Just in time for Christmas
I have barely blogged in the last two or three weeks, but I have a good excuse - really I do! As I have shared many times on this blog, I am a freelance writer, working most of the time from home. Occasionally though I am asked to take on a project that forces me to work in the 'real' world and be among adults all day long. One such project came up at the end of November. I saw an ad on
craigslist for a technical writer with experience in Robohelp and Framemaker. I happen to have experience in both so applied. The ad stated it was a 30 day contract so I knew it was short-term. Within 30 minutes of my email being sent, I received a call, and 4 days later I was driving off to
San Marcos a small College town about 45 miles north of San Antonio. The commute has not been bad, I left early enough in the morning that I avoided most traffic and same in the afternoon.
I worked for a small company called DNP Photo. Well, I say small but apparently they are a force to be reckoned with in the world of photolabs, and photo kiosks. I have been in the Info Dev (Information Development) department for the last 30 days working on technical manuals.
Today however is my last day. I have to say this has been one of the most enjoyable contracts I have completed; the people are hard working but easy going. The IT department was on the ball as well. Within an hour of my arrival the first day they had my email set up, all the programs I needed loaded and a phone on my desk.
As I drive home tonight I know I will be thanking God for this opportunity - the extra cash for the Christmas season has come in very handy, and the experience to freshen up on my technical writing skills was wonderful as well.
Labels: Christmas, DNP Photo, freelance writing, San Marcos, work from home
Christmas Already??
Yesterday Terry and I started the auditioning process for the children's Christmas play! Can you believe we have to start thinking about this already?! Last year the news that the kids were to do a play was thrust on us at the last minute and we had a month to pull a full production together! The beauty is we did it, and the performance was the best so far for our fledgling church.
This year Terry is director and lead for the play; so he decided to do one he has performed in before, called A Star is Born. It follows a group of children preparing for a big Christmas television production. When Sophia the actress comes to play the role of Mary, the director and the other actors try to help her understand that the "star" of any Christmas production is Jesus Christ.
When we performed it several years ago at our last church, Warrick was one of the Wisemen, tripping his way across the stage and being a wiseguy. We tried to persuade Garrick to try out for the role this time, but he is having none of it. Hayley auditioned and read well, so it will be interesting to see if she finally gets picked for a part. The last thing we need is to be accused of playing favourites if we do choose her to have a speaking part.
We have one more round of auditions before posting who plays what and then the rehearsals begin!
Labels: Christmas, play, Warrick
R.I.P.
On Garrick's first birthday we decided we were ready for a new pet. We had been a petless home for a while, and we missed the antics of a kitten. I drove with the 4 kids to the Dearborn Animal Shelter and watched about 20 kittens at eating time to see how a kitten would react to little ones. One kitten was so complacent and placid that when Teagan, who was three at the time picked her up while she was eating, she just placed one cheek on Teagan's and purred. Serena came home with us.
The kids treated her like a baby doll, even going so far as to put a bonnet on her, and place her in a stroller and take her through the house. She suffered these indignities with good grace; and if you were to put your ear to her chest you'd hear a rumbling purr. She knew no strangers and would jump into any lap. Christmas was her favourite season, and as soon as the Christmas tree came out you could not budge her. The tree skirt would have to be fully vacuumed after the season was done! She would pull gifts out of the way in order to lie under the tree.
Serena was not a small cat - her breed, Maine Coons, are known for being large, and she certainly fit the bill. Her paws were massive, and like all Maine Coons she had plenty of thick fur, and two cinnamon stripes of colour running down her back. Her big bright eyes reflected her sunny disposition.
She was born at the shelter on August 12th 1999. In July 2001 she was hit by a car (we think) one day after she escaped from the house. She was missing for almost 14 days and was more than likely hit the day she escaped. We prayed daily she would return. She did - a very injured, and very thin Serena pulled herself to our back door which is where Warrick found her. She had a broken hip, a broken femur, a broken tibia - in short she was a total mess. We could have chosen to put her to sleep then, but instead opted for the very expensive surgery to repair as much of the damage as we could. Terry and I both felt it would be grossly unfair to put her down after she spent 14 days dragging her broken rear end to get home.
In 2003 we moved to San Antonio and she made the long 4-day trip in the van with us. She went camping with us, stayed at a hotel with us (we smuggled her in) and as ever, was calm, placid and accepting of her new quarters.
Through the years other cats have come and gone in the Smelker household, we have moved numerous times, but Serena has been very secure in her place in the house - she was the matriarch and she knew she wasn’t going anywhere. She kept the other cats in line, and was always quietly in charge.
However in the last 18 months we had seen signs of deterioration in Serena. She lost two upper canine teeth, she was gaining weight (something she already had enough of), was no longer able to jump on the back of the couch, or jump up to get water from the sink (for a long time she would ONLY drink fresh running water!) The vet put her on a restricted diet, and we had surgery done on her teeth, but there was no appreciable improvement.
Then this last week for no apparent reason she really seemed to struggle to get around, and it was obvious to Terry and I that although she wanted to walk the pain was almost too much for her. We made the very hard, almost unbearable decision to take Serena in this morning to be put to sleep.
We will miss our big girl so much – we had almost 8 years with her; 8 good years, 8 years of appreciating her unique personality and love. Serena loved people, and her solid presence was a comfort to us all in rough times.
Rest in Peace Serena
Born: August 12th 1999
Died: July 18th 2007
This photo was taken this morning as I brushed her for the last time.
Labels: Christmas, Garrick, RIP, Serena
Gifts are Wrapped
And under the tree - supplies have been bought for the stockings, and the only thing left to do is assemble the trampoline, once the kids have gone to bed. Speaking of the kids - there is an air of excitement, I was going to say, repressed excitement, but that is not true - there is nothing repressed about their excitement right now!
It has been a wet day, but the rain has lifted and hopefully tomorrow will dawn bright and sunny.
From the Smelkers to you - have a Merry Christmas!
Labels: Christmas
All I Want For Christmas...
Is peace and quiet! Of course I understand that every Joe Shmoe is out after work picking up the latest gagdet, but do they have to be so aggressive on the road? One little Honda sports-car wanna-be was on the freeway last night and zipped between an almost non-existent gap to cut in front of me. I guess going 65 miles an hour in a 65 mile an hour zone when the traffic cops are all around is just not fast enough, eh? Thirty seconds later he zipped back into the 'slow' lane and then proceeded to take to the shoulder to overtake some truck! Where's a cop when you need one?
I have to say for the most part, people have been very patient, even though we can sit in traffic for 10 minutes at one traffic light; and wait in check out lines for an eternity. So perhaps the Christmas spirit is not dead after all. But I am happy to say that last night was the last time I had to venture out for gifts. Next time I go will be for groceries - and hopefully AFTER Christmas!
Labels: Christmas
An Adult Night Out
Once a year, Newtek, the company for whom Terry works, puts on a Christmas party and every year is better than the last! This year the party was held at the Alamo Convention Center in a spacious area called "The Grotto', a ground room floor that opens right onto the River Walk. This part of the river is extremely peaceful, and it was wonderful to sit outside and enjoy the splash of waterfalls, and the jazzy sounds of a sax player in the background.
"Come As Your Cool Self" was the eventual 'theme' of the party, although initially it was touted as a formal event so I went and bought a formal outfit for the night. However, there was a real mix of style and theme on the actual night, and plenty of the staff and spouses did actually dress up for the evening.
Earlier on in the day, the company had hosted a children's Christmas party, so the evening was an adults-only event. It is good to get out there and just converse with other adults without having to constantly monitor kids.
I know as the month progresses each one of us will get busy, so I want to take a moment now to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and pray that everyone gets the chance to reflect on why we do the things we do this month!
Labels: Alamo Convention Center, Christmas, NewTek
Heat Waves and Burn Bans
I checked the temperature for San Antonio today, the 3rd of January and we will hit a record breaking 88! It is lovely but it comes at a high price. As most of you are aware, Oklahoma and Texas are dealing with raging fires right now because of the extremely dry autumn and winter we have so far experienced. San Antonio has been largely unscathed, although I did see a guy throw a cigarette butt from his car onto the verge and next moment the grass was on fire and the fire trucks had to be called out because of the height of the flames and sheer speed at which it spread. Most of us water our lawns daily just to be on the safe side. Can you believe we are in the middle of winter?
The kids got some new clothes for Christmas, the boys received sweatsuits and the girls some sweaters, but haven't had the opportunity to wear them yet - for most of their Christmas break they were in shorts and t-shirts! Here are a couple of photos of the kids during the Christmas season, the girls were in the play we put on at church, and then we opened gifts.
Labels: Christmas, Fires
Plays, Presents and Parties
Whew! We are done with the Christmas madness! All that is left for us to do is pack away the Christmas decorations, which we will do on January 2nd.
We had a wonderful Christmas though - no boredom allowed in the Smelker household this season. Terry, Warrick and the girls had parts in the children's Christmas play for church (Terry had the lead). We had three performances, and all of them went off very well, with only minor technical glitches. (Pictures to follow later). It was a bit of a sacrifice on the kids part to be in the play because we had two performances on Christmas Day, so the kids had to wait until the afternoon to open their gifts. I don't know what was worse - the girls at church with me waiting to come home and open their gifts, or the little boys at home looking at the unopened gifts and knowing they had to wait for us before opening them!
All of us received the 'perfect' gift, Warrick FINALLY got his cell phone, Teagan received her potters wheel (and is already offering lessons on it), Hayley received a princess castle, Garrick some Star Wars toys and Carson a wooden train track for his Thomas the tank engine and friends. I got, among other things a compilation series of "The Chronicles of Narnia" (CS Lewis is my favourite author) and Terry got some games for his PSP. We are blessed!
I will add some photos as soon as Terry downloads them from the camera.
Labels: Christian Family Church, Christmas, play, Teagan, Terry, Warrick
Smelker Kids At The Party
One of the NewTek employees is also a professional photographer and always takes his camera everywhere with him (we have asked him to take Warrick's senior pictures for us). He took some snaps of the kids as Tim Jenison, the founder of NewTek played Santa and handed gifts to the kids.
Carson decided to get up 'close and personal' with his new trains!
Getting into the Christmas spirit means wearing Santa hats.
Labels: Christmas, NewTek
Christmas Parties
This weekend Newtek, the company Terry works for had their Christmas parties. They decided to do two separate parties this year. The kids had theirs on Saturday afternoon and Santa made sure he dropped off presents for each employee's child. All five of our kids received
exactly what they wanted (amazing how Santa can do that!)
In the evening we dropped the kids off and drove to the Riverwalk to the historic Menger Hotel for a more formal company function. The atmosphere, the company and the food were exceptional. Towards the end of the evening the CEO, Jim Plant stepped forward and thanked the employees for such a great year, and said he had a special treat for them. Now, keep in mind, this is a company of 'geeks' - they are the ones who create the software program that allows animators to animate their characters and the software is used in anything from Spiderman 2 to Babylon 5. These are some serious techno-geeks! Jim pulled out a PSP (Playstation to those who are not game oriented) from behind his back and said they had one for each employee!
Terry was thrilled because this one comes with all the bells and whistles. He was even more thrilled because he has been wanting to get one, and even asked one of Warrick's friends if he would consider selling his (and the one he had doesn't even have all the gadets) but hadn't heard back from the lad. You should have heard the buzz of excitement that the PSP's generated among the roomful of employees, and Jim, the CEO, and Tim, the founder received a very large hand clap from everyone.
This week brings more rehearsals, and more meets, both for swimming and for wrestling. Teagan's pottery lesson continue too. How much longer can I hold the younger boys off from doing activities? Perhaps I can persuade them to do wrestling like their big brother too, and have all the kids activities on the same night! Well, a girl can dream can't she?
Labels: Christmas, NewTek, Terry
Christmas in full swing
I am not sure how much I will be able to blog in the next couple of weeks as we gear up for one of the busiest Christmas seasons ever. Terry and I are helping with the children's Christmas play (which will run December 24th and 25th), Terry is also playing one of the parts in the play. We have rehearsals several times a week. Warrick's wrestling season started in full swing this month, Hayley has swim meets and Teagan still has her pottery lessons. Between Christmas parties, meets, school functions and church functions, our lives have become insanely busy! I am lucky to get near my computer just to check email right now, let alone anything else, and don't even ask about the house! I NEED a housekeeper!
But, I love this time of year - I love the lights, the trees and their trimmings and the excitement of the kids (and their parents!) and would not swap the busyness for anything. I am most of all thankful that we, as mere people, have the chance to celebrate our Saviour's birth, that the God of the universe thought enough of us to come to earth to redeem you and me. I know December 25th is not the 'actual' date of his birth - but I celebrate it nonetheless.
Labels: Christian Family Church, Christmas, play
The Smelker Kids Together
Last night was my parent's final night in San Antonio and I asked my father to take some shots of the kids in front of the Christmas tree. I can't remember when we last had all 5 kids together - no I remember, it was 4 years ago back in Michigan - pretty sad isn't it that it has been so long since they all stood together for a photo!
Garrick is on the left, Hayley is next to him, Teagan is next to Hayley and Carson is on the right. Warrick, obviously, is in the back.
We also managed to capure one with Warrick and his girlfriend Natalie. She didn't want to have a picture taken, so he is hanging onto her to make sure she didn't get away! Natalie is a wonderful girl and we love her and her family dearly.
Labels: Carson, Christmas, Garrick, Hayley, Teagan, Warrick
