What’s Wrong with this Picture

Remember a few weeks ago?

I was stressed….

Lots going on at work….

Lots going on at home…..

But the 7th and 8th grade dance was waiting for no one….

so we HAD to find the perfect dress in less than two hours after already shopping for days on end?

And she stepped out of the dressing room of the last store, and I cried with relief, and off we went with lots of change in my pockets?

Well, all those hours and tears were well worth it!  She fit right in with the rest of the girls in her class – all beautiful and grown up.

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The 8th Grade Girls – Mario is on the far right.

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I feel bad for the moms of the 8th grade boys, though.  They missed out on all  that fun……

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2013 8th Grade Class

 

A Beautiful Day

Is it okay to say it was a beautiful day for a funeral?

Because it WAS a beautiful day.    Sad of course, but sunny and warm with a slight breeze to dry our tears.

I’m bettin’ she planned it this way.

Looking back on yesterday’s events, I feel the need to send a bunch of kudos to the funeral home directors – a family of three boys who own and operate one of the two funeral home choices in the county. They are so professional, so respectful, and made things incredibly easy for us.  They took all of the guess work out of everything – for us, for my boys the pall bearers, and for the extended family.

They knew everyone’s names, and all their connections, and if we forgot a distant relative, they remembered!

After the funeral service, they took all the flowers and plants to the house for us, then met us back at the school cafeteria (which doubles as the funeral hall), to let us know what our next steps would be.

They did an amazing job, and I can’t thank them enough.

And thank goodness they were there.  Rose’s funeral was extremely difficult for us.  We had just buried Fred 4 months ago, and losing Rose so quickly afterwards has been hard.  Many people advised us not to feel like orphans, but in a sense, we do.  Not only have we lost a great mother and grandmother, but we’ve lost the anchor to our family.  Because of this, many tears were shed throughout the day.  Mario especially had a difficult time.  She and Rose had been quite close, getting together once or twice a week to play cards and catch up with each other.  Closing these doors will take quite a toll on us, I have a feeling.

But in the midst of all our sadness is a sense of relief.  She’s at peace now.  No longer is she in pain.  No longer is she struggling to breathe.  She’s with her beloved husband, whom she’s known since they were young children.  And we feel like we can breathe again.

 

 

Bittersweet

That’s how my Mother’s Day was.

And in light of everything that’s been going on these last few weeks, I’m okay with that.

My mother-in-law passed away the night before with my hubby and his siblings at her side.  In a way, we’re feeling a great sense of relief. She’s had a rough couple of weeks, and it’s been mentally and physically exhausting for the family, my husband especially.

I was working at the time, and by the time I arrived home, my hubby was just pulling in.  He had his pillow and overnight bag, and I knew he was finally coming home to stay.

It was a great feeling knowing things were going back to normal, but of course that meant a chapter in our life was now over.  Losing one parent is hard.  Losing the second creates an overwhelming sense of finality.

Hubby and I allowed ourselves a good cry while he talked about some childhood toys they found while digging for Rose’s rosary.  She had kept them all these years knowing the kids would find them after she was gone.  She had left a little note with them explaining why she’d boxed them up and didn’t want the grandkids to play with them.  Memories came rushing back for each of them when they saw the long forgotten cartoon characters they used to interact with.

We awoke early on Mother’s Day.  I went for a much needed run before heading to the funeral home to make the arrangements for her funeral.  Having just gone through the process with Hubby’s dad, today’s meeting went very smoothly and quickly.

As the three siblings went back to the house to look for pictures for the boards, I went home to mow the lawn.  And for the first time this spring, it was NOT  a fight!  Happy Mother’s Day to me!

I came in afterwards to find 4 bags of Blow Pops from the kids.  They know me well.  As I read through their cards, my eyes filled up with tears.  I tried not to let them overflow as I was afraid another waterfall would start.  (I’d had another good cry after breaking the news to Chip.  He was devastated since he had planned to visit her today, and had even bought her a card.  Seeing your 18 year old son feeling so sad is heartbreaking!) But their expressions of thankfulness for everything I do was almost too much for me to bear today.  They each gave me a warm, strong hug – something I’ve definitely been needing.  I’m sensing they needed it too.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing with my hubby.  The sun was out, making for a beautiful day, although a little too chilly to just sit on the deck.  We enjoyed a nice, leisurely walk, however.

I ended the day with a bowl of ice cream, a Blow Pop, and Cupcake Wars on TV, with fleeting thoughts of a woman who meant more to me than she’ll ever know.

In Memory of Rose

A bittersweet Mother’s Day for sure.

 

 

Next Time I’ll Just Work It

I think he was doing me a favor.  My scheduler that is.  He kindly gave me Mother’s Day off since I’ve had to work it the last few years. Unfortunately, my other day off was Tuesday.  Yesterday. Two days ago.  (It took me so long to finish this post, that it’s now Thursday night…. sigh.)

When you work 5 days in a row, then get one day off, then go back to work for another 4 days, it’s difficult to really be off on your off day.  Instead, you feel like you have to get everything done on the one day that you can.

And that’s what yesterday was like for me.  Worse yet, only one of the things I did was actually completed in full.  Everything else I did still needs to be done.  So the day was neither restful nor productive.

My cupcakes are frostingless.  My cookies are unbaked.  The laundry is still in the dryer.  And my daughter’s dance dress has yet to be found.  The one thing I did do was mow the lawn.  And if you want to know how that went, just look back.  Same story different day.

While sore and exhausted from the lawn work,  I baked the cupcakes, and I started the cookie dough, and I washed the laundry, and I shopped for hours with my daughter.  But nothing was completed.

No big deal right? I get off at 2pm Wednesday, so I can do it all then.  I can drive all the way home, pick Mario up from school, drag her back to the stores (which ones, I don’t know.  We hit every single one yesterday) And try to fit in some grocery shopping and her high school orientation,

So that’s what I did.  What I didn’t realize was that I was training a new girl at work.  I thought she was being trained by my co-worker, but when I got there, there was the trainee…. waiting for ME.  So all the work I did not complete on Monday, that I was expecting to complete on Wednesday did not get done once again.  By the end of the day I was feeling completely overwhelmed.  Most of my stress is due to the fact that I have to clock out at the end of my shift to avoid overtime.  A big part of me wanted to continue to work off the clock just to finish something.

Instead, I drove with a stress-induced sickened stomach 50 miles home, picked up Mario from school, then drove 40 miles back to the only shopping area around.  This would be our last chance to find the perfect dress for her dance on Friday, and we only had 2 hours to do it.  We tried two new stores that we missed the first time around.   Nothing. With 45 minutes left on the clock, we decided to make one last trip to Deb – a store that we had gone to 4 times before.  By this time I was literally praying we would find her something that I deemed appropriate for a 14 year old girl, but that she felt pretty and comfortable in and that would be similar to what the other girls were wearing.  (Not an easy task for a 5’7, broad-shouldered teen with size 11 feet)

She took 6 dresses into the dressing room and proceeded to put on her favorite, a sparkly slim-lined sequined dress.

When she opened the door with a pleading look on her face, I knew she loved it.  I scrutinized it, looking at the length, the sleeveless top, the fit….

and then with tears in my eyes I nodded my head in agreement.  I literally wanted to sob with relief that after all this time, we were coming home with a dress.

And if that wasn’t lucky enough, when we went to check out, the cashier gave us the total price.  $9.87.  It had been marked down 80%!

By this time I had been willing to pay any amount of money to just come home with a dress.  But to have it less than $10.  Sheesh.  I really felt my prayers had been answered.

So my cookie dough is still unbaked.  And my cupcakes are still not frosted.  And the laundry is still in baskets.

But we made it home in time for her orientation, and she’ll be going to her dance feeling great about how she’s dressed.   I am going into work tomorrow with one less thing to worry about.

May the fourth continue to be with me until Mother’s Day.

(Not one word about how late I am with that joke… I’ve been behind all week, and I’m just glad to have something else out of the way….)

 

 

Tid Bits

Wow.  Has it really been 4 days since my last post?  Time just flies when you’re…. working.

I’m not complaining. Really, I’m not. I still like my job, but it’s a tiring one.  The good news is, it has rained ALL day, EVERY day for the past FOUR days, and I haven’t minded ONE BIT!  I feel bad for our guests, but I have to be stuck inside anyway, so it can rain all it wants.  I have Tuesday off this week, and the sun is expected to be out by then.  Hooray for me!

Hubby, on the other hand, can’t find much to be happy about.  His mom’s health is declining rapidly, yet she’s still holding on.  She has needed round the clock care for the past 3 weeks, and hubby has taken most of it on himself.

Right before she got really sick, she asked him to not put her in a nursing home.  He promised her he wouldn’t, and he’s holding true to his word.

The hospice nurse comes regularly, and his two siblings will relieve him for a few hours at a time, but for the most part, he is her caregiver, spending the day and night by her side.  And she has grown so attached to him, that when he leaves, she’ll ask over and over again where he is.  She has reverted back to being a child, in ALL ways, which requires an extreme amount of patience on his part.  He looks forward to her naps, and tries to fit some time in for himself and his work when she does.

I’m really beginning to miss him around here, but I find what he’s doing incredibly admirable.  She has always been very unselfish and giving towards others, and he’s making sure it’s her turn to be taken care of now.

Not only do I miss him, but it’s obvious the pets do too.  Chancie mopes around and is constantly asking to go out and then come back in.  She’s not sure what to do now that she can’t spend her days laying at his feet.

The cat has taken to begging me for his daily rubbing.   ME.  I don’t do daily rubbings.  But he forces himself in front of me while I’m trying to brush my teeth, purring loudly to convince me to scratch behind his ears.  If I push him aside, he pulls out the bigger guns – a sweet face, a seductive purr, and a come hither wave with his paws.

I end up feeling sorry for him and will give him a very productive, 30-second rub down.  After all, he’s grown quite used to Hubby petting him continuously while working on his computer.  AND, he’s had a rough go with something that’s causing his nose to be stuffy.  He sniffs and sneezes and sparkles when he breathes.  Picture the sound (picture the sound??) a sparkler makes, and that’s how he sounds when he breathes.

It doesn’t seem to bother him too much.  He still has his normal appetite, but his drinking has increased dramatically!  I can’t keep him out of my sink!

My faucet has a very slow leak, so he’ll sit under that when ever he can, to play with the drips and then drink them up.  It used to be quite funny. Now, it drives me crazy.

But yet, I remain patient.  Heck, if my hubby can do what he’s doing, what’s a little fur ball in my sink?

 

Spring, Sprang, Sprung

First of all, I’m not hot.

I’m NOT.

I’m just, well…

okay… I’m hot.

But I’m NOT complaining!

The last couple of days have been sunny and warm with a nice breeze to keep it from getting too hot.  But because the weather was so nice, I did every possible physical activity I could think of outside.  That’s why I’m hot.

The most physical activity was harvesting my lawn again.  The mowing itself took a few hours, and then I had to rake all the clippings and clumps.  By the time I was done, my yard looked like a hay field scattered with bales of hay.  

And these are just a FEW of the bales.

My hands were blistered.  My arms were sore.  And I was 10 bucks in the hole.  But it was well worth it to have Amp bag up those bales and dump them in our mulch pile so that I……

could do this!

My hubby was able to get some time away from taking care of his mom to enable us to go out for our first ride of the season. Absolutely gorgeous riding weather, and just as thrilling as I remembered!

And did you notice the shiny ‘Stang?  It got its first real bath of the season this weekend too!  Much needed since it only gets sponge baths throughout the winter.

And of course I took full advantage of the cool morning to run.  And run I did.

I hadn’t meant to run so far.   

I was just going to run my 6 mile route through the country.  I haven’t run that route for a while, because it’s been so dark in the morning and I’m scared of coyotes, but today, since it was light at 6 AM already, I made a spur of the moment decision to go that way.

The first thing I noticed was that there were no cars speeding past me.  Quite often, people will use the country roads as a short cut and will barrel down the road at high speeds.  But this morning, nobody was on the roads.

With only 2 miles to go, I found out why.

I felt a moment of despair when I realized I was going to have to turn around and run all the way back. My 6 mile run was going to turn into almost 8 miles.  And worse yet, I had asked the kids not to leave for school til I got back, so I was feeling a little pressure to get home. I picked up the pace and made it home with minutes to spare.  (And a new PR pace to boot!)

With tired muscles, blistered hands, and sun-kissed shoulders, I have succeeded in making my weekend a terrific one.  I’m headed back to work just in time for the rains to come.

So Abby, thanks for your Spring.  It’s been exhausting, but I have enjoyed every minute of it!

 

All in a Day’s Work

My first task at work today was to get the naked guy in the lobby up to his room.  He was talking to the night auditor (the truthful one) and our security guard.

I was afraid to round the corner of the desk.  Who wants to see a naked guy at 6 AM?  Well, maybe in my younger years, but not NOW and NOT in the lobby of my hotel!

I was relieved that “naked” meant he was wearing only boxers.  I offered my suggestions on what to do, and let them know that if we weren’t able to find his room soon, we’d have to call the police.  It didn’t matter how sorry we felt for the guy, he couldn’t keep standing at the desk as families passed by for breakfast.

We finally allowed security to bring him up to the room he said he was in, with the knowledge that if he could identify his clothes he could stay.  Luckily someone was actually in the room, but had failed to answer the multiple phone calls.  And this equally drunk guy recognized the naked guy and verified he was a guest in his room.

Whew.  Now I could get on with my normal shift checklist.

And I did.  For about 15 minutes.  Then room 934 called down.

“Ummm… there’s a drunk guy passed out on the floor outside our room…..”

Crap.  Security had just left.  Night audit was gone.  My houseperson had called in sick, and no managers were in yet.

I ran over to breakfast and begged Baron, the supervisor of that department, to go up, wake him, check for ID and give me a call.

It took about 20 minutes, but Baron finally came down with an inebriated, but fully clothed thank goodness, young adult.  This guy had his wallet and ID on him, but he was not registered to a room.  He finally came up with a name of someone who was registered. That guest was in 936.  Close enough.

I called 936.  No answer.  I called again immediately and was greeted with a croaky hello.  I asked him if he knew this guy.  He did, and declared it okay to bring him up to his room.  I’m not sure if he really was supposed to stay with them, but if the registered guest allows it, I’m not arguing.  It was now 7AM, and I had yet to do anything productive.

Throughout the morning I had a few complaints of drunk adults running through the hall, banging on doors, and being obnoxiously loud til the wee hours of the morning.  Each time, we had sent security up, but with so many in the wedding party, and having them scattered throughout the hotel, it was hard to keep up.

Then I was told there was a torn up potted plant in the elevator. (so that’s where it went….) And I learned that the hotel next door had most of its bushes chopped down.  I’m guessing it was our imbeciles, I mean guests, who’d gotten a hold of some shears.

By 7:30 AM, it appeared we had finally put the last of the partiers to bed.  NOW, I could get on with my work. And boy did I have tons of it.

Luckily, I had a few other desk agents with me by then, but with almost 400 people checking out, and many trying to check in early, we were extremely busy.

I felt uneasy leaving an hour early, since there was still some unfinished business, but god forbid I should get overtime…… That extra 10 bucks might break ‘em.

So I left a detailed note of what the ‘left behind’ agents should do, and I clocked out with 2 minutes to spare.

My stress headache immediately disappeared as soon as I sat in my car and convinced myself that they would be okay.  Nothing I could do now anyway.

I drove my weary self halfway home.  I had to meet Chip and Mario for some much needed shopping.  A new phone for Chip and a dance dress for Mario.

The phone was a success, but after 2 hours of dress shopping, Mario and I called it quits and agreed to try again in a few days.

I drove us both the rest of the way home.

And now, I sit on the couch with a great feeling of accomplishment.

My work this day is done.  But in a few short hours, I’ll be back at it again.