Syscon finally decided to set up an interview. (This coming Wednesday, if you're curious.) Whether this is just how long it took the rumbling bureaucracy to get around to it, or if Dad's back at work today after spending a week home with the flu and was prodding them, I have no idea. But I don't really care. (Now, if only they'll just meekly accept the moderately outrageous salary I told them I wanted...)
One problem is, of course, that they know I was laid off, and that I'm not working at all at the moment, so they know I'm available to start working immediately. I'm trying to decide if I should tell them that I'd like to take a short vacation before I start working, or agree that I'm available immediately, and trust in the slow process of red tape to give me one. I really don't want to start until after Thanksgiving at the earliest... But I don't want them to decide not to hire me because I'm making too many demands. Hmph. Oh, well. I'll give it some thought.
I've sortof enjoyed being at home for the past couple of weeks. If Matt was making, oh, about 50% more than what he does now, I'd consider not looking for a job at all, maybe just doing free-lance web design on the side. But that wouldn't be fair to Matt, I guess.
I think I was hopelessly pegged for a wishful homemaker when I got all excited over gift-wrapping and decorating ideas in my Better Homes and Gardens. This is just not normal.
I made my favorite meatloaf recipe for dinner last night. Actually, it's my mom's recipe for stuffed green peppers, and it's one of the few recipes I've ever encountered that I've never felt the urge to tinker with, because it's marvelous the way it is.
As a kid, I always scraped the meat out of the green pepper, and gave the pepper to my mom or dad. I'm not a big fan of green peppers even now. I especially dislike them on pizza, because as they cook, their flavor seeps into the cheese, and then even if you pick the peppers off the pizza, you can still taste them.
But I had a pepper in my 'fridge, a leftover from making chili last week. And they were sortof expensive (this isn't a good time of year for peppers) so I didn't want to waste it. I had close to a pound and a half of low-fat hamburger in the freezer that I'd picked up when it was in the mark-down bin, and the recipe calls for only half a pound. So, I trebled the recipe, cut the green pepper in half, and made stuffed green peppers for Matt and I for dinner last night, and used the remaining stuffing to make two small meatloaves, which I stuck in the freezer for a later date.
(I've been trying to make big portions of things and freeze the extra for later. Matt and I came to the conclusion that we were eating out entirely too often, and decided to try to cut back. The problem is that half the time we eat out, it's because we don't feel like putting any actual effort into making dinner. So I thought if I had some stuff in the freezer, that would help cut back on that problem.)
Anyway, we sat down to dinner, and I almost scooped the meat out of my pepper and handed it (the pepper) to Matt. But I thought, it's been years since I actually tried it. Maybe I should take just one bite - I had barely noticed the pepper bits in the chili I made last week, after all.
So I did. And I didn't die, or pass out, or anything!
Of course, in chili and stuffed, they've been cooked until they're mushy and almost flavorless. I still can't stand the smell of fresh peppers, and the idea of eating pizza they've been on is still pretty repugnant. But who knows, maybe it'll grow on me. I spent most of my life thinking that squash was a bad joke, and then got cravings for it the summer before my senior year of college. Tastes change. I can handle that.
But anyone who comes near me with a plate of brussels sprouts is going to get a swift kick.
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