Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from my kitchen!!

Since I have so much time on my hands, I decided to get really crafty with my holiday cupcakes! I tend to make cupcakes anyway for just about every holiday, but I wanted to amp it up a little bit.

The actual cake part was layered orange and black (although it looked a little purple)!

The cupcakes for Josh's coworkers

This one was my favorite!



You would think he was looking at the cupcake, but the ball was actually just below this and he was trying to get my attention!








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Sunday, October 18, 2009

One year...

A year ago today, Josh and I got married.

I can't believe it has been a year!


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Thursday, October 15, 2009

In a dream

This experience starting Tuesday afternoon has been so surreal and I feel like I am in some kind of dream-like state and that this is not my life!

I have to admit that yesterday was incredibly tough and rough for me. I literally had nothing to do. Well, I had stuff to do, but nothing that was pressing. And I had no motivation to do anything. I laid around and did absolutely nothing. I finally got up and washed the dishes because I had told Josh that I would and I didn't want him to get home and they still not be washed.

I know I shouldn't be complaining, because there are people in the world and even this country who are having a much tougher time than me. I am very fortunate to have even found another job after being laid off the first time. I am fortunate to have a family who loves me. I am fortunate to have friends that I can turn to when I need a sympathetic ear. I am fortunate to have a husband who loves me and is doing his best to support me through this. I am fortunate to have ex-coworkers to keep their ears open for me for possible jobs.

However, for me, this is really tough. This lay off has made me question everything I thought I once knew about myself and my life. I feel like I really don't have a place in the world, and I'm not sure where I fit. I really don't know if I want to do Landscape Architecture anymore. Going through this twice kind of makes me feel like I need to take this opportunity to try something different. The million dollar question is "What do I do?" Do I go into a different aspect of landscape design? Do I try out residential? Do I work for the city? Do I try to get a job at a firm that does commercial again? I've been there, done that twice now and I'm not sure I want to venture into that again. Do I try to start doing my baking on the side? Do I find a job in retail just to get by for a few months? Once the economy starts to rebound, I know things will be better, but development and Landscape Architecture are going to take a while to get back to where it was. But then I ask myself if I go back in that direction, do I want to sit in front of a computer for 9 hours a day?

Another reason this has been so hard is that I am a planner and a doer. The first time around, I had already been calling people and looking for a new job, so I jumped right into doing that full time. This time around, I already know that no one is hiring, so I don't have much hope for my employment future. However, I have some amazing connections who have already started looking for me! I am so thankful for that!

Today has been a little better. I still have a lost feeling, but I have been getting out and about. I decided to get some mums to plant in the planters on the front porch. I have some pumpkin bread in the oven. And I've made a list for the next few days so I know what I have to do.

I know things will get better and that something good is going to come out of all of this. I'm just have to keep reminding myself to be patient and wait for that to come.


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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Today is a day kind of like another

The last time I started off like this, I was laid off. And the same is true this time.

I was laid off again yesterday afternoon! Only this time, I wasn't expecting it. It was a complete shock. I thought things were looking up and getting better! I think I am still in a little bit of shock. Even though it is Wednesday and I am sitting on the couch watching The Golden Girls in my pajamas, it still doesn't feel real!

I started there June 1, and it was kind of an adjustment from the company I was at. It was a very slow start and I felt like I couldn't pick up on a good stride. This last month I finally felt like I was hitting that stride where I didn't have to ask a lot of questions and I could complete things by myself.

So much for that! It is such a weird feeling to be sitting here on the couch watching the The Golden Girls in my pajamas. It's so surreal right now.

On top of being laid off, it seems like my family is starting to fall apart! Last Monday, October 5, my Grandpa Bennie passed away at 96. Now this week, my Grandpa Jim is in the hospital with a staph infection! A few weeks ago, Grandma Edith was in the hospital for back pain and an inner ear infection! One of my dad's first cousins fell out of tree and may be paralyzed from the waist down!

I really think that 2009 will go down as one of the worst years of my life! Here's hoping that the rest of this year starts looking up!


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Friday, October 2, 2009

Labor Day Weekend

Emphasis on LABOR


On the Friday of the start of Labor Day weekend, I get a call from Josh while I am at work and he asks if it would be alright if we get some sod that a friend of his has left over from a job. I said sure! We would getting 3 palettes of Zoysia for really cheap! Heck yeah, we'll take it!

So, Saturday and Sunday morning, Josh scrapes and tills the backyard to get it ready. I wish I had some before, before pictures of what it looked like with the little bit of dormant grass we had, but I didn't get any.

This is what our yard looked like Sunday morning...

Before





Sunday afternoon we got about half of it laid out. By we I mean Josh and me. By ourselves! We stopped halfway through and went swimming at a friend's house with the dogs.

During



Then we got up bright and early Monday morning to finish the job. While we were getting started again, our neighbor Allen comes over and asks me if I would like to borrow his wheelbarrow. Of course I would! The funny thing is that I had asked Josh to ask Allen the day before and Josh assured me that Allen didn't have one, and obviously hadn't asked! Wow that thing made our job so much easier!
Now we have a yard that is mostly covered by beautiful, new zoysia!

After




The best part is that the week after we laid it, is when we got close to a foot of rain, so we didn't have to worry about watering! Yeah!


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