Well I’ve been in my new position going on 7 weeks now and I haven’t had a real lunch since. There is a tremendous amount for one person to handle but luckily my manager is not afraid of OT. Good thing because I’ve been accumulating quite a bit. My new office is really nice; big windows, a cool brick wall, and new furniture.  I’ve had this place all to myself but that will come to an end on the 10^th when my new roommate starts. I may be drowning in paper but it’s been nice to have the space to spread out. 

Aside from working a lot more than usual, my oldest has had this boyfriend for three months now. He’s a senior at the other high school and so he drives which makes me even more uneasy. He has been spending a lot of time at our house and she at his. *ugh* I’m so not ready for her to get serious with one person but she seems totally consumed with this boy. Yesterday I made her angry by telling her she would start working out at least two days a week. Softball tryouts for the high school will be coming up soon and she needs to be prepared. The competition is going to be tough for spots and hanging out watching TV with her boyfriend is not going to give her an edge.  There has been some disagreement on curfews, how much freedom to allow, and why doesn’t this kid have a job? At least he stopped bringing his entourage along to hang out. I didn’t enjoy coming home to a living room full of teenage boys and surprisingly enough, Syd wasn’t thrilled either. Now I’m just hoping they get tired of each other and soon. My child has suddenly turned into Becky home-ecky and is constantly baking cakes, and fixing him chicken nuggets after school. Dang it, if you feed them they will NEVER go away! 

Syd is loving middle school. Having a locker seemed stressful for about a day and then once she mastered the combination, she was fine. She then moved on to more important things like decorations and what clubs to join. Much to my delight, she’s very excited about PEP club and drama-rama. She’s made some new friends and seems to be spreading her wings a little. She made the decision to drop band and instead take a semester of communicative arts and the other in technology. So far that is going very well because the communicative arts class is taught by the drama teacher so they do some play acting in both verbal and non-verbal communication. Plus, I didn’t have to fork out $600 to buy a French horn that she would only play for a year!

I just have so little time to write now and struggle to put my thoughts into words. I need to work on that and hopefully get my inspiration back. I have some trips coming up that might just do the trick.

Behold, the power of the pallet!

I occasionally browse Pinterest because people pin some pretty cool ideas on there. A prime example is all the stuff you create from a simple pallet. The next room in the house I want to tackle is the office. Daniel teleworks often and I'd like for him to have a space that is comfortable and motivating. The first thing we needed was a bigger work surface so I thought, "wouldn't it be cool to make a pallet desk?" If I remember correctly he simply chuckled and walked away shaking his head. However disgruntle, I was so happy the afternoon he slammed on the breaks and yelled "Pallet!" when we found this beauty along the side of K-10.

Our creation was going to require two pallets. Luckily my bro-in-law has a local store and he offered to let us come rummage through what he had.

After a little sanding and a clear coat this is the finished product. The only thing missing is a sheet of glass for the top. As you can see, Daniel did all the work; I was the one cheering him on and of course, snapping the pictures.