So I got a call from Bell Printing this afternoon, a month and a half after my interview with them. They are starting their busy yearbook season and wondered if I would be interested doing some work from home for them.
Heck. Yes.
Its just a seasonal gig, but it gets my foot in the door, right? A little bit of extra cash, and a legitimate graphic design gig to go--all nice and shiny--on my resume. Of course, seeing as how I am 1. a mom and wife 2. a part-time teller at the bank 3. a photographer and 4. taking a tech writing class independent study at WSU.....I might be putting a little bit too much on my plate. But I'm hoping that the class and the new at-home gig with Bell will make it possible for me to better focus on #1 and eliminate #2 completely.
Wish me luck!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Cute
So I got my hair cut a couple days ago, here is my attempt at a pic while holding a squirmy baby! Its a little deer-in-the-headlights-ish, but I still think i look cute in it. Oh, to feel cute again...! Still working on the body part, but a friend of mine told me that she'd heard from another friend that I was looking skinny. (Robin I heart you forever for telling Marci I look skinny! :) So we're feelin' good.
And, because I have become an unabashed mommyblogger, I also have to share that Jamison got the rollin' over thing down! He's been trying for the last week and a half or so, making it aboooouuuut there, like 90 percent of the way, but he just couldn't figure out what to do with that arm that kept getting in the way. But this morning...success! I turned him back over, and he did it again. And I turned him over, and he did it again. and again. We had great fun this way! I expect he'll add tummy-to-back to his growing repertoire soon.
Love this kid.
Friday, February 20, 2009
A Few of My Favorite Things
Hmmm....
Fat starfish hands
10 little piggies
Starry eyes
and stripes
Chubby cheeks
of any variety!
Such a sweet little boy!
Fat starfish hands
10 little piggies
Starry eyes
and stripes
Chubby cheeks
of any variety!
Such a sweet little boy!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
The Sweetest Thing
Three and a half years ago I married my high school sweetheart. He gave me this ring:
And I made him this promise, found in Ruth: Intreat me not to leave thee, or return from following after thee: for wither thou goest, I will go. And where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
I love him so much. And he loves me too.
He brought me a dozen red roses for Valentine's day.
And I bought some fishnets. (not pictured) :)
We put our sweet baby down to sleep, and then we had a romantic dinner with all the lights out except for this little oil lamp. I loved sitting in that quiet flicker, speaking in conspiratorial whispers, kissing...
Thank you, Valentine's Day, for giving me such a beautiful night with my husband.
Jamison stealing a Valentine's Kiss from his Blue Monkey.
And I made him this promise, found in Ruth: Intreat me not to leave thee, or return from following after thee: for wither thou goest, I will go. And where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.I love him so much. And he loves me too.
He brought me a dozen red roses for Valentine's day.
And I bought some fishnets. (not pictured) :)
We put our sweet baby down to sleep, and then we had a romantic dinner with all the lights out except for this little oil lamp. I loved sitting in that quiet flicker, speaking in conspiratorial whispers, kissing...Thank you, Valentine's Day, for giving me such a beautiful night with my husband.
Jamison stealing a Valentine's Kiss from his Blue Monkey.Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Sweet Deals
So I got my rewards statement on my wells fargo cards today and at the bottom there was a little blip about getting discounts on restaurants by going to visa.restaurant.com. So I went there and the deals are GREAT. If you are like us and like to eat out but have a small budget, you have to check this out. I got three $10 gift certificates to Braza Grill AND three $10 gift certificates to Pad Thai (a restaurant Keaton likes in Layton) for only 10 bucks. yeah. sixty bucks worth of restaurant-going delight for 10 bucks. There are limitations...only one certificate can be used per party even with separate checks and there is a minimum amount you have to spend to use the certificate. But, say I go to Pad Thai with my hubby and we spend 22 dollars. We give the 10 certificate and only pay 12 dollars. Or I go to Fiesta Guadalajara with my hubby and one other couple...we spend 50 dollars as a table and then use a twenty five dollar certificate (which you only pay six bucks for) and then split the difference. That's like, twelve bucks a couple. See what I'm getting at? There are quite a few restaurants available...Texas Roadhouse is probably our favorite but its gift certificates were out until next month. :( And some of the restaurants its only 35 dollar min purchase to use a 25 dollar certificate...and so on and so forth. It'll say "25 dollar gift certificate for 10 dollars" but when you go to check out there is a 40 percent discount, making it six dollars. Or it will say "10 dollar gift certificate for 3" (this is the one I did) but when you go to check out the 40 percent discount makes it just over a buck for a 10 dollar gift certificate. And there are participating restaurants all over. (Except Price. Sorry, Carolanne. You'll have to go to Provo to get a deal. But Carma is in luck. The Tempe area has more than a few.)
I mean it! Check this out and start saving money on dates with your sweetheart!
I mean it! Check this out and start saving money on dates with your sweetheart!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Sooner or Later
Jamison has been desperately trying to find his thumb since the day he was born, but it was always curled so tight inside of his fist and therefore unavailable for sucking. But with his newfound hand control, he and his thumb have become fast friends. I know I should stop him...but it is just so dang cute.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Takin a Bath
Beautiful wet eyelashes:
Daddy took this one. Note the strategic angle.
Haha...that little washcloth will be instrumental in preventing adult-onset embarrassment. :)
We love bathtime.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
My New Best Friend
So my Nikon d90 came in the mail today. I adore it. It lets me take pictures like this:
Much much more to come. You can pretty much count on it.
Much much more to come. You can pretty much count on it.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The Truth of the Matter
For those of you who don't know already, I work for Wells Fargo. Yeah, its not the job of my dreams, but I've worked there for over three and a half years and am still working there for one reason: they take care of their employees. I work part time and have FULL health insurance benefits. I know of no other bank (or any other employer, for that matter) that does that. They offer paid holidays and vacation for both part and full time employees. They offer tuition reimbursement. They let me work a flexible schedule so that I can be home with my baby. Yeah, I don't make a lot, but I know that I am making a pretty good wage for the type of job I do. They even offer small bonuses when I do well--both at customer service and sales.
Which brings me to my point.
Today, it was plastered all over the news that Wells Fargo was about to hold a glorified corporate shindig that was going to be a greedy, over-the-top waste of taxpayers' hard earned bailout money. I even heard one guy state with triumph that because of this new, diligent observance of all things financial, they were able to successfully circumvent this horrific waste of the common person's precious pennies.
THIS IS A CROCK.
This, my friends, was not the CEO and his cronies partying spring-break style in swimsuits while pretty ladies fanned them with giant leaves and fed them grapes. This was a RECOGNITION EVENT planned to celebrate the great job done by many employees in the Home Mortgage sector of the bank. This was an incentive that they put out there to encourage employees to work hard and do a good job. In this case, in a tough housing market where their efforts helped make huge gains to stimulate the housing market and therefore STIMULATE THE ECONOMY. NO BAILOUT FUNDS WERE EVER UTILIZED OR EVER WOULD BE UTILIZED TO HOST A RECOGNITION EVENT. During this crisis when all these other banks are melting down, Wells Fargo has been thriving. We were able to acquire Wachovia over Citibank without any government intervention. Citibank had put forth a plan to use millions of government FDIC funds but we didn't have to. We had the assets. It is true, Wells Fargo DID accept a portion of the financial bailout money--but we didn't ask for it. It was divied up so as to further STIMULATE THE ECONOMY by making more funds available for lending. You know...for like, mortgages and stuff.
So a few good people did their job and expected to get rewarded for doing it right and doing it well. Wells Fargo is the number one mortgage lender in America. The people who were about to attend this recognition event were the ones to help get us there. And if you ask me, hard work deserves reward.
But the mainstream media had a different idea.
They blew the whistle.
Loudly.
That Wells Fargo, who had received bailout money, was about to do something heinous... we're talking, flying in a luxury jet to Washington to ask for money type of heinous.
And the public began to cry foul--and rightfully so. They are being led to believe that a bunch of corporate goons are taking a luxury vacation on their dime. Which would be deplorable.
If it were true.
So now, the Recognition event in Vegas is canceled for the people in the mortgage department. And not only that, the company has canceled every recognition event planned for the entire next year. Activities that have been going on long before the bailout was even a twinkle in the government's eye. Gone. Who does that affect? People like me. (Every employee has had a chance to go to one of these events, even me. But I'm a minimalist. I do the minimal amount I have to to get by. I know some people who have gone and trust me, they deserve it. They shine at what they do.) I can guarantee that if the CEO decided he still wanted to have some sort of expensive party it would still happen. But not us here at the bottom of the totem pole. The average joes. The ones witnessing the effects of the bad economy on our own family and friends. On the people we meet day in and day out as they come to process their financial transactions.
Way to go, media. You sure did a good thing for the world on this one.
But it isn't just the loss of recognition events. This media blitz has a direct hit on EACH and EVERY employee who has any kind of retirement or 401k. After this misleading story broke, our stock dropped. Which means so did my retirement fund. It isn't huge by any stretch of the imaginiation, but every time the stock goes down it still hurts. And it could mean much more to those employees on the brink of retirement. This is probably downright heartbreaking to them.
And what is going to go next? If the media decrys the fact that we get bonuses (a whopping hundred dollars--if we're lucky--a quarter) will we have to see them go, too? What's next? Will my tuition reimbursement be discovered to be a misuse of bailout money? What will happen when they find out the bank is giving part time employees health insurance? What will they have to say about that kind of blatant non-conservative spending? Will that go out the window, too?
This economic downturn, I've realized, is based entirely on fear. Fear that the media plays into to keep people watching, glued to their tvs. The more they sensationalize, the better ratings they get as we all chomp our nails and wait to see what terrible things could possibly happen next. With no more elections to sway, this is what they've turned all of their efforts to.
Be warned.
Here is a link to Wells Fargo's official statement on the canceled recognition event. (Only read in chopped up bits and pieces over the air.)
Which brings me to my point.
Today, it was plastered all over the news that Wells Fargo was about to hold a glorified corporate shindig that was going to be a greedy, over-the-top waste of taxpayers' hard earned bailout money. I even heard one guy state with triumph that because of this new, diligent observance of all things financial, they were able to successfully circumvent this horrific waste of the common person's precious pennies.
THIS IS A CROCK.
This, my friends, was not the CEO and his cronies partying spring-break style in swimsuits while pretty ladies fanned them with giant leaves and fed them grapes. This was a RECOGNITION EVENT planned to celebrate the great job done by many employees in the Home Mortgage sector of the bank. This was an incentive that they put out there to encourage employees to work hard and do a good job. In this case, in a tough housing market where their efforts helped make huge gains to stimulate the housing market and therefore STIMULATE THE ECONOMY. NO BAILOUT FUNDS WERE EVER UTILIZED OR EVER WOULD BE UTILIZED TO HOST A RECOGNITION EVENT. During this crisis when all these other banks are melting down, Wells Fargo has been thriving. We were able to acquire Wachovia over Citibank without any government intervention. Citibank had put forth a plan to use millions of government FDIC funds but we didn't have to. We had the assets. It is true, Wells Fargo DID accept a portion of the financial bailout money--but we didn't ask for it. It was divied up so as to further STIMULATE THE ECONOMY by making more funds available for lending. You know...for like, mortgages and stuff.
So a few good people did their job and expected to get rewarded for doing it right and doing it well. Wells Fargo is the number one mortgage lender in America. The people who were about to attend this recognition event were the ones to help get us there. And if you ask me, hard work deserves reward.
But the mainstream media had a different idea.
They blew the whistle.
Loudly.
That Wells Fargo, who had received bailout money, was about to do something heinous... we're talking, flying in a luxury jet to Washington to ask for money type of heinous.
And the public began to cry foul--and rightfully so. They are being led to believe that a bunch of corporate goons are taking a luxury vacation on their dime. Which would be deplorable.
If it were true.
So now, the Recognition event in Vegas is canceled for the people in the mortgage department. And not only that, the company has canceled every recognition event planned for the entire next year. Activities that have been going on long before the bailout was even a twinkle in the government's eye. Gone. Who does that affect? People like me. (Every employee has had a chance to go to one of these events, even me. But I'm a minimalist. I do the minimal amount I have to to get by. I know some people who have gone and trust me, they deserve it. They shine at what they do.) I can guarantee that if the CEO decided he still wanted to have some sort of expensive party it would still happen. But not us here at the bottom of the totem pole. The average joes. The ones witnessing the effects of the bad economy on our own family and friends. On the people we meet day in and day out as they come to process their financial transactions.
Way to go, media. You sure did a good thing for the world on this one.
But it isn't just the loss of recognition events. This media blitz has a direct hit on EACH and EVERY employee who has any kind of retirement or 401k. After this misleading story broke, our stock dropped. Which means so did my retirement fund. It isn't huge by any stretch of the imaginiation, but every time the stock goes down it still hurts. And it could mean much more to those employees on the brink of retirement. This is probably downright heartbreaking to them.
And what is going to go next? If the media decrys the fact that we get bonuses (a whopping hundred dollars--if we're lucky--a quarter) will we have to see them go, too? What's next? Will my tuition reimbursement be discovered to be a misuse of bailout money? What will happen when they find out the bank is giving part time employees health insurance? What will they have to say about that kind of blatant non-conservative spending? Will that go out the window, too?
This economic downturn, I've realized, is based entirely on fear. Fear that the media plays into to keep people watching, glued to their tvs. The more they sensationalize, the better ratings they get as we all chomp our nails and wait to see what terrible things could possibly happen next. With no more elections to sway, this is what they've turned all of their efforts to.
Be warned.
Here is a link to Wells Fargo's official statement on the canceled recognition event. (Only read in chopped up bits and pieces over the air.)
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