Well, geez,this cold seems to be taking forever to run its course. I believe I have a little more energy today and am hoping by tomorrow I will really feel better. There are periods in the day I can breathe through my nose, which is a relief.

I ended up getting that p/t job as project editor at the publisher's. I start Feb. 6. Not really looking forward to it; it's all about the money, which is minimal, but better than nothing.

So I have one free week before I begin working 3 days a week for them. I've noticed a sound in the right rear of my car when i step on the brake, and I assume it's worn brake pads. So I want to get that fixed before I start this job. The Honda dealer said it would be $300. I also emailed a friend who works p/t at a service station. He had once told me he could get me a discount on common car repairs, so now we'll see what he can do.

I also have a few freelance jobs backed up that I haven't attended to due to being sick. Three or four assignments with one client. A blog, a press release and 3 bios. OK, that's five.

I've had some turkey chili going all day in the slow cooker. I used dried beans and I sure home they will cook. Most of the liquid is from some watery tomatoes from my summer garden, from the freezer. They were soaked overnight, but not cooked, but it's been going since 9 am so again, I sure HOPE they will be soft and cooked becus fishing them out of everything else would be a chore.

i had a job interview lined up for this Friday for a web copywriter....a "real" job with salary and benefits...really looking forward to it, but I was trying to get a hold of the woman who had called me just 2 days ago to set up the interview time to see if i could reschedule it for early next week, due to my cold.

I really wanted to be 100% when I present myself as a candidate for the job,and I knew I also needed several hours to prep for the interview and pull my portfolio together.

I can barely keep my eyes open and I'm breathing thru my mouth with dried up snots in my nose, hardly the image I want to present them.

She wasn't in when i called this morning a little after 9, and i was surprised i didn't get a call-back relatively quickly. So i called her back a little before noon. When I said, I'm really looking forward to this interview, but i've come down with a bad cold, could we possibly reschedule, she said oh, that's ok, i was going to call you anyway.We've decided not to hire for this position at this time. Something's come up and we've just decided not to hire right now. But I'll keep your resume on file, etc.

What is going on???? Every job I think I have keeps slipping from my grasp.

So looks like I'll have to settle for the p/t job grossing $375 a week. That is, IF I get it.

Just got a call from another company whose job posting I responded to last week.

It's a FULL-TIME SALARIED WITH BENEFITS job as a web copywriter with an Internet marketing company.

It may not be a perfect fit, but I'm pretty sure I'm at least a 75% fit. They want someone with diverse writing experience doing web content, press releases, blog posts and articles. That's definitely me, and just like what i did at my last f/t job at a personal finance consumer website.

They also want someone who knows both AP and Chicago style. I know AP.

They want someone who knows basic HTML for linking and keyword research and writing SEO copy. I can do this, although I guess we were spoiled at my last job becus there was a dedicated person who did all the keyword research for us writers.

But they also want someone with knowledge of Hoot Suite, Facebook, Twitter etc. Although I have accounts with Facebook and Twitter, I don't at all feel fluent in them and rarely use them.

So the interview's set up with 2 people for Friday afternoon. It's about a 50-minute drive. Of course, it would be far preferable to the publishing job.

And as I feel like the imminent end of unemployment benefits is looming overhead, along with an expected big jump in the cost of my COBRA in June, the timing, if I got the job, could not be more perfect.

Just back from my interview at the publisher's this morning.

I think it went pretty well, better than expected. You have to remember that when I saw that, after the editor in chief had emailed me to ask if I'd still be interested in the job after they decided to change it from full-time to part-time, and then they posted the position on the job boards anyway, I actually felt a little betrayed by that.

Well, I'd forgotten to consider that they are looking to hire TWO p/t project editors, so even if they had decided in their heads they wanted me,they still needed to post the other position.

When I walked in there, the editor in chief was talking to another gal who works there, and the other person stayed there thruout my "interview," which was more like a friendly conversation and the editor showing me on her monitor what the files and filemaker docs looked like and how they updated them. It was a quick breeze-through, of course, and it would require some training.

While I certainly have learned not to count on ANYTHING, it did sound like they had sort of already decided before I arrived that they planned on having me fill one of the two openings.

I felt comfortable enough that toward the end of our talk, I decided to be very transparent about what I perceived to be my shortcomings as far as this job goes, and that is, my lack of knowledge about Quark and Filemaker. So I asked if it might make sense, if I knew I was going to get the job for instance, if I enrolled in an online tutorial for either or both programs. They basically said no, it's not that hard.

Then I said, gee, even if there was one of those Quark for Dummies books or another Quark or Filemaker manual lying around the office, if I knew I was getting the job, it would be great if I could take it home so i could study up on it before starting, just to try to get a leg up on it.

The editor swiveled around in her chair and picked up a Quark manual on her desk and waved it in the air. I felt comfortable enough saying in a kidding manner, Does that mean I have the job? They both laughed, and editor said she had to talk to her boss first.

When i left and was saying goodbye to both, the other gal said "See you soon." So I got pretty good vibes.

It may simply be becus, as the editor acknowledged at one point, it's hard to find good people when you're only paying them $15/hr. Yes, i confirmed that is still the rate of pay, but she pointed out that I will have more money in my pocket becus the company would be paying my FICA taxes and treating me as a regular employee, not a freelancer.

she said they're moving away from freelancers because there were some problems with availability. Some of the freelancers had small kids and not all were "invested" in the job the way they would like them to be, and some freelancers' work was inconsistent with others. So for all those reasons, they want to hire 2 p/t project editors who would be responsible for a total of 3 (not 2, as I thought) annual directories. the editor said she didn't feel that one person could do all 3 directories full-time becus it was just too much work. So that alone may have been the reason why they changed the job from f/t to p/t. I had assumed it was a purely money-saving move.

She wants to make a decision next week and have both positions start on Feb. 6.

So it looks fairly positive. It won't at all be an easy job. Learning new software always makes me feel a little apprehensive and it looks like it would be the ed in chief herself who would be training us; she tends to race through stuff very quickly, so this has me feeling even more nervous about it.

At least for the first month, they'd want us to work at least 2 full days in the office and then the third day could be at home. Sounds like down the road, it could be more work done at home, but it would require a lot of copying and updating the database on flash drives and bringing that back and forth, a little inconvenient. They have extra Macs so I could just bring one home and keep it there for when I worked at home.

So we're looking at $375 gross a week, 3 days a week, and of course that would supplement my existing freelance work. It won't be enough to live on once I lose my unemployment benefits in April but for now it will be ok. And of course if I start Feb. 6, it will further delay the end of my unemployment benefits I would think at least through May.

My monthly net after taxes would be about $1343. The bare minimum I need now to pay expenses is $2300, so once I exhausts unemployment benefits, I'll have a sizable shortfall of $957. Once my mortgage is paid off hopefully some time next year, my minimum monthly expenses would drop to $1740 and my monthly shortfall would then drop to just $400, which I can more realistically make up for at least partially with my other freelance work.

Put another way, it's certainly not a "cure," but it will slow the loss of blood.

In other news, I think I'm getting a cold. Hopefully will be rid of it prior to any work start date.

I also heard back from the husband of the husband/wife realtor team for whom i wrote that blog post. They only anticipate getting new blog posts once a month! It doesen't surprise me on the one hand, as the real estate market is still very slow. But no shot at this being anything other than a small $50 monthly injection into PatientSaver's household.

Keep on truckin'. That's all you can do.

There's nothing like work to perk me up if I'm feeling gloomy and pessimistic.

And now I have some.

Here's what's going on in the next 2 days:

* 2 phone interviews lined up with 2 guys with my oldest (real estate) client; i need to jazz up their bios as they're trying to emphasize their marketing prowess to builder clients.

* the interview with the publisher for the p/t job

* Also, I wrote a blog/article for a Century 21 husband/wife team on "pitfalls to avoid when applying for a mortgage." These were the people who offered the really miserly rate of pay and I was able to talk them into "trying me out" for 1 story at $50. They assigned it last week with a couple of keywords and I turned it around in a day; took just under 2 hours. I got word back today that he really liked it. Which allowed me to gracefully segue into my next question, which was ideally, how often would they like to get fresh content for their blog? I'd love to make it a regular thing. Even 1 a week would be great, at $50 a pop, = $200 extra a month. Fingers crossed. I don't know that they'd want to commit that much money to a blog, especially given that business is very slow, but you never know.

And my dad and SO are coming up Wednesday for the rest of my firewood, and then we'll go out to a nice dinner.

So a busy next two days. I'm in a better frame of mind now.

I've spent a good part of today prepping for my interview; I also got out for a walk around the block and used my snow rake to get the snow off the lower few feet on the roof, having learned how damaging ice dams can be. There's not much snow up there now, but it will refreeze tonight, so just to be sure I have no problems, I got out there with an aluminum step ladder and it was pretty easy.

I pretty much mentally wrote off anything happening with the publisher after seeing that they reposted the job, in its latest reincarnation, on the job boards.

But she contacted me this morning to continue the email exchange from last week about my coming in to talk to her about it.

So it's set up for tomorrow at 11.

Based on the latest job description, I don't feel I will likely be the most qualified candidate, as I don't know Quark or FileMaker, the two programs they mentioned would be a plus. So the only edge I think I have is the fact that I did a portion of the work as a temporary worker and I'm a known quantity. I will have to convince them I can learn new software quickly (which I hope I can).

My old friend R. is still telling me not to accept $15/hr., if that's what the pay is, and to hold out for $25. I usually really hold his opinion in high regard, but in this case, I think he's a little removed from the work world and is a little off base here.

This is a small outfit, so she just may tell me the pay rate right at the interview, just as she did when I interviewed for the contract job. (I'm guessing it'll be $15/hr as a worst case scenario and will be pleasantly surprised if it's any better.)

My thinking is, if that's all they've decided to pay, they won't likely budge. It's not like they're a huge company. I'm guessing they have less than 25 employees. I think they might be a more inclined to adjust pay for a f/t position, but for p/t, I'm guessing not. So we'll have to see how it goes.

I will also need to assure her that 20 to 25 hours a week is "fine" with me, and that I'm content with that kind of arrangement for the long run. Obviously she won't hire me if she thinks I will bail for something better later on. My mindset is to take whatever I possibly can, even while knowing this won't be enough for me, especially at their low pay rate. So it's possible if, down the road I get the job that I will likely at some point have to leave for a better job and leave them in a lurch, but you know what? Not really my problem; employers do that to employees all the time, with no notice at all. It's how the game is played.

We have about 4 inches on the ground and it seems like it's winding down. I see a snow shovel in my future.

Just wanted to say thanks again for the incredibly kind and encouraging words from all of you on my latest job-related disappointment.

It was odd that she never got back to me on Friday after I answered her email that yes, I was still interested in the scaled back (p/t) job and when next week would you like to meet?

This a.m., I saw that they had posted the job on CareerBuilder. I guess that means I'm not a shoo-in and that they will be going through the whole candidate selection process once again.

I toyed with the idea of reapplying on the job board just to reaffirm my interest, but heck, she knows I'm interested. It kind of would feel like groveling. Instead, I applied today for an editor job doing puzzles for a small publisher about 50 minutes away. This job is full-time and offers benefits, so though I sense it also would be low-paying, I applied due to the medical coverage and normal benefits.

As soon as I pay off the mortgage, money will be less important than medical coverage. Of course, I still want to make as much as I can because I will reach my financial goals more quickly, but in terms of getting by, I can do so with a very low salary IF they offer standard benefits.

I've been having these anxiety dreams, usually in the form of me driving in a car and losing control. Either I can't seem to find the brake pedal or, more often, the car is careening backwards off a cliff or rolling down a hill, and I know that in a few split seconds, the car will hit a tree or something and I'm scared out of my mind. Or sometimes, I dream that I've witnessed a crime or have another urgent need to call 911 but the phone won't connect the call or I wait and there's no connection or I get an interminable busy signal and I keep running to look for other phones to try or to spot a police officer and time is running out.

Last night I made a pretty good frittata with sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese, caramelized onions, fresh basil and I think it was about 5 eggs. It would have been even better with bacon or ham, but I've given up processed meats for health reasons. Asparagus might also be a nice addition. It was super easy to make and even fit in my toaster oven.

I am still feeling very negative about employers in general. I think what happened is the publisher didn't realize that by asking me if I'd be interested in a full-time job, it really, really got my hopes up. And then it was just sloppy of them to have done so, becus it then turned into a p-t job. I suppose they could care less how it might personally affect a job-seeker, and she probably doesn't realize how much I WANT and NEED a f/t job, but still. Get your act together first before putting out feelings to possible job candidates.

I'm trying not to dwell on it but it may take another day or two. I guess it hurt a little more becus I've already worked with these people and would hope they'd be a little more ... human about it. It's like dangling a carrot in front of a starving person and then saying, hmm, well, I don't know, how about a half a carrot? But you know what? Maybe I won't give you any carrot at all, I really have to think about it.

I'm so f****** tired and exhausted.

You remember the small publisher I did contract work for back in Nov/Dec. The editor in chief more recently asked me if I'd be interested in a full-time, in-house project manager job and that she'd get back to me early this week, as soon as she "worked out the details" of the job.

I spent a lot of time crunching the numbers to see if I could survive on $40 or $45K, the amount I was guessing they'd offer. I wanted to make sure it was doable, and to be prepared if and when an offer came.

I finally heard back from her this morning. They've decided to turn it into a part-time staff position, which means they would take out FICA taxes but there would be no medical benefits. It would be 20 to 25 hours a week, 2 days in-house, 1 day at home. And I'm guessing it would still pay just $15/hr.

She said it would be research, writing the listings and using Quark, but also learning FileMaker and occasionally interacting with editors at various publications.

I'm like, totally demoralized, crushed. I thought I could finally escape chronic unemployment. I guess not. I just can't go on like this. They want to bleed you dry.

If I made between $300 and $375 a week, I guess this would again extend my dwindling unemployment benefits. At this point, I don't even know that they'd hire me, becus I don't know Quark (not sure she's aware of this) and I don't know FileMaker.

I'm just really so upset. I feel like every door I knock on is shut in my face. Full-time, salaried jobs with benefits just seem like an unattainable mirage that's always just beyond my reach.

I spent $76 this a.m. grocery shopping at Shop Rite. That's a LOT for me. They had those little Polar fruit in a jar things on sale for $1 each, so I decided to try a few, and I'm rather pleased. There were just 3 ingredients in it: pears, sugar, water, and it's not overly sweet. What's more, the pears were pretty firm, not mush like the Del Monte fruit cocktail I grew up with. It's a good way to work more fruit in your diet during the winter. I think I'll go back for more while they still have their sale.

I also splurged a bit on a quart of Kefir, which is so good, plus the Kozy Shack puddings were all on sale. I love my puddings!

I'm feeling a bit twisted and demented because I HAVE NOT HEARD from the editor in chief at the publishing company who was supposed to contact me early this week to schedule a time for me to come in to talk about the project manager job. I just dashed off an email to her. They seem to move slowly over there, but I hate the waiting game. It sounded so positive. I'm going to scream if she says anything negative about it.

I responded a few days ago to an ad for a freelance real estate blog writer, and they wrote back tonight asking me my rate. Turns out they're a husband and wife realtor team with a well-known brokerage in the Hartford area.

I'm so tired of getting backed into a corner on "my rate," as it's invariably too high for them to consider or so low it's not worth doing. So I sidestepped answering that and said it depends on how much research is involved, whether I'm doing phone interviews to get some quotes, etc. etc. I invited her to tell me what she had in mind, and I was once again galled and floored when she said she could they could manage $25 for a 350-word story.

Hardly worth the trouble, but I wrote back, hiding my anger and explaining that as she saw from my resume, I have 10 years of experience as a real estate copywriter and nearly 30 as a marketing writer. And maybe they could get a college kid to do it. But then I threw caution to the wind and said I would be willing to write a relevant, meaningful and topical general interest, 350-word real estate story, with their keywords, no interviews of anyone, for $50 and invited them to try me out on one and see how they like it.

So they agreed to do that. We'll talk tomorrow. If I could get them to work with me and do even 2 stories a week, that would work out to $400 a month, which would be very helpful. And I could do it all from the comfort of my home.

Warning: Rant ahead. I remember when I worked at the website at my last perm job, I managed a team of 4 freelance writers. Well,none of them were professional writers (and it REALLY showed, the writing was atrocious) but they all had the subject matter expertise, plus we were bound by a contract to work with them. So I was stuck with them basically, but I remember that we paid them $275 for a a 350-word story, which was a GREAT rate of pay, but just $75 for a blog post, which was too little, and just out of sync with the article rate. But anyway, you see how even $50 is a pittance. But like a lot of others, they go to these online sites like elance and see there are writers in places like India or China who offer to write a story for $5 or $10. You get what you pay for: local irrelevance and someone who wants to practice their English skills. End of rant.

I met The Author yesterday at Starbucks and she paid me the final payment on the first book. Expecting to get Book 2 in the next week or two.

Back in November, I ordered an economical Hamilton Beach hand mixer for i think about $25 at Amazon. I couldn't figure out the proper way to insert the beaters, even after reading their instructions,and I may have ended up bending them somewhat cus now when i insert them and turn it on, they click together, touching each other.

So I called Hamilton Beach and explained the situation and she agreed to mail me out replacement beaters at no cost, once I showed proof of purchase. So I am pleased, as I like the mixer. It got very good reviews. I certainly don't need a $300 stand mixer.

I am now charging up cashback credit card #4 and waiting to get the bill for #3 (Discover) so my cash back there will be awarded. I think you have to pay the bill first before it appears online.I was able to charge my car insurance to the new card so I think the new one will add up quickly to $500.

I think I will try making my first ever fritatta tomorrow with a recipe I saw somewhere, using sun-dried tomatoes, onions and eggs. I'll omit the bacon/ham.

I got a few bank statements today that I'll need to do my taxes, but still waiting on 2 contract employees to send the 1099s.

I finally replaced the hard-to-find battery in my garage door opener after doing without it for months. And all this time it was at Ace Hardware. It will be the only way I'll access the garage now because the basement door is so drafty, I decided to seal it up pretty well by stuffing foam insulation all around it with a butter knife, but obviously it won't stay in if I open the door.

I came across an old Robin Williams movie at the library and watched it tonight.

It takes place in the 1950s. Robin Williams plays an uncharacteristically serious role, no laughs here, of a salesman who quits his job after his boss gives away half of his territory to the boss' son. Robin's wife has already left him, and taken their two kids with her. He's on a downward spiral, quickly running out of money, and in desperation, entrusts most of his life savings to a friend (Jerry Stiller, who plays the father of Seinfeld in Seinfeld) who assures him he can get rich trading commodities.

You know what happens next. He loses it all. Throughout the movie, Robin manages to portray a desperate man who's teetering on the edge. He pleads with his dad for help, or just a kind word, but his father refuses to lend him money. Over and over again, his dad tells him he's nothing without money, and he's so ashamed about his son's career failure that he lies to his friends that his son makes in the high five figures.

In the last scene, Robin stumbles into a church because he thought he spotted the commodities trader, who disappeared after losing Robin's savings.. He slumps into a pew where a funeral is taking place and he breaks down, sobbing, while the mourners assume he must be a close friend of the deceased.

It's an interesting movie if you like Robin Williams or if you'd enjoy, as I did, the shots of the NY Stock Exchange and the archaic trading boards, along with the old hotel with its baths and saunas. There are an awful lot of familiar faces in the movie, though I don't know who they are.

Tuna's cousin, Tina.


I'm not the biggest fan of canned tuna, but it's an easy way to get more fish in one's diet, and recently, I bought about 6 cans of tuna on sale. Plus it's a cheap meal.

Does anyone have any really good recipes that make use of canned tuna? It has to be really good, cus like I said, I'm not crazy about it, but it's okay.

The usual ways I make it are:

1. In a sandwich
2. In a salad with macaroni, celery, grated carrot...
3. Melted on an English muffin with cheddar.

I always get the chunk tuna in water because it's said to have lower concentrations of mercury than solid white tuna.

Thanks!

I came across this excellent article

I suppose this is like counting my chickens before they're hatched, but I can't resist calculating how much money I can put toward various savings goals if I get that job.

Believe it or not, not being able to pursue my various savings goals has been one of the worst things about being out of work, in my mind. I'm an extremely organized and disciplined person who has aggressive goals and thinks long-term, so this aspect of being out of work, just when I'm at the point of reaching significant financial milestones, has been particularly painful.

It will be a bit of a challenge given that it will surely be a low salary offer. I may be playing it a bit more conservative than I need to here, but I'm guessing the offer, if I get one, will come in between $40 and $50k. I like to play it uber-conservative so I'll be pleasantly surprised if it's more, or even simply on the high end of that scale.

My savings goals are as follows, in ranked order:

1. Throw extra prepayments at the mortgage to pay it off asap. Balance is now under $10,000.

2. Rebuild my emergency fund to at least $10,000.

3. Restart contributions to my retirement.

I've used an online net pay calculator to help me determine my net pay at $40K, $45K and $50K and including deductions for health insurance premiums (I'm estimating $200 a month, though I really have no idea. It could be less, but it is a small company so I doubt they have a premium plan).

Assuming they have a 401k plan, I've decided to go with a 6% 401(k) contribution, or whatever minimum percentage is necessary to get an employer matching contribution. It would be foolish to turn this down so no matter what, I'll contribute the minimum necessary to get the match, which is usually 6%.

That being said, retirement contributions come in last among my 3 savings priorities since I'm already off to a very good start (see sidebar) and I'm itching to rid myself of a 6% mortgage loan I never refinanced when rates dropped (and couldn't, while I was unemployed).

So, if I get $40K, it'll be:
$100/mth in mortgage prepayments
$200 into the 401k
$100 into an emergency fund

If I get $45K, it'll be:
$200/mth in mortgage prepayments
$225 into the 401k
$100 into an emergency fund

If I get $50K, it'll be:
$300 in mortgage prepayments
$250 into the 401k
$100 into an emergency fund

Notice that as the projected salary increases, my mortgage prepayments and 401k contributions rise but the amount going into the emergency fund remains the same.

If they have any kind of waiting period to start contributing to the 401k, the money I would otherwise have contributed to it will be divided equally between the emergency fund and the mortgage prepayments.

This savings schedule will be very, very hard to keep to, but I think it's in the realm of possible.

I just looked at my checkbook to confirm that, back in 2006, the last time I worked a job making just $50K, I was in fact contributing between $100 and $200 extra toward the mortgage each month.

And after years of always maxing out 401k contributions at 15%, I recall limiting myself to maybe 5% contributions at that time, when I started that job, becus I wasn't sure how tight money would be. But in the 3.5 years I was there, I remember that I'd always get exactly 3% raises each year, so as my salary increased to $51,500 at the end of year 1, to $53,045 by end of year 2, and then to $54,636 in year 3, I did increase my 401k contributions back to 15% at some point. And I recall still saving a little on the side. (I was still doing a little freelance writing on the side, which helped.)

Now this savings plan I've worked out will only need to be in play for about a year, after which time an important thing happens: my mortgage will have been paid off. Once that happens, I'll have an extra $700 to $900 monthly (depending on actual salary), which was previously spent on prepayments and regular monthly mortgage payments.

I'd like to reinsert a little breathing room into my budget at that point, and that may have to happen regardless, should unexpected expenses arise, but I'm aiming for the bulk of that freed up money, like $500 monthly, to continue going toward both the emergency savings fund (which doubles as a new car fund for me) and an upped 401k contribution.

Having taken the trouble to crunch this and work out all the details, i feel more confident that this new savings plan is doable and that I can indeed pursue and achieve my greatest financial goals.

If I've overlooked anything obvious, let me know!

Of course the job might not work out at all, or I get the job but they don't offer health insurance (shudder to consider that) and/or a 401k plan. It sucks when you can't even rely on the basics. (Just an example of how US employees can easily get shafted, compared to Europeans or others living elsewhere with greater employer protection.)

But anyway...
As far as I can tell, the company has not yet advertised the job(s) on the online job boards. I think they have just worked out what they want to do in restructuring how the work gets done, meaning, no more use of freelancers and bring it back in-house. And I'm guessing that the editor would like to avoid the hassle and time spent posting the new positions (2 project managers) and going through the whole interview/selection process again so soon after doing same for me and the other contract worker. I'm guessing, and counting on her natural reluctance to go through that whole laborious hiring process, when she considers how easy it would be to give the job to the contract worker (me) who did it on a temporary basis, because I've already demonstrated I can do it and do it efficiently.

And while the editor who trained me (and whose departure precipitated this job opening) sent me an irritable email questioning why I indicated I couldn't find info on one particular listing when the other contract worker (who was mistakenly assigned the same listing to update) FOUND the info on the website, this unpleasantry was followed up by 2 or 3 subsequent emails thanking me for powering through the listings as quickly as I did.

So I'm hoping this perfectly positions me to get one of the two project manager jobs since I did the same job most recently as a freelancer.

There's no better way to get a job than to have at it before it's advertised to the world! It's happened to me at least twice before. And I got the vague idea that that other woman who was freelancing, and with whom I trained with, was not necessarily available on a full-time basis. Better for me.

So. I think I have a decent shot at it, although at this point, I know very little about the job except that I updated a decent portion of this annual director as a freelancer, probably over 300 listings. (It contains 1850 listings total.) So the job is managing the entire update process for this one directory, which may require a little more work besides simply updating the listings. I will most certainly be able to learn Quark, not a bad thing on my resume. I stumbled along with it when I freelanced, but it was relatively easy to do as the templates had already been set up and I had last year's directory to go by.

I do have a variety of concerns: It could be mind-numbingly dull work. (It's not really writing, just updating listings.) The office environment is depressing. The editor in chief could be difficult to work with. But none of this will keep me from leaping for this job to escape the unemployment rut.

(The pluses, as I've mentioned before, include casual dress, a reasonable, 20-minute commute and the oft-touted "flexible hours" that have been mentioned to me although I have yet to learn what that really means. Some places say they have flexible hours and all that really means is that they permit you to leave work for a doctor's appointment.)

If I find no better jobs, I will stay there for years. But in a worst case scenario, if I only stay a year and achieve my goal of paying off the mortgage that much earlier, then that will be a huge advantage moving forward because my monthly living expenses will be that much lower, making it easier to find any future jobs that will pay my living expenses, and also freeing up money otherwise spent on the mortgage that I can now plow into retirement savings (and a new car fund).

This am I went to a free talk on feeding the birds at a local Agway. I had gone to the same talk last year and got a free 5 lb. bag of mixed seed, so for that reason alone it was worth it. I've been feeding the birds for about 20 years!

It was nice to see a mixed group of about 15 people. It just seems so few people I know do anything like bird feeding, or vegetable gardening. It's all about video games and fancy electronic systems.

Anyway, they had a decent price on suet, so I picked up a 12-pak. As I was walking out the door, I also noticed a very good deal on something new called "suet pellets," which are little balls about the size of a pea that are made of suet and bits of seed, held inside a mesh bag with a handy hanger. They were selling 2 for $1 and had 12 oz. compared to the 11 ounce suet cakes I'd just bought on sale for .67! So I bought 4 of the suet pellets and am considering returning for more.

In the parking lot, a man who'd been at the talk said he'd never tried bird feeding before becus he'd been told you had to attend to the feeders every day, and he sometimes went away. I assured him there was no reason he had to "attend to" the feeders every single day. The birds won't starve if the feeder is emptied. Now hummer feeders are a different story. On very hot, humid days, the sugar water can get moldy in 2 or 3 days, so you've got to be religious about refreshing the water regularly.

I stopped at the library and got 6 more DVDs after learning at my last visit that there is no longer any limit to the number of DVDs you can take out at one time. The librarian said that yes, i could take out 20 DVDs at a time if i wanted, but it sure would be a big late fee if I didn't get them back in time. I think they increased their late fee to something like $2 each.

I'll watch one of those tonight, as soon as my banana walnut bread is done. It's baking now. I also bought some ingredients for a slow cooker recipe I'm trying tomorrow with chicken, black beans and sweet potatoes.

My mother had a recent big sale of one of her woven paintings, and after reducing the price at the customer's request (they do that all the time) and paying off the gallery its share of commission, she'll still net $2,000. So she's shopping for a new kitchen stove (hers is 26 years old) and new kitchen floor and possibly, replacing the carpeting in the bedroom with linoleum or something better for her dust allergies.

My father decided that yesterday afternoon would be a good time to come up from Jersey and visit me and my sister, and get a load of firewood from me.

He was traveling halfway up Jersey from the shore where he lives to go to a dentist appointment. (The dentist is the brother of my dad's late wife.) So he figured he'd be halfway here already.

I met the two of them for dinner at a new local restaurant. We'd tried to go there before, but it was too crowded, and for good reason. The food was very good. I had two large chicken cutlets topped with melted Gruyere cheese, a fig puree and rosemary. Very different and yummy. (I took half of it home with me and just enjoyed the leftovers for lunch.)

For the first time in his life, my dad grew a beard. He looks so cute and fluffy! Just like Ernest Hemingway.

What made the dinner especially nice is that my sister was especially talkative. I can only chalk it up to her having had her hip replacement and not being in so much pain, which she put up with for several years, becus she's very anti medical establishment. More than a little ridiculous, but anyway, that's how she is.

She mentioned that at the book bin at the landfill in her town, she came across an old copy of The tightwad Gazette III and saved it for me, along with a slow cooker recipe for pear bread pudding and another bag of her own dried pears to use in the recipe. Wow. She hasn't done anything like that in a while. You know, show thoughtfulness.

For my part, i brought along a jar of sorrel, made in Poland. Just 2 ingredients, sorrel and salt. Sorrel is a weed that commonly grows around here, but I never saw it commercially sold before until I noticed a new line of Polish bottled foods at my local Xpect Discounts. Xpect Discounts is a regional chain that attracts a somewhat low income customer base, and they have a wide assortment of ethnic foods, which I'm always interested to browse. You never know what you'll find there. anyway, I gave the sorrel to my sister, who was curious about it.

My dad spent the night at my sister's and was supposed to come over this morning to help me bring a load of brush to the dump and then load up his truck with the firewood. He said "bright and early," so I was expecting them around 9 am and becoming concerned when they didn't show. My dad has macular degeneration, and can't see well enough to drive at night, so I calculated we'd have to be done with the wood and have him on his way by 1 pm so he'd get back home before dark.

He and my sister went to breakfast at some out of the way place, so he didn't get here til 10:30 a.m. My sister's still not fully recovered from her surgery, so she stayed home. We loaded about a third of the wood and could see it all wouldn't fit, so he said he'll come back up again with his sig.other She is facing a breast biopsy in March and just had thyroid cancer surgery and now has to do radiation for it becus she carries a certain gene and this is an aggressive form of cancer. Sigh. She's had a lot of health problems.

So I sent Dad on his way around noon.

I think I will spend part of the afternoon reading the Tightwad Gazette again, which I'd been wanting to do anyway after seeing it mentioned a number of times here and elsewhere online. It's such a classic book; I am sure I've forgotten many of her tips.

It's been very quiet work-wise since the start of the new year, although I edited a few emails for the IT director.

Shortly before Christmas, I finished up that contract job for the small publisher. I returned their Mac computer right after New Year's, and while I was writing a little "thanks for the work, please think of me next year" note to the woman who trained me, another gal who was there said, oh, don't bother, she's left the company.

This came as a surprise to me since the woman who'd left had been hired full-time only this past summer. She held the f/t job I'd originally applied for before they gave me the contract work.

So instantly I thought, I'd love to take her place. With that in mind, I left an extra nice note for the editor in chief.

This morning I get an email from the editor in chief, explaining that the trainer (and another woman) had left the company. She may not have known that I already knew. Anyway, she said they'd been planning on changing the way they updated their two annual directories. Instead of hiring freelance writers like me to update it each year, they were thinking of making the 2 people who left project managers in charge of each directory. Now, of course, they'd need to find someone to replace them and she was putting out feelers to see if I'd be interested in the job, which would be full-time, in office. And I presume WITH THE ALL-IMPORTANT BENEFITS.

So of course I said yes, yes and yes. She said she needs to work out a few details on it yet and will be in touch with me next week so I can come in to discuss it further with her.

Just think....a full-time job.

I am so excited, even though I know that this job will pay very low. If it paid in the $50s, I'd think that was great, even though that's still very low compared to what i made in the past. But over 2 years of unemployment has a way of redefining your expectations.

As long as I could pay my bills and have health insurance, I'd be thrilled. My COBRA alone is $469 a month, which is a huge cost to me, $5628 a year,and this will most surely go up in June when the plan turns over for another year.

The great thing is that I have not lost sight of one of big money goals, which has been paying off the mortgage. Once my mortgage is gone (and I have just $9,000 more to go), it should make living on whatever lowly salary they might pay at this place even more doable.

I would still hope I could save a modest amount for retirement, have my health insurance premiums cut in half and then just coast toward retirement.

Getting this job could end a lot of pain for me. I would bring my lunch to work every day to avoid costs there.

I'm not sure how interesting the work would be if it's basically doing what I did when I did the contract work, but I Am Not Complaining. Plus I have a concern about how easy the editor in chief is to work with, and the offices there seem very dreary and depressing to me. We all know that publishing is a dying field,and this place, as mentioned before, has offices decorated circa 1950s with ripped carpets, dingy walls, and lots of old file cabinets from the Eisenhower administration. But it would still be a lifesaver for me.

In other news, I interviewed today for a freelance job writing property descriptions for multi-million homes. It seemed like a perfunctory interview; no idea whether she liked me or not. This is a subsidiary office of my oldest client, but they run their own shop. Everyone who works there looks like a model. It's a little intimidating. I have long thought that the most attractive women gravitate toward real estate.

I'd have to go down and view the property when the photographer went to take pix, so as to minimize inconvenience to the homeowner. it would be a bit of a schelp, about 45 minutes, to this area. It's a very ritzy area, CT's "gold coast," as they call it. I'd also have to dress up just to look presentable since i'd be meeting with the homeowner.

I noticed on Craig's List a woman in my town was giving away a bunch of free paint. all different colors, some full gallons, some less than full. Take one, take all.

So i went over this morning and she let me pry open the lids to check out the colors. I took about 10 gallons; a pretty periwinkle, a rose color, white, a sage green. All interior wall paints. I passed on the bubblegum pink and the brick red and the Ralph Lauren barn red. Who could put those colors on a wall?

But anyway, paint sure can be expensive...not that I would buy Ben Moore any more. I have a sinking suspicion i may not have enough Glidden to finish painting my spare bedroom. I have 3 quarts of an icy cool blue and I won't buy any paint to finish it if I do run out; can't justify it right now. I'm hoping one of the softer pastels I picked up today would complement the blue on the first wall. Not sure at this point. Maybe the rose will.

The Author asked me for a price to edit her 2nd book. This one should work out to be about 276 pages, as compared to the first one which was 407 pages edited! Holy mother of God! It was a long book. I gave her a price which I guess she's ok with because she said I should have it in a few weeks.

I have an interview tomorrow for a p/t or freelance job. i won't even go into detail about it becus it's not worth talking about unless I get it.

Wednesday my dryer will be delivered and I may have the Author over here on Friday so I can see the first book bound and collated. It's now in the hands of three avid book club readers for their impartial opinions/feedback. The first one, I'm told, loves it.

My mother stopped by today and I traded her 4 cups of organic sprouted legumes (lentils, azuki and something else) for a big bag of dried cranberries. I also gave her a bunch of crossword puzzles from newspapers that she likes to do. I told her I would steam clean her wall to wall carpeting, as she's having major allergy problems and wants to pay to have her ducts cleaned, which i think is a waste of money. I bought a steam cleaner a few years ago and used the thing once or twice, so might as well put it to good use. I'm sure the water will be black, as those carpets have never been cleaned.

I also saw someone posted a freebie on CL for flat file cabinets, the kind used to store blueprints or architectural drawings, which my mother would LOVE, but got no response, so someone else must've gotten them. They're in the same town where I'm going for my job interview tomorrow, about 45 minutes south of here, so it would've been perfect.

Every other night or so, or toward the end of the day, I put out food scraps for the critters.

It's mostly uneaten canned cat food that Luther and Waldo, being well-fed indoor cats, tend to waste. When it sits out all night uneaten, I take it away and dump it into an empty Lean Cuisine dish and often collect other scraps during the day, including stale crackers, bread crumbs and stuff like that.

I've assumed that something like an opossum, skunk or raccoon was eating it. Not sure that deer would go for cat food, although coyotes would.

This afternoon I put out a small dish with cat food and some pizza crusts. I happened to look out there just now and what should I see chomping down on the food? A neighbor's cat!

I assume it was a neighbor's cat, not a stray, because it looked well fed as far as I could tell, and not scrawny. It had no collar. While I often see 2 or 3 different local cats around here, I don't think I've ever seen what I would describe as a true homeless stray. Although I noticed it apparently ate the 2 pizza crusts; not sure a cat would eat those unless it was really hungry. And it spent quite a bit of time licking the plate, though I imagine that a cat fed only dry food would really relish the canned.

Last night, I even put out a small amount of salmon. I had some for dinner and put aside a small amount for Waldo, who is fond of it, but he ended up eating only half of it. So instead of throwing it out, I put it out with some cat food. Wonder if the same cat got that too or if I have more than one visitor?

Since my electric clothes dryer went kaput about a month ago, I've been stalling on buying a new one, even though I found a cheap one at Home Depot.

Just hate to spend the money. Another unanticipated expense.

However, the dirty laundry is piling up, and though I find laundry dries pretty quickly in the dry, indoor heat of my house, I knew I couldn't rely on drying my clothes that way forever, or exclusively. And I knew that delaying the purchase wasn't really providing me with any benefit.

So I sprung for a new dryer last night, since Home Depot's free delivery expired later this month.I had checked Craig's List for used ones; most of the ones I saw were 1. sold as part of a washer/dryer set, and 2. much more expensive, upscale brands, so that their asking price of around $300, while probably quite good for an LG or a Bosch, was the same price I'd pay for a brand new dryer with a 1-year warranty. And being single, I don't really know any pick-up drivers who could get a dryer home and help set up.

I know that Hotpoints are on the low end of the appliance scale, but of all the major appliances you could buy, quality and brand are probably least important in a clothes dryer, at least to my way of thinking.

I've always bought Whirlpools, so this and the washing machine I replaced last summer are the first non-Whirlpool appliances I've ever bought.

I got a basic, no bells and whistles Sears Hotpoint HTDX 100EM. With the new (required) power cord and new (required) hose vent, plus sales tax, delivery, set-up and takeaway of the old one, it comes to just $352, which seems pretty cheap to me. This particular model got hundreds of customer reviews, who rated it 4.2 stars out of 5. My old dryer, a Whirlpool, was also a very basic model, so luckily I'm not used to anything better. The old one lasted 16 years; let's hope this one does as well.

It's been a very quiet start to the new year as far as freelance work goes. I finally heard, and got some work from the IT director whose emails I edit. In my generally paranoid state when it comes to employment these days, I even went so far as to check his school's website to make sure he was still listed as IT Director! I was afraid I hadn't heard from him becus he was laid off, since there seemed to be a lot of mea culpa type emails to the rabbi that I edited for him!

I haven't heard a thing about the transcriptionist job and so have to assume that, once again, I didn't get that particular job. Might be just as well, although I would have done it if I'd gotten it. I'd written a long-winded post yesterday about all this and titled it, "Bah, humbug," becus that's pretty much how I was feeling yesterday. I lost the post when I hit the submit button, as others have done here. I'm sure there's a bug in the system that causes it, but I don't have the time to invest in talking to Jeffrey or Nate about it.

A friend of mine, another longtime unemployed person, is starting a 6-month contract job in Hartford tomorrow. He lives about 45 minutes south of me, and Hartford is a good 50 minutes northeast from here, so I shudder to think what his daily commute will be like. But the money will be very good, and he desperately needs this job. He's behind on his rent, behind on a lot of bills, etc. He's sort of going through a slow motion breakup with his Norwegian girlfriend of 4 years. She just said she wanted a "separation" of undetermined length and purpose, and from everything he tells me, it's clear she's trying to do a "soft landing" breakup. I've told him that several times so that he doesn't invest any more emotions or money in the relationship, but I don't think he wants to hear it. His other friends have said the same, he said.

I told him to just focus on the new job and don't let himself be distracted by relationship issues. Just concentrate on making his new employers happy and doing the best job he can. He agreed, but he's a very anxious and worried person, although given his circumstances, it's understandable.

I am anxious to get started on my new taxes as soon as possible, but have to wait for 1099s from 3 firms, plus my investment earnings from T. Rowe Price, several banks, and the Dept of Labor.

I really want to get my hands on a print version of the federal tax form and booklet, but they're not mailing them out to households anymore, and my library always seems to get them so late.

Here's what I did today:

1. After waking up late, (around 8:30 am) so uncharacteristic of me, I had my breakfast and then headed out to return the Mac to the publisher's where I did the contract work. Neither the woman who trained me or the editor in chief was in (seems they never are) but as I was writing a little note to the trainer, another gal there who'd I'd met before told me that the trainer had found a new job and left last week! That was a bit of a surprise, since she held the f/t job I'd originally applied for last summer. So she was only there 6 months. I'm sure that she left either for more money or because the editor in chief seems a bit bitchy to deal with. Anyway, bitchy or not, that presents some further possible job opportunities for me, so I was sure to leave a nicely worded, "don't hesitate to call me if I can help again..." type note for the editor in chief.

2. Stopped at Target to pick up 10 Lean Cuisines at a great price of $2 each, plus I got a $5 gift card for my troubles, plus I can use the codes inside each box toward the magazine subscription I want to earn through their rewards program. (I've already decided to pick up another 10 for another gift card when I'm down that way on Thursday.) And I do find LCs handy for a quick lunch when I don't feel like cooking.

3. After Target I stopped at CVS for 5 cans of tuna at .59 each. I wouldn't be running hither and yon for such small savings, but it's very nearby.

4. I also stopped at the PO (on my route) to mail off a UBS cable to the research assistant with the nutrition study that I'd forgotten to give her at my last visit.

5. Another quick stop at local grocer for a 4 lb. bag of oranges ($3), zucchini (.99/lb) and salmon ($6/lb)

6. After a quick (Lean Cuisine) lunch, I did the 2nd coat of "Pebble White" paint on the window trim in spare bedroom. I can see that I will still need a THIRD coat cus it looks just a bit blotchy in certain areas; the somewhat dark teal color the trim used to be is the reason. I'm thrilled/relieved that after much procrastination, I'm finally making some progress on one of several undone interior updates here.

7. In the realm of cooking, I made a delicious salmon corn chowder (I indulged Waldo with some salmon, which he adores) and now have a blueberry crisp baking in the convection oven. It's my grandmother's recipe; have used it hundreds of times, usually with apples, but sometimes with blueberries or blueberries/peaches. Or with wineberries. I just cut back on the butter and sugar to let the natural sweetness of the berries come through. Really tasty.

I guess that's about it. I found a large plastic sheet to put over my firewood and protect it from getting wet. It's very cold out today and tomorrow, too.

I haven't heard about that transcriptionist job and am wondering if, once again, I will have reason to think I will get it only to find, inexplicably, that I didn't. I have mixed feelings about the job in any case. If I compare it to the publisher's, the pay is about the same but the publisher's is a MUCH easier drive. And the publisher is much more amenable to work at home arrangements while the other place isn't. Although after many years of working, I trust my hunch that the editor in chief could be problematic to deal with. Although if I remained freelance it wouldn't matter much. However, it would be heavenly if I had a shot at a job with health insurance.

Tomorrow I'll be headed for the library to read the weekly paper I gave up, get some free DVDs and see if they have tax forms yet. Then the 3rd coat on the trim. I'm on a roll.

Since I am an inveterate list-maker (it would likely take years of therapy to understand why), here is my list of stuff I got for free in 2011, via online survey product testing, online forums and other sources.

6-pak of flavored Propel water
4 rolls toilet paper
Box of Kleenex
3 rolls Charmin Extra Strong
1 tube of Tom’s of Maine toothpaste
About a half dozen free Teva-Neuroscience dinners plus free lip balm, sunscreen, pens, tote bags
22 free cans of Halo cat food
3 cases (24 bottles each) of bottled water with returnable deposits (via my town, after Hurricane Irene)
4 rolls of Angel Soft toilet paper, plus 10 $2 off coupons (She Speaks)
Facial cleanser, moisture tint lotion with SPF, lip balm and eyebrow pencil
2 boxes kitchen garbage bags (40 bags total)
$35 ($15, $15 and $5) in Amazon gift cards (credit card forum,) Redeemd $12 for 1 yr sub. To Kiplinger’s, redeemed $21 for Amazon.com hand mixer. Balance $2.
Another $40 in Amazon gift cards from same forum. Redeemed with $2 balance above for a pair of navy slip-on Grasshopper sneakers and 2 packets of soybean vegetable seeds!
3 Masonicare free dinner/lectures
2 rolls paper towels (Nov)
15 lbs of pine-scented kitty litter (Nov)
Full container of Downy fabric softener (Nov)
$60 redeemed via PayPal for participation in another online forum on sustainable dairy products (Nov)
3 sample vials of Dolchi & Gabana perfumes
Another roll of Bounty paper towels (Dec)
About a dozen laundry detergent packets
$25 Sears gift card (from My Views) used to buy for 13.5 lb bucket of cardinal bird seed and paid for most of one very nice pair of thick boot socks

I'm not one to go running around to every store in town just to get this week's "deal," but I noticed a number of sales I decided to hit at some point this week, since most of these stores are not really out of the way. These are mostly national chains, so I figured I'd pass on the news to you if you haven't gone through the circulars:

Shop Rite has rice milk on sale for .99. It usually goes for $1.59 at least. I like to have a few of these on hand in case my power goes out, since you don't have to refrigerate until you open it.

Shop Rite also has progresso soups on sale for about $1.09 a can, or 10 for $10.88. I see they also have a very low price on their Friskies canned cat food, 24 for $9. usually they're at least .50 a can, on sale, and higher at the regular price.

If you already buy Lean Cuisines and participate in their online rewards program, buy your next 10 at Target's for $2 each (regularly priced $3.50 and higher) and get a $5 Target gift card to boot. I never buy these at full price; the sale price is usually $2.50, so this is just icing on the cake.

CVS has Bumble Bee chunk light tuna for .59 each! The chunk light has a lower mercury content than normal solid white tuna.

Staples has $5 off your in-store purchase of $25 or more, so i think I'll buy 2 printer ink cartridges and use that coupon.

And finally, I see that Walgreen's has a buy 1, get 1 free deal for Estroven, which completely eliminated my hot flashes. (If you haven't experienced a hot flash yet, ladies, consider yourself lucky. You'll be there some day.) I am trying a cheaper bottle of straight black cohosh to see if it works just as well as the Estroven formula, which also contains enough vitamins to function as a multi-vitamin (except it lacks much calcium) and green tea, which is already a part of my diet.

Had a nice visit with R. and my sister, and Ralph, R.'s dog, who frankly has always been an anxious little terrier with separation anxiety. All the pizza places we hit were closed, so we ended up at Shop Rite and he got 3 Amy's pizzas, which weren't bad. I think my sister enjoyed catching up with him after not seeing him for a good number of years.

I went to update my net worth on NetWorthIQ.com but I'm getting a weird message that they can't validate their credentials, so I'm afraid to log in there.

So I'll update my net worth here.

As of 12/31/11, it's $461,436, not including the house.

Compared to a year ago at this time, I'm DOWN $24,866. Bummer. I have to chalk that up to withdrawing $13,000 for vinyl siding last summer and withdrawing another $17,000 to throw at my dwindling mortgage balance. The rest of the difference must be attributable to the vagaries of the stock market. Normally, I'd be investing part of my income to compensate for this.

But compared to 2 years ago at this time (2009), I'm UP $146,210. (I guess that's when the stock market was still in a deep trough.)

If you include my home value, based on the most recent Zillow estimate, which gets emailed to me regularly, my net worth is $747,652.

Here's looking at you, kittens.

Just curious what you're doing...

Today was another relatively mild day here in CT, and supposed to be like that through the weekend. I still have a half tank of oil left, which should get me through January.

I hauled some more cut up tree logs and brush to the driveway. I think I have close to a cord stacked now.

Didn't do much else today. I have at least 3 unfinished projects around the house, off the top of my head, but no inclination to tackle any of them. A half painted spare bedroom. A half wallpapered bathroom. Ugh.

So nice to see my mortgage balance in 4 figures for the first time ever! The countdown begins!!

I changed my electricity provider (not the first time) for the coming year. The state has a website where you can compare the cost of about 20 different companies. Why would anyone go with a company offering less than the lowest rate?? I just don't get it. There's no fee to switch, and no fee to cancel, which you can do at any time. It's a no-brainer.

So I switched from ConEd, who last year offered the lowest price, at 8.4 cents per kilowatt hour, to 7.98 cents were kilowatt hour with Dominion.

You might say, what a teensy difference, why bother? Well, if you consider that you use electricity every hour of the day, 24 hours a day, then it's really worth investigating. Becus it really adds up.

I switched out all my bulbs to CFLs years ago and still I noticed my 2011 electrical costs were 4% cheaper than the year before. I have to think it's becus I shaved off a few cents last year switching electricity providers and that made a difference. Let's see if I can do it again in 2012.

I participate in an online forum hosted by a major credit card company. Each month you continue to participate, you get $15 or $20 in amazon gift certificates. And then I participated in another limited time forum by the same company and got $25 from that, so I discovered today I had $40 worth of Amazon gift codes to use.

I always opt for cold, hard cash when that's an option, but it wasn't here, so I got to browse Amazon and try to figure out how to best spend the money.

I didn't want to buy anything that required tons of postage, becus of course that would have to come out of the gift card. And I didn't want to get something that I could more, or just as cheaply, by going to a local store.

I have been wanting a new pair of slip on, laceless sneakers which I haven't been able to find locally. I found a pair of Grasshoppers on amazon that was exactly what I wanted. Navy blue and even a wide width. I had some money left over and bought 2 packages of edamame vegetable seeds for next year's garden. I had .43 left over and part of the order qualified for free shipping.

I felt so happy getting this stuff for free. Especially since I've steered clear of most discretionary spending for most of the past two years. The online surveys and forums, with their small rewards, do serve a purpose; kind of like a pressure release valve that keeps me from feeling totally deprived.

I'm waiting to receive another $65 in cash from the surveys, and I've built up $60 worth of points with Toluna; I'll wait til the New Year to redeem them. Last fall, I'd reached the point of having earned $600 in income from Toluna surveys alone, so they wanted my SS number so they could issue me a 1099. I decided to just stop doing surveys this year to avoid that, and I'll pick it up again next month.

Next year's garden, by the way, will be a back to basics garden that's highly geared toward pricey produce:

1. Edamame: i love these shelled in a cold salad with corn, black beans and chopped tomato and onion with a little Goddess salad dressing from Trader Joe's. Delish and so nutritious. And they're EXPENSIVE in the store. AND, as a legume,they actually improve my garden soil, which is already incredibly loamy and fertile, if I do say so myself.
2. Tomatoes: Of course, can't have a summer garden without these. Will grow both cherries and beefsteak.
3. Cucumbers: To go with the tomatoes!
4. Salad greens

Had a good talk with dad today. He wants to come up after the new year for all the firewood I've stacked in my driveway (from the October snowstorm). I'm betting he'll want to hit the German restaurant for dinner with his two favorite gals (me and my sister)!

Thanks for all the well wishes about the potential job. I am crossing my fingers and toes to hear some positive news on Tuesday.

I would really like to see Meryl Streep in Iron Lady.

I interviewed today for what I would call a "survival" job. Meaning, it's not my field and not what I'd want to be doing for the long term, but it would do just fine for right now and the foreseeable future. Until the job market opens up again.

I came across it yesterday on Craig's List, emailed them and got a quick note back from someone saying when can you come in. I said how about tomorrow (meaning, today), and that's how it happened.

It's just a lowly transcriptionist job. Their client base is interesting - they do transcriptions for network TV shows.

I met with one of the owners of the company, who was very nice. The job offers several pluses. The hours sound very flexible. I could work days,nights, weekends, or skip some time, if I wanted to do my freelance writing.

They had me do a bunch of typing tests and they showed that I type about 90 words a minute (!!) with an accuracy rate of about 90%. He said "I like what I see, I like what I see." They pay by the word, and while he didn't tell me the exact rate, he said if I typed, say, 60 words per minute and was very diligent, I should be able to make between $16 and $18 an hour.

Like I said, it's not my dream job, but it will pay the bills, and these days, my goals are very humble. Just want to survive, pay the bills and keep myself going until the job market opens up a little and I get a regular, salaried job with the all-important benefits.

I can continue paying thru the nose for COBRA all through 2012, and through June of 2013, I think. Sometime before June 2013, I MUST find a job with benefits.

It's also casual dress, so I could wear jeans, if I wanted. It's about a 40-minute drive, right off the highway. To keep my gas costs down, it sounds like I could probably work 4 10-hour days if I wanted, rather than drive in for 5. I'm still not sure how much work there would be. He said it pretty much works out to be an average of 40 hours a week, but becus of the way the work comes in, there will be days I don't work, and certain "breaks." Not sure how long those breaks are, but I think I'd welcome them so I can attend to my freelance work, etc.

The other plus is that they would put me on payroll and deduct taxes from my check. I feel that's a plus, becus I just feel like I'm paying higher taxes (self-employment taxes) as a sole proprietor. This way, I don't have to worry about making estimated quarterly tax payments to the IRS. And when you're on payroll, it's something the Dept of Labor recognizes and gives you credit for (should I need benefits again down the road) When you do 1099 work, in the Dept of Labor's eyes, it's as if you didn't work at all.

He said he'd call me right after New Year's. They are hiring 4 transcriptionists. He has to interview 20 more people, he said. Down the road, I could possibly work at home, but not starting out. I'd have to buy my own transcription equipment, which he said costs about $300, but then I could work for anyone with it. (Truth be told, I don't plan on being there long enough for that to occur, but you never know.)

So, I would be very grateful if I got the job. In the past, I would've considered it "beneath me," but now I have absolutely no problem doing anything, just to earn some money. Once you leave the salaried corporate world, it can be hard to find any part-time job that pays over $10 an hour.

I already posted a breakdown of my 2011 expenses. Here's my modest income for the year, ranked from highest to lowest amounts.

Net unemployment $18,092
Contract job #1(April-May) $5576
Freelance writing (9 clients total, but most of this was from 2 clients) $5525
Contract job (this was my final check from contract employer from 4th quarter of 2010) $2,375
IRS refund $1,937
Contract job #2 (Nov-Dec) $1485
Online surveys $803
In-person surveys, focus groups, product testing $605
Academic research studies (Yale and UConn) $548
Credit card rewards (Chase, Citi, Amex) $425
Other (1 day as a poll worker, Xmas cash, etc) $405
State tax refund $39
Manufacturer rebates $31
Found money $11
Craig’s List sale $10

Total $37,867

If you exclude the nearly $14,000 I spent on vinyl siding this year, my net income exceeded expenses by $3,434.

One interesting thing of note: I made roughly the same amount of money from my freelance work, done all year long at about $50 an hour, as I did from a 2-month contract job, working full-time at just $20 an hour.

It just goes to show you how steady full-time work at a modest hourly rate will help your earnings grow much faster than intermittent work that pays more than double your rate at the full-time job!

Some of you may know I keep meticulous track of my expenses, all year long. Income too, of course.

Here is the big reveal of my ranked expenses for the year, a few days ahead of schedule, along with a few side notes:

1. Mortgage/taxes: $14,177
This doesn't include a lump sum payment of $17k I took from savings.

2. Vinyl siding: $13,789
Even going with the lowest bid last summer, the results of which I'm very happy with, this was still enormously expensive. This also came out savings.

Something needed to be done as the house was peeling again and it's difficult to prep asbestos shingles the way you should when paint is already peeling, so I opted to remove it once and for all and go with vinyl. The 1/2 inch foam insulation was well worth it, IMO, as I've noticed it helps muffle outdoor noises and I feel pretty comfortable with indoor temps of 62 days/57 nights, which in the past would be on the chilly side.

3. COBRA and out of pocket medical expenses: $6,807
This figure just makes me cringe. It represents a 64% increase over what my medical expenses were last year. That's because last year I enjoyed the federal COBRA subsidy, which went away in 2011.

$835 of this is for out-of-pocket co-pays. One thing I've learned is that when an insurer tells you "it's 100% covered," it's really not. This was all routine check-ups except for a stubborn yeast infection and Lyme Disease that had to be treated.

4. Food: $2,591
On the plus side, I spent just about the same amount on food last year. This works out to an average $215 a month for a single person. I'd like to do better, given that it's my #4 expense, but when the average person goes grocery shopping at least 52 times a year, it's hard to shop smart each and every time.

5. Heating oil: $1,117
This represents a 20% decrease compared to last year, but I think most of the savings can be attributed to the fact that I skipped my annual furnace tune-up this year.

6. Home maintenance: $959
I regret forking over $360 to a couple of guys who removed a foot of snow off the roof of my house after one heavy snowstorm. Everyone was doing it after the news repeatedly showed the shallow-pitched roofs and the roofs of old barns caving in from the weight of the heavy, wet snow. Another big chunk of this was miscellaneous small handyman jobs I had someone do, part of it related to damaged caused by the ice dams in the gutters from the same storm.

I have since purchased a snow rake and intend to get out and use it as soon as there's more than a few inches on the roof so the same thing doesn't happen again, especially since I also spent money getting paneling in 2 closets damaged by the melting ice.

7. Cats: $837
This just boggles my mind, considering neither of my 2 cats had any health problems this year, except I did take Waldo in for what turned out to be allergies. The vet is enormously expensive. Still, this figure represents a 40% decrease from last year, when I think there were more trips to the vet. On the plus side, i purchased an extra YEAR'S worth of cat litter at Costco this year because I won't be renewing my Costco membership, and they have very cheap cat litter.

I love my cats dearly, but I don't think I would again adopt a 2nd cat so lightly.

8. Household: $827
I was shocked that this figure includes $350 spent on an upholstered chaise lounge for my sun room. I remember that I'd been wanting to get something comfortable for the room once it was finished 2 summers ago, but I haven't been working f/t for 2 years. Then I remembered that my work at Big Company was in the last quarter of 2010, so no doubt I was feeling "flush" with cash and decided to indulge. And there was a time when I was quite sure I was going to get an offer for a permanent position there, since they let the other 2 contract writers go and kept me to the end, and I kept getting good feedback. But it didn't work out that way.

9. Electricity: $744
Connecticut is known for having some of the highest electric rates in the country. Remember, I use oil to heat my house. Fortunately, I'm signed up to receive a $100 to $200 credit on next year's electric bills, compliments of CL&P after most of us went without power for 7 days during Irene in August and the snowstorm in October. The exact amount depends on how many people sign up for it. Why we should have to sign up, I don't know. The power company knows who was out of power, so why make it contingent on someone hearing about the credit or not?

10. Sewers: $738
This is high because it includes ongoing usage fees as well as payments on a mandatory $9,900 loan residents in certain neighborhoods had to take out to pay their share for a new sewer treatment plant. I should be through paying off that stupid (2%) loan in another 5 years.

Those are my top 10 expenses, ladies and gentlemen.

Then there's the:
Homeowners insurance: $691
(reflects $5,000 deductible)
Paneling 2 closets: $644
Phone and Internet: $586
Gas for car: $571
This represents a 31% decrease from last year. I've been successful in consolidating errand trips! Plus, I guess prices have come down.
Washing machine: $514
Auto insurance: $447
It keeps creeping up despite a 12-year old car with no collision and a perfect driving record!
Car tax and AAA membership: $280
Water: $196
Car upkeep: $195
Borough taxes: $165
Dining out: $82
Dump sticker: $80
Cable TV: $62 (cancelled it entirely in August)
Clothing: $62
Haircuts: $58
Gardening: $47
Vacations: $46 (this was cost of gas to visit dad on Jersey shore)
Gifts: $29 (Yup, that's all I spent on Christmas this year)
Bird feeding: $15
Subscriptions: $10 This was a special they had on a year's worth of Sunday newspapers. I thought I could recoup the cost from grocery coupons. Don't think it was worth it.
Entertainment: $6 This was 3 movies I saw at the $2 movie theater.

Total Expenses: $48,222
Not including the vinyl siding: $34,433

Next: My income, analyzed

Christmas was nice enough.

We had a ham dinner and i brought my slow cooker over with a cranberry rice pudding, as well as chocolate/walnut/cranberry cookies.

The gift giving was very simple this year. My mother gave my and my sister money, figuring we could use it. (yes.) My sister gave us each a bag containing several jars of homegrown and homemade strawberry and kiwi jam as well as cocoa dried pear rings.

My sister surprised us both by telling us she'd had hip replacement surgery 2 weeks ago! She's only 2 years older than me and very anti-medicine in general, so this was quite a shock. But she had been hobbling around for the past year or two and refusing to talk about it becus she doesn't like my mother asking questions and acting all worried. Anyway, I'm glad she had it done; I know she was in a lot of pain becus she's into herbs and natural supplements and stuff like that but doesn't trust doctors. She has extreme views which are frankly ridiculous.

It looks like a friend will be coming up here for a visit tomorrow night. I haven't seen him in 3 years or so but we talk frequently on the phone, almost daily. He's just a friend, and frankly gets on my nerves at times. Guess we'll have to see how it goes. I sort of have mixed feelings about seeing him.

I'm sort of stalling on buying a new dryer. I just don't want to spend the money. I came out about $600 ahead for the month of December, and I keep thinking about the next oil tank fill-up that will likely come toward the end of next month. I haven't checked oil prices lately, but I'm thinking it'll be in the $500 to $600 range. So I know I'll have to get a new dryer at some point, but for now, not working, I can air-dry my laundry in the dry air of the house. There's always the iron if I need to go somewhere for a job interview.

Monkey mama had suggested getting a used dryer. I suppose I could go that route, but I don't really feel comfortable buying a used dryer from a stranger, cus I'd have no way of knowing whether it was a decent dryer or not. I might as well get a new one where delivery and set-up are included...just not right away.

I've got a beef stew with orange zest going in the slow cooker.

I went way overboard with groceries this month. Spent $280. That's way more than I like to spend. Not sure what to attribute it to.

I spent my Xmas eve applying to a bunch of p/t jobs I saw on Craig's List which seemed like they could be interesting. Even a single regular p/t job would do wonders for my budget.

I spent an hour or so this afternoon tromping around in the brush perimeter of my backyard, where the downed trees were cut up, and rolling some of the smaller logs down the hill, which I then carted in my wheelbarrow to stack in the driveway. They're in the bramble patch, and come spring, that whole area will be impenetrable, so this is the time to get that firewood. There's also a lot of smaller tree branches that aren't burnable, so I've been stacking them in several piles, which make great cover for the birds here.

It was good to get out and get some fresh air on a relatively mild (low 40s) winter day.

I forgot to mention that when I finished up the nutrition study, I got the results of my 2 DEXA scans, which check for bone mineral density. (Or maybe I did?) Anyway, my bone density is slightly better than the average bone density of a 20 to 40 year old, and even better than other women my age. I also have greater hand strength than other women my age. Presumably, I'm stronger in general due to my yard work, but the testing involved things like hand grip, how long I could balance on one leg, how quickly I could run up and down 3 flights of stairs and stuff like that.