thanks

I am thankful for:

My job. It's short-term, but it's still money coming in.

The BP. Best group of friends a gal could hope for.

My family is healthy and happy.

I get to spend so much time with my nephew (AKA the most brilliant, adorable boy in the world) this Thanksgiving.

Even though the rent went up in October, I can still afford my apartment.

My beautiful new(ish) car. Ok, it's almost a year old, but I still love it.

Walking around my neighborhood is both a good, hilly work-out and gives me my fill of architecture-porn.

My poker game is improving.

I have so many gifts to buy -- I love shopping and I love giving gifts.

The bottom line is that I'm really happy and satisfied with my life. Is everything perfect? No, but there's nothing I'd change.

Except, I still want to win the lottery.

sophie's (TiVo) choice

I'm about to leave town for a week to visit my parents in their new house and see the cutest baby in the world, my nephew Jacob, along with my sister, her husband and my aunt. I'm looking forward to the trip, but I'm obsessing about what I need to save on my TiVo and what I can live without.

I watch a ridiculous amount of TV, some of which I can certainly catch at my parents' place, but some shows I just do not want to risk missing. Here's my breakdown so far:

Monday: Prison Break (I think they watch this.), Heroes (need to see)
Tuesday: Friday Night Lights (not airing), Standoff, Veronica Mars (not airing), House (they watch) .
Wednesday: Bones (not airing) America's Next Top Model (need to see), Medium
Thursday: Ugly Betty (need to see). Grey's Anatomy (I think they watch this)
Friday: Ghost Whisperer (don't judge me), Battlestar Galactica (need to see), Numbers
Saturday: According to TiVo, Veronica Mars is airing tonight?, SNL
Sunday: The Wire (re-airs a million times), Amazing Race, Cold Case, Without a Trace (I think they watch this)

All told, that is over 19 hours of TV. I'm just lucky that the Everwood re-runs on ABC Family are in season 2 and I don't need to re-watch the bitter Amy or Ephram loves Madison stories.

night shift

I've been working kooky hours for my job. Most days start sometime between 3 and 4:30 in the afternoon and then I go until about 1 am. The hours aren't horrible, but they are skewed just enough to really mess with my body clock.

I don't really mind working nights except when it impacts the social life. I am going to miss Mister Zero's birthday dinner this week, which sucks. And I'm out of luck on Monday Night Trivia for a few more weeks. I hope I still remember useless facts when this job is done.

shortest hiatus ever

I was offered another job on my third day of unemployment. It's a nice, quick gig that will take me into mid-December and, because they were desperate, I still get time off to see the family for Thanksgiving. So, happy days.

I'm thrilled to be working, but my first two thoughts on landing the gig were:

1. I wish I had crossed more off from my "to do on hiatus" list.
2. I wish I hadn't bothered to wrangle with the unemployment application for hours on Monday.

Oh well, there's always next hiatus.