Happy Hour and Last day at Mayo recap

Well I am officially done with Mayo! My last day was four hours long and it went really fast. I've never been happier getting up to go to work. Some people didn't know it was my last day, some didn't know I was leaving.

After finishing work up *as much as I could with all the best wishes and interruptions I got* I had to head downtown to pick up a copy of my medical records to take with me, turn in my parking tag, turn in my gym parking tag and sign a form saying I was quiting my membership, then we headed over to Boomer's Bar and had my Happy hour with some of the people from Mayo. I had a wonderful time just relaxing and chatting about many random subjects from 2 until 8:30pm...that was the longest I have ever sat in a bar, but It was so much fun.

I will miss the people I worked with and the problem solving part of my job the most, but I am ready for a new adventure.

We are now in St. Cloud enjoying Jeremy's family Christmas weekend. We have the moving truck at home, and about 85% of the house packed. Oh well, it will get done. The moving date is approaching fast and that is making me so pumped.

Well off to watch my husband, his brother, his dad, and his brother's girlfriend play Rock Band.

Last Day at Mayo

Today is my official last day as an employee at the Mayo Clinic! I will miss most of my co-workers, but will not miss the politics of the Lab I work in. I work 8 am to Noon. I don't know how much I will actually be able to get done, because people will interrupt me I am sure, but I guess that is for my boss to figure out. They aren't hiring someone to replace me, so I feel for the rest of my team as they will have to cover my job until management figures out who is going to do my job in the future.

So I am up early trying to motivate myself into packing more...I'm definitely sure that packing is the worst part of moving...

Off to the kitchen!

Later!

Merry Christmas

Today was a wonderful day. We woke up early because my niece and nephew saw that Santa had come and left a bunch of gifts on the coffee table for them. (Our tree and Christmas stuff is all packed and ready to be moved.) So we got up and all watched as they unwrapped Santa's gifts. It culminated with two presents, Santa delivered a Nintendo Wii, a game, and extra controller. They screamed. It was the best reaction I have see in a long time.

I received so many great things. My mom gave me a flat grill pan to go on the stove and some die cuts for my Sizzix machine, My sister Candi gave me Harry Potter 3 and some stamps, My husband really topped out, he got me three Nintendo shirts, and three video games: Pokemon Emerald Green version, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Legends of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (all for my DS Lite). I am most excited by the games because of the long trip ahead of us that is only 6 short days away.

I bought Jeremy I am American and so can you, Steven Colbert's book, a Legends of Zelda shirt, a Nintendo winter cap, and a Mario Cart Remote control guy (for his desk at work).

We must be headed in the right directions - if you look at our gifts to each other. We had really good food, played a game of Hand and Foot, and relaxed with different movies. Jeremy fell ill this morning, he's very congested and is running a fever. So he's been in bed for most of the day. I hope it's not a long sickness as we don't have much time to pack.

I work tomorrow 6:30-2:30 and then just half a day Thursday from 8-noon. Then I am done!

I am so ready. Yesterday I walked in to work and there were 75 things for me to do that have been sitting for two days. It's frustrating because that is almost a normal workday's worth of work. So by the end of the day I had a record day for resolutions ("things to do") I did 177 resolutions.

I am not looking forward to working tomorrow, I am hoping that if it's slow I can leave early and come home and help pack more.

Home coming and work crumminess

He did make it home Thursday. His plane landed in Minneapolis at 3 pm, but the flight from MSP to Rochester was cancelled due to dense fog down here. So he got delayed until a 7pm flight...but the weather just got worse and the 7 pm flight got cancelled as well. So the airport actually got a bus for the five flights that were cancelled and bused them all down to the Rochester airport. Jeremy got back into town at 9:30 instead of 6:30.

But he's home and things are good. I am at work today and I arrived to find my inbox full of crap from the weekend. I am ready to turn around and run out the door (and probably would if my dad were not at my house -- he would chew me out for leaving work). So...I sit here fuming because my co-workers don't care to cover for me while I am gone...and all the while I am thinking "good luck" to them all because my boss is not replacing me...

Sigh...I have one full day left wednesday and a half day on Thursday...and I just want to call in sick for them all.

Well back to work so I can go home and enjoy a Christmas Eve dinner and presents openning...

I can't wait! More later as I have tomorrow off.

He's coming home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jeremy comes home today. He hops a flight at 9 am in Seattle and I will go to the airport and pick him up at 6:30 pm....


I am very excited to have him home! Today at work is my "exit interview" with the head honcho lady of the lab. It should be interesting to see how things turn out at that meeting. Other than that, I got all my Christmas shopping done except for my dad. He is hard to buy for. So...Any ideas what I should get him?

Weekend Adventures

Friday I left work and zoomed up to Minnetonka to spend the night with my best friend Nia. She had her first baby last week and I wanted to get some baby time before moving so far away. Gracen is the sweetest baby and smallest baby I have ever seen. We hung out at home and watching Harry Potter 2 and 3 and just cuddled with baby. She is so tiny and cute with long skinny legs you can tell she is going to take after mom and dad. I can see her as a ballerina already!

Here are some pictures:

Wide awake!

Proud Dad Brandon and baby Gracen

Mom Nia and baby Gracen

Puckering up!

Practicing for future pictures.

The best seat in the house

All curled up and cute

Plumb Tuckered out!

bake sale and tie-blanket

So I stayed up to a very late 3 am yesterday working on baked goods for a bake sale at work today. I wasn't tired so I just kept going. Total for the one day sale was a bit over 1800 dollars that goes to a gentleman I work with who is fighting Lung Cancer!
Merry Merry Christmas Gene!
Here is what I contributed:


I packaged People Puppy Chow, Raspberry Divinity, Pretzels with kisses in them, and these beauties: Chocolate Cherry and Pistachio Chews:


Here is a picture of some cookies my mom and I experimented with last weekend:
Yummy Little Almond Sandwich Cookies:

And tonight I made the tie blanket for the lady at work. It went very fast tonight. I worked on it from 7:45 to 11:00 with a break somewhere in there for a half hour.
And here is what the back looks like:

Yay, another project done.
Now I can relax and bit then pack for a trip to go see Baby Gracen up in the Twin Cities tomorrow.

happy anniversary Mom and Dad!

Today is my parents Anniversary:

Are they cute? I think I will miss them the most when I move.

craziness...

We are moving in 18 days!

that is insane...wow...lots to do, and more things on the list.

I'm off to work on some bake sale items for work tomorrow.

then to pass out and wake up early to probably do more.

Sold!!!!!!!!!!!

We have accepted an offer from a couple that would like to buy our house! Our closing date is New Year's Eve. So now comes the rush of the next 18 days to get the house packed and be ready to move out. We're starting the new year on a big adventure.

I get to put my two week notice in tomorrow... I've been running around in circles I am so happy. Now if I can just get a job out there...


WHOOPPIE!!!!!! Can you tell I'm happy?

crafts and cooking

First off I want to say that this morning I finished the baby sweater for a lady at work. She loved it, and mom knit the socks to match. I love the buttons on this sweater:

I spend a good chunk of the weekend before last baking while it snowed outside, then this last weekend mom and I went Christmas shopping.

Okay so I have a bunch of pictures to add here. I will explain all...

This is my new sweater I got this weekend. I love the neck line!

These are Caramel Shortbread bars, I love how they layer.
This is Raspberry Divinity that I have made. This was the first time I made it and though it turned out well, I'm not sure I would make it unless requested to make it.

Gingersnaps, one of my favorites Grandma Ellen used to make all the time.

Cornflake Wreaths

This is the bowl of goodies I brought to my neighbor who plowed me out twice the weekend before last.

Now for more future crafts:
There is a lady at work who as asked me to make her grandson a tie-blanket for Christmas. This is the fleece I picked out:

birthday wishes!

Welcome to the world:

Gracen Rae Lighter

6 lbs 8 oz 19.5 inches long

born 12/7/2007 12:01 pm

Congratulations Nia and Brandon on your little baby girl!

I can't wait to meet her!

winter kindness

I am very fortunate to have wonderful neighbors that know I am alone in my home. This weekend past we had a big winter storm and I was gearing myself up to spend most of Sunday shoveling my way back into the world for work Monday. We Saturday afternoon while I was baking away in the kitchen I heard a loud sound coming from outside. My neighbor Ed had already gotten half my drive plowed with his snow blower! I was really happy, so I put together a gift of homemade goodies from the afternoon's work in the kitchen and tromped over with them.

I spent Sunday outside getting rid of the ice since the sky decided after snowing it would like to rain. I fell twice...said nuts to this and went inside to plan my next attack. Ed laid down as much salt as he had left after doing his driveway and I was able to get 1/4 of the drive de-iced. So I ventured out of my garage and down to the gas station for some more salt. I returned home and emptied one of my two bags across the drive.

Then Tuesday it snowed again...making it home from work took me 20 minutes when it usually takes me 5-10 minutes. I was planning my early morning of shoveling around 830 pm and again I heard a familiar sound. Ed came out again and plowed me out! I love this man.

So I slept better...however I woke to the sound of the city snow plow coming down our road...and low and behold he plowed me in! So I changed out of my work clothes, into jeans and boots and layers of warm clothes and grabbed my trusty shovel to attack this mass. I got tired really quickly...and the other neighbor asked if I needed to go anywhere for the day. I told him I had to be to work at 9am. (it was 8 am) He said that I should just make a path big enough for my car to get out and he would finish it while I was at work! Thank the Lord! So I am being provided for while Jeremy is gone. But snow is in the forcast for tonight and tomorrow, and this weekend...

I am ready for spring!!