And now, for the Day Job news

It's about to become a "permanent" day job.

My new boss told me Monday that he wants to extend a job offer to me as soon as he and our HR department can work out the details. He considers it an issue of fairness, because he's confident I'm a good fit for what he needs in an assistant, and he doesn't want me without benefits any longer.

Friends, I've been waiting for this since I got laid off from my LAST hospital job in 2003. While I've considered/been considered for other kinds of jobs (including full-time church positions), nothing's worked out. As Arsenio Hall used to say, "It's TIME!"

Since it's not a done deal yet, I was hesitant to post anything. But this really is good news. When I actually accept the job offer, however, I doubt I'll need to post an update; y'all will hear me clear around the hemisphere, I suspect.

Happy Belated Second Blog Birthday to the Psaltery!

The actual date was last Friday -- yes, the 13th!

Guess I was too busy to mark the day, or even think about it, until today. And with me too sick with a tummy bug for real cake, I guess this is the closest I can get to enjoying a treat in honor of the occasion.

Thanks for continuing to read, my friends.

How I'm Doing (for Paisley)

Hi, dear sister, and thanks for asking!

It's very late, and I should be sleeping, but we had a bit of a crisis at church this afternoon (a minor sought refuge with us because her mother was beating her--police involvement, then my rehearsal and the pastor's youth activity night...I stayed late debriefing with the pastor, then I had to go to my least favorite place--Wal-Mart--for something I was completely out of and can't find anywhere else--YUCK!) ---- ANYway, I'm kind of hyped up and can't sleep.

I'm finally working again, such as it is. So-so pay. It's a little distance from me, but in the light-traffic direction from where I live. "Fur piece" from church (as we say around here), though, on those nights when I have to go straight from one job to another. It's for a local government office. I accepted the assignment as a temp-to-hire, administrative assistant position. But it's a straight temp assignment, not longer than four months, as a cashier. NOT what I signed on for, so I'm putting out feelers again even as I'm continuing to work. I really despise the deceit that's so rampant in much of the staffing industry. Clients deceive the agencies, and both clients and agencies deceive the temps. Why not? We're expendable.

But again, I am glad for the work. I was out for nearly three months and things got pretty desperate financially.

Church is very good. Give me a little longer, and I'll try to post an entry about Easter worship. It was VERY good.

So all the things that really matter are going pretty well. I'm down tonight, but trying not to stay there.

Actually, I'm now going to try to get to bed.

Thanks again for asking, Paisley. I'll drop by your place and ask you the same question, or if you beat me to it, I'd love to hear how you're doing.

Thank you for caring, friends

Just a brief note to thank my readers for your concerns and prayers.

The depression has been seriously bad this past month or so. I found I simply couldn't meet my day-to-day obligations at church and day job, and blog as well. That well was dry, dry, dry. Sorry I just up and stopped writing.

The day job situation was not good at all; I accepted a long-term fill-in position at the same company where I thought I had a permanent job in the works the beginning of last year, until my boss was fired and I was laid off. It was for a type of work I don't enjoy, for less money than even the state of Texas required me to accept (vs. unemployment), and I had a couple of very demoralizing experiences on that assignment. But it's over now. There's good in every bad situation.

I had another no-interview turn-down happen recently, this one at my pastor's home church; they were looking for a communications secretary and my pastor was certain they'd consider me the ideal candidate. Not even an acknowledgment when I sent in my resume, and a brush-off when I followed up by phone.

Now, I have an interview scheduled (the first of those in a long time) for Monday morning at a large pharmaceutical company's headquarters, for a position of executive admin to their VP of Security. I have higher test scores and a more comprehensive skill set than the other two candidates, according to the new agency that's sending me. This company (client) is notoriously difficult to get a foot in their door, so I'm glad for the opportunity and hoping for the best. The position is vacant because the previous exec assistant just retired, so the VP is clearly not looking for a Barbie-doll kind of candidate. I've dropped enough weight that my old-but-elegant plum suit fits again (now that it's too cold here to wear the new blouse-enhanced 3/4-sleeve interview outfit), and I'm headed out to do Sunday prep work at church and will make a swing by Steinmart to treat myself to a new scarf to spiff it up; the collarless neckline requires either that or a choker-length necklace, and I like the softness of a scarf better. If all else fails, my VERY old pink paisley silk scarf will work again. And my Aigner burgundy pumps will be perfect with the outfit. Truth to tell, I haven't had an actual interview since June. I've kept wardrobing for one, but not getting it. Yeah, this feels a little more like it.

If I get this job, the pay will be such that I can afford to meet my obligations AND take the occasional time off for things like seeing a doctor and a dentist. What a novel concept! It will nearly match the best hourly rate I've ever made. The downside is that I could be temping for up to a year. But heck, that's what I've been doing, piece-meal, for over four years now, so what's the diff? (The pay, that's what.) Not to count an unhatched chicken, but I really do want the job.

Anyway, back to the no-blogging thing. I'm not going to make any commitment to myself or to my few readers to write here regularly. Thanks again for caring and to Paisley and Singing Owl for commenting. I'll try to write something periodically just to prove I'm still alive and kicking.

Happy 2008, all.

Back again

Hello. It's the amazing disappearing Psalmist, re-emerging from blog silence.

I thought about concocting a story about a top-secret mission to eradicate some evil or other, but then realized I wouldn't be able to say anything about it if it were so, so that's out.

I thought about being humorous, but I'm not especially funny these days.

I thought about just yanking down the blog altogether because I obviously am not spending any time with it. But I don't really want to do that, either.

The truth is, a lot of "stuff," some of it good, has been happening, and I'm simply overwhelmed.

I've added an additional ensemble with rehearsal on another weeknight. This means I have three weeknight rehearsals, with a fourth ensemble/rehearsal once per month. My official lineup is:

SUNDAY
Early service with ensemble warm-up prior
Warm-up rehearsal between services when "extra" group(s) sing/ring
Late service with choir warm-up prior
(Give a private voice lesson right after lunch; GOOD student)
Evening service - no music responsibilities except putting out books
(Half-hour for community supper)
Pre-school choir rehearsal
School-age choir rehearsal
Lock-up/close-up facilities

MONDAY
Day job (more about that below)
Adult handbell rehearsal

TUESDAY
Day job
Youth handbell rehearsal

WEDNESDAY
Day job
Adult choir rehearsal
(Private voice lesson -- for a flaky student)

THURSDAY
Day job
Monthly early service ensemble rehearsal
Semi-monthly administrative council meeting

FRIDAY
Day job
OFF! in the evening

SATURDAY
OFF! (Except when something's going on at church)

There is a lot going on. Sometimes it helps to see it in a list like that.

As for the day job, it's really in flux. I was out of day-job work for most of the month of October. I applied for unemployment benefits, but though my church income doesn't "count" toward qualifying for benefits, I'm still required to report it so that the state can pay me less. I am getting a little bit -- I say am getting because I haven't got it all yet. I've applied for a position at a local non-profit agency and I'm rather excited about it. One of the members of my church, whose daughter's wedding I coordinated this summer, suggested I apply. She's a VP of the agency. There is hope...

Meanwhile, I reluctantly accepted a receptionist position through an agency at the company where, the first of the year, I fully expected to temp into a dream job. That ended when my boss there was suddenly and unexpectedly fired. Anyway, the regular receptionist, who's been there over 15 years, had major surgery. I could have turned down the assignment, as it pays less than the minimum the state said I had to accept, but the receptionist was extraordinarily kind to me on a number of occasions and it's a way to both work and do something good for her. I don't like the work -- busy telephones take way too much out of me and make me super-nervous -- but it IS work. Bummer, though...the agency originally called me frantic for a same-day beginning to the assignment and said it was for just a few cents per hour lower than I made there the last time, which was fine. So I accepted and was getting dressed to go in, then I got a call and they were reducing the rate to more than $1.50 an hour less. That's where I got reluctant. Unprofessional, on both the agency's and the company's part. I let stuff like that get to me.

During my unemployment, I had several interviews. One was for a hospital system and I decided I needed to splurge on a suit, because all of my suits are many years old and/or don't fit me very well. Found one on sale and snapped it up; I've gotten a lot of compliments on it. (A classic look with some updated details. See photo image. And no, it is NOT a photo of me. It's the model in the online catalog of a store that begins with the same initials as Jesus Christ's, and ends with a homophone of the smallest denomination of American coin.)
Anyway, I've worn it exactly three times, and was going to take it to be cleaned, only to discover that the side seams of the skirt are disintegrating. That is, the fabric is fraying out into the body of the skirt from both sides of the seam. It is beyond repair. This was a well-fitting suit. In fact, it was slightly on the loose side; not tight in any way. I did nothing to cause this problem. But now I have to go back to the store to do battle and see if I can return it after three wearings...then wonder if there's ANYTHING that will not fall apart that fits me for anywhere near the same price...since I have very little money at this point to spend on something more expensive. And I do want to dress impeccably for the non-profit agency interview. I'm a class act and I want to dress that way, too.

(Warning to the women out there, considering buying garments made of the new synthetic loose-weave tweed stuff: DON'T BUY IT, at least not until you've checked the construction very carefully and tested the durability of the seam areas.)

Meanwhile, back at the interviews: I didn't get the new suit hospital position. I also didn't get one I applied for on my own, at a WordPerfect law office. I let the person who gave me their proof-reading test take it from me before I was finished and therefore I missed too much on it -- duh! It was not a good experience and showed me that the attorney, who wasn't even there that day, let someone totally inept screen his applicants in a very unprofessional way. Probably just as well, but that second "wearing of the suit" went the way of the first. (Another agency underbid mine on the hospital job, and my agency didn't even bother to call me to tell me. It took me three calls to them to find out.)

And on top of everything else, there have been trials here at my apartment complex. It's an older complex and getting less and less safe. With no warning, the management changed the first of September and it wasn't until this past Thursday that I found out the municipal housing authority had purchased the property. With being out of work, the money I'd been hoping to accumulate so I could afford to move the end of this month (when my lease was up) got spent to pay bills instead. I lost the $50-off any month's rent voucher that was part of my last renewal incentive because there was no notice of the pending sale. They were going to renege on my reserved parking place that it took me 4 1/2 years to qualify for and which is a safety issue for me. But finally, because my options were limited, I met with the new manager Thursday right after work and she discussed the issues. She decided she would keep the existing reserved spaces and was negotiating with the towing company on authorizing towing when others park in the spaces (an ongoing problem, especially since the office personnel were telling new residents they COULD park in them). But my rent went up significantly, though it's still very reasonable for the size of my unit in this market. The handwriting's on the wall, though. I need to move next year, before I'm forced to because of income restrictions they're almost certainly going to impose in 1-2 years. But I signed a new lease. There's something oddly reassuring about that. (In my first phone conversation with the manager, after I learned about the pending elimination of reserved parking, I said I'd have to re-think living someplace where a valuable "perk" of being a long-term resident was not going to be honored, she said she'd be glad to let me out of my lease with no penalty so I could move immediately. That did NOT leave me feeling like she valued long-term tenants on the property. Fortunately, she had a very different attitude when I visited in person.)

Well, that's WAY more than I planned to blog about. But it's the stuff that's been distracting and troubling me.

What I do want to be sure to include is this: Tomorrow we celebrate All Saints' Sunday. In addition to Holy Communion and remembering our departed saints, we're also celebrating the baptism of our newest child, the little sister of one of my favorite children, a four-year-old boy who makes me smile every time we meet. (He's also the boy who ran to his Nana and mom very upset last Saturday night at Trunk or Treat, because he'd seen me fall on the parking lot and hurt myself, saying "Miss [Psalmist] is hurt! Mom, is she going to be OK? I'll miss her if she can't come to choir." --How sweet is that?!) I love the reminder that all of life is a cycle of birth and death, that we're surrounded by that great cloud of witnesses as we run our race to obtain the prize.

Our God is VERY good!

An Update

Zorra at Red Heeler Ranch has kindly asked me how I'm doing. It finally dawned on me that it's been nearly a month since I posted anything. So thanks for "checking up" on me, Zorra. Here's an update for you and my other readers.

I did not get an interview for the position I was looking into. Well, that's not quite accurate. During a follow-up call to be sure my resume was received, the pastor conducted a telephone interview. He didn't call it that and it was not at all formal, but questions asked and answered fit that description. A few weeks later, the church decided to expand their organist's duties to include leadership of the music ministry and direction of their chancel choir. Having been in their sanctuary, I see this as a recipe for disaster, unless their pianist does all the accompanying, speaking from an architectural perspective. (The choir cannot see the organist on the bench at all.) So whatever their goals in filling this position, hiring a skilled, experienced choral conductor and proven builder of music ministries was not at the top of that list. And I suppose it's a bit of a relief for me to not be answering to a pastor of my own generation who thought "I need to know, are you one of those women's libbers?" was an appropriate question to ask a professional candidate, even in jest. "I simply believe that all people should be treated with dignity and respect" was my answer, by the way. (And for what it's worth, the organist is a woman, also, who's been on their staff for ten years.)

We're beginning to gear back up for fall at church. It's somewhat of a relief to know that I'm there long-term. Our worship calendar is set through the first half of January, I have a lineup of anthems for the adult choir through the end of Ordinary Time, and I've settled on an adult Christmas cantata, which we'll present in the evening and during which the children will act out their annual pageant. I'm praying right now about whom to ask to be director for the children, since with the combined forces it's too much for me to do. Delegation is NOT a detestable word! Really, it's not. (I keep telling myself this.) No more sewing of extra costumes at the last minute when I could be attending to other equally important details. Two are better than one, as the Good Book says...

I'm in long-term limbo with my current day job situation. I like it pretty well. I'm supporting the property management department of a locally-headquartered national commercial realty firm. They're still one admin support person down from full-strength, and even so, there is no sign they're going to hire me. One property manager in particular has clicked with me quite well and makes no secret of wanting me hired permanently, so perhaps there's some hope. Still, it's difficult to be in the position of not being able to go to the doctor without taking unpaid time off, not having a retirement plan to join, having no long-term disability plan, and knowing that if I were to get seriously ill, I'd lose my job. Adds to the stress in a big way. (The lack of these things is one reason I was motivated to go after the full-time church position. Believe me, it was NOT the warmth of the congregation when I visited...BRRRRRR! --I can say these things now that I'm not in the running anymore.)

But we've started adult rehearsals again...what a joy to have a solid bunch of singers leading on the hymns again! We're starting "light" so that we have time to prepare some of our more challenging anthems properly. But I can hardly wait for Alice Parker's arrangement of "Be Thou My Vision" tomorrow...heavenly!!!

Still tired, but two consecutive weeks of vacation from church did help considerably. All in all, I'm OK. Actually, I'm more than that. God is with me, so how could I be anything BUT well?

"No storm can shake my inmost calm
while to that Rock I'm clinging.
Since love is Lord of heaven and earth,
how can I keep from singing?"
(Robert Lowry)

Resurfacing with More This 'n' That

Hello to my readers. I've been "busy with much serving," as well as down with some stomach bug or other over last weekend and into the beginning of this week (yuck!). So I ought to at least do a little updating:

At long last, the traded-in car got towed (presumably by the dealership's wholesaler). It was still a day later than I was promised it would be gone the last time I talked to someone there, but my parking place is now my parking place again (except for when the purple Altima repeatedly gets parked there, despite my written request that the driver stop doing this. The next call is to the towing company).

I still haven't finished my letter to the owner of the dealership. I'm waiting until I have my payment book and final confirmation from the finance company that I do indeed have a loan with them. (Thank goodness I still have another month before the first payment is due...) I do not want the dealer to be able to retaliate by demanding that I return the car to them. Besides, I think this final ridiculously long wait for such confirmation needs to be added to the rest of my documentation and included in the letter. It *will* be a doozy, but I promise to remember I'm a Christian--honest, I do! :D

My church has provided me with a laptop and a flash drive, and it's a (mostly) whole new world. I can do my weekly informal service presentations at home. There are some problems, such as not being able to unlock the full 60-day free MS Office trial because HP didn't provide that key, and Microsoft, true to form, displays "This page is not available. Please try back later" when I follow their steps to get the key online. I'm quickly running out of non-key uses (total of 25), because every single time I access ANY MS Office application, it counts against that total. Yikes! And they warn you at the MS home page, that you can't get the key over the phone. IOW, "Don't bother us with our mediocrity. Make do until we take our sweet time fixing things. We're #1, so we don't have to try at all." (Believe me, if we could have crossed over to Mac, I would have done it in a heartbeat. But I didn't make the decisions, and to be fair, it would have been disastrous because of all the ridiculously old PC-based applications our staff and volunteers still have to use.) But anyway, it's a breeze to create the presentations and pop that flash drive into the sanctuary's projector-linked computer (on the back, of course, since it's so old). I won't even go into the nightmare that was my previous M.O. of doing those presentations, which I'd been forced into last fall when the office hard drive crashed irreparably and our volunteer computer guy never thought it was important to recreate the ability to burn data CDs. Since I didn't have administrator privileges, I couldn't load anything. But that's all in the past. I am the laptop's administrator, and it will gradually get everything I need for worship and music ministry, even if I have to buy it all myself. (I've been promised that with the new year, that won't be necessary.)


I'm also able to use it for a nice little personal thing: watching DVDs. I don't have a DVD player, if you can believe that, and haven't replaced my finicky VHS player. I've bought a few DVDs from Half-Price Books and have rented a couple. Of the three I watched: Elizabeth I (with Helen Mirren in the title role) is superb, if historically very inaccurate at times; The Devil Wears Prada was a fluffy bit of guilty fun, and A Prairie Home Companion was just plain strange--and I'm a PHC fan from WAAAY back. Disappointing; glad I only rented that one. In the wings are Little Miss Sunshine and two old favorites for the next rainy day when I'm not booked (sometime in late May, I believe): Steel Magnolias and The Princess Bride.

Children's choirs start back up this Sunday night. But first, I'm singing at the United Methodist Men's Sweetheart Banquet tomorrow night ("So in Love" and "My Funny Valentine"--think I can hack it as a sultry torch song singer??). Next weekend is my first wedding as the church's wedding coordinator, though the two this month have already been largely handled and I just need to be there and field any emergencies that may arise. Then there are two in March and two in May. This is more than we usually have (more like 2 or 3 a year)--seems we're now the popular place in town to have a wedding. Some have direct or distant family connections to the church, but a couple of them are for brides who think our church is prettier or bigger or something better than their other options. So the end of last week, the pastor and I were frantically trying to get the new policies presentable and republished--the old ones were ridiculously out-of-date and unsightly from much reproduction. I will actually have more responsibility than the previous wedding coordinator did. I asked her for her "J-Lo" velcro wedding emergency waist belt, but she said she didn't have one. (If you've never seen the otherwise forgettableThe Wedding Planner, that reference will make no sense. Suffice it to say that the perfect wedding planner is able to whip out Evian in a spray bottle to refresh a distraught M.I.A. F.O.B ["The F.O.B. {Father of the Bride) is M.I.A. {Missing in Action)"] once he's found on the basement stairs weeping for his little girl, more than a little tipsy. All her other emergency stuff, from nail polish remover to mouthwash, is contained in a remarkable wide belt that velcros around her rib cage beneath her dignified pale blue suit.)

The day job is going well. I really do think this is going to work out long-term. The scope is getting more enormous, as I'm entrusted with more and more of the clean-up of a massive data migration to a new database. There's enough work just with that for several more months, then there's the fact that they've hired 4 new professional engineers just since I started a month or so ago. That means that someone's going to have to enter data and maintain this database, hence the indication that there's enough work for a permanent position. There are overlaps with IT, Marketing, and HR. The people there are friendly and very, very smart, and a lot of fun to work with. Their respect for each other and for me is refreshing. I had lunch the other day with the founder's (now Chairman of the Board) admin assistant, who's been with him for over 20 years. People really do retire from this company after all or the majority of a career there. I wouldn't mind being one of them, though I also deeply long to be working full-time in the church. I guess I'm "selling myself" to work where I can get paid, eh?

And with that, I'm going to call it a night and get some sleep, so I can be ready to sing Cole [Porter] and Richard [Rogers] tomorrow. Better spruce up my luscious deep red velvet ensemble and tend to my manicure. (What manicure?! I forgot to mention that before the main numbers we singers present, I'm doing strolling violin! Can't have long enough nails to really call it a manicure, can I?)

This 'n' That

I've been doing other things, and leaving things kind of hanging here at the Psaltery. So to catch myself up (along with the handful of you who keep tabs on this blog), here's what's up:

The piano debut was wonderful last Sunday! It happened on just the right day. We had a whole bunch of visitors (usually a few, but way more than the norm). The sermon was even better than our pastor's usual excellent preaching. (She preached from the Epistle lesson on what it means in the larger church to be the body of Christ and what she sees as our unique strengths as a congregation and a denomination within that body.) Despite our having had no final rehearsal during the week, due to our ice storm, the choir did a very good job with the anthem. We had a couple join the congregation.

And the piano! Dear Sister Pianist can actually play the piano, piano now! (Musical pun: "piano" means "softly," something it was nearly impossible to do with our old piano anymore.) It sounded fabulous loud, too! She played her already-chosen service music, which turned out to be a great variety of style and technique. The hymn accompaniments were great as well. And after the service, both she and one of our oldest members, who is completely "unschooled" but plays the most remarkable jazz-style piano I've ever heard, gave an impromptu demonstration recital. People did not want to leave.

I even did something completely out of character for me. Sister Pianist hadn't yet heard the instrument played in the sanctuary; it's so different to hear an instrument sitting "out in the space" than while one is playing it. After our early service, I asked her if she wanted to. She said she really would, so after a proper warning, I played one of the few things I knew I could get through (a Bach prelude). For the umpteenth time, she cried (and I don't think mainly from how poorly I executed the little piece). She said it's been a week of tears of joy over this wonderful gift.

During the choir's prayer time at the end of this week's rehearsal, I heard such wonderful perspectives on it. God worked this out for us. People's hearts are in the right place. This has never been one of those churches that considers itself the pinnacle of musical performance, but nothing about this project has even hinted at pride. They seem to agree with me, that the piano is a high-quality tool for the ministry that is worship. In worship, we encounter God and are equipped to go out and help others encounter God. Our old piano was a distraction from the encounter. The new one permits Sister Pianist to help us all make the best music we can.

So...on to other things. The new car saga still isn't over, and I'm still compiling a doozy of a letter to the owner of the dealership, to which I will allow him time to respond before I contact the Better Business Bureau and the state Attorney General. I am absolutely disgusted over the whole thing. I'm now on my third lending agreement, which is not yet final. After I got a call last weekend telling me financing was being redone to the tune of $100 less per month, I went in as scheduled. The guy who'd called me wasn't in; no one knew where he was. Instead, his boss presented me with paperwork for $15 MORE per month, got outrageously condescending with me when I protested, and still had no more satisfying answer than, "Oh, I think [missing call who called me] was just calling the wrong person. I know I do that at least once a day." He called the wrong person, all right...the person who will actually do something about this ridiculously bad business. As for thinking he was talking to a different person, HE called ME, asked for me by my name, at my phone number, so I don't think so. The problem is, after very reluctantly signing the papers (it was either that or give them the car back and walk home), I called him at the dealership the next day. He still insisted he had a much better deal for me, and to let him call me back. I gave him 2 days, and no call. Called again, left a message that I was calling back. Still no call. In the meantime, another gent got involved and said HE'D call me back about the fact that they STILL--now three weeks later--have not picked up my old car. They have the signed-over title, so it's no longer mine, but it's still sitting in my reserved parking place. (I'm about to call the complex's towing service, since it's parked illegally. But that would be spiteful, so I'm restraining myself.) HE didn't call me back, either.

What has me the angriest, though, is what I finally found out about why there's such a run-around on the loan. My day job is a temp-to-hire position. I'd just begun that assignment when the old car broke down and I went into the dealership. I was very up-front about it. I suspected they'd turn me down because of it; I'm not that naive. But they've decided their niche in the market is "we approve everyone." Well, on the second loan thing, I got a call from a representative of the lender. I wasn't expecting this--the wonderful, now-fired salesman never told me to expect it--but no problem, I took the call and answered his questions. One of these was, "Are you working as a temp?" I told him I was, and the timeline on which I expect to be hired permanently. I asked if this was problematic, and he said absolutely not, to enjoy my new car and to look for the payment coupon book in the mail shortly. So I REALLY was unprepared when I went in and found out they'd supposedly rejected the financing agreement because of my working as a temp. The financing boss-guy who dropped the $115 more per month bombshell on me told me, point-blank, I was not allowed to tell anyone from any lender that I'm a temp, at least not if I want to keep the car. His exact words were, "If your honesty is more important to you than keeping the car, tell them whatever you want to. But if you want to stay in the car, you cannot say you're a temp." He was not happy when I replied that just as with the previous lender, if I'm asked, I will not lie. But I won't. Yes, my integrity IS more important to me than staying in a car I didn't especially want in the first place, which is turning out to be horribly more expensive than I should prudently try to afford. (I *can* afford it, especially when the job becomes permanent, but that's a dangerous thing for a temp to count on. And it's now over $100 more per month than what I pay in rent! There's something VERY wrong with that picture.) Most of all, I hate that I allowed the circumstances to suck me into agreeing to anything with this bunch of arrogant, condescending, lying young thieves who can't be bothered to even return my phone calls.

Meanwhile, I've been suffering from a rotten head cold with a pounding sinus headache. At long last, however, I've received my separation paperwork copies (only 4 months after I requested it!), so now I can finally make an appointment with the VA clinic and maybe get a bunch of stuff taken care of. By then, the cold will be history. It's good to know, though, that in the event of a serious illness, I won't be forced into bankruptcy because of the medical bills. I continue to pray for my fellow uninsured Americans who don't have the saftety net of the VA or something similar. VA care isn't free, but it's very affordable. It was good to have today completely off, so I could rest and take OTC stuff to help things drain. Am I ever going to sound like a frog in the morning!

Speaking of which, I'd better stop blogging and start sleeping. 5:30 comes mighty early on Sundays!

Blessings to all you dear readers, and may you in turn be used by God to bless the world.

This 'n' That

Well, as I sit here at the start of one of our famed ice storms (we get a couple of these per winter), I thought I'd blog a bit about some things that have occurred in the past month or so. The Advent and Christmas blogging was fun, but I didn't get in much from "life as I know it" here in my little corner of the world.

One incident from late Advent still warms my heart. It happened during our annual Children's Christmas Program. The pastor asked for two things: base it on teaching the children familiar Christmas carols (because they don't learn them in school anymore), and let the pageant part of it be a simple "bathrobe pageant." Well, I honored the first request, but given the state of children's bathrobes these days, went with the church's costumes instead.

For reasons I won't get into here, my school-age children were all angels (the girls) and dual-duty shepherds and "wise guys" (the boys and my one adult male helper). Our adult female helper was the narrator. The pre-school children, of whom I have very few, were Mary, Joseph, and shepherds. Our Mary was our only regularly-attending little girl, and she is a doll caretaker extraordinaire! Only that morning in worship, she'd seen her school-age sisters as angels, and a high school senior girl as Mary. She was so excited that we used the same manger and stable and "baby Jesus" (doll) as the "big kids." Our little Joseph was a trouper. Mary alternated between "loving on" the doll (Texas term, I'm sure you get it) and gazing adoringly at it once she'd laid it back down in the manger, and Joseph would sit for a while, then stand for a while, mostly gazing (rather sternly) at the manger or at the doll in Mary's arms. But the youngest child in the pageant went into meltdown. He was Joseph's younger brother, the cutest shepherd I've ever seen. But as his preschool group stood in front of the school-age group, singing "Star Child," he started to cry. Narrator and "senior wise guy" couldn't get to him easily. Mom and Dad were halfway back in the sanctuary. So I, being only a few steps away directing, scooted on up to him and picked him up. He cried on my shoulder until Mom got to him.

You have to understand: I have no children and was not enough older than my two twin brothers to have ever had much child comforting in my past. This is one of those rare, precious moments when a child has trusted me for comfort. I hate that he was distressed. But I'm so grateful to have been able to offer comfort to him. Really, there's nothing like a barely-three-year-old snuggling against you, trusting that you love him. Oh, yes, little T., I do love you! (still misting up, thinking about this!)

Now, to totally shift gears here, I have had a convergence of good stuff, not so good stuff very recently. The end of December, I gave two weeks' notice on a three-month temp assignment in order to accept a temp-to-hire assignment for much better money and for a dream combination of skills. (It's going very, VERY well, btw.) The night after the first day on the job, I went down to the church (in a neighboring town) and headed home very late. Only a few miles into the trip, the car gave both an electical system warning and hit the danger zone on the temp gauge. I pulled over and let it cool down. Started up again, and the electrical light stayed on. When it started getting too hot again, I pulled over. Finally after a couple more stop-and-go legs on this odyssey, I was at a convenience store. When all cooled down again, I checked all the fluid levels, added water and antifreeze and a quart of oil, and finally made it home. There's really no one near home for me to call, so I limped the car to work; it did OK. But on the way to a shop after work--this was a week ago Friday--it conked out completely. I called my trusty towing guy and after over TWO HOURS (busy night), he picked it up and towed me home. There was NO MONEY to repair the poor ten-year-old thing. This happened at the WORST time!

So the next day, I started researching some options. I was about to be making the best money I've ever made, but after just two days on the new job (and starting out as temp there to boot), I didn't make a good "risk" on buying another car. Plus, all I had to put down was the poor disabled trade-in. I had the TV on for "background noise," and finally realized one of those annoying car sales infomercials was on. It was for a dealer near me, promising no matter what car you want (new Suzukis, or other makes of pre-owned), for as low as $88 per month, they'd put you in a car. If you were one of their first 30 callers, you got an extra $1K over book value on your trade or $500 pocket/extra for down payment. That latter, I was sure counting on. It was either them or a prominent pre-owned "we finance" place within walking distance, so I called to prequalify, then went to the dealership. They didn't know a thing about the "first 30 caller" thing but assured me the dealership would take care of that. I was looking for a 2-3 year old car, perhaps a Honda or Toyota. The ONLY car they'd sell me, after hours there, was an '07 Forenza, for an outrageously high monthly payment. And nobody still had any answers about the "first 30 caller" issue. Never got it. I asked about the "we'll put you in the car you want." The clueless salesman said that was what the bank would qualify me for. Essentially it was take it or leave it. And here we were, now dark out, and me nearly a mile from home without a car.

I'd been praying, hard, ever since the car started acting up, that God would help me work all this out. I could NOT lose the new job due to car woes. I very reluctantly agreed to the only deal I could seem to get. To add insult to injury, the income verification documents I took in Monday at lunch, didn't fly. (I was up-front with the salesman and the finance manager about the job being temporary at this point, and they assured me there was no problem.) Finally, the next day I had to go back in AGAIN, I thought to get the 2007 books (they'd given me 2006) and my spare key. Nope. Without my knowledge or approval, they'd abandoned the financing they'd put together on Saturday and went with a different bank, which ended up being for two percentage points higher interest and which raised my already high payments nearly $20 per month. Again, it was "take it or leave it." They'd taken my title to the old car on Saturday, so I didn't even have the old car to fall back on once I could get it fixed. (It's STILL parked here, by the way, in MY RESERVED SPOT! GRRR...) So once again, if I was going to have a way home, it was a matter of agreeing to their shenanigans.

The sad thing is, it's a nice enough car. It feels comfortable and drives well...much more power than any car I've ever owned before. And in the long run, other than the terribly high price, it will be good to have a car under warranty. This dealership offers free loaner cars if any warranty-covered work is done--that is, if they're telling the truth about THAT. But DANG! This was a horrible experience. I know everybody stresses out to some degree when buying a new car. But I was stuck with more car than I wanted, for a whole lot more money than I have, and all based on a part-time church job and a day job that, for the next two months and three weeks, is a temporary assignment. God and I have been talking, let me assure you! Mostly my saying "You've GOT to help me keep this job!" and God communicating "Trust me" at every yelping turn.

But really, isn't that where we all are, at the heart of it? We're all sustained by God's providence, no matter how cushioned from that awareness our relative wealth may make us (you know, things like having clean water, a roof over our heads, transportation, a living wage...the things that the majority of the world's people either lack entirely or struggle to provide). I *am* a grateful woman, though I am not grateful for the deceptive practices of the car dealership. About that, I intend to communicate my complaints. I've had a week to "sleep on" my experiences, and I even re-watched today's airing of the same infomercial, just to be sure I was accurate in my letter.

So...that's the latest stress in the life of Psalmist. Thanks for reading my stuff. Oh, and happy 2007 to everyone!