And hopefully the end of the super cold weather, as it should be.  But it seems that was not true last year.   One morning this week I looked the thermometer outside when I went for the paper in the morning and it was -16.  Luckily I had been on the treadmill first and my body had some warmth going on.   But it is getting better and today was warmer, and the next few days the trend should continue.  Of course the sun will go away and we may get some snow,   but still better than below zero.

Other wise it was a busy work week for both of us.  Still lot’s of challenges but getting better.  Certainly not boring and no lack of things to do!

We did get out to a movie this week.  Chris and I went to see Avatar 3D.   Pretty amazing movie.   I was pretty tired that night but am still thinking about it and HOW did they make the movie.  And the 3d is pretty amazing also.   Go see it,  something there for everyone.  If ‘you don’t like the story line you can marvel at the effects and ‘how did they do that”?

And we ended the week spending some time with Mom,  and had the chance to go out with old friends John and Mary Koss.   And we went out to a place we did many years ago, Pitch’s.  The ribs and hashbrowns were as good as we remembered them.  Which doesn’t happen often.

So time t0 start the next week.  I am sure it will go quickly for me, and that means getting closer to the next Florida trip mid month.  Can’t wait to see Wally and Bev and get WARM.

Enjoy life!

Another week gone by.  It has been a busy one.    My new job title is Regional Buyer.  So some of my old responsibilities have changed, and added some new ones.   So I have more plants to watch over and more items to take care of.   I used to take care of all outsourcing,  which are items that we cannot do in our plant and need to find vendors to do.   I also found other RRD facilities,  which has been a big push with the economy down – keep the dollars inside RRD.  I will still do the outsourcing,  but not be as involved once I cut a PO, and will not deal with the RRD plants.   I will now do that for 3 other plants also,  although they have no where near the volume we do in Menasha.   I also have other commodities that will be under my watch.   One person in our plant was cut and they name 3 of us as regional buyers.  Unfortunately one of the 3 resigned on Tuesday.   So for the moment I have a lot of new commodities, at least temporarily!   So it has been a week of trying to learn new things,  lot’s of conference calls and meetings.  Monday I still have to go to two of our new plants for a sit down and go through responsibilities.  And hopefully as the week goes on I have more time to do my job!  Now I know why my boss did not want me to take time off in January,  I had told him we had a long weekend planned in Feb.  so we have that to look forward to.  The next few weeks will continue to be ‘from hell’.  But it will start to get better.

We had a wonderful time on Friday night,  having our neighbors over for our holiday party.  A few people could not make it   but still had a nice showing and had the chance to really catch up with good friends.  I always seem to be in a rush to come or go,  and we seldom sit and talk.    Another thing I need to get better at!

Saturday I went into work for awhile.  Chris started taking down the tree,  I won’t let it down before my birthday!   So once the party was over it was slated to come down.  Chris did most of the work,  taking off the ornaments and wrapping them up.  Then the rest of the decorations.   So now they are wrapped, packed, and put away in the garage.    The house looks rather empty.

Luckily we did not get as much rain as I heard forecast.  Not a lot of down pours.  So the water seems to be running off well.   And the road does not look too bad,  which is important as the temperature is supposed to be dropping tonight and back to the cold.  The last couple of days near 40,  amazing for January.  A lot of the snow has melted off the roofs and the tops of the trailers, which is good.   Hopefully when it gets cold we do get to see some sunshine,  as that has been pretty scarce.    It sure has been easy to heat the house with the fireplace.   in the upper 20’s and 30’s Chris does not like the fire going much,  because the house continues to get warmer.  OK with me!

So the first football game is over, and I am happy with the colts winning.  Guess who I am NOT rooting for in the second game.

So have a great week.  I expect to be tired and ready for the next weekend to come, but will take it one day at a time.     Enjoy,  have a good beer.

Where is the sunshine?   It was supposed to be a nice weekend.  But yesterday in Milwaukee the sun did not come out until mid afternoon and today  there was just a glimpse late in the day.  But it could be a lot worse.  Temperatures around 30 in January are welcome.

Friday night we got together with Dick and Carol in Greendale,  it had been awhile so that was nice.    Saturday shopped for Mom and saw Muriel.    Then headed home mid afternoon.   Moved some firewood, and we went to see a movie last night.  Up in the Air,  I liked it.  Not as good as Blind Side but still entertaining and makes you think!

Today I walked down by the lake and see there has been a lot of shifting near the shoreline.  Unusual, and not good.  Looks like my supports right at the shoreline have been pushed and will need some work before the thaw.   And I’ll need to do some work on the shore station to stablize it.    Lot’s of deer tracks in our yard also.   I’ll need to encourage them to go elsewhere before things start growing in Spring.

Friday I had my job position change.  The good news is I was on the right side of WFR (work force reduction)   so I am still there.   Not entirely surprising.  I expected changes at some point just did not know when.  So have some different priorities and more plants to work with.

So hope you have a good week.  Tomorrow a special day to remember Dad, gone 5 years, and Phil who left us last year.

Have to get used to that 10 yet!  The years do keep going by.  At times in life we wanted them to go fast,   but it seems looking back you wish they would have slowed down.  People I should have spent more time with,  questions I should have asked,  times I should have relaxed and enjoyed more.   We just are never satisfied, are we?   Can the years hurry up so I get to retirement, or can I have a few more to save more money?  And when I get there will we still be healthy?  We certainly will be closer to the ends of our lives,  and what year will that be?   Yea,  no answers and not worth wasting time worrying,  back to that enjoy the moment.  We are blessed and life is good.  Bypass the things that are not so great, don’t dwell on those but on the good.  It’s much more enjoyable.

So today I’m going to dwell on not much to do but watch football.  That the sun is out,  not that whether in the sun or shade the temp sucks!  A week ago Chris and I watched the Packer game in an outdoor bar with a band and had no place to hurry to.  And no place to hurry to today, listening to a Darius Rucker CD while I write this.  The new black guy in country,  but I liked Hootie and Blowfish too.

So enjoy your day and your week coming up.  I’m only feeling sorry for Andria since it is her first time to experience winter, and Minneapolis is colder than us!   Hang in there girl!

Happy New Year to everyone!   I made it down to Florida on the 29th,  some flight issues but still made my connections.   MJ and Chris were already here and we had some nice days.    Although it has been cooling off since after New Years it is still bright sunshine, and the sun feels warm.   MJ left to be home New Years and we made it to the beach before she left.  It was a little windy that day but still crowded.

For New Years Eve Chris and I joined the Enders in Fort Meyers.  As usual they showed us a great time,  we rang in the New Year on New Years Eve and again on New Years Day!     We came home on Saturday and have been catching up with friends here in Boynton Beach.   More people are starting to come into the condo’s now that the holidays are over.  And while it is cool for south Florida it is still much better than the north!

We were supposed to leave today for home,   but when I tried to check in yesterday I could not.  So called the 800 number and she could not see why I could not and transferred me to IT support.  At first he thought it looked good but saw some notifications,  and then figured out they had the first leg of our flight on for 1/5/10 and the second leg for 1/4/10.  That did not work out.   So lot’s of time on the phone with a nice guy.   But he could not get us to Appleton on Delta or Northwest without making several stops.   What’s up in Appleton?   So we decided to stay another day and we have our original flight times, getting into Appleton after 7 pm tonight.  My boss is OK with it so we have an unexpected extra day to relax.

So it looks like it will be awful cold getting into the parking lot tomorrow night and starting the car!  But we will be back,  at least it does not look like there has been much snow that will need to be cleaned off the driveway.   I am sure it would have all been packed down into ice by now anyway.

So we had a good start to 2010,  and we hope you all have a healthy 2010.