Happy New Year

I will start by wishing everyone a Happy New Year. I hope everything is mighty fine in 2009!!

It is Sunday and officially the end of the holidays. At least for me since I had Friday off. Today I sold my queen sleeper sectional on Craigs list. They came by last night to look at it and they are on their way to pick it up this morning. My new sofa and love seat are currently sitting in the garage. I am hoping that hubby will help me unpack it and move it in the house and put the sectional in the garage. It will make it easier for them to pick it up anyways. Otherwise I will have to find some nice neighbor to help me.

We just go through giving all three dogs a bath. Why do dogs not like getting the bath but after they feel great and playful?

Hubby is on his way back to Alabama. He has been on vacation since December 20th. Spent most of the time here and about 5 days in Reno with his son and father. I might get to see him on Jan 23rd if we meet for a birthday party. Can't say much as it is a surprise. Not that I think this person reads my blog but you just never know.

After that we probably won't see each other until March sometime. He has a school trip planned for later in February. They are taking his group to Taiwan, Korea, China and Japan.

Christmas was jut a blur as nothing went right and I did not have my family with me. I vow that next year will be different. I plan to have all of my family with me somewhere. Not sure where yet. It all depends on whether hubby gets assigned to Fort Lewis, Washington after his schooling is over or not. That is kind of what the plan looks like right now. Although it figures that I won't be able to go for at least 1 1/2 years because of my job. See, I like my job and I just became a permanent government employee back in September. So I do not have transfer rights yet. And I really would like to work with the people that I work with now and do what we do. There is a chance that I could do that. We have Project Development Specialists that we just created positions for. We are authorized for 4 and only hired 2 to begin with. What they do, I have been doing for the last year. I already talked to the Director about my 2 year plan to become one. He sounded positive. These positions work remotely so I could do it from wherever we are assigned (hoping Washington). It requires a lot of phone calling and travel. I would probably get the West Coast. I asked to be given a couple of projects in the next grant round to mentor and bring along. Basically to prove that I can do the job. It also will provide for promotion potential to a GS-13 level. Not bad!!

I have a problem that I have to take care of right away. See, I gained about 4 pounds over the holidays. Damn Popcorn!! I swear, that is all I ate that was different that what I have been eating. I am talking about Popcorn Factory Popcorn. The caramel, cheese and plain combo. It was 6 gallons of the stuff. I ordered so much stuff for friends and family that I got it for free. I just basically had to pay for shipping. I had it sent to the office for everyone to share. Then the Friday before Christmas (my RDO) the office called to tell me there was another can there. They made a mistake and shipped to containers. I had that one here at the house and have been munching on it for the past two weeks. It is not all gone but a good portion of it is.

Since I have already joined the gym and hired the trainer I am on track to lose those 4 pounds soon. Like this week. Then I have a goal to lose another 15-20 before September. That is when I expect my High School Reunion to be. It will be the 30th. Can you believe that I am THAT old? Yep, I am . I will be 48 this month. Hubby will have his too but that will be in Tulsa. He has joined Facebook and is trying to connect with old classmates so that one can be organized. He has not been to any of his yet. I went to the 10, 20, and 25. As you get older you have them more frequently in case someone isn't around for the next one. Know what I mean? Anyway, I will work with the trainer on Mon, Wed and Fri and then do my karate on Tue and Thurs. And I will attempt to go to the gym on my own at least one day of the weekend. I figure it I do the trainer like that for a 1-2 months it will give me a good base to work with. Then I can use him once a week for the rest of the year. Right now my right shoulder and arm are pretty sore. I have been doing the ice/heat combo since yesterday. Not going to the gym today!

I actually need to finish working on my bathroom tile project. I went to the class the Home Depot teaches about a month or so ago because we have some cracked tiles in the bathroom and the hallway. But I had not started the project yet. But I did start on Friday. It is a long process using the grout bit with the dremel to remove the old stuff between the tiles. Then I remove the cracked tiles. Clean up the area and lay a rubber type base before putting the new tiles in. So I plan to work on that as they come to get the sofa.

Everyone in the family is starting the year healthy so that is a plus. I hope we can all keep it up. Here is a picture of my bathroom tiles. See the crack? That runs from one corner to the other. Only one tile in the way did not crack. But since the foundation is cracked I will remove that one as well

This shows where I have started to remove the grout and one corner came up.

This just shows that I have been removing the grout between the tiles. I hope to finish that part today. Then I can work on the clean up during the week and then next weekend I will do the rest of the work and hopefully lay the new tiles.
Wish me luck!!