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This was written a few days ago.

I’m sorry that I’ve been MIA on the blog for so long. Between the changes at work and life in general I haven’t had a lot of time to come back here, which makes me sad. Also, even though there are constantly things running through my mind during the day that I wonder or want to talk about, none of them are really enough for an entire blog entry. And then when I finally get a chance to sit down and write something, nothing comes to mind, and I end up wasting the time checking facebook or catching up on the 100+ items in my Google Reader instead of writing.

Things are going well at work. We launched a new company website this week, and I think it’s a pretty big improvement over the last one. One of the features on the new site is a blog, and I’ve asked to be involved with that. I think that will be a fun project. If you have any insurance questions/issues you have wondered about or want to discuss, please let me know! We’ll be constantly looking for ideas. I think sometimes we’ll tackle current events (how would an event like the nuclear reactor meltdown affect your business if you were in the evacuation zone, and would there be coverage?), and sometimes we’ll talk about insurance concepts in general (what is Professional Liability insurance, and do I need it?). My contributions will probably center around business insurance topics, and other people will write about personal insurance topics.

Other than that, things are going well. James is going through a phase where he thinks it’s fun to scream at things, and boy does he have some good lungs. We are working on getting him to use his inside voice, but I know it’s important for him to experiment with making different sounds, so we are also trying to let him do that some times. He also has started biting me occassionally again…I think his upper molars must be coming in (he’s been in a MOOD in the evenings lately). He’s still pretty adorable most of the time, though. This morning while Ryan was changing his diaper and getting him dressed he would make a noise to James, and James would repeat it back to him (rolling his tongue, making a “ba” or “tuh” sound, etc). One step closer to talking.

He runs all over the place now, and is very independent. Last night we went to Barnes & Noble, and he did not want to hold my hand or be held in the parking lot; he wanted to walk on his own (or swagger, I should say). Of course that’s not safe in the mall parking lot, so I carried him screaming into the building. But after that he had a lot of fun playing in the kids’ section with his friend Odin.

He also LOVES to read books. He will sit and look at a book from beginning to end and then back again over and over, and he will take a book and bring it to us and ask to sit in our lap so we can read it to him. He gets very angry if we can’t drop whatever we are doing to read, but we are working on patience. It’s hard when he doesn’t realize that the world doesn’t revolve around him (which is a developmental thing; he won’t realize that until about 18 months or so).  His favorite books lately are The Big Red Barn, Bunny My Honey, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider (because I sing the song).

He is some kind of crazy dancing kid. He will sway back and forth or bounce up and down whenever he hears a good beat (last night he was sitting on the floor when James Durban was singing on American Idol, and he went crazy rocking back and forth to that drum beat).

————

That’s about it for news around these parts. We went to Ryan’s parents’ place last weekend, and we plan on going to Roseau for Mothers Day weekend, as long as Ryan’s not on call. I hope not; I would love to get up there to visit soon!

My job, revisited

I told my boss at my performance appraisal last Friday that I’m not as invested in my job as I used to be, and that I don’t view my current job as a long-term thing. That because there is no where for me to move in the organization, that I would be looking for something else eventually. And I apologized for the fact that I know that those things have negatively affected my productivity in the past year. I take pride in having a strong work ethic, and it hasn’t been showing as much lately.

That conversation was really really difficult for me to have, but I feel so much better knowing that it is all out there. My boss is relatively happy because now he knows what my deal is (he had noticed that something was off). I have taken some steps to increase my productivity, and I feel better about being at work in general because I am not worried about what I’m going to tell my boss if/when something else comes up. Obviously he wants to know if I am seriously job hunting, but since I’m not currently it’s not an issue.

It is nice to work somewhere with this kind of culture; where I’m not afraid for my job by telling my boss that I don’t want to be there forever, and where he wants to work with me to figure things out. I feel like I’m in a much better place about all of this than I was a couple weeks ago.

All of that being said, one of the main things I have done is made a rule for myself that I cannot read blogs while I am at work; not even my own. During lunch, if I’m not working out, but otherwise nothing. It is too easy to get sucked in and waste too many minutes that I should be doing other stuff. This means that my Google reader consistently has upwards of 50 unread items in it, and as you can see, our blog hasn’t been updated in a while. I will try to take some time in the evenings to update it, but until James starts sleeping better that’s not a promise.

I know some people don’t like performance appraisals; my aunt Marcia just did a blog post about how much she dislikes them. But for me it is a chance for my boss to tell me the things I’m doing well and the things that I could improve. I sometimes *think* that I know the two, but I’m never sure. Especially when it comes to someone else’s perception. Plus, they usually involve a raise, and that’s always good news. ;-)

Some days it’s just not worth it

Today is one of those days where I just should have stayed home. That is all I have to say about that.

Quote of the day:

“Not all Democrats are evil. And not all Republicans are good guys.” -spoken during the legislative update portion of my continuing ed class today.
Thanks for exposing your bias. FYI not all insurance agents are Republicans.

Random

Some random thoughts

A bunch of tall ships are coming to town at the end of this month. All summer I thought they were coming at the end of August, when we’ll be out of town for my sister’s wedding. As a friend pointed out, if I have to be wrong at least it’s something I WANT to be wrong about. Some friends who are moving back to MN right around that time are going to be coming up to see the ships, so we’ll get to see them too. Awesome!

**************

I just saw a headline in the local paper saying that they are going to have a hunting season for Sandhill Cranes this year. Um…ok. They are pretty birds to watch, but what do you do with them? Will this be just trophy hunting? Will people eat them? I’m not a fan of trophy hunting, but I can’t imagine that they would be good to eat. Maybe I’m wrong.

**************

Ryan and I have been dealing with some drama surrounding our daycare. Short version: a neighbor called the police because there was an “unattended child” outside the yard of our daycare. The daycare lady says the kid wasn’t out long and the parents didn’t think a report needed to be filed, but I think the police have to do one anyway. The county is investigating and might temporarily suspend her license while they do so. She doesn’t want to deal with that, so is going back to school to pursue a different career, and her last day will be Friday (that doesn’t make sense to me either). Also she’s taking today (Tuesday) as a personal day (apparently it couldn’t wait till next week). And we found all this out on Sunday afternoon while we were out of town. I took yesterday off to try to start the search for a new place (based on recommendations from people I know rather than just trying to guess this time), and Ryan has today off. I think we’ll start the new place tomorrow, even though technically we could probably bring him back to the old place. But who knows about this possible suspension (no one could tell us how likely it is to happen), and we just don’t want to deal with it any more. We think we’ve found a new place, and I really like the guys that run it. The only down side is that it’s about a 20 minute drive one-way. Usually going to work takes us about 7 minutes. I’m not looking forward to that. Ryan is calling a couple other places today to check them out because they were closer, but we are thinking we’ll go with the further away place. I keep telling him to win the lottery so that I don’t have to work, but so far that’s a no-go.

************

Work has been crazy lately. We have had a lot of down-time with the computers or our management system and that’s created a backlog. I’m also struggling with whether or not to talk to my boss about how the person who is supposed to be assisting our department is really only assisting one person. I know I need to do it (it’ll be obvious when I bring him some stuff that should have been done a while ago), but I don’t like getting other people in trouble. On the other hand, he’s been saying for years that she should be providing more help for us, but the amount actually seems to be less every year. So yah…fun.

That’s all I’ve got.

:Edited to add:

I called our current daycare lady this afternoon because the places Ryan was trying to get ahold of hadn’t called him back yet, and we didn’t want to start a new place if we were going to switch right away. The daycare lady says, “OK. Is it ok if you pick him up a little early?” I’m thinking she means like 3:30 or 4. “Because I have an appointment at 1:30 and I need to leave by 1.” Oh.My.God. You are kidding, right? Ryan called a drop in center that was recommended to us, and we will be bringing James there until we figure something else out.

Also, I edited the first sentence of the first paragraph because it was very poorly worded.

  • To Do In 2011

    1. Make dinner 2 nights per week
    2. Finish James’s baby book
    finished as much as possible
    3. Own a pair of comfortable dress boots
    4. Read 25 books
    5. Take a week of vacation in the summer and visit my family
    6. Try a new ingredient once a month (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec)
    7. Organize my recipe collection
    8. Develop a more efficient workspace at my office
    My new desk is WAY more organized/organizable.
    9. Own investment jeans
    Not Happening
    10. Go to 3 local museums
    11. Organize a group camping trip
    We had 2 of them!
    12. Learn how to run
    In progress!
    13. See a concert
    14. Try out four new restaurants
    (Jan 21) (March 18)
    15. Acknowledge the birthdays of every person on my list
    Epic fail
    16. Make something for James using some of his old clothes
    17. Watch James take his first steps/say his first real words
    18. Put pictures in all the frames in our apartment
    19. Buy a cake from a local bakery
    20. Go to a band concert at UMD
    21. Exercise more
    Y Membership
    22. See my sister graduate college
    I'm counting this as accomplished; I didn't watch her walk, but we had dinner with her that night.
    23. Cut back on sweets
    My new job has actually helped with this; less boredom/stress = less snacking!
    24. Get rid of cable 1/3/2011
    25. Finish our wedding scrapbook project
    26. Start purchasing Christmas gifts in March at the latest
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    27. Create a weekly menu, and stick to it!
    See above: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    28. Meet someone in real life that I’ve only known on the internet
    29. Get my hair cut and style it more often
    this last part is ongoing
    30. Host a party
    31. Go to church at least once per month, and make a donation each time
    32. Send thank-you notes for all gifts
    33. Make ice cream
    34. Encourage Ryan to get his first Cisco certification
    35. Try a new food
    I'm counting brussel sprouts.
    36. Hang out with Alyson for an entire weekend
    37. Make more of an effort to dress up for work
    No longer necessary; this is more of a nice jeans and sweater kind of place.
    38. Make a lunch (not frozen) 2 days per week.
    I've been packing a peanut butter sandwich and carrots. I consider this an achievement.
    39. Take a community ed class
    Swimming w/the boys
    40. Make something in our dutch oven that requires using it in the oven
    41. Go to bed before eleven more often
    42. Go to a Farmer’s Market and buy something 3 times this summer
    Another failure. Although we did buy some local honey from a friend!
    43. Call my parents and sisters every other week just to check in
    I think I'm doing WORSE at this than last year
    44. Make: caramel rolls from scratch (get the recipe from my grandma)
    45. Bring James on his first trip to Canada
    46. Learn to drive a stick
    47. Print out photos from our wedding and put them in an album
    48. Make breakfast more often on the weekends
    49. Keep the apartment cleaner than past years
    50. Buy a good area rug for the living room
    51. Make a general doctor’s appointment to get my cholesterol, blood pressure, etc., checked out 1/11/11
    52. Take more pictures and put some in albums
    53. Clean the basement and organize all our stuff down there
    All bins labeled as of 3/13/11. This is as much organizing as is going to happen before we move
    54. Organize my jewelry
    55. Buy more bins for storage and put seasonal clothes away
    56. Donate all unused clothing/toys to Goodwill/Salvation Army

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