Wednesday, July 29, 2009

I've got a feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night...

Thank the lord my husband is FINALLY going back to work!

Hopefully for a while....but you never know...

After getting laid off in January, we're now looking at more than just a couple days work here and there or side jobs, though side jobs have really gotten us through this long 7, almost 8 months. And I have to give him hugh props for seeing this through as he has. Yes, he's brought home unemployment and other funds, but not working takes its toll on a man, mine at least and in the last few months I can only count on one hand the couple of times its really gotten him down to the point of being outwardly depressed. Fortunately for him, he had the finishing rennovations on our house to sustain him for a few months and yes, side jobs, couple of which he'll continue doing on weekends, but to have someone call and say we need to at work tomorrow morning...he's been waiting for that!
"Because if he would have had to clean our house one more time...." guess I get that lovely task back, in other words. I'll take it. I'll take cooking and cleaning back happily. I've always had laundry, I can't get rid of that job at all! But it's too bad, because that guy can make a mean dinner!

In other news, our facebook is still a no go here at work. Boo.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

We're Moving on Up

My parents have officially moved into their new home and that means, it's time for us to move!

This will be a slower transition that usual, I think, as we have not yet sold our current home. So some of our furniture will have to stay put so as to "stage" the house, while other stuff can be moved over. We are also going to paint before we get too many things over there, which will be great! Way less work when you don't have to manuever around furniture.

As far as our current house, we have a lady coming back for a second look tomorrow. She's single and looking for an older west end home, which is exactly what we're offering! Also, when I purchased the home I was not married and when the girl I bought the home from purchased the home, she was single (I think...), so this house should be right up a single gal's alley! Anyway, I'm hopeful. That way I don't have to end up paying two power bills.

Here's something tragic in my life...
Facebook no longer works at my computer at work! None of us can figure it out! We don't think it was blocked, but what else would be causing the problem? I know we're probably not supposed to technically be on facebook at work, but I don't really care, plus, I've caught the boss on it several times. But now that I don't have it, I realize what a good chunk of my day I devoted to facebook if I had no other real pressing things to accomplish. Not Cool!

erin

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

You Say Potato...

I say, "it's Volunteer Quarterly Meeting time!"

I am preparing a baked potato bar and ice cream sundae bar for my meeting this evening, that only 9 people have signed up for. Oh well, at least it will be short and sweet.

So that's what I'll be working on today. Of course I have way too much food, but the staff will just eat it later in the week. I like that I can essentially buy groceries for work, and hey, I'm licensed to do so.

That's pretty much it for now. I'll get back to you with more news later...stay tuned for part II: Storing the Leftovers!

Anyone want a potato?

erin

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

It's my birthday too, yeah!

My birthday was on the 1st, right in the middle of my vacation.

The vacation was my gift to myself.

I had a really nice day! Danny planned a fun dinner with friends which was a big surprise to me, although I started to suspect something when he suggested I wear my new top to dinner. He rarely suggests outfits. My mother-in-law made me a fantastic cake, too, which we enjoyed back at our house with all our dinner companions. Earlier in the day I made the trip up to Bloomington with Mom, who was delivering Austin back to Emy and Nick after spending the night in Elwin. So I got to see all my family on that day too.

Danny got me a beautiful necklace that matches a ring he gave me on our first Christmas (although he didn't know that at the time) and an air popcorn popper! We have already enjoyed a few batches of popcorn from this.

On Thursday, I went to the pool with Mom and totally burned my legs to a crisp. Oh well, being fair skinned and getting absolutely no sign of burnage on our Mexican honeymoon, I was due. Then Danny came and met us for lunch.

On Friday we went to dinner with Mom and Dad and then off to meet friends and I enjoyed one or two or seven drinks. That was also a really good time!

Now I have to remember to get my license renewed this weekend so I don't end up not doing it for 9 months like my husband.

Here's to being 26!

erin

Monday, July 6, 2009

Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies

Or cloudy, rainy, chilly skies...

So, 4th of July...really? That was it? Independence Day, Land of the Free, and I spent it how?

I woke up at roughly 7am, and it was darkish outside, cloudy. I fell back asleep and awoke later (obviously, but I don't recall the time...9am-ish?) and it was still dark and cloudy. Now something about my house, and I'm going to be bold and post this even though we are in a "state of sale" because I don't think any of the 7 people who read this blog are planning on purchasing my home...well our house, you cannot tell if it's raining. Let me clarify. It's not like there are no windows, quite the contrary, but just the positioning of the neighbors and trees and things of that nature, you have to literally walk up to a window and look out to see if it is raining. So, when I woke up and saw that it was dark and cloudy, I was unsure if anything else was going on. Apparently, it was raining.

And it rained all.day.long.

Happy 4th of July! A day to get outdoors and light sparklers, have block parties, grill out, golf, swim, hang out with friends...not this year! Not at all!

We were invited to a party, initially starting at 6pm. Then, due to forecasted rain, it was changed to 2pm. At 2pm, it was pouring, but our friends were determined to have their party. So it was moved back to 5pm. Danny went. I, however, opted out due to my Sunday plans. I remained bored at home with the dog, continued re-reading my Harry Potter books and watching tv. We got into bed at like 9pm, due to Sunday plans, and listened to fireworks. I saw no fireworks this year. They postponed the official fireworks until Sunday night, but lots of individual Independence day celebrations went ahead with their own and I listened to them while Harrison barked at them for about an hour. Happy 4th of July! We didn't go to the rescheduled fireworks on Sunday because of my Sunday plans.

So the Sunday plans...woke up at 5:30am, tried to get dressed. I put a particular t-shirt into the dryer the night before and only the t-shirt to ensure its dryness for that day. Apparently I did not set the dryer for very long because upon opening it up the next early morning it was more than damp. So I tried to get a few more minutes of dry time in, but ended up donning my uncomfortably damp t-shirt and "still wet from fording through the river that was the Kroger parking lot yesterday" jeans that I thought would be dry as well. Then a co-worker picked me up at 6am and low and behold he had an official event t-shirt for me to wear for the event of the day: The Rodney T. Miller Triathlon. It's Chicago Bears' orange, so Danny feels I can easily sew some kind of Bears logo over the Triathlon logo and wear it this football season! Sure, hon!

Anyhoo, I was one of 12 volunteers for this triathlon, who would be in "safety canoes" out on the lake for the 1 mile swimming portion of the race for tired swimmers to hang onto during the course. We had 5 people stop by our canoe and almost tip us, and we had to maintain our position for 1 hour before the race actually began in the cold, drizzly, windy weather. My back it sore today, but all in all, it was a decent time. However, after spending roughly 5 hours down at the lake and getting up oh-so-early on the last day of my vacation and working for free led me to not want to return to the Lake and sit and watch fireworks with Decatur's finest and get bug bites. Also, Danny golfed that day, all day, and he was too tired for fireworks. All fireworks. Instead, we got Pizza Factory calzones (of which I only ate half, whereas a few months ago I would have eaten the entire thing...portion control, it's essential) and ordered the movie Notorious off our On Demand. It's the movie about the rapper Notorious B.I.G. It was pretty good, entertaining anyway.

And so today, Monday, July 6th, I find myself back at work after a week of a fantastic vacation and great 26th birthday, which I will blog about next time. What was waiting for me when I returned? Well, here's a short list:

-Lots of mail
-Lots of email
-1 potential new volunteer
-1 potential new volunteer clean up event
-My CPR/First Aid cards made out to "Erin Moyes"
-An article deadline that I was assigned WHILE ON VACATION (what?!)
-Missed co-workers
-Not missed co-workers
-Lunch hour phone duty
-No voicemails! Hard to believe, but appreciated.
-A new calendar of events
-A "typo" pointed out to me on a flyer I created
-A "typo" on an already-created pamphlet I used to create my flyer, therefore negating a "typo" on my part. I pointed this out with a smile.
-Chips in the kitchen. There are ALWAYS chips in the kitchen. I ate none.

Sad to be back, yet okay with being back. And what's really getting me through the day is the rest of my calzone waiting for me at home. I even texted Danny to remind him not to eat or let anything happen to it because I AM GOING TO EAT TO TONIGHT AND I CAN'T WAIT! Portion control also makes you manical about leftovers, apparently.

erin

Saturday, July 4, 2009

I got the music in me...

A recent show...check it out

and here's one more...

PS...my little week vacation was FANTASTIC, and I never want to go back to work again.  Sadly, I will go there on Monday.

erin