Christmas Day 2008

On Christmas Day we go to my family's house in Pennsylvania and this year was no different. My mom came over and picked us up since it is on the way out to PA for them. We opened up our gifts from them first. She had bought me a coat the weekend before and then she got me an apple reed diffuser and apple candles for my kitchen, perfume, an ornament for me and Ben's first Christmas married, a silicone baking set . She also bought me some clothes on Black Friday. Ben got a gift card for Macy's, Gamestop, and McDonalds (don't ask...LOL). He also got a pair of jeans and cologne. After we opened our gifts we headed to PA to visit with my family. Lots of good food and of course a good time. It was a long 2 days but so worth it :)

Eric and Mom when we first got there

Me and Sis

Ben, Aunt Betty and Rusty

Matt and Amy

Me and Sissa

Me and my momma!

Singing Happy Birthday to Grandma Evans who turned 80 this week!

Aunt Shirley, Mom and Aunt Betty opening their gifts

Christmas Eve 2008

Well this year was the typical Christmas run around! On Christmas Eve we always go to Ben's dad's side of the family and then off to his mom's side.

So I worked 1/2 day on Christmas and then came home and got ready. We went to Ben's Aunt Cindy's house at around 5. Most people showed pretty quickly. We snacked mostly and hung out. Then around 7:30 his Grandpa handed out the gifts (we draw names since there are so many people - Ben's cousin Carmie Jo got us and we got Ben's cousin Ronnie who lives with us anyways). Carmie Jo got us a huge picture frame and picture paper for my printer. It was a pretty good time and for once no one cried which is always a feat with Ben's family!

Me before going to the families house

Ben's cousin Shannon's new baby - Dalton

Boyd Boys 2008 (take this picture every year at Christmas)

Then it was off to Ben's mom's side of the family. This year his mom was in town so that was fun. We got a bunch of wonderful gifts from her and Ben's uncle and grandpa! They are so wonderful to us :) Lots of gift cards and I got my first Willow figurine. I got a really nice Akron Zips hoodie and Ben got a nice Michigan one.

Unlce Don, Aunt Bev, Ben, Bleu, Sue, Grandpa

Scratching lotto tickets - Aunt Bev won $100!!

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!! We will be traveling to PA today to see my family and last night we spent time with Ben's family (both sides). Got some wonderful gifts from them and his mom.

So Merry Christmas everyone!

Congrats!

So I know it's 11:30 pm on Christmas Eve but I just wanted to post a big congrats to our friends Kyle and Liz who got engaged tonight!! I'm so happy for them, they have been dating 5 years and she really wanted to be engaged and he kept saying no not right now. They just moved into a house together (and just recently had moved into an apt together over the summer). He did a great job at hiding this and she is super thrilled so congrats to them both! I wish you guys all the best!!

Santa Claus is comin' to town

Ok, so Santa isn't coming but Ben's mom is and she's staying through Jan. 2. She gets in late tomorrow night so she is staying with Ben's grandpa. I still don't know how much she is staying there vs. staying here. I guess time will tell. I still can't believe Christmas is here already. Luckily I am done with all but 1 person for Christmas shopping and that would be Ben's grandpa and he hasn't decided what to get him yet. I am just as clueless so I told him he was on his own for figuring that one out!

Work is going decent. Very busy still. I would like them to hire someone soon but I am not seeing an end in sight yet. Still waiting to hear what's going on but keeping my fingers crossed. It's so stressful doing 2 jobs and being pulled in all those directions. I can't wait for some help! I have plenty to do though, that's for sure! We are having our GOJO Holiday Lunch on Friday where everyone brings something in and we eat. It's a lazy day to say the least. Then we are leaving around 3 to go bowling in Montrose at Riviera Lanes. Should be a good time. It will be nice to get out of work that early even if we are still with work people :) It's better then doing nothing at all!

This past weekend we went out for Melanie's 26th birthday. It was a good time, we just went to the Basement for some drinks. Haven't seen Mel and Brian in a few weeks so it was good to see them. And Liz and Kyle moved recently about 1/2 hr away so I got to see them also :)

Beginning of the Night

I love him <3>

This is after a few...just a few ;)
Some of the gang....too bad Liz was being silly

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We got our tree up on Sunday and I am sooo excited! We put it up the first year we were here in the house (2006) but last year we didn't put it up because Dukey Dog was a puppy and he was such a chewer I was afraid it would be destroyed. So 2 days down and no issues with him yet so here's to 23 more!

Me with the empty tree

Ben putting the lights on (this takes a while)

Harley and Duke had to help Dad

All decorated!

All lit up in the dark - so pretty!

Thanksgiving 2008 and Black Friday!

Well Thanksgiving this year was not without it's drama but it went pretty well. Luckily there were only a few tears but that's par for the course in Ben's family. Everyone seemed to get along pretty well but most of the family didn't show up or showed up late so maybe that's why. So this year it was me, Ben, Ronnie, Aunt Cathie, Aunt Cindy, Grandma, Grandpa, Little Cathie and Tiffanie for dinner. Shawn and Crystal came after dinner and a little while later Aunt Karen and Uncle Joe showed along with their son Shannon, his girlfriend Diane and their new son Dalton along with all their other kids between the two of them. It was exciting to see the new baby (he is only about 2 months and and has very chubby cheeks!). Ben didn't get to see him because he had already left to go to PA for a college football game with some friends. He had a good time there though and seems much more relaxed and happier! Unfortunetly it meant that me and Ben didn't get a picture together like we do every holida :*(

Ben and Ronnie

Grandpa cutting the turkey

Little Cathie, Ronnie, Grandma and Cindy

Aunt Cathie and Aunt Cindy

Me before we left the house, it was the only picture of me all day though....

Since Ben was in PA, I decided to go shopping with my Mom on Black Friday. I didn't get up early because there really weren't any deals I needed since I am just buying gift cards for everyone this year. I have 4 people left to buy for but one I will probably get tomorrow and that will leave me down to 3 (2 of which Ben needs to decide what to get people so gotta wait on him). It was still madness though when I arrived at JCPenney's to meet Mom at around 11 am. I couldn't believe how crowded it was but I did get 2 new shirts and a pair of pants for work. Mom bought it for me as an early Christmas gift so I was excited! Other then what I got for other people I only spent a few bucks at Target on a space heater for work. I need one since I am sitting by the windows now and it gets pretty cold in there. I am glad to be almost done with my Christmas shopping though and hopefully we will finish up everything by next weekend so we can be done early and no last minute shopping!

I started decorating for Christmas today and pulled out some of my decorations that I forgot I had. I found my cute chair covers for the kitchen chairs - santa hats for the chairs. They are adorable :) So hopefully tomorrow we will get the tree up and a few decorations outside and we will be done.

Ben's mom is supposed to be here in about 3 weeks so it's time to prepare the house and get ready for her to come in. I'm sure there will be no shortage of intersting times with her around...'nough said.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and a shopping filled Black Friday!

Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted. I have just been super busy lately with a lot of different things but mostly work.

I have officially moved my desk but my role does not seemed to have changed like it was supposed to. My boss informed me that he needs me to manage his calendar still (hopefully at the end of this week coming up that will end, he said it will but we shall see). I have a gazillion (ok not that many but it feels like it!) interview candidates coming in for different positions right now. I am really pretty sick of doing it at this point and i was just given more to do, both first and second round. Not really happy about it. I am just through with all of it. Plus, I am getting so many things to for my new job which I love but I can't get around to them and I hate telling my new boss that but it's the truth. Now I also have goals to start working on for next year that I need to work on and I just don't know how I will find the time until the hire someone. But then there will be trianing and learning so it will probably be another month and a half before I finally get a break....I'm hoping for sooner but doubt it. Alright enough of the complaining...

I have been doing a ton of cleaning lately and that is making me feel better about things around here but I still have plenty left to do! Everything just looks a mess to me! Hopefully this winter I will get motivated to get more things cleaned up and out.

I can't believe this week is Thanksgiving already! I have to say that I have much to be thankful for this year, my husband, my family, my friends, my home, my puppies and kitty, my job, and so many more things.

Manual Labor...what's that?

So today I took a trip to our "Soap Mines". For those that don't know...I work at GOJO. So as part of my Individual Development Plan (fancy huh?) I decided to do the Manufacturing Work Day Experience. And that's what it was...an experience!

First we got a tour of the whole building basically with a kind of deep dive into our receiving dept where we get in our raw chemicals. Learned about the Boom Room...too funny.

Then we got to go to our mix room where they make our formulas. We had to go to the top of the mix tanks and we got to help make one of the formulas which was fun. You gotta do A LOT of matching though to make sure you get the right stuff in there. It was so dang hot up there though but a good experience.

Then we went to lunch....I had Subway :)

When we came back we got to go work on the actual lines...this is where that manual labor part came in. And now i remember why I got a 4 year degree. To not do that. I'm not knocking that and I give those people a lot of credit but I worked those lines for 2 1/2 hrs and I wanted to fall over. I was hot...sweaty... my back hurt like the dickens. Oh, and my hand got scratched up from the pumps on the bottles. I only worked two of the lines but I was def over it but the time I was done. The people on the second line were very nice and easy to talk to. Learned a lot from them!

Then we were supposed to learn about shipping but I didn't learn a whole lot about it really. Just toured our distribution center. I wish we would have actually seen them ship something out from start to finish but oh well.

Overall it was a great experience because I really didn't think about everything that goes in to it before (although I knew...didn't know a lot about it). I'm glad i did it but man was it not easy or fun. I think I walked about 12 miles today....


And in other news...Obama is our president. I was not confident in either candidate and yes I know it has made history now that he is our president. I just hope he does what he has said. I am not sure what direction it will go but I do hope it's a good one. I just don't know about it though. Good luck to all of us and him.

Voting

I voted today - not gonna say who for because I don't need opinions or anything and I don't care what they are so I'm just gonna keep my peace :) I did have to wait in line for 40 minutes though which I wasn't happy about. Glad I went before work though because I came home and had no electricity!! It's back on now but still....

Update on work - I am starting to work on transitioning to my new job. Geez it felt like this day was never going to come! I reviewed my work with my boss and I think we have come to an agreement on what I will keep until the new person comes. I'm happy that he pretty much agreed with everying :) We are doing interviews this week though so I think that we should be able to get someone in there pretty quick after I move - I'm hoping no more then 2-3 weeks after my move. I think my boss would go crazy with too much longer :)

Other then that I really don't have a ton going on right now. I feel like I need more to occupy my time, I think I am going to start scrapbooking again. I get in moods where I work and catch up everything from 4-6 months and I'm current and then I stop. So the last time I updated right now is right before the wedding because we had them out. So now it's time to do everything since. I have about 200 pictures to get printed though so I need to get some bucks to do that first :) Wish me luck!

Wow

I can't believe how long it's been since I wrote last! Time has just flown these last few weeks, I have had both good and bad things going on.

As far as my job,I'm still doing the old position. We should be starting to interview for my position soon...we shall see. My boss has been pretty busy and he is the one who needs to be there! I know I'm movin' come hell or high water on Nov. 15 though so tomorrow is the day I talk to him and lay the boundry lines for what I will/will not take when I move. Hopefully he will agree...maybe... :)

Everything else has been pretty mundane besides that. We did go to a Halloween Party this past Saturday and Tim and Christina's (we know them through our friend's Melanie and Brian). Unfortunately I was colder then anything and we were outside. Even though I was in a kind of warm costume I was still frozen to death. I don't know how the others with outfits with a little less on did it! I was literally in front of the warmer thing they had in the tent and I was still freezing. It was a good time and most of our friends did a great job of dressing up this year. Maybe when I lose my 30 lbs I will wear one of those cute costumes too *wink wink*. So here are some pictures from this past weekend.

Cycles

Soooo it’s been a little while since I have posted but things have just been kind of crazy in my neck of the woods. And with the seasons changing I’m tired ALL the time…I hate it! So what’s new and exciting in my world right now…

I have found out that I am officially moving positions 11/15 now. Yep that’s 2 months after my original date. We have had quite a few people leaving our department though so they are staggering them. I was told whether or not they have someone in my current role I am going to be able to move (not sure if that’s really going to happen but it’s what I’m hopin’ for!). I am excited as nothing to move though! I can’t wait to be doing my new responsibilities!!

Our dryer broke. Yep, that’s right. My dryer broke – kinda. Some thingy on the inside that keeps the clothes from bawling up came off and stripped some holes that would allow us to actually put it back on. So we got a new one. We have used the ones from Ben’s old house for the last few years and they were kind of old when we got them. So we went to HH Gregg and picked a new one out. I’m kinda excited because it’s bigger inside and I tend to wait until I have a full load to do laundry (read: I can be lazy :) ) So having a bigger capacity dryer will help with that situation because it seemed to take forever to get them dry in our old one. So Friday is the day of the dryer. We have to go pick it up cuz I’m not payin’ no 70 bucks to get it delivered!

Went out last Saturday – we didn’t stay out very late. We were going to go to the club and dance but Liz wanted to go home once she found out Kyle was home so we didn’t go. I really wanted to go dancin’ too so that kinda sucked.

This Saturday I have a wedding to go to with my friend Diana. Her hubby isn’t able to go to the wedding so I am going with her instead. I feel like a wedding crasher because I do know the bride (we worked at Target together) but it’s been years since I have seen her. I knew she was engaged and the guy she is marrying she meet at Target and I knew him also but not well. So it shall be in interesting day I’m sure I will have plenty of pictures to share as usual. I am a freak when it comes to picture takin’, especially when it comes to weddings!

I am not sure I have anything else exciting to add to this….nope I got nothin’.

Recipe blog

Stay tuned...I'm starting a recipe blog. Now I am not the best cook and I have to admit I do get my recipes online and from others but I need a place to start keeping them just in case. Most of my recipes are good for 2-3 people and my husband likes them :) So check them out if you would like....

http://recipesofann.blogspot.com

Where to begin

This will most likely be a longer update, I've been MIA this week but for a good reason...work. This week has been soooo stressful at work, we have someone leaving our department kind of unexpectedly (meaning I knew she would leave but just not this soon). Plus we had a department review with senior leadership this week and guess who gets the be the lucky one to make the copies of almost 200 pages about 14 times? Bet you can never guess. Trust me there are plenty of other things I would find more enjoyable then that...like stabbing my self in the eye with a pencil. Then our whole team was in for a meeting this week so that cut two days out of both work time and home basically. We did have dinner at Bricco on Weds night with the team and that was really good. Over it was a fun time, the meeting was pointless as usual and it's finally the weekend....

But now for a recap of last weekend since I haven't been around...
Saturday - went to the bar to celebrate me and Liz's birthday. We did go out the weekend before to kind of celebrate mine but we decided to do it over again. It just started out as me, Ben, Kyle and Liz and then Melanie, Racheal, Brian, Tim, and Mandy showed. Liz's mom and her friend Ashley came also. We went to the Basement which is our normal Saturday spot anyways and just stayed there since me and Liz are the only ones who like to dance anyways. It was a VERY drunken night. I don't get drunk very often but I was SMASHED. So below are some pictures from that...we didn't get home until about 3. There was also a fight at the bar and some glass got shattered kinda scary...

Before getting drunk

Me and Mel

Me and Liz completely smashed

These are the boys....yes we love them, yes they are dorks

Sunday - After being out all night we had to go to my god daughter's 1st birthday party, she is so adorable. I can't believe it's been a year! She had a luau themed party, her mom did a great job of decorating for it. Very good food too.

Can you tell we were tired?

The birthday girl - Olivia

Eating her smash cake, she was pretty good about it...

Olivia and Mom