Ranting

So I'm going to take a minute to rant because it's my blog and I can.  I'm dealing with a bully at work right now.  I do accounting for a small group of extra services that my company offers.  One of these groups is particularly vocal and doesn't seem to respect my authority.  We had an issue earlier this week where IT just decided to turn off all of our access to the software we need to do this work....not good.  Of course because I do the accounting it's also apparently my responsibility to be the point person when the software goes down (or at least that was the impression my boss gave me).  Needless to say that the one practice that's causing my problems treated me like the entire thing was my fault and that not one thing I was doing to fix it was good enough.  Which prompted emails to everyone's boss which make me look like a total idiot.  I'm frustrated because it's an instance where my credibility is trashed and there's not one thing I can do about it.  I hate feeling this way and being pushed around by a particular person at the practice who seems to think that anything I do is not good enough.....Anyone else deal with bully's at work?  I thought after high school this stuff was kind of moot, but apparently I'm still not good at dealing with this.  It's eating me up and even made me cry at work yesterday (I hate that!).

Life Changing Couple of Months

I'm kind of at a loss as to where to start, so I'll just throw the big thing out there.  I'm Pregnant!  Back in Mid-October I had an ear infection and was at the Dr.  I changed jobs back in August and now I'm working for a large combination insurance and healthcare provider.  I was getting asked a lot of questions including when my last cycle was.  I told the nurse and she said "you couldn't be pregnant could you?".  I of course poo-pooed it but then the wheels started turning.  A couple of days later my period still hadn't come so I decided to take a test.  So at 4:30 in the morning I was up and took the test.   My cycle has never been regular so I fully expected it to come back negative.   Well boy was I surprised!!  There were two lines on the test.  It took me a minute to process what the heck that meant (I had to look at the box to double check).  I went back upstairs to talk to Jesse (my husband).  I had to wake him up and turn on the light.  I told him that I was pregnant and we sat there for a while taking in the news together.  Our life was going to change big time!

The last six weeks have been crazy.  We've had two doctors appointments, seen the heartbeat, seen a clearer picture including a fully formed head :)  I haven't been sick much but I sleep all the time!  It makes me crazy because I walk around our house and see all of the things we need to do to get ready for the baby but I can't seem to get up the energy to even get started.   We did find out that my due date is June 18 so we have a while but I am the type that likes to get things settled fairly quickly.  I go through waves of panic and worry about how we're going to pay for everything (including daycare) but I'm trusting that everything will work out.

Anyway, things are going to change but we're so excited to welcome our new addition :)

6 Years!

Wow- it seems like 5 minutes ago I was writing the post about being married 5 years.  This year has been an incredible year!  Here's some of the highlights :) (since I'm a bullet person)

-Jesse has continued to excel at school.  He generally doesn't get anything less than an A in his classes and he works very hard.  He's also very excited/passionate what he's learning so he's always showing me something new that he's excited about.

-We decided to get healthy this year.  In April Jesse started a diet plan called Optifast and has lost 90 lbs.  In June I started a plan called Slimgenics and have lost 30 lbs.   Both of us have had our struggles with this but we're so happy with the change in how e feel :)   Plus our household is an Olsen Twin lighter ;)  We're hoping that over time I can lose another 35 and Jesse and can lose another 180.  We've got some work to but we're thinking that we'll be in great shape when kiddos come if we handle this now :)

-Jesse continues to do well at his job!  He helped recently make some process changes that really improved his group's productivity without making anyone person too busy :)  He's also been asked to work on some special projects!

-Work has been good for me too!  I was working along really hard at Eaton.  I had an opportunity to make a move to a job at Kaiser.  I'm excited because I think it's going to set me up with better benefits as we move towards having a baby.

So how're we going to celebrate?  Well today is actually not that crazy.  I have my quilting class this afternoon and Jesse was up late writing a project for one of his classes so he's tired!  We're going to lay low today and then take a drive into Rocky Mountain National Park tomorrow.  Hopefully we can get some good pictures.


So here's a picture of our wedding party :) from a great day 6 years ago :)

Friday Night Sew In- Homework!

Well I guess I forgot to post this month so I figured why not start again with Friday Night Sew In Results :)  I'm taking a quilting class at a local quilt store-(The Golden Quilt Company in Golden, CO- http://www.goldenquiltcompany.com/).  We're going through Eleanor Burns book "It's 'El'ementary".   It's making a series of blocks using several different techniques to make a wall-hanging quilt.  So far I've finished two blocks.  Both were done in the last two days so I thought I'd post them up here.   I'm looking forward to actually completing this over the next several weeks :)

I'm looking forward to checking out what everyone else finished for Friday Night Sew In :)

Friday Night Sew In! What a week!

Yesterday was my last day at my job at Eaton Metal.  I worked very hard to get everything done and the people who were going to be doing things I used to do trained.  I was working all the way up until the end of the work day at 4:45...I was a little bit sad but I can't wait to get started at my new job.  My boss at Eaton was great and I wish I could have taken her with me!  She even wrote me a really nice email saying that she would be a reference for me if I ever needed it!  But with every ending comes a new beginning and I start with Kaiser on Monday.

I have been busy busy in my sewing room!  Last weekend I moved most of my sewing stuff upstairs.  We had a guest room that we had only had one guest in the two years we've lived here.   I decided last week to move everything upstairs and take advantage of a room with a door and the wonderful light that comes from the window.  Part of me was holding off doing this because I thought we'd have a baby soon but God's timing is perfect and we'll get there when He has it planned for us :)

Last weekend we bought a grill and while we were at Home Dep*t, we got some peg board to put up in the sewing room.  We didn't get it put up until during the week but I spent a lot of time in there organizing (which is one of my very favorite activities!).  I still need to clean out the little closet that is in there but I have a bunch of craft stuff in storage in the basement that I want to bring up and put in there.....we're hoping to do that tomorrow.

So in the mean time here are some pictures of things I got done in the sewing room this week :)

One corner of a small room- I found the 

shelf at a garage sale last year.

Here's another corner- I have a shelf in there with lots of stuff on it.  I need to figure out some better storage options for current projects, my ironing board and folding table.  I'm thinking that once I get the closet situated I'll know better about how to do that :)

Here's the table with my sewing machine on it and the peg board above.  I used the same things that I've seen used in garages to store tools and so far it's working out great.  I've got a plastic storage box under the futon with all of my fabric stash and a separate container with fusible fleece to make purses.

I also made a purse for a woman I work with.  It was a L*zy Girl Designs pattern and it's the same as the one I made last weekend but with color.  I was pretty happy with how it turned out :)

I got out and about today and found a quilt shop in Broomfield called Tomorrow's Heirlooms.   Unfortunately they were going out of business but I did find some cute fabrics!  I'll be making some more bags soon :)

What I did with my Saturday :)

Love love love Saturdays!  I got to have an "Oil Change" date with my husband (we walked over to Starbucks while our oil was changed in both the cars), I got weighed in (no progress), I got to visit three different quilt shops :)

The shops were:
Harriet's Treadle Arts (http://www.harriethargrave.com/findus.asp) in Wheatridge- Very cute!
Emily's Sewing Basket- (http://www.emilyssewing.com/main.html?src=%2F#2,0) in Lakewood- I loved this shop because Emily who the store is named after was the owner's daughter.  She died from a heart condition but her Mom opened this shop to remember her.  She graduated from Fort Lewis too!  So it was neat to have that kind of connection.  I got a very cute pattern here.
Golden Quilt Company- (http://www.goldenquiltcompany.com/about.htm) in Golden- This shop is really neat! Lots of good fabric at a decent price.  I got my friend Corri a birthday present here- she's turning 30 in a couple of weeks.   I also got some cute Black and White Fabric here.

I got to come home and relax with Jesse for a little while :)

I've been thinking about moving my sewing machine up to the guest room for a while.  It has better light and I will be able to close the door when I'm not in there to keep the cats from "helping" with my projects :)  I spent some time sewing in here today and got some ideas....the biggest of which I think Jesse will be able to help me with.  I'm going to put a peg board up to organize all my rulers and other tools :)

Anyway, while I was thinking about how I wanted to organize things I made this!

Grover thought the sunlight in the new sewing room was perfect! 

All and all a great day!  I'm headed out now to get some more fusible fleece with my Joann's coupon and get myself some dinner :)  Hope your Saturday was as good as mine :)

Good things are coming :)

Well it's Saturday again....YAY!  Saturdays are great because I get some freedom about what I'm going to do next.   Today my plans are to go check out a couple quilt shops and then to actually do some sewing :)  I have another Friday Night Sewing In next week and I can't think of a better way to celebrate being done with my job at Eaton. My last day is coming and I'm a little bit nervous but it will be good to move on to the next thing. 

Have a good Saturday! :)

Thankful Thursday- Holy Cow!

Wowwee this has been an amazing few weeks!  I've been fairly quiet about things online because most of the stuff that's been going on has been job related and of course it's never a good idea to speak too publically about how that stuff is going when you're in the midst of it.   Well it's all settled and done and all I can say is that God is good!

I've been struggling for a while with staying at the job I have because there were somethings that just didn't fit with my personality about it.  The company is a small family owned company which has been in business for a long time.  Although it's a tight knit group and things have been done the same way (and fairly well) for a long time, I really didn't fit in.  I was the youngest person in the office by about 10 years (unless you count the grouchy IT guy).  Beyond being a little bit of an outsider, I also struggled with continuing to work toward making one person rich. Don't get me wrong, I believe in hard work and that people should work for what they earn, however, I struggled with making someone who already had a lot of money richer on the backs of people who struggle.  I'm not struggling by any means as I've been given an incredible opportunity with my degree!  However, I did watch a lot of people in the shop work very hard for not very much money.  In fact, to the point where they struggled from paycheck to paycheck without living extravagant lives.  I spent a lot of time thinking about what kind of company I wanted to work for.  I wanted to do something that would make a difference in people's lives.  I am an accountant though, and I love what I do.  The best way I figured out I could affect others is to work by supporting an organization whose mission was to help others.   With the weight loss that my husband and I have had in recent months health has become more important to us than ever, so a hospital or health care organization was really what I wanted.

A few weeks ago I got an email from a recruiter that I'd worked with a couple of years ago when I was making my transition from public accounting out to regular industry accounting.  She sends out a periodic email about what positions she's trying to place and this one was for EXACTLY what I was looking for.  I sent her an email and wanted to find out more.  Well over the next couple of weeks I had two interviews and I ended up getting the job!!  I start with a large integrated health insurance company and provider on August 23rd.  I'm excited because the position I will be starting at has a lot of potential for growth as well as being able to really affect people's lives :)  

The only thing that I'm actually a little bit bummed about is leaving my boss.  She's been a great teacher and a friend over the last two years!  At least we can keep in touch.  She was also very gracious when I gave her my notice, which was a relief to me as I was afraid she would freak out at me.

Ok-enough about the job.

The other big news we have going right now is the continued weight loss.  I am coming up on 20 lbs lost!  I will know if I made it for sure on Saturday but I'm pretty sure I made it.   Also Jesse as of last Friday had lost 81 lbs so between us we've lost more than 100lbs.....how cool is that!  Not only that but our relationship continues to get better and better (not that it was bad before) but as we head up on our 6 year anniversary next month, I'm more in love with my husband than I have ever been :)

So that's why I'm thankful this week :)  I love writing this stuff down so I can bottle it up and read it again later :)

God is so good!

Thankful Thursday-Blessed!

I love mornings where you wake up and feel completely over-flowed with how good things are....Thankfully today is Thursday so I can blog about it :)

Today I am thankful for:

• Continued changes in my body as I continue to lose weight- I'm down 14.5 lbs.  I have completely kicked my caffine addiction!  Hallajeah! I also had to change my pants twice this morning to be able to find something that fit well enough that I didn't look like I was wearing hammer pants....I'm so thankful to have that problem :)

• Thankful to have choices...I don't really want to say more about this one, but knowing that God has put me where I am for the time I'm here and loves me so much that he gives me a choice about doing things makes my heart overflow!  Perhaps someday soon I'll be able to blog a little about this one.

• I have the best husband- litterally mine is the best- don't care what you say mine is the best!  He loves me enough that he's willing to look at his life and make BIG changes to make our lives better.  I know he's going to be a great father some day. 

Well that's the high points today, but needless to say I'm in a great mood!  Hope you have a great day !

Thankful Thursday!

Yay!  It's Thursday again!  Which means that it's only one more day until we have a weekend.  I keep sitting back and realizing how lucky I really am to have the life I do and here's a couple of reasons why I'm Thankful this week :

• The seasons change here....sometimes multiple times in a day.  Last night it was super-hot when I got home and I was not looking forward to sitting in my house.   Well, I got to enjoy a wonderful rain storm which cooled everything off by about 30 degrees!  Along with the rainstorm came a beautiful rainbow :)

•  The other thing that is making life really good right now is success with weight-loss.  In the last 4 weeks I've lost 10.5 lbs!  I've been sticking to my program and the weight has been falling off.  The thing that I'm thankful for is that it really hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be!  I'm thankful that I'm not missing my old habits (soda and sugar!).  It makes me hopeful that I'll get to my goal and that I'll be able to be healthy during a pregnancy (sometime in the future.)  The other thing in this arenar that I'm proud of is that my hubby is sticking to his program and has lost over 65 lbs (he has another weigh-in today and I'm sure we'll have a firmer number).   He's a super-star!

Happy Friday Eve!

Thought I'd check in....

Blog posts are far and few between but I thought I'd check in....so you knew I was still here.  This month has seemed to go by quickly!  I've been working as usual but got to enjoy the holiday weekend which was nice.  We didn't do much but that's pretty typical for us.   We like to stick close to home. 

Grover (our oldest kitty) got his annual shots on Saturday.  He ended up having a reaction to one of the vaccines (was breathing shallow and had some diarreahea), so we went back to the vet.  They got him fixed up and on his way but very scary!  We're pet parents for sure and I could only imagine what it feels like when people have emergencies with a real kid...This was scary enough!

Other than that, Jesse and I continue working on weight loss.  He's doing great!  and I'm eeking along.  I've been doing some posts that I haven't published yet.  Mostly because I've started and failed at this so many times that I don't want to talk about it until I've done something significant.   We're hoping to have a potrait taken of us close to Christmas time that you can see the difference in is, but we'll have to see :)

Well- just thought I'd check in and leave something here...have a good day and thanks for reading along with me :)

What have we been up to?- June

We have been busy.  In the last month:

-We Both turned 30.  We celebrated my birthday by going to the BodyWorlds2 exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and then going out for Sushi with family and friends :)  Lots of fun!  We celebrated Jesse's with his parents at our house.   We watched the Big Leb*wski, which is a bowling classic but his folks hadn't seen it yet.  And yes of course we had cake :)

  









-We've been busy with work.  I closed another month (which is somewhat repetitive), but I keep trying to get faster and more accurate at what I'm doing.  Jesse's busy because business is picking up and members of his team have been on vacation. 

-Jesse finished another class for school with a 98%!  He is such a superstar :)

-We've been working on making some lifestyle changes to eat better and be more active.

-I took a section of the CMA (Certified Management Accountant) exam and didn't pass....so I've been studying again to see if I can pass when I take it again next week :)  If at first you don't succeed, pick yourself up and try again :)

-We have managed to make good progress with our garden and we're getting some small veggies come in... and we're sort of keeping the weeds at bay :)

-We've also been taming the chaos that the pets cause, but what else is new :)  Grover has become an excellent moth hunter when he's not sleeping.

Hope all is well with you and yours, but that's what we've been doing for May/June 2010 :).

Friday Night Sew In Results :)

I have a button on my blog called Friday Night Sew In- see the left hand side.  Basically it's a way to set aside some time once a month and work on projects that you've been meaning to get to, but life's just to busy.  Well this month's couldn't have come at a better time.  I've been busy at work and studying for the CMA exam and I really hadn't had much time to work on all the sewing projects I've been buying materials for.   Sometimes I think I like the shopping better than the actual crafting, but that's another post.   I had promised my step-mom Kathy a bag for Mother's day and hadn't gotten one finished.  She wanted something she could take her lunch to work in and I found a great pattern at CRAFTY VEGAS MOM.  I added the button thing from another bag pattern I'd used in the past, but I like it!  I hope she'll use it and love it :)

Crafty Lady

As promised earlier I have pictures of several things I've made over the last few months.  I also got to take another class over the memorial day weekend.  So not much writing for this post but it's still fun :)

This pictures are of the very first quilt that I finished (I have several started but none finished yet :) ) .  It was for my friend Summer's baby.  She had a little boy named Xander on Memorial Day.  I'm excited to meet him sometime soon.

These pictures are of a tote bag I made for my mother-in-law (Debbie) for her birthday (June 2).  She called tonight to say thank you.   Somehow when I picked out these colors I got something that is her absolute favorite.  It makes me feel good that I was able to give her something that she loves :).

This bag is something I gave my friend (former roommate) Tiffany for her 29+1 birthday.

I always have more in the works but how fun to give gifts like these :)

 

Turning A Corner

This week seems like it should be a big week for me.  I'm turning 30 on Sunday....how the heck did that happen?  Just a second ago I was in college and none of my friends had kids and we didn't have any real responsibility yet.  I've been struggling like crazy not to let this milestone get me down.   I felt like I maybe hadn't come as far as I wanted to before I hit 30 and then I sat back and started to think about what I really have accomplished.  So in keeping with my friend Tiffany's post about turning 30 (http://blegerchaos.blogspot.com/2010/05/30-reasons-im-glad-im-twenty-ten.html) here are the top 30 reasons I'm glad to be 30.

1) I know Jesus.
2) I'm married to the very best guy I know! 
3) I get to have a pets that recognize me as the one that feeds them and loves them.
4) I don't have to live in an apartment anymore.
5) I can be recognized for my talents/abilities but also can learn from others.
6) I have time to persue things I'm interested in.
7) I'm making progress at relationships that were hard for me before (mostly with my mother).
8) Learning is still exciting.
9) I've accomplished some things professionally- highest of which so far was getting my CPA.
10) I still have room to move up professionally.
11) I still have family around ( Granmda especially!).
12) I'm more comfortable with my body and my appearance than I have ever been.
13) I can pay to get my nails done :)
14) Fabric stores- especially sales at fabric stores excite me :)
15) I never ever ever have to go back to Junior High.
16) I can appreciate the things my parents did to help me be successful but at the same time not repeat their  mistakes.
17) Jesse and I can still have kids.....someday.
18) I have learned to take a step back and look at things when they're not working and I have the courage (some of the time) to change them.
19) I get to be friends with my Dad.
20) I'm not even half way done with my life yet :)
21) I can make decisions without having to justify myself.
22) Being organized is an asset rather than something that makes me weird.
23) It's more important now to have deep friendships than many friendships.
24) I'm still the youngest person in my office :)
25) I can still bend down to garden and play with the dog without too much argument from my knees.
26) Technology doesn't scare me.
27) I have learned when to say "No".
28) I'm getting better at standing up for myself.
29) Inside jokes are still funny....especially with my hubby :)
30) I'm still in progress!

Thankful Thursday!

I've been quite a while between Thankful Thursday posts.  It's not because I don't think about it, I just have trouble getting the words together and down on "paper" sometimes.  

So here's what I'm thankful for:

• the upcoming three day weekend!  I have had lots around my house that I want to get done and this is a perfect time to do it.
• My job.  Although I'm busy and there's been some shake up in management this week I'm thankful I have a good place to work.
• I'm thankful for my hubby!  He's continuing to grow into such a good man and I love him lots!  He encourages me all the time and challenges me to think about things.
• Summer!  I'm thankful that summer is just around the corner and it means time outside and good stuff from the garden.

Oh btw- BINGO update- I got three words today :)

B-I-N-G-O!

I've been participating in a bingo game with one of the quilting blogs I lurk on http://www.the-quilt-shoppe.blogspot.com/.  Fun fun stuff!  The deal was that you submit a list of words and then "tune in" each day to see if you got any....none yet but it's only day three so there's hope :).

My words are:
amaryllis
bikes
breeze
calf
clean
daffodil
graduation
honeysuckle
jelly beans
leaves
embroidery
flower
narcissus
piglet
quilts
rainbow
robin
season
spiders
spring break
sunshine
tulip
violet
qater hose
zinna


  I have tons of projects going right now, so I haven't posted pictures yet because they were gifts for friends and I wanted the friend to see them first, but hopefully I'll get some pictures back with the friend with the item :) Tiffany you know who you are!   I'm hoping to get some good sewing time in this weekend as the Memorial Day holiday nets me a Monday off work :)  Happy Wednesday.

When are you gonna have kids?

Mother's day was yesterday and we didn't do anything really.  We had dinner with my Dad and Step-Mom Saturday night but other than that it was a fairly chill weekend.  I had sort of mixed emotions as I really do love my mother but I don't really like her that much so I gathered myself up enough to get a card and get it mailed to her eariler in the week.  I had to look really hard for one that didn't say something I didn't think  or mean.  I have mixed feelings about what it means to be a mother.  I know it's possible for someone to be a good mother but it's not a natural thing to me. 

My parents saw this movie over the weekend called "Babies" which was apparently the view of four different babies on four different continents in the style of a nature video.  They spent quite a long time talking about this movie and I sorta started to get it.   In their not-so-subtle way they are ready for grandchildren.  

Today at work I was making polite conversation with the receptionist who has two small children.  I asked her how her Mother's Day was and she said fine.  The very next sentance was "When are you going to have kids?"  

Here's the rant....why is it anyone's business??  More importantly do they know it makes me feel about an inch tall when they reduce me to my ability to have children?  I want kids and I want so much to experience the love I've heard that people (normal people anyway) have for their kids.  I just don't want to bring that up in polite coversation.  I'm not really sure why but this is sort of a hot button for me.   I am trying on my own to trust that God is going to take care of me and have us be pregnant when He wants us to be.   It's not helpful to have people fire off that question just to make conversation....can we please just talk about the weather?

Michigan- Part 2- Grandma's Quilts

Much of my trip up to Michigan this past weekend was filled with questions for my Grandma about quilitng.  I would consider her an expert.  Although she would never claim that she's pretty stinkin' awesome at what she does.  She is a former Geometry teacher and loves shapes.   She also seems to thrive on history and what that means as far as quilting goes.   I'm going to post a bunch of pictures to show her work.   She didn't have many quilts at her house because she always seem to try and find someone who needs them more than she does- Which is one of the reasons I love her so much!  She wants to see people enjoy her hard work.  Just to be clear about what it is that she does, she machine pieces these works of art and hand quilts them.  It takes an incredible amount of patience and artistry and I'm really proud of her!

This is her latest creation.  It's a star patterrn (obviously).  This is the second time I know of that she's made this one.   This one is in pinks and greens and the other one is bright primary colors with a black back.  She used gold thread for the quilting on that one and the stitching on the back is amazing!  My mom has that one so maybe I'll be able to get some pictures of it.

This is a close up of the quillitng she did by hand on this one.  It's amazing to me how even she gets each of these stitches....so patient!!

Another close up :)

Well that's all for this post.  I have tons more pictures but Jesse is going to fix the color on them for me so I'll wait to post them until he's done with that :)

Michigan- Part 1

I finally got to take some vacation!  I traveled up to Michigan to see my Grandma RuthAnn (Ashley) Thursday (4/22) through to Sunday (4/25).  It was a much needed break.  My attitude the last several weeks was aweful and I just needed to get away.  Jesse drove me out to the airport nice and early (we left at 4:30 am!) on Thursday morning.   My flights went exactly as planned and it was an overall good trip out there.  The rental car had one of those fancy GPS units that audibly alerts you to the next turn.  This was really nice since the last tieme I'd been out to my grandma's house it was in the middle of the night and I got really lost.   Grandma lives near Mason, Michigan (the closest big city is Lansing) but I flew into Detroit which is an hour or so by car.   We got to enjoy lots of time together.  I love listening to her stories and knowing about my family.  She is a wonderful story teller and it was so fun to gather some more.  I am writing this first post from work so I don't have the pictures I took available to include here.  I'm thinking that I would post a few things with pictures and write down some of the stories she told me while I was there.   I want to continue this as my digital scrap book so look for more :)

By the way, the time away from work did me good!  My attitude is better and I'm not taking things so stinkin' serious! 

This is what I'm thankful for this week (I know it's not Thankful Thursday, but so what!)

Jess

Adventures in My Sewing "Room"

So the designer purse class I mentioned a couple of weeks ago finally happended.  It had been canceled and then rescheduled because of a snow-storm last week.  So anyway I got to go last night to the class at JoAnn's.   Here's some pictures of the finished product :)

Baby on the Brain

I've been thinking about this post for a while, debating whether or not I should even put it up, but I'm going to be bold.   I'm ready for kids...at least I think!  Every where I go I keep noticing kids (especially babies) to the point of almost obsession.  It seems like every friend I know is either pregnant or just had a baby.   Even ones where there have been an especially long road getting there.   I can't help but think...when's it going to be my turn?  It's not like we've been trying hard to get pregnant or that even my husband is 100% ready for it but I'm not patient.    I know this about myself and I working on it.  It's hard to look around and realize that in a little bit less than 3 months I will be 30...not that this is especially old or prevents me from having kids but my mind runs away and I just picture making it to 40 and beyond and still just being in the same place with no kids and working.  I love my life for the most part but, I have a great husband, job, nice house, pets that love me, good relationships with my family, but I just can't help but think I'm missing something.   Is it wrong to be longing after something like this?  I've seen my friends set their heart before the Lord about this and somehow it always works out.....Am I not doing that?  I just wish I knew what to do to move on with my life, either to have a child or to have the desire leave.  I'm sort of rambling now but I needed to say this.

Weekend

I had a great weekend!  It's the first time in a while that I haven't worried about getting some work done.  The first weekend or two of each month I'm working hard on getting the reconciliations and sales taxes done for work.   I left work Friday after being able to finish absolutely everything :)  I even had my desk cleaned off which is pretty amazing for me.; Because I was able to relax this weekend I had a great couple of days off! 

Saturday I had a hair-cut appointment in the morning and then went to have lunch with my Dad.   I had been working on hemming some pants for him.  He liked what I did so much that he gave me 7 more pairs to do :)

After we got done having lunch we came back to my Dad's house.  My Dad, just bought his neighbor's pull-behind trailer.   He already has one but it's really small so he decided to sell that one and buy this other one (so if you know anyone that's looking for a trailer...), so the neighbor and Dad were working on playing musical trailers....fun stuff!  Dad's neighbor on the other side had his 1929 Model T.  Of course I got talked into going for a ride, but how fun!!!



After I got done at my folks house I went and order another pair of glasses. I have been noticing that my eyes are tired at the end of the day at work so I'm going to try and wear glasses more often. I had gotten that transitions stuff on my first pair of glasses where it dimms them to dark glasses in UV rays. I noticed in our office they never seem to get completely clear and it's kind of annoying, so I got a pair without that on it. I went to the fabric store after that and I have signed up for a sewing class to make a designer purse...lol....we'll see what that looks like when it's all done, but I'm excited to be taking another sewing class.

Speaking of sewing, I spent all evening Saturday and virtually the entire day on Sunday sewing some dresses to help with my friend Tiffany's collection of children's dresses to take to Haiti sometime soon. I made two super cute dresses. I also learned how to use the button hole feature on my sewing machine. I love learning how to do new stuff on my machine. I also went through a lot of the notions and odds and ends in my sewing area and got things organzied....here's some fun pictures.

General Update

Well I guess it's been a while since I posted anything.  I get sort of caught up in work and life and forget that I should write here.....so here's generally what we are up to.

Jesse just finished a class on editing sound for school.  He's learning so many cool things and I'm hoping that he'll be able to start using it somewhere...either just on his own or in some other capacity.   He also just started a video editing class which he seems to be really good at.  I'm very proud of him!

I'm studying for the CMA- Certified Management Accountant Exam.   It's similar to the CPA exam only for people not in practice of public accounting., but in Industry.  It covers cost accounting and some other general business types of things.  It's been hard to make myself be disciplined and study but I think I'll be glad I did it when I finish.

My car is still in the shop from the accident.....grrr!  They tell me it will be back at the end of this week but you never know.  As it is I've been driving the "mini-mini van" or at least that's what Enterprise called it for about a month.   I miss my Camary!  The other thing is that, Calvin is terrified of the rental car so if I want to take him to daycare in it he's very hard to coax into it.  Jesse and I have switched cars at least once just to make him more comfortable.....yup we're dog people.

The bathroom remodel is sort of at a stand-still.  We decided to get an estimate to have someone do the tile work for us.   Sometimes it's just better to know what you're limits are and we decided that were good at demo, but possibly not at laying tile.  The guy came out and looked at it yesterday and we're waiting to get numbers back from him.   We've also decided that we're going to redo the tile on the walls and we need to demo that.  We'll see how much this is going to cost, but at least I'll have a really pretty bathroom when it's all finished :)

Work is going well, I'm just getting back into the swing of things after year end, but we're working on ways to make things go faster.  I'm hoping I can get some more training on a particular program we use soon....we'll see.

Anyway, that's about it from my neck of the woods....have a great day :)

Whoa! That was unexpected

This week has been crazy busy!  The first week of the month is always crazy busy at work because we start working on closing the previous month.  I also had Wallyball on Tuesday, Wednesday I had Bible Study (the first one at church), Thursday we had the annual dinner for work to celebrate being done with our year end.   So after all that Friday morning I was really looking forward to getting through the day and heading home to relax.  

Well that's not exactly what happend.  I was taking the dog to daycare like I always do on Fridays.  He gets to play with a bunch of other dogs and blow off some of his energy (he is a year old lab so there's a lot of it!).   We got on I-70 at Wadsworth like we always do and headed west.   I got over into the middle lane like I always do to avoid the traffic getting of the highway at Kipling.  I was at just about Carr St and BAM!!! 

It took me a minute to realize that I had been rear-ended.  I was still rolling along on the road and I realized that I had to get over or I was going to hit again.  I finally got the car over to the right side of the road but I was about 300 feet ahead of where the guy that hit me was stopped.   I couldn't see much because the sun was shining behind it.  I found my phone in my purse and called 911. 

I finally heard the police and the fire engine pull up to the other car.   I sat there for a little while and a lady in a Mini-van pulled up in front of me and she walked up to make sure that I was ok.  I didn't get her name but that really struck me as very kind to stop and make sure that I was alright.  

Meanwhile my poor dog was sitting in the backseat, unsure of what to do while I was freaking out.   Poor little guy didn't know what to make of all of it.     The next few minutes were phone calls to Jesse and my boss.  My boss was great, she knew I was taking the dog daycare and offered to come get Calvin so I didn't have to worry about him.  I told her that Jesse was coming but I appreciated it.  I sat there waiting for the Cop to come talk to me.  When he finally did I realized I didn't have current proof of insurance in the car (my card had expired in December)....so I got a ticket for that but not for the accident.  The police officer told me he hadn't gotten everything from the other guy yet because he was being taken to the hospital because his airbags had gone off.

 Jesse finally got there.  There was some debate between the police officer and the tow truck driver about whether or not my car needed to be towed.   It was running and drivable but the muffler was hanging really low.  When Jesse got there we decided to drive the car off of I-70 and into a parking lot to load it to the truck.  This made me feel better though because I was able to get Calvin out of the car without being on the highway.  It scared me to think that he might be running loose on I-70. 

Finally we got the car loaded up with the tow-driver and Jesse and I took the dog on to daycare.   After that we stop and got some lunch to take with us since neither one of us was going to have time to go to get anything after being late (and leaving work).  

I've been sore all weekend.  My neck and back are sore but I think I'm going to be ok.  The guy that hit me called me Friday afternoon and said he was sorry.  I know you're not supposed to do that but it meant a lot that he called to say that.   So right now we're waiting for the insurance company to look at my car and give a determination.   I'm hoping that it's not something like a bent frame or something that would make the car totalled.  I love my little car!

Well here's pictures: 

I was definitely not expecting this to happen Friday morning but it made me thankful for:

• my husband!  He dropped everything to come help me and gives excellent hugs!
• that my dog was ok and that he's here with me still!
• that the other guy is ok.
• for car insurance! and that my car will be fixed.
• for the emergency responders that came.  I got off the road but the other guy needed their protection.  They kept things from getting a lot worse!
• that it happened on a Friday so I could have the weekend to get my brain back together.
• that Jesse and I can share a car without too much trouble until I can get a rental.
• that God protected me from getting hurt or hit again.

Open Mouth Insert Foot

My office always has a dinner out with our accounting/admin group after the end of the year is closed and the audit is finished.   Well tonight was the dinner.   We went to the Olive Garden and we were making conversation.  The man who owns the company is very busy most of the time and his wife helps him out by coming to social events.   I was sitting across from her and we were talking about moving and how hard that is.   She menstioned that she'd been in her house for over 30 years and that she'd hate to have to go through everything to move from there.   I said "Oh, at that point you probably should just burn it down".  One of the other ladies at the table starts saying something about a house fire where they had lost the house some 30 years before.....sometimes I wish I would think before I spoke.  Oh well she laughed it off but why oh why would I say something like that???  Open Mouth, Insert Foot!!!

Knee Deep in a Bathroom Remodel

I think I'm crazy!  We started out the year by having my folks over for dinner on Friday.  We ate dinner (I redeemed myself from a roast I made for them shortly after Jesse and I got married) and we played the Wii.  Anyway, Saturday morning Jesse and I embarked on a project that I'm not sure we'll survive and come out on the other side!  There was a cracked tile in the bathroom which was fine until some liquid started leaching up out of the tile and into the bath mat (GROSS!!!).  We decided we were going to demo that broken tile and the one under the toilet and replace them.  It was going to be a slam dunk!  So far we've found a lot of rotten plywood.....not good.   The plan has now changed significantly and we're going to demo all the tile, replace the rotten plywood with new plywood and the concrete board that was supposed to be there in the first place.  Then we're going to retile (including up along the side of the bathtub) with something different, repaint and reuse the same vanity, replace the mirror medicine cabinet, paint the interior of the bathroom, replace the toilet and then probably take a deep breath!  I'm hoping that I can get through without too much freak out.  At the very least I have Jesse to keep me calm and help.  Wish me luck and we'll post pictures as we go.  Oh and by the way-  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!