The Day Before Leap Day

Another February, more changes.

I am going through more emotional highs ad lows right now than I would expect. On Saturday, I woke up feeling on top of the world. It was sunny outside, and I had the whole day to do whatever I wanted. I ended up getting to spend some time with my wonderful friend Jen, and then I got to spend a good amount of time by myself shopping and watching TV. As the day got darker, I got really tired and down. Not sure what all is going into emotional fluctuations on days such as this, but this does seem to be typical for me in these later weeks of winter.

So tomorrow is my last day of work. I have had fun, I have stressed, I have worked hard, and I'm better off because of it all. I am also glad to be moving forward. I have always been excited by change. I seem to enjoy the thrill of the unknown... will I get an offer for the job I think is best? Will I be successful in my future role? Will I ever learn to slow down and stop making so many plans and time commitments? I probably won't ever slow down...

Anyway, I am all prepared to be done at work. I have gone through all knowledge handoffs I could think of, I have checked in all equipment that could possibly be checked in early, I have closed any possible projects, and I have taken home most of my personal items. Today, my manager brought by a very nice letter of recommendation/reference which was totally unsolicited. I feel pretty good about where I am right now, and I'm looking forward to what's next.

It also seems fitting that I take this next big "leap" in my life on "leap day". There is a "leap day" celebration at work tomorrow, and then after work, I'm going out for a Happy Hour with coworkers in honor of three of us who are all leaving work. I always love a good celebration...

V-day Scavenger Hunt Answers

I didn't get any responses from my friends regarding where they thought Matt's notes on V-day were hidden. I like this kind of stuff, but apparently I am alone in that...

Anyway, for those of you who like the answers being given to you, here they are:

1. Search first inside an old device where we get political advice.
A: The tape player in the kitchen.

2. To find me is hard, this do not doubt. A light for when all other lights go out.
A: Next to the flashlight in the under-the-stairs closet.

3. I'm so glad that you're my wife, apple of my eye, love of my life.
A: In the fruit drawer of the fridge.

4. I don't like it when you cry, no not at all, but if you do, I'll cushion your fall.
A: The "couch" covered tissue box in the living room.

5. You want to have small babies to kiss, so leave me alone. I'm no help for this.
A: A box of condoms... :-) I'm not telling where.

6. You put me inside a home far too small. A buffalo I am, strong, proud, and tall.
A: An African, hand-carved, wooden sugar bowl in our family room, where Matt keeps an African necklace with a metal charm of his high school mascot, a buffalo.

7. A treat we serve in Brittish style, sometimes it makes our guests smile.
A: Refering to chai, in one of the African teacups that we have on the shelf between our living room and kitchen.

8. I haven't been paid in years, I regret. You probably owe me $60 I bet.
A: The jar where we keep $$ that we pay ourselves for certain things... :-) Not very good about keeping up with those payments...

9. If not for me, I'm not so sure you would have loved Matt Cromer.
A: Matt's guitar case - the first time I saw him, he was playing his guitar, and I thought he was so cute! Matt and I also both had a second idea for this clue - the case for the Simpsons movie DVD. We also bonded over The Simpsons early in our relationship.

10. Come claim your reward you have now won. Let's go out to eat and have lots of fun!
A: No clue here, but we did go out to eat.

And there you have it. The first annual Cromer family scavenger hunt.

The joy of weekends and warmer weather...

It's Saturday! And that means sleeping in, chocolate chip pancakes with Matt, and finally some time to get things done for the day and still have some time left for random fun!

I have two things I need to do today (other than clean, which I'm leaving for next week when I'll be at home.) I have to do laundry, and I have to read for class. Other than that, I've been taking a long break from job hunting since I'm excited about my current lead and it's looking pretty likely. In other words, no job hunting is needed today... Hmm... I do have a collection of 4 phone messages that I have not responded to - seems I let those sit while I dealt with other pressing matters....

I really would like to get outside today, but it's still pretty cold. Maybe it would be best just to get out of the house. It's so sunny and bright - it makes me think of springtime. Maybe I'll make a trek down to the MOA? That is always fun - and I could stop by IKEA? I like shopping on sunny days. I walk faster and smile more. It makes the experience that much more fun. Yay for Saturdays and warmer weather!!

Another day, another dollar...

Today was interesting. Since I had an interview yesterday, I took last night and today off from touching anything remotely related to a job search. This is probably best, anyway, b/c I have spent the majority of my time at work this week getting "job search things" rolling.

So today I was able to get a good amount of information/knowledge transferred and cleaned out, so that was good. I also helped out with a mini-project that the director of our area needed, so I felt good about that...

And here's the interesting stuff...

I did find out that the interview went well from the interviewer's perspective also, and on top of it, some conversations at work led to the director of our area letting me know that if things don't work out with the job I interviewed for, it may be an option to extend my temp contract depending on the work that needs to be done.

What an emotional rollercoaster of a week. I know my co-workers are feeling this, too, b/c my availability affects their workload down the road. It's a bummer that the initial announcement was made, b/c now I'm in the mindset of leaving, and I know that leaving would also take me in a direction that I would love to go...

Anyway, I'm excited for the coming weeks and continuing the interview process. It should be an adventure!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yesterday after class, I came home to Matt and found a collection of Gerbera daisies on the kitchen table. What a sweetie. :-)

So, we were planning on keeping it low-key. I have been swamped with job hunting/school, so I was glad to keep things low-key.

Then today happened.

First of all, I had an interview for a job that seems like it would be a good fit. I got the interview because my wonderful co-worker Holly passed along a job description that her other-half had posted for a position in his office. There are a series of events that need to happen before any offers can be made, so I'll have nothing more concrete to say about that until sometime in March. Anyway, I am really excited about having found such a strong possibility so quickly. (Thanks to Holly.)

Second of all, when I got home today, I immediately ran to tell Matt all of the details of my day (as I typically do). Eventually, he asked me if I had seen my flowers yet. I hadn't looked, but I remembered that the Gerbera daisies had looked slightly lonely in our large vase, so I checked the kitchen table, and lo and behold, the vase was filled with even more flowers. I also noticed that there was an envelope tucked in the flowers, so I opened it and read the note Matt had left for me. Here is what the note said:

"Search first inside an old device where we get political advice."

He had created a riddle-based scavenger hunt for me! (Oh, how well he knows me...) I continued to follow clues to find more clues, until I got to the end. Each clue after the flowers was hidden with a piece of Ghirardelli dark chocolate. What fun! For those of you who are like me, here are the clues Matt left. Comment on which ones you think you know, and I'll post the answers sometime in the future.

1. Search first inside an old device where we get political advice.
2. To find me is hard, this do not doubt. A light for when all other lights go out.
3. I'm so glad that you're my wife, apple of my eye, love of my life.
4. I don't like it when you cry, no not at all, but if you do, I'll cushion your fall.
5. You want to have small babies to kiss, so leave me alone. I'm no help for this.
6. You put me inside a home far too small. A buffalo I am, strong, proud, and tall.
7. A treat we serve in Brittish style, sometimes it makes our guests smile.
8. I haven't been paid in years, I regret. You probably owe me $60 I bet.
9. If not for me, I'm not so sure you would have loved Matt Cromer.
10. Come claim your reward you have now won. Let's go out to eat and have lots of fun!

So, even if you don't know the answers to clues 1-9, clue 10 should be clear enough. Matt and I went out to Chili's to spend the rest of one of our gift cards from Christmas. And we got an appetizer. And we took pictures of each other. And I looked good in my picture. :-)

Altogether, it was a wonderful, beautiful, no bad, very good day.

Good news and sad news

Last night I was able to complete my first paper of the semester in 2.5 hours, and this morning I did some editing before heading into work. I have been thinking about what to write for a week, which helped when I sat down to actually type. I think it went okay, but we'll see when grades are returned.

So here's my sad news... I was in a situation tonight where I felt a bit of rejection. I was actually impressed with how I handled it, and it is clear that I am growing in this area. It had been mentioned a few weeks ago that I was being invited to be part of a particular group of classmates for working on our final project. Nothing was set in stone, but the inviter hadn't clued me in to any changes in plans. I had been asked by someone else to be in their group, but I told them of my previous plans and asked that they keep me in mind, but not wait.

Well, being swamped with job hunting, I neglected to check on my original plans, and tonight it became obvious (in a non-spoken, middle school kind of way) that I was not welcome in the original group. I have my theories as to why, but as I am learning in class, it is never a good idea to assume that I know the interests of others...

So here's my plan: I need to at least touch base with the inviter to make sure we are okay. And even if things aren't okay, I will find a way to deal with it. Ultimately, I don't feel I did anything to provoke harsh feelings, so hopefully there aren't any problems. I just hate leaving the giant pink elephant in the corner with no one to acknowledge him...

Long story short...

My job is ending on Feb 29, so I'm hunting for work, which means more is on my plate. Lots to do, lots to do. I have to write my first paper of the semester tomorrow and finish updating my resume... scrapping was fun last weekend, but I need another weekend to regroup....

On another note, I love my husband so much and think he is so cute. FYI - he posted a fun story on his blog that you all should read. I will blog more after my paper is written and my resume is out on the web...

Caucuses

I just got back from my first caucus. :-) It was an overwhelming turnout. Interesting process, the caucus... It reminded me of a long time ago when I was watching a made-for-TV version of Alice in Wonderland where they showed a scene that satirized caucuses. The scene in the movie involved people running around shelves and shelves of books in a "caucus race". Ultimately, there was no point to the race in the story, and after seeing the craziness of tonight, I can understand why one might view caucuses as such.

I had fun, though. Plus it was a good excuse to take a break from reading/homework. (It was a 2 hour break, though - more than I was expecting.) My precinct ended up supporting Huckabee (which means I attended the Republican caucus). I'll be interested to see how that compares with the rest of Minnesota...

Looking forward to Friday

I, the queen of busy-ness, have succeeded in accomplishing at least one thing this week. I completed the layout plans for 19 single/double page layouts, and I compiled and printed 53 - 4x6, 5 - 5x7, and 5 - 8x10 photos. This is much more work than one might think, and I am glad to know that my pictures are ready for the weekend.

Now I will most likely not get through all 19 layouts, but I need to be prepared. What if there is a layout that I don't want to work on? I need a backup plan. Or maybe a selection of backup plans. Can't be too prepared, can I?

On to other things... I have a list going for this week. 32 hours of work (8 completed), finish reading my book for class (I'm slow, so this could be about 4 hours...), read my articles for class (1 hour), journal for class (2 hours, spread out), write my paper for class (~5 hours)...

I'd like to pause and mention that I'm starting to notice a trend...

Back to the list. Laundry. Clean the clutter mess that is forming in my upstairs. Call Grandma (since I was too distracted to call her on her birthday, which was Sunday). Coordinate rides for Friday with my carpool. Organize scrapping supplies for the weekend. Speaking of which, I think I need to buy a rubbermaid bin for some of my larger loose items. Clean cat litter. Call Mom - this one is way overdue. Go to class on Wednesday night. Go to Allison's on Thursday night. Exercise daily - 30 minutes - that's not too much... evening devos with Matt and God. Morning Devos with God. Prep for volunteer training. Lunch with past roomates from BSC...

I almost forgot. I need to eat dinner at some point. And sleep. And blog. And answer emails from friends... and...