Wednesday: an enjoyable day

So work was "fun" today. At the very end of yesterday it was too, but before then it was just ok. I think some of it is that I have a little backlog of work to do, so I have a few options and aren't in constant fear of having nothing to do.

Now it's time for "You think you can dance!"

Sunday: Scarlet 2

Today I got my picture with Scarlet. After that we went to the pool and had a slow lunch.

Saturday: Scarlet

Travis and Allison were in PA this weekend so we went down to visit them and Scarlet, their new daughter.

Ben and Scarlet..

Having fun by the hotel...

Thursday: how the soup turned out

Well, I got home and found that the soup had more turned into a casserole...all the water was gone. Probably because I put in extra rice because there didn't seem to be enough. (I added more water too but apparently not enough.) But, since all the liquid was gone there it didn't overflow. :) I tasted it and the result was not very good. So Ben and I ended up putting in some cream of chicken, salt, and cheese, and then it turned out quite good.

Which is fortunate, because we have about four large meals of the stuff left.

Wednesday: cooking

Today was a cooking night. I made a chicken and wild rice soup that I hope doesn't boil over too much tomorrow because the crock pot is really full. Luckily Ben is working from home so he can keep a small eye on it. I also put quite a bit more rice (and therefore a bit more water) than what it calls for so I hope the proportions end up being correct. After that I made spice bars for a picnic on Friday. My plan is to precut and preserve them so that we can have some in our lunches for the next few days too.

During most of this I got to watch So you Think you Can Dance. My two favorite guys did really well but my favorite girl didn't do so well. We'll see what happens tomorrow!

Tuesday: baseball

Today we went to a baseball game with our Bible Study. It was fun, although I'm not sure it is something that I want to do very often. I don't pay enough attention to the game. It also didn't help that we scored zero runs. :(

Saturday: Sims

Well, we got a new computer game (Sims 3) this past week and so both Ben and I played a lot today. But some weekends like that are nice. We did get several chores done too, including cleaning out some closets. :)

Friday: happy donut day!

Today is donut day. So after dinner we got some donuts!!

Thursday: headache

My headache started this afternoon and is still periodically around. It isn't a terrible one, and when I don't move it goes away. So I've done a lot of not moving tonight. This allowed me to give my full attention to "So you think you can dance."

Tomorrow's Friday!!!! It's kind of been a long week.

Tuesday: second new project

Today was my first day at the second project. They seemed a little bit more prepared, but still not completely prepared, so there was some down time. But I'm optimistic that following days will go well.

It was weird seeing people I used to work with everyday around but not working with them.

My (old) project was officially terminated last night. This will mean more layoffs coming up, possibly the end of June. (There was an e-mail that said something about the end of June, but I couldn't tell if that is when they would know how many they needed to layoff or if that is when the layoffs would be.)

Monday night: love

I think I was having a hard time falling asleep last night (I say think because I might have been sleeping and waking up) when Ben came to bed. He asked me something and I said I was cold. I also wasn't feeling great when I went to bed. Anyway, he gave me a short but incredibly soothing backrub and snuggled with me to help warm me up. I slept well after that.

Monday: first new project

Today was day 1 of my new project. I've worked with most of the people before, so I at least sort-of knew what I was getting myself into. I think it will be about what I expect... some more vba programing (which I enjoy), some procedure stuff (which is ok), and hopefully some of my own harnesses. But work is a bit in short supply for at least the next month, so it might be a while before that happens.

So Flurry usually goes upstairs after putting me to bed when it is time for Ben to go to bed. However, last night she was a little early getting Ben so he took some pictures of her instead.

Weekend: prayer

It was a pretty good weekend, overall. There were some house issues, but nothing that can't be fixed.

Anyway, the exciting part of the weekend was that I found out two people that I didn't expect to be praying for my job are praying for it. It's just a really cool feeling to find out that people care.

Friday: There's not much worse than...

...having to sit at work at 4pm on a Friday, having done a grand total of fifteen minutes of real work all day.

On the up side, I should have productive stuff to do next week. I'll be working with the cable harness folks 3 days/week and the machine shop 2 days/week.

I've worked with the cable harness people before and they're fun people. The only annoying thing is that they're 15 minutes down the road, so transportation for Ben and I sometimes is a bit tricky. I haven't done much with the machine shop besides tell them things that I need built, so it will be good to learn about their processes a bit more.

I doubt this is a permanent set-up, but I expect it to last for at least several months. I am still on a 40 hour work week, which is kind of nice. And it is work to do, which is very nice.

Well, it is now 5 minutes later than when I started this post and I'm trying to decide if I should keep rambling or go back to reading "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The book is actually pretty good. I try to read classics periodically and since this one is so popular I figured it was a good time to read it. My biggest problem is that it was due back at the library yesterday so now I'm reading it on the computer screen which isn't quite as comfortable.

Thursday: backyard

What is outside?

Turkeys! It's the first time they've been seen in our backyard.

Wednesday: Watkin's Glen

Today we went to Watkin's Glen.

There were lots of waterfalls




At the end there were a lot of steps.

Monday: pictures from memorial day

Dusty and Laura joined us today for an excellent dinner. Dad and Pat tried their hands at WiiFit boxing, which is one of my favorites.

monday: no one has taken the controller from me yet and im just waiting for the next thing to happen

monday: happy memorial day iam writing from the ps3 and cant get into the main box

Sunday: Wii

So my parents got here on Saturday, and then yesterday we decided to break out the Wii. They are thoroughly enjoying it!

Sunday: the mornings conversation

Amanda: I sequestered your waterbottles to use as cooler coolers. Hehe, I've never been able to use that word twice in a row.

Ben: Compared to using the water bottles in the fridge, would you consider them cooler cooler coolers?

Thursday: almost Friday

Yay! It's almost Friday. I'll admit, this week hasn't been that bad. But it is rather depressing packing everything up for the possibility that it'll never be looked at again. The tension is high because everyone has their own idea for how things need to be done (which will really, really matter if we start working again down the road) and because there is a limited amount of time to do things.

The weather has turned warm though, which has been wonderful.

The layoffs were on Tuesday. Neither Ben nor I nor any of our friends got laid off, but we both know people that did, which is sad.

Last night I was in rough shape...two cankersores and two foot owies. They all seem to be better today.

Tuesday: movie night

Tonight we had a movie night with our bible study and watched "yes man." It was actually a pretty funny movie. And everyone brought snacks and we chatted a while afterwards...it was fun.

Monday: rumors, take 4

Today, rumors were dispelled as the stop work came through. It actually came through on Friday, but everyone was nice enough not to tell me over the weekend.

Everyone, at least in my small department, seemed in good spirits though. We sat around until 2pm, at which point we finally got some direction. It looks like we are going to have two weeks to close everything up and get documentation in order, and I expect we'll need most of that time. My tech lead thinks it'll be easy to place us in other jobs for now, although my manager seemed rather silent today (silent as in not around) so it's hard to know for sure.

In some ways, this might work out for the best...management doesn't want to get rid of us in case we get to go back to work, but if it is a termination then we will hopefully all have other jobs that we're already doing to get us through this uncertain time.

Also, in some ways it's nice that it happened so everyone can stop being on an emotional roller coaster.

Saturday: annivesary weekend day 2

Today was a very relaxing day. Our plan was to read by the two finger lakes that we were seeing this trip, and we did read at one. But it was so windy and cloudy that if you sat still for long you quickly got cold. So we kept changing our location until finally the sun came out for 15 min. Then we decided it was time for lunch.

Friday: happy annivesary!

Today we celebrated our 5th anniversary by taking off from work and then going up to a bed and breakfast.



On our way to a nice dinner we saw this sign! We tried getting a pic with both of us in it, but it didn't quite work out.

Thursday: good rumors

Today there were a few good rumors for once. The rumor is that the stop work was a false rumor that got leaked, and for some reason people thought this one was valid.

I proceeded to get the rumor weed song stuck in my head for the rest of the day.

"I'm a rumor weed
(he's a rumor weed)
I'm a rumor weed
(he's a rumor weed)
A tiny little story is all i need to make a big mess
( he's a rumor weed)

(So what is a rumor)
Starts as a story
maybe it's true, maybe not
but once you repeat it
it's hard to defeat it
now look at the mess that you've got" ~The W's

And in case you're keeping score, which I am, the optimists in my group are up 2-0 to the pessimists.

Wednesday: work, what else

I've been in kind of a downer mood this week. There are rumors flying everywhere of a stop work for our program, although exactly what that would entail is unknown. I've been getting used to the fact that it might happen and leaning on God and such, but I was about ready to smack the next person that asked me about it today. I can be ok when it's just in the back of my mind, but start getting depressed when people start talking about it. And last time it seemed more sure and it didn't happen!

I also need to remember that a complete stop-work doesn't mean a job-loss, although that is maybe the hardest thing to remember.

And so my Biblical heroes of the day are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from Daniel 3...
"16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
My version: My God can keep me employed. But even if I lose my job, I will still serve him.

Monday: 40 hours?

Today an e-mail was sent out telling us to only work 40 hours/week. This doesn't really mean anything except that it might be harder to get work done...it isn't a good or bad sign right now.

Last time this happened though our manager told us to ignore it. I'm wondering if that will happen again and wouldn't be surprised.

Sunday: Happy Mother's Day

Friday: get-together and star trek

Well, some of the mechanics and engineers got together at a bar after work yesterday after work. It was a lot of fun. We played some pool, some fusball, and just had a good time.

Then after dinner Ben, Dusty, Laura and I went to see Star Trek. It was really good. Funny parts, scary parts (Ben's hand almost got broken because I squeezed it too hard), and exciting parts.

Thursday

Hmm, it's already Thursday and I haven't written in a while...

Work has been fine.

The president's proposed budget removes my project. :( It made for a little stress this afternoon, but I kept reminding myself that God is in control. And listened to some songs too. And took a nap once I got home, and that always helps!

Ben cleaned his desk today, including removing all the Flurry hair, so the next thing Flurry did was sit there. She never sits there.

Sunday: He hasn't failed me yet

Deep thought #2: God hasn't failed me yet.

Jess and I were talking a few weeks ago when all the job stuff started happening, and one of the things I remember hearing/saying is that God hasn't failed us yet. While this week has been a good week for me, I was looking back at all the other stressful times in life and reflecting on that statement...

1) My freshman roommate and I had differences. God brought a new roommate into my life for the second semester.
2) Mom died. I still don't really have a good reason, but God didn't fail anyone in my family. We have grown and changed but pulled through ok. Personally, He put Amy and Ben in my life to support me.
3) Ben and I needed a job after grad school. God provided a job for both of us.
4) Ben and I needed a place to stay in NY. God provided a place to stay. Just long enough for us and then for our friends to stay, but there was a place.
5) Various house things. We have a house and appliances.
6) Changing phones. This was oddly stressful for me, but in the end the phone numbers switched correctly and we didn't have to pay the extra fee.
7) The announcement that the program was going to have a stop work. I know I prayed that it wasn't true, but by that time I was rather doubtful. But the announcement wasn't true and I still have a project.

Saturday: Flurry

Wednesday: another good day

Today was another good day! I had an inspection of the last thing that I signed off yesterday and only minor problems were found - all fixable- so that's awesome. I was able to get several other people started on some of my stuff today too, which is exciting.

In other news, here is an interesting article

Tuesday: a good day

I'm actually going to start with the good from yesterday. Sometimes I get so caught up with the bad/stressful things that I forget the good things...my promotion was announced on the work website. Everyone seems to look at these because they're fun to look at...you never know who you know that may have gotten promoted. Anyway, I received a lot of"congrats" and "you really deserved it" and so forth. It was really nice to hear. And Ben got several congrats for me over in his department. I guess it helps to be the only ones with our last name in the area.

Then today. I got the projects done that I didn't get done yesterday. I got one tiny project done that I wasn't expecting to get done. (And when I say I got them done in this context it means I directed them...I didn't do the actual work. Kudos go to the mechanics that have to put up with me.) So I signed all three things off, which means I have ALL my stuff signed off for this first aircraft. Yippee!

Then we divided up girls/boys for Bible Study and that was good. I usually feel more like talking in a smaller group, so everyone seemed to have some good prayer requests that came out.

Monday: a stressful day

Today was stressful. I knew it would be due to what I was trying to do in a short amount of time. It was a better day than it could have been, but there were other things that could have gone better too. Hopefully by tomorrow the work issues will be resolved, at least for a few days.

We also found out that 5% of the workforce is going to be laid-off/transferred. Ben and I don't think we'll be in this group, but we also would be surprised if this was the end of the layoffs. We've been doing a lot of thinking, but not a lot of decisioning. :) We'll find out more Tuesday/Wednesday.

Saturday: various things

Today's post is a collection of things that I meant to mention throughout the week but didn't because I was busy/stressed/etc.

I have a new niece! Scarlet Grace was born early Wednesday.


My dad was featured in a nice article in the Hope Connection flier. You can read it here. I also really like the picture of him.

Owego was voted the coolest small town in America. I think it is because of our road construction:


My quilt is still going:

Wednesday: ups and downs

Oh, today was an up and down day. The down was job stuff. The up was that I got a ton of gifts for making Smart Suggestions at work: a cool mouse pad, a desk picture frame/clock, a car visor, and a garment bag. Some of which may be gag gifts in the future...

The records department also started putting up files in .pdf format. Previously the loaded every page as a separate file and it was in a .tif format and they were about 30MB. All of which lead to a lot of frustration by everyone because it took about 30 minutes to print your average document. But now I can do it in 30 seconds and the zoom works! I was pumped.

Monday: dentist

I went to the dentist today and it was one of the best appointments I think I've ever had. It only took 25 minutes, no cavities, the sonicator thingy didn't hurt my ears, pain was at a minimum, etc.

Yay.

Friday: toes and moving

I had a toe appointment today. I was a little on the edge about getting some nails removed again, but then two days ago one was bad so I think I will get them removed. It might be a bit yet as the recovery time might need to coincide with what's happening at work.

We also helped move some friends into their new house as they needed to move out at the last minute. It's a cute house that they moved into.

Thursday: better than expected

Well, I kind of dreaded going into work today based on yesterday. However, a lot of stuff got figured out the first hour or so that I was there...and some of it made me so excited! It was a rather dumb reason to be excited, yet I was. Then I got several complements today on work that I've done recently, so that was nice. And then some work was done and my estimated time was a few hours under what the actuals were, but not too bad.

Ben and I are raiding in a new instance and we just got the first boss down on the first try. It was rather exciting!

Wednesday: work

Well, we're back at work. The day went ok until the end, when it stopped going ok. Oh well, something to deal with tomorrow I guess. I think Ben is still working too, which is sad, but it at least sounds like stuff is going ok.

Oh shoot. I had a deep thought I was going to post but forgot it. It was brief, but good. Maybe next time.

Tuesday: home

We made it home without significant problems. The flight to Detriot was bumpier than most flights, and by the end I was feeling slightly sick. The feeling left pretty quickly once we were in the terminal though.

Flurry was happy to see us, and a big patch for Warcraft just came out so we're enjoying playing that.

Monday: wonderful life

Today I got to eat donuts while being in the pool. Could life get better?

Sunday: Happy Easter!

Happy Easter. We went to a church down here and one of the reasons I love going to churches in different places is to be reminded that there are people all over the world that love God.

Besides that it was a nice relaxing day.

Saturday: Florida

We traveled to Florida yesterday without any problems! The flight leaving Detroit was about 20 minutes late, but that isn't so bad. Yesterday we just hung out around the house, but today we went on a boat ride to get lunch. On the way there we saw a dolphin jumping! That was cool. A little later we saw a dolphin just surfacing, but it was a lot closer and I was able to get a good picture.




Ashlyn and I also painted our toes last night. I found out later that it was Ashlyn's first time, but we both enjoyed our pretty toes.
In other news, on Thursday we had a department meeting with my manager who said he is working on finding other jobs at the site for us should the program be canceled...obviously if there is a site mandated something he can't change that, but it is nice to know that he is thinking about it to try and let us keep our jobs.

Thursday: memories

Today is the 7th anniversary of Mom's death. It's been so long...so many things have changed. This year I was really hit by how much I took her for granted.

Well, that first month or so after she died I wrote down as many memories as I could think of...there were several I repeated, like how she would pull her turtlenecks over her mouth when she was cold and when we were camping in the UP she would pile on the beach blankets to stay warm. But there were others like how her e-mails to me in college always started with the day of the week (ah ha! That's where I got it.) and how we would move her decorative animals in the bathroom and she would get mad and how the decorative turtles would migrate inside during the winter and outside during the summer.

Tuesday: my job II

I still have my job!

There were some e-mail sent out last night that said there was a stop-work order on the program, so everyone went into the meeting expecting to not have anything else to do. Well, apparently someone who thought they could stop the program tried, but the person who can actually stop the program wouldn't. So what we're seeing now is the middle of budget debates, which we usually don't see. And the program has a lot of support in congress and the white house. I expect/hope to keep this job until at least September.

So we're plugging away, trying to show people that we can actually make progress.

Monday: my job

Well I think my project is probably going to be canceled or put on hold tomorrow. There's been a lot of talk that the current project was canceled, and we have a big meeting at 8am. Since a lot of you will probably hear about it, here is my thought process:

*The site tries really hard not to lay people off, so I still expect to have a job at 9am tomorrow.
*I'm not in a department that is only the helicopter, so that might help.
*I had an important meeting with the customer tomorrow at 8am. It was rescheduled for 9am (not canceled!) which I take to be a good sign.
*Ben and I redid our finances on Saturday and can survive on one income.
*It might be nice to go back to working 40-44 hours/week.
*I don't actually know what is going on...maybe it's better than expected.
*God's taken care of me financially so far, so why stop now?

But I'm still a bit stressed.