Peppy's Dream Moving Adventure Blog

It was really hard to get out of bed this morning.  It hurt.  And it was 7:00am!  I didn’t have to be at work until 9:00am today.  Tomorrow I have to be there at 8:00am, so I have to get up at 6:00am!  I can’t even think about it.

I planned my outfits, but still managed to change my mind this morning.  I wore my black “interview” slacks, a black shell and a red cardigan over it with a short red bead necklace and my black maryjanes.  Very professional.  I noticed that the uniform in the office is basically sweater sets and slacks, sweaters and slacks, blouses and slacks.  I saw only 2 girls in the whole office wearing a skirt.

I would wear pants every day, if I had enough pants, but I only have one pair of black slacks and one pair of khaki slacks (say that three times fast!).  So, I’m going to have to wear skirts and dresses.  Once I get more comfy there, and I lose a little weight, I’ll start wearing my vintage work dresses.  They’re professional in a very old-fashioned way!  They look like what the secretaries wore in HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING (if you’ve ever seen the great movie or the Broadway musical).

Eric drove me to work.  It was nice to have his company, since I was pretty nervous.
He dropped me off and “made the rounds” of some sprinkler companies to fill out applications and look for work.  He used Betty to get around.  It was the first time he ever used Betty by himself.  That was always my job.  He managed to program it and she got him all around town as he went from place to place filling out applications.  He brought home some applications, because they were so extensive, and one place actually gave him a test with math and measurements!

My first stop was the reception area on the 7th floor.  I made friends with the receptionist, a sweet woman who was born and raised in San Diego.  She told me about a Christmas in the 1960s where they actually had snow on the ground.  That was the last time!

Someone gave me a tour of the office and I got my picture taken for my ID card.  I also have a card key that lets you in on certain floors and operates the elevator.  If you don't use the card key, the elevator won't move.  That's security!  I never saw that before.  Then, she took me to my cubicle, which is very nice – a corner cube – and there’s no one on the other side either. 

I met a whole bunch of people whose names I will never remember, unless they’re sitting at their desk and I can see their name on the door or cubicle wall.  Everyone was extremely friendly.  I was pleasantly surprised by the warm response I got when being introduced.

The company has floors 2-8.  I work on 6.  The cafeteria (very small and not very much to offer) is on 4; the mailroom/fulfillment center (where they print and bind documents) is on 5; reception is on 7 and the woman I’m working closely with is on 8.  They actually have stairs you can take, so I used them most of the day and was up and down, from floor to floor all afternoon.  I figured at least I wasn’t sitting all day getting “secretary spread.”

My new boss came in around 10:00am and left at noon to fly to a conference in San Francisco.  So, I did some stuff for him and then he was gone.  He left me with some projects, which I managed to finish by 2:00pm.  I studied the tutorial for OUTLOOK, because I never used that before.   I worked on some WORD documents, because it’s SO different from the word I currently have on my laptop.  I had no idea what I was doing, but I managed to finish.

I had a NUTRISYSTEM lunch of black beans and rice.  It was easy, because you just need to add boiling water.  I also had grapes and a slice of low fat cheddar cheese.  I ate by myself in the cafeteria.  There were a lot of people there and they have a TV on in a separate area, but I just felt like relaxing by myself and I called my friend Jimmy, who had texted me to find out how I was.

By 3:30pm I was cleaning out the drawers, separating the rubberbands from the paperclips and organizing the files.  I was bored out of my mind.  If I could go on the internet and answer emails, shop, or read news stories it wouldn’t be so bad, but I have a GIANT screen on my computer, which makes it very obvious to anyone who passes by exactly what I’m up to.  I’m not sure what the rules are, but I figured I shouldn’t be sending personal emails on my first day!

I also made one phone call – to make a dentist appointment for Eric.  He’s going tomorrow at 5:15pm, after he picks me up from work.  He likes the idea of driving me, because it’s just a 15 minute ride and there’s no traffic either way.  That way he has the car if he wants or needs it.  So, I guess I get a ride to work each day.  Can’t beat that, can you?

I could not wait to get out of there at 5:00pm.  It was just so boring having nothing to do.  The woman who is training me promised that she’d help me with another project tomorrow, so I’d have more to do.  I need to keep busy or the day will go on FOREVER!

Eric picked me up outside and we went to HAIKU for sushi.  I wanted to go on Saturday night, but Eric wasn’t in the mood, but he was happy to go tonight.  We had edamame, shumai and two rolls – spicy shrimp and spicy tuna.  Yummy yum yum!  David, the sushi chef asked about Jessica and April, who obviously made a great impression on him when I brought them in last Friday.  He made us our rolls, which get bigger and bigger every time we go there.  We only ordered two and had to take half of one home!  We usually have the edamame, shumai and three rolls!

I told Eric about my day.  Basically, it was fine.  I feel a little overwhelmed because I’m not up-to-date on all the software, but I guess after a week or two I’ll figure it all out.  The people were SO helpful and friendly, so I know that any help I need is just a phone call or a few steps away.

The man I’m working for is away until Friday, so I have a few days to acclimate myself to the software, my surroundings, and being at work 8-5!

I’m totally exhausted.  I found myself yawning all afternoon, which I figured was because I was bored.  Now, I’m home, in my pajamas, watching TV with Eric and opening mail.  I am determined to go to bed by 10:00pm.  I need a good night’s sleep if I’m going to be able to get out of bed at 6:00am tomorrow.

I feel good about my first day at work.  I didn’t make any big mistakes, and I feel like I did a good job.  Let’s see if I can keep it up!

It was much worse today than yesterday, getting up at 6:00am.  It’s cold in San Diego in January at 6:00am!  Fortunately, there’s an electric heater in the wall in the bathroom, which I put on as soon as I get in there.  By the time I get out of the shower, it’s toasty!

Eric drove me to work again, so he could have the car.  We left the house at 7:15am and I was there before 7:45am.  I went right to my desk, dropped off my stuff, went down to the 4th floor cafeteria and bought a bottle of orange juice to have with my breakfast bar.  I figured I could eat breakfast at work, and save time at home, since there’s not many people there that early.  They actually have free bagels with cream cheese and muffins in the cafeteria every day, so they're eat-at-your-desk friendly.  It’s a good thing I’m on a diet, or I could start a VERY bad habit of having a muffin or bagel every morning.  You know what that means – carbs = pounds on Peppy!

My boss is still in San Fran, so I knew I wouldn’t have much to do.  I was reading an online tutorial about using OUTLOOK, so I could get up to speed, but by 9:30am I was bored out of my mind, and my eyes were getting heavy!  How can you be tired after being up for just over 3 hours?  Boredom.  Plain and simple.  Stay busy and you stay awake!

I had noticed that the cubicle next to me (which is not used by anyone) had become a dumping ground for brochures, binders, etc., etc., etc.  I asked a woman on my team, who sits in an office right outside my cubicle, if that cube needed to be organized.  She took me to another guy on my team and asked him.  He said it was a total disaster and would be thrilled if I could get it organized.  Turns out most of the stuff is different materials which are put into folders to give to clients.  A lot of them were over 3 years old and the documents have all been updated, so they were obsolete.

He showed me which 9 documents he needed.  I organized all the different documents into piles.  I recycled all the old versions and had Fulfillment (the printing department) make me copies of the newest versions, if I didn’t have them in the piles.  By this afternoon I had 10 collated packages ready for clients, in case they are needed, and had recycled about 200 pounds of paper!

I also reorganized the entire cubicle, so that if someone DOES need to use it, they actually have a place to sit!  It looked SO great!  I worked on that most of the day and only occasionally went back to my desk to check emails or if the phone was ringing.

Eric got a dentist appointment for 5:15pm tonight, so I told him to come a little earlier and I would sneak out at 10 or 5 to five.  Of course my boss called at 4:50pm and started giving me instructions for a couple of projects.  I wanted to tell him that I had to go, but I didn’t want to seem like I was running out of there (although I had a good reason), so I just sat there and listened and took notes.  Then, he asked me to transfer him to someone else, so he could help me find a document.  Thank GOODNESS he wasn’t at his desk, so I asked him if it could be done tomorrow and he said yes.

The second I hung up the phone I RAN out of there.  Eric was waiting downstairs and we headed to the dentist, which is on Balboa, right near us.  I LOVE this place.  They had a TV in the lovely waiting room, so I got to watch MILLIONAIRE as I filled out the forms for Eric, while he was being examined.  Then, when MILLIONAIRE was over, I read the latest issues of VOGUE and PEOPLE.  That’s one thing about going to the doctor – I love magazines!

The doctor gave Eric a temporary crown and he has to get a new crown, and maybe root canal.  Ouch!  He has another appointment for next Wednesday at 10:30am.  Poor baby!

When we got home I heated up my vegetable soup, which just gets better and better with each reheating.  YUM -- if I do say so myself!  We each had a bag of NUTRISYSTEM barbecue soy chips with it, which is a perfect complement to the soup.  Then, for dessert, we each had a NUTRISYSTEM cookie.  Eric had oatmeal raisin; I had peanut butter.

I got an email from the couple who bought our house.  She is pregnant with her third child.  They’re hoping for a boy this time, but she says if it’s another girl then Daniel will have “Daniel’s Angels.”  I think that’s so sweet.  I’m the third of three girls, so I know how it is when everyone is hoping for a boy.  My parents always said they didn’t care, but my Dad is really into sports, and shared that love with my two older sisters, so I always thought he would have loved a son.

Here's the dining room.  We had a ceiling fan which, although nothing beautiful, really kept the house cool in the warmer weather. They put in a chandelier. They also put roman shades on the French Doors (we never covered them at all -- I loved to look at the backyard while I was in the dining room). They installed all new wood floors (the house REALLY needed them).  Pretty fabulous!  That's my dining room table and chairs, which was one of the conditions of the sale.  Cynthia fell in love with my work and HAD to have it!

I am including pictures that Cynthia sent of our old dining room (now their gorgeous dining room/kitchen area.  They broke down the wall between the kitchen and dining room.  The kitchen was completely redone and I think it’s fabulous.  Any of you who remember our house will flip, because it is such a dramatic change.  They added walls where there were none, and broke down walls where they were.  We never did anything to the kitchen, and it had the original 57 year old sink, red formica counter with the chrome trim, and white wood cabinets.  I guess it was about time for a renovation, don’t you agree?

The kitchen is simply magnificent!  Those two little angels on the floor are Zoe and Samantha, both of whom Eric and I fell madly in love with!

The refridgerator is where the hallway was before.  They blocked off a wall, so that they would have more space in the kitchen.  Look at the size of that fridge!!!  I think they did a great job and wish I could see it in person.  Maybe some day!

I feel frustrated, because I feel like I don’t have time to get everything I want to do done, now that I'm working.  I’ve been trying to find the time to sew a button on my jacket for 3 days!  I also want to do more crafting, but by the time I finish dinner, reading emails, blogging, etc., I’m ready to watch a little TV and go to bed.  I’m going to have to do everything on the weekends, including fighting for a washing machine on Saturdays and Sundays!

After we ate, I helped Eric fill out two applications for sprinkler work.  They were SO extensive and one even had a math test!  That took almost an hour, including me researching phone numbers and addresses for previous employers and references.  We were both so relieved when it was finished and Eric was very appreciative that I helped him.  It's just not as easy for him to do that kind of stuff, but I'm pretty good at it, even though I always say I HATE filling out forms!

I want to try to get to bed by 10:00pm tonight.  Last night I went to bed at 9:30am, but I didn’t sleep well all night and I was exhausted this morning.  I feel the only way to survive this schedule is to go to bed at a decent time.  I’m one of those people who really needs 7-8 hours to be any good at all.  I need my sleep!  I believe sleep is rejuvenating.

I always told Eric that you heal while you’re sleeping, because while you’re awake your body is so busy doing other things, including digesting, but at night, while you’re still and sleeping peacefully (hopefully), your body has a chance to concentrate on any illnesses or injuries.  That’s why you always need sleep when you’re sick.

I bet if you had two people with an injury, like a broken bone, and one person slept 8 or more hours a day and the other was intentionally sleep deprived, even if he or she stayed off the foot, the person who slept well would heal faster.  Some scientists should do a scientific experiment.  To whom do I write?

Well, I made it through my second day at work.  I’m making friends and learning as much as I can.  Unfortunately, working for a financial firm is pretty boring (for me), but beggars can’t be choosers.  When this job is done, I’m determined to get a job working in a stimulating environment – hotel, real estate, fashion, decorating, music, theater, art – I want to be in an interesting area and involved with a business that I at least understand!

Another morning, another cold toilet seat.  We were showered and out of the house by 7:15am.  No traffic in the morning, which is so nice.  Today I wore a flowered, pleated skirt that I wore when I did my first cabaret act, back in 1991.  Yes, the skirt is 17 years old.  Can you believe it?  At least it still fits.  Why?  Because it has an ELASTIC WAIST.  You better not be laughing at me!

Eric dropped me off and went job hunting, while I went upstairs for my third day at work.  He did a lot of driving around, filling out applications and dropping off applications.  He even got to talk to someone in person!  He said he had an "interview" and it went very well.  Eric's very much like me.  Maybe not so great on paper, but when you see him and talk to him, you can see he has a lot to offer!

For breakfast I had a NUTRISYSTEM muffin with some grapes.  I got a lot accomplished in the morning.  I had a couple of projects to do, and thought the morning was speeding by, but when I looked at the clock, it was just 9:40am!  What?  How could that possibly be?  Was I trapped in a time warp?  The rest of the day was the same.  Really weird.  Even though I was moderately busy, and it felt like the day was going by, the hours just dragged by.  I would be SURE an hour had passed, look at the clock and it was only 20 minutes.

At noon I had a tiny cottage cheese with grape tomatoes and NUTRISYSTEM vegetable chowder.  I couldn’t even finish the chowder.  I’ve also been drinking something called FUZE – low carb, with L-Carnitine, Super Citrimax, Chromium and Vitamin C.  They have lots of flavors, but today it was Cranberry Raspberry.  There are only 5 calories per serving.  It tastes like Kool-Aid, but it’s mostly just water and a little juice.  I try to drink a cup of water every couple of hours, since there’s a water dispenser in the kitchen area on my floor and the ladies’ room is not far either!

I’ve been organizing two empty but messy cubicles for the past two days.  I’m almost done.  One is completely finished and it looks FABULOUS.  I can’t wait for my boss to see it, when he comes back from work.  He’s very cute.  When I talked to him in San Francisco, he said, “I know it’s not a very sexy job, but we really appreciate your taking it on.”  I thought that was a cute way of saying he knows it’s a dirty job!

The other cubicle required me using a P-Touch Label Maker, which is really fun.  I told the guy that lent it to me that he’s not getting it back, because it’s my new favorite toy!  Everything looks so nice and organized with the P-Touch!

Five o’clock finally arrived and I zipped out of there to meet Eric.  He had the brakes checked, because when we got the second key made, the guy at Chrysler said the brakes needed to be done.  Turns out, the guy was a big liar, because the guy who checked them today (with Eric watching) said the front brakes were new, and the back were fine for at least another thousand miles!  I told Eric if he was a regular consumer, who doesn’t know a good brake from a bad brake, that first guy would have ripped him off!  Isn't that discouraging?

Eric also washed and waxed the car.  The finish is like a pearl, so it really glows and sparkles with a good wax job.  It looked beautiful!

We came right home and I made a nice salad for each of us.  Eric also had the NUTRISYSTEM meatballs with pasta, and I had the tiny cup of tortellini in tomato sauce.  For dessert Eric a NUTRISYSTEM oatmeal cookie and I had a Chocolate Peanut Butter bar.  You know that’s my favorite combination!

I finally sewed the button on my jacket last night, while I watched TV.  What an accomplishment!  I have so much laundry to do, but it will probably wait until Friday night or Saturday morning.  Eric did his own laundry this week, so it’s mostly my clothes that need to be done.  I told Eric to let me do all the laundry, but he insisted.

I have NO idea what I’m going to wear tomorrow.  I really don’t have a hell of a lot of clothes for the office, since I’m still not fitting into a lot and I don’t have much “work clothes” to begin with.  I wanted to save a nice outfit for Friday, because my boss won't be in tomorrow, but he will be in on Friday and I want to look as professional as possible.

I’ve noticed that the dress in the office is definitely not “corporate.”  Most of the girls wear slacks and tops or sweaters, but I’ve seen girls wearing leggings and big tops, skirts with no stockings, and skirts with stockings. They also wear tights and boots -- either snow-style boots or high-heeled boots.  I only have one pair of boots -- black rubber rain boots!  I didn't bring any boots to San Diego, because I thought no one would wear winter clothes, but they do!

Anyway, I figure I can get away with a lot more than I thought, if I could just FIT INTO IT!
Oh, I forgot to mention: I forgot to weigh myself yesterday, but I did weigh myself this morning and I weighed in at 129.  If I can just stay under 130, I’ll be thrilled!  I’ve been doing a lot of walking and standing the last 3 days, so I know I’ve been more active than I am at home.  That’s good.  I’ve also been eating a little less, because when I was home I made sure I ate every thing I was allowed, but now I’m eating less, because I’m having breakfast and lunch at the office and now I eat at my desk.  I’m bringing veggies and fruit to snack on, so at least I’m not starving myself!

Well, I better go.  I need to get to bed early.  I hope to have more to do tomorrow at work.  The day definitely flies by when I’m kept really busy!

I went to bed early last night (before 10:30pm) and I slept better, so I wasn’t nearly as tired when I woke up this morning.  Good start!  Eric drove me again.  I feel so guilty making him get up so early each morning, but he says it’s good that he get an early start and he’s been submitting a lot of applications and “making the rounds.”

He’s also been cleaning, waxing and detailing the car for two days now.  He’s almost done.  It looks brand new.  He should go into the detailing business (but there’s a lot of them around and it’s a hard business to break into if you don’t know anybody!).

I didn’t have much to do today at work and was begging for projects and asking for something to do.  I got the two cubicles I was working on so organized and beautiful that I can’t believe it myself.  They’re FABULOUS!

By 2:00pm I really didn’t have much to do.  I have to learn to slow down.  I have to pace myself, unless I’ve got a desk full of work.  I actually sat at my desk and stared at the computer for the last 10 minutes of work.  I went on YAHOO a couple of times to read news and check my emails during the day.  I’m not even sure if that’s allowed, but – hey – I have nothing else to do!

This job doesn’t even have the mundane responsibilities of opening mail and answering phones.  The guy who I work for told me there were no phones when I interviewed him, but I thought somehow I had misunderstood.  I only answer his phone and my phone.  His phone rings about two times a day.  My phone rings once or twice a day – usually it’s him!

I don’t know if the team gets mail, but if they do it’s delivered to each person individually, because I don’t have any mail to open.

No typing, no faxing.  I did send four emails for one of the guys today.  That kept me busy for all of 10 minutes!

Not being busy makes the day ddddddrrrrrrrrraaaaaagggggggggg by.  It’s endless.  The seconds seem like hours, the minutes seem like days, the hours seem like weeks.  I should take up knitting!

There is one fabulous thing about the office where I work.  When I first went there to interview, I noticed a fabulous sculpture in the reception area.  It was lots of different things, like a wooden Dutch shoe, a ski, a saw, and many other found objects which were put together into an interesting shape and then hand-painted with lots of different colors.  It was kind of like my work – taking something someone else might consider garbage and making it into art!

Once I started working in the office I noticed more and more art.  Now, I have worked in many offices in my day and they always had art, but most of the time it was “office art,” which is kind of like muzak, or elevator music.  It’s music, but not what you’d really like to listen to.  The art was art, but not really what you wanted to stare at all day.

This is a completely different story.  The art is all original – photographs, sculptures, oil paintings, watercolors, and they were all purchased for the employees to enjoy, but also as an investment!  They have a binder on a stand outside the cafeteria, which explains every piece on display in the office – the artist, year created, name of the piece and the story behind it.  Some of the pieces have small plaques next to them, so you can read about it as you look at it.

Everywhere you go there are fabulous, interesting, and eye-catching pieces of artwork.  Right outside my cubicle is a very interesting piece, which I discovered is by an artist named KEVIN WIXTED.  I think it’s very interesting and colorful and enjoy looking at it, but there are others I simply adore.  Every time I go by the cafeteria I stop and read a little bit of the book and look at the artwork.  I’ve only been there 4 days but have already seen more than half the pieces in the office!

Five o’clock couldn’t come fast enough.  I was out of there like a shot and down the elevator to the street.  Eric was waxing the car in the parking lot outside.  He dropped me off at the apartment and went to vacuum the car at a do-it-yourself car wash down the block.

I heated up some soup for the two of us, got undressed, checked my emails, and opened my mail.  There’s lots to do here, I can tell you that!  Too bad I can’t do jewelry mosaics or decoupage while I’m at my desk at work.  Do you think they’d mind if I kept my glue gun plugged in?

At 8:00pm I took the JEOPARDY online test.  I did horribly.  I took the test many years ago, at the television studio when I was visiting Los Angeles.  I just thought it would be a fun experience.  I love game shows!  I failed then, and I’m sure I failed now.  I could only answer about 30 of the 50 questions!  Some of them I knew, if only I had more than 15 seconds to think!  A lot of them (mostly geography and science) I had NO idea whatsoever.  Oh, well.  It was a fun 10 minutes!

Tomorrow is Friday.  I haven’t been happy to see a Friday in six years!  When I was in the shop, I never minded what day of the week it was.  I was always happy in the shop, and I was off on Mondays, so they never bothered me at all.  Being off from work for the last 10 months certainly made all the days seem pretty much the same.  Now, I’m back in the real world where Mondays stink and Fridays ROCK!

It's the first day of February.  When I lived in New York February 1st was always a big day for me, because it meant I had lived through another January.  Januarys were always bad -- very, very bad.  They were better the last five years, when I worked in the shop, but I always HATED January.  I always said there's nothing redeeming about January.  The holidays are over, the winter looms ahead endlessly, there are no great holidays in January, it gets dark early, it's cold, it's ugly.  It's just a horrible month.  Now, I don't feel that way much.  I still don't think there's anything great about January, but I don't hate it the way I used to.  It's a whole new world for me! 

So, I snoozed three times this morning.  I was in bed by 9:00pm and turned the TV off after 10:00pm, but I still couldn't get out of bed!  I had the weirdest dream this morning, too.  I was with a bunch of girls, whom I didn't know, and for some reason I was writing a check.  We were in a restaurant and the waiter came over and I was distracted.  When I looked back down, my wallet and checkbook were gone.  I looked at the girls and one of them said, "The waiter took it."  I ran over to the manager of the restaurant and told them one of their waiters stole my wallet.  He said one of the waiters just went home sick and I said, "That's the guy!"

My next step was to go to the bank.  I found out all our money had already been withdrawn.  I was freaking out, and then I woke up.  You know the relief you feel when you wake up from a bad dream and realize it was just a dream?  That's a good feeling, I can tell you.  Why I dreamt about having my wallet stolen, I'll never know.  Anyone out there know how to analyze dreams?  I guess it probably has something to do with the fact that Eric and I are both a little worried about money, since we've been living off our savings for about 8 months.  I'm happy I am going to get my first paycheck next week!

I finally got out of bed and showered.  I remembered to weigh myself this morning: 128.6.  If I go down a few ounces a day, that’s fine with me – as long as it doesn’t go up!

Eric drove me to work.  I worked on a few projects and then found myself with absolutely nothing to do.  I went in to one of the guys I worked for and asked for work.  Instead, he gave me a computer game to play with.  It’s called 20Q MUSIC.  It’s like 20 questions on any rock or pop group or performer.  I was intrigued.

The first person I picked in my head was Mariah Carey.  After asking me a bunch of questions – it guessed correctly.  I decided to try for something a little less obvious and picked The Pretenders.  I think you really have to know all the facts about a group or a singer, otherwise it doesn’t always get it.  It worked with The Doors, Elton John, Janis Joplin, and a few others.  It was a fun way to pass a little time.

My boss finally arrived at a little before noon.  He gave me a few more projects, which kept me relatively busy all afternoon.  Everyone at the firm is so helpful and friendly.  Anything you have any questions about, or anything you need help with, there’s someone to ask and someone to assist.

At 5:00pm Eric picked me up and we came right home.  I heated up my soup (make a big batch and it takes you through the whole week) and we had some baked Ahi Tuna.  A delicious, healthy and dietetic meal!

After dinner, Eric said he wanted to watch basketball, so I went inside to catch up on my taped TV.  First, I watched an episode of a new show, called ELI STONE, which I absolutely LOVED.  This show is right up my alley.  It’s about a lawyer who starts to hallucinate and it ends up he has a brain aneurism, which could kill him at any time.

The fact that the guy who plays Eli Stone is adorable wasn’t what sold me, even though he is.  The fact that there’s a big dance number in the first half hour wasn’t what really sold me, although it was great.  It’s the whole debate about science vs. faith that sold me.  I’ve always been a person who believes in the power of faith.  I’m very romantic.  I had a piece of paper for years that said: Faith sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible!

I believe in angels, in ghosts, in reincarnation, in aliens, in just about anything.  I am not a cynic or a doubter.  I don’t have to see, smell, hear, touch or taste something to believe it exists.  I choose to believe.  I enjoyed this show, and I’m looking forward to next week’s episode.  You can watch the entire episode online, if you missed it, or just watch the next episode next week and you’ll catch right up!  I highly recommend it.

After that I watched a 2-hour episode of CELEBRITY APPRENTICE.  Such drama!  What a show.  It’s better than ever with the celebrities, and I thought it would be boring.  These people are crazy!

It’s so nice to know that I don’t have to wake up at 6:00am tomorrow.  I’m going to go to bed early anyway, because I’m exhausted, but I’m going to sleep LATE tomorrow!  I have a lot of errands to run and then Eric and I are going to see GUYS & DOLLS at the SAN DIEGO MUSICAL THEATRE.  I’m so excited.  It’s one of my favorite shows.

So, I made it through my first week at work and it wasn’t half bad.  I’ve found that it doesn’t really matter what you’re doing, if you enjoy the people you’re working with and working for.  That certainly proved to be the case this week.  The work is pretty boring, but the people are so nice, friendly and helpful that it was a pleasure to be there!  I look forward to making a contribution to this wonderful firm for the next few months!

Before I start today's entry, I want to share a few photos of my beautiful nieces' trip to San Diego:

Here we are at the Hotel Del Coronado:

In Pacific Beach:

In South Park:

I hated getting up in the morning, but once I was in the shower I was actually happy to go to work!  I told Eric that in the car on the drive there.   It’s not like this is my dream job or anything.  It’s very far from that.  It’s just absolutely pleasant.  The commute is easy – just 15 minutes from door to door.  The place is really pretty and interesting, with original art everywhere.  The people are super-friendly and helpful.  The work is either easy or challenging with lots of support.  Either way, I get the job done.

My only complaint is that I’m bored a lot, because they don’t keep me busy.  When you have a real job you can always find something to do.  There’s usually no time to get everything done.  When you’re a temp you just do what they ask and wait for the next task.  It makes the day drag on and today I actually stared at the computer clock and watched 4:50 become 5:00pm.  BOR-ING!  If they could keep me busy I’d be totally happy!

There’s a guy who works in the cafeteria who is a musical history savant.  By that I mean that he knows every popular song in the world and who recorded it and in what year.  He’s amazing.   He’s got the radio playing really loud in the cafeteria and I challenge him every time I see him (which is about once a day).  He’s never stumped.  Now of course I wasn’t sure that Patsy Cline recorded CRAZY (written by Willie Nelson, by the way) in 1961, but – sure enough – after researching online I found that he was right.  He could win a lot of money on a music trivia show!  I think he gets a kick out of the fact that I ask him about whatever song is playing when I’m there.  I can see it gives him pleasure to show is expertise in this field.  If only you could make  a living at it!

I’ve been doing so much walking for the past week and my right foot is really hurting.  I’m trying to get an appointment with an Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Practitioner.  He works at the place where Eric and I got massages back in November.  I’ve wanted to go to him since then, and now that I’m working and my foot is hurting a lot I figure it’s time to check it out.  I’m not bad with needles, since I had allergy shots at a very young age (and very regularly), so I figure it won’t be so bad.  And it’s in my foot, so I can just look away.  I don’t know if I could take them in my face, but I’d like to investigate helping my allergies, too.

I spoke to the acupuncturist and he is going to call our insurance carrier to find out if they cover those treatments.  If they don’t, I will see how much it costs.  I’m betting it’s expensive and I don’t know if I would go for it if we’re not covered at all.

Eric was waiting for me at 5:00pm and he drove me over to the acupuncturist so I could give him a copy of our medical card and other important information.  Then we came home and I made us salads and we each had a NUTRISYSTEM flat bread pizza.

Eric and I watched DR. PHIL and then I came out to work on the computer.  My niece Stephanie called and we spoke for a while.  Then I paid some bills, worked on the computer some more and my Mom called.  We spoke for a while, too!  I packed up some NUTRISYSTEM breakfasts and lunches to get me through the week and decided to blog and get to bed early.

As I was typing the paragraph above I realized how boring my life has become.  I don’t even understand why anybody would take the time to read this blog anymore.  When we were traveling it was exciting to see where we would go next (and what we would eat), but now that I’m working and eating NUTRISYSTEM meals all the time, what’s the use?  My life’s a bore.  It really is.  I mean it’s relatively interesting to me, but I just can’t see why anybody else would be interested.  I really can’t.

I know a lot of people use their blogs to rant and rave about things, or just for stream-of-consciousness-style writings.  I’ve always used it to keep in touch and let people know what’s going on with us -- people whom we love and miss but just can’t write or call as much as we’d like.  I actually believe the people reading this now number less than 10.  It sometimes seems like a big waste of time.  I never kept a diary in my life, and it made so much sense all across America, but now I hardly care and I’m wondering if anybody else does.

Maybe I’ll start making stuff up.  Not bad stuff, because I wouldn’t want to worry anybody.  But not really good stuff either, because I wouldn’t want to get anyone excited for no reason.  I should just make up stories and be honest about it, so people know they’re reading fiction.  This has been a non-fiction blog for over 180 days.  Maybe I should start writing fiction!

Eric found out yesterday that he got a job, but I didn’t want to say anything until he finished his first day.  I’m VERY superstitious and I was afraid to make a kinahora, which in Yiddish superstition – wards off the evil eye.  The way it works is, if you say something too soon, bad luck may come and take it away, or actually make something bad happen.  For instance, if you tell someone, “You know, I’ve never broken a bone in my body,” that night you will trip and break your leg.  That’s the way it works.

Another example: If you’re driving along and say to your spouse, “The traffic is moving SO well!  I’m so happy,” you can be sure that at the next curve there will be construction and the 4 lanes will become one, causing a bottleneck that delays your arrival at your destination by another 40 minutes.

I have driven Eric crazy with my superstitions for many, many years.  I’m not superstitious about normal things – like a black cat crossing your path, or breaking a mirror and causing 7 years bad luck.  I think those are “cliché superstitions.”   No, I’m superstitious about ridiculous things that are mostly in my own head.  I am a BIG knocker on wood, even though I’ve heard it’s based on a Christian belief of touching the cross.  I don’t care.  I knock on wood ALL the time.  Sometimes I will think of something while I’m lying in bed and have to lean over to my night table and knock on wood or I won’t be able to fall asleep!

I also hate when people wish you good luck.  It’s a theatre superstition, but it stuck with me.  I never wish anyone good luck.  If they’re performing, I’ll say “Break a leg” which is the custom, or “Have a great show!”  If someone is going for an interview, or looking at a house or getting ready for some big event, I will say, “Do good!”, but never "Good Luck."

So, anyway, remember I mentioned that Eric was “making the rounds” and even had an interview?  Well, that’s the place where he got the job.  He’s just like me – one interview and he nails it!  He started today.  He’s not very happy about the situation, and it may not last, but at least he’s working.  It was VERY complicated, because he had to be in Santee, which is 23 miles away, at 6:30am, so I took the car to my job and he took the RV.  It’s the most inconvenient and uneconomical way to do it, but he can’t drop me off at work at 6:00am and then go to work.  I investigated car services, which would cost me about $40 a day.  That’s ridiculous.  Eric says it costs him about $20 a day in gas, because the RV gets such bad gas mileage (about 10 miles to the gallon).

I went online to investigate bus service, but nothing goes anywhere near Del Mar from here.  Maybe if I took 2 or 3 buses I could get there, but that just seemed crazy.  I asked a woman in HR about car pooling at the firm and it turns out she lives very close to me and offered to pick me up and drive me home, since we actually work the same hours (8:00am – 5:00pm).  She said she couldn’t be sure she’d be able to do it every day, but I said we could play it by ear.  If she could take me, then Eric could have the car.  If not, he’d have to take the RV.  At least it won’t be every single day, and my job is only for a couple of months, so eventually he’ll have the car all the time until I get my next job.

If I was working Downtown, it wouldn’t be a problem, because the bus stop is right outside our apartment and it has a few stops in the city, and I could walk anywhere from there.  So, I have to try to get my next job Downtown!

It seems like this should work out for the foreseeable future.  We’ll see what happens.  I SO appreciate this woman picking me up, because I know she didn’t have to mention that she lives nearby or get involved with this responsibility, but I told her I’d pay her, since I was inconveniencing her and the least I could do it pay for her gas.

So, Eric was up at a little after 4:00am, left the house a little after 5:00am, and I’m sure was at work before 6:00am.  I was so nervous about him and worried about him that I couldn’t fall back to sleep, so I was pretty much up from 4:00am until 6:00am when my alarm went off.  I am not used to him not being home with me in the morning, so it was strange to get dressed and leave by myself.  I drove to the office and parked in the parking lot.

My boss was in today, and he gave me a lot of little projects, including some typing (wheee!).  I need to SLOW DOWN, because I finish everything too fast and then I’m bored again.  I need to pace myself better.  I went online a lot and looked at my emails, read articles on YAHOO and even perused my own website (www.peppysdream.com).  It’s looking really good and I enjoy looking at the new set-up.  If you haven’t checked it out recently, please do and let me know what you think!

I left work at 5:00pm on the dot and was home before 5:30pm.  Eric wasn’t home yet, so I called him and he said he was on his way.  LONG day for Eric!  I told him I was thinking about going to a yoga class, but he said I shouldn’t chance it, because my left hand still really hurts from my fall (with my nieces) 2 weeks ago.  I’m pretty sure I did something to it, and I’d like to get it x-rayed so I could know for sure, but it’s SO complicated when you don’t have a doctor and there are no walk-in clinics around (like in NY – Eric and I used to go to FIRST MED if my asthma was bothering me, or if he cut himself when he fell off his bike.  It was easier and more convenient than the emergency room or getting an appointment with our regular doctor.)

I’ve been forgetting to mention how I’m doing on my diet.  I weighed 128.8 for the past two days.  I was 128.6 on Friday, so I guess I gained 2 ounces over the weekend.  Maybe it’s that one piece of bread I had on Saturday night!  Darn it!

Eric got home at 6:00pm and was not very happy.  He said he sat around the office all morning until they figured out where they were going to send him, and he’s pretty sure he’s not getting paid for sitting around, so even though he was there at 6:00am he didn’t really start work until after 8:00am.

Then, after he was done working at 3:00pm (and he said he killed himself all day), he had to go back to the office and fill out a bunch of forms and he was there until 5:00pm, and he’s not getting paid for that either.  The boss already told him not to come in tomorrow, because they don’t need him, so he’s not even working regular hours.  The boss told Eric to call him at 1:00pm and Eric said he may have to go in at that time, if he has a job for him.  Eric said the boss could call him at anytime and tell him to come in, and because it’s non-union work, there’s nothing that he can do about it.  No, he is not happy.

Not that much makes Eric happy anymore.  I was so hoping that this job would be good for him; that he’d make friends; that he’d be in a great company – like me.  Unfortunately, it’s not looking good and it’s just his first day!

I told Eric that I thought working would be good for him, but if it turns out that it’s not, he should just quit.  The truth is, we don’t have children to feed, we don’t have credit card debt or a lot of expenses.  I’m making money now and if he’s not happy at this job, he can just find another.  I’d rather have him stock shelves at Kiels than kill himself as a steamfitter again.  That’s exactly what I didn’t want when we came to San Diego.

I only wanted him to work because I felt he needed something to fill his days, and he agrees that he needs to keep busy.  But you have to weigh the pros and cons of any situation to see if it’s worth your while.  We’ll see what happens.  He says he’s going to give it time and see how it works out.

Oh, and another thing – there’s a problem with the RV!  He hasn’t driven it much more than to the car wash or to fill it up with gas.  Today was the first day it went on a relatively long trip – about 50 miles.  When he got home, the lights inside wouldn’t go out.  He came in and told me about it, then went back to the parking lot to see if they went off.  They didn't.  He says there’s a short, so he disconnected the battery and then when he reconnected it the lights were off.   I think we should just sell the stupid thing and take a plane back across the country, when we finally go.

So, even though I waited to talk about Eric’s job, I still feel like it was bad luck, because he’s so unhappy after his first day.  Maybe things will improve, when they see what a great guy he is and how much he can contribute.  I hope so!

I made some organic cream of mushroom soup for us and I had the NUTRISYSTEM mushroom risotto (do you notice a theme here?) and Eric had NUTRISYSTEM chicken and dumplings.
I’ve been really good on this diet and only cheated when my nieces were here and a little Saturday night (when I had the piece of bread).  I’ve been eating their food and tons of salads and vegetables for 22 days now and I don’t really think I’ve lost any weight.  I haven’t been exercising, but it’s for a combination of reasons.  I wanted to do yoga, but my left hand is now hurting.  I want to walk, but my right foot is killing me.  I’m not used to walking so much and all the walking I do at work is exercise, but it’s also hurting my foot.  I know I'm full of excuses, but I just can't get my act together in that regard.

I made an appointment with the acupuncturist for next Monday, 2/11 at 6:00pm.  I hope that can help me, because then I’ll be able to exercise more.  I really don’t mind walking, but not if every step is a pain in the foot!

I’m going to get a ride to work tomorrow, even though Eric’s not working in the morning, because there’s a chance he may get called in when he calls at 1:00pm.  It’s crazy not to know what your schedule is, don’t you think?  Oh, well, Eric’s willing to deal with it, so I should just be supportive and do whatever I can to make it easier on him.  I think I did the best possible thing by finding a ride to work, so at least he doesn’t have to drive the RV!

Tomorrow should be slow and boring, because my boss is going to be in San Francisco all day and he didn’t leave me any projects.  I should bring a book to work, but I guess that doesn’t look very good.  I wish there was another messy cubicle for me to clean up.  At least that was fun and kept me busy!

This is going to be short and sweet, because I’m exhausted and have to go to bed.

I got a ride to work today.  It worked out great.  I had a good day at work – some projects to do, but also lots of time to sit and stare at the computer.

One highlight at work – the woman who has been training me works for “the big guy” the man who actually founded the firm and who it is named after.  He was very nice and I was starstruck!

Eric picked me up at 5:00pm, because he didn’t work today and he took me to an “Urgent Care Clinic” I found in La Jolla where I could get an x-ray of my hand without going to the emergency room of a hospital.  My hand has really been hurting me and I was afraid I might have broken bones.

We got there at 5:30pm and I got out at 8:30pm.  The good news is – my hand is just badly bruised.  No broken bones!

Got home a little before 9:00pm.  Made myself a salad and NUTRISYSTEM vegetarian lasagna and Eric had a turkey/Swiss sandwich.

Eric’s not working tomorrow either, so this looks to be a very promising job, don’t you think?  I told him to keep looking, but that doesn’t thrill him too much, because it’s no fun looking for a job, as we all know.  Anyway, maybe the guy will come to his senses and Eric will actually work another day!

So, I must close, and go rest my hand (which still hurts, but I’m SO happy to know it’s just badly bruised!) and go to sleep.

LOVE YOU ALL!

Instead of going to work this morning, Eric drove me downtown to the California Board of Equalization, so I could get my Temporary Seller’s Permit.  We got there at 7:40am and I waited until 8:00am when they opened.  I was the first one there.  They took my name and then I waited 20 minutes until I got in the door.  I told the guy that I had to be at work by 9:00am, so he REALLY rushed and I was so grateful.  He gave me the “spiel” and I was out of there by 8:50am with my permit!  Relatively painless!

Eric then drove me to work and I got to my desk by 9:15am.  I actually had some work to do, so I was pretty busy all day and my boss came in at around 2:00pm and gave me more work, so the afternoon flew by.  Before you know it, it was 5:00pm and Eric picked me up to take me to get my acupuncture treatment.

He really stuck me a lot today.  He gave me needles in my foot that he called a “through and through” where they put one needle in very deep on one side and then meet it with another needle from the other side.  I have to admit it didn’t hurt at all going in, but I could REALLY feel it coming out.  It seemed like he had hit the exact nerve that is irritated or inflamed and I really felt it.  As soon as the needle was out the pain was gone.

He also put them in my hands, the top of my head, and my legs.  He’s a great guy and I really enjoy the sessions, for the most part.  It’s relatively painless, very relaxing, and I just feel good every time I leave.  I feel like it makes my foot feel better, but the results are short-lived.  He says through continued treatment we can extend the “feel good” period, so that it lasts longer and longer.  I guess that’s all you can ask, right?

When we got home I made us both a big salad.  Eric had an entrée, too, and I just had a bowl of my soup.  I also made a salad for myself for work tomorrow and put some soup in a container to take to work, too, so I’ll be having soup and salad for work tomorrow, too.  Since I don’t eat the NUTRISYSTEM meals religiously three times a day, I have a lot left over and Eric and I are getting our third delivery, so we’ll have TONS of this food.  We figure it will be good to have some when we cross the country (either in the RV or the car – we haven’t figured it all out yet), so we don’t have to eat out as much and don’t gain all the weight back!

I watched DR. PHIL and then THE BIGGEST LOSER: COUPLES, and then Eric joined me and we watched AMERICAN IDOL.  I like the guys SO much better than the girls.  Of the 8 guys there are 6 that we really like.  Of the 8 girls there are about 3 that we really like, the rest are okay or we don’t like them at all.  The talent lies in the guys this season!

Tomorrow and Friday should be really busy, because my boss has a meeting tomorrow afternoon, one on Monday and two on Tuesday and I have to get presentations and other handouts ready for all of them.  I’m almost finished with THE STOLEN CHILD.  It’s a really strange book, but I am involved and can’t wait to see how it’s going to end.  I’m sure I’ll get to finish tomorrow afternoon, when my boss is in his big meeting.

Today this young guy had his baby at work.  He looks so young that I didn’t even know he was married or had a baby, but the baby is six months old and he was SO SO SO SO SO SO cute that I wanted to eat him up.  I didn’t get to hold him, because one of the other girls was hogging him and since I hardly know the guy I felt too shy to grab his son and smother him with kisses.  He was the happiest, chubbiest, sweetest, cutest boy.  Oy!  I love babies!  I told him if he ever needed a babysitter I was available!

I wish there was someone in the complex here with a baby.  I would offer to babysit and make some extra money and get to hug and squeeze a little one.  It would be so much fun!

So, I got something great accomplished today, getting my seller’s permit.  Now, if I can just find all the paperwork I need to get my taxes done, and send them off to our accountant in Flushing, I would have the weight of the world off my shoulders.  I HATE this time of year – really I do!

Before I close, I have to say HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY to my beautiful niece, Jessica!

I wish I had something exciting to write about, but today was pretty boring.  I went to work, finished my book (which really did touch me when I was done), worked hard all morning, because my boss was in, and then was SO bored all afternoon, because he was in meetings.

He has three out-of-town meetings on Monday and Tuesday and I have to get a LOT of stuff together for them tomorrow, so I should be nice and busy all day tomorrow!

I left at 5:00pm and got a ride home.  I got home right before Eric, who was at the dentist getting his teeth cleaned.  I wish I could get mine cleaned, too, but I HAVE to have some kind of sedation or I won’t do it.  It just is too scary, because it hurts so much.

After watching DR. PHIL I made us NUTRISYSTEM PIZZAs and I had cherry tomatoes with some hummus.  Eric said he was eating all day, so he didn’t want anything else.

I watched some TV and then came into the living room to do a project.  I worked on two mirrors tonight – small gold-framed mirrors in unusual shapes.  I did one in all blues and silvers and it came out great.  The others is multi-colored, but mostly greens and oranges.  They both look good, but I have a little more work to do on each before they’re done.

I can’t believe tomorrow is Friday already.  It really amazes me how fast the weeks go by and how soon the weekend comes each week.  I guess it’s a good thing, but I just feel like time is passing too quickly and, before you know it, we’ll be gone from here.  I really am enjoying my days here, so I wish the days would not fly by!

We have no plans for the weekend, but I’m planning to do a lot of work, finish up my tax stuff, and get a lot of jewelry mosaic and decoupage projects done.  I want to have an enormous inventory for the show on the 30th.  I’m very excited and think about it a lot.  I’m already planning how my table will look.  I ordered 4 yards of red satin to make a tablecloth and I’m going to bedazzle it, so it will sparkle as people approach.  I’m so excited to finally use the Bedazzler that Jimmy won for me!  The multi-colored jewelry mosaics and decoupaged objects should look fabulous on the red satin!

I’m also planning to print out color signs that will just be my business card enlarged.  I will have them all around, with my business cards, too, so people will remember my name!  Oh, I’ve got lots of plans and I am so looking forward to selling at the fair.  I wish you could all be there!

I woke up at 3:18am this morning, because Eric’s soap, which he keeps in a plastic travel case, fell off the top of the shower door (where he keeps it) and made a loud noise.  Scared the heck out of me.  I picked it up, took the opportunity to go to the bathroom, and then had a hard time falling back to sleep.

I was pretty tired this morning, but I still was ready on time and got picked up at 7:30am.  My boss was in L.A. today, so I figured I’d have nothing to do but, lo and behold, I was given a project!  It’s a great project, which should keep me busy for WEEKS, when my boss isn’t around.

What I need to do is list a ton of articles on subject matters of interest to my group, which are on the network.  I put them into an Excel spreadsheet.  It’s not hard work, and I only have to open each document, look at the article, and put information into the Excel Spreadsheet.  I type in the title, publication, author, date, add a hyperlink, so they can find it easily, and use key words to describe the article, so that if someone wants an article on a particular subject they will be able to just put in a key word and the articles will come up.

This Excel spreadsheet will then be passed on to someone who will put the information into some kind of system called ROBOHELP, which will then make the articles easily accessible.

There are literally thousands of documents, so it should take me a few days.  I’m KIDDING!!!!  This will definitely last me until I leave there!  This is great, because sometimes I get tired of reading.  Really!  I’ve already read over 200 pages of A MILLION LITTLE PIECES.  It’s a really good book.

So, the day went by quickly and when I got home Eric and I went to COSTCO.  We picked up a few things, like Listerine, pistachio nuts (Eric’s favorite snack), conditioner, and FUZE drinks for me (24 bottles for $22!).  Eric also got 36 DURACELL AA batteries to use with his portable CD player (which he uses when he rides his bicycle).  36 batteries was less than $13.  If you go into a drug store and buy 4 AA batteries, it’s over $3, so it would cost about $30 for 36!  THAT’S why COSTCO is such a great deal (like BJ’s in NY).  We also got 16 bars of LEVER soap (which Eric uses) for $6.99.  I think that’s SO cheap!

When we were traveling across the country, and for three months before we joined COSTCO, we were buying everything in supermarkets and drug stores.  We had always purchased stuff like that at BJ’s in NY, and I realized how great the deals are, because in regular stores you’re buying ½ the amount for twice the price!

We also got frozen edamame that comes in individual serving bowls.  You just pop them in the microwave and they’re ready to eat!  It was only $7.65 for 12 servings!  We love our edamame!

When we got back Eric washed the car, because there was huge bird poo on the trunk.  It looked like a bald eagle had pooped on the car.  I mean it was really all over the back and Eric said it would “ruin the finish” so he had to get it off quickly.  That’s my Eric!

I came upstairs and called ENTERPRISE and reserved a car for our week in Asheville.  We’re going to try to get a PT Cruiser.  I just love them and feel very comfortable driving them.

The only thing I have left to do for our trip is the hotel reservation, but I don’t want to reserve a whole week, because we may go to Charlotte and we may want to stay at different places in Asheville.  So, I think I’ll just make a reservation for Thursday and Friday, and then we can decide if we want to stay longer.  I’m sure there won’t be a problem extending our stay if we want to.

Eric and I have decided we should stay right in the city, and then he can take the car to go riding, and I can find my way around by myself.  If we do that for a few days then, if we want, we could go to a place closer to the trails, and then I can drop him off and take the car to the city myself.  Then, we could get a feel of where we need to live for him to ride and me to work!

I’m getting very excited about our trip, but I’m dreading all the changing of planes.  I wish we could fly non-stop, but it just can’t be done.  I’m going to pack VERY light – I don’t care if I wear the same outfits every single day.  I just don’t want to lug too much stuff around from airport to airport.

I have a lot to look forward to.  I’m pretty sure my cousins from L.A. are coming on the 22nd and we’re all going to the Wild Animal Park.  Then, the Sunday after that is the Craft Show.  Then, 8 days later we leave for Florida, and then Asheville. Wheee!

I’m fast – there’s no denying it.  When I started, I really thought my “special project” would take weeks.  It was long, it was a little tedious and it was not something I could do for hours at a time.  Nevertheless, I finished the first part, which is the major portion, today!  The guy who gave me the project (who is not my boss) was shocked!  I just did it over the last week, in between reading and answering my emails, and reading my book (THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER is SO good!).

The woman who drives me to work called in sick today, so I drove.  My boss was supposed to leave today at 11:00am to go to Milwaukee for the rest of the week.  He came in this morning, looking like crap, and said he was sick and he wasn’t going.  I was wondering why, if he was too sick to travel, he bothered to come into the office (and get all of us sick).

He was coughing and hacking all morning and I kept saying to myself, “Go HOME!”  Yet, he kept working, having meetings, conference calls, etc.  I thought it was SO rude, because who wants his germs?

At one point he asked me to come into his office to help him with a WORD document.  I told him I have “germ paranoia” and didn’t want to step into his office, but he said, “Just don’t touch anything.”  So, I had to stand next to him and point to the keys he needed to press.  I have so much going on right now, and if I get sick, so help me…

He finally went home at 1:00pm, but I’ll be you ANYTHING he’ll be in tomorrow.  He’s a masochist (and a sadist).  I swear he knew I was dying for him to leave and that’s why he stayed (okay, so I’m really being paranoid, but that’s how it felt!).

I only have tomorrow and half of Thursday and then I’m off until next Monday, and I really plan to get a LOT done, so I better not get sick.

Tonight I finished the outside of my big metal file box.  I can’t wait to photograph it and show it to you.  It’s not done, because I want to do parts of the interior, too.  I also found another box I had decoupaged years ago, which I am going to try to sell, too.  I just have to add feet.  So, that’s another piece!

Eric is going to varnish the box for me, too, and I’m going to find something to use as feet for the box, so it doesn’t sit right on the floor.  It always dresses up a box when you put feet on it!

I made the reservation for the hotel in North Carolina tonight.  We’re staying very close to downtown, but not IN the city, so it’s much cheaper.  It’s an Econo Lodge, so you know it’s not going to be fancy, but at least it got good reviews for cleanliness and we’re only going to be sleeping there (in a no-smoking room with a king size bed!).  I only made the reservation for Thursday and Friday, because the woman said if we wanted to extend our stay, we could.  I figure if we HATE it, we won’t be committed and we can go someplace else.  If we like it, we can just extend our stay!

So, now the trip is all set – 3 days with my parents in Delray Beach, then 7 days in Asheville, North Carolina.  We’ve got our airline tickets, reserved the hotel and car, and Eric is working on renting a bike.  He called a couple of places today, and one of the guys he spoke to said that he’s gone mountain biking all over the country and that Western North Carolina (Asheville) is the best in the country.  That sure made Eric happy!

I’m getting VERY excited!  First of all, it’s always great to see someplace new, as we found out traveling across America.  Since we didn’t hit North Carolina on our previous trip, it will be exciting to add another state to our list!  Everything we’ve read about Asheville online and in print (I got a beautiful 2008 Visitor’s Guide) makes us think we’re going to enjoy our visit and we hope that it will suit our lifestyle enough to move there.

I know there are a lot of people out there who will be happy if we move closer to the East Coast.  I know there are those who were happy that we moved to the West Coast and will be sorry when we leave.  I do feel that being closer to my parents is a very good thing, as it always did bother me that we would be so far away from them if they needed us.  Eric says he likes the idea that he can drive to NY instead of flying, since it’s not as long a drive as it would be from here!  So, there are many positives!

Well, it had to happen.  I actually had to work my butt off today at work!  How DARE they!  It started out fine.  I got to enjoy THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES while I was eating my NUTRISYSTEM breakfast cereal.  Then, I went to an empty conference room and was on the phone for a half hour completing an application for AETNA benefits through my employment agency.  They’re not the best benefits in the world, but they’re pretty cheap and at least we’ll be covered!  The COBRA we were offered through Eric’s union was just too expensive.  I’m hoping to be working in a permanent job by fall, so it’s only for a few months.

When I got back to my desk my boss was there and he started throwing stuff at me right away.  I don’t mean literally.  He’s actually very polite.  He just gives me so many instructions and I’m writing as fast as I can, but I get confused and flustered sometimes.  Today, I was PMS’ing (sorry if that’s TMI for some of you guys out there!) and at one point I just had to have a conversation with myself to “stay calm, don’t worry, and just get through it!”

I had to pull together about 15 documents into two separate folders for two different clients in two different meetings.  One client required 5 copies of everything; the other needed 8.  Some of the documents went into the folders for both clients, but some were just for one; some just for the other.  Then, I had to pull together folders for a meeting another guy was going to in China and had to add and delete slides from two PowerPoint presentations.  Sound confusing?  Welcome to my day!

I finally got it all together and gave the "international package" for the China meeting to a guy on the other side of the floor, and shipped all the stuff for the 2 meetings my boss has on Friday to a hotel in NY where my he will be staying this week.  Now, I just have to worry about the package getting there on time.  I sent a package last THURSDAY for MONDAY delivery in Milwaukee and it didn’t arrive until TUESDAY!  Thank goodness it was UPS’s mistake and not mine!

One other thing that happened this morning at work: My boss came out and said he was SO sad.  He took me into his office and told me that the woman I’ve been sitting in for is now in Colorado with her parents.  She’s been very ill, and he said she’s dying.  She’s only 40 and it is very, very sad.  He was almost crying and I felt really bad for him.  He explained that he had to call her and tell her that they’re posting her job, because by law you have to hold someone’s job for 3 months, and they held it for 4 months, but now they have to replace her.

He didn’t say anything about ME taking the job, or offering me the job, or applying for the job or anything, and I have to admit I was a little insulted, although I was relieved.  I definitely wouldn’t take the job, even if we were staying, because I don’t like working for him very much and I think that there’s not enough for me to do and I really would go crazy if it was a full-time, long-term job.  Also, I promised myself I would NEVER work for a boring company again and I’m determined to REALLY try to avoid doing that.  That means no accounting firms, no investment firms, no banks.

So, even though I don’t WANT the job, I still want them to WANT me for the job!  I know the woman who was training me (who has become my mentor) wanted me for the job, because she told me weeks ago that the woman probably wasn’t coming back and asked me if I wanted the job.  When I said no, she immediately assumed that it was because of my boss and told me there were other jobs available in the office.  She likes me.  She really, really likes me!

I decided to tell her the absolute truth and told her our situation.  Turns out she and her husband are thinking of retiring in 3 years and THEY want to move to Asheville!  She already lived in Charlotte for many years, about 20 years ago!  I thought that was a big coincidence!

So, the bottom line is, I told my boss that I would be willing to come back to work and keep temping until they hired someone, when I got back from vacation, but they may hire someone by then.  So, I may only be at this job for another 2 weeks.  It was a sweet gig, and was nice while it lasted!

When I got home this afternoon I was so exhausted that I fell asleep watching Dr. Phil.  Eric was working on his bicycles all afternoon.  There were three laying around the living and dining rooms without their wheels.  He was doing “maintenance.”

He woke me up at 8:00pm and I made us salads and NUTRISYSTEM entrées.  Then, we each had a little serving of gelato (you don’t need much!) and watched AMERICAN IDOL.  I thought there were some stellar performances tonight!

After that, I went into the bedroom to watch the DANCING WITH THE STARS elimination show and Eric watched “cage fighting.”  I don’t know how such a sweet, gentle boy could love boxing and cage fighting so much, but he really enjoys it.  I find it very upsetting!

I DO have some great news!  Eric and I actually have people to visit in Asheville and Charlotte!  My sister, Audrey, has a friend, Judy, who lives right outside Asheville.  She invited us to visit her while we’re there and we made plans to see her on Friday.

Then, I was emailing with a friend, Ted, who lives in NJ with his partner, Ricky.  Eric and I have been friends with them since the early ‘90s when I met them when I was performing in cabarets and nightclubs in Manhattan.  Ted is an amazing performer, writer, and director.  Ricky is an amazing singer, pianist, accompanist, musical director, arranger, and all-around performer!

Ted told me that his niece and her husband recently moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, because they love MOUNTAIN BIKING!  I couldn’t believe it!  I asked him if I could contact her and he sent me her email.  I wrote to her immediately and told her we were looking to do the same thing and that we were looking at Asheville, but would love to meet her and her husband and see Charlotte, too.

She wrote back and was so sweet and helpful.  She sent me an email with about 10 links to places to go, things to see, mountain biking trails, clubs, etc., etc.  It was fantastic!  I also found out she’s a YOGA INSTRUCTOR!!!  I love these people already!

Her name is Steffie and his is Dave.  They invited us to come to Charlotte and Dave is going to take Eric out for a mountain bike ride on Saturday morning and I’m going to take one of Steffie’s yoga classes.

I can’t wait!  It will be SO nice to meet new people and hear what they have to say about Asheville and Charlotte.

So, yesterday I weighed a surprising 124.2 – my new all-time low; today, 124.8.  Yesterday I was SO good on my diet.  I had my NUTRISYSTEM cereal with soy milk and a nice salad with cottage cheese for lunch (no NUTRISYSTEM entrée).  When I got home I had a green apple and some all natural, no sugar added peanut butter as a snack.  All we had for dinner was a NUTRISYSTEM FLAT BREAD PIZZA.  I didn’t have any gelato.  Instead, I had a WEIGHT WATCHERS ice cream bar.  So, somewhere in there I managed to gain 6 ounces.  I just don’t get it!

Anyway, I went to bed VERY early last night – I think it was before 10:00pm!  I really needed it and it was a lot easier to get out of bed this morning!  It’s never really hard for me – I mean, I do it without ever being late, but sometimes it hurts.  Know what I mean?  It’s just the 20 steps from the bed to the bathroom.  Once I’m in the shower, it’s all good!

So, I've been thinking non-stop about the two shows this weekend.  The show on Saturday will be a lot more casual.  I’m not going to dress up, I’m not bringing my high-end or large items, I’m only bringing our card table (which is our dining room table!), and I’m not using my beautiful tablecloth.  I’ll just use one that fits that table and looks nice.  They’re providing us with a 6-foot table on Sunday AND a chair.  I’m saving my high-end items, including the pearl lamp and the 3-panel screen, for Sunday.  I’m just bringing the smaller items and the decoupaged items on Saturday.  If I sell out, I’ll still have enough to fill up my table on Sunday (ever the optimist).

On Sunday I’m planning to dress up.  I’m going to wear a vintage dress and get all glitzed up in vintage jewels.  I figure I might as well sparkle as much as my merchandise!  I just have to see which vintage dress I can fit into.  Oy!

I did wear a skirt the other day to work that I had to stop wearing mid-way through our trip, because it got too tight.  I’m happy to say it not only fit, it was comfortable!  Yeah!

So, work started out fine.  My boss called me once and gave me a few things to do, I worked a lot on my “special project” and I finished THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, which I recommend SO highly.  I’ve read some of the BEST books in the last 8 weeks.  This was another beautiful, sweet, lovely story.  I read tonight that they’re making a movie of this book, which will come out next year, starring Queen Latifah and Dakota Fanning.  I’m not thrilled with Dakota in the role of the young girl, as she is not what I pictured AT ALL, but I guess the author thought she was right, as she co-wrote the screenplay.

I finished the book by 1:00pm and had NO idea what I was going to do for the next four hours.  I decided to go downstairs to the coffee cart and get myself a latte, because I really felt like I was going to fall asleep from boredom.  I figured some caffeine would help me stay awake, and help me to get things done tonight, as well, because I usually fall asleep watching DR. PHIL after work.

I went downstairs and saw that they were having a book sale in the lobby.  I completely forgot about it!  They had sent an email earlier in the week, but didn’t send out a reminder today.  I had money with me and decided to buy a book, since I finished my book today and didn't have another one waiting for me.  What good timing!  I found a book that was a bunch of inspirational stories by people who had overcome great obstacles.  I can’t think of the name, but it’s something with “Pearls.”  I started reading the first story and the phone rang.

I had been wishing for something to do and you know how they say, “Be careful what you wish for!”  The next thing you know this guy called from Dallas.  I had done some work for him Tuesday (my boss volunteered me, because I guess he knows I don’t have anything to do).  I had no problem with helping him, but the work he was giving me was very complicated and it’s difficult to explain over the phone and I was having a hard time.

I was working with two different PowerPoint documents and I started to get very flustered and confused.  I think the caffeine was definitely working against me.  I got so nervous, but I think I figured it all out and sent an email with the documents to Fulfillment, so they could make 8 bound color copies of each.

I started to get really nervous that I sent the wrong version, so I sent it back to the guy in Dallas and told him to confirm that these were the right ones.  He probably thinks I’m an idiot, but I don’t care.  I’m just a temp and I don’t want the responsibility of making copies of the wrong version and sending it to CHINA!!!!

I left at 5:00pm and was speeding when I got home.  Eric went on his bicycle to MICHAEL'S and picked up a hole punch for me.  I started working on my price tags.  I got everything tagged and the price tags look so cute.  I think I mentioned that they’re shaped like pink perfume bottles!  On the front is a mini version of my business card with the price and on the back is a description of the item.  Eric helped me with pricing.  Sometimes he thought it should be more than I suggested; sometimes a little less.  I’m including sales tax in my prices, so it will be easier for me (I don’t need change, or singles).  Also, I made my prices a little higher than I usually would, so I can be flexible if someone asks “Can you do a little better.”

After I finished the pricing I made us NUTRISYSTEM entrées and I watched THE BIGGEST LOSER: COUPLES.  It’s down to the final 6 and the girls are kicking butt!

I finally got everything done with our taxes and will be mailing the signed forms back to the accountant tomorrow.  What a weight off!   I’m happy to report that we’ll be getting money back, which is a great relief.  I had no idea how it would turn out, what with the sale of the house, the fact that neither of us worked much, etc.  Since Eric’s not working and I don’t know how much longer I’ll be working, it’s reassuring to know that some money will be coming in within a month or two, to help defray the cost of rent, or moving!

Tomorrow night the only thing I have to do is pack everything into boxes and my little pink suitcase on wheels.  I figure it’s an easy way to transport my goods!  Eric will help me with the pearl lamp and the 3-panel screen.  I was hoping he’d want to stay with me for a while, to see the show and hear the bands, etc., but he is really not interested and of course I don’t want him to be there if he’s not into it.  He’ll just drop me off and pick me up, which is fine with me, because they said parking around there is very hard and at least I don’t have to worry about that!

I don’t know what tomorrow will bring at work, because I do have to get 8 folders together to ship to China for this guy in Dallas and that means coordinating a lot more printing jobs.  I don’t really mind.  I guess it will help the day to pass, but what bothers me is having the responsibility for something so big.  I mean, I’m just a temp.  What if I make a mistake?  This stuff is going to CHINA!  It’s not like they can fix anything, if I send the wrong stuff, or replace them, if it gets lost in transit.  It’s a lot of responsibility for me and I don’t like it one bit!

Well, it’s just one more day and I just have to get through it and then I can do what I REALLY love – all weekend long!

I drove in today, because I brought some of my craft stuff to show the girls at work.  I called my friend Susan as soon as I got to work to find out how Andrew was doing.  He was doing great and after only three days in the hospital they were releasing him, because they knew he was going back to Susan’s sister in South Carolina, and not going all the way back to NY.  They are going to stay with her sister for a few days and then figure out if he should fly back or drive back to NY.  He’s doing much better and we are all very relieved.

Get Well Soon, Andrew.  We love you and miss you!

So, my boss was in until noon and we really bonded this morning.  We had discussed his recent trip to NY and he had gone to see Patti LuPone in GYPSY on Broadway.  We talked about what a powerhouse performer she was and I told him I had seen her several times in concert, but had never seen her in a show.  We talked about Gypsy and how many different superstars have played the part of Rose – starting with Ethel Merman, Rosalind Russell in the movie, Angela Landsbury, Tyne Daly, Linda Lavin (whom I saw in the late 80s), Bette Midler (in the made-for-TV movie), Bernadette Peters (just a few years ago) and now Patti.  It’s a role most divas would die for.  Me, I’d much rather play Gypsy Rose Lee!

So, I brought in Patti LuPone’s CD, MATTERS OF THE HEART, which I only have because my dear departed friend, Dick Gallagher, was the musical director, arranger, conductor and pianist for the concert and the CD.  I love to listen to it, not because of Patti so much, but because I get to hear Dick play the piano again, which is always a delight.  I wanted my boss to hear the CD, since he’s such a big fan of Patti’s and he never heard her sing any of these songs.

He brought in his IPOD and played first Angela Landsbury and then Ethel Merman singing EVERYTHING’S COMING UP ROSES from Gypsy.  They’re both fabulous, but I can just picture Patti doing it.  I’m sure she brings the house down every single night.  If there’s one thing she is, it’s a powerful performer.

The minute my boss left I went down to the car, drove it over to the back of our building, unpacked my jewelry mosaics and decoupaged items and set them up.  It actually looked so cute in the back of the PT, and the sunshine made everything really sparkle!

Three or four girls came down to see, and then a few other people just happened to walk outside and came over out of curiosity.  Everyone was very complimentary and liked everything a lot.  They were intrigued by the decoupage, because some of the girls said they had tried it, but it didn’t look like that!  I told them there are a few techniques you have to learn, but it is really easy.  I told them I used to teach classes and I would love to teach them.  They got SO excited, and I promised them that I would teach them, whether I came back to work after vacation or not!

After a while downstairs a security guard came by in a little cart.  He must have been alerted to my presence, because he said you’re not allowed to sell without a vendor’s license.  I told him I wasn’t selling and that I worked for Brandes.  He apologized and left, but it was almost time to go back to work anyway, so  I packed everything up and drove the car back to the lot where I’m allowed to park all day.

I went back to my desk and worked on expense reports for a while, then started back on my special project.  I was so tired and my eyes were closing.  The work is pretty redundant and boring, so it was no wonder.  I had to keep stopping and doing something else, because my eyes were crossing!

I drove my co-worker home and then came home myself.  I was so tired that I fell asleep watching Dr. Phil.  Eric woke me at 7:30pm.  I made us NUTRISYSTEM pizzas and Eric and I worked together to make him chicken cutlets.  I made the marinade and he cut the cutlets into thin slices.  We added mushrooms and he cooked it in the oven for 15 minutes.  Easy and fast!  Now, he’ll have chicken to eat for the next few days.  We’re trying to eat everything in the fridge since we’ll be gone for 2 weeks!

I watched THE BIGGEST LOSER: COUPLES.  That show is so inspiring and I feel VERY guilty sitting in bed eating gelato while they’re running a triathlon in Sydney, Australia!  These people have changed their lives so dramatically and I can’t even lose 10 pounds!  By the way, I was down to a new low on Saturday – 123.4.  Same weight on Sunday, but then I was up to 124.8 on Monday and 125 yesterday and today.  I seem to lose a little, gain a little, lose a little, gain a little.  Very frustrating.

I don’t know WHAT I’m going to do all day tomorrow.  Maybe I’ll do more reorganizing of drawers in one of the guy’s offices.  He had me organize two drawers and I really just separated everything into piles and put them into hanging folders, but I could go back and really go through everything more efficiently and get rid of the outdated documents and alphabetize everything for easy access.  It’s more fun than the “special project!”

Eric and I are still trying to get our medical benefits, since Eric was dropped by his union since he didn’t put in enough hours in 2007.  We got 3 or 4 calls from AETNA (they’re really persistent) wanting to know all our medical histories.  Eric has to call our doctor in NY to get blood pressure readings and cholesterol levels.  They really make you jump through hoops.  I just hope we get accepted!

So, this morning I weighed 124.6.  I gained a pound and a half in 24 hours.  And I was really good with my diet yesterday!  I had NUTRISYSTEM oatmeal for breakfast, which is really filling.  I had a nice salad for lunch – but I have to admit I DID put some blue cheese in there and regular salad dressing (not fat free) from the salad bar at work.  I had a decaf latte in the afternoon – and I didn’t tell her to use non-fat milk.  When I got home my only snack was one piece of cheese and some edamame and then I just had another salad for dinner!  I had my same small portion of gelato that I’ve had every night this week, so where did I go wrong?  Could regular salad dressing and a little milk have really made me gain a pound and a half?  I give up (not really, I’m just being dramatic)!

I got to work and started right in on my special project.  I focused on it and got a lot done by lunch time.  Eric called me a few times.  First of all, I forgot to pay the rent!  After six months, you’d think I’d be in the habit, but I forget every single month!  If we didn’t have it in by 3:00pm today they would charge us $25, so it’s a lucky thing Eric saw the manager and he called me to find out where I keep the checkbook!

Then, he called me again, because – for some reason – the doctor’s office figured out that they could give him his 3 blood pressure readings, but still wouldn’t give him the cholesterol readings, so we STILL have to wait the 2 weeks, even though they have part of the information, because they don’t have ALL the information.  I told Eric to just lie and say he got the cholesterol information and just make up three numbers, but he was afraid.  I think he thought he’d get arrested if they discovered he was lying.  Anyway, we will have to wait until the end of April to get our benefits.

My boss got back from Milwaukee at 2:00pm, but was so busy we hardly spoke at all.  Earlier in the week, I had done a big project for someone in Dallas who was going to Beijing on Monday for a meeting.  I got together all the materials for this big meeting, but gave the documents to his assistant (a guy) to ship to Beijing.  I told him I didn’t want to be responsible for that part of the project, because I’ve had trouble shipping things to Milwaukee, and didn’t even want to deal with Beijing!

So, the guy calls me from Dallas today to say that the package is stuck in Customs in Beijing, because the mail people put a value of $5 on it, so they won’t release it until the duty is paid.  Can you believe it?  So, he tried to find out if there was any way we could get a package delivered tomorrow to Dallas, so he could take it with him, but there was no way – it was just too late in the day.

So, we figured out that if we emailed the documents to a KINKOS in Dallas, they could make all the copies for him and then he could take it with him.  So, I coordinated all the documents into two emails and sent them off.  What a nightmare!

After that was taken care of I went back to my project and actually finished!  I couldn’t believe it.  The guy who gave me the project was so grateful, and so appreciative.  He made me feel great! 

One of the girls missed my little “art show in the back of the car” on Wednesday, so I promised her I would bring a few pieces in to the office to show her, which I did today.  She said she would swing by my cubicle, so I set it all up and when she saw it she said I had to bring the pieces over to another desk, to show some of the other guys and girls.  They really loved my work and were so complimentary of all my pieces.  I only brought jewelry mosaics in, not decoupage, and I explained to them how I saved all the broken jewelry and loved giving something a new lease on life.

It made me feel great that they liked my work, and then we started talking about how it was my last day, because I was going on vacation and might not be back.  They said they loved me and I fit in perfectly with the group and they wished I was coming on staff.  I explained to them that I worked for an accounting firm for 20 years and wasn’t going to start working for an investment company.  It just wasn’t my style, even though I loved the atmosphere and found the group to be super nice, supportive and friendly.  They said they liked me because I talked back to Cliff – and here I thought I’d been VERY tame, nice and held my tongue!  I guess they’ve never seen the Wrath of Peppy, so they have no idea how I can be!

My boss left at 4:00pm and after I finished my project I basically played around on the computer until it was time to go home.  I almost started to cry when I said goodbye to my friend and co-worker, who drove me to work every day for the past 10 weeks.  We really became friendly and I enjoyed traveling to and from work with her every day.  I don’t know if we’ll ever become REAL friends, but she is a very sweet, hard-working girl and I think she’s wonderful.  And I have to mention that she offered to drive us to the airport, but I told her our flight was taking off at 6:00am on Monday!!!  We’re taking the same shuttle we took last time, which worked out great.

When I got home I decided I should do 2 loads of laundry, because the machines are always so crowded over the weekend.  I watched DR. PHIL and then started two loads.  Just as I thought, the laundry room was empty!  When I finished the laundry, I unpacked all my merchandise and repacked a box to bring to Gili Anna tomorrow in La Jolla.  I had emailed her to ask if she was still interested in taking my jewelry mosaics and she was very enthusiastic.  She’s such a doll and has been so supportive.  I can’t wait to show her my new stuff!

After I finished all that, I started packing for the trip.  I filled up all my 3 oz. bottles and put them in my 1 qt. clear plastic bags.  It really makes me crazy the way you have to do all this, but what can you do?  Rules are rules and this is the world we live in now.

Tomorrow I will go to Gili Anna, hit the post office, Starbucks (I’m sure) and go to UPS to ship my key frame to my friend, Katie, who fell in love with it just by seeing the pictures on my CRAFTS BLOG and decided she had to have it!

By the way, if you haven’t checked out my CRAFTS BLOG lately, I posted the pictures from Saturday’s CRAFTABOUT in South Park.  I haven’t had a chance to do the Sunday SPRING LINE-UP in North Park, but I hope to do so before we leave for Florida on Monday!

My boss was back and he kept me pretty darn busy all day!  I drove in with my ride this morning (who works in HR at my firm).  I asked her what the situation is with temps there and she said there might be a temp assignment in a few weeks, so if I can just stretch this job out until then, I can go from one job to another.  Unfortunately, she thinks they may hire someone internally -- and it may happen next week!

I thought about the job I interviewed for all night last night (and did not sleep very well).  I talked about it with Eric, Jimmy and the woman I ride with to work.  My problem with the job is it’s temp-to-perm, which means that they want to test the person’s skills before hiring them, but the eventual goal is to hire someone.  So, if I take the job and work there for a few months and then leave, I feel I’m really being irresponsible, because then they have to start from scratch.  I know there are a lot of people who would say, “Who cares?” or “Too bad!,” but I’m not one of them.  I’m just too nice!

Also, I have a lot going on right now.  I feel like the stress of learning a new job, added to everything else would make life extremely stressful.  Eric hasn’t been feeling great and he’s job-hunting.  If he gets a job, he’s going to need a car and if I take this job I’m going to need a car.  If I stay at this job for another week or two, even if they hire someone I can always tell the agency to get me a job downtown.  The #50 bus stops right outside my apartment and I can actually work in the CITY!  I think that would be nice for a change!  I'm sick of working in the middle of nowhere and this new job is even WORSE!

So, I decided if I heard from the agency and they wanted me for the job, I was going to turn it down.  Unfortunately, I didn’t hear from them until I turned my phone back on at 5:00pm and, when I called them back, the woman had already left for the day.  So, I’ll find out tomorrow.  I’m really hoping they DON’T want me, so I don’t have to be the “bad guy,” because of course the agency is going to be mad at me, and they don’t care one bit about the company and whether I eventually leave or not.  They just want their money!

So, I actually really worked hard today!  My boss has a big conference call on Friday and I’m preparing materials to be emailed to all the attendees.  I also worked on a big mailing to a lot of people in Canada, which is going out tomorrow.  Then, there’s the big PowerPoint presentation I’m updating with all the materials as of 3/31/8, which is due next Wednesday. 

So, I’ve got my hands full.  It’s actually fun and I love 99% of the work.  I just don’t like dealing with this guy very much.  He DID ask me about my vacation, and acted interested, but instead of listening to what I did, he told me about all the great stuff I missed in Asheville (Biltmore Estate and Penland Craft School).  I knew about both places, but we weren’t able to fit it in.  I couldn’t explain to him that it was “all about Eric” and we weren’t really on vacation, but were checking out both cities for a possible relocation.

Everyone at this office is SO DARN NICE, except him.  He’s really the only person I’ve met in 10 weeks that I don’t like!  The girls are so friendly and sweet.  Today I was asking everyone questions regarding different projects, and they all sit in cubicles in the same area, so each heard me asking the others questions.  There was just one girl I hadn’t asked anything, so I told her I was going to have to find something to ask her, so I would evenly annoy everyone!  Of course, they all said how they didn’t mind helping, and I’m not annoying, etc.  So very, very sweet.  I really like them, and would be tempted to go on staff except that the firm is BORING and the boss is MEAN.  Otherwise, I’d be VERY tempted!

Meanwhile, I found out that they’re kind of combining two positions to create one, so even if I wanted this job, I wouldn’t be qualified.  They’re adding a professional to the group and he or she will take on the few responsibilities that I’ve been fulfilling.  I knew they couldn’t hire someone to do what I do, because I don’t do anything!  I learned that Kristina used to have a lot more responsibilities, but the more important things were divided up among other people when she first left, and only the administrative stuff was left for all the temps.  So, that’s why there’s nothing to do – I wasn’t doing 100% of the job!

When I got home I was SO tired, but I was afraid if I took a nap I either wouldn’t be able to wake up, or I’d never fall back to sleep tonight.  I worked on the computer, paying bills, downloading pictures, and even submitted some resumes for Eric.  He called unemployment today and found out about a website where you can submit your resume for different jobs. 

Do you know you can’t “go down to unemployment” anymore?  There are no offices to go to.  I mean, people still work in an office, but if you want to communicate you do it online or on the phone.  You don’t visit.  They don’t hand you checks anymore – it’s on a credit card, and you don’t go to submit your unemployment papers – you do it on the phone or online.  How the world has changed since I was on unemployment for 7 weeks in 1983!  That’s the last time I collected!

In those days, you had to go down to this depressing office (in Flushing – on Main Street) and you had to wait in line and then you had to beg and plead and tell them how hard you were trying to find a job and show them your notes and shed a few tears and then they’d hand you your check.  You had to be back in two weeks to do it all over again.  They TORTURED you for your unemployment.  It’s all too easy today, and I wish I had the opportunity to do it!

I made us the last of the vegetable soup and NUTRISYSTEM pizzas for dinner.  Then, we had a little gelato while Eric watched basketball and I worked on the computer.

I wanted to show you some pictures I took of a tree in the parking lot of our apartment complex.  It hides the dumpsters (you can see one of them on the right).  It’s so big and gorgeous and it’s in full bloom right now.  I told Eric I think it’s a giant azalea, but he says I’m wrong.  Does anyone know?  It doesn’t really matter what they are, I enjoy looking at the lush pink flowers every single day.  Enjoy!

I get an email every day from Jillian Michaels, who is one of the trainers on THE BIGGEST LOSER.  I signed up for it at the BIGGEST LOSER website.  Okay, I’M a loser, but I need all the help I can get!

So, every day she has helpful hints for losing weight – like take your dog for a nice, long walk (don’t have a dog), or walk with a friend (don’t really have a friend, either).  Lots of them are about portioning food, or believing in yourself.  They’re all pretty helpful, if you can implement them!  Anyway, the other day she said that you shouldn’t weigh yourself every day, because it’s torturous to see the scale go up and down.  She said to weigh yourself once a week and – if you’re really doing your job – you should see results each and every week.

I’m wondering if that’s not a good idea, because Sunday I weighed 126.8 – pretty bad.  Yesterday, I lost a pound and was down to 125.8.  Wheee!  Today, I was back up to 126.2.  This is driving me CRAZY!  So, I decided I’m not going to weigh myself again until NEXT Wednesday and see how well I can do in a week.  The problem is, it kind of lets you off the hook, so you can cheat a little, which is what I ended up doing tonight…but let me start at the beginning!

I knew I was going to have a busy day today.  I got up after just one “snooze” (I usually snooze twice – sometimes three times).  I was ready by 7:00pm and decided to go out to wait on the street for my ride and call NY to see if they had received our COBRA payment and the benefits had kicked in yet.  No such luck, but they told me as soon as they receive it they will process it and our benefits will be back.  So, I just have to keep calling.

My boss never usually arrives until after 9:00am, so I knew I was in trouble when he said, “Good morning!” at around 8:30am.  I had left feeling miserable yesterday – blowing my nose and sneezing a lot.  I really thought I might be getting sick, but I was okay last night and fine this morning.  I know he was relieved, because he had a LOT going on today.

I really earned my keep today.  I completed three PowerPoint presentations, one of which was express mailed to 11 people in Canada, and 2 of which were emailed.  I was busy ALL day.  When I finally finished the third document and looked at the time it was 4:35.  I really had a great day.  I enjoy keeping busy, and the work was not too challenging, so it was actually fun.  I never minded the work I do and enjoy it when I finish something and do it well.

I collaborated with someone in Milwaukee, and an executive and a couple of other admin people in my office, so “it took a village” to get these three documents done.  There wasn’t one hitch and I even caught a couple of mistakes someone else made, so I was really proud of myself.  When it was time to go, I walked over to my boss’ office to say goodbye, thinking he’d probably thank me and tell me what a great job I did.

I didn’t even get a thank you.  I said, “Goodnight!” and he said, “See you tomorrow.”  That really annoyed me, but it’s just because I’m the kind of person who ALWAYS thanks people profusely and tells people how great they are and what a wonderful job they did, and I definitely like to hear it myself.  I enjoy a pat on the back – so sue me!

That’s one thing I always enjoyed about working for John at PwC, with whom I worked for 3 years.  He would always compliment me – “Fantastic!”  or “You’re the best!” and always thanked me for my hard work.  I could tell he meant it – he wasn’t being patronizing or just saying it because he knew I liked to hear it (although he did know).  He just was able to express his gratitude and it made him a wonderful person to work for, because I always felt appreciated and valued.  That’s a wonderful thing to impart to an employee, because – after all – isn’t that what we all need?  Validation and a feeling of self-worth?

I called the agency at lunch and found out that I didn’t get the job.  I was so relieved and told the girl that I didn’t really want it.  She said, “I could kind of tell when I spoke to you after the interview.”  I had just expressed to her my concern about commuting – since I wouldn’t have a ride to/from work every day and Eric needs to have a car, too.  She said they really liked me and it was a great interview, but they interviewed 5 people yesterday and there was someone else who was “a better fit.”  I was happy they really liked me, and she said she had no critique at all – so it was all good!

I had eaten a very fast lunch, because I was so busy – a pint of my vegetable soup and a tiny container of low-fat cottage cheese.  When I got home, I was exhausted and hungry.  I asked Eric to take me out to eat.  He said he had back-to-back basketball games and didn’t want to go out, so I got undressed, had a snack of hummus and snap peas, and settled in to watch TOP CHEF (my newest obsession).

At about 6:15pm, he came into the bedroom and said, “Okay.  Get dressed.  We’ll walk up the block to LA DOLCE VITA and have dinner.”  I got dressed and up the block we went.  I was a little hesitant about Italian, because it’s SO hard to be good, but I wasn’t going to argue if Eric was willing to take me out!

He ordered a chicken cutlet parmigiana dinner and I ordered a special – lobster ravioli with scallops in a pink sauce.  I immediately felt guilty, but figured if I watched my portions I’d be okay.  I had ½ a piece of bread – more to dip it into the fantastic sundried tomato dip they give you – and then we each had a tiny cup of their fabulous tomato bisque and a salad.  I kept my salad to a minimum – all veggies, a touch of blue cheese and a couple of anchovies.  I only ate 2 raviolis and a few scallops and was pretty full.  Then, my phone rang and it was my friend, Geri.  She’s visiting friends in Washington with her husband and she got a bad sore throat.  My poor darling.  I don’t know if she’s getting a chance to go online but – hope you feel better, Geri!!!

It was the perfect time for a phone call, because as I was talking Eric asked the waitress to put the rest of his dinner in a box and I pointed to mine, too.  If I had been left to my own devices, I probably could have put away another ravioli or two, but since I was satisfied, I stopped where I was.  At least I kept my portion in control, although the sauces were very fattening, I’m sure.

When we got home, Eric went back to his game and I went back to TOP CHEF.  He brought me a little gelato in our tiny gelato cups and I enjoyed that as the finale to a wonderful meal.

I felt my eyes close and ended up turning off the TV completely and taking a nap.  Eric knows when I’m sleeping, because I usually come out to the living room at almost every commercial, so he came in and found me out like a light.  He asked me when he should wake me and I said, “10:00pm.”  He woke me – I washed up and came out to blog.  If I had been all washed up and ready for bed, I probably would have slept through the night, but that’s something I just CANNOT do.  I HAVE to wash up in order to go to bed – I can’t sleep without doing that.  It’s a cardinal sin to me to sleep all night without brushing your teeth and washing your face!

I had a few minutes during the day today to read my new book – THE SAMURAI’S GARDEN – while I was waiting for documents, or in-between completed documents.  It is a beautiful story that takes place right after World War II starts.   A young man who lives in Hong Kong travels to his family’s summer home in Japan to recuperate from tuberculosis.  The people he meets and relationships he builds tell a lovely tale that has me enchanted.  I am intrigued by anything Asian, so I really enjoy the description of furnishings, gardens, clothing and food.  I can’t wait to get back to it tomorrow.  I know it won't be as busy as today, so I'll have more time to read.  I really did work hard today, but I enjoyed every minute.  I like being able to read, but I really enjoy when the day flies by -- as it did today!

My server was down for the third time this month, which is why -- to some of you -- this entry is late!

 The first thing that happened this morning at work is that my computer wouldn’t go on.  This happened one time before (also on a Monday morning), so I called “Tech Support” and they said they’d send someone.  I didn’t think this was a very good way to start the day, let alone the week, so I decided to treat myself to an iced mocha from the coffee girl downstairs.

When I got back the tech guy was there.  He figured out that it wasn’t the monitor, so he took the computer and then came back and told me the hard drive had crashed and everything was lost.  Good thing I don’t keep anything on the hard drive!  I sat at another desk for a few hours, so I could send some emails for the boss, and then they brought me a new computer and I was up and running before noon.

I didn’t do anything for the rest of the day, except read almost 200 pages of my book!  I’m almost ¾ of the way done, which is very frustrating, because I’m REALLY enjoying it and don’t want it to end.

When I got home, Eric had a bad headache, which he’s had since yesterday afternoon.  I think it’s partly the heat.  It is SO damned hot here – around 90 degrees.  It’s supposed to cool down tomorrow, which should make it easier for everyone.  It’s unseasonably warm here, but I know it’s been warm in lots of places.  My sister, Audrey, told me it was 80 degrees in Albany last week.  Usually around this time of year you can expect 60 degrees in Albany.

It was also 80 degrees today in Charlotte (I keep track of the weather there now), and that’s unseasonably warm for JULY in Charlotte (as it is in SD).  Most of the time, it’s between 70-80 here – even in the dead of summer.  So, the whole country is warming up.  Just great.  Global warming at its very best.

It’s hard to do anything in this heat, so I didn’t feel like cooking or cleaning.  I sewed the sleeve of a cardigan that was ripped, so I can wear it tomorrow.  I actually put it on this morning and saw the rip, but didn’t have time to fix it.  I also need to iron a dress tonight, so I can wear it tomorrow, but the thought of plugging in the iron doesn’t thrill me.

Aren’t you glad you read my blog?  How would you know about my sewing and ironing if you didn’t check in on me everyday?  You might REALLY miss out on something important!

I DID get a bit of good news today.  Our friend, Scott, is coming to San Diego for the weekend at the end of May.  I’m SO happy.  He’s someone Eric and I really enjoy and I’m really looking forward to it.  He has business in Scottsdale, but is making the trip here for 2 days before his meeting, just to see us, which I REALLY appreciate.  It’s nice to have something to look forward to!

The good news is it was MUCH cooler today – just in the mid-60s, so it was almost 30 degrees cooler than last week.  It felt SO much better!

My boss was in a meeting from 8:30am – 11:30am.  Then, he went out to lunch at noon and, when he came back, he spent the rest of the afternoon in his office with the door closed.  So, saying I didn’t have much to do today is an understatement.

I read 150 pages of VIOLETS ARE BLUE by James Patterson.  It’s actually pretty good and I saw some of the movies they made of his books and know the character, Alex Cross, so I got into it very quickly.

I can’t believe April is over already.  Time really does fly.  I notice this because the weekends come so fast!  The days just fly by and we’ve been here for six months already!

We got the electric bill and I am happy to report that our bill for gas and electric is $37.41.  Can you beat that?  The highest it ever was (in the winter when we were using the heat at night) was around $80, so it’s definitely manageable, even at its highest.  Since we don’t have a land line, our only bills are cable, gas and electric, our cell phones, and my wireless internet, which is $60 a month.  I can’t imagine paying less for electricity anywhere in the country, so everyone that says living in San Diego is so expensive just doesn’t know what they’re talking about!

So, I finally weighed myself today after a week.  I’m up to 126.4, which is 3 pounds heavier than I was a few weeks ago.  I have to admit I haven’t been cheating in the sense that I’m not eating candy bars or big bowls of spaghetti, but I have been more lenient with the amount of food I’m eating and I haven’t been having much NUTRISYSTEM food lately.  I’ve been eating lots of salads and fish, but I also bought Eric nuts at the winery (3 different varieties and they were SO good) and I had some, too.

I need to get back in the game and start concentrating on my meal plans again.  I always have a NUTRISYSTEM breakfast, but I’ve been eating salads without having a Nutrisystem entrée for lunch, and then we’ll have a NUTRISYSTEM entrée for dinner a few times a week, but also just have a salad, or fish and asparagus, etc.  We’ve also been having ice cream – the good stuff – but when I went food shopping on Saturday I bought low-fat, low-sugar fudge pops, which are allowed in the diet.  So, we’ll be eating that for dessert from now on, or fresh fruit, which I always keep around.

This tennis elbow is really bothering me and I’m going to make an appointment to see a doctor, but I don’t know what good it will really do.  They recommend icing it and taking Advil, and I’ve done that, but I guess I have to just continue and hope it feels better.  I know I can’t do yoga right now, because it REALLY hurts, and it’s so frustrating, because I was absolutely ready to start again when I got back from NC, but now I’m in too much pain.  It’s always something, isn’t it?
Well, I must close now, because I have to go see who was eliminated on AMERICAN IDOL.  You know how I love my reality TV!

I went to sleep early last night, because I was SO tired, but the guys downstairs were noisy at 4:30am (don’t ask me why), and I couldn’t really fall back to sleep after that.  So, I started the day a little out-of-it.  Eric says that when he’s lying on the floor, watching TV, he can hear their whole conversations.  I guess they can hear ours, too!

I finally had a busy day at work and it was great!  I was doing a big project for this guy in Milwaukee.  He emailed 30 letters and reports.  I had to print them all out, make up labels and get them all collated and mailed.  It was easy, time-consuming and fun!  As I was typing up the labels by looking at the addresses on each letter, I noticed 4 or 5 mistakes on different letters.

I emailed the guy and let him know and he REALLY appreciated it.  Someone else might just have typed it as they saw it, but I could tell something wasn't right on these addresses and I wanted everything to be perfect. 

After that was done, I had a few other little projects, and I had time to read three short stories in a STEPHEN KING book I borrowed from Eric.  They were pretty good.  I like short stories, because you can finish it in one sitting!

My boss left at 3:00pm, because he had to catch a plane to attend a wedding this weekend.  I wrote the woman I ride in with and told her I could leave early, if she could.  We snuck out at 4:30pm!

When I got home the first thing I did was 2 loads of laundry.  I had a lot of good clothes, which I won’t let Eric wash, because he’s not as careful as I am.   I wanted to get to the machines before all the “weekend washers” hit the machines.  It was a great idea, because all the machines were available.

After the laundry I made the last of the tamales and I also had a soft-boiled egg.  I haven’t had a soft-boiled egg in a long time, but these fresh eggs were calling to me!

I finally received my BC/BS medical cards, and Eric got a new card, too, so we’re official!  We had the benefits already, but now we’re card carrying again!

I watched GHOST WHISPERER and caught up on some of my recorded shows.  Tomorrow I have to go to the card store and food shopping, but I’m looking forward to sleeping late.  The boys downstairs better be quiet!

I forgot to mention yesterday that I finally had the “sit-down” with the boss and he told me that they hired someone (even though I already knew, because I just happen to drive in every day with a woman in HR).  He apologized that they hired internally (as if he thought I was disappointed) and I explained to him that I really wasn’t interested in the job (but I said it very nicely) and also that we weren’t staying in San Diego, so I was perfectly happy to keep temping.

He told me he’d be happy to give me a glowing reference (which is fabulous, because I know I can get about 3 or 4 from this job, which is great since my other references are six years old!).  He told me that the new person is going to have to transition from her present job to her new job, because that group lost an employee recently, and another is on sabbatical (more on that later), so she can’t just leave.  Goody for me!

Then, he told me that she’d be starting with 2 hours a day at the new job, just training, and would eventually go to full time.  I asked if that meant he would only need me for 6 hours a day, but he said that when she’s training she wouldn’t be working, so they would continue with me full time.  Goody, goody for me!

Then, I told him that my deepest wish was that I could keep temping at this firm, because I really love it there and I was hoping that by the time this job ends, there will be another opening.  He said that seemed like a great idea, but who knows (honest answer).  So, I’ll just keep my fingers crossed, but I told the woman from HR of my conversation as we were driving home and she said I would definitely be there for the rest of May.  Hallelujah!  I think I’ve been really lucky to find a full-time temp job for over 4 months!

I’ve also had a chance to refresh my skills and learn new things.  I have old versions of MICROSOFT OFFICE on my laptop at home, so learning the newest versions of PowerPoint, Word, and Excel was a real benefit.  I also got to use Outlook for the first time.

Although I have plenty of experience with emailing, Outlook has a lot of new options, including scheduling, which is really cool.  I got to use it for 4 months, so although I’m not an expert, I can definitely say I’m “proficient.”  This job has also given me the confidence that I can do well back in the corporate world.  It’s not a place I was dying to go back to, but – hey – you do what ya gotta do.  Right now, it is the best thing for us, and it’s the same as always – I manage to make it fun every day.

Now, about the sabbatical – this firm is fabulous.  If you work for 7 years you get 6 weeks paid sabbatical, along with your regular vacation.  I think that’s amazing!  You can take it all at once, or 3 weeks at a time, or 2 weeks, etc.  No wonder the turnover at this firm is minimal!

So, I managed to keep pretty busy today.  I finished a PowerPoint presentation, which was signed off on by my boss and two other people who are participating.  I then had it copied and bound, and put together folders for all participants in a client meeting tomorrow morning at 8:30am.  I had it all done by 2:00pm, and just read my book (which I finished at 2:30pm).

At 4:45pm, one of the other execs called my boss and told him there was a page out of order.  First of all, it wasn’t my fault – that’s how they told me to do it.  Second of all, they both signed off on it, so I guess they both didn’t notice before I had it copied and bound.  Third of all, the “Fulfillment Department” closes after 4:00pm, so there was no way I could get it fixed tonight.

I printed out the two pages that need to be replaced (since the page numbers changed) and have it ready to race to the Fulfillment Department first thing tomorrow morning to have them take the presentations apart, remove the two wrong pages, insert the two right pages and re-bind.  I’m assuming they’ll get it done before the 8:30am meeting!

It kind of annoyed me, and freaked me out a little, because they had all afternoon to notice and of course everything happens at the last minute, which I hate.  I purposely get everything done ASAP, so that there’s room for emergencies (which always arise), but never expect them to happen right before I leave for the day!  I would have been happy to stay late (and I’m sure my ride could have stayed, too), but there was no one there to rebind it anyway.

The cable guy came to the apartment this afternoon (right on schedule) and replaced my DVR box in the bedroom.  I’m hoping I’ll have no more problems.  Now, I just have to be sure to go through the schedule and set all my programs to record!  So far, so good.  I recorded DR. PHIL, AMERICAN IDOL, HELL'S KITCHEN and DANCING WITH THE STARS.

I had every intention of making dinner for us, but after watching TV for a while, I didn’t feel well and fell asleep around 7:00pm.  I don’t know what it was, but I felt much better after Eric woke me up after 8:00pm.  Since I said I wasn’t feeling great, he made dinner!  It was so delicious.  He made us NUTRISYSTEM pizzas with broccoli, and he also steamed broccoli and melted low-fat cheese on top, which was great, too.  To top it all off, he made my salad for tomorrow’s lunch.  Is he great, or what?

It was so nice to sit and relax (I watched DANCING WITH THE STARS) while he cooked.  Then, we ate dinner together and watched AMERICAN IDOL.  After that, he cleaned up and washed the dishes (it just gets better and better) while I blogged.

After that, we had dessert (low fat frozen yogurt) and watched HELL’S KITCHEN.  I do feel better, but when I was falling asleep I was hoping I wasn’t getting sick.  I HAVE to go to work tomorrow, because I have a very important job to do first thing in the morning, so I’m hoping I’m not coming down with something.  That would stink!  I do have something great to look forward to – my boss will be in a meeting for three hours and I have a new Dick Francis mystery!

I got the problem with the PowerPoint presentation resolved first thing this morning and then my boss was in a meeting from 8:30am – 11:30am.  I didn’t have a thing to do, so I started my newest Dick Francis mystery – COMEBACK – and I’m enjoying it very much!

When my boss returned from his meeting he asked me to do a few small things and then he asked me to come into his office.  He showed me two beautiful frame black-and-white photos (taken in Hong Kong) that he wanted to hang and asked my advice.  I told him where and how I’d hang them, and he agreed.  He called facilities and arranged for someone to hang them.

Then, we started talking about picture framing and how expensive it is.  His son-in-law has a framing shop, so he gets things done really cheap.  I told him that when I had my shop in NY I was next door to a picture framer and he would get so much business from me.  Many times, people would buy a print, poster, or painting and hate the frame.  I’d tell them to just go next door, tell Joe that “Peppy sent you” and he’d give you a great price.  I must have sent him 100 customers over 5 years and he was very appreciative.  He always framed things for me at cost and would repair things free all the time.  It was a great relationship which benefited us both.

Then, my boss started telling me about his collection of panoramic photos and photos of men in uniform, which he has framed in the same black wood frame and hung in an arrangement.  I told him it sounded fabulous!   We went from one subject to another and then someone came to see him, so I left.

When the person was done talking to him, he asked me to come back in, and I brought my little notebook, thinking he had something for me to do.  Nope!  He just wanted to continue our conversation!  I thought it was really cute and realize that, although he sometimes has a very abrupt, and testy manner, he really is a very nice guy. 

It’s flattering that he enjoys talking to me, and we DO have a lot in common, because he just moved to San Diego from NYC a few years ago.  He lived in NYC and on Long Island for many years, so we can talk about so much.  He’s also a big theatre buff and we enjoy the same types of music.  It took me a long time to get to know him, but now I really like him.  I still wouldn’t necessarily want to work for him permanently, but I do like him!

Tomorrow is my decoupage class at work.  I’m going to just explain the techniques of cutting – which papers work and which don’t, how size matters, and where to find inspiration.  I am bringing three examples of my work and also have a 2-page speech about the history of decoupage, which I will explain while they’re busy cutting.  I'm bringing lots of pages from magazines and catalogs, to give them something to cut, and ideas on what works.  I’m really looking forward to it.  The girls are very enthusiastic and are looking forward to it as much as me!

There’s a group at work that are very interested in AMERICAN IDOL (as am I!).  We discuss it every week and pick who we think will go home and who will win.  I think it’s a pretty easy guess this year (I’ve never been so sure in all the seasons)!

When I got home, Eric and I had a snack of edamame (which he made for me).  Then, at 7:30pm I made a salad for Eric, which he had with a NUTRISYSTEM entrée, and I had the rest of my vegetable soup (which is really filling).

I was finally able to put something up for sale on ETSY.COM.  I had a problem and was emailing back and forth with their support group, but they weren’t able to help me.  Finally, I wrote to our friend, Andrew, who is a computer genius.  He wrote back with very simple instructions and, in five minutes, I was in!  Unbelievable!  The support people couldn’t help me, but he could.

I told him he should be in the computer support and set-up business, because he’s so sweet, so friendly, and so smart.  I think he could really help people, and give them the confidence to work on the computer, even if they’re not computer-savvy.  He’s helped me so many times over the past few years, when I got new software, or when my computer crashed, or any time I had a particular problem.  Andrew always comes through!

I watched the season finale of AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL and, I am happy to report, for the first time in 10 seasons a full-figure girl won!  Yahoozie!  I loved Whitney from the very beginning and really wanted her to win.  She was nice, she was gorgeous, and she represented more of America than the twigs that usually walk the runway.  A very satisfying finale – I must say!

Next, I watched AMERICAN IDOL to see who the top two would be in the finale next week.  No big surprise – Syesha goes home; David and David battle it out to the end!  My prediction: Syesha will be on Broadway before fall; David Archuleta will win American Idol; David Cook will be a huge success!

DANCING WITH THE STARS will also be over soon.  What will I do when three of my favorite reality shows are done?  I guess there’s always another new show right behind it, right?

Tomorrow, May 15th, is an anniversary for me and Eric.  It’s 26 years since our first date (1982) and 25 years since we got engaged (1983).  The 15th is almost more important than our wedding anniversary, because it represents TWO wonderful days in our lives.  We were only dating for 6 weeks when we spoke about getting married, but Eric waited until October to ask my parents for my hand in marriage.  Then, we decided to wait until our one-year anniversary to officially get engaged, and then we waited another year to get married (on June 16th, 1984).

I meant to get a card for him, but I forgot.  Imagine my surprise when he gave ME one tonight!  It was sweet and beautiful.  He said he knows it hasn’t been much fun for us, because he has been so unhappy here, but he feels like things will get much better – and more fun!  It was just what I needed to hear.  I know he is feeling much better, and that he sees the light at the end of the tunnel.  He knows we are going to leave here, as soon as we can.  Now, we just have to figure out where to go!

MY SERVER WAS DOWN AGAIN LAST NIGHT, SO I COULDN’T POST THIS BLOG ENTRY UNTIL THIS MORNING (FRIDAY).  I FINALLY EMAILED SUPPORT TO COMPLAIN LAST NIGHT.  I HOPE THEY CAN DO SOMETHING TO STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING AGAIN!

Today was quiet and I read a lot of my book – COMEBACK – by Dick Francis.  I started it yesterday and I’ll finish it tomorrow morning.  I sent Eric to the library this afternoon to get me another one, because I know this one will be done before 10:00am!

My boss was in, but gave me virtually nothing to do all day.  This woman I work with asked me to make 20 copies of a 39 page document first thing this morning, and it was a super-rush.  I always find her mildly annoying, and have felt -- from the first day -- that she doesn't like me.  She gets the best "view" of me doing nothing, since she has a glass wall in her office and I sit right outside, so she sees me playing on the computer, reading, and refreshing my lipstick.  If I filed my nails, she'd probably hit the ceiling.

Anyway, you can only make 20 copies of a 39 page document as quickly as the copy machine can spit them out, so you'd think she would have understood, but she grabbed them out of my hand as if I had taken two hours instead of 10 minutes. Well, at least it provided a few moments of excitement, but that was pretty much it.

At 12:30pm I went to a small conference room and set up for my class.  I brought in a tray, a vase and a small mirror to show examples of my decoupage work.  I also brought in small scissors for each girl and lots of pages torn from magazines, to show them what types of things I like to cut out.  I explained to them about size (the smaller the better), thickness (no greeting cards or photos, unless you want to make color copies of them first), and content (I’m drawn to whimsical pictures, anything Asian, leopard prints, etc. – but they can cut out and use whatever appeals to THEM!)

One of the girls called in sick today, but the other two were excellent students and really took to it right away.  I got them set up cutting and read them my little 2-page speech about the history of decoupage.  One of the girls is Chinese, so she really appreciated hearing that the Chinese first developed cutting, gluing and lacquering pieces in the 12th century!

We had a lot of fun and it was over before we knew it.  They want to do it again really soon, and I told them the gluing was much too messy to do at work, so they’d have to come over.  They are really anxious to learn more!

Oh, here’s something I learned today: Do you know where the word “trivia” came from?  It was actually in my book!  It’s Latin for “three (tri) roads (via)” and the story goes that anyplace where three roads met in Italy it would be a gathering place and people would gossip, inform, and tell people what was going on where they had come, and find out what was going on where they were headed.  Since most of it wasn’t really based on fact, and it wasn’t necessarily important information, these gathering places came to be known for their “trivial” discussions – thus the word “trivia!”  Very interesting, eh?

We received a little “goodie package” in the mail from our friends, Geri and Larry, with packages of chili-spiced mango (our favorite healthy treat), a SPORTS ILLUSTRATED magazine for Eric (with lots of articles on basketball), a beautiful bookmark from a museum for me (because I’ve been reading so much lately), and a gorgeous Mary Engelbreit card.  It really made our day, and since it arrived on our “special anniversary” it was all the more special!  Thanks, guys!

After NUTRISYSTEM entrees, Eric watched a game tonight (what else is new?) while I watched UGLY BETTY.  It is such a great show.  It’s funny, campy, and touching, too.

It’s supposed to be over 100 degrees tomorrow.  It’s already very hot out and the apartment is stuffy already.  I can only imagine what tomorrow night will be like.  Eric said he saw a box of two fans at COSTCO, so he’s going back tomorrow to buy them.  We definitely need something if it’s going to get that hot.  At least they will help keep the air moving!  Eric said we would put one in the bedroom and another one in the living room.  We already have a ceiling fan in the dining room, so that should create some kind of breeze.  “We’re having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave!”

It was already really hot when I left the apartment at 7:30am.  It’s just such a difference from normal SD weather, and you really notice it – especially at such an early hour.

I had a few things to take care of at work this morning, and then read my book until it was time to train the girl who will be replacing me.  She’s a doll, and very smart, so it was fun and easy.

The first thing I did was teach her our expense report system.  I really enjoy doing that particular job.   It’s a great system (and she agreed) and it’s actually fun!  It does all the math for you, there’s minimal data input, and you just pull all the charges from AM EX and match it up to the receipts you get.

Since expense reports are due tomorrow, I figured this was a good start to her training.  First, I showed her how to do it all, she took good notes, and I made a bunch of entries.  Then, I let her sit at the wheel and she finished it herself.  We didn't get to submit it, because there are a few charges that still didn't come through, so we figured we'd wait and see if they're listed tomorrow.

Next, I explained to her about all the PowerPoint presentations I have to do.  She is less experienced in PowerPoint that I was (and I was very inexperienced), but I told her that you never have to create slides.  You just receive them via email from different people in the firm and incorporate them into a template document.  The only complicated thing is that everything has to be updated every quarter, so you can’t go back and use the same document from last quarter, even if everything is exactly the same.  You constantly have to create new documents to keep everything up-to-date.

There are certain people in the firm whose entire job is updating all the documents quarterly.  It seems like they just finish updating the last document (there are lots and lots) and it’s time to start all over again.  I think if I had that job I’d find it endlessly frustrating, because you’re never really done!

I showed her where on the network you find the documents and tomorrow I’ll show her how to update one of them with new slides, and then let her do it, too.  The most complicated part is that, because of some problems with the newest version of PowerPoint, when you import slides from one document to another a lot of the formatting gets messed up.  Fonts change, colors change, layout can even change.  So, you have to go through each slide and make sure it looks like the document you took it from.

I told her that I’ve been very lucky, because there’s always someone in the group to ask for help.  That’s one thing about this firm – they’re all very supportive and helpful.

After that, I took her into my boss’ office and gave her the “low down” on him.  I said that basically after 4 months I figured out that he’s a really nice guy, but doesn’t always have the best “bedside manner.”  He can be rather brusque, condescending and critical, but – on the other hand – he’s very easy-going, likes to gab, and backs down easily when confronted (as I found out lately).

She really appreciated that input.  I think she must have heard things about him, because she seemed to already know about his flaws.  I know he has a reputation in the office as being difficult, because things were said to me when I first interviewed four months ago, and people in the department have said things to me over the past few months, leading me to believe that he’s not a “firm favorite.”

I told her that she just has to take everything he says with a grain of salt, and not get offended.  She has to know that it’s him and not her.  She told me she’s not really sensitive, which will serve her well.  Basically, working for him is easy, because he’s very laid back (which he told her himself).  He usually knows about projects weeks in advance, so there’s very little last-minute, rush-rush work.  There aren't a lot of fires to put out (as Jimmy likes to say!).

She’s supposed to train with me every day from 12-3, but today I had to leave at 2:00pm, because HR had set up an appointment with me in another department to interview for another long-term temp job.  One of the girls in the department is leaving the firm, and another is going on vacation for 3 weeks (both starting the second week in June), so they need someone to replace them BOTH for 3 weeks, and then stay when the one girl returns, until they replace the second girl.  It could be another few months – at least through July.

I’m happy about it, because it means I’ll get to stay with the firm longer.  The girl I’m training is officially starting July 1st, but she’ll be devoting more and more time to the new job, and I’ll definitely be done training her in a few weeks, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to start this new job the first week in June (while the 2 girls are still there) and then I’ll be on my own starting the second week in June.  Shadowing them for a week will make it much easier for me when I'm on my own.

The party’s pretty much over, because this new job is much more complicated than the one I have now.  I know I’ve been bored, and the days drag on and on, but I’ve kind of gotten spoiled and I DO have a lot more Dick Francis mysteries to read!

This job is less about supporting an executive working with clients, and more about supporting a group that works behind the scenes – tech guys, consultants on special in-house projects, and all the support staff of the firm.  It entails taking hand-written minutes at meetings (something I’ve never done before), maintaining spreadsheets, and updating data.  There’s also a lot of stuff I AM used to doing – like expense reports (whee!), scheduling meetings, ordering food, and completing timesheets.

The good news is, I’ll have them to train me, but that means I’ll get trained in the morning, and train the new girl in the afternoon, which means it’s going to get pretty hectic.  I always get really nervous when I start something new, until I get going and realize it’s not so hard.  Know what I mean?  It’s always daunting until you’ve done it a few times.

Both girls I’m replacing told me they’re making a manual of their jobs and will have step-by-step instructions for each function of the job, which really gave me more confidence.  Between their training and the manuals I’ll have, there should be no problem.  There’s also another girl in the office who had the same job for years, so she’s a good resource if I have any questions.  In all, it should be fine, but I always get nervous about change.  Who doesn’t?

Today I just met with the two girls I’m replacing, and they gave me the thumbs up.  So, tomorrow I have to meet with one of the bosses.  They told me it’s just a formality, because they definitely want me to take the job.  I actually think they’re pretty lucky I’m around, because otherwise they’d have to hire a temp who doesn’t know anything about the firm, and I think that definitely gives me a leg up on anyone else they might have hired.  I already know a lot of the systems, I know where everything is and who most of the key people are, and that makes it much easier for me to transition than it would be for a new temp.

When I got home, I was exhausted.  I went to bed late last night, and had a pretty busy day (considering), so I immediately took a nap.  I was going to watch Dr. Phil, but there was an explosion at a hotel they’re building downtown, so Dr. Phil wasn’t on – it was an hour of news about the explosion.

I woke up a little before 8:00pm.  Eric heated up NUTRISYSTEM entrées for us both and we watched DANCING WITH THE STARS.  It’s getting very exciting.  I’m pretty positive Kristi Yamaguchi is going to win (I’m voting for her online), but they all put on a great show tonight.  With DWTS over tomorrow, and AMERICAN IDOL over this week, I’m really losing reality shows every week.  I know there’s always a new show right behind it, but I kind of feel let down when a show ends.  I know, I’m weird.

There wasn’t anything I wanted to watch after DWTS, so I came out and worked on the computer, paying bills and blogging.

I won’t start my training with the new group until Wednesday, so tomorrow I’ll just have my meeting in the morning and then train my replacement from 12-3.  She’s sweet and fun, so I don’t mind it at all.  I just hope I enjoy being trained as much as I’m enjoying doing the training!

I want to start this entry off by saying Happy Birthday to my sister, Lenae!  I wanted to call her to wish her a wonderful birthday, but I fell asleep as soon as I got home and woke up at 8:00pm, which is 11:00pm in NY, so I missed my chance!

I had a busy day at work today.  It was MUCH cooler this morning – about 20 degrees cooler than over the weekend.  It felt so much better.  My boss was traveling today, but I heard from him by mid-morning and he gave me a few projects to work on.  I figured I would wait until my “trainee” came, so I could show her how I edit the PowerPoint document and collect the various documents he needed me to email to a client.

I had another interview this morning at 9:30am, with the man I’ll be working for.  Yesterday I just interviewed with the two girls I’ll be actually filling in for, so today I met with the guy to whom I’ll be reporting.  There’s another man, too, but I haven’t met him yet.  One girl is just going away for 3 weeks on vacation – I didn’t meet her boss yet.  The other girl is leaving the firm – I met her boss.  He was really nice, fun and friendly.  I liked him immediately.

He said he was really happy to have me there, because he doesn’t want to rush into hiring somebody and now he can take his time, as I’ll be there to fill in and train the person when he does.  He asked me to tell him a little about myself, and I just said that I’m not really the corporate type, but I’m good at what I do and always do my best, give it 100% and try to make everyone’s life easier, and their day better.

I said I like to laugh and try to have fun every day, and enjoy working in an environment where people like to laugh, too.  He told me that they’re very relaxed there and he likes to have fun and enjoy the day as much as possible.  About three times during the interview he said, “We’re going to get along great!” in response to something I said.  I really think he’s right.  He was so nice and laid back and I’m sure I’ll do well there.

When I told a few people in the office where I was going next, they all said that they’re a great group and that my new boss is really nice and friendly.  He has a great reputation in the firm, which is really wonderful.

This group is called Systems Infrastructure, which sounds complicated but really means that they handle all the behind-the-scenes operations – phones, computers, and everything that goes along with them.  There are a lot of consultants that work for the firm through different agencies – a lot of them are not on staff.  They are hired for particular projects and when the projects are finished, their job is done.  Part of my job will be tracking their projects, submitting all their timesheets, and coordinating their work.

When I returned to my desk, I read my book until it was time to train.  I really showed her a LOT today – we worked a little more on expense reports, then on putting together the entire package I have to email tomorrow.  Then I showed her how to make color copies of certain documents.  It’s more complicated than it sounds, because some of the pages in the document are one-sided and others are 2-sided and you have to print them separately and then collate them.

I also took her up to the Travel department to introduce her to the 2 women that work there.  They handle all the car service, rental car, hotel, and travel reservations for my boss, and he travels a LOT.

Finally, I showed her all the documents in just one of the file drawers, which are updated every quarter.  They all look alike to me, and I showed her how some of them look exactly the same, except one chart will be “net” and one will be “gross” and she has to be sure to be VERY careful not to give the boss the wrong one (I’ve done it!).

Tomorrow, I start training downstairs at the new job.  I’ll be there for a few hours in the morning, then will train for three hours every afternoon.  That should keep me busy for a while!  I guess I won’t be reading too much in the next couple of weeks!

As I mentioned before, when I got home I watched DR. PHIL and then fell asleep until 8:00pm.  Eric had made a huge salad for dinner (which was so sweet), so I worked on the computer and had a bowl and we watched TV together.

I was very excited about TV tonight, because it’s the season finale of DANCING WITH THE STARS and they announced the winner.  Unfortunately they dragged it out to a two-hour show, so we first watched AMERICAN IDOL, then the first hour of DWTS and then HELL’S KITCHEN, which was really dramatic tonight.

AMERICAN IDOL was great.  Each of the two finalists (David vs. David) sang three songs – one chosen by Clive Davis, one original song submitted by songwriters around the country, and the last the singer’s choice.  I think they both did a fabulous job, but I am a HUGE Archuleta fan, and I believe he will win.  I know my friend Sergio thinks Cook will win, so we’ll just see tomorrow, Sergio – won’t we?

I want to see who won on DWTS but I may have to go to sleep before I can watch the last hour and they announce the winner.  If I do, I’ll find out tomorrow on YAHOO NEWS!  If I can stay up late enough, I’ll see who wins the big mirrored ball trophy tonight.  They already eliminated Christian, so it’s between Kristi and Jason.  Kristi’s definitely the more talented dancer, but Jason’s a hunk and he’s got a lot of fans out there – so there’s no sure winner.  I'll tell you one thing -- tonight was an exciting night of reality TV!

I don’t know why, but I couldn’t fall asleep last night.  We turned off the TV at midnight, but I was still awake at 1:00pm.  I did sleep well when I finally fell asleep, but the alarm came much too early this morning.  I snoozed three times, and then finally got up.

It was another beautiful morning.  I was nervous about the quarterly letter, but I am happy to report that all went well and I sent it off to be reviewed before noon.  I apologized again to my boss, because it really was my fault that it couldn’t be found anywhere and I had to retype a lot of it, but he was very nice about it.

A few of the people in my group are going to Switzerland next week for a firm meeting.  I’m getting a package together of all the materials needed for the meeting, and it’s being mailed tomorrow, so today I was busy making sure I had 20 copies of all the necessary documents.  My boss is not going, but he’s supposed to be on Jury Duty, so my trainee and I may have a few nice, quiet days to enjoy!

I was really busy today.  For the first time in weeks I didn’t read one page of my book!  I trained my replacement from 12-3pm today.  We have a lot of fun and sometimes I think we’re talking too much and I’m training too little, but she’s so smart and fast and knows so much already that it all takes very little time to teach.  She’s been with the firm for 10 years, and knows a lot more than I do about processes and procedures.  She’s also a college graduate with a degree in economics, so she’s not going to have any problem in this job.  In fact, I think she’s over-qualified, but I’m hoping that she’ll be able to advance before too long.

My boss was super-nasty to one of my co-workers today and I was horrified.  There’s a young guy who works editing all the documents that are updated quarterly.  There are probably hundreds of them, and many of them look exactly alike.  My boss came up to me this afternoon, showed me one page in a document and told me he needed me to email him a copy.  I searched and searched, but couldn’t find the exact page he wanted (although I found 2 or 3 that looked remarkably the same).  Finally, I went to ask this young man for help.

He immediately came over to my desk, and showed me where on the network the document was located.  He was describing the location as he used the mouse to click on each folder, as he went along.  My boss came out of his office and said, “I have a client waiting for that document, so can you just send it to me and explain to her where it is later!”  I was so embarrassed and felt so bad.  When the boss went back inside his office, I said, “I’m so sorry,” and he just shrugged.

Later, when I walked past his desk, the young man actually apologized to me and said he was sorry I had to deal with that.  I told him my days were numbered and he said, “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel?”  I told him indeed there was.  I told him I was sorry HE had to deal with that!  My boss is the main reason I wouldn’t want to join the staff, because the rest of the group is really, really nice, helpful, friendly and supportive.  Even though he’s nice to me most of the time, I just can’t stand someone being so mean to somebody that’s helping me.  It was just totally unnecessary.

I was glad when the day was over.  When I got home I opened the mail.  We got our gas & electric bill from SDG&E.  For the period April 23 through May 22 our usage added up to $29.17.  That’s less than a dollar a day!  Who gets a $30 gas & electric bill?  I told Eric he HAD to admit that was a positive.  In NY our lowest electric bill would still be over $100 a month – more than $3 a day.  Of course, we did have a house, and this is just a 2-bedroom apartment, but I still think it’s fabulous!  Hey, it doesn’t take much to make me happy!

Eric was, as usual, watching basketball, so I watched DR. PHIL and then worked on the computer.  I made us the same dinner as last night (it’s a good thing we’re both easy) – salads and NUTRISYSTEM pizzas.  It’s healthy, fast, easy, and delicious!

After dinner Eric watched the second half of THE ANDROMEDIA STRAIN, a new movie on A&E with Benjamin Bratt and Eric McCormack.  It started with 2 hours last night, and finished tonight with another 2 hours.  He really enjoyed it.

I watched HELL’S KITCHEN (very entertaining) and then an episode of BOSTON LEGAL from last season that I had never seen.  Eric brought me a dessert of ½ diet fudge pop in a bowl of fresh cubed mango.  What a delicious, refreshing combination!

I can’t believe it’s almost June.  June is a big month in my family.  My Dad will turn 80 on the 11th; Eric and I will be married 24 years on the 16th; my parents 57th wedding anniversary is the 17th; and Eric’s birthday is the 26th.  And there's Father’s Day. 

We also celebrate my sister and brother-in-law’s wedding anniversary (30 years!) on July 3rd and my brother-in-law’s birthday on July 2nd, so there are lots of toasts to be made when the family gets together this time of year.

Unfortunately, Eric and I will be missing out on the family get-together, which really saddens me.  My parents will be flying up to New Paltz in mid-June to be with my sisters, my brother-in-law, and my niece and nephew.  I wish we could be there to join in the celebration, but it’s just not possible right now.  We were lucky to get to see my parents in April, but I haven’t seen my sisters in almost a year.  Being away from my family is harder than I thought it would be.  I figured they’d be visiting here, and we’d be going back there, but it’s almost a year and no one has been able to make the trip yet.  I don’t know when we’ll all get together, but I know we’ll be in New York in November for our niece, Jessica’s wedding, so at least we’ll be back in 2008!

I was SO tired this morning.  Really tired.  VERY tired.  I have to stop staying up for LENO with Eric.  I need to go to bed by 11:30pm the LATEST.

When I got to work my boss was already there, because he had a meeting upstairs at 8:30am.  So, he gave me a few things to do and disappeared.  The most fun I had all morning was tracking the package I sent to Geneva yesterday via UPS.  It was sent out yesterday afternoon and, by mid-morning, it had already been to Louisville, Kentucky, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  I tracked it again this afternoon and it was already in Cologne, Germany!  Wow!  I’m impressed.  At this rate, it should be in Geneva tomorrow.  And they told me it would take a week!

Of course, you know if we waited until Friday to send it, something awful would have happened and it wouldn’t make it there until after the conference.  So, better safe than sorry, I say.

I am very proud of myself, because there is usually some kind of food or candy around the office, but the last few days have been really tempting.  First, someone brought in a box of mini cupcakes – just a bite or two each.  There was also a box of bakery cookies and some kind of chocolate cake with a striped white and chocolate icing.

Today, I walked by the area where the sweets are displayed and there was a huge, gorgeous, moist, decadent chocolate cake.  I said, “What the hell is going on here!” and everybody who heard me laughed.  They knew right away what I was talking about, because there’s been so much to eat lately.  It turns out it was a birthday cake for one of the employees on the floor.

Meanwhile, I haven’t touched one thing.  I am kind of an all or nothing girl, so it has to be nothing.  If I started to taste one thing, I’d be tempted to try everything, and would want a little every day.  So, I resist.  It ain’t easy, but I do it.  I’m no saint, by any means, but at least I can resist the fattening sweets and candy at work.  There's a woman who has a big dish of peanut butter M&Ms in her office; another guy has a big bowl of regular M&Ms by his cube.  People walk by and just grab a handful as they go.  I have never had ONE!

My work training this afternoon went great.  We worked on two PowerPoint presentations that will be used at the end of June.  The boss thought it was a good idea for us to start working on them now, so my trainee can get used to the editing process, and learn what slides need to be used for each type of presentation.  She catches on to everything so fast.  She’s really a pleasure.  Today I told her that the boss was lucky to have her coming on board, and she just beamed.  It’s true!

When I got home I just relaxed for a while and Eric made me the most delicious dinner.  We had a Boca burger with low-fat swiss cheese, sautéed mushrooms, and some MORNINGSTAR veggie bites, which are really delicious.  Eric makes a sauce with low-salt ketchup and mayo that really is delicious on the burger and the veggie bites.  It was so nice to come home and have him cook for me.  He also did the dishes.  Wow!

After dinner I watched TV and Eric worked out.  I was surprised, because he hasn’t been feeling well lately and I haven’t noticed him working out (although I’m not home all day), but he did his weights tonight, which was great to see.  He also told me he went for a ride today.  I know it’s very frustrating for him when he rides, because he’s out of shape, and it’s no fun, so there’s really no motivation to go out and do it again, except that he knows he should.

I try to explain to him that it’s like people who go to the gym, or work out at home – it’s not like they love working out (I think most people hate it).  It’s just that they do it because they want to be in shape, or lose weight, or just be strong and healthy.  Meanwhile, I'm the last one who should talk or lecture, because I don't work out at all, but I don't complain about it.  He does.

I got to read a lot of my book today.  It’s really, really good and I’m enjoying it thoroughly.  I’m hoping to finish it tomorrow.  This training has really cut into my reading time.  Today my boss left right before 3:00pm (when my trainee was still with me).  She said, “What are you going to do after I leave at 3:00pm?”  I said, “I have to read my book!” and she said, “I know how important THAT is!”

She is SO looking forward to this job, because where she is right now she gets around 200 emails a DAY and is pretty much chained to her desk the whole day.  She is so happy that she’s going to have more of a work/life balance and will get to enjoy her day more, be less stressed, and even get to read her personal emails!  I told her I was afraid she might actually get bored after a while (like I did), but she said she’s looking forward to it!

I know they’re planning to give her a lot more responsibility than I currently have (and I think it’s a lot more than the woman in this spot before me had).  They’re actually combining an admin role with an associate role, so she’ll be assisting my boss, but also will have other responsibilities.  Even so, it’ll still be a breeze compared with what she now does.

Everyone keeps expressing dismay that I’m leaving this group, but then they’re happy when I tell them I’m pretty sure I’ll be staying with the firm a while longer.  I just hope it all works out.  I have no guarantees from them.  They don’t owe me anything.  I was lucky to work for 5 months straight at one job.  That’s just not common.  I just hope I can make it last – at least through the summer!

If it’s at all possible, I was more tired this morning than I was yesterday.  If Eric wasn’t sleeping, I would have groaned and complained as I got out of bed, but I didn’t want to wake him!  By the time I walk the 10 steps to the bathroom, I’m 75% awake, but it’s just pulling back the covers and getting out of bed that’s so hard.

I had a nice, quiet morning – reading my lovely DICK FRANCIS mystery – and nothing interesting happened.  My boss was still not called in to Jury Duty, so he was in the office.

My trainee arrived at noon.  We worked on a few projects, but she really got on my nerves today.  She’s a bit pushy, and a control freak.  So am I.  Not a good combination.  She thinks she knows it all, because she HAS been with the firm for 10 years, but I’M training HER.  She argues with me on how to do things and I decided today that I’m just going to step back and let her “hang herself.”  As I told her – “Hey, I’m just a temp!”

What annoyed me so much is this: As with any large firm, there is a computer network with different drives, where different documents are kept.  In this firm, the H: drive is your “private drive” that no one can access but you.  Then, there’s the T: drive, which is accessible in certain parts by certain people.  Lastly, there’s the P: drive, which stands for “public” and can be accessed by pretty much everyone in the firm.

There were a lot of documents on my private H: drive.  I didn’t put all of them there.  They were either already there, or I added new documents there, because similar documents were kept there.  So, my trainee was denied access to my H: drive (which isn’t unusual).  She needed access to many of these documents.  I offered to send them to her in an email and she could put them on her H: drive.  She didn’t like that idea.

She decided she wanted to move ALL of my H: drive to the semi-public T: drive.  I told her I didn’t think it was a good idea.  She kept arguing with me, back and forth, until I finally said, “Look, do what you want.  I’m just a temp.  Just ask the boss first.”  So, she went in and spoke to the boss (I didn’t listen in) and came back out and said he thought it was fine.  I didn’t understand it, but I let her do it.

She moved ALL the documents (instead of just the ones she knew she would need) to the T: drive and left for the day.  After she left, I went in and asked the boss if he REALLY meant to have all his credit card, passport and other private information accessible to at least several people in the firm.  He was horrified.

I explained to him what my trainee had moved.  He said that she didn’t explain it to him that way.  I told him that I explained it to HER, but she wouldn’t listen to me, so I backed off.  I told him what I told her, “Hey – I’m just a temp.”  He thanked me profusely for bringing it to his attention and not just leaving it there.  I took the private documents, sent them to her (and my boss) in an email, and then deleted them from the T: drive (I still have them on my H: drive, too).

I told him she’s a little headstrong and thinks she knows it all.  He said he’ll talk to her tomorrow and then said, “If she doesn’t work out, we’ll get someone else.”  I told him I thought she WOULD work out (she’s very fast and very smart), but she’s not a good listener.  She has to learn to listen.

Here’s the other thing that happened today.  We had decided that it would be best for Systems Support to set me up with a computer in an empty cubicle next to mine, so that we could both work, instead of me having to sit and do nothing, or her having to sit and do nothing.  I was fine with it, except she has an ergonomic keyboard, which I find impossible to use.  I had told her I didn’t want it set up until the 16th, when she starts working from 10:00am - 3:00pm, but she overrode me on that, too. 

So, now, instead of sitting comfortably at my own desk (well, my desk for the last 4 months), I am now at a new desk, which doesn’t even have a phone yet (so I can’t answer the boss’ phone).
So, I either sit at my old desk, where I can’t type, but I can answer the phone.  Or I sit at my new desk, where I can’t answer the phone, but I can work comfortably.  If she would have just listened to ME, I’d still be able to work at my own desk for the next 2 weeks, but – no – it had to be her way.

I didn’t say a word, but I’m waiting to see if my boss asks me to sit at my old desk.  If he does, I’ll explain the situation and see what he wants to do.  Maybe he won’t care that I’m not at that desk and I’m assuming they’ll have me set up with a phone by tomorrow.  I hope!

So, that’s my drama for the day.  Anyone who knows me (and I guess you all do), knows that I have a big mouth and I’m not afraid to speak my mind.  At the same time, there are moments when I realize it’s just not worth it because, after all, the most important thing is to not make waves, because I want to be there as long as possible.

So, I did tell the boss what I thought was important for HIS security, but I’m not going to complain about the desk situation and, if he asks, I’ll tell him the truth – it was her idea – not mine!

Eric came to pick me up, because my ride had to go somewhere directly from work.  It was a real treat and he took me to the library, because I finished both my books and needed two more!  I’ve now read seven Dick Francis mysteries in the last few months and picked up two more.  There are 30 in all, and I intend to read each and every one.  Eric thinks I’m crazy and that I should go back and forth with other authors, but I’m “into” it now and really enjoy the fact that all the stories take place in England and revolve around horse racing.  I find it endlessly interesting!

When we got home from the library Eric started working on one of his bicycles and I went through the mail, worked on the computer, and then watched DR. PHIL.  Then, I made us a big salad.

HELL’S KITCHEN is on tonight, which Eric and I really enjoy.  We laugh the whole time – either because the chefs are such idiots, or because Gordon Ramsay is apoplectic as he screams, yells, curses and throws dishes and food.  It’s really high drama, but you know what they say – “If you can’t take the heat…”

We have big plans for the weekend – we’re going to L.A. to visit with my cousins in the afternoon, and then see our friends for dinner.  We are coming back the same night.  We’ll leave at 10:00am and get there around noon and then leave by 10:00pm, and get home by midnight, the latest.  I’m really looking forward to it.  My cousins are a lot of fun, their kids are great, and we always have a great time when we all get together.  We always make a point of seeing our friends, Joe and Miguel, when we’re in L.A.  Joe and I go way back (I met him in 1978) and he’s a great guy.

I miss all my friends and family in NY and it is wonderful to see familiar faces, so a trip to L.A. is always fun!

We had a summer intern coming in from Chicago to apartment hunt, and we had a “meet and greet” from 8:30am – 9:30am, so the rest of the department could say hello.  Since my ride is in HR, she brought in juice, fruit salad and doughnuts, and then she and I went to STARBUCKS to get a box of coffee.

She came to my floor with me and we set it all up in a small conference room.  A lot of the people he’ll be working for are in Geneva this week, but everyone he’ll be working with was in (fortunately), so we asked them to please go in and see him, so he wasn’t sitting there by himself!

They spent the entire hour with him (including my boss, when he arrived) and he went off to find an apartment knowing his new co-workers a little better!  Unfortunately, it was a horrible day for him to be visiting San Diego.  Not only did we have a perfect example of “June Gloom” with a totally overcast day, but then it poured in the afternoon!

The good news is he DID find an apartment in La Jolla (lucky boy) and is already back home in Chicago!

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.  I didn’t do a darn thing all day, except read about 130 pages of my new DICK FRANCIS mystery.  When my trainee came, I gave her a few things to do, went back to my desk and told her to “let me know if she needed me.”  In a way, it's a blessing that I'm in my cubicle, because I don't have to listen to her go on and on about her new boyfriend, and I can read instead of pretending to be interested!

My boss called her in almost immediately upon her arrival, and I heard him talking to her about the problem yesterday.  I didn’t really hear anything more than him saying, “credit card information,” so I knew what he was discussing.  I was afraid she’d be mad at me, but if she was she didn’t show it.  Smart girl.

Things went well all afternoon, but I still don’t have a phone at my desk.  I called again this morning to ask them to give me one, so I could at least answer my boss’ phone.  A woman came in the afternoon while my trainee was still at her desk.  She asked me why I needed a phone and I explained that it was just for 3 weeks, until my trainee was there full time on July 1.

Then, she started to ask my trainee if she wanted her number on the 4th floor switched upstairs to her new desk.  She said NO, because then she’d keep getting calls pertaining to her OLD job, and she didn’t want to be bothered with that.

I told the woman that it was important that the trainee have the same extension as I had (and the woman before me) because THAT was the extension for my boss’ assistant and people ALWAYS used that number to find out his schedule, or get other information.  They don’t care WHO answers, as long as it’s someone who works for the boss!

Again, she asked my trainee if she wanted her number or the number already there and the trainee said she didn’t really care (I think she was sick of telling the woman, because she already said she DIDN’T want her number from downstairs and that she DID want the number already there).

I said, “Listen – I do care and I’m telling you – this extension needs to stay there, at her desk, because it will be really inconvenient if everyone has to start looking up and figuring out what number to call to get the boss’ assistant.  So, then she asks me if I’m a recently-hired employee.  I think she already knew the answer, but wanted to hear me say it.  I told her I’m not an employee at all – I’m just a temp.  Then, she said something to the effect that she would “find out what should be done.”  So, I said, “I’m telling you what should be done – leave that extension!”

So, what does she do?  She goes into my boss’ office and closes the door.  Now, I’m thinking, “Is she “telling” on me?  OMG – what’s going on in this joint?  After about 20 minutes she leaves and my boss immediately calls me in.

In so many words, he tells me she’s some kind of religious freak and “feels funny” about that extension being used by someone else, because the woman who had it is now dying.  She wants to “retire” that extension.  First of all, let’s not be morbid – the woman is still fighting for her life.  She’s not dead yet.  Second of all – INSANITY!!!!  It’s not her shoes – it’s a telephone extension!
My boss said he didn’t want to argue with her, but he thought she was CRA-ZY and he said he’ll call HR tomorrow and tell them he wants the new assistant to have the same number as the old assistant, because – of course – he agreed totally with ME!

Now, I’m wondering if she REALLY feels that way, or if she was just using that as an excuse to “get her way” and not have me get mine.  If that’s true – what a baby!  I was just trying to make sure the right thing got done, not throwing around my power.  I have no power but, for the second day in a row, my instincts proved correct and the boss really thanked me and appreciates my intentions.  He knows I’m trying to take care of him and make sure everything is perfect for him.  It only took 4 months, but he really likes me now.  We’ve really bonded!

So, on the way home of course I told the WHOLE story to my ride (remember – she works in HR) and she also thought it was WEIRD – that’s the word she used.  She said she didn’t even think the “telephone lady” was friends with the woman who is very ill, and thought it was the stupidest thing ever.  She said, “We may as well retire her cubicle number, too – and what about her chair?”  I mean, is that the stupidest thing you ever heard?

We hit a lot of traffic going home (because of course it was drizzling, so San Diego traffic was practically at a stand-still), so by the time I got home it was almost 6:00pm (instead of my usual 5:20pm – 5:30pm arrival).  Eric had prepared scallops and chicken that I had defrosted the night before and we had leftover salad from the big salad I made the night before.  He also steamed some broccoli, and made us a delicious dinner.

After dinner, I was relaxing and watching TV and the next thing I knew Eric was standing over me.  I fell asleep.  I was determined NOT to fall asleep, because I went to bed at 10:30pm last night and felt SO much better this morning, and I didn’t want to nap, because that causes me to go to bed much later.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t help it!

He woke me at 8:15pm and I came out and worked on the computer while he worked on one of his bicycles.  He’s amazing.  When I came out I had to tippy-toe around all the pieces lying on the rug all over the living room.  I worked on the computer for a while and the next time I looked up, he was pumping up the tires, all the pieces were back together, and the bike looked fabulous!

I watched SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE and recorded an encore presentation of THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER on LIFETIME.  This is the made-for-TV movie of the book I recently read, which was so sweet and lovely.  It was on for the first time while we were in North Carolina and I missed it.  I can’t wait to watch it – but not tonight!

Tomorrow will probably be just as quiet at work.  My boss has been very lucky so far – three days of telephone Jury Duty and he hasn’t been called in yet.  I think because he thought he might be on Jury Duty he didn’t really make any client appointments, so he’s not particularly busy.  He is supposed to call for two weeks, so it could happen next week, if not this week.  My luck, between registering to vote and getting my California driver’s license, I’ll get called soon, too.  They used to get me every two years in New York – like clockwork – Eric, too.  It’s something we both abhor.

I hope the weather is better tomorrow than it was today.  I just had a vintage summer dress hemmed (it was much too long) and I really want to wear it tomorrow, but it just won’t work unless the sun is shining!

I got to wear my beautiful vintage dress today.  I just love it!  I got a lot of compliments, but didn’t explain that it was old, yet new!  I also wore my grandmother’s orange cardigan, which matches perfectly with the small orange flowers amongst the brown on the cream background.  It’s such a subtle, delicate fabric, which is very sheer.  It’s tight to the waist and then very full.  My favorite style!

So, when I got to work the first thing I noticed was that I had my phone at last – except the woman did EXACTLY what we all asked her NOT to.  She disregarded every single request we made.  I can understand her not listening to me, or even the trainee, but to disregard a partner’s orders?

What she did was give me a new extension, and also had my boss’ phone ring at my desk.  So far, so good.  She was supposed to change my extension to be the trainee’s extension, but instead she put the name of the woman who is no longer here, because she’s ill.  So, when you call the extension HER name came up.  I thought that was horrible, because people would think she was well and had come back to work!

At my trainee’s desk (which WAS my desk) the phone lady put her extension from her desk on the 5th floor (which she asked her NOT to do).  She also had my boss’ extension and also had my old extension, again with the woman's name who had the job before she was ill.

The phone lady also put all the extension of THIS job at her desk on the 5th floor, which she told her specifically NOT to do.  She messed everything up!\

I immediately called my friend in HR and went down and told her what happened.  She was going to tell her boss, who is the head of HR.

When I got to my desk my trainee came up to complain, because not only didn’t she do what she asked at her new desk by me, but she also changed her phone around where she currently works, which she specifically asked her NOT to do.  She wanted me to go back to HR with her, but this time we spoke to the head of HR, instead of my friend.  We explained the WHOLE situation, and she agreed that it didn’t make ANY sense, and she was going to have it all fixed.

Unfortunately, when I left today at 5:00pm, it still wasn’t done.  My phone was installed after 5:00pm yesterday, so I’m assuming it was done after 5:00pm today and when I get in tomorrow it should all be fixed.  I didn’t say a word to my boss, because I figure why bother him with details.  As long as it’s getting fixed and he ends up with what he wants, I don’t think he needs to be bothered.  He already spoke to the head of HR yesterday and told her what he wants, so she was really upset with the phone lady.  Both of the people in HR kept shrugging their shoulders and rolling their eyes.  They couldn't imagine what was going on in phone lady's head!

Anyway, I didn’t do much today, except read my book and I finished it around 4:00pm.  I have another one to start tomorrow!

When I got home Eric informed me he had already eaten some of the chicken he made the night before, so I just made a Boca Burger and some MORNINGSTAR veggie bites.  I watched THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER, which I had recorded last night.  It was very sweet.

I spoke to my cousin, Ilene, whose house we will be visiting on Saturday.  Her sister, Karen, and her family will be there, too, so it will be a fun-filled afternoon with all our L.A. cousins!  I told Ilene I’ll bring a pasta salad.  I used to make a mean pasta salad years ago, and it was one of my trademark barbecue dishes.  We haven’t had a barbecue in about 6 years (since I opened the shop!) and I haven’t made one in a good long time.  It will be fun, and I know Ilene will definitely be doing a lot of preparing, so at least I can bring one dish!

I’ll do my shopping tomorrow night, but will only buy the stuff for the pasta salad.  I’ll do the rest of my food shopping on Sunday, so everything will be super-fresh for the week!

Here’s a shocker: I got a letter from TIME WARNER CABLE apologizing for our recent problems and they gave us a coupon for a free MOVIE ON DEMAND.  It’s amazing!  I’m in shock!  We rarely watch MOVIES ON DEMAND, but I’ll have to take advantage.  I mean, how often do you get something free from your cable company?

I didn’t take a nap tonight, so I should be able to fall asleep at a decent time and I am determined to get a good night’s sleep.  I just wish I could be as sleepy at 10:00pm as I am at 7:00pm (and 6:00am!).  It seems I get a second wind and by the time bedtime rolls around, I’m rarin’ to go!  Oh, well.  I’m a night owl by nature!

So, I went to bed at 10:30pm last night – and I was darn proud of myself!  Eric went out to take a shower and then watched TV in the living room.  I never even heard him come back in.  So, what happens?  I wake up.  It’s still dark.  As I’m laying there, I see Eric sit up and look at the clock.  So, I say, “What time is it?”  It’s 4:30am!  Huh?  I am supposed to be getting an extra hour of sleep, so why am I waking up an hour and a half early?  I did eventually fall back to sleep, but not for a while, and then I had some VERY weird dreams!

Anyway, it wasn’t easier to get out of bed this morning.  Boo hoo.  Work was pretty quiet today.  My boss made it through the entire week without being called for Jury Duty, so he was in every single day, which is very unusual!  I didn’t do much, but worked on a few projects from 12-3 when my trainee arrived.  My boss left a little after 1:00pm, so she and I worked on some stuff and then I did absolutely nothing but read my book from 3-4:30pm and I snuck out early with my ride!

So, the saga finally ended today with Crazy Phone Lady (CPL).  First of all, when HR confronted her about all the things she did, CPL told them that she did exactly what we asked her to do.  Now, if I had just told her what to do it would have been her word against mine, but there were THREE of us and ONE of her, so they KNEW she was lying through her teeth!

CPL came by my desk this morning and said, “Well, I guess I got it all wrong!”  I wanted to say, “No you didn’t get anything wrong, you did it exactly the way you wanted.”  Instead, I just said, “That’s okay!”  So, she fixed everything on my phone, but said she didn’t want to take my trainee’s 5th floor extension off her desk there (on the 6th floor), because she thought it was important that people be able to contact her.

I explained to her AGAIN (and my boss, my trainee and I already explained this to her the other day) that she didn’t WANT to be contacted in reference to her other job while she was training for the new job.  So, she said, “What if there’s a family emergency?  How are the operators supposed to know where she is?”  So, I said, “If there’s a family emergency, they’ll call her cell phone!”  So, CPL says, “The operators don’t know her cell phone number!”  So, I said, “Not the operators – her FAMILY will call her cell phone!”

Meanwhile, what business is it of hers?  I said, “Listen, this is just for THREE WEEKS.  Knock wood, there won’t be any family emergencies!”  So, she says, “I’ll have to talk to her about this myself.”
So, CPL calls my trainee while she’s sitting training with me and she actually said to her, “You shouldn’t be hiding if people are trying to find you.”  Are you kidding me?

Ultimately, with the help of the two women in HR, we got it all resolved and – I am thrilled to report – everything is finally just as it should be.  It only took two days, about 20 emails, about ½ hour on the phone, and a lot of hair pulling.  If I was the boss, she’d be fired.  My ride (who works in HR) told me that this is not the first time people have had problems with her.  We don’t know what her story is, but it ain’t good.

One other interesting thing happened today.  A guy who I’ve been working with for 4 months mentioned that his grandparents lived in Whitestone.  He used to go visit them about once a month.  They lived walking distance to where Eric and I lived – right by Whitestone Park, by the bridge.  Such a small world!  I sent my folks an email, asking if they knew of them, since they might have belonged to the same synagogue!  Can’t wait to find out!

So, as I already mentioned, we snuck out at 4:30pm and when I got home Eric and I went to COSTCO and then to KEILS.  We bought a lot of great stuff at COSTCO, including sushi for our dinner tonight (delish!), lots of drinks, broccoli, grape tomatoes and pasta for my pasta salad, and a lot of other stuff we needed.

The only thing I bought at KEILS were fresh veggies for the pasta salad.  I'll go back on Sunday afternoon to do my regular food shopping. When we got home we unpacked everything and I put the big pot of water on the stove.  I made the tri-colored bow-tie pasta.  Turns out, I don’t have as many bowls as I used to and don’t have one big enough for all the pasta AND the veggies.  I decided it would be better to cut all the veggies in L.A. at Ilene’s anyway, because then everything would be fresher.  So, we’re just bringing all the veggies, and two big bowls full of pasta.  I’m hoping Ilene has a giant bowl to mix it all up in!

I watched SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE while Eric worked out.  Then, I came out and worked on the computer.  I want to get a good night’s sleep, so we can get on the road at a decent hour tomorrow (10:00am).  I’m hoping we don’t hit any traffic, but chances are we will!

I’m so happy we’ll be seeing Karen and Ilene and their families.  This is our third trip to L.A. to see them since we got to the West Coast.  It’s always fun and I love seeing all their kids, too.  We’re looking forward to dinner with our friends, Joe & Miguel, too.  The weather is supposed to be great and a day in L.A. is just what the doctor ordered!

I had a very quiet morning at work.  I had a few projects to do, but I was saving them until after noon, when my trainee arrived.  I pretty much just read my book all morning.

My trainee usually arrives at noon, but at 12:30pm she still hadn’t shown up.  I called her, but there was no answer.  I realized I had sent her a few emails, about the projects we would be working on today, but she never emailed me back.  I started to wonder if she was even in.

I asked the boss if he had heard that she wasn’t in today.  He said he had not and called her boss.  She said she had called in sick and they forgot to let us know.  My boss was NOT happy, I can tell you that.  I, on the other hand, was!  I just did the projects by myself, did a few other things for the boss and some other people on the team, and finished my book by 3:30pm.  I am averaging two DICK FRANCIS books a week!

When I got home, Eric had to go down to the laundry room to get two loads of laundry he had done.  I went down with him and I did a cold wash of my work clothes, and I put his clothes in the dryer to let the steam remove the wrinkles.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but this is my standard procedure.  Eric just hangs everything up straight out of the washing machine, but it ends up looking pretty wrinkled.

If you put the clothes in the dryer for about 5 minutes on “high”, they’re still wet, but all the wrinkles are steamed out and you don’t need to iron them.  They look great!  I’ve always done it that way, and it’s a great technique which I highly recommend.  It’s not long enough to shrink or fade clothing, but it makes them look much better and eliminates the need for ironing (which I abhor).

Everything other than clothing -- like towels, socks, underwear and linens --are put into the dryer and dried all the way.

When his stuff was all “de-wrinkled” I brought it upstairs and we hung everything up on our indoor clothes lines.  Then, I went downstairs to do the same with my work clothes, which I mostly hang on hangers to dry.

For dinner, Eric made us steamed broccoli, a NUTRISYSTEM entrée and some more of last night’s salad.  I watched SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE and it’s now down to the top 20.  Then, we watched an episode of MONK that Eric had never seen, where Monk is on a jury.  He drives everyone crazy, because they think the defendant is guilty, but he slowly but surely convinces them all he’s innocent.  It was great (as usual).

I’m feeling pretty tired, so I’m going to try to get to bed early, but I have to watch LEGALLY BLONDE, THE MUSICAL: THE SEARCH FOR ELLE WOODS, which is on at 10:00pm.  So, I guess I’ll go to sleep at 11:00pm.  You know how I love my reality TV!

Oh, one more thing.  I actually got a letter from TIME WARNER CABLE apologizing for our recent problems and giving us a coupon for a FREE MOVIE ON DEMAND.  I thought it was pretty amazing.  Imagine -- the cable company apologizing for ANYTHING -- and giving away something -- free?  It's a Cable TV Miracle!

Huh?  I’m sure you’re quite puzzled by the title of today’s blog entry.  It’s something I’ve been meaning to write about for weeks, but I finally remembered today and wrote myself a note, so I’d remember when I got home (my note-writing is another story!).

The area where I sit is a big room with offices with windows all along one wall.  On the other wall is the copy room, restrooms and the elevator bank.  In the middle are cubicles – lots of cubicles.  The walls of these cubicles are low – not like at PwC, where our cubicles were 5 feet tall and provided a lot of privacy.  These are just 4 feet high, so you can see over them when you’re standing, and even a little when you’re sitting.

When I first started, I’d hear people sneeze and I’d always say, “God Bless You.”  It just seemed like the thing to do.  Sometimes, they’d thank me, sometimes it was like I hadn’t spoken.

Because I have allergies, I tend to sneeze, too.  I noticed that when I sneezed, no one ever said anything!  I thought it was rude and mean, but I realized that when other people sneezed I was the only one who responded!  Everywhere I’ve ever worked, when someone sneezed you acknowledged it.  Not here.  Sneezes are ignored.  The first time I “ignored the sneeze” I felt SO bad about it.  It just didn’t seem right.  It’s one of those habits that’s hard to break.  It’s like a reflex with me.  Someone sneezes, I ask God to bless them!

I stopped acknowledging the sneezes and now ignoring them is almost easy.  I still have the urge to say something, but I resist.  It seems to be “office policy.”  So, I want to know, what do they do where YOU work?

My trainee was out sick yesterday, but she was back today and we got a LOT of work done.  We were working on two PowerPoint presentations, and we both got SO confused.  When the boss asked us to print them out, so he could see how they were coming, we realized we had put the wrong slides in both presentations.  He was kind of annoyed, but I think he realized that we were both in over our heads here.  We figured it all out and got it right (finally), but she’s working two jobs, and I’m pretty much letting her take the reins and just overseeing her work.

I had a feeling it wasn’t all right, but I figured I'd let her do it, and he’d tell us what was wrong and we’d fix it.  When she left for the day, I explained to the boss that she had so much experience with the firm (10 years), but no experience with this team.  I had 5 months with the team, but that was it.  The two of us together make one competent employee and he has to realize that we’re both still acclimating.  I think it’s going to take her at least six months to fully know the job, and I hope I’ll be around for a few months to help her out when she needs it.

The boss is actually expecting more from her ALREADY than he does from me, and it’s not fair.  There were a lot of things that he would have other people do, instead of me, but he wants HER to do it ALL and she’s not even in the job full time yet!  She’s only at this desk 3 hours a day, and I think he’s being unrealistic expecting her to pick up everything after being shown once or twice, and learning things I never even had to do.

Anyway, she’s doing a great job and I know she’ll be very good at this job – eventually!

Eric went to the library today and got me two more DICK FRANCIS books.  No, I’m not sick of them yet!  I love them more than ever!  I can’t wait to start a new one tomorrow!

When I got home, Eric and I made dinner together – steamed broccoli with shredded cheese on top, and a new brand of veggie patties that we got at COSTCO.  They were less like a burger and more like a latke.  They were DELICIOUS!  I can’t wait to have another!

Eric worked out and then we watched HELL’S KITCHEN.  That show never disappoints! 

I have heard there’s a terrible heat wave in NY.  We had some of that weather last month, but now it’s been very cool – 60s/70s.  If you go east it gets a lot hotter, but where we are it’s really been very pleasant.  It’s actually chilly enough in the morning for me to put the heater on in the bathroom while I’m showering.

A lot of mornings it’s overcast and the sun doesn’t come out until the afternoon.  It’s June Gloom, but I don’t mind it at all.  I really have no preference for sun, and as long as it’s not less than 50 degrees, I’m pretty happy!  The weather in San Diego really is everything I ever hoped it would be.  I feel very lucky for every day I get to spend here!

On the negative side, I just heard that San Diego’s gas prices are amongst the highest in the entire country!  Gas is just above $4.00 in a lot of places, but it’s almost $4.50 here in San Diego, and we’ve seen it up to almost $5.00 a gallon.  A lot of people are driving over the border into Mexico just to fill up!  I’m not ready to do THAT yet, but we ARE driving as little as possible.  Eric rides his bicycle everywhere he can, and I am lucky to get a ride to and from work every day.

We’re lucky, because we can walk to a lot of stores.  The bank, library, dry cleaners, shoe repair, supermarket, drug store, and a lot of other stores are right up the block.  I think everyone is walking more, and driving as little as possible.  You have to make that tank of gas last!

I knew it was going to be quiet today, so I walked around and asked everyone in my group (and the surrounding groups) if they needed help today.  I also told my ride, who works in HR, that I was available, if she needed me.  She had told me a few times that their filing is backed up tremendously, since the guy who did the filing left the firm a few months ago.  I told her I don’t mind doing anything, as long as it keeps me busy and helps her out.

So, since no one in my group needed any help, and I already read a few chapters in my book, she finally took me up on my offer and I went downstairs at about 11:30am.  First, I sorted out a bunch of documents on candidates for different jobs.  I divided them into the different positions they were applying for and then filed them away in the file cabinets.

Then, they asked me to sort out all the tickets they had to the SAN DIEGO COUNTY FAIR, which is a big deal here.  The firm sells discount tickets and people have to pay with a check and then the tickets are separated and distributed.  There are regular admission tickets, children’s tickets, the “ride lovers” sheet of tickets and a sheet of regular ride tickets.  Depending on what they ordered, I had to put together their order and seal it in an envelope that had their name pre-addressed on the envelope.

It was fun, but I was nervous that when I was finished I’d have too many tickets, or not enough.  Fortunately, it worked out perfectly and I finished before lunch.

I went upstairs at 12:45pm and ate my lunch, read my emails, and read my book.  I brought a NUTRISYSTEM hearty minestrone soup and also had a tiny container of low-fat cottage cheese.

There are two small kitchens on each floor -- one on each side of the building.  They have a small sink, fridge and a microwave, along with cabinets filled with plastic utensils, paper plates and bowls, coffee, tea, paper towels and napkins (along with a copy machine!).  People really cook lunches in this place.

There is also a small cafeteria on the 4th floor, but it’s very basic stuff – pizza, sandwiches, soup, and a small salad bar, with a different main course every day.  They also make breakfast.

Most people bring their lunch from home.  I think it’s because there are no restaurants nearby to walk to, and no delis or anything like that.  It’s either bring it, or buy it in the cafeteria.

At lunchtime, people are waiting on line to use the microwave.  They’re making hot dishes in bowls with rice, or pizzas, or hot sandwiches with melted cheese.  The smells are sometimes so enticing!

It reminds me of my first job – temping at Reader’s Digest – from 1977 – 1979.  They had a kitchen there, but it included a real stove.  We also had a toaster oven in the boss’ office and we’d bring in English muffins, or cinnamon toast and toast them in his office while he was on the phone with photographers, or other business associates.  I’d get the butter from the fridge, and we’d all have toast for breakfast, or as a snack.

I’d bring in a box of KRAFT Macaroni & Cheese and make it in the kitchen and we’d all have a bowl.  My boss used to keep a bottle of hot sauce on his desk and he’d put it on anything anyone made.  He loved his hot sauce!

Anyway, thinking about cooking in the kitchen brought back sweet memories of my youth, the wonderful people I worked with for 2 years at Reader's Digest, and the home we made there every day from 9-5.  Those were good times!

Anyway, at 2:00pm I went back downstairs to HR.  I did more filing, including typing up labels for file folders, putting the files in the folders, placing them in pendaflex folders and putting them in the file cabinets.  I don’t love filing, but it did keep me busy and I was grateful for anything to pass the time.  They really appreciated all my help, and said I did a great job, so everyone was happy!

I went back to my desk a little before 4:00pm and my ride and I snuck out early at 4:30pm, so it was a great day!

When I got home, Eric was washing the car.  He didn’t expect me home until 5:30pm, so he wasn’t ready for me to take the car.  I told him I wanted to go upstairs, get changed, have a snack and then leave for the salon at about 5:45pm.  I did just that, and got to HAIRSPRAY at 6:00pm

John did a great job, as usual, and cut my hair a little shorter.  I showed him the picture of Clara Bow and he said I was crazy to cut off all my curls.  He said I have a gorgeous head of hair and he was willing to shape it a little differently, but refused to cut it all off.  I told him if he thought I should keep it, I’ll keep it.  It’s not like it’s long, by any means (it just covers my ears), but I’m just not a “hair person.” I feel the shorter my hair is, the better.  My hair drives me crazy.

When I got home I made a salad and Eric cooked us more of those delicious veggie patties with sautéed mushrooms and cheese.  They were SO good.  After I left the salon, I stopped and got us gelato (since I pass the place on my way home).  So, we had gelato for dessert, but that was after I watched SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE and Eric worked out.

Then, we had gelato and watched LAST COMIC STANDING together.  I can’t believe tomorrow is Friday already.  It seems like we were just in L.A.!  I have to go in a little earlier, because my ride has a meeting at 7:30am.  So, she’s picking me up at 7:00am, instead of 7:30am.  She’s only working ½ day, so Eric will be picking me up, but he can pick me up at 4:30pm, instead of 5:00pm, since I’m starting ½ hour earlier!

Eric was going to take me to the movies so I can see SEX AND THE CITY while he goes to watch another movie (he has NO interest in SATC).  Fortunately, my ride said she’d like to go with me on Sunday, so we’ll go to the theatre that’s right by both our homes – the one Eric and I went to last time to see INDIANA JONES.  It’s right on Clairemont Drive, about three miles away.  I’m so excited, not only to see the movie, but to have a date with a friend!  I know she’s good company, because we enjoy the ride to and from work every day and there’s always a lot for us to talk about.

Tomorrow is my second class in “beginner decoupage” where I just talk about cutting and show them the technique and how to pick the right pictures.  The woman who was out sick last time will be there, and the other two girls are excited to sit and cut while I teach.  It will be a lot of fun and this time we have an hour instead of just ½ hour.  I’m excited about the class, because I haven’t been doing much crafting lately, and maybe it will inspire me to do a project this weekend!

Today is Jimmy’s birthday.  I forget how old he is and he wouldn’t tell me all day, so I can’t announce it in my blog (and I’m sure he’s happy about that).  Anyway, I want to wish Jimmy a wonderful weekend and a year filled with good things.  He’s going to come visit in a few weeks and we will celebrate in style! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DARLING!

I got up on the first alarm this morning, instead of snoozing one or two times (or three).  I had to get up early, because my ride had a 7:30am meeting, so she wanted to get to work by 7:15am.  I was outside and waiting for her before 7:00am.  I made sure I knew what I was going to wear and laid it all out the night before.  I had my lunch ready, and left the computer on (I usually turn it off at night and turn it on again in the morning).

Choosing my outfit was easy, because one of the guys I work with (who sits very close to me in another cubicle) is turning 40 tomorrow and one of the girls sent around an email asking everyone to wear black today, in mourning of his 30s (wait until he turns 50 – or 60!).

It was really amusing to walk around all morning and see all the other employees on the floor wearing all black.  I wore black Capri pants, a black top (with a pattern – sorry!) and a black sweater over that, so the only non-solid black was the pattern at the neck.  There were at least 10 of us, and I don’t think he would have noticed but one of the girls said something to him.  I was so mad (and so was everyone else).  They had planned milk and cookies in a conference room at 2:45pm and it was then that he really would have seen the impact of everyone in the room wearing black!

Anyway, someone else put a sign up on his cube that read “40 – aged to perfection.”  It was really cute.  He got a few gifts (chocolates and other sweets) and I think he had a great day.

I divided my time today between sitting at my desk doing some small stuff for people in my group and working on the files in HR.  I am trying to organize them now, because working on them yesterday I saw that they’re really messy and not well-organized.  I did a lot today, but I’m still not finished and they already look SO much better and it will be much easier for them to access the information they need.

From 11:30am – 12:30pm I had my little decoupage class in the conference room.  The two girls I had taught last time returned, and sat cutting the entire time.  The third girl, who missed it last time, got the introduction to cutting and I showed her how to properly cut out pictures, and the best types of pictures to choose.  She started cutting right away and I gave her the “decoupage spiel.”  They all loved it and were very enthusiastic.

I talked about “decorative reincarnation” and how the idea behind my art was to reuse, reduce and recycle.  I told them to start looking at things not as how they are, but as how they COULD be.  Transforming something ugly into a work of art is very gratifying.  I think it’s better than someone who sculpts or just paints on a canvas, because there’s a before and an after, which can be very dramatic.  So, there’s a lot of drama in my work (big surprise!).

One of the girls is Chinese and was thrilled to learn that the art of cutting and gluing started with the Chinese way back in the 12th century!  She showed us how to make little flowers out of paper (the way you cut snowflakes).  She used some patterned paper I had brought in and they came out SO pretty.  If you made lots of little flowers (or snowflakes) and decoupaged them, they would be lovely.  We were all excited to find a new way to use paper in decoupage!

After the class, I ate my lunch (reading my book), then did more work on the files in HR, and then just killed time reading my book until it was time for the birthday party with milk and cookies.  It was a lot of fun.  The people in the department are a great group of young people.  I think I’m one of the oldest (if not THE oldest).  Most of them are in their 20s-30s!

I didn't have any milk or cookies, but I DID take two cookies for Eric.  I asked the girl who brought them if I could do that, and she was very sweet.  I told her that I've always brought Eric home food or sweets and he always appreciates it.  She said she always makes her men her famous chicken-fried-steak.  We all laughed and talked about the way to a man's heart -- it's very often through his stomach!

There’s a small group that loves all the reality shows like me.  We went through AMERICAN IDOL and DANCING WITH THE STARS together, and now we’re all talking about SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE.  One of the guys prints out pictures of his favorites every week and puts them in a frame by his desk.  It’s a real conversation starter and he and I usually like the same talent!

My ride had a half day today, so Eric came to pick me up.  Since I started at 7:30am, he came to get me at 4:30pm.  We hit a lot of traffic going home (due, pretty much, to the U.S. Open) and got back to Clairemont a little after 5:00pm.  First, we went to pick up my check, and then we went into PETCO right next store.  I wanted to look at the birds.  I’m thinking about getting a little bird.  I’ve wanted one since my last bird died about 6 years ago, but I was always too busy in the shop.  Now, even though I’m working full time, I AM home a lot and I’d love to have another little friend around.

We checked out the parakeets (so cute) and also looked at and tried to befriend all the cats they have up for adoption.  I could have stood there all day, but Eric said he was afraid I’d have a reaction (and he’s right), so we left.

I wanted to go out to dinner, but Eric had just waxed the car before he picked me up, so he was a mess.  He said he needed to get gas at COSTCO, too.  Last time we looked, the gas was $4.49 at the local station and $4.29 at COSTCO.  Now, the gas is up to $4.69 at the same station and we figured it would be $4.49 at COSTCO.

We decided we’d go home, Eric would shower and change and then we’d go get gas and then dinner.  Unfortunately, while Eric was in the shower I fell asleep.  When he tried to wake me, I told him I didn’t want to go.  I was too tired.  I totally POOPED OUT!

I kind of knew that this was my window of opportunity, because he already told me his basketball game is on tomorrow night at 6:00pm and he doesn’t like to miss it if he can avoid it.  So, I may have blown it for the weekend.

I’m going to see SEX AND THE CITY on Sunday afternoon with my ride.  I was so pleased when I mentioned that Eric didn’t want to see it and she said she’d go with me.  We both live within 3 miles of the theatre, so it will be convenient, and we’re seeing a 5:30pm show, so we’ll still get home early on a Sunday night (which is important to both of us!).  I’m very excited, because everyone who has seen it has said it’s really great!

I slept until 9:00pm tonight.  Usually, that would be a disaster, but because tomorrow is Saturday (and we have no plans), I didn’t get upset when I woke up and looked at the clock.  I guess Eric had the same idea, because usually he will wake me after an hour or an hour and a half, knowing that I have to get up early the next day.  He just let me sleep!  He has this idea that I can fall asleep that early and sleep through the night but I KNOW it would never happen.  If I fell asleep at 6:00pm, and just kept sleeping, I would probably wake up around 2 or 3am – after 8-9 hours.  There’s NO WAY I could sleep through to the morning, unless I ran a marathon that day (not likely!).

I woke up a few times but didn’t look at the clock.  I kind of figured Eric would wake me, so I didn’t think it was that late.  I was still tired when I got out of bed at 9:00pm, but I figure I’ll be able to fall back to sleep by 1-2, which is not unusual for me on a Friday or Saturday night!
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of great stuff on TV on Fridays!  So, I will watch some pre-recorded shows I haven’t had a chance to watch yet!

We have no plans for tomorrow, but I think I may go to the flea market.  I’ve been there a few times and there’s a guy who sells birds.  I read online that he’s been there for years and is very reliable.  His birds are healthy, well-bred, and a bargain to boot!

I would also like to go to the CITY HEIGHTS FARMERS’ MARKET.  They just opened for the first time last week and will now hold it every Saturday from 9am to 1pm.  They have fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables at affordable prices grown by local farmers, hot food and artisan crafts handmade by community members, health screenings, cooking demonstrations, fun activities for families and kids and live entertainment.

CITY HEIGHTS is about 10 minutes from our house and I want to check out the neighborhood and the market itself.  I want to see if I know any of the crafters and if it looks like a good place for me to sell.  I know I’ll enjoy buying some fresh produce and I’d much rather buy it from them than at KEILS or even COSTCO.  Support your local growers!

I had a very busy and productive day at work today, I’m proud to say!  My trainee was only working with me from 9-12, because she was participating in a teambuilding event in the afternoon.  Remember when I went Go Kart racing with my team?  This is the same kind of thing with her department.  They were going lawn bowling at Balboa Park.  I think it’s a great thing that the firm does, having each department do something fun as a group outside the office.  My ride told me today that her group went to the horse races one year.

Anyway, I worked on a couple of projects with my trainee all morning and then, after she left, I had lunch and read my book.  At 1:00pm I went down to HR to help them for the rest of the afternoon.  I was trained for a few hours and then did some filing for them.  All the different jobs I will be doing in HR are easy and fun.  I learned a couple of things I’ll need to do on the computer, and then a few other projects putting together packages for new employees.  They get folders filled with all sorts of forms, brochures and instructions.

I really think it’s going to be great in HR.  Everyone seems very nice and there’s lots of work, but it’s not stressful.  You’re not under pressure to get something done, like a presentation that has to be shipped.  It seems to be a very efficient, hard-working group that works together without pressure.

When I got home Eric wasn’t yet back from his ride.  I did some dusting and cleaning for a while, until Eric got home.  I took everything off my desk, dusted it and then put everything back.  It looks nice and neat – for a change!

He went riding late in the afternoon, because he had gone to COSTCO in the afternoon and got some food and drinks.  He looked for a folding shopping cart for me, but they didn’t have one.  I got so frustrated that I went on ebay and bought one in five minutes.  It’s exactly what I was looking for – a black metal folding cart.  I should have known to do that right from the start, instead of running around like an idiot searching everywhere.  The internet is the ONLY way to shop!

You know how they have those little old ladies cooking in COSTCO (or BJ’s or SAMS CLUB)?  They give you samples of turkey burgers, or tuna fish or spinach and cheese ravioli.  Eric tasted some spinach and cheese ravioli and bought a box.  We had them for dinner with some fresh-steamed broccoli.  They were delicious.  They’re fresh, so they take just 5 minutes to cook.  Delicious!

Tonight I watched SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE.  There are a few couples on the show that are SO divine -- just breathtaking to watch.  The talent on this show is amazing and I recommend it highly.  This is one of those shows that, like American Idol, is all about the talent.  It’s not like PROJECT RUNWAY, or AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL, or LEGALLY BLONDE, where the contestants are living together and you get to see how horrible they can be to each other.

LEGALLY BLONDE is very entertaining, but it’s hard to root for someone when they’re being interviewed privately and you can see what a heartless meanie they are.  Then, they’re out on stage and they sing great, and dance great and you think they’d be perfect to star on Broadway, but you don’t really want them to win, because you think they don’t deserve it.  Why can’t we all just get along?

I always tell people that I’m not very competitive.  I want to do well, but I want everyone else to do well, too.  I was always the one at dance auditions who was teaching the steps to people out in the hall.  I know I might have ruined my own chances by helping someone else, but that never bothered me.  I hate when people hold back helping someone else – either in real life or on a reality show, because they’re SO competitive that they want others to fail.  The way that I compete is I want everyone to do well, but I want to be the best!

Tomorrow I will be finishing up a PowerPoint presentation with my trainee.  She’s been doing the slides she learned how to create last week.  She’s getting a lot of experience working on them the last few days, as she first did one presentation and is now working on another.  I do other parts of the presentation, which are less technical.  I think they never wanted to teach me how to do these difficult slides, because it’s so complicated and they knew it would take hours and I was just a temp.

The girl who trained my trainee in this process was getting frustrated, because it was taking her so long to get it all, but that’s because there are about 30 steps!  I explained it to the boss and told him she was doing a fantastic job and that I don’t even think I could have done it!

He’ll be back on Friday and I’m hoping that we’ll have everything completed.  I am going back down to HR tomorrow to work on the files some more.  They’re a mess and I’m making them look be-you-ti-ful!  It’s funny, because I was organizing the files and making them look good and easy to find what you’re looking for.  I realized that my talents working in my shop – arranging and displaying stock – is something that I put to good use in the office.  I have tidied up messy cubicles and rearranged files.  I just like everything to look nice!  The best part is -- everyone seems to really appreciate my efforts!

As far as I can tell, no one slept well last night!  Eric and I both tossed and turned a lot.  My ride told me she and her husband were awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call (wrong number) and she couldn’t fall back to sleep.  Jimmy told me he couldn’t fall asleep.  A few people at work mentioned how tired they were, because they didn’t sleep well.  If it was a full moon, I’d understand, but it wasn’t.  So, what’s up with THAT?

I thought that even though I was exhausted this morning my day would be pretty easy and relaxing, because my boss was away and we only had one big project to complete.  Unfortunately, I forgot that today was Expense Report day, so we had to complete that, too.

Also, they finally have me access to the folders I need to use for my new HR job, so I had a lot of work to catch up on for them.  It's enjoyable work, but kept me busy for hours.

I did manage to finish my latest DICK FRANCIS book today, but I only had about 40 pages left, so I really didn’t read much.  I was going to start my newest book, which my boss lent me – RED CAT – “a John March mystery" by Peter Spiegelman.  It’s about John March, a PI in NY.  It sounds right up my alley, and takes place in NYC, so I’m very excited to start it, but I didn’t get a chance today!

My boss was so funny when he gave the book to me, because he warned me that the subject matter was of a sexual nature and didn't want to have any problems with sexual harrassment.  I simply said, "Forewarned!" and we both laughed.  I thought it was pretty cool of him to give me a book to read, because he sees me reading at my desk all the time and knows I love a good mystery!

So, I had the book on my desk and one of the guys I work with said, "What's that pornography you've got there."  I said, "The boss gave it to me to read!"  We laughed about it, too! 

The day flew by and I got so much accomplished.  When I got home I wanted to take a nap, but I resisted, because I knew it would be better to just go to bed early.  We had a relatively early dinner of leftover fish from last night with more fresh asparagus.  Delicious two days in a row.  Eric is quite the cook!

There was nothing on TV tonight and I had recorded RV, so we started watching it.  It has a great cast – Robin Williams, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels and Kristen Chenoweth – but we only watched about 45 minutes and had had enough.  We could relate to everything, but it was too frustrating and too stupid.  I just didn’t want to spend the time.

I left Eric in the bedroom watching DIRTY JOBS and came out to blog.  I am pretty tired and I’m going to get to bed by 10:00pm the latest, so I should be in much better shape tomorrow.

I don’t anticipate tomorrow to be anywhere near as busy as today, so I should be able to start RED CAT.  The boss will be in tomorrow afternoon and Wednesday morning, but will then be out Wednesday afternoon and Thursday and Friday.

I’m working more and more for HR and less and less for my current group.  I really enjoy all the people in the group, so I’m sorry I will be moving to another floor on July 1st.  Everyone on the floor is fun, friendly, supportive and hard-working.  I’m sure it will be the same on my new floor – at least I hope so!

I went to bed at 9:30pm last night.  That’s a record for me!  I know if there was anything decent on TV I would have stayed up, which is bad, but there wasn’t, which is good.  I did wake up around 5:00am this morning.  First, the guy downstairs (“the cougher”) had his radio alarm clock blasting.

For a second I thought it was MY alarm clock, but then I remembered I don’t “wake to music.”  With our bedroom window open and his bedroom window open, there’s really about 10 feet between him and us and I’m sure he woke a few neighbors up.

Then, a bird started chirping.  If I didn’t have an alarm clock, I could pretty much be sure to wake up on time anyway, because the birds love to chirp as the sun rises.  Ever notice that?

So, I got up early, got showered and dressed early, and was ready to leave by 7:00am.  Yesterday, my sister-in-law, Susan, called while I was in my friend’s car on our way home from work.  I told her I’d call her back in 20 minutes, but of course when I walked in the door Eric and I started talking and I got undressed and turned on the computer and completely forgot.  So, I figured I’d go outside early and call her while I waited for my ride to come.  It was 10:00am in NY, so I knew she’d be out and about (probably for hours).  I got to talk to Susan for about 10 minutes before my ride arrived.

When I got to work I started doing my HR project immediately.  This project is never-ending and is something I need to do every single day.  They receive hundreds of resumes via email every week.  Each needs to be printed and also saved on the network (so they can be accessed by the people who will be interviewing them).  After they’re printed and saved, I need to input each one on an Excel spreadsheet.  The last two steps are to put a cover page on each one, with certain pertinent information, and then distribute each to the HR manager handling the hiring of that position.

Don’t get me wrong – this is easy work.  There’s nothing challenging or difficult.  It’s just that it’s frustrating that it never ends.  As soon as I print the last few emails and go through all the steps, there are more coming in.  They come in overnight.  They come in on Saturday and Sunday.  They never stop.  They come from all over San Diego, California, the country, and the world!  Everyone wants to work for this firm!  The firm advertises on MONSTER.COM, CAREER BUILDER.COM, CRAIGSLIST.COM and also on their website.

I didn’t have much to do for my group or with my trainee today, so I was able to concentrate on my HR responsibilities – and my new book.  I read a little over 100 pages today and it’s already GREAT!  The main character – John March – a PI in NY – is interesting, the story is exciting and the author definitely has a way with words.  I can’t wait to tell the boss how much I’m enjoying it.  I see more bonding in our future!

When I got home I relaxed and watched DR. PHIL while Eric made the most delicious dinner yet.  He really has taken over in the kitchen, which I greatly appreciate.  He’s really creative and comes up with great combinations.  He steams lots of fresh vegetables and either makes fish (or chicken for himself) or veggie burgers, faux chicken cutlets, or those delicious veggie latkes (that’s what I call them, because they taste more like a latke than a burger).  Then, he insists on washing all the dishes.  I really appreciate everything he does for me.

I had some sewing to do – repairing the belt loop on a dress and a few other things, which I did while watching LEGALLY BLONDE.  The show is going really well and they’re eliminating all the girls I didn’t like.  Shows they’ve got good taste!  I think I know who should win already, and there are still 6 of them left.  Her name is Rhiannon and she is SO cute.  She has a great smile – acts great, dances great, sings great.  A real triple threat – and she’s really funny, too.  Elle is such an intricate character, because she has to be ditzy and smart at the same time!  She’s not a dumb blonde, but more naïve and fresh.

After LB Eric and I watched HELL’S KITCHEN.  It was down to the final three, and I’ve got a winner in mind for THAT show, too!  I did well going to bed early last night, so I plan to do the same again tonight.  The boss will be in tomorrow morning, so I know it’s going to be crazy until his car picks him up at 12:15pm to take him to the airport.  Then it’s back to RED CAT (which, by the way, is a tattoo a woman has on her inner thigh!).

This is late because – once again – my server was down.  They say I need to “clear my cache” but it’s ridiculous, because if it WAS my cache, why would it work perfectly 12 hours later?  Wouldn’t I HAVE to clear it, before it would work again?  Someone PLEASE explain!

I was pretty busy today, but I STILL managed to finish another book!  This one was really good and I brought it home for Eric to read.  I think he’ll really enjoy it.  I am sure he’d love DICK FRANCIS, too, but he’s just not into the whole England/Horseracing thing.  Anyway, when I told him it was all about a sex scandal and takes place in NY, he was all for it!

So, today I found out exactly what I’ll be doing at work starting on July 1.  I thought I was going to work exclusively in HR.  Then, my ride told me that another group had specifically requested me!  They decided that they could “share” me and I’ll be splitting my time 50/50 in HR and this new group, which is right across the floor from where I now sit.

The good news is I really like everybody in both groups – HR and the new group – so it should be great.  Also, I may not be doing as much reading as I do now (maybe only during my lunch hour!), but at least the days will fly by.  Just this week being really busy helping out HR while still sitting with my old group, the days have really gone by quickly and I’ve enjoyed the work a lot.

My boss was in from 9:00am – 1:00pm, but the only conversation we had was about how great RED CAT is and how much I was enjoying it.  Wait until I tell him I finished it!  He was in meetings all day and will be away at meetings tomorrow and Friday.

My trainee has just a few more days with me, so tomorrow and Friday we are going to review a lot of the stuff I previously showed her and taught her.  I will still be around, if she has any questions, but I know she wants to be able to do as much on her own as possible.

Here’s another complaint I have about her – and I know most of you are not going to believe your ears: she talks too much!  I know, how could anyone talk more than I do?  I SWEAR, she does.  Sometimes she talks too much, because she’s going on and on about her new boyfriend and all the gory details, which I could not care LESS about.

Sometimes, it’s actually about work.  I think she just likes the sound of her own voice, because she’ll say the same thing 8 different ways.  Sometimes, I actually just go back to what I was doing and let her talk to my back, because I feel like if I have to sit there and look at her and listen to her go on and on and on, I’ll just die.

Other times, I’ll just cut her off.  For instance, I’ll tell her something that she needs to do, and she’ll go on and on about the way she wants to do it, and the way she thought it should be, and the way she might do it in the future, and so on, and so forth.  Finally, I’ll just cut her off with something like, “This is YOUR job now – you do it however you want!"

She’s really starting to get on my nerves, so I’m happy that I only have three more days sitting next to her!  She’s really nice, and sweet, and maybe I’m the only one who will have a problem with her rambling, but I honestly doubt it.  I know it won’t go over well with the boss.  I learned very quickly that he wants you to get in, say what you need to, ask what you need to, and give him what you need to, and then get the hell out.  He doesn’t mind sitting and chatting, but if it’s business-related, he wants to do the talking.  He’ll answer any questions you have, or explain anything he needs to, but he is NOT going to want to listen to her long-winded descriptions of what she’s planning to do.  She’ll find THAT out soon enough!

Anyway, I have a lot of fun with all the other people in my group and I have something amazing to tell you all!  The other day I sneezed and someone said “Bless You!”  I couldn’t believe it!  So, the next time someone else sneezed, I said “God Bless You!”  Now, when I hear a sneeze, I respond.  I’m no longer holding myself back and the response has been very positive.   I’m getting “Thanks!”   I don’t know what happened or why, but I’m glad that etiquette is not dead and gone!

When I arrived home I asked Eric when he wanted to go out to celebrate his birthday, which is tomorrow (6/26).  I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow (just a check-up), so I didn’t know if he wanted to go out tonight, tomorrow – after my doctor’s appointment, or Friday.  Saturday we are going to see BYE BYE BIRDIE at the SAN DIEGO MUSICAL THEATRE and will definitely eat out before.  The last time we went we found a cute little Italian place right across the street from the theatre, so I’m going to make a reservation.  But that doesn’t count!  I want to go out and have a nice Birthday Dinner!

Eric said he’d like to go tomorrow, when I got back from the doctor, so tomorrow it is.  Now, I just have to figure out where.  I want to take him someplace new – someplace different!  I have to figure it out at work tomorrow!

We made a big salad together and also had MORNINGSTAR corn dogs (which are pretty good if you haven’t had a real hot dog in about 10 years!  I also made my salad for tomorrow and we had enough leftover salad for Eric to have lunch tomorrow, too!

There wasn’t much on TV, so we watched AMERICA’S GOT TALENT, which I do find very entertaining, and then I watched SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE while Eric worked out.  Then, I went to sleep and Eric stayed outside and watched TV.  I’ve really been going to bed a lot earlier and it’s helped me get out of bed a lot easier in the morning!

Today was my last day at this desk on the 6th floor.  Starting tomorrow I will be in HR for the rest of the week.  Starting next week I’ll be doing my 4/4 double-duty!  The boss was in, so we had a lot to do today.  He was giving an in-house presentation at 3:00pm and we had to prepare 30 color copies of a PowerPoint presentation, which he would also use in a slide-show.  We also had to send an email announcement to about 400 people, so we were busy!

At some point this morning I went into my boss’ office, reminded him that this was my last day and thanked him for 5 great months.  I said it was great working for him and I really appreciated everything.  He apologized for not keeping me busy, and I said, “That’s okay.  I got to do a lot of great reading the past few months!”  I could see he was pleased and happy, and a little surprised, that I thanked him, but really – in all – it has been a great experience and he’s a really nice guy.

Nine of us are going to lunch tomorrow (not the guy I worked for, but the other people I worked with).  I had to pick the restaurant and make the reservation, get directions, etc.  Since I don’t know the area, I asked for suggestions from the other invitees.  We settled on a place called POSEIDON ON THE BEACH.  We’ll be sitting right by the water under big umbrellas.  I told one of the guys, who sits right near me, that I’m going to wear my bikini.  He said he’s going to wear his speedo.  So, I told my trainee, “I’m wearing my bikini and he’s wearing his speedo.”  So, then the guy said, “I think we’re going to have eight cancellations!”  This guy is so funny and we were both laughing so hard.  It was great fun.

I’m really looking forward to lunch tomorrow, because it’s a very young group.  We’re having it to welcome a new intern who just graduated from Graduate School.  The older people in the group are in their late 30s and two are 40, so I’ve got them all beat by at least 10 years!  Nevertheless, I have a lot of fun with them and they’re a great crew.  This is a fond farewell to me, because although I’ll be seeing them every day, I won’t be working with them anymore.  Welcome to the new guy; goodbye, Peppy!

My ride had “team building” this afternoon, and they went to play miniature golf (I told you this firm was great!), so Eric came to pick me up at 5:00pm.  When we got home we made dinner – a few spinach ravioli (more from the box Eric purchased at COSTCO a few trips ago), a salad, and some steamed broccoli.  We made some salad for Conrad, but – like most of my birds – he won’t go near it.  They tell you all the great stuff you should get your birds to eat, but they don’t tell you HOW!  With our last bird (Birdy) we used to practically starve him trying to get him to eat something other than seed, but – no go.  Looks like Conrad is built from the same stuff.  He goes for the seed, but won’t go for much else.  I gave him some fresh spinach, cucumber (without the seeds), and a little bit of pasta (believe it or not, they’re supposed to eat bread, pasta, rice and beans!).  Nothin’!  I’m hoping he’ll figure out it’s good stuff eventually!

We found out tonight that our niece, Melissa, has been ill and was in the hospital.  We tried to call her mom (Eric’s sister, Robin) to get details, but only were able to leave a message.  GET WELL SOON, MELISSA!  WE LOVE YOU!  Her birthday is next week, and I feel terrible that she’s sick.

I brought my latest  DICK FRANCIS book home from the office today, because I had some other stuff to carry to my new desk tomorrow and figured I’d bring it home with me.  There’s nothing on TV tonight, so I’m probably going to finish the book before I go to sleep.  That means that Eric will have to make a trip to the library for me tomorrow!  The best thing we ever discovered was that the library is down the block!  It’s so fabulous!  I already told him I want to read the other novels by Peter Spiegelman – BLACK MAPS, DEATH’S LITTLE HELPERS and NO WAY HOME.  I really enjoyed RED CAT, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy these others, too!  After that, I’m sure it will be more Dick Francis, until I’ve read his entire repertoire!

Do you believe it’s July already – and that the biggest summer festivities are this Friday?  There’s a lot going on in San Diego, so Eric and I will have to figure out where to go and what to do.  We heard on the news that they’re canceling a lot of firework displays, because they’re afraid they’ll start fires.  It’s so sad, but I guess it makes sense.  I just hope some idiots aren’t setting off the illegal kind, which will more likely start a fire.  I’ve never been a fan of fireworks, unless they were the big, flashy, professional kind.  Otherwise, I think they’re too dangerous and someone always ends up getting hurt.

I’m really enjoying having Conrad to look at, talk to and play with.  He’s very sweet and inquisitive.  Here’s a funny thing:  When he sees me eat, it makes him hungry and then HE goes and eats!  Unfortunately, he passes right by the salad and eats his seed.  I told Eric I think the seeds are like potato chips and birds are just like people – they bypass the healthy stuff for the junk food!

I decided that I’m going to leave him fresh fruits and vegetables all day – with no seed.  Then, when I get home from work, I’ll give him seed, so he can have some of that, too, but if he’s hungry all day he’ll be forced to eat the good stuff.  I’ll see if that works!

It’s the first of July and my first day in my new position in HR.  I had a great day today!  It was very different getting off at the third floor with my ride, instead of riding up to the 6th floor.  As soon as I got to my desk I put my purse down and went up to the 6th floor to pick up my stuff.

It’s amazing how much stuff you accumulate, even when you’re a temp!  I had my box of tissues (I ALWAYS need my tissues), my notepad, my extra pair of black kitten-heel mules (they’re almost like slippers!), my Betty Boop mug and Betty Boop mouse pad (which says “Peppy’s Pad”), my cereal, and my stash of plastic forks, spoons, knives and paper plates and bowls.

I was back at my new desk when I saw one of the girls from the group upstairs come into HR.  She was carrying a vase with gorgeous flowers – and they were for ME!  I couldn’t believe it.  I almost started to cry.  She said she wanted to thank me for being such a breath of fresh air and wanted to wish me good luck in the new job.  She is one of my decoupage students and she’s a beautiful, lovely girl and it meant the world to me.  All the girls in HR were standing there and heard her saying how much they were going to miss me upstairs, and I think they were a little shocked.  After all, I’m just a temp!

Once I got settled at my new desk I then had to deal with Support getting my computer up and running.  Since the temp who previously sat at this desk moved to Trading today, and the woman who worked in Trading moved to HR today, Support had their hands full with us this morning!  I finally got everything set up and had access to everything I needed in order to get my work done.

At 11:35am I went upstairs to the 6th floor to meet with the group that was going out to lunch.  We were taking out the new intern to welcome him to the group (even though he’s been working for 2 weeks already).  We went to POSEIDON ON THE BEACH, a beautiful restaurant in Del Mar that is absolutely RIGHT on the beach.  We sat on a large balcony under an awning and watched the waves roll in, people playing volley ball, swimming, playing with boogie boards, and sunning on the sand.  It was a glorious San Diego day with a strong sun and a cool breeze.  Perfection!

Everyone said the fish tacos were the best in San Diego, so most of us got that as an entrée, but we started with Ceviche (seasonal fish and bay shrimp marinated with lemon and lime juices, cilantro, onions and tomato), and fried calamari, because the intern had never had it before.  He’s a young kid from Chicago and he’s adorable.  He was “interrogated” all during lunch about Chicago, where he’s been and what he’s done since he got here, and how he likes it so far.

The fish tacos featured beer and tempura battered fish lightly fried to a golden brown, served in corn tortillas with napa cabbage, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, salsa fresca, and chipotle aioli, served with lime wedges and fries.  I ate both tacos, but left the fries.  There was just too much food!

We had a great time, talking, laughing and enjoying the views and the weather.  We were not happy to go back to work, but off we went.  When I got back to work I started shredding.  HR produces a lot of highly confidential documents and, although the firm has a shredding service, the HR department has their own shredder and likes to shred certain things themselves, just to be sure.  I spent over 2 hours shredding and filled up four big plastic bags.  I was actually sweating, because I was working hard and it was a little hot by the machine!

In between, I would work on the computer, printing out any email resumes and distributing them.  I got a LOT done, emptying two boxes of shredding!  They really appreciated it and it passed the time quickly.  I love keeping busy!  I also did a couple of other small projects, including putting together packets of information that are given to interviewees when they come into the office.

When I got home, Eric was out riding, so I relaxed and played with Conrad.  He’s such a sweet boy.  He’s so pretty, too.  His coloring is spectacular.  I gave him more veggies, but of course he hasn’t touched them.

When Eric got home we had ravioli and salad (both leftover from last night).  It was fast and easy!  Tonight is Part I of the finale on HELL’S KITCHEN and we couldn’t wait!  It’s been a really entertaining season and we are anxious to see who is going to be running Gordon’s newest restaurant in Los Angeles.  It's Christina vs. Petrozza and I think Christina's going to win.

I spoke to my niece, Melissa two times today and I’m happy to report that she’s okay.  She just hasn’t felt well for about a month and they’re still trying to figure out exactly what’s wrong with her, but she is home, going to work, and hanging in there.  We hope you feel MUCH better REAL soon, Melissa!

I’m really enjoying working in HR.  It’s not that I didn’t enjoy working upstairs in Investment Services, but this is SO much more interesting!  It’s all about people!  Hiring people, interviewing people, people looking for work.

Do you know I received a resume today that was ELEVEN pages long?  I don’t think there’s many people who have done enough in their lives to brag about it for 11 pages.  I don’t know what kind of job this guy was going for, but let me tell you that ELEVEN pages is NOT going to make a good impression.  I always think a resume should be one page, unless it’s SO darn impressive that you just can’t contain it to a single 8-½” x 11” piece of paper!  I’m sure even Bill Gates’ resume isn’t 11 pages!

Anyway, a few candidates have head shots on their resume.  They’re small – maybe 1x2 – but I thought that was new!  There was another email that had a picture of a woman’s legs as if she was sitting in the chair with her feet on the desk.  All you could see were her legs and feet.  It said, “I’m just trying to get a foot in the door!”  I thought it was clever, but don’t think it’s very corporate, or professional.  You DO have to admire her originality!

This morning I learned how to take the photo for the ID cards all employees are given, which have to be used to attain access to the elevators and certain floors (especially HR – it’s locked up tighter than Fort Knox!).  The new hire sits down and the camera is pre-focused.  The picture comes up on the computer.  You crop it and send it to the “printer” which is a machine that puts the photo on the ID card and then laminates it.  It’s very cool!

I organized a desk today that had been used as a “dumping ground” for the past few months.  It now looks like a normal desk, although there are lots of piles that someone needs to go through, because I don’t know what’s important and what’s junk.

I started my next John March Mystery by PETER SPIEGELMAN called “Black Maps.”  It was his debut mystery.  I started with RED CAT, his third, and there is already a major character in this one that appeared in RED CAT.  I feel like I already know John March, so I’m already enjoying it.  I have to admit, I only got to read for a while at lunch and then a few minutes before I left.  Otherwise, I was too busy!  Looks like my reading days here are over.  Well, it was nice while it lasted!

As my ride and I were walking to the car she told me how much they already loved me in HR!  I was so thrilled.  She’s so nice.  I’ve really been working hard, trying to show them how grateful I am for this opportunity and how much I appreciate it.  They’re all SO nice to me – but then most everyone in this firm is great!

When I got home I was so happy to see Conrad.  He’s such a cutie and he’s getting more and more acclimated to his new environment.  Eric’s been giving him fruit, and we don't think he has eaten any yet, but today I found a half grape on the floor of his cage.  We didn’t see him eat it, but he must have had some of it.  I told Eric we should have checked for beak marks before we took it away!

Eric made us a delicious dinner of steamed broccoli and those veggie latkes I love so well.  He laughs when I call them latkes, because they’re supposed to be veggie burgers, but to me they look and taste more like a latke.  I LOVE them!

After dinner we watched an episode of MONK that Eric had never seen before.  The new season starts July 18th.  We can’t WAIT!  Then, we watched AMERICA’S GOT TALENT and SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE.  It amazes me how much Eric enjoys these shows and how spot on he usually is with his critiques.  He knows talent when he sees it!

Tomorrow is a half day at work and it’s going to be VERY quiet.  A few of the girls in HR are out and there won’t be much going on.  It will be an easy ½ day and then three days off.  Wheeeee!

I was a little nervous about work today, because I was going to start training at my second job.  There was a lot to do in HR, because of the long weekend, so I was pretty busy, but I managed to get most of it done by 10:00am.  I went upstairs to train with the temp who has had the job for the last 7 months.  He’s leaving, because he’s moving back to Los Angeles.

I sat down with him and he started by showing me one of the systems they use in this department to keep track of clients.  It’s a database that needs to be updated as people change jobs, positions, etc.  It keeps track of everything.  He showed me how it worked, and I took copious notes.  It wasn't anything I couldn't handle.

Then, he started showing me another database.  This one was really complicated, and there were a lot of different functions.  I was starting to get a little overwhelmed, but his last day is tomorrow, and we only had today and tomorrow to train, so we both figured we’d better keep going.

I think he was doing a good job of explaining things, but I can only write so fast and it seemed like I was writing down things I would never be able to understand the next time I read my notes.

Then, he started explaining how the person in this position has to send emails to clients with documents attached that are updated every quarter.  He was showing me where the folders were that contain the documents, the folders that contain the emails, the folders that contain the “rules” (because each client likes to receive the documents in a different way).  It was VERY complicated.

When the boss (who is a doll) came over to ask how it was going, I confessed that I was feeling very overwhelmed.  She said not to worry and that I could handle it.  I wasn’t convinced. 

After two hours, I went back to my desk.  I had a headache, a stomach ache, and was completely unnerved.  I immediately sought out my ride and asked her if I could talk to her privately.  I explained that I was VERY hesitant to take this job.  I felt like I was not up to it.  I told her if I was JUST going to be doing this job, it wouldn’t be so bad, but I’m only going to get to focus on it 4 hours a day, and then will be focusing on HR the other 4, so my attention will always be divided.

I told her if I was going to have training for a few weeks (I trained MY trainee for over a month!), it might not be so bad, but tomorrow is his last day!

I told her that if I was a data entry specialist, and more experienced in this area, it might not be so bad, but that is NOT my strength.  I’m an EA (Executive Assistant) and I’m more used to the basic day-to-day admin and organizational jobs, rather than maintaining databases!

I told her any one of those three things might not be bad, but the combination was really making me nervous!  She is SO sweet and she immediately put me at ease.  She said if I didn’t want the job, I didn’t have to take the job and she would get someone else.  She understood everything that I was feeling, and I told her that in my few conversations with the boss in the last few weeks, she never explained to me what the job entailed, and I just assumed that it was similar to what I have been doing for the past 6 months!

My ride spoke to her boss, who spoke to the woman I would be working for, who emailed and asked me to come upstairs at 2:00pm to discuss it.  I went in there and was perfectly honest with her, explaining to her exactly what I had explained to my ride.  She said that she thought the temp had overloaded me, without meaning to, because he knew his time with me was limited. 

She said I WOULD have training and support after he was gone, for as long as I needed it, because the other two people on the team are expert in the two databases.  She said they would never just “throw me to the wolves” and expect me to just do it without help.   She said they will either be showing me and I watch, or watching me while I do it, and I would be closely monitored, because the work is very important and they want to be sure it’s done right.

She explained that she’s going on vacation from July 15th until August 9th and that if I was willing to try the job until she got back, then we would review the situation.  She said she didn’t want me working there if I was unhappy, and that I was a temp and wasn’t committed to anything.  I told her I would commit to working for the next month and see how it goes.

I felt a LOT better when I left her office, because I realized I would have the support and training I need, and that I wasn’t locked into this job, if I didn’t want to stay.

I told my ride that I wished I could just stay 8 hours in HR, but I understand that they need me in this other department, too.  The good news is – I got a raise!  I had asked my agency for more money, since I had been working steady at this job for 6 months and was doing a good job.  I was embarrassed today, because I felt like I asked for the raise before I knew what I was getting into and if I DIDN’T take this second job they probably wouldn’t want to give it to me!  Well, now I’m going to try, and they know I don’t really want to do it, so I feel I deserve the raise!

So, the rest of the afternoon was a lot better than the morning!  I learned a new database in HR, too!  This is a database that keeps track of where everyone sits.  HR receives emails every time someone arrives, departs or moves to another location.  I took each email and input the appropriate information for each employee.  It was fun and easy.  See, I can learn!

When I got home, Eric was busy, busy, busy.  He had taken apart the back room and rearranged everything.  He was organizing and moving things around.  He’s been making piles of things he wants to take with him in the RV, when he goes back to NY.  He’s leaving the big stuff, but taking lots of his tools, because he will need them either for his bicycles, or to work, or to set up an apartment.  It makes me sad to see him doing all this, but I understand that he’s doing what he thinks is best.

I did some research on the computer regarding sleeping habits of parakeets, because every parakeet I’ve ever had has slept with his head turned around and nestled in his back.  That’s the normal position for most birds.  Conrad likes to just hang his head and sleep.  It looks like he’s about to fall off the perch!  His head is almost touching his feet!

I was kind of freaking out, because it looked so weird, but I actually found a picture online of a bird sleeping like that and they say that some birds just like to hang their heads!  Conrad is so cute and sweet, but I worry about him, because he’s still getting acclimated to his new home and I thought maybe his weird sleeping position was a result of stress.  I’m glad to know that’s just the way he likes to sleep!

There was absolutely nothing on TV tonight, so I just played with Conrad, read my book (BLACK MAPS) and hung out with Eric.  The summer has begun and TV has slim pickins’!

I feel a lot better about going to work tomorrow and I’m really going to do my absolute best and try to do a great job.  I want them to see that I’m worth the raise they gave me (which was really nice).  Eric says I’m worth a lot more and they’re lucky to have me.  What a guy!

From the moment I get to work these days I have a lot to keep me busy.  The only chance I have to read my book is during lunch!

I worked in HR from 8:00am – 10:00am and then I went upstairs to get more training in KRM.  I trained from 10:00am till noon and then I went back downstairs to have lunch, read a little, and do more work for HR.  At 2:00pm I went back upstairs to train again, and then returned to my desk at 3:30pm.  I worked a lot, getting some interviews scheduled for next week, sending out emails, typing up schedules, and printing out comment sheets and resumes in preparation for the interviews.  It’s actually a lot of fun.

One of the bosses in HR is turning 50.  She’s gorgeous and I thought she was around 40.  The other girls bought her all kinds of “50” decorations in the card store, and some “turning 50” gag gifts.  After she left at 5:00pm, we all decorated her office.  It looks so cute.  One of the girls sent around an email asking us all to wear black tomorrow.  We did the same thing for a guy who turned 40 in my other department!  We stayed in the office decorating until almost 5:30pm, so I didn’t get home until 6:00pm.

Eric wanted to go out to eat, but didn’t want to hit the usual spots.  My ride had told me about a great place in HILLCREST called TAPAS PICASSO on 4th Avenue.  I told her that Eric and I love to try lots of different dishes and she highly recommended it.  We drove to Hillcrest, got a spot right across the street and had a delicious meal.

They have a Happy Hour special Monday through Thursday -- $5 tapas dishes.  We ordered 4 different dishes, including roasted potatoes with some kind of spicy sauce, deep fried baby artichokes, mushrooms and zucchini in garlic sauce and a tuna pate with toast.  There was a lot of garlic in the dishes and I told Eric I’m going to stink tomorrow – my first day at the new job!  Eric always says I reek of garlic the day after I’ve eaten a lot.  Yikes!  They’re going to hate me!

We decided to be completely decadent and drive to PACIFIC BEACH to hit COLD STONE CREAMERY for dessert.  We haven’t been there in months – probably since March!  I got the Chocolate Peanut Butter Perfection and Eric got the Shamu Swirl with Vanilla ice cream, oreo pieces and chocolate fudge.  We took it to go and brought it home.  We both ate about 1/3 and put the rest away for tomorrow – and we both got the smallest size available!  It’s just so rich and delicious – you can’t eat much!

We got home just in time for me to blog and then watch the HELL’S KITCHEN finale – tonight we’ll finally see who’s getting the Executive Chef job at Gordon Ramsay’s new Los Angeles restaurant.  It’s very exciting!

So, tomorrow I start my split shift – 8-12 on the 6th floor in KRM; 1-5 on the 3rd floor in HR.  I think it will be good for me – before I can get too inundated, I’ll have to go downstairs, or it will be ready to go home.  It will definitely make the day go by very fast.

I’ve seen a few people I worked near on 6 and they are so happy I’ll be back on 6 – at least part of the day.  They’re all so nice and come over to say hi when they see me training, or just walking in the halls.  I did make some friends in the 6 months I worked there, and now I’m making friends in HR, too.  It’s an all-girl team and they’re all really nice, friendly, and into having fun and laughing all day.  Who could ask for anything more?

Today was my first day splitting my time between the two departments.  I started in KRM.  One of the girls I will be assisting just returned from a week’s vacation today, so she had a lot of catching up to do.  The boss has a bad back and was visiting the chiropractor and is also preparing to go on vacation for 3 weeks.    The guy I will be working with (it’s a team of 3) was there, and he was able to spend a little time with me.

When I first got to my desk I had to call Support to have a tech guy get me fully set up.  It was kind of complicated, since I have two sign-ons (one for when I’m in KRM and one for when I’m in HR).  I also have two email addresses, since I have to be able to send things out from the appropriate address.

I got completely set up and tried to familiarize myself with everything on the new desktop.  There are a lot of databases and documents I need to use every day and I was looking at them.  They also gave me a Procedures Manual, which is over 120 pages.  I started reading it.  Some of it made perfect sense.  Some of it was Greek to me.  I explained to the guy the same thing I’ve told other executives over the years – if I understood everything you were doing, I could have YOUR job!  I don’t think I need to understand everything.  I just need to know enough to do MY job.

Basically, this job entails maintaining spreadsheets with updated information, sending and receiving emails – coordinating, communicating and maintaining.  It’s a lot of repetition.  I told them that’s good, because once I get something, I’ve got it.  They said not to worry, they understand that it’s going to take some time for me to get going, but in the meantime they will be training me.

They were all so friendly, and so nice.  The guy is a bit of a tease.  He came up to me at one point and said, “Did you finish that spreadsheet?”  For a minute I freaked, because I thought maybe he sent me something and I didn’t get it, or I just couldn’t think of what he was talking about.  It must have shown on my face, because he broke out laughing and I said, “Oh, you’re going to be trouble – I can tell!”

They’re all younger than me.  He is probably in his early 30s.  The other girl I’ll be working with is probably a year or two younger than me and the boss is probably in her early 40s. 

The morning went very quickly and, before I knew it, it was time to go downstairs to HR.  The boss was turning 50 and they had decorated the entire office and had a party planned.  When I got back they were all waiting around for her to finish a meeting behind closed doors.

They had a fabulous lunch set up in the HR conference room.  There were two different kinds of pizza (vegetarian and pepperoni), two different kinds of salad (basic and a fancy salad with craisins, blue cheese chunks and walnuts), and crudite and dip.

The boss was very surprised and we all ate lunch.  It was all the girls on the team and the man in charge of accounting (who must be a good friend).  We had a lot of laughs.  I mean, a lot.  These girls love to laugh and they are all so funny!  I made them laugh telling them about Molly Shannon’s character, Sally O’Malley, who always says, “I’m FIFTY!”  They got such a kick out of it.  I told them they should see Molly do it!

After lunch they brought in a cake that was TO DIE FOR.  It was huge, chocolate, with chocolate icing covered with chocolate chips, and inside was a chocolate cake with chocolate pudding.  Could it BE any better than that?  Maybe -- if there was peanut butter or raspberry in it!

The pieces were pre-cut and they were tremendous.  I had a half piece and I swear it weighed a pound.  I ate most of it and was SO full, but SO happy and satisfied, after salad, pizza and this amazing cake.

After cake she opened her gifts.  I felt a little guilty hanging around after lunch, so I left them to their party and went back to work, but the luncheon broke up soon after.  Fortunately, the party didn’t end there.  This boss is so popular in the office that people were coming down ALL AFTERNOON to wish her a happy birthday and see all the decorations, have some of the leftovers and cake, and just enjoy the celebration.

The girls had made a quiz – “How Well Do You Know the Birthday Girl?” with 15 multiple choice questions about her.  There were questions about her pet’s name, her favorite sayings, her hobbies, and embarrassing things that have happened to her at the office over the years.  The answers were SO funny and so clever.

They also had a big poster with things that happened the year she was born, and the price of gas (30 cents), etc.  They really went all out and it was fantastic.  It must have made her feel really good to see co-workers go to such extremes to be sure your birthday is fabulous.  I thought it was wonderful and told them so.  I told the boss that I’d been with the firm 7 months and hadn’t seen anything like THAT before!  She must be really special!

I managed to get some work done, even with all the partying going on, and the afternoon flew by.  I think it’s great that I get to spend the afternoons in HR, because it’s definitely going to be easier, and it will make the day go faster since the harder part of my day will be the morning, and I have easier afternoons to look forward to!

Tomorrow morning I’ll definitely start training.  The girl training me is very sweet and I’ve known her since I started, because she sits near the fax machine and helped me out months ago, the first time I had to send a fax.  You need to put in a code, and she let me use her code every time I sent a fax, and then she’d get the confirmation (in an email), and would forward it to me.  So, we already had a relationship (and I think she may have had something to do with me being requested for this job).  I’m looking forward to working with her.

Today was a really fun, busy day.  It was just what the doctor ordered.  I’m looking forward to more busy, fun days.  This office is really great and I love going to work every day.

When I got home, I immediately took a nap, because I was exhausted.  When I woke up I watched LEGALLY BLONDE and then Eric and I watched SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE.  Eric had eaten (really just snacked) while I slept, so I had a NUTRISYSTEM mushroom risotto and then finished my ice cream from last night.  I found out Eric finished his ice cream last night, while he watched Leno and I was sleeping!  I really enjoyed it all over again.  I swear, COLD STONE CREAMERY’S chocolate peanut butter perfection IS perfect!

I feel so lucky.  I love my job.  I really love it.  I love the people I’m working with, and the fact that I feel I’m making a contribution.  I love that people appreciate my efforts and that they want to work with me!  I even love a lot of what I’m doing.  I am so grateful.  I enjoy going to work every day!

This morning I started in KRM.  I got a lot of training and then started working on a project accumulating data and populating an Excel spreadsheet.  Once I got the hang of the process, the steps to take to find the information and transfer it into the spreadsheet, it was going very quickly.  Unfortunately, noon rolled around before I knew it!  I told them you never realize how fast four hours can go until you’re only working four hours at one desk.

I left and went downstairs to HR.  I read a little and had leftovers from yesterday’s party (as did everyone else in the group).  I had more of that delicious salad and some nice cheese, too.  Then, I snacked on celery and dip.

I kept pretty busy until about 3:30pm and then I had done everything I needed to do.  I went around collecting paper to be shredded and spent the next hour going back and forth shredding, filling up a bag and then shredding some more.  I filled two bags and then stopped.  The afternoon kind of dragged, because there wasn’t anything else for me to do.  I had finished a few projects and would have to wait until tomorrow to get more work.

When I got home Eric and I made some MORNINGSTAR FARMS corn dogs and chicken nuggets.  I had purchased this honey mustard at KEILS and we put it on everything.  It was REALLY spicy and added a delicious, sweet taste.

I watched the season finale of SHE’S GOT THE LOOK – the reality TV show about women “of a certain age” winning a modeling contract.  The woman “who’s got the look” is 45 and has 5 children.  She was gorgeous and had a fabulous figure.  It was another entertaining reality show.  I enjoyed it.

I finished my book – BLACK MAPS.  It was really good.  I have another of his books to start tomorrow.  Then, I’ll be getting back to DICK FRANCIS!

I can’t believe tomorrow is Friday already.  This week really flew by and usually the week after a holiday weekend drags.  I think this new situation at work is really great for me.  I’m working hard, which makes the day fly by.

I got invited to a birthday lunch for one of the guys on the team where I used to work.  I thought it was so nice of them to include me, since I don’t work with them anymore!  So, I have another nice lunch out at a restaurant to look forward to next Wednesday.

Today is my niece, Stephanie’s birthday.  I really miss her – and all my nieces and nephews.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEPHANIE!

At last!  It took me so long to get started, but I finished the vase over 2 days and Eric varnished it for a few days, and I’m finally ready to bring it to work tomorrow and give to my friend.  I hope she loves it.  Just between us, it’s not my best work, because when you make something custom for someone you have to do what they want and it might be something you wouldn’t necessarily do.

She wanted these vines on the vase, and I didn’t like how they looked and probably shouldn’t have used them and just told her, but I was afraid to disappoint her, so I used them and I don’t like how it came out.  It’s not horrible but, like I said, it’s not my best work.

Anyway, it’s a good thing it’s a gift, because if she was paying for it I’d be riddled with guilt!!  I worry so much about how someone will like something I’ve made, which I guess happens with every artist.  You always wonder how your audience will react, whether it’s a song, a photograph, a painting, or a vase.

Work today was fine.  My boss was back, but she got engaged over her vacation, so she was completely overjoyed and very distracted.  We had a 10-minute meeting and discussed the future, but when I left I really wasn’t sure where she stood.  I think she’s trying to get my job opened for a full-time on staff employee, and she knows I’m not interested, but I think she wants me to stay longer, until she hires someone.  I’m hoping I can leave by October, the latest, because two women in HR will be on sabbatical in October and I know they’ll need me full-time by then.

My friend Robyn sent me an email which had all my co-workers in hysterics today.  It’s called HOW TO STAY SANE AT WORK and it lists funny things to do at work, which would amuse you and make your co-workers thing you’re totally out of your mind.  The girls I work with in KRM were hysterical, and then the HR girls were screaming, too.  So, I’ve decided to include it, in its entirety, right here:

ONE-POINT OFFICE DARES:
• Run one lap around the office at top speed.
• Ignore the first five people who say 'good morning' to you.
• Phone someone in the office you barely know, leave your name and say, 'Just called to say I can't talk right now. Bye.'
• To signal the end of a conversation, clamp your hands over your ears and grimace.
• Leave your zipper open for one hour. If anyone points it out, say, 'Sorry, I really prefer it this way.'
• Walk sideways to the photocopier.
• While riding in an elevator, gasp dramatically every time the doors open.

THREE-POINT DARES
• Say to your boss, 'I like your style' and shoot him with double-barreled fingers.
• Babble incoherently at a fellow employee, and then ask, 'Did you get all that, I don't want to have to repeat it.'
• Page yourself over the intercom (do not disguise your voice).
• Kneel in front of the water cooler and drink directly from the nozzle (there must be a 'non-player' within sight).
• Shout random numbers while someone is counting.

FIVE POINT DARES
• At the end of a meeting, suggest that, for once, it would be nice to conclude with the singing of the national anthem (5 extra points if you actually launch into it yourself).
• Walk into a very busy person's office and while they watch you with growing irritation, turn the light switch on/off 10 times.
• For an hour, refer to everyone you speak to as 'Bob.'
• Announce to everyone in a meeting that you 'really have to go do a number two.'
• After every sentence, say 'Mon' in a really bad Jamaican accent. As in, 'The report's on your desk, Mon.' Keep this up for 1 hour.
• While an office mate is out, move their chair into the elevator.
• In a meeting or crowded situation, slap your forehead repeatedly and mutter, 'Shut up, all of you just shut up!'
• At lunchtime, get down on your knees and announce, 'As God as my witness, I'll never go hungry again.'
• In a colleague's DAY PLANNER, write in the 10am slot: 'See how I look in tights.' (5 extra points if it is a male, 5 more if he is your boss)
• Carry your keyboard over to your colleague and ask, 'You wanna trade?'
• Repeat the following conversation 10 times to the same person: 'Do you hear that?', 'What?', 'Never mind, it's gone now.'
• Come to work in army fatigues and when asked why, say, 'I can't talk about it.'
• Posing as a maitre d', call a colleague and tell him he's won a lunch for four at a local restaurant. Let him go.
• Speak with an accent (French, German, Porky Pig, etc) during a very important conference call.
• Find the vacuum and start vacuuming around your desk.
• Hang a 2′ long piece of toilet roll from the back of your pants and act genuinely surprised when someone points it out.
• Present meeting attendees with a cup of coffee and biscuits, smashing each biscuit with your fist.
• During the course of a meeting, slowly edge your chair towards the door.
• Arrange toy figures on the table to represent each meeting attendee, move them according to the movements of their real-life counterparts.

Thanks, Robyn!

So, I was wearing my black platform wedge espadrille mules today, but I always keep a pair of black kitten-heel mules under my desk in HR, in case I want to change shoes during the afternoon.  I had my shoes off and when I slid my feet into my shoes, I ended up with one of each.  I decided to add my own twist on the dares by walking around like that.

So, I walked over to one of the girls in HR.  Since one shoe was a platform and the other was not, I was uneven and it looked funny every time I took a step.  She looked at me and started laughing and, instead of laughing with her, I just stood there and said, “What?” like I had no idea what she was laughing about.  Then, I turned around and walked back to my cubicle.  I made sure every single girl in HR got a look at me before I went back to work.  They dared me to go up to the sixth floor like that, but of course I wouldn’t do it.  And THAT’S how I amuse myself at work!

Eric picked me up at 4:45pm and we went to the therapist.  She is really great (even Eric likes her!) and we both feel she is very helpful.  I’m so glad that Eric has agreed to go, because she helps us talk to each other without it becoming an argument.  It sounds like a cliché, but she’ll say something like, “Peppy, I hear Eric saying that he doesn’t like it in San Diego.”

When she says something, it just has more meaning and sounds better than when either of us say it!  I know it’s been very hard on Eric, because he’s so unhappy here, but it’s hard on me, too, even though I love it here, because – first of all – he’s unhappy, and – second of all – I know I’m going to have to leave here.   The longer I stay, obviously, the more I love it and the more attached to it I get.  I’m still willing to leave, but it’s not going to be easy.

After our session we went back to the STUDIO DINER for dinner.  I had a cheese quesadilla and Eric had macaroni and cheese.  It was a very cheesy dinner!  Then we came home and I started working on the computer right away, downloading my pictures of the vase and resizing them.  I had taken a lot, but it’s very hard to photograph because the varnish makes a reflection that ruins a lot of the shots.  I found a few I like and then started blogging.

We have the 2-night finale of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE on tonight, and I’d really like to get to bed early, so I’m going to close, but I’ll “talk” to you tomorrow!

Last night we went to bed late, because we wanted to watch HEADLINES on Leno.  At 11:35pm we turned on the channel and remembered the Olympics were on!  So, we shut the TV off and went right to sleep.  Unfortunately, we woke up a little after 1:00pm.  There were two idiots (a guy and a girl) in an apartment across the way screaming and laughing.  They must have been drunk – at 1:00am on a Monday night.  They kept screaming and laughing until finally I screamed out the window “SHUT UP!!”

We then closed our windows and eventually fell back to sleep, but we were up until almost 2:00am.  Fortunately, I did sleep this morning until the alarm went off, but I was exhausted.

The woman who has been training me is now on vacation until next Wednesday, but the guy and the boss were in.  I kept pretty busy and did as much as I could.  He came over a few times and answered a few questions, but I was pretty much on my own.

I went down to HR at noon and worked while I ate my lunch.  The building was having an “ice cream social” from 1-2 in the lobby and were also serving lemonade and had lots of gifts to be raffled off.

When I came into the department I said (using my best southern accent), “Who’s going to the Ice Cream Social?  There’ll be lemonade and ice cream, and raffles!  We just gotta go to the Ice Cream Social!  I just thought it was such an old-fashioned, small-town way to describe the event.  Who goes to a social anymore?

I kept that up until we actually went downstairs.  We were all laughing as we went down in the elevator.  They had two stations set up serving scoops of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream.  I got a scoop of chocolate (what else?).  Then, in the center of the lobby, they had crushed oreos, granola, nuts, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, and M&Ms.  You just piled on as much as you liked!  I had some crushed oreos, M&Ms and chocolate sauce.  Okay, so I like chocolate!

They had lots of great gifts to raffle off – mostly summer-type stuff – boogie boards, coolers, beach towels and beach chairs, but they also had an IPOD!  One of the girls was missing the social, because her family was visiting from out of town and she had left for the day.  So, I got a raffle ticket and told the girls it was for her.  When they all went back downstairs for the raffle, I gave them the ticket and stayed at my desk with a few of the others.  Unfortunately, none of us won anything.

In the afternoon, I got a call from the guy I work with upstairs.  Turns out there was a problem with a spreadsheet I have been maintaining.  On 7/14/08 (right after I started in this job) I accidentally made a mistake on the spreadsheet – and it’s a biggie.  It could get the firm in trouble with one of our sponsor firms, and could cost the firm money.  Oops!

I was horrified, and very apologetic.  The guy could not have been nicer, but I could see he was stressed.  I guess now they see that maybe I’m not the best person for the job (which could be a good thing), and maybe this will convince them to get someone else.  I know I expressed in the blog how stressful this job is.  The problem is that I try to be meticulous about everything, but it’s so complicated, and there are so many steps, that I’m really not surprised it happened.  I’m just wondering how many other times it’s happened that they haven’t discovered yet!  Yikes!

The good news is that Elsa came over to me this afternoon and said, “Peppy, why can’t all the temps be like you?  You’re so good and you’re so reliable!”  I told her I wasn’t THAT good and explained what happened.  She said it was just a mistake and it could happen to anyone and I shouldn’t worry about it.  Then, she explained that they were having problems with two temps and had to replace them.  It made me so happy when she said that, because she really does appreciate everything I do and likes having me around.  I keep hinting that I want to work in HR full time and I know she’ll do everything she can to make that happen – if it’s possible.

Right now, I’m working on organizing their files.  There was a guy who left HR right before I started and I’m now doing a lot of the things he used to do.  He was HORRIBLE at filing and obviously hated it.  I found a bunch of stuff just shoved into a cabinet and had to make folders for it, because they didn’t exist and he obviously didn’t want to deal with it.

He also didn’t alphabetize a lot of forms that are filled out by applicants, so if you want to find one you have to look through all the “L’s” instead of just looking through them alphabetically.  So, I have been taking all the piles and alphabetizing them.  I’m up to “M.”  It’s a huge job, but the files were SO messy and I’m neatening them up, too, so now they look better, they fit better, and everything will be so easy to find.

They’re going to be moving the file room to make another office, and when they do the job will be so much easier if the files are already organized.  I know that’s something that could keep me busy for months and nobody else wants to do it, but I really don’t mind at all.  I love making things neat and organized and look nice.  I much rather do that than maintain spreadsheets that are going to get me in big trouble!

When I got home I just jumped in the car and went to the dressmaker in the shopping center.  I tried on the two dresses and she pinned them so that they'll fit better.  They both also need a hem (big surprise).  She’s going to make them perfect for me and she’ll have both ready on Saturday!  I’m so excited, because I love these dresses.  They look vintage, but they’re new.  Both are sleeveless, floral prints (in pinks and oranges) and are fitted to the waist and then have full skirts.  I can wear them to work, or dress them up with some sparkly jewelry for a night on the town.  In fact, maybe I’ll wear one on Saturday night to go to the theatre with Ilene!

Ilene and I were emailing back and forth all day today.  We’re so excited about the weekend.  She’ll be coming in on the train from L.A. at 8:00pm on Friday night.  Eric and I will pick her up at the train and go out to eat.  Then, we’ll come home and hang out.  Saturday, we can do whatever Ilene likes – maybe go shopping, or just drive around and I'll show her some of my favorite spots.  Saturday night the three of us will go out to dinner and then Eric will drop us off downtown at the theatre to see SPRING AWAKENING.  Eric and I saw it on Broadway last year and we loved it.  I can’t wait for Ilene to experience it!

Sunday, Ilene and I are driving to Laguna Beach for the Festival of the Arts.  We’ll spend the day at the festival and then her husband, Kyle, will pick her up with the kids (they’re going to be spending the day at Disneyland).  Then, they’ll drive back to L.A. and I’ll drive back to S.D.  Sounds like a fabulous weekend, eh?

Tomorrow night I’m having dinner with Robyn.  We’re not sure where we’re going to go yet (I’m leaving it up to Robyn).  I’ll come home and jump in the car and drive north again to meet her.  She works about 10 miles north of here and lives another half hour further north.  I’m looking forward to dinner with her, but I’m going to be eating out SO much this week, and I’m feeling VERY guilty!!  I’ve gained back so much weight.  It’s just the stress and aggravation.  I’m an emotional eater, so I find myself snacking a lot, which I know is bad, but I can’t help myself.  Nothing that I eat is really bad, but they’re still calories and they always find their way to my waistline!

Tomorrow my “morning boss” will be away at a conference and the woman who trains me is on vacation, so it will just be me and the guy on the team.  He’s so nice, but he’s so busy that I hate to bother him, so I have a feeling I won’t be doing much the rest of the week – especially after what he found out today!

I went to bed nice and early last night – 10:00pm.  Eric went out to the living room to watch TV, and I fell asleep in 5 minutes.  Unfortunately, I woke up at 4:30am – as usual.  I started thinking about work – about my “big mistake” and I was so stressed.

When I got to work, I apologized profusely, and the guy was SO nice about it.  He said it was no big deal and it was already resolved, but I saw a whole chain of emails, so I know it caused some problems.  He also didn’t tell anyone that I made the mistake, but I was telling everyone!  I just felt bad about it, and wanted them to know that it was the senile temp and not the fabulous employees!

I spent a lot of the morning double-checking all my work for the past month, making sure I didn’t make any other big mistakes.  Thank goodness all was well.  I was kind of bored, because this guy is so busy he doesn’t have time to give me much work, but he did give me a few projects, and I also got some work through emails, so the morning passed pretty quickly.

When I was leaving, I apologized again.  He said I was the best and they were so happy I was there, and I shouldn’t worry about it anymore.  That made me feel better and I went downstairs happy and relieved.

When I got down to HR they all told me they spent the morning looking at my website!  They were talking about a picture I brought in yesterday – I forgot to write about it!  You see, one of the girls got a gift from APPLEONE – the temp agency -- a mouse pad with a pocket for a photo.  She gave it to me and I said I was going to put a picture in it and bring it to her.

Most of our pictures are still packed away in boxes, but I have my cabaret stuff in a file in our oak file cabinet, so I put the picture from my first flyer.  In case you never saw it, or don’t remember (and who could blame you), all I’m wearing is a leopard shirt, sitting with one leg kicking up in the air, holding a black feather boa.  It’s pretty racy!  I knew they’d freak when they saw it, and I was right.  First of all, I had much longer BROWN hair and looked MUCH younger.  The picture was taken in 1991.

So, they passed it around and were all talking about it.  Today, when I got downstairs, they wanted one of the girls (who was out yesterday afternoon) to see the picture, so I promised I would bring it back today.  They also told me that they spent much of the morning on my website!  Elsa had explained that I did crafts and had my own shop.  They said, “You’re so multi-talented!  You sing, you dance, you craft!”  They said they loved my website.  I was so happy!  They were all very complimentary.

I worked on a couple of different projects and the afternoon flew by.  I was meeting Robyn after work, so when Elsa dropped me off, I just got right in the car and headed back north.  We met at VILLA CAPRI – Family Style Trattoria.

It was about 17 miles from the apartment and I was there in about 20 minutes.  They had a really nice menu.  I decided to get a four-cheese pizza and Robyn got tortellini.  I was absolutely starving, because I only had a tiny container of cottage cheese and a little salad for lunch.  I knew I’d be starving, and I was right!  Even so, I brought Eric home 2 pieces of pizza (and he loved it!).

Robyn and I had a great time talking, filling each other in on what’s going on at work and at home, and enjoying the good food.  I really wish Melissa could come out here, because she and Robyn are best friends, and she could visit with me AND Robyn, so it would really be a worthwhile trip!  Unfortunately, she’s had so many health problems lately, so it’s really out of the question for a while.

When I got home, it was a little after 8:00pm.  I gave Eric the pizza and he ate it right up.  I opened the mail, and was thrilled to receive an adorable gift from Geri.  She knows how I love rhinestones – and she bought me the word “Fabulous” in rhinestones, which you can iron on anything.  She said in her note that “she has one word for me.” That really made my day!  I don’t think I’ve got the guts to put it on a t-shirt or a jacket.  Isn’t that too egotistical?  Maybe I’ll make a pillow!  Anyway, I love it!

There’s really nothing much on TV these days, except the Olympics.  I do enjoy it, but only a little at a time.  I just can’t watch it hour after hour.  So, Eric and I have been watching anything else we can find that amuses us, and it motivates me to go to bed early!  I’m hoping to get a full night’s sleep tonight – and actually sleep until the alarm goes off!

At 3:05am Conrad had another “midnight flight” and decided to go crazy in his cage.  He never did this before Saturday night and now he’s done it twice in 3 days.  Again, I had to take the perch and help him back up to his swing.  He jumps right on, grateful for the assistance, and then is quiet again.  I don’t know if I should take him out of the room at night, or cover him with a sheet, or just hope it doesn’t happen again.

I had a hard time falling back to sleep (naturally), so I lost at least an hour, but then slept right up to the alarm.  I had a great morning.  My boss asked me to fill out a “Requisition Justification” which is the form needed to prove another employee is necessary to be hired.  The others on the team had already filled it out, and I just added my thoughts.  I honestly believe this position needs to be held by a full-time employee who can devote eight hours a day.

Also, a full-time employee is much better than a temp, because the job has a lot of responsibility and I think that most temps (myself included) just don’t have the same devotion to the job as someone who’s actually on the payroll.  I hope it helps, because I REALLY want to work full time in HR.

Today is the last day before the woman who has been training me comes back from vacation.  I had a few emails to send out, but I was a little nervous to push the button without someone reviewing them, so I asked the guy on the team to come over.  He kept saying he would, but never did.  He has this big clear plastic orange cup from SAN DIEGO ANIMAL PARK with zebras and giraffes on it.  He’s always carrying this cup around and drinking water from it.  This morning he left it on a file cabinet near my desk, so I took it and hid it.  Then, I sent him an email telling him I was holding his cup for ransom and if he ever wanted to see it again he better come over and help me “or there’s no telling what I might do.”

He laughed so hard and came right over.  He helped me get the emails out, then I gave him back his cup and he laughed and said, “That’s the way to get me!”  It was funny, but at the same time – I got my work done!

When I got down to HR I got right to work as I ate my salad, plugging away on the database project.  I’m almost completely up-to-date.  The girls keep finding more and more older resumes in their offices, which need to be input, plus I’m inputting all the new resumes received daily.  It’s really a never-ending job, but the bulk of it is certainly finished.

I was so sleepy this afternoon.  I was working, but I think I did a few “head drops” where you fall asleep for an instant and then are awake again.  I got up and went to the Ladies’ Room, and was able to keep working, but I promised myself a nap when I got home!

Eric and I watched a little of Judge Judy and then he went out to watch CASH CAB (his new favorite show!) and I took a nap.  He woke me at 7:00pm and asked me if I wanted to get up, or sleep another half hour.  I said I’d just lay there and see if I fell back to sleep, and he was back in what seemed like 60 seconds saying it was 7:30pm!  I got up and he had dinner ready.  Steamed edamame (with Ilene’s gift of “Melissa’s  garden herb sea salt.”  You grind it fresh.  She also brought us “Melissa’s Organic Rainbow Peppercorns.”  Apparently, this Melissa knows a thing or two about herbs and spices!).

We used both of them last night on our asparagus and fish, but I forgot to mention it.  The spices are fresh-ground each time and delicious and really added a lot to everything, but especially the edamame, because you could really taste the difference from the ordinary sea salt.

We then each had ½ veggie latke and a corn dog.  Eric’s so sweet when he prepares dinner.  He really is a very creative cook and will always try to make everything special.

There isn’t much on TV these nights, due to the Olympics.  I guess the other stations know no one’s watching much else (except us!), so they don’t put anything new on.  Eric and I watched this silly show called WIPEOUT, where people go on these crazy obstacle courses with mud, foam, water, and many, many obstacles.  The contestant with the best time wins.  WIKIPEDIA says it’s the world’s largest obstacle course!  It’s fun to watch and is a lot like FEAR FACTOR, which was a favorite of mine.)

I worked on the computer for a while, paying bills, answering emails, and blogging.  I feel pretty tired, even though I had a nap, so I think I’ll be able to go to sleep at a decent hour.  There’s an article in this month’s MARTHA STEWART LIVING magazine about getting a good night’s sleep.  I just may take it to bed with me and read it before turning out the lights!

From the second I got to work this morning, we were in “stress mode.”  I worked with the guy and girl on the team all morning, and when I left things were a big mess.  I stayed until 1:00pm again, working through lunch, but this job is just so complicated!  I did a lot of running around, going to the fulfillment center to pick up the printouts, labels, etc., as they were done, and I processed all the Certified Mail forms and Return Receipts for about 100 letters.

I offered to stay upstairs all day and then work downstairs tomorrow (because we’re only working ½ day), but she said she’d rather I go downstairs today and she’ll have me to help her finish up tomorrow morning.

So, at 1:00pm I went downstairs.  I had really worked up an appetite, so I got a bowl of turkey noodle soup in the cafeteria.  I ask for mostly broth, so I’ll just have a few noodles and a few pieces of turkey, but it’s mostly just delicious turkey broth, which is really good.  They make the soups fresh downstairs, with carrots and onions, too.  It’s really good!

I got a lot done in HR this afternoon.  It’s going to be dead in HR tomorrow, because at least 3 of the girls aren’t coming in, and I won’t be there, because I’ll be upstairs all morning.  I just hope we can get all these letters out tomorrow before we leave at noon!

Eric picked me up at 4:45pm and we went to our therapy appointment.  We discussed the fact that he’s still going to NY, but he’s going to put it off for a few weeks, so he can resolve the RV issue.  We now have another guy interested in buying it, which is really great.  So, if this first guy doesn’t pan out, at least we have other options.

Another issue is that Eric found out from the moving company that it will take at least 3 weeks (probably closer to 4) for his stuff to arrive in NY.  So, he’d rather stay here and live without his stuff and get to NY around the same time his things will arrive.  So, that’s the new plan.

After our session we went back to the STUDIO DINER.  I had a hankerin’ for another Crab Cake Sandwich.  Eric got the fish and chips.  It was the biggest piece of fish you ever saw – it extended over both sides of the plate!  He also got a root beer shake, which was root beer soda mixed with vanilla ice cream.  I hate root beer, so I didn’t have any.  I got a chocolate egg cream.  Everything was really good and we were stuffed.

When we got home, I had a box in the mail.  I couldn’t read the return address without my glasses, but it felt very light and I couldn’t imagine what it was.  Once inside, I grabbed my reading glasses and saw that it was from a dear friend in NY – Peppy Greenberg!  Now, some of you may know that I’m not the only Peppy Greenberg in the world, but to some this may be a big surprise.  I know!  How could that be?  I may be one in a million, but there are two of us – at least two that we know of!

Yes, her name is Peppy Greenberg and she’s been Peppy for a lot longer than I have!  She’s retired and lives in East Patchogue.  We first met a few years ago.  Someone she knew googled “Peppy Greenberg” and found me!  We corresponded via email for a while and then one day she showed up at my shop.  We had such a great time, talking about life as Peppy.  It’s funny, though, because she’s been called Peppy since she was a little girl, but for a completely different reason.  She told me she was always moving slow when she was a child, and her mother would chide her to move faster and say, “Come on, Peppy!  Let’s go!”  She called her Peppy kind of as a joke, because she wasn’t very peppy, but it stuck!

Like me, Greenberg is her married name.  I know, it’s an amazing coincidence – especially since she spells both names the same way I do.  My sisters even said we look alike, when I sent them this picture, which was taken when Peppy visited my shop several years ago.

We still email all the time, and she is just a breath of fresh air.  She’s happy, and peppy, and bursting with love.  She always has something positive and sweet to say, and she’s a really good friend.  Her emails are always filled with news of her active social life because where she lives there are always parties and get-togethers and there’s a pool where everybody hangs out, too.  I tell her she’s Peppy #1 and I’m Peppy #2, but she always says I’m #1!!!

Anyway, I’m sure you’re dying to know what she sent me!  Well, she read on my blog how frustrated I was that they stopped making decaf in the office.  She wrote me an email saying that I should try to find a Melitta Perfect Brew, which brews fresh coffee one cup at a time.  I looked for it at KEIL’S, but they didn’t have it.

Then, they started serving decaf in the cafeteria on the 4th floor, but it’s so bad I’ve been drinking the FOLGERS instant I bought, but – to tell you the truth – that’s pretty bad, too!  So, I’m going to buy myself some great beans and make a fresh cup brewed every morning with my new Melitta Perfect Brew – fresh brewed coffee one cup at a time.  I think it’s SO sweet that she went out and found this for me and sent it, along with a box of the coffee filters, so I’m all set to brew!

So, I do have another little bit of good news: The agency is cutting me a new check and I can pick up last week’s and this weeks’ tomorrow after work.  When I called up today, they told me that at least 5 people have called to say they didn’t get their check this week.  That made me feel better, because I knew it wasn’t just me.

Also, Eric spoke to the union and they’re reissuing his check.  The other one was never cashed, so we guess it was lost.  It’s a weird coincidence that both checks never showed up this week, but we’re hoping the next check the union sends arrives safely, because they won’t send it any other way but regular mail, and they won’t mail it to any address but our home address.  So, we just have to keep our fingers crossed!

Eric and I started watching TERMINATOR 3 while I worked on the computer.  Tomorrow I’m only working a half day.  I’ll be upstairs trying to get that big mailing finished before the long weekend.  This project has been in the works for almost 2 months and now it’s finally ready to be mailed, but there’s a deadline, so we’re really under the gun!

I’m really looking forward to having 3 ½ days off.  We’re probably going to Los Angeles on Saturday and will stay over at our cousins’ overnight.  It will be great to get away, if only for a day, and hang out with family.  This was a really crazy week and I’m really glad it’s almost over!  I’m ready for the holiday weekend to begin!

Isn’t the first day back after a long weekend always a killer?  Today was no exception!  It wasn’t stressful, because there wasn’t a big project with a deadline, but there was just SO much work, because we were out of the office for 3½ days.  I had SO many emails to go through in the morning and a few projects to work on.

I tried out my coffee-for-one this morning, which my darling friend, Peppy, sent me.  It came out great!  I was impressed by how easy it was and what a great cup of coffee I had!  I had purchased STARBUCKS decaf at KEIL'S (what else) and it worked just great!  I'm set now!

When I got down to HR there were over 70 resumes that needed to be printed and processed.  As I got through more and more, they kept coming in.  I processed over 50 and still had a lot left when I left at 5:00pm.

I’m still working through lunch, even though they told me I have to take ½ hour.  I’ve just got too much to do!  Some of the girls in HR brought in magazines, so I’d have something to do while I take my ½ hour (which I’m not taking), so we all started bringing in magazines once we’ve read them.  One girl gets GLAMOUR.  I get COSMO, and MARTHA STEWART LIVING.  Another girl gets a lot of travel mags (which don’t interest me at all), but she also gets US and O (Oprah’s mag), which I love.  So, we’re all trading mags, but I just bring them home to read while I’m relaxing.  I just can’t take lunch unless I’m going somewhere and doing something.

I had an appointment at 6:00pm today to get my hair cut and colored and I was SO happy, because my roots were really long and it REALLY bothers me a lot when it gets this bad.  It always seems to happen overnight.  One day they don’t look bad at all, and the next day they’re HORRIBLE.  They turned horrible last Thursday and I tried to get an appointment over the weekend, but he wasn’t going to be in until today, so I had to wait.

Unfortunately, as I was driving to Hillcrest for my 6:00pm appointment, I listened to my messages and heard that my appointment was cancelled!  I called in and they said I could come tomorrow at 6:00pm.  So, now, I have to go through one more day looking like this!  It ain’t easy, I’ll tell you that!

Instead of getting my hair done, I had some chips and hummus, watched Dr. Phil and then took a nap.  Very productive!

When I woke up, Eric had dinner all ready – Mahi Mahi and a great salad.  Eric’s so cute, he says he doesn’t understand why, but my salads always taste better than his.  I think he’s right, and I don’t even know why, but I’ll never tell him!  I really appreciate when he cooks for me, because it’s so nice to relax when you get home after a long day at work.

After dinner we watched AMERICA’S GOT TALENT and then I cleaned out Conrad’s cage while Eric held him on his finger.  I really think he likes Eric better than me, but Eric says he “tolerates” him.  He seems perfectly happy to sit on Eric’s finger while I vacuum and wash out his whole cage, put fresh paper on the bottom, refill his water and food dishes and put it all back together again.

After that was done, we had WEIGHT WATCHER’S and HEALTHY CHOICE ice cream and fudge pops and watched more AMERICA’S GOT TALENT.  All the new shows start within the next couple of weeks, but right now there’s not much to watch on TV!

I’m not looking forward to walking around another day with these horrible roots showing in my hair, but I guess I have no choice (unless I wear a hat!).  Oh, well.  As Tim Gun says on PROJECT RUNWAY – Make it Work!

It was so busy day at work today.  It was also a sad day.  My friend at work lost his sister.  She’s been ill for about a year and she passed yesterday.  It’s so sad.  He’s only 40 and his sister was only 46.  It makes you put things in perspective.  My troubles seem slight and unimportant when you think of someone losing a sibling.  I love my two sisters, Audrey and Lenae, so much and I can’t imagine my life without them.

Things were tense in the department, because everyone knew about his loss.  He left to go back East where his family lives and will be gone for a week.  So very sad.

I had a nice afternoon in HR.  SO busy – as usual – but it’s a good busy.  Eric picked me up at 4:45pm and we had our regular Thursday appointment.  All went well and I always feel better after our sessions.

We decided to go back to CITY WOK in MISSION HILLS for dinner.  We had been there with our friends, Marianne and Allan, and we really enjoyed the food.  We shared a big bowl of Hot & Sour Soup and then had a dish called Spicy Chile Shrimp and String Beans.  It was SO delicious.  The shrimp and string beans were stir fried with this spicy sauce that was different from anything I’ve ever tasted.  We had a lot left over (the portions are huge) and we’ll have it for dinner tomorrow night!

When we got home we worked on the RV situation.  We’re getting close to a resolution and I’ll let you all know when it’s a done deal!

We wanted to watch KITCHEN NIGHTMARES but the stupid Republican Convention was on and stupid McCain was speaking, so the show was delayed for ½ hour.   I just don’t have the patience for any of it.  My mother, on the other hand, told me she’s been watching every minute and was going to watch tonight, but she promised to remain a staunch democrat!  She better!

Tomorrow’s Friday already.  This week really did fly by.  We have no plans for the weekend, but that’s okay.  We have lots to do around the apartment.  Eric is packing his things to be shipped to NY.  Yes, he’s really going back.  It makes me so sad to think of him leaving again, but I know he’ll never be happy here and he thinks his chances are much better in NY.

We have to make the most of our time left together, because we won’t see each other again until I fly to NY at Thanksgiving for Jessica’s wedding.  It’s only two months, but it will seem like a lifetime, I’m sure.

In the meantime, I know all our NY friends will make the time to call or see Eric and let him know how much he’s loved.  He knows it, but I know seeing and hearing from his friends will mean a lot to him.

Eric and I have been through a lot this past year, but the love and support of our family and friends has kept us going, given us comfort and warmed our hearts.  For that we are eternally grateful!

I woke up this morning with one thing on my mind – NY DMV!  I was nervous about sending the documents and couldn’t wait to get to work to take care of it.

First thing I did when I got to my desk is put down my stuff and go down to the mailroom.  They will send out packages for you, and you just bring a check to pay for it.  I sent the envelope NEXT DAY (which means it should be there by 10:30am tomorrow) and put a return envelope inside for the same delivery back.

Now, it’s out of my hands (literally and figuratively) and I just have to hope for the best – and you know how THAT can go!  I do have a tracking number, so I’ll check tomorrow morning before I leave for work to see where it is.

I had a super-busy day at my morning shift, but I did have a chance to speak to the boss.  She started telling me about a new responsibility she wanted me to take on, and I had to stop her and tell her that I was not going to be there much longer.  I really wanted the girl in HR to tell her (she had a meeting with her this morning – but not before this conversation), but I couldn’t just sit there and nod and say okay when I knew I wasn’t going to be there.

I explained the whole situation to her – how working the two shifts was getting stressful for me, because I felt like I never was caught up at either job and it was frustrating, too.  I also explained that I had “some things” going on in my personal life which was adding to my stress and I was afraid I wouldn’t do a good job, because I was very distracted.  She was REALLY understanding.  It seemed important to her to know that it wasn’t them – that I wasn’t unhappy with the department, or my co-workers.  I explained that I loved them, and that they were wonderful to me, and I really even enjoyed the work, it was just too hard to do it for just 4 hours a day.

She asked if I would be okay working one day in one department and another day in another department, but I told her that it would be exactly the same thing – I’d just be a whole day behind somewhere! 

Later that morning the girl from HR came up to talk to her.  They were behind closed doors for almost an hour.  I was nervous, but confident that it would turn out okay.

When I got down to HR she immediately brought me into her office and explained the situation.  She was going to start looking for another temp right away, but she thought it might take up to two weeks.  I couldn’t do anything else but agree, because I don’t want to leave them high and dry, and a few more weeks won’t kill me (I hope!).

She said they want to try to hire a temp-to-hire, so they’re going to telephone interview them and then bring them in for a face-to-face, which they usually don’t do with temps.  They are still trying to get this job qualified for a full-time employee, which is one of the big frustrations, but if they can get a temp who will eventually come on staff when the job is approved, then they won’t have to train someone else.  It really is a very complicated job and I’m just now – after three months – feeling really confident about some of the procedures, so training a temp and then having to train a full-time employee would just be really hard.  I offered to help train the temp, and they really appreciated that.  It’s not something that they would ordinarily do – having a temp train a temp – but, hey, I trained the girl who replaced me at my other job! 

I’ve now been with the firm for 8 months.  It’s amazing.  I’m learning more and more in HR.  I’m getting trained a little bit every day by the woman who sits right next to me and who is going on sabbatical next week.  She’ll be gone before I get down there full time, but the new HR temp is starting tomorrow.  She’ll be doing a lot of filing work for some of the other girls (because I’m too busy to do it!), but they said she’ll also be assisting me.  The only thing I really need her to do is print out all the resumes and save them to the appropriate folders, because that takes hours every day and for the last two days there have been 100 or more resumes in the inbox every morning!

There is one job that is called a Research Associate and they hire 5 college graduates who commit to work for a year.  It’s a job that’s posted on different college job websites – like Penn State, Brigham Young, and other schools.  Since we’re a top firm, and they know there are 5 positions open, we’ve been getting 50-60 resumes for that job every day.  It’s CRAZY!  They’re all college students, so they don’t have much work experience, so it’s mostly about their student records.

Having a job with this firm on your resume is an excellent step in a career in investment and finance.  Therefore, this job posting is getting a LOT of attention.

At 4:30pm my phone rang.  It was a woman from the Focus Group and she needed to interview me more (why, I don’t know).  I told her I was at work and to call me back at 5:30pm, when I got home.

Elsa was going to a concert tonight, so we snuck out at 4:30pm, so I was home a little before 5:00pm.  I got undressed and called Eric, so I could talk to him for a while before the woman called back.  We had a great conversation.  I feel bad, because some of his family are questioning my commitment to him and are asking him if our marriage is over.  Did you ever?  Even if you thought that might be the case, would you suggest it or bring it up and ask a man who’s seriously depressed?  They are just not the most considerate people in the world, and I am not there to speak up (which has always been the case).

Eric told me that he told them we’re fine and we’re together, and that I’ll be coming to him, but they don’t believe it.  He also told them it’s his fault this happened (even though that’s not true – it’s no one’s fault – things just happen), but of course they blame me.  It’s always been that way – for 25 years.  Some of his family doesn’t think I’m so great for Eric.  They always thought I pushed him around, or “led him around by the nose.”  I admit I have a strong personality, and maybe I’m more controlling and outspoken than Eric, but everything we did, we did together.

Every decision we made, we made together.  Eric knows I never pushed him to move to California.  It was a dream we BOTH had.  He just didn’t know how it would turn out.  I didn’t either. Who could know?  If you knew something bad was going to happen, would you still do it?  Would ANYBODY?  No.  But they love to place blame, and it’s a lot easier to blame someone who’s 3,000 miles away, isn’t it?  I know I sound bitter and angry, and maybe I am.  I have been a great wife, a wonderful sister-in-law and a fantastic aunt to all my nieces and nephews.  But they just want to find fault.  It’s really sad.  Thank goodness it’s not ALL of them – just some of them.

Some of Eric’s family has been extremely supportive.  My nieces have shown their support and love, and some of Eric’s sisters are behind us 100%.  They are very understanding and it means the world to me.  After 25 years, they’re really like sisters to me, and it’s nice to know how much they love and encourage us.  Thanks to them, I think Eric is on the road to recovery.

Anyway, after I spoke to Eric, I decided to lie down and wait for the call.  Next thing I knew, it was 8:00pm.  I had slept an hour-and-a-half and she never called!  I hope she calls tomorrow, because I’m assuming this conversation was necessary in order for me to participate on Saturday.

I decided to have a bowl of cereal for dinner.  It’s one of those healthy cereals Eric bought at COSTCO.  Not very tasty, but very nutritious and filling! 

I watched THE BIGGEST LOSER.  It’s a great show, but I feel awful guilty when they’re working out and sweating and crying and losing weight and I’m laying in bed talking to Conrad on the commercials!  I just cannot get myself motivated to exercise.  Every day I say, “Today’s the day!” and then it isn’t.  I’m eating well, and I have lost 2 pounds, but think of how much more I could lose if I actually got some exercise!

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention.  This girl at work (who has seen my jewelry mosaics) gave me a bag of vintage clip-on earrings that belonged to her mother and grandmother.  It was all fabulous – exactly what I love to use in my crafts!  I told her I’m working on a commissioned piece for someone and she requested purple and there were two pairs of gorgeous purple earrings.  I SO appreciated that she thought of me and gave it to me.  I can’t wait until the hand mirror I bought on ebay arrives, so I can get started!

I’m kind of regretting that I committed to that Focus Group on Saturday.  The $175 sounded great, but I’m SO tired and I have to BE there at 8:30am!  That’s just not fair on a Saturday.  You can be sure I’ll be heading to Starbucks before I go, and I’m not talking about decaf!

This morning the first thing I did was go online and track the package I sent with Eric’s info, so he could register the car.  It was received by my sister-in-law at 10:00am, so all was well.

I had to drive to work today, because I had my appointment tonight, and I was ready early, so I decided to drive to the drive-thru Starbucks on Balboa and Clairemont Drive (about 2 miles away).  It’s SO convenient and they’re so nice and friendly there.  That’s not to say that they’re unfriendly at the other Starbucks (in the shopping center), but they’re just REALLY enthusiastic, because they’re new!

Anyway, it was great to have my iced non-fat mocha latte this morning, because I was REALLY working hard.  I’m sending out a mailing of 183 letters.  I had a template of the letters, but I had to personalize each one with the name and address of the person or people it was going to, the saluation, and add account numbers and account names.

This is something you’d usually do with a merge, but we had a lot of problems last time, so I did each one separately – 183!  Then, I cut and pasted the addresses into labels.  We needed four sets – one for the envelope, one for the green and white CERTIFIED form, one for the green RETURN RECEIPT postcard, and one to give to the mailroom, so they could use it for their records (instead of hand-writing each one as they usually do).  Then, I had to print all the letters, make a copy of each one for our files and then I started putting it all together.

Each letter had forms that had to be attached.  There are different forms for different letters, so I had to look at each letter to see which forms were needed and how many of each.  I stuffed the envelope, put the label on it, then put another label on the green postcard, and the last label on the green and white form.  Then, I had to take this thin strip off the green and white form, which has the tracking number, and put it on the green postcard.  Oh, I forgot – I had to print out 183 of the firm's return address on labels, because they go on the back of the green RETURN RECEIPT postcard, so it can be returned!

When I had the stuffed envelope, the green postcard and the green and white form all completed, I paperclipped them together and started on the next one.  I did this 111 times between 8:00am and noon – and I worked on other things, too!  I have over 70 left, but I know I’ll be able to finish tomorrow, since I did over 100 today!

When I went down to HR, I had a big project to work on there, too.  First, Elsa and I drove to a nearby shopping center and picked up Greek food for ourselves and a few others girls in the group.  I got their vegetarian platter, which had falafel, grilled pita, hummus, and rice.  It was really good and I needed it after the morning I had.

Then, I started working on setting up some interviews.  The problem is, I was exhausted, and I had had such a crazy morning, and I was working on TWO interviews at once.  One interview was in one conference room starting at 10:00am and running in half-hour periods until 11:30am.  The other was in a different conference room starting at 10:30am and running in half hour periods until noon.  The problem is, I set it all up one way, and then when I emailed the people to inform them of where and when, I got it ALL mixed up.  I was ready to kill myself, but Elsa and the other HR girl I was working with told me not to worry, I could fix it tomorrow, and that they do the same thing.  They’re so sweet.  I really thought I had it all together and was being SO efficient, and it turned out I made some silly mistakes.  I’m just not at my best.

Fortunately, tomorrow is my last day working the two shifts.  Starting on Monday, I’ll still be upstairs in the morning, but I will now be training the new temp.  That’s more stressful, but it will just be for a few days and then I’ll be in HR full time.  Yahoo!  Yippee! and Wheeee!

I left a few minutes before 5:00pm and went to my appointment.  It was, as always, very helpful.  When I got out I called Eric.  He said he was okay, but he was not very convincing.  I thought he’d be happy, because he got the car all registered, and everything’s set and he can now go pick up the car.  Unfortunately, he sounded very down – and that’s with him trying to sound up for me!

When I got home I had some vegetable soup (the last of my big pot!) and watched TOP DESIGN, which was on last night. 

Tomorrow I have to try to get in touch with the woman at NY DMV, so I can find out what’s going on with the title.  I know they received it on Wednesday morning, but I just have to call to make sure everything’s okay and find out when they will be able to send it out.

There’s no real rush anymore, because the buyer can’t come down for a few weeks anyway.  He has a flight at the end of October, so the RV will be where it is until then.  I have been moving it up and down the block, so it’s not always in the same spot.

I can’t believe tomorrow’s Friday already.  This week REALLY flew by for me.  I am not making any plans, because I want to go to bed early, since Saturday really is another work day!   I bet you can all guess what I’m doing on Sunday – sleeping late and not doing much else!

This week flew by, but it was totally exhausting.  I finished up my project – 183 letters all sorted, stuffed, labeled, and the two forms completed.  I gave the last of them to the mailroom at about 10:00am and then worked on some other projects for the rest of the morning.  It was very sweet, because several people came over to express their disappointment that I was leaving the department and would now be in HR full time.

The thing about HR is that it’s totally cut off from the rest of the firm – because of privacy and confidentiality issues.  So, the only time you see anyone else is when you venture out of HR for some reason, or because someone comes to HR for some reason.  It’s not like working on the other floor, where there are a lot of people in different departments all using the same color copier (so you run into them there), or getting something out of the fridge in the kitchen, etc.  I’ll miss the socializing aspect, but I’ve got the HR girls to hang out with, so I’ll be happy!

Here’s the kicker on my big project.  We got an email from someone (outside the firm) at a little before noon asking if we already mailed the letters, because we used the wrong forms (which went with each letter).  We could NOT believe this guy – who knew we were working on this project for WEEKS and knew for at least a month that we had the old forms – called on the day they were being mailed.

When I left at noon the woman I worked with was calling the “big boss upstairs” to find out if they wanted to send out an email to everyone we were sending the letters to saying to discard the old forms and get new forms (they’re readily available to the recipients of the letters), or open up 183 envelopes, remove the old forms and insert the new ones.

I’m glad I won’t have to deal with it, because starting on Monday I’m training the new temp!  Elsa told me I am only able to train on Monday and Tuesday and, starting on Wednesday, I have to work full time in HR, because then the other woman is going on sabbatical and I need to be there.

Today was Elsa’s last day.  We were also celebrating someone’s birthday, so the woman in charge of HR ordered salad and pizza for lunch for everyone.  We sat in one of the conference rooms, but I just ate and ran, because I had so much work to do.  I'm really going to miss Elsa a lot, not only because we commute together every day, but because she's fun at work, too.  She also trained me a lot and she's a patient teacher.

There were 3 pieces of pizza left and I brought them home, because it was SO good.  There was no sauce – it was a 4-cheese pizza and I LOVE cheese!  I also brought home the salad dressings (they gave SO much).  I had a slice tonight for dinner (after I finished 2 loads of laundry) and I have two slices left.  I can have one tomorrow night with a salad, and another for lunch on Sunday!

I don’t know what I’ll be eating all day tomorrow, but they’re feeding us breakfast and lunch – probably bagels for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch.  I just hope they have tuna, because I don’t eat meat!

I spoke to Eric tonight.  He got his car last night and drove himself to the bus stop this morning for the first time.  Susan is finally off the hook and can sleep until a decent time.  She went above and beyond for Eric for the past two weeks, chauffering him around ALL the time – doctor’s appointments, DMV, apartment hunting, and driving him and picking him up from work.  She’s the best!

Today, after work he waxed the car.  He said it’s a mess, and not really a great car, but – hey – it’s just to get him around town. 

Tonight I watched a show that’s in its second season, but I never watched the first season.  It’s called TIM GUNN’S GUIDE TO STYLE.  Tim Gunn is the guy from PROJECT RUNWAY, but before that he was at Parson’s School of Design and he is a fashion mavin.

The show is just like WHAT NOT TO WEAR, where they take a woman who has no style and is dressing all wrong and show her how to dress for her body, her lifestyle and her age.  It was very interesting and I learned a few things, which is always great.

I’m definitely going to bed early, because I already set the alarm for 7:00am!  The subject matter for the focus group is Social Issues – whatever that means.  I’ll fill you in tomorrow!

I woke up at 4:30am.  Don’t know why.  Can’t explain it.  Makes no sense.  Yet that’s what happened!  I tried to fall back to sleep and gave up completely at 5:00am.  I called Eric.  He was at work.  I’m always afraid to call him at work, because he could be up on the ladder and I don’t want him to fall off trying to get the phone out of his pocket real fast to answer it.

Eric never had a cell phone until we left New York, so this is a whole new thing for me, being able to call and talk to him whenever I like.  He’s so sweet, too, because every time we hang up he says, “You call me ANYTIME you like.”  So, since I couldn’t sleep and I knew it was 8:00am in NY, I decided to call and, as usual, he was glad to hear from me.

After I hung up, I turned on the TV and watched a little bit of THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES.  That’s the kind of thing you can find on TV at that hour.  The only other thing on are news programs and tons of PAID PROGRAMS selling who knows what.

I decided to go into the shower early, get out early, make a trip to the STARBUCKS drive-through and get to work early, so I could get some stuff done before the temp showed up.

I was at work by 7:30am.  One of the girls has a boyfriend who just returned home from Bahrain after a 173 day tour.  I know it’s 173 days, because she was counting down for SO long and it was SO exciting that he was finally coming home.  I couldn’t wait to see her this morning and ask her how her big reunion went.  She was SO happy – she was practically floating on air.

I enjoyed my STARBUCKS, had my cereal and read my work emails and then the temp was brought upstairs from HR.  She’s young, cute, a newlywed, and very sweet.  We had a good time.  It’s no fun being trained – you have to think so much all the time and really concentrate, and it’s just a little better training, because you have to talk so much and explain everything so concisely.  Now, I love to talk, but I’d much rather talk about stuff I’M interested in, rather than about this job.

Anyway, the morning flew by and I tried to show her as much as I could without overwhelming her.  I will do the same thing for 4 hours tomorrow, and then will only be called on an “as needed” basis.  So, starting Wednesday I’ll be in HR full time!

When I went down to HR I was surprised and pleased to see there wasn’t the usual 101 resumes emailed over the weekend.  For some strange reason there were only 30!  I got through them in no time and actually got to do some filing and shredding.  Soon enough it was 5:00pm.  It’s different driving by myself.  I’m used to doing it on Thursdays, but I really enjoy Elsa’s company and I miss her already!

I called Eric in the car on the drive home and we talked for a while.  I went straight to KEIL’S and did my food shopping before heading home.  I got my veggies and a few other things, including a pack of FRESCA Peach Citrus Sparkling Flavored Soda.  I bought it last time Jimmy came, because it’s a favorite of his, and I wanted him to have his favorite drink when he visits this weekend, too!  I’m so excited.  I’ve been cleaning (more than usual!) and getting everything in order for his arrival.

I watched DR. PHIL which was about “Extreme Spenders,” people who live off credit cards and have no savings in the bank.  I don’t know how people can live that way.  I am too much of a worrier to ever live beyond my means.

After that, I watched DANCING WITH THE STARS and got up to clean and organize on every single commercial.  Misty May-Trainer ruptured her achilles tendon, which I have heard is the most painful thing in the world.  I feel so bad, because she's such an amazing athlete and she ends up harming herself so badly she needs surgery, and what was she doing?  Dancing!

While I was watching TV I also spent a lot of quality time with Conrad.  He is the sweetest bird in the world – at least the sweetest bird I’ve had since Duke.  Duke was SO special and I never thought there would be another bird like him – until I met Conrad!  Tonight I was petting him on his back and, although I can see it makes him nervous, he doesn’t move, doesn’t bite, and doesn’t fly away.  He just sits there.  He chirps more when I leave the room, saying, “Where you going?  Come back!”  It’s the cutest!  I can’t wait for Jimmy to meet him!

I signed up for another yoga class tomorrow night at a different studio.  This time I’m going to a place in SOUTH PARK, right near THE BIG KITCHEN.  It’s called GINSENG YOGA and the class I’m taking Serenity Yoga, which offers a moving meditation that soothes body, mind and spirit. Its gentle flow provides a sanctuary from the stresses and demands of daily life. Linking postures with breath relaxes, restores, and creates inner peace, preparing you for a restful night. Rest your mind, open your heart and experience the Yoga of true serenity. All levels, including beginner.

I’m really looking forward to it.  That’s the kind of yoga I’m used to.  The kind that stretches you, calms you, strengthens you, and restores you.  I need some restoration!

All you SEINFELD fans will recognize that heading immediately as the words Frank Costanza yells over and over again in one particular episode.  What I really needed is some serenity after the day I had today.

I trained the temp all morning, and it really started to get to me.  She wanted to gab and talk and not work, and I kept trying to get her back on track.  Then, when I WAS able to get her working, she didn’t seem to be concentrating and wasn’t absorbing most of what I was explaining.  Maybe I’m wrong, and she’ll be a genius tomorrow, but I kind of doubt it!

I also knew the woman I work with up there had to leave at noon today, so nothing much was going to get done once I went downstairs to HR at noon.  Here’s the funny part, I was trying to teach her really fast and get everything done that had to be done before we all left at noon (me to HR, the temp to lunch, the woman I work with home to wait for the SEARS repairman!).  I felt stressed, but I didn’t realize I was talking really fast and getting a little testy with her, until the other woman came by and said, “Calm down, take it easy.  You don’t have to get it all done today.” 

Then we all started laughing.  I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to tinkle!  It just suddenly felt so funny, and we all got a good laugh out of it.  When we went down to HR, she came with me, because she forgot her pass at home and had to get a loaner.  We told some of the girls what happened and then we started laughing again.  It felt good to laugh, because it relieved a lot of the stress.  I realize that I take too much upon myself.  I always want to give 150% and I want everyone else to, too.  I also am so afraid to disappoint anyone, and I can’t have a “whatever happens, happens” attitude.  I never could!

The afternoon in HR was very busy, too.  I had interviews to set up for three candidates – one of whom has to be flown to San Diego from Albany, California, which I found out is above San Francisco.  It’s complicated when someone’s traveling and this is the first time I’ve had to set up interviews in that situation.  I got a lot done, and then it was time to leave.  I was excited about my Serenity Yoga class tonight!

I called Eric as I was walking to the car and then sat in the car for a while and talked, because I knew when I got home I had to change and go to SOUTH PARK for the yoga class and by the time I got out of there he would be sleeping.

I got home, changed, did a few little things around the apartment, and then left for South Park.  I found a spot around the corner (parking can be difficult around there, so I was pretty lucky) and went inside.  It’s very nice and the woman behind the counter was very friendly.  She gave me a little tour, showing me everything, and told me I was going to love this class.

As you can see from the picture I showed last night, the room is very large with big windows one one wall.  The instructor had us all put our mats in a circle, rather than rows, so we were all facing each other.

While it was MUCH less strenuous than the other class, I was still sweating a lot, and it was still hard for me.  I’m just in SUCH bad shape that the least bit of strenuous activity is difficult.  I’m a weakling!  She didn’t have us doing strenous rotations of poses, but we did have to hold poses for what seemed like hours, but what was probably actually about 4 minutes.  That’s a LONG time to stay in a position that’s hard to begin with but also requires muscle control!

Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot and will definitely go back.  I am going to look at the schedule to see if they have that on weekends, because I think it would be great to do in the morning, too.

When I got home I was starving and made myself a big salad (enough for lunch tomorrow and dinner tomorrow night, too!).  I ate it while watching DANCING WITH THE STARS.

Tomorrow, I’m supposed to start full time in HR.  The woman upstairs wasn’t happy about it, and I told her I’d be there to support the temp and show her more stuff, but I can’t keep working this 4 hours/4 hours.  It’s just really getting to me and my nerves are frayed.  I explained that I’m training for 4 hours, and then getting trained all afternoon and my head is spinning!

Meanwhile, I just found out today that Yom Kippur is THIS Thursday.  I don’t know why I thought it was NEXT Thursday.  So, now I have to go to work tomorrow and tell them I’m not coming in on Thursday.  I hate to miss a day’s pay, but it’s the holiest day of the year and I just can’t work on that day.

It will be nice for me to stay home and reflect on my life and atone for my sins (there aren’t many – believe me!).  I’m also going to try to fast.  I always try – but never make it to sundown.  I get a headache and that drives me crazy.

I’m so excited about Jimmy coming on Friday night.  We’re going to have the BEST weekend.  Maybe it’ll be good for me to fast on Thursday, because then I can make up for it all weekend with Jimmy.  He’s going to hate me, because I’m going to be a very BAD influence.  I’m taking him to all my favorite restaurants and we are going to ENJOY!

You know that Al Pacino line from GODFATHER III – “Just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in!”  Well, that’s what happened to me today.

First of all, I got a little bit of a late start and then hit traffic after I hit STARBUCKS.  It was obvious I was going to be late, so I called one of the girls and let her know.  I was only about 10 minutes late, but I was horrified, because it was my first day full-time in HR and I was going to get to my desk after 8:00am!

When I arrived I apologized to whomever I saw and they were laughing and brushing it off as nothing, which it really was, but I still felt bad, because that’s how neurotic I am!

Then, I saw the woman I work for upstairs (the boss) come out of one of the HR girls’ offices and I knew she was mad that I wasn’t upstairs this morning.  When she left I went in and said, “Is she mad?”  She told me she wasn’t (but I knew she was), but explained that they still needed me and wanted me to go back up there starting tomorrow morning.  I told her I wouldn’t be here tomorrow, because of Yom Kippur, and the temp won’t be there on Friday, because she had some pre-existing commitment, so I’m starting again on Monday, but at least it won’t be every day and it will only be three hours in the afternoon – 1:00pm – 4:00pm.

So, I’ll get to do whatever I need to do in HR in the morning and then after lunch I can go up there and train for 3 hours and still have an hour when I get back to my desk.

It won’t be forever – just a week or two, until they think she knows everything she needs to know and I can go over things with her a few times.  It’s really for the woman I was working WITH, because she’s so busy she needs to concentrate on doing stuff, so therefore I need to help with the training.

I don’t mind, because this is a scenario I can live with.  It’s temporary and it’s less time, and it’s in the afternoon.  The temp really is very nice and she’s trying, she’s just not that sharp!

Meanwhile, when I saw the boss from upstairs leave I got upset, because I knew she was mad at me, even though the HR girl said she wasn’t.  With everything I have going on, it just got to me and I felt like I was going to cry.  I went into the bathroom and – with tears in my eyes – ran right into the cute young woman who just got engaged.  She said, “Are you alright?”  I pulled myself together and said, “I’m fine.  Really.”   Another HR girl was brushing her teeth, and when they left they both ran to the other girl and told her I was crying in the bathroom.

Next thing you know she came in.  I really wasn’t hysterical or anything, I was just trying to pull myself together, because I knew it was stupid to be upset, but I couldn’t help it.  This is something I’m working on in therapy, because the therapist pointed out to me that I try to be perfect and have these real fears about disappointing people.

I know it’s true, and I think I’ve always been that way.  She asked me who I was afraid to disappoint when I was a child.  I told her I didn’t really feel I worried about that then, but I guess if I analyzed it, it would have to have been my father, because he was much more demanding than my mother.  He really expected a lot from all of us, and I always felt like I let him down, because I wasn’t as academically successful as my two older sisters.  That was always hard for me, because I would be asked why I couldn’t be more like them, and I just couldn’t figure it out myself.

Later in life I realized I had other talents, which my father greatly appreciated, like my singing and dancing, but I guess that “need to please” stayed with me.  It affects me in a negative way, because I’m SO afraid of disappointing people.  It’s why I give 150% at a job, and I told my therapist that I thought that was a positive trait, but she said it’s only positive if it isn’t affecting me negatively.  Isn’t she smart?

So, here’s the thing.  The woman in HR told me I have to just do what I can, and not worry about getting EVERYTHING done for EVERYBODY.  It was good to hear, but I know it won’t be easy to actually do.  Anyway, I had a very pleasant rest of the morning and left at 1:00pm with my iced decaf latte from the café stand outside, because I thought I deserved a treat.

Unfortunately, the woman I work with up there had baked cookies with a secret ingredient – potato chips!  They were AMAZING.  Crunchy and sweet and salty at the same time (which is a combo I adore).  You would never guess they had potato chips in them, but then when she tells you, you know that’s why they taste so good.  If anyone is interested in the recipe, just let me know!  It’s actually online at work in the firm’s cookbook!

I only had 2 cookies (ONLY!), and then when I got back to my desk I had a bagel and cream cheese that was left from a present sent over to HR by one of the vendors.  They get lots of nice gifts like that.  Sweet!

I worked until 5:00pm, drove home, and my gas light came on when I was almost home.  Darn!  I was hoping to make that tank last until Jimmy got here.  You see, I HATE pumping gas.  I hate the smell of gas, I hate using the pump, because I always have a problem (at least I did the 3-4 times I’ve ever tried), and I have fire paranoia and I’m afraid the whole thing will burst into flames.  So, Eric ALWAYS filled us up since we got here.  When I was in NY it was easy to find a full service place that didn’t charge extra for the service, but here in San Diego there’s no such thing as an attendant!

Anyway, the good news is I did it myself – no problem – and it only cost $45 from an empty tank!  Eric filled it up right before he left, so that tank did last me more than 3 weeks.  Usually, I could go a month of just neighborhood driving, because I’m not commuting, but now that Elsa’s on sabbatical (and I miss her so!), I’m driving about 25 miles a day – which is about one gallon.

So, now I’ll be filling up less than every two weeks.  Boo hoo!  At least I’m saving money, because I was paying Elsa $5 a day to commute with her.  After a while she said I didn’t need to pay her anymore (she’s really sweet), but she drives completely out of her way to pick me up and it’s wear and tear on her car, and she won’t let me share in the commute, so I insist.  It only seems fair!

Anyway, when I came home I wasn’t hungry at all, so I got undressed and started watching TV and fell right into a deep sleep.  I had some WEIRD DREAMS, and didn’t wake up until 8:00pm.  One of my dreams was that there were two boys outside talking (which there might have been), but in my dream they were talking about ME!  Paranoid much?

I’m really going to try to fast tomorrow, but I know I’ve already blown it, because I didn’t eat before sundown.  I decided to have the rest of the salad I had leftover from last night, but didn’t have any dessert (I usually have my weight watcher’s ice cream bar).

I watched AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL, THE BIGGEST LOSER, and TOP DESIGN – some of my favorite reality shows.  I know I’ll be up late tonight, because of my nap, but I don’t have to worry about getting up early tomorrow.  Wheeeeee!

Do you know how lucky I am that I love my job?  I really enjoy every single day there.  It’s amazing to me.  I’ve had jobs before that I liked, or didn’t mind, but the only job I loved more than this was running Peppy’s Dream for five years.  That was 5 years of heaven.

It’s so rare that you work at a job where you not only enjoy the work, but also enjoy the people you work with.  Usually, it’s one or the other.  You may hate your job, but love your boss or co-workers, or you may love your job but hate your boss and co-workers.  My very first job – many years ago – was a Gal Friday at Reader’s Digest.  For those of you who don’t know what a Gal Friday is, it’s more of an assistant than a secretary – someone who would do whatever needed to be done for one boss, or a whole department. 

From 1977 to 1979 I worked as a Gal Friday at Reader’s Digest in their General Books Division on Third Avenue and 46th Street.  THAT was a great job, too.  I LOVED my boss, who eventually became “Uncle Bob” to me.  We were like a family.  He was the father – a man in his 60s who ran the photo department.  His secretary was our “mother” – a very nurturing woman – also in her 60s – who never had children of her own.

There was a young assistant who became my “sister.”  She gave me most of my work, trained me and took me under her wing.  The other person in the department was like an older “brother.”  I had a great two years there and every day was fun and enjoyable.

Just to give you an idea of what a family environment it was, my boss had a toaster oven in his office and sometimes in the afternoon we'd toast English muffins and butter them and we'd all have tea and English muffins!  They also had a kitchen in the office and sometimes I'd make two boxes of macaroni and cheese and the 5 of us would have it for lunch!  My boss used to put tobasco sauce on his! 

Now, so many years later (30!) I’m in the same kind of family-type environment.  Everyone is SO sweet, nurturing, caring, considerate and appreciative of everything I do.  I don’t mind any task, especially because I want to do my best for these girls since they are so good to me.

Nothing exciting happened today, and I’ve no great tale to regale you with, but suffice to say it flew by and – before I knew it – it was time to go home.

I stopped at TARGET, because I wanted to get more of those $1 magnifying eyeglasses.  The last pair I got was 2.50 magnification, but they didn’t have anymore, so I got two pairs of 2.00 magnification and it actually seems to be a better fit.  The 2.50 may be a little too strong.

I also got some stockings, because stocking weather is coming.  I usually start wearing stockings in September and here it is the end of October and I’m still going bare-legged to work!

When I got home I ate a salad for dinner and worked on the computer.  Then, I watched TRADING SPACES from Saturday night.  I still enjoy that show after all these years.  Then, I watched DANCING WITH THE STARS.  Some of the couples tonight did the jitterbug, which is my best dance, so I really enjoyed watching them.  My friend, Artie, and I were expert jitterbuggers and used to do it ALL the time – professionally – in contests – and for fun.  We had such a great routine and Artie and I danced so well together.  If only I could do all that again, I’d lose 10 pounds in no time!

I wanted to do some cutting tonight, for a decoupage project I’m working on, but I can’t find my decoupage scissors.  I have at LEAST 10 pairs of decoupage scissors and they’re in a silver tin, but I can’t remember where I put the tin!  I have 4 or 5 pairs of regular scissors, but they’re too big to do small work, and I am so frustrated because I have no idea where that tin is and I looked around a lot of places but I’m not ready to tear the whole place apart looking for them.  So, for now, I’m not cutting.  Boo hoo!

Tomorrow morning at 7:00am I have a guy coming to pick up a large picture that was damaged in our move.  It’s an original lithograph of Marilyn Monroe that used to hang in our living room.

Yes, it’s almost a year ago, but I’m just getting around to getting it fixed.  The glass was cracked and the corner of the frame was broken.  If it wasn’t such an expensive frame I probably would have just gotten a new one, but about 15 years ago that frame cost $300, so I know it’s worth it to get it fixed.  It’s costing almost $200 (new glass and repairs to the frame), but I couldn’t get nearly as nice a frame for that price, and I love the frame.  It’s silver and black wood and it’s very dramatic and really shows off the art beautifully.

I can’t wait to get it back.  I’m going to hang it over the sleeper sofa.  I’ve really missed looking at it, since I haven’t had it on a wall since we took it down last August before the move!  It was given to me by a man I worked with at PricewaterhouseCoopers and is signed – to me – by the artist.  It says, “Happy Birthday to Peppy – also a legend!”  I adore Marilyn Monroe and this piece means a lot to me.  I was heartbroken when we discovered it was broken, but felt lucky that the artwork wasn’t damaged at all.

Anyway, I have to be dressed and ready at 7:00am, so I’ve got to get up extra early tomorrow.  I better get to bed.  Nighty night!

I woke up early enough to hit STARBUCKS before work, so you know I started off the day right!

It’s gotten REALLY slow in the office and there’s another temp working with me, so there’s really not much to do.  Because of that, I’ve gotten a lot of filing done in the past few days, which is really great.  Today, I was over at an empty desk looking for something.  This guy used to sit there, but he left in the Spring.  I’ve noticed it’s a mess before, but today I finally had a chance to go through everything – all the drawers and cabinets, all the files and folders.

What a mess!  I hate to be sexist, but only a guy could be such a disaster at keeping his desk organized.  There were files from 2004 that just needed to be shredded, along with tons of supplies.  He quit and left on good terms, so why didn’t he make sure everything was taken care of before he left, instead of leaving it all a big mess?

The girls in the group are SO busy that the last thing they have time to do is go through his desk and figure it all out.  So, I did it today.  I couldn’t make the call on what to keep, discard and shred, but I was able to put it all in piles and one of the girls looked through it all.  Most of it was shredded or thrown away and a small pile was left for different people to look through, according to their responsibilities.

The desk looked great, and there was nothing hidden away that might be important.  I did a lot of running around, bending, carrying, and cleaning, but I figured it was good exercise!

When I finished my appointment tonight I went to MICHAEL’S to pick up some craft supplies.  Then, I came home, made a fast dinner of sardines (okay, I’m on a kick) and a veggie latke and watched STYLISTA, a new reality show about a bunch of kids vying for a job as an editorial assistant at ELLE magazine.  It’s great already.  A couple of bitches, a couple of bimbos – the usual suspects.  It’s very THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, because the editor in chief – Anne Slowey – is a total dragon lady.

I’m really tired – I don’t know why, but maybe it was all the cleaning and organizing – and I’m going to bed early.  I hope to watch UGLY BETTY before I fall asleep, but who knows?  Tomorrow’s Friday, but I know I have to be up late tomorrow night and up early on Saturday, because the buyer is arriving at around 11:30pm on Friday and will sleep in the RV.  He’s leaving very early on Saturday morning and I need to give him all the paperwork and a fast lesson on the workings of the interior before he goes.

Then, I’ll probably come upstairs and go back to sleep!  I have a hair appointment at 4:00pm and those are the only plans I have for Saturday!

I had a great day at work, but that’s nothing unusual.  There was lots to do.  I did a special project for the girl who does payroll.  They are giving out RALPH’S gift cards to all employees (Ralph’s is a big supermarket chain in San Diego).  It’s supposed to be money to buy a turkey, or the fixin’s, but of course you can use it to buy whatever you like.  I don’t know how much the cards were worth, but I guess around $20.

I had to put together envelopes with gift cards for each department in the office.  There are over 300 employees, so it was a big job.  Then, the paychecks arrived (or the stubs, really) and I had to put the checks with the gift cards for each department.  It’s easy work, but it’s something the girl in payroll is too busy to do, and I’m happy to do that kind of work and make someone else’s life easier.

I do a lot of projects like that and I don’t really mind.  I know it’s not challenging my brain, or showing my true talents, but – hey – I get paid the same if I’m filing a document, stuffing envelopes, or typing info into a database.  I just like to keep busy and know I’m making a contribution.

We got a donation of a box of business-related books and we integrated them into the Training Library, which is right by my desk.  I never really looked at it before, but it was very interesting.  They have books, cassette tapes, VHS tapes, CDs and DVDs on various subjects  – finance, management, communication, organization, sales, and customer service.  Some of the books are about dealing with negativity or difficult people.  My favorite was entitled “When Strangling Is Not An Option.”  Sometimes it does get that frustrating working with a difficult person.  I’m so lucky, because everyone in this group bends over backwards to be pleasant.  It’s amazing!

I spoke to Eric a few times today.  I called him at lunch and then again in the late afternoon.  I wanted to remind him that today is our niece, Ashley’s birthday – she’s 13!!!!  She’s the youngest of all our nieces and nephews.  Eric really bonded with Ashely since he was staying at her house for the first month he was in NY.  She was a big help to him when he needed information on the computer, and he even took her to the movies, which is something he never would have done before.  It’s great that he got to know her and has spent some quality time with her.

On the drive home, Elsa told me about the holiday party.  I am so thrilled that Rosemary asked me to be her date.  There will be about 600 people there – all the employees plus a guest.  They try to change it up every year and this year they’re doing things a little differently.  They’re not focusing on music with a DJ or a band (and I AM a little disappointed by that), because they said most people don’t dance and the rest are just trying to be heard over the music.

This time, they’re having a DANCING WITH THE STARS style show with four couples performing.  I think that will be fabulous!  They’re also having a section with casino games (which they do every year and which is always a big hit).  They’re having a classical guitar player, or something like that, as background music.