I'm getting a late start after a late night with the fam last night, but it's my first real Saturday in a long, long time. And I need it to be a productive one... so I'm sharing it here to motivate me to actually get stuff done- sorry for using you like this, but sometimes it helps.
- laundry, personal and house laundry (as in rugs, dog blankets, towels, etc)
- final coat of paint on the trim in the kitchen
- wash the kitchen floor
- deep clean the kitchen
- deep clean 2 bathrooms
- put away all the toys (out from the kiddos visiting last night)
- undecorate the Christmas tree
- take tree to the curb
- shovel the sidewalk again
There's plenty more to do... but this sounds like a good start, wish me luck!
Saturday, January 09, 2010
A boy and his dog
Actually, a boy and my dog, but it is no less adorable. 
Geno has always loved Suzie, even when her exhuberant licking got out of control. This past summer, he discovered the joy of a dog who will play fetch (when thrown the one correct ball) for hours, always bringing it right back and ready for more. For a boy who loves playing ball as much as Geno does, this was like hitting the jackpot.
After not visiting for awhile, Geno came by with his dad for a haircut last weekend. Suzie, thrilled as usual, spent most of the time pinning him against a wall licking him (gross). And Geno loves it. And hugs her and even gives her the occasional smooch back. I cut his hair and then he spent the rest of the hour following Suzie, cuddling with her in her bed, talking to her, being licked by her. We also worked on him being able to execute the "Down, stay, treat" trick, where you tell her to lay down and stay, then you put a treat on the floor in front of her, and she has to wait until you say "OK" to get it. Geno is finally able to get her to listen (mostly) when he executes the trick so he wanted to repeat it over and over and over again.
Geno: Reenie, Suzie loves me most of all, even more than Maggie!
Reen: I'm sure she does buddy.
Geno: Yeah. Suzie is my best best best friend, even with all the licking.
Reen: Aww, she sure does love you!! (as she comes back for another round of licking his cute face).
Last night the fam was over for Owen and Suzie's birthdays. Geno followed Suze around with Ben for most of the evening and kept coaching Ben "No Ben, she likes to be petted like this." "Ben, you have to count to seven before you say OK for the treat!!"
At the table, Geno was talking about how much he loves Suzie and why he should have the chair closest to her, etc. He looks up at me and says "Reenie, I love Suzie as much as I love you!"
Reen: What? Don't you love me just a little more than her?
Geno, with a big, loving smile, and brutal honesty: Nope!!
I think there's a compliment in there somewhere, he wasn't telling me that he loves me as much as he loves my dog, it was more along the lines of loving his best friend Suzie as much as he loves his Aunt Reenie... or at least I hope so ;)
Geno has always loved Suzie, even when her exhuberant licking got out of control. This past summer, he discovered the joy of a dog who will play fetch (when thrown the one correct ball) for hours, always bringing it right back and ready for more. For a boy who loves playing ball as much as Geno does, this was like hitting the jackpot.
After not visiting for awhile, Geno came by with his dad for a haircut last weekend. Suzie, thrilled as usual, spent most of the time pinning him against a wall licking him (gross). And Geno loves it. And hugs her and even gives her the occasional smooch back. I cut his hair and then he spent the rest of the hour following Suzie, cuddling with her in her bed, talking to her, being licked by her. We also worked on him being able to execute the "Down, stay, treat" trick, where you tell her to lay down and stay, then you put a treat on the floor in front of her, and she has to wait until you say "OK" to get it. Geno is finally able to get her to listen (mostly) when he executes the trick so he wanted to repeat it over and over and over again.
Geno: Reenie, Suzie loves me most of all, even more than Maggie!
Reen: I'm sure she does buddy.
Geno: Yeah. Suzie is my best best best friend, even with all the licking.
Reen: Aww, she sure does love you!! (as she comes back for another round of licking his cute face).
Last night the fam was over for Owen and Suzie's birthdays. Geno followed Suze around with Ben for most of the evening and kept coaching Ben "No Ben, she likes to be petted like this." "Ben, you have to count to seven before you say OK for the treat!!"
At the table, Geno was talking about how much he loves Suzie and why he should have the chair closest to her, etc. He looks up at me and says "Reenie, I love Suzie as much as I love you!"
Reen: What? Don't you love me just a little more than her?
Geno, with a big, loving smile, and brutal honesty: Nope!!
I think there's a compliment in there somewhere, he wasn't telling me that he loves me as much as he loves my dog, it was more along the lines of loving his best friend Suzie as much as he loves his Aunt Reenie... or at least I hope so ;)
Friday, January 01, 2010
Happy New Year!
It has been a doozy of a couple weeks... new job adjustments, getting sick, the typical Christmas craze, plus a trip to visit a new baby (and her family)... whew. Here's a few highlights:
Time spent with the fam celebrating the birth of our Savior!
And of course visiting with the rest of the Loves is always a good time!
My very own three wolf moon sweatshirt from my brother Emmet. Awesome!! (Wondering what this is about? Check here (read the reviews), here, and here.)
Time spent with the fam celebrating the birth of our Savior!
Cecilia Noel - I love her (shocking, I know). She's in that snuggly, smushy baby stage and such a sweetie. As usual, I exercised my amazing talent of being able to bore almost anyone to sleep; Cecilia was no exception. Snuggle that girlie in my arms and start talking (about pretty much anything) and she's out.
And of course visiting with the rest of the Loves is always a good time!
Then home to a party hosted by my housemate - being out of town, I didn't really do anything for it, but it was fun to hang out with some friends and welcome in the new year.
And now the new year stretching out ahead of us... Happy New Year!!
"The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!" (Numbers 6:24-26)
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Apologies...
My blog is becoming more and more trivial as time goes on, and particularly as I'm kind of overwhelmed by life right now. So I do apologize, dear readers, for not having much interesting stuff to say. For today's trivial post, I believe a list is in order:
The Good:
- I just cleaned the living room, which means I have significantly more energy than yesterday
- My throat doesn't hurt quite as bad today as it did yesterday
- The mouth aching is subsiding a bit, which really helps my crankiness levels.
- I love Christmas music!
- I am thankful for a good job with good people... a little overwhelmed right now (simply because it's a big change), but thankful nonetheless. God is good!
- I am looking forward to seeing lots of family and friends, especially the long distance variety, over the next few weeks. Hurray!
The Bad:
- I was sick enough to take yesterday off work, ugh! The earlier in the week head cold is turned into horrible sore throat and lack of any energy. But I haven't been running a fever and so far I don't have a hacking cough (although I anticipate it may happen as I feel the congestion sinking into my chest). I am terrible at being sick - especially this time of year when there is sooooo much to do! Regardless, I spent all of yesterday doing NOTHING and not really moving from the couch, except to throw the fighting dogs outside numerous times.
- Did I mention being way behind on everything? Christmas, housework, and everything in between. Sigh.
- For all of you who keep asking, I have made no progress in the kitchen in the last month. Stuff is pretty much all where it belongs in the kitchen, but there are no doors on the cabinets. I still need to borrow a paint sprayer and paint all the doors. But I am using all the drawers (new) and I did put up curtains, which give it a more finished look... sort of, although I think cupboards without doors may trump the curtains for the actual state of the project.
The Ugly:
- Maggie and Suzie when I am sick: they make me crazy! Wrestling in the house when they know I'm too sick to throw them out. Or I do put them out to run around and wrestle all they want, and two seconds later they want back in because it's cold out.
- The squealing of the whole house humidifier fan, reminding me it needs to be replaced... just one more thing to do.
- The kitchen floor, still ugly after all these years :)
The Good:
- I just cleaned the living room, which means I have significantly more energy than yesterday
- My throat doesn't hurt quite as bad today as it did yesterday
- The mouth aching is subsiding a bit, which really helps my crankiness levels.
- I love Christmas music!
- I am thankful for a good job with good people... a little overwhelmed right now (simply because it's a big change), but thankful nonetheless. God is good!
- I am looking forward to seeing lots of family and friends, especially the long distance variety, over the next few weeks. Hurray!
The Bad:
- I was sick enough to take yesterday off work, ugh! The earlier in the week head cold is turned into horrible sore throat and lack of any energy. But I haven't been running a fever and so far I don't have a hacking cough (although I anticipate it may happen as I feel the congestion sinking into my chest). I am terrible at being sick - especially this time of year when there is sooooo much to do! Regardless, I spent all of yesterday doing NOTHING and not really moving from the couch, except to throw the fighting dogs outside numerous times.
- Did I mention being way behind on everything? Christmas, housework, and everything in between. Sigh.
- For all of you who keep asking, I have made no progress in the kitchen in the last month. Stuff is pretty much all where it belongs in the kitchen, but there are no doors on the cabinets. I still need to borrow a paint sprayer and paint all the doors. But I am using all the drawers (new) and I did put up curtains, which give it a more finished look... sort of, although I think cupboards without doors may trump the curtains for the actual state of the project.
The Ugly:
- Maggie and Suzie when I am sick: they make me crazy! Wrestling in the house when they know I'm too sick to throw them out. Or I do put them out to run around and wrestle all they want, and two seconds later they want back in because it's cold out.
- The squealing of the whole house humidifier fan, reminding me it needs to be replaced... just one more thing to do.
- The kitchen floor, still ugly after all these years :)
Sunday, December 13, 2009
In the last week...
1. Monday - worked my last day at my Neverland temp job and met my boss there for the first time. It's sad to say good bye to my coworkers, but good to close the book on a really boring temp job and be moving on.
2. Tuesday - Had one day off between jobs... went to Mass for the feast of the Immaculate Conception, spent the afternoon shooting pics of a friend's kids, visited another friend and her kids and realized my day off was done.
3. Wednesday - started my new job as Office Administrator at my parish. Worked with the previous secretary so she could show me some stuff, started cleaning and purging my work area.
4. Thursday - got my wisdom teeth out. Thankfully I was sleeping ("conscious sedation") for the whole thing. Although the aftermath hasn't been comfortable, I can't complain, it hasn't been too bad either.
5. Saw Julie and Julia on Friday with a friend, lots of fun, makes me want to start a cooking blog. Did a few things around the house, mostly slept in, took it easy, took pain killers.
6. Saturday, once again, not too strenuous, cleaned some, enjoyed the Annual Thomm family Christmas party with lots of friends. Good times to be sure. Also important: I said no to a complication I didn't need (major bonus points, me saying no).
7. Sunday - Mass, some errands, some time at home, visit with a friend, dreading the end of a weekend where I didn't feel like I got anything actually accomplished!!! Actually, I did put two handles on the kitchen drawers and move the silverware to their rightful location... though progress, a far cry from "productive" :)
8. And tomorrow back to the new job for day 2...
Today's second reading really struck me, especially in a time where I am kind of overwhelmed by too many details:
Brothers and sisters:Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:4-7
May you Rejoice in His coming and in His many blessings in your life!!
2. Tuesday - Had one day off between jobs... went to Mass for the feast of the Immaculate Conception, spent the afternoon shooting pics of a friend's kids, visited another friend and her kids and realized my day off was done.
3. Wednesday - started my new job as Office Administrator at my parish. Worked with the previous secretary so she could show me some stuff, started cleaning and purging my work area.
4. Thursday - got my wisdom teeth out. Thankfully I was sleeping ("conscious sedation") for the whole thing. Although the aftermath hasn't been comfortable, I can't complain, it hasn't been too bad either.
5. Saw Julie and Julia on Friday with a friend, lots of fun, makes me want to start a cooking blog. Did a few things around the house, mostly slept in, took it easy, took pain killers.
6. Saturday, once again, not too strenuous, cleaned some, enjoyed the Annual Thomm family Christmas party with lots of friends. Good times to be sure. Also important: I said no to a complication I didn't need (major bonus points, me saying no).
7. Sunday - Mass, some errands, some time at home, visit with a friend, dreading the end of a weekend where I didn't feel like I got anything actually accomplished!!! Actually, I did put two handles on the kitchen drawers and move the silverware to their rightful location... though progress, a far cry from "productive" :)
8. And tomorrow back to the new job for day 2...
Today's second reading really struck me, especially in a time where I am kind of overwhelmed by too many details:
Brothers and sisters:Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:4-7
May you Rejoice in His coming and in His many blessings in your life!!
Friday, December 04, 2009
More Transition
It’s that time again. I quit my temp job and am working hard to finish as much as possible for my boss before my last day on Monday. My boss was really good about it, other than asking me to work Monday (instead of ending Friday as I had hoped to) so she could meet me. She works out of her home in FL so we’ve never met. She’s coming to Michigan all next week and really wanted to meet me and have me hand stuff off in person. So it’s an extra day, but it’s okay, I can handle that.
My old boss, the Cat in the Hat, had his last day at Neverland on Tuesday and a bunch of us met up with him at the bar tonight to say good bye. I’m sad to see him go, but happy for him and his family that he’s got another job lined up. Now they just have to sell their house in Michigan. I definitely miss working for him, but again am reminded of how blessed I am. In the midst of trying to decide between a job at the parish and another job at Neverland, he was so encouraging. And he bluntly told me not to take a job based on money, but to do what I care about, which is obviously working for the church. It was really good to hear that perspective from my former boss who I really respect.
As I approach leaving Neverland for the new job (which I am excited about), it’s bittersweet. I’ve met some good people here and am sad to see that end, although I will still be in touch with some of those people whether I work here or not. Nonetheless, it won’t be the same as working together and getting our daily water refills together and stealing her employee of the year parking spot when she calls in sick, and being part of the work crowd. I have been blessed at Nverland, in working with good people, in new experiences, in connecting, and in stretching. And though I am happy about my new job, it is a bittersweet to leave.
And in case good ole job transitions aren’t exhausting enough, I’m getting my wisdom teeth out next week… so I’ll be at the new job for a day, then off for two days for surgery, and then start back full time that next Monday.
So it’s definitely a month of transition, in a year that has felt like a year of constant transition… and for the record, serious transition exhausts me. When I left my dad’s company and started in Electrical Safety, those couple months passed in a blur of exhaustion. Enjoying the new job and all, but being totally exhausted with all the transition. Yeah, transition exhausts me in general, as good as it is.
And did I also mention all of this is happening right around Christmas? The busiest time of the year? And that I have a dozen projects to do for Christmas? And a kitchen to finish? And… oy! If I am a walking zombie for the next 6 weeks, now you know why.
And in the midst of all of it, I am so thankful for God's abundance in taking care of me in these turbulent times. God is good, I am thankful!! Happy Advent!
My old boss, the Cat in the Hat, had his last day at Neverland on Tuesday and a bunch of us met up with him at the bar tonight to say good bye. I’m sad to see him go, but happy for him and his family that he’s got another job lined up. Now they just have to sell their house in Michigan. I definitely miss working for him, but again am reminded of how blessed I am. In the midst of trying to decide between a job at the parish and another job at Neverland, he was so encouraging. And he bluntly told me not to take a job based on money, but to do what I care about, which is obviously working for the church. It was really good to hear that perspective from my former boss who I really respect.
As I approach leaving Neverland for the new job (which I am excited about), it’s bittersweet. I’ve met some good people here and am sad to see that end, although I will still be in touch with some of those people whether I work here or not. Nonetheless, it won’t be the same as working together and getting our daily water refills together and stealing her employee of the year parking spot when she calls in sick, and being part of the work crowd. I have been blessed at Nverland, in working with good people, in new experiences, in connecting, and in stretching. And though I am happy about my new job, it is a bittersweet to leave.
And in case good ole job transitions aren’t exhausting enough, I’m getting my wisdom teeth out next week… so I’ll be at the new job for a day, then off for two days for surgery, and then start back full time that next Monday.
So it’s definitely a month of transition, in a year that has felt like a year of constant transition… and for the record, serious transition exhausts me. When I left my dad’s company and started in Electrical Safety, those couple months passed in a blur of exhaustion. Enjoying the new job and all, but being totally exhausted with all the transition. Yeah, transition exhausts me in general, as good as it is.
And did I also mention all of this is happening right around Christmas? The busiest time of the year? And that I have a dozen projects to do for Christmas? And a kitchen to finish? And… oy! If I am a walking zombie for the next 6 weeks, now you know why.
And in the midst of all of it, I am so thankful for God's abundance in taking care of me in these turbulent times. God is good, I am thankful!! Happy Advent!
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