I really do feel several blog posts welling up within me... mostly about my experiences and the people I'm now working with... not to mention already moving cubes from the Village to the Colliseum... not to mention one of my team members and his obsession with his new huge stapler... not to mention my new friend the crazy dog lady (whose dogs call her "mommy" apparently)... not to mention having real work now... and goals (I just got the goals today)... and trying to learn a lot of information... a lot of software... a lot of names and departments and everything... whew. It's all going really well, I really like it, but it's exhausting at the same time.
Sadly it's almost midnight and tomorrow is the work day for the Habitat project I somehow volunteered to coordinate (clearly I have yet to learn how to say no). Anyway, I've really got to go to bed... but stay tuned for said posts welling up within, I'm saving up lots of great material. One day soon I'm going to have at least 3 minutes to sit down and share some of my stories.
In other news, my friends over at Love Life just closed on their new house, HURRAY!!! Congrats!!!!
In more other news, no dead wabbits this week (fingers crossed).
In more exciting news, I bought material, made curtains, installed the curtain rod, and hung the curtains in the dining room... a project I've been meaning to do for 2 solid years. Sigh of contentment. So I got one thing done this week... kind of a symbol that someday I may accomplish some other things from the list... maybe...
Friday, March 27, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Some pics from the last few weeks...
Co-ed shower for housemate and her fiance... I believe I can say a good time was had by all... and that's probably all I should say - it was a wild evening...
And I think perhaps Super "Rizzie" takes the cake on funny pics... or maybe just being a really funny girl. She's awesome!!
... and now you're caught up...
Visiting the Loves... Look at how cute they are!!
And I think perhaps Super "Rizzie" takes the cake on funny pics... or maybe just being a really funny girl. She's awesome!!
Spring has arrived...
Andrew is getting bigger... and looks like a Veen to be sure. Look at this cute little man...
Fiona turns 16!! Hurray!!
... and now you're caught up...
Friday, March 20, 2009
Another friday
1. One week at the new job finished. I am really liking it. There's a lot to learn but I can also see a lot of ways that I will be an asset to the team. It's all really good. I'm feeling more comfortable and "normal" there every day.
2. I need to find new shoes for work. Something that is dressy enough for the business casual dress code and comfortable enough for all the trekking back and forth across the building numerous times a day. For the record I hate the mall. and I hate that my feet are "wide" width, so it feels impossible to find good, cute, and comfortable shoes. Also, it is a bad idea to hit the mall looking for new shoes on a day your feet already hurt from your old shoes and standing/trekking for a good bit of the day. Not a good idea at all.
3. However, as much as I hate the mall and as much as I failed at finding new work shoes, I did find a couple cute blouses to supplement my sad work wardrobe. They are springy and colorful and they were on sale. Excellent!
4. Lenten fish fry, check!
5. The cold I got at the beginning of the week is finally mostly worked through. I'm coughing occasionally but the congestion, exhaustion, and runny nose have passed. It's nice to be mostly healthy again.
6. I'm ready for the weekend. The house needs to be cleaned badly. The car needs to be cleaned. The yard needs to be cleaned. The dogs need to be cleaned. I guess it's good to be needed.
7. My baby sister turns 16 on Sunday. Where does time go???? It really does astound me. As does the incredible young woman she has grown into, and the blessing she continues to be in my life. But I'm still having a hard time swallowing this 16 thing :D I love you Smooch. Happy sweet sixteen!!
2. I need to find new shoes for work. Something that is dressy enough for the business casual dress code and comfortable enough for all the trekking back and forth across the building numerous times a day. For the record I hate the mall. and I hate that my feet are "wide" width, so it feels impossible to find good, cute, and comfortable shoes. Also, it is a bad idea to hit the mall looking for new shoes on a day your feet already hurt from your old shoes and standing/trekking for a good bit of the day. Not a good idea at all.
3. However, as much as I hate the mall and as much as I failed at finding new work shoes, I did find a couple cute blouses to supplement my sad work wardrobe. They are springy and colorful and they were on sale. Excellent!
4. Lenten fish fry, check!
5. The cold I got at the beginning of the week is finally mostly worked through. I'm coughing occasionally but the congestion, exhaustion, and runny nose have passed. It's nice to be mostly healthy again.
6. I'm ready for the weekend. The house needs to be cleaned badly. The car needs to be cleaned. The yard needs to be cleaned. The dogs need to be cleaned. I guess it's good to be needed.
7. My baby sister turns 16 on Sunday. Where does time go???? It really does astound me. As does the incredible young woman she has grown into, and the blessing she continues to be in my life. But I'm still having a hard time swallowing this 16 thing :D I love you Smooch. Happy sweet sixteen!!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Spring is here
Dear Wabbits,
I just think you should know, of all the yards in the neighborhood you can access, this is the yard to avoid. Although I have tasty tulips in the backyard garden, it just isn't worth the risk. Besides, though there area a few meager tulips back there, there's also winterized and encrusted doggie poopie you'll have to walk around. And, worse than that, there are two enormous, vicious black dogs waiting to eat you.
You may think you are fast. You may think you are sneaky. You may think the dogs aren't out all the time. But Maggie thinks you are a snack. And Maggie thinks you are tasty. And Suzie thinks you are fun to chase. And Maggie really doesn't like to be wrong. And Suzie is faster than you'd think.
I think that you should know, historically speaking, though not always friendly, Maggie is quite good at making wabbits into snacks. Tasty, tasty snacks. And Suze doesn't mess around. She'll grab you, shake you, and that's it, you're done.
Furthermore, I do not enjoy cleaning your chewed and mutilated carcasses out of my yard. Or post-digested wabbit off the floor in the house. Or small fur bits from the four corners of the yard. And frankly seeing Maggie chewing a wabbit carcass makes me never want to let her touch me with that face again. Ever.
So do us all a favor and avoid this house, this yard, and those tulips. It just isn't worth it.
Sincerely,
The Management
First Impressions
Once again, it has been a whirlwind since I was last here. I had a terrific weekend with the Loves, some good catching up, some crazy notions about my personality type that I hadn’t discovered yet, lots of good kid time… all around really a great visit. I flew home Sunday morning, got a ride home from the airport and had lunch with a good friend and then headed for my grandpa’s birthday party.
Sunday I started getting a scratchy throat, always the telltale sign that I’m going to get sick. Ugh. Monday dawned bright and early and I made it to 6:45 Mass, stopped off at the drugstore for Dayquil, and headed for work… 8:00 am the new job begins…
I met with my boss (RT) briefly, he showed me my cube, and then I spent the morning in company training… the exciting stuff, you know, presentations on submitting timesheets, benefits, lots of paperwork to turn in and go over, etc. I had lunch at the cafeteria with RT, which was nice. Now that I’m writing this, I realized I am quite comfortable with RT, even for a first day and me being an introvert! God is good. Then an afternoon with more training: don’t sexually harass coworkers, don’t discriminate against anyone, how to evacuate the building in case of emergency, etc. until 3 pm. Then back to RT who took me on a tour and introduced me to the people I’d work with (which was probably 30 people). I met a lot of nice people but of course had a hard time trying to figure out who everyone is and what department, etc. I’ll figure it out in time. I also met the rest of the electrical safety group, 2 CPMs who are about my age, and 2 lab guys, who I won’t see as much as the CPMs, but will be working with them some. One looks about my age and the other is probably 40-ish. So basically it’s me and 5 electrical engineer genius-nerds. Although in food equipment who is our closest department who we work with constantly, there are more women than men, so it all evens out.
My cubicle is in “the Village”… don’t know if there’s a story behind that yet, but it’s an area of cubes on the second floor with a lot of Certified Project Managers (CPM) from food equipment and electrical safety. I can’t complain, it’s kind of nice to get an empty desk – no paper stacks anywhere, nothing actually. I am really going to miss my big beautiful window from my old office, but such is life. I’m thinking of taking a nice picture of the window and blowing it up for the wall of my cubicle. And there is a nice big skylight a block of cubes over, so I’m going to try some of my low light plants to brighten up my space (and lots f pictures of cute kids- of course).
Tuesday was more training, both company trainings and one on one training with RT showing me the many new programs I’ll be working in. It all looks doable and learnable, though some of it is hard to really get until I’m working in the programs for real projects. RT took me and the two CPMs out for lunch. We talked cars, stereos, rigging cable, and other equally brainy-nerdy topics that I know nothing about- but that’s okay with me, I like all 3 of them and am looking forward to working with them.
Today (Weds) a lot more training (of course) and then lunch out with the gals and RT. I am not a lunch out every day kind of girl, but it’s hard to say no when you’re invited by the people you’re working with and want to get to know. It ended up being a lot of fun and I’m so glad I went! RT’s wife met us there so I got to meet her and she’s really neat and down to earth. And the girls are all my age-ish and shockingly though most of them are married no one has kids, everyone has dogs (except RT and his wife who have kids). It is kind of a funny opposite from most of my real life friends, who all have kids and almost none have dogs. Nonetheless, dogs tend to be a good starting point when you’re getting to know new people- and once again, I am convinced that I’m a pretty mild dog person (not a crazy dog person). Anyway, lunch was a blast and it was a great opportunity to hang out and get to know many of the other Villagers and the people I’ll be working with every day.
It has been really weird to not have any real "work" for several days, although RT just gave me some assignments since he's coming in late tomorrow. I’ve got documents to read and suggest changes for, forms to correct, and electrical code to learn. And I’m loving it!! It's all good, still strange but really good. I continue to just feel so blessed and like this is a really good fit for me.
Anyway, this been wayyyy to long, I apologize, but I figured I’d update everyone at once so you know I’m still alive on this end (though congested and in need of puffs plus) and really enjoying the new job.
Sunday I started getting a scratchy throat, always the telltale sign that I’m going to get sick. Ugh. Monday dawned bright and early and I made it to 6:45 Mass, stopped off at the drugstore for Dayquil, and headed for work… 8:00 am the new job begins…
I met with my boss (RT) briefly, he showed me my cube, and then I spent the morning in company training… the exciting stuff, you know, presentations on submitting timesheets, benefits, lots of paperwork to turn in and go over, etc. I had lunch at the cafeteria with RT, which was nice. Now that I’m writing this, I realized I am quite comfortable with RT, even for a first day and me being an introvert! God is good. Then an afternoon with more training: don’t sexually harass coworkers, don’t discriminate against anyone, how to evacuate the building in case of emergency, etc. until 3 pm. Then back to RT who took me on a tour and introduced me to the people I’d work with (which was probably 30 people). I met a lot of nice people but of course had a hard time trying to figure out who everyone is and what department, etc. I’ll figure it out in time. I also met the rest of the electrical safety group, 2 CPMs who are about my age, and 2 lab guys, who I won’t see as much as the CPMs, but will be working with them some. One looks about my age and the other is probably 40-ish. So basically it’s me and 5 electrical engineer genius-nerds. Although in food equipment who is our closest department who we work with constantly, there are more women than men, so it all evens out.
My cubicle is in “the Village”… don’t know if there’s a story behind that yet, but it’s an area of cubes on the second floor with a lot of Certified Project Managers (CPM) from food equipment and electrical safety. I can’t complain, it’s kind of nice to get an empty desk – no paper stacks anywhere, nothing actually. I am really going to miss my big beautiful window from my old office, but such is life. I’m thinking of taking a nice picture of the window and blowing it up for the wall of my cubicle. And there is a nice big skylight a block of cubes over, so I’m going to try some of my low light plants to brighten up my space (and lots f pictures of cute kids- of course).
Tuesday was more training, both company trainings and one on one training with RT showing me the many new programs I’ll be working in. It all looks doable and learnable, though some of it is hard to really get until I’m working in the programs for real projects. RT took me and the two CPMs out for lunch. We talked cars, stereos, rigging cable, and other equally brainy-nerdy topics that I know nothing about- but that’s okay with me, I like all 3 of them and am looking forward to working with them.
Today (Weds) a lot more training (of course) and then lunch out with the gals and RT. I am not a lunch out every day kind of girl, but it’s hard to say no when you’re invited by the people you’re working with and want to get to know. It ended up being a lot of fun and I’m so glad I went! RT’s wife met us there so I got to meet her and she’s really neat and down to earth. And the girls are all my age-ish and shockingly though most of them are married no one has kids, everyone has dogs (except RT and his wife who have kids). It is kind of a funny opposite from most of my real life friends, who all have kids and almost none have dogs. Nonetheless, dogs tend to be a good starting point when you’re getting to know new people- and once again, I am convinced that I’m a pretty mild dog person (not a crazy dog person). Anyway, lunch was a blast and it was a great opportunity to hang out and get to know many of the other Villagers and the people I’ll be working with every day.
It has been really weird to not have any real "work" for several days, although RT just gave me some assignments since he's coming in late tomorrow. I’ve got documents to read and suggest changes for, forms to correct, and electrical code to learn. And I’m loving it!! It's all good, still strange but really good. I continue to just feel so blessed and like this is a really good fit for me.
Anyway, this been wayyyy to long, I apologize, but I figured I’d update everyone at once so you know I’m still alive on this end (though congested and in need of puffs plus) and really enjoying the new job.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Quick Takes Friday
1. It was an insane week. I was going to say couple weeks, but most of it happened in the last week. Insane. Even stuff that happened on Weds afternoon feels like it may have been a month ago. I am incredibly thankful to have it behind me and to be moving forward (and I am hanging on to the hope that the next few weeks will be less insane. Feel free to encourage the fantasy. Please do not burst my bubble.)
2. After the insanity, I hopped on a plane and am spending a few days with my good friends in MD. This means lots of kid time, laughs, smiles, diapers, trying to understand all the things "Rizzie" (Rosie) is telling me, Anthony telling me that he "wikes" me from behind some sort of mask (it's hard to say those things while the object of your affection can see you) and sweet little Thomas rolling all over the house and grinning at everyone he sees. And their parents, have I mentioned how much I love their parents? Because I do. I weally weally wike them. And picking out fabrics for curtains for their new house... and now I have serious new curtain envy.
3. I just spent one of the smelliest few minutes of my life. Someone who I am visiting, age 4, had a cotton candy ice cream cone for dinner. It is seriously one of the most potent and awful smells I've experienced in quite some time. Even after half the cone ended up in garbage just walking by the garbage can made me have to stop in my tracks. I've never thought of cotton candy as such a bad smell, but this one... wow... To make matters worse, the guy who ate half the cone was ready for stories with Aunt Reenie. It sounded like a good plan till we were cuddled in the reading corner, reading a train story (of course), and the smell of the cotton candy was once again hurling toward by face as he filled in lines from the story. Oh Lord. Still reading and trying to ignore the smell, someone started farting. And I really thought I might die. Of all the bad smell combos I've experienced in my life, I do think cotton candy ice cream breath and small boy fart are up there... oh my.
4. I start my new job Monday. I am really really excited. It will definitely be a big change, but right now I am really just looking forward to it.
5. I do not recommend pulling all-nighters after college. I just pulled my first one in close to ten years. Not a good practice. Not good at all. I am way too old for that stuff.
6. I am ready for spring. I'm excited to see my tulips and crocuses poking up in the garden and I have ambitious hopes to start my garden seedlings some evening next week (again, feel free to encourage the fantasy. Do not burst my optimistic bubble).
7. I am feeling bad about my dogs. They've barely seen me in the last couple weeks and the bits they've seen probably haven't been too good. I am a bad mom... except that I'm not one of those dog people. I'm not their mom- I'm just their Reenie. and I've been a bad Reenie. And they are reportedly taking it out on my poor housemate who is watching them for the weekend. Sigh. Next week bitches. Next week, we'll have all the time in the world...
2. After the insanity, I hopped on a plane and am spending a few days with my good friends in MD. This means lots of kid time, laughs, smiles, diapers, trying to understand all the things "Rizzie" (Rosie) is telling me, Anthony telling me that he "wikes" me from behind some sort of mask (it's hard to say those things while the object of your affection can see you) and sweet little Thomas rolling all over the house and grinning at everyone he sees. And their parents, have I mentioned how much I love their parents? Because I do. I weally weally wike them. And picking out fabrics for curtains for their new house... and now I have serious new curtain envy.
3. I just spent one of the smelliest few minutes of my life. Someone who I am visiting, age 4, had a cotton candy ice cream cone for dinner. It is seriously one of the most potent and awful smells I've experienced in quite some time. Even after half the cone ended up in garbage just walking by the garbage can made me have to stop in my tracks. I've never thought of cotton candy as such a bad smell, but this one... wow... To make matters worse, the guy who ate half the cone was ready for stories with Aunt Reenie. It sounded like a good plan till we were cuddled in the reading corner, reading a train story (of course), and the smell of the cotton candy was once again hurling toward by face as he filled in lines from the story. Oh Lord. Still reading and trying to ignore the smell, someone started farting. And I really thought I might die. Of all the bad smell combos I've experienced in my life, I do think cotton candy ice cream breath and small boy fart are up there... oh my.
4. I start my new job Monday. I am really really excited. It will definitely be a big change, but right now I am really just looking forward to it.
5. I do not recommend pulling all-nighters after college. I just pulled my first one in close to ten years. Not a good practice. Not good at all. I am way too old for that stuff.
6. I am ready for spring. I'm excited to see my tulips and crocuses poking up in the garden and I have ambitious hopes to start my garden seedlings some evening next week (again, feel free to encourage the fantasy. Do not burst my optimistic bubble).
7. I am feeling bad about my dogs. They've barely seen me in the last couple weeks and the bits they've seen probably haven't been too good. I am a bad mom... except that I'm not one of those dog people. I'm not their mom- I'm just their Reenie. and I've been a bad Reenie. And they are reportedly taking it out on my poor housemate who is watching them for the weekend. Sigh. Next week bitches. Next week, we'll have all the time in the world...
Friday, March 06, 2009
Friday
1. My brain is officially mush. It's all coming to a head and I am officially on overload. Just don't expect intelligent conversation next time you see me (not that you should ever expect intelligent conversation, but still...) In the next week, I am trying to catch up / wrap up at my current job. I've got fundraiser details to confirm. Fliers to copy. A house to clean, laundry to do, fridge to clean. Dog to drug. Dinner to deliver. Bulletins to stuff. Liturgy schedule to finish. Announcement to write. Food to make. Shower to host. Dogs to walk. Date with little brother. More work to wrap up. Softball to practice. Softball emails to send out. Women's group. Filing. Lots and lots and lots of filing. Fundraiser. Bags to pack. Plane to catch. Friends to visit. Party to attend. Lists to make. New job to start... Overload. Paper jam. Losing memory. System error. Fatal error. If the next time you see me I look like a person in a walking coma, you now know why.
2. At my new job I will have a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) which basically means you can put pre-tax dollars into it and spend it on anything health related - over the counter drugs, prescriptions, glasses, office copays, dental work, etc. I'm in the process of trying to figure out how much to put into the FSA and realized that Suzie's daily benedryl will now be tax free ... awesome. No one has to know all that benedryl is for the dog. Not sure why I find this so entertaining, but I do.
3. I'm loving this weather, even though I know it won't last. It's in the mid-fifties here today, and though cloudly, it's amazing to leave the house without a coat. I'm so ready for spring! Tomorrow I have every intention of pruning the rosebush (that I should have pruned in the fall), and clearing some plant leftovers, just to get outside for a bit (in the midst of cleaning and preparing to host a shower).
4. Spring makes me want sheep again. Weird. It's probably good the City ordinance doesn't allow sheep in my backyard or I'd be searching for a lamb or two. Guess I'll wait till the farm dream comes true.
5. I have a lot of painting projects I want to do in my house. Kitchen and halls to repaint, and touch ups in the living room, dining room, bathroom, and bedroom. I've been noticing how badly they need it lately, but it doesn't mean it will happen any time soon. When I was growing up, one of our good family friends was constantly redecorating. Almost every time we'd visit, one room or another would have new wallpaper, new paint, something new. I loved it but it was so foreign to me since my mom never did those kinds of things. The other day while I was daydreaming about some of said painting, it struck me that I'm turning into Mrs J. I want to repaint, pick new colors, and redecorate every few years. Sure didn't see that coming.
6. Naturally, I should finish some of my other mostly done projects before I think about something major like repainting. Maybe I should install that new light fixture in the dining room I've been meaning to put in for a year now. Or touch up the trim in there. Or hem the living room chair cover. Yeah, I have an endless supply of mostly done projects that I never quite finish (and they plague me in their unfinishedness because I am such an extreme J).
7. I'm so ready...
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Quick visit
So some good friends came up for an impromptu weekend visit... which prompted a last minute evening gathering with said friends, a few other friends and their many munchkins, at my place on Sat evening. I didn't get pictures of everyone- and no pics of adults (of course), but here's the gist of the evening:
And you know they were having a great time because the meltdown didn't even begin until a couple hours after bedtimes.
Note: I decided my lucky streak (in life) was over as of this evening when baby Thomas barfed down my front and an hour later Jane leaked through her diaper onto my leg. Forget the lottery ticket folks, the lucky streak is done :D
Sunday, March 01, 2009
My Kitchen & Garden Journal
I'm not sure why I suddenly feel inspired to post about my kitchen & garden
journal, but here goes. This is my kitchen and garden journal (purchased for $.25 at a garage sale).
I like to find new recipies, online, in cookbooks, magazines, etc. and try them out. Naturally I always find more recipies I want to try than I have time to try them. So a couple years ago I started putting the ones I'd print off in a binder... which became a mess of random recipies, some I had tried and wanted to try again, some I'd tried and didn't like, and tons that I never got around to trying. I could never find the ones I was looking for and very quickly this system reached the end of it's usefulness.
Enter the idea of a kitchen and garden journal. I decided to start one
because of my various canning adventures. I always forget how long it took us, how much of each thing we canned, what worked and what I wanted to do differently the next year, etc. So I began by just recording that- which I reference regularly. Then I started entering recipies I was trying, and I can comment on what I did or didn't like there. I made a rule for myself that I can't tape / write a recipe into the journal until I've tried it, so it doesn't get cluttered with good intentions (like my previous recipe binder), so I can easily find the recipies I want to use again.
journal, but here goes. This is my kitchen and garden journal (purchased for $.25 at a garage sale).I like to find new recipies, online, in cookbooks, magazines, etc. and try them out. Naturally I always find more recipies I want to try than I have time to try them. So a couple years ago I started putting the ones I'd print off in a binder... which became a mess of random recipies, some I had tried and wanted to try again, some I'd tried and didn't like, and tons that I never got around to trying. I could never find the ones I was looking for and very quickly this system reached the end of it's usefulness.
Enter the idea of a kitchen and garden journal. I decided to start one
because of my various canning adventures. I always forget how long it took us, how much of each thing we canned, what worked and what I wanted to do differently the next year, etc. So I began by just recording that- which I reference regularly. Then I started entering recipies I was trying, and I can comment on what I did or didn't like there. I made a rule for myself that I can't tape / write a recipe into the journal until I've tried it, so it doesn't get cluttered with good intentions (like my previous recipe binder), so I can easily find the recipies I want to use again.What I've found: It's an awesome little resource! I can find the recipies easily (and they are attached to a page so I can't misplace them), I can reference canning data, I know what type of tomatoes I planted last year 
and when the first one was ripe, plus I have random garden commentary, and more. In short, this kitchen and garden is one that works really well for me so I thought I'd share :D
and when the first one was ripe, plus I have random garden commentary, and more. In short, this kitchen and garden is one that works really well for me so I thought I'd share :D
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