Headed west for the weekend

Josh and I headed to Ft. Stockton for Labor Day Weekend. It was so nice to get out in the middle of nowhere for a few days and not do much.

We went down to Marathon to eat dinner at The Gage Hotel Saturday night. It was so good and the day was absolutely beautiful!! Beautiful enough for Josh and I to talk about quitting our jobs and moving our west! :)

Gorgeous west texas sunset

I don't know what it is about being out there, but I love it. There's just something about the environment that makes me feel so at peace with the world.

And when we got home yesterday afternoon, this was awaiting me! One of the first oxblood lilies of the season! Yeah!

In case you were wondering...

Yes, I fell off the face of the earth.

Work has been busier than I could ever have imagined! I racked up over 166 hours in the last three weeks. One Friday, I got to work at 6 in the morning and didn't leave until 2:30 the next morning! Most of the time it was getting to work at 6:30 and not leaving until 8 or 9:00 that night. I am still exhausted! I am a person who needs a good 9 hours of sleep at night, so this has been brutal for me. The crazy thing is this is only the beginning of the project...we have 3 more years of this!! Ugh!

I don't even remember where I left off with this blog, so there may be a lot of backtracking in the next couple weeks as I find time to post pictures and recap what has been happening!

Hangin' in there

I was hoping to be able to do a decent post, but right now, I'm just hanging in there. These last few weeks have been so exhausting, that I'm still trying to catch up with everyday life right now. And it's not going to get any better soon, because this weekend is the family reunion that I have been planning. Hopefully, after that, things will slow down, and I can get in a post about my garden, my family who came in for the funeral and update my baking blog with some things I have been doing.

Life and Death

I went home this weekend not just for Mother's Day, but to visit with family, mainly my Grandpa Jim. As of Saturday, he was starting to go downhill. He's been slowly getting worse since October, so we have been expecting this, but it's still so hard to go through, especially to watch.

I've now seen firsthand both of my grandfather's gradual decline to the end, and it is one of the hardest things I have ever done. It's such a strange feeling to watch this. On one hand, I am fortunate and thankful that I was in my late 20s until my grandparents started to pass away because I was able to get to know them; however, sometimes I think it would have been easier if I was younger because the pain of seeing them suffer is sometimes unbearable to think about.

I saw this when my Grandpa Bennie passed in October, but it has been this experience with Grandpa Jim where it has all come full circle for me - it is amazing how the end of life is so much like the beginning of life, but while the beginning is full of joy and excitement, the end is full of sadness and heartbreak. Just like a newborn, there is a diaper, someone watching over you at all times, checking how much liquid you drank, and basically making sure you are comfortable because you really can't speak for yourself. It is incredibly ironic.

While this has been incredibly difficult, it has definitely helped me to appreciate life and prepared me to someday help my parents, which is not something I really want to think about, but that's life!

Grandpa Jim during World War II

Baking Blog

Click on the pic above to check out my baking projects. Most have been on here already, but they are so delicious! Even to look at!

I'm going to be posting them all throughout the next few weeks, so keep checking back!

I am so tired!

Literally. Tired.

Everyday, I come home with intentions to blog, but by the time I take care of the dogs, check in on facebook and google reader, I pretty much have no energy left for much. Poor Josh hasn't gotten a home-cooked meal in about two weeks. But that is actually working out well for him. He's on a diet and working out everyday, and has lost 17 pounds in the last 2 months!!

It's been an exhausting three weeks since I started work. Mentally and physically. But it has been really awesome! I have been busy the entire time, and learning so much. I am so incredibly thankful to have this job!

Last weekend we went to Ft. Stockton to visit with the in-laws, which that trip is exhausting by itself. It was a pretty good visit, and I picked up some cute things from the local stores.

These next 4 weekends are already booked and going to be very busy. I hope that I can get through it all in one piece!!

I survived!

So, I survived my first week at the new job!

It was so incredibly overwhelming and exhausting, especially mentally. I think I did pretty well. I got thrown right into a project doing a planting plan, which was nice. Nothing too hard. Apparently, the word on the street, is that I am going to be thrown head-first into a huge project that is just getting started and is going to be a multi-year thing. We shall see how that goes!!

So far, so good! I can't complain!

Sepia Saturday

Here are my grandparents - Jim & Edith Kalina - outside the hospital in Shiner. How beautiful and handsome are they??

Great News!!

So, I have some very exciting news. (No, I'm not pregnant).

I had a job interview Friday morning. It was supposed to be Tuesday, but they called on Monday to reschedule for Wednesday. Then called Tuesday to reschedule for Friday. It was for work at a landscape architecture company - something that I thought was completely out of reach at this point.

The interview went really well! They said they had talked to one other person, and would make a decision and let me know something Monday.

I got home and immediately started getting ready to go to Austin for Josh's company's golf tournament. About 45 minutes after I got home, my phone rings and the caller ID has the number of the company. I answer it and they tell me that they would like to offer me a job and want me to start Monday (meaning today!)!! Of course, I accept! Then immediately call Josh and tell him and it was loud enough for his whole office to hear! There was a very loud chorus of "Congratulations!" from his coworkers. I couldn't quit smiling!

They called back again a little while later, and when I saw the number, I almost had a panic attack thinking they were going to say that they had made a mistake! :)

The golf tournament was a lot of fun! I got to be a beer cart with some of Josh's coworkers, so we drove around all afternoon drinking and having random dance parties in the middle of the fairway (or tee box or cart path). It was a great way to spend the day!

Saturday and Sunday I had a to-do list for things around the house I needed to get done before starting a job. I know I should have just taken it easy, but I had been doing that for 6 months, and it was things that I really wanted to get out of the way like dusting, sweeping, and vacuuming. And I threw in a little clothes shopping as well! I had some birthday money burning a whole in my purse, so I headed out to JCP to get some new work clothes! They were having a sale and I stocked up on some cute tops!

And speaking of 6 months...tomorrow will be exactly 6 months that I had been laid off. For these last 6 months I have had some of the worst rollercoaster emotions so far in my life. I never was really "flying high," but I have definitely been lower than I ever have. Unless you have actually been unemployed, there is no way for you to understand it. It is so lonely, and isolating, and depressing. There were times when I could empathize with people who kill themselves in situations like being laid off. I never got to a point where I would do that to myself, but I can now understand how someone who doesn't have supportive friends and family could. It is the most helpless situation. You send out hundreds of applications to not hear anything at all. Even an email saying you were not hired is a million times better than nothing at all. There is usually not even a response that they received your information. And in today's world where everything is done online, you usually have no clue who to contact to even ask about it.

So this job has come at a great time! I think it is going to be a great experience! I'm having to relearn CAD because it's been almost a year since I've worked with it and the last time it was 2007 Light! This company just upgraded to 2010. I have a feeling it's going to be a long week!

I'll check back in on Friday to recap my first week back at work!

Sepia Saturday

These two people are my great-grandparents, Frank & Mary Kalina. Her parents can be seen here. This picture was taken at Frank & Mary's 50th Wedding Anniversary in 1953.

Wildflowers

I have a soft spot in my heart for wildflowers! I think it was in the 6th grade that I had to have a wildflower collection for science class. Ever since then, I have always been enamored with any and all kinds of wildflowers.

Since we had a such a fantastic winter, weather wise, for flowers, they are out in full force this year. I have been itching to get to a good area to take some pics. This past weekend afforded me that chance in more than one place.

These were at Bill & Dolores's Friday evening.

Saturday morning, Dad, Josh, & I went to my parent's farm to burn some brush piles. Once we got them started, I headed out in the pasture to see what I could find.

There was a small patch of pale blue bluebonnets. In this picture it looks more white.

There were tons of Red Paintbrush. I was on the lookout for a yellow one, but it remained elusive this year.

Wild Hyacinth

Spiderwort

These are on the land behind my parent's house. Saturday afternoon, we took a little hike to the creek with Rylie to check out the flowers and the dewberry situation for the year (looks promising!).

Rylie checking things out

This ladybug would not hold still for anything!

Buttercup. This is a true buttercup. The pink one's that everyone calls "Buttercup" are actually Showy Primrose.

Poppy - I love these flowers! So delicate and simple.

And the obligatory Texas Bluebonnet picture. Bayla is missing because he had finished rolling around in a huge pile of cow poop. He wasn't allowed anywhere near us!

Good Friday Fish Fry

For the last few (at least 8) years, my family has gotten together with some family friends for a Good Friday Fish Fry. We switch locations every year, so each family gets a chance to host it. This year it was out at Bill & Dolores's in the country.

The day before they had just gotten two 6 week old puppies who were so cute!! We spent a lot of time out at the barn with them.

I sure do miss sweet, snuggly puppies sometimes!

This one I can tell is going to be quite the mess when she gets older!

They had a nice case of puppy narcolepsy!

They fell asleep wherever they were last sitting.

Toes made great chew toys!

They were held a lot that night! And oh my goodness, the crying when we finally had to leave them! I do not miss that horrible crying!

My Shiner Beer advertisement

Dolores and her granddaughter, Jenna

Each year, mom & I make deviled eggs. Ross eats about half of them himself!

More puppy lovin' after dinner

And then we tried to get a pic with the dogs in the bluebonnets.

This is what most of the pics looked like!

Running away!

Lots of hand gnawing!

Finally a good one!

They ended the evening by having an all out fur-pulling, tail-chewing fight.