Saturday, January 06, 2007

Good news

Younger Son has got a job!

The process has taken the eight months since he dropped out of university. Eight months of: applying and getting no reply; being interviewed and hearing no more, not even a no-thank-you letter; being told 'we'll be in touch'; being rejected; having hopes raised and dashed; increasingly low self-esteem.

But now he's got a job and he starts next Wednesday. He is thrilled and so are we.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Husband has started stripping.

Lying in bed last night he said, 'I'll strip this bedroom tomorrow.'

'Okay,' I said. He's been saying it for the last two years so I wasn't unduly perturbed.

Of course what he actually meant was that - before he stripped - we'd have to move everything out, and I'd have to find homes for things, answer questions like, 'what's this?' 'where does this go?' 'what do you want this for?' and other typical-man queries.

Still I did find £16 of Marks and Spencers vouchers in an old handbag I'd stuffed down the side of the chest of drawers.

I'm not really a handbag person. I have one bag that I use for everything and several that I keep down the side etc just in case of something. That reminds me that Serena did a handbag inventory in her post recently.

I don't have a knife in my bag but I do have:

an empty carrier bag; a bag of Skittles (so old the use-by date has worn off); a spare sanitary pad; a 2006 diary; a Christmas shopping list; a pocket-pack of tissues; a hairbrush; paracetamol; a plastic bag with a broken powder pot and torn face puff; 5 pens; old receipts; a cotton-wool ball; a drawing pin; a gold-coloured pebble; purse; my glasses in a plastic bag as I can't find the case; mobile phone; and in the separate little zipped compartment, my driving licence, office keys and a memory stick.

That's not too bad; I am quite impressed. I think I might take to carrying a knife, just to make my 'what I have in my handbag' list more interesting.

This is my prayer-pebble.

At a prayer day some time last year, or maybe the year before, pray-ers were encouraged to take one away with them. It's a little memory-prod to remind me of something or someone I might want to talk to God about or to be grateful for. And I have a lot to be thankful for!

I have a great affection for stones. Look in any of my coat pockets and you're likely to find a stone. Maybe a prettily-coloured or beautifully-shaped one that I've picked up just because I like it. But they have another purpose too. If your hand is cold, you can take a cold stone out of your pocket, hold it in your hand and both your hand and the stone will warm up. I'm sure there's a scientific reason for this but I like to think of it as magic.

We had a small farewell gathering this week in work for a young couple who're off travelling the world. We'd bought them a framed photo for their return but I gave them pebbles from the beach they could carry with them, something to remind them of home.

I explained to Dave about the hand-warming qualities of stones. He said if his hands were cold, he'd wear gloves.

4 comments:

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Congratulations to younger son. That's a great start to the New Year for him and therefore for you. It's so rude of companies not to at least reply to applications. It's soul-destroying for the applicant.
Are the M&S vouchers still valid?
The prayer pebble is a lovely idea and I don't think you could have given the couple who are travelling a nicer present.

Beth said...

Oh Liz, the contents of your handbag are so much like mine, lol. Although, I think in one of them, I do carry a pcoket knife!! Beth XX

Elsie said...

I'm so happy for younger son. What a happy relief!

I, too, often have stones or shells in my pockets, purse, glove compartment, etc. Usually they're treasures picked up by the kids. I'm always happy to find one in my pocket when out roaming around by myself. It reminds me of what a wonderful family I have. I had no idea they could actually warm your hands. I'm going to try it!

Liz Hinds said...

Thank you for your wishes for Younger Son; he is absolutely thrilled. It's only a basic office assistant post but it's just the step-up he needs.

The vouchers don't seem to have a date on them, thankfully, so I shall go and spend them soon!

I'm glad I'm not the only stone collector!