Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Validation

sooooooo i have found that now that i'm not making a paycheck i need a LOT of validation. not in the "the house looks great" "dinner's delicious" "you're the best wife in the world" kind of way. but in a "oh my gosh-am i really a contributing member of society?" way. i never saw it coming. but this last week i was pissed at paul all week long and finally i sat down and thought about what, exactly, it was that he was not giving me and i realized....nothing. this is how our life just is, i just never had the time to notice it. i'm over it now. but it was an eye-opener. i've never looked at other stay-at-home mom's and wondered what their purpose in life was. or if they were doing their part to make the world turn. but apparently in some tiny corner of my mind i thought my working in title, escrow and real estate for the past 8 years is what has kept the economy ticking. ha! guess the world turns just fine with out me making a paycheck. shocker.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

good-bye 2009


this is a typical month of appointments for just sweet pea. i have other appointments that aren't on here, and yet more appointments that are so set in stone we just remember every month to do them. this on top of working 37.5 hours a week. WHEW! and next month i begin another round of going to the R.E. (reproductive endocrinologist). aye-yi-yi. is that how you spell it?

Sunday, November 8, 2009

this product sucks.


i got this precious hands kit tonight thinking i could make some plaster hand ornaments for sweet pea's grandparents for christmas. it says mix it up for 1 minute, you can use warmer water for it to set quicker. so i thought, weeeeell, just a touch warmer. i mixed it up for 1 minute using the kitchen timer and paul brought her over ready to press her hand in and bloop! it turned to a stiff oatmeal consistency and separated before 1 1/2 minutes was up. i'm taking it back to michael's tomorrow. yes, i'm going to be THAT woman. but i refuse to pay $10 for an experiment. that's not cool. and if they say they can't take it back, i'll ask for the manager. if only 50 people bought and tried this product once and didn't take it back, they'd make $500. i won't be one of those 50. if we all take it back, michael's will stop selling it.

Monday, April 13, 2009

more on plopping us on our faces

well today i went to register the girls for school but found out it takes 48 hours after turning in the paperwork. so....i called paul. he figured out he can work one afternoon and one morning and i can work the opposite. so i called m'lady to find out and she asked (in a totally inconvenienced voice) if this was going to happen every time because with me doing 2 desks and everything that really puts everybody out and her husband's brother-in-law died this week so they are going to have to go down to that funeral on thursday and my co-workers are really put out by all of this. i told her i didn't know. it's all new for me too. so i might be let go. if you could pray for that and for peace of mind for me i could really use it. i hate to inconvenience m'lady. it must be so hard to know that i'm off taking care of a couple kids that had the most traumatic thing that will ever happen to them in their lives happen just 72 hours ago. must really put her out having to deal with all my baggage.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

busy hands

sorry i haven't posted. my hands have been busy. i finished sophia's quilt this week. tonight actually. i'll post pictures soon.
we got our first foster kid. sort of. his name is tommy dean and he's 50-something years old. oh, and he's paul's dad. he has a friend that needed some help at his body shop here in boulder for the next few weeks. since it's 74 miles from his house and roughly 14 from ours we figured it might be better if he just stays up here during the week. tonight was his first night here. tatum has already traded us in for him. she knows how to finnagle her way into the hearts of many. tonight instead of bringing us the ball she would lay it between his ankles and then sit there stalking. jeesh. we can't break her of that. it's quite disturbing if you are the one being watched. i kept telling him he was our first foster kid so he's gotta let us know if he doesn't know where things are and stuff.
tonight we met a woman who has been doing kinship foster for the last couple years and needs a break. and since we need respite, it all works out well. we might watch the girls for her this weekend for a few hours. she was really nice though so hopefully we can help her out and make her feel comfortable. that's about all i can say about that though.
on the work front, i have to say m'lady has been a lot easier to deal with and way more communicative with me. that helps more than i ever knew. so we'll see how long it lasts but so far it's been ok. and i'm so thankful for that.

Friday, March 27, 2009

snow bunny


well. our little miss knows when she is supposed to get to go to daycare. today, however, was a snow day, much to her dismay. mrs. doolittle called this morning and left us a couple messages before we heard the phone. the answering machine is now down in the basement so the closest phone is on the main floor and we sleep on the second floor. i told tatum it was a snow day and that daycare had been canceled. she never did give me a look of understanding. she did however give me a scowl when daddy and i left for work. this morning i made an egg casserole to take to m'lady's house. i know she'll have lots of mouths to feed over the next few days so i made it last night and left her a message that i was bringing the casserole and some chocolate-chocolate chunk cookies for her house. when i got the mrs. doolittle messages i also got a message from her choking back sobs. i feel so bad for her. no matter how old your dad gets he's still your daddy when he dies. she told me it really meant alot to her that i had done that and that i didn't have to but it was so appreciated. it made me feel even better for doing it than i already felt. since my car was snowed in at work paul took me on his way to work. so we dropped off the casserole and cookies and i went to work. my car had melted (pretty much) out by lunch and i came home to check on tootamunga only to find sophia bee's quilt thrown on the floor and my favorite plant from florida on the carpet with the roots chewed off. little booger. she knows when it's daycare day and she knows she was "forgotten". they say that dogs don't have vengeance. i do not agree. i put sophia's quilt back in my quilt basket and stuck the plants back in the dirt. although i am not holding out much hope for resuscitation. time will tell. tonight when we came home from work i took tatum over to the field and tried to play ball even though there was still a good foot of snow. she tried to play but instead of bouncing and rolling, the ball just plopped into the snow. i threw the ball ONE last time and she bounced and pounced and dug to china right where the ball landed. now i have to wait for the snow to melt to have any chance of finding it. little booger. she had a full blown junie b. jones day. if you've never read a junie b. jones book, regardless of your age, you need to. i used to borrow them from my niece adea and read them in one night laughing the whole way through. maybe i can relate too much or maybe she's like every other 5 year old you've ever met but she and tatum are much too alike. here's a picture of my junie b. jones after our walk this morning. our walks when there is snow on the ground are 90% sniffing the snow and 10% business.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

SNOW DAY!!!

I have been wanting a snow day ALL winter. And finally we got it! After I went to work. HA! They kept telling us this last week "tomorrow's the day-we're gonna get a foot of snow tomorrow" and then I wake up and NOTHING. No snow. Last night when they said it I didn't even hope. Until we woke up and sure enough there was about 3 or 4 inches on the ground. Woohoo! Wasn't a foot, but it covered most of the new spring grass. I got up, took Tatum running because she loves the snow. Went to work and then bam it came down! And came down and came down and came down. Finally at 11:30 we realized we all needed to start heading home. Paul came up from work to pick me up in the pick up because my little civic couldn't make it back home. It took him 2 hours to get the 15 miles up to get me.
We came home and I made some cookies and I have some left over chili from the other day that I can heat up for dinner. Here are some pictures.
This is the look Tatum gave me AFTER her 2 mile romp in the snow when she realized the snowballs were sticking to her legs.

Here is a picture of our front porch and Paul scooping out the snow. I LoVe SnOw!!!!



Daddy's so wonderful. He picks the snowballs out of Tatum's legs so she can sit down again.

In other news M'Lady's dad passed away last night. I feel like a real big meanie now after getting into it with her on Monday and then this. Jeesh. What a jerk I turned out to be. But she has been MUCH nicer to me ever since AND she's been available by phone to me. Which is hUgE. And I realized that I was wearing the same exact outfit when I got into the big to-do with the son. Maybe that outfit makes my inner super-hero come out. I may have to watch out when I wear that turtleneck.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

am i a heel?

ok...so today m'lady's dad was put in hospice AND he's not doing well. he is 95, and he has been minutes from hospice since i've been around, but still, i feel like a heel big time. paul says i shouldn't feel bad because the "talk" had to happen but man i feel bad.

Monday, March 23, 2009

this close (i'm holding up my fingers in a pinchy position only a HAIR apart)

i got into it with m'lady this morning. it's as close to getting fired as i've ever come and i wasn't letting down. and she wouldn't fire me and i wouldn't quit because we both know the repercussions of unemployment. and i'm not quitting because of the principle of the matter now. i told her i was sorry not everything could be my fault as much as i'd like it to be. and that i was worn out. and it was an hour and a half talk. and in the end she decided we'll give this 30 days and see if we can work out our "systems" and if not i can tell her to take this job and shove it with no hard feelings. so, like i said, that's the closest to getting fired as i've ever come and for some reason, i'm ok with it.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

digging part time hours

i am LOVING working at 10:00 am. i have an hour before i have to start getting ready and i've already been up, running, wrapped paul's present, cleaned up some clutter and now i'm going to go wii hula-hoop again. i'm determined to get rid of my intertube. it looks like i'm always on my way to the pool and i can't stand it. aaaahhh....this is wonderful.

Monday, March 16, 2009

sleepy must-keep-active dog

when we got tatum we worried that we wouldn't be able to keep up with her energy. our weekends began revolving around making sure she got enough exercise and enough errand trips. however, we soon realized either we are more active than we thought, or wheaten's don't take quite as much exercise as they warned us. saturday paul took tatum to the dog park while i went birthday/fabric shopping. he said she was a wild woman. ran from one end to the other. jumped over picnic tables in a single bound. jumped over other park goers in a single bound. danced in the water bowl (i could go with out that little trick). so when she came home, she was EXHAUSTED. didn't even ask to go out for the rest of the day. but it was a beautiful weekend out and i wanted to enjoy it. so sunday we went down to boulder and went hiking up mt sanitas. we were told it was an off-leash area but only if your dog has been certified in the county as a see & sight dog, which means they stay RIGHT next to you and obey your commands no matter what playful dog is coming or going their way. tatum is not quite there but we're getting closer. we climbed up, and i mean UP. it was straight up. but her cute little fanny was jumping up those rocks 5 at a time. rocks as big as she was. and her fluffy little self just climbed and climbed like a slinky going backwards on speed. so when we got home and had bath #2 for the weekend...she crashed. and didn't move again. she'd prefer to stay right here for the rest of the week: doesn't it look like she's saying "please tell me it's monday and you guys are going back to work!"

and speaking of monday and going back to work, this morning begins my first week of reduced hours. i couldn't be more excited. i now work from 10-5:30 with an hour lunch. i will only work 32 hours a week instead of 40. ahhh....i'm going to do some laundry, the dishes, wii hula-hoop, watch some tv, maybe quilt, then on to work. i am loving it!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

last few days

so i've been trying to take it day by day by day with m'lady in order to get closer to being debt free. it's working. but there's still moments. but the last 3 days we made it through with no head butting, so that's good.
and lately god has really been proving to me that he will provide for things that i need/want even with out having to tell him. so we've been playing this little game, me and god. it goes like this. i think of something that would be kinda nice to have but don't do anything to get it and then somehow i get it with in the week. first it was the all the toys from my co-worker/friend. and then this week i thought "man, i wish i had one of those desk calendars that you flip the day every day. but man-where would you get one of those in MARCH? i loved the quilting one i had a few years ago." no lie. and then i got the mail the other day and there was this fat little chunky package from Sara Peters! Ya know, Erica (Peters) Mongelli's mom. i opened it up and thought-how did God KNOW that?! it's really kinda weirding me out. i'm starting to believe him.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

the big regret

well. i have to accept defeat. i realize now that taking the job with m'lady was a huge mistake. one that cannot be undone. i can't go back. i have to believe that it was just a matter of time before i would have been laid off from my other job. paul has a months worth of vacation time to take and he's only been at his company for a year. i have maybe 1 day if i beg just right. i know that tomorrow i have to go back to work to a job that i will surely not do right and then i will have to hear of how idiotic my mistakes are because i wasn't forward thinking enough, or i didn't consider how the client would feel, or i wasn't detail oriented enough, or i didn't understand enough, or i didn't say it EXACTLY as it was scripted for me, or a number of other things that i will surely not have done right. it's exhausting. and i'm now fully convinced that i am an idiot. i am a lazy, no good, idiot that has somehow just pulled the wool over everyone else's eyes for the last 7 years of my career. or at least, this is what i've been lead to believe in the last 7 months. i feel like i've been working hard to learn and stretch and grow my career and take on every project or direction or promotion, whether it's up or just over, so that i can advance my knowledge of the industry. and somehow, without even being aware, i took a step into the deep abyss of the unknown only to fall down a tunnel of dispair. i feel like i will never recover. professionally, or personally. i don't know what to do at this point of my life. look for something else full time, only to quit later this summer with the placement of foster kids. or stick it out and have more and more of my soul ripped out and stomped to pieces. i don't know if i should get completely out of this industry, or if i should find something back in title. i don't know what to do. i can feel the depression overtaking me. it consumes every moment of me whether at work or home. i have complained about other jobs before. i know it. it's a fault of mine. the ever-pessimistic employee. but this time it's different. it's shredded every bit of self-esteem i had in myself. i don't know which is more important. be able to pay the bills, or be able to look at myself in the mirror and have any kind of self worth left. i know her issues are hers alone, but she has been able to suck me in to her sad little self absorbed world to the point that i cannot find my way out. *sigh* and it's sunday night. i have but 12 hours left of freedom before i have to start another week all over again.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

another thing off the checklist

yesterday we had CPR class and learned the new 2 breaths, 30 chest pumps, 5 times. and baby heimlich is 5 beats to the back, 5 pumps to the chest. i gotta write it down quick or i forget. then we went to see Hotel for Dogs. it actually made me cry more than once. the kids are foster kids and...well...i don't want to spoil it if you're going to see it but there was a part where the kids were going to maybe be split up and that made the floodgates open.
we also got mattresses today. thank GOODNESS! i got the beds made up - now i just have to finish the yellow/orange border and the 2nd bed is done. however, i used raggedy anne and andy sheets for the boy bed and paul informed me that he doesn't think those are boy enough. i may need to get new sheets. but i'll wait until we have our placement because if we end up with all girls it doesn't matter what boy sheets i get. my first quilt is this pink one. it finally has a purpose. i made it 8 years ago and have never really used it other than when guests come. it's been another weekend of errands.
in other news. i have an interview tuesday morning at the company i used to work for. unfortunately, it's an hour, about an hour and a half during commuting time, away from where we live. and because we are really needing to stay in our county for the foster situation...it just may not work. i'm still going to go and see if they even make me an offer. maybe i'm over qualified for what they are looking for. i don't know. i'd LOVE to get back into a big corporation but i'm just not sure that's going to be a realistic option. *sigh* pray for me if you think about it.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

put up your DUKES!

Well, I kinda pulled a cheri-doozy tonight. i might not have a job by morning. ha!
here's how it started:
Brad: what kind of shoes are those?
Cheri': simple. these were the first shoes i bought when i got off the trail because my feet were too big for all my other shoes.
Jarrod: is that documented somewhere?
Cheri': ask any thru-hiker.
Jarrod: i'm more of a true hiker than you. i could out-hike you up any hill sweetheart. (and then he blew me a kiss.)
Cheri': no-THRU-hiker, not TRUE hiker.
Jarrod: (going on and on about what a great hiker he is completely oblivious to the fact that i'm telling him THRU not TRUE.)
Brad: "thru-hiker?"
Cheri': ya, it means you hiked the whole trail at once. and if you've hiked all 3 long trails you're a triple crowner.
Jarrod: (still going on and on about what a great hiker he is-and no one is listening.)
So i went back to my office and Jarrod calmed down enough to hear my words. and he said "OH! I misunderstood you. do you forgive me?" "Sure, you're forgiven."
It's overwith right? Nooooo! Jarrod keeps going on and on with Brad. I can't REALLY make out what he's saying and I don't really have any interest. But then I hear him say "So this is how you forgive people huh? You don't look at them?"
I said "no! I've already forgiven you. I forgave you 2 or 3 times already!"
Jarrod: OOOOOh! Ok. So this is how it's gonna be.
Cheri': No! you're forgiven!!
Jarrod: (still going with the forgiven crap.)
Cheri': That's it. I gotta go.
I got up, forwarded my phone. Grabbed my purse. Went to forward Diane's phone because at this point it's 5:27 and I get off at 5:30. I have YET to leave a minute before 5:30 until today.
So he goes: Are you really leaving.
Me: YES! I've forgiven you. And you know what, you don't always know what you're talking about. I've spent more time in the woods than any guy you know. And I deserve respect for what I know about hiking. I don't demand respect for alot of things, but this is something I know about. I don't tell you how to take pictures and I respect that you know things about sales and all kinds of stuff, but this is something I know about.
Jarrod: listen sweetheart....
Cheri': AND THAT'S ANOTHER THING...DON'T CALL ME SWEETHEART WHEN WE'RE FIGHTING! (I'd prefer he never do it, but frankly it doesn't bother me so I pick my battles.)
Then he went on to blow smoke about how he does know about hiking and going on and on and i finally go "this fight is stupid!"
And I left. And called M'Lady (his mom) and left her a voicemail: "I just got into a fight with Jarrod. I just wanted you to know because I'm sure he'll be calling you. And it wasn't even about work...it was about HIKING! and then he was mad at me for not forgiving him right! So I left. It's 5:30 now...feel free to call me tonight if you need to. Otherwise, I'll talk to you in the morning."
Then he calls and leaves me a long long message about how he respects me and blabidy blahbidy blah! and call him back so he can sleep tonight because he feels so bad. So I called him back and said "it's Cheri'. Look...I'm not mad at you..but you have to know, it's OK to not know everything. Sometimes you need to shut your mouth and open your ears and listen. You might LEARN something!" and he apologized all over himself-which is what I was looking for. And I said "you guys think I'm so passive...I'm not passive-I just don't CARE about alot of stuff. You can talk me under the table about quilting or running or any of my other hobbies but I KNOW hiking. I know thru-hiking, I know long-distance hiking. I'm one of 5% of the people that finish-and that's just the people who TRY. Only .0035% of the adults in the US has done what I've done. I KNOW hiking."
So...I've said my peace, stuck up for myself and things JUST might change around there.

Friday, January 30, 2009

last day

today was the nice guy's last day. it was all fine until he found out he didn't get another job (that he would have been PERFECT for). then he got real quiet and sad and then boom, it was just about time to go home so he went ahead and left. i cried. m'lady cried. i even think the other guy....i'll call him cool factor, cried. and of course the son (the tool) said "i'm gonna miss you brother." totally inappropriate since he is family and nice guy is not. ugh.
so now it's gonna be me and tool in the office and i'm going to need a lot of help and even more patience from m'lady and cool factor is going to be out running his errands. how am i going to get through this?
in other news. i had my physical today. i love my doctor. i could totally hang out with her if she would just give me her address. hahaha. that sounded so stalkerish. but it's true. whenever i have doctor appointments we talk and talk and talk like we're long lost friends. it's funny. but she found a polyp. hmm...so now i gotta go to the girlie doctor and have it checked out. dang.
last night was another home study. it was interesting. i thought the questions were going to be tougher than they were. tomorrow is our last all day training class. all day. on a saturday. well, i guess i might as well get to bed. paul's already asleep. tatum is already asleep. and i'm barely keeping my eyes open.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Inauguration

Ok-I can't help it. I have to share this. Today my co-workers and I were looking at the inaugural newscasts and the boss's son says "Huh, how ironic. Exactly 8 years ago today George Bush was inaugurated."
A hush fell through the office. I piped up from my end of the office "It's on January 20th every inauguration." from his end of the office, "oh....are you sure?!" I wonder why he thought the media hadn't picked up on that little element of irony. Jeesh.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

chugga chugga chugga chugga

the ball feels like it's really rolling now. tonight i said "gosh, do you think i should call our home study worker and see where things are?" and lo and behold we already had a message on the machine from her. (we're really bad at checking that darn thing.) she got our first inch of paperwork in the mail today and is ready to set up the 2nd meeting. i called her back and left a voicemail. then i went through our list of things yet to do and realized we're alot farther along than i thought. paul keeps bragging about how he has next monday off, something about a banking holiday, but what he doesn't know is that's going to be his due date for reading the rule book and signing off on it. it's literally the most boring thing i've ever read. i even had to read the HUD regulations for the title agency and even THAT was more interesting than the foster rule book. so he doesn't know it yet, brag all you want buddy, monday is going to be assigned reading day. hahahahahaha! i LOVE to tease.
here's what else we have to get done, in no particular order:
get physicals;
fill out our virginia (that's not so much for lovers) background checks and sign them in front of a notary;
take a cpr class -and i emailed him (because his voicemail was full) tonight to see if we can take it this saturday;
2 or 3 more home study visits;
print our family photo;
ok-but here's the big part: fill out where the kids will go to school and/or daycare, and the problem is that darn looking-for-a-new-job thing. where they go to school hinges on where we live which hinges on where i'm working. sooooo...we're a little stumped on that part.
and a few more things i can't think of. but we're getting there. we might actually be able to get all of this done by march 2nd!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

big day

today m'lady let jeff go. as a lay off, not as a "you're fired" kind of thing. i'm so sad. i asked her if she was sure he wasn't a better fit than i am. she had already made her decision though. now i'm going to be ridden twice as hard as i am now. and i even came back to a post-it note after lunch, 3 in fact, but they were all one message. it stated that i needed to do a pink sheet for a message i had left her and how i need to be more forward thinking. ugh! ya right-she changes her thought directions every 2 seconds and now i'm supposed to think like her before she thinks it? give me a break! i'm so sad tonight.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

as you wish

so i have been trying to obstain from m'lady stories but i just can't resist this one.
today she asked if i could help her with a form she had to fill out, which is basically just watching her because she doesn't let you do anything, and as i was sitting there she said "could you close that door, i can't think with them talking" so i got up and started to close her door and she said "oh no, i'm clausterphobic, you'll have to close his door."
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAA! i mean really-who could keep a story that good bottled up?