Friday, March 30, 2007

The Week in Review






It's actually been a decent week and a bit busy so by the time I thought about blogging it was way too late to download pics etc. Anyway, we'll start last Friday when "The Great Refrigerator Hunt" came to a successful conclusion with the arrival of said refrigerator. Home Depot had said our delivery time would be between 2:15 and 6:15 pm--well the driver called about 4:50 to say they'd be there in about 20 minutes. They got here at 6:15pm--fortunately it only took about 20 minutes to disconnect the old one, move it out, move the new one in, and hook it up.

On Saturday the weather held off enough for us to take our 16 month old "niece" (and her parents) to the Philadelphia Zoo. We had a great time looking at all the animals especially the bigger ones and the ones that actually moved around.
Saturday night we celebrated Christmas, Part 3---yes I know it was March 24th but our friends are here for a couple of months on home missionary assignment from Germany so we did Christmas again. Turkey and all the trimmings, presents, and Mom even put out her little Christmas tree! Those great looking desserts are from the patisserie at Wegman's -- the best supermarket in the area!

This week was also the week for managers to get their reviews at work. It's always a long process; we did our self evaluations back at the beginning of February. Anyway, that went very well, but seriously, I wouldn't have expected it not to. My boss doesn't believe that anything in a review should be a "surprise" plus we've worked together for 9 years now. And then our head cashier gave me $20--I had totally forgotten about some money I'd found on the floor at least a month ago. Well, noone claimed it so it's mine---more money for the CE Fun Money Fund!

Spent today putting the studio back together after the lighting installation project. We have to go get the lighting fixtures for the track but it's all done. Zipped over to IKEA to get another set of IVAR shelving---we had a brillant idea for more space--- only to have them be out of stock on the ends. Found some great rolling bins for under our desks though! Now I'm off to do my income taxes!

This weekend (Saturday night and 3 times on Sunday morning) the choir is presenting a great Palm Sunday musical during all our worship services. Should be very moving for the congregation.

Enjoy,
Janet

Thursday, March 22, 2007

I WANT to Scrap

This week has been really quiet at work--this is a BAD thing. Too much time for the mind to wander and think of other more interesting things. Last weekend's creativity boost at the crop made me want to be at home scrapping my vacation --- not wasting time at work looking for customers and things to do when they weren't around. And Dad has the studio torn apart adding some more lighting (which is a good thing) so finding a space this week hasn't been easy!

Trying to stay caught up on all the important stuff --- CE Bazzill Blue Bingo; the Let's Escape Swap; Miley on MMIdol; and the all important Monday night viewing of 24 and Tuesday night's American Idol (would people please stop voting for Sanjaya; it's really sad) .

Was hoping to add a pictures of "my kingdom on the other side of the wall" (otherwise known as the music department) and the studio but alas my only shots were pre-digital and not in the files. I will remedy that soon---

More later--
Janet

Friday, March 16, 2007

This and That ...

... took a vacation day today just so I'd have an extra day to get things done and what happened???? It rained, snowed, and sleeted all day. YUCK!!!!! I never left the house and that rarely happens. Did get a bunch of odds and ends done but not nearly as much as I'd have liked.

Tomorrow, we're letting our "inner leprechaun" loose and spending all day/night at a crop at our local LSS. Usually don't do store crops; it's just easier at home to be able to pull whatever supplies we need. But this is a charity event for the local Christian school PTO so we decided to do it! I'm hoping to get lots of pages of vacation done...

We were going to continue "The Great Refrigerator Hunt" this afternoon but the weather didn't cooperate. I guess it will be Sunday afternoon. Ours hasn't died yet but it's going--hey, it was here when we bought the house in November 1992 so it's lived a good life.

And congratulations to Becca's niece, Courtney Smith, who finished 2nd in her division at the Nebraska state speech competition today! I know Aunt B and her mom Sherri were there cheering her on!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone,
Janet

Saturday, March 10, 2007

It is Finished.....















Yes, believe it or not, the Christmas journal is finished and all put together again!

Day 30: Reflections on the past year -- I talked about all the celebrating we did throughout the year

Day 31: New Years' Eve -- we were supposed to use something sparkly

Day 32 (Jan 1): New Years' Day -- I talked about how I don't like resolutions and Ali's concept of intentions

Day 33: Thoughts on Religion (or Innocence) -- talks about why Christmas is really important!

Day 34: A Favorite Holiday Event -- talked about the Choir Christmas Party

Day 35: Notes for Next Year-- the photo is a decoration I saw on a house here in town that I'd love to try and copy for our front; we shall see if that happens; maybe if I start in the summer!

Day 36: Cleaning Up --what can I say???? I hate de-Christmasing.

Day 37: Used this day to talk about the Victorian tea at the historic house here in town.

Extras: Christmas II and Christmas III: Nothing like spreading the Christmas cheer on for months! My best friend and her daughter were here the first weekend in January (Christmas II) and Sandy's best friend, husband, and daughter will be here on March 24 (Christmas III); page is all ready for the photos!

ALL DONE: Yes I know the photo of the completed book is missing but I'm waiting until I have a full sheet of photos to print; I hate wasting photo paper!

All there's a couple of photos of the completed book!

Enjoy!
Janet

Big City Girls






that's what Sandy and I were this week! Two trips over the bridge into Philadelphia for some great city events. On Tuesday night we headed over to go to The Flower Show( it's the world's largest indoor show) at the convention center. Had a fun dinner of cheese steaks in the Reading Terminal Market and then headed in to the show. It really is great to go about 6-6:30 pm as the bus trippers have all left by then. Daytime and weekends are super crowded!! Enjoy the shots of all the gorgeous displays---there are large displays by commerical florists and nurseries as well as smaller displays by garden clubs and individual plant categories for individuals to enter! And of course we came home with the show special from the marketplace -- 25 roses for $9.95!!!

Then last night we were off to the Academy of Music for the ballet. We have season tickets and they are currently doing Carmina Burana. We love this classical piece by Carl Orff--very sensual, loud, playful and usually very medieval. But the ballet commissioned one of its members who does alot of choreography to rework the whole thing in a more contemporary setting. It was absolutely amazing!!!! The set, the lighting and the costumes, not to mention the athletic ability of the dancers was breathtaking.

In other news, I'm starting to play with piglet and parakeet papers for the page swap at CE and while the waitlist appears to be doing absolutely nothing and this week we even got a message from support saying that numbers over 150 won't be eligible to register, my comment to all of that is: God is good all the time and all the time God is good!

Well, after I post this and then one with the remaining days of my Christmas journal, it's off to bed. It's time to spring forward and church still starts at 8:00 am!

Enjoy,
Janet