April Eighth

Yesterday was the visit at work… my first district shoe visit as the lead… unfortunately he wasn’t informed that I had started… so he didn’t do the audit and we only walked the floor as a training session or him getting to know what I already knew… he did say it looked better than the last time he had been there… the team did a great job of getting the floor ready… of course still a ways to go… and the stockroom got behind as I have been on the floor all week instead of in the back processing the new receipts…

We also got rain yesterday… because of the visit I went in early so I was home early enough to walk and pick up son3… The sky was also full of big black clouds so I took my camera with me…

We figured we had enough time to walk there and back before it started raining… but just in case we brought one umbrella and son3 already had an umbrella…

What we didn’t expect was HAIL…

As we were waiting for son3 it started to rain big drops…

And then very soft hail as if it was snowing…

Poor Danny hates baths and water of any kind…

By time son3 got to us the hail had got to the size of marbles and was much harder…

Son3 running across the yard once we got home… It’s just a five minute walk or so from picking up son3…

Son2’s tennis game was cancelled but he had gone to a friend’s house… by time he walked home all the rain was gone…

Hail all over our car…

Hubby then took my camera into the backyard… It was lightening and thundering too…

Sun trying to come out…

All these pictures are from the backyard…

Strawberry plants that keep coming back every year…

Today I close at work… so I am still home this morning… Hubby and I went to drive son3 to school this morning as we were going to Target… and the Dodge had a flat tire… so we all jumped in the Saturn instead… Son3 was happy just not to have to walk to school… Hubby and I went to Target and were in and back home in just an hour… they don’t have a time warp there like Walmart has where you lose three hours of your life in just a minute… We found just what we needed: shampoo, toothpaste, popcorn… and picked up son3’s Halo megablox alien guys he has been wanting to buy with his money… and just what we needed for Easter… actually I put two items back or we would have been done shopping for Easter… but I had already seen them cheaper online at Walmart so even with shipping I’ll save seven dollars… So will be ordering them in just a minute… and I’m sure hubby will still be picking up some Easter candy and we need dye for the eggs… Hubby has since found the nail in the tire, pumped it up and driven over to his car guy where we have tire warranties for free repairs…

I’m munching on popcorn and listening to Dr. Welby on the Retro channel…

I kinda came off my work high this morning… I think it’s mainly just coming off the stress of the week of the visit and now it’s over… although I’ll see him again maybe around Easter and then maybe the beginning of May and then definitely the middle of May for training and in June for certification… I’m still wondering where I am going to start squeezing in my five weeks of vacation that four have to be done before November…

I’m still on my old sleeping schedule, falling asleep at 9pm and wide awake at 5am this morning… I tried to go back to sleep til after 5:30am but my brain was already going full steam ahead thinking about work… so I’m sure I will be dragging by 10pm tonight when I get off work… I’m looking forward to having this weekend off… but then I’m also anxious to get on a routine at work… so many things I want to get done tonight and I have an interview for a new associate…

And I have a ton of online training to do… I checked yesterday… it’s gonna take me a week just to get though that… I think I’m kinda frustrated too that I want to get everything organized and get all the things done that are on my list but then time is passing so quickly already…

Tonight’s goal is to update the counts from yesterdays count, make a list of supplies we need to order, interview, learn the closing procedures and leave a very long list for the associates for the weekend as they are also eager to have direction and be more involved… Then this weekend I am going to organize all my notes I have been taking all week on whatever paper was at hand into one notebook…

Hubby put a new border around the side yard… the pavers in the center are temporary as some day he will cement in a cobblestone pattern…

Yesterday after the storm… clearing up… today black clouds have moved back in but only a 30% chance of rain… Time to start thinking about work… oh wait that’s all I’ve been doing lately… need to make my lunch/dinner and get dressed for work… I think hubby is back now too…

Happy Journaling…

April Sixth

All the pictures are from my yard… Everything is blooming…

I am off today… No homework this week because of state testing! Son3 is watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2… We also got Tron Legacy, Bones Season 3 and I Love You Phillip Morris…

I am cooking teriyaki chicken legs, chicken fried rice, and heating up frozen egg rolls-sweet and sour chicken-orange chicken…

Be sure to visit The Motivation Station tomorrow (Thursday) to see what else we have been up to his week…

I have been at my new position of footwear lead for three days now… I’m loving it… I was kinda worried that I would freak out once it hit me of what did I get myself into… I’m even having a nice day off even with the district visit looming over me that’s coming tomorrow… We would be ready if we didn’t allow customers into the shoe department… Every time we fix one thing another gets torn up… So I’m sure I will be getting an earful tomorrow… But I’m playing the “I’m new card”… and then I’ll be making a list of everything he’ll want fixed… and we’ll see if we’ll be ready for him next time… Unless the associates work a miracle tonight… I have six closers tonight and I go in at 6am tomorrow to run around like a crazy lady before he gets there… Don’t know what time, just that it’s in the morning… Then after he leaves I can finish making the schedule for next week and start making my plan of everything I have wanted to get done for a long time… Friday I close and learn all about the closing procedures… Then I have the weekend off…

I haven’t done too much this week… My days have been a blur of work, dinner, watching season 2 of Angel and sleeping…

Son2 had a tennis match yesterday but he didn’t win… He didn’t go to practice today as he forgot his clothes for practice… He had state testing yesterday and today… He said he took a test today that if he passes it allows you to skip the basic English classes when you start college… He said it was easy…

Son1 was over on Sunday doing laundry and working on his jeep but he was gone by time I got home from work… He came over again on Monday night just as we were eating dinner… He had gone to the Army recruiting office and took a practice test… He didn’t pass so he had come over to take some practice tests online… So he and son2 were at it til 10pm… I went to bed…

Son1 is over now… Another pulley on his jeep needs replacing now… he is looking up the website but they have changed the website since he was on last and do not sell to the public… he may stay for dinner although it is his night to cook at the apartment… I thought having a guy as a roommate would give him more freedom than living with a girlfriend… however since he and his roommate are friends, his roommate expects them to do everything together and texts him constantly wondering when he is coming home…

Dinner is almost ready… I think we are watching Tron Legacy tonight…

On this day, God wants you to know

... that joy will come when you pass on the love you have received. If you hoard love, it melts away. If you lock love, it breaks free. If you grab on to love, you end up holding an illusion. When you let love flower in its own way, it stays to support you. When you pass on love, it multiplies beyond measure.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that when you feel down, look at yourself through God's eyes. There are times when no matter how hard you try, you just cannot accept yourself as you are. During such times, think of how you look to God's eyes. In God's eyes, there is no judgment, there is only acceptance. God sees your light when all that you can see are your shadows. God loves you more than anyone could ever love you as you really are.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that it's time you cleansed yourself with laughter and with tears. Let tears take out all the agony that is hidden inside you, and let laughter ignite your contagious joy.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that the weight you carry on your shoulders is much too heavy for one human being. Give some of that weight where it belongs, - to God, and have faith that what happens is for the best, whether you understand it or not.

Happy Journaling…

April Second…

Hubby and I went to the zoo on Wednesday… Just the two of us while the boys were in school… The mother orangutans were out with their babies… One had a baby boy on Halloween and the other had a baby girl at Christmas time… I’m not sure if this was the boy or girl baby… the other mom was too far away to see…

Can you see the baby…

This picture I got off of Facebook from the actual zoo that they took… too cute…

The Peccary had twins…

They are too cute too…

And this was just a pretty kitty at the zoo… I can’t remember it’s name, something that started with a G I think…

Our neighbor’s wife brought home a stray cat from her work parking lot… which has since had six kittens as she was pregnant when they found her… They are just five weeks old so have another week or two with their mom… Bill said we would take one… although Chris and I are thinking two… they were so cute playing with each other… they just started walking and were waddling all around the garage… I think Holly might accept a kitten as she could mother it… she is always licking us like we need a bath… of course Danny might not like the idea as Holly has made him afraid of cats…

And the lone Red Wolf at the zoo… He is pretty too…

The first rose to bloom in our backyard…

What a week… It’s over already and tomorrow I start the new position… I was trying to do a smooth transition but I seem to have been thrown in already as my supervisor already moved on to her new position since Wednesday… She has been very eager to get out of shoes… She did show me the reports and how to make the schedule yesterday… and then it took me three hours to make the schedule, I know how to but I just couldn’t concentrate on it or wrap my mind around it or something… as I have had so many things on my mind all week, work related… I didn’t even finish doing the ad yesterday as I was making the schedule… even stayed 45 minutes over my day…

And the team is eager for me to start giving them direction… and there are so many things I want them to do and things I want to do… and this whole visit on Thursday is just in my way a bit as no one can tell me exactly why he is coming and what he expects… except probably for everything to be 100% perfect… I don’t even know if he knows I am his new lead… plus my new boss is on vacation next week… and my old supervisor is closing that day… so he may be surprised to see me… we do have lots of hours this week but with me taking the lead position, I lost me of getting things done… and having to train the others to do what I used to do and still do their tasks… so I’ll be playing the “I’m new” card on Thursday for the visit…

Meanwhile I go to sleep thinking about work and wake up thinking about work… and yet when I am there I don’t know what to do first… of course this past week I was still opening boxes… and then Friday I was a bit overwhelmed with supervisor giving me a crash course around her lunch… so hopefully tomorrow I will have a full day with the team and no outside influence and I can get organized and make a plan…

This week at home was a lazy week of saying goodbye to my old routine of getting off early and getting up early… I’m kinda looking forward to getting up at 6am instead of being at work at 6am… of course the day of the visit I’ll be there at 6am as I am off the day before…

It’s a bit overcast today but it has been in the 80’s all week… cleaned out son3’s summer clothes as he has been wanting to wear shorts to school… luckily he has a few pairs that still fit so he has enough clothes to get through the summer…

Son2 was at a sleep over last night… he mowed the lawn and cleaned his room… getting a new kitten might have inspired him a bit… Haven’t heard from son1 all week… son3 has been playing video games and watching movies…

Dinner is ready… gonna gather the boys… what shall we watch tonight… I think we watched all our Netflix… finished Lost in Space… son3 watched Scooby Doo, a new movie… I had Love and Other Drugs, just kinda skipped through it… and we may have a couple of Hogan’s Heroes to watch…

Got a bit behind on the God wants you to know from facebook:

On this day, God wants you to know

... that there are many ways to climb a mountain. There are many ways to worship God. There are many ways to live a life. Allow each person to choose their own path.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that whatever fills your heart with gladness is a good thing. Let yourself be filled. There is much joy and beauty in the world if you only open yourself to it.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that if you feel too busy, you are. Give yourself permission to be un-busy. Give yourself an hour or a day to simply be. Allow yourself the luxury of a small retreat. Allow your spirit time to be restored. Even God took a day of rest.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that God has an important purpose for you, and made everything possible for you to succeed. That's not to say it's an easy purpose, or a convenient one. It might very well seem hard or even impossible, but it only looks that way. The truth is that one day you will look back and see how all the pieces fit together. And how your life has been a complete and utter success.

 On this day, God wants you to know

... that most of your words are unnecessary. All too often you speak simply to fill the space with sound, because you feel too uncomfortable with the silence. But this silence is golden. Only in silence you can hear God speak to you. Only in silence can a real prayer, a heart prayer be born. Next time you start chattering, stop and feel into the silence, feel its shape, its texture, and then slowly and silently say only what really has to be said.

Happy Journaling…

Zoo Slide Show...

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March Twenty Eighth

What a busy day… It’s 10pm and I am still awake and watching Castle…

Holly above with her busy day of sleeping…

I got to work at 6am today… scanned the athletic shoes for missing displays, stocked the athletic clearance table, stocked the hanging women’s sandals…

7am, coworker came in, we discussed her new processes she is starting this week and we talked…

8am, supervisor came in and we talked about our new positions, things to do and personal items…

9:15am, store meeting… store manager gave the meeting and as he was wrapping up my new boss reminded him of his announcement of my new position… he whispered back are you ready for me to announce it… she whispered back, yes, no… he asked did she talk with all the candidates… she replied no… he announced to us that there would be an announcement tomorrow… lol…

9:35am, I went to lunch…

10:20pm, lunch is over, go back to work to open boxes… talk with other coworker that didn’t get the position, talk with supervisor, open boxes…

12:00pm, listen in on footwear conference with supervisor…

12:40pm, go back to department, talk with supervisor…

1:00pm, time to go home…

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Once home update hubby on all the adventure of the day…

Footwear district manager is coming for a visit a week from Thursday…

I officially start my new position on Sunday…

This is my weekend to work and will probably have to close Sunday… then I am off every other weekend…

In May I have footwear training to go to…

June the district manager will be coming again for footwear accreditation…

I have five weeks of vacation to take and was going to take one in either April or May and then another in June but not sure how that is going to happen…

I checked my weekend rotation and I work on my birthday… I have only worked once in the last thirty years on my birthday…

And so it begins…

Picked up son3 from school… math homework and spelling homework…

Son1 came over to wash a load of laundry… and wash his Jeep…

Last night son1 called sounding a bit down, updating on this and that… still trying to make a plan on his career of choice…

This evening in between washing clothes and the Jeep, he made reference to wishing he hadn’t moved out to his own apartment again…

While he was washing the Jeep I gave hubby a heads up of his comment and should we let him move back in if that was what he was thinking… and how it would effect us and what rules we would enforce this time… and that we would empty out his old room so he can move in there instead of our front living room… or if we should not…

Son2 came home from tennis, we had dinner, watched Hogan’s Heroes… son1 was still waiting for his clothes to dry and was supposed to go to girlfriend’s to have dinner… by 7:30 his clothes were still drying so he called girlfriend and told her it was getting late and he hadn’t gone home yet to shower so he would see her another time… so he had some dinner and was on my laptop for about an hour, looking up work boots and the military…

He has still been thinking about going to school to be a fireman, or waiting for his roommate’s connection to bring a company to our city so he can work there, or apply to the union for a job…. although he has still been seriously thinking of joining the military so they can train him to be a fireman or mechanic of some sort… So it was after 9pm by time we discussed his choices and he went home…

He seems more serious this time about the military but of course hesitant as it is such a big step… but he keeps feeling like he is getting old at almost 24, lol… of course he is seeing it as once he is finished with a four year tour, he will be almost 30… and of course girlfriend is a factor in the decision although this will be for her future too if they continue to be together… Meanwhile his roommate has gotten a job with PGE at just 20, setting up his future, which makes son1 feel he has to to something too…

Now at almost 11pm I need to go to sleep so I can go to work tomorrow and actually get something done as I continue on my career, son1 ponders on his career of choice and hubby applies for his next career… so many different stages of our lives all at the same time…

On this day, God wants you to know

... that you are a human being, not a human doing. Take time to just be, to breathe slowly, to feel your body that is the temple of your soul. No activities, no worries, no buzzing.

Happy Journaling…

March Twenty Seventh

Well I know you have been waiting as long as I have… Do you see it… the Bird of Paradise has bloomed… I’ve been waiting since Halloween…

And Yes, I got the footwear lead position!!

I finally found out Friday but couldn’t say anything until the other candidates had been talked to… of course when I got to work today, the news had spread through the store and most know now… It’ll probably be announced at tomorrow’s store meeting… Probably won’t be actually in the position til next week, well we’ll have to see when…

I have short hours this week as it is the end of the month, so I got off at 10:30 this morning… took some pictures in the yard, read blogs, and cleaned out and organized my work clothes as soon I won’t be able to wear my jeans anymore and wanted to make sure I still had enough twill work pants to wear that still fit, although some were too big and had to go… 

We’re watching Angel, almost done with season one…

The tulips are blooming…

It was raining most of the week… but now the rain is done and we are going to be having 70’s and 80’s this week… maybe rain again next weekend…

 

The wisteria are blooming…

Yesterday, Saturday, was a fast day… we actually slept in til 9:30… hubby made egg and ham on English muffins… we had a long talk with son2 about communication and using his cell phone to call us… well he does call us but only five minutes before he needs a ride… anyway he had an away game on Friday for tennis that was postponed from Thursday… he left school at 1pm and didn’t call home til 7:15pm to let us know that the game was over… of course I had text him twice but he didn’t check his phone… so by time he got back to his school to be picked up it was almost 8pm… So by time we were done with the cell phone talk and please use it, it was almost 1pm…

So then I started in on the printer as the ink and paper I ordered came in the mail… although I had to send hubby to the store to pick up one more ink cartridge as I forgot to order one… after an hour and a half of fighting with the printer and laptop I realized the printer was not set as the default so each time I hit print the other printer kept coming up… so set the printer as the default and look at it’s printing… so got all the taxes printed for mailing and keeping for records… going out in the mail tomorrow and they are done!

Of course by then it was 5pm so just heated up some leftovers for dinner… watched Angel… hubby dropped son2 off to hang with his friends… I put away the laundry… watched a bit of nothing on TV… and then son2 called promptly on time to be picked up…

Now we are going to watch The Simpsons… I already had the boys get in showers early and get their things ready for school… they have been pajama boys all weekend playing their video games… I just have to make son3’s lunch… and then we are going to bed early…

On this day, God wants you to know

... that you will feel better if you notice the sweetness of life. Notice the smiles of children, the songs of the birds, the caress of the sun's warmth. This sweetness is for you. Allow it to soothe your soul and bring a smile to your face.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that you cannot free yourself from a problem by shutting your eyes to it. To free yourself from a problem you have to acknowledge it and face it with your eyes and heart open.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that when you pursue your dreams, every second is an encounter with God. Following your dreams opens your heart allowing God to enter and fill you with bliss.

Happy Journaling…

March Twenty Third

We just had a big storm blow over… Rain, lightening, thunder… and it is so cold… I thought it was spring…

We also just finished watching The Best of the Best movies that I taped from ABC TV last night… we wished we would have heard of the voting that they did for the last year so we could have voted too… we agreed with most of the winners, but would have been nice to see the choices… The number one movie of all time~Gone With The Wind…

We have still been watching lots of Angel, still Season One and last night we watched Castle and Hawaii Five O…

Monday I stocked athletic shoes and worked on the sale tables… scanned the floor for missing displays, went to lunch and then opened boxes…

Monday son1 called to come over to do laundry… so he was over from 4:30-8:30pm… doing his laundry, catching up on all things computer and having dinner…

Tuesday I stocked men’s work boots, went to lunch and marked out men’s mismates…

The store manager stopped in to discuss some inventory numbers with us shoe associates and some changes to processes he wanted us to do and in doing so kinda directed them to me and saying when I was in charge and then tried to back track and say if, probably, I was the new lead… lol… so I’m thinking a bit more that I probably will be the new lead… still waiting til I’m officially told… the manager who is making the decision has been doing over nighters this week so that is why still no announcement has been made…

Tuesday son2 had a tennis match but since Yosemite is closed at the moment due to all the snowy weather  the match was cancelled due to the school that they were playing was Yosemite… he has an away match tomorrow so we’ll have to see if how much it will be raining…

Son3 has been having early days all this week for teacher conference… no conference for him though… his report card: Reading~B, Language~C, Spelling~C, Writing~B, Math~A, Science~B, Social Science~A… After next week they will be having state testing so the teacher said no homework… I am saving the paper she sent home just in case she sends home homework, lol… then they will be on Spring Break… so no homework for the month of April… that will be good so if/when I get the position we can get used to my new schedule… and then we will be ready for hubby to get something too… they are opening a Dick’s Sporting Goods store in the old Mervyn’s building right across from where he worked at Kinkos… so he is looking forward to applying there and hopefully hearing a call back…

Oh, which I almost forgot, Macy’s sent an email saying thank you but we have nothing that fits your needs at this time… so moving on…

Tomorrow I’ll be at The Motivation Station so be sure to drop by…

Now I’m heading to bed as I’m tired… I so enjoy sleeping lately, although no matter how early I go to sleep it feels like I just closed my eyes and it’s time to get up already…

Tomorrow have to count women’s shoes and open lots of boxes…

On this day, God wants you to know

... that tomorrow you will harvest the seeds you sow today. What kind of seeds do you need to sow today, so tomorrow turns into the dream you have always wanted?

On this day, God wants you to know

... that every time you pretend to love, you impoverish yourself more and more. Love has great potential to enrich your life. But if you are just playing a role, pretending to love, it's only going to poison you. Because you are teaching yourself that it's just a game, and slowly but surely you will lose the capacity to open in love.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that gratitude is good. The more you are thankful for, the more you will have to be thankful for. God responds to a grateful heart with joy.

Happy Journaling…

March Twentieth…

The pictures today are of son1’s Jeep from when he was over putting new lights on with yellow happy face covers and he built the stand for his jack on the hood of the Jeep…

There must be thirty little birds all fluttering in the yard from the ground to the fence to the tree and back… playing in the rain and foraging for the last of the birdseed that is left… I’ll refill the birdfeeders when the rain is done… although they are saying rain/showers all week…

I wasn’t able to see the super moon due to the clouds and rain…

Haven’t heard from son1 this weekend… he went to watch professional bull riding on Friday…

son2 won his tennis match at his away game on Thursday… and then stayed home sick from school on Friday, head cold…

Son3 has been working on a practice test all weekend to get ready for state testing next month… 140 questions… he flew through the math section… but the English part is what takes him so long… not that he reads the accompanying stories… he tries to just guess at what the best answer is…

I’ve been keeping busy at work, waiting for them to announce the new shoe lead… Friday I set the ad, changed out sale tables, made three athletic clearance tables, sorted the signs for Sunday’s ad, went to lunch, opened all the boxes, started some price changes and then went 25 minutes past my scheduled time talking to the supervisor when she came in as we are both wondering when they will announce the new lead so she can go to her new position…

Today I set the ad, it was a big take down mostly, went to lunch, opened most of the boxes and already time to go home…

Saturday I just did a few things around the house, the boys were on their games, hubby took Danny for a walk, hubby and son2 have been watching tennis with hubby give him pointers as he used to play and teach tennis, I did a ton of laundry and made chili dogs for dinner… I watched The Switch with Justin Bateman and Jennifer Aniston… It was ok… I think Justin Bateman did a better job than Jennifer Aniston or it was just a better movie for him… Then we all watched Unstoppable, very good, a very simple movie with just a bit of action and suspense… And an episode of Angel… the boys are now waiting as dinner is ready, lasagna, and we are going to watch two more episodes of Angel as the boys are hooked on it…

On this day, God wants you to know

... that when you come to a wall, you can either climb it, or you can simply walk around until you find a door. Don't make life so hard, - look for the doors!

On this day, God wants you to know

... that if you relax, it comes. Don't seek, don't search, don't ask, don't knock, don't demand - relax. If you relax, it is there. If you relax, God shows you the way.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that prayer is real only when done with your whole heart. Reserve the sound of your voice for other people. God hears only what's in your heart.

Happy Journaling…