It's a Girl!

Today a new little person joined our family! Her name is Tiger Lily, but she goes by Lily. Isn't she adorable???? She is an early Christmas present from Greg who was so nice to take me to the Animal Protection League in Springfield yesterday to choose a kitty to adopt. Tiger Lily was the most friendly of all the kitties, and she has indeed turned out to be a little cuddle muffin. She is curled up on the couch sleeping next to Greg right now, and she had a nap with me this afternoon. She was a little nervous about meeting her new big brothers, Big Spike and Little Spike, and they were also nervous about meeting her, but I think everyone is sort of getting used to each other. The boys like smelling her, and she likes chasing them around. She is thoroughly intrigued with the Christmas tree and also her new pink collar that has a little bell on it. She is three months old and is very sweet. We went kitty shopping today and got her a little pink leopard-pattern kitty carrier and a pink "kitty cube" to play in. We will surely have many good times around here with our three kids.

"Sweet Potato, Sweet Potato, Sweet Potato Pie . . ."

There is a funny song called "Sweet Potato Pie." I listened to it today while I was driving to Linda's neighbor's house for Thanksgiving dinner--carrying my sweet potato pie. Greg and I had to take two cars to dinner because last night someone died, so Greg had to leave the festivities a little early today to go meet with the family of the deceased man. We had SO MUCH FUN today!!!! The great thing about this world is that no matter where you go, there are nice people. Nice people make things like being away from home for Thanksgiving not seem so bad. It was very nice of Linda to invite Greg and me to join her family and friends for dinner today. The Suits family and their neighbors, Steve and Eve (that's so cool that their names rhyme!), switch off holding Thanksgiving at their house each year. There was SO MUCH yummy food there. We brought a sweet potato pie and a pumpkin pie--which actually turned out quite splendidly. We had turkey, stuffing, Brussels sprouts, yams, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, and green bean casserole. Greg and I just saw something on the History Channel the other day about green bean casserole, and everyone at dinner today was interested to learn the interesting and useless fact that the woman who invented green bean casserole is named Dorcas. Greg had to leave before we broke out the pies, but Linda sent some of her divine cranberry-apple pie home for him. I think that was the best pie I've ever had, and I've had some good pie in my 24 years. Linda, Eve, and I went for a walk after lunch. It was beautiful outside--it was sunny, clear, and the setting in the middle of the cornfields and pastures was perfect. Steve and Linda's husband Duston are in an 1850's-style band, so when we got back from the walk, they played some songs for us which was very cool. Then we chatted for a while and called it an evening. I love Thanksgiving--good friends, good food--it's the perfect holiday. I hope that everyone had a wonderful day today!

Blajerkovich

Closing the Doors

:-( I am sad. This whole IHPA situation stinks. Today was my last day of work with Linda. It was her last day too :-( We had to pack up all of her things, lock the collection storage area doors, and then just walk away. It's not fair that all of those nice people are losing their jobs. And all of the people being laid off aren't just your run-of-the-mill employees--these are people who are passionate about preserving history, and each one of them put their whole heart into what they were doing. Now what will happen to all of the hard work they've done for years? As you can see here, I left a subtle statement on the whiteboard in the office I have been using at the IHPA building. Insult was added to injury today when the new "Deputy Director"--the snooty one with the big hair--showed up in Linda's office to "learn all about managing the collections." Seriously? Seriously. She's the one who is going to be in charge of "keeping an eye on things." Hearing this literally made me nauseous. First problem: this lady doesn't know the first thing about anything having to do with history--let alone the collections! Second problem: she expected to learn everything she needed to know in five minutes because she had to go have lunch with the director (which she does all day every day). Third (and worst) problem: having this new lady be the one to take over Linda's responsibilities is pretty much a slap in the face for Linda. My head almost popped off as I listened to the snooty lady trying to follow what Linda was telling her. Snooty was like, "Ohhhh, a database? What is that?" We can pretty much kiss the collections goodbye if Snooty is going to be the one looking after everything. So keep your eyes on e-bay for some nice artifacts over the next few weeks--that's probably where everything will end up.

I've been doing a pretty good job of keeping my emotions in check when I've been at work (I usually save the tears for the drive home), but today as I was helping Linda pack up her office, I couldn't hold it in anymore and I started to cry :-( Then I cried all the way home too. It's just so sad and unfair. Some of the IHPA employees and their friends held a protest this evening in front of the governor's mansion in Springfield. I would have gone, but I was too disheartened to do so--especially since Blago doesn't even live at the governor's mansion. I've realized the sad and sickening truth that Blago doesn't care--nor does anyone who could really do anything to help. So nothing is going to save the jobs and the sites. :-(

Greg has been so nice to make me happy when I've been sad about IHPA (which has pretty much been all of the time). The other day, Mr. Pumpkin Head was getting kind of mushy, so we removed his Pumpkin Head parts and took his mushy middle outside. We pretended that he was the governor and threw him high into the air, thoroughly enjoying the large SPLAT!!! he made when he hit the ground :-) Tonight I got some of my nervous energy out by raking leaves, then we burned the leaves and pretended like the governor was sitting in the middle of the fire :-) Greg has also been making some delicious meals--tonight he made some tasty BBQ pork chops! We are looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner with Linda and her family on Thursday. That will be a happy occasion even though the current state of affairs is quite a mess. I would not trade the last few weeks of working with Linda for anything!!! I learned more from her in five weeks than I did during a whole semester at school. Working with Linda and all of the other nice people at the sites has made me a better person, and I'm grateful for the new friendships I've gained.

The Lincolnator

If you were planning on stealing some IHPA collection items, and you got to the storage area door and saw a sign featuring Abraham Lincoln holding a very large gun, don't you think you would turn and run the other way? I think so. This is the sign I designed to ward off the "circling vultures," as we call them. People have been poking around down in the IHPA collection storage area looking for places where they can store their things after Linda leaves. I keep having nightmares about people who don't know what is in the storage area clearing off the shelves and throwing everything into the trash to make room for other things. So, I'll give the circling vultures nightmares about a gun-toting President Lincoln! I call him the Lincolnator.

The other day I was checking out some job options online, and I came across my dream job! There is an opening for a curator at the Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake!!!! That would be totally awesome. There was an internship opening there during the summer, but it wouldn't have have had benefits or anything like that--so this job is much better because it is a real job. I submitted my application, and now we'll just cross our fingers and hope that they will consider me.