The Plague

This past week at work has been interesting. On Monday there was one person out, on Tuesday there were two. On Wednesday there were four...a plague has hit my office, one that involves high fevers and severe vomiting. Which is always fun for those of us with stronger immune systems. My boss showed a much more caring side of himself by asking everyone as they came in, "How are you feeling?" and "How are the kids feeling?". Well, it wasn't really caring. We have a very small staff and when 4 people are out in a day, that is over half our work force. That meant my boss had to pick up some of the slack. Of course, so did the rest of us, but I found it to be a fun challenge to see just how many tasks I could complete in one day. I did pretty well, even though my standard answer to many a customer "well, I'm pretty sure we've ordered those and normally I'd transfer you to D, but she's out and so is L. her backup...so...".

I was bragging about how many family has a strong immune system yesterday and of course it came back to bite me. My seven year old came home from school complaining of an upset stomach - uh oh - and he didn't want his afternoon snack. In the morning He had said he had a headache, but I thought it was the "I don't want to go to school so I have a headache" type of pain. Red flags started waving and sirens were going off in my head. Quick temperature check - 102.5. I'm surprised he lasted all day in school.
He's still got that same fever today, but nothing else. On the bright side, it is the weekend so none of us have to miss work of school. On the negative side, we actually had a full weekend of events planned, with birthday parties and hockey games to go to. Looks like our schedules are going to need some rearranging.

4 things....

Thanks to Wally, you have the following lists to contemplate.

Four jobs I have had:

Archaeologist
EMT
Postal Clerk
Bookkeeper

Four movies I would watch over and over:

Shawshank Redemption
Monty Python's the Meaning of Life
American History X
...No others come to mind...


Four favorite foods:

Coffee icecream
Stuffed zucchini flowers
Rissoto ai gamberi
Red velvet cake

Four places I have lived:

Vicenza, Italy
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Long Island, NY
Houston, TX

Four place I've been on vacation:

Disneyworld, Fl.
Grand Canyon, Az.
Pompeii, Italy
Innsbrook, Austria

Four Websites I visit daily:
Fat Cyclist
envoy-ette
the resident curmudgeon
this mom blogs

Four places I'd rather be:

Actually, I enjoy where I am but if I have to answer the following would apply because it's where family and friends are:

Arizona (the whole state since they are spread out)
Rhode Island (hey, it is small enough that I don't need to name a city)
Florida
Kentucky

Back to normal

Work has finally slowed down enough so I only need three hands instead of the two bodies and 6 arms I've felt like I needed two weeks ago. We are starting to get back feedback from our corporate office, and have heard positive things. Bonuses have come into the store (no I won't see them directly, life's not that good), and congratulatory notes are coming in as well. It is good to be recognized by the higher ups since the boss doesn't care.
I'm still sticking to my New Year's resolutions of being less judgemental of my co-workers (I said less, which means I can judge a little), although they try me, oh they try me. When I correct someone, I expect them to take heed of what I say; not do the same error three more times. With me correcting them again. Between each error.
With it slowing down, I've been able to get back into my workout routine. I'd love to be able to run in a 10K race. This is quite a challenge for me since (1) I find running to be one of the most boring sports ever invented and (2) I seem to have developed a sharp pain in my heel which flares up every time I try to run. We'll see how it goes. I'll have to find a race and sign up for it and then let you know. You will keep me accountable for my commitments. I'd be too embaressed not to follow through.

Geocaching

Over the holiday, hubby was given a GPS device from his mom, with the thought that he would enjoy using it for a hobby called "geocaching". In geocaching (gc), you go to the gc website and look up coordinates for "treasures" that are buried in your area. You enter then into the GPS unit and then you are off to find the cache. Once there, you log your visit into the log book, take a small prize and leave one behind. Sometimes there is a "travel bug" that has a certain destination in mind, that you might want to help move along.
While we were on the East coast we picked up one that wanted to travel along Route 6. We helped it go 1500 miles by taking it back to Texas with us and leaving it in a cache on Route 6 here. We logged it on the gc website so its owner could follow its adventures. It is a cheap hobby once you have your GPS unit, and it gives one the chance to see parts of the local neighborhood which you likely would never visit on your own plus enjoy the outdoors at the same time.
Since we've been back, we've gone every weekend. It is a very reasonable family fun event where anyone of us is likly to find the cache. Our 7 year old has had as much success as we have. Sometimes it helps to be on his eye-level, especially when the cache is hidden in the hollow of a dead tree. It is comical at times to watch us wading through overgrowth; we are not as stealthy as we should be, but we are enjoying ourselves.

New Year's Resolutions

With the new year comes the new year's resolutions, which I absolutely detest. Normally, I would skip all pretenses of declaring how I will change in the coming year since, let's face it, 90% of resolutions are broken within the first two weeks anyway. However, this year I made one resolution: To be more tolerant of my coworkers. Notice how I did not say of people in general, no I am trying to be realistic in my goal. So far, I am sticking with it, although several of my coworkers are not following my lofty ambitions. They know of it and have already said to me several times "still going for that resolution, are you?".

Hubby has also made some resolutions, ones which I don't think are all that important. I have a list he could have chosen instead which would have much better benefits for me, but I guess it is about his growth not mine. One of his resolutions is to reduce clutter. Great, super. His computer desk is a mess, as is his garage space and his half of the closet. Except, he doesn't start in these areas, he starts in on MY kitchen counters. I walked into the kitchen yesterday, and notice that several utensils that I keep in a caddy missing. In fact, all of the utensils are missing and caddy is empty. Hubby thought it was cluttered and decided to put them in the already cluttered utensil drawers. I happen to look across the kitchen, as I am drawing a deep breath, and I see that the bread machine is gone. Where to? The garage. Why? Because that is where he plans to put his clutter, which makes no sense to me. Clear it out, don't just move it to a new space. Plus, he wanted to see if I would notice. Arrrghh!!!! Work on your clutter not mine!!

After a heated discussion, in which I insinuated that I would start in on his clutter if he didn't leave mine alone and he would find that it was gone for good; we agreed that he would focus on his own things first. This resolution thing is for the dogs.

Final Vacation Post

After our long plane ride home, we got home late Sunday night. We walk in the house, verify Santa came while we were gone and send the boy up to get ready for bed. I hear him exclaim "Hey, who cleaned the house?". Of course the answer is no one,I cleaned it before I left. I hate coming home from a trip to a messy home.
Finally, my efforts have been recognized by family. It has nothing to do with the fact that my stepmother-in-law's house was full of clutter and mine is not. No, I choose to believe that my son just decided to recognize all the hard work I do around the house. Na,na,na,na - I can't hear you if you are saying anything different!

More vacation tales

So Christmas morning I hear stirring in the room my son is sleeping in. I pray that he waits a little longer before getting out of bed (it is 5:15). I also hope that he is not disappointed when he sees that "Santa" has left him but one gift here at my in-laws, and remembers that Santa was stopping at our house in Texas instead. I also hear the steady beat of a cold rain against the roof top. Luckily, baby boy goes back to sleep.

It's now 7:30 and I decide I have made J wait long enough to get out of bed. He hears me open the bedroom door and comes bouncing out of his room.
"Mom, Mom, I heard Santa's reindeer last night! They were on the roof! I heard their hoofs!" It seems the downpour sounded differently to my son than it did to me. What joy is on his face as he tells me this wonderful news.
He is not disappointed in getting only one gift under the tree; in fact, he is amazed that Santa found him here at his Nonna and Pepere's house.

Meeting my nephew

My sister also flew in, and brought her 15 month old with her. This was the first time I met him, and he immediately was willing to go into my arms. That is, until he saw my husband, then he wanted to be in his arms! I dare say that hubby was his favorite person of all the visitors; each time the baby saw him he would reach his arms out to be held by hubby, or would run around the table until he got to him. If hubby came in late, the little guy would squirm out of whomever's arms he was in and run over to hubby to hug his legs and ask for a lift up!

The little peanut is only 18 pounds (he doesn't eat anything) and into everything. When he laughs his eyes light up, his mouth goes wide, and then he's usually silent -a silent laugh. It is odd to see, but hilarious at the same time.

We were curious to see his reaction to me - after all, his mother and I are identical twins. Only once did it seem to throw him for a loop - he was crying and ran towards me, then suddenly stopped with a slightly confused look on his face as if to say "wasn't my mom just standing right there?" and turned back around to find his real mom.

Back from vacation

Hello, I'm back after a long vacation. Yes, as the old joke goes, I need a vacation from my vacation. Luckily I am off today before going back to work tomorrow.
Where to start telling you about my holiday? Hmm, this is a tough one, there was so much going on.
The morning we packed up to leave, my son couldn't understand why he wasn't allowed to wear his normal clothes. "But mom, it is short sleeve weather!" "Yes dear, it is here, but where we are going it is long sleeve and coat weather." After two long but uneventful flights, we arrived in New England to snow on the ground - yay! After getting the luggage and rental car we were off to my in-laws house. There, we were created with hugs and kisses and food, lots and lots of food, which was to be a theme throughout the holiday. My step-mom-in-law is a party person, who seems to know everyone in the state of RI, which although it is a small state it is not possible to do, and needs to invite them all over for at least one meal. Either that or she is going to their funeral - no word of a lie, she went to four funerals while we were there, and her relationship to the individual was convoluted to say the least.
We were up to midnight, including my 7 year old, and continued that theme of late nights for the rest of the holiday.