Work Update, with Photo Included!

Okay, a little more work update…
I can call long distance, email, fax, copy, submit projects for the production team, call clients, meet with clients, take on some new clients (something Scandanavian maybe…update soon), rent cars, travel, hand out my fancy business cards, and it’s official….be photographed! My official kkBOLD pic …….
And my sweet Matt’s first response, “If you zoom in, you can see the veins in your eyes! Wow! That’s the sign of a good picture!” Great. Thanks. Back off ladies, He’s mine.

Highs and Lows of Summer

I love summer…I love the heat, the sun, the drinks, the smell, I just love summer. This summer has been weird because of the rain that just won’t seem to break, the flooding that is tearing apart the state and people’s lives, and my own personal displacement. For the most part, I will admit I’ve got it pretty good. I’m continuing to live in Baldwin from Monday morning to Friday afternoon and on the weekends I typically have been going back to Dickinson. I haven’t always been staying put but when I’m back I’m still continuing to work on the house. It’s frustrating as there are some things that we will have to bring a contractor in for and because of that, the house is struggling. I’ve gotten a few offers and have countered but nothing seems to stick.

This past weekend, I did some clean up, some painting and had Matt help me with slight repairs when he wasn’t working. I know that I need to have patience but between the realtor that isn’t doing his job and the cantilever situation, it’s just disheartening. People keep telling me that the house should go fast, but it’s not. I know it’s okay and everything will work out in the end. The hard part is when my Bismarck realtor automatically sends pics of new houses on the market that would be perfect for me and I don’t want to see them or look or whatever because I’m tired of getting my hopes up. If it wasn’t for that autosend, I wouldn’t know as I’ve quite looking at the Bismarck MLS sites. So for the next little bit, I’ll keep my weekend home in mountain time zone and I’ll do business in the big city. Ha!

This is the part of the blog where I brag a bit about my weekend situation. I have been going back to work on the house, see Matt, have some space and my things around me, but also Matt cooks me amazing food. I’ve had ribs, porterhouses, ribeyes, sirloins, pork chops, breakfasts with bacon, eggs, fresh fruit….he’s grilled for me in the past but he’s also been experimenting with smoking over coals…and I am reaping the benefit of this little experiment! Ha! I contribute to the meal; don’t think that he does allll the work. This time, I contributed the appetizer of shrimp cocktail and southwestern dip and the last time he cooked I think I had the appetizer of pistachios. I do try to take on the sides too! I need to step it up though; he is beginning to question my ability to cook anything.

Work has been going really well. I will come off official probation in a few weeks but I’m starting to find my groove and how things go and the scope of the projects. Some of the clients I’m working with are State Fair, Tires Plus, Medora, and Northland College and soon I’ll be working with Grand River Casino….it’s been fun to see each project and what they are doing. My co workers are fun too so that’s an added bonus.

This coming weekend, I’ll be heading up to the State Park again to help Matt camp. I’m beginning to think he kinda likes me there, I’m a good helper!

“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.”—John Quincy Adams

Adventures in Camping Part Deux!

So after my successes in camping last month, Matt decided he needed me to come along again! So with that:

Lesson #9: Once given proper instruction, I can conquer the world. This time there were no issues with the leveling and setting the camper up. I rocked out that job with no problems or “instructional sessions”.

Lesson #10: Food is still amazing…Matt cooked me pizza sandwiches. They were fabulous. I think I’ll let him do that again. I also liked breakfast the next morning with bacon, eggs, and sweet potatoes!

Lesson #11: Time is not relevant when camping. This is nice in theory but when it gets in the way of lesson #10, Matt and I got a little cranky! We ended up eating supper at 12:00 am on Saturday night/Sunday morning….I was so hungry I had to polish off a s’more!

Lesson #12: Sakakawea is F-UU-LLLLLL. There was no beach at the public swimming. You waded on the pavement until you reached the beach sand….I felt so bad for little Mason, one of the kids that was along. He is around 18 months old and wanted to play in the sand in the worst way but all that was there was grass, I broke up a little ground for him and taught him how to put rocks in his bucket.

Lesson #13: It’s nice to have a support system. Madelyn (Mason’s 5 year old sister) and I bonded while her dad and Matt went out diving. So at the end of the night when she was “all spun up” she informed Matt that she was my Prover, so when I needed to prove that I was right, she would back me up. I always knew I needed one of those!!

Lesson #14: Matt is still a sore loser at horseshoes.

Lesson #15: I’m better at horseshoes when I’m in the mountain time zone.

Lesson #16: Matt needs to pack bug spray in the camper. I swelled up so bad on Saturday from bug bites that it has taken me until Wednesday to start returning to normal. That part of the weekend stunk!

So aside from the bug bites and thinking that I accidentally locked the keys in the camper…it was a good trip! I’m not a pro at it but I don’t think I’m too bad. Camping Trip Part Tres is in two weeks. We are doing the state park again. We’ll see how that goes, I need to make it through another week of house repairs and realtor fun. Hooray for the good weekends!

“Campers: Nature's way of feeding mosquitoes.”—Author Unknown

Let Freedom Ring....

I’m still living off a weekend high…I won’t lie. I thought weekends were good but now, I think weekends are wonderful. I didn’t realize how much I like to sleep in, not worry about schedules, wander around the house, and just have the option to play. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really enjoying my job. I’m so in the learning mode and probably will continue to be for a while. It continues to be a great challenge where things are quick paced and I like the creative environment.

This past weekend was very good to me. I got off early on Friday (as KK Bold is on summer hours) and when I got to Dickinson I realized I had to hay my lawn. It was up to my knees in some parts. Ugh. From there Matt took me to wash fire trucks, which is not as romantic as it sounds. We ended the night with a walk down to the street dance where I got to catch up with Aubrey for a bit. Oh how I missed that girl!

Saturday was BUSY, especially for Matt. He let me ride along with him on the fire truck, which was newly cleaned, in the Roughrider Days Parade. I even got to do the horn and the sirens. From there he parked the truck at Family Fun Day where he let the kids play on the truck and hand out stickers all afternoon. I admit, it was pretty cute to watch. I stayed with him for a bit, did some stuff around the house, and then went back at the end. It was some great people watching!

Sunday was a do nothing day! Slept in…and it was great!!! Matt cooked me breakfast brunch but then we went to work on the house. I had to mow the lawn again, because it looked terrible. This time I had to bag it, he made me. Whoever invented bagging….was dumb. What a pain. While I did that, he ripped apart the old garage door. We cooled down with a water fight, I didn’t stand a chance!

On Monday, we went back to Bismarck. We took in the Mandan Art in the Park, the Bismarck Zoo, and finished the night off with watching the Capitol’s firework show. The weekend reminded me how great it is to be American.

“May I never wake up from the American dream.”—Carrie Latet