Time Flies...Random Details

I can not even imagine how it got to be June. And how I have been such a bad "poster".

Let's catch up...

Since January - I've taken a position that is not my dream job (it's been open several times before and I've never even considered applying). It's a good job as jobs go, mostly I like that I am still in the same company and get to be surrounded by the same people. I have now worked in every department, every building, and every floor for this organization. I am officially well-rounded. I am also an easy target to be volunteered for any / every committee and project that comes up - because I know "something" about "everything". Let's call that job security!

I've become a Netflix Junkie! I have discovered that if you take an "okay" television series and digest the whole season in a weekend - you can really get sucked in. So I've digested Greek, Secret Life of the American Teenager, Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, Big Bang, and am slowly working on Skins. In other viewing, I'm kind of feeling empty by the end of Big Love but jazzed about the return of Weeds.

Speaking of Weeds...this show always brings on my craving for an iced coffee drink. I dedicated a portion of my Memorial Day weekend to cracking the code to a chilled coffee drink that is the perfect balance of yummy and reasonable-to-assemble-in-the-chaotic-A.M. Success was achieved and I promise to share.

We celebrated the end of 4th grade for the kiddo. A year that will go down in my memory book as being filled with ridiculous projects for which children seemed to be able to "buy" a good grade...since home made supplies did not earn as many points. This lead to several rant-filled adventures to find 3-D objects... for a revolutionary war timeline (I have never been so pleased to find plastic army men, erasers shaped like headstones, and a practical use for my origami skills) a scavenger hunt for a plant that could pass for sassafras, and a search for an Artic Hare and Artic Fox,-for the record these can be found in the toy aisle at your local Target. We also built a car for Stewart Little (since it didn't have to be to scale I can not for the life of me understand how this became a "lesson"). We (he) read 7,000+ pages, received his first ever "B" for a quarter, spent the rest of the year working to average out that "B" so that we would have "A's" for the year (he did it) and we got to see "the puberty" video. Thanks to our family viewing of King of the Hill - he had already been introduced to many of these concepts- my thanks to Hank, Joseph, Bobby, Lou Anne and Connie.

The pool is opened. The garden is in (2nd year square foot gardening). Baseball season has begun - the organizers continue to prove that "planning and organization" are not universal skills.

Thanks for hanging around -I'll be updating my 1001 goals, posting about gardens, crafts, and more.

Droid Does...

... work in the New Year!

Just sayin....

A Year of Receipts

At the beginning of January 2010 I was reading a lot of blogs about saving money on groceries.

To be honest, I really didn't know how much we were spending on our "budget" of food - we bought, we ate, we bought some more.

I'm not the best shopper - I don't have menus planned for the week. It's a work in progress - and so a year ago I decided at the very least, I needed to know how much we were spending.

And so - I fanatically began collecting receipts. I was very diligent (read as neurotic) and I think at times I may have been mistaken as a crazy paper hoarder if you saw in my purse...but would say that 98% of the shopping trips were collected.

With a years worth of data in front of me...I began the analysis...and this is what I've learned.

1. Unless I immediately attack my husband upon his return from the store, the receipt will forever be lost.

2. The numbers are not fully accurate - it doesn't include eating out, it doesn't include the 25% of a cow that we bought, it does include random household items (air filters, dog food, toilet paper, medications) and it does not include school lunches.

3. I made an average of 5.25 trips to the store per month. (There must have been killer stock-up sales in March - I had 11 receipts!)

4. I spent an average of $279 per month.

5. Now I can really compare prices especially for bulk items.

And the final lesson....Surely, I can do better.

Add that to my resolution list!

Sorry, I Fell Off the Net

OK - since I last was here. I finished the Crisis / Housing / Temporary job.

I started the new job. Moved to the new floor. Cleaned out a bunch of crap that was left for me - maybe someone thought is was meaningful / helpful...I assure you, it was only meaningful to the recycle pile. And settled in about in time to take a holiday break.

I'm trying to make the most of my new position but not so much planting any roots because there is a potential job on the horizon with the same organization - with the benefit of promised long-lasting-ness, with higher pay, with more creative freedom, with more but desired responsibility, with a supervisor that has 100% faith in my ability and the right balance of "there" but not "over your shoulder". So we will wait and see what happens. I'm ready to believe that either option will allow me to do things that I will take pleasure in and will grow with me. (But I'd really appreciate the bigger paycheck NOW instead of 1.5 years down the road.)

I've made progress on the 101 goals. Must update.

I've failed miserably at other goals. Must get on the ball.

I am once again on the mission of cleaning out - minimizing the "stuff" in my life. Let's hope for better progress this year than last. In an effort to be "simple" ...it was the theme of my tree this year...I know, it's late for sharing decoration pics, but I'm in charge here...so please admire my simple tree...

All crystal snowflakes were a craft project...easy but sparkly!

And speaking of crafts. I ordered a double batch of these paper balls last year! I've assembled a few - obviously they are too big for my tree. I was thinking of doing a door decoration with them, 0r using them as some sort of countdown? But now I'm kind of stumped. So if you have any inspirational ideas - please let me know!

Composting 101

(Notes from the girl who did it all wrong.)

I just filled a good portion of my raised garden with my own, home grown compost - after two years of effort. For anyone that knows anything about compost - you might realize that it really shouldn't take two years to make compost. So let me tell you a story...

I remember hearing about composting long, long ago...I must have been in middle school. I was the only preteen in my corner of the world concerned about such things...if only I had known back then that I was revolutionary....and not weird. (sigh) I convinced my mother for a short time to let me dump the coffee grounds and tea bags in a section of the garden - I'm quite sure she thought I was insane. It didn't take long before the weather sucked, my allergies ran a muck and I lost interest.

So one day as I was walking through a store and I noticed an affordable composting box - oh yes, I had to have it. I promptly brought it home and started stuffing it full of goodies in hopes of making lovely dirt.

About that same time a couple of things occured...
1. We had a shipment of like 50 pounds of some citrus fruit
2. Fall. And in our yard that means many, many leaves....
3. It also means sticky balls. Lots of sticky balls.

Generally, I am a rule follower. But sometimes in life - I have to learn lessons the hard way. Do yourself a favor...and if you plan to start composting - just trust me...

Mistake #1 The instructions say don't include citrus fruits in your compost. They aren't kidding. I dumped the skins of that 50 pounds of citrus fruits into the bin. We also consume a ridiculous amount of kiwi in this house. It seemed wasteful to just throw that out - so I threw it in the bin.

Well, turns out - they say not to do it for a reason. The bugs / worms / icky creatures that do the hard work don't like citrus fruit. They will show you their dislike by NOT living in your compost bin - therefore, no compost for you.

Mistake #2 Leaves are great for compost - you can really lend a hand to the process by raking your leaves (dry), putting them in a large container and then pulverizing them with a weed eater. It's kind of a lawn tool blender. And it's amazing how much this can cut down on the bulk - and make your large leaf pile about 1/3 of it's original size. However, leaves are dry (that may seem obvious to you - you are smart readers). You need to compensate this dryness either with more frequent / heavy watering OR by adding much more wet matter to the pile.

If you don't keep the compost pile wet - you will have lots of the wrong kinds of critters living there. Mainly, I found ants - lots of ants. There were other critters in there as well - but I didn't look that close...I was too busy screaming "Eeewwwww" and trying to ensure none of them got the chance to crawl on me.

Mistake #3 Sticky balls. If you have a sticky ball tree - first, I'm sorry. Second, you likely already know this lesson. If you do not have a sticky ball tree - drive around your neighborhood. Find someone who does. Send them a sympathy card. (Really, they need your support.) They are really pretty trees but their beauty is soon hidden by their devilish little balls. They make your yard a landmine field. They make your lawnmower a deadly weapon. They make you crazy. They never end. And in the world of compost - they take 10 million years to decompose. Save yourself the headache - burn them or use them as mulch in areas that you would like to discourage anything from going...but do not fool yourself into thinking they will break down in your compost pile. It won't happen. Two years later - you will still find them there - laughing at you from the bottom of the pile.

They should alter that saying about after a nuclear explosion - all that would survive would be the cockroaches, Twinkies, and sticky balls.

After two years into the art of making compost - and so far having none...it was time to admit I had a problem. So I went to my garden center - bought some compost booster and got really productive this summer. I added very little to the compost pile this summer - wet matter only. The bin was nearly overflowing. After garden season ended - I dug out all the magical compost (thank you to the compost booster for working - and to myself for reading / following the directions) and when I got to the sticky ball layer - I threw all those under our large pine tree. We'll keep using this plan for future seasons and plan to never pay for mulch in that area again.

Now that I am starting from a clean slate, I'm super excited about doing it all the right way this time. (And having a product by next season.) Produce cut into small sections. Coffee grounds. Tea bags. Lots of banana peels. I emptied all my summer potting soil there as well. I've also started putting napkins and paper towels there unless they have come in contact with something offensively dirty. I'm also planning to put my toilet paper tubes into the compost. (I would consider composting other paper products but I recycle those for a local charity.) Occasionally a piece of cardboard will make it to the compost pile. We will add some leaves to the pile - assuming that it ever stops raining long enough for them to dry out.

I'm still completely committed to composting - I like to reduce my trash and I like to make my own rich soil. If you garden or if you just want to be the greenest kid on the block - you might give it a go too.

Just Call Me Big Bird

I've learned a lot about myself during this "bump" in the road of employment.

I have learned that I am a nester. (spell check denies this is a word but you know what I mean- you know, nesting - making your space home / well stocked)

In this temporary job I am working at two locations. In one land, I was lucky enough to be given an office - with a desk, a phone, eventually a computer, some simple working supplies.

At the other land where I work - I find myself working out of a mostly empty conference room one day and in someone else's office the other. This means on one day - I'm sitting in the other office workers lunch room...(it's a nice treat when they decide to eat sausages and sauerkraut for lunch)...there is no phone, no computer, no internet connection even if I brought one. Files must be packed out of the main office to this location and locked any time I so much as go to the bathroom - because I can't lock the ROOM (I have no key) this means loading and unloading the files into a temporary cabinet several times a day. There are no tissues, no office supplies, no resources. There is however, now a mini-office in my bag - which weighs a ton, which I must pack in and out every day...because I am a working nomad. And on the day when I'm in someone else's space ---well, how awkward is it to dig through someone's drawers while searching for a paper clip? And it gives no relief to the whole "storage" problem....but at least I have a key that day.

It brings me ridiculous comfort to have a few simple things in my work office...I will admit that as I was moving out of my office for over 6 years - I realized I was over-stocked with comfort items. But have you ever tried to make it through a day of work when you really need a nail file? How about chap stick? What about hand lotion?

I also like to have some food items on hand. A few breakfast bars. Maybe a few snack items to help fend off any temping evil food. Maybe a shelf-safe lunch item. And I like to drink hot tea...so this leads to a coffee mug, a spoon and an electric kettle.

It took me about 2 days to move my personal office fridge. (staff fridge does not mean my standard of "clean" and I've had one two many things walk away in a shared fridge...a fridge that is all mine requires a higher degree of willingness to commit crime)

In truth - I've had a small bag that I've really wanted to bring in as well. It includes a toothbrush, deodorant, tylenol, nasal spray (it's a fending-off-germs thing), powder...and my gym socks and shoes. (my work shoes are not treadmill friendly...so no shoes equals no taking my break at the gym)

The list goes on...and yes, clearly - my temporary home (or no home to call my own) has showed me that I can absolutely survive with all these things. But how much nicer is it to feel secure in your space - that your needs, however random, will easily be met?

Am I alone here? Or do you find yourself cramming personal need items into your workspace?

Wishing Wednesday

Week 35: Where I get back on track.

• I wish for the ability to stay on schedule.
• I wish that helping to change the world was as easy as helping people in this current job.
• I wish to be at my best - when others are at their worst. (Think able to find calm and wisdom when someone is screaming insanity at you.)
• I wish people wouldn't scream insanity at me.
• I wish for fall to stick around - often in MO fall is a 6 day event followed by the immediate onslaught of winter.

So thankful....to be close to the countdown in the land of crazy, for the people that I've had the chance to work with, that those people are already dreading my departure, that life is full of other chances and opportunities. AND - thankful for the trip that I won through work...proof that sometimes our thoughts do become reality.

Hope your wishes are coming true!