Happy Halloween!!

Halloween 1991

Halloween 1992

Here are a couple of pictures of my gobblins when they were little. I really miss having little ones around this time of year. Like Christmas, Halloween is just more magical with little kids around. Dan put some orange lights up around the house and we did decorate a little bit. Our neighborhood is older so we don't have a huge number of trick-or-treaters but I so enjoy the ones that do come. I remember the days when my kids were little, our streets were packed with little ghosties and gobblins. Fun stuff.

I'm not dressing up, I'm scary enough just being me ;-) I will be handing out candy by myself as Beth has a party to go to and the guys are going to a hockey game. I plan on watching the live Ghost Hunters episode and hope it is really scary.

Well, I'm off to make a pot of my famous spaghetti. A request from my youngest gobblin.

I hope you all have a very Happy and Scary Halloween.....muahhhhhh........

Kelly over at My Voice, My View gave me this nice award. I do not at all feel worthy since I have not blogged in ages, but it was so nice of her to do it for me. Please go check out Kelly's blog, she one of the nicest people I've met in my short time here. She is a wonderful, inspiring poet and a great mom.

I was actually planning a blog for tomorrow since Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, so I promise to come back tomorrow and do that.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Under Achieving

I had a co-worker tell me today that she thought I should aim my sights higher when it comes to my job. She feels I'm smart, organized and very detailed oriented. I agree with the last two and was flattered by the first. She thinks I'm wasting my talents in my current position. I, however, really like what I do. I'm sure part of it is a comfort level. I've been in my current position about 7 years. I will celebrate my 19th anniversary at the hospital next month. I've worked in lots of different departments and done a myriad of different jobs and this is by far my favorite. I'm in a place where I'm very autonomous and not micromanaged. Those two things are very important to me.



Her comments got me to thinking though. Is liking your job and being comfortable enough, or should you try to challenge yourself? Should I give up a working environment which makes me very happy for one that may drive me crazy? I've interviewed for a couple of other positions during my tenure at my current one. I was offered those jobs and eventually turned them down because I'm scared of getting into a job that I dread going to everyday. Been there, done that.....don't want to do it again. Is having a more prestigious position worth possibly being miserable while working?



And then there is this: I'm liking my life right now. My kids are well adjusted adults who really don't need me anymore except for moral support. I can pick up and go when I want and I'm not accountable to anyone but Dan when I get home from work. I'm so comfortable in my position that I'm able to leave it at work. When I walk out the door I rarely think of work until I walk back in the next day.



I know my answer, and that is that I will stay where I'm at and be happy, comfortable and yes complacent. My question is this:



Do you think it's wrong to not use the potential you know you have and instead are just complacent with what you've got. Does that make you an under achiever? Is that a bad thing? I wonder........



(after reading this back I just want to say that I do realize how lucky I am that 1) I have a job at all and 2) there are options for me to move to another job if I wanted to. I know that is a rare thing in this economy and I am very grateful and thankful)

Christmas is Coming!!

A few months ago I posted about my love, some would say obscession, with Hallmark ornaments. At that time I was getting ready to go to the Hallmark Premier Weekend and stock up on all my ornament buddies. I did go, and got some wonderful ornaments and spent way too much money. So, this weekend is another premier weekend and there are several ornaments that I've had my eye on to add to my collections:

So, I think I need this little guy to add to my snowman tree. Isn't he adorable?

And this is perfect for my Santa tree, plus it plays music! What could be better than that?

Of course, I have to have this for my bear tree. Everytime I look at it I will remember how much fun I had reading to my kids.

So as this weekend was approaching I was starting to doubt my financial ability to add more ornaments to my already overflowing collection. It made me sad but I thought it might not be so fiscally responsible in these times to spend money on these little guys. I could do it, and I wouldn't be taking food out of anyone's mouth but it just made me feel kind of guilty, you know? So feeling kind of dejected, I resigned myself to the fact that I was just going to have to be happy with what I had.

Then what to my wondering eyes did appear? A bonus check from my new best friend, the CEO of my hospital. We usually get a bonus check every year around this time. It's never a huge amount but it's nice that they share with us. This year we didn't expect to get anything because of the economy. We had already made some sacrifices by giving up a lot of the perks we were used to. I guess it helped, and we have been busy, so they decided to give us the bonus.

I consider this found money. Yes, I could pay a bill or buy a weeks worth of groceries, but I have money for that. So, I'm going this weekend to buy my Hallmark ornaments. I think it's kismet, karma and proof positive that God approves of my obscession. At least that's what I'm telling myself so I don't feel so guilty. (I can never get away from the guilt thing....but that's a topic for another post.)

Merry Christmas!! Remember....only 77 days left! Are you ready yet?