Developments

Guess what?!

• My boss quit, effective immediately, two days ago.
• I've started attending church again.
• I'm planning a trip to Chicago in mid-December.
• I successfully fought off the stomach flu last week.
• My top and bottom sizes have dropped by a whole size each.
• I've got a crazy week of work and travel planned.

Ok, how about we take those one-by-one?

My boss quit, effective immediately, two days ago

We have had complication after issue after frustration with our manager for months (when I say we I mean the entire store staff and company in general). This past week our manager decided her time with the company was over and, after sitting down with our district manager, made the choice to vacate her position with our store and with the company. While we ultimately hope these actions will be beneficial to both our manager and the store in the long run, in the short-term things are going to be a bit chaotic. The week before Thanksgiving is not the time any retailer wants to lose staff, particularly management staff. Both the other assistant and I will be picking up a lot of extra hours and we are getting some aid from nearby stores. The "Now Hiring" sign is up but it will probably be a few weeks, if not a month or more, before we are back to a full management staff. December is going to be a real blast, let me tell you.

I've started attending church again

Around the beginning of October the nudge I have been feeling for quite some time regarding returning to church became more of a figurative and literal shove and so I once again find myself sitting, standing, singing, speaking, and listening (I couldn't think of a way to say that with an s-word) with a congregation. I have approached the pastor of the church I have been attending, resulting in he and I exchanging multiple emails and engaging in one-on-one appointments. He hooked me up with another person at the church, a woman who works primarily with young women, and she and I have also been in contact in several different ways. I was going to get involved in an all-women study group as well, but now that I no longer have specific set days off from work it is a bit hard to commit to the group.

I have been pretty quiet about this particular development as I do not want nor feel I should have to face multiple questions or even some ridicule from family and friends. Encouragement is always appreciated and accepted. So is constructive input.

The thing I am struggling with the most at this point is a desire to truly believe in God and Jesus and eternal salvation but not being able to see the Bible as anything but nice stories. It's all fiction to me, instead of truth. I can be too analytical for my own good on occasion.

I'm planning a trip to Chicago in mid-December

A long time ago (a.k.a. last week) when there was a full management staff at work I was told which weekend in December I was going to have off and I planned a trip to Chicago to see friends and have a little break. The other assistant, upon being told which weekend she would have off in December, went crazy and made travel plans as well. Despite being short-staffed we are making sure each of us gets to follow through on our plans. It will mean very long days for the person left in the store on each particular weekend, but that is alright with us. For way too long our days off from work have actually been our days on call. Life for both of us has come to center on our jobs, which is plain crazy and very not right. Neither the other assistant nor I are willing to continue in such a way. So my plans stand mostly unchanged and I will be heading to Chicago in mid-December to partake in the movie-set-esqueness that is a Chicago Christmas and to spend time with good friends I do not get to see often enough.

I successfully fought off the stomach flu last week

This one is pretty self-explanatory. I started to get sick. It was unpleasant. I said, "Oh, heck no!" (ok, maybe I wasn't that polite). I got better.

My top and bottom sizes have dropped by a whole size each

Also pretty self-explanatory. Eating healthier, walking more, and being pop/soda/cola/fizzy-drink-free for over 9 months is starting to pay off. It's slow but it's steady. I judge my success by how I look and feel in my clothing, not by how much I weigh. I would have to think long and hard to come up with the last time I was on a scale. Maybe back in February when I got sick and had to go to Urgent Care to get some antibiotics.

I've got a crazy week of work and travel planned

Off/Close/Open then drive to Minnesota/Eat food with family then drive to Iowa/Close/Open/Drive to Knoxville. That's my schedule for the next 7 days. Ridunkulous!

Love!

~g

Grace's Rules For Christmas

1. The Christmas season extends from November 1 through January 6

2. All winter-themed clothing and accessories can be worn November through February without ridicule (ok, so this less Christmas and more winter....)

3. Christmas music is acceptable year-round, with caveats:

• Christmas music can be played non-stop from the day after Thanksgiving through December 25
• Christmas music before Thanksgiving is acceptable so long as is proportioned with non-Christmas music
• Acoustic and non-lyrical Christmas music can be played any time throughout the year
• "Oh Holy Night", "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel", "Silver Bells', "Baby, It's Cold Outside", "Where Are You Christmas?", "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", "Christmas Day", "Oh Come All Ye Faithful", "Carol of the Bells", and any song from "The Messiah" can and should be played year-round
• "Frosty The Snowman", "O Christmas Tree", "Santa Baby", "Santa Clause is Coming to Town", "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause", "Purple Snowflakes", and "Little Saint Nick" should be banned from the airwaves, or, you know, Earth in general

4. White Christmas lights are for inside

5. Color Christmas lights are for outside

6. One computer in the house is devoted to NORAD Tracks Santa the entire 24-hours that make up December 24

7. Christmas Eve consists of chili, driving around to look at Christmas lights, and attending midnight service

8. Presents are to be opened on Christmas Day after all showers have been taken and the Christmas story has been read from the Bible

9. Stockings are to be opened the minute you get out of bed

10. You must donate to the Salvation Army kettle whenever you pass it

11. Christmas Cookies are to be eaten in copious amounts during the months of November and December

12. The annual Christmas puzzle is dumped from its box on Thanksgiving evening and must be completed before presents can be opened on Christmas day

What are your rules for Christmas?

~g

No news

I have no news. Actually, I have no news that I think anyone would find interesting. My life is boring.

The CEO of my company was asked to resign (a.k.a. fired) this past week. That provided entertainment for a day or so. I get an extra paycheck this month, which means woohoo for an extra loan payment. I'm pretty close to paying off one of my student loans. I get to go to Minnesota for Thanksgiving with Dad, Jody, Grandma, and aunts/uncles et al. I have started decorating for Christmas. I did a lot of laundry today. My car is going to need an oil change pretty soon.

Yeah, this is my life. Now you know why I haven't posted. I do enjoy reading all the posts my family members publish, though, so even though I am a pathetic slacker the rest of you are doing great!

Love!

~g

The maiming... I mean, branding

As any of you who read this blog (or are friends with me or any of my family on Facebook) know, I was part of a cattle branding in Colorado on September 11, 2010. Among my many duties that day, amateur photographer ranked right up there. I took advantage of Chuck's incredible camera and ended up taking over 150 photos. Below are the very few that I have decided are the best.

Heading out to round up the cattle

Moving the bucket calf into the small corral before bringing in the rest of the herd

The Windmill Pasture

Getting the branding irons ready

Calf curiosity

Running the herd into the corrals

Where there's smoke... there's also burnt hair and skin

Chuck chatting with Dad after a long day

Number 74, a.k.a. Jersey Boy (if Chuck accepts the name I gave this bull calf... this Longhorn looks more like a very pretty Jersey to me), a.k.a. the calf I branded

Love!

~g

No go

My trip to Colorado is already more than a week past. It's crazy how quickly time passes.

The trip itself went very well. I left straight from work on Wednesday to drive to catch the train in Ottumwa. Had the train been on time, even with leaving work early, I would have barely caught it. Luckily, Amtrak is reliably unreliable.

I was the only person to board the train in Ottumwa. The attendant assigned me my seat, putting me next to a firefighter from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Bryan was a good seat partner. We chatted a bit, watched a movie on my laptop, and when it came time to sleep he didn't mind that one of the more comfortable positions for me was laying my head on his shoulder. Yayy for nice people!

We got into Denver only 45 minutes late (I think that's a new record). Dad and Jody quickly picked me up from the station and took me out first to breakfast and then around the city for which I was interviewing. Jody had to attend some afternoon meetings so Dad and I crashed at the hotel for a bit, where I showered then crawled into bed for a nap. Mid-afternoon we went out for some lunch and met up with Jody.

This is where the trip started to get interesting. Post lunch the original plan was for Dad to head to Chuck's ranch for the night to help with branding prep while Jody and I were going to spend some time on final interview prep before heading to bed early. Only when Dad tried to start Phred he wouldn't start. As 5 pm neared we decided we had to call AAA and get Phred towed to the nearest mechanic. The towing service responded quickly considering the time of day and by quarter to six we were at the shop. Problem was that the shop closed at six, so Phred sat overnight and Dad had to stay with Jody and I.

My interview was bright and early Friday morning. Scheduled for 8:15, we arrived at the city administrative building at 8. By 8:05 I was in the conference room with my interviewers. Sixteen questions and 50 minutes later I walked out knowing I had completely nailed the interview. We went out for a celebratory breakfast before checking out of the hotel. We did a little shopping at the mall before picking up Phred and officially splitting up. Jody headed toward home and Dad and I headed toward the ranch.

Friday evening I got a call telling me that after a day of interviews the field had been narrowed to me and one other candidate. The interviewers could not decide between the two of us so they wanted to meet with each candidate again. I was able to set up a meeting with the city manager for Sunday morning.

Saturday was the longest day that I have had in a long time. We were up at 5:30 and I barely stopped moving until 10 that night. It was an incredibly fun and exhausting day. Pictures to come in another post. I shoved around calves and waived off mamas with giant horns and branded number 74 and vaccinated some of the herd and helped with the horses, among other things.

Sunday morning Dad and I headed to Denver for my meet-and-greet with the city manager. We met for about 45 minutes at a local coffee shop, during which we discussed football and the midwest and, of course, my qualifications and the city. After the meeting Dad and I spent the rest of the day kicking around the Rockies and downtown Denver. That evening I got back on the train to come home.

Once again I was assigned my seat, but unlike the trip out to Colorado, my seat partner was no good. After spending two hours gagging on the combination of stale smoke and unwashed body I asked to be moved. Then I asked again. I finally was allowed to move to another car which afforded me two seats for the rest of the night. The train lost time overnight so I didn't get into Ottumwa until right around noon on Monday morning. From there it was a three hour drive home and just like that my Colorado trip was done.

After hearing nothing from the city all week I called this past Friday to check on their process. When the HR lady called me back later that day it was to inform me that they had elected to go with the other candidate. I am understandably disappointed but not at all sad that I made the effort to travel to Colorado for the interview. The ego boost of making it to the top two (out of 170) alone was worth the trip. Now I just have to try again.

So endeth the long post about my Colorado trip!

Love!

~g

I heard it through the grapevine

Rather, you may have heard it through the grapevine.

In less than two days I will be on my way to Colorado to interview for a position with a local government near Denver. I will leave Wednesday straight from work and catch a train. After sleeping my way through Nebraska (really, is there any better way to travel across Nebraska than at night and unconscious?) I will arrive in Denver sometime Thursday morning. Jody will pick me up and spend Thursday doing interview prep with me when she's not in meetings for her own job. I will stay with her Thursday night and get up for my interview bright and early Friday morning. The interview is scheduled for 8:15 am Mountain Time and will last a little less than an hour. Friday will then be spent in a state of relief and, hopefully, euphoria. Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday will be spent with Dad at Chuck's ranch. Sunday night I will get back on the train, once again crossing Nebraska at night, and will get back to Iowa Monday morning. Tuesday I head back to work.

It is going to be a very busy week for me. But what a fun week!

I have been fighting off a cold for a few days. My combination of tea and sleep and water and drugs and chocolate seems to be doing the trick. I think the chocolate is the key.

"All my bags are packed (not really), I'm ready to go (so not ready)".....

Love!

~g

Extra hours

Work these last few weeks has been a bit crazy and has resulted in a lot of extra hours for me. Our store manager has been out on emergency medical leave for nearly two weeks and is expected to be gone for another 3 or 4 weeks. In the meantime myself, our other assistant manager, and the assistants from our sister store are covering all of the shifts and getting some extra decent paychecks.

Last week I heard back from two different jobs I had applied to, requesting first-round interviews. Since these were the first jobs I had heard from in months I was pretty excited. I did a phone interview with one of the jobs last Thursday. Unfortunately I was not selected for an on-site interview, but it was good practice. Tomorrow morning I do a first-round with a local government in Colorado. It will by far be the oddest first interview I have ever done. Myself and the rest of the candidates are going to be emailed the same two short-answer essay questions at the same time and we'll have 45 minutes to respond. I understand the concept of testing our knowledge and ability to respond quickly and professionally but it's still the weirdest first round of interviews I've ever been through. :)

In other news, my car, which I have now owned for one year and 5 days, rolled over 100,000 miles today. That was fun for me, but I am a dork.

I have now gone more than 6 months without drinking any soda. I find it is actually harder now to resist than it was when I first gave it up. I am sure I will push through this phase of abstinence but I am also sure I will be drinking a lot of iced tea and water flavored with Crystal Light packages since plain old water just doesn't seem to be cutting it right now.

Today is the first day I have really felt like fall is coming. I love the late-summer days when things cool down and the air gets a bit more crisp. The Honey Crisp apples will be coming into season soon, which are my favorite after Granny Smith. The sweet corn is done, but Grandma Mabon and I froze nearly 60 quarts again this year. Doing so much in one shot makes for a long day, but come January I am always glad we put in the time and effort.

I think this is the end of my brain dump post.

Love!

~g

Creative Baking

For my birthday I received from my Colorado parents a book on how to creatively decorate cupcakes. Along with the book, I also got an entire kit of cupcake decorating paraphernalia (it is really quite impressive). Tonight I decided to make my first batch of cupcakes. They are triple chocolate fudge with cream cheese frosting and decorations made from the various items that came in my kit.

I have a lot to learn yet, but for just messing around and getting a feel for things I think they came out pretty good!

Love!

~g

Post interrupted

I started a post several weeks ago while I was on vacation and I never finished it. I am going to go ahead and finish and post it now....

I am (was) on vacation!!!! In Michigan!!! Thanks to some schedule finagling at work and Mom needing to burn some vacation time so that she can accrue more, I found myself with 5 days off and no plans. Mom looked at what would be in a 12-hour driving radius from us and then narrowed that search down to places we hadn't already been. Our choices came down to Michigan or Arkansas. We chose to go with the cooler, less buggy destination.

We left yesterday morning (Thursday, July 29) and drove to Chicago, where we stopped and had dinner with a good friend of mine. We stayed a bit longer in Chicago than we had planned, which meant getting back on the expressway right around rush hour. We decided to get on the Chicago Skywalk (a toll road) and that ended up being a fantastic decision. We were out of Chicago and into Indiana inside of half an hour. We crossed into Michigan and the Eastern Time Zone an hour and ten minutes after getting in the car in Chicago. We made amazing time!

Last night (again, Thursday, July 29) we stayed at a KOA near Covert, MI. It was a fairly new KOA with very nice amenities, but it did have some pretty glaring issues. One of the most annoying things was the lack of screen door on our kamping kabin. Our cabin was insanely warm when we got there, but with no screen door and lots of bugs we couldn't leave the door open to move out the warm air.

Our solution was to head up to the main lodge and sit out on the deck. We asked that the citronella torches be lit and we had a citronella candle on our table. Both are good preventative measures for mosquitoes but I was not thinking about my feet and the fact that I was wearing flip flops. 14 bites later..... well... that was the not fun part of the trip.

Friday, July 30th found us in the car, working our way up the West coastline of Michigan. Our first stop was in South Haven, where we found a great bakery on main street and both indulged in strawberry cream cheese things for breakfast. I'm not totally sure how to describe it, other than to say it was an almond log or roll or something, except it was filled with a cream cheese mixture. Whatever it was, it was fantastic. We sat at a two-person table in front of the bakery to eat our breakfast and watch the happenings on the street. Both Mom and I got a brownie to go as well. Mine was rocky road. I ate it for breakfast the following morning. :)

A good portion of Friday was spent exploring towns and, if I liked the feel of a place, stopping by city hall to leave a resume with the city manager. Really, I gave the resumes to the city manager's secretaries, but that was expected. While I didn't really expect anything to come of me dropping off a resume with any of the cities I did, it was a way to get my name out there. The longer I am looking for a position the more creative I am getting.

With all of the exploring and all of the stopping and leisurely driving, we did not make it up to the top of Michigan until after 9 pm. We had KOA reservations just over the Mackinac Straits, in the Upper Peninsula. Reaching our KOA meant driving over the Straits on a 4.5 mile long bridge. I love heights. I love water. I most decidedly do not love man-made heights over water. I spent the drive over the bridge breathing slowly and deeply and clenching my hands.

The morning of the 31st we got up a bit later than planned and spent a bit longer than planned getting ready for the day. Both Mom and I have wanted to visit Mackinac Island for years so we spent all day Saturday doing just that. While the island is a bit of a tourist trap it was still a fun experience.

We got back to our KOA in the late afternoon. We spent a few hours resting then Mom went and got us a pastie for dinner. By the time Saturday evening rolled around my feet were full-on itchy and uncomfortable, which made me pretty blah-feeling and not much fun to be around. Mom dealt with it nicely, though. I discovered the wonders of calamine lotion and large doses of Benadryl in relation to dealing with mosquito bites.

Sunday we rose fairly early, getting everything packed up. Starting our drive home was as easy as turning right out of the KOA drive. We following the same two-lane highway all the way across the extreme lower portion of the Upper Peninsula, stopping only once or twice for restrooms and food. We got to central Wisconsin in the middle of the afternoon and had a decision to make. We could have easily continued on and made it all the way home, but it would mean a 12-hour day in the car. Or we could find a place to stop for the day and relax. We chose to stop. We got our first and only hotel room of the trip, had pizza delivered to the room, and spent the evening reading and watching television.

Monday, August 2 was spent sleeping in late, driving the last 6 hours home, and doing laundry and unpacking birthday presents. It was a good, laid-back way to end our trip. One can never argue to coming home to boxes of presents. Heh.

So there you have it. Truly the short version of my mini vacation. And yet somehow this post is still insanely long.

Love!

~g

Pictures!

Norah is visiting again! Below are some pictures from the last few days.

My attempt at using Microsoft Paint to outline just Norah. Not too bad for being free-hand!

Norah likes our whiteboard. I think the draw is not so much the writing on the board as it is erasing things by touching them.

Time to swim! Or look disgruntled.

Love!

~g