Friday, August 28, 2009

the ordinary inbetweens

Fridays are usually sort of tough, as you all know, because they can never go fast enough!  But I had a pretty good Friday at work and at home, and I am thankful for it!  Simple things that sometimes happen daily, or weekly, or hardly ever, but the little things that make up life.  Here are a few things that made my day special --

1.  Olaf woke up happy with a hug for his mama.
2.  Steve made me coffee to drink on the way in to work...  mmmmmmm....
3.  I started my work day off right with getting a ton of emails and phone calls sent and made and replied to.  No one was in the office to distract me!
4.   I had lunch at the Target food court with my friend Charlotte.  Those icees are delicious!  And of course it involved a trip around the store which resulted in a few key purchases.  Mainly tinfoil, baggies, a diaper genie refill, shorts for Olaf (really, they were 50% off, what a steal!  Who cares if they won't fit him for 2 years!), and fixings for my dinner.
5.  100 calorie bag of microwave popcorn.  Perfect snack.
6.  Getting advice on how to make contractors do what you want them to from Chuck, one of our head inspectors.  He seems to think I could just bat my eyelashes at them and be all sweet... but then break out my whip and kick their A**'s if they mess up.
7.  Coming home to our neighbor, and my good friend Mariya's mom, who had stopped by to tour the house!  She is wonderful.
8.  Sharing a Pacifico with lime with the hub.
9.  Cooking (in process) home-made spaghetti!  Fresh garlic, sundried tomatoes... mmmmm.
10.  Being home.  I love being home.  And Steve's "man group / AKA prayer group" was canceled for the evening, meaning I get him all to myself!

I can only hope that all y'all's Fridays were as simple and nice as mine was.  This is my life.  The little things and the ordinary in-betweens.  And I love it.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

10.years

Today is my 10 year high school reunion.
I know that some people think that reunions sound boring, or dumb, or don't want to relive H.S., or don't want to pretend to like seeing people again, or whatever else... etc etc etc...

But I am actually really excited!
I loved High School.
Even though I wasn't the most popular gal there by any means.
Hard to be super popular when you are dork in band instead of a start basketball player or a cheerleader :)
With a TERRIBLE haircut your junior year. Which I will never post a picture of. (Seriously friends, why did no one tell me how bad it was!!)

I was more of the 4.0 student who liked to swing dance, play trumpet in pep band or the pit orchestra for drama department plays, and had no fashion sense!
But I did have a lot of good friends back then who I am looking forward to seeing this evening to congratulate on their successes in life, maybe reminisce over a few funny moments, and enjoy a margarita together. If I run out of things to say, do you think they'll believe that I invented post-its?

10 years down.
and many more to go!

happy sunny Saturday in August friends!

ps... Mark and Cassie... praying for you guys on your journey to Ethiopa this weekend! I can't WAIT to meet your little T when you bring her home. Praise God for His blessings in your life!

Monday, August 17, 2009

for mac

A MEMORY...

thanksgiving 200.0... um... 2003?
well regardless it was either '03, '02, or '04.
at the dinner table --
miss mackenzie [strict vegetarian and my lovely sis in law] states "i can't believe you made me sit next to the guy eating off the bone!"
as steven TEARS into an entire leg of like an 20 lb turkey and looks at her with a happy grin... (that may be an exaggeration on poundage, but it was a lot of greasy turkey meat [delicious])

well... the apple doesn't fall far from the tree does it?



you have to admit though... captain carnivore is quite CUTE and endearing :)

miss you mac and josh.
come stay in our guest room for a weekend soon so we can catch up!
maybe after you get back from burning man so you can tell us of your adventures
and we can live vicariously through you :)

Saturday, August 15, 2009

switcharoo.

I have been meaning to change the 'name' of this blog for quite some time... although Just Plain Mommy fits, it's not really the whole picture of who I am! I am a momma, yes, but also a wife, a friend, a daughter, a sister, a nerd, a hard worker... the list goes on.

SO I think I'll be jUST pLAIN jENN. (or Jennifer, Jenny, or LJ if you prefer. actually only if you are family can you call me Jenny. Just saying. Some names are reserved). I am what I am and don't plan on trying to be anyone else!

Happy Saturday to everyone!

Today's activities include:

Cleaning
Putting away my shoes
Cleaning
Spending time with Olaf
Going to the Moonlight Music Festival in Plain!

Cheers!

Ariyl & I, relaxing with champagne (excuse me sparkling wine) after moving in last weekend!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

sneaky peaky

More photos to come.
Obviously.
Once we get a few more boxes unpacked!

I have no motivation after 8pm! (Opposite of Steve, who has already this evening installed shelves in the pantry and put in the new light over the woodstove..... and here I am blogging and hanging around on facebook?)

Master bedroom, sans doorknob to the outside :)

View west from the back deck

Gotta train 'em up early if you want them to clean later!

Monday, August 10, 2009

thoughts of snow in august

Now I am the FIRST to admit that I LOVE SUMMER and WARMTH! But in perusing iPhoto this evening... I came across a few pictures that made me miss wintertime (just a teeny tiny itty bit)...


... hunting for Christmas trees, December 2007, with the Cohen's, Kropf's, and Foreman's.

Consider this a "take me back" Tuesday.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

in. seriously.

We are in the house. Whew. Surrounded by boxes. Some of these boxes have been packed since we left Lacey 3 years ago! I have had fun discovering a few boxes that I forgot about over the last year(s). One was cookbooks - who knew I had so many good ones? And one was SHOES. Inside were some pretty cute sneakers, and the BRAND NEW softball cleats that I looked for all summer but never found. It is pretty great. AND I finally got to set up and use Olaf's high chair, donated by our friends Brooke and C when we moved from Lacey, in anticipation of the "someday child :) ". Thanks so much dear - it is wonderful!

No more 5th wheel!
No more 5th wheel!

Friday, August 7, 2009

An insight into my daily grind and my first (sorta) soapbox.

Where have I been? Not blogging, obviously :) It is CRAZY TOWN at our house (slash / 5th wheel...). But really my non-blogging has stemmed from the fact that it's also been CRAZY TOWN at work lately.

Why, you might wonder? Well my job has a certain "busy" seasons. Usually it is something like this:

Spring: Busy designing, but not so bad that you can't take a week for vacation. Usually trying to get projects designed far enough so that you can leave them on the shelf for a few months during the summer. Spring is also spent prepping for construction projects.

Summer: Anyone who lives in Washington State knows that summer = ROAD CONSTRUCTION. Here in Eastern WA it's mostly paving, chip sealing, and small illumination or channelization projects. This season, we actually have some bigger things like a few rural hwy passing lanes, rock slope stabilizations, and bridge modifications. Really what that means is that no one is in the office because they are all out inspecting projects and making sure contractors dot their "i"s and cross their "t"s. 40-50-60 hours a week spent away from home and family. There is so much paperwork is required for each job! No one is in the office except for me of course because instead of getting to go outside I am stuck designing a ton of projects that have super tight timelines. Love it. Not.

Fall: Finishing up constructing different projects, including as-built drawings and tons and tons of more paperwork which is required by the Feds who likely funded the project. It all falls under public accountability - showing y'all that we are spending your tax dollars wisely. We have to document that we are doing so for when we get audited. Fall is also the time for getting projects for next summer out to Ad. This means plans, specifications, and cost estimates are advertised for public bidding by contractors. Before you can even go to Ad with a PS&E set you have to check off your list of other requirements:

Environmental (NEPA/SEPA/NPDES, Hydraulics etc)
Geotechnical (Slope recommendations)
Materials (Pavement recommendations)
Planning (Access issues)
Utilities (Relocations, franchises, lowering, raising)
Traffic (Traffic counts, traffic control plans etc)
Real Estate Services (Right of Way purchase, temp. construction easements, etc)
Public Involvement (Open houses, webpages, meetings with communities)
Program Management (Are there sufficient funds for the job? Who is funding it?)

Sound complicated? It can be. But that's what I do - aside from actual design it is my job to coordinate the other hundred things and make sure things happen according the planned scope, schedule, and budget. Theoretically that is all taken care of over the previous winter, spring and summer with help from specialty offices in all those areas.

Winter: Design, design, design. Try to check off as much from the list I just wrote out before summer hits.

Let me just go a little soapbox here. I get SO TIRED of people hearing that I work for the State and then saying "ooh, that's nice, a cushy state job where you don't actually have to work to get paid because of your Union. Blah blah blah consultants work so much harder blah blah, state workers are lazy blah blah blah..." And then they go off on their favorite tirade on which projects have inconvenienced them the most and "why the he** did you build it that way?!" etc. etc... WELL LET ME TELL YOU PEOPLE. It is no walk in the park. My job exhausts me enough mentally that when I come home at night I can't bear the thought of getting back on a computer and having to think about what I write. (Ahem, like now). I work my BOOTIE off for the taxpayers, including overtime the last 4 weeks so I don't want to HEAR IT. And while I am on a soapbox - let me just say that not all of us are against public transit so STOP lumping us all in the same category when you say "The State doesn't care about public transportation and never has." Okay my soapbox is over.

Really all I intended to say in this post is that I am sorry - I have missed writing to you all and filling y'all in on the Saugens. I like writing posts! I am sure you'd rather hear about Olaf or the building project but since this was on my mind this is what you got. Someday if you are lucky you can hear my rant about "stimulus" money/transportation projects and how effective I feel they have been, or how I am learning to get more and more frustrated by politics. Is it possible to get beat down by "the man" at such a young age of 28? This last month, I feel it is.

But in all reality, I really enjoy my job and if I have to work outside the home, I'm glad that's what I do. I am just a tad bit stressed out right now... :)

We are moving into the house tomorrow and I am not really believing it just yet... wish us luck on moving/unpacking/cleaning/
moving/cleaning and unpacking. (This is the reason for crazy town at home lately - Steve has been BUSTING it to get me into this house. Thank you hub!) We will post pictures as soon as we are all in! (And once the realization that we are in has actually sunk into our brains.)

Our guest room is open for business starting Labor Day weekend :)

LOVE, jenn.