I sent out a Christmas letter with my cards. I thought I would post it here for my friends that I don’t have addresses for.

December 2009

Wow. A Christmas letter from me 2 years in a row? That probably won’t ever happen again.

The past year or so has been kind of stressful for me, but things are starting to look up. As I said in last year’s letter, I lost my job in October 2008 and started a contract position in December 2008. That contract position only lasted 4 months (I was filling in for someone on maternity leave). I found another contract position in May 2009. The position was supposed to be a contract to hire position, but the company ended my contract early in August (and laid off 15 people the day after my contract ended). All that uncertainty almost drove me crazy.

But I said things are starting to look up, didn’t I? I started a new job (a permanent one this time around) in November. It’s with a company in Moorhead. I’ve been there for about a month and a half now, and I’m very happy. I get to work with php and MySQL again, which I really enjoy working with (yes … I AM a geek).

I’m not sure what 2010 will bring, but I’m hoping it keeps on the upswing. I had been planning on buying a house, but the rollercoaster that my work life has been over the past year has put that on hold for a little while longer. While I don’t have the money saved up for a house just yet, I do have some money saved that I think I’ll be putting towards a new car in the spring. I’ve had my car since 2001, so it’s time for an upgrade.

I hope this holiday season treats you well. I hope Santa brings you everything that you ask for. ;) Make sure to take time to treat yourself well during the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Take care and have a great 2010.

Happy Holidays …

Becky

Friday nite I went to the Knickerbocker Liquor Locker (I just love that name) with Robin to see 32 Below. I was worried about the weather before we left, but the stuff I was watching passed before we left. It was definitely a hot, muggy nite. But it was still fun. Lots of people, great music, and a good friend. We wandered around people watching, ducking under the tent when it sprinkled (mainly because it’s hard for me to see out of spotty glasses ). Steve ended up coming out, so we harassed him for a while … or maybe I should I say that I did. So it was a good nite … at least until the sporadic sprinkles turned into a steady downpour with lightning around as well. The show was cut short because of the lightning and I think the rain was starting to hit the stage too. We waited a bit and then ventured out into the downpour to head to Robin’s car (and Steve wouldn’t drive us to her car … that putz managed to get a parking spot right by the damn tent). That was fun … NOT. We parked in a grassy area that turned muddy. There were no lights, so you didn’t see the holes until you fell into them. Luckily I was wearing capris, so I didn’t have to worry about my pants getting all crappy. But my shoes and feet didn’t fair so well. But our nite didn’t end there. Even tho we were soaked and had muddy feet, we stopped at the Windbreak when we got back to town. We didn’t stay long tho. When we left there, it was STILL raining … I think it might even have been raining harder. So it was definitely a wet nite. But despite looking like a drowned rat, I still had fun.

Last nite I went down to Fairmount for their street dance to hang out with Melissa. We haven’t hung out since I went to visit her in Kansas in 2002. 7 years is too long between times hanging out. But she was living in Kansas and then in Germany. Now she’s back home in Fairmount (has been for a while, but this was the first chance I got to go visit). I’m hoping we have lots more opportunities to hang out. I really missed her. They had a DJ for the dance, so the music was pretty decent and varied. There weren’t a lot of people there, but then again, it is a small town. But I didn’t go there to be around a ton of people … that was Friday nite. I went there to hang out with Melissa, and that’s what I did. Lots of laughs, catching up a little. I’m really glad that I went. She’s waiting for her truck to get to her (I’m not sure if she bought a new one or if it’s one she had when she was in Germany that just took a while to get back to her). She said that once she’s got that, she’ll come up to Fargo for a nite on the town. I’d love for her and Robin to meet. I think they’d get along pretty well. And it would be awesome to get to hang out with my oldest best friend and my newest best friend. I think we should get someone to drive us so we can all get hammered.

I’m still a little tired (the drive home from Fairmount last nite sucked, but I wanted to sleep in my own bed), and I’m definitely behind my regular Sunday routine. But my laundry is done and I have the Sunday paper (I haven’t started going thru it yet). I’m not used to going out 2 nites in a row … especially after going out last Friday nite. We’ve been going out about once every 2 months, so 2 weekends in a row takes a lot out of this old woman. LOL But it was good times … definitely worth the sleep deprivation. Can’t wait to do it again. Oh wait … next weekend is July 4th, isn’t it. And then the week after that is the Billy Currington concert. From once every 2 months to 4 weekends in a row? It’s definitely summer.

While we were waiting for our food, she and Robin were playing around with a wet wipe. Dannilynn was giggling up a storm. She is so darn adorable. The only problem was that she stopped giggling so much as soon as I grabbed my camera. She still giggled, just not as much.

I generally give goodie bags to friends. If I ate all that I baked, I’d be in REAL trouble … LOL. I gave Robin a bag last nite when we exchanged gifts and Carla a bag this morning. She shared with Chris and everyone else at work. I would have given them more, but I was sick a couple times this month and lost baking time. They all loved it. Carla said she was on a sugar high all day because of me … :G-LOL:

I also did something that I thought about in passing last year. You see … I’ve had a crush on my neighbor long before we were neighbors. Tonite, I bagged up some of my stuff and hung the bag on his doorknob. I still can’t believe I did it. And he’s been home since I did it. I don’t know if he’ll stop by and thank me or not. I do and I don’t want him too … aren’t I a candy ass … LOL. He’s probably got a girlfriend anyways. A guy that looks like he does doesn’t stay single long … LOL. But still … he’s a good guy and has always been nice to me and talked to me. It’s the least I could do.

I still can’t believe I did it though …

We went to Bucks first. They had a band outside and were doing a motorcycle giveaway, so we figured there’d be a lot of people there. And there were … even at around 9:30pm when we got there. We sat inside for a bit and then went outside to watch the band. When we were inside, I saw this guy walk behind me and Robin pointed him out to me at about the same time. He was tall … that’s why I noticed him and why I think Robin pointed him out to me. I checked him out (hey … I’m single … I can … :G-razz1: ), and he looked like Dale Earnhardt Jr :love: :drool2: (at least like Jr did a few years ago). If I wasn’t such a candy ass, I might have gone up to talk to him. But nope. Just watched and drooled … :drool2:

After the band finished (they could only play ’til 11pm outside due to city ordinances … :G-frown: ), I noticed my tall Dale Jr look-alike was heading toward the bikes out front (and when I say bikes, I mean motorcycles … vrroom vrroom). Very nice bike too … not a stock one … it had some funky longer handlebars … like something you’d see ‘em make on American Choppers. He and his friend left. I said to Robin something about them maybe going to Mr.Gs (since that’s where we were headed next). Neither one of us figured they’d be there tho. They didn’t seem the type to go there (but then again, I never thought I was the type to go to Mr.Gs).

We headed over to Mr.Gs. When we were almost at the door, I asked Robin, “Are those the bikes those guys were on?”. They were parked right by the door. And yep … it was them. :drool2: There was an open table near where they were standing so we grabbed it (or rather I herded Robin toward it … ). Unfortunately, they didn’t stick around for too long. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Robin and I were both getting kind of bored there. Music was loud and I didn’t see anything promising after my Jr look-alike left. Robin looked really bored (sorry Robin). As we were finishing our beer, the power went out. It had been a warm day, but I didn’t think it had been that bad. And we were never told to conserve power (at least that I had heard). We both thought that the outage was limited to the block we were on, so we finished our beer and decided to head back to Bucks. Once we got on 13th Ave and headed toward Bucks, we realized that the power outage wasn’t limited to the area around Mr.Gs. We got on the other (east) side of I-29 and the power was still out. We decided to come to my place to see if I had power (since we were only about a block away), and we figured that Bucks probably didn’t have power anyways. And I had beer in my fridge that was gonna get warm if the power was out … LOL.

Sure enough … no power in my apartment building. Good thing we took the glow-sticks with us from Mr.Gs :shh2: We came up and Robin had a beer and I had some pop (I was driving). We were here for around 30 minutes or so. Power never came back on. My apartment was rather warm … around 82° according to my thermometer … that’s why we were out on the balcony.

We decided it was time to go get Dannilynn from the babysitters. We headed back down 13th Ave yet again. Power still out … all the way down to 45th St. Everything was fine in that area. We got Dannilynn, and I took her and Robin home and then headed back home myself. Thank goodness the power was back on by then. When I got home, according to my flashing clocks it had been on for around a half hour. So, I believe the power was out from around 11:50-11:30 to about 1am. I have NO clue as to why it was out. I’ll have to watch the news tonite to see if they say anything. You’d think they would since it was such a large area (west to east that is … not sure how far north to south was affected).

And I have to add this … Robin, you’re gonna love it. On my way home from Robin’s, I saw my Jr look-alike and his buddy on their bikes again … in front of the mall. The buddy had a girl on the back of his bike, but my Jr look-alike didn’t. Hmmmm … do you think that seeing him in 3 different places is a sign? I’m such a dork … LOL.

I just wanted to post a picture of her. I hope Robin doesn’t mind. But it was the one on the hospital’s website. Isn’t she adorable?

Click to enlarge

I’m going to wait until tomorrow after work to go visit them. I figured that she could use the rest for today and get some mommy daughter bonding in.

So welcome to the world Miss Dannilynn (I don’t know if I have that spelled right or not … sorry if I don’t Robin).

I guess she started having contractions this weekend. She said they don’t really hurt yet, but she does get uncomfortable. She’s calling everyone telling them to be ready … she might go early. She has another doctor’s appointment on Thursday, so she’ll know more then.

So … from now on, my cell phone will be in my bedroom at night. I normally leave it in the living room. But I can’t hear it when it’s out there (that’s why it’s there … LOL), so it’s coming in with me. I’ll be “at the ready” if she needs me to take her to the hospital.