6/3 I'm alive

Yes, I'm alive, but still very tired. Started my new job on Monday of this week. But that was after a wonderfully fun-filled week and weekend with family. Kris and Brian's wedding was beautiful and the reception was off the hook. (Never thought I'd use that phrase.)

I loved every minute of Rob and Beata's visit and they are safely back in North Carolina now. Miss you guys already.


Tonight's article is Texting: Good, bad, or neutral for your kids?

6/26 Happy sad mad disappointed and more

I moved into my new office and the new job starts Monday. So I'm happy about that.

And my house sold in MS. So I'm happy about that too.

And my pets are fantastic. They make me smile after a day of listening to people's very real problems.

The sad mad disappointed comes from this: after work I was totally pain free. Decided to play with my pets a few minutes on my bed and then actually clean part of my house.

Kris came over and helped me fix a few things, and while getting her a screwdriver the shooting pains and spasms began. This was around 5:30 or so. And they're still happening. Makes me so damn mad.

I've finally gotten to the point that I'm not in constant pain. So that's very good. Yet, when it hurts it really hurts. I'm still in physical therapy, and will visit my doc again on Monday.

So I guess it's just cuddling with my cuties tonight. Love to all.

6/4 The best, the better, the good, the bad, and the OOPS.

The best is that I accepted an offer on my Mississippi house. The bad is that I'm losing a ton of money, but I just need to unload it.

The better is that I had physical therapy today and it felt good while I was there. The bad is that it doesn't feel good right now.

The good is that my promotion will give me a lot of satisfaction at work. The bad is that I'm hardly getting a raise.

The bad is that I still haven't found homes for Q and C. The good is that I get to keep them longer.

And the OOPS? Well, I slipped on a wet kitchen floor and fell flat on my back. Ah well...such is life.

6/2 The good, the bad, and the forgetful

Let's start with the forgetful before I forget. May 29th was my darling Jill's birthday, and I was so caught up in my own drama that I didn't post about her. Please forgive me, Jilly-bean, and I'm so happy you had a great 34th birthday.

The bad is that my back gave me fits over the weekend. Today was the worst. I start PT on Wednesday morning. That should help. And Doc said he'll order an MRI.

The good is really good--in fact two goods. First, we had a super time at the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. There were 4,000 walkers and 600 crew. What a fantastic weekend. The group raised more than 9 million dollars. Unbelievable!

The other good news is that I got a promotion at work. Beginning very shortly I'll be the Coordinator of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Programs at work. I'm so happy, and am really looking forward to the new challenge.

2/21 Time? Anyone have time?

I can't believe all the stuff I have to do prior to leaving here on March 21. Oh, my.

Today I found out that CitMortgage doesn't do bridge loans, so I'm in process of getting a pre-approval letter, so when the time comes, it won't take long at all to get the mortgage. In the meantime, if my home doesn't sell before I leave, Kris will rent to me until my house sells.

Even though the market is rotten elsewhere, it's still pretty good here, because of the storm. So I'm pretty confident that it will sell within a reasonable period of time.

It's raining horribly here, and I have to take Q to dog training class tonight. But it's supposed to be beautiful over the weekend--70 and sunny. Yay.

2/20 Chocolate cake and champagne

What in the world would possess Genia and Caroline to surprise me with champagne and chocolate cake?

Could it be that I got hired today?

Yep. I'm going to be working as a therapist for a mental health center in Quincy, IL beginning March 24. Am I thrilled? You betcha.

If all works out as planned, I'm going to buy my niece Kris's house when I get there.

So much to do between now and the 21st, which is my last day at work. One month from tomorrow. Wow.

Thanks, Genia and Caroline. I had a really fun evening.

(Oh, and I kicked their butts at spades. It really is my lucky day.

2/19 Grieving

It's funny how diverse we are culturally. It shows up in millions of ways--how we treat the common cold, how we discipline our children, and how we grieve, for example.

Today I attended a Mississippi funeral. The deceased was an elderly woman whose one goal was to get back into her home before she died. It didn't happen. Her death saddened an entire community, but her dying without her home also saddened those of us in the long-term recovery field.

Her caseworker is a dear friend of mine, and is suffering greatly. We wonder how we could have done thins differently. Could we have made a difference in whether or not this matriarch was able to return home.

Too late for those second guesses. We need to move on, and ensure this doesn't happen to any other people on the coast.

Ah, but this began with a sentence on diversity. The deceased left behind a huge family--four children, many grandchildren, many great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. What a beautiful legacy. And the church was full of other relatives and friends who loved her.

Throughout the service you could hear wailing coming from one or more of her daughters, and one very close granddaughter. It didn't seem odd or out of place at all. And I thought how wonderful it was that folks can express their emotions so readily. That if someone wanted to scream and cry they did so.

If someone did that in our German Catholic community back home, people would think they'd gone off the deep end. We stuff our big emotions, and in my family especially we cover them with jokes. How I would have loved to have wailed at my Mom's funeral. She died way too young and it was more than sad.

Right now, I want to scream as well--for several reasons--not the least of which is grieving for my job and the jobs of others. Grieving for the clients whose homes are not yet rebuilt. Grieving for the 11,000 families still in FEMA trailers.

Wishing things were different.

So I stuff my emotions, and soldier on. Looking for a new job, a new home, a new life.

Just as sh!! happens, so does grace. Grace happens. That is what I'm counting on.

2/13 Excellent news

Nope, not about my job search, although the interview went very well and I feel confident.

But my sister, Jan, s-i-l Cindy, and nephew Eric are coming to visit me next month. Plus a b-i-l (Tim) and another nephew (Cody) may join them. I am beyond thrilled.

Gotta run to a meeting. Will post some Mardi Gras pictures tonight.

2/12 Thunderstorms and scary stuff

The weather is wild at the moment. Still really warm, but lots of thunderstorms and tornado watches. It's been warm and sunny all through February so far, but this is a big change.

Keep your fingers crossed. I have a job interview by phone in a few minutes.

2/7 A long day

Just returned from a great, but grueling, training session with Quincy. She learned some really cool stuff, and I really hope I can keep it up. Plus I made arrangements to take Cookie for a one hour individual session to deal with her horrific pulling on the leash. I'm sure looking forward to getting her broken of that.

Today was busy, but tomorrow will be even more so. Lots to do.

BUT I did hear from one of the places I applied to in Quincy. They want to set up an interview. To say I'm psyched is definitely an understatement.

Wish me luck.

2/1 Can you believe it's February?

I sure can't.

It's Mardi Gras season here but I haven't felt much like celebrating. But Fat Tuesday I'm going to a parade with Genia and Caroline. We're going to do some drinking and dancing, and I said I'll threaten the floats, "If you don't throw me some beads I'm going to show you my ----." I think that threat definitely ought to work.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and in the high 60s. Instead of going to a parade, I'm going to work on my taxes and maybe have lunch with Caroline. There's a new restaurant nearby that is my favorite--High Cotton. I love their fried green tomatoes.

Then tomorrow night some of us are getting together for games, so it should be a good weekend.

I decided I'm going to begin serious job searching and serious "thinking about selling my house" on Ash Wednesday. Seemed appropriate.

1/31 I can talk about it now

Due to an abrupt and unexpected funding cut, my program has been terminated here in Mississippi. Most of our staff received their RIF (Reduction in Force) letters today. They received two months notice so will be laid off after March 31. There are five us staying on until the end of June in order to finish out the necessary administrative tasks.

I closed on my house April 13 of last year. I should have known that Friday the 13th would not bode well.

This program termination isn't the fault of anyone in our company. It's purely a funding issue. So I can't feel bad about all the good work we've done. But I can feel bad about all the work left to do. Luckily there are other agencies rooted here in Mississippi who will continue the work.

We really want to stay here to finish, but it's not to be. My company came here from Texas for what we knew would be a limited time, but we certainly didn't expect the abruptness of this. It is gratifying to know that we did what we could and that other good companies will stay until it's done.

So, like many others here, I'm job hunting. And will chronicle the travails of doing so. Also, I have to look at selling my house because the three jobs I'm looking at are all in different places. Gosh, I really love it here, but I know I can be happy wherever I end up. God is so good to me, and always has been.

So tonight I'm thinking of our clients, still struggling to put their lives together; I'm thinking of our staff, and all the energy and passion they've continually put into their jobs; and finally I'm thinking of me and wondering what life will give me next.

Please pray for all of us.

9/17 Dinner Impossible

Robert Irvine, the chef from Dinner Impossible on the Food Network, is cooking dinner for volunteers and staff at the Salvation Army place (called Yankee Stadium) in Biloxi. I went there for a while and it smelled awesome. But my dogs had been alone for 5 1/2 hours and I needed to get home. Drat!

But the primary foods were meat and seafood; at least what I saw and smelled. There was a tremendous seafood gumbo being prepared, and I saw ribs and chicken. It will be on TV during the Christmas holidays. That will seem funny because we were all sitting there sweating. :)

Prior to that I had another function to go to and they had baklava. Omigod, I love that stuff. Luckily it's always cut in little pieces since it is so rich. Had two of them.

Got a lot done at work, but problems keep popping up. Guess that's the nature of the job. Lots of stuff going on. This Friday the caseworkers move to their new location, and next Tuesday I move to mine. There will only be three or four of us in the state office in the future, since our case managers and construction folks are stationed at the camps now. It will be quiet. No excuses for not getting my work done--well, except that I'm not in my office all that much. :)

Oh, Quincy did fine for the time left alone today. I figured out that Cookie is the destructive one--chewing cords and my clothes. And poor Cookie had an accident in the crate today. That really surprised me. Anyway, tomorrow they're back to Doggy Day Care. Hooray.

7/24 Got 'er done

So many things hanging over my head, but I got three important things done this afternoon. I got my license plates ordered, registered to vote, and got my drivers' license. Oh yeah, I feel so good.

Perhaps you noticed that all of the above are personal things and not related to my job. I noticed that too. Didn't accomplish anything at work--worked on the budget all day. Aaarrrggghhhh!

(Quincy is still sleeping all night. I love that puppy.)

4/3 Another full day

The day whizzed by. I stayed in meetings or "putting out fires" all day so didn't do any of my regular work. Decided to stay home tomorrow and work. I'm finding it almost impossible to dig in at the office. When I close my office door the cold air return doesn't work and my office gets overheated. So if I work at home at least I'll be able to both stay cool and stay focused.

But as I tell everyone--being this busy is good job security. :)

I brought home a stack of paper over a foot high. My goal is to get through it all tomorrow. I'll read, file, pitch, or act on it...but by gum, it'll be gone.

4/2 More...

The best news is that my nephew is home and fine. Luckily it was something they could fix right away.

Work was so, so, so busy. I wasn't able to get to my planned work until nearly 5 tonight. I decided to work from home one day this week and one day next week so that I finish some tasks that are overdue. There are some really wonderful people working for our company. I feel so blessed to work with them.

Just got some good news from my realtor. The tenant in my house will be gone by Good Friday. They'll have the house cleaned on Saturday, so I will definitely be able to move in on Tuesday, April 12. Well, I won't have any furniture yet, so will probably wait several days before I move in "for real." But I'll be able to take some of my stuff over there and clean out the RV to just essentials. This makes me smile.

Oh, and we had more than 3 1/2 inches of rain when those thunderstorms came through yesterday. Amazing.

3/30 Friday again

Time is passing so quickly. In one week I'll be picking up Quincy. Yay for that.

The work week did fly by. We had visitors from Austin. And next week we have people from two different departments coming down to see us. I'm really glad, too., They're going to help us with some difficulties, and life will be a bit easier f or us afterward.

Tomorrow I'm going to finish my taxes. Haven't worked on them since last Sunday. Must get them done, especially because I'm going to get a nice refund. I can sure use that.

3/29 No more bathroom woes

During a managers' meeting today I got called out and someone said there's a guy here who needs your RV key. Yeah I was surprised. Turns out one of the camp directors' surprised me by calling an RV plumber to fix my bathroom problem. All I can say is, "Oh, yeah!" Life is really good when you have a working bathroom.

And last night, I had to walk up to the shower building to use the restroom. Of course that was the night when I couldn't sleep and had use the bathroom all the time. But now, all is good.

It was so very busy again. I didn't get much of my planned work done because a lot of things kept popping up. Guess I just better get used to it!

I'm still smiling, though. Love it.

3/28 Black water and gray water

Ah, the joys of RV living. I'm learning the hard way about the intricacies of plumbing issues in an RV. 'Nuff said.

Today was busier than I could have ever envisioned. Didn't get any of the work done that I'd planned. One HR thing after another, and then one contract thing after another, and then one blah blah blah. You get the picture. I'm weird though--I love it.

Jill called me a few minutes ago. She's registering Hunter for kindergarten. It's so weird when your youngest goes off to school. I remember experiencing the same thing with Jill. My little one--all grown up; or at least she thought she was. Hunter is excited about being at the same school with his big sister Kayla. They are both so adorable...miss them tons.

3/17 Happy St. Pat's Day

There's a parade in downtown Biloxi, but I went into work for several hours and now am doing laundry and packing for my move tomorrow. Am moving into an RV temporarily, until my house closes next month. So this will be another adventure, I guess.