mentioned here, I'm on a budget diet. It's been a big change for me. I know it's good for me, but I've pretty much hated it. And I've pretty much given up shopping, or doing much social stuff because I just shouldn't or can't. And I've been picking up work on the side, because it was getting me hopefully closer to my goal faster. (Although I am working on a really fun story right now that I'm really excited about, so that's a huge positive.)

BUT THAT CAN'T HAPPEN IF MY CAR KEEPS BREAKING.

Ugh, more time of no shopping, no spending, and fixing up my car. This time it's one, possibly two, wheel bearings. There goes the cute cruiser bike I wanted to get (and thought I had the cash for).

So frustrated.

A Year Ago . . .

I had a meeting scheduled for 3:30 on a Wednesday. I sent a friend an instant message. 

"I'm getting laid off today. I just know it." 

Like all friends would, she said something along the lines of "You're paranoid. Don't worry about it." 

3:30 rolled around and my stomach flipped over. My editor led me into a back room, where the HR person was waiting. I sat down, heart pounding, but resigned to the inevitable. It was the economy, they were very sorry, now here's your forms to sign. 

I had about a half hour to collect my things and clean out my desk. Not a lot of time. I hadn't driven that day, so I couldn't carry everything home. They couriered my things to me. I'm sure it cost them a fortune. 

I worked hard the years I was there. I worked 24-hour shifts, teeth unbrushed, still in my Monday clothes when staffers filtered in at 7 on Tuesday. Seven times in one month. Not to mention the regular 12- and 14-hour shifts in between. Lesson learned? Never work a 24-hour shift again, let alone many 24-hour shifts. It won't save your job. 

The economy had already shifted enough that my layoff was not a surprise with job market in general. And there had been some meetings that had led me to believe layoffs were coming, so I wasn't totally surprised. But man, the timing was good as it could be in the situation. It was at the beginning of this seeming freefall. In hindsight, the wedding did distract me (when I wasn't crying over how I was going to pay for it), and I really got out early. Journalists all over this town have been purged from the newsrooms . . . it makes me worry for the future of journalism, especially in such important times to have good journalism. 

The continuing frustration is my two-year noncompete, which is enforced even though I was let go. Today, I've served a year. 

In that time, I have been able to strengthen my resolve to see the positives, working on becoming financially savvy, finding a new job, thinking about goals and dreams, learning about me, and even strengthening my relationship with William. 

When I woke up the morning after, I had a good cry. Then I laid there, thinking, god, what the hell am I gonna do? A little part of me—which grew over time—thought, "You never know where you'll end up." 

All Bizz

I tell ya, March is TOTALLY kicking my butt. Pray I survive it!

This headache has not left me yet. Not totally.

I have a list of to-dos so long. . . hoooo boy.

I know, I've fallen off the face of the planet blogwise. I hates that. I'm running here and there and everywhere.

But we had two really nice weather days. And it's St. Patrick's Day! One of my favorite holidays. Although the extent of my celebrating this year was a green sweater, green amber jewelry, and green eyeshadow.

And now, I must commence collapsing.

Migraine Girl

A year ago this month, my life completely changed. I was laid off. I was just a few mere months from my wedding. I'd like to write my thoughts about One Year Later in a coming post.

But one other thing happened that month. I got my first migraine.

It was a silent migraine, which means it was a migraine with no pain, but with blurred peripheral vision and sparkly spots, like someone had just taken my photo. I also had trouble seeing my computer screen. It happened a time or two, then seemed to pass. Over the year, I had a couple more big headaches, a ten-day headache, and most of them approaching migraine-level pain. Then nothing for a long time.

Last night, I had a real migraine. Knocked me on my ass. I felt completely fine until about 8:45. Then, it occrured to me that I was starting to have a headache. No big. I walked into the the bathroom to get some Advil and then--BANG--hit by a bus.

I could barely even blink my eyes. It felt like the insides of my eyelids were glued on with sandpaper. My head felt like it was about to split in half and birth an alien baby. I could hear my pulse in my ears. I couldn't look at anything, as my vision started to halo everything, and then blurred. After about 15 minutes, I crawled into my pajamas, trying to hold my skull together at the same time. Then I crawled under the covers. My pillow hurt, my sheets hurt, the sound of my blankets hurt. Did you know blankets made sounds? They do. At least when you have a migraine.

Today I feel much better, but I still have a dull ache across the back of my head, shoulders and down my jawline. it's controllable with Advil, though.

In any case, I really hate that blurry vision thing. It's weird and scary.

And that's about all from this frozen, frozen land. I tried firing March, but March did not listen.

Jerk.

Gotta love them redheads.

I dyed my hair red. Finally. I did it! It's already faded quite a bit since the appointment a couple of weeks ago, but here's a photo, taken last weekend.



And here's another, with the sun more on my hair so you can see the color perhaps a little better:



My face looks a little bloated in that one. Oh well.

I am wearing my awesomely awesome swing/trapeze coat with three-quarter sleeves. Very '60s. I have a pair of elbow-length leather gloves that William got me for my birthday, and I wear them with the coat. It makes me feel glam. And a couple people think I bear a passing resemblance to Kate Walsh.



Whatever. I can fool myself. Let me have my dream.

Orange you glad I made dinner?

So my Smalls had a rough day today so I thought I would try and make a modified version of her favorite Thai meal, papaya salad. We did not have the right ingredients so some pretty big modifications had to take place.

What we had:
Fresh Ginger
Oranges (fresh orange juice and zest)
Garlic
Boneless Ribs
Honey
Chili Sauce
Soy Sauce
Olive Oil
Honey Mustard
Spinach
Peas
Red Pepper
Carrots
Goat Cheese

I have no real understanding or methodology towards cooking. (Besides my love of watching Alton Brown.) I just see ingredients and add a little of that, a pinch of this, why not a splash of that, and hope that everything comes together in the end.

Looking at what we had I knew I didn't have the time to cook ribs as I would normally want to, so I cut them into very fine slices and set them aside in a little olive oil, salt and pepper until they came to room temperature. I then cooked them over high heat to get a good sear on each side.

I then squeezed two oranges and took the zest from half of one orange. To that I added the honey, honey mustard, minced garlic and ginger, soy sauce, and chili sauce. I added this mixture to the pan and brought it to a simmer with the seared beef. While the glaze was thickening I julienned the red pepper and carrots and placed them over a bed of spinach, along with the fresh peas. Once the orange juice and ginger mixture reduced to a sticky glaze I poured it over the lettuce.

Katie took this dish to the next level with the idea of adding crumbled goat cheese on top. The rich texture of the cheese rounded out the orange/ginger glaze.

The meal turned out fabulous and it put a smile on my Smalls' face--it was a nice end to the day to have a tasty dinner together. We both felt this was my best dinner creation ever. Not bad from pulling a bunch of random ingredients together in a half-hour.

Because I am tired and wishing for another weekend and have been working so I am not too interesting

Here's a quick list of what I've been up to:
Working late
Working some more
Trying to keep up with staying neat and tidy
Tackling my year-long to-do list
feeling like I'm on the verge of a cold
Dying my hair red (photos to come)
Hoping Molly's cousin, Maggie, pulls through her weird, unexplainable episodes
Watching Milk with my husband Friday night at the theater, then the documentary about him on Hulu today
Cheering on the Gophers' hockey team at Mariucci with Wm, Fatty, and Cindy--we got to chant a lot! They won!
Had dinner at Big 10, thanks to Fatty, revisiting my college days.
Sleeping later today
Taking a nap
Dance class
Grocery shopping (mmmm, more Molokai coffee, people I am ADDICTED, it is so good)

It's a lot of daily grind, but this week had some fun little activities this week. Feeling like I need a couple more days to myself to get life straightened out. I'm tired.

Whirlwind weeks like that just don't allow for much time to be blogging, and I miss it. Hopefully things get calmer soon.