Paint from yesterday

I DID say I would watch paint dry while chilling out before my hair appointment :)



Get the reference?
One fish, two fish
Red fish, blue fish


He really looks better in red. I had it black to begin with.

Day two (Tuesday)

An empty pool!


Angled so you can see it all in one frame.
The house is now vacuumed as well. Small accomplishment, but an accomplishment nonetheless. Unsure what is in the agenda for today. Guess its finish the flower bed.

Done!
And Angela and I went for "breakfast" (it was after 11am so really it was lunch) at Waffle House. After my haircut well be going to see The Host at the movies.
AND tomorrows event is planned as well.
While at Lowes getting the pea gravel to finish off my garden Angela picked out some spinach to grow. I picked out Cilantro and radish and carrots and we picked up some flower boxes to grow them in!

Angela got them all planted and I cleaned off the deck! Busy morning!!
I came home from my hair appointment to see this!


Super naked pool!!

Week in progress - Day 1 (Monday)

Monday: consignment store run!
I only had $60 profit from Easter drop off... Only - ha! It was great profit. I bought some sheets and took mom to lunch - yum!
Next month will be a teensiest tiny profit as I didn't put much in :)

So I came home by way of Lowes and picked up blocks for a tiny wall. I picked up 20 blocks and two bags of pea gravel.



Yeah. I had to go back and got twenty five more blocks and two MORE bags of pea gravel - and I still don't have enough gravel. Hurumph!


While taking a break the pool guys showed up to drain the pool for the new liner! I took a longer break than planned. But that's cool.


Then I forgot to go to my Chiropractor this afternoon. Crap!! Ah well lots more done than not!

Easter!

Angela was the bunny cake assembler this year. She mixed, baked and assembled with a lot of instructions and help. I think the torch has been passed to another generation!


Yes, only 1/2 grass. Butch and Elizabeth don't like coconut :o/
Note the malt balls at the back - hahaha!

Dinner at mom and dads for ham and yummies. A game of push the dummy and back home again. I great Easter!

Hot tub surround "fix"

Before (with a lovely pollen ring)


Naked!



After! We have to wait until Monday to let the water flow and check it out thoroughly. I can't wait! It's shorter, however if it doesn't leak I'll be THRILLED!!

Next up, is new liner ;)

Job referrals...

I have qualified for a JOB!!  Where?  Schinnen Netherlands

What's it doing?  IT Specialist (Customer support)

 

GS-12 level, applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade/level (GS-07).  Specialized experience is defined as experience in diagnosing and resolving problems in response to customer reported incidents; dealing with a wide variety of applications, operating systems, protocols, and equipment used in customer organizations; and applying methods and practices for troubleshooting, recovering, adjusting, modifying, and improving IT systems. 

 

You will be evaluated on the basis of your level of competency (knowledge, skills, abilities) in the following areas:

- Knowledge of a wide range of IT standards, principles, concepts, methods and policies.

- Knowledge of practices of office automation to provide advice in problem resolution related to ITinfrastructure, networks and/or telecommunications.

- Knowledge of VTC transmission methods and technology.

 

OK so I don't know anything about VTC, but sure I could figure it out...

Other events

Angela heading off to flag practice at the high school. :) my baby starts high school next year - where has the time gone? Go Angela. Try outs are this Friday. She's so scared and excited.


Liz got an award tonight for most improved swimmer!

Life

Spring daffodils at the house.


Bugs falling from the vent into the girls bathroom toilet. Fun, fun, fun.


Enjoying warmer weather on my lovely porch!


Neon GREEN olives for St Patty day!!


Foggy mornings driving into work.


Rain we got two nights ago!


That's life right now... And lots of furlough meetings with zero pertinent information. Just conjecture. Nothing new.

Before last week:








What was removed:








Revisit this week...coulda swore I had a before picture here...guess not.
Note we're color coded now? Taxes = Red. Green = Banking. The left side is blanks in front and warranty for misc personal items along with medical and investment files....




This is now left side front is hateful finance records from the first finance of the house, the refinance and the HELOC, then house warranty items and tool info. Lots of stuff that really? Will we reference it? No, we'll look it up on line...sigh but I keep it.




Where warranties no longer applied - well, they were filed here:




And that's all or today folks!

Location:File cabinet organization

I chased a blimp today

Do you see it?



There!! What is that?


Yes it's a blimp! Lets go find it!!















Fairly large!

Best half asleep response EVER

Mom: The chicks in the living room are talking about going to Waffle House
Child: I'm not looking for chicks, I'm not looking for guys, I'm just here talking to everyone.
Priceless!!

The rest of my weekend

To begin with this is my "paper/sticker" drawer that the kids can use. The left side and part if the back of the right side are all stickers and papers...


What I pulled out to go to the consignment shop:


What I pulled out to "donate" to a friend with young children:


What that doesn't show is the paper I tossed in after. All the 8 1/2 x 11 sheets that were the single sheets of different patters and some packets of paper that I just could see NO use for.

All the solid paper was pulled and set aside for kids use... As yet to be placed in their care.


This is the empty files in the drawer. I NEED to take all out warranty/house stuff and spread it out a bit. The top drawer is FULL of that sort if stuff. I try to cull it out once a year when I pull taxes and past banking stuff that is over the 7 year mark.

So one more goal partially met, but its moving forward... Slowly!!

The whole bunch is done!

The twins:




The foursome:




I have one more chair that may have to join the ranks as stripe....



Not as twitter-pated with this one as I am the others ... Possible that I just rushed this one. Hum... May have a redo later.

One more stinkin' cute chair!

OMG how stinkin' CUTE is this chair????


The back has a matching stripe Yeah yeah - I won't have enough to do TWO chair fronts otherwise! But the fabric I found is an amazing close match!

The reality of Sequestrations

Here is the bottom line for ME for the sequestration:

Estimated LOSS of income per pay period: $338.20

Estimated GAIN in annual leave: 6.4        (*yes this is gain as I won't have to use leave on those days I had scheduled for leave)

Estimated LOSS in sick leave: 8.8             (*if they truly dock by 20% on all leave earned in a pay period)

 

Doable?  Yep… doable.

Estimated GAIN:              Time off to visit with mom and dad

Time off with the kids when they are on summer break

Time off to get some stuff done around the house that is long overdue

Time off to float in the pool one more day on a long weekend… bring it on!!!

Thrift store finds

Here piggy piggy! A little polish and he's cute for $.50


$55 new Vera Bradley bag for $25.00. Sweet!

Butch was nice enough to go and dispose of it for the folks

Location:One less Armadillo in the world

And the Oscar goes to....

Angela!

Why, you ask; because she's been out of town all week on the whirlwind
tour of Washington DC with her Honors group. It's been quite around the
home front with a child who's driving and really doesn't require much
adult intervention at this part of her life. She's floating off towards
college and seems to be on a great trajectory. Angela on the other hand
came off the bus in tears; big blubbering tears, amidst complaints of "I
feel like I'm going to throw up". Why? This is all due to a "lost"
book, bookmark and hat. Were they all found? Yes, they were. Was all
well with the world? Yes. Were the tears still flowing ALL the way
home? Yes... Part of this is just from being worked up, I'm sure.
So, I guess she held it together all the way to town, then BOOOMMMMM it
all comes out. Fun, fun, fun. There were numerous complaints all the
way until I walked out the door of her not wanting to go to school...
ALL her pants were in the wash... she felt sick....

Welcome Back Angela - we missed you!!

What do I see in MY future?

If the civilian workforce is furloughed:

* Furlough duration: First, enacting civilian unpaid furloughs is
a measure of last resort. If it does occur, the most likely option is
one day per week for the last 22 weeks of the fiscal year (late April
through September) for a total of 22 work days (176 hours). One day per
week (eight hours) equals a 20 percent reduction in pay for each
individual DOD civilian worker during the furlough period.

* Notification: If furloughs occur, the workforce will be notified
by management at least 30 days prior to the initial furlough. OPM will
decide which days personnel will be furloughed.

* Exemptions: If sequestration occurs, most civilians will be
furloughed with few exceptions: (1) those deployed in a combat zone, (2)
those who protect the safety of life or property to the extent needed,
(3) non-appropriated fund employees (NAF), (4) those exempt by law who
hold a presidential appointment with Senate confirmation, (5) foreign
nationals and (6) those exempted as approved by a 2-star flag officer or
higher.

* Leave: Furlough time off is treated like regular leave without
pay for leave accrual and benefit purposes. When employees are in a
non-pay status (like a furlough) their retirement deductions are
adjusted in proportion to their basic pay.

* Thrift Savings Plan: Regarding the Thrift Savings Plan,
employees who have selected their TSP contribution to be a percentage of
their pay will see smaller contributions during the furlough period due
to their reduced pay. Employees who have selected a fixed amount for
their TSP contribution will see the same amount deducted during the
furlough period.

* Financial hardships: We understand furloughs may result in
unexpected financial difficulty for civilian personnel and their
families, but financial difficulties are not grounds for a supervisor to
waive an employee's furlough. Employees should start planning
immediately for reduced paychecks beginning in April.

* Healthcare: The Government's portion of the healthcare premiums
will be paid in full and on time, and benefits will continue for
furloughed employees. See the OPM website at www.opm.gov for more
information.

* Outside employment: While on furlough, individuals remain
employed by the Federal Government; therefore, standards of ethical
conduct and rules regarding outside employment are applicable. Before
engaging in outside employment, employees should consult their agency
ethics official.

There is still an opportunity for Congress to pass a balanced
deficit-reduction plan that the President can sign and sequestration is
truly averted (not just delayed). Not only is the current situation
devastating to our personnel, we know that furloughs will substantially
harm our ability to reset and restore the force's full-spectrum combat
capability after over a decade of hard fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Through it all, we must ensure our long term viability in defense of
this nation, which means we have to retain focus on speed, safety and
quality. We want to ensure we don't lose the gains you've made as a
Center. If we lose our competitive edge, it could lead to longer term
impacts than what are initially posed by sequestration. It is vital we
sustain our priority on the mission as we continue to seek new
workloads and support the warfighter.

Happy Presidents day weekend

For Mom's birthday we just now had her dinner. Mostly because when it
was her birthday, she just wasn't in the mood to go to dinner.... so we
waited for her to say the word. The word came for Sunday night :)
So, dinner it was. We went to the new Chinese place in their town that
has a Mongolian grill in it. Yum. We had a nice dinner then went to
their house to place push the dummy. Butch was the biggest winner -
lucky him! We also had cake and ice-cream at their house as well. YUM!

It was nice to get together to play games and visit for a bit.
Monday was a holiday for me, poor Butch had to work, so Mom and I went
to a few junk stores in town and looked for a display case for her. We
went to two Goodwill stores, the big junk store just outside of town and
to Target (not a junk store, but a fun store!)... so I had two fun
days!! THEN I went home to finish up on what I had started that morning
with cleaning. I finished my closet - cleaned all the "junk" off the
floor... got all the bins out and moved all the clothing around to be in
a better spot. Then went through my bathing suit drawer, what a mess...
I did toss a few suits that had seen better days and their elastic was
shot. Even with chucking, I ended up with two brown based suites, and
four black based ones with lots of bottoms for each. Meaning the colors
on the top half have browns in them and the bottoms are all brown, or
the tops have black in them and the bottoms are all black. So, I have a
BUNCH of suits for the New Year. Oh, and still have two one piece
suites for hot tubing in the winter! :) I like a one piece as they
don't ride up in the bubbles. TMI I'm sure!
I also got all the horses out of the TWO big boxes they were in and
consolidated them down to ONE big box. Now what to do with that big box
is the mystery.
And the last but not least of what I did yesterday because you KNOW
rather than doing this over a three day weekend I crammed it all into
ONE day... was to blow off the porch and deck. It's all clean now and
ready for spring to start.... bring on warm weather.. I noticed a lot
of my loungers are sun rotted (been about 5 years... so it isn't
shocking!) and need to be put out by the curb for the trash on Friday...
that's ONE more thing I need to get working on this week.... that and
finishing my chair projects and table project for out there... and the
list goes ON and ON and ON... :)
It is all self-inflicted too :p
I had thought about taking the time off with the kids, but Angela leaves
tonight to head out to Washington with her class...yes, even with all
the school drama we're letting her go. Part of me still wonders if this
is the correct choice... but we're going to see the talk I had with her
teachers as a positive note and that she is making progress in the right
direction as a positive note as well.. I have a sinking feeling this one
is going to bite us in the butt and it will be interpreted to her as "do
as you damn well please, nothing bad will happen as a result". It's not
like we didn't take everything away and ground her for weeks... nothing
seems to have much effect on her attitude or her reactions... she will
fly right and do well for a while, then just decide she doesn't have to
do homework. IN THE MIDDLE OF BEING GROUNDED. Talk about not to
bright... really - what ELSE are you going to do??? You have no
electronics and you're sent to your room to do homework... what the
crap. Sigh...
This too shall pass from what I'm told ... probably like a kidney stone,
but this too shall pass.