Cold, ice, and lots of fog, but we are in West Virginia enjoying a long weekend of skiing and hanging out in the cabin. I am not much of a skier, I don't particularly enjoying throwing myself down a mountain on two thin sticks. Therefore, I opted to spend the four days hanging out with my three and five year old nieces! Most would say that is not much of a vacation and what in the world are you thinking but, I feel the most at ease when I am taking care of kids. Our first day, Lilly (the three year old) and I explored the little city, had some hot chocolate and chocolate milk at Starbucks, visited the town to show to buy a little white kitty, and then went in the house hot tub to wave at the passing skiers! I call that a wonderful day! We had lots of fun and I have another full day of childcare cut out for me tomorrow as well. I can't wait!
Until then, Salute and I will let you know how it goes tomorrow!
Kieran
Friday, February 18, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Milly & Oatmeal
Milly (Troublemaker) Dean
I simply must tell you about my crazy kitty's fiasco Friday night! I stopped at Wal-Mart on my way home from work to pick up a few groceries. I discovered this wonderful bath soap/salt item made of oatmeal that both smells fabulous and makes your skin so soft...so I bought it. It came in a bag and when I got home I put all of the bathroom items into one Wal-Mart bag and left them on the stairs until I would be able to make my way all the way up.
Jonathan decided to bring the bag to the top of the stairs but not all the way to our room. Later that evening when we headed to bed, I went through the bag and put away all the soaps noticing that the bag of oatmeal was missing. I began to question Jonathan to see where he had placed it. After a few minutes of going back and forth and him being clueless as to what I was talking about...we went on a search to find it.
Much to our fabulous SURPRISE...Milly (our one year old spunky cat) not only found the bag but was able to drag it (it was pretty heavy) all the way through the next room, hiding it under the ping pong table where she mutilated it! Mind you, this cat has no claws, no nails whatsoever and that bag was in a thousand pieces! Her jaw got quite the workout! There was oatmeal EVERYWHERE...thank God it was dry and a natural substance that won't hurt you if you eat it. It looked like someone had put a bomb in a bag of flour and set it off in our game room. Jonathan had the wonderful task of vacuuming the entire room, including the furniture, windowsills and ping pong table the next morning.
I was able to salvage some of the reminants for future use and stored it in a plastic snap container. Yesterday morning, Milly found the plastic snap container and dragged it off the counter, crashing to the floor in an effort to get it open. Apparently, our cat LOVES oatmeal! I will be keeping a close watch on all my oatmeal supplies from now on!
The Culprit!
Chasing her own shadow!
Such a LOVEABLE cat!
Fabulous Weekend and Great Monday Tomorrow
Bonjour All!
I had a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend with my husband! We didn't really do anything Valentinie but we got to hang out together all weekend long, which is better than anything else! Tomorrow, Jonathan is planning on surprising me with a dinner out at a fancy restaurant in Charlotte! I am looking forward to it, our only challenge is the time in which he chose to make our reservation....6:45pm. Now, you would think that after 3 years of being together, the man would know how my days play out by now. You would think he would remember that even on a good day, I hardly get home by 6:45pm let alone get home, get dressed and back on the road to arrive at the said restaurant 30 minutes away by 6:45pm. So, I will most likely be bringing my dress and shoes to work with me so I can change there and be picked up by my man in time to make it to our date.
Tomorrow is also going to be great because our new clinical director and qualified professional start tomorrow, so we will have a full office at work! Although it is always hard when someone new starts, it is worth it when they can take some of the work off of you. I am looking forward to my week getting off on the right foot!
Until next time....Salut!
I had a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend with my husband! We didn't really do anything Valentinie but we got to hang out together all weekend long, which is better than anything else! Tomorrow, Jonathan is planning on surprising me with a dinner out at a fancy restaurant in Charlotte! I am looking forward to it, our only challenge is the time in which he chose to make our reservation....6:45pm. Now, you would think that after 3 years of being together, the man would know how my days play out by now. You would think he would remember that even on a good day, I hardly get home by 6:45pm let alone get home, get dressed and back on the road to arrive at the said restaurant 30 minutes away by 6:45pm. So, I will most likely be bringing my dress and shoes to work with me so I can change there and be picked up by my man in time to make it to our date.
Tomorrow is also going to be great because our new clinical director and qualified professional start tomorrow, so we will have a full office at work! Although it is always hard when someone new starts, it is worth it when they can take some of the work off of you. I am looking forward to my week getting off on the right foot!
Until next time....Salut!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Tongue Piercing Interview
Well, a mere 24 hours after having to terminate an employee, we have a new Qualified Professional (QP) on staff. I am very hopeful that she will work out beautifully. That is one of the good things about the industry I work in, there are always Qualified Professionals looking for jobs.
We still have several more interviews to conduct tomorrow and Monday, we are looking to hire on a fourth to help lighten the case load of the existing QP's. You would be amazed at how people come to interviews! I sure was! I think the proper way to prepare for an interview would be to take a shower, put on a clean pair of clothes, pay a little attention to my hair, my makeup, cover up any unprofessional items (e.g. TONGUE PIERCINGS). Although, I wouldn't necessarily hold that against an individual but it sure as heck comes into play when I have two great people to chose from and one of them does not have a tongue piercing that causes them to lisp!
Just a thought!
Anyway, all in all a successful day! I am too tired to really go into much of anything else tonight, I think I will go watch some Grey's Anatomy! Hopefully Lexi and Sloan will get back together (fingers crossed).
Bonuit!
We still have several more interviews to conduct tomorrow and Monday, we are looking to hire on a fourth to help lighten the case load of the existing QP's. You would be amazed at how people come to interviews! I sure was! I think the proper way to prepare for an interview would be to take a shower, put on a clean pair of clothes, pay a little attention to my hair, my makeup, cover up any unprofessional items (e.g. TONGUE PIERCINGS). Although, I wouldn't necessarily hold that against an individual but it sure as heck comes into play when I have two great people to chose from and one of them does not have a tongue piercing that causes them to lisp!
Just a thought!
Anyway, all in all a successful day! I am too tired to really go into much of anything else tonight, I think I will go watch some Grey's Anatomy! Hopefully Lexi and Sloan will get back together (fingers crossed).
Bonuit!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Tough Day at Work
I was dreading waking up this morning! Yesterday ended with a late night of working...one of our corporate employees suddenly did a 180 spin with her attitude this past week and became probably one of our most insubordinate Qualified Professionals...ever! All of her respect and professionalism went out the door as she threw down pens, clearly ignored her job duties and intentionally mocked senior staff.
I am 24 years old and carry the weight of being the president of a multi-million dollar corporation on my shoulders and I know what is professional and what is not...how is it that she did not being much older than I am? We made numerous attempts to figure out what had happened or what was bothering her, but she would not come to any middle ground. Her attitude peaked at the end of business yesterday when we officially wrote her up for her recent negligent actions...she apparently did not like us calling attention to the areas she needed improvements on and decided to throw the pen down on the table and leave the meeting before it was concluded.
She pretty much sealed her fate with that last disrespectful move...employment is a two way street...you have to perform in order for me to pay your salary. The decision had to be made late last night to let her go first thing in the morning. Which meant that I would need to be at the office by 6:30am to prepare. A fabulous 5:30am wake up call was in order followed by the wonderful task of firing first thing in the morning. I have come to the conclusion, after much discussion today about the events and reactions, that being fired was exactly what this disgruntled employee wanted.
I thank President Obama for the wonderful hard spot he has put companies in....employees no longer resign when they wish to move to another state or want to take a position at another company, instead they become as insubordinate as possible so that when they are fired, they get to file unemployment!
So, my day started off super early and then was followed by a termination later to be followed by another home review and yet another emergency late in the afternoon. All of this on top of my already very busy schedule for the day.
On a good note, I was able to get out of work by 6:45pm only a TWELVE hour work day with less than that between the next one. I can guarentee that tomorrow will be full of the fabulously unexpected on top of the already highly anticipated! Oh the wonderful life of a working girl!
I think I am most upset about these late nights and early mornings because I have not had time to practice French! It makes me very sad!
Bonsoir!
I am 24 years old and carry the weight of being the president of a multi-million dollar corporation on my shoulders and I know what is professional and what is not...how is it that she did not being much older than I am? We made numerous attempts to figure out what had happened or what was bothering her, but she would not come to any middle ground. Her attitude peaked at the end of business yesterday when we officially wrote her up for her recent negligent actions...she apparently did not like us calling attention to the areas she needed improvements on and decided to throw the pen down on the table and leave the meeting before it was concluded.
She pretty much sealed her fate with that last disrespectful move...employment is a two way street...you have to perform in order for me to pay your salary. The decision had to be made late last night to let her go first thing in the morning. Which meant that I would need to be at the office by 6:30am to prepare. A fabulous 5:30am wake up call was in order followed by the wonderful task of firing first thing in the morning. I have come to the conclusion, after much discussion today about the events and reactions, that being fired was exactly what this disgruntled employee wanted.
I thank President Obama for the wonderful hard spot he has put companies in....employees no longer resign when they wish to move to another state or want to take a position at another company, instead they become as insubordinate as possible so that when they are fired, they get to file unemployment!
So, my day started off super early and then was followed by a termination later to be followed by another home review and yet another emergency late in the afternoon. All of this on top of my already very busy schedule for the day.
On a good note, I was able to get out of work by 6:45pm only a TWELVE hour work day with less than that between the next one. I can guarentee that tomorrow will be full of the fabulously unexpected on top of the already highly anticipated! Oh the wonderful life of a working girl!
I think I am most upset about these late nights and early mornings because I have not had time to practice French! It makes me very sad!
Bonsoir!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
I Will Learn French!
Bonjour!
I fell in love with the French language when I studied it in college. I learned quite a bit in my two years of Fre 111 and 112, but when you are forced to learn it in a rigid strict structure...it never seems to be as enjoyable. I loved learning the language but I hated the way I was being taught!
So, it is my goal to become fluent in French this year! No more wedding to plan or Accreditation to go through at work...my schedule is open! I have bought a computer program with awesome interactive games and vocabulary. I am all setup for success, now all I need to do is learn it :)
My first day of trying it was yesterday afternoon...my scores were very good for not using what I know for two years. I was able to recall all the colors, numbers, food, and quite a bit of the everyday vocabulary. Jonathan has even agreed to learn it with me, so we will see how we progress.
It is just such a beautiful language and culture full of rolling r's and fabulous coffee and crumpets. My hopes are that Jonathan and I will be traveling to Paris either this year or next year and I will be able to use my new language skills to order us dinner and dessert!
So, I shall keep you updated on my progress!
For now....Salut!
I fell in love with the French language when I studied it in college. I learned quite a bit in my two years of Fre 111 and 112, but when you are forced to learn it in a rigid strict structure...it never seems to be as enjoyable. I loved learning the language but I hated the way I was being taught!
So, it is my goal to become fluent in French this year! No more wedding to plan or Accreditation to go through at work...my schedule is open! I have bought a computer program with awesome interactive games and vocabulary. I am all setup for success, now all I need to do is learn it :)
My first day of trying it was yesterday afternoon...my scores were very good for not using what I know for two years. I was able to recall all the colors, numbers, food, and quite a bit of the everyday vocabulary. Jonathan has even agreed to learn it with me, so we will see how we progress.
It is just such a beautiful language and culture full of rolling r's and fabulous coffee and crumpets. My hopes are that Jonathan and I will be traveling to Paris either this year or next year and I will be able to use my new language skills to order us dinner and dessert!
So, I shall keep you updated on my progress!
For now....Salut!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
ESC Audit 100%
After a very tense morning in the office gathering every silly request of our stern auditor asked for, we were overjoyed to hear him say, as he exited the building, "Thank you so much, you all did great, I wish all my reviews were that clean. You will be getting a letter in the mail with your 100% grade."
Whew...100% and a compliment from the ESC, not too shabby! All that worrying and checking and rechecking paid off! Right after our fabulous news however, we were forced to cut our celebrating short as a home auditor called in, but at least the big Employment Security Commission one is DONE and over with!
It's nice to be recognized for all of your hard work every now and then.
Well...I am going to call it a night and get some much needed rest, tomorrow is going to be just as busy!
Whew...100% and a compliment from the ESC, not too shabby! All that worrying and checking and rechecking paid off! Right after our fabulous news however, we were forced to cut our celebrating short as a home auditor called in, but at least the big Employment Security Commission one is DONE and over with!
It's nice to be recognized for all of your hard work every now and then.
Well...I am going to call it a night and get some much needed rest, tomorrow is going to be just as busy!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Preparing for the Audit!
My first post about work...ugh...I spent the entire day preparing for an ESC audit that will take place tomorrow morning, bright and early. Audits are always a huge headache, lots and lots of checking and rechecking and rechecking files that we already know are perfect but feel like we should just keep checking....in case we missed something! I know it pays off in the end but for those few weeks before the day arrives, my days consist of a lot of running around and long nights looking through paperwork.
On top of the fabulous preparation that took place for the audit, we also had a Licensed Home Review at one of our Raleigh homes, an emergency with one of our DCS (Direct Care Staff) involving an ambulance and having to find emergency placements for her two clients. We also had a client coming home from the hospital needing an emergency placement as well as having to deal with our computer program being down. Just another day in life of a working woman. Actually, we consider that a semi slow day...tomorrow is the really busy day!
ESC audit, here we come....I am pretty sure it will all turn out alright...I will let update tomorrow after it is all over :)
On top of the fabulous preparation that took place for the audit, we also had a Licensed Home Review at one of our Raleigh homes, an emergency with one of our DCS (Direct Care Staff) involving an ambulance and having to find emergency placements for her two clients. We also had a client coming home from the hospital needing an emergency placement as well as having to deal with our computer program being down. Just another day in life of a working woman. Actually, we consider that a semi slow day...tomorrow is the really busy day!
ESC audit, here we come....I am pretty sure it will all turn out alright...I will let update tomorrow after it is all over :)
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
House Husband
As most of you know, Jonathan is a full time student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, while I work my full time job to support us. I foresee the tables turning in the future, especially after we start having children because I don't believe in daycare. I think Jonathan has a hard time with me being the breadwinner in the family but I keep reminding him that someday I will be washing the dishes and vacuuming the floors while he is at work all day.
Our backwards roles were the cause of some frustrations at the beginning of our relationship but we have come to enjoy them now. What made me think to blog about our confusing roles were the events that happened this evening :)
I had a wonderful message on my phone right as I got off work, "Call me as soon as possible, I have good news!" So, I used the sync in my fancy schmancy vehicle to find out the "good news." I always love listening to my husbands wonderfully manly voice over the Bose speakers..."My professor sent me a message that said I was one of the top students in my Calculus class!" I completely understood his excitement cause last week we were having the complete opposite discussion involving his hatred and confusion in the very same course.
Our conversation eventually turned to dinner and I came home to the smell of a fabulous baking vegetarian lasagna and hug and a kiss! I love my house husband! There is nothing like coming home to the wonderful smell of dinner, not to mention the relief of not having to do the cooking tonight. We later had a awesome 30 minutes of Power Yoga with Jillian Michaels...then our TV shorted out on us and so he spent the next hour trying to fix it. I guess that is a manly thing to do, fix the TV!
I think the cutest thing my house husband does is dote on our puppies! Everything from wrestling with a toy to luxurious fancy meals to cuddling on the couch together! It tells me that he is going to be an incredible dad someday! I can't wait to see how he will spoil our little ones.
That concludes another long day and wonderful evening in the Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan Dean household!
Our backwards roles were the cause of some frustrations at the beginning of our relationship but we have come to enjoy them now. What made me think to blog about our confusing roles were the events that happened this evening :)
I had a wonderful message on my phone right as I got off work, "Call me as soon as possible, I have good news!" So, I used the sync in my fancy schmancy vehicle to find out the "good news." I always love listening to my husbands wonderfully manly voice over the Bose speakers..."My professor sent me a message that said I was one of the top students in my Calculus class!" I completely understood his excitement cause last week we were having the complete opposite discussion involving his hatred and confusion in the very same course.
Our conversation eventually turned to dinner and I came home to the smell of a fabulous baking vegetarian lasagna and hug and a kiss! I love my house husband! There is nothing like coming home to the wonderful smell of dinner, not to mention the relief of not having to do the cooking tonight. We later had a awesome 30 minutes of Power Yoga with Jillian Michaels...then our TV shorted out on us and so he spent the next hour trying to fix it. I guess that is a manly thing to do, fix the TV!
I think the cutest thing my house husband does is dote on our puppies! Everything from wrestling with a toy to luxurious fancy meals to cuddling on the couch together! It tells me that he is going to be an incredible dad someday! I can't wait to see how he will spoil our little ones.
That concludes another long day and wonderful evening in the Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan Dean household!
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