Happy Holidays

I feel the need to update the world (this isn't a public blog, but I feel like the people who read it are my world, ha ha).  We have had a really nice break so far.  My last day of working for the year was the 22nd which was much needed because I was sick to my stomach.  I think I caught a flu bug which resulted in my getting sick and having to stay close to home for a few days.  In my half day of work on the 22nd I did manage to get my new office rearranged.  I am still in the same office, but I switched sides and moved the desk around.  For the past two years my back or side have been to the door. This makes me super uncomfortable and affords me little privacy.  I'd had enough and decided to take apart my desk, move it, and screw it back together.  Mission accomplished.  My new office mate starts the 3rd of January and I am so excited to work with her! She is an amazing person and should be a fantastic addition to my work environment.

Christmas Day we woke up and opened gifts.  My dear husband got me a beautiful charm bracelet from Kay Jewelers. It's like a Pandora bracelet, but 100% Sterling Silver and made in Italy.  I got an awesome zip up hoodie to show off my Gonzaga pride from my sister.  I also got a Lane Bryant gift card, Avon, and a cute white zip up cardigan from my mom.  Oh and I got Donkey Kong County Returns for the Wii from Jason.  My dad sent me an electric ball that shocks you when you play with it and the Create a Critter Cricut Cartridge. Jason got the Playstation Move, the new Rascal Flatts CD, a new board game, a nice polo, and Playstation Create.  After opening some fabulous gifts we went over to my brother & sister-in-law's house.  It was the nieces first Christmas and she was so much fun.  Her Uncle J even held her for the first time! It melted my heart and was one of the best gifts of the day! This was the first baby he has ever held, I was so fortunate to be there for the experience.  The hubby opened his BIG gift here, a pinball machine! It's a fixer upper, but is in pretty good shape.  I opened a plethora of board games and the Cricut 50 States cartridge.  We had an awesome dinner with prime rib, turkey, funeral potatoes, sweet potatoes, cherry pie, fudge, sauteed mushrooms, fruit salad, and dinner rolls. The whole day was really nice.

The  day after Christmas we did some shopping.  Our big buy was a bunch of storage containers for organizing the storage room and putting away our new Christmas tree. I also got a few supplies to make more cards and one more Cricut Cartridge made just for creating cards.

The 27th the dear hubby and his brother worked on the pinball machine all day while I made cards all day.  I got 16 cards knocked out and he got a lot figured out on the machine (I don't know all the technical stuff).  The 28th we did more of the same! Seriously, from 9-6 two days in a row we just relaxed tinkering with our favorite hobbies.  It has been amazing and makes me want to put more and more money toward retirement. Maybe I can retire at 35? Okay, maybe not, but 50 would rock.  Especially if this is how we filled our days. 

Today was date day! We woke up to snow!  We hadn't really had any snow this year. We had one day where there was a dusting, that was it.  As of today we have INCHES of snow. It's not feet, but it's progress! I was sort of peeved to see they closed our office, there wasn't THAT much snow.  I want to know who made that decision, because it's ridiculous. Especially because there was only one person working so we could have our office open.  She lives really close to the office too and we were able to drive all the way to another town and back today. The roads were fine and the weather was snowy, but not like a blizzard or anything! Anyway, now that I have vented that, we drove to another town to watch the movie How Do You Know and enjoyed a late lunch at Rock Bottom Brewery.  The movie was cute and our lunch was really good.  The first time we had Rock Bottom we were not impressed, my dear friends T and T really love it though, so I've gone back a few times and now I think it's so yummy.  After lunch we swung by JoAnn Fabric and Crafts to get a few more card making supplies (I had run out after my two day marathon of card making).

Tomorrow...I have no idea what we will do, probably more messing around with hobbies. We have zero plans for New Year's Eve which is semi-depressing! We are thinking about doing fondue, playing games, and watching the ball drop on TV. So far it will just be the two of us.  There just doesn't seem to be a lot going on this year.  New Year's Day we are going out to the Mother and Father-in-law's for a salad bar and hopefully games.  Should be nice.  Hope you are all doing well!

Cookielicious

I blame it on the lack of snow.  The need to make cookies that look like snow balls that is.  This will be my first Christmas ever without snow on the ground.  That is if the weather man is correct and our weather stays in the 40's-60's for the next week with little to no precipitation.  Anyway, we went to a Christmas party last night and were invited to bring a snack to share.  I also knew I'd be a part of a cookie exchange tonight and we are hosting a Christmas party tomorrow.  Making a big batch of cookies seemed like the thing to do! So I doubled the recipe below and made two double batches.  I came out with about 150 cookies.  They were traditional Mexican Wedding Cake Cookies from my Taste of Home cookbook.  They turned out delicious!

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar, plus extra for dusting

1 Cup Butter, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract

1/2 Cup finely chopped pecans

2 Cups flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Whip sugar, butter, and extract until light and fluffy.  Slowly add flour.  Stir in pecans.  Create 1 1/2 inch balls of dough and set on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake 12-15 minutes.  Let cool on wire cooling rack for 4-5 minutes.  Roll in powdered sugar.  Let cool completely.  If powdered sugar soaks into the cookie, they were too warm.  Redust the cookies in that case.  Enjoy!

CCC...Christmas Card Crafting

 This evening I went to a cookie exchange and happened to learn how to make little boxes out of used Christmas cards!  The person who made the boxes used them to store pieces of hard candy.  She cut some pieces of tissue paper down and folded them inside the boxes before adding the treats.  Anyway, I thought the idea was so cute and so easy that I would share.  It was really fun and I hope I get some more Christmas cards to play with! 

Step 1.  Start with your basic Christmas card.

Step 2. Cut in half.

Step 3. Take the back side of the card that has the sentiment and fold in half long ways.

Step 4.  Fold the same piece in half the other way.

Step 5. Fold each side in half to meet in the middle.  The side should meet at your original fold.

Step 6.  Unfold the flaps. Turn the card and fold the other edges together to make creases just like you did in step 5.

Step 7. Unfold.  At this point you have several creases in your card.

Step 8.  Place the folded card half on top of the front of the card. Using the creases as a guide to make 4 small cuts.  On each end you will just snip the farthest two sides to the closest crease.

Step 9.  You can see the four completed snips that went through both layers.

Step 10. This is where your box starts to take shape. Lift up two of your cut flaps and hold together.

Step 11. Holding down the edge of the box, prepare to fold the remaining piece over to form an edge.

Step 12.  Secure the folded piece and new edge with a piece of tape.

Step 13.  Repeat on other side.  You have now complete the bottom of your box.

Step 14.  To create the top of the box, repeat steps 10-13, creasing to create the lines in the top.  For best results be generous with the top half of the box.  The box will be a tight fit together.

Step 15. Voila, a cute little box made out of a recycled Christmas card!

Here are a few different boxes that we made.  It's really fun to see how the various art work on the cards turns out to make a fun, new box!  We made a couple out of non- Christmas cards and those turned out cute too.  Sometimes the wording lands just right.  Enjoy making this fun, new, craft!

Seasons of Change

Okay, so I felt a little guilty that my last post was so condensed. I have a lot of great things happening in my life and they deserve this moment in glory, instead of just being relegated to a bullet point. So, this morning when I got some news at work, I thought I should write a full blog post on it!


When they hired another co-worker to be the supervisor it opened up a few events. She had one of the largest events in the state and it happens to be in the town my office is in. Since the event is so large, to keep portfolios balanced, she only had one other event. Her other event was local too. I saw this as an opportunity to change my workload, my travel schedule, network with other professionals in the community I work in, and be closer to home! I pleaded my case the Monday after Thanksgiving.

One of the “bosses” didn’t like the idea at all. He felt that I was set up to perform really well this year, which is true. If I kept my travel, my crazy events, and all of that jazz I probably would have earned a small bonus. However, I had to weigh whether it was worth it for me to earn a small bonus or be pretty much off the road. If you know me at all, you know that it’s worth it to me to exchange a possible $2,000 for some more time in the evenings with my husband instead of in a rental car driving down the interstate. So after a few weeks of nothing happening, my new supervisor talked to me yesterday and told me she was going to pitch the event switch. Later in the day when I found out I got a phone interview for another job here, I had to tell her. This is part of the policy and procedure. Naturally, this has the potential to REALLY change things. When she left for her meeting in another town to pitch the switch, I thought she had decided she would not since I had another potential opportunity. I was slightly frustrated, but I could see where she was coming from.

I was totally shocked this morning when she e-mailed me to request a meeting. I met with her and she said she had indeed made the pitch. Even more shocking is that they granted it! I will now go from 4 events, none of which are in town and all at least a 45 minute to over an hour drive each way. I now have one major event that is in town, one other event that is an hour away, and two tiny events that I don’t to a whole heck of a lot for. I will probably have the same amount of meetings, but no longer need a rental car and my commute when the meeting is over is so manageable. Of course this could all change if I am hired for the other job or one of the jobs I recently applied for. We are not telling volunteers until January, so there is wiggle room for other opportunities. Anyway, this is a huge opportunity for me at work. I’m pretty impressed and feel like I should celebrate. I planned cheeseburgers for dinner, but I think I will swing by and purchase a bottle of a new wine I tried.

At Olive Garden a few months ago I tried Lambrusco. It was fantastic and a bottle is under $10! Cheers to me and cheers to you if you go find a bottle and try it!

It's about time...

Well, as an anonymous commenter noted I have not updated in a long time.  I think I have been so absorbed in my own thoughts that I haven't taken any time to publish them! So here is the last bit of time in review...

• My sister came! We had such an amazing visit together! She was such a trooper, shopping, a 5k, cooking, games, and church.  We miss her so much already.  I made her watch me try on most of the garments in my closet, I was actually surprised I didn't have more in my donate pile.  I didn't sleep very well why she was here, I think it was because I was so excited to be with her! Miss you N.
• I mentioned a 5k.  My goal was to shave a minute off my time.  Well, I only shaved 20 seconds off.  I even jogged a little. This course was more challenging than the last one I did.  They didn't mark the distance very well either, so it wasn't until the 2 mile mark (of 3.2 miles) that I knew the distance.  We did get a ridiculous blue shirt with goofy turkeys on it and had a lot of fun. Oh and I got my first "race injury".  It's really comical.  I hurt my big toe on my right foot.  Not sure how I managed that but the whole thing is black and blue under the nail. Ick.  It's so strange.  It's funny to me to have an injury as silly as my toe!  It doesn't really hurt anymore though, which is good because it's almost been a month!
• I completed my ultrasounds for the fertility doctor to make sure I didn't have fluid building up in my blocked fallopian tubes.  Fortunately, everything was clear.  It took an extra week of me being on high levels of estrogen because at the second ultrasound my left ovary was hiding.  J and I have finished our blood work and all of the preparations for IVF, well almost.  We still have to figure out the last chunk of change.  On Saturday we meet with a family member who has offered financial assistance for educational endeavors to plead our case for fertility endeavors.  I am anxious.  I have gone over what to say a million times in my head and I know in the end what comes out of my mouth will probably be far different than what I have rehearsed.  I just pray, pray, pray they agree to help us.  Otherwise our plan to officially start meds in January is off.  Should they agree to help us out, I start pills in January to prep for a February harvest and transfer.  At this point I am trying to limit caffeine, consume a balanced diet, etc. to prepare.
• Christmas is coming...Christmas is coming...This year we decorated more than ever before! We have two Christmas trees up, candy canes lining the walkway, lights on the house, lights on the tree out front, and lights on the railing and light pole.  We even have garland hung in the family room and all of my Christmas snow globes out.  We are officially done Christmas shopping and I have the cards ready to be addressed.  So, what's missing? SNOW! We don't have snow yet.  If there is not snow on Christmas day, it will be the first time in my life I have spent a Christmas without the fluffy white stuff.  I do have to admit, I don't want snow on Saturday.  I really need to talk to the family members who are driving to town, like desperately.  Other than that date, it can snow, snow, snow.
• Since not getting the job at work, I have applied for a few more.  In fact I have an interview on Friday for another promotion.  I was shocked I even got a phone interview, I didn't think I had a chance.  I applied so more people could see what I was capable of! A phone interview is a definite perk!  The other three jobs I have applications out to would all be great too.  We will just see what happens. 

There you have it, a million mini updates in one post.  As I have a little free time over the next couple weeks I will probably post a little more.  Believe it or not, work has been sort of crazy and stressful. I come home and just want to "check out".  Oh and I finish classes for the semester on Friday! Woot Woot! I hope you are doing well. Thanks for hanging in there while I take a blogging hiatus!

For real?

I have heard that the best urban legends are the ones that are almost true, but just a hair off.  That's why people believe them, because they are almost true. Anyway, have you ever had a day where you get a phone call or a message and you sort of hope it's an urban legend? Like everything seems like it could really be happening, but you just hope it's a hair off so it isn't REALLY the truth. Today has turned in to one of those days. Without going in to too much detail, I missed a phone call while the hubby and I were at dinner.  We went out to Red Lobster to drown my sorrows of not getting the Executive Director job in a lobsterita. In case you haven't had a lobsterita, it's a huge margarita. Anyway, I missed a phone call from a family member who had something happening to them (not a life threatening situation or health issue).  This particular instance is not something I have any experience dealing with until now.  Fortunately, I was able to get back in touch with them and talk to them for a few brief moments to make some much needed decisions and plans.  I have now placed about a zillion phone calls and learned more in 20 minutes than I learn in a week of class! Unfortunately, all of this knowledge has not yielded any progress or results. Oh except for talking to one of the biggest jerks I've ever met over the phone. Frustrating.  Very Frustrating. I am now at a point where there is nothing else I can do.

On the Executive Director job I didn't get it because I haven't worked at the company long enough.  Even though I was told I had better communication skills than the other three candidates.  I am very happy one of the candidates has more experience there and the same education, etc.  I can be okay not getting a job when it goes to someone who is more qualified.  I was also not 100% sure I wanted the job. So, life goes on.  I am so glad my sister is coming. I need to unwind. Seriously, unwind.

Good news and bad news

I have so much to update everyone on...so it here it goes:

• I applied for the Executive Director job and interviewed on Friday. The interview went really well.  There are two more candidates to interview on Monday. That afternoon we find out who the top two out of four candidates are. They will get a second interview on Tuesday. The decision is announced on Wednesday.
• I applied and interviewed for another job on Friday. Perfect fit for me.  The pay was terrible though. It would've meant bringing home about $688 less dollars a month! I can't quite swing that.  Even though my happiness is important, I have to way how unhappy I'd be if we couldn't pay our bills.  So I politely pulled my name out of the running.  The lady who interviewed me was really nice and said she wanted to know my decision before announcing second interviews.  I am pretty sure I would've been a second interview. Oh well, life goes on.  I felt good about having a great interview.
• Do you remember the prayer requests I made a few posts ago? One was for a little girl who had and asthma attack and the other was for my dear friend W who was expecting her second child? Well, I have updates on both.  Unfortunately, the girl who had the asthma attack passed away on Friday.  Please, please, please keep her family in your prayers and they grieve.
• Regarding my dear friend W, she gave birth! A beautiful baby girl with a head full of dark hair came five weeks early, but mom and baby seem to be doing well.  I am getting reports from W's mom. So, keep W and baby S in your prayers as well.  Hopefully, I will get to meet her in the near future.
• Speaking of babies in the near future, we had an appointment with our fertility doctor.  The appointment went really well.  I do have another cyst, but it is small.  We are not currently worried about it and it's probably left over from my last cycle.  What they were really looking for was fluid build up around my tubes, right now we have no reason to suspect that is happening! Yay! This was sort of the third series of activities to make sure I was a good candidate for IVF.  J was with me at the appointment and we were able to make plans to get started after the holidays.  It's sort of a long process because there is a period of time where I go on birth control and other meds.  Right now I am taking vitamins, folic acid, baby aspirin and metformin, but in the future I will be adding more to that concoction to make babies! Right now I am just really excited to be moving forward and have so much hope. 
• My last piece of news is that my sister is coming to town! Yay!!! She flies in on Tuesday evening. We don't have major plans set in stone, but we are going to do a 5k, make Thanksgiving dinner at our house, and go shopping!  I actually plan to have a stellar weight loss week while she was here, we have been supporting each other over the phone, but hopefully can be even more support in person.  I have the menu all planned out.  If you don't believe me, ask her for the tentative menu and itinerary I e-mailed her, ha ha. I'm a nut. I know. Oh and one of the other things we are going to do is play the hubby's new game! He produced a test model of his most recent edition of the card/board game.  I am excited to test it out.  He is so talented.  I really did marry an intelligent and talented man, I'm so lucky!

Okay, that's all my mostly fantastic news.  Hope everyone is doing well!