They Offered, I Accepted

So I have a new job! I will be the Volunteer Coordinator for Southern Care Hospice starting next Wednesday. I will be recruiting, training, and supervising volunteers. Will certainly be considerably different that what I did before but I'm ready for a change. Looking forward to it.

I'm Back

Hello everyone..I didn't forget to update on this thing, but I am just a little behind. Lets see what is new..... My car FINALLY went to the body shop on saturday, it'll be about a week, so I have a rental for a bit. They gave me a hybrid Toyota Prius--not bad, rides nice, doesn't use a "real" key, but a push button start. I wouldn't buy one, but I can't complain--it is getting me around so far.....
Tom and I are well--no major accidents for me since the last problems!!! YEAH!! We are looking forward to our annual ski trip to Vermont in a week. We love it (at least they are getting snow there--it has been a pretty dull winter for us!!) I'll post some pics when we get back.
Rog--I am sorry to hear you aren't a beach guy---WE LOVE IT!! I enjoy visiting and vacationing at them, but I don't think I would want to live there all year, I love the change of seasons too much.
Helen--hope the basement is all dried up now--water damage is miserable, but hopefully since you caught it quick, you won't have any permanent damage (especially the smell!! YUCK!)
Hope all is well with all of you. I'll be back again to chat!!

Took all day to land this one!!

In case you're wondering, I happened to catch this one while Cindy and I were vacationing at Destin last summer. What a whopper! I can't believe it!

Probably you don't either. Doggone it!

Actually, we did get the photo there, but the shark was cast out of some type of man-made material. Makes for a good story, though.

Destin was nice. It has beautiful white, sugar sand beaches with crystal clear, emerald green water. Just gorgeous!! If you ever get a chance to go, you should.

We spent three days tent camping at a state park. It rained for two of those. We had taken a lot of firewood to burn, but the rangers wouldn't let us because of a fire ban in that region due to extreme drought conditions. Wasn't a chance of anything catching fire, but they wouldn't bend the rules. However, we did find out our tent was waterproof and caught up on a lot of sleep.

The third day was real nice so we got some beach time. Cindy is a beach person and wants to go back. I'm not, so I told her to find someone else who loves the beach as much as she does and go with her. Or she might take Joey. I've seen it. It's a long drive. I don't think I'll be going back.

Just Wondering

Today in church a young woman (our Pastor's daughter) updated us on her plans to go to Torino, Italy for a five year mission trip. She mentioned that it has been extremely difficult to get churches to allow her to come and speak. I was wondering if any of you want her to come to speak in your church sometime in the next few weeks? She is scheduled to leave for Italy in May if all of her support comes in.

It's the Knauer's finally!!

Good grief!! Someone said I sound like Charlie Brown when I say that!! Anyways as you can see, I finally figured it out...I had actually made my own blog (somewhere in cyber space!! ) Not that any of you--except Phyl saw it but.....now it's right here so....

Our basement flooded again!!!!!!!! Think this is the fourth time---this time was really discouraging partly because it was our fault and partly because last time--we had really fixed everything so it WOULDN'T happen again but....guess what it did anyhow!!! It'll be two weeks ago on Sat night, that I discovered our hot water heater was leaking, so Gary said after I was done for the night, he would turn the breaker off (since sometimes when they leak a little, then they burst--and we didn't want water everywhere!). So he came up about 11 or so pm and I still hadn't taken a shower and was still cleaning--he said "Good grief-woman--finish up here and get a shower and go to bed!" Then he turned the breaker off.. When I went down to get Brad up for work on Sun am (11 am) or is that afternoon?? I noticed the carpet looked funny. As soon as I stepped on it--I was soooo mad!! Hollered for Gary and then he was mad too!!

So then we spent all day Sunday sucking up water with carpet shampooers from the store, Carrying loads and loads upstairs here to get it out of the water....UGH, UGH!! And then on Monday I got carpet fans from the store and we put them down.. And also sucked up more water.. by Monday night decided to pull the padding out from under the carpet and throw that away..then just kept the fans running all week to dry up the carpet and the concrete underneath. Then last weekend put padding down again and put carpets back in place and moved stuff back in the family room and Brad's room. Got to finish moving the rest back down in the storage room...It sure was nice to have things back in place...My house is never spotless but neither of us can stand that it was so cluttered and a mess either!!

But then this week was very easy compared to that so that was nice and relaxing...

Will write more later..enought for now..

Still At Home

I've been spending a lot of my time looking for a job, sending out resumes and applications, etc. but without success. Decided to cut back a bit and use some of the time to catch up around the house. We want to have someone come in and give us an idea of how much we can expect to sell it for. Today I started cleaning up the laundry room and made valances for the windows in there. Wade converted part of it into a pantry after the electrical wires fell and damaged the house. I had made a "skirt" to hide some things and had a little bit of fabric left over so I wanted to make valances to match. Today was the day and I'm happy with the way they turned out.

After I finished that, I got a phone call from a company that I had interviewed with about 6-7 weeks ago and they asked me to come in for a second interview. The person they hired was supposed to start this week but was unable to take the job at the last minute. Not sure how many people they are interviewing again but at least I'm on the list.

Shadow has discovered the kneehole space under the computer desk and he crawls under there every evening when I'm on my computer. He barely fits!

from the Hartley household

I think we should all begin titling our entry with whom they are from....

Busy week. We are integrating our processes at work with another company that we purchased last spring so lots of work to be done but we have already downsized the work force so we have twice as much work with half as many people --- aaahhhh but, I keep telling myself, I have a job so ......! Officially spring has sprung here - I can tell by my allergic response to all things in the air. I wonder why I spend so much money on allergy pills and nasal spray; however, if I miss it for even a day I quickly remember why I spend the money. ok - enough whining. Kath & I are both fighting colds (and losing - I might add) but I'm hoping we'll be on the mend soon.
That's all I have for now. Sorry, I warned you that I lead a boring life!

Made Some Cookies This Week

Well..........that's just one of the things that I did. I made two kinds--one was sugar cutout cookies and the other was Finska Pinnar. Don't ask me to translate that name but the cookies are good. Tara and I once discussed changing the name to Teddy Bears since we like them so much!!!! Thought I'd share the recipe with you all.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 teas. almond extract
1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour

Beat butter with sugar and almond extract until light and fluffy. Stir in flour to form soft dough. Refrigerate at least one hour.

Mix together:
1/2 cup finely chopped blanched almonds
3 Tbl. sugar

Beat together:
1 egg yolk
1 Tbl. water

Shape dough into small balls (about 3/4"), dip top into egg yolk mixture and then into nut mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for about 12 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Melt together:
2 ounces semisweet chocolate
2 teas. vegetable shortening
Drizzle over cooled cookies

Beat egg white. Beat in 1 cup confectionary sugar and a small amount of milk. Add milk to thin or sugar to thicken. Drizzle icing over chocolate. Let set until firm.

Makes about three dozen.

OK, here I go. We are all waiting for the snow to all melt off, which it has been doing this week. It seems like we have been busy, but we don't seem to get done all that we want to at any time. I have been working for some time now at acquiring the machines that I need to start my machine shop operation. Just this week, I purchased a belt sander and a bridgeport mill. Now all that I need other than tooling is a shop press and I should be pretty well set. I will pick up the mill on Saturday, then I need to spend some time hooking up some of the machines, cleaning, organizing, and getting started on finding customers and jobs to do. I intend to keep working at my regular job until I have enough work and money coming in to go entirely on my own. I am extremely excited about it all, but also somewhat nervous, too. I am looking at this whole scenario as a retirement that I can afford and enjoy.
Phyl, in answer to your question, the reunion that we will host for our family is Sept. 10-13, and the reunion for the whole Mitchell clan is July 25 at our place. For our family, we have rented a large cabin between Hornell and Bath, NY for the weekend. There are plenty of beds, cots, etc. to sleep on, and if someone wants to, they can bring their camper. However, there are no hookups for the campers. We spent a weekend at this same location (different cabin) for our anniversary last year and really enjoyed it. You are all welcome to come on Thursday if you can, but if you can't, come when you can and we will enjoy you for that time. We are really looking forward to it.
Well, I will post more later, won't spill all of our secrets at one time.
Love, Bob and Rose

I've been going to write for days....just can't seem to find time. My job is extremely busy right now and free time is a rare commodity. Looking forward to my training/conference scheduled in April and May. It's still work, but a different routine. I know I have written (short message) like Beth, but it's all I have time for right now. More later.

Phyl, do you even think the rest signed in yet? They are vewy, vewy quiet...shhhhhh.....not normal for this crowd. I love your painting. I hope your show does very well. You're so talented!
OK, well, I warned you all that my life is pretty routine so not a lot to write here. I have breakfast with 2 of my friends one day a week and this was breakfast morning. It is a really good thing. Two great ladies trying to live life the best they can. It is a very encouraging time each week - it is very real - not "fluffy" stuff. -- we have some pretty deep discussions laced with humor and great coffee (kinda reminds me of my family).
Tara - did you get you car fixed yet? That is so frustrating! - Glad you weren't hurt. Katherine is bible quizzing again this year and I am coaching - it's pretty intense and she is pretty good (as long as she studies) -- We both really enjoy it! It has taken me all day to write this small amount so I'm giving up for now.

Upcoming art shows

I've scheduled two art shows for the spring--one our PEPS group and one solo. I'm working on getting an invitation ready for the solo show and using this painting for the image on the card. My friend Joanne and I went to see another show last week and she took along a painting to show the gallery owner in the hope that she could show in that space. Ended up looking like we may do a three person show there (Joanne, Maryann, and me) in the summer--gotta get everything together but looks promising.

Pictures of our new dog

Here are a couple of pictures of Shadow. I took about 20 today but erased most of them because they were a blur--he was chasing the dust particles in the sunbeam. The second one was from a couple of weeks ago before I took down the Christmas decorations.

If you want to upload pictures in your post (please do!!!), you just click on that little picture to the right of the spell check (abc checkmark).