enjoying the show from the inside.

Dear Daughter and Hubby are sick so I compromised with the 2 year old and instead of taking her sickly self out in the snow, I brought a big bowl of it inside the doorway and she is having a blast! I then got out the cookie cutters and she is having even more fun.

Merry Christmas

Although I am not one to celebrate in a church, I am so thankful to God and his blessings in our lives. I pray at home every day and today , Christmas, I am especially thankful for the WHITE CHRISTMAS and my family, Jeff & Julia being here with us to celebrate.

I pray for Julia's birthfamily. I know God will take care of them. I have presents here for them, but have not heard from them to set up a date to meet. I hope we hear from them soon.

My prayers to those that don't have family near or have lost them. My dad is one of them. He has been in heaven for just over 14 years now and I still miss him. Julia and I went in the driving rain yesterday and put a Merry Christmas sign on his grave ... FUN TO THINK today it is covered in SHOW. WOOOOOHOOO. He loved the show.

my civic duty

today was my first of a few days of jury service. I had to arrive at the civil courts building at noon and sat for 2 hours through several jury pool callups. I was called on the third round. Tomorrow, I serve on my second jury of 7 called services. FUN.

wordless wednesday

job status (or lack of) and highway 40 (64) reopening

Well, I was all excited for the last few months knowing we were coming to an end of the construction of the shutdown of highway 40 / 64 in St. Louis. This is one of the main thoroughfares from the Mississippi West to Highway 70 in Wentzville, MO. For over 2 years it has been shut down for various parts of the construction and has made myself an MANY others change their course and time of commute each day.

The sad part is my excitement has turned to sadness that I can only enjoy the opening of this highway for the next few weeks after having traveled that route for two various jobs in West St. Louis County. I traveled from McCausland west to Highway 270 for several years and of the last 12, going on 13 years, I went to 40 and Mason. Well as of 12/31/09 I will no longer be needed for my services at my current job due to job elimination. Damn Recession, Damn Economy.

Yes, I got let go from a large insurance firm in St. Louis after 12 full years of service. I was told on November 19th that they no longer needed my position due to parts of the job going to the California "BIG BROTHER" part of the company. So the other parts of my job will go to my fellow (less seniority than me) co-workers on the help desk. I am essentially a Systems Security Administrator. I have been doing this type of job for several years, although I carried the title of Assistant to the director of I.T. I was moved over on the help desk , not by choice,(which I use to run by myself 10 years ago at the same time I was assistant to the dir.) in 2008. I molded into a newly created job, minus the title of SSA.

There were many closed door meetings in the last few months that several of us suspected jobs were going to be cut, but honestly it took me buy surprise because I was the only one in my department let go. I had the most seniority too! Sad. I applied for a job in the company, but I will not put my hopes on it to be my luck to get the job. I think I'd have a better chance at winning the lottery before I would get hired back on. I wish everyone else at the company much luck in keeping their jobs. The 4 people (including myself) that were let go this past month will figure it out. One of them actually was with the company 22 years. Can you believe that? very sad.

Meantime, I wait to train my replacement locally for parts of my job. I will then enjoy my days I can drive on the newly reconstructed highway.

Oh, in the middle of working out my days at my company, I got served with Jury Duty for the City of St. Louis. FUN. I report at noon on the 14th. I will crack up if I get pulled onto a jury for a few days when I should really be training my replacement at work. Bahahahahaha