This is a public service announcement for those who find themselves newly unemployed. I am an unemployment survivor and I hope to prepare you for being on unemployment with these tips.

1) Prepare yourself mentally to deal with an extraordinarily high level of stupid because there is nothing rational about how the system works or what they expect of you.

2) Prepare to be forced to attend tons of mandatory workshops on how to find a job. They aren't really there to help you but you are their job security so you need to act grateful for their existence while there.

3) Learn a second language, it will help you to be able to communicate with the people answering the phones at the unemployment department, because very few of them speak English.

4) Do NOT openly think outside the box or be aggressive in your job search, it confuses the unemployment department employees and it makes them VERY nervous. Well actually you need to do both to find a job but do not tell anyone you are doing it.

5) If the little old lady next door offers you $50 to do a one time clean up of her yard politely decline the offer or the unemployment department will declare you self employed and cut you off. They may say they want you to take any job offered, but they don't really mean it. They really only want you to take jobs that pay into the unemployment system, they don't care what they pay.

6) The favorite catch phrase of all unemployment employees is "You need to lower your wage expectations".... smile and nod but do not follow this advice. You know what your experience is worth, if you're gonna have to take a huge pay cut to stay in your field then apply for a lower stress job in another field where being smart and working hard can get you promoted, do NOT give away your experience to stay in your job field or the wages and opportunities in your field will continue dropping.

7) If you are willing to relocate to find a job do NOT tell the unemployment department this or that you are applying to jobs outside your current job market, this also makes them nervous. Apply to the 3 required local jobs per week and quietly apply to jobs outside your job market but do not mention these applications to anyone.

8) It's probably going to take you months to find a new job worth having, try not to upset the unemployment department during your job search, it will save you a ton of grief. Also, do NOT joke with anyone at the unemployment department, none of them have a sense of humor and they do not understand anything said in jest.

9) Prepare to do a lot of hoop jumping for potential employers and for the unemployment department. Employment apps for even the most menial jobs are now 5 pages long, being unemployed and searching for work is hard work for little pay. Don't give up and don't let them beat you down. Remain optimistic.

10) It took me 7 months but I found a job without taking a pay cut and you will too, just expect all of your encounters with the unemployment department to be maddening. Stay focused on what you want and need... no matter how many road blocks they create to make it more difficult for you to find it, it's out there somewhere.

A good read if you are still wondering what the OWS thing is all about- http://is.gd/dqFwvu

I watched a panel discuss the Secret Service Scandal, and in many ways Matthew Dowd got it right. He was right when he said that a growing number of Americans are sick of the press, sick of ALL the politicians, sick of corporate greed and their political control and sick of constant the scandals in high places. In nothing we trust... indeed. The REAL meat of this discussion begins at the 3.56 minute mark and is worth watching http://is.gd/Ff8bnd

I had to turn off the TV so I turned to Facebook. There I posted a semi-sarcastic suggestion that we fire TSA, and demand that all flyers carry concealed weapons and vow to defend their flights instead. I figure a plane full of armed Americans should scare most terrorists and be a very viable terrorist/ high-jacker deterrent. That post got me in trouble with at least one person who went off on a diatribe about how that would result in
"A whole plane full of trigger happy yahoos (Zimmermans?) who might feel a need to "act" if their heightened sense of duty, perhaps fueled by alcohol, is piqued. Sitting on a possible perp whose hands are bound with a necktie seems a better alternative to gunfire at 30,000 feet.."

SIGH. My reply shows pretty clearly how sick I am of the press telling everyone what they should believe and think -
Wow, single-handedly hog-tying a terrorist at 30,000 feet with a neck tie... great trick, I'd like to see that! I guess I was not aware that the Zimmerman trial was already over. Personally I am leaving that one to the jury/judge, since I don't trust the press to try it and I am not trusting in very many of the claims made so far by any of the people involved in it enough to actually know something. I question several things about that case, on both sides, it seems prudent to wait for the evidence and verdict to be known vs relying on unverified propaganda. I just know what I know and what I don't know. I personally do NOT know what was in Zimmerman's heart that night, and I DO know that probably the only person that does know what was in his heart at this point in time, is Zimmerman. Yes we do know he followed him when told not to, (and he should not have, but following him was not a crime). Yes, the outcome was tragic. We DO know a press agency edited and released 911 tapes to make Zimmerman look like a racist. We also know Trayvon's father didn't even report him missing until the next day. We do NOT know for sure why Zimmerman pulled the trigger but hopefully the trial will tell us that. I personally refuse to try and convict him outside of a courtroom, it's just not my job and my plate is already full anyway.

My mood was rapidly declining so I went out in 80 degree heat and mowed down my 2 ft tall grass with a push mower. That didn't help one bit, in fact I came in hot and sticky so I showered and self medicated with 3 stuffed mushroom sliders, some brown rice with diced green onions, and I washed it all down with a tall cold vodka and 7up. I felt a lot better then, so I made up the batter for these delightful oat bran muffins and placed it in the frig.... http://is.gd/ZIB17H

We are suppose to be toasty warm again tomorrow, so I'm cleaning the house in the AM and then spending the afternoon at the river, away from family, the TV, my cell phone, Facebook and the internet. It's my last day off for the week and I am gonna soak in the quiet and take part of the day truly off.

It seems to be having trouble so here is a link, The REAL meat of this discussion begins at the 3.56 minute mark worth watching http://is.gd/Ff8bnd. Matthew Dowd got it right, sorta.

In the crockpot today is a cassolette of white beans, spinach, onion, carrots and a wee bit of cheesy nitrate free polish sausage simmering away in a base made from this, my secret weapon...Knorr Ajo ( garlic) seasoning. ( Found at Walmart and most grocery stores in the Hispanic food section). I LOVE this stuff and use it as the base for most of my beans and soups. Hey, it keeps the vampires away! Now I have to decide if I want to serve this cassolette over polenta or with cornbread..... pics of the finished dish to be added later tonight.



The Recipe - In my small 6 cup crockpot I use 2 of those garlic cubes, 1-1 1/4 cups white beans, 2 stalks of celery chopped ( leaves included), 1/2 onion diced, 1/2 cup diced carrot, 1 tbl olive oil, 2 tsp white vinegar, a handful of shredded spinach and 1/2-1 cup diced sausage and water to cover. Add pepper or Morton Nature's Seasoning to taste near finish. In a full sized crock you could double this and feed a crowd. When I pour it into the serving dish I add 1 cup of shredded fresh spinach and toss so the beans cook it but do not over cook it. Serve with corn bread or over polenta or basmati rice. I sprinkle it with lightly toasted almonds once it's on the plate. It sure fills you up. On the plate it looks like this-



I had a funny encounter yesterday I had to share on FaceBook so I'll share it here too.
One of my clients is a 30-something young man who has Muscular Dystrophy, a single dad of 2 small children ages 3 and 7. I have been quite a shock to their household I think, the kids are even picking up their own messes and liking doing it, LOL.

So, yesterday as I worked in the kitchen the 7yo girl approached me with a serious look on her face and asked, "Do you make EVERYTHING from scratch?" Yes I do, it's healthier and means I am more in control of the crappy chemicals that I consume. "Well, that's just crazy" she replied. She must have given it more thought because later when she came in to pack her lunch for school, I watched quietly as she packed celery stuffed with the almond butter I had made earlier, a small bag of dried cranberries, a banana, plus 1/2 of a turkey loaf sandwich. This was a big change from her usual quick fix Lunchable and "fruit" juice. I was VERY proud of her and told her so. Sometimes it's the little things we do or say in life that cause the greatest effect. It's nice to know that some kids pay attention.

Her dad just called me laughing. She apparently told him after school that she needs a new lunchbox asap because she has decided that eating "wholesome food" takes up more space than her current lunchbox has... I absolutely love kids, it's brain dead adults that annoy me. :)

Someone posted this video over on FaceBook, I was in a mood due to some events during my day and the title intrigued me but I discovered something I did not know while watching it. It's by Chip Taylor, (of Wild Thing and Angel In The Morning song writing fame), what I discovered that I had not known before was, Chip Taylor is his stage name, he was born Wes Voight, brother of actor John Voight.... and in this video you can really see the connection. The song is mush deeper than it appears on the surface... I LOVE it. So even if cuss words are not in your vocabulary, the one used sorta gets lost in the lyrics making it rather unoffensive over all, and it really was the best word to use to hit the meaning of the song home IMHO. It's a song to the growing number of micro-managing people who think they know best how you should live, who you should love, what you should think, what sacrifices you should be willing to make, how you should pray and to who. It's a simple song and the video suits it's message.



While roaming You Tube I also discovered a band I had not heard of before, these are two of their best videos, easy listening, with good harmonic flow, in the first one they sorta remiond me of the Beatles in their early years, maybe it's the smoothness of their harmony or something, I cannot explain it. Their music invites you to sing along, I hope you like them...





Life is moving along for me, work is odd and I am hoping to change one of my clients to someone or something else, it's complicated. I'm working too hard for it being part time employment but I am grateful to be working. I've been trying to organize myself into some space for making art and that has also gotten complicated but it is moving in the right direction. The new to me car is doing fine, we are getting acquainted and use to each others glitches, luckily it's just a few little things that need tweeking.

Over all, life is good.

My daytime client cancelled service today so I am cooking for my week. I have steamed 1 cup petite carrots and 2 crowns of broccoli cut up and tossed it with a chili, garlic and lime vinaigrette. The steaming water went into my crockpot and is the base for my cabbage veggie bean soup.

In the now empty steaming pan I sauteed 1/2 of a sweet onion, 1/2 cup diced mushrooms, 2 diced zucchini, 2 diced roma tomatoes and 2 cloves of garlic in 1 Tbl olive oil/1 Tbl butter lightly seasoned with cilantro and Morton's Nature's Seasoning ( I LOVE this seasoning). Now making 2 1/2 cups of brown rice that will be tossed with chopped green onions and pan toasted pine nuts.

I made mexi pinto beans, falafel, tabouli and sour cream dill red potato salad with minced baby sweet peppers in it and some fresh cranberries yesterday. I am now all set with no fuss healthy food on demand for the week and I only dirtied one pan and my crockpot. Cleanup is a breeze and no nutrients were lost. Win/win. I'm starting a batch of fresh herb naan bread now. I seldom buy bread at the store these days because I figured out that if I have a loaf of bread, I'll eat a loaf of bread so it doesn't get moldy and wasted. But if I make 7 pieces of naan or 7 rolls, I have one piece of bread for each day of the week and that's all I eat. This change is showing in a huge reduction of my belly mass. Yay!

I love cooking but these days I'm really trying to cook healthier. I'm still considering making some corn bread and a small pan of stuffed baby sweet peppers (I like to cut off the stem end, empty out the seeds and membranes and stuff them with shredded Parmesan cheese, a little cream cheese to bind everything, plus some smoked salmon, crushed walnuts and chopped marinated artichoke hearts). I bake them covered at 350 degrees x 30 minutes but they are also great cold and totally uncooked as appetizers or lunchbox snacks.

In the bar frig I happen to live out of you'll find 1 medium container each of beans, rice, veggies, falafel and a potato, fruit or marinated bean salad. You'll also find a larger container each of soup, and tossed greens salad, plus a small container of smoked salmon or marinated fish or shrimp and one of Tabouli any day of the week.
I store my food these in Rubbermaid's Modular storage containers like these-



If no stores near you carry them, Amazon has them here- http://is.gd/51xGAr

They are PERFECT, because they fit into my little frig perfectly, this means they fit front to back and width-wise so they cause no lost space, & they maximize frig space use. Added bonus they all use the same lid and they stack well. I use the small container for my medium amount foods (they hold 5 cups). I use the next size up (10 cups) for my soup and mixed salad. Because of how they fit in my bar frig nothing ever gets lost in the back of the frig and it is easy to see what I have to choose from. The two larger sizes are great for storing pasta and cereal in the pantry. In case you were wondering they also fit perfectly front to back in a full size frig.

This system keeps me from eating things that are bad because I have a lot of ready to go, healthy, low salt, low calorie, good carb, low fat foods ready to go and I only have to actually cook every 5 days or so. Added bonus, I feel better than I have felt in years and I am losing weight without trying. Win/win/win.

Seriously it made me cry. And bashing Charlotte was a bad judgement on Simon's part, she has talent too but it was diminished or overpowered by the power of Jonathan's voice. Clearly he needs Charlotte by his side, they are 2 halves of a whole.

First off, people are NOT stealing your damn pictures. Done right, every pin creates a direct link to the original site where the pic was found and pinned. Even done wrong a pin is sorta like a virtual visual bookmark link made by someone admiring something they saw online, and it still is not theft. If your publicly posted pic content is popular it can bring you new web traffic, new admirers, potential newsletter subscribers, potential customers, people who had not yet found your ubber wonderfulness so far without Pinterest.

2) I have yet to see anyone claim they created the pics they have pinned, so they are not stealing your photographic prowess glory either, so unsaddle your high horse and call off the lynch mobs for gawd's sake. Get a grip. Let's ALL calm down and discuss this rationally.

I get that this is a "Me-me-me" and "Mine-mine-mine" world we live in but let's get realistic about this for a minute. If you take a picture and show it to your friends and family in person, then you have reason to expect to be in control of who sees it. If you post the same picture on flickr, your blog, FaceBook, or anywhere on the internet where who can see it is not limited then IMHO an open to the public posting of that pic implies that you want the whole world to see it, so I am not understanding how people sending people to your open content blog post via doing a pin on Pinterest has you all outraged.

I have a few questions for bloggers who have their panties in a growing knot over people pinning to posts they have made without viewer restrictions on who can access that content on their blogs/web sites.... posts about things Pinterest people stumble onto, admire and want to save/share a link to.

A) Is your name clearly visible on your blog? If not how are people suppose to credit you for being the photographer and blog owner exactly?

B) If your picture is of the art or property of someone else, did you get permission from them to take the pic and also to post it on the internet? If not, why not? Maybe they don't want their work on the internet, even if you own the picture, you wouldn't have the content of your pic without their creativity, they should have a say in this. (In some cases your pic of their work being published on your blog can disqualify them from entering that piece of art into a juried show if the show disqualifies pieces that have been published elsewhere). I guess this is where the self serving idea that "it's my picture I can do what I want with it" comes in eh? If you have rights so do the owners of the things you photograph, there is no room for double standards here.

C) If you have ever seen something online and shared a picture link or text link to it on your blog without asking if you could, well then you did a older form of pinning, so what in the heck are you screaming 'help, murder, police' over anyway?

D) Have you ever gone to a quilt show, fashion show, art show, or garden show, seen something you admired, ignored all those pesky "NO PHOTOGRAPHS" signs, and grabbed a few pics anyway with your cell phone that you then rushed home to post on to your blog, Flickr or Twitter to share? (You know who you are). OMG, this is not only NOT like pinning, it is worse than pinning... it really is theft. You were asked not to photograph and you did so anyway. Shame, shame on you! How do you see this as okay and yet condemn Pinterest users for linking to your own 'open to the world' content?

Admittedly some Pinterest users do not get what they are responsible for. They post links to tumblr pics that they found that totally fail to credit the photographer or the picture content creator (as in the case of pics of art by other people). Or, they post links to blogs where they cannot provide this info because it is not provided even if they want to share it and credit people. I maintain your beef is with the tumblr & blog owners not the Pinterest user, in fact you should be thanking them for finding these non-crediting sites so you can have a discussion with their owners about crediting you. Could you have ever found them if you were not focused on taking down Pinterest?

How things go wrong-
Example - This pin leads to a craft site tumblr of pics that offers no info on the pincushion creator or the photographer: http://pinterest.com/pin/77827899780551315/
I wouldn't have done the pin myself, and I did leave a comment trying to educate the pinner on how to do pins right even though I have no connection to the pic or it's content.

Here is another example- http://is.gd/3lFVIZ
The Pinterest user description says "pin cushion" nothing more.
In this case the pin linked to a blog post that included a link and a pic from the original tutorial post so neither content nor photo is owned by the blog linked to here - http://is.gd/XrR3co Notice that the blog owner was only posting a link using a pic she did not own to a tutorial she did not create... what the Pinterest user should have done is pinned to the original post found here- http://is.gd/OhteQT and who you should be mad at is the blog owner if they did not ask permission to use your pic or to link to your tutorial.

This is not a black and white problem.

There is an increasing number of internet impaired users on board, teach them rather than throw your weight around, it could be someone's grandmother you are threatening with attorneys. None of us is REALLY "all that", ya know? You will never find another place to be smaller or less important than on the internet. Just piss someone off and find out how much smaller you can become. Maybe YOU want to become known online as "That evol beotch that threatened Susie's 82yo grandmother with legal action" over a stupid pic because she loved the quilt in it, but I don't. This whole thing reeks of TSA level insanity. Seriously, not everyone on Pinterest is a cyber thief out to get you, intent counts for something here, your pics are not all that great to begin with and some folks need to get over themselves already.

I keep asking but no one can answer me this one simple question... who started this Pinterest witch hunt? What or who set it off? It almost seems to me like a hatchet job done perhaps by another online site that might have started to feel threatened by them simply counting on that old mob mentality to help wipe them off the web. One day Pinterest was the new internet darling and the next day without warning a growing number of people were rounding up a lynching party. I'm just wondering is all, where did this all start? Does anyone know?

This whole Pinterest thing should be about educating people on how to pin, and bloggers on how to share links and it should not be about threatening any of them with legal action. A hostile approach just alienates people who otherwise might admire you, your work or your blog, etc. Do you really want to falsely accuse people of deliberate wrong doing when they are simply innocently admiring something you posted about? Just send them a note saying you already think that you're 'all that' and you really don't need their admiration, or to be linked to and ask them to take it down. Simple fix, no attorney's or blood pressure meds needed at all. Or make your content by invite only, that's even simplier yet.

Pinterest haters need to understand how it actually works, and that the problems are not all on Pinterest before they declare war on Pinterest and all of its users. It appears that is also going to take some education apparently. If you attack Pinterest and it's users you also need to go after bloggers, FB users, Flickr members, and craft forums that allow links to your content, they are also "stealing your content" at least they are if you want to claim that's what pinners are doing.... and BTW, those other folks have been doing it a lot longer than Pinterest has even been around.

Me? I've sold quite a bit of my art to new people and increased my blog's traffic through people who found me via Pinterest, so I'm a fan. I love Pinterest and hardly use my foxfire bookmarks any more. I would continue to use it and even be willing to pay a small monthly fee to use it if my boards could be private or shared only with friends and family of my choosing because frankly the things I bookmark there are easier for me to use due to the picture reminders of why I pinned them. Plus, if my computer crashes or I am away from home, my bookmarks are safe on Pinterest and easy to get to. I see a value in that that goes well beyond the value of Facebook, which I would never pay to use.

I see Pinterest as an innovation and pins to my work as a positive promotion not a plague, plain and simple. I do not understand the witch hunt mentality that is happening. I do not see pins that link people to me as theft, in fact I make time to thank people for admiring my art or blog content, and through those contacts I've meet some nice people I would hate to see threatened.

I'm sure I'm not done ranting about this in the long run, but for now I am.

I didn't even realize how long it had been since I've posted an entry. I feel ashamed of myself. I am working, It's only part time but I'm working. Still doing in home care for 2 part time clients, and older woman and a young single dad with 2 small children and Muscular Dystrophy. Shortly after finding work my van "got the vipers", it started surging when I was on the freeway coming home from work. $200 to just figure out why it was misfiring on alternating cylinders at speeds over 35mph and a 90% chance it was going to equal a new engine, so it was time to call it quits.

A friend lent me a car for a week so I could get to work while I sorted things out and I rented a car so I could get to and from work last week. I found a new vehicle and with the help of family, I bought it, I now drive a 1990 Mitsubishi Mirage Hatchback with 88k original miles on it, in great shape. I will be doing a lot less supporting of the oil and gas industry thanks to this little car. It gets 35mpg city and 42mpg highway, a vast improvement over the 12/15 the van got.

Meet Mitzi-



Isn't she just adorable? I'll be making her some colorful seat covers with sun faces on them this summer.

My BIL Dave was interviewed for an article on surviving a stroke here- http://is.gd/H6FB7D
I am so proud of him for not giving up and reaching out to help others just traveling the road he has been on for 4 years now. If you know someone who has survived a stroke it is worth a read.

I have discovered Pinterest and waste a lot of time there.
You can view my pin boards here, feel free to follow any of them that interest you- http://pinterest.com/wildbohemianart/
If you want an invite so you can waste time there too ask me for one and I'll send you one.

So, bottom line, life is good, I'm working, I'm sewing, I'm happy and very busy.

What have you been up to lately?

I eventually got my withheld unemployment, and there has been more UI turmoil since. They sent a end of work inquiry to the person I did the 4 hour baby sitting job for as if they were a company, complete with all my personal info including my SS number asking them to document why I was no longer working for them even though I made it clear to unemployment that it was a one time job. SIGH. Really? Even my kids don't have my SS number why are we giving it to private parties without my approval? I guess the state of Oregon has not heard they are suppose to protect my info. I called and asked to chat with a supervisor, one was suppose to call me back, but that has not yet happened. I am almost afraid to try to interact with anyone at the unemployment office, it never ends well for me. I do NOT understand their thinking.

Only once in my life have I been unemployed for longer than 3 months, now we can make that twice because I have government imposed limits on where I can look and what I can apply for. There is no in-home, one on one work in sight so far and wages are dropping for in this area for that work. I decided last week to get proactive about this and on days when I could not find a healthcare job to apply for I started applying to places close to home no matter what they were or what they paid, as long as I felt I could do the job and there was room for advancement. What I have learned is that apparently I am over qualified for working at Home Depot, McDonalds and Taco Bell. I am over 100 applications into this and I am starting to feel totally unloved. I cannot even get a job doing babysitting, that's how bad it is, in fact childcare registry boards have started advertising for college students to make it clear someone my age need not apply. I may need to start thinking of ways to employ myself soon. I just know that being home is driving me crazy, and I think I'm getting carpal tunnel syndrome from filling out all the applications (no one wants to see your resume).

I am in high level emotional distress.... the topper in all this is our roof started leaking in January and we had to redneck it with a tarp. Suddenly it feels like I cannot possibly bail fast enough to survive it all. Still we are better off than some, at least we don't have a $2000 mortgage to worry about defaulting on, and no credit card or auto loan debt. It could be much worse, but I have to admit that some days it's easy to lose sight of that.