Saturday, May 28, 2011

Our (Totally Imaginary) Housekeeper


Good help is hard to find. In the past our (totally imaginary) housekeeper made the bed most days, vacuumed twice a week, kept framed items on the walls hanging straight, dusted religiously, usually stayed on top of the laundry and ironing, and emptied the trash receptacles most days. My only ongoing complaints centered around kitchen duties: the kitchen cupboards and refrigerator tended to be a bit bare coupled with a general lack of interest in planning meals.

There's been very little evidence of our (totally imaginary) housekeeper's work lately, which leads me to believe that she may have quit without even giving notice. The nerve! Leaving Chad to tend to all of her chores last weekend and many evenings this week. If only I could remember her name, I'd call her and give her a piece of my mind... not that I can spare a piece.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Light up my Life


This is the light I will buy for the dressing room with my next paycheck:




Wednesday, May 18, 2011

You Are Cordially Invited


I've been painting, cleaning, planning, sourcing vendors and assembling IKEA furniture over the past month along with several other volunteers to prepare for the new Tarrytown Austin Pets Alive location to open tomorrow! You are invited to nibble some vegetarian appetizers, sip some bubbly (champagne or soda), shop some cute pet-related merch, meet some kitties that are up for adoption and bid on silent auction goodies at the grand opening celebration from 7:00 - 9:00 PM this Thursday, May 19. The festivities and new cattery are at 3108 Windsor Road in the heart of Tarrytown.

Here's the official link, and oh, lookit, you can donate some money while you're on that webpage!

This lovely cat adoption site and fun shop is also my employer as of Friday at noon. I'm breaking a couple of my own job rules by working retail for a non-profit, but I'm pretty excited and a bit nervous to be co-managing the adopt/shop. My co-manager and I have so much freedom and responsibility to run the shop and plan great adoption events for sweet pets. In addition to short-term resident cats up for adoption, we'll also have dogs for adoption at the Tarrytown location on most weekends! The shop sells dog bowls and beautiful locally made dog collars in addition to cute locally made cat collars, cat toys, pet beds, pet-themed jewelry, art and even pet-themed night lights that are locally made by a great glass artisan.

Drop by to say hi! I may be able to introduce you to your future furry friend and/or outfit your current fur-baby with a fab collar and bedazzle you with a pretty necklace.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Save the Kitties!


The kitten nursery at Austin Pets Alive is full beyond capacity with over 50 kittens and a few expecting mama cats. Please consider being a temporary foster family to a few kittens or to a pregnant mama cat who just needs a safe, clean place to have her babies. Mama cats do all the work as long as you keep them stocked with a blanket, fresh food, fresh water and a clean litter box. You can have some cuteness without the lifelong commitment by providing care for kittens and/or mamas until they get adopted to forever homes, or until they can move into one of the many adoption catteries around Austin.

Here's a link to the application to be a foster: click here.

Here's a link for more information: click here.

Here's a sweet blog about the kitten nursery if you'd like to help there: click here.

Purr...

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Schedule Huggermugger Sans Big Payday


Between studying lines for dinner mystery shows, performing dinner mystery shows (or having them cancel due to lack of reservations at the last moment), pulling four to six hour shifts overnight at the bottle baby nursery, painting the new Tarrytown cat adoption center and lining up local retailers for the shop component on the new Tarrytown cat adoption center, I feel like I have a "real" job for the past few weeks. Except I don't get paid much in money, but instead earn feelings of accomplishment, kitten gratitude and self-confidence.

That said, I'm ready to start sleeping more like a normal person. I crave yoga classes to work out all the kinks in my shoulders, neck, right arm and back from many hours painting my own kitchen & the adoption center, and stomping around ballrooms in four-inch heels for dinner shows. And dare I admit my shallow want to earn some money beyond the very occasional dinner mystery paychecks and even more rare "use of image" checks that come in the mail from my agent? Yep. I dare.

I want a job that pays me some money. I do not want to fall back into old patterns of taking retail positions, professional marketing jobs or working for nonprofits. I want a job at a for-profit place that doesn't make me feel as if I'm selling my soul or selling out my ideals. I earned a bachelor's degree in Speech Communication, but I'm much more engaged when working with my hands and my brain; rather than dissecting rhetoric or writing speeches. I feel great accomplishment assembling items, organizing spaces, making things pretty and caring for animals. My top three dream jobs are set dresser, decorative production: such as upholstery or jewelry assembly, and retail display production (not interacting with customers; just making pretty displays).