mayday -- may day

Considering what they (ie: doomsdayers/weathermen) were saying earlier in the week, I guess we outta be counting our blessings that they're promising 48 tomorrow...Happy 3rd anniversary to BJ and me! As our gift to each other, we bought weekend passes to a music festival that we're both really excited about. BJ picked me up from work and we had dinner downtown at Phantom Canyon (a brewery that I'd never been to, that we're going back because there were still several things on the menu that I want to try). Gift enough that he braved "downtown" (he hates the traffic, parking and the meters that go with it) but he also brought me a sweet, sweet card and gift card to my salon. I brought him...NOTHING. I guess I'm just dense.

kum ba yah

BJ had our patio furniture out when I got home from work today. Don't think it didn't derail us from our plans for the gym and grilled chicken. We stayed out there and grilled hot dogs/brats, took the girls for a walk then came back and froze our tatas off while we enjoyed our backyard in the dark.

amarillo by mornin'

Oh my gosh this has been the loooongest week! Strike one against me was that BJ was out of town Sunday - Wednesday (it was supposed to be Thursday so I'll count my blessings). Strike two is that my building is closed the last Friday of every month so I had to work four 10 hour days to make up for being off Friday. Again, counting my blessings that I'm able to take a day off without losing pay during my first month on a new job...but I'm tired.

Good news is that both our bathrooms are now functioning. We haven't actually used the master since I've been too lazy to seal the grout and clean up, but it's nice to know it's an option. Other good news is that I'm flying to Amarillo tomorrow morning. Once again, good news is conditional considering I have to get up earlier to get to Denver to catch my flight than I do on a work day but I'm glad to be able to visit my parents, friends and BJ's family, etc.

Perhaps my best news is that BJ had a wreck in Atlanta and his only complaints are general soreness and missing his flight. He was driving to the airport Wednesday and passed a wreck on the highway, no biggie. About 20 minutes later, the same lady that caused the first wreck hit him...then backed up to flee the scene...hit the same guy from the original wreck that was following her because she took off from him...went forward and hit BJ again...backed up...hit BJ a THIRD time and came to a stop. The first guy went and took her keys while BJ crawled over to the passenger door to get out. I guess their first thought was that she was drunk (at 9:00am) but later discovered from her random babbling excuses and her "doctor" that arrived on the scene that it was more of a mental/emotional issue. I dunno, whatever. BJ and the other guy are fine.

My week in a nutshell...thanks for playing.

april showers

our prized deck is now under about four inches of snow. dern it.

Ode to the saw...

...with which my father lovingly built our home.We sorta inherited it since Dad got a new one but just couldn't bear to throw it away (we Johnsons are sentimental folk...not packrats). It died today while BJ was still working our our deck...but then seemed to be resurrected while we were cleaning up!! We're thinking we had a bum extension cord.

Here's where we are now. I guess BJ does work more quickly with his lovely assistant! he got both new staircases and part of the handrail finished. He's disappointed he didn't get as far along with this project as he planned, but I know it had to be hard work all by his lonesome. There's rain in the forecast so we'll postpone staining till the weekend.

nag nag nag

Sorry I haven't been posting regularly. My previous status as semi-employed provided much more free time than I have now. That, and I'm not sure I should share too many stories about work, considering the people that read this care about my safety and might not need to hear all the nitty gritty details. I mean do I start a blog with, "There I was, chatting with John Doe who just got out of jail for the fourth time. This time it was just drugs whereas last time was assault..."? And then go on to tell you all that he swears he's getting his life together. All he needed was to get that crazy b**** out of his life...none of this was his fault, he "Just don't snitch." Oh, and he can't start paying restitution because he has a new baby and "Diapers and formula ain't cheap." No kidding?!

I know it's a little early to sound so cynical...ALL of the guys I've met with have been nothing but respectful and nice to me. Some of the guys seem honestly embarrassed and/or repentant of whatever mistake(s) they've made in their pasts. I may find it hard to bite my tongue and keep my opinions of various stupidities to myself...but looking at their profiles in the computer is helping me zip it.

The only major downside is that I'm also learning more each day how much the other two CIs don't get along...and have such differing views of our job description. I like it more and more now that I'm getting to work a little more independently.

Enough about work. We're still plugging along on the house. Our master bath is still torn out and not usable. The tile guy is coming Wednesday and Thursday...the plumber hopefully next Monday. Then we'll have both up and running and more aesthetically pleasing than before.

While our bathroom projects have been kind of on hold, the backyard has become somewhat of a priority. That, and we keep thinking spring-like weather is on the way (only to have it snow the next day). Last week we sanded the deck, yesterday power-washed it. Today we've started a renovation of sorts. Part of the deck didn't have a railing (I think the original intent was to have a hottub there). You can see the newest part of the railing. We'll round the corner and leave space for a stairway.And we're adding another new staircase on the other side that will lead right into what will likely be a dog run on that side of the house.
BJ has stain and Monday and Tuesday off work...should be done pretty quickly without me getting in his way. We also picked out new patio furniture that we're planning to pick up next weekend. We're really excited about the back yard...I mean that's the reason we bought this dang house! The landscaping will be a LOT of work, but I think we'll be spending most of our free time enjoying the results...

Please tell me that's enough of an update for now....

J-O-B update

Alrighty, 3 days down as a Collections Investigator in the Probation Department of the 4th Judicial District. One more till the weekend! Orientation stuff is boring and not being able to really work because I don't know what I'm doing is boooring. However, I wholeheartedly think this job has the potential to be really, really cool.

My office is in the courthouse, downtown. It's silly, but I like being a downtown girl...when the weather is nice enough to walk around during lunch (1 of 3 days so far). The parking sucks though.

The three of us "CIs" are in a different wing than the Probation Office. We're actually being temporarily housed in a semi-converted judge's chambers in a hallway of courtrooms and holding cells. Walking down the halls is a trip with guys in orange jumpsuits and handcuffs just ahead of you. The courtroom that we can see through the one way window in our office is the parole hearing room...we have lots of family members loitering in the doorway. They're moving us in a few weeks...as of today, no one knows where.

I'm totally overwhelmed with all the things I need to learn. It's all so different than anything I've ever done, but I'm really excited.