MaeLyn's Musings

Tuesday, February 25, 2025 Journal entry: Yesterday I worked 9-1 at the register. The news came that all JoAnn stores are closing after all which is really disappointing... February 26 Yesterday work was as busy as the week before Christmas as people came to stock up on craft supplies and use their gift cards before the store closes. Many people expressed their sorrow about the closing. I came home exhausted... February 27 Yesterday I worked 9-1 and again it was like Black Friday with condolences. Already, with three cashiers the line wove back to the aisles - and the sales haven't really started yet!... February 28 Yesterday I worked again, starting with orders, but then at the register as it got busier. It wasn't quite as exhauting that way... March 1 Yesterday I worked 9-1 and came home cranky, frustrated with the vultures who are waiting for the store to die, disappointed with the sales and complaining - while I am facing the end of a job I have enjoyed the last two years a...

Merry Christmas everyone!!! The year is drawing to a close, and I've been thinking about the many blessings we have received just in the last month. Steven finally found a new job!!! It's with a company called IMA that has something to do with insurance. He wanted to start as soon as possible, but the person who will be his manager is on vacation so Steven won't start until January 4th. Due to COVID, it sounds like he will still primarily work from home, but when he can go to the office, it is right next door to Union Station downtown so the commute is far shorter than when he worked at MDC, and he can take public transportation (the company will pay for it) and be dropped essentially right on his doorstep. We have also been blessed these last three months that Steven has been unemployed to have had enough money in savings and food stored up that we've been able to pay our bills, have food to eat, and even have a nice Christmas. (It will still be a huge relief to have ...

The last week of December, I received an email to say that there was a lady on my street who was moving out of her home, who needed some help with the move. Thinking that might be a great way to alleviate some end of the holiday break boredom, I gathered up the kids and we headed up the street. The lady is a psychological hoarder. Her house is huge - at least six bedrooms, (she used it as an assisted living home) and it was FULL of stuff. I started with the entryway closet, pulling out the dozens of coats and other clothing that were hanging there and taking it out to her pickup truck. Next came the top shelves with their literally hundreds and hundreds of  vacuum bags. When I asked what she wanted done with the vacuum bags, she told me to put them in a box to donate; her vacuum is a Dyson that doesn't use bags! That was just the beginning. The lady collects dolls and clocks and pets (she had two or three dogs, about five cats, a parakeet and a bunch of fish). She had a sewing ro...

At Time out For Women, we were taught that the Lord teaches through parables. A parable is a story with a veiled deeper meaning. It "conveys to the hearer religious truth exactly in proportion to his faith and intelligence; to the dull and uninspired it is a mere story,...to the instructed and spiritual it reveals the mysteries or secrets of the kingdom of heaven " ( BD Parables ) We were told to seek out and recognize the parables in our own lives. A little over a year ago , Steven was feeling discouraged in his job search. He had graduated with his MBA in July, and he was ready to go back to work... but the dream job didn't appear to be coming. He had interviewed with several places for good jobs, and they had all chosen to go with someone else. He asked our home teacher for a blessing, and he was advised to be patient, and to branch out in his thinking. The blessing wasn't as comforting as we had hoped it would be. In an attempt to "branch out", Stev...

I've got bad news, better news and wonderful news. The bad news: The floods from a few weeks ago brought devastation to our area. Flood water washed away cars, houses, and lives. The water receded, but not soon enough to stop a plague. In quiet pools of water, thousands and hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes laid eggs, which have since hatched into an army of billions of tiny, but persistent, blood sucking monsters. Last Sunday I awoke with an itchy red bump just below my right eye. Monday one appeared on my knee, another on my wrist, and they kept appearing. John went on a field trip to a lake on Monday and got sixteen bites, eleven of which were all on one arm. Yesterday I got one on the side of my nose! Everyone I have asked about it has agreed that the mosquitoes are bad - except Hannah. She claims not to have been bitten once! The better news: It is snowing this morning for the first time this fall! Maybe the snow will freeze the bloodsuckers. The wonderful news: I thi...

School has been in session for over a week now, and we are settling into the routines for the school year. Here is an update on each of us:  Peter just started third grade. He loves playing with LEGOs, and this morning, he showed me a town he had drawn, with all the LEGO characters inhabiting it. Peter's LEGO world Peter has had difficulty adjusting to an earlier wake-up time, and has frequently needed to take naps in the afternoons after school. He is enjoying being a cub scout, and he was awarded his Bobcat patch at our pack meeting on Tuesday. He found a leaf bug in his room yesterday, and caught it and put it in a jar. The leaf bug Joshua began 5th grade. He loves the erector set he received for his birthday, and spends a lot of time playing with it. He is also into Ninjas these days. This has meant practice fighting, as well as using his erector set pieces to build Ninja tools. Josh being a ninja this morning John is in 7th grade. His classes include ...

Last night I set off to a Relief Society Second Tuesday Summer Salad Social and Swap Meet at the Stake Center at 6pm. We sat and scarfed scrumptious salads and sipped water slowly, while socializing with sympathetic sisters about siblings, sweets and silliness. On display were skirts, salvers and sundries. Someone snagged a switchblade spoon from Sonic. I secured a satchel and shirt as well as a softcover suspense novel and some CDs. When shopping was spent, we secured our spoils and shlepped them to our sanctuaries to sleep. When I returned home, I was anxious to hear how Steven's first day of work went. It went well. The people there were friendly. They got him set up in a spacious cubicle, and even took him out for lunch. He has already learned the names of the dozen people in the accounting department as well as a few others. His commute yesterday took about an hour each way, and if this job becomes permanent, we will probably look into moving south at some point, but fo...

Ten years ago, my wonderful, talented husband passed all four parts of the Colorado CPA exam on the first try. He has fifteen years of accounting experience, both in general accounting and in the home building and construction industries. He has worked as a controller, managing entire accounting departments. He works very well with others, and is a great motivator, as shown by his experience as a scoutmaster for six years, helping teenaged boys achieve rank advancements and progress to Eagle Scouts. While he is no longer a scout master, he continues to mentor the boys that were in his troop. He has experience managing adults as well; he served as president of our HOA board for several years, and was responsible for major renovations including replacing the decrepit sprinkler system as well as replacing several hail damaged roofs. He most recently helped with the planning of a youth trek, researching and procuring mementos for over 100 teenagers to help them remember the experien...

The picture says it all.

Yesterday was our first day of Spring Break. Steven is working, so we aren't going anywhere, but so far we are enjoying a relaxed schedule with nowhere to go. I said Steven is working. Like I mentioned in my last status update blog , Steven has been working a contract job, standing in for a lady who is on maternity leave. Unfortunately, he isn't particularly enjoying it. For one thing, even though he has been there for over a month, and is supposed to continue for two more months, no one has taken any time to get to know him or even treat him as a real person. He only exists when they have something for him to do, he isn't invited to any office parties, doesn't have access to the company gym, or even access to the company intranet. They have incredibly complex and inefficient processes, and haven't appreciated any of Steven's efforts to improve their efficiency. (Yes, we have over 58,000 formulas on that one page of a 50 page spread sheet, and yes, it does tak...

Steven has been working at a contract job for Richmond Homes, helping with their year end audit and various reports. It was supposed to be just for the month of January, but he has been given a few extra things to work on, so the job has lasted an extra week and he didn't finish what he was working on Friday, so he returned to work today. Last Wednesday he interviewed for another contract job with a company called GHX (... It stands for Global Health Exchange or something like that...). They called him back that same afternoon to offer him the job. This one starts next Monday (the 19th), and is supposed to last three or four months while someone is on maternity leave. While we would prefer a permanent job with benefits, the contract jobs are a great help. Steven interviewed for a permanent job with Ball Corporation last month, and he thought the interview went really well, but he hasn't heard back from them since. Since we only have the one car and Steven takes it to work, I...

A little after 10am on a Tuesday morning, the house is quiet except the whir of the dryer, my typing on the keyboard and an occasional meow from one of the cats. Wow. Does anyone else feel the huge relief of Christmas holidays being over, decorations put away, normal routines recommenced? I realize the change might not be so great for single people, empty-nesters, those with preschoolers, or those who home school, etc. but for me, with all the kids back at school and Steven away at work, the peace is amazing. I can finally hear myself think again! We had a wonderful holiday. The kids played with Legos, watched movies, played games and had fun. New Years Eve was spent at a party thrown by ward members talking and playing games. Yesterday the weather was nice and warm (40s and sunny, anyway... It is amazing what this California girl now considers "warm"!) and we rode bikes to the park to play. Steven has been working at his contract job at Richmond Homes for over a week no...

Today is Steven's first day at a temporary job. He is helping a company with its year end audit during the month of January. Yes, it's only for one month, but it will bring in money and help us get through another month or two. He also has an interview with another company he would really like to work for scheduled for January 11th. We are hoping and praying that interview will go well, and that a permanent job will follow when this temporary job ends.

I have a lot to say today, and I'm not sure how to say it. I guess I'll start by saying thank you. Thank you to all those who have helped to make this Christmas a better time for our family. Thank you to the brother in our ward who is letting Steven hang out in his garage, lending his tools and expertise to help Steven make special gifts for the children for Christmas. Thank you to a young family in our ward - the husband brought us a bag of gifts on Sunday and said his wife wanted to get the kids something for Christmas. Thank you to the members of our HOA who a few weeks ago gave us a Christmas card filled with cash, which has funded the few gifts Steven and I will be able to give our children this year. Thank you to the anonymous person who left four bags of gifts on our doorstep sometime between Sunday evening and Monday morning. Thank you to the boyscout in our ward who's eagle project involved collecting hats for children at a local hospital - and giving u...

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that Steven really wasn't enjoying his job. He was working as an inventory clerk, something that it seemed like anyone could do, and all the advanced skills he had developed in the past were going to waste. The technology at the company was ancient (blue screen, DOS based programs), and frustrating to work with. Steven is used to knowing what he is supposed to be doing and being able to take charge and get it done. In this job he was being micro-managed, and occasionally being asked if he had yet done something that he'd had no idea he was supposed to do, or how to do it. In the past, Steven has always been very good at separating work and family - and not letting work cut into family time. He was frustrated when he received work related texts and emails in the evenings and weekends. Not happy with the situation, when he was approached about interviewing for another job, he agreed. This other job would involve being in charge of a new technology...

As some of you may know, Steven found a job and began working a week ago today. So far I have very mixed feelings about his new job. Pros Steven has a job with a large company. Steven is finally earning a paycheck comparable to what he was making two years ago. The job benefits include good health insurance and 401k matching. Steven gets out of the house so I get more done during the day. We don't have to move away from our home. The kids don't have to change schools or leave their friends. Steven's new job is across the freeway from a light rail station, so he could potentially take public transportation there and back when he gets comfortable with the idea.  I'm getting more exercise, riding a bike or walking when I need to get around during the day.  We will soon have money to spend on non-essentials again.  We can start paying off the loans we have borrowed over the last couple years. Cons After one week on the job, Steven doesn't seem to...

Last week Thursday we had Parent Teacher Conferences. I spent over three hours talking with the boys' teachers - Josh's teacher, Peter's teacher, a speech therapist, John's Math, Social Studies, Language Arts, Science and Engineering teachers, two art teachers, two media teachers, two music teachers, and two PE teachers. Later that day I went to Hannah's school and spent another hour talking with her Math, Language Arts and History Teachers, as well as her Great Books and Orchestra teacher. (Her Science teacher was out of town.) In general my children are doing very well. They have all scored very well on assessments, some are showing very good leadership skills when working with other students. John's math teacher described him as being "a Ferrari of math brains", jumping from problem to solution so fast, that he is working on getting John to slow down a bit so he can explain what he is doing to get the solution. At the moment Hannah is getting stra...

I guess my last real post didn't really mention much about how we are doing. Nothing much has changed since my last status update. Steven is still busily searching for a job, and still isn't getting much response from anyone. No longer is he searching mostly in Denver with a few scattered jobs elsewhere. Now he is applying for whatever jobs he can find - mostly elsewhere with a few in the Denver area. We wish the phone would ring more from potential employers, and less from political campaigners. We are grateful for the assistance we have received from home teachers and other ward members in the way of food and clothes, as well as with car repairs. In spite of their help, Steven's Jeep is out of commission. Until Steven finds a job, we can manage with just the van. It helps that both the boys' school and Hannah's bus stop are within walking distance.  I sometimes wish that I were in a better position to bring in money, but I'm afraid I don't have the ski...

Early Monday morning, I drove Steven to the airport, and he flew to Virginia to meet with the CFO of the company there. He interviewed with him and several others in the office, spent the night in a hotel and flew home Tuesday morning. He liked the office, he liked the people, and he felt that it had gone well. That evening he received an email from the company saying that they would like to interview other candidates before they make a final decision. Our first thought was, "What?! Didn't you already offer Steven the job?" Apparently that was a preliminary job offer, contingent on their liking him when they met him in person... and I guess, for whatever reason that hasn't been made clear to us, they decided they wanted to keep looking. We are disappointed, to say the least. Frustrated and confused are also major emotions, especially because we felt like this was what the Lord wanted us to do, and now we haven't a clue where to go from here. It has been week...

As I've mentioned before, Steven has been searching for a job for the last couple months. Over the last couple weeks, he has interviewed with a company called MC Dean, located in Dulles, Virginia. Yesterday morning, Steven received a phone call from them with a preliminary job offer. Steven accepted the offer, and now he is working to complete the drug tests, background checks, etc, after which the company will fly him out to Virginia to meet the big-wigs. (His interviews with this company were done via video chat.) After that, if there are no hiccups, we will move our family there and he will begin work. Life has suddenly become a whirlwind of thoughts, emotions, to-do lists, and wonder. I am tremendously grateful that Steven has found a job. He feels less stressed and worried, I feel less stressed and worried. Soon, we will have money coming in again. This is a very, very good thing. I wonder why it had to be Virginia. I'm a California girl who has spent the last ten ...