Status Report: Yes, there IS a pulse . . .

Seems I'm not the only one out here having trouble staying current with the blogging. Good to know that it appears that I might actually have a life away from the keyboard.

And life does continue to happen - - - we recently relocated closer to Austin and the Hubby started his new job with a different (and might I add very professional) police department whilst I started my new job at an Austin law firm which happens to have a satellite office out here by the lake where we now reside.

Currently, life is very good.

Life Updated

I didn't think I would be writing a post like this again after we moved to my husband's hometown to begin our lives anew and raise a family.

What's that saying about the best laid plans?

Some of you know that my husband was the Sheriff of our county and that in last year's election he was defeated by 12 votes. We lost about 165 votes to the Democratic primary - Democrats that supported my husband but felt very strongly the need to vote in their own primary. In a county of 1,800 registered voters, every single vote counts.

So, after the loss of his job (last day December 31, 2008), we found ourselves in the position of figuring out what we were going to do to support our family yet stay out here in a small town that has a very weak economy. After struggling for almost a year, we have made a very big decision. One that we fought with and really did not want to admit was what needed to happen.

We will be relocating closer to Austin, Texas in the next couple of weeks. My husband has accepted a position with a police department in small resort town. The pay is very well and we will be moving into a very nice new home. Our son will be going to a small well-rated school that is nearby.

Although we are going to have good changes, there are some Mason things that we will miss. We are renting our house to a friend who will take care of my horses so that I will not have to sell them. We have made some very dear friendships here and hopefully the connections will remain.

I'm going to try to keep this blog updated better. So many times I feel the pull to blog about something that catches my attention or something personal that I want to share but then I get distracted and the blogging opportunity passes by.

I'm hoping to start doing better.

Closed Doors

Wow! It's been almost a month since I last posted. I was really going to try to stick to the "once a week" format, too. Maybe I can now.

My husband lost in the primary by 12 votes. So a door has closed in our lives. We lost several supporters to the Democratic primary due to the Hillary/Obama competition and I am not angry with those folks. I understand the importance of voting in your party's primary, especially one so contested as this one has been. But at the end of the day, my opinion is that important local elections take precedence over national. There are so many other variables to this local election: 1,200 voters; personal relationships of candidates with almost every single voter; family fueds from 100 years ago; which local station you buy gas from; etc. My husband did the very best he could by this community, he ran a clean and gracious campaign, and I am incredibly proud of him. This county will not see another Sheriff that will hold a candle to the man and the Sheriff that my husband is. This county will never see another drug round-up with 22 indictments against dealers like it saw this past September. This county will never see more safety programs for its citizens or schools. And the ones introduced by my husband will more than likely be discontinued simply because he was the one to bring them but not because they are not good resources for our community. The worse part? This county knows it - numerous numerous people (everyone at the courthouse) have expressed concern about the two remaining candidates and their lack of ability or qualifications to do the job well, if at all.

BUT, God closed the door on us. He's done it before. And in hindsight He made such incredible opportunities for us that we can only praise Him and say, "Thank you, Lord, for knowing what was best for us all along." I have complete faith that we will be saying those same words when He finally reveals what it is He has in store for us. Defeat is never easy to take, especially when you have given it your best and your all and in your heart you thought you were going the direction the Lord wanted you to go. But with defeat comes wisdom and, for us, stronger faith in the Lord and His plan for us.

I'll keep posting about developments. Our very last option is to move and the Husband has been offered several positions with surrounding agencies. I have a good job and we could make it in a crunch if we needed to.

So, for now we are just going to wait to see which door opens for us to step through.

preparing for New Beginnings

What a wonderful Christmas it has been! After attending candlelight Christmas Eve services last evening, we awoke at 6:30 this a.m. to see what the Good Sir Claus left' neath our tree. Too many little boy delights to list but I know a certain young man who will literally collapse tonight at bedtime. And a Daddy, too!

Having gotten better prepared for the holidays than last year. this long Christmas weekend has found me mentally listing all the things I want to implement with the New Year. Better blogging being one of them. I'm also going to be out here lurking around catching up on all of you!

I am going to start carving out more time for myself to do something that has always been so very vital to my happiness: reading. I did not get much time nor opportunity to read anything this past year but I am already working on rectifying that. I have been picking up every book that looks like it might be even remotely interesting. I have even come across some intriguing new (to me) authors; Tess Gerritsen being one of them. "The Bone Garden" was my Thanksgiving read and I HIGHLY recommend it.

I am also going to better structure my business time. This first 8 months on the new job has been insanity to say the least and overwhelmingly satisfying to say the most. The company has passed through the painful growth and transitional phase and we are all armed and ready to really go gangbusters this year.

Although my husband's campaign is truly and officially begun, I am going to work hard at not making the extraneous issues of running for office derail our jobs, our son's schedule, or our life as a family. I picked up a few lessons from the first time around and my skin is definitely thicker for it. Bring it on, morons! Intelligent, responsible voters will do what needs to be done while the rest of them talk out of their . . . Anyways, we're ready to get this deal done so he can keep doing the job they elected him to do. (Quite frankly, as a taxpayer, it bothers me that an elected official has to spend almost an entire year of his term dealing with the retention of his job rather than being left to focus 100% on what we elected him to do in the first place. Maybe that's just me.)

Merry Christmas!!!

Since you asked . . .

okay, so you didn't ask but I'm telling.

The new job has been going really well. I'm enjoying my work and, for the most, my co-workers. We had a little shake up earlier this week and to be blunt, the troublemakers are no longer with us.

I am very excited about the improved work environment and the overall adjustment of the attitude in the office. The company has tremendous potential and I'm hanging on for the ride. Given the employment situation in this county, I am very appreciative of the opportunity - both professional and financial - that I have been given.

When my husband and I first moved here, we knew the incredible financial deduction we were taking. But we truly believed (and still do) that the life we make together with our son is far more important than the money we can make in the city with little or no time for family stuff. I know there are gazillions who will disagree with me but having lived in the city and now in the country, I would not even want to attempt to raise children in the city. I very clearly remember family-unfriendly employers and co-worker parents who agonized over missing their son or daughter's recital/game/presentation. They were made to feel that whatever project they were working on simply could NOT be put off for a few hours or until the next morning. Throw into the mix that most of us lived in suburbs at LEAST 20 miles from the office, it made things even more difficult. One of the reasons we waited until we were in the country to start our family was because I really dreaded the thought of dropping my baby off at daycare at 7 or 7:30 a.m. and then not seeing him until 6:30 or 7 p.m. That was something I just could not fathom doing.

But back to the job. It doesn't pay but maybe half what I was making in the city 5 years ago but I live 2 miles from the office, I can leave at any time to go to his special little functions, and if he gets sick then it is no big deal if Daddy or I stay home with him. My boss is not going to make me feel like the office is going to screech to a halt if I'm not there.

But half the $$ out here is a 100 times better than all the $$$ there!

Where You At?

Well, here I am again with another spastic posting. This is really bothering me that I can't come out here and post regularly, much less catch up on all my blog reading. Maybe this job will slow down a bit to a more controllable level of sanity. Hopefully.

There are so many things going on that I want to post about, that I have definite opinions on, that I want to comment on. But things are moving so fast that I barely put together a cohesive thought about anything before the next issue pops up.

At this very minute my main concerning thought is that my cell phone blows because I can't get any decent ringtones for it. New phone by the end of the day, I'm telling ya. And the first thing I'm going to do when I get it is download the PussyCat Dolls "Buttons" ringtone.

It's all about perspective, right?

You are all in my thoughts pretty regular - hope all is well with everyone.

e-GADS!!

Crikey! Has it really been almost three weeks since I last posted? Totally not acceptable. Seriously. This new job is interfering with my Blogger time and that just ain't gonna work no mo'.

The new job is going really great. I had a couple of bumpy first weeks and I think it was more from the company's tremendous growth that I came in on more than a lack of ability on my part. It wasn't until my third week that I (and even my boss) had a clear comprehension of what my job duties and responsibilities would be. And even now into my sixth week, my job description is still evolving. But that is a good thing.

And since the new job is not with the CIA, I can tell you a little bit about it. I am the new (not improved, just new) Human Resources Administrator for a local land services company. We have two offices in Texas with the Mason office being the headquarters. We are in the early planning stages for our third office. Now, you might be saying, "Who knew surveying was such a boomin' bidness?" Well, hey. I had no idea either. But we do more than that - we are also into the geophysical-engineering part of land services also. One of our biggest clients is an energy corporation.

With that being said, my duties include advertising and hiring needed personnel for both offices (no small feat since our second office is four hours away). I also take care of the multiple administrative type issues. We are needing significant interior construction for additional offices and conference rooms and the such so I will be working with contractors to get bids and eventually get the work done. We are planning a big "appreciation" event for our biggest client in June so I am knee deep in party planning - WHICH I LOVE, by the way! I am - without the designated title - the right hand person to our Operations Director so she keeps me very busy with all the various and sundry minute detail work of actually running the day to day operations of the business. In between all that I field phone call after phone call responses to the numerous newspaper and internet employment ads we have posted to fill personnel needs. And each phone call generates some type of task on my part whether it is sending an application via email, postal mail or fax. One of my top priorities is entering daily billable time from our researchers, draftsman, and field crews which in turn generates invoices to the clients. And I haven't even told you about the multiple spreadsheet reports I keep updated on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis.

But still. I need to make time for Blogging, mustn't I?

I hope all is well with everyone. I extend my sincerest apologies for my lack of interaction in our wonderful little Blogging community. I am hopeful that once I get my daily duties into a less chaotic rhythm I will be able to be more participatory again with you all. I have an overwhelming amount of Blogs to catch up on!!

Still Kickin!

Man! Has it really been two whole weeks since I lasted posted? WOW! Time really does fly when you're living in the middle of a tornado!

The new job? eh - let's just say it's there for now. More dish on that later.

The old job? Still hanging on to me. My replacement is not as qualified as my former employers led me to believe. In the first two weeks of April I put in 80 hours at the new job while putting in 26 hours at the old job. And the former employer expects me to put in more time this week with the new girl. Uh uh. Ain't gonna happen.

All is well with the family. Apparently my 3 year old son is quite smitten with one of my new co-workers. Can you believe he would rather come by and see her than rush home to ride on his brand new battery powered John Deere tractor??!!!?? Hubby and I are completely befuddled by this. She gave him some cash the other day. The boy already knows how to work it.

Gotta go. More later!

Hugs to all!

Wake Up Call

So I've been on the new job for 3.5 days. While the new duties and opportunity for challenge are stimulating in and of themselves, I've had a pretty big jolt back to "the real world."

The secular work environment is very different from employment that requires one to be knee deep (literally) in religion on a day-to-day basis. Not only is secular employment 90% for profit, the competitiveness in the workplace is almost palpable. I had forgotten the dog eat dog mentality despite retaining my alligator skin from my lawyering days.

This is not to say that I am not enjoying the new work. I feel like it was a good choice for me and my family and I truly believe that I will be an asset to this company that has such huge potential. But there is something to be said for the very warm, very heart-engaging work that one does in a church office.

My time with my church will be remembered fondly.

And my acquired servant's heart will always be thankful for the experience.

Off to See the Wizard!

Well, I start my new job tomorrow. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I am pretty excited about it. I'm not real thrilled about all the soap opera dramma that has been transpiring in and around the new office but I'm feeling confident that I will be able to set the tone (as the new Office Administrator/HR Director) for the office to be professional and productive without all the teen-age angst mentality that has apparently been going on.

So if you don't hear from me for a few days, never fear! I will be back and with any luck, I'll have some interesting if not funny stories to tell.


To Infinity and Beyonnnnnnnnddddddd . . . . . . ! ! ! !