Hey There, Hi There, uhhh Hello!

I know it's been a while since you've all heard from me and there's a good reason for it... been lots happening in a super fast way!  Trust me, it's not that I haven't had anything to say... far from it.  So let me kinda bring you up to speed and then I'll try to get back on track with my regularly scheduled posts from here...

The basic low down... I moved, or rather am in the process of moving.  I'm lucky enough to have one of those jobs that allows you to transfer to other area's of the state when an opening arises.  Well I've been away from my family for nearly 13 years, mom's health has been up and down over the last couple years so I decided it was time to get back "home."  I figured it would take a while for any sort of transfer to come available, thinking there wasn't much turn over in Northern Michigan... boy was I wrong!  I submitted my transfer request mid June and within 2 weeks had received my first call for a contract position in Antrim County.  While I wasn't thrilled about that type of position, I do love that area.  The position had just opened up and there were only 2 people on the transfer list willing to go there so they weren't sure how it was going to work and if they had to post the position for outside apps to or not but she would get back with me. 

In the meantime I received a call from the Alpena County office wanting to schedule an interview.  Woot! Woot!  Of course it still wasn't my first choice but it at least was getting me closer to home... so to the interview I went, that was on July 12th.  I felt it went ok, probably could have done better but I did what I could... and when I got back to work on the 13th there was a message from Emmet County also wanting to schedule an interview - holy cow guys!  So back North I went for that interview on the 17th and before I had even gotten back south that day they had called my boss for a reference because they had chosen ME as the worker they wanted to fill their open spot.  I know my boss wasn't happy about it but I was ecstatic!  The official offer came that very next day and they wanted me to start the next pay cycle - ONLY TWO WEEKS LATER!!!  Holy speed demons Batman!  When they want to move fast with something they sure don't waste any time!!  That's when things went lickety split and it was the quickest two weeks EVER!

Thankfully I was moving back closer to family and am able to stay with them until I can tie up loose ends, get out of my lease and get ALL my stuff moved north.  The new office is great, my new co-workers have been VERY friendly and welcoming, making me feel right at home and as if I'd been here for years.  It is of course an adjustment in many ways but we're managing, the kids are loving the country atmosphere... baby girl loves spending her days with grandma, helping with errands, visiting family and learning new things.  And the boy has adjusted just well to his new preschool/daycare, of course I knew he would cause he's my social butterfly.  I am a little nervous about registering baby girl for school next week though... she's used to going to a charter school and now she'll be in full blown public school complete with having to ride a bus!  I'm scared - pray for me!

80's Child...

yes, it's true... as much as it's going to date me, I'm an 80's child and by that I mean the 80's are when I was in the prime of my youth.  I've made it safely through the 70's, 80's, 90's and the first 11.5 years of the 00's but I must say by far that the 80's were and is the best decade to ever live through.

This past week I had the most awesome unexpected last minute opportunity to go see Def Leppard & Poison in concert!!!  I know you're jealous, cause I was!  As I always do, I was sitting there watching the morning news on Friday and they announced the concert for the next day.  I casually post on Facebook a comment about who was going to take me to the concert, a question I never even expected an answer too but I swear in less than 10 minutes I had a text message from an old friend that I hadn't seen since probably 1998ish letting me know that she just happened to have an extra ticket to the concert!!! SAY WHAT!!!!???

Talk about instant giddyness!  Weeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!  Well of course you know I couldn't turn that down, so guess what I did Saturday night!?  I know I know... silly question, right?

We co-ordinated our evening, met up for a little pre-concert tailgating and then went on in for some good old fashion 80's fun!  Here we are waiting for Poison to come on stage....

oh now let me back up just a little.... while I was prepping thy body for the festivities I decided I was going to do some sort of 80's hair for the fun of it.  You'll notice in the pic above, my hair is somewhat short... certainly most shorter than it ever was in the 80's or 90's for that matter.  So I did a little googling to see what kind of fashion short hair was in the 80's and this is what I found...

Seriously?  #1 I have rather fine and thin hair... to make any of these happen was going to be some kind of feat.  #2 even though it was as hot as it has been, I'm pretty sure if I had achieved any of these my hair would have dropped within 10 minutes of the elements.  But I gave it a whirl...

Before 80's hair attempt...

 Attempt in process....

80's attempt still in progress....

Well that was fun.... so as you can now see, my 80's attempt with short hair - FAIL!  But I suppose I still ended up with a little poof in the bangs with my "Something About Mary" swirl...

hey at least I haven't lost my touch in the makeup department... that's still kinda 80's-ish right?   I digress... it was an awesome concert!  I'm a tad jealous though at all the smart phone people... their phones were taking better pictures than my actual camera!!  So I either need to get with technology and upgrade to a smart phone or I need a better camera... I'm thinking both!  hahaha

Def Leppard doing their thang...

 Bret Michaels and the Poison crew making me tingle...



Pinterest Addiction

Have you heard of Pinterest?  Yeah I know, neither had I until a few months ago and turns out several of my friends even at that time were "members" - why had nobody told me!?  As if the internet itself wasn't a world of information to begin with, now it's like EVERYTHING is in one spot!  ONE FREAKING SPOT!!!

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.  People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes.  I personally use it to expand my horizons, plan my dream home and mainly just drool over all the neat foods and creativity!

It's a beautiful thing!  Roy and I literally spent an hour last night just scrolling through the food section looking at all the yummy goodness and getting ideas for new recipes to try.  It's not just all about food though, that's just the #1 thing I look at most often... there are decorating ideas, ideas for kid projects, organizing, weddings, vacations, awesome photographs and sooooo much more!

If you haven't checked it out yet, I encourage you to do so... but be prepared to add a new addiction to your list!

Be Happy

In my cousin Tiffany's blog yesterday she talked about what made her happy this week and ended with the question of, "What made you happy this week?"  Do you know, even with all that I'm thankful for I couldn't think of one thing that I was happy about.  All thoughts immediately when dark and blah... what the heck?  I seriously just zoomed right in on all things that went wrong, were sad or just plain aggravating throughout the week.  I physically had to make myself stop thinking of all the bad and switch to the good... This past week this is what brought spots of happiness in my life...

Being able to spend time with life long friends

Pilots that weren't drunk and got me to and from my destinations safely

Spending five days where it was ALL ABOUT ME!!!

Spending five days driving a most awesome Dodge Charger

Eating the most awesome brisket from Rudy's in Leon Springs

That Sasquatch didn't get me

The most awesome co-worker ever covered me while I was out 3 days - she really went out of her way for me!

Most importantly I'm happy that I have a roof over my head, food in the fridge and a healthy family... there are many out there seriously hurting and cannot say that.  The hardest thing I've had to do in the past year... sit with a mother and grandmother and discuss the burial of their 23 year old son/grandson.

Counting my blessings...

Gettin' Crafty

Every once in a while I like to get crafty... nothing extravagant or consuming great amounts of time, just a crafty craft here & there.  I'm not good at designing spaces or being visibly organized but I do like making things and being different when I can.

Everyone at work pretty much has the same standard pencil holders, there's a few out of the norms but for the most part - we all went to Staples.  Well I want to be better organized at work... not because it will help me, but because it will look all nice & neat & perty.  When you're desk is a mess & scattered it gives the impression that you too are scattered - no so much in my case, in fact it's just the opposite.  If everything is neat, tidy and "in its place" I'm lost... I don't know where anything is.  If it's a scattered mess, I can take you right to what you're looking for... and that applies to all area's of my life.

So long story short... I got crafty.  To start off with,  I wanted bright & colorful pencil holders but didn't want to spend all day making them or my whole paycheck buying supplies to do the project.  So I cleaned up a couple jars I had laying around the house, bought a couple $.97 bottles of acrylic art paint and voila!

Cleaned up banana pepper jar...

 Squirt some paint in the jar and a dribble of water, slosh it around to cover inside... be sure to put the lid on before shaking.

 Tip it over to let all excess paint to come out.

and here you have it... the finished product proudly displaying my pens at work.  Pretty don't you think?  

  I plan on making more brightful holders.  Everyone needs at least one of them and they're usually out themselves.  They were fun, simple and cute - how could i pass this one up?  I'll be making more of these in the future... won't the be delightful all colored up and fixing one another.

**NOTE - I just realized this whole last paragraph makes absolutely NO sense.  Why?  Because I was literally falling asleep as I typed it and you all know how thoughts can run and jumble when you're falling asleep... oopsie.

The Mask I Wear

Don't be fooled by me.
Don't be fooled by the face I wear
For I wear a mask. I wear a thousand masks-
   masks that I'm afraid to take off
     and none of them are me.    
Pretending is an art that's second nature with me 

           but don't be fooled,
   for God's sake, don't be fooled.
I give you the impression that I'm secure
That all is sunny and unruffled with me
   within as well as without,
    that confidence is my name
     and coolness my game,
    that the water's calm
   and I'm in command,
  and that I need no one.
But don't believe me. Please!

My surface may be smooth but my surface is my mask,
My ever-varying and ever-concealing mask.
Beneath lies no smugness, no complacence.
Beneath dwells the real me in confusion, in fear, in aloneness.
   But I hide this.
    I don't want anybody to know it.
     I panic at the thought of my
            weaknesses
      and fear exposing them.
That's why I frantically create my masks
          to hide behind.
They're nonchalant, sophisticated facades
          to help me pretend,
To shield me from the glance that
            knows.
But such a glance is precisely my salvation,
   my only salvation,
       and I know it.

That is, if it's followed by acceptance,
   and if it's followed by love.
It's the only thing that can liberate me from myself
   from my own self-built prison walls

I dislike hiding, honestly
I dislike the superficial game I'm playing,
   the superficial phony game.
I'd really like to be genuine and me.
But I need your help, your hand to hold
Even though my masks would tell you otherwise
That glance from you is the only thing that assures me
   of what I can't assure myself,
     that I'm really worth something.

But I don't tell you this.
   I don't dare.
      I'm afraid to.
I'm afraid you'll think less of me, that you'll laugh
   and your laugh would kill me.
I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing,
        that I'm just no good
             and you will see this and reject me.

So I play my game, my desperate, pretending game
With a facade of assurance without,
And a trembling child within.
So begins the parade of masks,

The glittering but empty parade of masks,
   and my life becomes a front.
I idly chatter to you in suave tones of surface talk.
I tell you everything that's nothing
   and nothing of what's everything,
                 of what's crying within me.
So when I'm going through my routine
   do not be fooled by what I'm saying
Please listen carefully and try to hear
   what I'm not saying
Hear what I'd like to say
   but what I can not say.

It will not be easy for you,
   long felt inadequacies make my defenses strong.

  The nearer you approach me
   the blinder I may strike back.
Despite what books say of men, I am irrational;
I fight against the very thing that I cry out for.
   you wonder who I am
    you shouldn't
     for I am everyman
     and every woman
      who wears a mask.

Don't be fooled by me.
At least not by the face I wear.
~Author Unknown~

Ugly Toes...

I don't do "girly."  I just don't do it... it's not me, it never has been.  I'm not one of those girls that has or has to have tons of girl friends that get together every Friday night to do our nails, hair or whatever it is girly girls do.  I don't do girl trips, girls night out, spa trips etc.  I have female friends that I'm close with and talk to about most anything but we aren't the "lets get together for the evening, drink wine and giggle all night" kind of girls... and I'm happy with that.  But just because I'm not a girly girl doesn't mean I don't like to be treated special, treated like a girl and pampered once in a while... which brings me to ugly toe day.

Toes are ugly, they just are.  I don't care who they're attached to, they're ugly.  Well here we are now, diving into the summer and guess what... it's toe fest out there!  Sandals, flip flops, toe showing shoes are everywhere.  Yes I wear them too but never gave my toes a thought... years ago, and I do mean YEARS ago, a male friend of mine said that painted toenails on a woman were sexy.  Really?  Well I suppose if anything was going to make them not so ugly, polish would do it... but sexy?  So here I am after all these years and guess what... I broke down and got me some sexy toes... ok, maybe not so much sexy, but not as ugly as they once were... I have... GIRLY TOES!!!!!  AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH  How'd that happen and why?

Here we have the elusive ugly toe in a "before" picture... notice on the right foot, the second toe is somewhat deformed and left crazed from a traumatic experience in the early 2000's.  On the left foot we have Mr. Pinky toe with a split nail... that's two, two nails in one.  Gross huh?

The "after" picture... ugly toes now sexified... I guess.

I'll have to admit, even though I'm not so much a girly girl, I did like having them done and they do look better than they did before... me thinks.