10 positives about my current situation

1) PERFECT PRE-HOLIDAY DIET.
2) Opportunity to sleep all day (Stomach Monster willing).
3) 30 minutes of cuddly puppies...then they revert. 
4) SAVING SERIOUS $$$$ due to lack of eating and/or going anywhere.
5) Hygiene is considered a luxury.
6) Saving the planet by lowering water and electric usage (dishwasher, washing machine, stove, etc....though, I will note that the now overuse of some bathroom devices [appliances?] may lower my planet-savingnesscity…let's skip the fancinesses...the toilet and sink faucet should call OSHA on me...)
7) I'm available to call 911 if anyone in the neighborhood needs it (and shouts loud enough for me to hear).
8) I'm able to do about 1 chore per day during an "upswing."  Give me 3 weeks and this house will shine!  And gleam!  And other clean/sparkly words!
9) I get my work e-mail on my phone so I can still respond to those non-overly-important e-mails and probably make my coworkers feel that I'm just skipping out on the day before a holiday.  Nearly the whole week, really.  But, I assure you -- I'm not.  Don't ask me to prove it.
10) The "Bazinga!" moment I have when I start feeling worse later in the day and I had thought about going to work earlier.  I was right, Self!  I win again!

A Collection of Photo Stories

This is poo.  It landed right in my line of sight as I was driving to work last Tuesday.  This was one day after a bird pooped on my arm as I drove my car through a drive-thru.  Wednesday was a very uneasy day, but it was uneventful.

Salad WIN.

Wet, yet happy dog.

Wet, yet not so happy dog.

Potluck at work!  I was the only one that put a sign on my dish...kinda awkward, but it went over well!

This classy mom cut me off in traffic, so I got to enjoy her car art. Right above "Tahoe", is a pink magnet that used to say Suck Feisures....but she corrected that.  You can't read the magnet to the left of her plate, but it says something about being a smart mom.  Her 4 children (and either one of them is dead or a 5th is dead) must be so proud!  I am not a mom, but I can assure you that my children would not be allowed anywhere in or NEAR this tackymobile.

These precious children were standing in the middle of our yard playing their Gameboys (or whatever the new hot thing is right now...I have no idea...) when I got home from work.  They watched me pull into my garage, shut my car off, and come talk to them.  "You guys waiting on someone to come pick you up?"  "No."  ...  .... "So, you're just not going home yet?"  "Umm...uh...*mumbling*" ... "Well, okay then."  I shut the garage door, let the dogs outside and check on them several times.  They stayed in the yard playing their games for about 5 more minutes before the started to leave, as pictured.  Kids need their parents' phone numbers sewn into their shirts.  I definitely could have used a complaint line.  Who raises kids to do this!??!

New "job" and everything else lately I missed in the past 2 posts...

Man, it wasn't even a month ago that I posted last and I already am on my 3rd post today to get everything out!  Okay, let's try to cover everything...

My job under the contract RHYTTAC ended with September, although we didn't find this out for sure until Monday, October 1st.  We then had to get all of our stuff prepared to transfer over to the new contract holder and figure out what stuff couldn't be transferred.  That's what was happening for that week.  Then, on Sunday, October 7th, I came down with a stomach bug.  This lasted for way too long, turned into a cold, and I missed work on Monday, October 8th and Tuesday, October 9th.  Even though I was still kinda sick, I came to work on Wednesday, October 10th and in the afternoon moved my stuff to my new desk in my new department [Resource Family Training (RFT)].

RHYTTAC desk

New RFT desk (very similar to the old desk...but with plants...:^))

Went back to the RHY area a few days later to raid all of the leftover boxes.

I began really working in RFT on October 11th and have been hard at it since then.  The department was down several people for awhile, so we're still not caught up.  It's a very different environment than what I was used to, but I think I've getting used to it and they're getting used to me.  After I got access to the DHS database that we use (and a DHS e-mail address...randomly...), it was pretty smooth sailing.  Well, as in, I knew what I was doing.  I'm still not super fast at the process and keep double-guessing myself, so I'm behind.  :^(  I hate being behind.  Anyway, this is the bulk of what I've been doing in the past month.

We've also done some home renovations/decorations:

I decided we needed a fall wreath for the front door.



Remember these guys?  They finally got sealed!  Now they're ready to be hung!



We finally decided on new silverware that we both like.  (Yet had to take them back after they rusted after the first wash!  :-(  The hunt is back on...)

Trimmed back branches from scraping our roof.

The dogs enjoyed the branches.

Jon began phase 1 on popcorning the office ceiling.

We bought a new ceiling fan for the office.

Jon had to change a door knob and deadbolt because the old one started locking when it wasn't supposed to.

The season of fall had some surprises up its sleeve:

Random bloom in October

I guess we have mums.  I also guess they don't bloom in spring - only in fall.

Our yucca plants are back again.

Jon became Dad to another musical instrument sometime in the past couple of weeks:

Playing it a lullaby...on...itself.........okay, so the dad/kid metaphor doesn't work...

I participated in Halloween at work this year and our group won for most creative!

Rock Paper Scissors...me, previous boss Danielle, and our bestie Merritt

Look how many people dressed up at work!  We're a fun group.  Yay.

I also found out that the health insurance I had selected will no longer be an option for OU employees next year, so just today I researched which one I needed to choose and enrolled.

Now we have Election Day coming up Tuesday and I have printed out our sample ballot, but I've yet to research everybody and everything.  I'm most worried about the state questions.  I don't feel like I really know what they are saying.  They also have a question about "abolishing" DHS and I kinda work for them and have a sister-in-law that works for them and the term "abolish" is pretty much terrifying me.

So, there you go.  There's everything.  Or at least as much as I can remember right now.  Big Gulp, huh?  Welp, see you later!

Ramdom added cuteness that describes how I feel.

Growing iFamily and Samily

My husband's birthday was October 20th and so on October 14th, I set out to get him a birthday gift.  I knew the perfect gift:

The New iPad

Thanks to Best Buy and their 18-month no interest, same-as-cash payment plan, I was super wife this year.  The iPad came to a good home.  It joins a Mac Mini, a Macbook Pro, an iPod Touch, an iPhone 4, and 1 or 2 older, now unused Mac laptops (I think before they called them Macbooks...don't ask me...I'm not an Apple girl...).

He likes it.  :^)

Innocently enough, I thought I would check in on the new Samsung Galaxy S3, seeing as my Samsung Galaxy S1 was acting shady.  What happens next, is more than a coincidence.  Best Buy was having a ONE DAY ONLY sale on JUST THE S3 for HALF OFF.  50% off.  I only paid half price.  How could I say no???  They only had white and blue to pick from, so I went with Blue.


Pebble Blue.

And I slapped a case on it.  The least ridiculous one I could find at the time.

It came to a good Samily, too.  I've got my Samsung laptop, my Galaxy S1/Captivate, and the Impression.

This phone...wow.  I thought I loved my S1, but the S3 fills my heart even moreso.  I have only found one flaw so far...I can't transfer all of my files (read: games) from my S1 to my S3 due to reading incompatabilities.  This bummed me out at first, but I have decided to keep the S1 alive for my games.  ;^)  Other than this one con, I only have pros.

I can take screenshots.

Shot of my screen!  What a concept!

Yes, the iPhone has been on top of this for awhile now and I am so stoked that Android picked it up.  Through this screenshot, you can also see some other fancynesses I tout.  The bottom row is customizable on this one!  I got to put the text message program I use in that row rather than the stock one that sucks.  :^)  It's called GO SMS PRO and allows full customization of your text messages, but also lets you customize some other things on your phone like ringtones and led light colors for text messages - even different colors for certain texters (my husband's texts light up green, for example, so I know it was a text from him even if I missed the phone lighting up to tell me so).  I also brought over an app from S1 called "Elixir" to get as many icons as possible on my homescreen.  The "to-do" list app is called "Task List" that can keep several different lists running and display as a widget on your homescreen.  I always have a "to-do" list going and a "to get" list running.  Very handy to remind you of things you need to do every single time you check your phone and your grocery list is right on your phone...no more leaving it at home when you go to get stuff.  Boom.  Everything else is pretty standard, but I do want to plug SoundHound (the burnt orange stylized "S" on the lighter orange background) for being that "phone-a-friend" several times.  A song comes on the radio and you want to know its title or singer so you can buy it...hit that icon, it listens for a minute, then tells you.  Also a great argument ender.  ;^)  I mean...if you know anybody who argues about stuff like that...Oh, and another necessary app..."Apps Organizer."  It allows you to make folders to put all of your apps into categories so you can find them quicker.  I believe iPhone does this, too, and I learned about this app from my S1, but I thought it was still worth the mention.  And my final plug, I promise, is Cashflow.  It's my checkbook for several different accounts on my phone, so I keep track of the finances much better.  Also, it is only on my phone and doesn't take my financial info onto the Internet.  Oh, I lied.  DROPBOX.  I use this so much that I forgot about how amazing it is.  It is a storage folder on the internet that you can put files into and they are accessible from your phone, all of your home computers, and actually any computer with an internet connection.  It's your digital flash drive with no hardware.

Something I love that you can't get from my homescreen: incognito mode on internet searches.  You can hit a button when you open up your internet browser that means your searches won't be saved.  Your husband can't accidentally stumble upon the birthday present you were researching to buy for him.

Anyway, that's a lot for now, so I'll let that all soak in.  ;^)

So, I Sew Now

I've never been afraid to mend things by hand, and I've seen plenty of sewing machines in action, but I had never actually sewed on one.  Until last weekend (not including all of my practice runs to get tension right...OH THE TENSION ISSUES).  Anyway, I only sew out of necessity.  It's not overly therapeutic for me, even though I am rather proud to see my work after finished.  Alright, done rambling.  Here's what I've done:

10/28/12 - my first attempt by machine.  I had an old undershirt whose elastic was dying at the top, so I bought a new one, but it was too short.  Solution:  SEW THEM TOGETHER!

10/30/12 by hand.  I agreed to be the rock of "rock paper scissors" for Halloween at work and waited until the night before to make the costume.  The uneven edges of my moss bib are actually sewn by hand to a straight edge.  If I had more skills, I could have just cut this all as one piece, but that didn't dawn on me until after I started sewing pieces on.

11/1/12 by machine.  My husband and I somehow manage to wear holes into sheets where our feet go.  The grey set was our newest set to fall victim to us and I had kept our green sheet that previously got "holed."  Solution?  SEW THEM TOGETHER!  Probably a dumb a idea in general because of all of the trouble this was to get lined up and it still looks poor.  Definitely a dumb idea for your second sewing machine project ever.



11/10/12 by machine.  The left one is a longtime favorite nightgown that I've had that is getting very tattered.  The right one was created from it!  I had help...quite a bit of help...

12/9/12 by machine and embezzlements by hand.  I cut the fabric by eye (no pattern) and sewed the sides, bottom of the "toe," and the white to the top.  I then safety-pinned the stocking to the sweater so it would be a sweater.  The toe is stuffed with scrap fabric, the name is beads with a couple of jingle bells sewn by hand.  Well, then the bells were safety-pinned.  The ribbon was safety-pinned only because I added it after I put my machine away (and after I started the beads and that made me ready to finish the project ASAP).  UPDATE:  The ribbon is now sewn!  You may all sleep more sound tonight.

12/26/12 by machine.  Needed new pj pants after my only 2 pair(s?) ripped down the middle.

12/30/12 by machine.

4/6/13 by machine.  My first major adjustment to a store-bought shirt.

 

4/6/13 by machine.  Found a generic "how to" online and tweaked it.  More info here.