A discovery

When going through my stack of books to read, I happened upon another Elizabeth Berg book which I can't for the life of me figure out how I missed reading. What a find since this has been such a slow period for my favorite authors and their lack of being published. March is looking up with some new ones on the horizon.

This Berg book is "Say When" and once again, I love her! She makes the main character a contented husband and father who all of the sudden has his life pulled out from under him when his wife announces she wants a divorce. She's found someone new and he just doesn't do it for her. In fact, he never has. The ups and downs the author puts him through are.......well what can I say.......typical Elizabeth Berg. I wish she wrote more because now I'm truly saddened. I have no more of her books.

We were to have another blast of winter but other than a dusting and some severe winds, it was a disappointment. The farmer's almanac is forecasting the worst storm yet for the 7th of March so here's hoping!

After some miserable days at work I'm so regretting not getting the new job just so I would have had a chance to get away from the drama that I have to live with while working with other "women." I've always hated it! Dueling drama queens! That's what I'm surrounded by. A new assistant manager has come to replace the one that went bipolar on us. He's in his nesting phase so he is trying to make everything his "own." New way of doing everything. He sure is shaking up our area and spurring on the drama queens. One is my department head so she's determined to make all our lives miserable in the process. Oh well! I can retire in just over 19 years so surely I can hang in there for that.

No new job for me

I didn't get the new job which of course is what I expected. They played games with me so they could have their quota of interviews and then they placed who they originally wanted in the job. I'm too old to worry about it and I just want to get through the next 20 years of working so I can maybe retire at 80.




I finished "The Rose Labyrinth" by Titania Hardie. I found this one on our New England venture last summer and it looked interesting. Came with clues to solve the riddle and everything. Well, I'm not much for riddles so there were parts of the book that left me with major areas that I wished I could just skip. The story line was interesting but way too complicated trying to follow the background. An English woman passes away and her heritage is that she's to pass on to a female member of her family some papers, a Bible, and a legend. She has no daughters so she picks her youngest son who is a freelance journalist. He gets hooked into searching for the background. A religious fanatic group apparently wants the same information and is willing to do what it takes to get it. Just another author trying to come up with another kind of DaVinci Code type novel.

Great book

I finished "The Swan Thieves" by Elizabeth Kostova. Excellent! An artist named Robert Oliver is becoming well known. He's obsessed with a face he sees in a painting. It becomes his focus on canvas and in a search for the background on the late 1800's model in the painting. The model is an artist also and her story is told throughout the novel in the form of letters. Robert's obsession leads to a mental disorder and he's eventually committed to a mental hospital. Enter Phychiatrist Andrew Marlow who is treating Robert. He becomes so focused on his patient that he too becomes a bit obsessed with trying to unravel the mysteries of the face in the painting to help Robert back from the brink.

I had my interview today. It went well and for a while I thought it seemed like it was wrapped up but then when I was leaving she said she'd let me know after all the interviews were over. No matter the decision it will be okay but it would be nice to have this new more important job. A feeling of accomplishment that I haven't felt in a long time. It will be sad to leave my current job and the people I've come to care about but to get the new job I'd have to change locations.

After the blizzards

The world of white still surrounds us. It was thought that we would get more snow yesterday but it didn't amount to much more than some icing that will cut down on the drifting that is still happening across some fields and roads. Our driveway is still treacherous and I have to back into it in case I have to leave before my hubby and there is no where to turn around. Just can't push the snow anywhere anymore. Still so much more beautiful than the ugly gray and brown that would be sitting out there waiting to depress me. This is the worst time of year to get through.

A new job popped up at work recently and for the heck of it, I applied. It's an Associate Support Department Supervisor position. It's basically what the scheduler does by a higher level. The scheduler is in line to get it and everyone knows that. She's got the experience and I only had a couple of days of training in her position when she wanted to take some time off. Haven't done it in a while but still have my notes. I figured they would need three candidates to interview so they could make their choice which we all know was already made. This job is straight lined to the District Manager and the Store Manager. Well, I was interviewed by the Assistant Manager that just came on board within the last 6 months. I've been interviewed before and expected the same routine questions. Well, not this time. I had 9 "what ifs" and a role play. I through some past experience into the mix from when I worked in corporate America and apparently I made a little impression. Got a call from the Store Manager a few days ago stating that it was between the current scheduler and myself and that I was to have a second interview with an HR rep at one of our other locations an hour away. That takes place tomorrow. It was mentioned that if I was willing to go to another location to work that there was a pretty good chance that I'd get the same job at that location. I'd hate to move but I'm very familiar with the other location since I used to work in real estate in that town and lived 40 years ago in a town close by. I mentioned to the other Assistant Manager that hired me that I had a second interview and she said "Yea, you're going to the other location. They asked for you there." I can't imagine anyone from there asking for me since very few know me there and I would be the outsider. They already have a scheduler there and probably don't need an assoc. support dept. head. Hmmmmmmmmmm! Well, we'll find out tomorrow when I have the second interview. It's good practice and what the heck! I started full time yesterday so I still have that. It would be good to get away from the pettiness of the group I work with and move into a position that would eliminate a lot of that. There would also be a desk, chair, office, and regular hours in this position that would be a much welcomed change.

Seems every book I've picked out to read this year is a rather long one so it's taking me longer to get through them. Plus with these much longer hours, I'm losing valuable reading time.

More Snow coming

Another storm is headed our way! I don't know where we'll put another foot of snow when we try to clear it out of the driveway. My concern is missing work! Would hate to miss another day due to weather.



Harlan Coben wrote another excellent sequel in the Myron Bolitar series. "Promise Me" is an excellent read. I have not read all of the series but I'm hoping to fill in the blanks. He makes me chuckle with his wit. Myron is a former basketball star that made it to the big leagues when he blew his knee on the first game. He went back to college and got his law degree and now runs a successful representative business. It used to be just sports figures but he's branched into representing actors, also. Of course his business is just a sideline for his need to be a superhero to whomever needs his help. Along with his sidekick and long time friend, Winston, he solves crimes. This time his friend's daughter has gone missing. He has promised to find her since he feels responsible for her disappearance. He had told the daughter that if she ever needed help that she should feel free to call him, no questions asked. He got that call in the middle of the night and he picked her up and dropped her off where she asked with limited questions asked. After that she was gone. Very interesting turns and twists to the story.

Storm of the century

We're getting blasted by a snow storm that is threatening to dump up to two feet on us overnight. Hubby is already out at 9 pm trying to get the first 7 inches off the driveway so we can try to keep on top of it. We spent my day off yesterday, getting groceries, propane for the grill, and kerosene for the extra heater. I'm well stocked with candles and there's a stack of dried wood in the garage. Even filled the bathtub with water. All this in preparation for no electricity. It's a wet snow so I can see those power lines coming down. We're both due at our jobs early tomorrow but I'm betting the locals won't have our road plowed until late tomorrow or Sunday. Drifting is supposed to be a factor, too.




I've wrapped up another book. This was the latest James Patterson. "Worst Case" is his third with the newest of characters that he's come up with. The cop from NYC that has ten adopted kids and a widow. This time he's chasing down a serial kidnapper/killer. Likes kidnapping rich kids and testing them to see how environmentally and socially aware they are about the world. Wrong answer and bye bye. Pretty good read.

Another

Barbara Delinsky writes a lovely little novel. I've read a few and enjoyed them. "Not My Daughter" was a nice quick read. A small New England town is devastated to hear that 3 of their most outstanding senior girls have made a pact to become pregnant. The principal's daughter happens to be one of those girls and is the first one that is outted. The principal was also a 17 year old when she discovered that she was pregnant and her father threw her out of his house. She raised her daughter on her own and managed to get her education and work her way up from teacher to principal. Unfortunately not everyone in the town wanted her to continue in her job after it was discovered she "wasn't the perfect mother" since she apparently couldn't control her daughter. Lots of emotions and family drama.