There & Back

Headed out on my annual SAD vacation last week. This year my sister attended. I think it's quite funny that at the age of 37 I vacation with my family (mom, dad & sister). 20 years ago I couldn't wait to escape from the house and now I go visit my parents. Wish I could explain that to my 16 yo stepdaughter...

So what did we do? Experienced a Winter Storm Warning in GA. It's fun to be a northerner when the folks south of the Mason Dixon get snow. They are all atwitter with anticipation. The island we stay on didn't get snow, just rain, but we were close enough to hear about the .9 inches that fell in Savannah and the 3-5 that fell in Atlanta. Schools closed for the whole day, warning messages to not leave the house and drive 'unless you have absolutely no choice'. I dared my dad to take his car out and show the folks how to whip shitty's in the parking lot but he declined. (FYI, drove to work this fine morn after 3 inches of snow were scrapped off the driveway and found out that my company is apparently tired of plowing the parking lots as they didn't even show up today. Hmph. Where is my 2 hour delay? Just kidding!!)

Despite the weather (I go there to get some sorely needed vitamin D and this year it was a bit lacking), it was nice to get away. My parents rent a condo on the Atlantic ocean for a month. This year, while walking along the coast in a light drizzle we saw a dolphin. It's pretty cool. Otherwise, we chilled out, did some shopping, ate lots of seafood and read lots of books. It's a quick trip, and by the time we realized it we were back on the plane.

The plane. Oh how much I like flying (insert sarcastic snort here). Relative to last year, it was a breeze, even with all the crazy weather patterns. Last year I didn't get home until nearly 1am. This year, like every other soul flying, my sister and I attempted to not check luggage.

Really. Everyone.

What did the airlines expect folks to do when they began charging? Both there and back we ended up having to check out luggage at the door. And all we had were our roller cases and our purses. We weren't even the overstuffers. But we were flying one ticket with frequent flier miles so we were in the last class to board. We're expecting to get charged for it but we will see what happens.

I was missing Little Ms. C like crazy on the way back. Just enough time apart to make me want to run home and see her. It was super great to hear her say, "I was missing you!" when I got into the car. Makes my heart melt. We cuddled last night while watching the men's singles in luge. She was trying very hard to wrap her head around these men sliding down the hill.

11.21 Because I am a shameless promoter of family

Please check out my cousin in his latest commercial here.

I'm hoping by the time Little Missy is watching TV he will be another famous Jim McMahon!

11.13 Going to a fight...er, hockey tonight!

Whoo-hoo, I'm getting jazzed. My pops called last night and has tix to the Wild game tonight. I'm heading to the hockey game with my pops!

I remember the first professional hockey game I went to (which was with my dad). We took a bus from Austin to Bloomington as it was back in either 1990 or 1991 and the North Stars played the Blackhawks. Hockey fans out there know that the rivalry between these two teams was intense. It truly was a fight where a hockey game broke out.

Along the years, my pops and I have attended a handful of Gopher hockey games together, but we haven't been to a professional hockey game together in nearly 15 years. Go Wild!

Mini-Vacation

We had a good mini-vacation last week. We went up north with my family and spent 3 days at the town home we rent. A good time was had by all, although sleeping in the same room as your toddler who moves around like a madwoman is not as easy as I thought it would be. And I learned some new entertainment techniques on our last 2 hours of the car ride up. 

Claire tried many new things which you can check out here. We lucked out by swinging into Duluth just in time to join Carrie & Dahlia for a walk along the lake. It was great to have a chance to hook up with Carrie and her adorable, good natured babe. 

In other news, our nanny started today. It seems like things went well. Claire was a bit needy this morning and I feared for the worst. But her dad called me at work and said she went back down for a nap at 8am. She hasn't taken a nap that early since she was a baby :). Apparently the weekend wore her out more than we thought. Our nanny said she was surprised by how well Claire did today and was impressed by her mellow nature. I swear it has all to do with her sleeping pattern. Now, if I can just get her to sleep in until 7am.... 

Bang! Kapow!

The 4th has come and gone and nary a firecracker was seen at our house. Heard is another story, but so it goes. Lucky for me, Ms. C can sleep through most noises. The white trash episode on Friday was another story as it occurred while she was going down to sleep, but in relation to what Carrie experienced, it was nothing. Just a couple f-inheimers thrown around and my neighbors coming out to tell their son's (who should be living on his own, btw) friends to shut the hell up. Since they were already taking care of the matter, Pete returned to watering the lawn and I returned inside with Ms. C. I brought her onto the deck since she typically has a calming effect on drunk 25-year-old-testosterone-filled-idiotic guys trying to impress equally drunk 25-year-old scantily-clad girlies. Makes them think what might come after the hook-up, me thinks.

We took the girl to the first of what are sure to be numerous parades. We were actually late and missed the first run through but since we were in Afton, the only way the parade could return to its original starting place was to come up the road again. Lucked out. Then we hung out at the park and enjoyed the baby swing. Kids running around everywhere and Ms. C spent most of the time picking up sticks, as is her passion, and watching the big kids.

Two new teeth sprouted last week so the weekend was partially filled with crankiness and short fuses. She and I spent some time in the pool on Saturday. She took two spills but kept her head out of the water and didn't seem to be scared of the water. She walked around with her bath toys and splashed away. It was a good experience for me to see my babe able to keep herself upright, even when she slipped. I have been reticent to let go of her but know that she needs to experience things to learn. Urgh.

Then it was off to a BBQ with a small group of friends. Ms. C thoroughly enjoyed watching Wiley-dog (a huge love of a dog) walk around. She didn't reach out to touch her but didn't flinch when Wiley came over to lick some food off her face. Ms. C just followed her around and had a blast playing with her older buddy Logan's toys, chatting with Auntie's Robin and Jackie and checking out the new grass.

Both of us were too darn hot and cranky to do much yesterday so we spent the day playing on the deck or inside in the air conditioning.

It's hard for me to return to work after a three day weekend when she stands at the gate and says mama. I am dreading, simply dreading when I have to begin dropping her off at daycare at the end of next month. It's killing me. I am still waffling between the home daycare across the street and the center. I don't want anyone else to take care of her but I know that isn't realistic. Her dad needs to work and that's how it goes. She is a tough little cookie and will probably end up loving it but I don't want my baby to have to deal with separation-anxiety. Hmph. Maybe I'm giving myself too much credit and she won't give a hoot that she's not at home with dad. We'll have to see.

All that work...

for 22 bucks. That's what we made off our portion of the garage sale this weekend. You heard me right. $22.00. I don't even want to think what that would be in euros. We host it at our house so we tend to do a lot of prep work getting the garage cleaned out. Hardly seems worth it.

Oh well. Lots of family and I was off work on Friday. That's gotta count for something, right?

Crisis averted

Update on my work crisis. It was averted. The kind folks who gave me a heads up that I would be screwed came through for me (I take back my previous rant about them, kinda) and provided me with a version of the software that has been approved by IT. Thank the heavens! They even gave it to me for FREE! Score! And I get to keep my 2008 version and have offered to do beta testing for them when they start to look at having IT review this version.

Whew.

And I went to the doctor on Thursday and she started me on some meds.

Double whew.

On the home front my hubby was off snowmobiling in northern WI this weekend so Claire and I had a girls weekend full of visits and visitors.

I think she might be cutting her first tooth. She is acting a bit off yesterday afternoon, pulling her ears more than usual and chewing on my hands. She has always been a chewer and drooler so those typical tell-tale signs do not give me any indication if she is actually cutting a tooth. She was running a very low-grade fever last night and yesterday she was just impatient. Nothing kept her happy for very long and she would go from one extreme to the next. It was like a roller coaster.

We just learned that her big sis (who was with us the last 2 weeks) was sick all weekend and is going in for a strep test this afternoon. My hubby called and said he is going to keep a close eye on Claire. We're hoping it wasn't transferred and that Claire really is cutting a tooth and not dealing with something worse. Claire might argue that getting teeth is just as worse but you get my drift.

I'm looking forward to the day when Claire can tell me 'where it hurts' instead of me guessing what is happening to my little bear.

The Weekend in Review

Whew. I am in a much better place today. The last few days have been emotional roller coasters. As of Friday of last week all I wanted to do was quit my damn job and run for the hills, sans hubby and child. By this morning at 10am I have returned to a better place and feel like I can take on the world again.

Friday
My day job was really getting me down. We're tasked with a lot of great stuff but lack the leader to really take things anywhere. It's tough to be tasked with creating a communications plan when there are people on the team that can't f'in communicate with anyone. I have to chose my words carefully here in case someone should ever stumble upon this little blog. The idea of creating said communication plan is wonderful. I would LOVE to do this. But when I begin to work towards this goal I immediately become disheartened. Why? Because it will be ripped apart and made into something a certain person on my team wants, no matter what I do. It takes the drive right out of me. This is the same experience I have when creating new training materials. By the time I left work on Friday I had seriously had it. I wanted nothing to do with this company. I cruised home early so we could get in the car and fly out of town.

We drove to my old home town for my dad's retirement party. (I haven't been back to town since my parents moved 5 years ago!) As I am driving I kept asking myself how my dad managed to stay at the same company for 35+ years. How did he keep himself from not telling them to take a hike? My dad and I have similar tempers and I know he has had some 'interesting' conversations with his management in the past. How in the world did he keep his mouth shut? And can I get myself to do the same? Can I find a way to just let go and report to work with the same drive and energy when I feel like I have no recourse? After the two hour drive down I still didn't have any answers. However, I think I found part of the answer at the party. Friends from the days when my dad was a line supervisor were there. Friends who I have known since I was an infant. And the stories! It was great to see these folks again and to hear them share story after story about good times. It dawned on me that my dad had a core group of guys who he started with and they remained close no matter what town we lived in or where they were in the 'chain of command'. With that network you can handle a lot of shit that rolls your way.

On the way home we ran into an ice storm that had cars in ditches left and right and me behind the wheel, white-knuckled and swearing like a sailor with both of the girls in the car. Pete finally had to take over driving when I damn near slid into another car in front of us.

Saturday
I was paid for only 2 hours of work when in reality I worked for 5 hours. There was a miscommunication between my client and I regarding the wedding. It all worked out in the end and I'll chalk this up to another learning experience on my part. I was very glad to be a part of this person's special day so I'm not too upset about it in the grand scheme of things but it did teach me that I need to be clearer about what I will be doing and why you are paying me.

Sunday
Pete went to help my dad move a bunch of stuff for his new stained glass business and was gone from 9a-7p. No biggie. Jordan was home and could help with Claire later in the day when my photo shoot arrived.

Well... Ms. Claire apparently had stomach cramps (who knows - she can't tell me) and was crying from 11:45am - 3pm. And I'm not exaggerating. She was really crying the whole time. I finally had to wake Jordan up at 2-freaking-pm because I needed to eat something. Claire finally went down for a very short nap around 3pm. Pete called to say he would be late. My client called and said she would be late. OK. I can deal with that, Jordan said she would stay to help with Claire.

My client finally showed up about 3 hours after initially planned. Oddly enough, this is when things started to get a little better in my small world. We ended up having a blast with the shoot but I was stressing as Claire needed a bath and we have a bit of routine we go through and it was all out whack. Pete took the lead and gave Claire her bath, got her ready for bed and by the time my client left we were back into the swing of things.

Monday
I returned to work determined to put a new face on things. I will find a way to be a good employee. I need this job too damn much.

I had a meeting with a guy in another department at 9am. He is a trainer in a business unit. By the end of the meeting I found the thing I have been seeking for nearly a year and a half. A group of people who think like me, do the same type of job and want to work to make things better. I am now networked in with other trainers who meet on a regular basis outside of their normal job duties to share ideas and talk about how we can leverage the platforms available to us and each other. We're also thinking about creating a consortium to help with a new platform that launched but has no support. I can't believe how much energy I have gotten from this 1 hour conversation. I can't wait to tap into the brain power of these people and have their support when I need to brainstorm about challenges that I face.

Thank goodness. I don't want to be sad coming to work and stressing about how I am going to make ends meet if I go somewhere else.


My learnings from this crazy weekend?
1. Do NOT overbook yourself. I seriously can't do this anymore
2. Wait. Be patient. It will get better.
3. Be happy this is all I have to worry about.

Lorraine Whitcomb

Grandma Lorraine passed away this morning. I haven't gotten the full story on what happened and her kids requested a pathologist perform a check. Apparently there is a history of stomach cancer in the family and they aren't sure if she had any symptoms and if that caused any issues. According to my FIL they aren't sure if she had a heart attack or if it was a blood clot that caused her to pass.

Lorraine was a trooper. She started to lose her vision many years ago and in the last two years she was for all intensive purposes blind. She could pick you out by your voice and always knew what was happening in your family. She had 8 kids and I can't count how many grandkids and great-grandkids. The family photo from this summer's family reunion gives you a sense of just how many of us will miss Lorraine. 

We still got together today at my MIL & FILs but spent time sharing stories about Grandma Lorraine. As the last addition to the family, I didn't have much to add. She was a very kind woman and I am glad she was able to meet Claire.