Random post

Here’s the thing. I’ve been talking recently about the trouble with my job. There’s so much going on and so much to concentrate on and so much change and everything is "fast and now" and it is very draining. I was talking with a co-worker the other day and she mentioned the rat race and how the world is moving so fast she’d just like to yell and tell everyone to slow down. This hit a nerve with me- in a good way. It made so much sense in an instant.

I think part of my problem is the speed of change. I really think that it has impacted me more than I know. The thing is, I think my “dream” of staying at home, growing much of our own food and simplifying greatly is very much tied to this dissatisfaction with my job and also maybe more importantly with the speed of things.

Plants only grow at one speed. The changes are not huge. It is simple, primal and basic. The rush comes at times of harvest and then there is the preservation. A garden takes a lot of work, but it is steady work. It isn’t that there are no worries with pests and frost and Mother Nature, in general, taking her role in things. I think the issue at large is that this kind of work is very real and extremely tangible. You work with soil and dirt, you feel the aches and pains from the work you do, and you see the success and the failure…and there are the seasons. Winter is time to relax and recharge and make plans for the following year. It is a chance to focus inward and to accomplish things you let slide or could get to through the busy fall and harvest months. Spring comes and you are able to get started again, fully recharged. And the start is slow and steady…hard work, yes, but plants don’t spring up from the ground fully formed and ready to harvest and preserve in one day. It is a process.
I think that is what I am missing. I am missing the process of, the cycle of, how things work. We have built the cycle up to happen so fast that there is no longer a cycle. There is no chance to get caught up. There is no chance to recharge and rejuvenate.

Big Day

George slep through the night! AND pooped on the potty this morning! YAY!

We watched baby cousin Charlie for about 4 hours or so. It went better than I expected!

Made pizza for dinner tonight. I tried a new dough recipe and I doctored it up a bit by adding some italian seasoning and parmasan cheese to the dough while mixing. It turned out okay...was more bread-y and yeasty than I wanted. The good thing about this recipe is that it makes enough for one pizza and not two like a lot of the ones I seem to come across. We seemed to like it and Eric deemed it "Okay for at home pizza."

I've been contemplating putting us on an eat at home diet. I am so tempted to go out for meals when we have food in the house. It's not because we don't have a plan...I make a meal plan at the beginning of every week that corresponds with the weekly grocery list...it's that I just don't feel like it. Got to break that mind set.

I have a few things I need to do and then off to bed for me. :)

Upside Down, Turned Around and Twisted

That's been me over the past week. I had previously explained my job situation...well on Friday I was thrown for a bit of a loop. I went down to HR to discuss an employee issue and my manager called in from NC to let me know that they are shutting down our department and moving it to the NC office. Now, this is not a total surprise. The work has been dwindling and we have been trying very hard to move people into other positions...it just happened much sooner than I thought it would!

So, the impact to me is that they are trying to find another position for me within the department. I am not sure what the position entails exactly and I don't know if I will like what they come up with, sooooo...I am going to do all of the outplacement seminars and everything. Might not be a bad idea just in general to get a real feel for what is out there and what isn't. I do have the option of taking the severance package and leaving on the first of April if I choose to not stay with the company.

There were 7 people on the team on Friday when we discussed the impact of the announcement. I had to fire one of them before the announcement on Monday due to an unrelated issue. Monday sucked. Out of the 6 that are left, one is planning on retiring and two others are in cross training for other roles currently, so the hope is that they will transition fully on April 1. The other 3 are troublesome. All are wonderful people and great workers. They are definitely assets however, there may be difficulties with skill sets and dealing with the changes to begin with.

I will say that I admire my company greatly for their fairness in this. They are waiting until April 1 so that people will still receive their 2009 bonus which will be paid at end of 1st quarter. Because they are doing April 1 instead of March 31st, benefits will be extended through the month. They are offering a payment in addition to the severance to make up the difference for COBRA. Severance is the standard 2 weeks pay for every year with the company. The HR rep has scheduled every other week 1:1s with everyone interested in finding different positions so they can review them for skill sets and get a jump on open requisitions and anything new she may be aware of. They have also retained an outplacement group to come in and do two workshop sessions...they will work with us 1:1 to go over resumes and interviewing and the like. I'll admit, I'm kind of curious! (Maybe I can find a job with them?! It seems like it would be an interesting thing to do!)

So, with that said, this past week was NUTS. Monday and Tuesday were meetings, and a termination (which was THE strangest termination I have ever done.), announcements, more meetings, still trying to get work done, the global head was in the office on Wednesday, my boss was in M-Th, and job performance reviews were to be completed by last night. Crazy, crazy times!

Oh, and I had class on Tuesday night and my homework wasn't done. Great. Thankfully she was pretty understanding but now I have to figure out how to get it on paper and get it to her since it was our last class. *sigh* I'm a dork.

Happy New Year...a little late!

After George's birthday party things started picking up speed heading into the holidays! It was a bit crazy around here and we are just now starting to settle into something resembling "normal"...although, I'm not sure what that really is anymore!

So, December brought a flurry of birthdays (George, Great Grandma Donner and Cousin Charlie) all before Christmas. George had his 2 year Dr. appointment, we also had his parent teacher conference (yes, at daycare for a 2 year old!) and then the trip to Ohio for Christmas with the family! So, had to get work in order before I took off for the week and we are also gearing up for performance reviews and the year end stuff, so December was jam-packed.

Birthday's all went well. It was very fun to watch George "get" Charlie's birthday. He now understands openning presents even if he doesn't understand that they aren't all his! :-) We're working on it. He helped Great Grandma Donner blow out her birthday candles and did a really good job! Parent Teacher conference was also good. Ms. Ranjana told us that George is a "perfect 2 year old". He loves Ms. Ranjana...and I think George is pretty high up on her list, too. Sadly, the birthday means he leaves the toddler room and moves up to the 2's.

He's doing well. The class is more structured than the toddler room is, but George seems to be thriving. We get notes about how he's doing every day and so far, so good. He's started to be able to tellus a little bit about his day at school when we have dinner. They discussed pets this past week and on Wednesday "big dogs" was the subject. At dinner we asked what they talked about at school and he started talking about Gramma's...makes sense because there were 3 big dogs when we visited grandma Ruth's at Christmas. He's also started just randomly throwing out every word that he knows when trying to "make conversation" very sweet and amusing!

Christmas at home was wonderful. I had a chance to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while. Went to church for Christmas Eve service...and spent it in the basement because George didn't like the idea of sitting through the whole thing. So, I got to listen through the speakers down there...that really don't work well. If I ever win the lotto, I think a better speaker system for the nursery is in order! Then we came home and made Christmas cookies for Santa. Actually, Annie, Mae and George did the decorating. It was quite a joyous experience to watch the 3 of them together. George loves his cousins!

This year the dogs didn't scare him once he got used to them. He liked giving them "hucks" and wants to touch. He also laughs and yells, "Gittem, buppy, gittem!" Not entirely sure where it's coming from but I think gittems are licks? He asked about Gramma and the puppies on the way up to the airport...and did a great job travelling on the plane. We did have a bit of a delay at the airport because our big bag was 3 pounds over the weight limit. She wanted us to move stuff tot he other bag, but the other bag was packed full. So, I took out a pair of jeans and two sweatshirts and was able to fit that into the freebie bag that I won in the Trival Pursuit Game of the Unknown Gift. It is now known as the magic bag...the thing also held my winter coat, hat and scarf. If you could see this little bag, you wouldn't believe it!

We arrived back in KC to a BUNCH of snow and it took us a bit to get back from the airport. We pulled into the driveway and had to walk through calf deep snow to get into the house. Then lug the luggage (hm...just realised the root is the same!) and everything through to get into the house without getting it all snow soaked. The extended Donner family Christmas at Uncle George and Aunt Christy's was delayed due to weather, so we were able to attend on Sunday. Well, we got stuck in our driveway. So, Eric and I took turns shovelling and pushing and driving and what not. George sat in his carseat in the back of the car and cheered us on. "Shuble, Shuble! Go, Daddy, go!" He's a little confused though, because now if I am in the passenger seat and Daddy isn't in the car he still cheers...even if daddy is just putting gas in the car!

We had our family Christmases last Sunday. We did ours at home and the went to Eric's mom and dad's. It was a good day and a good start to the new year. George seemed to like his gifts and we now have a lot of things that we need to make some room for.

That would seem to transition well into New Year's Resolutions and goals. Well, I made some, but I'm not entirely happy with them. I have goals that I have set throughout the year, but usually use New Year's to sharpen the focus a bit and to drop those that aren't working and reevaluate where I am. This year was and is a bit rough. So, I'll be revisiting at some point and will repost a New Year's resolutin list at some point...but look for it more in April when I do my annual "Me Day."

Hugs and love to All in 2010!