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I Got a Job!!!

So, if you haven’t been following along, ever since I moved to the East Coast from California I’ve done contract work. And for the first 4 years or so I had really steady work, with no breaks – or very short ones – between contracts. Since 2008, though, it seems like I’ve been unemployed a LOT!

Which of course leads to taking jobs that maybe aren’t the best.

On that count I’ve been fairly lucky. Even when the situation maybe started out bad it improved before long.

Anyway…my last contract ended in November (the day before my birthday actually!) and I’ve been looking for something new ever since.

And it finally came along!

I’ve completed all of the paperwork and tomorrow I’ll go take my drug test. Then I’ll start in another week. It’s not working at home like this last one, but that’s okay.

My plan is to try to get back into some sort of normal, adult routine over the next week so that it isn’t a complete shock to my system to re-enter the real world!

Happy happy happy to be back at it – will certainly miss spending all day every day with my pal Phred though! But I think that will just make us appreciate each other more, right? 🙂

This is my view for a big part of my sitting at home days….

Phred looking a little more alert!!

I mean, who wouldn’t miss this face??

But we’ll both be a lot happier knowing that he won’t run out of treats any time soon 🙂

Tags: new job

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Categories Earnest Phred, Work

Wrapping up 2014

3 Jan

New Year, New Leaf.

Though apparently if one of my resolutions is to “blog in a more timely manner” I’ve already lost!!

Now that you’ve had time to recover from all of the other 2014 recap posts, you can enjoy mine for the novelty of it’s release on Jan 3 🙂 Kidding, you should just enjoy it cause, it might be enjoyable!! And, since my day-to-day life is fairly boring, this shouldn’t take long.

So here it is….

And, really, a lot of it is all intertwined – as life tends to be right?

So, let me start with

There wasn’t an awful lot of this. The biggie is my sister getting diagnosed with cancer earlier this year (good news? She finished radiation and chemo and will find out in February if they got it all (which, of course, good thoughts for this)
There was also my first attempt at a 9 miler in my training – which turned into an 8 miler since I didn’t prepare properly. The results were quite ugly.

Next,

There was one big bad this year – over Thanksgiving weekend we had to send my mom’s dog, Katie, to the Rainbow Bridge.

Katie napping on the patio last summer

I had got her Katie for her birthday back in 2001 and she was seriously an awesome dog. I think she even got to visit my mom in the hospital at least once before she passed away so that was good
The other bad, which is really minor next to losing Katie, and probably only in my own mind, was my training consistency. It was lacking. Sometimes a LOT. But….

I *did* train. Maybe it wasn’t consistent all the time but it was there. And much moreso than in any of my past efforts. Let’s hope it pays off next weekend when I bring these babies home!

All these will be MINE!! Except the Kids’ one…that one I won’t get…

My sister made it through chemo and radiation healthy. She had some setbacks, but overall, I think she handled it really well. Or as well as one can handle such things
I got to visit my family quite a bit, thanks to a job that was 100% remote work.
I had SEVERAL fantastic race weekends — where the people and the fun made the race, not necessarily the timing!

So, see, all in all, pretty boring year. And I’ll take it! And definitely looking forward to adding a little more excitement in 2015 — What ideas do you have to make my new year more exciting!?! What are your adventure plans in 2015?

Tags: 2014, recap, Year End

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Categories Family, Running, Thankful

Did Someone Say Cake?!

3 Sep

The Birthday Boy

Earlier this week – well, Monday to be specific – we celebrated my dad’s birthday out at my older brother’s house.

My youngest nephew. Colin, made ribs — and, oddly enough I didn’t take many/any pictures of the deliciousness!! However, I did manage to get a shot of my Phred enjoying a bit of smokey BBQ goodness!!

Phred does not often have such meaty goodness in his face!

And, of course there was cake. If you don’t know yet, I have to say that I. LOVE. CAKE. Preferably (pay attention if you want to stalk/woo me with cakey goodness!!) white cake with buttercream frosting. I’m really not a huge fan of chocolate cake. And if you REALLY want to impress me, find a place that makes those old very sugar-y not quite hard but a little crunchy frosting flowers.

But I digress.

We had birthday cake.

Cake with candle holes 🙂

And we also had candles.

Miscellaneous candles

And at one point the candles were on the cake AND lit! But of course, no picture again!

My sister also brought my dad a Birthday Dutch Apple Pie – which is still in the refrigerator at his house!!

After dinner we watched a little TV and then my brother’s deer feeder went off and the dogs were brought in! And the deer showed up.

Lots of them!

And one of them was non-too pleased about having me taking pictures of his family!!

All in all it was a pretty great day! It’s always nice to spend time with family!

Hope your enjoying your week — and we’re on the downhill slope to the weekend!!!

Tags: Birthday, cake, deer, family

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Categories Dad, Earnest Phred, Family, Nephew, Pop Pop

Time Flies.

24 Aug

It’s so hard to believe it’s been five years. And at the same time it’s been the longest five years in forever. Prepare for a picture intensive post 🙂

10 years or so ago, Mom and me went on a cruise with some of my friends…

And hanging out on the beaches with us…

Mom was a trooper sleeping in our luxurious bunk beds….

Obviously Mom loved being outside —

With Grandma on a beach somewhere…

I think this was in Mexico – once when we went to Guadalajara

Helping my sister dry off…still in Mexico 🙂

Playing in the pool at home with Conor

And of course, one of my most favorite pictures of all

Dad was testing out a new camera…

I miss my mom Every. Single. Day. Some days more than others. I just really wish she was still here.

Tags: Mom, mommy

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Categories Mom, Mommy

A Change of Pace!

21 Aug

When I first started this blog thing, I assumed I would write a lot about my best pal, Earnest Phred. But I really haven’t other than a mention here and there. So today, instead of telling you about my awesome run Tuesday, let’s change things up a little. Cause this happened, and it was cute

As I was lacing up to get my 45 minutes in, I heard some shuffling outside of my front door and when I headed out, this fell onto the floor

Re-enactment of the note dropping, complete with toes!

Hm…I am learning that my neighbor kids are quite entrepreneurial this summer!

I headed out to take Phred for his walk after scrounging up 5 dollars cash money – I figured he could use a little freshening up and …hey, the kids need some encouragement! They had set up a little card table right along the walking path that goes through my ‘hood, with the bandanas neatly laid out and the pitcher of Kool-Aid. For the humans. And I’m bummed I didn’t take a picture of it. But trust me. Cute!! The girls had even made name-tags for themselves! Again, bummed about no picture.

While I was talking to one of the moms, a family came over with their gorgeous Ruby – who had no idea what was in store but she was pretty happy to see all the kids and a couple of other dogs! Until she saw the pool.

Ruby getting cleaned up

Phred, meanwhile, decided he wanted to watch the show…

Ain’t NOBODY got time for a kiddie pool

Eventually I got him moving and we went on our walk and when we got back to the girls they had developed a new system that did not involve putting the dogs in the pool!!

A then picked out a green bandana for Phred and he just trotted off, ignoring the treat they had offered him (much as I expected he would!). Then he TORE towards his own backyard – not captured on camera because it was unexpected!! And he’s a fast little bugger when he wants to be!!

Little did I know that nano-seconds after this was taken that the leash would almost be torn out of my hand when he took off to home!!

I really hope these girls decide to do something like this again next summer — they really did a great job of putting it together. Apparently boredom got the best of them Tuesday afternoon and they set this up in a couple of hours. And I’m thinking they washed quite a few dogs!!

And Phred certainly was content!!