Turtle Invasion!

Mr. Love has a new creation.....turtles! He just got a new mold and has decided to add these to his offerings at the Alpha Avenue Chocolate Shop. He's offering traditional turtles (like the one on the left) and then also offering gourmet turtles (like the one on the right). Both are made with his one-of-a-kind caramel that melts in your mouth!

Have you placed your chocolate order yet?

Still Stuffed

I think we're STILL stuffed from Thanksgiving. Boy, was that ever good! We just finished the leftovers that were sent home for us. There's nothing like a Thanksgiving dinner, that's for sure.

Did you happen to see the Thanksgiving episode of "Boston Legal?" The show is in its last season, and it's never been better. We loved the Thanksgiving episode, that's what we loved. If you don't watch the show, that sentence probably sounded a bit odd, but if you watch it, you know exactly what I mean.

After we got home Thursday night, we had our annual watching of "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles," the very best Thanksgiving movie ever made. Watching that movie is just about our only Thanksgiving tradition, well, besides eating too much.

So here are some pictures of our day. We took the Wii with us, and Kelsey sure enjoyed it.

MMMMMM...Carrot Cake

Here's my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner..... my world famous carrot cake.

Randy and I are drooling at the thought of cutting into this baby. In the morning I'll make some baked beans, and then we'll be ready to head out for turkey and the trimmings!

In other exciting news, Jack went outside and rolled in poop tonight, an extra special treat for Mr. Love to deal with. He (Jack, not Mr. Love - to my knowledge Mr. Love doesn't roll around in the back yard, poop or no poop) has never done that before, but it was dark, and well, sometimes a poodle just has to do what a poodle has to do.

I received my severance check today and quickly deposited it. Boy they took a lot of taxes out! Something to do with it being a bonus instead of regular pay, they say. Just what you need when you're out of work - more money being paid to the feds. Don't know if it will actually clear since LandAmerica declared bankruptcy this morning. So, the check is in the account, and we'll hold our breath for the next week to see if it sticks. Pray, oh, pray for us!

I did have the joy this afternoon of calling the unemployment agency again. Last week it took me 3.5 hours to get through, but today for some reason it only took 20 minutes. Luck must have been with me. So far I haven't seen a dime from the UC folks, but today they seem to have figured out whatever the holdup was and told me that a check will be cut next week. Thank goodness. Now I can get that Prada bag I've had my eye on.......

Well, it's an odd Thanksgiving here at Casa Willett, but we sure do still have a lot to be thankful for. We have each other, our health, and our mutts (even if one needs to stop rolling in the poop). Randy still has a job, and it looks like my unemployment is on its way, and so far we haven't had any huge emergencies that would suck away the money we need for our bills.

We have a supportive, loving group of family and friends around us, and we truly couldn't make it through this without you all. You know who you are, and you know how you have helped, and we appreciate you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love To Eat Turkey

Music Music Music!

I visit a lot of blogs, and some of them have music that starts automatically when you go to the blog. I don't like that. But, I have added the option for music on my blog. Just click on the the song that you'd like to hear, and the music will begin. If you don't want to listen, don't do anything, and the music won't start. It will only play if you want it to play.

I'll keep the playlist updated with current music, depending on the season. So, if you want to, go ahead and click away and enjoy a little Thanksgiving tune.

Three Days 'Til Turkey!!!

Heading Into the Holiday Season

Tomorrow marks three weeks that I have been off work. It's starting to feel like a really long time. So far, I've been pretty busy. The first couple of weeks, there was so much paperwork to do for unemployment, for my severance, past-due expense reports to submit, etc., etc. Now that's all done. I spend some time each day looking for work, but as the holidays get closer, the jobs seem to be dwindling. My hope was to have something by January, and I still have to believe that that's possible.

So, what have I been doing with myself? Well, I've done a lot of heavy cleaning around the house, you know the stuff you always want to do but never have time to do. It's been so nice to get that stuff done. I also have done some reading and some scrapbooking, although not as much of those things as I would have thought.

I started a big project last week that will take quite a bit of time. I am taking apart old photo albums and scanning the pictures in. Then, I will use the original pictures and make scrapbooks from them. This is taking forever and a day. But I'm making progress, and I know that it will be time well spent once I'm done. It's also good that I'm getting the pictures out of those old photo albums. They're not acid free, and just in the years that I've had them, I already see damage on a lot of my pictures.

I spent the last three days scrapbooking with the girls in Okemos, and that was so much fun. I needed that. I wasn't able to stay overnight this time, but actually driving back and forth wasn't bad at all. I even came home Saturday and took a nap! It was good to be out of the house for an extended period of time and around other people. And now I have to unpack everything, but as luck would have it, I have tomorrow off so I have all day to get the house back in order!

Randy made some pretzels for me to take to the crop, and we sold them there. They sold out! Those things are so dang good. He makes his own caramel, and it's out of this world. Watch the Alpha Avenue Chocolate Shop website for a new product soon......TURTLES!

Randy and I have also really been trying to watch what we eat, and having me home helps with that. We have lost over 30 pounds collectively, and we're very proud of that. I think I probably gained about 10 pounds back this weekend at the crop, but as Scarlett, says, tomorrow is another day!

So, for all of you wondering, we're doing fine. I have my moments of panic, but overall, I'm really trying to just stay positive and leave it in God's hands. For now, we're okay, and I have to believe that something will come through for me before too long.

Just in Time For The Holidays

Mr. Love has been making chocolates for a few years now, and every year we hear people tell him that he should make it a business. So, that's just what he's done.

Ladies and Gentlemen, announcing the grand opening of the Alpha Avenue Chocolate Shop! It can be found on line at http://www.alphachocolates.com/. He's offering his delicious candies and also his out-of-this-world pretzels. They're available for pickup or can be shipped anywhere. Ordering is done on line, and you can even pick the day you want it shipped. I've added a link to the column to the right, so come back any time and pop right over to the Shop.

So, let temptation overtake you, and order your holiday candy from the famous Mr. Love. You won't be disappointed!

Leaves Are Falling

My Mr. Love never stops working. He's been waiting for a break in the weather to get out there and finish up the leaves. Problem is, the weather isn't cooperating. So, yesterday morning he decided to just get it done.

It had been snowing a while and was still snowing while he was out there. That man not only did our leaves in that weather but also did the leaves of the elderly lady next door. What a guy!

How Late is Too Late

How late is too late to call someone on the phone at night, if you don't know them very well? I'm not talking about your family members or close friends...... I'm talking about someone you know but not that well. Please take a minute and chime in on the poll to the right. Thanks!

Five Years Ago Today

Five years ago today, at this time in the morning, I was getting my hair done in preparation for my wedding. WOW. In some ways I can't believe it's been five years, and in other ways it seems like Randy has always been part of my life.

We're going to enjoy a nice day together. We're going out for lunch, and then we plan to watch our wedding video. We may also play some Wii together. Really, it doesn't matter what we do. We are at our first marriage milestone, and we're even stronger together now than we were five years ago.

Things Change, But It's All Right

I've debated back and forth about how to tell you that I've been laid off from my job at LandAmerica. So, there you have it, I just came out with it, just like that.

LandAmerica is a world-wide title insurance company, and I was the Human Resources Business Partner for the Midwest Region. I joined the company about 19 months ago, coincidentally just about the time the housing market began its nosedive.

Last year at the beginning of summer, LandAm's stock was over $120 a share. As I write this, it's at $4.95 per share. I'm not a dumb person. I could see what was happening. Randy and I talked many times about whether I should be looking for a new job. Each time, I came back to the same thing. I LOVED THAT JOB. I knew I was taking a risk by staying, but I also knew that if I left unnecessarily, I would regret it forever. It was the perfect job for me, spending my days doing all of the things I loved about HR. I sat at the table with my regional leaders, and my voice was heard along with everyone else's. They valued my opinions, and together we did great things.

But, last week our financial group presented the 3rd quarter "earnings" report to our CEO, and everything began to unravel. I don't know what that report contains, but it must be pretty bad. That was Tuesday. By Thursday, I began hearing that a significant number of employees were going to be released the following Monday.

On Friday afternoon, my boss called me to tell me that my position was among those being eliminated. There were six of us on our team, and three were being let go. Given my short tenure with the company, there was nothing she could do to keep me. It was a very emotional call and just the beginning of a very emotional weekend.

Randy came home early to sit with me and tell me it was going to be all right. He was my rock, and I don't know what I would have done without him. We made our plans of things we could cut back on immediately, things that we could cut back on if things got even worse, and other steps we could take to either save money or bring money in. That made both of us feel better. A plan really helps.

Along the way, I've learned that over 100 people from our corporate office were let go on Monday, 23 of them in Human Resources alone. I don't know exactly how many people were at HQ to begin with, but I'm estimating it was less than 200.

I slowly began to tell people. It's not that I'm ashamed. I'm not. There's no shame in being one of the hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs in this economy. It's more that I mourn the job I had, and I know how much I'm going to miss those people. It was really hard for me to talk about at first, but it's getting easier with each day.

I'll share with you answers to some of the common questions I'm hearing....

Will you go back to Sparrow?
No.

Wasn't it a sign that they had you work from home? Couldn't you see they were pushing you out?
Actually, the opposite was true. With LandAm, they encourage people to work from home whenever possible. They try to keep costs down by not paying for offices of those who can be at home, and use their offices for those who actually do the title work.

Will you get called back to LandAm?
I would like to think so, but this is a permanent layoff. At this point, I don't know if the company will make it. If somehow they get through this, and business picks up again, I wouldn't be surprised to have one of them call me about a job. My leadership team knows what I brought to the table, and I've heard over and over again from them that if things change, they would bring me back in a heartbeat. I believe that.

Do you get a severance?
Just one week.

Can I buy your scrapbooking supplies?
HA. This isn't really a question, but the answer is no....... we're not at the point of having to sell things off yet, so don't get too anxious.

Have you found a new job yet?
Actually, I've applied for a number of jobs already, and I have a couple of headhunters working for me. But, this all takes time.

Don't you blame George Bush for this mess? Isn't it his fault you were laid off?
Goodness no. He's no more to blame than the man on the moon. Look, I have about a thousand issues with President Bush, but this isn't one of them. I've been through a plant closing at Wyeth and a plant purchase/downsizing at Horizon Technology Group, both in the 1990's. George Bush was in Texas then, and the same thing happened to me as now. So, no, the President isn't to blame. Life happens.


I'm surrounded by good, positive people who are supporting me through this. I've never been a single day without a job in my adult life. I graduated from college on a Friday, packed up, moved, and started work on a Monday. Since then, I've always had a job to go to before the last one ended. This is all new for me. I'm really just trying to stay positive and look at this as a sabbatical. I never thought I'd ever have time at home like this, so I'm going to make the most of it. I've got a lot of things I want to do around the house, but I also want to read books, watch movies, and scrapbook. So, that's what I will do, along with, of course, looking for a new job. Hopefully by the start of next year I will have landed someplace great and can head into the next adventure.