Archive for the Category ◊ Sarah ◊

02 Feb 2012 eat more chocolate; drink more Dr Pepper & Caribou::february.
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February update on my list of what I want to accomplish this year + a note on the title::I have managed to get 40% of my drinks at Caribou for free.  WINNING!

1. Read more books & Bible stories to Abby, now that she’s a little older & kind of understands words.

We’ve made it through at least a few pages in her Jesus Bible Storybook. [God just told Noah to build an ark.]  Then she sees toys and gets distracted from the pictures.

2. Update the blog every 2 weeks, minimum.

Seem to be doing well on this front so far.

3. Sew a thing. Going for a quilt, but completing any one project will satisfy this goal. Other than a fabric flower, that is, since those take about 5 minutes and I do by hand. I also saw a really cute tree skirt on a blog I read which I’d like to attempt too.

I have a week off mid-February, so I’ll start Abby’s quilt then.

4. Read all the books I got for my birthday & Christmas this year:

I’m crossing them off this list if I am over halfway through, as they will be completed by the end of the month.

SV Confidential [Pascal]
Longing [Kingsbury] note:  halfway through
9/11 series [Kingsbury-reread] note:  halfway through 1st of 3 books
Forever Faithful [Kingsbury-reread] note:  1st of 3 books read
Hunger Games [Collins-reread] note:  halfway through Mockingjay, #3 of 3 for those of you not up to speed on all things YA Lit.
Marie-Grace & Cecile [American Girl series]
Love & War [Eldridge]
The Male Factor [Feldhahn]
Possession [Gutteridge]
Lost Love series [Kingsbury-reread]  forgot to include this in my initial list.  halfway through #2 of 2.
Ruby [Snelling]  I got this free for my nook, so it’s being added to the list.

+ catch up on at least 1 series of unread books from my collection.
[basket contains books I’ve started &/or borrowed that I really should try to get through this year too!]

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5. Catch up on at least 1 TV series [some options: Chuck, House, Bones, HIMYM.]

Haven’t started yet, but I heard Bones is on Netflix, so I think that’s what I’ll do, unless anyone wants to check out my amazon wishlist & get me missing seasons of other shows!!

6. Clean & purge, room by room [including closets].

Will start this on my PTO also.  I have boxed up most of Abby’s 3-6 month clothes, if that counts for anything.

7. Play more Wii Fit + go for walks with Abby this spring/summer/fall. That is my version of working out.

I weighed myself on the balance board.  That counts, right?

8. Keep up-to-date with photobooks &/or scrapbooks for Abby.

I used my free/discounted photobooks to finish up Abby’s first year::already had winter/spring 2011 [0-4 months] & summer 2011 [5-8 months], so I did fall 2011 [9-10 months], & winter 2011/2012 [11-12 months] along with one with my pregnancy photos & updates.  So doing well so far.  Not sure how I’ll do this year, if I’ll do 4 again, or drop down to fewer.

9. Bake more things [use the fun chocolate, etc. chips I liberated from the chocolate, etc. chip collection at Dave & Karen’s house!]

Cupcakes for Abby’s birthday party count, right?

10. Think of a 10th item for this list. Play with our camera & learn more about all the fun things it does + learn more about photo-editing.

I downloaded some [free] lightshop presets & took pictures.

and now, what you’ve all been waiting for::Abby being adorable!

play with all the things

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19 Jan 2012 one year ago [part 2]
Author:  |  Category: Abby, Sarah  | Tags: , ,  | Leave a Comment

On January 19, 2011, after [what turned out to be] my last night of semi-uninterrupted sleep, I went to my 37 week appointment.  Everything looked good & normal.  No dilation or anything.  Since I hit the 37 week mark, I got the ‘all clear’ as far as having the baby & set my next appointment for the following week.

I had a whole list of what I needed to get accomplished that day:  the usual cleaning & laundry, along with de-Christmas-ing the house & getting some baby stuff done.  I was already out, so I grabbed a bagel & an amaretto Italian soda from Dunn Bros. & armed with my list of what sizes I needed to stock up on, made my way to Babies R Us to hit up the baby clothing clearance sale.  I found some cute 3 & 9 month outfits to get us a start on those sizes & got an extra 40% off [w00t!] & then headed to Target to update the registry, post-showers, since we would be getting an extra 10-or-whatever-% off everything left on the list.  After a disastrous attempt to update it [for some reason, my password that worked perfectly fine online did not work in the store.  Fantastic.], the girl at the guest services desk talked to the helpful people on the phone & got it reset so it worked in the store.  [FYI, she still remembers me when I go in…that’s how much of a fiasco that whole event was.]  I finally got the registry updated & some grocery shopping done, then went home to tackle some laundry.  I wanted to add some more online-only things to the Target registry too, &, lo & behold, neither my new nor my old password worked.  Super fantastic.  So I got to spend another half hour on the phone arguing with target.com about my password.  At least I could still get clothes washed at the same time…??!?

While the laundry was wrapping up, I started some more baby stuff:  sorting her new clothes, blankets, & towels to be washed; sorting & organizing the rest of her gifts; & sorting cards & gift receipts & finding the duplicate gifts [impressively, only 2 or 3 items!].

I was making decent progress around 6pm, with laundry running & a good chunk of baby stuff taken care of, when…um, what was that?!

Aaaand, my water broke.

Weirdest.thing.ever.

After I determined that this was indeed what had happened, I came downstairs and told David, “Um, I think my water just broke.” We called Maternity Care and they told us to come in right away—they thought they’d be able to find a room for us. How reassuring. We packed our bags kind of in a daze, while David referred back to my book on what to bring to the hospital.

from Welcome, Abigail Grace, in which you can relive the rest of our exciting experience!

**Spoiler Alert::we had a baby.**

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03 Jan 2012 eat more chocolate; drink more Dr Pepper & Caribou.
Author:  |  Category: Dreams, Personal, Sarah  | Tags: , , ,  | One Comment

Every year most some years I try to make New Year’s Resolutions, which I then promptly ignore.  Sometimes I make it through January & I think I’ve even made it through about April once, but it’s like resolutions are meant to be broken, you know?  Except for those 2 I mentioned in the title.  I think I’ll do okay with those.

So this year, I’m going to set some goals for the year.  Not the ‘every day I’m going to jog 12 miles’ kind since, let’s face it, I don’t jog at all, much less every day, much less 12 miles.

Then we’ll see how it went at the end of the year.  Maybe.  Unless it went horribly, in which case I will delete this post and no one need ever know…muahahaha!

1. Read more books & Bible stories to Abby, now that she’s a little older & kind of understands words.

2. Update the blog every 2 weeks, minimum.

3. Sew a thing.  Going for a quilt, but completing any one project will satisfy this goal.  Other than a fabric flower, that is, since those take about 5 minutes and I do by hand.  I also saw a really cute tree skirt on a blog I read which I’d like to attempt too.

4. Read all the books I got for my birthday & Christmas this year:

SV Confidential [Pascal]
Longing [Kingsbury]
9/11 series [Kingsbury-reread]
Forever Faithful [Kingsbury-reread]
Hunger Games [Collins-reread]
Marie-Grace & Cecile [American Girl series]
Love & War [Eldridge]
The Male Factor [Feldhahn]
Possession [Gutteridge]

+ catch up on at least 1 series of unread books from my collection.
[basket contains books I’ve started &/or borrowed that I really should try to get through this year too!]

IMG_0052

5. Catch up on at least 1 TV series [some options:  Chuck, House, Bones, HIMYM.]

6. Clean & purge, room by room [including closets].

7. Play more Wii Fit + go for walks with Abby this spring/summer/fall.  That is my version of working out.

8. Keep up-to-date with photobooks &/or scrapbooks for Abby.

9. Bake more things [use the fun chocolate, etc. chips I liberated from the chocolate, etc. chip collection at Dave & Karen’s house!]

10. Think of a 10th item for this list.  Play with our camera & learn more about all the fun things it does + learn more about photo-editing.

So.  I guess I’ll be busy.  Good thing I have so much free time with working 40+ hours/week, [attempting to do] housework, & having an almost-one-year-old little girl!

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19 Dec 2011 Helfinstine Junior Journal: 2011 Christmas Letter.
Author:  |  Category: Abby, David, photos, Sarah  | Tags: , , , , , , ,  | Leave a Comment

DSC_4265.NEF

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Luke 2:11-14 (KJV)

What a year 2011 has been!  We started out the year with a bang (or a burst…??!) with Abigail Grace Helfinstine making an early appearance on January 20.  Arriving two and a half weeks earlier than anticipated, I was very glad she hadn’t come a few days earlier, when we were stuck at the Monticello McDonalds after my car decided to die on the way back from a weekend in Fargo.

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After spending two months at home (can I just say, I love maternity leave?  When else can you get paid to sit on the couch, eat M&Ms, watch Criminal Minds marathons, and snuggle with a brand new bay), I went back to work at Aerie, where I put in my two-week notice.

Oh yeah, on maternity leave, I also applied for, went through the interview process, and was hired at Wells Fargo.

While David and I are at work, Abby goes to school at a nearby daycare.  The teachers there love her, and she has a lot of fun watching the bigger kids, eating lots of food, and playing with her friends.

Bones, our now two-year-old Lab-Welsh Corgi, is doing very well adapting to life with Baby.  She (Bones) is glad at she doesn’t have to sleep in a cage like the baby, and has recently discovered that she is apt to receive snacks if she sits by the highchair.  Abby loves to pet Bones, along with crawling after her, giggling and screaming.  Bones is not quite as fond of this, but does enjoy giving Abby kisses.  Ew.

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While I have made an exciting {?} career change, David continues to work at Children’s Hospital.  He is no longer attending Argosy and is entertaining the idea of minimizing his phlebotomizing.  Interpret that as you wish.

We spent a week this summer with my family {the extended Bjerkaas clan} at the resort near Fergus Falls, where Abby got to meet lots of second cousins.  There were six children who were age two and younger there!  This summer, we also got to see Timothy, who has completed his time in the Army, for the first time in three years.  We have been attending church with David’s parents and sister Kari down in Lakeville, which we have really been enjoying.  This past weekend, we went to the Christmas Concert there, featuring the Minnesota Orchestra.  Abby absolutely loved it; she was so excited and bounced and waved to everyone.  Until she got tired and fell asleep, that is.

We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year…
stay tuned for Abby’s 11 month update!

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30 Nov 2011 ho ho mochas + donuts.
Author:  |  Category: Dreams, Food, Sarah  | Tags: , , ,  | Leave a Comment

aka, and I thought my pregnant dreams were weird.

Last night, I dreamt that I was driving to work, and as I was leaving my neighborhood, I discovered that a donut shop and a waffle/pancake type restaurant were being built near the clinic.  How exciting!  I can get donuts any time I want—and REAL ones, which I’ve been missing since MN decided to ditch Krispy Kreme—and I love IHOP, so anything along those lines is a + in my book.  I discovered that I hadn’t packed for vacation (wait, wasn’t I just going to work?!) and I was going to rush to the Walmart by MOA to get emergency supplies because David couldn’t get home and back in time to pack my things and still catch our flight.  While I was waiting for him to come back with my stuff (that he didn’t have time to get), I went to a movie with Kristen & Chad in Lakeville (obviously), and I told them about the new additions to our side of town. They were equally excited, and then we blew up a giant air mattress so an annoying lady there couldn’t see the movie screen.

Needless to say, I was (a) very confused when I woke up, and (b) very disappointed to see just the clinic and greenhouse when leaving my neighborhood.

A couple weeks ago, I dreamt about ho ho mochas and campfire mochas from Caribou all.night.long.

Combined, the only logical conclusion I can come to is this:  I need more sugar and caffeine in my diet.

That is all.

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24 May 2011 adios moa. hola banking.
Author:  |  Category: FYI, Sarah, Work  | Tags: , , , ,  | One Comment

I’ve had a couple requests to know more about my new job & how that all came about, so I’ll do that now…especially since Abby’s four-month doctor appointment (and thus, new stats) isn’t until June 1, and the rapture didn’t happen Saturday.

[although it was touch & go for a minute there at church when I saw Abby’s empty car seat & Grandma’s empty seat…ohhhh…right.  And then Grandpa took Abby after church.  Crisis averted.  Guess we’ll see how October 21st works out for Mr. Camping.]

At some point before I left on maternity leave, I was feeling over the whole retail thing.  The 70 mile round-trip commute was a bit much for me as were the hours.  I had actually just started my days left of work pre-baby countdown on what ended up being my last day (I was supposed to have 13 days left after that!).

A couple weeks into my leave, I started looking for other jobs.  David thought I must have been bored at home.  I figured since I was just sitting on the couch for a few weeks, I might as well do something (other than eat M&Ms and watch Criminal Minds, that is)!  I ended up having my first interview right after Abby’s one-month birthday  and my second one when she was six weeks old.

I was offered the job a few days later…the opening was for a part time teller, but the manager was able to get me a full time position.  About this same time, my manager at Aerie put in her notice, and I was going to have the opportunity to interview for another position within Aerie, so I really had to weigh my decision.  The day we left to go to Fargo for Abby’s baptism, I had made a stop at the MOA (as previously mentioned), and that really solidified my decision.  For some reason, just walking into the mall that day made me just not want to do that anymore.  And I also realized that once I had a store, I couldn’t really move up in the company anymore, as I have no interest in a district manager position.  There are so many options within Wells Fargo, depending on what you want to do, and getting in at this point would be the most logical decision.  [Eventually I want to get into the Learning & Development area, training new people…pretend to put at least one of my degrees to work!]  Also, the job I would be returning to at Aerie wouldn’t really be the same one I had left since both my store manager & the other assistant had left while I was out on leave!  I accepted the job with Wells Fargo right before we left for Fargo for the weekend.

I gave my notice my first day back at Aerie & worked my last two weeks (plus an extra day because of floorset), then had two exciting weeks of training before starting for real at the bank, where I’ve been for the past month or so.

Funny thing with that, my first day at the bank, my manager there announced that she had given her notice!  Since I’ve been there, she has left, as have one of the lead tellers and another teller…and the other lead teller’s last day is this weekend.  And between my day in the bank during my training and when I was done with training, another teller & a banker both gave their notice.  Changes all over the place…seems like it always happens like that, though.

I’m really enjoying my new job so far…absolutely love being home by 7:30 or so at the latest every night.  And it’s nice not having the drama that comes with working with all girls!  I could do without needing to wake up at 4am to get both Abby and me ready to leave at 6am, but you know.  Still better than getting home at midnight and needing to leave by 6:45 the next morning!

The end.

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15 May 2011 other march happenings. aka, sarah gets a new job.
Author:  |  Category: FYI, News, Sarah, Work  | Tags: , , , , , , ,  | 2 Comments

As I discussed in my previous post, the date was March 11.  Between arriving home from work/adventures and leaving for Fargo, I accepted a new job with Wells Fargo.

See ya later, MOA!

Melissa and her sister Katherine came to visit the last few days of my leave.  We met up at the MOA, where we did some shopping and some Cinnabon eating.  I find it amusing that Melissa has been to our house and met Abby before Timothy has done either.  He will be home next month, though, so then he will be able to do both!  Saturday involved Abby’s two-month photo shoot and a delicious lunch at the 5-8 Club, followed by napping.

Sadly, I had to return to work after 2 months off on March 21.  Oh, months of sitting on the couch watching Criminal Minds and eating M&Ms, how I miss you!  [Hey, there’s not much else you can really do during growth spurt days and evenings when she wants to eat constantly from 3-9!]

I gave my notice the morning I returned to work, but said I’d stay on for floorset.  [Clearly I have a death wish or something.  Do not miss hanging bras & undies one bit, FYI.  Or getting home at 1am.  It was fun seeing my girls there again this past week, though, and catching up on the drama.  Goodness.]

So now I work at Wells Fargo.

The end.

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