Merry Christmas!

We had a lovely Christmas. I got many nice tops from Dan. This year I went through catalogs and circled the items I liked. I wrote my size and color next to it. All Dan had to do was go through and pick things at his discretion. The blue sweater in the photo is a present.

His argyle sweater is a gift from me. I bought it with a pin-striped shirt but grabbed a medium instead of a large. Oops. Oh well, there's a trip to Target tomorrow. But isn't it very "Clinton-esque"?

We got LED lights for the tree this year. They have many settings to twinkle the lights. We have it set to a slow twinkle. They're nice and they save on electricity. We enjoyed a nice dinner with the in-laws. It was a good time. Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season!!

Meet Bert & Ernie

Meet Bert & Ernie. We had them for dinner tonight. They were excellent guests ;) My mom gives Omaha Steaks as a gift for Christmas and I was like, "Umm... We live here and can go to a restaraunt and get a steak." So this is how she did it for us in the Midwest.

What do I miss about NY? Fresh seafood. Dan gets me to try new things and, of course, now that I like fish where do we live? BFE!! So this is a really special gift. Thanks to Mama Starla for providing this great dinner.

We were surprised to see 2 live lobsters in the styrofoam cooler. One of them, Bert, is really lively. Ernie not so much. I told Dan I don't want to be in the kitchen when they go in the pot. I know they don't really scream. That it's just the water vapor forming steam and escaping through the spaces in the shell. Even knowing that, I don't want to hear it. It's bad enough we gave them names.

We're getting excited for Christmas. I get 5 days off. I work until noon tomorrow (Chrstmas Eve) and then I don't go back to work until Tuesday the 30th. Cool, right? The business is closed on Friday, a company floating holiday, and I took Monday off b/c I had a personal day that I would lose if I didn't take before the end of the year. I'll post more pics after Christmas to show the tree and all that. We are hosting dinner for the in-laws. It should be nice.

Merry Christmas!!

Well, we re-arranged the living room and bought a bunch of stuff for it. Linens 'N' Things is going out of business so we got slip covers for the very old couch and the recliner. We also got the new rug and throw pillows. I think it's very hip now. We actually match the furniture to the rug and pillows. Nice. I also threw in some pics of how I decorated for Christmas.

I decided I wanted a red and white theme this year. I think we'll get a tree today. It'll look nice with red and white ornaments. I just can't decide on colored lights or white lights. We've always done colored lights. We'll see what looks better.

I spent the day cleaning and doing laundry. My favorite. I'm excited to look for that part-time job in the new year. I will wait a little on applying only b/c my mom is visiting for my birthday at the end of January. And then we always have a party on Superbowl Sunday. I wouldn't want to get a job and then have to ask for a bunch of days off right away.

Another exciting thing coming up is ballroom lessons. That's right... a studio was giving away free dance lessons to promote business. Dan and I are going to our 1st of 3 on January 7th. I'm really excited. We wanted to take lessons before our wedding and we never did. We both watch "Dancing with the Stars" and always talk about lessons. Well now we get to do it! Cool.

My job still sucks allthough I actually did work on Friday. Wow. Real work. It was wierd and nice. I cannot work there forever. I have confidence in my plan to get out. I'm thinking about applying to Kohl's and Dillard's. They are kind of more upscale retail (if there is such a thing). We'll see what happens.

Time to go get the laundry out of the dryer and wake Dan up from his nap. He worked today, like every Saturday, but he had to go in early. Early is like 4am. He deserves a nap b/c we will stay up tonight playing RockBand. We are going to try and rent the new Track Pack they have out for it. P.S. to Pi: a GREAT present would be RockBand 2 for Playstation 2 if you can't think of anything to get us ;0). Enjoy the season!!

Thanksgiving 2008

Here are a couple of pictures from Thanksgiving. We hosted Dan's father and 2 sisters. We had to get new linens b/c we only had service for 4. All of the plates, silverware and glasses are ours that we never used and now we have this beautiful setting for 5 or 6. I picked out the napkin rings and Dan did the rest. Ya know, he gets mad when I call him "My little Clinton" but then he wants to brag about how he matched all of our linens. Men!

I luckily had Friday off. All though, I didn't go to work all week b/c I got a really bad cold which I thought was strep. Turned out no strep but a nasty cold. I almost lost my voice at the NIN concert on Wednesday night. It was AWESOME!! Our favorite band. Well, I'm sure I'll be talking to family soon. I was actually in bed right after people left on Thursday. I was beat. Doing round 2 of the dishes today kicked my butt as well. I'll be good to go back to work on Monday... boo! Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

P.S. The turkey in a brine this year was excellent! Watch "Good Eats: Romancing the Bird" and you'll know what I'm talking about.

I have an idea

Well, I thought of something to fix a lot of problems. Starting after the new year I will get a second job at a retail store as a cashier or floor person. I always liked working in retail and there is always something to do. I would like to aspire to an asst. manager and then manager. I think it would be fun and challenging. I figure I can apply for a position like that when it gets posted while I'm working part-time and b/c I have a 4 year degree, they might consider me more than the next guy. Then I could quit my full-time job I have now and transition into reatil.
This will also help pay off debt faster. That is the goal before we buy a house. I don't want to have to spend every dollar we make on bills... not fun! It will also get me into an environment where I can interact with more people. I'm excited about this idea and I think it will open a lot of doors for me. We bought a new placemat set today for Thanksgiving so watch for photos!!

Wow, 2 days in a row???

I think I'll try and follow Mama Starla's example and be a "better blogger". I used to write in a journal to get all the crap out of my head. Now, it hurts to write for a long period of time and I type much faster than I write. So, here goes...
I've realized that I'm kind of depressed lately. I went to a benefit dinner for a guy that works at the lab I used to work at. His family was T-boned by a drunk driver and his wife and oldest daughter are still wearing the "halo" neck brace things. Those are the ones that prevent any side-to-side movement of your head. His wife also broke her ankle and is in a wheel chair. They have twins who are about to turn 2. Imagine the stress on the family. While the dinner was nice to get to see people I used to work with, it made me sad b/c I don't have any friends at my new job.
I mean, I have people that I chat with but no one to vent to when Dan does something stupid. Or to cry to when I learn the expensive lesson of a "waiting period" on fillings. Oops. I have Dan to talk to when I get home but that's it. I have social anxiety disorder which hinders my social life.
I don't like to talk on the phone. I never have. I have this fear about it that I can't describe. That is one of the symptoms of this stupid disorder. I also get very anxious and tense when I have to attend a social function w/o Dan. He is my safety blanket and without him around I am extremely shy. I know I can make friends and I know I am funny and fun to be around. But another symptom of this is that I make up these events to be something they are not in my head. And then I find all the excuses in the world not to go.
I need some friends. I am going to look into taking a Zoomba class at the YMCA. It's like dance aerobics. That would get me out of the house and I could maybe find a person or 2 to have as an aquaintance. I find it hard to make friends with women. I had one very best friend all through middle school and then junior year in high school she didn't want to hang out with me anymore. This hurt my feelings beyond belief and I am not very trusting of women since then. Hence, all of our friends are guys...without girlfriends. Boo.
They are also a lot younger than I am and I feel they are more Dan's friends than mine. If Dan is tired on a Friday night I let him go to bed and I will take a bath and have a glass of wine rather than call any of "our" friends. I've learned to get by like this my whole life. I feel it's easier to stay in than to venture out into the scary world by myself.
I am working on getting over that. It's hard and I'm left being sad and alone a lot. We'll see how this Y thing works out. I also want to take ballroom dancing with Dan. That way we could meet couples (maybe our age) and expand our group of friends to include people who don't sit around all weekend and drink beer.
Time to go get the laundry out of the dryer. I thought last weekend as I was walking up from the basement, laundry basket in hand,"What would my Saturdays be like if I had a life?" I laughed to myself b/c again, I'm happy cleaning my house and doing my laundry every Sat. Mama Starla calls it caccooning. I'm pretty darn good at it!!
I'll keep my 3 readers (ha ha) posted on the events or non-events in my social life. I know it's not that scary out there, I just have to convince myself to go out and try it!

Halloween

Okay, we didn't dress up b/c none of our friends had a party...losers!! But we did carve pumpkins. I used the wonderful trace-it book patterns and Dan free-handed his. Since he did so many skull and pumpkin cakes at work, his carvings came out really well. I'm very proud of mine b/c all the kids that came trick-or-treating loved Mickey and Minnie. Minnie was a pain in the a**. I know they're not pics of us in costume but I hope you like them anyway.

Life update

So I colored my hair. I normally color it when I get it cut but this time I decided to leave the blonde highlights out. I like the darker shade. It's a nice change. I need change b/c I am already bored at my job.

I am not challenged there. I understand that I am still learning but it's really hard to feel like I've done something productive when all I did all day was read the news online. I mean, I'm testing stuff while I read the news but I don't feel like I accomplish anything. I could never be an R&D person... it's so boring!!

I play solitaire, freecell and minesweeper enough to choke a dead horse. I am proud to be up on my current events. I read a lot of articles on the election. It's really interesting. Like the story on Friday where a girl made up being attacked at an ATM and having a backwards letter B carved onto her face. She was a McCain supporter and lied to police telling them that she was robbed at an ATM and the guy cut a B on her face. Holy lots of bad press for the McCain campaign. Oh well.

I figure I can stick it out at this job for a while. At least to reap the health benefits. I visited the dentist for the first time in years the other day. I went in for a routine cleaning and exam (which I haven't had since who knows when) and then I got the appts. scheduled for my fillings. Yes, many fillings. It is nice to be in and out of the dentist in an hour. I got 5 fillings done (located in the same general area) the other day.

This is so much better than Creighton Dental School. I went there when I was without insurance while temporarily employed at the lab. I mean, they do good work, but the appts. last for 3 hours b/c they do the work and then have to get it checked off by a professor/dentist. I don't miss falling asleep in the chair with a dental dam holding my mouth open. Man, did that suck.

I'm trying to figure out what I want to do if I leave my current positon. I could do anything. I've thought of going back to school but for what? That's what I need to find out.

These are my ravings for the day. I will soon be carving pumpkins for Halloween. Dan and I are going to a party as Ron Burgandy and Vanessa Corningstone from "Anchorman". I will post pics, don't worry. Happy Halloween to all!!!

Check out the new wheels!

We got a new car!! It's an '07 Saturn Vue, v6 and AWD. It's totally rad. Dan now drives the Escort to work and I get the Vue. It only takes me ~7 minutes to get to work so we won't rack up the miles. Even though we take turns driving places, it is my new car. We dropped off the '94 Ford Aerostar van to the father-in-law's house. Dan had been driving that for a couple of years now. I'm so glad we don't have the van anymore. It worked when it had to but it's old and sounds like crap. Enjoy the new car, we sure are!

Can I vent for a minute?

So I read a lot of news lately b/c I can't really find things to do with myself at my job. Some days I have things to test and other days I decorate my office. Anyway, I need to vent about Sarah Palin. I read an article describing a rally where a bunch of "soccer moms" attended. They were making comments like "she is just like us" and "she has flaws and she's telling people about them, she's just another working mom". Well, it's all well and good that she admits to having flaws. But if she's Vice President of the United States her flaws aren't going to be the same as Sally Smith's. Sally's flaw is that she burns the cookies for the PTA bake sales every time she bakes them. Not like the flaw of... I'm VP and the prez. just died. What does a vice president do again? Also the naughty librarian look is not working. She looks like one of those women in videos like Hot For Teacher. It's like they blindfolded McCain and spun him around like pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. He pointed and Sarah Palin won the prize. They don't even agree on some issues that are important to voters like spending, stem cell research and drilling in ANWAR. She also has contridicted herself with her comments on climate change. She's not clear on her views. These elections are getting worse than kids in middle school starting rumors. It makes me sad that is comes to ads and media hype every election. I will vote anyway.

My mom's 60th birthday

It's been a while. I had to post some pictures from my mom's surprise 60th birthday party. My sister, Pi, flew me down to Tampa for the long weekend. 2 aunts flew in as well. Add a cousin and you've got yourself a party! We had a great time and my mom had absolutely no idea that we were coming. My niece is awesome and I love her to death. I was worn out by the end of it. I made it home with only one problem on the flights. We had to turn around en route from Atlanta to Omaha b/c the de-icing mechanism was not working. New plane, back in the air, home late, but safe. It's all good. Enjoy!

Video upload

I tried putting a video of Kiryn dancing at the reception on today but there was an error. I'm going to have Dan try and put it on his YouTube channel. You can then view this video if you go to YouTube and search by channel for thesithinferno. There are some other videos for your amusement as well. The Omaha Regional Jumpstyle champion video is rated R due to language. Thank you.

My cousin's wedding

Last weekend Dan & I drove to WI for my cousin's wedding. It was a blast! I got to see my mom, sister and niece. We had a rockin' time at the reception. Here are some pics. I didn't get very good ones of the bride and groom but that's what the professional photographer is for. Enjoy!!

Yes, I'm a survey taker too!!

I couldn't help it. I saw this on cousin Kitty's blog and sister Pi's blog so here it is:

20 years ago:
1. I was 9 years old in elementary school at Oak Street Elementary
2. I had a Def Leppard poster on my wall
3. All of my Barbies still had their hair
4. I had a boyfriend, Brian Griffin (if you consider a boyfriend some one you never talk to and never associate with)
5. I wore my long hair in a side ponytail


10 years ago:
1. I got my tongue pierced
2. I was living through my parent's divorce aftermath
3. I was doing a bunch of drugs and failing out of college
4. I lived in an awesome suite with 3 good friends
5. My love life was questionable and unsteady


5 years ago:
1. I moved to Omaha
2. I had no friends and family close by
3. I worked at a bank
4. My sister got engaged
5. I joined WW and lost a bunch of weight


3 years ago:
1. I quit the bank and got a lab job
2. I moved into a rental house with my fiance
3. I got to go home for sis Pi's wedding (maid of honor, thank you very much)
4. We had our 1st annual Mojito party
5. We started our initial wedding plans


1 year ago:
1. I got married in an art museum
2. My sister had a baby
3. I went to Vegas for my honeymoon and would kill to be back there
4. I got a new tattoo
5. The hubby got one too


This year:
1. I quit my job and got a new one at a production lab
2. I turned 29 and even when I'm 30 I'll still tell people I'm 29
3. I lost some more weight and am finally ok with who I am
4. I celebrated one year of wedded bliss
5. I went camping in a tent for the first time in 20 years(sleeping on the ground is over-rated!)


Yesterday:
1. I got a sunburn while drinking rum and diet Cokes
2. I did some laundry
3. I read some of a great book
4. I realized relaxing is ok
5. I ate ice cream and went to bed at 9pm


Today:
1. I worked on my tan while reading
2. I re-potted my indoor plants
3. I did some light grocery shopping
4. I realized I start a new job on Monday (AAAAAAHHHHH!!!)
5. I got in a fight with the husband(boo)


Tomorrow:
1. I will clean and do laundry(like every Saturday)
2. I will go shopping for business casual clothing for the new job
3. Maybe I'll lie out in the sun
4. I'll bake cookies (I made cookie dough last night)
5. I'll have a couple of drinks (hey, it's Saturday night)


Next year:
1. I will buy a house
2. We might try to get pregnant
3. I would like to visit the parents in NY
4. I'm going to turn 30
5. I'm going to cry about turning 30

A new chapter begins

I put in my formal 2 week notice today at the old job!! I was really nervous. I mean, I know I have every right to quit a job but I always feel guilty about it. My last day will be July 8th. This will give me a little mini-vacation before I start the new job on July 14th. I'm really excited. I totally lied through my teeth to my supervisor about why I was leaving. I said it was b/c of a lack of opportunity to move up and gain more responsibility. This is true but the fact that I'm the hardest darn worker there and I get overlooked for praise and recognition by my supervisor is the real reason. I don't want to burn any bridges though b/c I will still have to be in contact with my old lab when I start the new job. The new job is where they make autosamplers for the instruments we use now. I don't want to have bad blood between myself and Larry, my supervisor, when I might have to work with him the future. Lies or not, it feels darn good to know I'll be out of there in 2 weeks!! It's going to be very hard to go there every day now. Oh well, I'm leaving and I've taken so much crap from them, what's a little more?

Our Cardinal

This is our cardinal. He stops by the feeder every now and again. I think he's gorgeous and I love to sit and watch him. I think he knows I'm there b/c he only stays for a minute. I always thought cardinals were ground feeders but I guess I was wrong (which is a rare occurance, hee hee). Enjoy our Wild America right here in Omaha, NE.

Our friendly neighborhood Bull Snake

I was walking by our window on Thursday afternoon and wondered why all of the birds were in the street. I thought something had died or some one had littered some food into the street. When I took a closer look it was this guy. Dan and I went out to get a closer look. We watched it wind its way down the street and then 2 neighborhood boys came who weren't afraid to pick it up. They carried it to safety. I couldn't believe a snake this big was just chillin' on the street in our front yard!! Enjoy.

The silver lining...

So after the worst day of work... I got a job offer!! It is the production lab I had an interview with last Friday. They accepted my salary which is a little more than what I made this past year at my current job. I'm so excited I can barely sit still!!
I will be giving my 2 weeks next Tuesday. I will finish on the end of a pay period to make it easy for everyone. This will also give me some days off b/c I'll tell the new job I can start Monday June 30th. Dan and I just got back from Chili's to celebrate. They make really good Bacardi and Diet Cokes. I'm off to watch "So You Think You Can Dance" tryouts on Fox. Remember to wish The Pi Lady a very happy birthday today!! Hope you enjoy your gift from your sis!!

Over worked & under-appreciated

Man, my day sucked! Instead of a "thank you" or a "good job" from my supervisor, I get more work. Yet my co-worker gets a pat on the back everytime she turns around! I really value politeness and I think a "thank you" goes a long way. I am the most efficient and productive person in my dept. and I get no thanks and more work. How do you figure that?
I almost walked out the door today. But I don't have a new job quite yet. I am negotiating salary right now. I am worried that it won't be what I make now. I might have to reconsider leaving my lab to go to this one. Boo. Oh well, some day a job will come (imagine Cinderella singing "Some day my prince will come"). Is it Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty? I get my Disney Princess movies mixed up even though I own both of them. Ok, off to eat ice cream.

Hi. I'm Jane. I work in a science related field, hence the Jane's Science Spot name of my blog. I actually had an interview today for a production lab. I'm very hopeful that they will hire me and I can leave my lab job that I currently have. I feel that I am over-worked and under-appreciated at my current job as a lab analyst.
It's wierd that since I moved to Omaha from NY that lab jobs are hard to come by. I have a degree in environmental science but a lot of good that does me in the middle of the country with no mountains and no real lakes (they are all man-made out here). If I would have stayed in NY I could have worked for the DEC or EPA but out here it's a lot harder to find work.
I do like Omaha and my husband, Dan, is using his degree to the best of his abilities. He is a cake designer here in Omaha. He has a BA in studio art so he's pretty darn good at mixing colors and creating just what you want.
We live here with 2 cats, Sunny and Daphne. They rule our lives until we get a dog. We are thinking of getting a Bernese Mountain Dog and naming her Bella. This would stem from Dan's infatuation with Harry Potter. He thought that if we get a black dog it should be named Bella, after Bellatrix LeStrange from Harry Potter fame. I agreed that it would be a good name and there are puppies available right now but I think we would save more money if we waited.
See, we want to buy a house next year and getting a dog right now is not really budget friendly. I would love a dog since we are both more "dog" people than "cat" people. But you can have cats in apartments and not pay that much more on your deposit. A dog, on the other hand, is quite expensive. And it's a lot of work. Dan is working overnights right now b/c of the high demand for graduation cakes. He also has many wedding cakes to do at this time of year. If I get a new job that would mean a different schedule and that is no good for training a dog. Oh well, sometime soon.
Other than that, we enjoy what Omaha has to offer. Frisbee golf, hot, humid weather in the summer and lots of places to eat. We like living here b/c of our friends and family. Dog or no dog... we like it here.