'Tis the Season for Christmas!

It is now legal in our house to decorate for the Christmas season.  On Friday we started putting up the outside lights and put up a few decorations around the house.  We finished up the tree decorating and have just a few odds and ends to finish.  I realized that I don't have a whole lot of decorations for the holidays, but I'm okay with that.  I also took some time to update the blog header as well as my computer desktop.  We are so in the Holiday Spirit!  I've even started with the Christmas music on my iPod.  Love, love, love it!

My only complaint is that we as a nation/world forget the true meaning of Christmas.  I am going to put an extra effort in making it a Christ centered holiday this year.  I know that my kids have everyone asking what they want from Santa.  I hope to turn that expectation into what they are giving to others.

In other topics of consideration...have you ever played Apples to Apples?

We played this game with my family at Thanksgiving dinner.  It was the funniest game I have ever played!  In fact, I was laughing so hard I cried!  My two younger brothers both had tears streaming down their faces as well.  I think everyone's sides hurt from so much laughing.  This is one game we are going to invest in!  I really made the evening so much fun for all of us.

Love to all!!!

Thankful Thanksgiving Thursday

I am thankful for so many things and this time of year always brings to mind how blessed I am.

1. I am thankful for my family...both immediate and extended.  I have a husband who loves and supports me, children who are wonderful and loving, parents and siblings that love me unconditionally.  My life would never have turned out this way without their influence on me.
2. The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation is something that I am eternally grateful for.  I don't know where I would be in this crazy life without the knowledge and steadfastness of my testimony of Jesus Christ.  I am grateful that I have the opportunity to learn from my mistakes and become a stronger person.
3. I take for granted that I have a home, a job, and food on a daily basis.  I can't miss the opportunity to say how blessed I am to have these necessities in my life.
4. Books.  Need I say more?  To be able to read and immerse myself in a story and stretch my imagination has been a boon to my sanity in times of trial, depressions, and just plain tiredness.
5. To say that I am grateful for technology seems a bit trite, but I must say that without it, I would not have kept in touch with friends across great distances, preserved memories, or have the job I do today without it.  It has also been a bit of a commonality with Daniel, and as I learn more, we have a greater understanding of each other's interests.
   
6. My dear friends are another treasure that I hold dear.  Although we don't spend as much time as I'd like together, they can always kick me in gear when I am down and need a boost.  They have watched out for me from a distance and close by and stepped in when Daniel couldn't help me.  For that I am ever so grateful.

This is just a few of the things that I have pondered today, on this national day of thanks.  The list could continue on, or I could get extremely sappy and start to tear up at the thoughts of all my blessings.  I hope all have had a wonderful day, ate lots of turkey, even with the effects of tryptophan in your system, and gorged on pumpkin pie.  I also hope that you reflected on what you are thankful for, and had a moment of silent communion to Him who provides for us all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm a bad blogger!

So, yesterday Daniel asks me why I haven't posted for a week now....and all I could say is that I didn't have anything to blog about.  At least he comes here!  I was giving him a hard time that he never looks at what I post, so I could post anything I wanted about him...guess I better behave!

Yesterday I got to be the honorary football coach for the Weber State vs Eastern Washington game.  I wasn't too impressed to begin with, partly because I am not that into sports.  I don't mind a game every now and then, but I don't sit down and watch anything on TV.  It was actually quite a bit of fun.  I took my dad, and we got there about 10:15 am, which the handout stated we were to be there.  We had VIP parking and parked in the first row of the stadium lot, just a few steps from the entrance.  We ended up waiting for over an hour for the girl who was supposed to escort us around showed up.  She was an hour behind and so we didn't get to spend a lot of time eating in the suites before I had to get down to the field.  Here is a picture my dad got of me being introduced as an honorary coach (I'm the one on the right!):

I also got to participate in the coin toss, or other words, I watched them do the coin toss:

We ended up watching the first half from the sidelines and got to walk back and forth across the edge of the field to keep up with the players.  Yes, while very cool, it is not easy to watch the game from there.  They did pretty pathetically the first half, probablly a bit too confident being ranked number 8 in their division nationally.  The second half was much better, and I screamed until my voice hurt.  Unfortunately, Weber lost 26 to 33, and they almost had it tied up by the end of the game until they lost the ball.  Oh well.  It was so much fun to hang out with my dad.  Here he is watching the game from the sidelines.  It was a beautiful day for football game!

Thanks for going with me Dad!  I sure had a good time!

I still haven't heard about the job at the Davis Campus.  I guess that I just need to be patient.  I did get a great compliment from the Vice Provost who responded to a thank you e-mail I sent.  He told me that I conducted myself with poise and aplomb.  I was greatly appreciative of that.  Hopefully I will hear something soon.

Lots of love to all!!!

GNO, interview, and a lot of confusion

Yesterday was the day of my interview for the job at the Davis campus.  It was really short, only about 15-20 minutes, but it seemed like it went alright.  Some people were smiling and nodding, but a couple just looked at me with blank stares.  Kind of weird.  I am not sure how I feel about it, because it was really hard to read.  The Vice Provost who is working on hiring, had heard quite a bit about me and seemed impressed.  I will have to wait and see if I'm offered the job to see what happens then.

Last night I went out with two friends for a Girls Night Out.  We just sat at Training Table for about 3 1/2 hours just talking.  It was so nice to have some grown up time with the girls.  Daniel though we were crazy because we didn't do anything else.  I guess we just need a little chatting time occasionally.

Hopefully I will have answers to the job questions soon and I can start to concentrate on some of my pursuits outside of that area.

Working on the blog

I thought it was time for a new look for my blog.  I found that by changing the width, I have a lot more room for my posts and it just doesn't look as cluttered.  Whoo hoo!  We'll see how it goes.

I have scrapped my photos from Halloween and thought that I would share.  I am so proud of Daniel's prowess in the sewing field.  The kid's looked fantastic and loved their costumes.  What little darlings!

A dreary day

Do your moods match the weather at times?  Today has been really rainy and dreary.  Don't get me wrong, there are days that I adore the rain.  Especially when I can stay home with a good book, curled up on the couch in a fuzzy blanket!  Well, today was not one of those days.  I haven't felt really good the past couple of days...a little dizzy, off center.  I think that I may need to have my ears checked to see if something is up there.  Today the weather just compounded the issue and I've felt a little down and out.  Gray.  That is the best word for it.  Not blue, but gray.

I seemed to suck up everyone else's emotions around me as well.  I talked to someone who was having a hard day at work, and suddenly, my day was just that much harder.  I spoke with someone who was a bit angry, and then, for some reason I was angry too.  I consciously try to avoid doing that, but today was different.  It was as if I could see myself drawn to the dark side of life and wallowed there.

Would today been different had the sun been shining?  I don't know.  I can only hope that tomorrow I will be able to force a better attitude and not let those around me influence how I feel.

Enough waxing poetic, or at least my attempt to.  On Saturday, we went to the African Children's choir at Kingsbury Hall.  Let me just say, it was fantastic and the kids really enjoyed themselves.  We had great seats and I just absolutely loved going to a cultural event and exposing my kids to how they should dress and act.  With Daniel able to get tickets to these events for free on occasion, we definitely will be taking advantage of it.  We had talked about how we both work for universities where cultural events are very reasonably priced and we need to do it more often.  It would be a shame not to take advantage of it.

When a door closes

the Lord opens a window.  Was it just a day or two ago when I was lamenting about the loss of a coveted job?  I think that it was...and yes, I'm still disappointed.  Luckily though, I very quickly got out of my funk last night when I received a call from the director of the Davis Campus of Weber State.  I have an interview next Friday for the campus coordinator position.  After talking with someone from that campus, I can happily say that it doesn't look like budget cuts are going to strike on this one.  I'm not crossing my fingers, but I'm overjoyed that there are other opportunities.

Here is the "rub".  I feel somewhat guilty for looking out for my self and wants/desires.  I would leave my current office in a huge bind, because they too, will not have the ability to hire anyone to replace me.  Not that I'm irreplaceable, but at least right now, I would be.  So, do I look out for something closer to home, (although, not that big of a deal) and more money, more responsibility, or do I take into account what I would be putting others through if I leave where I'm at.   I'm putting the cart before the horse to use a phrase, but I constantly think of things like this.

Well, I'm not going to worry about it tonight.  Or this weekend for that matter.  I am going to enjoy my kids, clean my house, and go to the African Children's Choir at Kingsbury Hall tomorrow night.  We are taking the kids, making them dress up, and enjoying a cultural event.  They have to learn sometime!

A difficult day

Today has been extremely difficult.  After a couple of weeks of waiting, I found out today that the job in the Registrar's office is not going to be filled due to budget cuts.  While I was the top candidate, and would have the job if they could offer it, I am without it because of budgetary reasons.  It has been hard to take, because I was really wanted the opportunity to move up.

I have reflected a lot today about the state of my mind and of the exterior world.  Internally, I am experiencing chaos and uncertainty.  I was so excited to know that I was wanted and that they were thrilled with what I had to offer....but there is a part of me that aches that I won't be able to do it now.

I'm sure that other opportunities will arise and that I will be able to do it.  Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise and that it will allow me to pursue my other interests, gnawing at my soul.  I don't know that there is a certain answer, but this ride has been very interesting so far.  Perhaps I will have something later.

Daniel has been wonderful.  He borrowed a projector and we are watching Ironman on the wall of the family room.  We may need to get something like this for all the time!  It certainly gives it the big screen feeling, while lying on the couch in my jammies.  I don't think that I can express how good it feels to have someone looking out for me and taking care of the emotional needs that seem to be flowing out of me.

While the future is as uncertain as it can be, the ride will be interesting.

New desktops, new blog look

A new month, a new look.  I had to update my desktop as well, so my laptop is sporting these new looks for the month of November.  The first is from Shabby Princess and the other is from the Golden Girls.  I put my Halloween pictures on them, so we have the most current pics of my kids.

I also updated the wallpaper on my iPhone.  I love this creative business!  At least on the computer I feel a bit like I'm in my element. (Blogger won't let me upload right now, so I'll have to try later!)

We had a great Halloween; it was very laid back and so nice weather-wise.  I took the kids out for trick-or-treating and we didn't even need jackets!  It was quiet and a mellow Halloween all the way around in our neighborhood.  We didn't have a ton of kids come to our house either.  We gave out pencils, which just goes to show how geeky we are at our house.  We actually had a number of parents tell us how happy they were to get something other than candy!  The best though, was the little kids, who were so excited to have their very own pencil.  That made it worth it right there.

Today is is stormy, and feels very autumnal.  I think I need the change for my sanity.  I just could do without snow on the roads.