Colds & Cookies

Currently, I am battling a cold. On top of which, I have to work this afternoon and evening, so that should really help. I had a friend ask recently how I stay positive through the unemployment. The answer is that you don't, not really. You make the best of a difficult situation and hope that somewhere down the line a job is waiting for you. I have picked-up a part-time job to pass the time and to make some side money and am currently chasing down my unemployment benefits. I'm on the dole! I have to laugh at that one. Two college degrees later and I'm collecting unemployment, unsuccessfully I might add.

My roommate and some friends put up our Christmas tree this Sunday. It is glorious and enormous! Pictures will be coming shortly. I have to find the roommates camera, as mine needs a new battery and that is not on the top of my must do list for the moment. It cheered me to have some normalcy in my life as we struggled to carry the tree home while caroling. Well, my roommate sang, I mostly cursed the rotten thing to hell and back. Then we hung our ornaments and made some cookies. Sugar and spice! I will post those recipes late this week. I highly recommend the sugar cookie recipe; it came out well. It was all very lovely as we stretched out to watch Love Actually. How can you not enjoy that movie? There are so many amazing lines, such as my favorite, "Eight is a lot of legs David."

Today, I'm trying to hold onto that cheer as the bills pile up, my cold sets in and I head to work. There are so many things about this situation that have changed my views on government aid and health care. I am the face of reform in this country; it is needed so that people such as me, who work hard, pay their taxes and contribute, do not suffer when they loose their jobs. It should not be so difficult to receive unemployment. My mom told me the saddest story about the UPS Depot nearby. The longest line was not to send presents, but to pick-up applications for seasonal work. Men in business suits were waiting for their turn. It puts your life in rather harsh perspective when you hear those stories, but it also shows that there are people out there who will work at anything in order to provide for their loved one and themselves.

On that note, cough, cough, I will eat my soup and be off!