[JessFinds] Marie is right. Things ARE looking up!

Tonight I was able to pop that bottle of champagne that has been sitting in my fridge, chilling, waiting for good news.

Tonight, my darling hubby was offered a fantastic job opportunity. In an amazing community. With a beautiful home. And a top-rated, rock-star school district. And it was a generous offer. Plus, it is in a culturally rich area (!!!) with real job possibilities for me. I am dazzled and a little frazzled! Pinch me.


(That sounds like bragging above, and it kinda is. I am just blown away by how something this awesome could land in our laps.)

Part of me wants to yell "neener-neener-neeener" to the stinkers that yanked the rug out from under us. That part of me is 4 years old. But the other part of me is so overwhelmed with thankfulness. Positivity is what got us to this new place. I blocked out a lot of negative influences, focused on my family and kept my chin up. I just knew that we would land on our feet. It is what we do. We are a good family with a lot of love, we laugh a lot and we have each other's backs. It feels like sunshine. 


The fact that my dear man was snapped up with such excitement, so quickly, speaks for itself.  I am beyond thrilled. There were happy dances, victory dances and more than a few hugs, high-fives and fist-bumps in our home tonight.

I cannot thank my friends (and some new blog-mama friends too!) enough for their incredible support. We had to make some very tough decisions. But this has gone from devastating to an inconvenience to hopeful to celebratory.

So tonight - we celebrate!

(MarieFinds) Things are looking up

Employment is good. And did end up securing a job. I'm lucky. I work in internet / digital marketing. A still growing industry, even in tough times. I start the new gig on Monday. This is a big sigh of relief.

On other fronts, this layoff has finally caused me to investigate the career change I have been considering for the last 5-6 years. I still haven't made up my mind about that, but I have at least taken the first couple steps to make it happen in case I decide to follow that path. And that first step is College Algebra. Sigh. I have to test into the class, and then classes will start in January. Even if I decide to stick with what I have been doing, a little algebra never hurt anyone, right?

This update is brought to you by my shiny new laptop ... the beauty of landing a job quickly is that my vacation buy out got to be used for something fun, rather than the mortgage.

(MarieFinds) Of Upheaval and Big Change

As most of my friends can attest, I'm not much for change. I find jobs and stay in them. I have a routine. My kids have routines. I like my life that way, thankyouverymuch.

I've been pink slipped. Fired. Laid off. Let go. Terminated. "thankyouverymuchforyourtimeandeffoert." "Itsnotyouitsus." Gah. Like most industries, in mine, client loss = job loss. The math makes sense. It really isn't personal. Except the consequences are personal. They are actually being great about it. 30 days notice. 2 weeks severance. They owe me 8 days of vacation pay. All in all, I get over 7 weeks of pay while I job hunt and wrap up clients. And then there is unemployment.

Before that, hopefully there is a job. Because blogging and momming doesn't pay the bills. Especially not the frequency with which I post.

I fret. And then I say we will be OK. And then I fret. And then the Lawyer says we will be OK. And then I kiss my kids. And wonder how many days a week I can keep Squirrel in her Mandarin pre-school. And then I say we will be OK.

(MarieFinds) Ham

This post is partly inspired by Jess' menu planning saga.

I meal plan best when we're broke, and boy, have we been broke. We've all been there. Weeks where due to whatever factors, you start the week with less than a $100 in the bank, and you know it will be that way until payday. And you haven't bought groceries yet. Hopefully, payday is soon. This time payday was 10+ days away.

Solution? A big-ass ham. I cooked an 11 pound ham on Sunday. For the four of us. A good ham, though no Smithfield Country ham. We eat city ham. One of these days I'll mail order a good country ham. (Cook's brand ham's are the best city hams, as decreed by the Cook's Illustrated people. And they can be bought cheaply at WinCo. My 11 pound ham was $18. bought a couple of weeks ago before Easter. Ham is super cheap then. And it keeps in the fridge forever.)

Back to my point. On Sunday, I made a crazy big ham for 2 adults and 2 young kids. Made a half-sized order of scalloped potatoes and green beans. Ham was glazed with a maple syrup / orange marmalade glaze.

Monday was leftovers of above.

Tuesday was a ham and cheddar cheese quiche, with some broccoli and mushrooms thrown in. broccoli served on the side as well. (Squirrel proceeded to eat the ham out of the quiche, some of the "egg" and the broccoli on the side. No egg covered broccoli for her. She only likes it straight. with salt and maybe lemon.)

Wednesday was ham and cheese sandwiches.

Thursday was pizza slices. Yay, payday!

Friday was a ham pot pie. which was surprisingly good. really good, actually. I just added a handful of cheese to the recipe at the link. other than that, followed it exactly.

Saturday breakfast was home made biscuits, with fried ham, sausage and eggs.

Saturday lunch was grilled cheese. And mine had ham in it.

Saturday dinner will be ham and split pea soup. and maybe I'll make more biscuits. I have the world's easiest biscuit recipe.

And then, I think we are done with the ham. For a while. We'll make enough split pea to freeze, because frozen soup is the answer to many nights when we get home at 7pm and still need to feed the kids.

(MarieFinds) Babies R Us getting something right

Anyone who has ever talked to me about kids gear knows I hate Babies R Us. I consider it a necessary evil for some things, but the generally untrained staff, lack of flexibility in policy and lack of organic / sustainable choices for many things leaves me generally irked. I was there last week to pick up a couple of necessary items, and saw something new. They have done some general store re-org, and now have a section called "Mother's Things" (or something like that...).

This is a section obviously devoted to getting just a little bit more of your dollar, but in a way that makes total sense to me: brands I actually buy, of things like, lotion and basic toiletries. This strikes me as genius. I didn't check the price on these items, but God knows, sometimes when you are out shopping, making two stops isn't possible if you are toting the wee ones along. What a brillian way to try and expand without diluting what they already do.

I didn't actually buy anything from that section, and probably never will, but it is interesting to see retailers respond to market forces.

[JessFinds] Generic Example of HIRE ME

JESS FINDS
555-555-5555 • jessfinds@fakeemail.com
123 Main Street, Anytown, WI 55555

COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONAL with over ten years of mid & senior level experience in new media, publishing, advertising & project management.

________________________________________

“She took over leadership of Unidentified Religious Institution's communications. She has terrific vision, drive, and energy. Jessica launched our weekly email newsletter, completed our transition to a quarterly magazine, and led the effort toward a new website. She faced a challenging set of stakeholders, and still got the job done -- collaboratively, even! I highly recommend Jessica.”
- former supervisor
________________________________________

RELATED SKILLS

Project / Account Management: Strong background in new & print media, successful supervision of multiple client relationships & campaigns. Ability to work under deadline, collaboratively & independently.

Content Production: Created cohesive branding themes for internal & external print & online materials. Produced website & newsletter content. Formed sales training materials, client proposals & edited materials produced by others.

Web Content Management Systems (CMS): Have maintained, cleaned & contributed web content through a proprietary CMS.

Writing: Independent syndicate & freelance writer for a number of publications & services. (8 years). Experience writing press releases. Editor of & contributor to a print magazine.

Basics: Excellent computer (PC & Mac) skills & ability to quickly learn new software as needed. Type 70+ wpm.

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Arts – 1997
Normal State University

WORK EXPERIENCE

Not-For-Profit
Communications Officer / Editor / Project Manager
(3/2006 – 02/2009) That Religious Institution
• Editor of 32-40 page quarterly magazine w/ circulation of 11,000.
• Created & maintained new communication channels (email newsletter, blog & utilization of social media for community-building).
• Project manager for creation of new website, overseeing content, design & business relationship with design team. Finished product: www.fakewebsite.org
• Management of media relations (Local Paper, News 10).
• Basic photography using a Panasonic Lumix DNC-FZ7 Digital Camera.

Not-For-Profit
Finance & Administration Assistant/ Content Production
(12/2002 – 09/2004) The NFP with the Long Name
• Management of front office, benefit administration & payroll database.
• Created organizational processes & information tracking systems.
• Assisted with conference planning & legislative presentations.
• Edited & produced materials for in-house & external use.

Corporate / New Media
Executive Sales Manager, Online Advertising Division
(08/2001 – 04/2002) That Place with the Awful Swedish Boss
• Built a new revenue division based on online advertising sales.
• Worked with Fortune 500’s in the auto industry
• Collaborated with advertising agencies to develop targeted media campaigns.

Corporate / New Media
Business Development Manager / Advertising Sales Executive
(7/1999 to 03/2001) The Dot.coms that Dot.Bombed
• Developed comprehensive online advertising campaigns with large corporations & advertising agencies.
• Secured over 2.3 million dollars in new advertising revenue.
• Chosen as “Team Leader” to supervise new employee training & peer leadership.
• Development of sales training materials.

Corporate / Print Media
Advertising Account Manager
(12/1997 to 07/1999) That Company that owns Monster.com
• Management of twelve large national corporate clients. Accounts included leading banking institutions, premier health care facilities & international industrial corporations.
• Responsible for all client service, ad proposals, creative development, demographics & market research.

References Upon Request.

So - if you know of someone who is just looking to hire me but does not know it yet -- let me know! I am happy to forward my resume on to any who request. The real one. With the not so made up "internet" information.

(MarieFinds) A new use for ham hocks

As Jess has previously mentioned, I come from blue collar / widwestern farm stock. I grew up on food that is currently not in vogue. Including ham hocks and beans. What a way to stretch a butchered pig. The Lawyer is from the Pacific Islands, and so has his own food theories. These two backgrounds lead to us eating a lot of, um, cheap cuts of meat. Ham hocks. Oxtail (not so cheap any more!), tilapia (which is getting popular now, damnit), pork belly, salt pork (works great in carbonara, despite the dirty looks I get from Italian chef brother in law!)

Anyway, I found a new recipe for ham hocks and beans. And I LOVE it. Given that my previous recipe was not so much a recipe as "boil pinto beans, garlic, salt and as many ham hocks as you have / want until beans and meat are tender", this is an improvement. And instead of the corn bread I usually do, just crusty bread. Credit where credit is due, it is an Emeril thing. And it's still cheap as chips.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 8 medium smoked ham hocks, about 4 ounces each
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 1 pound dried navy white beans
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 cups water
• Salt

Directions

In a medium Dutch oven with a lid, over medium heat, add the oil. When the oil is hot, sear the ham hocks in batches, until brown, about 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the ham hock and set aside. Add the onions. Season with pepper. Saute for 2 minutes. Stir in the beans and bay leaves. Season with pepper. Saute for 1 minute. Add the reserved ham hocks and water. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 2 hours, or until the meat falls of the bone and the beans are creamy. Remove the bay leaves and season with salt and pepper

And am I the only one who never gets around to removing the bay leaf?