…make lemonade. This has been one of these weeks where nothing goes as expected. I’m doing my best to pull myself out of a funk and return to my normally happy self. Hopefully I can be productive this weekend and start Monday with a fresh perspective on life!
Have a great weekend!
I absolutely loved working in Chicago. I always felt so proud that I was part of something so large. Robin, my roommate, and I made the commute via train from Naperville to Chicago every day. Once I got out of the train station, I could just feel my adrenaline start pumping. My walk to work was right along the river and it was just so beautiful! So why in the heck was I going to leave it all to move to Wisconsin? Despite everything I loved about Chicago, my family wasn’t there anymore. My dad and Mary Joy were living in Wisconsin and my mom and Peter were now in Georgia. I was lonely and sad. So I finished up my last month working in a job that I loved to start a new chapter of my life.
I still remember my how I felt when my dad and Mary Joy drove down to help me pack up my belongings and move. I was so scared! Was I going to be happy living so far from all of the hustle and bustle of a large city? Would I like having a much slower paced job at Albany? Well, I couldn’t turn back now.
During the drive, my thoughts strayed to the blue-eyed cutie. During the few times that I had thought of him throughout the past month, my face would get red with embarrassment. I seriously doubted that he was going to call, but….what if? What if he did call? I was pretty sure I knew his name. During a panic attack a couple of weeks prior, I called Mary Joy and asked if she would call my uncle and look into it for me. He told her he had been talking to a boy named Jason. Was Jason the boy with the beautiful blue eyes?
When we reached Menasha there was a slight dusting of snow on the ground. We worked quickly to move my furniture and other belongings into the house. I was just about done unpacking when the phone rang. My dad answered the phone and I remember him saying “Jesus Christ! The tires on the truck aren’t even cold yet!!”. Yes, my daddy took the Lord’s name in vain, but he had just gotten his baby girl back and apparently there was already a call for me. My heart started beating way too fast. Who was on the other line? Could it possibly be the blue-eyed cutie?
Me: Hello?
Other Person: Hi….Jamie? This is Jason. We met at Gord’s during Wendy’s birthday party.
Ah ha! His name was Jason!!
Me: Yes, hi. I remember meeting you.
Jason: I was wondering if you wanted to go out tonight.
Was he freakin’ kidding! I just moved to a new state where I knew NO ONE. Of course I wanted to go out!!
Me: Um, sure. I’m going out to dinner with my parents, but I can meet you out later.
We made plans to meet up at Gord’s later that evening after I had dinner with my parents. I was a nervous wreck. What in the heck was I going to wear? This certainly wasn’t like when I’d go clubbing with my friends in Chicago. I decided on jeans and one of my favorite Ralph Lauren button down shirts. Nice, but not slutty. All throughout dinner, my dad looked like a little boy who had just lost his puppy. It was my first night with him, and I already had plans. Mary Joy was 100% on my side and thought it was great that I was already meeting new people.
I had convinced my parents that they should come into Gord’s with me. It was ridiculous, but I wasn’t sure about what I was getting myself into yet. Let’s face it. I had had enough to drink the last time I was there, that my memory was a little fuzzy. My blue-eyed cutie might not be such a cutie! I walked into Gord’s and started panning the room looking for anyone that I could recognize.
I knew. The second my eyes met his, I knew. It was Jason…the blue-eyed cutie that I remembered.
To be continued…
They’re called “Sweet Treat Cupcakes” from Cold Stone Creamery.
Only $9.99 for a 6-pack.
There’s one in Newnan.
You can bet that I’ll be there this coming weekend!
I’ve been working hard this week to get a lot of my favorite recipes posted. Most of them are dishes that I make during the week that the entire family enjoys. Just this week, I made Spaghetti Pie and Spanish Rice Bake. Once I get some more time, I’ll start adding some baking recipes too…blueberry coffee cake, caramel brownies and super moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting!
So take a look over on the right hand side of your screen under “Pages” and enjoy!
Hope ya’ll have a great weekend!
Bedtime is my favorite time of the day and no, it’s not because I can finally have some peace and quiet.
I love bedtime because my children are at their most innocent.
They are sweet.
They are loving.
They are oh so cuddly.
Ayden wants to know if he’s been a good boy that day.
Jameson has to be the one to turn off the TV and lights and turn on the vaporizer.
And then there’s baby Ava.
Ava’s sweetness brings tears to my eyes.
She still wants to be swaddled.
She wants to be held, snuggled into my chest.
And she smiles in her sleep.
When all of my children are tucked into their beds, I can’t help but think of how lucky I am.
Goodnight my babies. Thank you for bringing more joy to my life than I thought was possible.
Ayden had planned on building an
axe
that shoots out knives
and can turn into a kite
and a motorcycle
which spits out smoke and fire
it changes color by pushing super tiny buttons
and can squirt water on your face
but he ran out of time at school yesterday. Maybe today he’ll get around to it.
I love my baby’s imagination!
I’m so excited! In lieu of going to the Scrap Etc Event this year, the divas have decided to host our very own retreat. Our 1st Annual Scrap Club Retreat will begin at 9am Saturday, May 2nd and end at 5pm on Sunday. The 5 of us will spend the night at my mom’s house so we can work on our projects as late as we wish.
Each diva is responsible for teaching 1 or 2 classes. The best part is that none of us know what the others are teaching! I’ll be teaching 2 classes and I’m so in love with both of them. I’m really taking the divas out of their comfort zone and introducing some new techniques.
For a little extra fun, I’ve decided to post a weekly “sneak peek” up until the event.
Isn’t that just pretty?
We had just rung in the year 2000 and it had been six months since my mom and Peter packed up our house and moved to Atlanta. I was completely miserable without them. My roommate’s boyfriend was now living with us and I felt like such a third wheel around them. I was spending more and more time in Chicago with the man that I was dating but I knew that our relationship had no future. I also knew I had to leave. I had to leave my apartment, leave Chicago, leave my job and start somewhere new. But where was I going to go? Should I move to Georgia? Or should I maybe move to Wisconsin to be closer to my dad? Should I chose a place where I’d never been before?
I missed being near family so I chose Wisconsin. I went to visit my dad in mid-January for some snowmobiling and fun in the snow. I decided to stay an extra day and visit a well known recruiting office to get an idea of what sort of jobs were available in the finance area. I filled out their application, took the placement exams and informed the recruiter that I had not told my current employer that I was planning on leaving yet. I wanted a chance to go back to Chicago and talk to my boss before Landmark called to verify my employment.
I was such a bundle of nerves Tuesday morning when I went into the office. I had no idea if I was making the right decision and kept thinking of calling my recruiter to tell her I had changed my mind. Shortly after the CFO arrived, he called me into his office. I thought nothing of it since our controller was out with a broken leg and I had taken over some of her duties until she returned. I thought we were meeting to make sure I was on the right track with everything but one look at his face told me I was about to hear some bad news. Apparently, my recruiter forgot to give me a day or two and had already called to verify my employment. I promised Walt that I would remain in Chicago until the controller came back (approximately 2 months) but then I would be leaving.
I got a call in February that Landmark had found the perfect position for me and they wanted me to come up and interview. It was an accounts payable position for a company in Menasha. The woman that I would be replacing was retiring in July so I had plenty of time for training. I decided to drive up for the interview. Everything seemed to go well but I was still nervous at the thought of moving. A couple of hours later, Landmark called to tell me that Albany was making me an offer. I ended up accepting their offer with the condition that I would not start for another month. My dad and Mary Joy took me out to dinner so we could celebrate, but I still felt so unsure of what I was doing.
My cousin was celebrating her birthday at a local bar with some friends. Mary Joy thought it would be fun to meet some of Wendy’s friends so I would feel more comfortable once I moved. I was beyond nervous. Everything seemed to be happening so quickly! After way too much to drink, I noticed my uncle Ron talking to a cute boy. I knew Ron was just about as uncomfortable there as I was so I thought it was sweet that one of Wendy’s friends was taking the time to make him feel like he belonged there. Who was this boy? Many of Wendy’s friends said they recognized me from my school days in Neenah over 12 years ago so maybe I had gone to school with this boy as well. After introducing myself, I noticed his eyes immediately. They were the most beautiful shade of blue that I had ever seen. I chatted with the cute blue-eyed boy and my uncle until Mary Joy decided it was time for us to head home. Since I had more to drink in that one night than I normally had in an entire month, I did something totally out of character. I wrote my name, the date I’d be moving and my father’s phone number on a napkin and handed it to the cute blue-eyed boy before I was yanked out of the bar.
The next morning I woke up with not only a hang over but with this horrible feeling I had done something stupid the night before to embarrass myself. As I tried to go over all of the details, I suddenly remembered a boy with beautiful blue eyes. Had I really given him my number on a cocktail napkin? Yes, I was pretty sure I had embarrassed myself by babbling to a complete stranger and then made matters worse by giving him a phone number that I couldn’t be reached at for another month. Wait a second…maybe this wasn’t so bad. Who in their right mind would actually hang onto the phone number of a girl who apparently couldn’t have more than a few beers without making a fool of herself? I felt confident that the blue-eyed cutie had gone home, thrown away my napkin and had already completely forgotten about me. I would probably never see him again.
To Be Continued….
I would love to say that I did a ton of research and read all of the comparisons before deciding to move Our Crazy Life from Blogger to WordPress (WP from now on), but that’s just not the case.
My mom is just about at max capacity with Blogger. She either has to delete posts, delete pictures or move to a new platform. No one wants to start deleting their posts and deleting pictures is just as ridiculous. So the only option is to chose a new platform. Mom asked me to look into the pros and cons of Blogger, WP, TypePad, etc. I’m a visual girl…always have been…so instead of doing the research, I called her 5 minutes later with my new WP URL.
To me, setting up a blog with WP is about as easy as setting up a blog with Blogger. In those first 5 minutes I had created my user ID, password, URL, bog name and template. Super simple. Then I got stuck. I shortly found out that WP offers way more than Blogger but I had no idea what they were talking about. What was the difference between a page and a post? Are tags different than categories? And what the heck was an incoming link? So far I liked what I saw but I knew there was so much more to WP and I wanted to understand it all. I hit the local Barnes & Noble and picked up a copy of this book…
So far, the only thing about WP that I don’t like is that they don’t allow javascript or flashcodes for security reasons. So if you really want to keep third party widgets on your blog, WP is not for you! Other than that…I’m pretty darn happy.
The entire process of uploading photos in WP makes me such a happy girl.
One more feature that I absolutely love is that you can view incoming links. Basically what this does is show you any website that links to your blog. So if my mom were to reference Our Crazy Life in her blog with a link, I’ll see that in my dashboard. Super cool! Actually, the WP dashboard is a fountain of information. It shows you recent comments, stats, drafts, incoming links and so much other useful information.
Posting is a blast as well. There are waaaaay more options for posting. Simply highlight a word and click the strike-throughbutton…easy! Attaching a link to a specific word is just as easy as in Blogger, but you can choose to either open the link in the same window or in a new window. If you decide you don’t want that link anymore, there’s no need to delete your typing and retype that work…just highlight the word(s) and click the “unlink” button. Do you ever tire of having to type out the word “degree” when adding a recipe post? Not a problem in WP! Just click the “insert custom character” button and add the symbol…350°. ©®™&…oh ya baby!!! One more thing about posting. Did it ever drive you nuts that if it took you all day to type up a post (that is pretty common for me), that it posted with the original date and time? Example – I would start a post around 8:30am and work on it throughout the day…in between working, meetings, lunch, the gym, etc. When was finally done and hit post, it would show the post time as 8:30am even though it was already 3:30pm. Yes, you had the ability to edit the date and time, but that just drove me nuts! This is not a problem with WP. When you click “Publish”, it posts with the current date and time. Yippee!!
There’s so much more but I have yet to discover it all.
Now, I say all of this not to influence everyone to make the move to WP. If you take the time to do some research, you’ll find that Blogger is a fantastic platform. If Blogger is meeting all of your needs, why bother moving? This was just a personal preference for me.
This is a test to see if I can insert a poll. Please let me know how you like the new and hopefully improved Our Crazy Life!!
Our Crazy Life 