Missing in action.....

Well December has come and gone and I have no clue where it went to! I knew that the holiday'a are always busy, but really time does start flying! Here is a little recap of December up thru the latest news:

12/6: Chloe turned 1 year old! We have a tradition that on the dogs first birthday(or after we have had it a year) they get a cupcake. Yes, a real cupcake with icing! Please don't go calling PETA on me. Its just the one time and it is tradition we started with my parents dog, Josh. Chloe had a vanilla cupcake with pink icing and she LOVED it....

12/7: I started a new job! I am still with the same company but I moved divisions and departments. I LOVE my team! I feel like I have 4 mom's and 2 big brothers at work! The mom's are fun to talk with and the big brothers do a great job of picking on me! After a couple of weeks of playing freecell (shh don't tell the boss!) I am finally starting to learn what it is I do! It is not so much a financial position, which honestly I do miss a little. But it is a position that I can learn a lot in and grow a lot more with! I am very excited to see where this will lead!

12/12: Classic Christmas at Church. This was a fun event. Mom and Dad had nothing planned so I suggested heading to church this night. The church puts on a little musical with all the classic Christmas songs...from Walking in a Winter Wonderland to O Holy Night to Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You! Yes folks, I go to a modern church where secular music is sung! (Even last week during the service we sand Kris Allen's latest single!)

12/19: A friend of my parents had her annual Christmas party. Each year we play "Dirty Santa" and there are some funny gifts that get passed around. This year we took A bagel slicer and a Transformers Rubik's Cube. (Sorry to whoever ended up with it!) I stole a very nice bird feeder from someone and then it was stolen from me. I had settled on winning Dad a popcorn bucket with different cheese flavors and popcorns in it. In the end I ended up trading the popcorn bucket for the bird feeder! I must say it looks very nice sitting on my fireplace! Dad was disappointed that he didn't get his popcorn bucket!

12/23: I had the girls come over for dinner! Girl time is ALWAYS fun! But, we had a little man join us this time! Bekah had Eli on December 4th so she brought him so we could all ooo and ahhh over him! He is a CUTIE!!!

12/24: Ah, Christmas Eve. I had to work and was a little disappointed that I did not get to be Santa's elf at the nursing home this year. I spent the night with my parents. We had our usual grilled cheese sandwiches, soup, and clam dip for dinner. I know that must sound like a random dinner but we have it every Christmas Eve. It all started with Dad. He always made the clam dip. Then about 10 or so years ago my grandmother (Dad's mom) spent the night with us. When we asked Nanny what she wanted to eat she told us to keep it simple because we were cooking such a big meal the next day. Nanny wanted a grilled cheese and vegetable soup. From that year forward we have always had our traditional grilled cheese, soup, and clam dip. We do change the soup up...this year we had potato. And boy was it yummy!

12/25: When I spend the night at my parents, Chloe does sleep with me. The only problem with this is that she wants out of the room when she hears my Dad get up. With that said I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning! I was up at 6! While Dad took the girls out I started separating the gifts. We finally decided to wake Mom up and Christmas was in full swing! I received way to many gifts! But I am very thankful for them all. I did get a crock pot and under the counter radio! I also received TWO snuggies, a deep fryer, 2 pairs of boots, a cookie jar, and some other favorite items! I must say I LOVE LOVE LOVE my snuggies! I took one to work and get made fun of daily! (Apparently heels do not go with a snuggie!) After Mom headed off to work, Dad and I loaded the car and headed to my Aunts house. (Mom came down after she got off.) We had a great dinner and enjoyed spending time with the family!

12/31-1/1: New Years was pretty quiet. I had no plans so I spent the night again with Mom and Dad. We stayed up and watched the ball drop. I learned how to cook collard greens.

1/7 : The "blizzard" of 2010 hit! HA! It did snow and the roads were a little bad with ice but I made it in to work just fine last Friday morning. Mom had me spend the night with them...yes this make 3 Thursdays in a row. I think she just wanted to make sure I was safe with the bad weather that we were supposed to get. It actually was a good thing I did spend the night though. I saw that part of my road was shut down because of the bad ice so I would not have been able to get out.

1/11: A new member of the family came home to join me. I have been looking for a few weeks at getting another dog as a playmate for Chloe. She loves to play with Sophie and Suzi (Mom and Dad's dog's) but when she is at my house she is all alone. Our groomer had recommended that I get a submissive male dog to help chill her out some. I just happened to be killing some time at work waiting on reports to run and was looking at petfinder.com. I knew I did not want a huge dog or an older dog. I had also decided that two things were going to happen for me to find the right dog. A - he would come at the right time and I was not going to rush it and B - I was not going to spend a ton of money on this dog. There are to many dogs in the shelters that need a good home. I decided to check out the local county humane societies and found what I was looking for at the same shelter that Suzi came from. "Cocoa" was still listed as active but that doesn't mean a whole lot on the website. I called the shelter and found out that he was still available, his owner had surrendered him, and he had been there since Jan 4th. I was told that he would not last long that there had been interest in him. I immediately emailed Mom a picture and called her. All I heard on the other end of the phone was "GO! If you want him, GO!" I took off! He is such a sweet guy! I adopted him yesterday and took him to meet Sophie and Suzi first. Dad watched him yesterday afternoon and is in love with him too! He is a chocolate and white "roan" pure bread Cocker Spaniel. He has been very well taken care of and I even have his registration papers and previous vet info. I have changed his name to Hershey. (I always wanted a chocolate Cocker Spaniel called Hershey.) Chloe is adjusting. She was very timid and scared last night but is starting to settle down. It is just going to take some time before we become one big happy family!

I will post some pictures in the next few days!

Thanksgiving 2009

Well it has been a whirlwind couple of weeks. Thanksgiving for me kicked off the Saturday before Thanksgiving Day. WillowWood, the facility my Mom is the Administrator of, had their resident and family luncheon. This is one of two favorite holiday's at the facility. I always go and help serve plates to the residents. (My other favorite holiday is Christmas where I dress up as Santa's elf. Unfortunately I will not get to do that this year.)

Thanksgiving Day was quiet. Mom had to work, so Dad and I headed to meet her after work at Cracker Barrel for dinner. It was very good and quite a deal! For around $9.00 you got turkey, ham, dressing, sweet potato casserole, another vegetable of your choice, cranberry sauce, and dessert!

On Friday, Dad and I got up at 3am and headed out to shop! We went to Belk, Kohls, and Lowes. For the first 250 people in line at Belk each one got a gift card with a random dollar amount on it. I was lucky enough to be handed 2 that were stuck together for $10.00 each! I was going for black scrunchy boots that were on sale for $19.99. I ended up paying only $1.39 for my boots! We were back home by 6:30 and I crashed! After taking my nap, Dad and I headed out to watch New Moon. It was actually the second time I saw it. I thought it was much better than Twilight.

Saturday is the day that the Dorsey family celebrates Thanksgiving. We headed to Forsyth, GA to have dinner with the family. We ate way to much and had a great time being together.

Sunday, I headed out to have lunch with some of my West GA girls. Every so often we get together to catch up and play with the new babies! It is always a ton of fun and I love my lunches with them!
After lunch, I headed to Mom and Dad's house and decorated their Christmas tree. Today, I put mine up and Mom came over after she got off work and helped me decorate it. I am almost ready for Christmas, just one or two presents left to buy, and then wrapping! On a separate notes, Shane and I broke up. It is a story that I would rather not go in to the details about, but I am okay with it.

Dinner for 4....sort of

Tonight I invited my parents over for dinner. Usually we have Sunday dinner at their house but Shane and I had a cookout to go to Sunday night...see the previous post...so I decided to invite them over last night! Unfortunately, Dad had to go to Augusta on a run and was not able to make it. So it was just Mom, Shane and I and a to-go plate for Dad.

I made this YUMMY dish!



http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/10/wednesday-night-dinner-spaghetti-with-artichoke-hearts-and-tomatoes/



It is the second time I have made it and let me tell you it is to die for! Especially if you like Italian dishes! I do edit it a little....I add chicken...to give it some protein, but you could throw shrimp in instead. I used angel hair pasta but I think I may use cheese tortellini the next time around (gotta try a few random things and make it your own, right?). Oh, and you may want to cut the artichoke hearts up a bit. But other than that I followed the recipe to the letter and we could not eat enough of it! I served it with oven roasted asparagus, salad, and garlic toast.
Warning, it does make a large portion! I had enough for us to eat way to much, a huge plate for Dad, a plate for Shane for lunch today and myself a lunch plate! My mouth is still watering!

What happens when adults have to much sugar?

Most blogs I read have a (almost) wordless Wednesday....I am just going to go ahead and post mine on Sunday night...
This is what happens when "adults" have had to much sugar!

Chubby Bunny anyone? I had 7 in my mouth before I started laughing and choking, Seth was able to fit 9 in, and Debbie was a rock star with 11 marshmallows in!

A new chapter...

A new chapter will soon begin! Yesterday I received word that I was offered (and yes I accepted) a new position at work! This will be a change of departments....and buildings! I had applied a few weeks ago, and to be honest had somewhat forgotten about this position. 2 weeks ago today I received an email asking me if I had notified my manager about the application. I had not! So I quickly shot him an email letting him know...like I said I wasn't expecting this. Luckily my manager now encourages us to look for promotions and opportunities to grow. Jerry was cool with it and I emailed the recruiter back. The following Monday she called me and did a phone interview and set up an interview with the hiring manager for that Tuesday(11/3). The interview went REALLY WELL! I was a little excited but tried to contain myself. He told me in that interview to go ahead and expect a second interview the next week. The following day, sure enough, I had a meeting request for my second interview for this past Tuesday (11/10). The bad part of this story is that I came down with some little stomach bug on Monday, but I sucked it up and went in on Tuesday for my interviews. I met with 3 different people in the department and each of those interviews went well. After meeting with the team I went back in and spoke to the manager again. He was asking how soon I could transition which was getting me excited and hopeful but then he turned very proper on me and started using terms like "if you are selected" and "well we have finished with all of our interviews and we will be making a decision." So with that my self doubter-ness kicked in and I wasn't so sure any more. I will admit, I checked my voicemail on and off about 5 different times yesterday! I knew they would be making a quick decision. Low and behold at about 6:20 last night I received a phone call on my cell. It was the recruiter calling me to offer the position! I was still on the phone and went out to signal to my Dad that I got it! After hanging up of course I had to let out a little scream and do a little dance...and yes I did a little dance!
This has been a long time coming and I think it is finally the right time! It is a pretty big promotion. I will be moving not only departments but it is in a different division of the company. And, I get to move to the big building. (The department I am in now is in a small building down the road from the main building.) I spoke to my new manager today and he wants me transitioned over on 11/30. When I spoke to my managers boss (my manager is on vacation this week) he said that it would be 3 -4 weeks at best. But who knows. I know that I am ready for this new chapter to begin! Granted, there is a lot to learn and I will probably have quite a few frustrating days ahead but I am ready for them! I am excited for this to begin!

A proud moment...

Shane brought Chloe 2 gifts a couple of weekends ago. 2 stuffed toy alligators. I decided to slit their throats and put squeakers in them so that it would be more appealing to the dogs. Well not 15 seconds after finishing the first gator, Suzi had already broken the squeaker and he is now silenced forever. (Or until I slit its throat again!) Anyways, one gator is still squeaking and Chloe has been attacking it all afternoon! Here are a couple videos that I must admit I am proud of!

That's a good girl Chloe! You get that gator! Tear it up!

AHA Atlanta Heart Walk

Yesterday I walked in the American Heart Association's Atlanta Heart Walk. Each year, the company I work for raises money for the AHA and we always attend the Heart Walk. In years past I have always walked in memory of my grandparents who suffered from heart disease but this year I walked in memory of another someone special.
If you follow my blog at all you will know that this past summer my Uncle Grady passed away. He was a man larger than life and lived his life to the fullest. He suffered from Congestive Heart Failure and in May went in for surgery. After about 2 months of fighting he lost the battle. (But God gained an angel that day!) His surgery had gone well, but his other organs failed him.
He was diagnosed early on in life with this disease and yet still lived a full life. He walked 5 miles a day and exercised more than anyone I can remember. Even the day before his surgery he walked 1 mile! So, this year I walked in memory of Uncle Grady!
I raised close to $300.00! Thank you to all who donated! The walk is a 5k and in years past it has taken me close to 1 1/2 hours to complete it. (Mostly because it's quite crowded and I was walking at a leisurely pace.) This year I set a high goal for myself. I decided that if Uncle Grady could walk 1 mile the day before his surgery I could do the 5k in under an hour! Now if you know me at all, you know that I don't run. I do, on occasion, walk, but never have I ran any distance. Nor did I train for this in any sort of way. (Yes, I know, not very smart.) But, I am happy to report that I "power" walked most of it and jogged the last 1/2 mile or so and finished in 50 minutes! Here are the few pictures I took!

The Fox5 Crew welcoming everyone!

And the walk begins! LOTS of people! You can somewhat see the Olympic rings!

I survived!

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween everyone! I thought I would post our family tradition of what we do!

We cooked a pot of Spaghetti and had Coca-Cola Cake for dessert and boy was it yummy! After the UGA/UF game....of which I will not mention on here...I will just let you see the picture below to see how I felt about the game!

Anyways, after the game, Shane and I got down to business and started carving our pumpkins.

Hard at work...

He is really concentrating here...

This is me giving my mother the...I am TRYING to work here would you please leave me alone look!

Yes, he shoved pumpkin guts in my face...and if you ever wondered, pumpkin guts are NASTY!

We finally got our pumpkins carved and lit...I did the cat and Shane carved the face. He did pretty good for his first ever pumpkin carving. (Yes, I said first ever! How the boy has lived 28 years and never carved a pumpkin is beyond me!)

The trick-or-treater's came and went and even Chloe dressed up in her princess costume...

We finished up our evening by watching Hocus Pocus...my all time favorite Halloween movie! I hope you all had a great Halloween!

Cats, and Ghosts, and Pumpkins...OH MY!!! Estrogen Weekend (Not my title but Shane's) and a few other randoms!

Let's start with Estrogen weekend....

Mom, Shane, and I left out last Friday evening and headed to the great city of Cloudland, GA to my aunts house. We actually met her in Summerville and had dinner and then headed up the mountain to her house.

Saturday we woke up and were out the door by 8 am. We headed over to Ringgold to pick up Camie, my cousin, and head to KY to my other cousin's (Camie's son Madison) game. Shane and I curled up in the backseat of the suburban and were fast asleep in no time. What we didn't realize is that we slept the entire 3 hour trip to KY!!! Mom woke us up at 11:45am as we pulled into the McDonald's for lunch.

It was a good game. Bad ref's...who called really bad plays. We won't mention the fact that I YELLED out that one call was "BS" as the crowd fell silent. Did I mention this is a Baptist school? Yeah, good one Mel! But, it was a good game and UC did win 44 - 14. It was bitterly cold and the rainy mist did not help. But I was prepared and had about 5 layers on! Oh and who ever invented ear muffs needs a special place in heaven! They are the best things ever!

After the game, Madison and Hannah (Mad's girlfriend) jumped in the car with us and we headed to dinner. After dinner we all went back to Mad's dorm room. I had forgotten how small dorm's really are....and 3 boys are supposed to live in this one. (But it's only Mad and PJ) After saying goodbye we headed back to Ringgold and then up to the mountain.

Sunday we slept late, sat around, ate BBQ, and finally we headed home. It was a really long weekend of on the go and riding in a car but oh so much fun! I always love our football madness weekends! Except this year we had 2 weekends to do! I guess I should mention that Shane dubbed this weekend "Estrogen Weekend" since it was 4 women and him for the most part. He was very happy once Madison joined in!

Well this week is Halloween...and I am excited! I don't know if it is just a sugar high or just the fun and excitement of the holiday itself. Monday, I baked a pizza for dinner and made sugar cookies shaped like ghosts, cats, and pumpkins. Boyfriend just rolls his eyes....

Tuesday and today have been crazy busy at work. We are having a Fall Festival for the building...which I am on the event committee. And then our department is having a Halloween themed open house...of which I and one other person have planned and executed. Yes, I know I take on to much, but after next week all we have left for the year is our Holiday dinner sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I get told on about a weekly basis that I am in the wrong profession and/or missed my true calling. I am somewhat starting to believe that! I will definitely take pictures tomorrow of our Monster Mash and post them!

Saturday is Halloween and the UGA/UF game! Shane will be in town...so that ought to be interesting! But fun at the same time! And of course we will be carving pumpkins!!!! Chloe has her costume ready to go!

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down....

So it has been raining here most of the day. And luckily I work from home on Mondays. Since it was raining and cool I decided it was time for the first pot of soup of the fall.

Above are most of my ingredients. I forgot to pull out the black beans for the picture. But it is 1lb of ground beef, 1/2 a chopped onion, 1 pack Taco Seasoning, 1 pack Ranch dressing mix, 1 can of pinto beans, 1 can of kidney beans, 1 can of black beans, 1 can of kernel corn, 1 can of stewed tomatoes, 1 can Rotel, and about 3-4 cups of water. Brown the ground beef and saute the onions, drain. Drain all your beans and corn. Empty can of stewed tomatoes and Rotel (with juices) into large sauce pan. Add beans, water, taco seasoning, ranch dressing pack, and ground beef/onions. Simmer for about 2 hours.

I am serving it with a dollop of sour cream and a little cheese on top with a side of corn bread! Yum, yum!

Below is one of my favorite reason for working at home!

This sweet girl has been curled up in my lap ALL day!

Wednesday Night Randomness

Hello All! I was a little bored so I thought I would post a blog about the random things running thru my head!

- I am bored...when bored I HAVE to find things to do! So, I am watching The American President (LOVE that movie!) and baking cookies!

- Said cookies will be taken to my parents tomorrow. I just felt like baking, really don't want to eat them! I know, weird!

- I will spare the nitty gritty details but I am cyst free! Thank the Lord! I would like to state for the record that I would like to NOT have anymore cyst/lump scares again!

- It is only Wednesday and this week is flying by and yet going so slow all at the same time. I hate weeks like this!

- They had to bring in port-a-potties at the Windward office today! They sent everyone home yesterday due to a water main break. They had to bring in the port-a-potties for those that HAVE to be in the office. Never a dull moment with ADP!

- I went Christmas shopping today! This is huge for me. I have a firm belief that we celebrate ALL fun holidays and therefore refuse to acknowledge the fact that the stores put out Christmas stuff earlier and earlier each year! But, being that I am on a budget now I have to start planning ahead and bought a couple of things! Hey, it was Kohl's, they were having a great one day sale, and I had a 30% off coupon!!!!

- Chloe spent the day at the beauty shop!

- I am ready to pull my hair out with work. My actual job is fine and what I do is fine...its all the extra-curricular things that are driving me batty! We are having a tail-gate party tomorrow and then we have a fall festival and my department is hosting an open house on the 29th! Want to take a gander at who is organizing and decorating said open house????

- I have learned that I am very much a people pleaser and desperately need to learn how to say NO!

- The next batch of cookies is ready to come out of the oven! Have a great night! :)

A great weekend....

Well another great weekend is coming to a close! Shane made his way here Thursday evening. He had been in NC since last Wednesday and boy was I glad to see him! And, of course, Chloe was as well! I had to work Friday, so Shane stayed at my house resting. Friday night we went and had dinner with my parents and made our way to Walmart. I know, such exciting lives we lead!

Saturday Shane woke me up a little after 1 in the afternoon! I cannot remember the last time I slept that late! We were lazy for most of the day! After making a quick run to the grocery store, we headed out for a fall date! We went and had dinner at Ruby Tuesday and then headed to Uncle Shucks.

One of my FAVORITE fall activities is running thru a corn maze! We made it thru 1 trail in around 20 - 25 minutes. (Uncle Shucks has 2 mazes.) Then we went on the hayride, and ended with a stop at the bonfire roasting marshmallows. The moon was out in full, the air was crisp, and I must say it was a perfect evening!

Today, we went to church and then came back to my house for naps. We headed over to my parents for Sunday dinner. After dinner Shane decided to challenge me to Phase 10 AND Uno. I hate to say it, but, I won both! I wasn't trying to...it just kind of happened! I know, your suppose to let the guy win...some kind of ego thing, but hey! Now, I am making it up to him by baking him sugar cookies and we are watching Superman Returns.

Next weekend is the Cumming Fair! And of course, I cannot wait! It is another fall activity that I love!!!! Have a great week all!

Change of Title and Football Madness!

I have changed my title once again. I cannot seem to find one I like. I am also not as creative in the department of catchy blog titles as I am in other area's of my life! So, I have gone to "The Bird and the Bee." The Bird is Chloe....Chloe Bird.....and the Bee is me. Melissa means "honey bee." I am not sure how long this will stick. If you have any other suggestions please feel free to send them my way!

This past weekend was a whirlwind! Mom and I left Friday and headed to Lafayette, GA to visit my cousin's. (Her nephew and his family.) I LOVE all of my family and cannot say that I have a favorite, but Greg is like a big brother. We fight, we laugh, we talk. He is awesome! (But please don't tell him I said this!) When I need advice, other than my parents, he is the one I go to! Anyways, the original plan was that Friday we would go to the Lafayette High vs. Cartersville High game to see one of my younger cousin's play, then Saturday get up and head to Jefferson City to see Landon's (Greg's 2nd son) game. (We are going to see Madison, son #1, in a few weeks.)

This is a yearly tradition that Mom and I do, and I look forward to it every year! Unfortunately plans were changed a little. Because of all the rain last week the Friday night game was moved to Saturday. So, bright and early Saturday Greg awoke, got Preston and Brennan (his 2 youngest) up and they went and ran the Duck Race 5k. Petey won!!! He ran the race in 18:18 and won the whole she-bang! Mom, Camie, and I were back at the house getting ready. Once they got to the house around 9:30 am and showered, we loaded up and headed to Jefferson City. Just outside of Knoxville the bottom dropped out and it started raining and never let up! We made a quick pit stop at a BBQ joint for lunch and ate in the car in the parking lot of the stadium.

This was the view from the car of the stadium...

I sat thru the 1st half of the game and went back to the car for a nap during the 2nd half. I was SOAKED and FREEZING and that is NOT a good combo for me! Greg and Preston went into the athletic building and stayed dry. Mom and Camie sat thru the whole game in the pouring rain! They definitely had their big girl panties on! Carson Newman did win!

Here is the best shot I got of Landon (#86)....

After the game we all headed back to Lafayette for the high school game! We got to the house around 6:30, changed into dry clothes, and piled back in the car to go to the game! Cartersville beat Lafayette!!! Woo - hoo! AND, Devin played his first Varsity game! We were all sooo excited!

Here he is going after one of those Ramblers! (#88)

After a FULL day of car riding and football we were very tired and hungry! By the way, the ONLY thing open at 11pm in Lafayette is the Krystal which is where we had dinner that night!

On Sunday Mom and I headed home. I am still tired! I don't think I dried out until late last night! Hopefully Madison's game will be a little more dry!

Oh, and can I just how EXCITED I am that October is just DAYS away!!!! AHHH!!! I think this is my favorite time of year! Corn Maze's, the Cumming Fair, Hayrides, Pumpkins, Bon Fires, UGA Football, and Halloween! Then, Christmas is just around the corner! I am just a big kid at heart!!!

"Boyfriend"

Chloe has a "boyfriend." OK, so really he is MY boyfriend...but Shane is referred to in my house as "boyfriend." If you ask Chloe where "boyfriend" is, she will go running to the stairs and start whining. I keep a baby gate up so that she cannot climb the stairs. She knows that "boyfriend's" room is upstairs and since he is not down here with us, he MUST be up there! She loves him....and as much as he denies it...he loves her!

Chloe Bird

Chloe has many nicknames....Chlo (because adding the "e" is just to much), Princess, Lovey, Baby Girl, Clover (yes mom, I know you hate this one! :) ) but mostly we call her Chloe Bird. She answers to all of them.

Chloe Bird has a new favorite spot in my house. The window in my dining room does not have a blind on it. The previous owners had a dog who chewed on the blind and I just have not replaced it...took the old one down, just havent gotten the new one to put up. Chloe LOVES this window....she can see the back and front yards and will lay in this window for hours!

Since the past couple of blogs were a little more serious, I thought I would be a little light-hearted this time and show you my baby girl!

Wait, what was that...

Ok, I'm to tired...

Such a rough life she leads...

"But"

"But" - conjunction - on the contrary, yet

The word "but" is a very small word that packs a HUGE punch. As stated in my previous post, my manager (we will call him Mr. M) decided that the appropriate course of inspiring his team would be to call us all failures. Well Mr. M did not fully realize how badly this hurt all of us. I will admit that the past 2 weeks at work have not been fun. I have actually NOT looked forward to going in to the office because of Mr. M. I, and several other team members, have had several conversations with our supervisor (we will call him J) about what happened. J has had several conversations with Mr. M to relay how we all felt. But, yesterday Mr. M decided to have a meeting to discuss how other teams in our building felt about us. The meeting was quiet confusing and a lot of the things that Mr. M said were contradictory. On one slide it had things like we are curt and not very welcoming and on the next slide it said that we were a pleasure to work with....????? Yeah, I didn't get it either. I think that Mr. M noticed the frustration and finally at the end of his hour he asked if there was anything we all needed to talk about. One of my teammates spoke up and ended up getting emotional. Andrea, my right hand man...err gal... spoke next while Regina recovered and explained that coming out of that meeting made her feel worthless and like crap. I spoke next and flat out said that I did not appreciate being called a failure, that I was not a failure, and that I did a damn good job at what I do. And yes, those were my exact words. I will admit my voice broke on the last part and I almost lost it completely. Finally Regina spoke back up and a few others did as well. A couple of those that did not speak had tears in their eyes. Finally, Mr. M gave an apology. He said that he was sorry "but" he was serious about what he was speaking about.

While I appreciate the apology there is a level that does not feel sincere. The word but has a lot of impact, especially when you are giving an apology. The word but negates everything that came before it. And Mr. M felt the need to use that small little word. I hope he was sincere. He still has a lot to prove. But, I guess I can be thankful that he apologized?

Failure

Failure: refers to the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success.

I am NOT a failure! I refuse to use the word! That definition does NOT describe me at all! Last Wednesday as our year end event approached (the next day) my co-workers and I were called into a meeting and told that we were failures.

To explain, each year we have peer awards that are given out at the year end event. None of my co-workers and I were nominated nor did we nominate anyone. Yes, we should have nominated one of our own or someone else on another team but we didn't. This does not make us fail. In fact, I have had MUCH success this past year. Our whole team has. I (and several of my co-workers) worked very LONG hours and weekends implementing the new ARRA standards. I have streamlined processes, written procedures, developed new applications to reduce the time it takes to post payments, trained/supervised 4 contract employees, trained a new team member, coordinated many social events for the team, and of course did my normal day to day job. This to me is not failing. I did not receive a bad review either, in fact it was a very good one.

In fact, if any one failed, he did. He failed us by not promoting, supporting, encouraging, and backing us up. He has no clue what we do day in and day out. He really has no clue what we have to put up with! He failed us by calling us failures!

I have been quite upset for the past week. I am hurt, angry, confused, and defiant. He wants to call me a failure, let him. I know that I am not a failure. My team knows we are not failures. Our supervisor (the one just under the manager, who by the way was as blind sided by all of this as we were!) knows we are not failures. So what am I going to do? Well, I need my job considering I have a mortgage and bills to pay. But, my plan is the same as it was a week and a day ago. To go to work, do the best job I can, and be satisfied knowing I have done the best I can do! We joke around a lot at work, and are quite cynical about it and are laughing A LOT about it.

I have to admit I have lost respect for him. He lost a lot of credit with me. And, I don't know how or if he will gain it back. And that is pretty bad I know, but I am being honest about it. He knows he has screwed up by telling us that. And he is sucking up a little. I am polite but not overly nice to him. My Mother did raise me to be a lady. I don't have to like him, but he is my manager and I do have to smile! (And say really mean things in my head....OK OK just kidding!)

I have been called a failure before. Proved that one wrong. In the 6th grade my teacher told my Mother that I would be a failure, never go to college (or graduate), never really amount to anything. WRONG!

I will succeed and come out the better person. A stronger and wiser person. He just doesn't know what he really did to all of us!

Christmas Wish List

I know that it is a little early to start thinking about Christmas. Trust me, it is WAY to early to see Christmas tree's out in the store but if you know me at all I can never think of things I want for Christmas. So, because I thought of 2 things I thought I would jot them down here just so that I wouldn't forget! (Mom, this is mostly for you! :) )

- Crock Pot
- Under the Counter Radio/CD Player

Shane and the Candy Apple

We went to Helen a couple of weeks ago and of course had to visit Hansel and Grettel Candy Kitchen! Shane decided he just had to have a candy apple with nuts! He attempted to get a fresh dipped one but they gave him one out of the front window instead...apparently the coating was hard. Here are a few pictures of my special boyfriend trying to eat his apple!

Told you he was special.... :)

And another weekend goes by to fast...

We had another great weekend! Shane didn't get here until very late Friday night so I went to dinner and Wal-Mart with Mom and Dad! It was nice to do the usual Friday night dinner and Wal-Mart run!

We have a Luau at work on Wednesday and of course I am in way over my head with it! (Just ask my parents, I take on WAY to much at a time!) So, Saturday morning Shane and I were up early, picked up my Dad and headed up to Jaemore Foods. Unfortunately that was a bust! It was a neat and very crowded farmers market. Unfortunately it was also expensive. So we then headed to J&J Foods and got the last few things I needed. After dropping Dad off we headed to dinner with Brian, Bekah, David, and Erica for dinner. We were celebrating Brian's 30th birthday! After dinner they headed to the Def Leppord, Poison, and Cheap Trick concert. Unfortunately I was a little late in trying to get tickets and could not get any. Instead Shane and I headed to do a little shopping. We went to Fry's to look at GPS's and then over to Best Buy. If you have never been to a Fry's before...warning: it is MASSIVE!!!! I could get lost very easily in there! We did walk around the mall a bit and then headed for ice cream at Cold Stone! Finally, we headed back home and watched A Time to Kill. OK, so I really didn't watch it...I did my usual of falling asleep on Shane's shoulder! But, before I passed out, I did manage to get a picture of us...

Yes folks, that is us, on a Saturday night on our laptops! We lead such an exciting life!

On Sunday we made it to church! (OK, so it was the late service) And no, the building did not burn down when I walked in! It was the start of a new series and Shane's first time going to the church. He has been to 7/22 before back when it was at Northpoint but had never attended a church service. After that we headed to my parents for Sunday dinner. Dad grilled steaks, squash, and zucchini. We also had fresh asparagus, salad, and twice baked potatoes! I am full just thinking about the food! I attempted to make a Strawberry Cobbler at my house but burned it to a crisp! I really am going to have to invest in an oven thermometer. I ended up getting out more strawberries and getting Mom to bake another one! Dad also spent the day smoking all the meat for the Luau! It was quite yummy! After dinner we finished watching Madea's Family Reunion (it was showing on the TV) Shane and I headed to Sunday night dollar bowling! Yeah - he beat me! So, I guess we are even now! I beat him the first time in putt putt and bowling and now he has beaten me in both! Hmmm, guess that means I will have to find something else to play him in!

We also had another incident on Sunday! Chloe truly became a big girl and gets to wear her big girl panties! I have never really dealt with an animal in heat. I had a cat, but she went into heat 1 time and I was 10 so I dont really remember it. But Chloe has been pitiful! Mom kept saying she was not acting right all day Sunday and we found out why! (I will spare the details!) So last night I got her home and got her panties on her. She waddles and hops instead of walking because she really just does not like them! But, she is just so darn cute in them!

I have to say we did have a rough night. The girl just could not get comfortable. She was on top of me, then on the pillow, then on the floor, then back up on me...ALL NIGHT! Finally I got up around 4:30 or 5 this morning and sat on the couch...she crawled up on my shoulder and finally curled up and went to sleep. Tonight she has been quite whiny and irritable....I am hoping this does not last very long! I did catch another picture of her with her paci! I told you all that she has 2 items that we have to keep with us at all times! Her froggy and her paci! Yes a real paci! You can see it in the picture above on the floor, but here is one where she is playing with it....and winking at me!

A shout out...

Just wanted to give a quick hello to Mom and Dad! They stumbled across my blog and are now reading it! Now I have to be careful what I post! HA!!!! Just kidding! They live 7 miles away, I can't get away with to much! Anyways, HI! to Mom and Dad! Love you!!!!

Herzlich willkommen in Helen

No my blog title has not lost it's mind. That is German for "Welcome to Helen."

Shane came up on Friday night and I met him in Alpharetta at The Cheesecake Factory. I promised him that we would go since I had teased him with it the weekend before and it is one of his favorite restaurant's! We had a great meal and then came back to the house after stopping by the Redbox to pick up some movies. We did not end up watching the movies because we got back to the house so late that we ended up going to bed! (Author's note: I sleep downstairs in my bed, and Shane sleeps upstairs in the guest bedroom! No funny business in this house!)

Saturday we got up....around 11! And got ready for the day. After stopping by my parents house (in which Shane ended up meeting them!) to pick up my water shoes and the tubing poles we headed to Helen for the day. One of my favorite summer activities, other than Stone Mountain, is going to Helen. If you have never been you should definitely go! We planned to go tubing down the 'Hooch, but when I saw how packed it was I said NO! Shane was a little disappointed...OK A LOT, but I promised him we would go back. Its just a 45 minute ride from my house up there and it is a great day get away. We ended up eating our picnic in the back of my Jeep along the river, and then walking around the town. Of course we stopped in at Hansel and Gretel, the best candy shop! They were making fudge and it smelled wonderful! To bad I don't like to eat it! Shane got a candy apple with nuts, and I got pecan brittle. (Of course I had to pick mom and dad up some too!) After walking around we decided to play putt putt. Shane was determined to beat me...and sure enough he did! Badly too! I think the final score was 54 me to 44 Shane! Ack! That's okay....I will get him again! He now thinks he wants a rematch in bowling! HA! After a long day in Helen we headed home to eat our leftover Cheesecake Factory food and of course had to stop by and pick Chloe up! We tried watching The Soloist that night but I laid my head on Shane's shoulder and I was out! I could not even tell you what the first scene was! He said it was pretty good! Shane took pictures on his phone so I don't have one to post!

On Sunday we slept late again...I promise we will make it to church one of these days! (Again, seperate bedrooms!) But Shane went to dinner with me at my parents house! After dinner, I guess he was feeling quite comfortable since he stretched out on the couch with his feet in my lap and proceeded to take a nap! Dinner went well and I think my parents like him so far! They are of course more cautious. And he is already starting at a deficit since he is a UF fan...trust me I am working on that one! But they both said he was very nice and polite! I get to meet his family in a few weeks when I head to Carollton for his Dad's suprise birthday party! I am nervous and excited!

This week is just work work work and Friday Shane is coming again! We are supposed to head back to Stone Mountain on Saturday with Patricia, Mike, and the kids for the day! So that will be a lot of fun!

Summer cold and a road trip...

Apparently this one never got posted last week....so you are getting a twofer this week...

Last week my body decided to HATE me! On Monday I took 2 naps! (I work from home on Mondays and Thursdays.) Which is really rare for me. Tuesday I went to work but was exhausted ALL day long and my throat was burning. I left work a little early and decided to come home and take a nap. When I awoke from my 2 hour nap low and behold I had a summer cold in full! No energy, could barely hold my head up, throat was burning, etc. On Wednesday I tried my best to get out of bed and go to work but my body would just not have it! Instead I called out and slept all day. Well, minus the part where I had my annual doctors appointment. Which by the way went well, no new lumps, which means no breast cancer! Yay! And the 3 that were found last year have not grown! Double yay! Anyways, I got home from that doctors visit, and went straight back to bed. I have the best Momma in the world who came over and brought me soup for supper! Thursday I was feeling better and decided I could make it in to work. When I got there my co-worker looked at my boss and says "Jerry, there is a big fat germ ball that just walked in, send her home!!!" And so he did....literally...I was there for about an hour and a half and by that time he kept fussing at me and shooing me out the door! I worked from home the rest of the day and felt MUCH better by Friday! Now the runny nose has started and I am about to SCREAM!!! I hate runny noses....they are gross and annoying things! Uggg!

Anyways, all the girls went on a road trip to see Heather and James this weekend up in Charlotte. We had a great time. We left around 1:30 on Friday and got up there about 5:30 or so. We went and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then went back to Heather's house for Pinneapple Upside Cake Martini's! YUUMMMMOOO!!!! This is our signature drink! So easy and soo tasty! Saturday we got up, cooked breakfast, got ready...which takes some time with 6 girls! And then went to lunch and shopped a little. We left Charlotte around 6pm Saturday evening and I pulled in my driveway at 10:30. So we made good time....and that was even stopping for dinner and then at Kathleens to pick up my car and break in her house...HA! She locked her keys in the house when we were unloading the car and I had to use a credit card to break in! Yes, folks, one of my hidden talents! Anyways, it was a great weekend, but I did miss Shane! I wont get to see him until this weekend!

Here is a pic of the girls....the only picture I took this weekend!

Alumni and Bowling...

Saturday I headed out to Carrollton for the day. The UWG BSU reunion was this past weekend. I have not been to Carrollton in a VERY long time and it was quite interesting to go back and see all the changes! The BSU itself has not changed much. A new coat of paint on the inside but it still had the same furniture! Even the old comfy couch that we are pretty sure is probably so dirty that we really dont want to sit on it...but let me tell you there were good naps taken on that couch!!!!

After the reunion Shane drove me around town to see all the new and exciting things! HA! And we walked around campus a little too. It was good to go back and see everything! GREAT memories! We also went a sat out a Lake Carroll for a little while.

Then we headed to the movie theatre to see The Ugly Truth. It was a cute movie. Not as great as I thought it was going to be. I dont think Shane liked it to much but he suffered thru it in silence to make me happy! (Told you I had a great guy! ;) )

After the movie we headed to Newnan for a little bowling. I like bowling. I am no good at it, but I like it. We usually go each year at work and I break 100. So I figure that is pretty good for an amature. Well folks, I beat my great guy! First game total was 94 (Shane) to 104 (Me). And the second game? 106 (Shane) to 161 (me). Apparently I missed the part where you are not supposed to beat the guy in sports because that emmasculates them. (Beat him at putt putt too!)

Oh well! He is bound and determined that he will find SOMETHING to beat me at! Poor guy!

Then we headed to Frank's for dinner! This was by far the best part of my day! Frank's is this little hole in the wall resturant in Palmetto. Frank, the owner, is Greek/Italian and makes THE BEST food period! I have not eaten at Franks in sooo long that I had almost forgotten how good it was!. Well, I decided since we were already in Newnan going a couple of exit's up 85 was no big deal. I warned Shane that this was a hole in the wall but he was still shocked when I pulled up to an old convience store! I had the Philly Cheesesteak and he had the Gyro. SOOOO good!!! And he was quickly convinced of the same! Trust me, if you are near Palmetto/Senoia/Tyrone/Newnan area go try Frank's! It is worth it!

Chloe talks....

Yes folks, Chloe talks! OK, so she doesn't say words but she does growl, bark, and fuss at me! If she is not getting her way, wants me to do something, or she thinks that I am not paying attention to her she talks!



This is a little video that I took this morning...

This is not the only crazy thing she does....she has a pacifier! Seriously!!! When we first got her our groomer told us to try giving her a paci. She was gnawing and sucking our fingers so much because she was looking for her mother. (Her mothers milk dried up and we got her at 3 weeks old.) She plays with it now and I will occasionally catch her running thru the house with it in her mouth but am never fast enough to get a picture. Yesterday she was napping while I was working and this was the picture I got....

These are just a couple of the weird things my dog does! Brandy, our groomer, says that it is because she thinks she is a person and not a dog because we got her at such an early age. Oh I am sure the Dog Whisperer would have a time with this one! But I love her just the way she is!

Stone Mountain

Friday night Shane came up to spend the weekend. We had decided that we were going to spend all day Saturday at Stone Mountain. We both have been to the mountain several times but Shane has never been to the top. (It has been quite some time...since high school...since I have been!) I am definitely the planner in our relationship! HA! I had it all worked out where it would be a super fun and relatively cheap date! In my mind, we were going to get up, grab something to eat on the way out there, hike the mountain (cause it is free), pitter around and find a few things to do, have a packed picnic (because the food there is SOOO expensive) and then watch the laser show! Sounds great right???? Wrong....

Well, sort of....

See I failed to factor in the fact that my boyfriend LOVES to sleep as much as I do! Seriously folks! I am becoming a little better in the morning but only because Chloe wakes me up! So we didn't get up till 11:30! (I had to go up and wake his behind up...) Well that is not true! I had to get up at 7:30 to work! (Long story, we wont reminisce on the bad week I had last week!) I got up, worked for an hour, got our picnic ready, and made the fatal mistake of laying back down in my bed! (All the while Shane is sleeping away in his bed upstairs! And by the way, Chloe was at Mom and Dad's for her weekend visitation!) So, we got a little later start, no big deal! We finally go there and decided that we would get the all day passes so we could ride up and ride down the mountain and do some other attractions. We spent 1 hr 45 min's in line for SkyHike. I REALLY wanted to try this. I had done a ropes course in middle school and thought I would be fine doing this! Did I mention that I am TERRIFIED of heights???? Seriously, I can't stand on a counter top with out getting a little weak in the knees! Anyways, we did the 12 ft course...and I was pretty proud of myself! Shane tried his best to get me to go higher and I just couldn't! Sorry honey! Maybe next time... We didn't get any pictures because you are not supposed to take any loose items up with you!

Then we decided to get a funnel cake! Can you say diabetic coma???? I had a few small bites with very little sugar on them...here is Shane eating some of his....

Then we decided to ride the SkyLift up to the top of the mountain....this picture (below) was taken about half way up the ride...

Once on top, you have the most amazing views of the city and state! I could just sit up there for HOURS!!!!

And last but certainly not least, we capped off the day with the laser show! Such a southern tradition! I remember going every summer as a little girl! Some of the same things are still incorporated in the show now and I absolutely LOVE it! I could go and watch it every weekend and not get tired of it! (Ok, maybe not EVERY weekend!) But we are definitely planning to go back before the summer is over!

Here are some of the awesome pics I got of the laser show....