Two Frog Home

Last night I met with a few folks, I’d gotten to know through my last job.  It was a pleasant evening with lots of laughter and general conversation very relaxed at a restaurant on the shores of Whitefish Lake.  I had taken little bags full of thank you gifts in the form of espresso whoopie pies.  Its a new recipe and I figured they wouldn’t mind being taste-testers (I was right, they didn’t mind one bit).  They also gave me a little thank you gift in the form of some heavy duty hand garden tools, some awesome gardening gloves, and seeds (including some saved seeds from the gal’s garden).  Really, a gift that includes saved seeds from a local garden is the best gift a gardening gal can receive.  It was a grand night and I’m so glad that I’ve had the opportunity to work with these folks over the years and look forward to seeing how our paths continue to cross in the future.

Happy Easter! Besides the obvious gift of Christ’s resurrection, this weekend has been full of amazing gifts for me.

This morning, I made some sourdough pancakes in frog, bunny, and duck shapes as part of my Easter gift to Jeff.  I’m happy to say they turned out quite well.  Honestly, I can’t believe its taken me so long to embrace sourdough and all of its many possibilities.  I gave Jeff the sweet pancake shapes and I hate the “scraps” with some real maple syrup. 

Yesterday, I received the gift of a very good job offer.  Jeff and I took the day to think about it and after a small bit of negotiating, I accepted the offer today.  I start on April 1st.  I can admit, that at first I was hesitant, mainly because I’m enjoying not working so much.  However, at this stage of life, I need a good paying job so that we can continue working on our home/property ownership goals and dreams.  Those goals include as little debt as possible on that home as well and this job will only help us accomplish those goals sooner.  I’m excited about this new possibility, despite my initial hesitation.

Jeff cleaned out my car and it is sparkling (I had spilled some soil from potted plants I brought home from my old office)!  That was an unexpected but oh, so appreciated Easter gift.  He also took me to get a new iron.  My old Rowenta died, and considering the number of sewing projects I have going on, an iron is a necessity.  I got a new Black & Decker Digital Advantage, after reading several good reviews of the product.  It’s much better than my Rowenta (which was at least 8 years old), this model produces a ton of steam and quickly irons my most wrinkled cotton - the Rowenta took forever to do the same task. 

Happy Easter!

Farewell flowers sent to me from a sub-contractor / partner agency I worked closely with for the last 5 years.

Today is my last day at my current job, the job I’ve had for more or less the last 6 years.  I’m actually employed through March 28th, but am using my 12 sick days to finish out the month.  I’ve had a few months to process the loss am now just ready for it to be over, and for the next step to begin.  I’m no longer angry, sad, or fearful.  I am just ready and excited.  Excited for what comes next and it seems I needed for this phase to be over to fully be ready for whatever does come next because nothing has been completely solidified yet, though there seems to be several possibilities on the horizon.  

I’ve had a few job interviews in the last few months and another scheduled for tomorrow.  I’ve been contacted by several folks interested in hiring me as an independent contractor to do some bookkeeping and personal assistant work.  It seems, I have nothing to fear.  While I always knew that on a rational level, I needed to see it and feel it on an emotional level and that took time.  My dear Jeff, as always, has been incredibly wonderful and supportive.  He’s had to remind me daily it seems, that we are in a good position right now - we’ve planned and saved for just this kind of event.  It’s sad how many times, he’s had to repeat it for me to truly accept it.  There have been a lot of great lessons in letting go, trusting, planning, and dreaming lately.

Oh the dreaming!  Jeff and I have been dreaming, scheming, and planning lately.  What else do we want to do?  Where else would we want to go?  What can we do?  What can’t we do?  It’s been a fun time of just talking and dreaming and letting wild ideas come flowing out of our hearts, minds, and mouths.  The intial fear of losing a job and income have been replaced with joyful free-thinking and old-fashioned excitement.   Good things are coming and while we don’t know what those good things are, we have no doubt that they are on the horizon.  No matter what comes, we’re ready.  We’re watching for signs, talking, dreaming, and preparing for that next door to open.

Of course, there’s no shortage of things to do, until that door opens.  Who has time to work, really?  There’s gardening, canning, sewing, cooking, loving, laughing, reading, and hugging to do.  Ok, in all seriousness, there are a multitude of chores to do and it seems my to do list doubles every day as I plan for some “free” time.  I’m ready for what comes next, but will make sure to take advantage of all the time I’m being given now.

I’m grateful for this opportunity and while its taken a few months for me to get to that point, I’m glad I’m here now.

I’m losing my job.  There’s a ton of back story (isn’t there always?), but in a nutshell the board has decided to move the office to another city in Montana.  It’s a town Jeff and I don’t want to live in, so I’ll soon be out of a job.  I’ve been told that I get a month’s notice and a month’s severance pay once the new office location is decided.  I’m expecting that notice this week - it seems they are just waiting on a few final details from the new location’s building owners.

I found out just before Christmas that this was being considered and I stepped up my job search immediately.  Jeff and I are comfortable with the fact that it might be a few months until I find something else and Jeff is still working.  Considering we are debt free at the moment and we do have a savings (several years ago we made it a point to have at least one year’s combined salary in savings) we aren’t in any financial danger currently.  It does mean, putting the house hunting off until we are in a more stable situation, however.  It also means that we won’t be saving as much to pay down that mortgage in the meantime.  We just aren’t comfortable making any offers that have to be financed until we are sure of our income.  That is a real bummer, I don’t mind saying.  In the end, that’s what bothers me the most, that this business decision is affecting my life and goals so very deeply.

I do have my independent contractor’s license for the state of Montana and hope to pick up a few jobs with that until I find other more stable employment.  Who knows, perhaps working for myself may be the wonderful, albeit, unintentional outcome of this situation.  I’ve gone through a wide range of emotions over this job situation - I was angry and sad about the way I was treated, disappointed and hurt by several people that I had thought better of; and finally relieved that its almost over and that I can rest in the knowledge that God means this for good.

Here’s my turkey pot pie recipe. 

• Double Pie Crust for 9 inch pie 
• 4 TBSP Butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 Cups turkey stock - (chicken stock/broth will work)
• 3 small potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 1/2 Cups peas
• 1/2  Cups sliced mushrooms 
• 2 Cups cooked turkey cubed
• 3 TBSP flour
• 1/2 C milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll bottom pie crust and place in the bottom of a 10 inch pie pan.

Melt 2 Tablesppons butter in a large skillet with onion, celery, carrots, oregano, salt and pepper. Satue until onions are transparent. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook until they are soft, if using fresh mushrooms add those now. After the potatoes are soft add peas and canned mushrooms if using those.

In a medium saucepan, melt remaining butter. Stir in turkey and flour. Add the milk and heat through. Add this mixture to the veggies in the skillet and mix well. Cook until thickened.

Pour the mixture in the pie crust. Top with pie crust and slit the top 4 times, to let out steam

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Allow to cool 10 minutes before cutting into.

Note: To make individual pies like I did in yesterday’s post, I simply cooked at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes - you may need to adjust the time based on the depth of your containers.