Friday, February 12, 2010

The News Roundup: Much Ado About Pillows

Today I give you yet another set of numbered points filled with verbal wanderings and highlighted with photos of food and some new stuff I recently purchased, oh, and this cartoon:
1. I found the cartoon at
Married To the Sea and it's almost eerily fitting for what I'm about to tell you, which is this: I finally heard back from the recruiter that has been helping me try to get a job with the company that was hedging on whether or not I was going to get a second interview (remember that? it was a couple of posts ago) and it made me angry. It made me very angry. It was not good.

Apparently the reason why they are not sure that I am the right candidate is because I mentioned during the interview that MDH and I love to travel. Apparently whatever I said about our love for travel gave them the impression that I would be off gallivanting all over planet earth so frequently that I wouldn't be able to put in enough hours working for them. Um...what? THEY ARE OUT OF THEIR GODDAMN MINDS.

Frankly I don't even really remember talking about traveling much at all, except to say that I like it, when asked the question that people in interviews so often ask, "what do you like to do in your spare time?" I pretty much always answer by saying that I like to read, cook and travel in lieu of the smarty pants answers that I'm tempted to give like, beat up nuns, masturbate and cry while watching QVC and making crafts from discarded dryer lint. I certainly do not remember acting like some kind of jet-setting prima donna, as though I would demand more vacation time than what would be offered with the position.

So in addition to being angry about the whole thing, I'm terribly confused. The recruiter was angry and confused and thought they were out of their goddamn minds as well. What-evs. As far as I'm concerned these people can suck my cock. I say good day. Next issue.

2. Wednesday night my lovely friend Ladette came by for another cooking lesson. This time I showed her how to make baked mac & cheese with bacon, pan seared pork chops rubbed with brown sugar and smoked paprika (and some other spices), and then we blanched and sauteed some fresh green beans. I made her do most of the work and she did a great job...

Speaking of masturbating and crying while watching QVC, after dinner I forced her to stay and watch TV with me. She sat through Millionaire Matchmaker and 2 episodes of The Mighty Boosh before I allowed her to leave. She even pretended to laugh a little which means she's not only a good student, she's a good sport.

3. Around September it dawned on me that the already shabby and stained toss pillows in the den were beginning to disintegrate and smell a little ripe. Those pillows get a great deal of abuse from us because we use them not only for decoration and back support, but since the den often performs double duty as a dining room, we also end up using the pillows as TV trays and placemats. Even if I didn't mention the drool, spilt beer and various other cat and human related fluids they have accidentally soaked up over the years you should be getting the picture - these pillows were exhausted.

After all this time I couldn't bring myself to spend the money on new toss pillows because I'm not working right now and the expense seemed rather decadent. Yet I couldn't stop obsessing about replacing them. It was a silent obsession because it's certainly not the sort of purchase that I can plan out and discuss in great detail with MDH. He has made it clear, typically via rolled eyes and grunting, that he is not interested whenever I attempt to bring up all things decorative. Especially when money is tight. If it were up to him we would not have new toss pillows (or anything nice) and in fact I might even venture to guess that I could have replaced the toss pillows with old horse blankets stuffed with dirty kleenex and cream cheese and he probably wouldn't notice the difference.

Anyhoo... I shopped and shopped but stopped short of actually buying anything because good toss pillows, or at least the ones I'm always drawn to, tend to be ridiculously expensive. I could never justify spending the money and I could not find a way to compromise my toss pillow ideals, namely: There must be 4 in total, they must be of a certain size (large enough to use as a TV tray or placemat), they must somehow be washable, and they must all be in a matching color or pattern that have (to me) a certain je ne sais quoi.

I knew that I'd know it when I saw it and late last month I saw "it" at CB2, or more specifically the CB2 catalog (because do you think there is a store like CB2 anywhere near the Tundra? No.). They arrived a few weeks ago and they are nice. I mean all cotton with a down pillow insert and removable washable cover nice. For $14.95 each.
My nook...


    The loveseat...

    I want to decorate the rest of the house in this color scheme. I don't think that MDH will notice. (Please pardon our hideous paneling).


4. This afternoon I really wanted to get out of the house so I racked my brain and rifled through the utility closet and pantry trying to think of something we needed to buy so I'd have an excuse to go shopping. All I could come up with was paper towels so I went to Target to get some. On the way home I decided to troll around in TJ Maxx for awhile where I found these big sterling hoop earrings:

    You try holding your hair back, turning your head sideways and taking a picture of yourself without looking like a total weirdo. Not so easy is it? Anyway... blogworld, meet my mole.

5. How could I forget? My poor little kitten (read 16 pound behemoth grown cat) has been sick. He is sneezing, has a runny nose, inflamed tonsils and a general malaise that is very out of character. The vet gave us some anti-biotic and some goo to help him digest hairballs and he seems to be feeling better, but a rather comical side effect of this illness is that he also seems to have laryngitis, so when he's not busy sneezing and going gack, gack, gack all over the place he does this weird thing that MDH have started calling the silent meow. It's really pathetic.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

This entry made me nod my head off there was so much agreement. I just had to reattach it!

Firstly, WTF about the travel thing. WTF? Really? This is unacceptable tripe. I'd be furious too. Also, I know this is of no consolation to you, but next time I have to have an interview for something I am NEVER mentioning travel, even though it's my favourite thing ever. I'm going to be as boring as possible. "Knitting and origami and never going anywhere!" I'm going to say.

Also? Throw pillows as food trays? I DO THAT! I feel less shame now I know you do too. I pick special psychedelic patterns that hide the stains.

And I made some kick ass mac and cheese with bacon last week myself. Improvised! But it worked great.

Poor kitten. I hope he's better soon.

Oh and great earrings!

See? NOD, NOD, NOD, NOD, NOD.

SkylersDad said...

What a great post! I think the job interview thing is always a real challenge, but what they did to you isn't just wrong. It is borderline against the law!

And I hope your cat gets better, you don't need anything on your new pillows.

Anonymous said...

"Where do you see yourself in five years..." Oh, no wonder I never did well in interviews. I've always thought they said "five beers." I get it now.

WendyB said...

#1 -- I really wish they wouldn't ask any personal questions in interviews. Why do they have to know your hobbies? It seems like the answer will be "wrong" 9 out of 10 times.

The Lady Who Doesn't Lunch: said...

Veg - great minds think alike my love. Travel, cooking and reading are my 3 pat answers to that stupid question that is really nobodies business anyway... Poor throw pillows - by the time MDH and I are finished with them they are more like throw-up pillows. Gross. Sorry. Turtle is already doing much better.

Skydad - thanks! I run into a lot of borderline and sometimes flat out inappropriate questions when I'm interviewing - but what can you do? I don't want to be an asshole about it so I just smile and answer the questions. People have asked me if I have kids, what neighborhood I live in, etc... so far nobody has asked me how much I weigh or how old I am, but I HAVE had interviewers infer that they like candidates who have more "active" lifestyles and one guy came out and said that they preferred someone who was "young and fresh", implying possibly that I'm old and stale? It's a crapshoot every time and I never know how I will unknowingly fuck it up. I want my mommy.

Kirbs - it is very difficult for me to supress my inner smartass when I'm interviewing - especially because I'm nervous and I often try to cover it up with humor. Bad idea.

WendyB - Here here! It's none of your business folks. Honestly I think most of the time people forget that it's an interview and not a cocktail party so they are just trying to break the ice. Other times I think folks are just plain stupid.

Renaissance Woman said...

I am agree about the travel comment. WTF is right! Those people are crazy. Love CB2 and why don't they have a store by anybody? But I love the new pillows. Hang in there about the job...I am sure that it is tough to wait. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Churlita said...

I love the throw pillows and I think you're better off not at a job where the people that run the company are douchers.

AlienCG said...

Hi, nice place you got here, Churlita sent me over. I am all too familiar with the frustration of the job hunt. I was supposed to be the perfect fit for a job back in December (boy, they talked me up good), but then kept asking for more references. I have been out for 14 months.

I may have to ask for your baked mac 'n' cheese with bacon (mmm, bacon) recipe.

Linka72 said...

Geez Lady..I couldn't help but jugde and chastise you on those pillows..I LOVE THEM..but I'm such a cheap ass, I could never pay that much for them..Are you a "crafty" person?..I hate that word but anyway..I go to the fabric store and troll the clearance fabrics..then the clearance pillow inserts..and I swear fo' lawd, I hot glued some pillows together that EVERYBODY swears I paid a million bucks for..really, you can't tell they're half assed glued together either. I guess I could have sewn them..but taht would have been too much like THE RIGHT THING TO DO..jeebus, I'm rambling.