Today is Good Bye, and the Future is before me.

Today marks the first day of the rest of my life. My life NOT working at the office I worked at.

This comes somewhat bittersweet as at least a few of the people I worked with were great. The problem was the overall picture. It wasn't worth the exposure to contaminated biological waste, it wasn't worth regressing to a point of the dark ages for office practices, programs, and functions. And it really wasn't worth trying to work with people not willing to work with other people.

The first two points speak volumes already and need no further flushing out. But lastly the customer service aspect of work in America is a major factor. I have learned in my short and humble life that there are basically two kinds of people. These may over lap, but it still boils down to two. You either provide service, or you receive service. Both are honorable and depends on which side you are on at any given time.

My customer service beliefs are very strong and where I used (YEA) to work were not. Overall the attitude did not center on the customer. So sad. They centered on themselves. It is not progressive, it is not positive, and is it not productive.

It is a good day to have said good bye.

ME

Such a fun visit back to AK

We recently had the opportunity to head back to Alaska for a visit. Terry was responsible for a training session and was sent up about 5 days before I went up. Since we have mileage I was able to head up on a cheap mileage ticket last Wednesday.

In order to make this happen I had to drive Terry to the SLC airport some 65 or so miles north on I-15 and get home by myself. Then after work on Wednesday I had to drive myself all by myself and park at the airport. It still boggles my mind that at times we drive on 6 lane highway. The trip went without a hitch and the roads were great so no worries and it worked out real well.

In fact, while we have some honest to goodness concrete spaghetti out there, I-15 is one major highway that works. We have driven a few places and some of the worst offenders include (and I am sure not limited to) the Dallas FT Worth area, Denver, and Calgary. While I-15 gets busy, you can literally drive the entire length of the state and never reach a surface road. You stay on the controlled highway the entire way. That to me works. The signs are great and there are no tricks like short notice left hand exits. You just motor along and pay attention. It's about an hour and a half to the airport from Payson. And well, OK, I have never driven in New York, Chicago, San Francisco or LA. But the day ain't over yet! LOL

Now, the weather before I got there was quite frigid. It was pretty much -13 or colder and they had just received a good shot of fresh snow. I got there and it warmed up to above freezing (yea) and we got and additional few inches of snow blow in while we were there.

It was such a treat to visit with Jared and Azure, and Mel, Denise, Aspen, Willow, and Savanna. Family is very hard to replace. Everyone is doing real well and that was great to see also. I finally got to see first hand the finished remodel project Mel had started and pictures do not do it justice. Man, it's beautiful. He added on some 16 feet to the house and it has been integrated and flows now beautifully. You would never know it's an addition. Such a great job!

I had the opportunity to return to my previous employer and see some very special folks there as well. Man, I miss what I did there for work but times change and we have moved on to new adventures. I really did learn the right way to do things for the right reasons. These are lessons that I will carry always, so a bit of AFOC will continue to live on no matter where I go. ; - )

We of course drove past the old house and were actually ok with that. No tears or anything. I'm glad that I wasn't the one spending the extremely cold winter there. That house sat in a cold spot anyway and the wicked winter they have had in AK would have been severely cold there. While we did everything we could to improve the house there is only so much you can do with 2 x 4 walls. We hope the new owners were warm and toasty. It was a good visit, and if felt like a visit. I think the move to the states was a good one and neither one of us regrets our decision.

So it was back to work here on Monday. Terry managed to catch a wicked cold but is on the mend. I am hoping to NOT catch a wicked cold. I had that on the drive down and it wasn't pretty.

We are practicing our Spanish and will be back in class on Thursday. This is a community schools conversational Spanish. (very begining level) We better learn how to say mucho frijo. (much cold?) to satisfy the Utahans that think we were Loco to go to AK in February. Ya know, it wasn't that cold, and it didn't even feel odd. I hope I never loose that. I know, wait till summer when I wilt completely.

Till we meet again . . . . . .

ME

Life's little lessons

So, it's not like this is the first I have ever lived away from home. It's not like I haven't stayed at home alone with Terry traveling before. It's not like I do not have a clue, BUT . . . .

When you are home alone you tend to make sure all the doors are locked. When you do this and have new door hardware to boot, you must also remember to check your doors before you close one behind you.

When you are stepping out to the attached garage to put away something and you close the door behind you so the cats do not escape and as soon as the door latches closed . . . YOU KNOW . . . you are SCREWED.

Just like that you must go into survival mode. I was out in the garage, had at least slipped on some scuffs so I wasn't barefoot, had my phone in my pocket (OF MY FREAKIN HOUSE COAT) and that was it. It's 20 degrees out, I live in a neighborhood of Mormons and it's Sunday morning. Not to mention Terry is out of town, my coat is locked in Terry's car and any others are in the house and we live 15 miles from Provo the closest locksmiths that would have charged an arm, leg and probably black mailed me. Not to mention I was only going to get colder waiting for them.

Now one might ask ones self, how could you be so freaking stupid not to have a key outside. It's not like you have lived ANY WHERE that you didn't have a key outside in case you locked yourself out. In fact, locking ones self out is fairly common for me anyway.

I was able to find the shed key in the tool chest and thought just maybe I'll get lucky but no, there is no key in the shed for the house.

So, bite the bullet, I found my old work vest (thank GOD for good old AFOC, polar fleece vest) in my car and put it on and zipped it up and swallowed my pride and bet on the first neighbor being up and home. (did I mention its about 8:30 in the morning.)

Thankfully, neighbor was home and the kids were up. They have a young son small and agile enough to get boosted in a bedroom window that was unlocked. So it took some maneuvering and a ladder to span the window well and suddenly I was In the house profusely thanking them.

These are the best neighbors!

And the extra key you might wonder?? It's now out in the garage in the tool chest so I won't do this again. And we'll change the lock out on the shed to a combo lock so we can put one out there as well. Man, it only takes one small moment in time to make you wake up! I got extremely lucky, and blessed.

The other life's little lesson . . . . is to get dressed sooner in the morning. No more hanging out in the ol housecoat. And oh goodness yes, it could have been WAY worse.

; - )
ME

Changes in the weather

I think we are about over the two week long air inversion we have suffered with. Of course during that time we had heavy fog but no new snow. It's really nasty here during the air inversions, at times you can't see the mountains and you can see the haze across the parking lots.

We got inversions like this when we lived in Missoula many (many) years ago so we aren't unused to them but this was sure a wake up call.

Over the last few days the weather started to turn. We were met with heavy rains and the snow started again Saturday. I'll have about 6 inches of new snow to drive to work in. Not as bad as Terry tho, he gets to head south to Las Vegas for his sales meetings. The weather there is great, getting there could be a bit of a concern. Figuring it's about a 4 - 5 hour drive to Vegas from here, his other choice is to take probably 3 hours with the roads to the airport and take his chances on even flying out. By the time he gets to the airport he'd be most of the way to Vegas.

Oh, one last thing. I experienced something I had never seen or heard before. Thunder during a snow fall. How positively weird. I thought it was on TV so I muted the set and sat and watched outside and sure enough it was thunder and snowing like heck out side. whoa.

ME

Divine Intervention

You might ask what all qualifies for Divine Intervention. For me when I experience this I know that God is looking out for me, tolerating my inconsistencies, or just happy I'm figuring it out. All of which are important to peace and tranquility in this very crazy world.

Some examples of how God looks out for me ( us) are these. Our middle child, Kris, had a habit of wondering off. Not huge, but one day she walked out of a book store at the mall and God took her by the hand and had her sit on a planter (tears and all) while a security guard kept a watchful eye on her till I finally caught up with her. The sight of my little girl, crying her eyes out and edging slowly towards the man in a uniform lets you know there is someone watching out for us. She was safe, scared and knew that someone in authority was the person to go to for help. Another time for this little one was an extended camping trip to help some friends build a cabin in Montana. By the end of the week all of us were exhausted, the wind had come up and kind of trashed the camp kitchen so we decided on dinner in the closest town and landed at the diner attached to the Town Pump truck stop at the highway exit. We all washed our hands in nice hot water and enjoyed dinner. Upon leaving we (5 adults and 5 kids) trooped out to the car, piled in and headed out. But as a last minute decision overcame the driver to fill the tank in case she needed the car for the next day we pulled back in to the final pump at the truck stop. Out jumps one of the guys to fill the tank when we look up and see our 3 year old (Kris) walking OUT OF THE DINER. She had stopped to look at some toys or something and we left without her. Thank you God for bringing us back. Kris had no idea of what had transpired, but we all knew. There are a ton more of kid stories I could add here but .. .. .. ..

One of my most awesome interventions was the day my Dad passed away. He had been ailing, suffering with cancer, and had undergone a surgery to hopefully correct some of this. Unfortunately the cancer was much more involved than suspected and, he suffered with at least one massive stroke after the surgery. Mom and Dad had already written up the DNR including all forms of intervention. No feeding tubes, no respirator etc. The family was gathered from all points of the USA from Florida to AK to be there in MT for Mom, Dad and each other. Dad was moved to a nice quiet room where he could rest in peace for his final days. The morning he passed away we were all standing there and as Dad died I saw all my brothers and sisters holding hands with Mom and Dad. As we stepped away and hugged I noticed an older brother missing and ask where did he go? I had only just seen him. I was told he didn't make it, he was en route to the hospital. I went out the door of Dad's room to see my brother and his wife rushing down the hall. My brother was wearing the same clothes I had seen him in just moments before. Somehow he was there moments before when the time mattered.

Not all interventions are as sobering or celebratory as this. It happens in icy parking lots when as you creep along barely moving and have to lock them up and so does the other person that entered the same area only to miss by mere inches. It happens when you are lost and suddenly find that road or speck of direction that gets you back on track.

And it occurs when you are trying to get inspiration for a sewing project for a friend having her first child. Having just moved here, this is the perfect project to get back to feeling normal. As it happens, we get a chance to travel to AK. Terry has to be there for a project for work, and we were able to grab up a cheap mileage plan ticket for me to go up for an extended weekend. The baby is due mid February and this is a great reason to celebrate for this young couple. I thought I could scramble a quilt for her and was going to work with the colors here in Utah. The warm reds, browns, goldens as well as the sage and tans etc. So the store I stopped at was horrid. A dark and gloomy place, with zero selection and try as I might for over an hour there just wasn't any inspiration here. I went home late now and was just bummed.

I thought and thought through the night what my options might be. Realistically I was concerned I wouldn't have enough time to do a piece quilt so I knew I had a fabric panel that was tremendous. Bright, colorful, not your traditional baby quilt by any means but would be wonderful to quilt up and give to this new Mom and Dad.

Next problem is where ON EARTH might this panel be? We are still settling in and I hadn't come across it yet so had no idea where it might be. The next morning I was fussing about the kitchen. Terry had put the groceries away since I was late at the fabric store so I was poking in the pantry to see where stuff landed and came across an old Tupperware container that didn't look like it held food. I'm thinking what on earth do we have here?

In this container were the magnets and stuff we always keep on the fridge, and for whatever reason there was the fabric panel all folded up. Pretty odd, but what a great find! It's the kind of thing you just don't do without help!

So, now I am merrily moving along and working this project so I can have it done before we go.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=mag56ster&target=PHOTO&id=5290197459319353730&aid=5290197335081604689&authkey=53jIQf4th0Y&invite=CMCit6MI&feat=email

hopefully you can click on or copy and paste the link to see the fun fabric and project.

Watch for those Divine Interventions, they will wake you up, warm you up, and hold you in the Lords arms always.

ME

Drive home last night

What a treat. These pictures are not in the exact order I took them but you'll get the point. This was my spectacular drive home last night. I take the back road generally cause traffic is much kinder and the poor Utahans still have a hard time driving in the snow.

As the colors deepened you could swear you could see the painters tool marks on the clouds. The colors were so vivid and striking. All along the road home I saw folks stopping for photos.

There was one ambitious young lady who placed her camera on her car and timed the shot to stand with the sunset behind her. GREAT!

I called Terry at home along the way and told him to get out of the basement office and check out the sky. We can actually see this from our house but not from the basement (DUH), and colors like this don't typically last long.

I was taking these photos while I was driving. I know bad Maggie, however, I was NOT texting and not calling Terry with one hand and photographing with the other. Course if I would have had my mascara with me then I could have done all three!! LOL

I'll also add these pictures are taken at about 5:25 pm. I think we are still in shock that we can see so much here. In AK we had such a pretty yard but with the trees up close and the mountain right there we just didn't enjoy this kind of view.

Well, enjoy the sunset! MAN, what a treat it was.

Mag

Happy New Year 2009

OK so the program won't let me load these pictures the way I would like to so you get them out of order but since there is only two pics it's the best I can do today. The above picture is the AFTER and the below picture is the before. And through the amazing properties of digital photography the door jamb is NOT blue, it's basically the same color as the walls behind the shot. very odd.

Happy New Year to all! We hope your year is safe, healthy, FUN, and absolutely what you want. For us, we want to continue to move into the new house and get more and more settled. To that end I have included the before and after of the best project of the year. (good thing the year is brand spankin new!)

The guest (or public) bathroom of the house is small and BARELY functioning. The small vanity is only slightly bigger than the sink and in and of itself is OK, but it's only got doors and zero drawers AND the A hole that built this house failed to include any type of medicine cabinet. Like WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?????

So, trying to put bins below the sink to hold stuff worked for about 10 seconds. period. No place for a hair dryer, curling iron, and all the stuff you need like a hair brush, toothbrush and tooth paste, lotion, hand soap, a cup etc. It was just effin awful. SO we went to IKEA and changed all of that. Well, most of that with the purchase of one little item. It has transformed the house to about 1000 percent better. AMAZING. And I built it myself, with help from Terry on the door hinges.

Next up is to add some outlets in the master bathroom and in the hall way by borrowing power from existing wall outlets. Should be doable and will help the functionality (is that a word?) of both areas. Simple, simple things.

Don't forget to watch the bowl game tonight, 01/02/09, with our (new) home state Utah playing! Should be a good game.

ME