grace in small things

8 June 09

1. Delicious-smelling lotion on freshly-shaved legs.
2. A coworker’s stapler encased in green Jell-O. With a Kaizen worksheet attached.
3. My fabulous gentleman of a husband taking out the new girl to lunch because so far no one else at his office is treating her with any respect.
4. Being recognized because my face was on a 5S presentation.
5. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog

9 June 09

1. 10 more days of work before my 4-week long vacation (counting today).  Yeah, so it’s a mostly unpaid vacation and I’m kind of freaking out about money that I won’t be making, but hey!  FOUR WEEKS of vacation.
2. Making good progress on multiples projects at work.
3. An unexpected (to me) check from our state taxes.  Apparently Justin knew about it, but I didn’t think we were getting anything from any of our taxes.  So I’m pleasantly surprised.
4. Clean laundry
5. Sorting out the detritus from my purse

1 June 09

1. Getting back into the office and *not* being totally overwhelmed by mountains upon mountains of work.
2. Oodles of unexpected quality fun-time with my husband, playing games and laughing like a crazy person.
3. Opportunities that could be really fantastic, if they turn out like we hope.
4. Aloe vera spread lovingly across my burnt shoulders.
5. Homemade baking powder biscuits that taste a whole lot like the biscuits you’d buy from a fast food place like KFC.

2 June 09

1. A totally unexpected refund check from our federal taxes.  We were happy to not have to pay anything.  We were astonished to get money returned.
2. Balancing the checkbook and seeing that we’re still coming out ahead, for the most part.  I mean, sure, we were in the red for May, but we spent almost double that amount on airplane tickets and car registration.
3. Yummy pasta for dinner.
4. NCIS
5. Curling up and reading in bed with Justin.

3 June 09

1. I have a beautiful new nephew named Isaac!  Yea!
2. I was 30 minutes early to my doctor’s appointment for blood work, so I sat in my car, windows down, reading a book, enjoying the cool freshness of the early morning air.
3. A fresh box of facial tissues.
4. Apple crisp:  The perfect solution for slightly overripe apples, minimal budget, and minimal preparation time.
5. Laughing at geeky jokes with my husband while curling up to go to sleep.

4 June 09

1. I got a silver award from my boss for my hard work in the 5S program in our area.  It comes with $50 to use at the Walmart across the way from here and another plaque to hang on my wall.  I’m so pleased!
2. Justin haggled our way into a really great birthday/graduation present for his sister, that isn’t going to blow the bank and lets us get her something really, really useful and nice.
3. Cool summer rainstorms with sporadic rain and thunder.
4. Sitting in my favorite chair in Justin’s office reading while he pokes at his computer.
5. And then having him wake me up and put me into bed because I fell asleep while reading.

5 June 09

1. Happy anniversary to Mom and Dad!  I love you both so much!
2. Spending $50 that I got as an award on fun things at Walmart, including an outfit for the graduation coming up.
3. Scattered rain showers in between clear blue skies.
4. Singing along with the car radio as loud as I like.
5. Justin, driving behind me, laughing at me singing in the car.

6 June 09

1. Sleeping in and eating sweet rolls in bed while watching TV (Stargate: Atlantis).  Is there a better way to start the day?
2. A balanced checkbook.
3. Exploring calendar options and other organizing things on my computer.
4. Cheering up my husband by spending time with him making and eating dinner together.
5. Deciding last minute to catch the last showing of the day of the new Terminator movie.

7 June 09

1. Knowing more and more people at church and being able to chat with them.
2. Finding the perfect graduation card for Jessi.
3. Finally hiding the garden hose at the front of the house inside an unused oversized flower pot.  It looks so great!
4. Watching my husband wash off the back of the house because it’s getting more and more green with mold.  Knowing that he’s doing it because he feels the need, now and then, to do chores and activities that improve the house and don’t involve my participation.
5. Getting into discussions with the small group I’m in about the sermon series.

4 May 09 (Monday)

1. Making a lot of progress on projects due this week.
2. Absolutely fantastically delicious Jade and Ivory pasta for dinner.
3. Watching Justin work on a web design and having fun and making beautiful, beautiful stuff.
4. Curling up to read in my “nest” for a while to relax from a very long day.
5. Snuggling up with my handsome man to watch yet another amusing “Castle” episode.

5 May 09 (Tuesday)

1. Clocking in to work on time even though I accidentally turned off my alarm and didn’t get out of bed until two minutes before I needed to leave the house.  I haven’t showered, but because I had clothes set out the night before and my lunch made and because my loving, wonderful husband gathered up my lunch while I frantically dressed, I was able to get out of the house 5 minutes after I bolted straight up in bed.
2. And then, even though he put my lunch together for me (and threw a Twix bar in my purse that I found a few hours into the morning), he picked me up for lunch and took me to Cancun’s for delicious Mexican food, something he hadn’t done in a really long time.
3. After getting home and exercising, I *finally* got to take a shower and it was absolutely divine.
4. Justin set up email settings for my new, yet-to-be-disclosed website for my business.
5. The evening was filled with lots of fun, quality time with Justin.  I like that guy.  So funny and smart.  And handsome, to boot!

6 May 09 (Wednesday)

1. I showered this morning.  Don’t knock it.  I have a lot of hair and it gets greasy really fast.
2. I’ve received confirmation about the class I’m going to be in all next week.  This is lovely because I couldn’t find anywhere in the system on my end that I was even registered to be in the class.  And it’s secondly lovely because I’ve been given the opportunity to expand my training in an area of the business that I really enjoy and I think I’ll be able to do a lot of great things through it.  I’m going to be a Lean Specialist!
3. Continued progress on several projects that need to be accomplished before the end of the week.
4. It turns out that I have a whole extra month before my next doctor’s appointment.  I thought it was this month.  Maybe I can kick off some of this weight before I have to go step on that scale again!

30 April 09 (Thursday)

1. I *love* my Pr!vo shoes from Clark’s.  Best.  Shoes. Ever.
2. Feeling useful by doing things that really help the people in my department but really don’t require a lot of effort on my part.  Like teaching one guy how to print a PDF so it’ll show up the right size on the page.
3. I was called the strongest person in the 5S group by the Lean/Six Sigma leader in our area.  The one that reports directly to the director.  I work my butt off.  It’s nice to see someone sees it because the guy leading the 5S meetings sure doesn’t seem to.  One of the guys at my level in the committee also kept calling me the 5S goddess, which was another nice boost for my ego. 
4. Sexy time!
5. The feeling of accomplishment for rollerblading 5 miles, half of it into the wind.  It really wasn’t the smartest idea, but it sure as heck made me work hard and it feels good to get to the end and know that I can do that.

1 May 09 (Friday)

1. Once again, I love that I spent the money on this WWF calendar because today I flipped to the month of May and there’s adorable pictures of lions and leopards.  Easy, visual place for sticky notes to show deadlines and out of office plans at a glance, with the added “Awwwww” bonus feature!
2. I lost 2.5 pounds last week!  Go me!
3. Justin took me to Applebee’s and Barnes and Noble on a geek date.
4. And then to the beach where we sat reading for a long time and then splashed in the surf.
5. And then back to Applebee’s for dessert and home to curl up in bed reading together.

2 May 09 (Saturday)

1. Fresh cut fruit for breakfast.
2. Visiting the local pool for the first time this season.
3. Getting a lot of small things accomplished (balancing the checkbook, washing most of the laundry) but not feeling like most of the day was spent doing “work” stuff.
4. Easter egg hunting in WoW.
5. Watching the “Dollhouse” episode that we missed on Friday because of our date and *loving* the surprise of it.  Also: Alan!

3 May 09 (Sunday)

1. I sat on the back porch reading for a while and the weather was so beautiful and the sound of my fountain so relaxing that it was tempting to sit out there all afternoon long.
2. We figured out what to do about the website situation for my PO business and started the steps to get that into motion.
3. Playing video games together.
4. Finally not hurting anymore from rollerblading on Thursday.
5. We went to see the Wolverine movie, which had a charming amount of naked Hugh Jackman bottom.  Delightful, really.  Oh!  And the rest of the movie was quite good, too.

28 April 09 (Tuesday)

1. I clocked in on time even though I got stuck behind a slow truck and my computer kept giving me funky errors when I was trying to log in.
2. Even though I forgot my tea in the car, I remembered my mugs this morning so I could make myself another cup when I got inside and settled.
3. The other side of the group that’s going to be using the document I created with all the macros thinks it’s going to work great and help resolve a lot of issues we’ve been having.
4. Justin and I went for a bike ride and it was really, really great.  We didn’t come back over-exhausted.  I was able to keep pace much better.  The whole thing was so much better than the last time we went out.
5. I had a lovely conversation with my sister.

29 April 09

1. I’m buried under projects at work, but it serves as a solid reminder that I have a steady job and reliable income and that’s a rare thing these days.
2. I logged my food for the 3rd day in a row.  Exercised for the 7th day in a row.  And exceeded my water consumption goal.
3. My mid-week cheating weigh-check (I’m only supposed to look on Friday) shows that I’m finally going *down* in weight instead of up.
4. Justin made my lunch for me when evening plans ran later than expected.  I was able to get my clothes set for the morning and get ready for bed while he took care of everything downstairs, even tidying up the mess from dinner.