My parents left yesterday morning. I was very sad. :( Here's how the day went...
Mom & Dad were up at 4 AM to head out the door by 5 AM. This is how I looked yesterday morning at 4:30 AM (minus the coffee cup):
I was so sad to see mom & dad pull out and drive away, but I was tired enough that about two minutes after they left, I looked like this:
I got up around 8 AM and went to work and, thankfully, I only had one moment in the evening where I looked like this (I was by myself, so no one witnessed the meltdown, thank goodness):
It's always great to have mom & dad here. I'm so sad that we live so far apart from each other (my fault!), but I'm so glad that they take time to come and see me!! I always love their visits and am sad to see them go. I am doing much better today and feel more like my normal self again, thank goodness. So, I'll be glad for the memories and I'll just look forward to the day when we live closer to each other again. :)
We had a great time while they were here, but we really didn't do much of anything except shop and take a road excursion through the mountains. Other than that, we just rested and relaxed. It was nice! I'm glad that they can come here and just relax like that. It didn't help, either, that it was SO hot while they were here!! We're not big fans of hot weather, so most times we ended up feeling like we didn't want to do anything except stay in front of the fans! haha! But we enjoyed our time together and had fun. I love them very much! :)
All for now!!
I'm sorry that I've become such a terrible blogger. I had been thinking about giving up blogging, but I don't think I will for now. I just might not post as often. Every week, though, I'm plagued by, "Oh, I should probably blog this week!!" so please don't think that I never think about blogging! haha! :)
My mom flies here this Tuesday and I'm very excited about that. I'll get her all to myself until Father's Day and then Dad will pull into town that day. They'll both be here together for about a week and will head back to WI after that. So I'm not sure how much blogging I'll do during their visit, but we'll see. Of course, after they leave, I'll probably need about two weeks off of blogging just so I can go through my regular bout of depression after parting ways with them. haha! Oh, I imagine it won't be that bad, but you get the point...I love seeing them and am always sad to see them go!
Work has kept me extremely busy for quite some time now. I know that I posted that same song at the beginning of May, but it's true. As I mentioned before, we've been short-staffed since early March so I've been the only full-time person in the office (usually there's two full-time and one part-time person) and it sure does take a toll on a person. I feel worn out and tired all the time! And it doesn't help that I want to "take care" of everything and that I just worry about so many things in the office that need to be done. I think that is what wears me out the most even though I really DO try to "let it go" at the end of the day and on the weekends. But it's amazing how it just wears you down. And for it to be like this week after week after week...well, I'm afraid it puts me in quite a foul mood most of the time. *sigh* I am so glad that I have a job and that I like my job (really! I do!), so I don't want to complain about it too much. It just can't be perfect all the time, can it? :)
But, on the flip side, I'm so glad for good times with friends on the weekends and in the evenings. It helps me to keep my perspective and to relax, too. It's especially great because it usually involves a LOT of laughter and that is always a good de-stresser for a person!!! : )
So, I'm sorry, again, for being such a bad blogger. I realize that it's been a month since my last post, but it honestly feels like it went by in just a blink of the eye. With everything going on in the month of June, I'm sure that will happen to me again. I guess in June I'll just try my best to live IN the moment and to ENJOY each moment and I will let you know all about how it went as soon as I can!! :) Until then, take care!
The title of this blog post pretty much sums things up since my last post! From birthday parties, to potlucks, to graduations, to work, and then company at my house, I have been BUSY!! But it's all been a "good busy," so I'm not complaining!! :)
Tomorrow, we have four college students from our church group who are graduating from college, so there's going to be a party in the afternoon for them. It's always a bittersweet experience...so sad to see them go, but wouldn't want to hold them back from where they're headed to next! I have to be excited for them for the next phase of life, too.
Well, it had been four weeks since I applied for that job in Wisconsin and I hadn't heard back so I e-mailed them. They wrote back and said that they had conducted phone interviews (I never got called) and that they were getting ready for on-campus interviews. *sigh* She said, "If we complete the interviews and no one is hired, we will re-review the applications we received." So I stand maybe a 1% chance of someone NOT being hired and THEN they call me?!? haha! Probably not going to happen, so I'm back to being content with being HERE for awhile longer. :)
I revisited the Master's degree thing again this week! I decided that I need to pay off some debt before I could even consider getting a degree. Some of you who have facebook have already seen this, but what I discovered is that when I did a loan calculator thing and figured out a loan for $23000 (the cost of tuition for the degree I'm interested in) at 6.8% for 10 years, my monthly payment would be $265. That's a lot better than I thought it would be! But I can't afford that right now with the current debt I have, so I'm going to work on that first and then reconsider in two years. :) I also discovered that a 10 year loan at 6.8% tacks on about $8,000 in interest. A 20 year loan would cut my monthly payment down to $175/month, BUT...it also tack's on over $19,000 in interest. YIKES! Regardless, if I do ANY kind of loan like that for something like this, I need to be a little better with the debt I have, so that's what I'm working on now! If only the University had a Master's program that I really liked, then I could just take a class at a time and make THEM pay for it (it's a perk of my job!). Hmmm...maybe I'll have to FIND a Master's degree with them that I'm happy with. haha! :) In the meantime, I might take a course in the fall, just for fun. Maybe that will take care of even wanting to go back to school for a Master's degree. hahaha! :)
Well, I have to be to work tomorrow at 7:15 AM to help with the graduation ceremony, so I should sign off here and get to bed. I hope you're doing great and having good days!
PS -- For those of you with blogs, this new blogger update has really confused me with figuring out everything again. Every time I log in to make a new post, it takes me about 5 minutes to find the dumb button that allows me to even MAKE a post! haha! Change is good (sometimes!), but why do they have to be so drastic about it and make it complicated?!?! I imagine I'll figure it out, but for now... me no likey. :)
So, not much is new with me since my last post. Seriously. I live a very boring life, people. But don't get me wrong...I am okay with that. :) But it does lead to lack of ideas for blog posts!
I'm still super busy at work and things are high stress right now for various reasons. High stress enough that I had a little meltdown last week. :( But I worked through it and life goes on. It was just a combination of different events that just kind of sent me over the edge. But I look at it like this...everyone needs a good cry once in awhile and that just happened to be MY day for one! ha! :)
Mom & Dad are planning a trip out here in June, so that's something to look forward to. Mom is going to come out early at the beginning of June and going to my yearly church convention with me, so that will be nice! Then, Dad will come out after our convention and they'll both be here for a week or so. I'm VERY excited about their planned visit! :)
So, I gave my luck a try recently and applied for an Advising job at a university in Wisconsin. I haven't heard anything back from them yet and the job posting has been closed for a little over two weeks now, so I'm not sure if I should be concerned or just trust that they're still making decisions on who they want to bring in and interview!! :o) It seemed like the perfect job up there, so I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring to see what happened. If it doesn't work out, I'm okay with still being at my current job. I just thought it would be nicer to be much closer to family again. I'll be sure to keep you posted on whether or not I hear anything from the job!
Speaking of university's, ours ends its spring classes in just two more weeks! April 27 is the last day of classes and then the week after that is finals week. Yahoo!! I'm ready for this semester to be OVER. It has not been a fun one. It has gone by quickly, but several events have just made it a difficult one (for everyone). Better days are ahead, I hope!!
Well, all for now. I can't promise anymore that I'll be very regular about updating because I just don't enjoy blogging like I used to. But I will update when I can and when the fancy strikes! It just may be only once or twice a month, though. We'll see. So, take care care until next time!
Today was a gorgeous day here! I can't believe how fantastic the weather has been this month. We usually never see weather this nice until mid-May. It's been a real treat! The leaves have started coming up on the bushes and buds are appearing on the trees. Beautiful!! Yes, I know that this is later than what most of you are experiencing, but we are at a higher elevation than most places, so it takes a little longer for these things to happen. :)
It was fantastic to listen again to the birds chirping outside my office window. They had quite the melody to them today. It was very pretty to listen to!
Well, knock on wood, but I think I survived advising week a-OK!! Amazingly enough, this felt like a relatively comfortable year (aka, it wasn't chaotic or exhausting). I'm honestly not sure what the difference was, whether I was more prepared than I ever have been before or because I was more relaxed about how things were going. You see, we're short staffed in the office right now, so my mentality has shifted to, "I'll do what I can do and just be happy with that." There's obviously too much work to accomplish all in one day, so I find that I'm much more relaxed and that I go home knowing I did a good job and knowing that the work will be there tomorrow, too. Hmmmm...maybe this really could be the big difference!! Who knows...
So, there's only four weeks left in the semester and then summer is here!! I find that so hard to believe. Time just flies! I was part of a conversation this afternoon where this woman was mentioning that now that "50 is in her rearview mirror," she is really trying to enjoy every day for what it is and that she is also trying to have a little "me time" every day, too. She said that she has a tendency to get so caught up in life and work and school that she doesn't even appreciate the days. She feels that she's more aware of her age (and that she might not have as many years left as what she's already lived) and that because of that, she just wants to be more appreciative of each day that she's given. I found myself smiling while listening to her and thinking, "I want to do that, too." :) So, here's to a nice, relaxing weekend where we step back, take a deep breath and enjoy the days for what they are.
Not much is going on with me these days. It was advising week this week, so it was a busy time. I anticipate that next week is going to be busier because kids actually start registering and that's when I seemed to get bogged down with work. Oh, well! I'll do what I can throughout the day and go home happy in the evenings. Sounds like a good plan, right? :)
We've been having some GORGEOUS weather in town over the last couple of weeks, so that's been great! I'm afraid that we're going to pay for it in June, though, and then THAT'S when we'll get the snow! haha! With how crazy the weather can be in this town, I just wouldn't be surprised by that. :)
I ordered some girl scout cookies more than a few weeks ago and I've been patiently waiting for my order to arrive. Unfortunately, today did not prove to be the day that they arrived. Maybe next week?!?
And that's all for now! Yes, I know that this is quite a boring post, but that's the way it goes when you're busy during the work week and tired in the evenings. I plan to R&R this weekend and I'm really looking forward to that!! : ) Take care 'til next time! :)
UPDATE: Yes, Monday is looking to be a great day! As soon as I posted this, logged out, and then logged into my e-mail, this is what I found:
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2012
Subject: Girl Scout Cookies
Your cookies have arrived! You may pick them up any time!
Yahoo!! :o)
When I got to work this morning, it was already above 40 degrees outside and the birds were chirping away! By lunchtime, it was in the low 50s. Ahhhhh...the signs of spring! Alas, it doesn't last long around here. Tonight and tomorrow? Rain and snow. Blech. But by Thursday it's supposed to be nice weather again, so I won't complain too much. :)
Next week is spring break at the University and while all the students get the week off, I still have to work. We get our "extra" days off during Christmas, so that's fine by me! :) The week after next is advising week, so I will have LOTS to do next week's quiet time to get ready for it!! I'm a little more nervous about it because we're under more strict mandates to not work extra hours anymore, so while I'd usually put in about 50 hrs. during advising week, now I'm being told that I'll get slapped on the hand if I try to do that. So...we'll see how it goes! The mandate has put me in a position to just not be as helpful as I've been in the past (aka, it's now more of telling students to just figure things out on their own) and, honestly, I'm not so sure I like that. It has, however, lessened my stress quite a bit already, so I guess I can't complain. Anyway, with my track record on posting, the next time I post will probably be in April (AFTER advising week!), so I'll let you know then how it went and how I survived. :)
I've been missing my family quite a bit today. I'm not sure why, really. Well, I know why...because they're GREAT! :) But today was one of those days where I miss them and I find myself shaking my head and asking myself HOW I ended up so far away from them. I always tell my mom, "It turned out this way because I was young and foolish when I made the decision to move so far away!" haha! :) Don't get me wrong...I *love* Wyoming and *love* my job!! Some days, though, I just wish it wasn't so far from Wisconsin.
Any of you watching all of this election hub-bub? I keep watching it and wondering if this will be the first year that I just don't even go out and vote. We'll see! I've voted every year since turning 18, but I'm so disgusted with all of them, anymore, that I wonder why I even bother to put in my two cents. They're all just a bunch of frauds and it seems that all they do is go around in circles and we end up in more and more trouble than we ever have been before. The sad thing is that I know it's not going to get any better and I bet that the people running will just become more and more crooked. It's sad, really. Even though I wasn't even alive during days that I'm about to describe, I can honestly say that I miss the days of honest times and honest people. At least all of the wickedness today inspires ME to be honest and trustworthy!! I hope I'm doing an okay job at that.
Well, all for now. I've been keeping quite busy at work so I'm quite tuckered out by the end of the day anymore. It just makes me so glad for quiet evenings. :) Take care 'til next time!
