SPHR, thank you very much

It has been a while since the last blog because 1) I had to study like mad for my SPHR exam (see www.shrm.org) and 2) I am really superstitious when it comes to things like that, so I didn't want to blog until I knew the outcome, lest I tempt the testing gods to smite my multiple-choice test taking ability. Fortunately, I passed (yeah!!) and I don't have to take it ever again! It brought way too many bar-studying memories back, and not the good ones of Chrissie and I camped out in the empty Lewis & Clark undergrad dining room in one of the booths writing out endless outlines, taking practice multi-state exams, and scarffing on the mini jawbreakers they sold at the University Store. Josh was a trooper and husband-extraordinaire during the week of studying and supplied brainfood (double-stuffed Oreos and homecooked meals) and support, which I could not have made it through without.

So, what does this big test mean? Well, one less thing I have to put on my attorney plan (which in retrospect, might not be a good thing since I have to come up with something to put on there and fast). I do get to get new business cards, and as much as I don't care to ever hear about 'balanced scorecards' or the 'adaptive theory of learning in a declining organization' again, studying for the test was in a weird sort of way, interesting. I learned a heck of a lot more about unions and labor law than I knew before, and some of the HR/corporate babblespeak was interesting. It also means I don't really have any more excuses for not getting my other work done, and there's plenty of that to do. Plus, having the certification can't hurt if (when?) I make any moves of the occupational sort.

It has also been a while since the last blog since it was the weekend of the BIG ICE STORM 2005 - which in reality turned out to be the little brother to the ice storm of 2004. That was truly a bad ice storm! Josh and I survived, and he used his adverse-weather driving skills to get us to Freddy Meyers and back with fixins for chili, which really turned out to be more of a tomato-y beef stew with kidney beans. I think I may have forgotten cumin, or not put enough in, but it was still pretty tasty. When its cold out, our basement doubles as a meatlocker since there are no heating vents (yet).

Today was MLK Day, so the office was closed (double yeah!!). I went in for a bit, then decided to hit the sales a bit. Now its off to do some quilting, or maybe card making - I can't decide which. For once, I am a bit ahead in card making - I have my valentine's cards mostly ready and if I do say so myself, they are really pretty nice this year. I am in love with the cosmopolitan papers from Memories: http://www.memories.com/catalog/productdetail.cfm?ItemNumber=23924 (Maybe Josh will show me how to hide a link so you can clink on the key word and get to the site; obviously time for me to learn more HTML.)

Oh - and I have officially discovered the wonders (or should I say, evils?) of eBay. I won (meaning probably overspent!) the Winter 2002/2003 edition of Interweave so I can try and make the cute little beaded Koigu bag in it (size 2 needles and 120 stitches is all I can remember!). I am also (im)patiently waiting for the auction on 2 skeins of blueberry Trendsetter Aura to close - stay tuned for updates on whether my next foray into eBay is successful!