Thursday, February 28, 2013

the silo effect

Ah, email. The blessing and curse of modern day offices. It does allow for instant communication. And it allows for instant miscommunication, misunderstanding, mistakes and a whole host of other "mis" things.

Our office, of a whole whopping 30 people, relies on email with each other way too much. I think it is mainly because our meetings are ineffective. We don't have meetings to solve problems, we have meetings to make announcements.

The silo effect is alive and well in our office. Everyone does their own thing, with little or no coordination between departments.

I can usually just shrug most of the effects of this off, but yesterday, it became more than a bit trying.

Especially because the silo-ing causes many folks to become over protective of their little fiefdoms. In some it seems to cause borderline paranoia.

Good thing it is Thursday.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

i need sun

We've had two gray, dreary, wet, nasty days in a row and I'm ready to see some sun. I keep seeing all these folks posting pictures of their getaways to tropical, sunny Florida and points further south. Just a tad bit jealous.  How did I live in the cold, dark north for so long? I think moving back there would be a soul crushing event. Hubby and I talk periodically about moving when we retire....hmmm, can't say that anywhere up north holds any appeal for me. But, in reality, he will probably never retire, so I imagine we will be staying right here in the Ville for the long haul. Fine by me. We have far more sunny days than gray ones here.

Plus, from here I can get to the coast and plant my a$$ in the sand in less than 8 hours. Perfect.

I'm already looking forward to our long weekend at the beach in May. And we get to see my folks! Win-Win.

There are very few things in life I enjoy more than making a fresh pot of coffee, pouring a huge mug full, walking down to the beach and watching the sun rise, the gulls fish, and the dolphins jump. I don't think I would ever tire of that. It is such a special treat. It makes me happy just thinking about it!!

And it is now Wednesday. Yes.


Tuesday, February 26, 2013

happy birthday

Here's to another first. Today is my oldest daughter's birthday and for the first time ever she isn't home to celebrate with us.

We did celebrate a few weeks back when she was home, and that was nice, but I know I'm going to go through the day knowing that something is missing.

Just another milestone, experience, fact of life, new reality, that we all get to enjoy together!

So, Happy Birthday to my very first Baby Girl!

XOXOXOXO

Monday, February 25, 2013

best dress, love me some Jennifer

Wow. Let me gush her for a while. I absolutely adore Jennifer Lawrence. When I saw her in Winter's Bone I just knew this was one young actress who was destined for a golden statue. She won one last night, probably not her first. Let's hope she doesn't trip on the way to the stage in the future. lol


And that dress! To. Die. For. By far my favorite gown of the evening. She looked elegant even as she stumbled!!

But, I think I would have let Hugh Jackman rescue me. So, the Louisville girl brought home the gold. Congrats to Jennifer....I think her asking price for playing Katniss just went up a tad.




Thursday, February 21, 2013

that's not okay was okay after all

We've had yet another rainy, dreary, icky, damp, cold, miserable day. Of course that didn't stop us from going out to lunch or making a run to Target. The boss is taking a half day tomorrow so he can watch the local tennis tournament - indoor tournament by the way. So, we had to do our lunch bunch thing today.

In other news, I was able to hold in my hot little hands the actual proof of the new magazine. It was delivered today, read over by many folks in the office, and sent back to the printer, pronto.

I can't wait to hold the real deal in my hands. I have a byline in this issue. That means that about 12,000 people might read an article I helped write. Pretty damn awesome.

And, the 'that's not okay' moment we had with an unexpected article reviewer (long story there) turned out just fine. Her suggested edits were accepted by the author. We didn't even have to relay her 'threat' to have the Secretary of Defense call him to 'hash' things out! The author was quite gracious, quite complimentary, and quite easy to deal with on the issues she had with the article. I guess The Colonel trumped the Civilian on this one.

Everything was okay after all.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

I feel the need to read

My attempt to clear off my Nook and read the free books I've downloaded over the past year has hit a bit of a snag. One of the YA titles I got for free is an utter mess of a book, but I've always had this sick need to finish a book once I've started it.  So, I'm trudging along through it and skimming as quickly as I can. Ugh.

I have given into the temptation of the free book Fridays at B&N. Yes, I've downloaded a few more titles since the first of the year. Just a few.

I have, however, stayed away from the library's ebook collection. Out of sight, out of mind. Too many temptations there.

Speaking of temptation, our local cupcake lady is not doing me any favors by posting cupcake pictures and descriptions that would tempt a saint. Of course she has two of my favorite flavors this week, cranberry orange and coconut cream. I think I will be stopping by on Friday. Maybe she will have a Facebook special and do a buy 3 get 1 free deal.

She has also been posting her dinner carryout menu for the week. So very tempting to let her do the cooking! She had a meatless entree last week, but I didn't see one for this Friday. Well, we should probably head over to church for the fish fry. We do that at least once during Lent.

Books, cupcakes, fish. Yes, that sounds about right. I'm going to have a mixed up, crazy, odd, random day at work, so why not start off that way while I'm still at home!

Happy Wednesday.






Tuesday, February 19, 2013

brrrr ughhhhh

Ugh. It seems extra cold in the house this morning and I had a tough time getting out of bed. It rained a ton last night and it is just plain damp. Brrrr. I could use a hot flash right about now. Oh, well. But our weather is way better than snow. Interesting article on the front page of our paper how a warming world means more blizzards, but less snow fall.

Short week ahead, which is fine by me. I was able to get quite a bit done over the past three days and if I can stay on top of things, the weekend won't be spent trying to play catch up with the household chores.

Off into Tuesday we go. I just heard hubby's alarm go off.

Monday, February 18, 2013

love me a three day weekend

I was so happy to wake up this morning and not have to go into work! It has been a really  nice weekend and extending it by one more day is an added bonus.

We found the girl a prom dress, within my budget, and she looks amazing in it. Score!

I managed to get the laundry done, the house cleaned, and dinner made yesterday. Today I'm off to Costco for a big shop. Time to restock on a few items.

The boy says he did well at solo and ensemble, so we will see when the scores are posted.

It was my parents' 50th anniversary on Saturday. Wow. Amazing. Very, Very Cool.

February is a short month, but it has been action packed this year. And I saw my first robin on Saturday morning!!

Goodness all around. Happy President's Day.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

valentine's day

Happy Valentine's Day. My hubby got me a new umbrella and a bouquet of flowers. Oh, and a huge container of parchment paper! He shopped at Costco yesterday. LOL

We are having a party at work today, a "Sprinkle" for the receptionist. She is about to have her second baby and the Ex. Dir. asked me to coordinate the gift, the food, etc. So, we wound up with enough donations to get her two gift cards for over $100 each and we are doing donuts and fruit. We also got her a dozen roses.

The magazine is heading off to the printers early. Yeah! Love beating a deadline. Now, we just have to keep it up.

Enjoy the day!!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

birthday time

Today is our son's birthday! Those 14 years flew by pretty fast. He wanted to celebrate last night with today being Ash Wednesday. So, we went out to the famous burger place for dinner and came home and had pie. Good thing today is a day of fasting, I need it!

Speaking of going fast, how did Lend get here so quickly this year? Yikes.

It has been a very busy week and we are only half way through. Lots to do, even this morning, so off I go.


Tuesday, February 12, 2013

voices in my head

We conducted a phone interview last week with a scientist at National Geographic. We taped the interview and yesterday I needed to transcribe the answers to our questions.

I do not have a future career as a medical transcriptionist.

I keep hearing Dr. S.W's voice in my head. Ugh. It is kind of funny.

Today is the Rotary lunch for the daughter. Exciting stuff. Plus, she found out yesterday she was admitted to the Chancellor's Honors Program at the university. Very exciting stuff.  She's on a roll now and I feel like the next time I blink, we will be loading her stuff into the minivan and driving her off to college.

It is all such an adventure. All day. Every day.


Monday, February 11, 2013

what a weekend

The daughter arrived home by 4:15 on Friday afternoon. So excited to see her. We had a nice steak dinner and peppered her with questions until it was time for bed. Saturday morning both of the girls and I stopped at Chick-fil-a for breakfast and went to the mall. The older one found not only a dress for her Friday night event, but it will also do for the rush party event where they all have to be in her sorority's color - blue. She also found an all white dress, again, a must have for rush parties. They wear all white on pref night. So, she is all set.

The other daughter found a dress she wanted for her big luncheon with the Rotary club tomorrow. She was nominated in the leadership category for one of their scholarships and has to get up and speak and meet the Rotarians. I'm taking PTO to be able to attend with her and hubby will be there as he is in Rotary.

We also went to the prom dress store. OMG. The bling and dazzle on those dresses. The price tags on those dresses. Yikes. She looked awesome in all of them, but we talked budget and have come to an agreement on what I will fund.

After that we came home to find that hubby and the boy had started to repaint our bedroom. Wow! It looked really good and they were able to get it to a stopping point so we could head off to the middle kid's basketball game. Team Rondo had their second loss of the season. Bummer.

Back home we came after a quick stop at the store to pick up a birthday cake and chicken legs. Yep, she wanted smoked, barbecued chicken legs for supper. So, we go busy and ate late.

After Mass on Sunday, hubby and I drove the girl back to Ttown so she could be at her 4:00 meeting/workshop. They are already planning for Rush. I guess when you have a rush week as huge as the one at this university, you have to plan months in advance.

We drove home and collapsed. It was a very busy, but very fun, weekend.

Time to go to work and rest. LOL


Thursday, February 7, 2013

do you binge-watch?

I've already learned something new today and it isn't even 6:00 a.m. I hadn't heard the term binge-watch before, but I've done it. Just didn't know it had a name. When you watch multiple episodes of a TV show back to back, you have just experienced the latest cultural phenomena, binge-watching.

The first time the hubby and I did this was with the Sopranos. Back when we had basic cable and the girls were toddlers, we watched an entire season of the HBO hit in one weekend as we had rented the tapes and only had a short time to watch them all. We talked like sailors for the following week, lots of f-bombs. I think we even picked up a bit of a Jersey accent!

Now that folks can subscribe to services like Netflix and OnDemand, binge-watching is pretty easy to do. I've watched a season and a half of the Borgias now that we have Showtime for the next year. Not quite binge-watching, but close.

We did watch the entire third season of Downton in a weekend. I kept wanting to ring Carson for tea by the time we were done.

Thursday is here already. Tomorrow my lovely baby girl will arrive home from college. She has quite a list of things to do planned. I think we will be dress shopping for her sister as well. Prom season has arrived. Here we go!




Wednesday, February 6, 2013

oops, forgot all about it

Totally forgot about going to the middle school's 8th grade parent meeting last night. I had written it on the calendar. The kid and I had talked about it in the morning. I came home and got immersed in doing a variety of things and totally forgot to get to the school and see what has changed about high school registration since the two girls went through this process.

Ugh. Mom fail.

I'm off to look online and see if I can find any forms they have uploaded or any information they have posted. If all else fails I will shoot off some emails once I get to work and see what is what.

Hey, it is Wednesday!


Tuesday, February 5, 2013

birthdays

Two of my three kids have birthdays this month. The boy has already put in his request for his meal and his dessert. He'd rather have pie than cake and this year he's requested buttermilk pie and cherry pie. He usually asks for apple, so the cherry was a bit of a curve ball. We will be heading out for burgers at one of the nationally famous local eateries.

The oldest will celebrate this birthday without us. Cue the big sigh and slight welling of tears. We had planned on going to see her the weekend prior to her birthday to celebrate, but that plan won't work now. She has been asked to a big deal fraternity formal and won't even be on campus for the weekend. I knew there was a reason I had to buy her that purple sparkly dress when I saw it on super sale New Year's Day! She is going as the 'date' of her physics lab partner, a fellow engineering major.

But, she is going to be home this weekend, so we may just have to celebrate a bit early. For her birthday I ordered her another winter coat. This one is a true triclimate weather type of coat with a hood and removable liner. I guess she also wants a football jersey with one of the star freshman player's number/name on it.

The boy hasn't decided what gift he wants. He'd be happy with iTunes cards. Way more low maintenance than his sisters!

It is Tuesday, y'all. All. Day. Long.


Monday, February 4, 2013

sporty

The weekend was quite sporty. Hubby was given four tickets to the local university's basketball game on Saturday. So we loaded up the family truckster and headed into the big city for lunch and some b-ball at the big arena. Pretty impressive place. I hadn't been in a NBA facility before and the local uni shares space with our local NBA team. The local team won by 30. Still fun to watch. A different style of b-ball, much more street ball than finesse ball, but some amazing athleticism on display.

Came on home with every intention of watching my beloved alma mater play. I fell asleep! Ugh!! Missed the entire game. But, I guess they didn't need me watching to win as they knocked off the #1 team. Yeah! Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoosiers!

Then yesterday was the Super Bowl. It looked like a blow out was in the making and then the power blew out. The momentum shifted and the 49ers actually made a game of it. But, Baltimore wound up on top.

Now, here's to the real important stuff. I loved the Budweiser commercial. Those Clydesdale's get me every time. And as one soccer mom said, the horse trainer was kind of cute too! Next up, the old folks in the Taco Bell ad. Hilarious! Of course, the farmer themed ad was a blatant tug at the heartstrings. I wonder how many folks in our nation don't have farmers in their past? Universal appeal and well done. Oprah did a nice job with her voice over in the other emotional ad of the night.  M&M commercials are always cute.

So, I'd say the ads this year were a success. The only one that made us all cringe and groan with the Go Daddy commercial with Bar Refaeli and the geeky guy. Hmmm. On the other hand, it was for sure an image that was hard to forget.

Up next for the sporty world is the BIG DANCE. I'm harboring high hopes for my Hoosiers.

Enjoy Monday.