A Thanksgiving Story

I came across this while reading another site, and it made me die laughing. I have to admit, there are times that I would love to be this anal, but come on!!! How could anyone really write this??

Enjoy.....

http://californiakara.blogspot.com/2008/11/happy-thanksgiving-ocd-style.html

New Job, For Real This Time

Even though I titled my last blog post saying I'd include information about my new job, I got carried away with lawn stuff and forgot. So, here's the scoop on the new job.

I'm still working for the research company in Okemos and will be there until around June 17. It's a great place, truly. If they needed a full time HR person, I'd never leave. But they're small and don't need a full time person right now, so I kept looking even after I started there.

I had a phone interview and two in-person interviews at LCC in very quick succession. LCC has actually decided to take their HR department and start over again with almost all new employees. I think only one person is left from the previous HR. The others have all been there less than two months, and I'm the last person to join the team.

My new title is HR Consulting Manager. They've broken the college down into cohorts, and I will have about 1,000 people who will call upon me as their main HR representative. In addition, my boss and I are responsible for Organizational Development for the entire campus. That means we'll be doing a lot of training, employee/management development, and change management, something I've always loved to do. There are four main groups in HR, and each has a speciality. So, for example, another group is in charge of benefits, and yet another one is in charge of employee & labor relations. So, we will all overlap and interact a lot. I think it's going to be a great opportunity to join a brand new time like this. We can really build it from the ground up and hopefully grow it into a great HR department.

I'm starting at LCC on June 22. Between now and then, I have to become familiar with their labor agreements and policies so I have at least some working knowledge when I come on board. And, I still have a lot to do in Okemos as we finish up the special project I've been working on.

So, the next couple of weeks will be busy, but that's great. I'm so grateful that this is happening. The strange thing is that I started working in Okemos the week after my State of Michigan unemployment ran out. They told me they'd send me the information for me to apply for federal benefits, but, to this day, that hasn't happened. So, I'd have no money at all coming in. Everything happens the way it's supposed to and in the time it's supposed to, and God answered our prayers to give me such a great job with great benefits. We're blessed, that's for sure.

Job Update and Other Willett Matters

All of Mr. Love's hard work on the lawn is really paying off. When I come home and see our front yard, I just stop right in the driveway and have to just look at it for a minute. Hasn't he done an amazing job???

Things are starting to really take off, grow, and bloom.

I just love this time of year!!!

Monday is Randy's dad's 80th birthday, and so we're having a family party to celebrate. My sister-in-law is hostessing the party and asked if I would help with the decorations. I decided on a fishing theme, and here's what I came up with.

I love how the crackle fish turned out. He was a total accident. I made him last night and then went out to put crystal effects on him. It was late, I was tired, and I grabbed the crackle instead of crystal effects. I was more than half way done when I realized what had happened, and I thought it might actually turn out for the best. I'm so glad I messed it up, because I think he looks so much better crackled!

Time Revisited This Weekend

This was SUCH a great weekend! I'm on Facebook, and through that, I've reconnected with a number of people from high school. I've also found that some of my old high school friends are also scrapbookers. We had a crop Friday and yesterday, so I invited them to come. I was so excited when they said yes!

Sue and Kathy were my friends when we were in band and marching band together. We had so many good times with that. Our band was awesome, and we were band dorks together. Sue came from Swartz Creek, and Kathy came from Kalamazoo. Kathy doesn't even scrapbook; she just came so we could see each other again! We sat and talked for hours, and it was just like we had been together a week ago. It didn't feel at all like it had been 29 years.

My other friend that came was Diane, who brought her mom along for the crop. Diane and I were very close in high school, and I don't think we've seen each other since the 10 year reunion. So, that would be 18 years since we were together. Just like with Sue and Kathy, it felt like Diane and I had never been separated. She's wonderful, and it made me realize how much I've missed her over the years.

It's so easy to let time get away, and I'm so grateful that we had the chance to get together like this and reunite at a happy time in our lives. So, here's to Kathy, Sue, and Diane! For sure it won't be another 20 or 30 years before we're together again.

Westward Bound

The next couple of days will be interesting. I'm heading to Minnesota tomorrow for a business trip. We come back Thursday morning. Where it gets interesting is that I have to get up at 3:30 both days in order to get to my flights.

Mr. Love has made me promise that I won't get him up, but I fear that the little four-legged friends will try to get him to get up and feed them. It's going to be fun for the whole family!!!

Great Weekend

I love living in Michigan this time of year. We had wonderfully warm days and cool nights this weekend, and it was perfect. Our yard is looking amazing. Randy's hard work is really paying off. He worked outside all weekend, doing spring cleanup. He modified the area in the far back of our yard, where we have a fire pit. He put in a small mulch area for our glider and got the wood all put together and organized. It looks amazing. We had our first fire out there tonight, and I know we're really going to enjoy that area this summer.

Back To Work

Today was my first day back to work. It all happened very quickly, that's for sure!

I've accepted a temporary assignment working for a small company in Okemos. They're a scientific research firm that is in a state of transition, so they've hired me to do some HR work for them. Right now it's about a 3-4 week assignment, but you never know what will come out of it.

Even if it truly is just a few weeks, I'm so happy to be working again. It felt so good this morning to wake up and have a place to go. As I worked with the people there, I could feel my old energy returning. I was so engaged listening to all that they wanted to accomplish, and it was so nice to be able to help people again. It's going to be a really busy few weeks, that's for sure, but I can't wait.

Nothing much else going on. I'm still working on my swaps and have updated, yet again, my splitcoast stampers gallery (link to the right!). Randy's excited that his back is better and the weather is good, so he's out in the yard every chance he gets. Our lawn looks amazing, and the landscaping he did last year is really coming in nicely this year. I'll get some pictures this weekend and get them posted. I bought some ribs for the grill, and we plan to hang out on the patio and in the yard as much as possible, enjoying a nice long weekend. I hope you get the chance to do the same.