Sunday, May 17, 2009

Mom's visit

JMS loved having his "um-mah" visit today. They wrestled, read books, assembled puzzles, watched "Bolt" the movie, ate waffles and strawberries, played in the sprinkler, planted flowers, went for a walk, took two naps, two baths, and overall got Grandma feeling more like herself. ...gosh they sure did alot in 24 hours.

Well...her doctor's orders were as follows: "turn off brain; don't help anyone" I'll include a photo of the prescription as soon as I edit it to not show the doctor's contact information. I don't want him to be swamped by all of my loyal followers who could use the same "orders." :)

And...this is how she looked when my "little camera lover" made her pose for pictures...

Friday, May 15, 2009

Photos from the past week

JMS with the caterpillar on his shoe and on his shirt. He said, "it tickles."
Here is our patio nightmare...anyone want to barbeque?

JMS eating his first ice cream cone! (You can see my shorter hair cut too...I had her stack it more in the back.)

Stress!!!

Stress is very high in my life right now. Let me start with the list and then I'll elaborate on each:
1. I'm on call for jury duty this month of May.
2. I'm in the process of promoting and possibly relocating.
3. My patio is still in progress from last August.
4. My sister graduates from West Point on 5/23.
5. My grandmother passed a little over a month ago.
6. I have a 2 year old.

So...let me start with #1. I am on call for jury duty this month of May. I have to call every night around 5pm to find out if my number was called to report the next day. Well on Sunday night my Mother's Day gift was selection for jury duty on Monday 5/11. I reported at 8am and my stomach hurt I was so nervous. There were about 100 jurors that showed up and the process narrowed us down to 31. Then of the 31 our numbers were tossed in a hat and we were randomly chosen to serve on that trial. Well, my number was called and I became juror #7. I sat in a court room listening to an indictment for assault with a deadly weapon (knife)until about 4:30pm. At 4:30pm they took a break, wrote the Judge's Instructions to the Jury, and then gave closing arguments around 6:30pm. We deliberated and were dismissed around 9pm.

#2. So, I've been signed off on as an "A-backup." This means that I am qualified to go through training to be a store manager. However, I have one more set of important executives to meet before I'll be given any more information. I am slated to speak with these folks any time between now and 3 months from now. Let's talk about ambiguity!!! After I speak with them, they might tell me where and when my training will begin and oh...maybe where I might be "stationed" for my new position. Oh...and maybe give me enough notice to prepare and uproot my family and sell our house.

#3. So, if you span back to August on this blog...you'll find photos of our patio and landscape project. Well, they messed up the concrete when the poured it and I've been bugging the manager for a year now to come back and tear it out and re-pour it. Apparently he had a fight with his one and only concrete person...and I'm caught in the middle of it. On Tuesday his laborers came and cut up all of the concrete and I told them not to remove it until the day that they will pour new concrete b/c we are expecting rain most every day for the next 7 days. I just didn't want mud for Quincy dog or JMS. So...they cut the concrete, coated my patio-hot tub-table-umbrella-fire pit...everything with CONCRETE DUST! I guess they tried to clean it up too and in the process sliced our garden hose, pulled a board off of our fence gate and splattered the back of the house with more concrete splash. If it goes wrong with these guys it goes wrong. This is more stressful for me than anything right now because my backyard is my place of relaxation and I can't do that right now.

#4. I am flying to New York this weekend for my sister's graduation from USMA. I'm going by myself, meeting my parents and brother in NY, and JMS and his Dadda are going to visit family in SC. Its been a while since I've flown. And, its probably been NEVER since I've spent 5 days away from my son. A little stress here.

#5. Grandma passed...but now I have my mom dealing with her family in the aftermath of the situation. I just keep praying for their fast healing.

#6. JMS is two. He is the light of our lives. I'll share some great photos of him playing with his caterpillars on Monday in the backyard. It was such a stress relief!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

And Joan Wins!

Okay, so I've been addicted to Celebrity Apprentice. Joan Rivers versus Annie Duke...and Joan wins!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

What I've been up to

I did some practice interviews in Cincinnati about two weeks ago in preparation for the real ones that took place yesterday 5/5. What am I interviewing for, you ask? Well...my bosses job...sort of. I am interviewing to do what he does, but not necessarily his position, although that sure would make the relocation piece easy, wouldn't it? The interview process is what I wanted to comment on.

My company used to do internal interviews by having the individual meet with three different groups/teams of executives. Those executives would ask them a series of five questions (for a total of 15) that sounded something like: Tell me about a time you made a difficult decision. Tell me about a time you gave feedback and it didn't go well. Tell me about a time something went wrong and you found out too late. Then, you'd go home and eventually get feedback.

Now, instead of just one person getting interviewed you go in as a team of two. So, your competition is sitting right next to you! You still speak to a panel of executives, and the questions still are very difficult. At first I didn't think I would like this new process. But it surprised me, and it brought out my competitive nature. Poor guy, yesterday, he didn't have a chance against me. Several times the panel asked him after I gave my answer "if he could top that?" (ouch...) Or, after I introduced myself as a West Point graduate - Eastern KY University didn't sound like much. And when I gave examples from the Army, the warehouse/distribution network, and store experiences his few examples from college and the store didn't add up to much. You know it is bad when after you give your answer, the alternate gives his and essentially could have summed it up by saying, "ditto her."

So how did I do, you ask? Well, I was called back in less than 6 hours by my district manager to tell me I cleared the interviews, but he didn't have any more details for me at this time.

GREAT NEWS!!!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Blogging

YEAH!!! I'd like to welcome my father-in-law to the wonderful world of blogging! Check out his new site:
http://reverbendetc.blogspot.com/

Friday, May 1, 2009

Bloggers Block

So, I've noticed that all of my blogging buddies are either enjoying the semi-summerlike weather or are suffering from swine blog block.

What do you think it is?

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