After waking up this morning at the crack of dawn with a little boy who wanted to lay in bed and cuddle..then started crying because mama had to go take a shower….I really started to regret taking this new job.  I know this feeling is only temporary but needless to say I was feeling pretty homesick for my old job this morning.  With my old job, my comings and goings were pretty flexible.  My boss didn’t come in till 8 and heck the timekeeper (if she came in) came in between 8:30 and 9 (although she was suppose to be there at 7:30).  My boss was pretty flexible and as long as you did your work he didn’t watch you.  It usually all worked itself out.  One day you might be a few minutes late and the next you might have to stay or not get a lunch.  Although life was good there…..it wasn’t going to last forever because this boss will probably retire next year and I’m sure that kind of environment will not stay in place which is one of the reason I decided to leave while I could.

In my new job, it’s a very professional environment as far as comings and going.  Most of the office comes in at 6 or 6:30 and goes home early.  I think I’m the only one working the 9 hour days and I’m only doing that so I can still get every other friday off.  It’s really hard working 9 hours when in the afternoon it’s just you and the boss especially on fridays.  Hopefully this will get better once I know more about what’s going on.  I think part of the reason I’m depressed and homesick is because I haven’t actually been given much yet.

I pray life gets better here.  I’m sure it will…heck it’s only been two weeks…..

This is Ned.  He’s a little kitten at my Mom’s.  Ned’s mother (a stray who comes to my Mom’s) brought him up a few times and he even crossed the road on his own a couple of times.  My mom was really worried about him but he really came to be a concern one day when they realized he had a cold and was pretty sick.  Because he was sick he was more tame than he had been and my Mom and brother noticed a big knot on his belly.  They took him to the vet to have him checked out and the big knot was what is called an umbilical hernia.  They left him at the vet to have it removed.  If it had not been fixed he would have died because those things get up in there and choke out the other organs or something like that….he would have died.  Although my mom doesn’t want or need anymore cats she felt she needed to help this little baby.  After his bandage and stitches were removed my brother built a nice big pen for him and they bring him in the house for a bit every day to socialize him.  He’s really sweet and although I said I didn’t need another cat (for the sake of my marriage) I may end up with him because…..they found one of the other stray females under the porch with may be three kittens.  She must have just had them too…..My mom is going to try and catch the female strays and get them fixed before they have more babies.  It’s a shame how some people just don’t realize where babies come from and get there cats fixed….there are so many strays that come to my mom’s.  Some she don’t know if they originate across the street at her neighbors or someone dumps one and it just multiplies..  It’s a never ending battle and we can’t save them all.  But we try….

Some friends of mine from high school who I have re-connected with on Facebook told me about this art class nearby where you come learn to paint a particular painting (we chose this Klimit Red Circle Tree), drink some wine and just spend time with adults.  This was our first class and this is my version of the painting.  We had a blast and I can’t wait to go again.  Of course mine didn’t exactly look like the sample but it got me motivated to try more so I even went to the store and bought some paints and canvass to do more.  Something else to add to my hobbies and things I want to do that I never have much time for Sometimes you HAVE to make the time though.

Okay I’ll admit..my addiction to Facebook has kept me from blogging as of late….We are allowed to view it at work now so when I get a free minute….that’s what I check in on….I will try and do better.

Lots of things going on at the house of Scrappycat….I’ll be starting a new job in a couple of weeks (which may end my facebook addiction) which I’m really excited about.  I’m going to have to be more professional and my free time will be limited but I’m ready for a change.  Since the new job doesn’t start for a couple of weeks I decided to get those household projects done that I’ve been putting off (projects that require taking off work).  The guy comes on free to measure for new carpet which I’m happy about.  For those who read my home improvement page you may remember that the contractors ruined my carpet and it cannot be cleaned.  We’ve been putting off getting new carpet but I finally bit the bullet.  Along with the new carpet I plan on calling our electrician and get some new ceiling fans and light fixtures installed too.  The new carpet coming will also encourage us to finish painting the master bedroom and finally get that new mattress we’ve needed for over 3 years now…yeah!

Little boy is doing very well with his potty training.  I think alot of that is contributed to his new teacher at daycare who also happens to be one of our nearby neighbors.  She is really good with the kids.  So now I’m in a house with two boys…so you can imagine that I have sat down on the toilet rim a couple of times.  I need to teach little boy to close the lid before it’s too late…. I’m really proud of him though.  He’s growing up too fast!  Getting him out of diapers/pullups except at night is bittersweet because it does mean he’s growing up.

Since I haven’t had too much time to scrapbook and not the best pictures to scrap these days I decided to do a little card making…..

They are very simple cards using some pre-made white greeting cards, some paper I had laying around, my cricut cutter and some little embellishments.  It’s hard to see but the first card says “Just a little note to say I was thinking about you today”.  I made that one to send to my Mamaw

Cards seem to something I can do fairly quickly and a chance to use up some of the millions of dollars worth of paper, stickers, brads and other embellishments I have in my room.  I think I’ll do some more and try some new designs……

Since I’ve redone my craft room, it has become a place where we can all go there and do some crafts etc.  Little boy has decided he likes play-doh and ever since I bought him a small set…he’s been going in there every day and saying. “ma, wanna play play-doh?”.  We can sit in there, play play-doh, watch “artoons” and I can even do a little of my own crafting. 

It was funny the other night when I arrived home late from my trip to DC to see the light on in my craft room as I drove up the drive.  There was little boy…sitting there playing with the play-doh…..

As I continue to organize the space, I actually got to do a little scrapbooking.  Although it was only “re-doing” a couple of pages little boy had torn apart, I still felt a sense of accomplishment.  I have even started some little gift card boxes for xmas and plan on making some cards here real soon.  It’s amazing how you can find the time and be inspired when your space is just right.  Let’s just hope we can keep it that way for a little while this time!

I think age is really catching up to me because I started to think about all my good and bad changes both physically and in my every day life…

I used to be a morning person.  I would always wake up early and ready to start my day.  Usually in a very good mood.  Could get lots done at work before most of the people even got in.  Now it’s all I can do to open my eyes.

I used to be always get to work on time.  This relates back to the morning person and a little bit of a needy young child.  It’s getting worse…..I have not been on time in several months.

I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted and not gain weight.  Now if I just think about bad food I gain weight…

I used to be skinny.  Also relates back to the eating what I wanted….I remember WANTING to gain weight because I was so skinny.  Be careful what you wish for.

I used to have very limp straight hair.  This is probably due to hormones from having a child but these days my hair is so curly and full of body.

I used to have a lot of energy and was fairly active.  Now my knees or my feet hurt most of the time and I just soon pile up on the bed and watch TV.

I used to have free time…..  free time to scrapbook, decorate, cook, work in the yard.  These days it’s like there are less hours in the day.

I used to care about how I looked or dressed.  These days whatever falls out of the closet will do.

I used to be organized.  These days I just keep re-arranging the crap or piles and it’s still not organized.

I used to be very shy.  Most people I work with don’t believe this but when I was younger I would never speak up.  These days it’s hard to shut me up and I’m not afraid to speak my mind.

Yep I used to be different……I’m sure it’s my age.

We just returned from a week at the beach.  We had a good trip…only one afternoon of rain and thankfully came home before the effects of hurricanes came through.  To my surprise little boy was almost (and I mean almost) totally potty trained for the trip.  He actually held it till we came to a gas station or rest stop AND got out of the pool to potty which is totally surprising.  Most trips were with me to the Ladies Room except for that one time at a rest stop outside of Birmingham where he chose to “water a tree”.  We were very impressed.

First full day there husband got stung by jellyfish and little boy refused to walk on the sand or get near the ocean (not because of the jellyfish…just because).  We finally got him to the beach the last day but he had to be carried out there and would only sit on a towel while his mommy built sand castles and hunted for shells (and fetched shells for him too).  But he loved the pool.  We were out there every morning when the pool opened and stayed till lunch then went back out in the afternoon.  I think he only napped one or two days which was unfortunate because that meant he fell asleep before we could go to dinner.  I absolutely refuse to cook or clean while on vacation and husband loves seafood so going on is what we loved to do.  One night we couldn’t wake him and ended up having bologna sandwiches for dinner….blah….I was already eating those for lunch.

While we were down there we ran into some friends of ours.  We were waiting to get a table outside the Original Oyster House when husband went inside to the bar to get little boy some soda when a guy at the bar looked over and then nudged him…..It was our friends Rob and Z who had made a last minute trip down there for their anniversary.  We had not seen them in awhile so it was really good to see them and quite funny that we did down at the beach.

I get an email from my mom who was suppose to go check on my animals and it turns out she can’t find the key to my house.  If it wasn’t for the heat I probably wouldn’t have worried but I was afraid they’d run out of water.  Thankfully she found the key and they went and checked on everybody.  I could now enjoy the rest of my vacation knowing they were okay.  It’s hard to travel anywhere when you have so many pets.  Of course with Buster gone it feels like I don’t have hardly any but most people would agree…4 cats and 3 dogs is a lot of pets.  I can’t help being such an animal lover…you can imagine how upset I got down at the beach to see three black cats hanging outside a seafood restaurant right there on the Gulf highway (very close to the road).  Of course I gathered leftovers and gave them some (probably shouldn’t have encouraged that but couldn’t help it).

While at the beach, I made the mistake of checking my work messages one afternoon and discovered the lady who I had interviewed with had called and wanted to talk to my current supervisor.  I emailed her back and told her she could but that I was at the beach and had not had a chance to tell him about the interview.  She agreed to wait and this morning I told him….We’ll have to wait and see about that one. 

So back to the grind for us……all the animals were okay when we got home and even though we loved the beach I was sorta glad to be home…at least to sleep in my own bed….knowing all the work that needs to be done around the house isn’t fun but…it’s home….

After all my fretting over looking for a new job (since I don’t see much potential where I’m at and not happy with the direction the organization is going)….I finally got an interview yesterday.  The interview went pretty good I think and they seemed impressed by my resume……it would be more money and has great potential to get even more money because the actual supervisor of the position is not moving down here from DC with the rest of the organization.  The only thing is I’d have to go to DC for 3 weeks to get training as a condition of employment….

Number one, three weeks away from by little boy, my husband and my critters is a long time.  Last time I was gone a week, little boy for a split second acted like he didn’t know me….that hurt even though it was a split second.  Secondly, I hate to travel by myself and that will be a source of severe anxiety….flying there won’t be so bad alone but getting a rental car and driving to the location..then driving back to the airport when I leave………..lots of traffic…..I hate it.  I’m a real woosey when it comes to major traffic which is why I could never live in a really big city….people are crazy on the road.

I won’t let the 3 week training decide whether to take the job if they offer it…..sure it will be scary but I couldn’t pass this up because it’s a great opportunity.

Not sure when I’ll hear back on it since I stayed home today with little boy who is sick and then Sunday I’m gone out of town for a week.  I haven’t even told my boss I interviewed (which I had planned to do this morning before I found out I had to stay home).  Oh well…..I guess we’ll see…..I thought I was ready for a changc butit sure is scary!!