Your Man Is Wonderful

So, I've been working at a company called Buzzplant since May and one our clients is Dr. Noelle Nelson. She has written a book called "Your Man is Wonderful." The book helps women to evaluate their relationships and rediscover the prince that they once married. Women are challenged to rediscover the good things in their marriages, relationships, and husbands using one of the proven methods from the book through a contest www.toadtoprince.com.

I wrote a guest blog, which my husband prefers me not to upload here, but I wanted to say that this is a quality contest and I did learn some things along the way. I've gotten to read some feedback from women who have equally gained something from the experience.

I encourage you to check it out. The prize for the contest is a $1000 travel voucher for a romantic getaway for two. I wish I could go for it, but you know...there's rules and regulations.

Self-Explanatory...

My mom died from cancer about 3 years ago. During our time of grieving, my brother became a road bike racer and Lance Armstrong became an inspirational figure in our lives. (along with most people dealing with the disease some way or another.) Brad has even ridden with Lance in Austin during the LiveStrong Challenge. I encourage you to watch the video link. It's pretty much self-explanatory and I LOVE IT! Great job, Nike!

Watch here.

So Sorry...

Wow! I realized I hadn't blogged on here for awhile, but didn't realize a whole month had passed. Opps! Well, it's not as if I've ignored blogging altogether. I've actually created a new "family" blog for us. In the past, I've used this address as a sounding board for opinions, news and personal writings, but from here on out will probably try to keep the personal stuff left to the other site. You might even catch Skye blogging on there as well. So, please try to keep both of them bookmarked.

I am happy to tell you that I did get a great part-time job at BuzzPlant, an online marketing company in Downtown Franklin. Luckily, the majority of my workload will be done at home, which will be perfect once the baby comes. God has answered a huge prayer for us. I start tomorrow, and so I am trying to get back into "work mode." It's incredible to be hired during this economy crisis.

Free care at Walgreens

I'm thankful that while I am unemployed I still have my husband's insurance. But for those of you that are jobless and now uninsured, Walgreens is offering a solution for the remainder of 2009. That's right, "The drugstore operator will be providing FREE tests and routine treatment for minor ailments through its walk-in clinics — though patients will still pay for precriptions." Usually the cost of that type of visit without insurance will set you back around $60. I think this is awesome that a company is stepping up and providing this service during a time of need. I know that when I've gone through this before, not having healthcare has been a big concern for me. Click here to read more details.

No more Sir or Madam...

The EU has decided to get more political correct. They announced today that several titles are now offensive such as referring to women as 'Mrs.' or 'Miss.' And to make things equal men can't be referred to as 'Sir.' This is quite a big step for England, right? Officials have also ordered that 'sportsmen' be called 'athletes' and 'statesmen' be referred to as 'political leaders.' The guidance lists banned terms for describing professions, including fireman, air hostess, headmaster, policeman, salesman, manageress, cinema usherette and male nurse. One thing that hasn't changed is that MEPs are still allowed to refer to 'midwives' as there is no accepted male version of the job.

To read more about this, click here.

Twitterview Tuesday

If you use Twitter, this might be interesting to you. Tomorrow, John McCain and George Stephanopoulos will 'tweet' in a Twitterview tomorrow at noon EDT. If you want to check it out, it will be made available to the public by signing up at the Twitter site to follow both Stephanopoulos and McCain. If you want to send in questions, do so to Stephanopoulos, but remember there is a 140 character limit.

Click here to follow McCain, and here to follow Stephanopoulos

Brite Revolution Site Launched

This site was launched recently for Brite Revolution. "At Brite we made a choice early on: Any success we have will be shared with others. We donate 10% of all our revenue to our listed causes. That's 10% right off the top. 5% is determined by you, our listeners and the other 5% is chosen by each of our artists." I just love that during this economy crisis, people are still putting things out there for the greater good. Kudos to Cabedge for the web design.

Soap Opera Lullabies

My husband is sitting beside me reading his "Expectant Father" book. He's come across a section which talks about a scientific study that happened amongst pregnant women that watch soap operas during their pregnancy. Apparently, for those babies that were exposed to daytime drama, they stop crying later on when they hear the show's theme song. Does that mean that my babies natural lullaby will be the Young and Restless theme? Oh no!

Inspiring Church

I was watching the NBC Nightly news and they did a story on this church in Schaumburg, Ill. Apparently they give all their profits to people in the church community who need the money more. The Pastor works from his laptop at Starbucks and they rent property from the local high school. I thought this was inspiring in these hard times. Click here to read more about this church. I would have included the direct link to the church but it looks like the website is down. (Go figure!)

Today, the glass is half empty...

So, I'm going to write a REAL update. For the most part, most blogs that I read, people don't really write their true feelings or what they are honestly really going through. They take the opportunity to share what they think is cool and use the web as sounding boards to voice their opinions. Well, to be honest, I'm not really in a "cool position" right now, so I will write what I know.

Today, I'm having a real insecurity about my future. I have this baby growing inside of me and I have no idea what to expect. I know these feelings of anxiety are normal or at least that is what all the books say, but I'm needing some other kind of encouragement. Right now, I feel like my support system has withered and I'm trying to figure out what I can do to get some confidence back. (Now, that excludes all my remarkable friends that have totally stepped in, given me advice and even loaned me some baby gear.) I'm talking about things like my mother, who won't be by my side to help me. Boy, what I wouldn't give to have her tell me that I'm doing everything wrong! Second, my financial stability. Right now, all I have to give towards our household income is an unemployment check, which will eventually come to an end by the time our little guy arrives. We've taken the steps by first cutting out the luxuries, so now we move to possibly cutting the necessities, right?

Someone told me today that this position I'm in allows me to take time and enjoy my pregnancy. I kinda beg the differ. I'm not like the octuplet mom who lives in a "Pollyanna" world. This is real to me. I wouldn't even allow us to entertain the idea of having a baby until I felt secure in our future. If I knew we would be in this position, I would not be sitting here pregnant right now. Jobs are hard enough to secure right now in this economy, but to throw a pregnant girl into the mix, that makes the competition a bit tougher.

I guess I should put a disclaimer on my bad day too. Believe me, during this time, I am grateful for a lot of things as well. I have a baby, from what we can tell, who is healthy. A truly caring and loving husband, who works his butt off for the both of us right now. We have lots of friends who care about us. My brother is getting married to a wonderful girl who already feels a part of the family. See, I know it is not all doom and gloom.

Meet Britain Thomas McCaskey

Yesterday we had our BIG ultrasound. Everything looked good so far, and because they weren't able to measure everything we get to go back in a few weeks once he is bigger! We aren't too disappointed that we get another glance soon! Here are a few snapshots!

Don't use the "C" word...

Recently at a press conference for the Tour of California, an Irish Journalist, Paul Kimmage, set Lance Armstrong off. Apparently Lance had denied him an interview because the writer for the Sunday Times of London been quoted "The cancer had been in remission for 4 years and now the cancer is back in the peleton" talking of Lance's return to racing in the fall.

Now this is where I can definitely understand why he went off. Anybody, ANYBODY, who chooses to use the word "Cancer" to refer to something else in life, whether it be a person, a process, or even just an object is using a poor choice of words. Aren't people smarter than that now? Of course, I can understand because the disease has hit close to home, but I would like to think that before my mom got sick I would have been more aware of my words. I have definitely been around people who have accidently used this referral before and unfortunately it was a work situation where I didn't feel I could completely go off on my boss. But I can just say that I can understand where Lance is coming from with his anger. He's lived and defeated the disease and has also done more work to help the cause than we can imagine. He does all this work so your future friend, relative or spouse can maybe have some hope in the future if they are hit with the disease. To top it off, if you were wondering, as far as I know, this ridiculous reporter has yet to apologize for his remarks.



Watch Lance Armstrong Goes Off in Sports Online  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Advice from Ms. Trunk...again

Back in my days at Provident, my boss made us read Penelope Trunk's book Brazen Careerist. Afterwards, I became a big fan of her blog. This week she's written about "How To Talk To A Friend Who's Been Laid Off." I've listed the bullet points below, but to read it in-depth, be sure to click here. I can appreciate these bullet points first hand, right now, but also need to remember these when talking to my fellow unemployed. Some of these are so obvious that we don't even think about it because we care about that person too much.

1. Don't ask "how's the job hunt?"
Do you know how many times a day someone hears this if he is unemployed? Ten. And even if it's not ten really, it's ten in his head. He asks himself that, and he imagines other people asking that, and he stresses about the answer. Because the job hunt doesn't change much from day to day, but it's demoralizing to report that.

2. Ask about extracurriculars
In between jobs is the best time for real vacations and often the best time for gaining deep knowledge of something totally new.

3. Ask about health insurance
There needs to be more collective knowledge on how to deal with health insurance during stints of unemployment.

4. Talk about industry news
One of the hardest things about being laid off is keeping up in one's industry.

5. Offer up one good contact
The truth is that we all know someone who is out of work. And we all know that the next person could be us.

6. Acknowledge trouble with the significant other
It used to be that we could not openly discuss the testosterone hit that comes with being laid off. But today it's fair game, and even compassionate to acknowledge.

7. Don't be shy about gratitude
Tell a co-worker who’s been laid off that you miss him or her. And what you miss.

It's 3am...

It is 3am and I am wide awake. On a typically Monday morning, I would be frustrated because I would have to be up and ready for work in a few, short hours..but not today.

Here, let me give you quick update. Friday around 5pm, I was pulled into my bosses office and sat patiently as they told me that they simply can't afford to keep me at my job. Finally, the anxiety that I have been feeling for the past two months was confirmed. I had been walking into the office everyday, brewing the coffee and kicking things off wondering if it was going to be my last day there. I had no solid evidence, it was just the gut feeling in my stomach. My bosses also made no efforts in hiding the fact that they were starting to panic either.

So, as I sit here early this morning, counting down the hours until the unemployment offices open, I try not to panic. Right now, I don't really feel like a loser for losing my job. I feel like a statistic. According to CNN, "The third week of January was dismal for jobs, as around 40,000 more cuts were announced across multiple industries. All in all, about 125,000 job cuts have been announced so far this year, according to company reports." That isn't even considering the fall out of the little guy; those small businesses who CNN doesn't even reach out to... nor do the small companies report, "Why,yes, I have a staff of 6 and we plan to cut to 5 this year!" How ridiculous sounding is that? But either way, it's the same thing. Same crisis. My former company will feel the hurt from that one person being gone. To them, it was a luxury position, or so I was told.

I have no idea what I plan to do. The kicker? I am pregnant. (If you follow this blog on a normal basis, you would know that.) Here's my take on the situation. Glass half empty: Oh my goodness, what am I going to do? How am I ever going to be able to afford this baby now? Glass half full: Now I can actually enjoy my pregnancy without all the work anxiety and drama. God wants me to rest. In a previous life, I would automatically be drawn towards the first scenario, but for some reason I am at peace. Is it because I had those gut feelings for two months now? Did I have time to prepare? I mean, come on, I had already cleaned out my desk!

So, I am keeping my options open. I am going to investigate potential jobs, if there are any out there, that match my qualifications, or I might take my brother's suggestion and just really do some things that make me happy and make the most out of my time being pregnant. Do some jobs here and there that just simply bring joy and some peace...and enough income to get by.

BA Boom...

BA Boom, BA Boom, BA Boom...that is the sound my baby makes at 164 beats per min. In certain circles, some say that means it's a girl. In my thoughts, right now it's just a confirmation that this little person still lives inside my belly. It's hard, because some of your symptoms start disappearing and the fear sets in....Was that box I lifted too heavy? I only sort of tripped, but caught myself. Basically, your mind starts going a little nuts. The body changes that came on so quickly start fading and you just want to make sure that instead, your body just isn't going back to normal. I can't wait until I can feel the baby move, so that I can have a constant confirmation that things are going according to plan. I also can't wait to have more of a belly. Yes, can you believe that?I am embracing the belly growth that will occur. It will be a source of validation of all the fatigue, the cravings and yes, the double chin that is more apparent to me, than others. It also feels good to be at the "safe point," as they call it, to be able to share the news with everyone. But I'm not the only one with good news....

Have I mentioned that my brother is now officially engaged? It is going to be a BIG 2009! I am very excited that we will be welcoming his fiance, Whitney, to our family next fall. She's been so supportive and helpful to us through some very good and very, very sad times the past four years. My mom would very happy with all the change that is happening in the Wormer family. I only wish she was here to share it with us, but boy would she be proud.