Annoying Voice

Today was a long day of meetings and conference calls. I literally had back to back meetings and calls all day long. Most of them went pretty well, but one of the calls - and of course it was the longest one - had someone on it whose voice drives me over the edge. She has one of those whiny, nails on a chalk board, kind of voices. The call was to discuss staff changes and about half way through the call I was ready to give her whatever she wanted just to make her be quiet. But by the end of the call I was so annoyed that she would not shut up, that I was no longer willing to negotiate. She normally gets what she wants because she is very confrontational and people don't want to deal with her. I am a pretty laid back and calm person most of the time, but I can tell I am really going to have to be on my toes when dealing with her.

How do you know?

I have a question that has been bugging me for a while and I have not been able to come up with the answer, so hopefully some of you can help me with the dilemma. Career wise, how does a person know they are doing what they are supposed to be doing? Some people say they just know and others say they feel lucky to be paid for what they are doing. But how did they know that was what they wanted to do? Did they always know or did they stumble in to it? Or perhaps they woke up one morning and decided that was what they were going to do.

Flying Husky

Riley is now 4 months old and has been having a difficult time learning how to jump. Abbie on the other hand is a phenomenal jumper. She mastered jumping at a very young age and we have found her on top of counters and tables that we never knew she could reach. Today Abbie and Riley were running and playing as normal while I was watching tv. I turned to look at them just in time to see Riley flying through the air and heading straight at me. I had just enough time to put up my arms to catch her. She had actually gotten enough lift on the jump that she was on target to land on top of my head. Twenty pounds of flying husky can make you respond a lot faster than you might think. Of course, she thought I was playing and insisted on trying to jump on me several more times. I'm glad she starts obedience class next week. She is going to be a large hand full and I don't want her to be one of those unruly dogs that everyone cringes when they see her coming.

A Perfect Fit

I did something yesterday that I had been putting off for a while. I went to be professionally fitted for a bra. I had been putting it off because I had convinced myself that the bras at this store must be very expensive; they weren't, they were normal price. I was surprised to find that I have been wearing the wrong size all these years. I had convinced myself that no bra was going to be comfortable and that readjusting and fidgeting were just part of normal everyday life. Boy was I wrong. After they measured me (clothes on for those that are wondering), they brought me a few to try on. Wow, what a difference the right size makes. First, the comfort level was unbelievable. I wasn't constantly aware of something pinching and pulling. Second, it made me look much smaller! If you have never been custom fitted for a bra before, I highly recommend it. I will never go back to just trying them on and living with one that is not comfortable.

Photo Phriday

Abbie, on the left, is sound asleep. With that smile, whatever she was dreaming about must have been really good. Riley, on the right, was getting very annoyed that I was interrupting her cartoons.

Maybe next week I will have time to venture outside of my office and take pictures of something other than my crazy "children".

Vegetarian Day 7

Well, I made it 6 days of eating no meat. This morning I woke up at 2:30, then tossed and turned until I finally climbed out of bed at 7:30. I was super tired and craving meat. I gave in and had meat with my breakfast - which I rarely do. I probably could have made it the full 7 days, but tiredness won out and I gave in to the craving. I plan to continue with a primarily vegetarian diet, but will include small portions of meat.

A Day of Mixed Emotions

The long awaited news of regionalization was finally announced on Friday. The day looked like it was going to start like any other and then our division president came asking for my boss bright and early that morning (neither are morning people). The tone of her voice and the look on her face told me today was not any other day. When my boss returned, all she said was that she had hoped she had been wrong this time. I instantly knew what that meant. She was being let go as a result of the regionalization. Unfortunately, there were more to come that day. A total of three members in our department and 4 others from within our division. It was very sad as we were all meeting and she was bringing us up to date on what had happened. At the same time, I needed to put my professional game face on and do what was needed as a member of the HR team. Having been through this routine before, you know what needs to be done and you just go on autopilot to get it taken care of. After all of that was done, the remainder of the day was spent on conference calls finding out what the new structure looks like going forward. Fortunately, for me, the new structure meant a promotion and a new supervisor. I was so busy making sure the rest of my team was okay (they were pretty upset with the news of losing 3 members of our team), that the realization of a promotion didn't really set in for me until about 5:30 this morning. Half asleep I got up to go to the bathroom and while taking care of nature's business it dawned on me - holy crap, I got promoted yesterday and it was a pretty big promotion. I am now a regional manager and have a much bigger team and more responsibilities. I now cover the whole state of Texas instead of just Central Texas and my team doubled in size. Then I started to laugh because it amused me that the stress had finally worn off enough and my brain chose to kick in while I am half asleep and sitting on the toilet!

Yappy Hour

Yesterday I took the dogs to a Yappy Hour after work. They hold them at the dog park periodically here at the property where we live. I had brought Abbie before, but this was Riley's first Yappy Hour experience. I was able to last about 45 minutes and then had to bring them home. First off, there is no shade at the dog park, so it was pretty hot. After being there only 10-15 minutes both dogs had their tongues wagging, but would not go get a drink out of the community water bowl. Shortly after that, Abbie bumped in to a dog named Huxley that she had previously met at the park. Huxley is a large Irish Setter and held Abbie down with paw the first time they met. She didn't like it then and apparently remembered Huxley. She would not let him get within 5 feet of her. Every time he even looked like he was going to come her way she attacked him. He instantly put her in a bad mood, so she was ready to come home. Riley on the other hand was having a blast. She found two dogs she enjoyed playing with - Diego and Duke. Duke is a Great Dane and stands about 4 feet tall from the groundto the top of his back. He is an absolute teddy bear. Diego was a chihuahua puppy who could have fit in the palm of your hand. The three of them playing together was so cute. I wish I had taken my camera. By the time we got back home, they were worn out as was I, so we just vegged in front of the tv.

Vegetarian Day 2

Day 2 was also very easy. I don't care for typical breakfast meats, so that is an easy meal to figure out what to eat (cereal or oatmeal and I am good). Lunch is also pretty easy and thanks to a Wendy's being really close to my office, there are options if I want to go out - and it is cheap. Dinner is the one that is a challenge. I don't want to make hubby prepare something separate for me (yes, he does all of the cooking during the week). For dinner, I went to the store and purchased a quiche and we had that. He was not satisfied, but he didn't complain. We decided not to go walking because I was very sore. Going from 1 mile to 2 miles without and transition was harder than I thought. It is a good thing we didn't go walking, hubby seems to be getting sick. Hopefully he will feel better in a couple of days. We are thinking it is just allergies, but not really sure.

A New Approach

I decided to try something new. I am going to try to eat vegetarian meals for 1 week and see if I can handle it. I don't eat a lot of meat anyway, so it should not be too hard. Today was the first day and it was not bad at all. I learned that broccoli and peanut butter don't make a good combination, but other than that it was pretty easy. In addition, hubby and I walked 2 miles at the park this afternoon (4 laps around). The first two laps were not too bad, but the third lap and part of the forth lap was a killer. But the important part is that I made it through and plan to go again tomorrow. One way or another, this weight is coming off!

All Done!

I was determined to make this weekend different when it comes to my around the house "to do" list. I always save everything to do on Sunday and then feel like I am running around like a mad woman to get it all done. Today was different. I have managed to get everything on my list completed - well almost - the last load of laundry is drying. I took the dogs for a walk, picked out two recipes to try from my magazine (broccoli cheese casserole and no bake chocolate oat bars), went to the grocery store, took care of laundry, cleaned up the yard (sure wish the dogs would learn how to pick up after themselves), changed the sheets on the bed, and made the chocolate oat bars. It feels good to get it all done and tomorrow I can be a slug without feeling guilty. I do plan to try the broccoli recipe tomorrow, so I will have to let you know how it turns out. The chocolate oat bars are setting up now, so we should be able to taste them later tonight.

It feels good to be able to sit at the computer without that nagging little voice telling me what I haven't finished!

Finally Friday

For some reason the short work weeks seem to be twice as bad as the normal work week. I guess it is because we have to cram all of the same amount of work in less days (ugh). Each week that goes by and we have no information on regionalization, people start doing and saying crazier things. People read in to every email and statement regardless of what is intended. It is at the point where people are just making up their own versions of what is supposed to happen. Keeping everyone focused gets harder and harder. At least we were able to get in one trip to the park this week. We took the girls and had a lot of fun. Hopefully next week we can get in 3 trips to the park to walk.

Labor Day

I took Friday off and am enjoying an extra long weekend. Unfortunately, I have this habit of saving all of my "to do's" until the last day of the weekend. I don't know why I do that, but I do it every weekend. Today I have lots of laundry that needs to be done, the yard needs to be cleared of all the "gifts" left by the girls, I need to prep the eBay packages, and actually catch up on the work items that I brought home. I did manage to get all of my home filing done, so that is one thing off of the list. All I really want to do is play with the girls and be a bum, but I will have to find a way to resist the urge.