Been some time since I posted and there is good reason.....I got a new job!  It's working for the state of Texas, once again, which has its ups and downs as I know from my prior experience.   You work hard to get things done and then they are passed on to others and they don't share the same urgency as you do.  You continue to do that and get frustrated/mad and then eventually the inevitable happens, you become one.  You start to care less and less....you become a cog in the wheel where imagination and thought is pushed farther and farther back.
Don't get me wrong, the work is great...the people are fun but you lose a bit of yourself every day.   I took the position (as many of you know, I don't necessarily have  to work but working gives me freedom and my own $)  because it was like 3 minutes from home, my prior state service transferred and it was doing work that I have always been good at.  I came in already earning 10 hrs of vacation a month and by a computer glitch that I was told would be too complicated for the team to sort out....I already have 80 hrs of vacation time!  HA!  Their lack of understanding the computer system is my gain!  They even said out loud that they couldn't be bothered to fix it!  Classic.
I, of course, won't count on that in the long run working out...but all I really wanted was 48 hrs for our vacation plans in 3 weeks time.
The whole family....Chris, step-daughter, my mom and I are heading to Hudson, NY for a week.  Looking forward to hopefully cooler weather.  2 days in NYC to see the sights and the rest of the time will be local travel in the Hudson Valley.
I will keep in better touch with my blog.   Have a wonderful weekend!