Random Photo Friday: Christmas 1986 Edition

I'm so glad someone invented digital cameras. If I took a picture like this nowadays, I'd delete it and try again. I did fix it up a little bit using modern digital technology, so there's that.

Anyway, my family has a long and faithful tradition of photographically documenting our Christmas trees each year. This one isn't too goofy, but get a load of the extra awesome faux fiber optic tree topper there. And is that wall decor fashionable for the mid-eighties, or is it a hold over from the seventies my parents were still enjoying?

I was nine years old and in fourth grade in 1986. This was the last year for quite a while I was remotely cute or cool since I hit puberty the next year way before any of my friends did. And not in a good "early bloomer with big boobs" way. Puberty mostly just stunted my growth and gave me a bad complexion and chubby thighs.

Christmas of 1986, however, I was still a cute little girl in a red velvet dress.

Unruly Duckling: Where is She Now?

Wow. It's been about two months since I last posted. It seems like longer, actually.

I was busy having a teeny, weeny nervous breakdown and quitting my job. The good news is that I have found my true calling as a semi-housebound agoraphobe with a burgeoning fixation on clean base boards, as well as a penchant for hyperbole. (evidently)

When I quit my job, I was afraid that I would regret it and that I was just blaming my job for my unhappiness when I really had more serious issues I wasn't addressing. However, I feel 99% better since quitting, so I think it was the right decision. Objectively, there wasn't anything so horrible about that job that should have made me utterly miserable, and I wish I could figure it out, but I'm tired of thinking about it. So: moving on...

I am "working" for a child care agency providing babysitting and temporary day care staffing. I say "working" because they haven't had an assignment for me in almost 3 weeks. That's a little bit my fault because I discovered the hard way that the agency appreciates it when you actually return their call when they want to offer you work. Since I lost one assignment for not calling them back for five hours, I've been obsessively checking my voicemail to no avail.

However, I really did enjoy the one week they had me working at the day care of a fitness center. Did you know that 40% of children are now named "Colin"? (not based on a scientific sample)

In other news, I took a really awesome trip to Ireland with The Husband and 3 of our friends. I'll post some pictures pretty soon. Also, our vegetable garden is going coo-coo bananas. Do any of you want some home-grown green beans or some Swiss chard? I can totally hook you up. The tomatoes, however, will be all mine (and The Husband's).

Looking forward, I may take another stab at this whole gainful employment thing. I'm also taking some tiny little baby steps towards being a foster parent. The Husband thinks maybe we could get some of those polygamous sect kids to teach me how to sew and can vegetables and stuff. In the long term, I'm becoming more enamored with the idea of getting my Masters degree in Counseling. However, I missed the deadline for this fall semester, so I have many months to get distracted from that whole project.

By the way, I signed up for that Twitter thing that all the cool kids are talking about. I'm not sure I really get it, but feel free to Twit at me.