What does one do when you don’t want to write but you want to let people know what you’re up to? Vlog about it. Hope you enjoy!
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everyday life
Every time, I mean every time. I look at my live journal I swear to myself that I’m going to write more. I challenge myself with writing a few times a week in this thing. I don’t know why I think it’s so important to write here. I suppose it’s more therapy for me and documenting my life than anything else. I don’t have a ton of internet friends that read my journal. I’ve got several friends but I’m fortunate enough that for the most part they live close which means I can pick up the phone, or they can. As for family, my mother and Eric’s mother read these posts and then that’s when I get a phone call to see how things are. Yet still, I feel the need to write here. So I continue. If it’s boring, sorry… I guess that’s my life… 
SO today I’m home again from work. I woke up yesterday with a subnormal temperature, which means a virus. I woke up today and still didn’t feel wonderful. I’m trying to do more than just sleep and watch TV like I did yesterday, which is probably a mistake but I’m not one to sit all day and do nothing. Darn Christian work ethic! So I’m trying to take it easy today, but it’s not working well. Today the appraiser comes to appraise the house for us. I think it’s going to be interesting to see what the value of the house is with the improvements we’ve made and the market right now. We’re also going to ask him about the kitchen and the counters, namely should we redo them? Would we get the money back in a sale? I really want to redo them but it might be better to make our money work for us in other ways. SO we’ll see.
I also got a call today from Indigo Rescue. They help find foster families for dogs in shelters so the dogs can live longer. We might be getting a dog today, if it passes the cat test. Supposedly it’s a big dog, like a husky/malamute or something way too big for us on a permanent basis but if it means we save her from the gas chamber, then it’s worth it. Hopefully she’ll get adopted soon and we’ll get to host another dog.
OH, I went to Craft Warehouse the other day to buy some Amy Butler fabric for a quilt I want to make for the guest bedroom. They were so cool. They cut it all for me and then encouraged me to have them hold it until the 12th of November when they have their holiday open house and I can get the whole thing for 40% off. Well of course I did that so now I’ve got a great project waiting for me to complete before Thanksgiving. I’m thinking I might go up to see my mom a few days before Thanksgiving so she can help me with it as it will be my first bed quilt. I’ve been knitting a little bit lately and I like it but I don’t love it like scrapbooking and sewing and quilting and things. It also aggravates my hand a little bit I think so I probably won’t be able to do a lot of that.
Other than that, not a lot has been going on lately. My hand is doing OK. some days are good, some not so good. I’m supposed to go to some hearing in November on it and I guess I’ll find out then if the judge will find in my favor. My lawyer had me complete another claim for the deQuervains Tensynovitis so we’ll see what happens with that one. I just want Intel to cover what they should. I’ll keep my fingers crossed on that one.
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I’ve been thinking a lot, about a lot of things lately with all sorts of things. Work … and personal life things. I’ll start with the last first. Eric’s started school two weeks ago which means I’m home at night by myself three nights a week. It gives me a great opportunity to do a couple of things. I could work out every night, go for long walks with the dog or make some more friends. I’ve been thinking about the latter a lot lately. I have a very few number for great friends and the ones I have are all over the country from Texas to Bellingham, Washington and all parts in between. I realize that I have this great opportunity to meet people outside of work and not feel guilty about not spending time with Eric since he’s at school at the same time. SO, my answer is a few things. I just found a group that meets on Mondays over one of my hobbies for a few hours at a coffee shop. I think I’m going to start going there on Monday nights and then I found a great book club that meets once a month to talk about a mystery book. I figure these two things would be great for me to do. I’ll meet people outside of work and develop friendships too. I just hope I have the guts to do them both. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not super outgoing in new situations. I’m one of those people who hand in the background when I’m in a new situation but I think these two things will be great for me.
As for work. and interesting thing happened the other day, not at work, but with a friend. We were talking about things and she asked me what I did at work. My replay, “I build online training courses”. Usually when I say that people give me the, “that’s cool”, almost like they don’t know what that means and don’t want to ask more and show that they don’t get it. She called me on the carpet and asked me what did I really do. She wanted to know it all. I really appreciated that. I sat with her and explained how the whole process works and what it is that I really do. I told her everything and it made me think, I don’t know if my friends, outside Intel really know what I do. Then I was reading my brother-in-laws blog gregtitus the other day and got a great idea. I should sit down sometime and really explain my job to the people in my life. To me I don’t usually say much about it because it’s old hat to me and/or I think people are bored with it but maybe I’ll put a post here soon and explain it all. Thanks for the great idea Greg!
I’m also looking at improving my web skills and design knowledge by learning Flash better. Right now I’m not even a novice Flash user and I need to learn more. I’m considering taking a class at PCC next quarter, my department will pay for it too. SO we’ll see how that goes. I sort of miss the whole academia thing. I loved it when I was in school for my masters degree.
Well, I’ve got a great book to read, Killer Pancake by DMD (Diane Mott Davidson) so I should go. Hopefully, with any luck I’ll get to writing in this journal more often.
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It’s only Tuesday and already this week is shaping up to be a little nuts. Eric started school this week which means he’s in class most nights 6-10pm. He’s also working part-time not so Tuesday’s he’s at work and then off to school and then home. This last weekend he worked 20 hours in three days. He worked Friday, half of Saturday and all Sunday. SO in the last oh… four days we’ve seen each other about half as much as we usually do. That can be go and that can be bad. I haven’t figured out which yet.
What I have realized is that when it comes to dinner we’re in the “fend for yourself” mode. Which means, by the time I get home, Eric’s gone to school and there’s no dinner. Waiting for him means waiting until 10pm which isn’t a good idea either so. We fend for ourselves. I’m actually thinking of improving my casserole recipe selection so that a casserole can go in the oven and get cooked so Eric can have an early dinner, then I get home and have my dinner. It’s only the first week but I’m sure we’ll figure this out. I know Eric feels a lot better about what he’s doing and has a sense of accomplishment so that’s good.
Eric’s working most weekends so that doesn’t give us much of an opportunity to visit family or friends on the weekends any more, at least for the next two months since the schedule is out. I suppose that’s not that big of a deal anyway since we don’t have many plans. My annual trip to the Washington Scrapbook convention is a no go and that’s about the only thing I had planned from now until Thanksgiving when everyone will be down here anyway. I suppose it’s a good thing to because it saves on gas besides, where would I go visit? Othello? My mom wouldn’t know what to do if I saw her more than a few times a year, besides she’s got school and all that stuff going on. SO we’re pretty much tied to Portland for a while…SO if you want to see us I guess you’ll have to come down here, or I can come visit you but for the most part, Eric works the weekends.
Time for dinner… mmmmm mac n cheese…at least Eric can’t taint this batch with his “improvements”
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You know it’s not often that any of us get a relaxing weekend of doing much of nothing and yet… still feeling like we got something done. This was that sort of weekend for me. Saturday morning found me in bed until 10am. I’m rarely, if ever, in bed that lat but I’d decided the night before I was going to stay in bed and relax until I just couldn’t any more. Man…. did sleeping in feel good. I got up yesterday and felt so well rested. I think I’ve been going to bed too late lately and not getting enough sleep. Eric and I didn’t do much of anything Saturday but sit around, reading and I did a bit of cooking, well, baking really. It was just so nice not to have anywhere to go or anything to do and just do much of nothing. I did work on work stuff for a while, but other than that. Just reading, relaxing and watching a bit of TV.
Today wasn’t much different. It was another late morning for us. I got up when Baylee made it clear she’d had enough of the sleeping in and need to go outside. She raced down the stairs as I took her to the back yard. I decided today rather than the usual waffles or something for breakfast I’d do a little better. I ended up making a crustless quiche with fresh from the garden tomatoes, basil and goat cheese. I also made homemade hash browns with red potatoes and then we had homemade English muffins I’d made Thursday night. It was a really nice breakfast. I had a good time make it. I spent the rest of the day finishing the book I’d started the night before and lounging around. I still can’t believe Eric and I both stayed up until 3 am Sunday morning reading our respective books. It took him only a day to read the new Harry Potter book and I started and finished another of the Diane Mott Davidson books. I love her as an author. Her stories are great. I’m determined to read all 12 of her books. I’ve got 2 read, just 10 left to go.
Well, I’m up to bed so I can get to sleep early and start the week. Just two more weeks and we go camping. I can’t wait.
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I was just reading my last post and realized just how unhappy I was. I can now say I’m feeling better. Eric’s parents came for a visit last weekend. It was so nice to see them. I felt like we had a great visit. They were down to see the new addition to the family, Greg and Hollie’s baby, Beth. She’s so cute.
Friday night they took us out to dinner at “In Good Taste” it’s the store/restaurant/cooking school place that they got us gift certificates for Christmas. We went to the Malbec tasting and dinner. It was so awesome. We sat there and watched the cook make dinner for us and serve it while enjoying some great wine. The dinner was super. We had a great salad and then dinner. It was HUGE. It was a whole truck load of smoked food. There was sausage, beef, chicken and pork. There was so much I couldn’t eat it. It was so good. It was just nice to sit, meet a whole bunch of different people, have great company and great food. Thanks Bob and Julie… again.
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Today has been like any other day at work. Not so much crazy as demanding. I sit here at my desk all day, most of every work day creating web based trainings, working with Photoshop and Dreamweaver with my headphones on. To some I’m sure that sounds rewarding to me ? not so much. I do get to do the occasional project that tests myself in areas I want to improve/ learn but I’m not so sure the level of effort I want to put in. Right now I’m learning a bit about video shooting and editing. Sort of cool but then a LOT of work? SO work is going OK. We just started doing a few things different in my group. At the beginning of each month we look at the projects that are coming in and disposition them within the group for the next month. SO in October we looked at what we had that we’d do in November and assign those projects and due dates. What does this mean for me?…. a lot of work? not a TON but enough that I’ll be working a lot before and after Thanksgiving. So much for an easy end of the year. It’s nice though at the same time to have a clear list of things to do and then knock them off one by one. What a feeling to have something completed. If only men felt the same sense of satisfaction.
As for “the boys” (Eric and Josh) They’re doing OK.. I suppose. Josh was working for a while downtown and then the company told him they didn’t have enough work to keep him busy. He went back to the temp agency that had assigned him the job but I guess right now there aren’t any jobs for him? or so he says?I’m just glad to have him around. I know he’ll find something soon.
Eric’s doing really well in school this quarter and has been such a help around the house. We had a big WSU vs UW party at our house this last weekend and he made sure the house was clean and ready to go. I did mention how nice it is to see such a clean house. We’ll see how long it lasts. We’re both so guilty of creating cluttery messes. I’m going to try harder not to.
I don’t know how many of you know but I’ve been working at Scrapbook Attack one night a week this month. They’re having a heck of a time getting good help (I told Josh and Eric they should apply) so they asked if I could step in for a few hours a week. I don’t mind much. Right now the night I do is Thursday nights 6-9 pm which isn’t the best but OK. It means a higher percentage off when I shop so that’s a bonus.
I haven’t been doing a lot of things for myself lately so I’m trying to do that. I think I feel a lot of the times that I’m the glue that keeps things together. I’m the responsible one and with out me being responsible everything would fall apart in our house. Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not. Whichever the case, I can’t do it all. And Eric doesn’t expect me to but I have this skewed view in my head that I’ve got to come home, make sure the house is picked up, clean things up and both “the boys” have their list for the next day. I’ve decided that I can’t do everything? and no one expects me to soo?.I’m not going to. I’m going to take time out for myself each day? maybe just an hour? maybe more. In an effort to facilitate this I’ve joined an audio book club. I love to read but don’t often have the time to do it.. and I’m a slow reader. With audio books I can listen and walk, scrapbook or just sit curled up in the chair. SO this weekend, while “the boys” were downstairs watching Football and then Basketball I was in the office, scanning our wedding pictures and listening to a Nicholas Sparks book. I got the whole book done. The time flew by. I didn’t feel left out? I didn’t feel “stuck” upstairs because the boys were watching sports. I could have cared less what they were doing. SO I think I’ll stay with this book club and continue on it.. I’ve also go the sewing machine Julie gave me out and on the table in the office. Just need to buy some material and I think I’ll do some sewing.. nothing big, just PJ,s or table cloth runners and little things? NO quilting? I’ll leave that to both my mom and Julie. Let you know how it goes?
Oh, I’m also working on my creativewebsights.com site. I figured that I’ve got enough going on I’m not going to try and build a business but I want to keep the space to make my own website. I’m working on it now.. trying to get my LJ into it…I’ll let you know when it’s done.
Can I just say I can’t wait for Thanksgiving. It’s going to be so much fun with all the family?
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LJ Status:
Ok, so I think I’ve decided to keep my LJ and just post to it with some degree of consistency. I just need to do this for myself more than for anyone else. When I write in here consistently it makes it so much easier. When I scrapbook I can take my comments and journaling right from here for the page. I know that if I really wanted more than just family to read this I could make it happen but this is really just for family and friends. It’s my communication device to you all since I’m so terrible about calling, writing or emailing for that matter. OK, Done with that.
So what have I been up to? Well the reception went off the other weekend without a hitch and now I’m back to the old grind. Work is going well and I’m getting a lot done. It’s amazing when you’re not distracted by things how much you can get done.
Eric n Josh:
Josh is living with Eric and I and supposedly they’re both looking for jobs but I’m not sure they’re looking too hard. I find it hard to fathom not putting 100% into looking for a job. Both of them are like two peas in a pod sometimes. I’ll be so glad when they both are working a bit just so things can get a little looser with the money. Being the sole support for the whole house is getting overwhelming. I’m in that space where I’m not mad, but irritated that I’m the only one working. I am lucky though in that I don’t have to worry about things around the house. Between Eric and Josh things get done and I don’t have to do them which is nice and won’t be the case once they’re both working. It’s interesting though that when we first started this agreement they were both so good about taking care of the house and then they slack off. What’s up with that?
WAIT! I do the same thing. Actually Eric and I had a chat the other day about how we wanted to change this and that and I had to stop us and recognize the fact that we say we’re going to do all these things all the time but then, for whatever reason, they don’t happen. I don’t thing that we don’t try I think it’s competing priorities. So Eric and I have decided to make Monday nights our date night. We’ll see how this goes. Maybe when we get this down we can tackle something else.
Anniversary:
Speaking of Monday. This Monday was our 1 month anniversary. I couldn’t believe that it’s been a month. Eric made an awesome dinner with steak and couscous but the best part was the cr?me Brule at the end. He even made two for me. It was the best! He’s the best. He spoils me so much I don’t deserve it. Every day that goes by I realize just how wonderful this is?. Married life?. In a way things are still the same for us both but in a very real way they are DIFFERENT.. We’re married! I realize every day just how lucky I am to have found Eric and that he and I are together forever. What a wonderful thing to know??How lucky am I?
Work:
Work is going well. It’s the same old, same old. I’m not sure if you all knew this but recently I had applied for a job at Xerox. I just don’t always feel valued where I work now and I wanted to see what other opportunities there were for me. It was great to get a call back from Xerox and make it to the final interview. Unfortunately they couldn’t offer me the same salary I currently have or better so I had to decline the offer but I was glad to know that I do have professional value and there are other opportunities out there.
Speaking of opportunities, my business, www.creativewebsights.com is coming along nicely. I’ve got a few clients and I’m getting my business website done finally. I think I’ve decided I’ll get all the business licensing done this month, get the website done and the template for all contracts done before the end of the year and then I can hit the ground running next year. In fact I’m going to the NW Women’s convention here in Portland next weekend to work and hand out my business cards and flyers. I’m hoping to get a bit of business. If I do Josh will have a great opportunity to work at home and make money and I’ll make a cut of what he does. So it could be a win-win.
Sorry if this sounds random? I’m at work and as always I’ve got tons of things going on in my head.
Well, I’ve got to get back to work so I’ll write more later?..
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I know it’s been forever since I wrote in here. Why? Well part of the reason is that I got crazy busy with the wedding plans, part of the reason is that this blog has lost it’s luster. I thought this would be a great way for family and friends to know what we’re up to and how things are going. Originally it was a great idea. The bad part is that no one responds to them so I feel like I’m taking the time to write down thoughts and things to no one. SO maybe I’ll get rid of this blog, I haven’t decided yet. Who knows…..
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It’s been forever since I last wrote and I’m seriously considering dropping it. It’s not as fun as I thought and often I feel like I’m either ranting of offering too much information into my life on this public post. So. I’m not sure how much longer you’ll see me on here.
I found out from the Dr. that I didn’t have anemia or a thyroid problem. He said I “need regular exercise”. What a thing to say. I’m morally opposed to exercise and having the dr. tell me it would help didn’t make me feel good. SO I did take his advice and started working out. Actually Eric and I both are working out. We’ve even got a bet riding on it. Eric’s grandfather gave us his treadmill. Thanks Jim! Eric and I have agreed to walk the treadmill for 30 minutes each day, Monday through Friday. If either of us misses a day during the week we have to watch a movie of the other person’s choosing. For me the consequence is watching an anime movie, for Eric it’s chick flicks. So far we’re a week and half into the bet and Eric owes me two movies and I owe him nothing. At this point any activity is good.
On another note and WAY off topic… have you ever had a friend that you trusted and thought they trusted you but come to find out they don’t. I don’t know how many times in my life I feel like I’ve been a great friend to others and it’s not always reciprocated. I don’t know why. I mean are there tons of people out there being nice to people “just because”? In the last week I’ve had someone in my department go to my manager about me rather than come talk to me and I’ve been snubbed by a friend thinking we were great friends. When these things happen I’m inclined to go into my cave and not want to have anything to do with the other person but I know that’s not always the right thing to do. I guess I’m just writing this because it’s on my mind. Not sure if there is a solution to this one.
My brother’s birthday was on Sunday. He’s 24 now. I can’t hardly believe it because i remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. Wish the turkey would call me… Josh… CALL ME! I’d like to know how he is and what he’s up to.
Work continues on my business. I’ve got to get my business cards made and finish registering and start with the IRS stuff. Oh the joys. Well, better get back to work.
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