Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in crystldrgnmom's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
8:26 am	Christmas List I will add to this as I think of things. A sweater- size XLG/1X  maybe a green or rust color Okami (sp?) -the wolf game Easy Reversible Vests by Carol Doak A rhinestone pin from an antique store A  belt- forty inches, black narrow enough to fit dress pants loops Roy Sweatshirt underwear socks Current Mood: anxious (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 20th, 2008
7:03 am	I didn't die, but I have been busy! Work has settled down a little bit for now. We were putting in way too much overtime, and I had, and still have, six contingent workers to train and do paperwork for. I had a meeting with Lynn last week and we have a lot of work to do updating the Matrix for the move to Main next month. I have a meeting scheduled with Melanie to discuss which machines are moving with us and what processes will change. I have not been doing anything creative since before Christmas. I have been spending money on Ebay....bad habit to get into. *grin* I have bought some books on collecting and I bought a teacup and saucer. I have gone to a few auctions, the last one I stayed at and spent $81.00. I had six boxes of potential treasures, but on closer examination had very few treasures. Oh well, I had fun. Roy bought me a new digital camera for an early birthday present. I think he hopes that I will sell some of my auction junk on Ebay that is currently sitting in boxes on the dining room floor. That is my mission for today. I filled my prescription for Chantix and am trying to quit smoking, early days yet. But maybe this will help me to quit my nastiest habit. After that I am going to try to exercise more, but one bad habit at a time seems more attainable. Well, I need to read my camera instructions and take some pictures. Current Mood: determined (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
8:09 pm	Hmmmm I realized it has been ages since I posted. It has been a busy fall. Amanda has settled in nicely. We changed the extra bedroom upstairs into a sitting room for her so she can spread her stuff out. I painted the libary downstairs.(I know, our whole house is practically a library....we all like to read!) Next project is the installation of the new back entryway door, if our guy ever shows up. He told Roy the end of August and still no show, no call, don't ya love handymen? We are in the process of fall garden cleanup. (Roy is such a treasure, he does the bulk of this) I did get some tulip bulbs planted, so far I don't think the squirrels have stolen them! We met Callie's friend Jeff at supper the other night, otherwise known as "Scarf Jeff" apparently because he wears one in the winter. *grin* We are gearing up at work, of course not as much as was earlier predicted. Many of our builds are disappearing, some to the Main Plant and some to Torreon, Mexico. Our production line is slated to move to the Main Plant at the end of the year. *sigh* I hate change. I try to keep an upbeat attitude about it, at work anyway, but,... I HATE CHANGE! I likes,me, my rut. We went to the farm last weekend and saw Shannon and Irene's trailer. They are doing a lot of work with it. Sadly, my sweet sister decided to work on her own house that day so did not get to see her. Their street is all torn up while the city works on sewer and water pipes. We went through that a few years ago, not fun! Friend Jane stopped for a visit one evening, we had a long talk until almost 10pm, when I started to fall asleep on her. *grin* Am making some progress on junk reduction and reorganization....it is not my forte, I am much better at the accumulation of junk. It is so difficult to restrain myself at auctions...so much cool stuff! Current Mood: Mweh (Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 7th, 2007
6:45 pm	August Update Well,working with Lynn this summer never did pan out. Everyone thought it was a good idea, but no one knew how to pay me. I was not in the training budget and production did not want to pay me while I worked for the training department. Steve the plant manager asked me to apply for one of the two Final Assembly OJT positions soon to be posted. Complemented me on my training ability.....etc. I asked him if that would mean I lose my level three grade as a surface mount operator. (Final assembly is level two and the raises are less and the top pay is less than level three.) He realized he had not thought of that and asked me to apply and we would discuss it then. Quite frankly, I would rather lose the 75 cents an hour and not be an OJT than go down a level. I can almost make up the difference in one years pay raise. I always do my best to meet a supervisors expectations and get a top end raise every year. It sounds like the prototype line will be moving over to Main this winter, I keep hearing December. No one is jumping for joy at the idea if the move. The main plant is crowded and noisy and dirty, and the people are pretty much stressed and pissed all the time. The OJT topic of discussion this month will be "Dealing with Change". *grin* Amanda is playing "Twilight Princess" and discovered that when you kill one of those bomb laying birds you can scoop up a worm in a bottle to use for fishing. "Keuhl!" Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Friday, July 27th, 2007
7:22 pm	OK Amanda, here is my update. I have been working way too much overtime. (Anything more than a couple of hours is too much by me. I have been making way too little crafts. (See above.) My daughter starts her new job at Microsoft next month. (Shouts of joy and dancing with joy by said soon-to-be employee.) My hair looks like shit cuz I want to grow it out and don't want to cut it. (I may not stay with that resolve since it is driving me nuts.) I have been trying to eat less and lose some weight. (Why does one little bowl of ice cream make you gain two pounds?) I am tired. I worked twelve hours today. (On my feet every fricken second too.) I am going to go eat some ice cream and go to bed. (Will power is a fine thing and I am so glad I have none.) *grin* Current Mood: Achy (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 17th, 2007
5:40 pm	Shannon is still in the hospital, he has had four surgeries now, the last a skin graft. So far he has not had any of his foot amputated. He has got a Staph infection and will have intravenous antibiotics for the next several weeks. As you can imagine he is heartily sick of the hospital. He and Irene have decided to postpone the wedding since his recovery is going so slowly and he is still having a lot of pain. We had the wedding shower last weekend and Irene recieved some very nice gifts. She is keeping most of their stuff at the farm since they will be staying with Janet and Steve until Shannon is able to get around on his own steam and get back to work. Amanda, we are coming to your house on Friday, the 25th with a moving van and will help you pack up. I took Tuesday off as well so we have plenty of time. Love you, kiddo. (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 26th, 2007
3:55 pm	Sad News! I came home from work yesterday and Roy had upsetting news. Our nephew, Shannon, had an accident at work. He was welding inside a tube used for the wind towers when it collapsed. He had both his ankles crushed and the Doctors think one of his feet may have to be amputated. Shannon is planning a wedding in June and for now they are not canceling. We are planning to see him on Friday if they are allowing visitors yet. Most of his past injuries have been attributable to moving vehicles, who would have expected something like this? I know my poor sister is devastated, who wouldn't be? I plan to try to call her tonight. Shannon is such an active young man, wrenching on cars is his favorite hobby. The inactivity during his recovery is going to be difficult for him. Please join me in my prayers for his recovery and strength throughout it. Current Mood: distressed (Comment on this)
Sunday, March 4th, 2007
8:51 am	Post Blizzard We went driving around town yesterday. The world was all bright blue sky and sparkling pristine snow glittering on the roads and rooftops. The sun was warm, even though the wind was cold. It was a beautiful day. I made a double batch of banana bread and took a two hour nap in the afternoon. Subsequently, I was up until 2 AM. No naps today, I need to get up for work tomorrow morning. I finished my three purses and to celebrate I intend to visit Kathy, or Janet, or both, this afternoon, if anyone is home. I found some ME cherry fabric so the new project will be a table topper, to match her curtains, for Mom for Mother's day. My presentation for the OJT group went...ok. I was shocked to find the room totally full, usually there are less than ten attending. I was barely in time from the other building, in spite of skipping break, because I wanted to finish what I was working on. So I was a little nervous, it has been years since I got up in front of a group, and it is difficult not to be self conscious. I rushed instead of waiting for responses at first, but as we did the self assertion activity the group loosened up and shared some experiences and it ended well. Lynn makes it look so easy. She told me that Steve said I will be working with her June, July and August to get the class room training up to date. It does not look to be a permanent position for the time being, but eventually......maybe. I had a nice conversation with Maggie last night. She says I sent the two feet of snow their way when I sent her a group of snowmen tumbling around the letters "SNOW". She threatened to send them back to me! (grin) Current Mood: relaxed (Comment on this)
Friday, February 16th, 2007
4:14 pm	Is it Spring yet? Well I spent two weeks indulging in crabby, grumpy, lazy, unenthusiastic winter doldrums until I was sick of myself. Luckily, I was getting past them when my lovely daughter came home for a visit last weekend and we got to help her celebrate her birthday. We went to supper at Famous Dave's at her request since she was hungry for barbeque. Roy ordered pecan pie....he got a fourth of the pie, I swear! (I swiped a bite.) It was sooo good! Her birthday is on Valentine's Day, but hard to make a four hour drive in the middle of the week. Roy and I stayed home on the 14th and had Bertolli's Chicken Alfredo with Portabello mushrooms, it was delicious! Roy made his second batch of chocolate chip cookies with walnuts. This time he only used one cup of walnuts instead of the whole bag. That first batch was very good, but didn't have much cookie to hold the nuts together! (grin) This batch actually looks more like cookies. Both batches were yummy! Our Cardinals apparently have left the area, it must have been too cold for them. We see mostly sparrows and a few finches and nuthatches. There are lots of bunny tracks under the bird feeders, but I haven't seen them out there. Smart bunnies! We went to Tochi's and got some wheat to plant for the kitties, they certainly appreciated having something green to chew on, even though it does make a mess. They will pull it out and scatter dirt all over the floor. Nani-chan is still as naughty as ever and Jack is still my cuddle love. Next week I get to lead the OJT meeting. I even have a game to play. It is going to be about self assertion, something I could use some work on. Intellectually I know that I can't expect people to stop doing things that annoy me if they aren't aware that they are annoying me, but emotionally I am very non-confrontational and tend to just get annoyed and stew for awhile until I get over it....at least until the next time. So maybe I can improve my own behavior and speak up and say, "Excuse me, but I would like you to stop(whatever)." They may not stop, but I will feel better for having spoken up anyway. (grin) I will try to remember to update and let you know how it goes. (I know I have a large audience of readers out there who hang on my every word. *grin*) Current Mood: lazy (Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 30th, 2007
9:37 pm	Brrrr It is cold and going to get colder. I shiver, I shake, my legs ache. Brrr. Roy had a doctors appointment today. He got good news, he is doing well. He will go again in 6 months for a recheck. I am so proud of him for quitting the drinking. Some guys get cirrhosis and keep drinking themselves to death. Since he was out and about he stopped and got Amanda a birthday present, she will find it very practical and useful. (grin) This weekend we intend to hibernate here in the house. I don't forsee any need to step out into the cold for even one minute. All the nice warm winter weather we have had up until now got me spoiled. We stopped at the farm last Saturday and saw Alexia. She was shy, but started to get brave around us as we were ready to leave. Such a cute two year old. Grandma Irene got the stitches out of her head, she had fallen in the bathroom and hit her head on the tub. She will be 94 in June and her legs are not dependable. She has a beauty of a black eye, if I didn't know better, I would wonder if she'd been out brawling. (grin) Current Mood: cold (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, January 18th, 2007
9:07 pm	Almost a new job? Unofficially, word is that I will be starting to work part time in the training department soon. I will be conducting some of the classroom training and helping with updating the training files. Maybe I will slide sideways into full time HR? Or maybe that is just wishful thinking. I will also be leading next months OJT meeting. I need to think up some kind of agenda or discussion topic for that. So, someday it will be salary and bankers hours for me.....hmmmmm. *grin* Current Mood: hopeful (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 27th, 2006
8:54 pm	I have been busy this past month! We went to the coin show. Pretty, shiny, sparkly coins! Roy bought a canadian silver coin with a pretty wolf on it for me, it went in the box with his coin collection. It is a silver bullion coin so it is for looking at, not for spending. *grin* We made a flying trip to the cities and brought the nightstands to the kids as an early Christmas present. We had lunch with Amanda, Matt was working. I had a quick gab with Maggie and saw her new apartment, decorated so cute! And headed for home again around 5 in the afternoon. Since then I have been busy finishing up Christmas gifts and working. Now Christmas is over, all the gifts are given and I have the week off. I still have projects to work on, but no deadlines, so they will get done slowly. Amanda gave me some drawing pencils, a sketch book and two new drawing books, so I will go back to sketching in the evenings. Eventually I will improve. I have three more purses in various states of completion, a quilt that wants to be put together, and some polymer clay things to get at. Oh, and I got some new stamps and punches so plan to do some cardmaking. It would be nice to have some cards made ahead of time instead of doing them at the last minute. Today we went to visit with Leanna and bring them their Christmas presents. We had a good visit. She brought out one of her photo albums and showed us her baby pictures, she was almost as pretty a baby as my girl was! *GRIN* Roy was going to take me to the Christine antique store and the glass gallery, but both owners are out of town for the holidays. New Years Day we are going over to the auction house (coins start at 8:30 and guns at noon) so maybe we will stay for awhile. I went last Tuesday and bought some boxes and found enough treasures that I did not feel I wasted my time or money. So that was fun. I didn't win anything I bid on during the major part of the auction, I want my wins to come too cheaply I guess. When I do win something I always feel that I got a very good deal though! Looking forward to my darling daughter coming for a stay with us on her birthday. We enjoyed seeing her at Christmas, but with so many people did not get nearly enough of her company and conversation. (Mommy pout) I am invited to tea at Kathy's on Saturday. I have not had a chance for a good sit down visit with her for a long time. Maggie was here for a few days and we had a nice long talk while Roy and Jerry visited. I intend to bring some Moxie Java coffee over to Jane tomorrow afternoon and visit with her if she is free, she is hobbling around with a cast, poor thing. Current Mood: relaxed (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 18th, 2006
7:55 am	Another Craftabulous Saturday Morning! My polymer clay pens looked....ok. But I learned that you can't remove the ink tube, bake the pens, and then replace the ink tube, without leaving an escape hole at the top of the pen. I broke four of my clay casings trying to overcome the air pressure when reinserting the ink tubes. Now I need to do four more pens. GRrrrr. I did finish the hang tags for the first shift presents. I had found some paper punches at the thrift store. One is a 2" Christmas tree shape and another is a 1/2" more detailed Christmas tree. I punched out the large shape in white and in green paper, then punched the smaller shape inside the green tree. I glued the white shape behind the green one and wrote the names on the back of the white, with a hole punched in the top for my ribbon. It turned out very cute. This morning I am making the jar lid toppers for my apple butter which is second shift presents. I did not want to hand letter them (hours of work) so I am printing out the writing and will stamp with my new apple stamp. I know, I could just print that out too. I have tried. Another word for frustration is "computer graphics"!!! My paint program does not give me the font I want, I can't tell how big my clipart is in the paint program, the clip art I found printed in truly grotesque and blurry colors (that may be my poor old printer) so I just did the text in word and will add stamped embellishment. In the long run I may spend more time at it, but my sanity will remain intact, what tattered shreds I had to begin with that is. Donna was out for surgery on Friday. I hope she is well and they did not find anything terrible. She has had pain in lower front abdomen. So Sandy took over as boss (I don't know why, except that she likes telling people what to do. *grin*) and told Kris and I to set up the proto for Sapphire. This is the proto we started to set up on Monday, and was put on hold when they realized that the PCB's were not going to be in. We started to put the feeders on the machines...slowly....we knew (again) that they expected the boards in at 10 am. We also knew that there was an email saying the boards would not be in until Monday. Sure enough, for the second time we removed the Sapphire job from the machines and ran another product. If the boards come in on Monday, Donna and Sandy will get to run it. The next two weeks have proto's scheduled every day as well as production runs so we should be busy. Kris and I finished the small production run by lunchtime and Bob said we could leave if we wanted. We left! Roy took me over to Scheels for Christmas shopping. He thought we could buy a particular item we wanted cheaper in town and not pay shipping if I ordered on line. The item was $30 more than if I ordered direct from the supplier. I will order from the supplier, shipping will not be $30! When Roy gets up we may go to a coin show this morning. He would not commit earlier this week, so I don't know if he wants to go or not. I thought that for once we could do something he has an interest in. I know he does not like going to auctions, thrift stores, rummage sales or craft stores which are my preferred haunts on a Saturday morning! This afternoon I will have crafts, Kathy may come by! Next Saturday we will be in the Cities! Yea! Current Mood: curious (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 11th, 2006
9:45 am	Another Christmas Craft! For some reason I came home from work with energy. I started sewing the batik fish notebook covers and have all 9 finished! Today I plan on playing with polymer clay and making the matching pens. The notebook covers look pretty good, but if I ever do this again I am going to get a smaller fish and will try to NOT get wax chips all over the house. Roy has been grumbling, since beeswax is VERY sticky and dirt and cathair clump on it wherever even a tiny flake landed. I thought I WAS being tidy! (wry grin) I got a Collectibles price guide from my book club....and my smurfs are in it! Keuhl! I probably picked most of them up in the 80's at garage sales for about 25 cents each and now they are valued at $3-$5 in the price guide plus my mushroom house is valued at $20-$25! Fun! Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 9th, 2006
10:34 pm	GRrrrrrrrr! What a frustrating day! We ran a prototype last week and had to stop because we ran out of parts. The rest of the run sat in feeders getting in the way ,waiting for more parts to get in, until last night, when they ran bottomside and one panel topside. That left 4 panels for us to run today. The freaking moron engineers had six parts that were not packaged correctly for the machines to place, so I had to put those on by hand. With four boards per panel, and some parts were six to a board, that means hunching over trying to place small electronic components onto solder paste without smudging the paste or moving other small electronic parts that were already placed on the boards. Even with the magnifier I had a hard time keeping the "shake" out of my hand for eight hours! Then....we ran out of parts....again! We only ran one side of three panels in eight hours. Un-be-liev-able! If those engineers had dared show their faces out on the floor, I would not give good odds on their longevity! I really wish we had the option of refusing to set up, let alone run, a product that does not have all of the parts in the appropriate packaging! Or that any machine down time caused by their inability to get parts ordered correctly and on time could be charged to their product budget! I'll bet we would see a great deal of improvement in their planning abilities! Thank you for reading my rant. Current Mood: aggravated (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 8th, 2006
8:33 pm	Sqwee! I am jazzed! I went to an auction last night and STAYED! and BID!and came home with TREASURES! It was really fun! (grin) I bought a BIG mirror for 2 dollar, a printing type tray for $7, a box of games, a box of old records, a box of halloween, a box of WWII stuff for $2 to $6 each, and an old Civil War history book for Roy Christmas for $20. I also had a fun conversation with a farming couple that attend auctions for glassware they sell at a booth at one of the antique places. We have been meeting at auctions off and on for a year or more and we do not bid against each other. Luckily we tend to bid on different items anyway. With my "naughty" Chan kitty, who loves to jump and climb and klutz around, I do not tend to collect expensive glassware. Oh, Amanda, do you want a big mirror with a black shiny frame? I bought it because I thought you might like it, as well as being practically next to free. If you don't want it I will find a place to hang it even though it is somewhat modern for this house. I had a meeting today at work for the emergency response team at NPI. I get to do a "sweep" of the first floor if we have an emergency evacuation of the plant. Someone needs to check that everyone is leaving the building if it is on fire and the alarms are going off. These are engineers, after all, and common sense or even a sense of survival is hit or miss at best! (grin) I talked Jackie into joining the ERT so I will have someone to buddy up with. It is an oportunity to get training in first aid and CPR at the company's expense. I had to pay for class fees myself when I was doing Childcare and those classes are not cheap. I would also like to know if I have a heart attack at work someone, besides myself, knows how to work the defibrillator! Amanda has started her new job, with Wells Fargo and so far seems impressed. Besides better pay and regular hours, she seems to think she and Matt could be very happy setting up housekeeping in one of the boardrooms. (grin) Apparently the campus, as she calls it, has a cafeteria, and a cafe, and stores and.....? It kind of boggles the mind. I hope she finds the job to be to her taste as well. There will be many more opportunities for advancement there than in most jobs. Well, I depaneled PCB's all day and am heading for the shower to divest myself of fiberglass dust. Keep well and be happy. Current Mood: jubilant (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, November 6th, 2006
5:08 pm	Drawing Fun! I went to the Adult Ed drawing class and learned some things I needed to know. Carrie is going to continue classes next session, so I will keep practicing until then. I want to be as good as Callie is, but I want it... RIGHT NOW! (Grin) And some people think I have patience! Roy took me thrift shopping on Sunday, and I have a white porcelain teapot, vase and long skinny box to one-stroke on as well as Alexia's piggy bank. I had better start painting, huh? This is going to be a short entry, because I have some batik I want to iron the wax out of tonight. I hope it turned out nice, I really don't want to paint that fish again. Are you puzzled? (EG) Current Mood: mischievous (Comment on this)
Monday, October 16th, 2006
7:22 pm	Bleah! Nothing to do at work again today and by 10 AM I was sick and tired of doing it, so I skipped out for the afternoon. Roy took me to his favorite shopping stops, Walmart, Cashwise and Hornbachers, and suggested going to Dakota Magic. I told him he was welcome to go, but I would rather not. I am not lucky and do not drink and there is nothing to do there that I consider entertaining. I would be even more bored! He decided to get some scratch tickets instead. We came home and I went for a short nap, three hours later he woke me up for supper. Amanda, maybe we have the same malais? I think my problem is boredom. There is no project I am challenged by right now, some waiting to get done, mind you, but none that has me pumped. I look forward to Amanda coming home for a few days at the end of the week. I know Callie is looking forward to seeing her again also. I had planned to go visit the kids this month, and Maggie, but now that they have a temporary roomate, I don't think they have the room. So, maybe later this winter. Janet and Steve stopped by to visit on their way to the wedding in Wisconsin, I know Roy was pleased that they stopped to wish him a happy birthday. Amanda called the same day and they had a nice conversation. Jason came by the house also, he is looking forward to spending a week with his girl flying home for college break. Grandma Joyce and Great Grandma Irene came by on Sunday for coffee and cheesecake for a small birthday celebration. I had baked pumpkin and banana bread, so I sent some home with them. I used the food processor to mix up the batter, worked great! Current Mood: thirsty (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 8th, 2006
9:30 pm	Apple Butter all Put Up! I have put up all the apples as apple butter! Roy went out and bought me a food processor so the second 20 pounds of apples got done in only a few hours instead of two days it usually takes. My honey is so thoughtful. ^_^ So now I have had all afternoon to loaf at my liesure. Well, sort of, I am sewing some velvet pouches for the bracelets I made last week. The majority of coworkers Christmas gifts are done. I need to make about 9 guy gifts yet. I think I am going to do a fish batik notebook cover. The techs are always grabbing a notebook for meetings and recording machine changes until they get them entered on the computer. I wanted to make some polymer clay treasure boxes with the altoid tins Jane collected for me, that will probably be next Christmas' project. Mary came over for some one stroke painting yesterday. She struggled for awhile, but was making credible roses by the time we were done. Then we watched the basic flower video I have and I realized why my leaves look sick and that I have been doing my roses wrong! I always wondered why the centers on my roses looked like they were shooting out. I was putting the second "skirt" of petals on before I did the center and Donna does them after. I am excited to try doing them correctly and see how improved they will be! (grin) Current Mood: complacent (Comment on this)
Saturday, October 7th, 2006
10:49 am	Work this past week has been very slow. The line has not run for three days in a row. I hate trying to look busy when I'm not. On the bright side, all the re-certification training for both equipment room shifts and first shift starfire line is done. Next is first shift final assembly. I had a conversation with the second shift OJT and he agrees that he needs to get some training on the SMT line so that he can take over new training as is needful. It is ridiculous that I am staying late to do their training. Last week Janet stopped in for a visit, we didn't actually get around to any crafts. (grin) I hope to get a brush in her hands today for some practice painting. I have strung some bracelets for some of the gals at work and this morning cut out some velvet to make pouches for them. Sandy talked me into making apple crisp and bringing it in to work on Friday since I took Thursday afternoon off intending to make some apple butter. Roy distracted me and we spent the morning shopping. It was fun if not very productive. He distracted me again this morning and we picked up a couple of Christmas presents. Ben Franklin is going out of business. I will miss that store. It had anything crafty you could want and there was no need to drive all the way to south Fargo with the accompanying heavy traffic. Archies West is also going out of business, pretty much just Christmas stuff left last weekend. Roy let the boys go outside in the back yard this morning. They are attacking blowing leaves with great stealth, rolling in the catnip and intently stalking birds without coming anywhere remotely close to them. Great feline fun. Current Mood: mellow (Comment on this)