The first day of Autumn

Friendship: For my Bestest Friend Patti

Saturday

Happy Saturday!

I am so glad OD is still working. I really missed posting here and reading my favorites. Lets hope that doesn't happen again.

It's a beautiful day here in Iowa. The sun is shinning and the high is suppose to be 70. Awesome. Yesterday it got up to 90. So it will be a nice change. We did get some rain around 7pm. It was still raining when I fell asleep around 11 pm. Tomorrow is the first official day of Fall. I'm loving it.

Our high school game was away last night. West Branch played BMG. WB won so were are still undefeated. I don't remember what the score was. I hope WB goes all the way this year. They have made it to the play offs several years in a row now. But the first game in the playoffs is usually where it ends. So here's hoping they go all the way. The Iowa Hawkeyes play Wisconsin today. The game is televised on ABC @ 7pm. I hope Iowa plays better this week. I will watch the game later.

Work has really been tedious and stressful this week. We finally finished those Maryland Essays on Friday. Hopefully they won't find more. We will be working on ASE ( automotive service excellence) registrations next. That is one of the few jobs we do that is outside of the education area. It is registration for mechanics who have to take certain tests to stay certified. We do it twice a year. What we basically do is key in the information they provide on the form. So we have the paper form with their ssn, full name, dob, address, and what tests they need to sign up for, where they are testing and who is paying for the tests whether it be their employer or themselves.The biggest challenge with those forms is being able to read the handwriting. We key this information into a data base provided by the processor. We also have other work we do while working on this project. Mostly ACT, and SAT registration. And then a little later the responses to the SAT questions. That is one of my favorite projects. We used to have a lot more projects. It would be nothing to work on 20 different things in a day. And it used to be in the fall we would work 7 days a week nonstop all through fall. Not anymore. Scanning machines are slowly replacing data input. It makes me sad. I really do like my job. Especially when we have a variety of work.

I went to Super Walmart yesterday after work. I need to pick up a few things. And I also wanted to get a baby gift for a good friend (Diane) of mine. She is a former co worker. We have been friends for several years. And she had been trying for years to get pregnant. Finally it happened. She is almost 40. She had a baby girl on Tuesday Sept. 18th. she was 5 lbs 13ozs. Danielle Renee Byrn. I am so happy for her. It's always been her biggest wish to be a Mom. I will be seeing her on Sunday so I picked up some sleepers and little caps, and a stuffed bunny. While I was there I saw some things on sale that would fit Emma ( my good friend's grandbaby - that she is sharing with me. =) ). So I picked up a cute little shirt, and a cute shirt with winnie the pooh on it and little leggins with it. I also got her a precious moments stuffed little girl you press her tummy and she is saying her prayers. It is so cute. I was having a great time in the baby department. I hope I get to become a real grandma someday.

I am really rattling on here today. Anyone reading this has probably fallen asleep. I am not sure what I am going to do today until the game comes on. I have housework of course. But I really want to spend some time outside. So I will probably do some reading outside, and get a couple walks in with my IPOD on. What I really wish I could do is call up my bestest friend and go have coffee and browse the bookstores and then later have a late lunch. And just Chit chat. I miss her. We need to have a girls weekend real soon. Hint ..Hint... I will meet you half way. Pick the date.

I will stop here. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Enjoy.
Ciao for now.....
SHERI

Thursday - Still No OD

This is getting darn frustrating. Still no OD. I miss my OD friends. This is driving me nuts. I know there has to be a lot of others that are feeling the same way. The longer it's down the more I have to wonder if all the postings might be lost. I hope not.

I am really not looking forward to work today. We are still working on 5th Grade Essays. They are so hard to read. And the bad spelling, and terrible hand writing make it really tough at times. 7.5 hrs of transcribing can drive you crazy.

I wish everyone I knew at OD would come over here so I could catch up with them. If the site ever comes back up I may make a suggestion that people maybe cross post here so they have a back up. This not having contact with my favorites SUCKS big time. I know I am a total addict.

I am getting back into the hang of posting here. It's actually just as easy as OD if it keeps working. There were times before that I had become frustrated with problems here. And that is why I moved to OD. I guess I have come full circle. Nothing is perfect.

Great weather expected here today. Yesterday was awesome. It was cooler with lots of sunshine. I sat outside and read my book right after work while I waited for my hair appointment. It was so nice. I was sitting in the small park type area in the middle of our town. It was really strange because I could hear the kids from the school yard several blocks away. And then the bells chimed over by the birthplace. It was just so relaxing.

I better wrap this up and get my butt in the shower. I am sure I will be back soon. Ciao for now....

It has been a Loooooong Time ...

It has been well over a year since I posted here. I haven't forgotten my first blog. I have just been posting over at Open Diary for the last year or more. Thinking it was more user friendly. Yeah it was but in order to use it you have to be able to log on to it. The last two days have been a nightmare of not being able to even access the site. The url gives me no results today. It won't even change the page anymore. I am a self proclaimed OD addict so this has not been good for me. So I decided to come back over here and at least post something. and maybe read something else. Just to get a fix. I am going to have to get familar with this site again. I love to post pictures and posted alot in the past. But I have to remember how to do it again. So it might take me awhile to get comfortable again. I am going to try to post a pic or two before I sign off here. I may use this as a back up diary. Meaning I will cross post here. Just for kicks and Giggles. Hopefully I can get some of My OD friends to do the same so I won't have to be in complete withdrawal if OD crashes again. I just hope when it does come back up that I haven't lost any entries. That would really upset me. Fingers crossed here.

I will come back again soon I promise but for now... Ciao...

Saturday - July 29th, 2006

I know it's been awhile. Since right before vacation. I must express my disappointment. The vacation was just too damn short. It came and went so fast. I almost feel like it didn't happen. I made a huge mistake in including my sister and my niece. It changed the whole mood and I just feel totally cheated. My time with my best friend was great but I know it could have been so much better had I left my sister and niece at home. A hard lesson learned. The place we stayed at was great. The condo building itself was beach front. But our condo was street side. I thought I would be totally disappointed about that but I wasn't. The place was nice. And we only had to walk down the hall to the back of the building to the pool and the beach. I would stay there again. The draw backs were the weather. We had some long periods of rain. There was some construction just down from our building affecting the flow of traffic. And then my sister and my niece. Other than that I loved the time spent with my best friend. I just wish It had been longer and it would have been just her and I. We didn't have as much time to relax like last year because of trying to please the other two people. Big mistake. Ok enough dwelling on that we can't go back and redo. But I learned my lesson. And I do have some good memories from the trip.

My best friend gets married in less than a month. I am not sure what is going through her head right now. I am nervous for her. She is so much in love. It is going to be a big change for her. A change she didn't expect to be making at this time in her life. With her own two kids grown now and on their own. She is gaining a young stepson and a new way of life. But this is what she wants and I am happy for her. And she has basically been living with her man and his son for awhile now so she knows what is ahead. I can tell she has changed over the last year and is totally committed to her new life. I think this next year will be a total awakening for her in a lot of ways. And she is ready. I just don't want her to compromise herself for her new life. This is also her time in life to go for what she truly wants. Because she has a supportive man. She just needs to remember that she can now truly go for what she wants and still have a good life with J and C. I want the best of everything for her.

The wedding is going to be exciting. I think she is truly getting the wedding of her dreams. From the dress to the location ( aside from not being in Florida ) It will be beach front ( Lake front to be exact.) And I pray for a beautiful day weather wise. And I will be there standing beside her when she makes her new life commitment.

Change of subject. I didn't get my summer leave from work. Or haven't yet anyway. I had to go right back to work when I got back from vacation. It has not made me happy. I have been working my butt off on a new contract we were awarded. It is a two part deal. We are just about finished with the first part of it. That part is Due Friday August 4th. And I think we are going to finish it ahead of time. It's looking like maybe Wednesday at the latest. We have had a lot of good help from other departments. We are very grateful. The second part was due to start the middle to end of August. But the boss said they might push that up to start right after the delivery of the first part. Which would be GREAT for a couple reasons. We could finish it up long before the second due date and then we might be able to take some much needed time off the last few weeks of August. Before the next contract is due to start the first or second week of September. The second part isn't as big as the first part so should take much less time. We did the first part in around 16 or 17 working days. So I am praying the customer wants us to start right away so we can get it done and I can have some time off. And it will fall right before the wedding weekend. That will make it even better. And I might be able to go up there sooner than I have planned. OH wouldn't that be GREAT.

We have been fighting really extreme Heat here in Iowa. I know most of the country is having unusual heat waves. But this really sucks. You can't walk outside without it taking your breath away. The humidity is so high the heat index was 109 today. Temps were in the high 90's. It sucks. Florida was much cooler than here.

I am going to stop here I need to fix some dinner and then I can relax either in front of the TV or with my book after a cool shower. So ....

Ciao for now.
Diva in Iowa'

3 Days ... July 8th - 15th Vacation

Beach Time right around the corner. I can hardly stand it.

Monday - July 03, 2006

The Purple Hat ladies:

lft to rgt. TG, Sb, Me, and JK

Ok I am back... believe it or not and it hasn't even been a week. I am going to share a photo here. I didn't think I would ever do this - share a personal photo of myself here but somehow I feel ok doing it. This is a photo that was taken on Saturday. At my girlfriend Tammy's house. We relaxed in her pool after the movie at the IMAX. Crazy as we all are we decided to form a new group. We are going to call ourselves "The Purple Hat Ladies". I will tell you more about our little group in my future posts. We had a great time on Saturday. It was a gathering we had been talking about for a long time. So it was finally great to actually do it. We had a blast.

Countdown to Florida ... 5 Days. Excitement is mounting for all of us. Maybe I will get brave and add more personal photos when we get back. You never know. I don't think I have an abundance of readers here if I do they are hiding in the shadows.

I have to run and get some thing done around here. Is anyone that is reading this and posting in their own blogs here having trouble posting? It takes forever to get the post to go through. Let alone a photo attachment. What's up with that?

'Diva in Iowa'