12

No that is not how many readers I have lost due to the length of time since my last post. That is approximately how many boxes I have left to unpack. YEA!! Unfortunately I am down to boxes that I moved from my old old house four and a half years ago or boxes that I don't have a good spot to the stuff in them just yet. I am thinking that means I have AT LEAST 12 boxes too many.

I have been moved for about two and a half weeks now and things are finally starting to come together. I have found my shoes (which all but three pairs were lost for the first week). I lost all my dirty laundry until yesterday. Fortunately I (being a single person) can get by with doing laundry about once a month as opposed to once a day. :-) It is found now and I really should have run the washer tonight.

I never realized how much stuff I have until the movers dropped off all of my furniture and six million boxes. Good grief there were a lot of boxes! I should know... the broken down empty boxes are still sitting in my garage. It is times like these when I remember why my family never moved in all of my years growing up. Quite simply, we are pack rats and it's way too much trouble for pack rats to move.

I fully intend to get rid of at least a few things as I get everything settled but at this point I am still trying to get it all put away so I can get all of the boxes out of my house... and I will figure out what to get rid of later on.

I promise to put up some pictures but if I put up pictures now you would all just think I was a very poor housekeeper. The place is pretty dirty. Cleaning has not taken a priority since I moved and it is almost embarrassing. Amberly, Sarah, Abby Grace and their Grammy came over Sunday night after church and I was so happy they came but felt kind of bad that (a) the place was so dirty and (b) that I had not been to the grocery store since I moved.

Hopefully before too long I will be able to improve my role as house keeper and hostess...

Job Update - Two weeks down...

It has been a busy couple of weeks around here and I'm sorry I haven't updated you all on my job situation. Things are getting better every day. I have read more in the past two weeks than I have probably read in the past year. When I look bored or ask if there is anything I can look at, I get something new to read. Yippee. I realize that is the only way to get background information but I find it rather boring. I'm not much for sitting still and when you are reading that is about all you are doing.

But last week I did have a few tasks and I was taken to a few meetings... so things are looking up. Most people would find the tasks rather mundane and boring... but I was just happy to have ANYTHING real and tangible to work on. I have no clue what tasks I will have this week and hopefully that doesn't mean there is nothing for me to do. I knew from the start that I was coming in at a slow time but I don't think I have ever been this un-busy at a job in about ten years.

Oh well. The people are still great... the subject matter is interesting and I know that eventually they will give me more to do. They did hire me for a reason right? :-) In all seriousness, my boss told me that there is going to be some shuffling of duties around the first of April and after that I will have more responsibilities. So until then I just have to keep trying to impress him and make sure he realizes I can do it and would really like something to do. :-)

On the other side of things... this is going to be a busy week. I closed on my new house in my new town last Friday and I will be moving in this Friday. I am getting more excited (and stressed) about it... but I will share more about that as it gets closer to the end of the week.

The End of an Era

Well "era" is probably too strong of a word... but Friday was my last day at my job. I have been there for four and a half years and almost ten years if you count the time I worked as a student. It has been a great experience for me but I have decided to move on. There are some parts of me that thought yesterday would never happen and I know that many of my family and friends were not sure I would ever leave... but I did leave... and Monday starts a new phase in my life.

But let's back up to Friday first. Friday was time for my going away party! I really do not like being the center of attention, so I was a little nervous about the party. I got even more nervous when people started asking me what I was going to say in my speech (you mean I have to give a speech?!?!). And my nerves reached a new level when they closed me in my office and said, "wait here until we come and get you."

When they did come and get me I was brought into a room filled with people who I knew and who I had worked with over the past ten years. Most were faces from my immediate office area, others had traveled several hours to be there. I was blown away!! I was expecting a small party with a few people, maybe a cake and maybe a small gift. They totally exceeded my expectations.
This was the most unexpected face that I saw.

I'm not sure if anyone remembers this post from last December but this is my retired trooper friend, Captain K, who I was so surprised to see at the conference last year. I did not squeal this time... but only because I had a room full of people staring at me. He traveled several hours just to be there yesterday, just for me. That made me feel very special. It was so thoughtful of the people who organized the party to think to invite him and it was so sweet of him to make the effort to be there.

My best friend Leslie was of course there...

I know I will see her plenty even after I move, so yesterday is certainly not going to be the last time I see her.

Over the past year or so, I have gotten to be very good friends with our Administrative Assistant Elizabeth.

I am going to miss her a lot and I think she is going to miss me as well. We are right about the same age and so we have had no trouble finding things to talk about and laugh about at work. I am sure we will stay in touch after I move as well.

I don't have pictures of everyone but I do have one more to share. This is one of my professors from undergrad, Dr. Dan. I have known him since I was a little kid and he was friends with my grandparents. Whether he knows it or not, he has been a big influence on my life over the years.


The folks that organized the party totally outdid themselves. Here was the cake that they got... it was huge and quite tasty.


Given that I work with a relatively small group, there were lots and lots of people that came to the party and I was happy to see each and every one of them.

I got two beautiful gifts from the group. I got a beautiful Lenox crystal vase and I will think of them every time I see it. I think I already know the perfect spot for it in my new house. I also got this great framed print.

It is a notable landmark on campus and it will look great hung with my college diplomas. Leslie also got me a sweet Willow Tree figurine of two friends. It is very special to me and is already sitting on my fireplace.

I did make it through my speech, although it was completely off the top of my head. I should have prepared a little more for that but it turned out okay. The party was a lot of fun and for the record, I did not cry. I almost cried during Dr. Dan's speech and during Captain K's speech but I held it together. There are certain things that will always make me cry but apparently this is not one of them. No one is dying, no one is sick, no ones dog died... I am just moving on. It will of course be different but I feel like I will see all of these people again one day. And with the world of communication where it is, staying in touch is so much easier than it was even a few years ago.

So on Monday morning, I won't be going to the same office where I have been going every day for the past four and a half years. I won't be seeing the same faces I am accustomed to seeing. Here are a few of the faces I am accustomed to seeing every morning. These are some of the programmers that I have worked with.

I am sure I will see them all again, but for now I will have to make new friends, find new people to laugh with, new people to bounce ideas off of, new people to complain to, and new "work" friends to have adventures with. I will be the new girl who knows nothing, knows no one and won't even know where the bathroom is. It's a little scary... and a little sad... but I think it is for the best. At least I sure hope so.

Ch... Ch... Ch... Changes

I am not a person who likes change. In fact, I DISlike it and typically avoid it. I like the rut that I tend to live in. But change is not always a bad thing... and the past week has certainly been a week full of changes.

Last Friday I got a job offer that I had been hoping for in a town about an hour away. It's all been a blur since then. Last weekend I made pro and con lists for both jobs and both cities and eventually decided to take the new job.

Monday was definitely the worst day. I thought I was going to throw up on my bosses desk when I walked in to turn in my notice. I did not throw up and I felt about 1,000 times better after I finished telling him. Then I was able to call and formally accept the new job. I spent most of the day on Monday telling people what I was doing. None of them were easy to tell but I felt a lot better when it was over. There was nothing anyone could say that was going to change my mind at that point, so it was just a matter of getting it over with. By Monday afternoon, I had called a real estate agent to get my house on the market. We made an appointment for Tuesday afternoon so I spent hours and hours Monday night trying to get my house cleaned up, straightened up and de-personalized.

On Tuesday afternoon, I met with the real estate agent and talked things over. We made another appointment for Thursday afternoon for him to take pictures and get it on the market. By Thursday night, there was a sign in my front yard and my house was officially "For Sale." It makes me kind of sad. I love my house. I have lived here for four and a half years and I have a lot of great memories here. But it is time to move on. And so we are.

I have started looking for new houses and while I am not sure if I have found the perfect house quite yet, only time will tell. I hope to go look at several next weekend. While I need to sell mine first, I am hopeful that that will happen quickly.

So it has been a busy week, with almost every spare moment spent cleaning something or straightening something or hiding things in the closet or under the bed that you don't want a potential buyer to see. :-) The next few weeks are going to be filled with more changes and more decisions, but hopefully they will all be for the best. I am excited about this move (both professionally and geographically) and I think it is going to be great. There are sure to be bumps along the way, but hopefully there won't be anything that cannot be overcome.