Open Enrollment time of year

the busiest phone time of the year for us. https://www.cusys.edu/pbs/openenrollment/

we had a good 1st day and call volume was moderate- some years it has been higher. Looking forward to this time as it makes the days go by quickly when you are focused on calls. - so nothing much more right at the moment. tired and need to rest.

Spring has sprung

the trees have sprung multitudes of flowers and the grass is springing under foot and my nose - has sprung a leak.

Hh is off to a start on softball

The Rockies are winning.

Oh Yeah I almost forgot - Open enrollment has begun - I got a take action card in the mail. Yes the Benefits gruop will be busy from now through the end of May and then a bit beyond that too.

https://www.cusys.edu/pbs/openenrollment/

Avista with a view

the day did not turn out as ecpected yesterday- my work comp doctor visit turned into a trip to the ER at Avista hospital in Superior. My ER visit turned into a stay ( one night so far-with one more at least coming up)



What you say?- well this is what at the moment a cell infection called cellulitis- this is what web md says about it. It can be very serious and cause complications so the best thing is what is being done for me now anyway!! Iv antiboitics and off my feet rest for a few days while my body tries to heal and get well.

And to think all this from falling down on a rug!

Well I was so looking forward to thanksgiving - I have lots of food and we invited our friends K and A and their family to join us for a meal and fun- so now i am stuck in a hospital bed I know i will at least be here one more night - life gives you things you make the best with them.

I am super thankful this year for a wonderful Husband in S. I love my children Hh and J so much... finnally settling with J into a more adult conversation. thankful for the fun we have as a family. my Setep sons D1 and D2.I am thankful for my in laws,outlaws and exteneded family it has been a wonderful year with visits with our family. I am thankful for my friends,K8 , her mom and daughter..My friend Karen ( who is making dinner at my house) her famliy, grateful they were able to oull through a major crisiswith health and life work. My newest friend Jean wonderful sence of humor and likes me for me. I am happy to say I love my job at the university and thankful to still have it and benefits.

3rd annual chili cookoff a success

We had 6 different kinds of chili - and friendly competion for highly coveted golden Spoon Award. The 1st prize went to a co-worker's wife who made green chili !! The silver spoon went to another co-worker who chilli was outstanding and flavorful.

The third prize went to a co-worker who brought " drangon's breath" chili and knocked everyones sox off with it's flavor and spicy bite.

I sadly did not even win a prize this year, though technically I came in 4th... LOL but the competion was fierce - I have to say I already won a prize and recognition from my peers with a "JOLLY" award.

Spirit of PBS – a.k.a. “The JOLLY” (Not a cash award)
An enjoyable work environment helps to lift the spirits of the PBS staff. This award is intended to recognize the “little things” that people do that make PBS unique and a better place to work. Candidates for this award help to make the challenges of each day easier by demonstrating:

Appropriate use of humor to lighten difficult situations;
Positive outlook regardless of the challenge;
Cheerful disposition with an infectious smile or laugh;
Other unique examples experienced at PBS that helps lift the spirits of PBS staff.


JOLLY = Jovial Outlook, Loves Laughter, & Yummies!

Snow in Denver

I am over the snow, I am wishing for a snow day - Hh has one tomorrow with a make-up day on the 5th of april ( but we will be on our way back to Denver that day so it will be hooky for her.

Tonight it took us 3 hours to drive out of Boulder and environs and make it home with out to many detours and mishaps. welcome to spring Colorado style.

I am not looking forward to more overnight and into the morning. well off to bed with me.

I am recognized by my Peers today

Professional Resources. Quality Service. Educated Decisions.

That is our tag line at Benefits at the University of Colorado- payroll and benefit services



Today I was recognized by my Peers as a Person who delivers " Quality Service" - I came in second, but still got a 50$ gift card - woot !!! It is nice to know people think highly of me, and I do a job I really enjoy at a place I enjoy.



I follow a bunch of Happiness project people and work happy bloggers and today this Made my happy at work list for sure

National Payroll week!

National Payroll Week to raise awareness of payroll-related benefits September 7 - 11

Tomorrow we are having a potluck for our Payroll people ( the other side of my working team) benefits is hosting it and payroll is coming. We are going to bring a couple of grills and BBQ burgers and things - all other dishes are coming with a " green " theme - I am bringing brownies with really green mint icing!

I think I will try to take my camera so we can see other Green foods- what fun

stay tuned for potluck food fun !

Health care and me...

My adult life has had a long association with Health Benefits. When I worked at the USGS - I " did " benefits, now for the University of Colorado, I " do " benefits. I am not yet sure how I feel about the OBAMA benefits for health care plans?? I don't know if I undersatnd enough to explain any of the " programs" or even what we heard in his speech tonight. My politics and world views are some times a little different thatn others, as I have been exposed to a few other systems in other countries as a child and young adult. Since Mom is french we talk about the socialized medicine there too.

I will get back to you on this topic as I can learn more and explain better after I try to get it myself.

I am alive and well!

sorry I haven't posted, this is an extreme time of the year for me. We are getting ready for open enrollment at CU ! and that involves alot of computer time for work and then I just want to vege at home.

But on Friday the 17th S and I celebrated 10 years of married life! He is the best pal and friend , and a great husband and a wonderful dad to the kids. I would make this decision again and again no doubts or regrets.

paid day off for your anniversary

Karl- a guest blogger at Chief Happiness officer blog- is writing about giving employees time off with pay on their company anniversay. in his coments another blogger says they would celebrate the creation date of the company ( anniversay) with thier employees doing something all together- another good idea if the business is small and couldn't afford to give individual days off.

here is my coment :

I think these are both fantastic ideas, I work for a Public institution, but highly agree with the annual celebration idea, I value my leave and personal time and would be motivated by recieving additional one day perk every year.
As for the company anniversary_ I think that is a great idea to celebrate with your employees the sucess of another year in business.

Updates

Well I haven't posted in a while on the status of Mom- She is finally at home and doing well. She did get to go home the day before christmas eve.

So after the initial week I spent in Colorado Springs taking care of issues with the intensive care and hopsital stay. Mom was moved to a skilled care facility- nearer to home, my Brother ( older) went with Dad to be sure this was a good fit for her. She seemed o.k. with it. At first when she was in the hospital she didn't want to work on getting around, out of bed or anything, for the 1st week or so she didn't even want to watch T.V. ( her thing- soaps) - this was tough. My bro and SIL came down from WY and my Brother went back after two days., SIL stayed with dad ( she does not work at the moment outside the home) Then my brother came back the end of week 2 and took his wife, they had a trip scheduled for Dec- christmas holidays to HI - so off they went mid month. At that point Dad was doing better and the two of them were in a little routine.

I went down the monday before Christmas and then She went to the apartment the Next day. Surprizingly she was doing well at the skilled care and they really worked her to be able to do the stairs and get around. So she was back to almost her fiesty self by the time I saw them again.
She was still fatigued when I went down on the 5th of Jan, but overall the improvment is tremendous.

for the next three months I am on a every other monday rotation to c/springs for work. We are still tring to fill a position there and are filling in on a weekly basis. I am glad I will be able to see Mom and Dad regularly for the next few months. there isn't much more to it the apendix is out, the incissions healed and stamana is returning. So onward we all go.

soon it will be birthday time. yeah.

Secret santa is on his way!

at work we have a secret santa exchange, we draw names and the value of the gift is 15 dollars or less. Last year I draw Sam ( a man) and made him an mobile- picture hanging one with homemade christmas cards and tags. Everyone ranted and raved, but my suppervisor really ranted, she wanted me to be her secret santa for sure " next year" well it is next year, we drew names, I didn't get her's but my co-worker who did get the supervisors name ask if I wanted to exchange so I for sure get my supervisor's name?? well I accepted- but my co-worker said on one condition, that I get tto have you as my secret santa- next year!!! well I guess my skills are in high demand.

so what did I make you might want to know? - I purchased three unfinished trays at hobby lobby- the kind that are made of thin plywood and pine? I then went to the scrapbook isle to see what I could find to put in the bottoms of the trays, and found a k& comp. scrapbook kit with stickers, paper and rub-ons that I bought too, the papers and stickers liook a bit festive and could pass for christmas, reds and greens- but are quite homey too and will do for most any time of the year.

I used extra chipboard - and cut and pieced it to fin the bottom of each tray, then used modpodge and put the paper on the boards, and the boards in the bottom of each tray. I gave it tow more layers of modpodge on top of the paper and stickers and rub-ons - then decided it really needed a coat of varnish ( polyureatane) so that is what I worked on last night while we watched t.v.

well I took photos this morning and posted them up to flikr- you can see them there and so I could attach them here. Let me know what you think of my lates altered project- my supervisor needs to be very happy that my co-worker traded with me!!!

Killer Chili - wins golden fork!

Today we had a chili cook off - the second annual !

it was the perfect day for a good chili as the weather has turned frightful. It was 30 degrees cooler than yesterday !

So I made a pot of Killer chili to take to the cookoff and I WON!! voted by my peers the best chili and out of 9 pots that is a great deal, well I know it was the secret ingredient - just ask Kate - LOL she knows after eating my killer chili that this is the best because it is great and hearty and red - yum yum.

I made the " forks" as a prize, gold, silver and bronze and irony is I got my fork back.

living and dying

We lost a co-worker and friend over the weekend. Yesterday the vice president of our department had nice words to say to everyone. It is a big loss for one area of our department in particular as this lady was an intergral part of our opperations.

about a year ago when it was evident that she was having trouble, I took on the task of loving her plants. They have remained in my office and I care for them daily and water them weekly. It was the one small thing I could do at a time when my co-workers were sad by knowing this lady would be having a long road to recovery at best and at worst would not return to her position here. Well I now have her living legacy in the plants she lovingly nursed back to health. I am glad knowing that this little bit of her will remain with me, I didn't have the chance to know her as well as others do here at work... but I am glad I could do a little to confort those around me.

Driving again!

I have been feeling better everyday! So I drove to work today because I had a presentation at the Wardenburg health Center on the main Campus and needed to transport a laptop and a projector and materials for the participants. We talked about Retirement and the University benefits available even for the state of Colorado Employees. It was awesome to have this out reach oppurtunity on the Campus. At the end of October our Unit will host Planning for retirement and finiancial " health" and fair for employees our main web page at www.cu.edu/pbs has a link to the flyer. This is a benefit that all employees really are interested in I think it is great to be able to go to a group and do an informal informational session and to discover what they want to know about thier bigest benefits. :)

my bus riding mornings

these are some of my regular - rider friends for a monday morning they look pretty happy to be going to work :) Vanessa- Wendy and Ohmira they all work for the university of Colorado in Boulder too.

this is the parking structure on the "east side" of the park and ride, we wait to go to work on this side. these photos are not in a very logical order.

here I am inside the bus, the east facing window is bright early in the am - we get picked up before 7 am at our PNR ! ( park and ride)
This is the hill going into Boulder and Boulder Res., in the forground, and the veiw is looking out toward estes park-ish west by north west.

this is the view of the Park and Ride from the " west side" I park here and walk across to the east side in the morning, so I don't have to walk across in the afternoon. This is the bridge that crosses the highway from west to east is how I cross this every morning! I see regular riders going the other way as well. We always nod and say good morning.
This is just on the east side looking south east-ish into the neighboorhood. there are a few hotels
Here is the veiw of the bridge I cross after getting to the east side. The busses pull right up here to pick us up !

well there is my early morning comute these days- I am saving gas money and riding about 4 days a week sometimes 5!

dark and light -

S, HH and I went to see the Dark Night - today! very well done, very dark and very gorry - bloody - even Hh liked it and she has not seen any of the others in the theater I don't think. I was a great movie, good to see it on the big screen, was good pace and great effects and visuals.

then we came home and painted- the third room is now a very sunny yellow - it is an oops paint too. I will be posting pictures soon, we need to do the trim and touch ups but overall it will be inviting and great for company, (I can't wait to see you :) we still need to finish up and put the bed back in there and other furnature. but it is on its way.

I have been at my job ( which I still LOVE) at the University of Colorado Boulder- for a little over one year now. - I can't believe it but it has flown by. Friday I got news that I am getting promoted to a GPII - fantastic news - with it comes a little raise - YEAH! even better news. Well I would venture to say I am doing a good job :)

a whirlwind has been set in motion

I am completely busy at work! and home and at church! - but that is life at the moment, it has just picked up pace and moved.

the Web team I am on is going along, but the place that has been busy is our web site for our open enrollment online. It won't mean much to all my blogging buddies but here is the URL if you are interested in seeing what has consumed my time.

I also recorded some presentation pieces- the Faculty and Exempt professional and the retiree one, so if you want a little laugh or the hear me ( my co-workers say I have a calming voice!!) then you can go through a presentaion or even a little bit of it! my first broadcast .....

we had a vestry retreat for St. James yesterday and that is full of work on what direction we will be visioning in the future. I think overall it went well, but we still haven't found a place to " spend" some of our money.

I am off to make breakfast for the gang at home, then off to church, have a wonderful sunday. chiao

travel by bus, with fuss??

I choose to ride the bus downtown to work today, as part of my job we have some " outreach offices" one of those is located in Downtown Denver Proper - 1380 Lawrence street- the Lawrence street center was my destination.

well I rode on a bus that very much resembled this one in the photo. This is not my typical commute and I prepared myself by visiting the RTD-denver website and located the route and times I would arrive and depart from downtown... so far so good. This morning it was about 3 degrees and dry but I managed to walk two city blocks from the 16th street mall down to the building in relative comfort and the bus commute though VERY full went fast and easy ( no real trouble)

the return trip however was a little more trouble! I walked about 5 blocks to the Market street station ( though the temp was in the 30's at least tonight) I arrived in time to take the 5:14 bus ... getting on the bus I realized the driver was not to be seen and wondered to myself well how will they count fairs?? we sat a few minutes and departed on time. I had my eco pass around my neck thank goodness- and sat near the front. I made it to the east side of the westminster park and ride, departed with the other more experienced riders and said to the driver, thanks and have a nice evening.... well he looked up at me and said HEY do you have a PASS???? well at least i didn't have it tucked away but still around my neck so I flashed it at him but was embarrassed by my ignorance of the etiquette of downtown commuting :) Later on this evening I learned from Art ( an experienced downtown commuter) that this is typical protocol for the afternoon commute home, you get counted by the driver for the fair at the end of the ride, in order to facilitate the boarding and leaving of the bus!!

Well there is always Thursday when I will be headed to downtown again! Armed with my new found knowledge it ought to make for smooth riding. YEAH go RTD

Brothers and others

this is a veiw from my window on Tuesday morning in Boulder - it was foggy, we don't get too much of this stuff.

My younger Brother aka Gg these days.. was here and we went to see Anne Lennox in Concert on tuesday night at the Macky auditorium in Boulder. What a performance, this lady is 52 and still going strong, she sang danced and generally had a great time. what acoustics in this venue and we all really loved it.

before the show we went to the Dushanbe Tea house and had wonderful tea.

it is so lovley there and full of cool stuff a feast for all the senses.

Hh joined us for the concert and had a great time too. here I am waving to all my blogger and friends and family. Kiss kiss time to go to bed .....