A busy-dreary-crazy-odd-weird day

Work started out busy and stayed that way until quitting time. I had so much to do that it looked like a filing cabinet exploded on my desk. When I left at five it didn't look much better. It started out nice and sunny, but by 2PM we had snow mixed with rain.

My day planner used to have maybe one entry here or there-a haircut or a birthday-now it looks like a journal. There are a ton of work related functions and meetings and trainings.

I looked up as everyone was saying it was time to go home-I thought it was around 3:30. I hope to be able to get most of it done before lunch. We are having a big fund raising event this weekend and all the last minute donations and sign ups are pouring in. I spent 3 hours counting money and logging checks! It was amazing-luckily the bank we use is in the same building-I get nervous carrying all of that around.

I went today and bought more things to make my office "my own". One lady that I have instantly bonded to keeps saying now she has to up her office to keep up-so it has kinda become a fun contest. Her and I have hit it off really well, Rick and I, her and her husband are all going out this weekend.

My parents called today and said that they are coming back on Saturday-a week early. They wouldn't explain exactly why. I'm fearing that the doctors have told them there is nothing they can do, or that my Mom decided against having the surgery after the doctors told her about the extent of what it entails.

We originally thought that the cancer had started last fall. The doctors told them on Monday that it has been at least a year and more progressed than originally thought. They said doing the surgery, if they even could, would leave her disfigured facially and with a major decrease in speech. My parents said they were waiting to hear back from them.

The lack of information I got out of them today worried me. My Mother is the type that would not want to live like that, she is stubborn and wouldn't listen if my Dad is telling her until he is blue in the face that at least you would be alive.

Today me and my sister had the first "what if" talk about how we would handle everything if the news is as bad as we think. It made it more real to both of us-but after our talk I realized how lucky to have a sister like her.

I told my boss the other day about what I thought was my Mom's upcoming surgery and she said that if I had to leave to be with them that I was not to worry, my job was secure, that family came first around here. So I am lucky to have a work environment like that.

The only concern my parents showed me today was that I bring Corky with me when I pick them up at the airport. Let's hope that Petey doesn't succeed in his attempts to deflower her by then!

A good weekend-then a Monday Happened!

I had a good weekend, the snow melted and it warmed up by Sunday and I got the bathroom painted and some more boxes unpacked and organized.

I still have to put a second coat on the bathroom, but I'm happy with the color. I'll post pictures when I get finished.

Today at work went pretty good. My boss and my supervisor both went home early and I was on my own mostly. Nothing popped up that I couldn't handle but I was very busy.

My parents left for Houston today and I am dog sitting their Chihuahua Corky. Randy leaves her alone and won't have much to do with her but Petey has decided it is his new girlfriend. He follows her everywhere and keeps trying to hump her. I'm going to have to keep them separated because I do not want puppies-my parents would kill me first of all and second of all visions of chihuahua/dachsunds sound scary. Just kidding, I'll bet they would be cute.

My parents left a note that said Dear Jeff and Rick-"Treat her like she is your daughter because that is how we feel and we would be devistated if something happened to her". Gee no pressure there.

So now I am paranoid that something is going to happen to her. So I will guard her with my life-as well as her virginity! My Dad actually said that about a week ago-that she was a virgin and he didn't want Petey or Randy to deflower her! So far she has faught off his advances with growls and nips but I'm worried that she may give in and let him have her flower :|

Time to go to bed, I'm tired, loopy, and I'm talking about Corky's flower.

I hope everyone had a great Monday.

The first full week of work

It was a good week. I feel more comfortable with work and can see once I get used to everything I will enjoy it. Right now it is feeling overwhelming, but not so much so that I can't handle it.

I have had a good weekend so far-it snowed most of the day and was cold, but still nice. I'm still waiting for spring to get here!

I got my first paycheck Friday and decided to splurge and took a good friend to an uppity martini bar and had too many dirty martinis and some cosmos. It was fun, but I paid for it this morning.

I'm still trying to get used to the hours-getting up when I'm used to going to bed, but it is getting better every day. One day last week I guess I woke up, turned the alarm off and decided I didn't want to be bothered with getting up. I didn't even remember turning the alarm off-Rick woke up at 7:30 thankfully and woke me up. I had to make a mad dash to get ready to be at work at 8.

I was a few minutes late and worried and apoligized but my boss said that she wasn't a clock watcher and didn't care as long as I did my work. The boss at my last job once got on my case about clocking it 1 minute late!

I hope everyone has a happy easter :)

A change in plans...

The lady that is training me and that I am replacing is leaving earlier than expected. So that means more intense training and longer hours until she goes.

It's only for a few day so its not that bad, but its like a crash course and it seems I forget it as soon as I learn it!! They keep piling more and more on me, but so far nothing that seems out of my range. What worries me is when she is gone and unexpected things pop up!

Today was a crash course in writing the monthly inner office newsletter and the quarterly newsletter that goes out to about 1500 people. That intimidates me just a tad, but I think I will be able to handle it once I get used to it. Thank goodness I used MS publisher in the past.

I had to learn the ins and outs of paying the bills and receipting/depositing the donations. It isn't very difficult but the amount of the checks (many are 5 and 6 figures) and being responsible for them will take some getting used to.

In my last job I had to learn to decipher wills, deeds and divorces so it won't be hard to decipher hearings and court orders, I'll just have to figure out which order they come in and what they all mean.

I finally got some nibbles on the rental unit I have available-I hope to have it rented by tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a great Monday :)

Sunday

Sunday was a good day. I got a lot of my computer work done, even catching up on stuff I had neglected. I even managed to do a few loads of laundry and unpack several more boxes of kitchen things.

It started raining this evening, it was a nice gentle rain. I'm ready for spring!

I was catching up on some newspaper reading and was surprised that we had an earthquake here. A 2.9. A few years back we had a 3.9 that did some minor damage to some houses and major damage to several hundered wells. I didn't feel either. My Dad and my sister felt the 3.9 and said it felt like a tractor trailer was lumbering by a few feet away. I remember thinking "Great, not only do we have to worry about tornadoes, now this!"

My parents leave to Houston for the surgery on the 28th. They got their appointment finally. My Dad has spent the last few days getting hotel, airfare and car reservations. It amazes me, they are getting help with discounts etc. and it is still a fortune.

My Dad had a big surprise today. He belongs to a local lodge. They helped with extra discounts on hotel and airfare as well as all the gang got together and organized a raffle benefit for my parents. It will run 2 weeks and then they will donate the money to them. He was at a loss for words. They even told him that the lodge in Houston would find someone to take them around if needed.

I'm glad that is there if they need it. My parents aren't travellers at all and they are very nervous and worried about flying and going to a big city.

I hope everyone has a great Monday.

More on the new J O B

It has been an interesting past few days with the new job. The lady that I am replacing is leaving this coming Thursday so they are trying to train me really fast. I felt overwhelmed at first but now I am feeling better about it. I have a lot of responsiblity, but I feel comfortable that I can handle it-I hope I can still say that after the lady training me (my safetye net) leaves.

Everyone up there has been great at making me feel welcome and helping me out. Everyone is laid back so much so that it seems too good to be true! It has been fun working with Rick's sister Tina. It was nice having someone there that I knew already.

Due to the nature of the work that is done there I had to be fingerprinted and sign papers to allow a criminal background check as well as a confidentiality agreement. Now I am glad I was so boring and didn't do anything weird in high school and college!

One lady up there told me that when she went through this she had a hit on her criminal check-when she was 16 she stoled some eggs for hell week while in high school and that came back!

I spent most of today working on more plumbing issues on the rentals. Luckily it was things that I knew how to take care of and didn't have to use a plumber-although I made a few mistakes and had to make 3 trips to the plumbing store I got it all taken care of.

I'm excited about next week-I get to start decorating my office and taking things up there to make it my own. I figured I would keep it minimal since we are moving to new offices on the first floor in a few months. Someone donated a large sum of money and they decided it to use it to lease a bigger space.

I did make one mistake at work on Friday. Someone was saying their computer was messing up and I told them I could fix it-it was something simple and I was able to take care of it. After that I had 4 more requests to fix things. It seems one more thing has been added to my job description!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend :)

Overwhelmed & Overdressed...

I wasn't sure of the office policy on what to wear so I dressed up in a coat and tie. When I get to work-everyone is in jeans! They joked that I was an inside plant to raise the bar on office dress! So tomorrow I will feel better dressing more casual.

On the way to work I rolled my window down and the snow on the top of the car slides right into my lap. Then walking up to the house at lunch I hit an ice spot and banged my shin on the steps, got one leg tangled up in the railing and went face first into the snow! I was more embarrassed than hurt-but at least I made the mailman's day!

Thankfully most of the work I'll be doing is entering case files into the database, receiving mail and sorting it, paying bills, and sending thank you notes to donors. There is so much of it at once that I was feeling overwhelmed today. I'm hoping that I can settle into a routine soon and feel better about it.

Everyone was really nice and helpful and that went such a long way to make me feel comfortable.

I hope everyone had a great day :) Here is to hoping I can stay dry and upright while walking tomorrow!

Getting a bit nervous...

The office called and said to come in a bit later since we had all this snow. The news said we have got about 15 inches so far, and it is still coming down out there.

Petey took off romping in it earlier but randy stood shivvering on the porch with that look of "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME??". When I had to chase down Petey to get him inside the snow drifts came up to right above my knees in the backyard-all I could see of him was rustling snow and a tail here and there.

I have everything prepared for tomorrow, now I just have to get to sleep. I'm a night owl by nature as it is and then mix in being a little nervous-I'm starting to get sleepy so I think it will be ok. I spoke with my Dad earlier and he is insisting on giving me a wake up call tomorrow!

I had to dig through all my "nice" clothes that I haven't worn in almost 3 years to find something that still fit. Luckily I didn't toss all my ties, dress shirts and sports jackets out like I had thought about.

The nervousness has come and gone today-I have to keep telling myself that I have done this type of work before, I am good at it and I CAN run an office. It just has been so long since I have done it. Before I got into real estate years ago I was shy and introverted and changed that when I had to. I have been out of situations where I had to take charge for a while now so I am hoping it will all come back to me.

I'll know by this time tomorrow!!

I Hope everyone is having a great week and not covered in snow like we are!

Good news and the blizzard!

I got the job! They called today and said I was the best applicant and want me to start tomorrow. The lady I am replacing leaves next Thursday and they want her to train me before she leaves. I want to thank everyone for the encouragement and positive thoughts :)

Hopefully I can dig out and make it in! This is what it looks like outside right now:

Spring came and went!

It is snowing! The news said we are supposed to get at least a foot tonight and into tomorrow. So much for my flowers! We had a week or two of a spring teaser and now this!

I didn't hear anything about the job today. Rick's sister works at the office I'm applying at and told me that the lady that would be checking my references and calling me went home because of a sick child. Maybe I'll hear something tomorrow. I did go ahead and send thank you notes to the three people that took time to interview me, so maybe that'll help some.

If I get this job one thing I will have to get used to again is the elevator. I have always had an aversion to them as well as heights. I'm not claustrophobic, I just don't like the idea of dangling on a cable I guess-I know that isn't the case, but that's how I feel! The office is on the 3rd floor and I would have to drive up 5 flights to park (which is an odd and new experience for me) and take the elevator back down.

We had good news with Rick's job-he got a raise and a pretty hefty bonus today. Maybe a few cents will be left after paying bills and buying the few leftover things to finish fixing the house up.

Last week I had funny feeling in the pit of my stomach for a couple of days. It would only happen at night when I was laying down to bed. I could not figure out what it was. I thought maybe it was being nervous about applying for this job, but that wasn't it. My Dad figured it out for me-I was telling him about it and he said "You are feeling homesick". He was right, I guess all the change hit me at once. Thankfully just talking about it with my Dad helped plus I am feeling more at home every day.

The interview and a snow day...

I had my interview Friday and I think it went well. I was really nervous when I got there but when I left I felt confident (not that I got the job but that I did my best in the interview).

They told me that they were making their decision Monday or Tuesday. Rick's sister works there and had went to a company birthday party on Saturday. This morning there is a message on my machine from her saying that she had good news! I'm hoping she was talking about the job! I haven't been able to get in touch with her today so I guess I'll have to wait it out.

Rick' mother's surgery went well. She is at home now and getting around pretty good although today she said she is having the worst pain so far-even large doses of pain killers aren't touching it. I think she has been overdoing it instead of resting-she seems like one of those kinds of people that want to go go go instead of resting in bed. Hopefully tomorrow the pain is a lot less.

Yesterday was a beautiful day and it got up into the 80's and tonight it is snowing! I hope all my trees and flowers will do OK-Rick took these yesterday:





I hope every had a great weekend.

list checking and mopping up...

We got a few things checked off our list today. The lawn is clean and manicured and we got the living room totally finished. We got a nice oriental rug that really made the room.

My next jobs to tackle are the closets and the rest of the kitchen. I have been getting sidetracked easier these days and usually wind up on the computer or on the couch!

My day started with a bang-or I should say drip. The water heater in the upstairs apartment that I just moved out of sprung a leak and the renter was out of town. The operative word being upstairs! The renter belows calls me at 6:30 this morning to inform me that it is raining in her laundry area. I get over there and it is one big soppy mess. It was a relatively small leak, but it must have been going to town for several hours.

I was thankful that it wasn't as bad as it could have been and that the water heater had a cut off valve!

Rick's mother is having major back surgery tomorrow so we will be up at the hospital most of Monday. Later in the evening I am going to have to wade through a stack of bills that I have let pile up like a dummy.

I hope everyone has a great Monday to start your week off :)

Working on the house..

I have been so busy working on the house that I have hardly had time for much else. It is slowly starting to feel like home-I am having a blast decorating and enjoying it.

I have been hanging pictures, putting the knickknacks out and organizing things to make it feel more like home. This week we are going to work on the yard and get it in shape.

I have an interview this tuesday for a job. I was going to wait until later on in the summer to start looking but this one fell into my lap. Rick's sister works there and an office manager position is available. She told the boss about me and they sound really interested in me applying.

I'm not quite sure I'm ready for a 9-5 right now, but for the money they are offering I will be there will bells on tuesday!

I hope everyone had a great weekend ::

Ice cream scoop & envelopes...

I had planned to take it easy yesterday playing catch up on some minor things around the house-but it didn't work out that way!

I was paying some bills online but when I got to my plumbing bill I needed an envelope. They were of course packed away! So in my search for the envelopes I ended up unpacking 6 boxes and organizing desk drawers, software and stray office flotsam.

Later on in the day I decided to have some ice cream. I couldn't find the ice cream scoop which was also packed away. I ended up unpacking 10 boxes of dishes and kitchen items in my search.

It felt nice when I finally got to my ice cream having all of that out of the way-I was able to sit down and watch a movie and do nothing.

Today I wanted to store some things in the storage shed, but it was a mess so I ended up cleaning and organizing it-which led to about 2 hours worth of work.

Besides that I did some laundry catch up, visited my parents and took it easy the rest of the evening. I hope everyone had a good Monday :)