120 miles on a bike

Today is the last day of the national bike challenge.  I've logged 120 miles since September 1 when I started my new job.  The challenge ends today, and it looks like Lincoln, NE is going to win!

Query on Organization

Why am I getting steadily more and more organized at work.....

.... while getting steadily less and less organized at home?

Which reminds me: Laundry. 

Musings

And so now I am working full-time.

I really love my job.  It doesn't even seem like work.  My boss is great, and I already feel completely comfortable there.

But working full time is.... well, time-consuming!  The blog isn't going away.  Eventually I'll be freelancing full time and then I hope to blog much more often.  But for a few years, anyway, it's going to be erratic.  I've already scattered blog posts through next July, here and there.  And there will be more.  But now weekends and evenings are precious, precious, precious.  So while I still appreciate each and every purchase made through the Amazon portal, the blog is going to be hibernating a bit.

I am still working on projects, though....

.... and I hope you will be too.

New Game Q. and A.

Q.  Is it a ton of fun to play Castle Ravenloft ?

A.

Obviously!

Sunday Thoughts: Congratulations Zelie!

Weekly Round Up

Since my last Round Up I have....

..... started my new job.  (Love it!)

.... wiped out on my roller skates.  (The only safety gear I omitted was, you guessed: elbow pads.)

... watched my husband release a squirrel in the park.  (Hopefully the one that has been eating our pumpkins.)

... been in an earthquake.  (Very small.)

... started biking to work.  (Flat tire on the 1st day.  Lots of rain.)

.... entertained some dear friends.

.... went shopping at a costume shop that was going out of business.  (Lots of fun!)

A Quilt that Reminds Me of Conner and Alex

~ by Sarah Maseth ~

An Amazing Quilt!

The artist is only 15-years old!

Quilting Continued

Love the bold color palette!

~ I forgot to note the maker on this one--if you are the maker, please let me know! ~

Job Hunt Update: A Good Post for Labor Day

I got the one job I didn't apply for.

I've accepted a position as a writer at an educational non-profit.  I'm very excited to be able to combine my writing skills with supporting education, something I passionately believe in.

And I didn't apply for the job.  I didn't even know that it was open.  A friend of a friend, someone whom I had met for coffee for 20 minutes, someone I didn't even know existed prior to that coffee, passed on my resume to a friend of hers whom she met through a professional association.  In fact, passed on my resume without even telling me, so when I got a call for a job interview, I was very confused!  When I was emailing back and forth with HR to set up a job interview, one email included a link so that I could apply online.  I went through the entire job interview without even knowing how I had gotten there!  Finally, at the end of the interview, my future boss asked me how I knew her friend, and then I figured out how I had ended up at the interview.

Job hunting is probably very different depending on the economy of where you live and your level of education.  But as a reference point, I live in Lincoln, Nebraska and I have a doctorate in English.  I was changing careers from teaching to writing, mostly using my five years of freelance writing experience.

My job hunt statistics:

Interviews: 19

Companies interviewed with: 5

Networking meetings: 10

Jobs applied for: 38

Duration: exactly 6 months, to the day  (Feb 17-Aug 17)

Quilts

An abstract quilt and my lovely mother:

~ Quilt by Kristie Jarchow ~

~ Mom: a gift from God ~

Sunday Thoughts: St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Today we rejoice as we celebrate the canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Her life was truly extraordinary in her love for others, humility, and her trust in God.  God used her to do incredible work.  Her love and her example stretched across continents and touched millions of lives.

In another way, though, her life was ordinary in the sense that there are many, many people like her.  I speak from my own perspective as a Catholic, although I'm sure there are also examples from other faiths.  But as a Catholic, I know that her example of complete self-sacrifice for others and zealous devotion to God is quite common.  St. Damien Malachi, for example, spent 10 years of his life caring for lepers and eventually sacrificed his life, dying from the disease that made him an outcast.  St. Maximillian Kolbe offered up his life in place of another prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp.  Even an ordinary priest or nun gives up wealth, worldly ambitions, the freedom to control his or her own future, and other good things like marriage and family in order to spend their entire lives in service to others.  There are hundreds and hundreds of canonized saints, all who share some or all of the traits that we admire in St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta.  And there are even more Saints who are not canonized.  Perhaps you know some.

There are many lessons to be drawn from the life of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta.  But instead I will end with the question.  What would God do with your life or mine if we gave it to Him completely in love and trust?

More Quilting Pleasure

A twist on the very traditional wedding ring quilt.  The 2nd and 3rd photos show the quilting stitches on the back of the quilt.

~ by Mary Dittenber ~ 

Quilts, continued

Another quilt with a super-cool 3D effect:

~ by Donna Svoboda ~