When it rains, it pours

After weeks and weeks of being half-employed, I suddenly found myself with three full-time job offers.

I'm finally (almost) up to full-time status at the place I really wanted to work. I've also started working days at a new bar down the street. It's just two days a week right now (with nights dedicated to my current job), but that will open up into more days as outdoor/upstairs seating opens up.

Then, just as I got two jobs squared away, with what looked like some actual money coming in finally, two things happened.

One: I got offered a management position at yet a third restaurant.

Two: Hubs did not get the job he interviewed for here.

Long story short, I didn't take the management job. I couldn't in good conscience quit two perfectly good jobs to start a third (making less money) if there's any possibility I'd have to move somewhere any time soon. And let's be honest; since his job search is renewed, and nationwide at that, there is a real possibility we'd have to move somewhere sometime soon. Maybe not a big possibility, but still, it's higher than zero.

The good news is that it looks like he may be picking up a freelance writing gig, and I'm working two jobs. So fingers crossed, we won't have to dip into savings to live or pay rent anymore.

And who knows; maybe we'll live here for years and years. Maybe we'll move to Florida next month. Maybe North Korea will nuke us and we'll start that family compound in the mountains posthaste. I've given up trying to predict anything.

Speaking of mountains, I'm hoping to arrange a mini-vacation to Alaska in June. My sister and her husband will be there, and it would be awesome to join them for a few days and see the sights. Alaska is the only state I haven't been to.

The Rhuby Boomershine

I've invented a cocktail for work.

And look! It's on the menu!

It's 1 oz each of Rhuby (now renamed Rhubarb Tea) and the rhubarb shrub I wrote about a couple of weeks ago--which is equal parts chopped rhubarb, brown sugar, and vinegar, left to sit for a few days. Pour over ice, top with Dry Rhubarb soda, and mix well.

It's light and refreshing, like rhubarb lemonade without the lemons. It makes you want to sit in the sun and drink three of them.

And it's paired with a bite of foie gras wrapped in pastry. What could be more awesome?

Olympic National Park, WA

Another day, another national park.

We've had a string of spectacular days in Seattle--cloudless, sunny, almost 70 degrees. One of those days is pretty rare; to have 2 or 3 of them in a row is a first for me. On Saturday, we got up early and went to Discovery Park. We hiked out to the point to see the fantastic views.

Yesterday (Easter Sunday), we got up even earlier. We took the ferry across, to my stepson's delight, and spent the day in Olympic National Park. It's not really a driving park; most of it is wilderness, and it's big, and there's no road that goes across it. However, we saw the highlights in three vastly different ecosystems: Hurricane Ridge at the top of the mountains, where we got to see 12-foot snowbanks and glaciers; Rialto Beach, a rocky, surf-torn Pacific Beach covered with massive logs of driftwood; and Hoh rainforest, North America's only rainforest, with massive moss-covered trees and ferns everywhere.

(My Southern California-raised stepson on the rain forest: "There's something wrong with this stream! I can see all the way to the bottom of it! The water is perfectly clear! It's not supposed to be like that!")

We ended the day at Kalaloch Lodge with burgers and beers, overlooking the ocean. Why? Because my stepson has finally discovered his appetite. I packed what I thought would be a day's worth of food for three people, lunch and dinner: six sandwiches, several bottles of water, plus a totebag full of apples, bananas, dried fruit, a gallon Ziploc bag of popcorn, some protein bars, some cookies, etc.

All that food was gone by 3 pm.

I got one sandwich and an apple for lunch. My stepson ate everything else. Then he ate a burger and fries at the Lodge, and had the last sandwich for dessert.

I'm not complaining. Yesterday he ate more food than I've ever seen him eat, cumulatively. And he didn't pick at the sandwiches, and leave the crusts, and take the nuts out of the cookies, or eat only half the apples, or otherwise pretend to eat like I've seen him do so often. He ate everything. Even the crusts.

I was so proud.

So it was a good day. A lot of driving, and a long day overall, but the weather was perfect, the scenery was amazing, and there was very little traffic. I really like spending a beautiful day like that on the road, seeing new things, out away from the crowds.

And next time, I'll pack more sandwiches.

Interviews and teenagers

Work is going very well. I'm taking a table every night; soon maybe they'll let me take more than one and make some actual money. (I'm chomping at the bit a little bit.)

A friend of mine got me an interview for an executive assistant position here. I'm really not interested in going back to the business world, but they seem impressed with my resume (even though my corporate career ended two years ago) and she has good things to say about the company. I have another phone interview with them later today. I don't know what I would do if they offered me a job, but I suppose I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.

Speaking of interviews, DH has one on Monday. Thank fucking God.

Also, my teenage stepson is here for the next ten days. This is the first time I've seen him since last summer, so I'm not sure what to expect. So far, so good: he's eaten everything I put in front of him and he seems more grounded, less spazzy. DH took him to the Museum of Flight yesterday and he really enjoyed that. We'll do some sightseeing around town, around my work schedule, for the next couple of days, then Olympic National Park on Sunday.

The job I really wanted

First, the job news. I am delighted to announce that I've been hired full-time at the restaurant where I really wanted to work. Award-winning Northern Italian cuisine, with an amazing wine list. I'm finally officially back in the world of fine dining.

Pros: I can get wine off the list at cost, as well as food (Wagyu steak, anyone?). They're closed Sundays and Mondays, which means no brunch ever. It's a small place, with a small staff, and I think I'm going to fit in very well. Also, the chef is super nice. No yelling there, ever. Cons: They're closed Sundays and Mondays, so that's two fewer shifts per week, which means less money than I was making before. It's a rigorous training program, so it may be a few weeks before I start making actual money. It's in a northern suburb, so interstate travel is required. (Still, only 20-25 minutes, nowhere near the killer commute from before.)

I quit the coffee shop job; I kept having flashbacks to working at Burger King in high school. I also had a good interview with a nearby bar. I'm waiting to hear back from them, maybe that could be a part-time second job when I'm not at the other place.

Speaking of high school, my twentieth high school reunion has been announced. I'll save the psychological impacts of that for another post. Suffice it to say they are profound. Also, what do I wear??

The apartment is officially complete. We've set up a futon in the office so that room can double as a guest room. I've hung all the pictures and packed away all the heavy winter clothes.

No job news for DH yet. He's been more morose than usual lately, even though we got some good news about his mom. (She's doing much better.) I'm worried about his mental state.

But his son is coming to visit in a couple of weeks. I'm hoping the weather is nice enough so that we can get to the nearby national parks.

So, for now, a lot of working and waiting for the chance to earn real money.

Columbia River Gorge, OR

When in doubt, travel.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day in the Pacific Northwest--clear, sunny, 60s. The East Coast just got socked with another snowstorm, but spring has sprung here and I didn't want to let such a beautiful day go to waste. I considered the nearby national parks, but they all involve mountains--mountains with  significant snow still, with closed roads and chain laws in effect.

So I decided to save those for next month, and instead we went to the Columbia River Gorge just outside Portland, OR.

You may remember that when we drove through there in January, it was too fogbound to see anything.   Yesterday was the perfect day for revisiting. We saw two waterfalls (Bridal Veil and Multnomah Falls) nestled among moss-covered forests straight out of a Tolkien illustration; we saw the river itself, winding among cliffs and mountains (very similar geography to Big Sur); and we took a detour to drive around Mt. Hood.

Mt. Hood was completely snow-covered (it's the only place in the lower 48 that offers year-round skiing), so seeing it rise up out of green fields was a little disconcerting. In the span of twenty minutes, we went from blooming fruit orchards in sixty-degree weather at the base of the mountain, to a snow flurry, thirty-degree temps, and icy road warnings about halfway up.

Then we drove back down, stopped in at a couple of Portland liquor stores (to avoid that 35% Washington state tax on booze), and headed home.

I didn't get any good pictures of Mt. Hood, but here are some of the falls and the Gorge:

Bridal Veil Falls

Multnomah Falls

Uncertain and swirly

I know it's been a while since I've updated, but things have been in a big uncertain swirl lately. Looks like life will be uncertain and swirly for a while, too, which is driving me bonkers.

Husband is home, his mom is doing very well under the circumstances, and those are both good things. He's ramping up the job search, leaning on all his former co-workers in the area for connections, and we're starting to see little glimmers of hope. Many of those glimmers are in other areas--southern California, Chicago--which may mean yet another move at some point in the relatively near future. The thought of moving again makes me want to stab myself in the eye, but at this point any job is better than no job. So I'm trying to file that under "Things I will worry about later."

I've been offered a job at the restaurant where I really wanted to work. Hooray! They brought husband and me in for dinner, and the food was amazing. The bad news is that it won't start until the end of the month, and even then there'll be a long training period. So it'll be a while before I start making actual money.

That's the bad news: money. It's getting tight. This coffee-shop-job nonsense is dreadful. It pays almost nothing and I hate it with a white-hot fury. I'm considering temping again, just to get out of it (and make some more money).

I had an offer from my old job, to come back and make some money with them for a bit. I really, really wanted to go back, too. I miss everyone there, and I miss feeling like I'm good at something. Like I'm useful and productive. Also, we need the money. Husband wanted me here, though. And with his mom's situation being so, you know, uncertain, I understand that. We may have to fly out of here in the middle of the night at any time.

But I'm tired of feeling buffeted by circumstance. I miss being the breadwinner, I miss my friends, I miss being able to make decisions without having to factor in a bunch of unknowns.