Okay. DH no longer has any income. He had eight week’s pay owed to him, and they have sent him a check for that. Next week he will file an unemployment claim although he has to do it in NH, since that’s where he (was) working, and their maximum benefit is some ridiculous number like $360 a week. It’s a good thing I have a job. He has conferred with various advisors (including the DH of a woman I only know from here on 3FC - isn’t that amazing? They live 2,000 miles away from us, we’ve never met, and yet they are willing to help. I swear that whenever I’m at my most negative, somebody does something really wonderful, and I have to reassess my negativity…) anyway, DH has downloaded a Microsoft program called C-sharp (I think. Or C-Plus. Something like that) which is, I guess, a cutting edge software tool (dot-net?) that a LOT of companies are needing people to do. (Don’t mind my technological ignorance; it’s one of those things that help DH and I get along so well - the fact that I know nothing about his work and he knows nothing about mine. LOL) So, anyway, he’s learning what he’s been able to download, and then - in another week or so - we’ll have to buy some programming tools for him to continue his learning curve (@ $500, he says) and THEN he’ll be able to take some sort of “working towards certification” exam, and THEN he’ll have to work hands-on in the C-sharp (or whatever it is) environment for a year before he can take the final certification exam. And THEN nobody will care if he’s 62, because he has oodles of experience, and will apparently be among a fairly small (relatively speaking) group who can do this stuff. Thanks to this SAME fellow 3FC member’s DH, my DH has already received an inquiry from Fidelity, but we’re thinking that rather than grab at something - the first thing that comes along - we’re really better off setting a Feb. 1 deadline for him to be bringing in solid money again, and take this time to learn the new stuff.

But we’re definitely giving up this place and moving into my DD’s “spare” apartment. I went over there last night to measure and double-check paint colors. Those of you who have been around for a while may recall that back in the spring, I was re-doing the small, secondary bathroom at the house; the walls had (have) a kind of aqua-blue-ish tile 3/4ths of the way up, so rather than replace them, I just worked with that color scheme and ended up with that sort of a muted teal color and dark brown. And, since I now have a large number of muted teal-ish (or darkish aqua; depends on how you look at it) and dark brown towels and accessories, one of the bathrooms in the apt. needs to be in that color scheme, too. The really nice thing is that in the old bathroom, there was only a crank-out window over the tub - set right into the tile, and nothing I could put a curtain on but the bathroom in the apt. that I plan to use these colors in has a full-sized window that I CAN put curtains on. So, I bought some Waverly fabric - an Englishy-looking floral print with a dark brown background and flower blossoms in the tealy-aqua color with mossy green leaves. I’m going to make long, floor-length drapes out of that fabric, and then a valance, tie-backs and an undercurtain in a complimentary striped fabric with the dark brown, tealy-aqua, moss green and something else (I don’t remember). That bathroom has wooden wainscoting a little more than half-way up the walls, and I’m painting the wainscoting in a palish-tealy-aqua, and the walls in an even paler tealy-aqua. I’m really excited about having a *real* window in there! LOL. DH is putting up some shelves in there (I have a big hammered brass vase filled with dried brownish baby’s breath, and some absolutely boffo soaps and lotions that need to be displayed. Also a big, oval, hammered brass-framed mirror that I’m hanging over the vanity where there is presently a medicine cabinet that is coming out.) You know I SHOULD have been an interior designer! I would’ve LOVED that!

Well, anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to. Also packing up some stuff. Did I mention that the couple we had in mind are definitely taking over the house? Yep. We’re out of there at the end of this month, free of all responsibility. Very quick move, I know, but sometimes you just have to cut your losses while (and if) you can. Continuing with those high payments would’ve had us scraping to get by, and most likely running out of money before DH could get working again. At least this way, even if he doesn’t get work by Feb. 1st, we can survive.

I’ve been thinking about a lot of things lately; and pulling one Tarot card a day with which to assess, on an ongoing basis, our (DH’s & mine) current & future situation. So far, every card I’ve pulled has had very positive connotations - new things emerging; good fortune in the world’s pursuits; success; positive outcomes. Not a single negative card. I’ve got to believe that all of this is leading to an even better place than we were. Sometimes, situations that SEEM negative on the face, are really just neccessary steps towards something else - something very much better than we might have expected.

And on the diet front, I haven’t weighed again (worried that those 3 pounds might surface again, I suppose) BUT we’re having our *posh* annual luncheon today (my job) at the Copley Plaza, and I decided to try a suit on that I haven’t worn for at least three years. The last time I tried it, I couldn’t even come close to zipping the skirt. (It’s one of those black woolen numbers with the short, fitted jacket and calf-length A-line skirt. Looks awesome with high-heeled dress boots. ANYWAY, it’s LOOSE! For real! And despite the 3 pound loss, I’ve been feeling puffy and bloaty lately. I could hardly believe it when that skirt just zipped right on up with room to spare! NSV! NSV! NSV! The jacket is even roomier than it was even when I first bought it. This is pretty kewl because I haven’t been counting again lately. Haven’t eaten any sweets or overeaten anything else - and have continued eating high fiber stuff - but haven’t counted points or calories. Maybe it’s underlying stress or something, but I’ll take it, anyway.

Where’s Ini?

 Over and out,

Love,

Z