Joy Returns

For those of you that have followed me from the AOL journal and those of you that have read the read the posts from the forebearers of this blog that I copied and pasted to here are aware of Joy. Joy has returned to her place between the trees in our front yard. She has spun her web much higher this time. Is that her way of telling us that we were watching and inspecting her too closely? For those of you that missed her pictures from December here is another.

Updated

I have tried to move all the post from the other 2 blogs to this site over the last two days. This is so those of you that have not read my early post and are interested can read them. If you are not just skip them.

Meghan's Report Card

Originally posted on my A Slice of Life Blog at Blog.com on 1/24/2008


Meghan finally reached her goal of getting straight A's on her report card. We promised her a Snow White Snowglobe for straight A's at the end of kindergarten. She finally did it. Meghan was very excited about the report card. Only one other child in her class made straight A's and less than 10 made the A/B honor roll. We are so proud of her with this report card. She has worked very hard to get those grades. She has always been on the A/B honor roll but she has wanted the straight A's for a long time. On Tuesday next week, we will make the trip to Orlando and go to Downtown Disney to see if the Snow Globe is still available. Meghan mentioned the other day that she has not seen the snow globe the last few times we have been there so she does have a couple of alternatives picked out. An American Girl doll is topping the list right now. Meghan is out of school Tuesday because of the primary here in Florida. I cannot believe the days that the kids get out of school. We were never out of school on election days. My high school was the major polling place in my area. If anyone should have been out of school during electiopn time, it was a building full of high schoolers. I am sure that many canidates received extra campaigning from the know it alls that attended my school and most assuredly past the point that there is not suppose to be campaigning. Oh well. We did not get Vetran's Day off either and she gets that also.

The Party

Originally posted on my blog A Slice Of Life at Blog.com on1/19/2008


Today was Meghan's birthday party. It was a great success. Meghan's dance instructor did the party and the girls all had a blast. The party was 1 1/2 hours. The girls learned a short dance routine and that was were you could tell the girls that had some dance in their background because they learned the steps quickly. We also got to meet some of the parents from Meghan's classmates. Most of the ones from the dance class we already knew. Several stayed and watched and I think had as good time as the girls. Thankfully all the girls got along very well and Meghan was a good hostess and no one seemed to be left out. I managed to not forget anyrthing other than the lighter. The funny thing was that none of the adults at the party were smokers so no one had lighters or matches. The nail place next door had one so that worked out ok. Meghan did not get all the candles blown out in one try this time. The cake on her actual birthday she did get all the candles blown out in one try. Of the girls that attended, five girls were from here dance classes and the other seven were from school. That made for a nice mix of girls. Meghan invited someone to her party that beat her at the hula hoop contest. Meghan has been the ongoing winner from every party that she has attneded there until today. Meghan got lots of cool gifts from her frineds but the big hit were all the Webkinz that she got. I believe that she added four or five to the group today. She is not up to 10. Of course she still wants the Chocolate lab but I think she can wait a little while for that one. I will try to post pics of the next few weeks. For those of you that are very familiar with Alan and I are aware that the camera in my hand or Alan's hand could be dangerous. Between us we took around 200 pictures and we video taped untilthe battery died. It could take me awhile to sort through everything. I am on vacation starting the 27th so that is the most likely time for me to post photos.

Party Preparations

Originally posted on my Slice Of Life blog at Blog.com on 1/15/2008

Meghan is having her first birthday party this year. The theme for the party is Hello Kitty but she wanted a heart shaped cake with ballerina's. Of course the child has to be particualr and has chosen butter pecan for the flavor. My mom is coming to the rescue and making the cake that Megahn has requested. Since Meghan did not have school yesterday morning, we spent the morning before I went to work looking ballerinas to put on the cake. This proved to be a not so easy feat. Three craft stores and two party stores later, we did not find ballerina's. Mom had to go to the grocery store and beg them to sell her the ballerina's they put on their cakes. For those of you that might be looking for those kind of things, please understand all they sell in the stores now for cake decorations are the licensed themes form Disney and the assorted other groups. (yes she could have had football and baseball) but there are not any (dare I use this word) generic themes for girls.

When we purchased the party supplies before Christmas, I failed to purchase cups to go wirth the plates and napkins and table cloths. Today I will be going back out to purchase that oversight. Boy, I am beginning to miss our yearly sourjn to Disney for her birthday. It was so much easier on all of us. We have all the other stuff purchased and ready. The party is Saturday at 2 pm. The party is being held at the dance studio and her dance teacher will be doing all the activities and we simply supply the cake and decorations. They will have 45 minutes dance and gymnastic type activities and then 45 minutes for cake and presents.

Meghan is looking very forward to the party and hopes that all her friends can make it. So far we have only 2 that have confirmed. There are four others that we think will be there althought they have not confirmed as yet.I think we are all going to miss doing her birthday as a family at Disney.

This will be the first year she has actually gone to school on her birthday. We might have still tried to do Disney but she has school picutres and a field trip that day. They are going to the dump for the field trip. Happy Birthday Meghan!! Besides I made her choose so it would have been wrong to have still done both.

Oh Where Have The Socks Gone?

Originally posted on mhy A slice Of Life blog on Blog.com
Alan's comment is posted at the bottom

Wow!!! Something I did as a kid is truly coming home to roost. I positively drove my mom nuts with my socks. Now I am reliving the frustration my mom must have felt. Now my mom's frustration stemmed from my instance that socks were just as good as slippers if not better. I still feel that way as an adult. I mean why invest in slippers when the socks work just as well. I frustrated my mom to he point that she would threaten to buy me an old fashion washboard to scrub the bottoms of my socks. Now Meghan brings a new twist to the sock issue. The first is that she always seems to misplacing the socks and matched pairs never make to the washer together. Once she hets in a pair, it is nearly impossible to get her out of them. As a mom, that is what my frustration with socks is. I went to the mart store - the one with the W and spent aprroximately $20 making sure the child had socks to wear and choose from. This would have worked great if she had put them away when I handed them to her; however, this is not what happened which meant we all had to go look for them. The good news is we found the bag which she left on my bed instead of putting away. Sock issues is obviously a genetic issue since Alan and I also have our share of sock issues. But not the way Meghan does. So I suggest that all of you invest in the stocks of sock companies because will purchase enough socks to support an underdeveloped country.

Matched pairs are way oveer rated!!!!!
Written by: Alan at 2008/01/19 -

From 1/12/2008 Blog change

Originally posted on 1/12/2008 on A Slice Of Life @Blog.com

Welcome to a slice of life. This will be an attempt like its predessor to keep friends and family updated on happenings in our part of the universe. Life is slowly getting back to normal after my return to work. Work did not change very much during my abscence. The last week has been a test to my stanima. While preparing for inventory, my schedule has been very full. The first day that I worked a 9 hour shift without even a five minute break off my feet just about did me in. I found that by the time I got in the car and went home, that everything hurt to a point just shy of cramping in the abdominal area. I got home and took the first ibuprfern that I have had since the first week or so after surgery. This past week I had several 15+ hour days back to back, and of course inventory day was an 18 hour day. The good news is the inventory appears to have gone well and tne marathon days are over. At least until the next crisis. For those of you that missed the post on the the other journal, I will attempt to repost if you are interested.

Hell Freezes Over

Orginally Posted on my AOL journal 1/4/2008

Well hell may have frozen over breifly last night/this morning. We reached record low temps here in central Sunshine State. It was in the low 30's here this morning. We only saw cold temperatures and our breath in the air, but just a little north of us they had snow flurries. A little further north of us received enough snow for it to able to be recorded as a trace. The truly horrible part of the cold is that I have to think really hard about were I stashed the sweats and the coats. Then I have to think even harder to remember if I have anything warm for Meghan to wear and were I put that as well. Now for Alan the cold means that he must actually pull a pair of pants out of the cloest and he cannot wear shorts to work.
Meghan was really excited to hear about snow being seen so close to us. It has been six years since she saw real snow. The last winter we lived in Georgia, we expereinced a Georgia snow storm. I remember driving home from work that night. A trip that usually took 45 minutes took me 2 1/2 hours that night. Because of babysitting issues and Alan working in a store in Atlanta my parents had met me in LaGrange to keep Meghan. Of course the heat did not work in my car at the time so I had Meghan under a pile of blankets and one on my lap. Alan was coming home that night for his days off and it took him 7 hours to make the drive that usually took 2 hours. Then next day Meghan and Alan rode with me to work and built a snowman out beside the building. Somewhere we have picture of her and Alan with the snowman.
Once and a while seeing snow would be nice but I must say that there is something nice about wearing shorts in December. Of course this cold snap hits when I have dropped several clothing sizes and because I seem to be continuing to drop, I have not completely replaced my wardrobe to include many pairs of pants besides capris. Alan is thrilled with this cold snap since it allows him to wear his new coat that his company gave him.
The sad part of this cold snap is that Joy does not appear to be with us now. We looked this morning and saw pieces of here web but not Joy. We will look some more over the next few days in case she is in one of the trees trying to protet herself from the cold. We will miss checking on Joy but at least our front yard might belong to us again.

Alan's Ipod

Originally posted on my AOL journal 1/4/2008

Alan upgraded his ipod in September to one of the new and larger 160 GB. Well the end of last week it began to have issues with the screen. After several attempts to reset the gizmo, Alan decided that it was time to visit the Apple store in Orlando to see what they would do about the unit since ot was just barely three months old. They of course had to go through the same processes that Alan had done at home; however, after their attempt failed as well, Alan left with a brand new 160 GB Ipod.

Since I was also off, Meghan and I went along so we could go to Build a Bear Workshop. We had $51 in coupons and gift certificates to spend, so while Alan was dealing with his Ipod, Meghan was busy picking out Pinky and Hello Kitty's wardrobe additions. Hello Kitty will be attending Meghan's dance recitial in June wearing her ballet costume and Pinky will attend wearing a pink and black poodle skirt which was as close as we could get to her tap costume. Of course there were several other items that these two family members nneded.
My big treat was I went to Fredericks and bought some new bras to replace the ones that I can no longer wear due to recent weight loss. This is the first time since Meghan was born that I have been somewhere besides Big Lots or Wal Mart to purchase a bra. However, do not let it be said that I did not shop wisely. I purchased 6 of the 8 off the clearance rack where the items were 50% off the clearance price which made these new additions cheaper than regular price and Wal Mart and the same as Big Lots prices.

Of course a trip for us to Florida Mall is not complete without a trip to the Carlton Cards store. While this is one store that we do have in our mall in Melbourne, I prefer the one in Orlando. I did add 2 new additions to my Cherished Teddies collection. Of course these were alo on sale at 50% off.
Happy New Year to all of us with our treats today. And Happy New Year to all of you that actually take the time to read about our lives here.

Christmas

Originally posted on my AOL journal 12/27/2007


Christmas has come and gone. Santa brought Meghan her ipod and assorted Pokeman junk. The stocking was filled with goodies from ipod accessories to Webkinz. With the assisstance of Mawmaw and Santa, Meghan has four new friends for her Webkinz husky that she won in November. From Mamoo she has a new dance bag with her name stitch into it. The bag is great with lots of room for all her dance paraphernalia. From us she received lots of Hello Kitty items and her Brass Key Snow White porcelian doll.

Meghan's birthday is just a few weeks away. We are planning her first birthday party. Her party will be held at the dance studio. All we have to provide is the cake and the deocrations.m The studio will provide all the activities. We were thinking of still taking her to Disney for her birthday but they are planning a feild trip to the dump that day and she is real excited. (I do not remember ever being that excited about the dump.)

Alan and I also had a great Chistmas. Alan got lots of CDs and the James Bond DVD pack. He also added several heads and beer steins to those collections. Meghan took pity on Alan and bought him his Porsche. Of course it was the matchbox size. She did this all on her own, but the funny part is that I did the same thing about 10 or 11 years ago. I received lots of books and Dvds as well as my favorite - Cherishhed Teddies. This year's haul was 26 new friends to join the collection in the four curio cabnets that are home to these cute guys. I will have to go the glass shop soon and have more shelves cut so that Alan can added them my cabinets.

On Being Joy

Originally posted on my AOL journal 12/19/2007.




As those of you that have read the earlier post about Joy already know, she is spider that has taken up residence in our front yard between two trees. She originally was not evicted from her home because Alan and I are a bunch of "babies" when it comes to dealing with spiders; however, now she is part of the "family" and we are becoming attached to her. This past weekend we had rain which we all thought would wash her away. All of us checked everyday as we came and went and much to our surprise she hung on. (she is not family enough for us to invite her in out of the rain and cold) Yesterday morning, Meghan and I did not see her as we left for school. Meghan was rather disappointed so I checked again after I came back from dropping her off. She was still there and hanginig by a "thread". When we came out this morning, she was busily working on a new web. Poor Joy must feel like she is living in a fish bowl. At least one of us gets real close to her web each day to look at her and see what she is doing. Hopefully we are too big to be lunch!

The Greatest Gifts Do Not Come With A Price Tag

Originally posted on my AOL journal 12/19/2007


In this season of giving, we are seeing people worried about rushing around making sure they have purchased the perfect gift. These people seem more concerned about the material aspect of this process, but in reality they are trying to purchase happiness for themselves and the receipent. I am just as guilty of it myself especially since I work in the industry that promotes the commercial end of Christmas. Every year as Meghan has gotten older and more interested in the giving of a gift, I have worked with her and preaching to her that she should give a gift that comes from the heart and not worry about the money. I have explained to her many times sometimes the smallest things mean the most which was what I received my own special reminder of today.
Today, I spent the morning helping my mom look up the names and addresses of people they have lost touch with over the last few years. One of the couples was someone that they knew during my dad's last active duty assignment. This couple and their family have been a part of our lives in some way for long as I can remember. Well, mom has tried to locate them several times of the past few years and has been unsusccesful. Today I hit pay dirt. I not only located their current address but their phone number as well. Guess where they live? Sanford Florida - right around the corner from us. Mom made the phone call this afternoon and the other couple was as thrilled to hear from mom and dad as mom and dad were to have found them. The two couples are currently trying to find a way to get together soon. Without realizing it, I provided four people a terrific gift with truly very little effort on my part. To hear the happiness that was generated from my stroking a few keys on my computer brought tears to my eyes.
We all put so much effort into what we give someone, especially at this time of year and sometimes thle best gift is a little time. The truly sad part is that we expend all this gift giving effort trying to generate the feelings in both the receipent of the gift and ourselves that I did today with such very little effort.

Back to the Grind

Originally posted on my AOL journal 12/17/2007

Today is the day that I must retuirn to work after having a nice seven week hiatus. The past few weeks have been a joy inspite if the surgery that I had to go through to get there since I have had very little stress in my life and no worries or stress about work. I have been sleeping well. I go back to us not only finishing the Christmas rush but going into inventory preparations. Oh well things could be worse, and I suppose I did do it to myself since the doctor wanted to hold me out until Dec 24th( I could not face returning to work on Christmas Eve).
Unfortunatley this means post here will probably slow down as I settle back into the rat race. This week will be the roughest since I am closing every night (I won't get out til 11pm at the earliest) and Friday is 11-8.

Meghan and I ran like crazy yesterday and fuinished most of the last minute things that had to be done so at least I am ready for Christmas. I have a few things left to do but the biggest task left is a few gifts to wrap.

Joy

Originally posted on my AOL journal 12/14/2007


We have adopted a spider. This spider is currently in residence between the two trees between in our front yard. Meghan has named the spider Joy after Charlotte's daughter. For those of you that have not read Charlotte's Web in many years or seen the movie, Joy is the daughter that stayed with Wilbur.
You can look at the picture and tell why we have allowed Joy to remain with us. I am a typical girl and do not like creepy, crawly things. I do not want any part of doing anything with them or to them. I know - Florida is probably not one of the better places for me to live. Unfortunately, Alan is not much better about spiders than I am. I hesitate to say it, but he is almost as girly about them as I am. In fact, it is the only thing that I have seen Alan remotely "scared" of in the 18 years I have known him. Turtles, snakes, lizards, frogs and the rest of the creepy, crawly population of Florida (for those of you familiar with the story, yes for me that still includes grasshoppers) does not seem to bother him.

This afternoon, Meghan will be going to a cookie party that one her girlfriends beachside is having. We are suppose to be there but we won't be on time since school does not end until 2:15. The party begins at 3pm and it will take us close to 45 minutes to get there. This is the second party of this nature that her friends mom has sponsored, and the first that we have attended. Since it is so far for us to go, I will stay and help her with the party. The girls will make something to take home in addition to the cookies.

Last Holiday Concert

Originally posted on my AOL Journal 12/13/2007.


Tonight was the last of Meghan's holiday concerts. This was the 7th performance that she has had since Dec 6th. The last four performances, including tonight's, were sing alongs so the strings group did not get to perform that much; however, we still enjoyed getting to see Meghan perform the few songs that they did play for the concert.
Now that we have the proper cord to feed video into my laptop, we purchased Alan a tripod so that he can become the true cinematographer that we all know he was born to be. This means that in addition to having to play the proud parent, he must also play the on site cinematogher. I have been busy trying to get as many of the videos fed into the computer possible before I go back to work on Monday. (Work - oh what joy) The video's take a while if they have any length to them to load into the computer. I usually start it and return later. The creation of the DVD is slightly faster but not much. One day we will begin mailing out Meghan's various performances. Sorry to those of you that get copies, biut we think she is great.
Saturday, she will perform at one of the retirement communities in the area with her tap class. They will be dancing to "Who Let the Dogs Out". Definitely not your "grandma's" tap class or tap routinue. This will be the last of her performances until spring I think.

How Sweet

Originally posted on my AOL journal 12/11/07


We all know how mean kids can be. Of course all of us were perfect little "angels"; however, we all have experienced the really mean kid in school that does not get caught. This is the one that always whispers mean things to the kids and always manages to be nasty when the teacher is not looking. Well Meghan's class has one that was so out of control that a few weeks into the school year, I had to go in a speak to the teacher. Meghan (the child who looked so forward to school that she counted down the days last summer) did not want to go to school. I was the third parent to come to the teacher with concerns about the same child so the school set her up with in house counseling, and the kids were to let the teacher know when she began doing these things. This "mean" kid came to school in the beginning of the school year dressed like a little doll - you know the type.
After the intial situation began to be handled, the little girl seem to stop being quite as malicious, but then gradually began to step it up again. Well today Meghan came home to tell us the little girl told her she was fat. This was right after she told another child his mother was fat and his sister stupid and that Ms. Kennedy was a loser. Well this time the child was not as slick as she had been in the past and the teacher walked up as she was saying it and heard everything. As a result, the child might be getting moved out of the classroom.
Now I remember the "mean" kids that I had in school never seemed to caught. The only ones that seemed to get caught are the non-mean kids that retaliate after having had enough. Frances, if you are reading this please correct me if I am wrong because I sure remember lots of mean kids in elementary school and middle school. Middle School's mean kids were the worst and I still remember my nemesis and her full name 21years after I last had to deal with her. So those of us that were not the "mean" kid should take a moment to rejoice with Meghan that the "MEAN" GIRL GOT CAUGHT BY THE TEACHER.
Perhaps this child is crying out for attention because she did this after having spent the morning with the principal for writing notes to another student. The other student turned them in to the teacher which got the "mean" girl senmt to the office. With the zero tolerance policies that the schools now adopt once she is moved to another classroom over this behavior and it continues, she will be asked to leave the school.
Those of you that might questioning my music selection, especially if you do not have kids going through the current generartions "new math " concepts - let me explain. Years ago when I was in school, I learned my multiplication tables by flash cards and writing them over and over again. Alan had the added incentive of a ruler and his dad.(ha ha) Apparently the educators thought that way old fashioned, boring and not very cool so they developed these key looking things with a string. Each key is a series and set up with the a number on the left and the middle is the number you are multiplying by and the answer is in the right. To see if you are right, you flip them over on the back and see if your pattern is the same. Now I truly see nothing wrong with the old way, it worked well for generations and we all know are multiplication tables well. I do question this new math way because I do not think the kids are getting the same reinforcement that we did. We have proved this by asking Meghan a week later and she has problems remebering the answer so now we drill her constantly even though she is getting 100s on the quizzes for each group. Flash cards and writing them worked very well in my opinion. Ask Alan, even the ruler worked well.

Science Fair

Originally posted 12/7/07 on my AOL journal.


Meghan did well on her science project. She not only recieved an A+ on it for a class grade, she also won 1st place in the physical science category at the school science fair for her grade level. She was called out of class yesterday to present her project to the judges and explain what she did, the graphs and charts and how long the project took. The lesson I told her she needed to take away from this was that being thorough really matters. She beat out other neat projects in her grade level because her project was not one that could be done at the last minute. She took the entire two months to perform her project and did lots of research. She also noted things her liquids had in common for the nails that did the worst. As a 1st place winner, her project is moving to the county level fair which will be held in the spring. Meghan is very excited!!

Meghan also had the first two of her holiday performances yesterday. She had a solo at both and did very well. She has one more today with her solo. Next Tues will be the start of her next 4 concerts followed by tap on Saturday.

Science Project

Originally post 12/3/07 on my AOL journal.

The science project was turned in today!!!! I have spent the last week typing and typing and planning the science board. This weekend I spent my time showing Meghan how to read the charts and apply that information to the graphs we created. Meghan will have to do a presentation to her class and decide whether to enter it in the school science fair. Of course now that this year's science project is complete, we are looking to what we will do next year.
Meghan has a week of exciting events planned. Thursday night she will perform at the public library in a violin quartet. On Friday she will perform at school in their Carols in the Commons. They will play Christmas songs for the school as every one leaves for the weekend. Meghan will play a solo of "Away in a Manager" at this time I believe. Hopefully it will be performed again during the next 4 school cioncerts.

In Memory

Originally posted on 11/28/07 on my AOL journal


Late last night, I received the news that someone I thought very highly of passed away. As I contemplated all that his death meant, I also stopped to think about the examples that he left for us. Bill was a man of action. Time did not sit still; therefore, he seemed to feel he should not either. Well into his 70s, if you met him you would have thought him to be 50. I saw him work 18 year olds into the ground and he would still be going.
Daring acrobatics were something that I saw in a circus until I met Bill, but if something had to be done then he found a way to accomplish it regardless of whether you thought it was safe. ( There were times that he would have given risk management heartattacks.) Impossible and insurmontable were not words that were a part of his vocabulary. He would look at something until he found the solution. From this I learned so many things, of course most of it was mechanical in nature. I know how to help a trailer back in to an area when it's landing gear is sticking or how to use 2x4s to get a pallet up enough to get it off a truck
Bill was a compassionate individual and any of us he cared about he would have done anything he could for us. We all knew this and would in return do anything for him as well. Everyone that he came in contact with was touched in some way by him, and those of us that knew him could not have loved him more had he been a flesh and blood relative. He was an amazing man with a huge heart.
I can honestly say that Bill lived his life more fully than most of us. He remained an active partcipant not merely a spectator to the very end. He made life happen and did not wait for it to happen to him. This is what I hope I learned the best from him. He proved age is simply a number and does not have to dictate what you can and cannot do. If I can be half the partcipant in my life at his age as he was, then I to will have lived by the example he showed to all of us.
While those he left behind will surely greive for him and he will be a much missed part of our lives, I think we owe it to him to celebrate all that he was. I know as does everyone that knew him that he would have been unhappy to have been forced to live in any manner other than full speed ahead.

Winning and the Optimism of Youth

Originally posted 11/26/07 on my aol journal

When you go somewhere and see the machines that try to lure you in to placing your money in them to win something like me you probably are thinking yeah right they are rigged to only put out so much. Like me you see drawings and while you might enter, you know that you will never win. All these little games of chance the we see are stacked against us because as adults we know that nothing in life is free. Hard work and perseverance are the things that matter and truly provide reward. As responsible parents we try to teach our children this "fundamental" truth.
The optimism of youth is a marvelous thing to watch in action as those of you with children understand. On Friday we took Meghan out shopping (yes on Black Friday) as this is probably one of the few times that we will be able to go since I picked such a great time to be on medical disability. One of the stores we went to had an opportunity for you to register to win a Webkin. These animals/toys are a pretty hot item with the kids around here. I managed to keep Meghan unaware of them more or less until I arranged for her to have a play date with a friend while I was in the hospital. Meghan's friend has ten of them, and Meghan wants one now (there are two on her Christmas list). Meghan registered in the drawing and then spent the weekend talking about which one she would pick when she won. The responsible parent that I am kept trying to explain to her that just because she entered did not mean she would win. I really wanted to keep disappointment to minimum. The entire time I am trying to keep her from getting her hopes too high she is positive that she will win.
To my great surprise, this morning I received a call from the store that she had indeed been the winner of the drawing and could come by and pick out Webkin anytime between now and Dec 1st. When I tell her, she will look at me and tell me that she knew she would.
This brings to mind other events of the past when Meghan has been positive of the outcome while I have attempted to keep her from getting too excited in order to minimize the hurt later. The Publix coloring contest when she was in preschool was another big one. Meghan began planning what she would do with her prizes, and again I was cautioning her that while I thought her picture was fantastic, there were many other entries besides her beautiful picture. Another example that Meghan apparently knew something I did not because she won!!
Then there was the crane machine at Denny's a couple of years back. Meghan really wanted a gray cat that was in the machine so against my better judgement, I put fifty cents in and tried to win the animal for her. Well of course I did not win it. Meghan was very disappointed and was telling me how I should have done it. Being more than a little frustrated, I gave her 50 cents and told her if she knew so much then she could try to get it. Darned if she did not win the gray cat out of the machine.
I guess I should be the one taking a lesson away from all this; however, I still look at all this and think the odds are stacked against us. How do we end up losing that optimism as adults. When do we stop dreaming of the possibilities and start thinking of only the improbabilities? We lose so much magic when we stop dreaming of the possibilities.

Science Projects

Originally posted on the AOL journal 11/25/07.

We are only a few weeks from Meghan's first science project being due. Really at third grade who do they think is going to actually be doing the project? The packet they send home says the parent is only suppose to provide guidance but not do the project. PLEASE - be realistic. Anyway, the nails have been soaking in the assigned liquid for several weeks. We are taking the final measurements and are getting ready to finalize the board. I will be typing all procedures, research, data, and findings over the next few days. Good thing I am currently on short term disability from work. I suoppose this is my punishment that I never had to do science projects:) Meghan will have oine due each year from now through sixth grade. We will start planning next years this summer.

Tags: science projects, school, Meghan

Who Would Have Thunk

This Post was originally left on my AOL journal 11/24/07 but I am moving these older post her

Meghan takes three dance classes on Wednesday, which means we sit there for two hours. Time moves quickly during the first two classes. The moms are quiet, and no one is overly obnoxious. Then the "Hip Hop" moms arrive. These moms behave in a manner which makes you think they left high school yesterday. These women are loud and giggle about all kinds of things. One experince sitting there around these mom's has left Alan unwilling to sit on the inside. He now watches that class from the outside on the sidewalk. The other day I was at the class on my own, so I stayed inside when the "Hip Hop" mom's arrived. Because of their loudness, it is impossible to ignore them and not listen to them. As a result I came to the realization as they were talking, these women were not only not fresh out of high school but they were my age and older. Just another example that maturity is not a magic number!!

Of course, guess who's girls are the behavior problems in the dance class. Wow, no surprise, "Hip Hop" moms' daughters are the most unruly. They cause the class to have to sit when new things are being gone over because they run all over when instruction is being given.

I'm Elinor Dashwood

I thought this was kind of fun. I always enjoy these type of quizzes when I truly need a good l laugh. Hope you try it and enjoy too!

Take the Quiz here!

New Skills Rise to Surface

I discovered a skill that I never knew I possessed. This morning being the "great" start to the day that it was, I managed to lock my store keys in the cash office at work this morning. I was trying to figure out how to get in the cash office without damaging the ceiling or the door. With the assistance of the plastic card that those wholesale places give you when you are a member, I opened the door to cash office and retreivcd my keys. I am sure this skill will come in useful somewhere else along the line.

Did I Miss the Memo?

Working in retail you see really good and really bad, but lately the UGLIES are really outdoing themselves. Here in the "sunny" capitol, the dispositions are anything but "sunny" lately. I believe the current challenge is to see how far they can push before they get you upset and angry. In fact that seems to entertainment to these people. I want to know when it became OK to cuss at me because you are having a bad day and want to make someone else miserable? When did it become OK to make me stop what I am working on because you think it is funny to make me walk around the store because you need to be entertained? When did self service become full service? When did threatening me mean that you would get exactly what you wanted? When did allowing you to verbally, mentally and physically abuse me become an expected part of customer service?

Yes, the UGLIES have been let loose on society, and they making everyone they come in contact with miserable.

Cell phones - oh where do we begin? If you are talking on your self phone but ask me questions then do not automatically assume I know who you are speaking to. If I do not answer you, then I probably assume you talking t0 someone else. If you are in a check out line do not be so busy on the phone that you are not aware that I am trying to assist you and do not get upset because I tell you your total. I am not intentionally interrupting your conversation, I need to ring the next customer. Most of all remember, I really do not care what you are talking about and am not eavesdropping on your conversation - I am simply trying to work and was probably on that aisle before you came by chatting on your phone.

I am sorry we are sold out!! It does not matter how much you yell at me nor how much you cuss at me, I can not produce what is not here. I cannot pull a "rabbit" out of my hat. If I could that then I would not be working here because I would be trying to pull money out of that hat.

Please take a bath!!!!! I cannot provide you with good customer service if I must hold my breath and supress my gag reflex. Soap can be found with the healthcare products.

I want to assist you in finding everything you need; however, do not waste my time asking me to show you were something is and then tell me "Oh, I did not want one I just wanted to know where they were becasue I saw them on the ad on tv.

Most stores but especially discount stores are self serve. That means you come in and YOU GET the items you need and then go to the check out. Our payroll is not budgeted in a manner that allows us to be your personal shopping assistant. I will be happy to show you or direct you to the areas that have the items you need but I CANNOT HELP YOU CHOOSE. Also do not assume that I am expert on every item in the store - that is simply UNREASONABLE. When I tell you I do not know you must assume in that at least I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!!!

Why is it acceptable for you to call me names or slam your fist on the counter at me? Why is that your right as a customer. I would not tolerate this at home so why am expected to at work? I cannot give you cash back without a receipt. The register does not give me that option - I am sorry but it must be on a merchandise credit. No I will not purchase the card from you. I do not need or want it. It is not my responsibility to make up the difference when you do not have enough money. If I had money to hand out willy nilly then I would not be working here. It totally unacceptable for you to ask the customer behind you for money when I tell you I do not have money to give you.

When you have to stand in a small line to purchase something - it is not our fault completely. We are given x amount to run the store on and there for we attempt schedule accordingly based off of sakes trends. That means that sometimes there are only two people in the store to assist you. Try carrying out furniture which according to the box requires at least 2 people by yourself. We do the best we can with the limited resourses that we are given. I like it even less than you do!

This is not aimed at the many great people I have encountered in my "career". There are many that know me by name, ask how I am and treat me well. But the UGLIES have been out a whole bunch lately.

The New Look

The new look is thanks to http://cutestblogontheblock.blogspot.com/. Check out Ashley's page for ideas for your blog. There many looks to chose from and they are free!! She has made it easy for those of us that really do not understand html code. Thanks Ashley.

Running Man

Meghan's dance classes are gearing up for their push to be recitial ready by June 7TH. All three dance classes have finished putting the routinue together but will spend the rest of the time cleaning up the routinue. All the routinues are very cute. However, her hip hop class has added "running man" to their number. It is absolutley the funniest thing to see these girls, age 6-9 trying to learn how to do it. The funniest thing is listening to the moms like me who grew up with this admitting we cannot help our daughters learn the move. Thanks to my 9 years of cheerleading, I am able to help her learn a lot of the things from hip hop/jazz class, but I never did master running man myself. I was able to help her do the pinwheel, but not this. Since I was the only one that showed up for the adult dance class on Thursday night the young lady leading the class helped Meghan with running man which was awesome.

At her dance class this past week she received her dance costumes for the recitial. They tried them one and went through their routinues in them. The cutest was the tap costume. I cannot locate a web site that has a picture of the tap costume; however, if you go to http://curtaincallcostumes.com/, you can see a picture of the ballet and hip hop costumes. When you go to the website, enter as visitor/student and view ballet under the kids heading and locate the Sophia tutu. This is Alan's favorite of the ballet costumes. To find the hip hop costume, you will follow the same process except choose hip hop instead of ballet anf the name of the costume is Power Pop. These are all cute but the tap is my favorite.

When are you too old...

When exactly do you become too old for something? That is a question that I confronted this weekend. Meghan and I were at my store where I found this really cute brown corduroy short (mini) skirt. I tried it on and found it to be too big which was terrific. Upon seeing that I was indeed thinking about getting the skirt anyway, Meghan informed me that I was too old to wear the skirt. While I agree that there are things I might think twice about purchasing, I was set to puchase the skirt to SPITE Meghan once she said I was too old. In the end, I decided not to get the skirt not because of Meghan's statement but because it was too big. I began thinking about finding a skirt primarily to annoy Meghan. Today Kelli gave me a really cute skirt that will fill the bill admirably. Now the one that Kelli gave me is great with shorts built in to it so I can wear it comfortably in public. I told Meghan about it being a mini skirt. I told her that I would wear it the next day that I was off and took her to school. To say she had a fit was an undestatement.

This whole thing brings to mind the question When are you too old? This some to my mind several times since she said this. Her response was the same when I decided to take the adult dance class at the studio she dances at. I want to know when exactly I became too old. Yes I will wear the short skirt at some point simply for the fun of SPITING Meghan. So exaactly When are you too old....? What are your thoughts?

Good Bye Percy

This was Percy in his favorite window. Kitty tv must have been slow that day. Even in this picture he just makes you want to reach out and cuddle him close.

A Sad Day

Today was not a good day. Our beloved klutzy cat , Percy, passed away. He was 6 1/2 years old, but he is the only cat that Meghan remembers. He has been with us since she was 2. We are not sure what really happened - it is really sudden and a surprise. I must say that over the past week he had spent lots of quality time with us bring even more affectionate than normal which will make our memories very sweet. I thought that maybe I would tell some stories about Percy so that those of you that never had your life enriched by knowing him will know how sweet an animal he was.

I guess the best place to start is recall how he came to be with us. Percy had some how gotten to a very busy road and scared he ran in to the store Alan was running at the time in Georgia. Alan took him in and placed him in the back hoping someone would come looking for him. Alan called me when he was leaving work to tell me that if the kitten had not been claimed by close he was going to bring it home. Knowing that the kitten was coming home with us that night, I asked Alan about the kitten. The first questions I had were is he short haired or long haired and male or female. Alan's replay was that he was short haired and male. Percy turned out to be long hair and male. Percy rode home that night on the front seat of the car between Alan and I. Later that night, Percy cuddled himself firmly into my heart when he lay next to me using my arm as a pillow.

Because we wanted Meghan to feel she was a part of this whole process of bringing Percy into the family, we let her pick his name. At the time, Meghan was very into Veggie Tales. For those of you unfamiliar with Veggie Tales, it is a cartoon through which Bible stories are acted out by animated vegetables. Check out http://bigidea.com/ for more Veggie Tales info. Those of you in the know already recognize the character that Meghan named Percy after. Yes. Percy the Pea.

Percy moved from Georgia to Florida with us and handled the move in his normal laid back way. He traveled alongside Meghan in the backseat on our memorable ride to Florida. Percy handled the a/c belt I lost on the car with a whole lot more grace than I did.

Percy fell in love with the octagan window in our house. Percy perched there for hours that sometimes turned into days. The windows around the house was what Alan referred to as kitty tv. When he was ready for a new channel he would switch to another window; however, the show from the octagon window was always his favorite channel.

Percy proved to be the most amazingly klutzy animal. He would fall off the couch, out of the window, off the bed or whatever he was sitting or laying upon. He would always get back up and look around as if to see if anyone noticed. Fortunately he finally gave up on it but he used to try to sleep on the headboard of our bed and during the night he would fall off and usually would land on either my head or Alan's. His falls were so frequent from the octagon window that we replaced the table under the windowwith something higher so he would not fall as far and something without glass so he would not fall through it. Percy broke at least two lamps in is falls from the octagon window but I could never get truly upset with him.

My favorite Percy story was the first Easter we were here in Florida and decided to color Easter eggs. Percy wanted to prticipate in the process as eagerly as any human child. We kept moving him away from the area. As we were finishing the eggs, Percy got up on the table and lay down in the middle of the dyes on the table. When we finally got him to move, the fur on his belly was colored in all the colors but most predominantly purple. That Easter we not only had colored eggs, but a colored cat as well. He kept his pastel colors for several weeks as they eventually faded away. After this, purple seemed to be his favorite color.


He spent the weeks of my enforced rest period following my surgery at my side. The first week or so I slept in the living room on the couch. Percy did not truly understand why he could not lay on my stomach and woukd try everyday all over again. He was by side and sat with me through movie after movie, website after website, book after book and even Meghan's science project.

Percy will be sorely missed as member of our family. He was sweetest most laid back animal you would ever want to encounter. Some cats seem to get attached to one person in the house but Percy picked all three of us.

The Golden Mean

The company I work for has this torture devise designed to drive you nuts when it comes time for reviews. The review is a three part process: the first is a self review - this consist of you rating yourself in four areas and then provide fodder for an achievement section, a developmental section and an overall comments section - the second part is the supervisors review which is a mirror image of what you write and the third part is where the the DM, Regional Human Resources managers, and the Regional Vice President discuss your review and determine what your review should be. Based off where you are in the salary range and what your rating is - Unsatisfactory, Requires Improvement, Good, Very Good or Outstanding. The one thing that is preached continually is that no one is outstanding. The individuals that find themselves under this falsde sense of granduer quickly have the review sent back for them to reevaluate themselves. Now I truly believe the process was designed by a very sadistic individual that likes to make people feel inferior. I truly believe that for the most part they have already determined the percentages they are going to give. Yes the supposed purpose of these reviews is determine our pay raise. Now, I understand the need to determine the percent based of performance; however, they are not truly giving percentages that are enough to encourage anyone to strive to be stellar. The maximine percentage allowed for outstanding (which in the 19 years I have been with the company not one manager I know of has received - because no one is perfect) is 6% but only if you are in the first third of the pay range. It goes down 1% as you move up the salary range. A good will only get you a 3% pay increase if you are in the first third of the pay range. Requires improvement means no raise and that you must repeat this humilating process again in 6 months.

This review process is suppose to be based off the performance of your store. This is great but each year they require the reviews to be completed earlier and earlier. This is difficult because the fiscal year ends at the end of Jan. The review is based off the fiscal year and the final numbers for the year come out at the end of Feb to the stores. Of course this is not something you can get at the touch of a button on the computer so you are writing this thing sort of blind. You make statements about performance that are based off year to date info through Dec, but that might have changed with the final month. The powers that be take this opportunity to tell you how wrong you are about your stores performance. I try to be accurate and do the "math" to figure some of the numbers but others we just do not have access to the information needed to calculate it.

This whole process each year reminds me something I was required to read in World Literature my senior year of high school. It was called the Golden Mean. The selection was from the Roman era and encouraged people to strive to be average. At the time, I did not fully appreciate the irony of my class being required to read it. I took the World Lit class because I had been on the fast track for AP English along with many of my classmates, and we decided not to apply for the AP English class. To the schools surprise and dismay(they had to buy a whole bunch of unplanned and unbudgeted for textbooks at the last minute) , my class coveted the mean that the Romans classified as golden. We really did not need the encouragement of the Romans to give us validation. Anyway, the review process reminds me of that selection because the review process ends up being such a negative process. We are not encouraged to strive for more nor do you want to be too positive because they might send it back for you to rewrite. Watch out if you have the nerve to be brutal in review of yourself, they will send it back to you to rewrite. Only they can tell you that you stink. Hence encouragement to go for the GOLDEN MEAN or at least another validation for desiring the GOLDEN MEAN. Yes - I have a really bad attitude concerning this process.

What A Day

Alan is having inventory tonight. Meghan and I went to his store so I could view the counters that came from the inventory service because our companies use the same inventory service. Since my store inventoried four weeks ago and had some really bad counters, I went to check and see if any those individuals showed up at his inventory.

The end of Janurary I began taking an adult dance class at Meghan's dance studio. Tonight was the third class. The actual instructor was out and her friend did the class tonight. Because she did not have all the music she did some of our regular routinues but did some other things. I will probably feel the difference in the morning. The cool thing was that she had things that we can do at home to any kind of music at home on our own if we want. The best part of the class is when we laugh together over these "girls" leading the class tell us to let everything jiggle. Nothing needs encouragement to jiggle - it can do that quite well on its own. The first night Meghan hung out in the studio with us and she came out huffing and puffing. My goal in taking the class is to help the weight that has been steadily coming off since my hysterectomy. I am currently hovering between 2 sizes, but I would like to drop even more if possible. This class comes at the end of my day and every Thursday is truck day.

Meghan continues to be very active. She will be adding the county youth orchestra to her resume on Monday the 11th. Alan and I are very proud and hope that it will prove to be a good experience for her. It appears that she will bypass the audition since the group is part way through the year.

Help Me Decide

I have truly enjoyed the writing of these little commentaries on the happenings in my corner of the universe. While these writings initially started out as a way to occupy my time during the enforced downtime that my recuperation required during November and December, I found that several of you actually were reading these little blurbs and that is really cool. The first version (Life Moments) is through AOL but several people were unable to read the entries through that site. Like many things in life, I looked at over 40 different sites to place a new blog. I went to Blog.com and a slice of life was born, but once again some that wanted to read and leave comments have been unable to do so. I should have taken it as a sign that that might not be the place to be because I did not like the name I ended up choosing when my first dozen choices were taken. So as a reader of the views through my porthole, you can help me decide where we should call home. Please leave your comments or if you prefer not to leave a comment then please email me with the site you prefer. I have one more place that I have an account to start a blog; however, I have been very unimpressed with that site so far.
Please let me know which one you like. :)