I want to talk about my Aunt Tracey.  I know I may have mentioned her before, but probably not in great detail.  She is my youngest auntie, she's 47.  She has a daughter, Lisa, age 27, who was a lawyer in Ohio before she just recently took a job with the Justice Department in DC.  She has another daughter, Jordan, age 25, who is now working as a Youth Minister at a church in Miami.  And she has a son, Mark, age 21, who just recently got married and has a wife who he lives with in Tennessee.

Right now, I have to ask that your thoughts and your prayers go out to them and my family as we go through one of the worse experiences we've had to deal with in a long time.

My auntie had a stroke on or around, Saturday,  January 23rd.  The date is still a little vague because she wasn't found until the night of Monday, January 25th...two LONG DAYS later.

Lisa was sent to her house to check on her when she didn't call or show up for work that Monday.  They ended up having to break the door down to get to her and when they found her she was on the bathroom floor, supposedly coherent,

but not able to speak or move. 

When they got her to the hospital, she had to have her kidneys flushed from the toxins in her blood stream that resulted from some deterioration of her muscles from where she was laying on the floor for 2 days.  She also had to have fluid removed from her lungs.  1/3 of the left side of her brain was badly damaged.  We were told that if she came out of it, she would never be the same as she was before she had the stroke.  That she may not eat, swallow or talk and that her right side wouldn't function normally.

My sister, Rayneka and I had been in the hospital with Jordan all night and all the next day until she was stabilized and until Jordan could fly in to be with her.  My aunt has 5 other brothers and sisters who rotated shifts to stay at the hospital, but Ray and I stayed through out the nights.  Trying to take her mind off things and to help her make some very important decisions that a 27 year old shouldn't have to make.  Lisa and Jordan's dad was there as well, but Ray and I had to come to grips with the fact that we are now the grown-ups and we needed to do all we could to help, even if it meant staying with them all night to ease their suffering.

When it looked like she was stable, and Jordan and Mark had both flown in to be with their mother and sister, Lisa  noticed a change in my auntie that the nurses didn't notice.  She  made them call in the stroke team for evaluation and further testing showed that she was STILL having more strokes and that her brain was starting to swell to the point where the left side had started to push to the right side and push on the brain stem.  All this could cause hemorrhaging and she could still die from her stroke.  One of the nurses said this was the worse one she’s ever seen!  (yeah, she could’ve kept that to herself!)

 Needless to say, Lisa was pissed that the nurses missed this and she could’ve died in her bed!  They had to do an emergency operation to relieve the pressure of the swelling in her brain.  The cut a large piece of her skull off and inserted it into her abdomen.   (interestingly weird, I know!)  But apparently she can keep it there for as long as they need to keep it off.  Now her brain is exposed under just her skin.  Without her skull to protect it, anything can happen.  But they needed to relieve the pressure.

NOW, as of last Thursday when I went to see her last (stupid 30 inches of snow got me trapped!!), she has been trying to talk! She had been making faces and laughing!  She had sat up in the bed by herself for a few seconds!  She has a lot of movement on her left side but the right side with need therapy.  She is impressing not only the therapists, but her doctors who have said that this is the WORSE they have ever seen! 

All and all, this has been my focus for the past few weeks.  Karl understands and my kids understand.  My aunt is very near and dear to my heart, so please continue to pray for her.  She’s making strides, but we have a LONG way to go!!

I still have more updates and being snowed in gives me nothing but time……Well, I still am trying to spend some time with the kids, clean up, spend time with Karl and get in my facebook addiction, but I’m sure I’ll be back soon!  

I didn't leave you guys, just had to take a break and handle some priorities.  There's been a lot going on in my life and BOY do I need to VENT!!  I'll be back later today to get it all off my HUGE chest!!

First off, I'm sooooo excited about the new furniture!  We've been needed new furniture for YEARS now!  I had been holding on to the sofa and the chair that we have in the living room because it was given to me by my late great grandmother.  I had also been holding on (for dear life!) to the dining room set that was given to me by my aunt!  But now it's time for it all to go!

The dining room table is down to 3 and a half chairs!  The cushions BEEN gone and the table is on it's last legs.  The sofa's cushions are soooo flat!  And the chair, our "recliner" (because the back too legs are broken, which causes it to lean back), is out too!

We decided that we were going to go get a new sofa, loveseat and dining room set. 

I know it's right before Christmas, but this just HAD to be done!  I hated inviting people over on a BYOC basis!  (Bring Your Own Chair!)

The only thing was, we could only get approved for a certain amount of credit (because my credit is STILL some CRAP!!), so we had to adjust our spendings a little.  We wanted to get extra dining room chairs and extra lamps and one of those HU-MONGO chairs that look like they are about the size of a loveseat!  But we can't get all that.  Karl wants to get the chair in January after the Christmas rush.  Maybe to hit up a New Year's sale or MLK day sale.  And we'll get the extra chairs then too. 

Once we finish our Christmas shopping, we'll go for the lamps!  The excitment with all this is that we've never really HAD anything that we OWNED and BOUGHT ourselves!  So we're REAL excited.  We ordered it on Tuesday and it will be here on Saturday! 

So, I'll be the one taking them to karate on Saturday.  Understandably, Karl doesn't want me in the house alone with a bunch of strange guys!  I'm going to be nice to come home and have a completely different look to the house! We just need to do some cleaning tonight to get it ready.  I can't wait!

_______________

Speaking of karate, we got the kids enrolled in a Master's program.  Apparently ALL of my kids don't mind being obligated to karate for the next 2 to 3 years because they want BLACK belts!  So we got them enrolled in the Master's program.  The only problem is that it costs soooo much to get them started.  We had to put down $700 (total for all 3) to get the benefit of lower equipment costs and lower testing costs up front.  Hopefully it pays off and hopefully they won't get bored with it before our contract expires in 31 months!  There are a ton of other benefits too, but right now we can't get over the money we had to pay down in order to get this locked in rate before the cost went up next year.  (Isn't that what they tell you every year??)

________________

This year, the holidays are going to be a little different.  We want to go and visit as many families as we can.  Especially with Josh being in Korea, we want to be able to visit his family and make sure that they get to see the kids as much as they did while he was around.  But we are NOT going to drive ourselves CRAZY trying to do it either!  We have a LOT that we do everyday, so we are just going to have to stretch it out.  Hopefully ALL of our families will be understanding with this and not expect us to come to ALL their houses on Christmas day!  Hopefully.  But even if they aren't whatever!  As long as Karl and my kids are happy!

We did, however, decide that since we didn't make it down to North Carolina this past summer, that we would spend Thanksgiving down there with Karl's family.  We're going to leave early Wednesday morning and travel back Thursday night, since I'm the only LOSER that has to go to work on Friday! 

Ooops, I gotta go, but I'll be back to finish up! 

Okay, so I don't REALLY have a chocolate Pepsi.  But I want one!  I think I'm going to write the Pepsi company to get one! So right now, I'm drinking hot chocolate and a pepsi to get that chocolate Pepsi taste that I want.

So of course I'm going to have to pitch this to Pepsi, but I haven't figured out what I want to say.  I saw an article from back in 2005 that said that Pepsi and Hershey started a partnership together to have Pepsi products sold at places like Hershey Park, The Hotel Hershey and places like that.  But I need them to have a REAL partnership of their PRODUCTS!!  Like I would LOVE Pepsi flavored Hershey kisses too!  I'm going to have to get on my letter, like ASAP.

Anyway, I had been bummed out lately about all the things that I have to do about work and things that need to be done around the house, when I should have been focused on how my kids are treating each other. 

It all came out when I was helping Sam zip her coat.  She said, "the kids at school think I'm annoying."  I said, "Really, why do you think that?"  She said, "Because they tell me that all the time!"  She didn't bat an eye or studder or ANYTHING, she just said it like it wasn't a big deal.  So I asked Jason and Felicia what they do when they hear people saying this, Jason said, "nothing" then gave me this "I could care less" look.  Felicia said that one of her friends had asked if that was her sister and when she said "yes", she pointed at her and said "she's SOOO annoying!"  Felicia thinks it's funny, but I didn't.  I didn't think it was funny at ALL.  As a matter of fact I got pretty sad about the whole thing. 

Here we have Sam just brushing it off like it doesn't matter.  But also her brother AND her sister don't seem to care what other people are saying about her and in some cases, what they are saying TO THEM about her!  What is WRONG with them.  My sister and I couldn't STAND each other growing up and we fought ALL the time!  But when it came to outside people talking about her or picking on her, that was a no-no!  Only I got to pick on her!  I asked them what if the situation was reversed.  It kinda hurt my heart to know that my kids would act like that towards each other.  But I guess I should have stopped to pay more attention to them to notice. 

There actually was a time when I had heard Jason say that he didn't like Sam so she couldn't come in his room.  I should have taken that more seriously.  Especially when Sam came to me and wanted me to play with her because no one else would. 

I'm not doing my JOB as a mother.  I feel so helpless and then I look at them and wonder how bad I was to my sister and my brother.  I would like to hope that I wasn't this bad and that everything was ok when we were growing up, but I would have to find out from them. I never seem to rememeber the bad things that I'VE done to others, but I ALWAYS remember the bad things that are done TO me.  It's crazy.

Anyway, I need to stop talking about that because it's making me sad again.

Karate classes are HILARIOUS right now.  I don't remember if I said anything before, but Sam didn't get to test for her green belt, so she's a little bummed.  Jason seems to be having breathing problems every time he has to spar.  Somebody is kicking the WIND outta my baby!  And Felicia seems to keep making the SAME little girl cry.  it's crazy! 

If Jason and Felicia test in the next two weeks, they will have caught up with Sam.  Sam doesn't like that at all.  So tonight we are going to be doing lots of practicing. we have targets so they can kick us and they have spar gear so that they can practice with each other. I'm going to be testing Jason's breathing when we do exercises since I can't seem to get his doctor on the phone!  (all these swine fears got them sending everyone to voicemail!  It's crazy!)

Anyway, I need to get to work!  We'll talk later!

Counterproductive, is probably a better word.

I was hoping and have VERY high hopes of getting soooo much accomplished this weekend, but it all seemed to go down the drain. 

I needed to catch up on my sleep.  I needed it bad.  To the point where I took almost ALL DAY Sunday to dedicate to various cat-naps that were desperately needed to get my sleep back on track. 

I need to start planning my weekends out a little better seeing as how I will not have another 3 day weekend (without taking leave) in a LONG time!  I gave up my off day.  During the course of 2 weeks, I used to work 9 hours for 8 days and 8 hours for 1 day so that I can fill my 80 hours so that I can get a day off.  Well, I decided that I wanted a little more time in the morning (cause I couldn't get to work on time to save my LIFE) and I wanted to be able to leave earlier in the evening to spend more time with the kids and doing homework and things.

I don't know how my body is going to react to not having an off day. It seems to know when my off day is coming and will NOT wake up when it's here.  So we'll see.

My supervisor, being the witch that she has been over the past few months, was about to deny my request to work this new schedule.  WTF??  HOW can you deny the fact that I can to come in to work EVERY DAY!  I would think that's what you WANT???  Something ain't right with her!  But, come to find out, she read my request wrong and reacted based on what she THOUGHT I was saying. 

But she has a funky attitude all around.  Nobody really likes bringing her anything because of it.  Nobody likes talking to her.  They wait for her to be away from her desk so that they can leave her voicemails or notes.  And I'M the lucky dummy that has to sit RIGHT ACROSS from her.  I'm being punished for something, but I can't figure out what.  I guess they figure I can deal with her craziness, so I should be okay.  Yeah, but she better watch it!

The weekend just went by so FAST and it will continue to go by fast because I don't have that "Monday Off" to balance it out for me!  I'm dreading the fact that I decided to give it up!  GEEZ!!  **SIGH**  But whatever, it should be okay.  I guess.  Maybe.....if I STOP talking about it.

Anyway, so I DIDN'T do all the laundry, like I planned.  I DIDN'T do the girls' hair, like I planned.  I DIDN'T strip the beds and give the kids new sheets this week.  I DIDN'T pick out clothes the night before and I DIDN'T get in the bed before 11pm  like I planned. 

It's okay though, I'm off tomorrow, so I'll see how much I can fit in.  And I'm off on Wednesday for the government holiday.  So it's kinda like I'm getting a "do-over" for the weekend.  But I do have some doctor's appointments and dentist appointments planned.  But I'm still going to do what I need to do.

Right now I'm hoping and PRAYING that I get off the hook for karate duty tonight.  AJ is actually a little behind with her karate training and missed out on testing for her green-belt at the end of October, so she's a little bummed.  But she's doing better.  We'll see how that works out for testing at the end of November. 

Normally I don't mind going to karate, but lately there has been quite a few mom's trying to catch "Bruce Leroy's" attention and it irritates to HECK outta me!  PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR KID!!  WTF?? 

Karl can deal with the mom's a little better than I can!

Josh is gone now.  He was deployed to Korea this past Saturday.  He's hoping that he won't have to do the whole year in Korea, but we'll see.  The kids are really going to miss him, I can see.  But I don't think it's quite hit them yet.  When he returns, he's going to be stationed in Langley, VA, so that puts him about 2 hours away from us.  Which means no more visiting on the weekdays. 

Okay, so my last thing that I wanted to get off my chest today was this hit-or-miss thing with Karl.  We can't seem to get it together with each other.  I don't know what the problem is.  I understand, that once again, he's sexually frustrated.  But to be completely honest, he hasn't done anything but whine and nag over the past few weeks, which unfortunately doesn't get me in the mood. 

Then he's been getting these headaches, so he sits in the dark staring at the wall all hours of the night.  It's kinda weird, but I believe he's also trying to hit my sympathy nerve.  Yeah, he's missing that one too.  He is definitely hitting my PITY nerve.  But I don't think he wants to hit that since that's not what's gonna get him sex.  And when I DO open the doors to my treasure, he feels forced and he thinks it's out of pity. 

It's weird.  We're weird. I'm trying to get rid of some of the weirdness.  I think I'm frustrated with our situation and all the things that are left around the house for me to do.  I don't know.  Maybe we need some time together with just the two of us.  But that probably won't happen until early next year or around his birthday.  That's not even a guarantee.

At this point, I don't know what to do.  I'm trying to stay positive.  We'll see what happens in the coming days.  I have a full day scheduled today, so I gotta get to work.  Trying to get out of here on time and looking forward to having the day off tomorrow and Wednesday!

I was the supervisor for today.  When my supervisor is out of the office she picks one of us to "act" for her in her absence and today it was me.  I'd done it before, but I don't think she trusts me as much as she trusts the other two ladies who have been here the longest and she DEFINITELY doesn't want Phillip doing it.  Phillip is such an arrogant person, she probably thinks he would get off too much on that power!

So anyway, it was an uneventful day, but I had to deal with her constantly e-mailing me to make sure I knew some little things that made no sense to me anyway!

I was glad it was uneventful because Mrs. Obama was in our building!  Our Department hosted a visit from her to discuss Energy savings or something and each office got to have 5 tickets for people to go to the auditorium to hear her speak.  Anyone else would have to go to one of the designated over-flow rooms.

Well, neither Phillip, Lucinda, Steph or I were selected to go.  So Phillip and I just decided to go for a walk during lunch instead.  Then we ended up going to our cafeteria where they had screens set up so that we could watch and then she ended up coming there!  It was AMAZING!!  i got pics! (Okay, so my pics were a little fuzzy, but here's a good one from someone who was a little closer!)



It was pretty awesome to be there and not eve know she was going to be coming to see us in PERSON in the over-flow! I was wondering why I got frisked to go to the cafeteria!! It was great!

Here's one of the one's i took!




It was pretty AWESOME!!!

Anyway, so I that's what I was doing today!

I was overly excited to get home and to know that we didn't have ANY karate classes today!  YEAH!!! But it's looking like it's going to be a busy weekend!  I can't WAIT for this week to be over!

I'll talk to you later!

There is just NOT enough time to do anything anymore. 

I feel so rushed and haven't been getting much sleep.  I guess if I wasn't such a procrastinator then I could manage my time a little better.  I'm REALLY trying to change that!  Honestly.

Lately it's just been a lot of sickness.  I had been sick for almost ALL of October.  I have this lingering cough that just won't go away.  It's giving everyone in my office swine-fears.  I've been managing it, but there was one week where it knocked me out COLD!!  I went to the doctors and confirmed that it wasn't "the swine", and got better, but the cough is still here.  And every day  it threatens to turn into another dreaded cold.

I've also been having some migraines.  This didn't worry me so much because I kinda just counted it out as a symptom of my caffeine withdrawal.  But after about a month and a half of no caffeine they didn't go away.  And even when I started on caffeine again, they wouldn't go away.  They got so bad to the point where I couldn't open my eyes and I couldn't sleep because of the pounding. 

My doc immediately sent me in to get a CT scan of my brain.  Normal.  So now what.  I have an appointment next week to see if I need to go to see a neurologist.  Crossing my fingers and praying that I don't have some kind of tumor or something.

That has been the bulk of my worries for the past month or so.  But other than that, things have been okay.

Karl and I have been on a hit or miss schedule with our intimacy lately.  It's getting kinda bad.  He's starting to count the days since the "last time" and we can't seem to get it together enough to "seal the deal".  I don't know what's wrong.  Sick.  I guess.  But there have been times when I was feeling fine, but just tired.  Sleeps off.  Again.  I can't seem to get it together.

Oh and then there's office drama.  These people don't have enough work to keep them busy enough to not cause any drama.  But I guess that's what happens when you work with all WOMEN all the time.  Which is probably why I ALWAYS tend to find a guy to cling to in my office. 

My new guy's name is Phillip.  Sweet guy.  I actually thought he was "sweet" when we met.  He came to work for the department two weeks before I did.  He told me  he thought I was a little strange when we first met, but now I'm starting to grow on him.  I also work with Lucinda.  (she's my girlfriend who I used to work with at NASA) And I work with another girl I used to work with at NASA named Casey Little.  We joke about her name because she IS little with a Napoleon complex!  Her name used to be Casey Green when we worked together and we joked about how if she married her boyfriend at the time that her name would be LITTLE!  And she married him!  LOL!

The hard part about working with Casey is that she knew me when I first started to work.  When I was GREEN and when I was young.  She tells TONS of stories to people all around the office about how bubbly I was and how I used to always want to help with everything.  That's not so bad.  But GEEZ!!  The one story I can't get her to stop telling is how Karl like HER before he started dating me.  And the only way Karl and I met was because she played a trick on him and told him that I wanted to take him out to lunch.  I didn't know she said that, so when he came to me, I kinda embarrassed him.  And when I found out it was joke, I felt so bad that we actually did end up having lunch and becoming good friends.

Let Karl tell it and he'll say he never really did like Casey, but I was there, I saw how he was around her.  It was hilarious!

So besides Casey going around telling my business.  I enjoy working with Lu again.  And Phillip keeps me entertained.  Oh and I also work with my father-in-law's cousin, Steph.  Small world.  Steph, Phil and I worked in the back of the office so we became fast friends being the "newbies" and all. 

I've been at that job for 6 months now and I got a cash award from my servicing office.  Which was pretty darn AWESOME considering I went into DEBT taking my sis to Atlantic City for her 30th Birthday!   But it came right on time and came in handy!

The kids have been doing great.  Sam was a little bummed because she didn't get to test for her green belt in karate a few weeks ago with her class.  She just wasn't ready.  She was rushing it and needed some more time to practice.  We actually put an extra $120 into her for private lessons that STILL didn't help her test, but it's all good.  She'll get to try again at the end of this month.  There were quite a few others in her class that weren't ready either, so it was okay.

Jason and Felicia are both white belts and are doing pretty awesome in their classes.  The only problem with karate at this point is that we be there FOUR days a week now.  GEEZ!!  Karl and I take turns, so it's all good.  But with being sick, Karl had been taking most of the turns, bless his heart.  I gotta step my game up and get it in gear to help.

I tired myself out this past weekend by going to three Halloween parties. But I was glad I didn't have to go trick-or-treating this year.  Going door to door just hasn't been the same the last few years, so I was glad to have some parties to go to! 

Jason was BLADE and had this cool looking dagger that popped out of this thing on his wrist.  Sam was my Runway DIVA, so I got her a wig and sunglasses and jewelry to go with her little outfit.  (The aftercare teacher said she didn't need the outfit to be a DIVA! Oh my!)  And Felicia was Supergirl!  Josh bought her a crowbar that she could bend that made noises to show how strong she was!  And he also bought krytonite.  I got her a blond wig.  It was the cutest!  And we had a blast!  But when Sunday came, I was sooooo tired! 

I gotta get this weight off.  I think I would have more energy.  Maybe not.  I don't know.  I was just sitting here thinking about it. 

Anyway.  So things are going good.  The kids are doing good in school.  I think I'm about two weeks away from getting my house as clean as I need it to be.  (this place is a pig-sty!)  Hopefully we'll get it together for the holidays.

Right now, I'm working.  Yup, actually working. Trying to get some things together so that I won't have to rush and do them tomorrow.  My supervisor has been leaving me "acting" for her a lot over the past few months, so I feel like I need to set an example.  I have to act for her tomorrow. 

This weekend is Josh's last weekend with the kids for about a year.  He's being stationed in Korea and he leaves on Saturday.  I hope he doesn't have to do the whole year, but I'm glad he's seeing his military term through to retirement. He's been in the Air Force since 1995, so he doesn't have that long to go.  But I know for him it's been a while.  He hasn't quite talked about how he feels about having to go, but he did say he was going to miss the kids a lot.  We're going to make sure they write and talk and send videos and stuff.  Hopefully that helps him. 

Well, I got work to do and some clothes to wash.  It was good coming back out here for a sec.  I'll make sure to come back sooner! 

As much as I would like to, I still can't get out here enough!  But I'm trying.

Right now, we are packing and heading to NC.  I've taken off work today and I will be off on Monday.  Karl's uncle passed away, so we are going to be with his family.

He's sad, I can tell, but I'm trying in every way possible to keep his mind focused on something, anything, else right now.  Keeping busy is always a good thing.  But he's also opened up to me, a little.  Even though no one thought he would open up at all.  He normally internalizes everything.  I mean, he didn't break down and cry on my lap or anything, but he did thank me for being so supportive and not asking all those dreaded questions that everyone else is going to ask when we get to NC.

The kids are coming too.  We want them to know as much about what's going on as possible.  Now, this ONLY triggered a bad reaction in Felicia.  She's soooo over dramatical, it's not even funny!  She immediately bust out some big FAT tears and started talking about my aunt who passed 2  years ago!  So hopefully we get through this one without her falling out or something!

I'm sure I'll be back here soon, but I did want to put a brief update out there.   I'll be back before the weekend is out with more updates.

Okay, so tomorrow is our anniversary - Karl and I will have made it to our SIX year mark!

This last year has been a little rough, but we've made it through.

So answer me, WHY is he acting a little strange tonight??

I ask him what's wrong and he just says nothing, but he's distant.  We had JUST texted each other on the phone a few hours ago while he was trying to make it home. (Karl works in VA sometimes, DC, sometimes and at home 2 days a week - subject to change in Oct.) 

Today, I'm sure he's had a grueling day and just wanted to come home.  We didn't have ANY karate classes tonight, so I fixed dinner and got the kids homework checked & started running everyone through the shower.  Well when he had come home, I was on Facebook.  (okay, YES, I'm an addict) 

Understandably, he was probably looking like - dang - WTF!?!?  There she goes with all that computer stuff again!!  But it really wasn't like that!  I was actually playing a GAME and wasn't chatting or talking to other men.  So that should be better, right?  But, no.  I'm guess the move that I made wrong here was preferring to play my game instead of catering to him.  Maybe I should've thought that through. 

Well now, he's in the bed, and I guess I should be, but I don't want to hear what he's going to say.  So I sat in the living room for a while and just looked at the blank TV screen.  Just thinking about all the stuff I had to do at work tomorrow.  So he comes out and asks me whats wrong and honestly I didn't have anything on my mind but that, so I say nothing.  And he says, yeah ok.  As if he doesn't believe me!

We walk on eggshells so much with each other that it's hard to know what is acceptable and what is not.  What we should say and what we should just keep to ourselves.  It's crazy!  And it's driving ME crazy! 

So what I'm about to do is go in the room, get in the bed and go to sleep.  Just acting like it never even happened.  It will be better in the morning.  Hopefully.

I don't know how it happened, but the honeymoon is definitely OVER! 

The new job has been giving off more stress than it's actually worth. 

Don't get me wrong, I really think it's a lot LESS stressful than where I came from, but some of the things that are made a BIG DEAL around here are not worth making a big deal over. 

For instance - I wanted to change my off day.  I get one off day every two weeks and I wanted to change it to accommodate a Dr's appt so that I wouldn't have to take leave AND to maximize office coverage for that day I was supposed to be off.  Well, my supervisor decided that she would come and meet with me about it.  But first, let me tell you how when we discussed my off day prior and I explained to my supervisor that I wanted to be off on either Tuesday or Thursday due to the many doctor's appts, dentist appts and surgeries scheduled during those days.  She told ME that it would be "difficult for her to rememeber" (even though they have a CHART!).  She said that normally people are off on Mondays or Fridays and she would appreciate it if I would take one of those days.

Mind you, I explained to her when I was hired that I would be going out for some time to take care of some dental work and other things related to the kids.  She said fine and she said that she would allow for me to SWITCH my off day when the time came.  Well the time came and she was acting REAL brand new about it.

She came over to my office and closed the door and explained how she would grant me the changes "for now", but she didn't want my switching my day to be a reoccuring thing all the time.  I'm thinking - lady, I TOLD YOU that I would need to be off, would you PREFER that I'm off on my off day AND the day I need to take off?  If so, that's fine with me!  I'm just trying to help YOUR ASS!!

Which brings me to today - I had to "request" to change my off day AGAIN because it's on Labor Day.  And since the government already has off on Labor day, I would have to take the Friday before, but I LOVE being at work before the holidays because my new job gives their employees a three hour early departure.  So I would get the 3 hours, Monday AND TUESDAY off!  Which is AWESOME considering Karl will be off too and we can spend some time together celebrating our anniversary!  (Tomorrow it will be 6 years!)

So I send my "request" to her in an e-mail and you know what I got - "I will approve you to be off on Tuesday, September 8th, but if you call in sick on September 4th, that day will be considered your AWS day and you will need to report to work on September 8th".  WTF?!!?  Lady, if I was going to take off on Friday, WHY WOULD I ASK YOU IF I COULD WORK!?!?!?

But this is a little thing.  I do have BIG problems right now.  And one of my BIG PROBLEMS had to do with an incorrect offer letter I sent to an employee.  Who is now trying to file a suit against me.  I know, it's WILD!!

This lady thinks she's slick, but it's all good.  We talked over and over again about me bringing her on board as a new employee with her current salary and rate of pay.  We talked and talked to the point of her being ANNOYING!  But when I sent her offer letter out, I printed about $12,000 MORE than what her current rate of pay was.  She never questioned it and I didn't catch it until AFTER she started. 

On her first day, I noticed it with a loud - OH SHIT - and sent her a new letter.  I apologized profusely and sent her a corrected letter.  She told ME that I was BOUND by this "typo" and that I OWE HER this money!  I explained to her that I didn't have the authority to honor such a typo and I would honor our previous conversations and e-mails where I cited the authority I had to bring her over at her CURRENT rate of pay. 

She wanted my supervisor.  I gave her the number.

My supervisor agreed with me, looked over all the e-mails and even the e-mails on the lady's first day that said - "You told me you would bring me in, at minimum, my current rate of pay".  THAT'S WHAT I'M DOING LADY!!  I told my supervisor that I had been soooo apologetic and I've tried everything tog et her to understand that even though this was a mistake, our agreement was to her CURRENT RATE!!  The lady doesn't get it, so she went to my supervisor's supervisor and higher because apparently I PROMISED her more money and my "typo" is legally binding.......

.....I give up.  She wants to pursue this, lets do it.  And I'll be there to take whatever punishment that comes along with making a "typo" in this situation.  At this point, I'm ready to just give up part of my salary just to get her off my back!  I don't care and I REALLY want to catch her outside of work, so that we can REALLY have a heart-to-heart.

Other than that, this job is pretty okay.  They drive me crazy and they know it.  We just had a very spirited team meeting where all of the NEGATIVE aspects of this office came out.  It was hilarious to watch because I know that I'm not technically being effected by it as of yet. Or at least I'm not letting it effect me!  I know what I can do if this stuff gets to be too much.  I'll just leave.

But I want to stay.  For me this job is kinda ideal.  I thought I wasn't doing enough research in my previous job and this job allows for me to do that because those heifers are ALWAYS testing me!  At my old job I thought I was being over worked and underpaid and here, they are paying me and I don't have to do NO WHERE NEAR as much as I did before. 

So right now, I'm actually working.  But I do take time to pack up my stuff so that I can leave ON TIME, at 4:30, so I'm about to go!  I'll talk to y'all later!

HOLLY - I TOTALLY LOVE YOU!!!  AND I'LL DEFINITELY COME BACK MORE OFTEN!!! **SMOOCHES!!**