I'm feeling a little less crazy today, BTW. Taking a half hour last night to clear off the shelf behind the sofa helped a lot. Now I'm just trying to teach her that it's OK to climb onto sofas, but not onto their backs. It's still more stressful than pre-climbing--I feel like I need to put her in the playpen if I want to leave the room even for a few seconds--but I'm no longer feeling like I can't so much as read or surf the internet for needing to watch her like a hawk.

A couple of hivemind questions re: looking for a job and going back to work:

1. I've decided that if I don't otherwise have a job by mid-October, I'm going to start temping. I won't be making piles of money over the costs of daycare and the extra clothes/travel/food expenses of working, but it'll be something, and maybe it'll be easier to find a job while working than not. I should probably go ahead and work on Annabel's daycare arrangements, huh? But what happens if I don't have temp work right away? Will I lose my place if I don't put her in the center? I won't have the money for it until I have the work.

2. In the past I've always managed to find work without having to do icky networking or all the pushy stuff the job search books advise--I've managed to get in on the strength of my application and my skills. But I still haven't gotten any interviews this time around. I've mostly just been submitting applications through the UW HR website, without doing personal followup, because I don't want to be the pushy, obnoxious applicant. But now I'm wondering if I need to. I did go as far as to ask Good!Former Boss if he knew the person I'd be working for at a job I applied for yesterday and would be willing to speak for me. He didn't, but said to feel free to have him call him. So. As soon as I'm sure HR has forwarded my resume to the department, should I email my potential employer to reiterate my interest and suggest he call GFB to find out what a great little UW lower-level professional staff administrator/project manager type I am, or will that just increase the odds against me by making me look pushy and obnoxious?

I don't know why I'm perfectly comfortable doing networky stuff when it's my writing on the line, but hate it for a job search.

She said as much. She doesn't want us bitching about her to each other.

So she sets it up that you bitch to people who now hate her, even though they've never met her. And this is better how?

Longer journey to bitchslap the bride and MoH.

Aimée, if I could figure out a way to appear at the wedding for you, I would. Imagine the look on Bridezilla's face when I turned up and said "Oh, Aimée couldn't make it. I'm her stunt double."

I should probably go ahead and work on Annabel's daycare arrangements, huh? But what happens if I don't have temp work right away? Will I lose my place if I don't put her in the center? I won't have the money for it until I have the work.

It takes time to find daycare for a baby; you should start now. Most places have waiting lists anyway; when you get to the top, they'll call you and if you don't need the space, they'll give it to somebody else.

Susan , send the follow up email. It is the easy follow up/networking thing to do.

honestly, the only thing that can really hurt is the non-proffessional type stuff. As in the cover letter of one applicant to my old library that had this sentence in it:

I LOOOVE BOOOOOOOOOOKS!

So I am waiting for woodchips to be delivered . I have priced more stuff for tomorrows tag sale.

do I a) watch tv b) clean off the suff in the house that needs to be brought out for tomorrows tag sale c) hope for more posts here.

Well...I'll start the daycare search Monday. Maybe try to come up with a list of places over the weekend. There's a church near our house that has a daycare, so that might be a good place to start.

I think I'm wary of the email because I always hated pushy applicants when I was on the other end of the process. I figured I had their cover letter and resume, and being deluged with emails and, even worse, phone calls just annoyed me.

Aimee, send it to etiquettehell.com.

Draft drafted and awaiting to be sent.

So she sets it up that you bitch to people who now hate her, even though they've never met her. And this is better how?

For me, none of you will call her and tell her everything I said, which is what her other bridesmaids (including me when I was pestered about it and backed into a corner) have been doing.

Aimée, if I could figure out a way to appear at the wedding for you, I would. Imagine the look on Bridezilla's face when I turned up and said "Oh, Aimée couldn't make it. I'm her stunt double."

Oh. My. Gawd. She'd lose it.

I've mostly just been submitting applications through the UW HR website, without doing personal followup, because I don't want to be the pushy, obnoxious applicant.

Always call. I've found that when a job has tons of applicants, you get buried. But if you call, suddenly you move to the top of the list. It shows you actually care about that specific job.