It's really annoying seeing all these spam articles on Savings Advice. I hope Jeffrey deletes them.

But getting back to the topic of my post...switching gears. After working at a furious pace for that last job I had, it's taking me a bit of time to switch gears back into Scramble for Work mode. Meaning, it's taking me some time to focus my thoughts and consider what to do next.

I did get the go-ahead to write a blog post for my real estate client on the topic of Energy Star homes. In fact, I wrote it this morning. I charge them $150 for each post, which is actually more than I charge for a press release with distribution, but that's because the blog often requires a bit of research. I hope to get more work from him.

I also reached out to a realtor I did some copywriting for a few months back, to see how she's doing, purportedly, but of course I'm really trolling for work.

Another unemployed friend of mine called to tell me the focus group place is paying $200 for people who take prescription ibuprofen or motrin, but that's not me.

I called the carpenter who paneled my 2 closets, assuming that the reason I hadn't heard back from him was because he wasn't really interested in the small jobs I offered him, but he said no, that wasn't it at all, he was really just busy. So he can start on the jobs on Monday, will come over Saturday to spec it out again. They're just little things that would need to be done when I sell this place: replacing a small piece of sheetrock over the kitchen door that got wet from ice dam leaks, covering a hole in the wood floor of my closet where the clothes dryer hose used to go (w/d is in the basement now), doing some cement work on a basement wall and hopefully helping me put back the shelving in one of the closets he paneled. His discounted day rate is $200 ($25 an hour) and he thinks he can get all that done in a day. Cross my fingers cus after this i can't spend any home improvement money except getting my house painted.

Turns out, he knows the book author/interior designer whose book I'll be editing. He said she's responsible for probably 70% of the work he's gotten lately through referrals.

A neighbor is taking me out to lunch tomorrow; I protested, cus she can't afford it, and I don't want to spend the $ now that I'm out of work, either, but she said it would be in exchange for me checking in on her house for the few weeks she'll be in rehab after getting knee surgery later this month. I'll probably also be ferrying her to the hospital, so I figure it's a fair exchange.

When Bill paneled my upstairs closet, i disassembled the shelf above; nothing was nailed together, just a dozen or so pieces of wood perfectly stacked on top of each other. For the life of me, i can't figure out how to reassemble it, so when i started putting stuff back in the closet, sans shelf, i decided i didn't need a handful of yarns that was part of some embroidery kit i had. I draped the colorful strands, about a foot long in size, out on my viburnum bush for birds to use for nest-building.

I was tickled this morning to see a robin using one of those long strands to build a nest in the 2-story high rhododendron bush outside my office window. It's possible my passing in front of the window, or the cat excitedly watching, will deter the robin from continuing, but i hope not.

A few years ago, robins had tried building a nest in that same rhododendron, but a crow had been attracted by all its comings and goings and even though i frightened the crow away by rapping on the window, the robins never returned. The nest was completely built, but fortunately, there were no eggs.

I'm thinking of writing another story for www.womanaroundtown.com, a NYC arts and entertainment site. They don't pay at all, and so it seems they're fairly flexible with what you want to write about.

I'm thinking of doing a story(ies) that would benefit my job search. United Health Care is nearby but was apparently not interested in the resume I sent for a marketing editor job, I'm sure becus i don't have any health care experience, except for a blog I have focusing on health and wellness topics. But writing for someone else's website could offer better credibility. So I'm thinking of pitching a story to Womanaroundtown on diabetes risk/prevention for women. I'd like to find some new research to use as a segue into the story. But i think it's the kind of thing United Healthcare might cover in their policyholder newsletter, so that's why i want to write about it.

I have some indoor painting I need to do but it's so dreary/rainy out, it doesn't seem like the light is good enough to paint by, so I'll put that off again.

I'm still not convinced the UTI/yeast infection is completely gone. I'm done with both meds now but i picked up some cranberry extract pills so i could get their benefit for the UTI without all the added sugar exacerbating the yeast infection. If I have either one. I think I still have something but not sure what. I also bought a case of yogurt at Costco and was DISGUSTED to find the Dannon light yogurt i bought has both food dyes and Aspartame. It would be such a pain to have to return it so I guess I'll just consume it this one time.

The cats had a ball last night with a live, but terminally injured mouse they carried up from the basement. Timid Waldo was such an animal, tossing it up in the air again and again, and then when I tried to approach, quickly picking it up in his mouth and running down the basement with it. He's a little possessive. I was able to use a broom to sweep the mouse into a box and then dumped it outside.