Year 2 week 9 drawings.

 Here's another weeks worth of drawings. 

In the yard

 Nothing much today. Just a few pictures I took in my yard.

The first two were taken in the morning when I went out to leave for work. 

This last one was in the backyard. I was out there with Gibbs and noticed the yarrow growing alongside the cement pad that is out there. I used to have this growing in my front flower bed but it got choked out by some viney thing. Now it grows in random spots around the yard.

New plate

 I got a letter from the state a couple weeks ago saying that my license plate was old and needed to be replaced because it was likely faded and cracked. They would be sending one in the mail to replace the old and it needed to replaced as soon as I got it because the new registration would be in their system and the old would be taken out.

I honestly didn't think my old plate looked that bad.

So the new plate came in the mail and I went out to try and change them out. I couldn't even get the screws to budge. I texted my son and asked if he would be able to do it for me. That was on Wednesday and I told him I would wait until the weekend. I had the new plate in the car and I figured if I happened to get pulled over I could show them the new plate and explain my problem. 

Saturday morning I went to my sons and he got it taken care of for me. I forgot to take a picture of the new plate though .

More about my job

 I tend to be the first one there every morning so I took the opportunity to take a picture of my work station. 

It's been getting a little easier every day. I stopped trying to learn it all at once and now I can take payments without asking a million questions. There's still a lot that I haven't figured out yet though.

Here's the view of what's behind me

There is one girl who's in the office all the time with me. Then there are others who come from out of town a couple days a week. All have been friendly but with every new person I'm told a new way to do something and it gets confusing. The one that was there last week, while very nice, talks a lot and very loud. I couldn't hear customers on the phone over her. I had a headache by noon.

I've got a handy dandy fancy ID badge.

From what I've been told they don't use them for anything so I'm not real sure of their purpose. There was only one person who came from out of town that had hers on.

A yummy snack

 I saw this idea on Facebook and thought I would give it a try. 

You cut a cucumber and scoop out the seeds. Then you fill it with spreadable cream cheese and sprinkle it with everything bagel seasoning. Slice and eat.

The first time I made it I peeled the cucumber and this time I forgot. Next time I will remember because I prefer them without the peel on them.

Reveal from yesterday

 So the one girl that I work with had been talking about the house her and her boyfriend bought. They had been doing a lot of painting and were moving in last weekend. It inspired me to make a little something. 

I had seen a card on Pinterest that I thought I would copy.

And here's a closer look at that little paint roller on the card

While I was at Dollar Tree, I picked up a few dish towels and some yellow gift bags. To dress the bag up a little I got out my letter punch board.

I don't know if she has any yellow in her house or not but she had been saying that she liked bright colors so that's why I chose yellow. The dish towels are not yellow though. 

Teeny Tiny Paint Roller

 This might possibly be the smallest paint roller ever. I made this with some fun foam, a little wire and a colored pipe cleaner

Here's a picture of it in my hand so you can see just how small it is.

Come back tomorrow and I'll show you why I made this.

On a side note, my email was acting up yesterday and I got frustrated and had to give up on trying to respond to comments. If I didn't respond like I usually do that's why. I kept trying to type in my message and it wouldn't do anything.

Hello August and year 2 week 8 drawings

 Here we are moving into August already. The snow will be flying and we'll be wishing each other a Merry Christmas before we know it.

I'm going to get caught up a little and give you another week's worth of drawing.

Flashback

How about a little time travel today. Lets go back 10 years shall we.

Looks like I still had a pool in my back yard then and look who was enjoying it. Gibbs found the perfect way to beat the heat

I was also still doing craft shows with my friend Debbie too. She had a sign made for our booth and we were called Crow Cabin Creations. This picture shows part of my stuff. This picture was August 2, 2015

And finally a much younger Gibbs in a rare moment where he sat still long enough for me to get a picture. Also rare that he was looking at the camera.

That concludes this flashback to 2015. Hope you enjoyed it.

Year 2 week 7

 Here we go with another week of drawing. I was a bit concerned that I wouldn't have time to do these now that I'm working again but so far I've been keeping up with them.

I have 3 favorites from this group. I like the girl in the tea cup, the hot air balloons and the walrus. 

Lunch with Friends

 The week before I started my new job I had 2 days scheduled to have lunch with friends. I cancelled the one day because it was with the girl I used to work with who was the deli manager. I had told her about the new job but said that I didn't want to let them know yet until everything had gone through. Fast forward to the day I ran into an old co-worker to find out that they had contacted all the old employees to ask if they were going back. I never got a text. I texted the deli manager and she said she was so excited that I found something that she had told them. I was furious. I cancelled lunch because I knew I wouldn't have been able to be nice. Funny thing was she didn't even question it although my text was brief and to the point. Then I never responded to the text she sent saying she hoped I had a good first day.

The other lunch was with 2 girls I grew up with. We get together a couple times a year. We met at a place at the gateway to Presque Isle State Park. They serve burgers and hot dogs plus I got chicken tenders. From what I hear they have great milkshakes but I didn't get one. I only got one picture

Here is a link if you want to read their story Sara's Restaurant

And this is a picture that I took from their website

When we left we talked about getting together again and how it would have to be on a weekend or a bank holiday for me.  Both said that the husband/boyfriend would probably want to come along if it was a weekend. Then they joked that they would have to find a guy for me to even things out.

Saturday 7/19

 I hadn't heard from Amanda in quite some time so I sent her the following text:

I've resisted the urge to hire a carrier pigeon, send smoke signal, or skywrite "CALL YOUR MOM" but honestly, it's getting tempting. I'm not asking for a full-blown family reunion (unless there's casserole involved), just a little sign you still know I exist. No pressure...but the pigeons are on standby. 

I got a message back saying that she was going to message me to see if I wanted to go to Hobby Lobby. Of course I was in. 

We went to Hobby Lobby and I didn't take a pic outside but I do have one of our cart going down the aisle. Only thing I got there was a pillow form that I need for a Christmas present and I found some earrings that I thought Presley would like. 

We also went to Michaels, Romolo Chocolates, At Home and Eat n Park

I didn't get anything at At Home but Amanda found some cute Halloween decorations which she was on the lookout for

Can't remember what my lunch was but it was yummy

Neither of us got anything at Michaels

I resisted the urge at Romolo too but Amanda got some stuff there.

We also made a stop at Giant Eagle so I could get some meat and then a stop at the Wine and Spirit store because Amanda wanted some slushies. They are a single serve and come in a pouch that you throw in the freezer. I got a couple to try but keep forgetting about them.

Thankfully Amanda was there to remind me to take pictures. It seems I forget any time I'm out anymore which is why I don't have much material for blog posts.

New Job

 The moment you've all been waiting for. I'm finally going to tell you about my new job. Warning! This is probably going to get long and I don't have pictures to break it up.

So I'm now a CSR (customer service rep) for Holiday Financial Services. They are owned by CNB Financial. My hours are Monday through Friday 8:30-5 except for Thursday we are there till 7:00. It's a half hour drive one way. They have amazing benefits and there are some that I need to find out more about so I can take advantage of them.

So to break it down. Here is a picture of where I work. The view is from where my car was parked

Monday- First day was filled with lots of team meetings on the computer and watching training videos and presentations. It was a long day for sure but all in all not too bad. There is one other girl in the office and there are managers that take turns coming from out of town. I believe they're only there M-T and on Friday I think it's just the two of us. Got lunch paid for by CNB

Tuesday- I discoved on Tuesday that lunch is supposed to be an hour and on Monday when they sent me I only took a half hour. They laughed and said no wonder you were back so early. I was shown a few more things but felt totally lost and clueless. 

Wednesday- Let me just say here that an hour for lunch is a REALLY long time especially when you don't have anything to do other than scroll through your phone. Any way, more showing me things that just got me more confused and lost. The President of Holiday who was the one who interviewed me showed up because he thought the manager wasn't going to be there that day. He stayed part of the day and took me out to lunch along with the manager.

Thursday- The manager that had been there the first three days was done there for the week and another one was there. I was trying to do things I had been shown. I answered the phone several times but couldn't understand the people who were calling and had no clue how to answer the questions they were asking. I just about broke down into tears. The girl who was there that day sat and talked to me for a while and reassured me that it was a lot to learn and not to worry. We take turns doing the night drops at the bank and lucky me got to do it that night. NONE of the branches are on my way home. Cried my eyes out all the way home and then a little more once I got there. Felt like quitting. One bright spot of the day, we got ice cream paid for by CNB. 

Friday-Set my desk up and logged in to my computer. Got several emails from different people in the company asking how I was doing. All told me not to worry about getting it all right away and that they had heard I was doing well. Whoever thinks I'm doing well must have low standards. I spent the day mostly just scrolling through my phone because the phone hardly rand at all and when it did the other two would grab it, thankfully. I took a couple walk in payments and the only other people who came in were there to close loans which I can't do. Near the end I did answer the phone a few times and if I couldn't understand them or answer their question I just transferred them to the other girl. 

I suppose it ended off ok or at least on a better note than where I was on Friday. We shall see how things work out but I'll keep on trying for now.

short but sweet

I found myself suddenly out of scheduled posts and no energy to write any. I'll be back tomorrow with something better. I'll also give you a summary of week one on the new job.

My ride home yesterday all I could think was TGIF

Sorry the picture is sideways but I'm doing this on my phone and it won't upload photos in portrait. I could have fixed it on the computer but that would require getting back up off the couch.

Something I made for myself.

 There was a craft that I made a while back. I did three of them and they all were sold. I decided I would make one for myself and hang it near my desk in the cave.

This is made from 2 wood Dollar Tree pieces. I painted both white. Then I covered the back piece with some burlap. The mini pallet on the front I decided to add some antique wax to rather than leave it plain white. I glued the two together then added some Dollar Tree flowers.

Christmas in July

I did a search on my blog and discovered that I purchased some diamond painting Santa ornaments back in 2022. I only finished 2 of them and the kit I bought had 20. Fast forward to this year. I had been sitting around doing nothing and watching tv far too much. I decided to pull out those ornaments and do those.

Old eyes sometimes have a hard time seeing things clearly. I clipped my mega magnifying glass with light to a tray table and it made it so much easier.

We won't even discuss how many times I tipped this tray over and sent all those little pieces all over the place.

As I type this, I now have 10 done and another one about half done. Looks like I'll finally be able to use these this Christmas.