Good and Bad News

After all the great news I’ve heard this week, I was disappointed on how the week ended.

The week started out really well. I found out that one of my friends who is in an abusive relationship is out and in a safe location. I have been keeping her whole family in my thoughts and prayers and so it was really nice to hear that everything was lining up for her.

Then I got great news!! After a very long time of looking, applying and lots of rejection, my sister was offered a fabulous job as an account manager at Web MD. This will be a great fit for her. It will give her a lot of opportunities to grow and really shine professionally in a field that has a lot of potential – and not to mention - pay her mortgage and buy me a Christmas present. (Hey, a girl’s gotta have priorities!) Anyway, I am so very happy for Aon. You should have seen the kids and I do the “happy job dance” when they found out about it. We even called her up and sang her a “lovely” job offer commemoration serenade which probably brought tears to her eyes. (What kind of tears – she’s not saying.)

The North County Recreation Assn auction is coming together and some of the issues (like the Castle Rock and Toutle youth football teams playing at 5:30 way over in Wahkiakum County which over 1 hour away and the slow / low donation amounts) are being resolved so that we will be able to have people attend and support the youth sports in our area. Donations have been picking up and the weather is even starting to co-operate with us. I had visions of this outdoor auction / dinner / dance being in the middle of a horrid downpour all day long. (It still might be a little bit nippy and have a couple sprinkles, but nothing like earlier in the week.) So keep your fingers crossed.

Unfortunately, the work week is ending on a down note. Late Friday afternoon, we found out that our Drug Court did not get the big federal grant we applied for in May. If we got the grant, it would have “saved” our program and really helped it grow to help veterans in our area. Now it is slated to close at the end of the month. I feel so badly for my friend, Debbie, who is the coordinator of the program. She has been through so much this past year. If someone would have told me that we would be shutting down one of the original drug court programs in the state (and one of the most successful) when she was hired last summer, I would have laughed in their face. I am so disappointed. So keep your fingers crossed that by some miracle our Drug Court is saved and is allowed to continue helping people get clean / stay sober and quit doing crimes in our community.

Fun with Friends

Me and Bridget

When we went to Idaho this Summer, I was able to spend some time with some friends. (Like my friend Mary who has been one of my friends since kindergarten and my friend Julie.) It was really great that I was able to meet up with Bridget, my college roommate. It was so fabulous to get caught up with everyone on and their lives. I really enjoyed it and hope to see them again soon.

Good , Bad and Ugly

I had a great weekend, but not so great Monday. (I know....Are there really such things?)
I'll have to post more later because I'm exhausted. All the activities and stress is catching up with me. So I'm going to bed very shortly.

The good:
This weekend I was able to get a lot done around my house and made a dump and Goodwill run. Did a bunch of kid stuff, but also was able to go Edgefield in Portland and meet up with a couple of my girlfriends from High School. (One is my godmother's niece and the other was my best friend for years.) Unfortunately, I have been REALLY bad about keeping in touch with people and the relationship had withered. We hooked up on Facebook and decided to get together. It was really great to see them. (more to come)

Sunday we had our Twilight party. It was really fun. The kids dressed up (I was Renee ~ Bella's mom who would be leaving soon to head down to spring training in Florida so I could be supportive of my new husband's career.) and we had crazy catagories for prizes. One was the Best Goat Herder - because the crazy critters got out at least 6 times during the movie, so the dozen kids would stop the movie and chase them back. It was funny but kind of distracting.

The Bad:
I was notified today that all non union positions will be taking a 5% pay reduction as of May 1st. There is a big meeting with the County Commissioners tomorrow night with all employees. I'm going to go even though it means I'll miss C's play at his Scout meeting and might miss part of M's concert. I just have to get more info from the source. It's driving me crazy not knowing.


The Ugly:
I had my first knitting class tonight. It was fine. The teacher was a little distracted, but has been teaching enough that if you can have her show you individually it was easy to pick up. (I think all those attempts of trying created some muscle memory, because it flowed for me. Glad I had teacher within reach though, because there were several times where I did stuff that was my "undoing" during previous attempts.) I can tell that I will like knitting. It's very soothing. I can definitely get lost in the rhythm. But wow is my "practice" piece ugly. The teacher has already been scratching her head at my "challenges". Honestly I don't know how it happens but weird stuff seems to happen to me.

Well, I'm off to bed.