And before you moms start snickering at me, let me explain.

And before I explain let me disclaim. I am not trying to complain. I love my job. I am very, very thankful to have my job. I am thankful to have wonderful people to work with and for. My employers strive for excellence. And integrity. And other good things.

But like a mom, I get weary of the many little things that are repetitive and the result of working around other human beings.

I’m supposed to be coming up with a list of the day-to-day things I do but I’m not getting it done very fast. I know what has to be done by the 1st, the 10th, the EOM (end of month), quarterly, annually and all of those things. But just as you get to the end of the day and can’t remember every little thing you did, neither can I.

A year and a half ago we moved into a new building. The office space is about 6 times bigger. There is an increased traffic of about 500%. I’m not exaggerating. I am a phleg/melancholy and we never exaggerate  We are OCD about detail.  (Okay, so maybe sometimes we exaggerate but not right now.) Now when you enter my office you can walk about freely without being in anyone’s space. Hence, it becomes a better place for subcontractors, salesmen, customers, family members, people looking for employment, people looking for the office supply store that used to be there, etc. to drop in.

Let me take a few minutes to show you the new digs. These pictures were taken at open house last summer. Since it was nicely tidied up, for a change. Sound familiar? 

My desk area:

I actually giggled right after the cabinets were installed when I saw how much space I had! It looked smaller on paper, for some reason. But believe it or not, there are times when the surface seems covered with paperwork.

 

Some of the other offices.

 

The conference room:

 

I told them if they build me a kitchen I will cook for them, so the kitchen is a high-traffic area. Not that I cook that often, but there always food or drink to be had.

Cleaning time is 500% what the previous place was, due to increased traffic, Banana Muffin crumbs leading out of the kitchen, traces of powdered sugar on the floor from the Sweet Sixteen donuts, drips on the wall from where the soda can didn’t quite make it into recycle bin accurately, empty pitchers in the fridge because why I don’t know, greasy fingerprints on the chairs in the conference room which doubles as staff meeting room and lunch room.Then there are other things to keep life interesting, like open cabinet doors from a youngster who had to climb up on the chair to reach the cabinet and it’s hard to close the door without pushing yourself off of the cabinet, mopping the bathroom floor every other day, shaking your head in consternation because the kitchen towels are getting stained because someone is washing dirty hands there instead of the bathroom, trying to find time when no one is around to mop the floor so it can dry so it won’t get tracked up.

But anyway, you get the picture. So, if you are a stay-at-home mom and you think it must be nice to be able to leave the house every day and have a job/career, this is a reminder that every job has it’s less-than-rosy aspects.

But thankfully there are things that balance it out. Times of chatting with the rest of the employees every weekly meeting over a snack, chuckling at the cute things my co-worker’s daughter says as she entertains me, laughing over inside jokes that no one else would get, having another lady working in the building, extolling the virtues of Droid vs iphones with my boss’ son, hearing the co-workers delight in the food I make for them.

So now I’ll go bake some cookies to take along tomorrow. That way I’ll have something to do. Like sweeping up crumbs.

Yes, we are officially 1/24 through 2013. Isn’t that thrilling??  Is that forward thinking or pessimistic thinking?? Either way this blog has been pretty neglected the last while. And I’m sure no one will argue with that.

I know you want a blow-by-blow, detailed report of everything I’ve done the last month plus, don’t you? You don’t.  Cue the grumpy cat.

 

Well, good. Because I didn’t want to tell you anyway.

 

 

So now you know why I like the grumpy cat memes. Well, at least a great many of them.

It seems December flew by in a flash. My family was here (except for 1 sister) and we had a good time. Christmas Day was warm and rainy and we were getting a little a little claustrophobic. Seems like since all the grandkids are mid-teens – early 20s Mama and Daddy’s house seems smaller. So we went to our church gym and played volleyball & ping-pong. There was much creaking and groaning and squeals from the aunts and uncles but we all felt better after the muscles quit hurting. The next night it got cold and very windy and our traditional wiener roast at my sister’s house got moved to my parents house instead. And then the house felt downright cozy. Funny how that works.

I thoroughly enjoyed some time off of work. Thankfully construction kind of comes to a stop between the holidays so it usually means I can take a break from work as well.

It was fun getting cards and letters and pictures from people over Christmas. Some have made it to our fridge with those from the last previous years, and some are still waiting to go up.

Recognize anyone??  Does that make you feel like you need glasses? That’s about how my eyes would see it without contacts if I was about 2 feet away.

 

We enjoyed a few days, too, with visitors a.k.a. former neighbors who now live in the frozen tundra district of North Dakota. We enjoyed a sunny day on St. Simons Island. Thankfully it was sunny because it was just cool enough that a cloudy day would’ve been a no-go.

 

We had a gorgeous sunset the other night and I just caught the tail end of it coming home from work. Not bad for a phone camera, eh?

We also had a partial week of meetings that were really good. Merle B from Sioux Lookout, ON spoke on relationships. I had worked in the same mission as him and his family way back in the 90s and so it was really good to hear his sermons, as well as the Merle-stories sprinkled throughout.

 

This one’s titled I’ve Been Loafing. I made oatmeal bread from a recipe through Pinterest. Should I say “on Pinterest” or “through Pinterest?” It turned out pretty good but a little “airy”. Probably should’ve “spanked” it like my mom taught me.

 

 

Another Pinterest recipe I made at work is Crack Bread. It was a great success! The men loved it! I didn’t use the ranch dressing mix but used garlic salt and regular salt in the butter. Served it with marinara sauce and ranch dressing.

 

So, just maybe I can get the blog machine up and going again. And finally post about our Europe trip.

 

 

has gone by in a flash.

It has been a different one from start to finish. Early summer saw us coming back from our Europe trip. A week later the company I work for had open house/ribbon cutting for the building we renovated and moved into and renovated since last summer. More on that later.

A week after that and we began VBS 2012. We had a good week, with 60-88 kids per night. I had the K6 class which was one of the smallest. K6 is kids who are 6 but who have not been thru 1st grade. The classes below and above mine were pretty big so they moved some up and some down. I ended up with kids age 5-8.  I was very grateful for Tabitha and Elizabeth’s help.

The drama team did a great job!!

And the kids are just precious!

On this particular night ^ we had an extra long recess. This young lady said, “Can I go inside. It’s so hot! I’m DYING to go inside.”   

 

About halfway through July my dad had a hip replacement in Atlanta. He’s been wanting to get it done for a number of years and July 2012 was the time. He is doing well, for which we are most grateful!!

And then the end of July I turned the dreaded 4-0 number!!  Yikes! Where has time gone!?! One of my friends said she told her daughter she was going out for lunch for my 40th birthday. The 11-year-old could hardly believe I was 40!!! She said, “She looks 36 and she acts 36.” Totally cracked me up!! I’m not sure where the number 36 came from!

Oh and of course I said not to plan anything big for my birthday so they just planned the Olympics Opening Ceremonies for that evening.  Which I didn’t watch. Sounds like I didn’t miss much.

So anyway, here we are in mid-August already! I did have my camera out and about so here are a few pictures.

Gotta love instagram. I’m fairly hooked. Instagram = the ability to take worthless pictures and turn them into art. Actually, I’m speaking for myself here because my camera phone is rather sorry so it’s fun to “fix them up” and see what can be made of them. Picture quality is the only reason I would wish for an iphone.

When this storm was brewing ^ I didn’t have my good camera with me. By the time I got home, got the camera and headed out again, the sky had gotten less vibrant, for which I was disappointed.

 

One evening recently there was a magnificent sunset! There was so much more colorful clouds than I could even get in one shot. Just totally breathtaking!!

 

Another evening I had taken mys sister to the Jax airport so I stopped by on Jekyll for a little while until a storm came and urged me inland.

It was very, very windy. These birds looked like they were ready for take-off the second I got too close. I actually got pretty close, despite the fact that my skirt was blowing like a flag and should’ve scared them off. I guess patience is a virtue because only a few minutes after I shot these, a lady and 2 young boys came tumbling along and the birds left in a hurry.

The sea oats are at maximum fullness and beauty right now.

Leaving the island and crossing the high bridge.

There was a strange sunset/last light on my way home a few hours later. I had waited out the worst of the very electrical, blustery, rainy weather at Barbaritos restaurant, where I was the only patron.

I call it God’s spotlight.

 

One of these days I’ll start posting some Europe pictures!