They didn't forget!

My wonderful co-workers and boss (the Pastor) gave me a beautiful flowering basket and card for Administrative Professionals Day (yes, secretary's day). I was so surprised! I am blessed to have found such a wonderful place to work after coming from a wonderful place to work!

Too many subjects for a title!

I have so many ideas of what to write about that I can't think of a title. I guess that is good. First of all, I must say I am having a hard time adjusting to the weather here. My desktop thermometer says 42 degrees. That is way too cold for me for April 27th! I am used to 80 or 90 degree temperatures by this time. I wonder if Ohio is always this cold this time of year!

I am so excited for our weekend plans. Andrew's mom found a deal on a hotel downtown and that sparked the idea for a birthday get away. We are going downtown for a little retreat tomorrow. We are going to see Les Miserables on Friday night at the Aronoff Theatre, we are staying the night in a hotel with free food (part of the deal), and then we are going to see a Red's game on Saturday. I'm not a huge sports fan but it's the experience that is fun.

At the church where I work, we have had a goose lay her eggs right in the courtyard of the church. She has been sitting on her eggs for 20-some days but they began to hatch yesterday. It has been so much fun (for me as well as the preschool kids) to watch this experience. Also at the church I have had a robin decide that she wants to help me in the office because she tries to get into my office by flying into my windows. This has happened frequently and it is very funny behavior to watch.

We took a walk last night in my new favorite place . . . Dudley Woods Park. It has a beautiful nature trail. We enjoyed walking around the trail and Dewey enjoyed the mud!

Yesterday was Administrative Professionals day (aka. secretary's day, which is ok with me). I didn't think anyone remembered or knew about it (which was ok with me as well) but I received a very nice plant this morning!

It has been a little over a week since our last meeing with UBuildIt. I want to call to see when he will be done with our rough budget outline but I don't want to rush him. I will just have to wait and see.

Oh, and if you read my blog and have a blog of your own, I would be glad to add it to be list (on the right side of the page). Just leave me a comment with your blog address. I would love to get more blogs linked to mine.

Mass Exodus!

We have been hearing of the large number of staff members leaving Sterling College in recent weeks. We are glad for our good friends who are still there to continue the good work and to keep us up-to-date but I am kind of glad I am not there to watch some very good friends leave.
:(

Isn't that selfish?

It's another May Festival night. I always dread it this time of day but when I am leaving Music Hall at 10:00 pm, I am thinking how much I enjoy it! Talk about mixed feelings!

Pics

A picture of me in the MFC. You can see me if you zoom in quite a ways. I've got to go to work. Hopefully I can do more of this later!

No Pictures?

Sorry for not posting pictures. I'm not sure what happened . . . well, yes, I am. I went to see a movie instead. I hardly get to see Andrew anymore (or it seems that way) so since he wanted to go, I went along. I enjoyed the movie. Please pray for Andrew. He's in a tough situation. Thanks and hopefully we'll have some house news soon!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 1 year blogging anniversary to me, myself, and I! The actual date was on the 18th but I was busy that day and didn't have time to write. It's been quite a year, huh?! I'm in the mood to post pictures so there may be some pictures posted on here later tonight if I think of it.

My Weekend!

Yes, I was in Kansas this past weekend. I tried to work out a time to be in Sterling but I was there for such a short time that it just didn't work out. I flew into Wichita on Friday evening and didn't get home until about 12:30 am. My grandpa drove back with me to Kansas, in the car my parents gave us, and we left Sunday evening and drove to Lawrence to stay with some relatives. The weekend was wonderful. It was great to be home and relax, even for a short time. Flying is definitely the easy way to go. I believe I will fly more often and when I get older I can rent a car (still not old enough yet!!) because sometimes that is cheaper.

Grandpa Fairchild drove with me out to Ohio. We had a great time and I was impressed with his ability to stand such a long drive. I guess he is used to long hours on the farm. On Tuesday, I was able to show Grandpa around the area. We went all over. We showed him our land we bought, visited both sets of Andrew's grandparents, went up to see Andrew at his office, went out to lunch, went to a house-building meeting, toured my father-in-law's plant and then went to the airport. I had a hard time getting up this morning, especially since I had to drive downtown to practice last night as well. I feel as if this post is a bit choppy and not well written. I have been in a bit of a fog today and the cake and cappicino I had for breakfast doesn't help. Yes, I know that is BAD BAD BAD (mom) but I didn't get up in time to eat anything else. I will never do it again (hopefully). Anyway, on to more news:

The church where I work had a breakin while I was gone to Kansas. Whoever it was took one safe out of the building and tried to break into another safe. Some money was taken but the thieves didn't try to steal any of the computer equipment that is sitting in this room (the safes were in my office). I also found this morning that a lock was broken on some desk drawers and money stolen out of a purse I had in there. The purse wasn't mine, I was simply holding it in there until someone claimed it. We'll probably have to have that fingerprinted as well. Scary stuff! Anyway, that is the latest news.

Melanie, our next planned trip to Kansas is over the 4th of July. We will be there for several days this time, and we will get to Sterling for the 4th of July celebration! Will you be in town then? I hope so! Anyway, I'll email you soon!

Hope everyone has a great day!

Happy Easter!!!

I wanted to say Happy Easter to everyone! I am enjoying my time in Kansas and am looking forward to the Easter service at my old church! The Lord is Risen, He is Risen indeed!

What was I thinking?

When I look back at my decision to audition for May Festival in January, I ask myself . . . what was I thinking? My motivation for that decision was not a good one and it was way to hasty. I simply wanted to see if I was "good enough" to make it in there. Obviously that was a very vain thing to do. However, I have enjoyed the experience. I have enjoyed singing the music and it is good to know that the choir is there. I am hoping that in several years, Andrew and I could join it together. For right now, I dread thinking about going down there for rehearsals and I dread thinking about the two weeks in May when I am going to have to practically live down there. It is just frustrating to me to think that I am going to spend about 4.5 hours of my day on May Festival stuff today when I really want to be, playing outside with my puppy, working on Sunday School, getting more involved in my church, maybe volunteering in their Wednesday night program, spending time with my husband, working on stuff needed for our house, planning my voice lessons and getting ready for students, and maybe even making some friends. My heart it not in it because of the type of organization that it is and that make me sad that I am spending my time there.

One final note: Even though I consider myself one (in a vague way) and many of my friends are musicians I just have to say . . . many times, I just don't like musicians. They can be terribly snotty and know-it-all's. If they would really listen, the note that is incorrect is coming out of their mouth. That is why I say, I enjoy the music and the experience but all the criticism . . . I could do without!

Weekend Update

The weekend was a bit of a crazy one. On Friday night I started on a project to scan in some of the Myers family pictures (old ones) into our computer. Andrew and I are interested in doing something like this for families as a side business someday, so I thought it would be fun to try it out. It has been very fun and interesting so far. We will be able to put together some neat presentations when I get them all in. Of course, I need lots of help labeling things because many times I have no idea who someone is.

This morning, Dewey decided to welcome in Holy Week with a bang. He snuck into the dining room (while I was waiting at the door to let him out) and decided to poop all over the floor. It was an emergency sort of poop but it made me about 20 minutes late for work since I had to clean it up. We haven't had an accident like this in a long time. I put some Frontline on him last night, since it is spring time, and I wonder if that had anything to do with it.

I also had a bit of a weight scare yesterday. I'm not sure what I was smoking and at time I think I am a bit psycho about my weight. Anyway, I thought I weighed myself and it was 10 pounds more than last time but I must have just seen the numbers wrong or something. I weighed again this morning and I was actually down a few pounds from last time I weighed. This makes sense because I haven't eaten that much the past few weeks because of my teeth and cold. So, I have only gained about six pounds since returning to Ohio. I'm not sure what I was smoking when I thought it was 20 but it was a big relief this morning. I still need to keep working because I still want to drop about 30 pounds.

I am flying out on Friday afternoon to journey to Kansas for a short weekend trip. I am looking forward to it.

Here We Go!

We had our first official meeting with UBI (UBuildIt) today. We signed a contract and paid our downpayment (ouch!). We now have a few things to get together before our next meeting which is the budget meeting. It is up to us to finish this stuff and call him back. Is tomorrow too soon? Just kidding. I'm sure I will work on it tonight but I'm not sure that I will get it finished. Anyway, I am very excited to actually be moving forward with this whole process and I am itching to start on the construction part. We still have the four step planning process. Our construction guy assures me that this process is necessary to help reduce costs and have things in place before they are needed. I'm sure he is right!

On to other things: My diet is out of control! I have got to get things back in line and not eat so much. I have a difficult time choosing the things I eat (except for lunch) because I don't really do the grocery shopping or have my own kitchen. So, I really need to concentrate on not eating very much. This is very hard. I kept a food journal until I had my teeth out but I stopped during those rough two weeks. I need to start doing that again. I have been a bit more active lately. Since Dewey has been having some trouble with his behavior, I decided that some one on one playtime would be good, so we have been playing fetch each evening. He seems to be doing well. The only problem is how long it takes to feed him by hand. I was fairly late to work this morning because Dewey took so long to start eating. I guess I need to get up earlier, which means I need to go to bed earlier, huh?! Ok, that is all for now.

I will keep the house project up-to-date. My biggest fear right now is that the whole project will be over our budget. We have scaled it down quite a bit but I hope it is enough!

A fun time was had by all!

I had so much fun visiting with my sister this weekend. It was fun to show her around and to just have a good time. The visit was a little short but that is how is goes, I guess. I am still struggling with a bit of sinus trouble but I'm sure it will continue to improve as the week goes on.

Our building project is moving along. We are finalizing a few small details of the house plans and I am meeting with UBI (UBuildIt) on Wednesday to turn in some plans and get started on the project planning process. It will be good to officially meet with the builder. I hope things go smoothly. There is a chance that it will just be me meeting with the UBI guy but I am hoping Andrew can join me.

We discovered this morning that our sweet doggy, Dewey, is having some issues with possessiveness. I never thought he would be this way. It all started when I tried to get close to him while he was eating an ear treat. He growled at me and showed his teeth! I couldn't believe it. I took the treat away from him, made him sit, and then gave it back. Hopefully showing him that it is ok to share. He did the same to Andrew when he came in the room! So, I decided to walk up to him while he was eating this morning. He definitely snarled and me and then bit my hand. It wasn't a bad bite but it was a bit all the same! I put him in his crate for a while, so I could cool down. I heard that hand feeding was a good way to make your dog realize that the food was not his possession. I let Dewey out of his crate and hand fed him the rest of his breakfast (I also made him sit for each bite). It went well. This is a problem we will have to constantly monitor and work on. We might have to hand feed for a while and then simply sit right by his dish. I used to work with him on possessiveness but he just never showed any signs of it so I quit. I guess it is time again!

Nothing else has really been going on around here. I was able to unpack my spring clothes yesterday and pack up some winter sweaters. I always love doing that. It wasn't as pleasant this year because I spent much of the time thinking about how many things from last year I couldn't fit into. I have got to start walking more often.