It's 62*F here this morning & drizzly, with dark clouds overhead. Not a spot of sunshine is coming through from the sun. I love the cooler temperatures but I need my sunshine. The sun is supposed to start shining about noon, according to the weatherman, and then be shining until the middle of next week so... there's hope on the horizon. :-)
I am neck deep in a project here and it consumes my time until about 11am every morning. I'm making a scrapbook for oldest & her family for Christmas.
April of 2024 our oldest daughter left her job after being at a Fortune 500 company for 18 years. She was Director of Global Information Systems and her company decided to restructure & do away with that department altogether. They offered her another job within the company but she decided not to take it.
Parents always worry about their children and hubby & I are no different. Oldest is the breadwinner of her family and she does it flawlessly. She worked her way up the corporate ladder, made a great deal of money, got huge bonuses every spring, jetted around the world a few times per year, was given one month off work every 5 years in addition to the vacation time she was allotted, etc. Hubby & I always worried about her & the work load she carried...but it was her dime, her dance....and we knew it.
Oldest, her husband, and their two daughters (then 13 & 15) had a month long European vacation planned, before "the bomb hit", as last year was the year she got her extra 30 days off work. They decided to keep their plans as the company gave our daughter an excellent severance package plus all of our children have been savers so she had a good nest egg put aside.
She knew this opportunity might not ever happen again and all the reservations were made & airplane tickets purchased, so off they flew.
When they got back home, oldest started looking for another job. The University of Notre Dame scooped her up and that's where she is today. The drive is 45 minutes one way from her home in Michigan but she says it's not too bad except in the winter. However her job is such that she can work from home not only every Friday but on those days when the weather is rough. She never realized how incredibly stressful "Corporate America" was until she's not in that world anymore. Hubby and I are thrilled she's out of it! She's not making as much money as she used to and probably never will again...so the trip of a lifetime taken last year is a treasured memory.
I decided to make a scrapbook for them for Christmas this year. I asked oldest for 100 of their favorite pictures, taken of their trip. I had copies made & then she came over this past Sunday morning, to explain what each picture was & the significance behind them. I grouped them together in individual envelopes and wrote on the outside some information that would help me in my scrapbooking task. I'd like to get this scrapbook done by the end of September so that's my goal. I'm completing three layouts per day as I'm watching the trial of Donna Adelson on TV. *haha*
You all know me...we don't travel....mostly because we don't like to travel but also because we've never had the money to do so! "Traveling" to us means going on the bike to the next town over, to one of our favorite little biker bars. So I never have any photos to share with you, about any sort of adventures I might have, but I adore looking at pictures you all share of places I've never been. I had an idea that maybe I'd share a photo once in awhile of daughter's vacation last year, that all of you might find interesting. Does that sound like a plan?
I suppose I'd better get back to my art table, as my huge undertaking is calling my name....aka: the three layouts I want to get done for today.
Much love, Andrea xoxo
Did you know the actual Mona Lisa painting by Leonard de Vinci, kept at the Louvre Museum in Paris, is sooooo small?! I sure didn't!!
It's dark and dreary here today too.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your daughter and family got to take that trip and am thankful she is in a less stressful job now. Being able to work from home is a blessing! I had that ability in my last job and was so thankful on some of those nasty winter mornings.
I do a scrapbook for each of my grandkids every year, with all the pictures I've taken over the year and any I can get from their parents. I do it digitally though, so I think it's a little easier. Right now I'm also working on a heritage book with pictures and mementos from my parents that were passed to me when we emptied the house after Dad passed away. Nice to have them documented and saved, but lots of work!
I was just mentioning to Rich the other day that we could have 100 days of straight sunshine and then 1 cloudy day and my mood plummets! I need sun too, my friend! That is going to be a wonderful Christmas present for your family and they are going to treasure it forever! Yes, I did know that the Mona Lisa was really small! Nice picture of your girls!
ReplyDeleteIt is dark and rainy 🌧 here in Montreal as well. Not sure if you know about this or not, but there is a special lamp that you can buy that helps to give the type of light when there is no sun. I know a few people with seasonal affected disorder that say it helps them a lot.
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