Coming to a Close

When I was in school, I remember adults making comments about how quickly time passed. Every time I heard that I thought, "yeah, right..whatever...I wish time would pass quickly for me." It seemed like time crawled at a snail's pace. I was always so anxious to get to that next holiday or school break, the next grade, out of high school, out of college...you get the picture. And, here I sit as a 20 something (closer to 30 than I would ever admit), in an office building in downtown Houston, looking at my calendar and wondering where 2009 went. Now, I know we still have several weeks left in the year, but I just keep having to remind myself that it is mid November and Thanksgiving is next week. Here is where all of this is coming from...
For the past two years, I have saved as much vacation time as I can for the Christmas season. Having a husband who has to work on holidays means that if I want to see him at all, I need to be able to take off work. So, I have 6 days left. 6 days isn't a huge amount, but nothing to frown at either. Take into consideration that I already get every other Friday off, so plugging in 6 additional days was tricky (if you have more than 2 days off in a week, you lose your flex day or have to take a vacation day, so I had to play with the calendar quite a bit so as not to lose those Fridays off)! It has been a GREAT problem to have! Last week was my last 5 day work week of the year. YAY! This week is my last 4 day work week of the year. From here on out, thanks to holidays, flex days, and vacation days, I have 3 day work weeks from now until January. Tomorrow morning we have a meeting across town from 9-11 (there goes half of my day) and Thursday I will be out on a ride along in one of our Roll-Off trucks (there goes another day out of the office). It is amazing to me as I look toward December that this year is coming to a close! I know I am going to LOVE LOVE LOVE my time out of the office, but I also know that the work doesn't stop just because I'm out. Things have been fairly quiet for me and I sure hope they stay that way!

Also, I've so enjoyed reading Facebook statuses about those things everyone is thankful for. I need to start doing that today. I had a sweet moment this morning when I thought of something (maybe silly to some) that I am thankful for. Each morning when I get up at O God, O'Clock, I stumble in the darkness toward the bathroom and start the morning routine while Joe and Brinkley sleep away. When I emerge from the bathroom, showered and ready to dry my hair (which I do in the recliner in the living room! ha) I am greeted by a thumping sound...every morning like clock work. Thump, Thump, thump (slow) and as I walk toward the sound it gets faster. That thumping is one of my favorite parts to the day. It is the sound of the tail of my "happy to see me first thing in the morning" lazy hound dog. This starts our morning routine. In a span of 3 minutes he drinks 80 gallons of water, eats breakfast, takes a bio break and is curled up in his living room bed listening to the morning news. As I was drying my hair, checking emails, and watching the news this morning, I caught a glimpse of the beag snoozing away (a sight I see ALL THE TIME) and I was so thankful for him. I know it seems silly to feel that way about a dog (and to blog about it no less)! But, this little guy brings so much fun to our lives. And, talk about faithful...wow! He LOVES us. He WAITS for us, he CRIES for us and is so happy to see us when we get home you think his heart will explode. And then, after a sweet reunion he acts like he doesn't need us...aloof and independent. I have this morning routine with the dog that stole my heart and made me "that girl that blogs about her dog" and I am so thankful to have such a faithful friend greet me each morning when no one else wants to be up!