Uneventful?

I've been slacking here on the old blog. I guess I just haven't had much to say... (What!? Stop laughing!) I know. It's been a busy couple of weeks, regardless.

*I've been getting used to my "new" position at work. Keeping my head down and doing my best to get the stuff done that I need to.
*I've also been getting used to my "new" car...my dad decided that I should have a 4WD car, and helped me get an '06 Jeep Liberty. LOVE it. (Thanks, Dad!)
*This is a shocker: I've been going to the gym too. I know, right?! Shock, I told you!
*I took a week off of work and managed to get my house clean and spent some time with my mom and then went to a friend's daughter's wedding. Good times.

What was not fun about this weekend was the last day of it. My mom and I and Sami were in my dad's place visiting him. We were about to go out to breakfast when Sami decided to do a stunt dive down the stairs. Now, my dad has one of those electric lift chairs that takes him up and down the stairs, which is why Sami can't reach the railing. She tumbled down the stairs, and wound up with her head on the metal foot plate of the chair, legs up the stairs. I'm going to say thankfully she landed like that, because the floor in the entryway is slate. So, that would be the lesser of 2 evils...she had 2 bumps on her head, a bruise on her forehead, a scrape and bruise on her side, among others. The part I can look back and laugh about now is that my mom (who has 2 bad hips and a bum ankle) literally threw my dad's walker out of the way so she could get to us, and my poor dad was stranded in his chair, unable to get up since his walker was now across the room. Retrospectively speaking, that's funny. ;)

We were able to calm her down, she was fine, other than the bruises. The rest of the day went downhill, ending with her throwing up on me at the Cracker Barrel. No, it had nothing to do with her hitting her head, but rather the fact that she was all worked up and gagged herself on a dumpling. AWESOME ending to an otherwise pretty uneventful weekend. At least I had a change of clothes in the car.

Et tu, Brute?

This is going to be long. *sigh* I have a lot to get off my chest.

How do you get over the feeling of being betrayed by someone you perceived as being a friend? When you have to interact with this someone EVERY DAY? When that person is your boss as well?

I've been with my company for 10 years. Yes, a whole decade. Yay for me sticking it out...but there's been some rough patches, for sure. I have dealt with some really bad managers, gone through both clinical and post-partum depression, gone to work sick, had deaths in the family, had a miscarriage, been dependable and all that through everything. Never missed a beat. Rarely ever used sick days. I even lost vacation time when I couldn't take it. I should have known that it was going to be a rough ride 5 years ago when I had to fight and claw my way to get promoted from "Assistant Manager" to "Executive Assistant Manager". After that, I was promptly put into a new-store opening (which is a ridiculous amount of work), had a baby, came back to a different store that had to be relocated (which is a ridiculous amount of work times 100). Was then moved to a store that was being remodeled. More crazy work. I figured this meant that I was doing well. I really should have known better.

Last Jaunary, when our company announced that we were expanding to Erie, my hubby jumped at the chance to move back to his hometown. I didn't mind either, since I lived here before as well. Our District Manager approached me about taking a lesser (read: non-management) position and I declined. I really like my job and honestly thought I did it well. So I transferred in my current capacity. I was working for a manager whom I'd worked with before, and had known for a while. I was excited! I had the opportunity to train new people, it was such an awesome experience. Since there are only 2 stores slated to open, and my husband manages the other one, obviously I'm "stuck" where I am. The District Manager moved some managers around (they do that occasionally) and we wound up with 2 "seasoned" Executive Assistant Managers. I don't have a problem with this, but when this happened, my boss essentially took all of my duties away and gave them to the other guy. I suddenly became the reset/revision bitch. All I ever was assigned to do were the resets, hanging tags/making signs, and that's basically it. No merchandising (except for putting away the stock on our weekly delivery truck). If I'm lucky, I'd get to pull the overstock out of the stockroom and attempt to put it out.

So yeah, I got to be a tad bit embittered about things. Honestly, can you blame me? It's been since VALENTINE'S DAY that I had the chance to really help set the seasonal aisle. ALL I DO are the weekly resets. It's gotten quite old.

So about a month ago, I got my annual review. I expected to take some lumps, but what I got felt more like a blanket party.

Needs Improvement.

Say what?!? Yes, you heard me right: Needs Improvement. So, how, over the course of a year, does someone who is supposedly a friend let things degrade to that point? Without EVER mentioning displeasure in job functions (passive/aggressive notes not withstanding)? To actually tell me that I have a "disrespective attitude toward the employees," which is laughable at best?? I'M the one they all come to because none of the other management team bothers to listen to them, for chrissakes. To tell me that I don't get the notes done in a timely manner??? (I'll repeat it for emphasis...ALL I WAS EVER ASSIGNED WERE THE RESETS/REVISIONS. Last I checked, magic wands are not real, and it's not that easy to complete them all in one day, especially when they're getting done by one person.)

I got hosed. Big time. By my "friend" and I now am using that term loosely.

I feel hurt. And angry. My options were left as this:

*continue in my current position and get re-evaluated in 6 months. For those playing at home, that means 50+ hrs/wk salaried, doing nothing but resets and other menial tasks that a clerk could easily do.
*step down to a brand new pseudo-management position and take a HEFTY pay cut. Essentially I would be doing inventory control and a few management tasks (refunds/exchanges, money when necessary) and would have keys to the store. Pros? Set schedule. Fewer hours, and only ONE night a week. Cons? MAJOR paycut. Doing a lot of the same things I do now. And I'm afraid that my boss will take advantage of me since I already have been a manager and know everything in the store. Oh, and essentially kicking someone else out of her job. I feel like giant jackass because of that.

I agreed to take the new position. According to Dr. Phil (I'm sorry for pirating this phrase), the definition of "crazy" is to do the same thing repeatedly and expect a different outcome. I'm not going to play crazy anymore. Honestly, if they thought the store had some morale problems before, they've certainly got another thing coming. Once this gets around the store, it's gonna get ugly. The employees LOVE me.

So, I'm going to try and stay positive about this, I mean, there's more time with my daughter and husband now. I'm going to do the best I can and make it known that I won't be taken advantage of. And I'm also going to try and remove the knife from my back and mind my P's and Q's.

Close, but....

We seem to spend a considerable amount of time in the car. This is when most of Sami's verbal "gems" make their appearance. A while back, she was all quiet, then said, "Mama, I'm not old enough to drive yet." *raises eyebrows* "No, you're not old enough yet. You're right." She was quiet for a few seconds, as if pondering this thought, then said, "Yeah. I have to be 5 before I can get my own car."

Haha! Right, 5 is so old. That might impact my auto insurance just a bit, methinks.

In the car is also where I first heard the song "Jesus is a cool dude" . . . sung to the tune of "We Will Rock You" and complete with the hand clapping, naturally. (She goes to a Christian daycare, hence the theme of these little gems)

Jesus is a cool dude,
40 days without food.
Then he wrote the Golden Rule, and that's OK.
He's got blood on his face (?!)
Thanks for His Grace
Spreading his love all over the place.
(sing it) We will, we will serve Him! (or Love Him, or Praise Him, whatever she feels like saying lol)

I actually had to google that, because I just couldn't understand what she was saying during the Golden Rule verse. She's so cute when she sings it. lol. I still giggle when she sings it!

Then, the other day, we passed by a big church. Here's what happened.
S: "Mama, is that a church?"
M: "Yes. That is a church. A really big church."
S: "Yeah. That's where Jesus lives."
M: *smile* "Right. But Jesus also lives in all of us."
S: "Olives are really yummy."

!!

Close. So, so close. I just love her so much. :)

I wish, I wish...for peaches and...new feet?

So, Sami has recently started wishing on stars. It's so unbelievably cute! Although, at times she's tried to wish on airplanes, but I never have the heart to tell her that it wasn't a star. LOL. Anyway, when she sees a star she says, "I wish I wish for [enter random thing here]." For the past week it was, "I wish I wish that I could have some bunnies." Bunnies? Yeah, we constantly have bunnies in our front yard, so I'm guessing that's where this particular wish comes from. But sorry kid, the wish fairy is not going to be bringing you bunnies! I really don't think that our cat would appreciate that, lolol.

Anyhoo...we went to the Niagara County Peach Festival (in Lewiston, NY) yesterday. It was so much fun. I remember the parade being the Best.Thing.Ever when I was a kid!! Parade started at 11... and it was nearly 1 by the time it was over! WTH? It had every police department, sheriff, fire department, and political figures from the entire county, I swear. And every other group was throwing candy! It was like Halloween!(**note to self: if we do that again next year, bring a bag for the insane amount of loot we'll be coming home with**) And on a side note, there were surprisingly few marching bands in this parade. But a lot of dance studios. Weird.

However, we did a LOT of walking. I mean, a whole lot, and I'm not being overly dramatic. We drove into town, ate breakfast, and left our cars to walk up to the main street to watch the parade. It was only like 3 large blocks, but all uphill. Stood and watched a nearly 2 hour parade. Walked back to the car, only to realize that traffic was so insane that it'd be much easier just to walk to my dad's rather than trying to drive it. So that was another 4 large block walk. We rested for a bit and spent some time with my dad, then walked back to our cars. We then had the brilliant idea of driving up to Niagara Falls so the girls could see this impressive Natural Wonder of the World. So, we get to NF, park, and embark on another walking adventure. This time, at least, I was smart enough to change from flip-flops into my sneakers! We walked to the falls, which the girls didn't seem to be all that impressed by, walked over to Goat Island, walked back, walked walked walked. Got back to the car to sit in the blisfully comfortable car seat! We drove back to the room, when I had to drive up to the festival to get 3 things that my dad wanted:

1. Fresh peach shortcake
2. an elephant ear
3. a Melloni's sausage sandwich with peppers and onions

This involved me driving into town, finding a place to park, walking to the booths to get these items, walking back to the car, delivering it to my dad, going back to the room to get my daughter and my husband, his brother and wife and 2 daughters, so we can go to dinner (which my dad so generously paid for).

This was not as easy as it sounds.

I had to park about a quarter mile away from the festival (there were soo many people in town it was crazy), and walk UPHILL to get this stuff. Fortunately, I didn't have to look for the various tents since they're in nearly the same exact place every year! Then, I had to walk back down to the car. Awesome. When I met the rest of our party, I was tired, dehydrated, sunburned, hungry, and sweating in places that it's just wrong to have sweat. Only to realize that it'd be much easier, logistically speaking, to walk up to the restaurant and then on to the festival since parking was at such a premium. From the room to the festival was about .6 miles, give or take. All uphill, naturally. Why on earth did it feel like we were walking uphill all day long? How does that work, exactly? One would think that with so much uphill walking, there would be some downhill too...but it sure didn't feel that way!! So anyhow, that's what we did. Walked up to the restaurant (had a WONDERFUL dinner, btw), and then walked on to the festival. Walked around there a few times, let the kids ride some rides, then it was time to walk back to the room. I know I sound like I'm whining, but honestly...on the last leg of our pilgrimage, I had to carry Sami for quite a bit, and she weighs over 40 pounds! She was exhausted. With good reason, I might add, we'd been walking literally all day long with no nap! At one point on the way back to the room, she looked up and saw stars and said, "I wish I wish that I could go to bed now." Awwww!

Yes, that was the sound of my heart breaking for this poor child. Or the sound of my feet shattering into a million pieces. Could be either. Maybe both. Who knows?

We finally got back to my dad's at around 8:30 or so. I took Sami upstairs, got ready for bed, and she was OUT before I was even done in the bathroom. Poor baby! Things start to get fuzzy right about then...I remember getting pajamas on and sitting in the armchair to watch the OSU game, but I never saw any of it. I stumbled upstairs before the game was even over, and slept like a dead person until 7:30. And my feet STILL hurt this morning when I woke up!!

One, Two, Buckle my Shoe...

To continue my story from the last entry . . .

We get to my oldest sister's house aproximately 10.5 hours after leaving my house. Major suckiness. Especially after only a 2 hour nap and very little sleep in the car during my sister's leg of the drive. But, we all survived. Barely. ;)

I was eventually able to take a 3 hour nap, which was very nice, and much needed. Upon waking, my mom, sisters, my daughter and I had to go to the store to find some appropriate wedding shoes for me. I've mentioned previously that I have big feet. And having a kid only made them wider and harder to fit into cute shoes (ironically, that is reason #1,304 of Why I Hated Being Pregnant). Went to one store, no luck. 2nd store, no luck. 3rd store, no luck either. It's starting to look more and more like I'm going to have to either go barefoot or wear brown flip-flops to this shindig, and I'm starting to get downright cranky. Are shoe store employees forced to take classes in Large Foot Insensitivity Training? I mean, I can't count how many times people give me The Look when I tell them I'm looking for 11W in a silver dress shoe, with a moderate heel. How difficult can that be? (on second thought, after reading that, it does sound daunting. But please, you're an employee in a shoe store...it shouldn't be THAT hard, right?). We had to go back home because my sister had to get her 2 boys to the school to sign up for varsity soccer, and we had to eat dinner anyway. So, we did that. Then my mom started calling shoe stores. Found a store that had suitable shoes, so my eldest sister and I hit the mall at 8:30pm to get them.

Jackpot! And they were the kind I wanted to begin with! Woot!

All is right with the world again. I have shoes.

Red Puffy Eyebrows, One Silver Shoe, and a Barrel of Pretzels That Won't Open...

Sounds like a bad joke from the late show.
"The Answer is: Red puffy eyebrows, one silver shoe, and a barrel of pretzels that won't open. What's the question?"
"What are 3 things that Andi had in her posession at 4am Thursday morning?"

So, my cousin was getting married over the weekend. I found silver shoes that went perfectly with my blue dress, which is hard to do in and of itself since I have size 11 feet, lol. And besides, why is it that shoemakers feel the need to make size 11 shoes with 3 inch heels??? If my feet are that big, you can rest assured that I'm tall too. I already have a complex about my height. Let's not make me feel more self concious about towering over everybody else, shall we?

But I digress. Let's get the train back on the track. ;)

After much looking and praying, I finally found the shoes. Not the ones I wanted, exactly, but they were fine. I picked my sister up from the bus station on Tuesday, and that gave us all of Wednesday to get the car packed, shop for last minute things, get a mani/pedi, etc etc. While getting our mani/pedi's the guy doing my nails talked me into an eyebrow wax. Granted, I needed to do it, but I've never been waxed before. Only sugar and threading. Yeah, it hurt, but only temporarily. Little did I know my skin is SUPER sensitive . . . and I had an awful reaction to the wax. Both my eyebrows were swollen and red, and covered in little tiny bumpy pimply things. Sexay! I really thought they'd clear up quickly. Oh, how wrong I was.

After the torture session at the salon (the guy doing my toes also buffed off the cuticle on my big toe. Ow friggin OW! That hurt like hell!), my sister and I manage to get all the stuff we needed at the store, make snacks and pack a cooler. She decided that she wanted this barrel of pretzel rods for the 11 hour car ride, and I conceded. Pretzels are fine, as long as we have drinks to wash them down! In the car they went. Now, to finish packing my suitcase.

Except . . . one of my new silver shoes is missing. It was there earlier, because I tried them both on and showed my sister. We looked everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Under beds, in closets, in the hamper (she looked in there), dresser drawers, even in the dryer. It was like the damn thing up and walked away on it's own! By this time it's getting super late, and I'm really, really annoyed, and very tired. I was hoping that during my 2 hour nap that it would appear magically. Needless to say, it didn't. So, I grab the one shoe I had and pack the car. I figure, either it'll show up, or I'll have to get new ones (which we did, but that story warrants it's own blog).

We left around 2:30 am on Thursday. After driving for a while, my sister decides that she wanted some pretzels. NEITHER of us could open the barrel. It was crazy, the little pull zip tie thingy that seals it shut broke off, and we were completely unable to pry it open. She finally found a pair of tweezers in her purse and was able to somehow get it open. But it took a long time and about as much manpower that is usually reserved for demolition jobs or something of the sort. By this time, I'm dissolving in laughter, since this whole night has been a cluster, and literally all I can do is laugh! At least I didn't cry. I wanted to though, since my eyebrows hurt so badly!

Head, meet Wall...

Today sucked. I mean really. I'm pretty ill-tempered at the moment, so I'm not sure what kind of blog we'll end up with. Should be interesting, at any rate!

I'm frantically trying to get my house cleaned and laundry done and everything tidy in order to drive the 12 hours to my sister's house on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. And work every day on top of it. Oh, and pack for both my daughter and myself. And probably my husband too, since he'll ask me where everything is anyway.

So, I get to work at 2, and promptly find out that BOTH of the people who were supposed to close with me called off. Thankfully, the lady working til 8 said she could stay til 10 to help me out, otherwise I'd have been up a proverbial creek with no paddle. Then, I realize that I've been PMS'ing, since I had a, shall we say, surprise visit from Aunt Flo. Awesome! After I take care of that, I get myself a candy bar and listen to a voicemail from my stepsister. She's riding along with me on our road trip, so I was planning on picking her up from the bus station on Tuesday afternoon. (A little backstory, picking her up at the bus station will involve me taking an extended "lunch", driving downtown to get her, take her back to my house, then go back to work and finish my shift. Good times.)
This voicemail she left me asked if I could meet her halfway between her aunt's house (where she is now) and my house. Wha-? Sooo . . . she wants me to work til 4, go get my 3 year old daughter, get on the road by 5 or so, drive 2 hours, pick her up, probably eat something, drive the 2 hours home and then call it a night. Umm, no. That's just not going to work for me. Thanks anyway. I'll stick with Plan A, thank you very much.

On top of all of that, I have to deal with the most miserly, cheap, mean, miserable customers on the face 0f the planet. Honestly! I've never seen anything like it before! They will haggle over a dime. Actually take the time and gas to drive back to the store to return something that was 19 cents. I just don't get it!! And the thing that infuriates me is when they blame it on the economy. Yeah, I get it. The economy sucks. But that does NOT give you permission to treat people like crap like that!! Makes me want to bash my head off the wall.

The one bright spot right now is my daughter and the portraits I got of her yesterday. She's just so stinking cute, I can't even stand it! I had the toughest time picking out the ones I wanted to buy. ::melts::