Work Irritation

I'm really irritated with work. It's getting under my skin. The issues is really about having some folks on staff that need to develop more skills in working with people. (My staff is being punitive with clients right now.) We've identified that and will develop a plan to improve that but still, it gets to me.

When something starts to bother me, I tend to get bothered by every little thing. One area that is really bugging me is the work ethic of some of my staff. They are late to work but expect to leave right on time and then complain when their work is not done. They expect to not have any problems or consequences when all of their work is not done. And then they get mad at me when I have to address the problem.

I was talking with a co-worker about this and she made a comment about the new generation of worker. Really, have we lost our work ethic. Has our society really forgotten that we can't get things for free. Have we lost the value of doing an honest days labor and settle for instant gratification and selfishness?

I hope not. I hope it's just me being annoyed.

Week In Review, take 2

It's been a busy week and no blogging was done. So just like last week, here's a recap.

Sunday: Dinner with the son and daughter-in-law was good. Everything turned out good and the boys ate a ton. I tried making an apple pie for the first time ever and it turned out yummy. We spent most of the day there. It was good.

Monday: My boss finally finalized my evaluation and it was very good. My hard work was noticed and I even got an unusual bonus. It was big and nice and I was thrilled.

Tuesday: nothing exciting happened.

Wednesday: I earned every bit of my bonus and more. Work was frustrating and I was only there until 12:30pm. I rushed over to my friends house and to decorate for her wedding. Then it was off to home to pack and back for the wedding. The wedding was very nice and they were surrounded by their family and friends without lots of big to-do. I drove home and Cowboy stayed behind.

Thursday: Cowboy came to the farm and I cooked the big Thanksgiving meal for the whole family. The family was there and we had a great day. I love spending time with all the siblings and my mom and dad. I am very fortunate to have the loving family that I have.

Friday and Saturday: Both days were very trying for me. My mom isn't getting around very well. We spent most of the day in the house doing nothing and I mean, nothing. Friday night we did go eat Mexican and Saturday we did venture to town to buy cornbread. I love my parents dearly and it's hard to watch them age and not be able to get around very well. Dad is having knee replacement surgery in Jan. Mom is just struggling to walk and get around well. She's almost stopped driving all together and doesn't have much energy. I know the were thrilled to have us home.

Sunday: Cowboy and I left the farm early. He had a large load of wood on his new trailer. I got home to do laundry and then worked in the yard for about 3 hours. Cowboy unloaded wood and then we went to the store and bought a new TV. Yeah, we had talked about getting one for a long time and have looked and looked. It was our Christmas present to each other. I got it all set up and it's awesome.

On another note, I'm wedding ringless. We have a neighbor who is a jeweler and he is making a band of diamond to go with with ring. He is using diamonds from a ring that I inherited from my grandmother. I'm so excited. He said it should be done this week.

In a week that we think about all that we are thankful for, I must say that I am thankful for my wonderful family, all my great friends, my amazing husband, my loving dog and all the blessings that I have been given in my life.

Week in Review

Time to Recap the week:

Last Sunday: Cowboy best buddy drove through town after deer hunting and ended up staying all night. Cowboy was pretty happy to see him. He lives in Tennessee and doesn't get to spend much time with him so it was good to have him around.

Monday: The state was in to audit our programs this week. It's a big deal and I remember when I first started that we did a lot of scrambling around to make sure everything is like it should be. We don't do that anymore but it's still stressful and not a fun process. They were her until Thursday. We ended up having to give $520. $0 from my program. Great audit for us, since most agencies our size gives back $3000 and our mental health side of the agency had to give back $6000.

Tuesday: pretty non-eventful day--more state auditing.

Wednesday: My friend came over to have a dress altered and I ended up ruining the dress. I was ironing the part that I fixed and the iron melted a hole. I felt so horrible. I ran to the fabric store to find some matching fabric with no luck. But I came up with a plan.

Thursday: My quest continued to find fabric. No luck so I presented my options to my friend. I hope she continues to be my friend. I also decided that I wasn't working on Friday. My little celebration for a great audit.

Friday: We decided to play it by ear. Stayed in bed until 9:30. Went to the gym. Came home and Cowboy's friend returned. They went out and shot pool for a couple of hours. They came home a little tipsy. Cowboy managed to grill steaks and we had a yummy dinner.

Saturday: I found a great tee time, at a great course for a great price. We headed out to play the last round of the year. Cowboy and I had a couple play in with us and it turns out the the guy that joined us was the little brother of a friend of mine 20+ years ago. (I had such a huge crush on his older brother). Small world. I parred the last hold to win dinner. It was a fun day.

Sunday: (not here yet) We are planning on going over to Cowboy's son's house and taking a BIG thanksgiving dinner over there.

These three days off have been very good for me. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and time down on the farm.

So Tired

I'm tired. Sleep issues. I can fall asleep but I can't stay asleep. I'm awake for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. It doesn't make me happy. I just want to sleep every single night all night long. Is that too much to ask? A week of solid sleep with no getting up to pee, letting the dog out, is that too much to ask for? Really, I don't want to be selfish but couldn't that just happen for me?

Leader Angst and Great Advocacy

I seem to always end up in a leadership role. Sometimes by choice, sometimes by work and sometimes because no one else steps forward. I don't really mind most of the time. Except tonight. I came home to a message from a neighbor complaining rudely about another neighbor. So much for being president of the Home Owner Association. Can I duck this responsibility? Don't think I can ignore this one. We have the hoarders that have moved in next door. Actually the hillbilly hoarders have moved in. They fenced in their backyard for the dog but when I drove by the other day, the back yard was filled with junk. So now they put up an 8 sided chain link fence (like panels) for their dog. The back of the house is lined with 5 gallon buckets. And now there are 7 cars in the driveway with one being a big old "dollar" van. Really! Really-- just go away.

On another note, our insurance company denied paying for a doctors visit for Cowboy. It was only $68 but it's $68 that they need to pay. So I appealed the denial. We finally got the news today that it was overturned and the insurance company is paying....good for me. My husband was just going to pay it. Yeah for me again!

Grocery Store

Have you ever been in a grocery store, you have seen little kid throwing an absolute fit and their parent acting even worse. It makes me want to step in most of the time and break up the situation for both the kids sake and the parent sake.

Tonight, I stopped by the grocery store and it must have been bring you kids grocery shopping night. Lots of kids everywhere.

As I was approaching an isle, I heard a dad say, "I'm about ready to throw your toy away, then we wouldn't have all this drama." My first thought was, here we go again--another big scene where both lose control and it all turns out bad.

However, when I got to the end of the isle, I saw the dad standing face to face with his about 7 year old daughter. She had her hands resting on his and they were looking each other in the eye and he was saying to her, "I just want you to breathe". She was calming down and the drama was done. What a wonderful way to deal with a trying situation.

Sadie got bit

My poor sadie got bit. We have a fence across the street from us that is old and rickety. I know there are two dogs that stay in that back yard. Every time I walk Sadie past this fence, the two dogs bark and then will sometimes get in a fight or some kind of skirmish. Last week, they got out and Cowboy and a neighbor semi patched the fence.

Well the dogs busted through the fence again today and came after Sadie. Cowboy was outside but didn't see it happen and Sadie ran into the garage. But one of them, bit Sadie on the front shoulder. She was bleeding a lot.

Cowboy cleaned her up and took the bloody towel over to the dog owners house. He said he 'didn't chew his ass' much but firmly let him know he needed to fix his fence and not let he dogs bust through the fence. Cowboy then helped him find his dogs and get them back home.

He has pampered Sadie all evening. My poor baby girl. She is not a fighter. She's a lover.

Question of the Day

So the question of the day yesterday...What is something your partner does not know about you?

So I posed the question to Cowboy. At first, he said I knew everything about him. But as we talked more and more, I actually learned a few things about him.

When he was 4 years old, his family was very poor. His dad and his uncle went to a nearby city to a department store. They had lots of kids bicycles in the front of the store. Cowboy's dad found a bike and walked it up and down the front of the store and when he got to the end, he kept on walking. Put it in the back of the truck and drove out of town. Cowboy loved the bike. It wasn't until years later that he found out his dad didn't actually pay for the bike.

Another year, when money was scarce, Cowboy's mom said she didn't want the usual cedar tree from the pasture but they couldn't afford $25 for a store bought tree. Cowboy and his buddy went to town and got a tree and delivered it to his mom at 10p at night. His mom asked where he got it and Cowboy replied that he got the tree from the store. His mom noted that the store closed at 8p. Yep...he just helped himself to the tree. He put it in the back of the truck, laid down with it and rode that way until he got out to the country.

Cowboy's family and Christmas....oh, my.

I'm writing a book...

I swear when I retire I'm going to write a book. No two books. One will be about all the excuse that clients give when they test positive for drugs.....

"I was having sex with my boyfriend and he was using it." Really? Like his sperm will absorb into your blood stream.

"I wasn't using it, I was just touching it." Really, so if you touched gasoline, you would pee it out?

My next book...They crazy things that employees do that will get them fired.

It's okay to come to work as a substance abuse counselor drunk. And not just drunk, blowing a .25 drunk.

Or apparently, it's no problem to move clients into you home and have sex with them.

Really, what is wrong with people.

Happiness

My friend is getting married. I stopped by her house tonight to look at a few wedding plans. I called Cowboy on my way home. He asked if my friend was excited. I made the comment that I hoped that they could be at least as half as happy as we are. To which Cowboy replied, "if they could be half as happy as we are, they will be twice as happy as most people."