I know I’ve been absent! Seems like I’m not that busy, but then again, I haven’t been able to find time to respond to email messages from y’all, post on the MB, or post to my blog! The summer is already slipping by me without much chance to enjoy it. I look at the calendar and think that I still have 2 ½ months to take advantage of, but I know, just as past summers, it will be gone before I know it and I’ll sit wondering what the heck I did with my time all summer.
I’ve found myself reminiscing of days gone by over the past few weeks. It’s been a month of major personnel changes around here and it’s made me long for the old days. I have forgotten how great it is to work with your friends, who were still your friends outside of work, and you didn’t have to talk (okay, complain) about work because you don’t know what else to say to a person. One of my two close friends at work decided to quit after many months of talking about it, then brushing it off, and realizing she’d deal with the same crap anywhere she goes. I guess she talked about it so often that I got used to hearing it and never really believed she’d act on it. But then again, she’s got a semi-nomadic personality anyway, so I guess I’m not totally shocked. She seems to be a person that doesn’t really settle down anywhere in her life for very long. But it still sucks. She’s been my sidekick for the better part of three years, and I’m not quite sure what to do with myself now that she’s gone. No lunch buddy, no happy hour buddy, no ally in the office.
On the brighter side, my other good friend at work just returned from maternity leave. She’s not in the office, but out on-site, so I don’t get to hang out with her every day, but it will be easier to keep up with her now that she’s back to checking her email regularly (I’m sure you’ve all figured out by now that I’m not much of a phone talker…don’t know where my avoidance issues came from). We had them (and three month old Alexandra!) over for dinner on Saturday night, so it was fun to catch up with them and spend time with them again. I’m sure they’re both glad to get out of the house and be social again, now that they’ve had a chance to get used to being new parents.
With my one friend leaving work, there is a multitude of duties that need to be reassigned, and the powers that be have asked that I take over a portion of them in addition to what I’m doing now. I have been slowing down a lot lately (even though summer is the busiest season for construction), now that my co-workers are becoming more knowledgable and efficient at using our software. Not as many HELP! phone calls during the day as their once was. Several weeks ago in my review, our V.P. and I discussed how my role should be expanded. Since I’ve been doing some training, it makes sense for me to be in charge of rolling out a full-blown training curriculum and program, and managing and maintaining it. They’ve also asked if I’d be interested in getting involved in some of our recruiting processes, mainly with Colorado State since I’m an alum, and doing interviews, career fairs, and networking. They also think I’d flourish in doing some Human Resources types of duties since that dovetails into the recruiting. They gave me a raise for the second half of the year, so I guess that means I’m doing a pretty good job at this training thing, even though I had no idea how/what to do when I accepted the position. So, it sounds like I’ll be getting busier again, and most likely will become indispensable to the company if I take on these roles and responsibilities. In a way, it’s very flattering and encouraging, but at the same time, I’m a little hesitant and disappointed. I had hoped to become a SAHM when we have kids, but it sounds like it’s not in the cards anymore. With as well as they pay me, and the regular pay increases I get, I feel like they’re buying me for long term. Again, good and bad. It will support my spending habits and make living our lifestyle easier, but I don’t want to miss out on spending as much time as possible with my children and making them my career. Who knows…there’s a lot of time between now and then, and God knows what’s best for me and our future children. Just have to remember to trust Him!
Our trip to the Mediterranean is just around the corner! I can’t believe that it’s just over two months before we leave! Just paid off the balance this week, so it’s finally really going to happen. We decided to extend our trip and stay a night in Venice on the back end of the cruise since we’ll likely never get to return. We’re staying in a hotel right on the Grand Canal and I’m just praying that we’ll get a room with a view of the water! I’ve been doing a ton of research on Venice the past week to figure out what we should see, where we should eat, how to dress, and how to act so that we don’t totally stick out like American tourists! It’s amazing how much more conservative it is in Europe than it is here. We’re planning on visiting St. Mark’s Square and Basilica, and all the travel guides are very specific that bare shoulders and knees are not tolerated; you’ll be denied entry and asked to leave. On top of that, Italians are more fashion-conscious than most of the world, and they said you’ll have a giant bullseye on if you’re wearing shorts and tennis shoes while sightseeing. They recommended “smart” clothing, and that Italian women wear skirts almost all of the time. So know I’ve got to go through my closet to find a skirt that a) fits, b) is "smart", and c) covers my knees, then I have to find a top that a) fits, b) matches the skirt, and c) covers my shoulders. Good grief! I thought traveling was supposed to be relaxing and stress-free! LOL! I am so looking forward to this trip, and I’m dying to taste the wine in each region, especially in Venice! Kinda crossing my fingers that I’m not expecting before then!
Scanned in all my LO’s for my JBJ album last night. I ended up doing a 9x9 so I’m still having to stitch all my pages together with the scanner since it’s only 8 ½” wide. After stitching some together, I got a few that look really bowed or curled and I don’t know what that’s about, so I’m going to have to spend some more time on it, and maybe even use a different program to stitch, like Photoshop Elements. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out, and I love that I got a lot of journaling into the album that chronicles my life-long obsession. Won’t my great-great-great-grandchildren laugh at me?!
