One Helluva Week

And it's really only been since Wednesday afternoon... so maybe I should title this post one helluva way to end the week...

I talk about work on here from time to time, but it's not a topic I dive very much into. I feel like keeping my work life separate from this blog is a good idea. I wouldn't want to say anything mean and then everyone at works knows I'm talking bad about somebody... and quite frankly a lot of my stresses at work are hard to explain to those that do not understand my job.

Well, around this joint the mantra is always apply for any jobs that you are eligible for... apply apply apply. So that's what I do... I want to keep my options open and I need to get to the next pay scale in order to become eligible for what I'm now going to call my "dream job" of a project manager. Well, I applied for this position in a different department still within my organization. I currently work in programs and this job would be in fiscal department.

I ended up getting an interview. I didn't really want this job... it's not my ideal choice... but I went through the motions. I even did the whole interview to get experience interviewing when a job you really want comes along. The interview was a little over a week ago and on Wednesday I was offered the position. I was really hoping I wouldn't be in this spot to have to decide about a job I love (my current one) and a new job that I'm not sure I'll like and takes me out of the area I want to stay in. Let me interject to say that I'm so thrilled they picked me. I'm so proud of myself for making it through the HR process and nailing the interview (something I usually blow at)... but in the end it was a really really tough position.

I talked to some people here would are familiar with the way out system works and the people involved. I talked to Chad and my parents. I even ended up talking to my boss and every one of them believed the right idea was to take the position. So mid-morning today I accepted the position. It will be on a different pay scale and it's slightly more money in the short term and a lot more money in the long term. I will need a year at this grade in order to apply based on merit for my "dream job". So it's great to have this step available to me.

Does anyone sense that the story isn't over yet??

Well, about 3 hours after I accepted the position I got a call about another job I had applied for. One I'm very much interested in that I thought fell off the face of the earth. It's more in line with what I want to do in my career and it's a better ladder position (meaning that not only will I start a pay scale higher than I'm currently at, in as short as another year I could be moved into the pay scale above that). I'm just at a loss... this week has not gone the way I expected it to. I think I know how I'm going to handle the situation... but man... life is funny sometimes... like when it rains it pours... or something like that.

Either way... I have a new position... so go me!!

Fridge

We have a new appliance in our house... that's right folks, we now have a brand spankin' new refrigerator!! Look at this bad boy!!

It's a Kenmore 20 cubic feet, bottom freezer door, energy efficient, black, awesome refrigerator. About 4 or 5 months ago our fridge began to make an awful noise. It kind of sounded like someone using a hand drill in the next room. And it was only getting louder. It wasn't making that noise all the time, but it was making it often enough... We knew that at some point the old fridge was going to die... but we didn't have the money at the time.

My dad heard about our fridge and ended up helping us out. And last week Missouri was waiving state sales tax on all energy efficient appliances. (Oh how nice it would have been to also buy a new stove, dishwasher, and overhead microwave too... oh I can dream can't I??) So it was a pretty good week to look for a new fridge. And this guy was is what we found.

We were originally thinking that we wanted a stainless steel fridge, but what I didn't realize until we got to the store was exactly how much more stainless steel appliances were. We knew we absolutely did NOT want white and have you seen that awful color called bisque? It's like yucky off-white. I think that's what our fridge currently is. But now it's a black beauty! I think it won't show dirty like the old one... and black fits our kitchen better anyway.

I was also concerned that the new fridge wouldn't be magnetic. I really enjoy having things hung up on the fridge like invites or pictures... we even have our wedding invite still hanging up. But Chad tested it out when it came this afternoon and it's magnetic... holla!!

I'm so happy to have a brand new appliance... it's very exciting... maybe we'll get to replace some of those other appliances soon too!!

My special bracelet

I typically wear the same jewelry every day... I have my engagement/wedding ring, either my pink sapphire ring or my purple stone right, a necklace (either my kangaroo or blue topaz) and my bracelet. This is the story of the bracelet.

When I first went away to college my grandma bought me some gifts. One of the things she bought me was this bracelet.

It says, Life is a Journey, not a destination... on the inside it says enjoy the moments. I absolutely love this bracelet. I wear it everyday all the time. Sadly, maybe about 3 years after I got it, I broke it. It snapped in half. I guess it has something to do with wearing it all the time. It got caught on my blanket or sheet while I was sleep and yank... it was in half before I could do anything about it. I was soo soo sad.

I guess I made this pretty clear to everyone because for my next birthday (22nd I believe) my grandma got me the exact same bracelet. I was so happy and treated my second bracelet better than the first. I'm much more careful and don't expand/tighten it as I use to do. I've kept much better care of it b/c I still have it today and it's in great condition.

Like I said, I wear it all the time... I even wore it on the most special day of my life thus far... my wedding day.
This bracelet will hopefully be around for a long long time... it really holds a special place in my heart, because not only did my grandma give it to me, it says such an important phrase. I love how skinny it is how well it fits my wrist. It really means a lot to me.

Lately I'm Loving

I've seen this done on a few blogs and today seems like the perfect day to think about all the things I'm loving... or things on my mind in general!

• Butterfinger Snackerz - Have you tried these things? They are totally delicious, they are the perfect amount of chocolate butterfinger favor and cruch. They are much much better than a regular butterfinger and doesn't get all stuck in your teeth.

• Diet Mountain Dew - I never thought I could make the switch to diet soda, but I'll say I've done a pretty good job, especially since Mt Dew is currently doing a new diet flavor contest... I've tried the Voltage and Supernova (that may be the only two)... both are pretty tasty. According to their website Supernova is the winner, which is cool, since it's probably my favorite.
  
  


• TLC - The channel... I'm not sure if I've every mentioned it on the blog, but I am addicted to the show Sister Wives. I started watching it last season just to see what it was like. I do enjoy watching shows about different kinds of families and I wanted to see what this one was like. I will say I did not expect it to be this way, but it is amazing. I feel like I'm telling everyone to watch this show. While it's not a lifestyle I would want, they do a good job of explaining why they do enjoy the lifestyle. I thought it would involve a egotistical male with a bunch of wives, but it's not that at all. The women on the show are empowered and really do look like they're having fun. I've also been watching Extreme Couponing. That show just makes me feel like I'm missing out on a crap ton of details out there! I feel like I should start utilizing couponing. Watch the show, those people get like $600 worth of grocerys for like $10... I think they put a ton of work into doing it, but man is it impressive!
  

• All things William and Kate - I'm a little embarressed to mention this fact, but I'm borderline obsessed with the royal wedding and I have absolutely no clue why. Anything I see on TV that has something to do with them I've been recording and part of me wants to wake up super early next Friday to watch the wedding. I think I must have major problems. I don't really understand where this fascination has come from... but man I even got suckered into the made for TV movie on Lifetime about their relationship. (at least it was better than Craigslist Killer)

• Storms - St. Louis has had som crazy weather so far this year. This past week we've had at least two storms that involved hail. I love these big thunderstorms... especially when I'm home laying in bed... maybe with the window open. The rain is calming and thunder to me is so neat to listen to. I may be alone on this, but I love me a good thunderstorm.

So there's a short list of the things that are on my mind. I bet as soon as I publish this post I'm going to come up with someone else that I meant to write about.

Grandparents

Last Saturday I spent the day visiting with family. My mom, brother and I took my grandma (mom's mom) to visit my other grandparents (dad's parents). As you probably know from reading this blog my parents are divorced. So it might seem strange that my mom and her mom are visiting my dad's parents... but for me it doesn't seem strange at all. My parents were able to maintain a friendly relationship for the sake of my brother and me. I think this is one of the biggest reasons that their divorce did "screw me up". My grandparents were also able to remain friends.

I am lucky to say that I still have 75% of my grandparents around. Sadly we lost my grandpa (mom's dad) 10 years ago this November. It's a sad topic and I still get a little teary eyed thinking about it. I've wanted to write a post about my grandpa for awhile, but I just haven't wanted to tackle it. Hopefully soon...

But that's not really the point of this blog entry.... on Sunday we visited my grandparents. They live in Cuba, MO so I don't get to see them as often as I should. They are getting older, my grandma is in her early 90's and my grandpa is in his late 80's. They are doing very well, I really feel like my grandma will never die... nothing can get her down. She bounces back from everything it seems and it seems like my grandpa never gets sick. They still live on their own in the same house that we would visit in the summers.

We did a lot of driving around to get out to Cuba. We started off in South County, drove to O'Fallon to pick up my grandma (mom's mom) then to Eureka, MO to pick up Phil's BBQ. Phil's is a south county/city BBQ place. It was by my grandparent's other home. So we typically bring it b/c it's easy and tasty. Then we went from Eureka out to Cuba. And of course we had to make our way back, luckily we didn't have to stop back in Eureka.

I think all of my grandparents has a fun time visiting with each other. Especially my dad's parents. I really think they can get a little lonely, especially my grandma who can't really get out of the house anymore (or when she does, it's a big ordeal). We got to talk about all sorts of different things, it seems like my grandpa is more talkative about his military days. He was part of D-Day in WWII, and it's not something he refers to very much. I'm sure it was a tough thing to live through so I can understand not wanting to remember it.

Saturday was a very lovely day. I'm very happy it worked out for all of us to go, especially that my brother was also able to go. So my moral of the story... visit your grandparents, they really appreciate it!

Here are a couple of pictures of my grandparents... these are from a couple of years ago.

Art Class

On Friday night my mom and I took another art class. I was looking back through my posts and realized I must have not written about when we took our first class... so let me start at the beginning.

Late last year my mom and I both decided to buy a Groupon for an art class at the South Broadway Art Project. We didn't really know what to expect, but my mom and I both enjoy doing artsy things. We signed up to take a class where we painted windows in Matisse inspired paintings. While I was not in love with the painting I ended up doing, it was such a relaxing night. It was so much fun to go to a place and just paint in a relaxing atmosphere where everyone was there to have fun.

My mom and I were going to take a second class and signed up for Drawing with Scissors, however it ended up being the week of Chad's surgery... so I ended up not going.

On Friday we did another art class - slab pottery - for my mom's birthday (I let her pick the class). We started out the evening by having dinner at Benton Park Cafe. I've been by this place like a million times and they always have a big crowd so I've been wanting to try it out. It was so so so so tasty!! Their menu isn't huge, but it has a ton of things to choose from, plus I enjoy when places serve breakfast menu all the time. I would totally recommend it. They are open for 24 hours on Friday and Saturday... might have to remember that for a late night dinner.

Then we headed over to the class. Like I said above we did slab pottery, serving trays, platters, etc. It was really relaxing playing with the clay. When I was in high school I took a ceramics class... it really reminded me of that. It was fun to just work with really fresh clay and get to do whatever you wanted to do. I wish I would have taken a picture of my piece, I'll have to remember to share my picture when I get the finished piece at the end of the month.

That's another good part about these classes is they do all of the set up and most of the clean up and have all the supplies and they give you help and guidance on what might help your piece look better. I'm hoping to do another class soon, maybe even for mother's day. Another good thing about their classes is you can bring your own food and drink (including alcohol). They have a kitchen and utensils you can use as well.

I would totally recommend the South Broadway Art Project to anyone. Their Canvas, Cocktails 'n More classes are awesome. If you're looking for a casual, relaxing night, this is totally a great place to go. While the classes I have been to a mostly women, there are men as well. I'd like Chad to go with me, but he's just not interested. If you have any questions - let me know, and if someone ever wants to go with me I'm there!

Yay for me!!

As you may remember, I have gone back to school. The first term I decided to stick with just one class. I was really nervous about what it would be like to be back at school. I graduated from Truman back in 2006 - so it's been about four and half years since I was in school, and undergrad wasn't the easiest for me...

Well, I'm happy to report that my first class/term has gone great. Not only did I do well on the assignments I didn't mind doing the work most times. It is very different from undergrad. I don't think I selected the right program back then. But that's not the only thing... I didn't really have any real life experience to relate school to. I really debate whether going directly to college after high school is the right decision. For my entire life college is what you do after high school... and I followed that trend. I don't think I really knew what I wanted to do with my life.

Anyway... now class makes sense to me... I am able to pull real life examples from my work. It's truly awesome. I was nervous at first since most of the other students in my class already had a degree in education... and most of them were teachers. But I was able to add to the discussion and relate their ideas to adult education.

Well, my grade came in today and I'm happy to report that I got an A!! I am so excited and thrilled with myself. I'm hoping to keep this trend up. I have a perfect 4.0 GPA right now. It's super exciting. I'm hoping to keep this trend through this entire masters program. That will certainly help my chances of getting what I'll now refer to as the 'dream job'.

My next term starts on Wednesday and I will try my hand at two classes. I will work hard at these two classes (educational psychology and instructional design). But if it is too much work to handle I will let myself drop back down to one class a term... but we'll see how it goes! It will be double the work, however I'm hoping I will be able to handle it. The only thing I see being a problem is now that it's summer time it seems like life gets busier b/c more people what to do things. It will just mean I will have to stay organized and remember what my priorities are.

But I got an A!! So happy about that!!