APRIL FOOLS...

Yesterday was April Fools..I remember as a little girl my grandmother would do little jokes and make the day fun! I thought this year I would also try to pull a prank on my family!

I sent out invitations for the First Annual Wacky Dinner...I invited my brother and his girlfriend and my mom. The invites went out a week in a half before the dinner and boy did I get a bunch of questions from the family what are we having for dinner....my response was "it is a surprise" I added an evil sounding laugh.

When everyone arrived I had Menu cards on the table in the spots.

The first course was a garden salad with wild greens, mandarin oranges and crispy sweet peas (nothing wacky about this)

The second course was Cupcakes...as soon as I put the cake plate with the cupcakes on the table Adrianna was pointing and saying cup cakes...she was very excited...Quentin was the first one to have a cupcake he choose one with green frosting...he tasted the frosting and said it was "play doh" I said no it wasn't...then Adri had a one with pink frosting....Jasmine and my mom were next....my mom's first reaction was "Hope Diane, why on earth would you serve play doh" I was cracking up by this time, no one realized that the cupcake was meatloaf with mashed potato frosting.....when I told them it was not play doh and to try the cupcake an up roar of laughter came from the dining room when they realized I had tricked them!!! I yelled APRIL FOOLS!!!

Honestly I can't believe I pulled it off...like they couldn't smell the meatloaf when they walked in the house..LMAO!

For Dessert I served Fish Sticks with BBQ sauce and Peas - obviously after the cupcake course they were onto my prank nonetheless I still proceeded and served my Fish Sticks. The sticks were made using sugar wafers, peanut butter and cornflakes..the peas were made using taffy (they were hard a rock by the time it was time to eat them) the BBQ sauce was seedless strawberry jam warmed in the microwave!

I have already decided that I am going to take the day off next year so that I can prepare another wacky dinner and have some fun games to go along with the dinner.

Did anyone else do a wacky dinner or pull pranks?

It's been awhile..I KNOW I KNOW...

OK so I am not doing well on my resolution for 2010 of blogging more....

I do have some exciting news to share with everyone. Tomorrow I will be closing the chapter in my life titled NEA-Alaska Health Plan - it is my last day of employment for the plan. I actually started looking for a new job in December after a situation occured that I did not agree with the way it was handled. I also decided that I wanted to be in a place that had a chance for advancement. I found the perfect position sent in my resume and they called me the very next day - when they contacted me they told me the position was temporary with the possibility of becoming permanent. I had to decline because I need to have full time permanent employment as I have two young children.
They seemed disappointed as was I, however they did ask if they could keep my resume and call me if they had something else come up. I said that would be fine, and in the back of my mind was thinking that I would not hear from them.
I was getting discouraged during this time because looking for a job sucks - even though I had a job I submitted my resume to several companies and no hits. I was beginning to think that I would be at NEA for the rest of my life.
Then it happened, it was the end of February when my phone rang, when I answered it was the company that I had applied with in December (I WAS TURNING INSIDE OUT) they now had added a full time position which was the same title that I applied for, was I still interested? YES!!!
So began the process of being a candidate for this position!!
I met them during a lunch meeting to go over the position and job duties....then came the background check...this was about a 2 week process...those of you who know me know that I am NOT PATIENT or good at WAITING....it was driving me nuts.
In the meantime I had a training that NEA was sending me to in San Jose California, I had a great time but in the back of my mind was thinking about the other job, and if they were going to call.
I didn't need to wait much longer when I returned home the call that I had been waiting came...I was offered the job!!!! Monday I will start in my new position as a Benefits Specialist at Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC), a native corporation.

There are more changes to come for my family in 2010 - as they happen I will share with my blogging family.