I'm watching you...

Work ethic rewarded?!?

Have you ever noticed in the workforce that seems that those who do not do their jobs properly get rewarded and those who do their jobs well just get more stuff assigned to them? I have a story that will refresh your memory if you have forgotten.

Recently, a coworker (who we'll call Slacker), who had had two previous incidents of reprimand, was to have her final written reprimand. This was to be done last Wednesday. My boss was coming in from her vacation to speak with this individual. That morning, Slacker was to open the store. Instead of opening, she called another coworker 10 minutes before we were to open asking if he could come in and if he would put her in for two personal days - two unapproved personal days, two unavailable personal days. She was taking an unauthorized vacation, taking advantage of the long weekend.
What would you do in my boss' shoes? Well, as she told us today, after speaking with Slacker, she allowed her to take tomorrow, Thurs., Fri. and Monday off as "sick days" (normally you need a doctor's note to take 3 or more days off as sick days). Where does this bother me? Well, I'm already doing the work of another coworker who was sent out of town for a week, and now I'll have to do Slacker's job as well, one which coincidentally was going to be rather tedious this week since we expected about 80,000 worth of books to come into the store and have a end of summer session rush. Lucky me I get to wear three hats this week.
My boss' comment? "Well, you can come in on Friday (we don't work Fridays in the summer) to get your paperwork done". Oh lucky me, don't I feel special.

Vacation planning

Whew, I just got done planning our trip home to visit family. What a chore. I had to book a total of 8 different one way trips, since Jman stays back to visit longer with the relatives and Papa has to fly back out with him (Continental "lost" 2 kids within the past month, no flying alone for Jman) and then Papa flys home himself. It took over an hour, with a brief break to call the credit card company to explain that my card was not stolen so could they please reactivate it (I'm not complaining, I like that my credit card companies recognized that my charges did not reflect my normal spending habits).

I was able to plan J's trip around my mother-in-law's annual vacation with the grandchildren to N.H. J loves this trip, he gets to play with his younger cousins (whom he adores), he gets to spend time with Grandma, and she is always fun. They go hiking, to beaches, to quaint small tourist attractions., etc. Because we live so far away, any chance I can give him to create memories with the family are ones I strive for.
We'll get to go home, visit with my grandmother (she is 96), see his dad and my ever busy step mother-in-law, laugh with his sister and brother-in-law, and maybe even do something touristy, like visit the beach or Plymouth Rock.

Livestrong challenge

I'm not sure if any of you have noticed or wondered why about the Livestrong challenge bar I have on this blog. For those who do not already know, the Livestrong Organization is foundation that not only wishes to find a cure for cancer, but provides the support and resources for those currently suffering from cancer (as a patient, as a family member, etc).

I'm supporting it for several reasons:

1. Look in my sidebar, see the link for fatcyclist, click on it, read some of his posts, then come back here and donate. (his wife is in the end stages of terminal cancer, yet he is still able to bring humor to his life and to ours).

2. My family has been affected by cancer many times over. My dear, favorite uncle passed away not too long ago cancer (he had all of a month from diagnosis to death).
My mother has had skin cancer. My grandmother, my aunt both have had breast cancer. My paternal grandmother died from cancer. My identical twin sister has had cervical cancer.

3. It is for self-preservation. See #2, with those genetics, I am sure to have cancer, one way or another.

So, if you can donate please do.

Time flys

Tonight was J's elementary school graduation. Next year middle school, how can that be? It was hard to believe that I knew so many of those children when they were only 5, and now they are young adults. I was getting a little teary eyed, I admit it.

Quote of the day

The universe may not always play fair, but at least it's got a hell of a sense of humor.

Michael Patrick King, Sex and the City

Grateful

In a few weeks, hubby and I will have been married 14 years, and together..17? Whatever it may be, I have to take a moment to appreciate what we have. While neighbors and friends are divorcing left and right, we're still together. I asked him the other day if there was something wrong with us, since we seem to be one of the few satisfied, happy couples around us. I still look at him everyday and think "I could not possibly love him more than I do today". I'm not saying we do not ever disagree, I'm saying that I truly appreciate the love I have in my life and can look past those occasional disagreements. I think it is necessary to stop on occasion and appreciate and acknowledge these gifts.

Grey's Anatomy

As far as I am concerned, there is very little quality television on right now; but last nights Grey's brought my faith back for quality TV. If you have not followed Grey's this season, you catch up either through abc.com or hulu. ABC.com offers the episodes free.

Getting old is no fun

So, I had great plans for this spring. For once, the temperatures have stayed mild and, up until today, the humidity had been low. I wanted to plant some new flowers, get a small garden going, and train for a bike race to raise money for the Livestrong foundation. Only my body decided it did not want to participate. So, by some unknown method, 2 weeks ago I managed to sprain my left shoulder ACL . This is the joint that surrounds the rotor cuff. How do you do this? Normally it is from a severe contusion to the shoulder or from repeated overhead lifting of heavy objects. But I did neither of these, all I did was go running in the morning. I blame it on getting old. Either way, I was unable to move my arm above my waistline, and was unable to move it backwards either. By the following Monday I was able to move it some, but could not do simple things like push open a door without really putting a lot of thought into the action behind that movement. I went to the doctor's that same day, and he prescirbed physical therapy for at least 5 weeks, nexium, then possibly a steroid shot.
So here I am, unable to mow or edge my lawn, unable to weed, unable to lift my arm straight above my head. It is getting better, but too slow for my liking. I need to take advantage of the cooler weather before the heat really sets in.

Earth Day haiku

I am in sorrow
from loss of forests back home
chopped down for wood

- by J

Quote of the day

Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.
- Jerry Garcia

The 10 year old does April Fools

Yesterday was April Fools day, one of J-man's favorite days of the year. He always wants to pull some sort of practical joke on us, and usually half-way succeeds. One year he salted our morning coffee. That did not go over well, and he soon learned there are boundaries to practical jokes, certain areas are off limits, one of those being our morning coffee!
This year I gave him a heads up the night before that the next was April Fools day so that he might have some planning time.
His jokes this year were rather tame. He took box of tissues, pried open the side, replaced them all with a roll of toilet paper and retaped the box. The idea of the prank was that I grab for a tissue, instead of one tissue I would have this long roll of paper following me. It didn't quite work since I grabbed it from the side and it tore.
He also managed to scare the bejeebas out of me as I came out of my bedroom in the morning, hiding not in his usual area when he tries to surprise me. He did not do it to his dad, since the last time he tried that, dad reacted in a defense manner and almost knocked him out (its the military training).
All in all, a very peaceful, safe April Fools day.

updates to the blog

I'm trying to add a little more to the blog. I'm looking to update the header too, I just have to find the right picture. Unfortunately, my laptop died recently, and I have not transferred the photos from it to my new computer as of yet.

Back-up plan

So, I asked Jman what he wanted to be when he grew up. His response:

J - I want to be a writer
Me - Well, what is your back up plan?
J- I'll be an actor. No, wait, I'll be an artist if that doesn't work.

I don't think he grasped what I was getting at....

Music soothes the savage beast

Lately I've been a bit tense, what with the job situation, hubby being away, and Jman just being difficult. I'd forgotten one of my relaxation tools until today, a very simple fix. It's music.
It amazes how music can have such an influence on my emotional health. I may be stressed and irritable, but once I slip my headphones on, sit back and listen, the anger leaves my body and a calmness comes over me. It doesn't have to be any certain song, as long as it is not too "energetic". Blue October is a good band for me to relax with, since they are not overly heavy on guitar or drum riffs. I don't have to listen for that long of a time, 3-4 songs worth, before I'm ready to deal with the world again.

I'm lucky, right?

I have an odd situation at my job. Along with most companies in the US today, mine is restructuring and cutting back on jobs. This means that folks at my level may have their specific job cut but a new one will be created to combine that job along with another one. This is the case with my job, they are planning on cutting the position across the board from all the stores.
This is not a problem, since I know that as they restructure the jobs I should have one of the new "combo" jobs.
Herein lies the problem. One of the jobs my boss would like me to take is a salaried job at almost twice my pay (currently I am hourly). This is great, right? Well, I am not too sure. The new job will entail me being responsible for personnel, hiring, and making sure all the underlings are their jobs. Lots and lots of interactions with people. I've had it come up before that I am intimidating and that our temporary employees don't feel like they can approach me because I demand a lot from them (I expect them to do the job they were hired to do, not to stand around and socialize. I hate people and my skills at being "democratic" and "tactful" with others is questionable. I do a good job now; I interact with one other person all day long, with a few interactions with other interspersed throughout the day,I find financial errors, I follow-up on paperwork and I get things done. The people I communicate with are through the computer, no face-to-face.

Obviously, my boss believes I can do the job since she approached me about it, but I don't know if I should apply for it. I don't believe in taking a job if I can not give it 100% of my skills.
On the other hand, the money is nice, we have college funds and retirements to think about.
What do you think I should do?

Facebook

I've become addicted to facebook, the social networking site. I'm not just addicted to the updates posted by my friends, but to the games they have connected to the site. Word Twist, Scramble, Mafia Wars; I have to play them all, for hours at a time, trying to beat my high scores or to reach the next level. I've become the target of many a "hit" on Mafia Wars, I've got my "family" to defend and I must take my revenge!
Hubby is amazed how it has captured my attention. I think it is because each game I play takes a maximum of 3 minutes and the challenge to find more words is a welcome brain break.

Bits and Pieces

I went to my follow-up appointment with my doctor; she confirmed that I have endometriosis and the tissue removed was just that. I'm healing nicely, although I must remember not to be lifting anything over 10 pounds still. This is very difficult for me to do, since I work with books all day long and I can think of several titles that 8 pounds each.

Jman has joined the creative writing club at school and he is a success at it. In fact, he's placed first in their writing contest they had. This is the boy who in the past has refused to write anything for his benchmark tests.

The weather is changing quickly here in Texas and it is time to think about the yard. Do I want to start a container vegetable garden this year? Or should I just focus on my front yard flower garden? What color scheme should I do?

Looks good

Well, my surgery is over and it looks good. They found some tissue that was not supposed to be there and removed it, my "pain buddy" has all but gone away (woohoo), and the incision sites are not too bad, as long as I do not overexert myself. I've got to make a follow-up visit for two weeks from now to make sure all has healed, that any tissue biopsies done have come back clean; but for now I am very optimistic. It is amazing how not having that pain in my life has made me so much more positive. I did not realize how much it was effecting my mental status until it was removed.
Plus, it is a lovely day out, perfect day to open the windows and air out the house.

"Exploratory surgery"

I've got "exploratory outpatient surgery" in the morning. Can you say nervous? Hopefully the doctor will figure out what is really wrong with me and stop the pain that has been plaguing me for the past year and a half. Wish me luck.