November is a time to be most thankful

...it's also been one busy month so far. I apologize for my lack of writing the last few weeks. I don't want to write about nothing and been waiting for things to happen. The first week of November I went to CPR/First Aid training which was provided and paid for by my work. Right after that I started training at one of the ODOT buildings. Garten is contracted by ODOT to run their mail room and I was training at one of the temporary facilities last week so that I could cover for someone taking vacation. It was mostly sorting mail and processing FedEx or UPS shipments. There isn't a lot of out going mail to individuals, but there is a lot of in office stuff that goes around. I think I managed okay on Friday and haven't heard about any screwups...so that is good. I will go again on Thursday morning to cover for the same girl. It's nice sometimes, but I do miss my friends in the mail room. I was very excited to return there today.
Also in work related news, the big wigs took money that was put away in Garten's reserve fund and spent 26K on gift cards to Fred Meyer for their employees. They wanted a way to thank everyone for sticking with them through the tough economic times. Having only been with them since May, I thought I was pretty dang lucky to get one, but know that Aaron really deserved his. They may not have excellent pay or benefits, but this was one gesture that put them above and beyond other employers out there. We were truly blessed to get this extra money in time for the holidays. All the Garten staff received $110 gift cards. It was pretty awesome. Now to decide what to use them on...I think Christmas gifts and groceries will probably win out.

For the month of November one of the challenges going around Facebook is to list one thing every day that you are thankful for. I thought it would be hard to come up with something, but after going through my whole day I can usually find one or two things for which I am thankful for. It's nice for me to see that I am thankful for other things besides the standard friends and family (whom I love dearly).

To end my blog I thought I would post just one picture of my littlest niece Madelyn. She and her family were here visiting last week and Rebekah enjoyed some much needed cousin play time. We also enjoyed an early Thanksgiving with all the fixin's with my parents, grandparents and brother + family. Love being able to spend time together and enjoy good food. Also loved having a Thanksgiving dinner and now i look forward to all the other dinners planned.