I’m still working at the Water District and living my normal life, whatever that is! The company started working a four-ten work schedule in July, and I absolutely love it. I work 7 AM to 6 PM and I have every Friday off. It’s just wonderful, having that extra day, and I don’t mind going to work early and staying an extra hour in the evening. Not only that, we get to wear our casual clothes (read: blue jeans) on Thursdays instead of Fridays, which means that I only have to dress up for three days instead of four. I love it! Having the extra day off is really worth it. I just don’t plan to do anything at all after I get home from work. As soon as I get home, I put on my night gown, have a little something to eat, and start getting ready for bed! It makes the weeks pass by pretty quickly!
Jill and Jared are doing well, along with my precious grandkids, Jacob and Kadence. They bought a new house in San Tan Valley, Arizona (near Phoenix) and moved in last summer and everything seemed to be going well. Now his company might be laying off some employees. We're still hoping that his job will become more stable and they can stay in Arizona. Only time will tell!Jimmy and I took this picture when we were visiting them this last Easter. It was a fun trip.
Joanna got married to Shayler White last March.
Here's a picture of all my kids with my new son-in-law. Joanna and Shayler got engaged around Christmas time last year, so it was a crazy mess, getting the wedding put together in only a few months, but we pulled it off. Joanna is working as a secretary and still going to school. Shayler has already graduated from college, and he works at a community college in Salt Lake City.Jenny and Jimmy are both doing well, keeping themselves out of trouble! At least they claim they are! Jimmy is going to school at the community college and attempting to work part time, which hasn’t been too successful this year. He tried to find a job all summer but didn’t manage to get hired. He was hired for the holiday season at a Tommy Hilfiger outlet store, but the seasonal help were let go after only a couple of weeks. He’s taking film-related classes in college and I am unfortunately the subject of some of his projects (whenever he gets desperate). We just filmed a “lovely” hot chocolate commercial at night on our back porch. Lift steaming hot cup to face, breathe in the smell, sip slowly, make “yummy” expression, and set it down. Repeat again and again and AGAIN. Shot from one angle, shot from the other, shot from the table level, shot from over my shoulder, you name it! Refill cup to the brim, zap in microwave again, repeat, repeat, and repeat. I must have drunk ten cups by the time we finished. I just hope I never have to watch any of that footage! We don’t know if he’ll ever be able to find a job in film, but at this point he pretty much has to stay in school so that I can keep him on my health insurance (as you may recall, he has Type 1 Diabetes). It’s a struggle, but we just take it as it comes.
No entry about my life could be complete without mentioning my animals. You know you’ve reached a certain age when pictures of your pets replace pictures of your kids on your computer desk top and cell phone! Sorry to say it, but it’s true. In my defense, I have to say that I spend a LOT more time with my dogs than I do with my kids!
First of all, I still have my two Chihuahuas, my babies, Dobby and Chica.
Dobby is two years old, sweet and calm, and is adored by all who know him. It’s a good thing that he is so sweet, because he often needs forgiveness for his escapades. This picture shows Dobby playing with his favorite playmate, Mamo, our newest kitty.
Chica is six years old and can be a bit grumpy. Sometimes I think I’m the only one who loves her. She tries to be good, but sometimes she just can’t help herself. I console myself by saying that she would be much worse with a different, more lenient mommy. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it!
We still have our white cat, Scout, who is very quiet and timid. She has the family tendency towards pudginess, so she has been on a diet for the past couple of years. She is the rare cat that will actually get so desperate for more food that she has tried to get into the dog food! Now everybody (all the animals, anyway) are restricted to two meals a day to prevent everybody from getting into everybody else’s food. In spite of her timidity, Scout will face any challenge to dip into someone else’s food dish.The first part of this year we adopted a new kitten, Mamo, a sort-of replacement for our cat Mu Shu, who escaped (on my watch) soon after we moved out of our old house. He is very sweet and friendly, follows Jimmy from room to room and has a lot of fun playing with Dobby. Even though Chica has calmed down around him (she has a
tendency to want to kill any new animals that try to move in), the trust has not been re-established, and it’s always easy to tell if Chica is anywhere near him because a lot of hissing and kitty-growls can be heard.
In grand-pet news, Jill and Jared adopted a Weimeraner puppy this year. Jimmy and I had the great good time of delivering it to them down in Arizona; they bought her from a breeder in Pahrump. Her name is Liberty, Libby for short, and at six months she is already over 60 pounds! She is a beautiful, very sweet doggie, and they are doing a very good job of training her. She almost caused Dobby to have a heart attack when they came to visit us at Thanksgiving, though. I don’t think Dobby knew that dogs come that big, even if they are friendly.Joanna and Shayler adopted a kitten this year. I personally don’t think that Joanna is a really big animal lover, but Shayler is one of those rare guys who loves cats. Their kitty’s name is Emerald and I hear she’s quite the little character. Joanna is hoping that she will calm down soon. I think Shayler loves her feistiness, though!
Well, this is getting pretty long and I probably lost most of you a long time ago, so I'll finish up! I don't know about you, but I'm kind of glad that 2009 is now over. Come on, 2010!
