A post by any other name.........

I have to admit, since I have been off work, life has been very different.  Some days I really don't know what to do with myself.  The first week I organized my pantry, turning all labels to the front of the shelf.  I considered alphabetizing them but thought better of it.  I have worked my whole life and now every day is like the weekend but only for me, not anyone else.  There have been a few days that I was able to help out the kids by watching their kids but for the most part, it has been very unremarkable.

So I decided to remedy this boredom by getting pneumonia yet again.  This one really took me down.  I guess it was a good thing I wasn't working.  After a 3 week battle that I thought I was winning, I topped the whole thing off with strained muscles between my ribs from coughing.

We had birthdays for Hope, Joe, Angie, Tyler and Steve.  I finished up with my bowling league and went to my banquet.  We had Dimitri's baptism and a nice luncheon at Fawver's home afterwards.  It was so nice to see all the people who love the little guy. 

One of the most exciting things in my life right now is the fact that I have started golfing again.  I got some new clubs and joined a ladies league on Tuesday nights at Greenhaven.  Can't wait.  May 4 is my first day.  I got some wonderful tips and pointers from Todd King, my friend Lori's squeeze. 

This is me and the girls on our way up to the State Bowling Tournament in St. Cloud. 

This is from when Vanessa and I surprised Hope at school at lunch time.

Ths is from the day that we went and had lunch with April at school.

This is when me and the girls went to Hinckley for the night.  We had a blast. 

I am attaching a few random pictures.  Enjoy!  More later.

UNEMPLOYED

I don't want to jump right into the obvious (vis a vis the title of this post) so I will try to do a little catching up as to what we have been up to since the last post (um when was that again?). 

In January we went on a wonderful cruise to the western caribbean with stops in Key West and Grand Cayman.  In retrospect I am glad we went when we did but this will become a little more obvious as we get further into this post.  We had beautiful weather and Steve and I enjoyed ourselves tremendously as evidenced by the bathroom scale when we returned.  Yikes.  But at this point in our lives we both kind of said WHATEVER.  Now that the weather is getting nicer I think we will try to get out and start walking.  I am going to try and post the cruise pics today on Facebook.  Oh my goodness, who would have thought I would be Tweeting, posting on Facebook, blogging, IM'ing, e-mailing, texting, paging, etc. etc.  But I guess if you don't want to be left in the proverbial non-technical dust, you have to keep up with the times.

OK now for the big news, let's get right to the point.  A week ago today I was told at my job that my position had been eliminated.  I am really still unsure as to how this decision was reached.  I still go over it and over it in my mind as to what (if anything) I did wrong.  Was I wrong to pour my heart and soul into this company for the past almost 4 years?  I swear, I lived and breathed that place.  I brought work home, I came in early, stayed late, worked through lunch, never took a break.  But I will say this, I do not regret doing this.  If a person is going to work then I believe you should be caring, dedicated, loyal, trust-worthy and all those other adjectives that describe the ideal employee.  I'm not saying I was an ideal employee but I am saying that I deserved a little more respect than to be told on a Monday morning at 8:30 that I am "out" and to get out.  Seriously I was not allowed to go back to my desk to get my purse - they had someone bring it to the lobby.  I was made to give my passwords, hand over my key card and walk out the door.  All the while this was happening I was in a state of shock even while the endless paperwork was "explained" to me which I could not digest at all.   I thought it was very interesting how only my position was eliminated.  Apparently I was a very high paid employee (not) who needed to be booted out the door before they can bring in another very high paid employee to do a job that hasn't even been created yet.  Most confusing.

All I wanted was the truth.

November and December

Oh my goodness, so much has happened since my last post. On November 15 I drove to Duluth to visit Vanessa. On the way up I almost hit a deer, a rock broke my windshield and my blinker stopped working. Other than that, it was a great trip. No, seriously, we went out for a nice brunch with Joe and Vanessa and also their friends Matt and Sara and Sara's mom. Sara was being inducted into the National Honor Society of Nursing. Smart young woman! Vanessa and I did a little shopping and then it was time for me to head home before it got dark. Close to hunting season so lots of deer out there and I didn't want to take any chances.

Hunting Season

Steve did something this year that he hasn't done for 20+ years. He went deer hunting. So I had some quality alone time. I missed him and was happy to see him come back in one piece. No deer this year but he had fun with his peeps. Maybe next year.


Thanksgiving
We had another wonderful family Thanksgiving here at our home. All the kids and grandkids were here except Vanessa and Joe because Vannie had to work. That was why I drove to Duluth to see her because I knew she wouldn't be able to make it on Thanksgiving. Missed her - they went to Buchanans to eat. I am thankful for the health and happiness of my family

BABY!!

On December 3, Anna had a little baby boy and named him Dimitri Ivan Musatov. It was a surreal experience that I will never forget. She had a caesarean section delivery and I was present in the OR to see him enter the world. He is absolutely adorable. Mom and baby are both doing well. Baby's getting bigger, Mom's getting smaller.

Anniversary

This year Steve and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We didn't do anything too exciting but he bought me a beautiful ring to commemorate the occasion.

Christmas Pageant

One of the things I remember about when my children were growing up was the inevitable Christmas Program at school or church. There's something about kids singing Christmas carols that always gets me and a glistening eye is sure to be seen. We went to see Hope & April in a Christmas pageant at church this year. Hope was Joseph & Mary's donkey and April sang with her second grade class. It was very memorable and as I looked over at my daughter, Missy, I saw a familiar glisten in her eye.

Christmas Eve

We had a Mexican Fiesta this year! Missy made chicken enchiladas and beef enchiladas that were delicious. We had a build your own taco bar. Angie brought delicious taco dips. And of course we had margaritas and wine. We opened gifts and then played the dice game. And we ended the evening with a pinata rigged up in the garage. It was wonderful that this time we could all be present. Our family is 16 strong now!! We are truly blessed.

Brunch

This past Sunday we were able to meet up with some of Steve's family for brunch. We used to get together every year but since my mother in law passed, we haven't done too well with this. So the last couple of years we have gotten together for a few hours at least to try to catch up.

Well, my friends, that pretty much sums up the last 6 weeks or so. I can not believe how fast the time has gone by. This week begins the year 2010. I hope it is the best year ever for all of you.

Please, let's pray for the public servants and the people in the military that they will soon be able to come home, a job well done.

My Weekend

Well, it's Friday night of a very busy week. So I am just chillin and trying to unwind. So far it's going pretty well. After work I stopped and picked up Subway for Steve and I. We scarfed it down and then he got paged as he is on call this weekend. He just got home now and I have been watching a Criminal Minds marathon. I just can't find anything to watch on TV that holds my interest for more than a few minutes.

So thanks to Twitter, Facebook, Hotmail and Blogspot, I am keeping myself busy. I am going to go to bed pretty soon and read my new People magazine I got today. Tomorrow I am going to put up some Christmas lights, clean up the house and then in the afternoon go to a benefit for a friend with a terminal illness. So sad.

On Sunday I am going to drive up to Duluth to visit Vanessa. I hope the roads are good with no construction backups. I am looking forward to seeing her. I miss her.

Happy Halloween 2009!

Happy Halloween from the Halloween Capitol of the World. Well this Halloween was a cold and snowy day, at least in the morning. The wind was blowing and since 3 of the five grandchildren were getting over various sniffles and sinus conditions, we all decided to forego the parade in Anoka and hang out at my house. We pretty much just hung out and stayed warm. Then it was almost dusk so we got ready to go out trick or treating. We hooked up our big trailer and all went around our neighborhood. Even Ryan in his chair got to go trick or treating. It was fun for him at first but then he started getting cold, I think. We went home and dropped off the little kids (and their grandparents) and the bigger kids went back out for a while.


Here is Ryan "Superman" Hedberg.

I'm not sure if this is Tinkerbell or Ally Musatov.




Dave came in and "thrilled" the kids.

April was a diva. For real or just a costume?

Angie or Devil Woman?

There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home!

Mrs. Captain Jack Sparrow?

Fall Colors, Pumpkins and Campfires

Without being redundant, I wanted to show pics of our trip this past weekend to Jay Cooke State Park. I know my last post contained a fall color pic but I can't resist sharing the ones that I took this weekend. Friday night Steve and I and Anna and Ally went to Hinckley and we "camped" in the motor home in the wind and the rain. Saturday morning we swam in the hotel pool and then headed to Jay Cooke State Park in Carlton. They have a suspension bridge there that spans across the St. Louis River. There is so much history there and the view is breathtaking. I have never been there during any other time of the year other than Fall and so I don't know what it would be like there in the spring or summer but I do look forward to the view every year. It was fun to have Anna & Ally with us this time so they could see nature at its best as well. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Autumn

When I was a girl, autumn was a great time of the year. Some of my favorite Fall memories: Wearing wool sweaters, wool shorts, knee highs to football games (high school). Now that I actually wrote that down, it sounds a little weird. Anyway, I would rake leaves with my dad, get blisters on my hands and then pile them up and jump in them (the leaves, not my hands). Then bag them and I don't know what happened to them after that. That might not sound like such a big deal and at the time I have to admit that it was more of a pain in the butt than anything else. But during those moments you really never know that you will look back and think of those times as some of the best of your life. One of the things that I did with my Dad.

So now we are in the season again. This Sunday is the Harvest Moon and I can't wait to see it. Even though I wish winter didn't come next, I guess we need it to keep the mosquitoes down next spring.

So enjoy the Fall - rake some leaves (or hire someone to rake them), put them in a big pile, jump into them and try to remember that this simple little thing can be one of your best memories to share with your family.