I am getting into a routine now at work.  I don't mind what I am doing but I am hoping that I'll be able to get some more variety and maybe some tougher stuff.   I did get to put together the company newsletter, which was a nice break from my other duties.   I assume I'll be doing it again for next month too.

 

And I am putting the finishing touches on the Sunday School rotation for October.   I also got the storage room for arts and craft supplies completely reorganized and cleaned up (Tim helped too).  That was just a black hole before we got it straightened out.  I can't say that my system will keep it from becoming a mess again, but it will be clean for awhile anyway.

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 This is Payton and Sawyer on the deck railing.

 This is me multi-tasking.  Phone, Laptop and Cat.

This is Payton taking our "Pepsi Challege" .   He picked Coke.  We asked if he liked the #2 (Pepsi) and he said "I LIKED it, but I didn't like the TASTE of it."  Whatever that means.  I think he just likes any pop good or bad.

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The evolution of the LegoMan

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http://jassdoit.wordpress.com/stunning-opposite-view/ for more of these types of illusions.

It went a little bit better today, but he was still trying to stall me.   I don't know if yesterday was just a bad day... We'll see how the week plays out.   

 

I wanted him to get a Halloween costume at the store yesterday when we went but he stated he didn't want a costume.   I said "How are you going to get any candy without a costume" and he said "I don't want any candy".   Great! Now what?   So I changed tactics and I showed him a couple I thought he would like.   "I'll just wear my lion costume from last year." he tells me.  "Your too big for that now!" I tell him.   He says "Well I just want to be a lion."  So I look to see if they have a lion.   No.  No lion.   I think we'll have to go shopping again Saturday.  Although, I think I might have a spongebob costume left over from last year that still might fit.... but it is kind of ugly.  

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Payton didn't want to go to school again.  Or rather, he kept saying how excited he was for school and how he loved school... but then when I get him to the room, he doesn't want to go in and clings to me.   Today was especially bad.   I don't know what is going on because we didn't have this problem last year, and he tells me he likes school and is always excited to tell me about his day when he arrives home.   He says he likes all his friends and the teachers.   He only says "He gets scared" when I drop him off, but isn't able to elaborate on WHY.   I don't know why this started up all of a sudden, or why it getting worse!

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Nothing much going on today but church and football.

Here's a new variation on tetris to kill some time if you are bored.  It's called retris.

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So this is his legacy that he leaves to us:

 Don't be too offended, I think this is a photoshopped picture. 

Not much happening today.   There was some corn hat posing going on. Tim is the Popcorn Kernel for the BoyScouts and he got this fancy hat as part of that.   He really doesn't like the hat.  Payton seemed to like wearing the hat more than Tim did.

 

I made some homemade pizza.  And I took a nap.  I don't know if Tim took a nap...  We went into our room and laid down for awhile.  Then Payton was wanting our attention when he finally noticed we had left, and he was jumping around on us and the bed.   We ended up putting on a movie in our room and letting him watch it.  I fell asleep during the movie... So that is why I don't know if Tim did or not.

 

Anyway, it was a relaxing uneventful day.

Today at work I got to review software for most of the day, which was a nice change.   If you are looking for an alternative to Visio because you don't want to spend hundreds of dollars I can now confidently recommend either Smart Draw, which costs about half the price or Open Office's Draw which is absolutely free.   Smart Draw has more bells and whistles (REALLY cool ones), but Open Office Draw does what you would need it to, and hey- it's free.

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I have still been busy with Sunday School.  This month's rotation is going fine... but I have to get next month's lined up.   I have it already written, and I have at least 6 volunteers already to fill 8 slots... but there is only a one week turn around time to decorate for the new rotation theme.  We don't have our class rooms set up in a permanent fashion this year (Maybe for next year- we'll see) so decorating will be very time consuming for me.   Ideally I would like to have rotations set for the whole year rather than month by month, but I as one person cannot get that many rotations planned and written.   Possibly this summer if indeed we continue to do this.

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I am adjusting to my new schedule.   The only part I am not liking is waking up at 4:45 to get to the gym by 5.   But I have kept it up for a week and I think it will get easier as I get used to the new wake up time.  Plus, there is never anyone around at that early hour.   I prefer a solitary gym experience.   Today Payton got off school at 11, and I got off work at 11 so after he had lunch we spent a couple hours at the park.   It was kind of a lazy time, he wasn't playing so much- mostly just sitting on the grass with me and talking about this and that.  He convinced me that for supper tonight I should make pizza, so pizza it will be. 

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My first day of work went well.  I filled out the standard paperwork, and bam!  Right to work.   I am typing operational procedures into the computer right now, and correcting as I go for changes/wording things like that.  It is pretty basic and easy stuff, nothing that will tax my brain powers.  Not sure what I will be doing when I finish that.   It is going to be a great part time job for me. 

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Had a great time with the Browns.   We had a bonfire and played a lot of Wii games.  They introduced us to a new "blog show sing along thing" called Dr Horrible.  Oh wow was it funny.   That guy who used to be Doogie Howser MD is the main character (cast is: Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day & Simon Helberg)  And who knew they could all sing?  Anyway it was just fabulous.  So far there are 3 episodes.

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Nothing much going on.   I start work Monday, and tomorrow Johnny + family are coming over in the afternoon.  

 

I have mixed feelings about work.   I am pretty sure once I start it will all be fine.  I have maintained my 5:00 am workout schedule this week, even today when I didn't want to get out of bed.  So I think this will become the official routine.

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Typewriter sculpture see all of them at http://ama-zing-arts.blogspot.com/2008/09/using-discarded-typewriters-art.html

Today I took home an overhead projector from the school, so I could work more on the artwork for the book fair on my own time.   I also took home a roll of paper that must have weighed 70 pounds.    So far I have the rough outlines for the 9 foot tall giraffe and the somewhat smaller warthog.    I am glad I decided to use the projector rather than free hand all these.   My goal is to have them all done BEFORE Monday (when I start work). 

 

Also I called the school in a panic because the bus which normally arrives at 11:20 wasn't here at 12:00.   But it turns out they had a miscommunication and the bus driver thought he was supposed to show up at 1:00 instead of 11.  So Payton will be home.... eventually.  I wonder if they went ahead and fed him lunch.   Guess I will find out when he arrives home.

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I peeled about 30 small apples today to make two pans of apple crisp.  My fingers and wrists are sore and stiff.   But it turned out really well I think.  

 

This is the last week of not being tethered to a job, since I start working part time on Monday.   It won't be that big of a deal except I have been used to setting my own routine for so long now, and having the ability to drop one thing and focus on another has been nice.   Now I'll have a responsibility for the morning hours that won't be as flexible.

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The random mind of a man.

Rotation Sunday school was a complete and resounding success.   As far as attendance, the numbers were not any more than we had last year despite my mass mailing and advertising of it in the paper and online.  But it is what it is.   The rotation ran smoothly and each of the four teachers said their own classes went really well and had no problems or suggestions for improvement.   I feel like a huge weight of uncertanty has been lifted.   There are still going to be the challenges of finding teachers and helpers.... and people "calling in sick" at the last minute... but at least I know this can be a successful way to run sunday school.

 

And for those of you who know what StumbleUpon is.... I just checked and today I am ranked #2 out of 5,916,656 'Stumblers'.    I submitted a lot of (hopefully quality) web content today just to see if I could hit the #1 spot when they update the rankings tomorrow.  There is no way I could ever maintain being the #1 stumbler, usually I am somewhere further down the list.   I must have had a couple sumissions that went viral or something.  Not sure.  At anyrate, all this means is I know my way around the internet, or that I am on the internet too much.

Today I worked a lot on putting the finishing touches on decorating the church for Rotation Sunday School.   I wish I could have had more stuff, but I really couldn't come up with anything cool. 

 

I am not sure about how this is going to work.   On paper everything looks good, but that isn't necesarily representitive of real life.  Also, I am terrified that people who agreed to help will be no-shows.  

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My official start date at Energique is September 15th.  I still am not entirely sure what it is I will be doing, and I never did once go in for an interview.  It's a nice compliment to have your reputation be enough to land a job, even just a part time one.

 

Pat, who was to arrive today, says he will need to postpone the visit.   I was disappointed.  I told Tim I was making my creamcheese/chicken dish and he thought I was being too fancy for just us, but I bought stuff to make "good" food for Pat's visit and I thought I better put it to use.  The only problem is Tim's weigh in at work is Monday, so he can't gorge himself like he usually would when I prepare his favorite foods.  So we'll eat the chicken dish tonight and I will freeze the rest for when he CAN gorge.   I also have stuff to make kung bao chicken, and hamburgers.   The steaks were already frozen so I can just put them on hold.

 

Speaking of food, I made some chex mix today (for the first time) and I got the recipe from the chex website.  I followed the directions, and I was not impressed.  The peanuts got soggy- and some of the Chex cereal BURNED in my microwave and scarred my bowl (which is a BIG irritation to me).   It would have been better to add the peanuts last so they would stay a little crunchy AND I would have baked them in the oven (Which I thought was the way most people did it). 

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My tounge hurts when I look at this.

I started work on the school library project today.   Maureen explained the ideas she had to make the library into a safari atmosphere.   She said that in the past she got clip art and then projected the characters onto large sheets of paper and then traced them.   I thought that sounded like a great plan.  I COULD freehand all the things but why go to all that trouble if we can trace and color in?  I did come up with my own idea to decorate the double doors leading into the library.  I thought we'd make it look like the back end of a safari jeep.   So that part I did freehand at home since I had large width wax backed paper that could stand up to paint without ripping or seepage.   I finished it tonight.  It's just under 6 feet wide and will stand 6 feet tall when stuck up on the doors.  Paint always looks better than marker.  You just can't escape that.  Sometimes it is handy having an arsenal of art supplies at the ready.  

 

I also got the chance to work out again.   I didn't think I pushed myself all that hard yesterday with the weights, but when I started in on the work out I discovered my muscles were sore.   I did a little more today than I did the day before despite the discomfort, so I know it is REALLY going to hurt tomorrow.

 

Also, Pat is coming tomorrow night... and friends from Oakland are coming next weekend, Johnny and Lindsy (and kids).

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dirtiest hair ever.

Today one of the library people at school stopped me when I was dropping off Payton and asked if I would help decorate (paint and build sets) for the library book fair coming up.   She liked the sets I had painted at the church for Bible school so she thought that this would be right up my alley.   I think it is a safari theme.   So I said I would help out in the mornings.   So now my mornings are going to be full.  First at the school, then my workout time, then run errands and then home.   Energique has not contacted me yet about my start date, so until they do this will be my routine.

 

Friday one of Tim's friends from college is visiting.  Pat.  I don't think Tim has seen him since college... but I could be wrong.   I only know him a little.  I met him a few times at St Cloud, but I don't know him all that well.

 

Today I made "flat bread".   Then I made a flat bread sandwich for lunch with it.   I think I would have preferred it if I hadn't made them wheat.   The taste of the wheat almost overpowered my fillings, which were marinara sauce, garlic and cheese.  Maybe had I filled it with more stuff like meat I wouldn't have had that problem.  Probably a better choice would be ham and cheddar.  

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