Sunday, January 29, 2012

Somebody Likes Me!


I just wanted to share the award I was presented on Friday night, at a large company dinner. Our sales force voted crazy little ol' me, their sales support excellence winner for the whole of 2011. I was tickled and thrilled, to say the least. I did not suspect a thing, considering James and I have been to the ceremony in the past- he as Director of Operations, me as "...and spouse". The best part is, I realize all the long hours and hard work, are recognized and appreciated. The worst past, getting up on stage in front of about 300+ people to accept! Thank goodness I did not have to give a speech, just shake hands and pose for a photo! Tomorrow, it's back to the grind, to see if I can earn it for 2012.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

It's Not HGTV...


So I posted these funny pics on Facebook with the "You Might Be A Redneck If" tagline, just to get a few laughs. And I did! But, I also wanted to share the rest of the story as well. Yes, that is James on the lawn mower, with our couch in the trailer on the back, and his friend David walking along. That is actually my old furniture, that I had in my house before James and I got married. And it's been the furniture we've used ever since. I've been wanting to get a new living room set, and finally this was the year it happened.


There's nothing wrong with the furniture, it's just a little worn and looking a little rough. Still comfortable though. So, we really didn't want to just toss it out. Along with new furniture, we are getting a new TV- because finally finally after all this time- we will have an entertainment center. Which our old TV- James' gigantic monster from his bachelor days- will not fit in. Definitely James did not want to get rid of the TV, it's his pride and joy. We talked it over and decided that, even though our basement is completely unfinished, why not set it all up down there?


Since our house is situated on a hill, and our backyard sweeps down below (our basement is actually built into the side of the hill), the hurdle became- how to get everything down there? One weekend James and his buddy David had a nice guys-only getaway weekend, and on their return that Sunday- I made a big lunch of hamburgers, onion rings, sweet potato fries, and all the fixins'. The guys took everything out of the living room and down to the basement. James' idea of putting it all on the back of the lawn mower and driving each piece down the hill, was actually pretty inspired, and worked like a charm. They did have to carry everything out the front door and get it to the tractor to begin with, but it sure beat carrying everything either down the stairs, or down the hill. (Romeo inspecting their work safe from his window perch.)


So everything is now down in the basement, and we've been spending our evenings down here for almost two weeks now. We spent all day Sunday watching football, and other than it being cold, it's actually been pretty fun. We do have the small space heater and blankets, but since I like the cold, it's not bothering me. We moved some of the cats' hideaways down there as well- when we go downstairs, they do too, they can't seem to stay away from the action. I imagine, even when we get the new living room fixed up, I can see myself still coming down here and spending a weekend afternoon, hanging out.


Now the living room is empty, and we are waiting on the new set. The sofa was on back order, so we still have about two weeks before it gets delivered. We had Stanley Steemer come the other day, and clean all the carpets in the entire house. I was a little disappointed that they couldn't get all the "cat stains" out of the carpet (gotta love being a pet owner), but the house was long overdue for a cleaning. I will post again once the furniture gets here!

Monday, January 2, 2012

Socks


I had to share a photo I took this morning of "new" kitty Socks, relaxing by the fire. Socks came home with us on Thanksgiving weekend. She belongs to James' grandmother, who recently had to go live at a nursing home. My mother-in-law says Socks' vet records states she's 13, but Granny insisted to me that Socks is 16. We just know that Miss Socks is a senior kitty, no matter her age.

She prefers to sleep upstairs in my "studio", but she has been coming downstairs to visit. She loves to roam down in the basement, apparently at night, because that's where she is every morning when we get up. So far no big spats with any of the other Truan felines. Maarten hisses at her, but he's a big sissy anyhow. I can assume that since no one is fighting with her, that they've all already accepted her into our family.

We look at ourselves as foster parents, because we promised Granny that if she ever goes to live somewhere that allows her to keep a pet, we will gladly bring Socks right back to her. For now, and for however long she needs a home, Socks is our kitty and we love her very much already. She has particularly stolen James' affections, he is quite taken with her. But, he's a big softy when it comes to the cats, so it was no surprise!

Let's Get It Going Again!

I was reminded today by a friend on my Facebook page, that I hadn't blogged in a very very long time. Family members have told me they've missed my blog as well, as it was the one way they could keep up with everything that James and I have been up to. It's true- I've become lazy and have been 100% dependent on Facebook because it's SO easy to just load all my photos in an album and upload. Blogging does take up a lot more time, and I can only put a few photos on each post. But, I get to write a lot more. I promised myself I'd get the blog going again in 2012.

I found about 4 posts that I started in 2011 and never finished, so first order of business will be to get back to those. Then to start catching up- James and I have, as usual, been busy busy busy on the weekends and taking lots of trips.

Work has been staggeringly overwhelming, in terms of stress and hours on the job. 2011 was probably the roughest year of my entire life, as far as work goes. I've been doing accounting and working in an office since I was out of high school at age 17, and I just turned 45 this weekend. And for me to say that 2011 was the toughest ever, and I really really mean it!!- then I want you to all know I am hoping for better times ahead.

Not only did we have the computer conversion which was grueling and took months, then we had lay-offs that decimated a third of our staff in finance yet did not alleviate any of the work load. The last few weeks I've been surviving on four hours of sleep, Cheetos, and ice cream. It's not much of a life right now, but I wholeheartedly appreciate my job and my paycheck. Just trying desperately to find a balance between the hours at work, and the little bit of free time I have at home.

I promise I'll be back on here regularly again, and looking for new blogs to follow. Thanks and Happy 2012!

(Romeo in his Christmas outfit)