I'm a winner!

Oh, but I am. See what showed up on my walkway Tuesday?

I was reading Renee Pearson's blog (she wrote this and this) and she was doing a Twelve Days of the Season Giveaway of things out of her scrapbook studio. Well she gets to Day 12. I think how cool would that be. That's $150 I would not have to spend (unless I move to an iMac sooner that anticipated then I'd be buying the Mac version). So I post a comment. Late the next day I was looking at her blog again and she had posted the winner. Needless to say, I was stoked. I'm sure Renee was given this by Adobe, but who am I to complain. It is a sealed box; not like she installed in and then decided to give it away. BRAND NEW. Why is this cool? Because for those that don't know, I do dabble with the digital side of scrapbook pages and other things (cards, etc.; the card example is the Christmas card that we never got out this year)

I also have had my 2007 performance review (supervisors have to get them done before January 31). Things went well and my review was better than I expected. Next month our potential bonus is announced, and because of my review, and whatever the outcome is I will have an additional 20% added. Nice. Then they just allocated stock to employees who participate in a savings plan and they matched $15.90 in stock for every dollar I contributed. Nicer. So a banner week. For those that know of me through Heather A and my wife Heather C. may not know that I work for ConocoPhillips. That's right; I work for Big Oil and no I don't get a discount on my gas. You can see my bill for the months of October through December with all the trips to Winfield (see the wife's blog for the ugly details) as proof.

Speaking of Winfield. So we were there just after Christmas (Dec 29and 30) to do the Christmas thing with Heather's grandma and Dad. Ever since Gary really became ill, I have watched Heather struggle with doing what she and her brother believe is right and the his girlfriend doing whatever she pleases despite Heather and Kemper's requests. The move was awful because of her. I had the idea to take a day off and drive up there to have a talk with Gary and the girlfriend about the current state of affairs. Didn't but thought about it. Well, Gary and I went to get dinner Saturday night. So we are talking and on the way back he makes a comment and I the opportunity to say something go. He says something else. I let it go again. Well, those who know me know that I cannot leave a third opportunity alone. So I simply tell Gary my side of what I see going on and how I be live this is affecting Heather and I am not going to let the girlfriend mistreat Heather and her authority with Kemper. I wasn't nasty, just honest. I think he was surprised about a couple of things because he really didn't know about what happened in the background when he moved. I later started a conversation with Heather of "Don't be mad" (probably was not the smartest move but oh well) telling her what happened in the car. I apologised and say I know it was not my business but I wasn't going to stand by and let her be mistreated. I think Heather was on one hand kind of mad at me but she said that she was glad I did because I don't think it was a conversation the she could have with Gary easily. But she told me not to expect much to change. Well, from what I can tell, I think the things that Gary can control, things are better. So, if she was a little mad I think it was worth it.

So, that is the current state at our house.