Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Bye Bye October

I didn't even get one posting last month! The contractor finished up our bathroom remodels and I have been busy putting things back together. You think it shouldn't take a month, but one thing leads to another.... For example, I had stacking bins under the sink in my bathroom, but they were difficult to get into and really weren't working for me. So I bought new bins, but the stacking bins were fairly new, so I was trying to figure out another use for them. I decided they would be perfect in my office closet, but I had to unload boxes of pictures so I had a place to put them. Then what to do with the pictures? You get the picture! This keeps happening over and over, but I am almost done. I have been clearing stuff out and taking it to the Goodwill too. Today was beautiful, so we began the process of putting the garage back together. We had moved everything over to one side so the contractor could fix a leak in the ceiling and have a place to work. Made good progress today and should be parking in the garage soon. The bathrooms look beautiful. For not having any idea what I wanted to do, I am pleased with how nice they turned out. We have enough left over to do the kitchen, but aren't going to start that mess until after the holidays. In the meantime, I have begun the process of picking out flooring, counter tops, etc...... Again, don't have a clue! We also have begun the process of getting a new wood burning insert in our fireplace. The television (and cable) is in the basement now, and it is COLD down there in the winter. The $1500 tax credit was an incentive to do it now.

We had hoped to camp in October, but it was a lousy month for weather. It got so cold and snowed about 4 inches on Oct. 10th. Most of the month was dreary, gray, cold, rainy. We had to winterize the camper instead. That was a first for us, but it really wasn't hard. Jim winterized the boat (he finally fixed the seat, but too late in the season for us to use it) and took it for storage last weekend. We took the camper for storage this weekend. We also had to rake this year for the first time! We only have one original tree on the property-a pine tree. All the rest were diseased or just plain ugly (cedars). So we have planted, but never had enough leaves to worry about. We had to bag up 15 bags of leaves this year. Still that is nothing compared to my neighbor who has filled at least 45 bags from his front yard alone!

Jim started working the outage last week. He is working five 12 hour days right now. It makes him tired and crabby, but the money sure helps! Nate hasn't been working much the past couple of weeks. Surprisingly, people don't want ice cream as much when the weather turns cool! This week he is supposed to start with the early morning coffee crew. He should get more hours, because he is the only one available, but he is NOT a morning person.....He is considering school next semester, so we may have to hustle to get him signed up in time. Noah is doing good. He turned 21 last week. We went down last night and went out for dinner to celebrate. He ordered a beer (which was a little weird). We went back to the house for dessert, but cut it short because I had to use the bathroom. Their bathroom is never what I would consider clean, but for the first time it was too yucky for me to use. Wanted to get a family picture for our Christmas card, but no one cooperated. Jim wanted to wear a Mossy Oak shirt, Noah hadn't shaved in several days, Nate was casual. I looked great though with my black dress and new Christmas scarf! Work continues to keep me busy, and I'm trying to be better about cooking. Tried 4 new recipes last week. Thinking ahead to Thanksgiving. I'm going to have to do things a little different because Noah can only make it home for the day and Jim has to work until 6pm. I don't want to spend the whole day cooking, and miss out on spending time with Noah and I don't know how to carve the turkey....

Well I think I'll sign off and make some paper stars for my Christmas tree. Love everyone!

Fall is Upon Us

What fantastic weather we have had this year. We are usually still sweating this time of year, but it has been beautiful. We went camping last week and not only didn't use the air conditioner, but had to pull out extra blankets at night. We've used the camper a couple of times and are getting more comfortable with it. It sure makes camping more fun!

The big news is that after being terminated two times in the past month; I still have my job. The wonderful citizens of this city donated money to cover the cuts, and the budget passed for next year, so I am still working at the library! Thanks to everyone for any part they played; donating, praying, contacting city council members. Most of all, I thank God! I love my job and the people of my community and am very grateful to be able to continue to serve them.

The bathroom remodel continues, though we are getting close to being done. I keep waiting for it to be complete to take pictures, but I am very pleased with how it is turning out. I bought towels and rugs for my master bath tonight. Now I just need to find new accessories-soap dispenser, toothbrush holder, cup....

I am going to a prayer group once a week that focuses on my adult children. It has been so helpful to me, because I feel like I don't have any say over their lives anymore (and I'm grieved about many of the choices they are making for themselves). It is very empowering to pray about it-because that IS something I can do. I already see answers to my prayers and have more peace about things because I have released them into God's hands and He knows how to best deal with them.

I got a great deal on a GPS unit. I want to use it to go geocaching. Geocaching uses the GPS coordinates to locate a cache. I'm still learning how to use the GPS unit right now, so it will be awhile before I hunt for treasure!

Good news-Nate got a job. He is working at an ice cream shop. It is early, but things are going good so far and he is happier. Bad news-Nate hit a deer with his car last night. Thankfully, he only clipped its bottom with the headlight on the passenger side. Unfortunately the headlight pushed far enough back that it clipped the radiator causing over $500.oo in damages. Nate and his girlfriend, Carly, are back together. She is very nice-hope he can hold onto her this time!

Noah seems to be doing fine in school so far. He finished up his online summer courses this week. I have concerns because he doesn't seem to have a passion for Business like he did for Science. He's just going through the motions. I'll just keep praying about that. He called last week and we had a nice long conversation. Maybe I just need to sit back and let them come to me more often.

Well, I am going to sign off and get to bed early. I haven't felt well all week and I'm very tired.

Finally some news....

Well much has been going on, but not much time to sit and write about it.

First of all, the last few weeks of work were very tough. My co-workers were trying to go on as normal, because if they thought about it they would cry. The news really didn't focus much on the staff terminations, so the public was carrying on like normal too. I felt very isolated. I began to tell a few patrons goodbye, and they got very upset, which upset their kids, which was upsetting to me. One lady said I ruined her day (though she was glad I told her). This left me feeling uncertain if it was better to say something or just stay silent. My last day of work was on Thurs the 27th of Aug. We left Friday the 28th for California. While I was gone, money was raised to cover the budget cuts made this year. I could go on and on with the boring details, but there is still much uncertainty about my future. I do have a job for another two weeks though. Two more difficult weeks I'm sure....and then we'll see.

The other big thing in my life is that I have bathroom remodels going on. I am so thankful we were able to refinance and hire someone to do the job. That being said, it is still a lot of work. Decisions, decisions, decisions.... I hadn't thought much about what I wanted. I don't like to look or dream about such things anymore, so I was clueless. I don't make quick decisions normally, so this was tough having to make decision after decision, night after night. I know WAAHHH. The contractor worked with us to save some money which meant we had to run to the hardware store and pick up supplies. I'm getting to know the people at Lowe's real well! All that being said, my main bath is nearly done-just a few minor things left. I LOVE it. It was a complete remodel-everything new except the vanity (though it does have new doors and drawers). He has started on my master bath. We are putting tile in the shower there, but sticking with many of the same features used in the other bath (easier that way). I was hoping to have enough money left over to do my kitchen too, but I'm afraid that will have to wait until the job situation is a little more settled.

Nate was bit by a dog at a friend's house and required 19 stitches. The bite near his mouth was the worst and they called the plastic surgeon in to repair that. She did an excellent job and he is healing up nicely. I don't know anything to report about Noah right now. He doesn't seem to want to talk lately.

The last thing I wanted to tell you about is my trip to CA. We had a very early morning flight and pulled a "Home Alone" morning. The alarm is on Jim's side and he says he poked me, but I never heard or felt a thing. We made it to the gate just as they began loading the plane. We flew with our friends Scott & Julie, which made the 3 hour layover in Phoenix bearable. We landed in San Louis Obispo and drove to Dave & Mary's home. Scott & Julie got a Sebring convertible. We wound up with a Nissan Sentra. So not fair! We all piled in the convertible and took a tour of the area. It was my first encounter with the Pacific Ocean. My impression-it is COLD and has lots of kelp. I don't know if the kelp has the distinct odor I smelled or if it was something else, but it doesn't smell salty like the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico. We all stayed with Dave & Mary for two days. During our stay we went to the Farmer's Market at the Avilia Pier, Did some wine tasting, drove on Avilia Pier and got up close and personal with the sunning seals, hung out at the beach, grilled Tri Tip (big in CA), watched a movie in Dave & Mary's own personal home theater. It was great to be all together again. Some things I noticed while there-cigars are very popular with the fellas, the fruit and veggies are not only plentiful but fantastically flavorful, the weather is perfect (Dave & Mary don't even have air conditioning), no bugs (in fact both of our hotel rooms didn't even have screens on the patio doors-just didn't need them), it is dry and brown in the mountains, the towns of the Central Coast are not very big (I always thought people were stacked on top of each other in CA), the people were so friendly, dogs were everywhere....on the beach, in the shops, at the restaurants. On Sunday, Scott & Julie packed up and drove that convertible down to San Diego for business. Jim and I checked into the Cliffs Resort nearby. We began his business trip with a fancy dinner meeting. So fancy, several of us didn't know what the items on the menu ever were! The host chose several excellent local wines. I'm sure it was a very pricey meal! Our stay at the Cliffs Resort was so wonderful. For the first time in my life, I slept well every night there. The bed was so comfortable and the hotel quiet. The best part was the view. It was on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. There was a path down to the beach below which also had small tidal pools. I would sit and watch seals and pelicans and dolphins. Mary didn't have to be to work until noon, so we would do things together in the morning. The best thing was our oriental pressure point massage. We got worked over like never before for $40! She did my whole body for an hour. I felt so good that day and slept like a rock that night. In the afternoon I would often lay by the pool and read or explore the beach and tide pools. One afternoon I went to Hearst Castle and took a tour. WOW, was that awesome. I was wary because Biltmore left me a little disappointed last year, but I felt much more satisfied with my tour of Hearst Castle. First of all, there are several different tours to chose from and the price is more reasonable. Secondly, we had an actual tour guide and she was excellent. She couldn't answer one question, so her assistant immediately got on the phone and called the librarian who researched it and called right back. How impressive-maybe that is just because I am a librarian. Third, it seemed like Hearst was the real deal when it came to collecting and Vanderbilt a wanna be. He had a zoo back in the day, but only a few animals remain, including a zebra herd which I saw on my way home. The rest of the time was spent shopping, exploring, and trying new food. Jim had to have turkey nuts. We tried something called linguica, which is a Portuguese sausage and is common there. We went to In and Out, a burger joint, and ordered off the "secret menu". It was really hard to leave the Cliffs Resort-I couldn't imagine a more perfect place! We drove north to a beach where elephant seals hang out. They are big, especially the males! We checked into our room at the Inn at Morro Bay. Another beautiful place. This time we got a bay view room with a private hot tub on the deck. We packed up and went to Montana de Oro State Park to hike and see the tide pools. We heard they were fantastic. We did see some great tide pools, but I'm not sure we saw the best ones. It was a very undeveloped and huge state park. The visitor center wasn't even marked and we arrived moments after it closed (at 3 pm), so we were kind of on our own. The signs at the trail heads warned of mountain lions and rattlesnakes. One trail head sign had a picture of a deer ripped to shreds by a mountain lion on that very trail-happy hiking! We did see and touch starfish, crabs, and all sorts of sea creatures in the pools. It is such a thrill to be on rocks that are just barely above the ocean waves that jut out into the open ocean. We ate dinner and made it back to our hotel room in time to enjoy a glass of wine on our deck as we watched the sun set near Morro rock. The bay offers protection to sea life so there were cormorants and cranes, seals, sea otters, and I'm pretty sure we spotted a little whale. We were eating dinner down by the water when the tail came up right by the restaurant. I got so excited and Jim turned around just in time to see the tail come up a second time. Then it showed it's head and was gone.... Whales are in the area, but not usually in the bay, so the locals were sceptical, but we know what we saw couldn't be anything else. It was so hard to fly out the next day. I would love to live in CA-maybe I wouldn't feel the same after surviving an earthquake! There is a very relaxed and friendly attitude and the conditions are as near to perfect as we are going to get on this earth. This is the best vacation I have ever taken though-chock full of new experiences and good memories.

Well it is getting late and I'm messed up from the travel and time difference. I'm posting my favorite picture of the trip. Not the best mind you (my others are posted on Facebook), but my favorite. It is Cinderella shopping for shoes. Maybe she was looking for a new glass slipper? Only in CA would you see that!

Out of the Blue

I was fired yesterday. This was rather unexpected. Our city is in dire financial trouble and has been taking steps to balance the budget. That is why my hours got cut recently. The management told us that if they were asked to make further cuts, full time people would lose their jobs. Instead, 50 some part time employees were fired yesterday, and not one full time person was let go. So this was unexpected..... I've learned a lesson the hard way about trust. I've been what feels like kicked in the gut three times now, and feel so devalued and disillusioned. I didn't used to feel that way about my job, only since the annexation. They are hoping the budget for next year passes so they can hire us all back, but I don't think I want to do it anymore. So I'm trusting that God has something different in mind for me, something even better. So please pray for me to find a new job and soon. Noah starts school in a week, which is why I emphasize soon! The hardest part will be telling the people I've served for 11 years goodbye. I love them and love the connection I have to them through my work. That is what makes me cry......I have a couple of weeks before I have to go and they are going to be tough ones. Pray for me.

Time Flies

Hello all! It is nearly the end of the month already. I'm thankful for that because the summer reading program is done at the end of the month, and then we take August off from programs to recover. Things should be returning to normal soon-it has been a super busy summer at work. Speaking of work, my hours did get cut 16 hours a month. I have also signed up to go through the process of getting my name on a full time specialist hiring list. I have to take a test and based on the score they will hire. I hate that; it feels like I'm in high school competing for a higher chair in band again. Still this opportunity doesn't come around very often, so I need to take advantage of it. It is just bad timing for me, as you will see below.

We bought a camper! I'm so excited to be moving up from our pop up. After this last trip, and getting practically no sleep, we decided it was time. We searched and searched, until we found a camper with everything we were looking for. Then we got lucky; there was a 3 year old model that said it was in excellent shape available. So we drove an hour away to look at it, and found out someone had purchased it that morning. I was so disappointed. He took my name and number, in case the financing fell through. Well it did, so I rushed down again and gave it a better look over and bought it. We pick it up tomorrow. We have so much to learn-emptying tanks, new type fridge, using a battery, backing up (always an issue). I'll post a picture next time. We should be more comfortable now.

The other big news is we are getting ready to start our bathrooms-next week! I finally made a decision on tile and counter tops. Now I have to find a shower curtain (so I can pick out colors), and pick out fixtures. This weekend we have to start moving everything out of the bathroom, including the washer and dryer. That is going to be the hard part-one finding a place to put them and two going without them during the remodel. I hate going to the laundromat! It will be worth it to wind up with a fresh, updated, fully functional bathroom though! When the dust all settles, I'm hoping to have enough money to update the kitchen also.

In other news, Nate's job isn't working out. For whatever reason, his boss hasn't called his crew to work in a month. He also has Nate's paycheck, and Nate won't ask for it (that's rude). So he's flat broke again. I see in his eyes that he really wants to work, but all his actions say otherwise. So typical Nathan, complicated. He has been doing some chores outside for me and I'm paying him (enough for gas). Still I pray something comes along for him soon. I had an exciting moment yesterday. I stepped on the scale and saw a number I never have seen before, and now I can say I've lost 80 lbs! I love the cooler weather we have been having this summer, it is good for walking! Jim is going to the surgeon that did his original surgery today to get another opinion about his hernia. He is not symptomatic so our family physician said we don't need to do anything, but other things he has read disagree. Keep you updated. Noah is taking a couple of online classes right now. His computer broke right before he started, so I hope it is working out for him to borrow a friends, while his is getting repaired (warranty work we hope). He is having a tough summer and hasn't been real pleasant. At least he is going to church and bible study and seeking a change. I'm very thankful for that!

That's about all for now. I need to go throw some laundry in, while I can!

Summer is here

June flew by, mostly because we were on vacation for half of it! Went back to work today, which was hard after being off for so long.

Our vacation was great. We left straight from work and drove to Galena, IL. We camped right outside of town. Our first morning we had to weather a severe thunderstorm in our pop up! Thankfully it didn't last long (or cause any damage to us). We spent the day exploring shops downtown and took a tour of Linmar Gardens. It rained a little bit, but stopped early enough that we were able to take in a balloon glow that evening. The next day we toured President Grant's home and Belvedere Mansion. We also stopped in to Galena Cellars and did a wine tasting and went to dinner at the DeSoto Hotel (Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, and Grant all spoke from the balcony there). What I liked about Galena was the history and it was a nice size. We were able to park the car downtown and walk anywhere we wanted to go. It was also nice because we would run into people that we knew from previous tours as we wandered around town. There are so many neat things you can do in Galena-maybe next time we will stay in a B&B and have the spa treatment!

From Galena we drove to South Bend, IN. Jim had a conference there. I went to the same conference last year in Charlotte, NC. It was so much better than South Bend. Our first night, we were approached by a hustler in the parking lot and someone broke into our camper. There wasn't much to see or do in downtown South Bend, so I went to the laundry mat and grocery store. My sisters came down and we did spend one day at the Amish flea market in Shipshewana. Haven't done that in years! We were so excited when we arrived and got parking three rows from the front gate. Mom would have been so proud!! We quickly realized why we got such good parking-it was sweltering hot. The temps were in the high 90's with the heat index well into the 100's. For the first time, we didn't make it to all the booths. We actually only did about half the booths. Still, it was good to be together and we did find some bargains.

From South Bend we drove to Silver Lake State Park in Michigan. That is where we had our family camping trip. My mom only had one sister-she had 4 kids, and we had 4 kids. Everyone was there except 4 of our kids that had to work. We occupied 9 campsites and spent our time going from site to site, visiting & eating and laughing. Jim's mom and stepfather were also able to camp with us and his sister's family came to visit for the day. It is so great to be surrounded by family. The weather was very comfortable in MI. We biked, swam, fished, and rode the dunes. Our brother in law, Dom, has a souped up dune machine and took us on some thrilling rides. Some interesting things happened at Silver Lake. Many of us broke out in a case of swimmers itch. Not fun! One evening, it looked like storms were rolling in. I looked behind our camper, and saw a young man setting up his gear in a clearing. I told him to finish up, storms were on the way. He said he was done-which confused me because all I saw was a tarp on the ground. He explained that he had biked in and that was his sleeping gear. I invited him to put his stuff under my camper and come join our family. We were having a big chili feed that night and had WAY MORE than enough to share. His name was Joel and he explained that he was biking from South Bend, IN up to Traverse City, MI and was on his way back to South Bend. Impressive! It didn't rain long, so Kim asked him if he wanted to go on a dune ride. His eyes got so big-did he ever! He came back with a huge smile on his face and couldn't wait to take a picture so he could tell everyone back home. The rain came later that night, and I invited him under my awning and even into the camper (I wouldn't have slept, but I couldn't leave someone out there laying on the ground in a tarp in a storm). He did come sleep under the end of the camper, where he had stashed his bike. Thankfully it didn't rain hard or long and in the morning he was on his way! We were able to stay a few extra days in Silver Lake, but had to move our camper to the site next door. I thought it would be a pain, but it wasn't too bad.

We left Silver Lake and started back towards home. We had hoped to do some more camping, but the weather was quite cool and rain was forecast everyday. Instead, we stopped at Starved Rock State Park in IL and treated ourselves to a night in the lodge. Always wanted to do that! There was a country music talent competition on the patio that night, so we had fun listening while we ate our dinner. Wish we could have stayed longer......

We came home to grass that was as high as the corn, and some mess, but all in all it wasn't too bad. Spent the next day cleaning up the camper mess-and we had to really clean it due to the sap from the trees at Silver Lake. Spent the rest of the weekend getting caught up and enjoying the 4th with both of our boys. Glad we had the time to do those things and get caught up on sleep too!

Now it is back to reality. I have an adult program tomorrow night, which I haven't had enough time to prepare for. The city budget crunch continues to be a source of stress. No good news there. Started the process of looking for tile-overwhelming.....need to get a friend to help. Still the boys are healthy, we are both working, and we are thankful for everything the Lord has seen fit to bless us with. Life is good.