Saturday, March 31, 2012

Commuting....

For the last three weeks I have been among the rest of the 9-5er's and experienced the Commute to Work! 

I drive about 42 miles one way so, 84 a day, 3 days out of the week.  I've been spoiled the last few months with this every day home office, work in my jammies if I want to work life and gotten a glimpse of the cooperate way of life.  There are benefits to both. The one thing that bothers me is the hour commute there in the morning and the hour commute home.  I'm used to logging off my computer, shutting the light of and walking into the living room or kitchen and I'm home! :-)  Having an hour long drive is for the birds.  

Anyway on my drive from #SMPMSP44 in Minneapolis to 
Dermatology Consultants in Eagan yesterday I got to thinking about how people commute in the cities.  They have the Light Rail, Bus's, Taxi's and they ride their Bikes.  None of the above are an option to me. I live about 50 ok maybe 60 miles from the Twin Cities where our mode of transportation is by Car, Truck, Tractor, 4wheeler, Dirt Bike, Motorcycle, Side-by-Side, Horse, Small Commuter Plane...I think you get the picture.  Anyways, it got me thinking how long it would take me to ride my bike to work and according to Google Maps Bike Route it would take me 3 hours and 16 minutes to get to work. Holly Mollie! No Thank You! I would have to leave at 4am, and I wouldn't be able to stop for a Mocha on the way!

Now this also got me thinking about the new plug in cars that are supposed to be good for the environment that get like 30 miles to the plug in.  How in the world am I supposed to get to work on that? Am I going to stop along the way and plug into a "Current Bush" ? and even if there was a filling station on my way in, how long would it take to "Charge Me Up" 8 or more hours? It would take me 2 days to get to work and 2 more to get home. It would be easier for me to rent an apartment closer to work so I could just walk or bike.  But then when do I get to see my family? Definitely not an option that I am willing to even consider!

So I guess for now I will pray for work from home option to continue. And for those of you that ride your bike to work, good for you! Let me know when you want to come out and play in my world.


Monday, March 26, 2012

Meet Me on Monday #MMOM v.6

Acting Balanced


1. What movie or movies do you have to watch when they are on TV? (submitted by@rndmcrftyGAgrl)


-Grease, Footloose, Flashdance, Breakfast Club...I'm an 80's girl can ya tell?

2. When you have out of town visitors, what fun places do you take them to in your town?  (Or where do you play tourist in your own town?)


-never had out of town guests. 

3. What was the first album, CD, Download you ever bought?



-hmmmm...Let me think about that. I think my first album was Grease-the soundtrack. 

4. Do you speak more than one language and which ones?  If not, what language would you like to know?



-I took two years of German with the promise that after graduation my father would take me to Germany. Now 20 years later my son is taken German and I only remember a few phrases.  

5. What is your dream job?



-Social Media Consultant. Anybody know anybody looking for a geek with a creative flair?

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Wordless Wednesday...Farming History


My Husband found this at his parents house. This is my father-in-law Dennis Hoese back in the day. This picture was in "The Farmer" magazine. The year is unknown. If anybody knows where I can find this magazine I would love to get an original copy for us and my father-in-law.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Meet Me on Monday #MMOM v.5

Acting Balanced
1. How do you like your eggs?


-I don't like egg, well they don't like me. Ever sense I had my son we don't get along.

2. Who is the last person you spoke to on the phone?



-the Hubs.  I talk to him every night on my way home.

3. Do you have a place you keep 'junk' in your home?



-we prefer to call is "Stuff that we might use" and we have several places, the biggest is the walk in closed-better know as the back bedroom/workout room.  

4. What is on your 'spring cleaning' list?



-at the current time, nothing! I need to get thru this 4 week work contract and figure out a work schedule before I attempt to clean the house.  I am working on a bookshelf project and as soon as I get it done I will blog about.  



5. What blog post have you written recently that you'd like more people to know about? (don't forget to link it up)



-I've been bad and haven't written allot lately.  

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Meet Me on Monday #MMOM v.4

Acting Balanced

1. What are your plans for St. Patrick's Day?


-Getting Taxes done! Yuck!

2. What is your favorite room in your house?


-my office!

3. What 'gadget' do you have that you can't live without?


-my iPhone!

4. What will your first thought be when you learn that you won a lottery?


-I actually wrote a blog post about what I would do if I won the lottery. You can check it out here

5. Other than Acting Balanced and your own, what is your favorite blog to read?


-oh...I read lots of them.  You can check out my fav's to the right!





Friday, March 9, 2012

Liars and the Money Game

I dispose liars, really I hate them and what really irritates me is when I ask you straight and you still lie to me but have no ideas that I really know you are lying to me.  This just gets under my skin and I will never, ever trust you again.  


Ok, so you might wonder where this sudden outburst has come from.  Well let me tell you.  I currently have a few requiters working on getting me some new gigs and currently had an offer to interview at a company.  The recruiter was a bit less then honest with the pay rate and after I was cc'd on an email that was sent directly sent to the customer (employer requesting the position) showing the rate that they were charging them was more then double!



When confronted they backpedaled and said that they originally said starting pay was between $lower and $higher an hour.  You know I probably would have taken the lower pay just to get my foot in the door and dazzle them with my charm but it leaves a sour tasted in my mouth and really makes me think that no one cares about anyone else in this world beside themselves and making/taking more then they need and leaving you to hold the bad, let alone the way they got there-lying!


I know when I go to sleep each night that I can close my eyes and rest-I wonder if they can!


  

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Married or not you should read this...


I found this on Facebook and it really hit home.  It makes you realize how much you take your spouse and family for granted.  Take it for what it is but remember who and what you have and never take advantage of your family and life.





Married or not you should read this...

“When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I’ve got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.

Suddenly I didn’t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly. She didn’t seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why?

I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn’t talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn’t love her anymore. I just pitied her!

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn’t have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me, but needed a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Jane about my wife’s divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.

My wife and I hadn’t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don’t tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn’t looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn’t tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily.

Suddenly it hit me… she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.

Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it’s time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn’t noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to office…. jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind…I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.

She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won’t divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn’t value the details of our lives, not because we didn’t love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart. Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I’ll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.

That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed -dead. My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push through with the divorce.— At least, in the eyes of our son—- I’m a loving husband….

The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves.

So find time to be your spouse’s friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!

If you don’t share this, nothing will happen to you.

If you do, you just might save a marriage. Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.  


Monday, March 5, 2012

Meet Me on Monday #MMOM v.3

Acting Balanced


Here are today's Questions:


1. What is on your bedside table? 

-alarm clock, Kleenex, magazines, jewelry

2. Hardback, Paperback or E-Reader?

-all the above. It really depends on the price and if the book I'm reading needs to be highlighted or referenced in the future. 

3. What is your 'go to' drink of choice?

-Depends: 
Morning-Mocha
Afternoon-Water
Dinner-Milk
With Friends-Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper

4. How do you like to spend your birthday?

-depends on what say it falls on. If its a workday and if I have lots to do then I work. If I don't have a ton to do I take the day off and pamper myself.  If my b-day falls on a weekend, we either camp or I plan a house remodel/improvement project.  Only way for me to get help with that stuff!

5. Finish this sentence - I would never be caught dead in ...prison!

-not completely sure why that popped int my head but I really don't ever want to go there.

The waiting game...

I hate waiting, waiting on anything. News of a new job, news from a friend, waiting up late at night for my son to come home or news from whatever,I just plain hate waiting!  As as I sit here and wait I will entertain myself with PhotoBooth and share all the fun with you!  I know your excited!






Now that was fun....what's next!  I have a feeling this is gonna suck!!!







Friday, March 2, 2012

Fight Like A Girl...Endometriosis


Making a difference in pet adoption


Guest post written by Sally Brewer

For a long time I wanted to find a way to help out in society. I thought of volunteering at all kinds of places and the one that actually stuck was helping out at an animal shelter. I've been helping out at the local one for over a decade now. I just volunteer on some nights and during the summer when I'm not teaching school. That's made volunteering even better. But the thing that I'm most excited about in all my volunteer work is getting the animals into homes. That is the main objective of working at an animal shelter. It's so great to see families adopt the pets because everyone is so happy about it!
You can definitely say that it's heart warming. So I'd like to do that some too and actually adopt another animal. But I'm not sure if it will fit in with my finances right now, so I looked up Debt Settlement Family to help me figure that out. I don't think that I'm quite there yet, but I will be after I settle all my debt.

I know that I want to get out of debt anyway, so that will be even more motivation!

Endometriosis Foundation Blossom Ball March 15th, 2012


To all of my friends, family and blog readers:  As you know I work with the 
Endometriosis Foundation of America to raise awareness and money for a disease that affects over 176 million women, including your truly.

Unlike breast cancer, international awareness is very limited.  Many women that suffer from Endometriosis don’t even know they have it. The disease is extremely painful, can cause infertility and an enormous amount of personal suffering, crippling a person for years.


The EFA works to help the public and those in the medical field understand 
the importance of identifying and treating this illness.  This Endometriosis Awareness Month, please join me in supporting their important work!  










Thursday, March 1, 2012

Meet Blake....

Blake is my son's friend.  He reads my blog religiously and has been bugging me to get a post up about him.  So here you go Blake....


This is what I know about Blake.  He is one great kid young man. I'm pretty sure that Tyler and Blake have been friends sense kindergarden but I can't confirm that.  I have only really gotten to know Blake this past year. If you ask him he will tell you that we first met at a JV Football game and that I'm Tyler's mom.  (BTW, I do love that name) Anyways Blake comes to our house, hangs out in the garage with the Hubs and all the rest of my son's friends and usually spends the night.  In the morning Blake will cook us breakfast-gotta love any kid that is willing to do that for you.  


Blake has a "Great Big Heart" and would do anything for anybody that he cares about.  I really think he would even give the shirt off of his back to a complete stranger if he knew that they needed it.  


Tyler and Blake have "BIG PLANS" to own and operate a farm together someday, I think in Nebraska.  When Blake comes over they have long serious discussion & Blake carries around a notebook with all his hopes and dreams about the farm that they will have when they grow up.  


Blake currently works with Clavin the scrap guy cutting up metal and such.  He also milks cows.  


Blake is also a Packers fan and he and I can talk about Jon (Jon Hoese-you know the Glencoe football star gone pro)all day long.  Don't hold that against him.  


Blake is the most down to earth kid I know and tells you like it is.  Thats probably why I like him so much and why he fits in the family so well.  


Blake has recently started calling me "Mom" and quit frankly I am honored.  I love being called mom by my sons friends.  I love each and every one of his friends they are great kids young men and am honored that they call me mom.  They all know that I would do anything that I could to help them all out.  


So here you go Blake, this is your blog post!  I hope you enjoyed it and I'm sorry it has taken so long to get up.