a little bit country a little bit rock and roll and a whole lot of books

kristiem1 @ 2004-11-10T22:05:00

2004-11-11T03:25:59Z

Imogene slept until 7:30 this morning. It was glorious. I always appreciated a good sleep but since the baby, I appreciate sleep even more. I can fall asleep almost anytime now given a few minutes and something remotely comfortable. This is all probably cliched new mother stuff but it is all new to me.
After sleeping in until 7:30am, I posted some stuff on Ebay and unpacked some more boxes of things that I would like to post on Ebay. I have a lost of stuff stashed to sell. I didn't realize I had that much put away and I can't believe I have stored it this long. It feels good to unload stuff. While we were at my sister's house, we all were struck with unclutteredness of it all. It was really nice. I felt good being there. I am sure that I will never achieve the same almost Zen like simpleness she has achieved but I hope I can get at least some of the way there. There have been several times that Michael, my mother and I have said to eachother something to the effect of "What would Katie do?" I should get WWKD tatooed on my right hand to remind me when I am reaching into my wallet to pull out money to buy something that I really don't need or stashing something somewhere when I really don't need it anymore.

I have also been feeling really frustrated with the job market around here. I didn't think I would have such trouble finding something. I thought that the librarian population around here would be aging out and there really wouldn't be a lot of people around to replace them. Apparently I was wrong. There appears to be stiff competition for what positions there are. I have had to be somewhat choosey in what I apply for because of the baby situation but come on already. All I want is freaking part time reference position. Usually places are begging for people who don't mind working part time and sitting on the desk. I didn't even get called in for an interview for two positions I thought I would be a shoe in for and the two positions that I did interview for I haven't heard back from. One of the interviews was the best interview I have ever given.

I know I shouldn't do this to myself but I looked at the postings for positions in the Hudson Valley and NYC, thinking about what I would be doing if we had chosen to stay in the city or had gone back to Hudson Valley instead of heading west. Tourture. I think about the school where I did my student teaching calling last spring to see if I really had moved because if I hadn't, they had a position they wanted to offer me. That would have been a position I could have stayed in and probably been happy for the next 30 years.

Time to put the babe to bed. Hopefully she will sleep just as long tonight.

kristiem1 @ 2004-11-09T10:59:00

2004-11-09T16:12:04Z

so um yea. almost four months since my last update but I swear I have a good excuse. Ten days after my last post, I gave birth. Surprise. It was to me at least. I was scooping ice cream for the Grange at the county fair and then that night my water broke. Only I didn't think it was my watering breaking because I was expecting it to be much more of a grander, flood-like event. I think little Imogene had rolled over on my bladder or something of that unsavory nature. A couple of days later I realized there was something more to all that and Imogene was born. Even though she was quite early, everything was kosher and she came home a short while later.
So today I have been at this machine for hours already, since my darling Immy likes to start her day between 5 and 5:30am. I have been working on posting things on Ebay to make a little more money since none of the resumes I seem to be littering the tri-county area with have born fruit. If anyone is actually reading this, feel free to check out my listings. The auctions start tonight, also under the moniker, Kristiem1. Enough of the plug.
From now on you will probably find me complaining about life as a stay at home mother when the master plan of years ago was for there to be a stay at home father, as well as how bored I am while at the same time there isn't time for me to do anything. Quite a paradox, huh?
Oh, and can I just say that I am obsessed with Crafters Coast to Coast?

long forgotten but found again

2004-07-18T02:49:42Z

ummm hi.
So it has been almost three years since my last post....
Much has changed. I married the long time boyfriend and seven months ago up and moved out of the city to the countryside far far away from takeout Thai food, subways and bagels. I finished grad school, worked as a librarian for a while and am now a full time gestator. I am not a good pregnant woman. I look forward to the baby being born and I hope to never have to do this again.
Since moving we have been working on fixing up our house. I found out I was pregnant before I found a job so I haven't worked since December. I spend my days fighting nausea, reading, watching too much television and feeling guilty about not planting more of a garden.
We lost a member of the cat army a couple of years ago to kitty cancer but since the move to the country, we have added a fabulous dog that we sprung from doggy jail. He is happiest when he is sitting on the couch with my watching television. My hope is that this is just the beginning of the menagerie. I have visions of sheep, alpapcas, ducks and goats dancing in my head.
I just sort of remembered about the whole LiveJournal thing today and spent a couple of hours catching up on the different LJ's that I read long ago. My hope is to use this to keep in touch with some old friends, meet some new, and keep track of my new/old green acres life.

kristiem1 @ 2001-08-02T16:39:00

2001-08-02T20:50:27Z

Don't know where I left off, haven't updated in a while but I have been making good progress on a free-lance project I have been working on.
M is away on business for a couple of days and I am going to be meeting him upstate this weekend for my best gal's birthday. Boring, I know but back to work....

kristiem1 @ 2001-07-29T19:19:00

2001-07-29T23:24:41Z

Just took this test that has been going around lately. It was kind of interesting and made me thing about things I hadn't really put definates to before. I have gone to the Unitarian church a few times when we were upstate. I liked it and have thought about finding a congregation in the city. I have thought about checking out the Quakers also. A few years back we decided to check out some churches. M is confused by religion and thinks he missed out on something because he wasn't raised with any kind of religon. We checked out the Unitarians but never made it as far as the Quakers before blahism took over.

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2. Liberal Quaker (97%)
3. Neo-Paganism (89%)
4. Liberal Protestant (89%)
5. Theravada Buddhism (87%)
6. New Age (86%)
7. Secular Humanism (80%)
8. Mahayana Buddhism (80%)
9. Bah?'? (64%)
10. Taoism (63%)
11. New Thought (61%)
12. Orthodox Quaker (60%)
13. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (59%)
14. Reform Judaism (58%)
15. Jainism (58%)
16. Scientology (56%)
17. Atheism and Agnosticism (52%)
18. Sikhism (48%)
19. Hinduism (46%)
20. Latter-day Saint (Mormon) (41%)
21. Conservative Protestant (35%)
22. Jehovah's Witness (32%)
23. Orthodox Judaism (31%)
24. Seventh Day Adventist (28%)
25. Islam (22%)
26. Eastern Orthodox (11%)
27. Roman Catholic (11%)

Had an interesting weekend. Will write more about that later.

existential crisis

2001-07-17T02:56:42Z

Today was not the best day of my life. I found out that a friend betrayed me and I am feeling really used by capitalism or rather greedy capitalist pigs, particulary one in particular.

As for the friend. I had seem her work both sides of the coin before, and somehow thought that I would be immune because she considered me a friend. I was wrong. I find this particulary maddening because she was someone who professed and prided herself on being 'moral' and based some of these moral in her conservative viewpoints and the church. That should have been a big warning sign. And she came from a wealthy family and wealthy community. She always talked about how people are inherinently evil and that given the opportunity anyone would screw over anyone else for their own personal betterment. We tried to tell her that she was wrong and tried to prove it. Obviously she thinks this way for a reason and proves her theory through her own actions.

And capitalism. I hate it. I hate being a cog in a wheel that makes money for one or two people and screws over the rest. I worked for someone who like to pride himself on being 'fair.' I might give him 'fair' but just maybe fair. He certainly couldn't be called generous and that lack of generousity is evident in the fact that he has no friends and a money grubbing fiance who will no dout take him for all that he is worth in a few years in divorce court. All I can say is what goes around comes around, kharma will always come back to kick you in the ass.

kristiem1 @ 2001-07-15T19:33:00

2001-07-15T23:51:22Z

ahh well..... Just finished a yummy dinner that I made all by myself (gazpacho with grilled chicken breast with a mango and honey dew salsa and wilted kale with lime and garlic). Maybe it was a little heavy on the fruit but it was darn good if I do say so myself. I have really been getting into cooking since the big lay off and I am enjoying it. We ate it out back in the courtyard. It was nice, not too hot and there were beautiful lilies in blume.

Anyways, things have been a bit hectic lately. We spent five days home in Buffalo over the fourth and I have to say that the trip was about three and half days too long. Family. hum. Always good in theory but rather sucky in practice. It was good to spend time with my sister though. I have definately been feeling closer to her over the last few years. I am sure it is mostly about us both being adults and respecting our differences and enjoying eachothers company otherwise.

Then once we got back from Buffalo, Michael had knee surgery. I have been playing Nancy-Nursemaid ever since.

The second summer session also started when we got back from Buffalo. I am taking a cataloging class and so far it seems pretty interesting. I guess I will be able to tell you more tommarow after I have in my first graded assignment. I have been hearing all kinds of nasty things about cataloging but so far it seems fairly interesting, almost like puzzelsolving. I remember when I worked in the library at school, I always envied the catalogers; they didn't have to deal with the public and they were the first ones to see the books when the came in and they got to look at everything! The catalogers and the reference desk librarians always seemed like the smartest people in the world.

I also got a tip on a new job. It was through a recommendation from someone I was doing freelance work from. If this position works out, it could be a really great opportunity. I just have to get some writing samples put together in the next week. That is a little nervewracking but I am sure that I will be able to pull it together.

My schedule always seems so packed and there doesn't seem to be any end. This week I have to got to class twice, work on both of my freelance projects, house sit for my friend (although that is more like vacation), work on the writing samples which might include doing some field research, and then get the house ready for everyone that is coming down from Upstate to go to the Siren Festival at Coney Island. But should I really complain? No because if I didn't have all of this going on I would be complaining that I didn't have anything to do.

Alright, off to prepare my assignment.

kristiem1 @ 2001-06-28T22:44:00

2001-06-29T02:55:00Z

Ahhh.... A Red Stripe, a darkened room, a little air conditioning.... Life is good.
Things I am thankful for today (ok so maybe I have been watching a little too much Oprah lately):
- my class is almost over for summer session one, and just in time. Spent $2000 and learned almost nothing. I couldn't take much more. Now hopefully it is on to better stuff.
-beer, enough said
-money on its way from not one but two clients and
just in time
-my boyfriend, he really is the sweetest guy, always greating me at the door with a kiss. I am forever thankful that he talked to me that night eight and a half years ago. It might not have always been smooth sailing, but I think that we are all the stronger for having the rough patches.
-Spartacus the bug hunter, he isn't just a cat folks, he is a warrior hunting down the june bugs that crawl out from underneath the kitchen sink in a single bound. While the other members of the cat army while away their kitty days in air conditioned comfort, he is earning his keep.

loosey goosey

2001-06-28T01:40:18Z

Ya so, here I am, just got back from dinner with my old man, had a couple of drinks and I am feeling good. Found out that I had totally overreacted to a situation that had been going on for the last week and weighing heavy on the brain. If that isn't reason to have a couple of beers, I don't know what is. I am getting out of practice. It used to take more that 2 pints to get my head swimming like this. Ah... those days when I first lost my job and Michael was away when I would sit and drink a six pack and watch tv and eat ice cream.....
I go back and forth between extoling the virtues of my freelancing lifestyle and wishing I had a nine to five job. Freelancing is great because I work all day in my pajamas and only shower and get dressed when Michael is about to come home. And I work and watch tv at the same time. I know tv is totally evil but it is good white noise at the same time. I can't be in the house by myself unless the tv or stereo is on. But then again the 9 to five job is done and over with at the end of the day and I don't always have this fealing like something is hanging over my head. When I was filling out my bill today for my client, I realized how many really long days I have worked recently... I don't know, whatever, when I was working a nine to five job, I said my dream was to work from the house so I could work in my pajamas. The grass is always greener, that is why I should move back to the farm. Ha ha. Nothing would make Michael happier. He was just there visiting MY family last weekend when he and his friends went to a basketball tournement in Buffalo. He doesn't call himself the crown prince of Harlow Road for nothing.
Alright. Enough of the quasi drunk rambeling.
over and out

Is anyone actually reading this?

blahhhhh........

2001-06-27T19:28:28Z

So I am going to complain for a while. Today I had some errands to run, submitting a bill for a freelance project (yea, some money coming in just when the old bank account was going to be hitting the big E), and clearing up a banking problem (their fault- its always their fault, I REALLY hate banks). Grand total, if everything went smoothly, it should have taken a hour and a half tops. But of course in true NYC fashion... track work always fucks up a good plan. The G train, which is always questionable to start with, was under construction, so there were long delays, transfers, shuttles, the whole thing.. Instead the errands took 4 hours on a really hot day and I'm crampy to top it off.
I did however get some reading done. Including a couple of articles about farming. Humm... farming... These days in the city make me want to move back to the farm and do something with it that doesn't involve track construction and shuttles but instead has everything to do with animals, fresh vegetables and other yummy things.

kick start

2001-06-19T15:13:07Z

So my morning got off to a rocky start. Michael woke me up to tell me we blew another fuze yet again. Everyone in the whole building seems to be dependant on the same fuze and if we operate more than one power sucking appliance at a time things go black. For instance we can't run the air conditioner and the dishwasher at the same time and we also can't run either of them when our upstairs neighbor is drying her clothes. She got an air conditioner yesterday, that is probably the cause of this morning's black out. Can't blame the girl for wanting to be cool. And somehow now it the super of the building has now made it our responsibility to supply the building with the fuzes. And we recently replaced the hallway light when he didn't seem inclined to do so- we should be the building supers goddammit!

So I have also been thinking more about what I want to do to fix the place up. Now that we have resigned ourselves to staying here for at least another year, I really want to fix it up and make it a nice place to be. I can't do much about the slanting floors butI was thinking some radiator covers, a fresh paint job and light fixtures might be a good start. And would it be too much to actually own a couch instead of a futon? I think not. Michael and I are both adults for christ sakes. We started shopping for a couch before I lost my job but put it off for fear of our impending financial crisis. But M is going to be getting a bonus soon. Maybe now would be a good time.
And I want to throw everything we own out. We have spent years collecting our wierd odds and ends and thrift stores and flea markets and I am beginning to feel overwhelmed by it all. I should sell some or give it away. I am thinking that I could thin out the Pain by Number collection a bit. Well maybe sell some, give some away and find better ways to display the rest. Two weekends ago I installed some shelves the kitchen windowsills and that made a big difference. Maybe more shelves would be the answer. I feel smothered by our clutter.

Alright. I have to make some lunch and do some work. Is it to early in the day for steak? After all I will be missing dinner tonight because of class.... that's the way to rationalize.

slip and slidding

2001-06-19T00:46:05Z

So I have really let this thing go for ever! But now that I am freelancing from home, guess I have run out of excuses, I can see this becoming the perfect procrastination tool. Like now for instance, I have a lot of work to do tonight and an assignment due tommarow and here I sit.

Anywho. Had a good weekend. My sister and stepmother came to visit and we did a lot of fun tourist stuff together, the kinda of stuff I haven't done since I moved to the city because I like live here so there really isn't a need to go to the top of the Empire State Building. But it was really fun and it was freaky because we went yesterday when it was raining and it was really foggy and the visibility was really bad. I took some black and white pictures with my sisters camera, she was too freaked out by the height to go up to the edge and take them for herself. I will be curious to see how they turn out.

Alright back to work. ya right.

prostitution

2000-09-14T21:36:59Z

Last night I went out with Michael and my friend Jeff to a couple of fine Williamsburg establishmnets. Walking home, around 11pm, we spotted a prostitute. And that got me thinking... how did I know that she was a prositute? We only saw her for a few seconds in passing and we both came to the same instant conclusion. And I remembered another time, back when I was working in a one hour photo lab... An elderly gentleman brought in some negatives he wanted enlargements of. The negatives consisted of some rather disgusting pornographic images. The elderly gentleman was involved as well as some of his male friends and there were a couple of women. I was sure then also that those women were prostitutes. Just by looking at them. I don't like to think that I make judgements about people when I see them. But also what is it about these women that made me think right away that's what they were?

Fall in NYC and Designer Vs. Imposter

2000-09-06T18:24:12Z

So the weather here has been awesome for the last couple of days. Sweater weather is my favorite and I have been very excited at the prospects of my first NYC autumn.
I have noticed that people on the subway have been kind of confused about what to wear. Some people are in shorts while one woman this moringing was all done up in a wool coat and scarf. And the pushima's are coming out... the most pretentious of the outerwear accessories. I can see where a shawl would be pratical and stylish- when you just need that little extra, especially on days like today. But there is something so over the top about scarves that cost triple digits. Is that really necessary? I have been seeing lots good imitations lately though, for a fraction of the price.
Which brings me to another topic- high fashion knock offs. A woman at work recently bought a Kate Spade bag and then returned it a couple of days later after she had some time to ponder her belly-full of buyer's remorse. I told her, no problem there are plenty of really good Kate Spade knock offs all over town. She wrinkled her nose and stated she would feel funny wearing a knock off. I say bring on the knock offs. Because who do these high falutant fashion people think they are charging so much money for a little cloth purse with their name on it. And besides most clothing and accessories are made by third world workers making pennies a day and working in shit conditions. I would pay a premium for something made in a union factory where I could rest assured that the workers were being paid fairly, worked in safe conditions and maybe had some profit sharing. So for now, I am going to keep giving my money to the imposters. At least then the gap isn't quite as wide.

kristiem1 @ 2000-09-03T11:50:00

2000-09-03T16:13:50Z

So our magical NYC evening didn't go quite as planned. After much diliberation on citysearch.com, Michael picked out a restraunt somewhat near the club. Felli- on W.Houston. It was ok, on a four star scale, I would give it a 2.5. The prices were reasonable- our entire bill including an appetizer, 2 entrees and one shared chocolate mouse came to $34- but I could have used a bit more flavor. Then we went to the club. The post card said that everything got started at 10pm and online we read that they always get going late. We got there at 10:30 and the doorman told us we were the first people to get there and they weren't expecting a big turnout because of the holiday weekend. But we went in anyways. We each had an overprice beer- $6 for a Corona and sat at the bar for a while. We listened to the guy next to us call his friends in the Hamptons on his cell phone. A few more people trickled in. We played Columns. The band set up but never started playing. The background music was pleasing. About half of the other people at the bar- a group of 4 girls- left and so did we. But this place seems to have potential. I am sure on a non-holiday weekend it is hoping and I look forward to going back. I am just happy that we found a place that plays more than techno. I was beginning to think that all the clubs in the city just played techno nad the only techno that I want to hear is from 1991. And it seems to be a place we could enjoy hanging out. We haven't been out dancing in a long time. And we are kind of sick of just going to see bands. We want to jump around and get hot and sweaty and act like idiots and ever since the beloved Griffon closed a couple of years ago, we haven't had the opportunity.

kristiem1 @ 2000-09-02T18:16:00

2000-09-02T22:36:05Z

So this being the first Saturday I have spent in the city in a long time instead of trucking my ass upstate and Michael's first Saturday as an official NYC resident, we decided to do some city things. We also happen to be house/dog-sitting for a friend with a penthouse on Central Park South (ya- a tough gig, I know) so all of our activities were geared toward that end of town... We walked up to the Met and checked out their 20th Century design exhibit. It was very cool-lots of great looking deco peices. I was a bit disappointed because the found photograph exhibit that I was looking forward to seeing had just closed. The museum treck was followed by a nap, then we walked the dog around Central Park for a while. Then tonight is dinner somewhere downtown followed by a club that Michael found that has a Brit Pop night on Saturdays. And people wondered why I would forgo the excitement of Upstate New York for the city?