Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Everytime you think you got it goin' on...

I know it's been a long time since I posted last. I truly could not be lamer. (That's a word right? Lamer? ... I think it means big fat slacker) Anyway - a lot has been going on since Halloween - which seems like decades ago by the way - even though it was actually less than 60 days. Just be prepared for a super-dee-duper long post today. :o)

So things were starting to settle down, Tim and I moved into our new house. Well, it's new to us, in reality it’s an older house built in 1978. I think I mentioned all about this already. So we moved in the weekend before Halloween. And we thought it would be fine to rent it even though they are leaving it on the market. It was sitting empty for 10 months before we moved in and hardly had any interest in it. Of course, now that we've moved in, it's been shown 4 times. .... I guess all we can do is hope nobody wants to buy it. In the meantime, we are really enjoying living there. We're all spread out and there's so much space! We just love it.

We hosted Dad's 50th Birthday at our house, which was a really great time. Lindsey, Taylor and I all sat and put together Jeopardy questions that revolved around Dad. So for example, some of our categories were: Chuck Jr, Songs & Daughters, 1979 Billboard (that's the year he graduated high school), Charles & Chucks... I mean you get the drift. And it was so fun! We put all the categories on the whiteboard so everyone could pick one as we went along. It was really neat and I think everyone really enjoyed it. I think pictures exist somewhere, but they are not on my camera so I'll have to get them and then add to this post.

And then of course, there was Thanksgiving, which was fabulous as always. Mom & Dad just recently moved into the shop and she has made it look really nice. Surprised us all actually, that place hasn't looked so good in a long, long time. We had Thanksgiving dinner there and I made the cutest Trifle! Dang, I don’t have those pictures either. Okay - that settles it, I need to find out who's got all the pics and get them on my computer so I can add them to my blog. My book won't be complete until I get those photos in. Anyway - the Trifle was super easy and looked so fun. Can't wait to show you!

Another activity that I think is noteworthy - My Grandma on my Mom's side (aka: Annie) has a sister who just turned 80 years old named Mary. Well, they've started this little tradition where, each time someone turns 80, everyone in the family thinks of a cute creative way to give them $80 cash in $1 bills. So a couple years back when her husband turned 80, we put together a scrapbook page of our family (because we don't see them ever - actually - I've never met them.). And we included the money as part of the pages. It was fun. So for Mary's birthday this month, we did a Christmas theme. I bought one of those styrofoam circles to make wreaths and I used the one dollar bills as the decoration. I wrinkled each of them up and used a straight pin through the middle of the bill into the wreath and then bought decorative stuff like holly and flowers and stuff to accent. Oh my word, I have never been so thrilled with the way a project turned out. Again, - very annoyed that I don’t have my pictures... I'll add pics of this too because it was just to die for.

This also was the 1st Annual Cookie Swap. I mean, I've been going to Rachel's party up in Cedar Park for a few years, but since we live down here now - I thought it would be fun to start one of my own. So I sent out invites and had some girls over. It was fun - hopefully the word will get out and next year will be a better turn out. I had to do it this year on a weekend due to scheduling conflicts, which was not ideal so a few people had to do other stuff this close to Christmas. But it was a good time and the cookies were delicious!

And finally - the big news that inspired the title of this post - we found out this month that my employer will be closing down at the end of December. I am the Office Manager at a Drug & Alcohol Recovery center and I love it. I truly love it and I was heartbroken to hear the news. Apparently, the Fire Marshall is closing us down because there are changes that we have to make to bring it up to code. The owners have already invested a lot of money and the changes would just be too costly. They are closing the doors, unless by some miracle we can find a buyer. Which, by the way, is what I am SINCERELY hoping for. I love it here and this is such a great program and has done so much good for so many people. It would be such a waste for it to close down. It sounds like they are going to be keeping a skeleton crew on until the end of January so they can let the residents finish out their stays. But after that, it's all over with but the cryin' unless they find a buyer.

On a side note, there is kind of a sister company that manages the aftercare of residents if they want to go into Sober Living Homes and they are located on property as well. I just got hired on as their bookkeeper, along with managing the office here and I love it! I was really upset because I haven't had enough time to really learn accounting yet. I still have so far to go and this was a great opportunity for me. But today, I found out that they are going to keep me on, even if MHR goes down. I'm pretty excited about that! It will be part time of course because it is a very small company, but I'm just excited that I get to keep learning accounting!

Oh and one more thing - Adoption Update - (not much going on) we should be doing our Orientation with an Adoption Specialist from LDS Family Services here pretty soon. Probably after New Years since things are so hectic around this time of year... but we're pretty excited to get on with it already!

Well, I hope this post finds everybody happy, healthy and enjoying their Holiday Season! Have a great one, and enjoy your family! I will be working hard to keep the spirit of Christmas in my home this year and not get all wrapped up in the hoopla! I hope you're able to do the same. :o)

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