Don't cry over burned pulled pork!

Its been a week... Very busy at work, I had a meltdown with my boss on Wednesday, and seemed to be reduced to tears the entire day. I'm not usually like that, I can take most things in stride, but Wednesday was like the perfect storm, and I just lost it. Thursday was a better day, and Friday... I'm off - for the next 5 days. Friday night we were honoring my niece Sarah with a bridal shower. Not a big event, just getting the girls of our family together for some good food, good drink, and to pamper Sarah a few weeks before her wedding. The weather on Friday was absolutely beautiful. I leisurely spent my time getting ready, and started my day out with a pedicure. I then drove to Byron Center to the jewelery store to get my Pandora bracelet fixed as my clasp had broken. Instead of fixing it, they just gave me a new bracelet. I also treated myself to two new charms. The sun was shinning, my top was down, and I was loving the fact that I was not at work, and having the day to myself. I needed to stop at Meijers to finish up the last minute things I needed for the shower. Meijers was packed. I had to park out in the backy forty, and knew it was going to be very busy inside as well. I quickly picked up the items I needed, but every check-out was full. So I took my place in line and waited. While I was standing there waiting.. I start to get irritated. This Meijers is always busy, yet they never have very many lanes open. Its very rare you can just walk up to the cashier and pay for your purchases... you usually have to wait your turn. As I was standing there.... I remembered the pulled pork I had put in the roaster... several hours earlier. I had only meant to be away for a couple of hours... but that was now 4+ hours ago... and now I got this panicky feeling that I may have overcooked the pulled pork. I finally got through the check-out lane... and back to the parking lot, that was still very busy. Just trying to back up, and get out of the parking lot was a challenge. I drive onto Kalamazoo Ave, and the traffic there was bumper to bumper. My irritability has now been elevated to new levels. I just wanted to yell... get the **** out of my way! As I drove into my garage and opened the door to the kitchen... I knew... the pork was burned. The house smelled, I took the top of the roaster off, and the meat was black. I was SO MAD.... at myself for not thinking about meat while I was gone. I guess in my mind I was thinking I had put the pork in a crock pot, not the roaster, and the roaster definitely cooks alot hotter than the crock pot. $20.00... down the drain. Well, sort of ... that's another story. I picked up the roaster pan to pry the burned pork out of the pan and was feeding it down the garbage disposal. Not the smartest Idea, but I was upset and mad and not thinking. During this time too I called Gordie... he was busy at work and asked me to hold on just a minute. When he came back to the phone and started to tell him what had happened... I was upset, and all I wanted to hear him say was "I'm sorry" instead, he responded with... "Did you just call to yell at me?" Okay... now that really made me mad, so I hung on him. Now I am really ticked, and not proud to say every bad word that could come out of my mouth spewed all over the now disaster in my kitchen. Then to top things off... I had been cramming so much in the garbage disposal, it stopped working. Now I have standing water, burned pork, and a huge mess my hands. It's 3:30pm, and I have nothing for the shower to eat, so I head back to my car, and the packed grocery store to now buy stuff for sloppy joes.

Katie wanted to have Sarah's shower at her house, and because I was bringing the majority of the food, drinks, cake, etc... I had tons of stuff to pack and take over to Katie's. I was still upset with my husband, exhausted, hot, sweaty, and overall not a happy camper. Of course when you are in a hurry, everyone and their brother pulls out in front of you, or is just in your way.

I got to Katie's, we got everything up to her apartment, set up, and I finally sat down for a few minutes to just relax and cool down. The shower really went nice, Katie's apartment was very cute with all the decorations and things we had done, and it was great to get our family together for just a nice, fun evening. Sarah loved all of her gifts, and was thankful we took the time to have a bridal shower for her.

As the evening went on, and I had a couple of Sangrias in me, I finally mellowed out. The sloppy joes were fine, and we really did have a nice time. My husband was able to fix the garbage dispoal, and he cleaned up the huge mess I had left, so when I came home, the kitchen was all put back together. Sometimes life just hands you burned pulled pork... next time I will reach for the wine first, and then deal with mess. I know one thing... I won't do that again, and I am not going to let it ruin the rest of my weekend.

Work!

In today's economy... anyone with a job does not take their job for granted. I'm thankful every day I go to work that I have a great job. That being said though... its been an overwhelming year. Every day I think the next day won't be as busy... and before I know it, its 3:00 in the afternoon, I have not eaten lunch, and can't believe the day is almost over and I still have so many things to do. I really thought I would have all this time on my hands once my supervisor came back, but so far... its crazy busy. I have employee evaluations hanging over my head... these have to be done by September 15.... and I'm thinking... when in the world and I going to complete all of these. Even if I just do one a day... there are not enough days left. Guess I know how I am spending my Labor day weekend... laboring over employee evals! One thing is for sure... I'm never bored at work. Somehow I have to find a balance... take a break for lunch... or just take a break. Otherwise, I am going to drive myself crazy. So now we are going to open up another site... hopefully the beginning of October... which will take our total up to 6 sites! I needed more on my plate!!! You would think I would burn more calories all the running around I do! Okay... enough whinning. Thank you Lord for never giving me more than I can handle!!!

My Girls

I had a great weekend... I got to spend time with both my girls - My daughter-in-law Lindsey and I went out to lunch on Saturday and then spent time at SummerFest. My daughter Katie and I talked on the phone for over an hour on Saturday night and then on Sunday helped her to rearrange her living room and plan on what we were going to do for our niece/cousin Sarah's shower on Friday. I am so blessed to have two outstanding, kind hearted, smart women in my life. I'm so glad they both live close by and we can spend time together. I look forward to one day being a grandma, having a son-in-law, and watching our family grow. My son is pretty terrific too... but really enjoyed my time with just the girls this weekend.

Lauren and Patterson

Today was my first day back to work after vacation. I was actually excited to go back today... mainly because Lauren came back to work... finally after being off since May on maternity leave. Lauren is like my lifesaver at work. I have two great supervisors who help me... Michelle takes care of the clinical side, and Lauren takes care of the clerical side. As a manager, my job is mainly administrative, so, having my clerical supervisor off for three months really added to my work load. Now that Lauren is back, I can concentrate more of my time on special projects and marketing our practice.

I was also excited because Patterson - between 28th Street and Burton which has been closed since the beginning of April is finally open. I hate having to drive on East Paris and 28th Street because it is so busy and there are a ton of stop lights... and the road is full of holes. I was happily driving home on the new Patterson... until I got close to airport when I saw the "Recovery Project" road sign - and the orange barrells... meaning they are now going to be working on the other end of Patterson...aauugghh!!! So... guess it means I will be back on the East Paris/28th Street route... again! At least I don't have to drive all the way to Hastings!!

Rough time of things

I turn 50 this year. I am a healthy, vibrant woman with a successful career. I have a wonderful husband, great kids, good friends, and a great church family. I have never had a problem going into that next decade, and actually looked forward to my 20's, 30's and 40's. For some reason, turning 50 is making me face my mortality. I look at myself in the mirror, and I am not liking what I see. Its not so much the fact that I am carrying around extra weight... I have done that my entire life... but now I am seeing more wrinkles, sagging around my eyes, and I just look...well... old. I look in the mirror and more than ever... I see my mom staring back. I have always been told I look like my mom, but truthfully.. I never really saw it until now. My mother was a wonderful person, and if my life in any way shape or form resembles her, then that is a blessing... I'm just not ready to be old or to look old. My clothes even look old. I have to dress up for my job... and I HATE going clothes shopping. I will go with credit card in hand, ready and able to spend whatever it takes... and I can't find anything I like. I either look like a frumpy old woman, or look like I am dressing to go out for a night on the town... not a day in the office. I guess I need to do a couple of things. One... stop feeling sorry myself. I am what I am... I can't turn back the clock. Two... piss or get off the pot. I have been trying to lose weight my entire life. For every two pounds I lose, I gain one back... I exercise like crazy for a few weeks, then miss going for a week. I need to be consistent in my weight loss, my exercise, and my attitude. Lastly... I need to hire a personal shopper... someone who will help me pick out clothes that actually fit me, look good on me, and be brutally honest as to how they really look on me... not how I "wish" they looked on me. Gordie suggested I ask the sales ladies in the store... but like I told him... they are out to make sales... they will tell me whatever I want to hear. Two of my staff are professional shoppers. Those girls eat, breathe and drink going shopping... they love it. When I tell them I will spend hours walking aimlessly from store to store, and never purchase anything... they can't believe it. They would never dream of leaving a store without making a purchase. Of course... when you are a size 6.... shopping is much easier. So this afternoon, Gordie and I are going to spend our last afternoon in California, driving through the mountains and down the coast admiring the beautiful landscape of Southern California, and stopping at a few outlet malls along the way. I'm not real hopeful I will find anything, but I am going to look. Who knows... maybe I will get lucky!

Changing your e-mail account!

We have had Comcast everysince we moved to Grand Rapids. We have been having issues with internet, went through buying a new router that we did not need, and endless nights where the internet kept going down. So we finally had enough and made the decision to switch to ATT U-Verse. We actually have the package that has every channel available, and its still cheaper than what we were paying for our Comcast. The speed of the internet is faster, and the picture on the TV is awesome. We are very happy with making the switch to ATT... but having to change our e-mail addresses has been a pain. We pay tons of stuff on line and our e-mail addresses are attached to tons of stuff. All of our addresses had to be added to our new account, but I think I finally have everything in our new ATT account. If I don't have it... I can always get just about everyone's e-mail on Facebook. So... tomorrow... we are going to call Comcast and tell them they can keep their stupid service. I think we will be very happy with our new service!

I hate shopping for clothes!

I have been working really hard to lose weight and tone my body over the past few months. Its coming, slower than I would like... but little by little, clothes that used to be skin tight are now loose on me. The problem is... I am in between sizes... women's sizes are too big, regular sizes are too small. I have gone shopping three times in the past week, and I cannot find anything I like...or if I do ... my size is sold out. I went shopping on Saturday, credit card in hand, with money not even being an object for me... and I came home 4 hours later empty handed and very grumpy. I have to dress in business casual in my profession, and I am so sick and tired of wearing black! Yet every time I look at clothes, the only thing that even remotely catches my eye ... is black! I feel like a frumpy old woman most of the time, and cannot wait until the day that I can walk in a regular clothing store and buy anything off the rack. I wish they would make more clothes in my size that actually look nice on you... instead of making you look like an elephant! It just gives me even more incentive to get another 10 pounds off this body... then maybe I can find something that fits and I like!