Friends? NOT!

As soon as I snapped this picture they jumped from the chair like... DOGGONE IT! She caught us sharing a chair!

SO ready to be home....

I'm going to head home tomorrow as soon as we are finished, I'm so looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and hugging my husband. I'm definitely a home body. I need to get into my store ASAP and get things moving in a positive direction to prove I can do this again but I am really hoping that I won't have to travel again anytime soon.

I need the familiar things in my life at the end of a hard day of work. Some things have changed but for the most part they are the same with this company. Training is definitely a lot better this time around.

Adele is coming to pick me up for a dinner out and it will be nice to see her again.

Sue Smith our neighbor for 11 years when we lived on Breezewood road passed away yesterday. Greg will be quite upset as she was an "Extra" Grandma to him. She has been quite ill the past few years so it's not a surprise but she was definitely a good part of our life for all these years and we will miss her.

Scott says that Tesla is missing me really bad and has been looking throughout the house for me everyday. And he has been taking frustration bites on Scott's arm. Poor kitty!

Home UH sweet home.....

It's NOT the best in town and it's quite smelly. I hate getting a smokers room and am so ready to go home to my own smoke free home and and my feather pillows. Foam GLOBS just don't cut it for pillows. I'm hoping to drive home Wednesday night instead of Thursday morning. I don't mind traveling and learning new skills but I would much rather be at home each night. Four more nights here... I guess that I can make that. I'm learning so much!

Day 1

Today is the first day of training. I'll be going to the Douglasville store today and tomorrow. I'm glad that someone else will be driving today. I'll add to this post tonight.

I was too exhausted last night to add to this post so I'm doing it this morning. The training thus far is fantastic! By the end of the day I had a wicked head ache. I need to be sure to get more water to drink today. It's going to be another long info day today with Sarah in Douglasville. I'm really missing Scott and our comfy bed and our wonderful feather pillows these foam things are horrible!

Atlanta Bound!

I'll be going to Atlanta today for a week long training session for my new position. I'm excited, nervous and a bit fearful but I must be good at Managing as I keep getting these positions so I'm determined to succeed this week and in the future. The added income will help us pay things off quicker and build a nest egg so we can actually retire by the time we are in our 60's. I'm taking the lap top so I can "report from the road" so to speak and I'm taking the small digital camera to catch some pictures along the way as well. Better get rolling!

STL ONCE MORE!

I'm am the new store manager for the Columbia location of Jo-Ann's! It's going to be hard work but I've done it before and I can do it again and this time I'm getting REAL TRAINING! YEAH!

Still Waiting

I didn't hear a word about my possible promotion yesterday but the DTL was busy in meetings all day and it was a Holiday so perhaps she will call me today. I hope so as she had said to plan on it as a go through and to plan to be in Atlanta on Thursday. If she doesn't call me today I will regret planning for it as I will have lost hours at the store I'm at currently as I didn't want to leave them in the lurch by not saying anything until the last minute. The store manager where I am at now recommended me for the job so she is all for me succeeding. I went into the store yesterday on my day off to help with some last minute freight shoving to get it out of the stock room. Inventory is tomorrow and it was a sale weekend so today will be recovery BIG TIME. I am so glad that this is a once a year thing. Timing really kind of stinks though as my leaving this store for the other store is occurring at the same time as Amanda's two weeks vacation so Denise and Julia will be picking up my slack at this store... mostly Denise (who recommended me for the position at the other store). So it's still really a wait and see as far as I am concerned - nothing is EVER 100% definite.

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace was always my Grandma's favorite hymn. The title of this post is a link to an absolutely fantastic rendition of this beautiful Hymn.

A little hat to match

I made this hat to match the poncho and I think it turned out adorable.

Tropical Poncho

I just finished making this little poncho. I have enough yarn left to make a floppy brimed hat to match it so now I am on a quest to find a pattern.

Happy Valentines Day !

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Valentines Day. I am working 7 AM to 3:30 PM today. Trying to get myself awake at the moment; had a "lovely" surprise from Tesla on the table this morning. He evidently thought the greenery on the roses would be yummy and that he could then offer up two not ONE pile of upchuck for me - one on the patterns I had traced from a book on doll clothes and another one on our TAX PAPERS! Luckily I could pull the tax papers from their envelopes and lay them flat to dry out; the patterns I had to throw out. I have moved the roses to the top of the refrigerator and as soon as the papers are all dry I will move them to a safer location as well. AH life with cats.

Scott was talking about shifting some things around in his Garage EEERRRrr SHOP today. Anytime he is working on a project like that I cringe as it usually ends up with pain and/or a trip to the Doctors Office. It's times like these that I really miss Greg; he could help Scott move things so that he wouldn't strain muscles and such.

Greg got his computer that we picked up for him and he is loving it. He is hoping to get Internet access soon so that he can read email and look things up that interest him. Yesterday we got 2 letters from him; he said that even though we talk nearly everyday now he still loves to get mail. I need to try to write him a note more often and perhaps a funny card once in awhile. I'm planning a Leprechaun Surprise for him in March. And I still owe him a batch of No-Bake Cookies.

Better get rolling - I'm opening on my own this morning with just verbal walk throughs. I hope I remember everything that has to be done to open. They have GOT TO have some kind of opening procedures written down in a book somewhere but that was not shared with me. If all else fails I'll call Amanda and wake her up.

My Sweet Valentine

Look what greeted me on the table tonight... aren't they BEAUTIFUL! Scott said he didn't want to get caught in a line with Bozo's that waited until the last minute and all they could get was a can of Spam.

GREG is doing GREAT!!

Greg is doing so well. He has scored 90 and above on all his tests so far and he is so excited about all that he is learning. He is so looking forward to coming back home again though and says that he wishes he was home on every call. He is learning that no matter where you go there will be jerks to make bumps in your days and harass you. He is talking a lot about building a small house on our property with us when he gets back home. Only time will tell in that department. So much changes for young people between 19 and 25, especially for young men. He will be 23 this year - still trying to figure out how that happened and amazed at how fast this time has flown by. He has grown into a very fine and loving young man and so wishes he could find a unique girl to share his life with. I know how lonely he feels when all the people around him are dating. I told him when the time is right his Soul Mate will appear just as mine did. But he is young and wants it now.

Jumping back in to full-time

If everything goes through with higher management I will be taking on a new job next week. I will write more about it when it's solid.

It's 5:24 AM and it's 57*F outside right now. We were able to sleep with a window open last night; I think it's the best nights sleep I've had in a long time. The air had a touch of humidity to it so I didn't wake up as dried out as I have been. Winter dryness makes for a heavy head in the mornings.

We have a Carolina Wren building a nest in our shed. It has been taking clumps of dried grass and twigs through the dog hole the past couple days. The nest from last year was still in there on the shelf of my potting cabinet; I didn't have the heart to pitch it out after they left it last year. They are such sweet little birds and their calls are so beautiful.

Today is a full day so I better get busy. I've got to run over to the store to go over the new opening procedures and then be back here in time for Freecylce pick-ups. I want to go through more closets and drawers and put together more stuff to give-a-way. And then I have to work tonight.

Feeling the need to purge!

I am going through closets and drawers and offering things up on Freecycle. Enough is enough and we have reached TOO much. So this morning I started with my side of the closet and my drawers and I have 2 HUGE black trash bags full of clothes, shoes and accessories ready to be picked up. Tomorrow I will have a bunch of old books and magazines to list on Freecycle. Anything not picked up by the end of the weekend I will take over to His House for donation. I'm looking forward to having "LESS" to clean around and deal with. I keep thinking about when the time comes to move and we have all this excess - UGH! I figure anything that I have not worn in the last year needs to go. It is quite liberating - it is JUST STUFF after all.

That didn't take long - someone is coming tomorrow to pick up the clothes at 10 AM. I've listed a grocery bag of craft magazines; lets see how long it takes them to find a new home.

Wreck of a garden is going to make a wreck of me

OR... it'll help me get healthier. I guess the second way of looking at it is for my health. Feeding both my soul as I work it and my body when I eat the veggies from it. I weeded out the long bed along the garage where Scott had his garlic growing all ready and I divided and moved the walking onions to the open areas in this long bed. I moved 8 of our tomato cages to the bed I cleared earlier and have English peas soaking to plant there. Next I'd like to clear out the large bed in the center to plant some greens (collards, spinach) and perhaps some salad mix. Right now my back is absolutely screaming from what I've done all ready this morning. I'll rest a bit and do some things indoors and see if I feel up to going back out. The rest of the beds need to be rebuilt and started over as their frames have disintegrated. I want to make them all about the size of the bed with the tomato cages lined up for the English Peas. Thats a good size as we can reach the center from either side and it is easy to maintain. Once we get the new beds set I want to mulch the walk ways heavily so no weeds will grow there. Amelia has a GREAT IDEA - lets go WALKIE!!!! Perhaps we will do that and take Greg's package to the Post Office as well. Sounds like a good plan to me.

WELCOME TO THE 40 AND UP CLUB ROBIN!

Today my sister, Robin turns the BIG 4-0!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS!!!!
I hope she has a wonderful day!

LOOK WHOSE TURNING TWO!!!!!

I can hardly believe she is turning two all ready. This is Abby my Brother, Jack's daughter. Isn't she a cutie?!

Amelia gets her wish....

We went to the Riverwalk for a short walk just before sunset...

CAT TOYS! I DON'T NEED NO STINKING CAT TOYS!

Mr Tesla in the box that the magazine organizing boxes arrived in. This box and a piece of plastic strapping are better than any cat toy he has ever owned.

So Sleepy - DOG ALARM at 5:30 AM

Amelia was raising all kinds of an alarm this morning; we didn't see anything but she sure was upset. Scott said that he may have seen movement by the gate and perhaps it was a deer or a stray dog. With the recent car break-ins in the neighborhood (11 in one night) we are a LOT more alert to her sounding off. I'm so glad we have a dog now and sometimes think a second dog would be a good thing. There was a shooting not far from our house a couple nights ago between our local Police and a young man wanted for raping a 12 year old at gun point. Things are definitely getting worse and not better here in the city. I so wish we lived out on our 10 acres all ready. We keep looking at micro-cabins that we could build in a month or less just to get moved up there. We would have to get rid of or store a bunch of stuff until we got a barn/garage/shop built up there but it would be so worth it in the end.

I'm off all this weekend and have plans to fix the garden up and perhaps get some veggies planted that don't mind the cold like English peas, greens and salad mix. Thankfully it's supposed to start warming up for the weekend so we won't freeze to death.

I'm really thinking seriously about a couple bunnies for the garden. I could build a portable hutch that could be moved from bed to bed throughout the gardening season and they could clean up beds as well as fertilize them. Perhaps that is something else that Scott and I could do this weekend - build a hutch.

Time to get rolling - gotta pick-up my pay stub and give the doily to it's new owner and then get back here to do laundry and make a grocery list up. Hopefully I will also have time to get the the grocery store before I have to be to work tonight. I don't want to go near the grocery store this weekend - HATE shoppping on the weekends.

A Doily completed...

Ready to be wrapped up and given to a friend for her birthday. I couldn't decide on which picture to post so I'm adding both.

Damn It Dolls and a Fuzzy bag

I decided to go into my sewing room today and grab some small projects that just needed little things done to them to complete them. The Fuzzy Bag just needed the button sewn on and the Damn It Dolls needed more stuffing and their leg sewn up. I'm thinking about adding a lining to the little bag; tightening up the button hole and perhaps add a long strap to it. The Damn It Dolls will be going to live with my "K" Nieces - Kayla and Kandice as they started stuffing them for me and I promised them that they could have them when they were done.

Poem thats supposed to be attached to each Damn It Doll...

Damn-it Doll Poem

When you want to kick the desk or throw the phone and shout,

Here's a little damn-it doll you cannot do without.

Just grasp it firmly by the legs, and find a place to slam it,

And as you whack it's stuffing out, yell, "damn-it, damn-it, damn-it!"