Michelle
I agree with the others on the job situation. I've liked working for the city even though this job has had it's ups and downs. We have to live with in the city limits so I'd be sure to ask about that also if you choose SF. My niece work's in SF and she rides the BART. They live in Freemont.

Happy
That was very good advice. I'm going to stick out my job for another couple of years. Some times I don't feel like I'm going to make it but I will.

Annie
How are you feeling today.

Shad
Are you going to explore the city again today?


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Had an enjoyable girls day out yesterday. Needed to be home cleaning and getting ready for the two extra work days but I can manage that today. I need to go pick up my pay check this morning and go get a few groceries before the rain comes in today.
I weighed yesterday to see that the pizza and mcdonald's meals cause me to gain 2 pounds. I'll be cooking this week.
Finally set up the cable box in the bedroom. It was much easier this time around. They are using HDMI cables.
Now to figure out how to turn off the camera on this tablet.
Happy Friday the 13th.

Back...

CEEG...seems as tho we work are arses off all of our lives, retire then die not long after. Just ain't right, I tell you.

HAPPY...I agree with your post on Chelle's job. Sassy came in yelping last night as she got into the deeper snow, it freaked her out so I had to wrap her up in a blanket and hold her til she calmed down. It was almost humorous, but I felt sorry for her. Keep pondering the tree thing and Christmas will be over with and you won't have to get a tree at all. I will send you some needles from my tree.

SHADDIE.....glad you get to visit with lil S over the holidays. How fun will that be...the older Jacob gets, the more fun he is. He ran past my legs the other night and slightly brushed up against them, turn around and said, "Oh sorry, my Nanna". Melted my heart immediately. He calls me MY NANNA.

LAURA...love the tags of MELLIE you posted. Just doesn't seem real she is not here posting...I miss her dearly. I am working through lunch and leaving early today to get a few errands done before our snowstorm hits. 3-6" by noon tomorrow for us. No I am not buying milk and bread, besides I have a hook-up on the bread situation....

Hi SUSIE...hope you had a great week and DH is feeling good. How did you do at TOPS this week?

HI CHELLE...hope the decision making is getting easier. Choose wisely, my friend. (that is from some chinese movie I watched) Wax on, Wax off, Karate Kid....haha

Here is the website if you would like to read up on my cousin and her battle with cancer.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/br...ontz-sebastiao

Snowstorm coming in after 6 pm tonite through tomorrow through lunch. 3-6 inches of snow. One thing I have to do is buy a snow shovel as the one from last year broke and I pitched it. I am snow shoveless.

About it for me. Have a marvelous Friday/evening!

Hugs

Morning all,

Picked up a real Christmas tree yesterday - a Balsam fir one. Smells sooo good throughout the house. Cats are curious but leaving it alone for the most part. I haven't decorated it yet - just letting it rest and relax as it was near frozen in the outside garden part of the warehouse. I have to work the thrift shop today - traded days as a favor to my buddy - so I will probably work on decorating it tonight when I get home. The real trees, particularly the balsams are dense so lights and decorations will pretty much go on the outside of the tree which means I won't have to put up a lot of stuff.

I am a bit miffed with Kohls. I took advantage of sales and purchased new stuff for both loos. Shower curtains, towels and such. They are shipping the stuff in bits and pieces. Must have broken the order into 6 different parts all being shipped at different times which prevents me from getting everything cleaned and swapped out at once. Petco is doing the same thing - I ordered 2 cat beds since it gets quite cold in the house overnight. One kitty snuggles up with me or DH but the older one just sort of roams about although lately she's taken to one particular guest bed to sleep. But they too have broken my order of 6 items into 4 shipments, one of which was backordered which leaves me wondering why they said the item was in stock when I ordered it.

Thank you for the Christmas cards I have received. I have lots of cards which I should use up - will probably try and work on them this weekend so that they have a reasonable chance of showing up before Christmas to your homes.

Tonight into tomorrow morning is the Geminid meteor shower. That generally has some good cracklers and fire bombs in the sky (larger meteors). Of course, we have having cloudy skies yesterday and today, unlike the brilliantly clear skies earlier in the week. Snow is falling again, the temps have warmed up to single digits but it looks like next weekend is going in the deep, deep freeze again. Guess it will be a cold Christmas. I did pick up some special cherry scented seed for the animals for a Christmas treat. They love it and will have to distribute it equally between the birds, turkey, deer and bunnies. Everyone is hungry in this cold.

Ceejay - isn't it funny how 3 of us from different walks of life all know someone who used a specific train station? I know it's tempting sometimes to leave the current job for something more exciting but there comes a point when stability and security have to override the I'm bored because I've been here forever feeling. Especially for you who are in the home stretch of the game at this point.

Annie - hope your fingers thawed out.

Michelle - I'm sorry to hear that the homeless situation is back again in downtown SF. I used to travel there a lot on business so I was comfortable grabbing a cable car or walking around the area. On my last visit there - which was a while ago - I dropped my bags at the hotel and went out in search of some dinner. It was late afternoon and I was shocked at the amount of homeless people who were staking out their doorways for the night. Many of them were panhandling and were rather aggressive about following you and begging. It really unnerved me and I went back to the hotel and waited for my co-worker to show up. Since the people were hanging out near to the hotel I mentioned something to the front desk. They said it was bothersome and they were concerned for the guests but if they called the police the people just dispersed for a short bit and came right back. I had heard that the city was trying to address the issue because it negatively affected tourism and I thought they had made some headway. Apparently not so I don't blame you at all being nervous about that. Just walk tall, look mean and carry a sturdy umbrella

Shad - I do agree with you about the work force being a temporary thing. Many big employers now do just contract work so they can grow and shrink the workforce more easily. I suspect that as they are also supposed to provide healthcare too more will opt for contract people they don't have to provide benefits to. Are you settled into your new place now?

Hellos to Laura and Susie. I need to get some light lunch into me before I have to head to the shop.

Have a good one all.

Hi everyone -

Thanks for all your input and wise advice. I really appreciate it.

I'm doing my Christmas cards in batches. The first batch went out early this week, but I ran out of stamps. So the second batch went out yesterday. And the remainder will go out this weekend or Monday.

Happy - As for Kohl's doing multiple shipments, I can explain that. They have multiple distribution centers across the country, and while there is some overlap (where more than one distribution center carries the same item), some items may only be carried at one distribution center or may only be in stock at one distribution center, especially this time of year when items are being received and then shipped by the distribution center at breakneck speed...hence the multiple packages. Glad you were able to find a nice real tree, nothing matches the lovely smell (although candles and air fresheners try - they don't come close in my opinion). All this talk of warming up to the single digit temps, make me so grateful to be in a warmer climate.

Shad - I know you enjoy contracting. I think employers here are using it so they can bring people on quickly and let them go even quicker. Of course, with a "permanent" employee you theoretically won't have to train a replacement as soon either. I can't find in writing where the position is a 5 year contract, so that may be something they mentioned verbally. But I agree that this company in San Jose is either not sure of me and my qualifications despite talking to many references, or they don't know exactly what they need/want.

Ceejay - What a small world that your niece lives in Fremont and works in San Francisco and rides BART every day. I won't be working for the City of SF...it's a Federal Government office, but I won't even be technically working for the Federal Government. I'll be a consultant/contractor working for a consulting agency assigned to the Federal Government. I'm glad you had a nice girls day out. I definitely think you should stick it out at your work as long as you can. Good for you for cooking this week.

Annie - How adorable that Jacob calls you "My Nanna". Good for you to get errands done before the oncoming snowstorm. Yuck. Yes, definitely get a snow shovel. Hopefully you don't have to go out tomorrow. Thanks for the great Chinese wisdom.

Hello to Laura and to Susie!

Much love and many hugs to all,

Hi Everyone! Busy work week. We had a lot of meetings and offsites and holiday parties and things. I did a lot of working from home in the evenings.

I'm still not caught up. I have a goal to get everything caught up by Jan 1 2014 so I can start the year that way. My manager understands I will have OT (I usually have at least 5 hours a week) and she is ok with it. Two people used to do my job for one manager. I do the same work for two managers. It makes the paycheck nice. I feel if I can get it caught up (I came into the role and there were a lot of things behind and I've been playing catch-up ever since and we have had two management changes)

I didn't make it to TOPS as I was downtown for work yesterday and the traffic getting out of the city was crazy.

Michelle: I think you have been given very good advice. Do you think that you could find something closer to the government job?

Laura: You mentioned Charming Charlies in a recent post. I LOVE that place! It's so fun!!

Happy: Was your husband's ablation for afib? I would love to hear about it. You can pm me on here.

Shad: How are you settling into the new place?

Hi Ceejay!

I've got to scoot..we are going out to dinner to a local restaurant and when I come home I'm wrapping some of these gifts! I have been storing them in my home office and it's getting out of hand!

I'll be back soon. You guys are so much fun!

Morning
Susie
You do sound like a busy girl. And good for you on setting a goal to get that job done.

Happy
I love the smell of fresh cut tree's. Some times in the Spring and Fall I can smell the pine trees. I've been trying t find a potpourri that mom used at Christmas time. It smelled so good.

Annie
How cute is you gs calling you MY NANNA. It does melt your heart. How is your daughter doing. Thanks for the web sight.

Michelle
I've been procrastinating on the Christmas cards. But told myself tonight I will do that.

Laura Have a good time this week end.

Shad

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Picked up my pay check yesterday then went to get groceries. Back home I finished the laundry, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom and started on my bedroom. Did my ironing for the work week while watching Miracle on 34th street. Also hooked up my dvd player in the bedroom. I found an exercise
dvd that was inside the player. I'd looked for it earlier this month. This time I remembered I only had to use one wire not all of them. I used the color coded ones. I wanted some fried catfish and the best place to get that is at a Chinese restaurant but immediately the smell of it turned my stomach. And I was nauseated afterwards. Think that was something trying to tell me to stay away from the fast foods this week.
I'm working a couple of extra days for L. Just extra over time money for me and a little more Social Security if and when I get there.
Have a good day.

Morning all,

Melly Moment from last year as the Scrooges had kept threatening to cancel the annual Christmas party for the seniors.



THE 3 BOARDS OF COMMISSIONERS HAD OUR CHRISTMAS PARTY AT THE MEETINGS TODAY. I HAD A WONDERFUL TIME. EVERYONE WAS HAPPY AND SMILING FOR A CHANGE. WE HAD A TON OF LAUGHS. IT WAS LIKE OLD TIMES WITH THE "BIG" GUYS. THEY EVEN SAID IT WAS GOOD TO BE TOGETHER AGAIN. I DON'T SOCIALIZE WITH THEM AT ALL THE POLITIAL PARTIES ANYMORE FOR YEARS NOW. SO IT WAS NICE TO BE WITH THEM AGAIN. I ALMOST FORGOT WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE FLIRTED WITH.

THE TRIP TO TRADER'S WAS EVEN BETTER THAN EXPECTED. I CASHED MY EXTRA CHECK AND WE WENT WILD. JEN AND I LAUGHED THE WHOLE TIME WE WERE THERE. IT WAS GREAT FUN TO FIND NEW FOOD ITEMS AND DECIDE HOW WE WOULD USE THEM. JEN BOUGHT STUFF I NEVER THOUGHT SHE WOULD. RICHIE THOUGHT WE WERE NUTS WHEN HE GOT HOME. BUT HE LIKED ALL THE STUFF WE GOT. IT'S GOING TO BE A VERY MERRY CHRISMAS OVER HERE. I CANNOT WAIT.

back again. Got distracted with an advertisement here. Bought some yoga stuff - thanks Mom for the neat Christmas present

Cold and snowy out there - good day to stay inside and decorate. The tree smells wonderful - there is no artificial smell of potpourri or candles or sprays that can come anywhere near the smell of something natural like this. I just wish the LED lights would not have been so expensive - I think the cool burning LEDs would have been better for the real tree. Oh well - it gets down to 63 at night in that room so I hope it will stay fresh - I am religiously watering it and keeping an eye on it.

Ceejay - sounds like you've been a busy bee yesterday. I can understand about the catfish. Don't know what it is about Chinese restaurants but they sure know how to fry stuff. I find they usually have the best chicken wings too. Sorry the catfish upset the tummy. Yay on the extra money - nice of you to help L out and the extra cash comes in handy this time of year. Nice to not have to start the new year with a bunch of bills.

Susie - yes, my DH had the ablation to address AFIB which was not responding to any other kind of treatment. I will message you but first I have to clean out my 3FC message box which is pretty near to capacity. I had to smile at your comment about catching up. I've been looking around at things and thinking the very same thing except I'm the one to blame about letting things get out of hand. How was dinner last night?

Michelle - I sort of figured that's what was going on - the multiple warehouses - still makes it frustrating when you wanted to co-ordinate a whole room. I don't care so much when it comes to clothing. Oh come on, you know you miss dry, cracked hands, sinus headaches, that still legged gait trying not to slide on black ice and cold feet - don't you?

Annie - thanks for the link about your cousin - renews my gratitude that life is good and I should appreciate what I have. I just love the idea of Lil Man calling you My Nanna. I'll bet it sounds even cuter coming out of his mouth! Hope you didn't get doused with too much snow.

You and Laura must be digging out now.

What's the plan for the weekend Shad? Any news on the niece and the baby?

DH is wondering where the leftover lasagna is for his lunch so I'd better go help him out - might be stuffed in the back and only I can navigate the refrigerator. Have a good weekend all.

Morning
The internet at work has been on and off for awhile so I brought my tablet.

Work yesterday was busy in the morning but tapered off in the afternoon. I was off 7 pounds on my fluoride report but thought that this morning with a fresh mind would help. It did and I finished balancing yesterday reports.

-----------
Happy
I'd forgotten what trouble it is to have a real tree by keeping it watered, etc. Mom and dad always had a fire ******ant put on ours. but you are right they sure do smell good. And thanks for sharing that tidbit about Mel. I sure do miss her.
I like Yoga for the stretching part. My goal this month is to actually get down on the floor to do the downward dog. I'm almost there. I've been doing Peggy Cappy's senior yoga, but found another yoga on line that I really like. It's on you tube.

I'll be back later.

For Shad - I'm thinking we missed a fine opportunity when we had one in the shop that day. Over the years I have occasionally looked for that special ornament, only to come up empty handed. Found this just in case you were interested. Probably won't be able to get it through customs in time for Christmas though. The best part of that day was I've never heard you laugh so hard for so long. We sure had a good time.

I got the lights on the tree and was dismayed to find that somewhere in that bitter cold garage are my ornaments and garland. The last few years I have used the small fiber optic tree and didn't need them. It's going to be bitterly cold out there - high only of minus 1 degree F so digging around in the garage will not be fun. DH said we could drag some boxes across the yard into the man cave which has a propane heater in it. But that building smells of gasoline since the AVT, UTV, lawn mower and snowblower also make there home in there. Maybe I could just string up popcorn. Then again, maybe not - do you know how hard it is to string popcorn and besides the food allergy Nina would probably have a field day with it.

Anyway - stay warm chicks. I'm off to get busy.

Happy Sunday ladies,

Lots on the to do list for today: laundry, finish Christmas cards, start boxing up my stuff to move over to D's next weekend, sort through my bills and other piles of papers, and I should go shopping for a Christmas-ey shirt for me and a present for my great-nephew, and I'm sure there are other things that I've forgotten about.

My step-mom and a group of her friends are going caroling this afternoon to some nursing homes, and I really wanted to go...but since I've woken up with a migraine (or sinus headache) I may have to pass.

===============
Happy - Is it still snowing there? I hope you're staying warm. I totally understand about your DH not being able to navigate the frig, my ex was the same way. He couldn't find anything that wasn't right in front, yet from the other room, I could give him "directions" to exactly where something was. Thanks for sharing the Mel memories. I may not be in the cold anymore, but with the heat running here, I'm still getting dry skin and lips, and sinus headaches.

Ceejay - I'm glad you got your reports to balance. I find I can do more mentally challenging stuff better in the morning as well. I know that I should do fairly "mindless" work after 3:30, because if I do anything that requires a lot of thinking at that time, I'll just have to re-do it in the morning.

to Shad, Laura, Annie and Susie!

I'll try and check back in later after I've checked a few things off my list.

Much love to all,

Morning all,

Oh Happy - how I yearn for the lamp. It would go so nicely with the firescreen. I have just the place for it. Yes, that was a real fun day. I've never seen so much kitsch in my life all in the one small shop. While cleaning out my files earlier this year I came across a couple of the postcards I bought with the recipes on them. I think I must of bought them to remind myself of how not to eat properly. Thank God he could sing. He sure couldn't decorate!!
Hope you find the tree decorations. You'll have Mel and the cattleprod (that I can no longer find) sitting in the mezzanine if you don't do it.

Ceejay - Good thinking on taking the tablet. It's always handy to have the net available. It's not as if you are going to be on it all day. One of the guys here does the same thing.
I don't have a problem with the down dog exercise, its the lunge from the downward dog that gets me. Bring your left foot forward and place between the hands -says the gushing yoga lady. What? are you stupid woman? I have boobs and creaking bones and not enough length of leg to do that.

Susie - I have settled into the new place. Don't mind it at all although there is a distinct lack of storage space. I may have to find some of those cubes to put things away. I hope the DH's procedure goes well for you both.

Michelle - guess you will have come to some decision about work over the weekend. Good luck with that.
Sometimes commute is not bad. I used to use it to get certification. I still read and pass the time on the internet when I have to travel. It's only Santa that you will need to think about.

Annie - how gorgeous that the lil man calls you my nanna. Poor little Sassy. Maybe next time you will get a huge Irish wolfhound or similar so you don't have to worry about the depth of the snow. My only other suggestion would be to have a box of earth on the deck so she doesn't have to plough through the snow.

I wrote and sent out my Christmas letter yesterday. However I did get a couple coming back. Laura - your address was one of those. I seem to remember we had the same problem a couple of years back. So where do I send it? Always supposing you want it of course. Ceejay, I am not sure that I have your addy. Couldn't seem to find it last night. And I don't have Susies.

Mels Christmas 2011:
MORNING EVERYONE.
A WEELEND OF BLISS HAS BEGUN!!
LOTS OF LOVELY SUNSHINE AND BLUE SKIES.
I BOUGHT A COFFEE TO CELEBRATE THE WEEK'S END

JUST LET THE WEEK FADE INTO FRIDAY'S SUNSET AND BEGIN ANEW.
ONE WOMAN GOT SOME HELP & HER BROTHER REALLY STEPPED UP TO THE PLATE.
SO WE HAD ONE HAPPY ENDING.
I GAVE A BUS DRIVER SOME MONEY TO BUY LIGHTS FOR THE SENIOR'S TREE AND THAT IS DONE.
THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE A DECORATING PARTY TONITE.
I'LL GET REIMBURSED NEXT WEEK. SOMETIMES IT'S JUST EASIER TO DO STUFF YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I GOT SO MUCH ACCOMPLISHED THAT NEIGHBORS CAME TO THE DOOR LAST NIGHT TO THANK ME.
I TOLD THEM NOW I CAN REST UP OVER THE WEEKEND HINT HINT!
THE KIDS AND I POOLED OUR RESOURCES TOGETHER TO GET THE KIDS RETURN PLANE TICKETS FOR AFTER THE HOLIDAYS.
SEEMS SOMEONE DROPPED THE BALL DOWN SOUTH. SO BE IT.
YOU CANNOT TELL THEM AT THIS LATE DATE THAT THEY CAN'T COME.
ANOTHER DRAMA SQUELCHED AND FIRE PUT OUT.
SO ALL IN ALL I AM FEELING PRETTY GOOD ALL AROUND.
HOPE YOU ARE ALL HAVING A GREAT WEEKEND

I did some gift shopping on the weekend but I still don't have anything for the NZ mob except for Peanut who hasn't put in an appearance yet. I believe
there is to be an induction today.

Well I guess I had better get on with some work. Everyone seems to be here today and also in the Christmas spirit. *sigh*. Guess I better try to find some.

Shad - I do have a decision to make about the job. I know that I'm going to take BART to SF tomorrow morning so I can go to the Federal building and get the paperwork started to get computer access so that by the time my background check comes through I'll have all the ducks in a row to start. The SJ job called me and wants me to start on Wednesday. So I'd work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and then the office is closing for the Christmas and New Years weeks, so I'd go back on the 6th. In talking with a friend, the quandry I'm in is that until I positively pass my background check, the SF job offer is not a sure thing. So I really can't turn down the SJ job just yet. Now there's no reason I can think of that I would not pass the background check, but one never knows. So I'm still mulling over what to do. I hope your niece's delivery goes well. Keeping her and Peanut in my prayers.

My headache is a little better, so I decided to go caroling with step-mom and her friends. I also got most of my Christmas cards done...just a few left, and I'll finish those tonight (hopefully).

Lots of love to all,

Quick hello. Back from the Dells & the vow renewal. Nice time. I'll do a post tomorrow. Everyone take care.

Good Morning...HOLY YIKES!! I had no idea we were in for more snow last night, guess I was just not paying attention to the weather forecast no matter how wrong they are at times. Took me 40 minutes to do my 20 minute commute. Not all that bad and for some reason I was ready and out the door early enough that I wasn't too awful late. Looks like a shoveling good time AGAIN when I get home so Miss Sassy Queen wil go potty. She did go out this morning and made a couple of deposits, must of really had to go as normally she won't have anything to do with the snow. We only got an inch or so, just enough to cause havoc on the roads.

Spent yesterday at Cs brother's house celebrating with him, his sister and his niece and 2 grandnephews. We got there early to spend time with his brother as once the rest of them show up it is loud and crazy. The two GNs are 3 and 5, their mom (Cs niece) lets them run amuck. The 3 year old doesn't mind worth a crap, nor does she displicine them. Mostly just yells at them. I can tell you if they were mine, I would of beat the arses. Thank God Sam wasn't there as she would of taken it into her own hands and there would of been chaos. Just glad it is over and don't have to do that for another year. Amen!

Need to ship my St. Louis family their gifts before it is too late. Will try to get them wrapped tonite and ship them out tomorrow. I love the thoughts of Christmas but not liking the pressure to get things done.

CEEG...thanks for asking about DD. She is doing well, so far, hoping to make it all the way to March 12 for the delivery. This week she is 27 weeks. Lil man came at 32 weeks. So far no issues. Fingers crossed.

SHADDIE...you would of loved my xh's antique collection as he had lots of things that looked like that lamp. When we got divorced, I was so over all that old stuff, including him, that I told him to take it all with him, I didn't want to see it anymore. Glad you are settled in you new digs, altho small, it has to be better than the last one.

HAPPY...maybe forego searching for the ornaments in that cold garage and string popcorn instead. lol. How are the kitties doing with the tree, just don't hang any ornaments within their reach, may find they use them as a batting cage.

CHELLE...decisions, decisions....lots of thinking, go with your gut instinct.
Hope the head feels better.

SUSIE...hope you had a nice weekend and don't work too awful hard trying to play catch up and miss the enjoyment of the season.

LAURA...Did you do anything in the Dells or just go to the vow renewment?

That's it for me now. Trying to stay warm. Get this....Friday we are to hit 50s and have rain. This weather is crazy.

Have a marvelous Monday all..

Hugs