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!

Health care in coming years

I am very fortunate in this economy to have a job and health insurance. Many people in this world are not as fortunate. Health care and prescription coverage costs have gone through the roof. Our President wants the congress to have a resolution on his desk ready to sign by August. I have heard it said many times that doctors make way too much money... and charge way too much for their services. Working in the healthcare industry however, I have a much different view. Yes, doctors make a decent living, and I will never make what they make... but I also did not invest up to 15 years of life learning and training to be a physician. I am not on call all through the night, and I don't work the 70-80 hours that I have seen my physicians work. I do not have the student loans to repay that could be astronomical. I do not have to face the high malpractice premiums that physicians have to pay. Being a manager, I see the overhead costs, the decrease in reimbursement, and the many hoops insurance companies make us jump through to get authorization for services we provide. The company that I work for is meeting tonight to decide whether or not to merge with a local hospital. One thing is for certain... things are going to change. I wish I had the answer to our healthcare issues. I would love to see everyone in this world have the same opportunities at healthcare, but with that comes a price tag. I don't think the answer is socialized medicine. I believe the quality of our healthcare would definitely suffer. Its going to take a lot of give and take... our physicians are already seeing decreased reimbursement and increases in the cost of doing business, and like I've heard many times before... there are no new dollars in healthcare. I believe that each of us are going to have to take a more proactive approach to our healthcare. We are going to have to pay more for our medical care, and we need to take better care of ourselves to prevent future disease and costly prescriptions. Just like technology is constantly changing... we are going to be seeing many changes in healthcare. Lets just hope we go in the right direction. Some of the alternatives could be very scary!!