Travelling to California

I just posted to my friends at 123-Scrap that I'm going to be going to Anaheim for training for my work. I'm very much looking forward to meeting Chris, so I hope we can arrange to meet one evening.

I really like the company I'm working for because they are not afraid to send people to training. I've been here for a year and a half and this is my third training class. At a previous company we had went through some tremendous changes and I learned from one of our vendors' seminars that one way to keep morale high and the workforce engaged was to train people often. The last company I was at was not real big on training and it showed. Here, the company is now going through the same kind of changes as we prepare ourselves for competetion in the market (we've been legislatively protected for a while, but see that ending in the next five years) and management understands the need for increased skills and retooling for some folks. I'm so glad they recognized it.

DS#1 News
There's good news on the DS#1's school front. He's in the middle of finals this week and called a little while ago to tell me that if he makes a "C" in his last class tomorrow, he will get to stay in college. He's got a pretty good shot at making the grade because it's a geography class and the final is not a cumulative, so it's only over the last two chapters. He also told me that he's got the bill for next semester. He'll be taking 13 hours, but I get sticker shock every semester. The cost for him to go to college is just about 10 times what it was when I went. He's at a state university and we'll pay $3100! Augh!

Anyway, he's getting ever closer to opening his business. We looked at a store location a few weeks ago and he submitted changes to the lease agreement yesterday. He did ask me to call my father (his primary investor) to ask for a check. Daddy's already agreed to fund DS#1, but hadn't sent any money, yet. We should be getting the money soon, though, so that he can secure the store location and start getting inventory. This is really going to happen! I'm so excited for him.

DS#2 News
School will be over for DS#2 soon. He's finishing up his junior year in high school. I'm starting to get a little emotional over it as he's about to start his year of "lasts." Fifteen more days and he starts his last summer of high school. They grow up so fast. I remember taking him to kindergarten on his first day. He was so small and so cute. I never cried when the kids went to kindergarten because they had been going to daycare for many years by the time they got there, but I have a feeling it will be different when my last child's last year of high school starts.

I made a couple of Mother's Day cards last night for my stepmother and DH's stepmother. I forgot to scan one before I sent it, but that's okay. I remember how I made them and I might make some more. I bought some of the most awesome papers at Costco last week. They're handmade cotton/silk papers that have some of the most gorgeous designs and delicious textures. My circle journal is made out of some of it. I used the papers on a couple of layouts and I used some more for the cards I've been making. I like the black pack and the neutrals pack so much that when I went to Costco again yesterday to get TP and saw that they had three other kinds, I jumped on them. I now have five different sets of this handmade paper. I'm so happy! Doesn't take much, does it?

Well, that's what's going on in my life for the moment. I hope you're having a great day. Be sure to leave a comment if you read this, just so I know if anyone besides Suzanne and Ginni are reading it. Thank you!