Ending 2010--Looking ahead to 2011

It's been a busy and stressful year.  As it comes to a close, I must say I'm glad to see 2010 end.  I have high hopes for 2011. 

We've enjoyed a busy weekend celebrating the Saviour's birth, spending time with family on both sides.  It was great to visit with my parents and family on Christmas Day.  On Sunday, we were able to spend time with Carl's niece and nephews in Provo and we always enjoy our time with them.

This week I also played host to our traditional "Friend's" Christmas party.  The girls I grew up with started a tradition of a Christmas party when we were 11 years old.  In those teen-age years, we typically went caroling (and spent several weeks beforehand practicing and typing up the words).  As time went by it became a Christmas lunch or dinner.  As our circle grew with marriages and babies, it became a family tradition.  We celebrated the 36th anniversary of that first party this week with a pot luck dinner and hours of great visiting.  To my kids, this group is a second family.  It's amazing to keep friendships alive over decades.  We rarely see each other on a consistent basis anymore but we can spend an evening catching up and reminiscing old times together as if hardly any time has passed.  They are wonderful friends!  We miss those who can't make it from time to time but it's a great tradition.


So, looking forward to 2011.  My daughter graduates from high school!  WOW!  It doesn't seem possible and I can't quite figure out where the time has gone.  She's been accepted to two colleges--Miami University in Ohio and Utah State University.  We're waiting to hear from the U and BYU before making her final choice.  I'm excited for her but this year will bring a huge change as she will move out of her childhood home and take the first steps into her adult life.  I hope the year goes slowly until August!

My son will leave on his international trip in just 9 days.  He will spend 28 days learning about and serving the people of Nepal as well as enjoying some adventures trekking in the Himalayan foothills and areas in India.  Lucky boy!  (However, I want those 28 days to pass relatively quickly so I guess the slow part of the year has to go from February to August).  He's also applied to work at Camp Steiner in the Uintah's again this summer.  I'll have one coming home from a summer away as the other packs to leave for school. 

Carl & I will get to practice being empty nesters again this year as Spencer travels during the fall with his school and Caitlin is away.  I don't mind the temporary weeks of relaxed responsibility but I'm awfully glad when they come home again.

I hope everybody enjoys winding down the year and looking forward to the next one.

Passwords

So, do you hate passwords?  I know we need them but I'm always forgetting them.  How many of you tend to use the same two or three passwords over and over again even though all the experts tell you that's not good security?  I know I do! 

We tried updating our cell phone account and changing some settings.  We didn't know the password.  We didn't know the password last time we tried to change it.  So, we keep resetting it and then we keep forgetting it.

As if remembering passwords wasn't difficult enough, what about all those stupid security questions?  My least favorite:  What is your favorite book?  Really?  Changes monthly, weekly and sometimes daily!  If I have to answer that one (some sites don't let you choose your security questions), I put Book of Mormon.  I know it's a title I'll never forget and it's always on my must read list.  If I choose, I like the ones such as What city were you born in?  Not a problem, it will never change since we're only born once.  What is your Dad's middle name works well too.  Another answer that doesn't change.  What was your favorite pet's name is one of those iffy questions.  Anything with favorite can be a problem.

How many of you have these silly security questions showing up on work related sites that other people need access to?  We have several advertising sites we use and more than one person has access and needs access.  Where were you born now takes on a totally different and challenging meaning.  Trying to keep track of where your co-workers were born is a great lesson in geography!

The reason I started thinking about it was I realized I wasn't sure what my password was to get into the blog to make a post.  However, I had my browser "remember" my password and I got in just fine.  Of course, I still dont' know what my password is which means I can only ever enter my blog from my computer but I can live with that (at least until my computer crashes at some future, unknown date--shhhhhh, that could be very soon considering how "mature" this computer is)!@!@!@!@!@!

Spring in the Rockies

What month is it?  May with spring breezes and flowers.  Have you looked outside lately?  How about snow, rain, and cold?  Welcome to Spring in the Rockies!


Interstate 80 was closed twice today due to weather related accidents at Parley's Summit.  In the first one there was no injuries other than to the vehicles and I haven't heard about the second one that happened later in the day.  It looks and feels like winter is still here.


Usually in May, we're flirting with when to turn on the air conditioning.  This year, the heat is still on and it's not a luxury--it's cold!  I'd put all my winter clothes downstairs when we had some nice weather a couple of weeks ago and I had to bring all the long sleeves back up again.  I had the space heater on in my office--which I rarely do in the winter--because I was chilled yesterday morning.


I just hope we still get a spring season and it doesn't turn into summer overnight.

Synchronized Skating World Championships--here we come!

I cannot believe how fast time moves these days.  It's April, although along the Wasatch Front it feels like late February or early March.  The next three days are supposed to be really nice--however, I will be enjoying the climate in Colorado Springs!!!

Why?  Caitlin and I are headed to the World Synchronized Skating Championships!!!  We are soooooooooo excited!!!!!!!  Caitlin skated as a sectional competitor for 7 years and also attended Nationals one year as a competitor.  This is going to be so incredible!!!

What is Synchronized Skating?  Basically, it's a fast-paced drill team on ice and it's fantastic to watch.  Try this link to YouTube to see a sample of what synchronized skating is. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOvlfYAIfUY&feature=related

Enjoy!!!

Olympics junkie

I am an official Olympics junkie.  I think I've only missed three nights of watching at least something about the Olympics for the last two weeks.  I especially enjoy the winter games.  

Of course, we didn't miss a minute of the skating.  Last night Caitlin and I spent the evening with a bunch of skaters from her club and some moms watching the Ladies Free Skate.  What an absolutely amazing competition that was.  My absolute favorite was Joannie Rochette.  It was astonishing watching her skate as well as she did after losing her mom on Sunday.  WOW!  I was so thrilled that Mirai Nagasu took 4th place.  While it's too bad the Americans ended their streak of at least one medal since 1964, Mirai skated an incredible long program and moved herself from 6th to 4th.  That was an incredible place for her to finish and quite frankly higher than she was expected to do.  Watch out in four years!

It makes me sad to realize that the games are done on Sunday and NBC goes back to regular programming.  Which means I'll get a lot more done since I won't be watching so much Olympic coverage.  But I will definitely miss it.  However, one more night of wonderful skating with the show tomorrow night.  Gotta love it.  Can you tell figure skating is my favorite?  Wonder why!!

I'd really love Salt Lake to get the games again someday.  I enjoyed the 2002 games and met some really incredible people.  Caitlin had an amazing experience as a Child of Light which I don't think she totally understands how great even now.  It was an incredible time.

Lazy Winter Day

That darn cold has gone to my chest and given me a horrible cough.  So, I spent the day lazing in bed trying to keep myself from coughing so bad to break something!  At least I could watch the Olympics.  Except for the two different times I fell asleep for about 90 minutes.  That's a good thing I guess-sleep heals.

I really hope I get rid of this cough soon.  When I get a cough, I tend to keep it for 4 to 6 weeks.  I'm just not in the mood right now.  Oh well.

I'm skipping church tomorrow.  No need to spread my cough and cold to a few hundred other people.  Hopefully, another lazy day will get me in shape to go to work on Monday.  Mondays are always busy and its the 15th which means I have payables to do.  Probably the most frustrating part of my job.

Opening Ceremonies!

I'm a winter sports fanatic.  I love the winter games.  It's not surprising since my daughter does figure skating.  It's hard to believe that 8 years ago on the second Friday in February, I was actually driving out to Rocky Mountain Raceway to pick up my 8 year old "Child of Light" after Salt Lake's Opening Ceremonies.  What a crazy time that was.

And how time flies.  Eight years ago, I was hoping to go to Vancouver (should they win the bid) and attend the games as a spectator.  Oh well!  I'll be glued to my TV for the next 16 days (except for the hours I have to be at work.  Darn!)  

My favorite sport is obviously figure skating.  I've really enjoyed following the Grand Prix events on Universal Sports so I know what programs are planned.  It's going to be fun to see who has a good skate and who falls apart.  

I also really enjoy watching the alpine events as well as the nordic events.  We went to Ski Jumping during the 02 games and it was a lot of fun.  The only events I'm not super interested in is hockey--men's or women's--until the medal rounds--and then only if the US is IN the medal rounds.  Curling is still way down on the list but if I understood the rules, maybe it would be more interesting.

Tonight's ceremonies were really good and classy.  I loved all the special effects with the lighting, etc.  It's too bad they had a little bit of an issue with the cauldron and I kind of thought the outdoor cauldron lighting was almost anti-climactic, but overall it was an enjoyable way to spend an evening.

So, what is your favorite winter sport?  Do you plan to watch the Olympics at all?

Quilt Night!

It's the second Thursday of the month.  Quilting night for me!!  I'm working my way through 14 baby quilts--one for each grand niece or nephew (including two on the way).  I'm way behind.  I have completed 4 and I'm working on two others.  Unfortunately, my nieces and nephews keep having children and getting me further and further behind.  I declare a moratorium on the next generation until I'm caught up.  Of course, that probably means no more children ever but oh well!

I'm not sure why or how I got so interested in quilting but I really enjoy it.  I'm too busy to get it out at home (which is why it is taking me so long to catch up).  So the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month, I wheel my sewing machine with quilting bag strapped on top out the door and over to the church.  There's a small group of women who come twice a month to work on various quilting projects and we have a great old-fashioned quilting group.

A few years ago, I started a couple of quilts through a quilting class at a great quilt shop:  Elaine's Quilt Block.  That got me confident enough to start a baby quilt when my niece Safire was expecting her first baby.  She's named after me (my sister and I gave our daughter's each other's name as the girl's middle names), so I thought it would be so nice to do a quilt for her.  I was somewhat overconfident.  I kept running into difficulties because I couldn't figure out how to do things so the quilt would sit for several months before I'd try to get a little more done.  My sister teased me I would finally get it done in time for the baby's high school graduation and quite frankly, she was probably spot on with her prediction.

Then my church started a quilting group for people interested in learning how to quilt.  Great idea!!  The problem is they kept working on these really cute quilts that taught various skills so I kept wanting to work on those, too.  I finally put those aside and concentrated on only the baby quilt.  Of course, by this time, my niece was expecting twins and her brother was expecting his first baby and I felt like I should do quilts for everybody.  WHY?  

So last summer, I finished the three quilts for Safire and a cute duck quilt for my youngest grand-nephew.  Four done!! Yippee--only eight more to go.  My quilting group at church started on the cutest paper piecing quilt that I thought would be perfect for another grand-niece--big sister to the youngest.  So now I'm working on that.  It's been a challenging quilt but it's getting close.  In the meantime, though, two more nephews announce babies are on the way.  WHAT?  You can't do that.  I'm not caught up.  By the time I get all of them done, it may be wedding quilts for my oldest grand niece and nephew.

But I'm having a good time and that's all that matters.  Safire's kids enjoy their quilts and I'm so glad.  Hopefully, I can start working a little faster and get more done and get caught up.  I'd really like to get the two newest arrival's quilts done before they make their appearance in late June and early August.  Wish me luck!

I really hate viruses!

I don't mean the computer kind. I mean the microbial kind. I have a cold. An old-fashioned cold. My head hurts, my throat is sore, my nose is stuffed up or running depending on the moment. My voice is scratchy and I just feel lousy.

You know what they say, take a cold medicine and you'll feel better in 7-10 days OR don't do anything and you'll feel better in a week or so. Guest that means for the next week or 7-10 days, I get to deal with an annoying microbe from the rhino-virus family.

Luckily, I must have had a premonition. I stocked up on pocket size Kleenex packages. I should have grabbed some hand sanitizer at the same time. I'm not a hand-sanitizer fan but this is definitely an appropriate time to use it.

Oh well. I'll try to stay hydrated and keep the Kleenex close. The main thing I'm not looking forward to is trying to get any kind of decent sleep. I doubt a good night's sleep is in the cards any time soon.

Anybody have any good homeopathic remedies?

We are staying!

During this unemployment journey, we looked at moving away from Salt Lake. There are a lot of great things about moving--new places to see, new friends to make, and more. But leaving also means packing up my house. Nope! Don't like that thought at all. Way too much work!!! Of course, throwing out all the junk is a great plus--but I can actually do that if I stay here. It's just not as much fun that way.

During the first week of January, we received an offer from a firm in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Carl has actually traveled there several times over the years and has friends there so it wouldn't have been a bad place to go. Caitlin was excited about the increased skating opportunities. But.....it wasn't the right time. So we turned that job down. It was a "sick to your stomach" moment since we'd been unemployed for 6 months at that point. But it was the right decision.

Anyway, we are staying in Salt Lake. We don't have to move at all which is nice. I enjoy living next door to my parents--one of the best things about where I live. The kids can stay in the schools they enjoy--especially since they are both in high school now. Tough to move in high school so I'm awfully glad they don't have to do that. I get to stay in my job which is also a plus. I work with some great people so I'm glad I get to stay too.

I'll have more on the details as they get finalized. But YES! We're staying!!!!

And after 7 months.....

We finally are employed again (almost)! Wow!! What a ride the last few months have been. Luckily, life is settling down to a new normal that looks pretty promising.

Here is a quick snapshot of the changes we've gone through:

July 15, 2009--Carl is laid off! Boy, isn't unemployment fun! Actually, I really enjoyed him being home more. That was a totally unexpected benefit.
July 16, 2009--Lisa goes to work full time! Good thing Carl is home more!!
August 24, 2009--Kids go back to school!! Unfortunately, not a good experience for everybody.
October 5, 2009--Carl starts as a contract engineer with BD Medical! Whew!!
October 7, 2009--Carl's severance package runs out! Called that a bit close didn't we?
October 17 & 18, 2009--Caitlin competes at Regionals as an Intermediate skater. She was happy with her skate which was her goal.
October 23, 2009--Spencer leaves the public school system which has been a awful experience for two years and finds a new home at Realms of Inquiry!! After a bit of a rocky start, he's settling in nicely.
November & December--The holidays! 'Nuf said!!!
January 1, 2010--I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad to be out of 2009!!!! Terrible year!!!
January 7, 2010--Spencer leaves for Israel for 28 days with his school. Mom was a bit of a basket case worrying about how he was going to cope until he actually walked through the security line and then Mom figured there wasn't anything else she could do.
January 15, 2010--Spencer sends best friend an email. Does NOT send anything to his mother!!! Good thing he's 9 time zones away!!!!
January 17, 2010--Spencer redeems himself and sends an email. Yeah!! He's having a terrific time.
February 4, 2010--Spencer arrives home safely after 19 hours in the air and two layovers.
February 4, 2010--Carl receives a job offer.
February 5, 2010--Carl receives a second job offer. Wouldn't you think that was great? It was--except this was a really hard decision. We wavered nearly hourly all weekend long.
February 8, 2010--Decision made--just need to finalize the paperwork!!!

Wow!! What a year. Those are the highlights! Now, if we could only get some snow.......