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.