Time Management

On a whim (well, not REALLY a whim, my review said I should take a course in time management...) I signed up for a course on-line for Time Management. While my review suggested I do this on THIS year's review, I actually signed up for the course over a year ago, but ... didn't have time to finish it.

Anyway, back to the whim, I decided to actually work on the course, so I could tell my boss I did something. I'm on the first exercise, which is writing down EVERY TIME I CHANGE tasks at work, and the time. Example:

7:15 am. Sign on and work diary
7:30 am. Work Que
7:40 am. Bid on e-bay for Dan (my boss, and this is true)
7:42 am. Go get coffee with Dan and listen to the story of the day
7:52 am. Work Que

you get the picture.

Then at the end of a week, you tally up all the time you spend on various tasks, and identify areas where we can use our time more effectively and efficiently. I think one of the biggest time-eaters is my supervisor.

So, today is day 2 of the record keeping. Interestingly, since I know I'm tracking things, I'm magically better already. Whereas most days I have to move most of my "diaries" from today to tomorrow, yesterday and today both I have managed to wade through the entire day's diaries. I've even returned all my phone calls and that alone is a miracle. I usually don't get to my phone calls until 4-5 days later, sometimes even more. And finally, I've been able to get through all my mail both days. Holy cow! This tracking is amazing. It even accounts for lots of wasted time, like typing this blog at work. I started the blog at 2:18 pm. I wrote it in my log. I don't even feel (too) guilty because all my phone calls are returned, all my diaries are current and all my mail is done. I have an hour and a half to go before my day is done here. AMAZING!

I can't wait to see what happens in the rest of the course. Who knows what I might accomplish with all that extra time I'll find!

Men vs Women

Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you I got my hair cut. It's very short in the back and gradually gets longer as you go to the top of my head. The top is maybe 2 inches. Then at the sides right in front of my ears, it's as long as it used to be (chin length). I love it. I think it's really cute.

So let me just say that EVERY SINGLE WOMAN at work (that commented on it) has said they love my hair. Not ONE SINGLE MAN has said that.

Women: "Oh my gosh! I love your hair! It's so cute and looks great on you!"

Men: Blank stares, or if anything, "You got a haircut." That INCLUDES my husband. I think he was really disappointed that I got my hair cut off. He says he likes it now that he's getting used to it.

That is PROOF that there is a difference between men and women.

What else is happening?

Yesterday I went up to see Eliz and the kids. I cannot BELIEVE how much Ella has grown in just a couple of weeks.

Here's a picture of Yuki in his favorite outfit. That hanger is his "gun". He runs through the house, "Bang, bang!!" Love the boots.

So here's the latest Yuki debacle. Yuki was playing with his cars in the living room. Last year he got a "garage" (I think you can see it in the background of the picture) for Christmas. It came with little matchbox type cars. He had them all gathered around him. Eventually, Eliz noticed he was taking a car with him (she assumed to his room) and coming back without it. She became suspicious, and asked him where the cars were. He had been flushing them down the toilet! This is not his first foray into flushing stuff down the toilet. A couple of months ago, he flushed his toothbrush down (and goodness knows what else) and plugged up the toilet so badly that Matt had to take the toilet off the floor to get the toothbrush out. So, Yuki got his first ever "spanking". Elizabeth told him she was going to spank him and asked him if he knew why. He seemed to understand, but of course there was no trepidation because he'd never been spanked before. Afterwards, as Eliz was hugging him and comforting him, he said, "You hurt my butt!"

It will be interesting to see if Yuki refrains from flushing things from now on.

Maybe I should spank Sarah. HAHAHAHAHA.

The Princess Returns

Sarah is safely home. I told her she has 6 months to figure out what she's doing. If she is going to school she can stay as long as she wants to. If she is not in school, she needs to start saving money, because she's not going to be living here. She agreed that was reasonable.

The other condition was no drugs in the house. I know I'm not going to be able to stop her from doing whatever she wants to when she isn't home, but here I need assurance that she won't do anything illegal in the house.

Tomorrow would be a good day to start looking for a job, eh?

Sarah is coming home part II

Sigh. I buy the ticket to Denver. I call a supervisor and wade through all the explanations to get the rest of the week off. I pack. I transfer money from savings to checking. I try to sleep. 10:30. 11:00. 11:30. Still awake.

11:30ish. I get a text from Sarah. "Andy is coming home now. I am buying his bus ticket. Can he catch a bus from Denver? I don't know how buses work. Sigh. I am frustrated." SHE'S frustrated??????

I call her. Tickets are $149.00 from Denver. Is he coming home for sure? Yes, he is. O.K. let me see if I can cancel my plane ticket and get some money back and you two ride home together. Agreed. I can tell she isn't happy about having to put up with Andy for 2 more days, but I'm not burning 3 days of vacation, spending $400-500 to drive back with her if he's coming back anyway.

Believe it or not, Travelocity said they would refund my entire ticket amount minus the service fee. Sometime in the next 30 BUSINESS days. That's better than nothing, that's for sure.

I really kinda wish I could have gone. It would have been fun.

Sarah's coming home

Sarah called. She's wondering why she's where she is, why she didn't stay in school, why she took her loser boyfriend on the adventure of a lifetime and she feels like such a loser. She said, "I wish I was home." I said, "Then come home."

I was on my way in to give blood (and save 3 peoples lives) so I told her I'd call her back later. After giving blood, coming home, and taking a nap, I get around to calling her back. She's crying. I ask what's wrong, and she says, she's coming home and andy is mad at her. She's leaving tomorrow. Andy's not coming with her. (!) yippee!!!! Andy's not coming with her!!!!

She's afraid about driving back alone, worried about falling asleep on the road, scared about being alone in rest stops.

I check on-line, and can get a decent ticket to Denver. I ask her if she can get to the denver airport, and if she can I'll fly in and ride back with her. She is very relieved about that.

I called one of the supervisors and asked permission to take off work, and he said o.k. So, I made the reservation and will fly out tomorrow. SHE BETTER NOT BACK OUT or she's in serious trouble.

So I'm excited about seeing her and having the time alone with her on the way back. I'm not excited about the trip back in her pickup with an uncomfortable passenger seat and the constant worry about breakdowns. =)

I'll update when I get back.

The Revenge of Yuki and Sofi

Elizabeth has her hands full. Literally. While she's trapped in the rocking chair nursing Ella, Yuki and Sofi are free to roam the house and do whatever they please while mom is momentarily indisposed.

If you were ages 3 and 2, what would YOU do with this kind of unfettered freedom? I'm not sure what I'D do, but, I can tell you what Yuki and Sofi do.

* Get Dad's shaving cream and walk around the parts of the house mom can't see you, and spray it everywhere you walk.

* Get blue shampoo, drain the almost full bottle on the carpet outside the bathroom and in Sofi's room.

* Get baby lotion, proceed to spread it all over Yuki, and on his walls and in his carpet.

* Get a tube of Lamisil (similar in texture to petroleum jelly) and see how much you can get in Sofi's hair and whatever other interesting surfaces are around.

* Fill the bathroom sink with water while "brushing my teeth", and continue to let the water run and run and run, while splashing water everywhere and ignoring mom. Mom is yelling "TURN OFF THE WATER NOW!!!" but who can hear her over the sound of running water and splashing?

Mind you, these are all separate events that happened over a weeks time. I'm thinking every time Ella nurses, should be "time out, on the couch, don't move your rears from there until I say so" time for Yuki and Sofi.

I think these things are pretty funny, but then, I'm not the one trapped in the rocker, helplessly wondering what they are doing now...

The adventures of Sarah

Sarah is still roaming the wild west. She left my brother Don's sanctuary and headed for Colorado. Don and Sue filled her tank before she left. She had a few bucks, some McDonalds gift certs and food that Sue sent along with her. Next stop...some rest area where they spent a cold and uncomfortable night in the truck. Too cold and windy for setting up the tent, and it even snowed a little.

Onward to Vail, Colorado. Where the truck lost all the lights on the instrument panel, they had no gas, and no money, and only a few McDonalds bucks left. Call to Mom. "Gee, honey. That's too bad. What are you going to do now?" Move on to the next day, truck is working again now, some sort of miracle because they didn't do anything to it. And, hey! They met some guy at McDonalds and asked him if there was a place they could camp for free. Well, no, it's supposed to snow tonight, but you can come stay with us for a couple of days. So, off they go with this kid, who lives with a bunch of other guys. They have been staying there and a couple of other places until she gets some money to move on.

Hold up. Where are you going to get money? I got a credit card, and they can transfer money into my bank account for ZERO interest. Uh-huh. I believe that, for sure.

Get this! As I was typing this post, Sarah calls. They are now in Winter Park, their ultimate destination. I don't know how she got there, since the money from the credit card just hit her account this morning, but she's there. She wants to know what the expiration date on her credit card is because they want to rent a hotel for the night. OMG. Her job (if she really has one) doesn't start until November 15th. I don't know HOW she thinks she is going to be able to pay for a credit card bill in 28 days from now, when she won't even be working yet.

I'm over it.

She needs to get real about life. She's going to fall, and fall hard. I hope she can pick up the pieces and move on with her life when that happens. My sister says she feels Sarah will be fine and that she will have a relationship with God some day. I'm hanging my hat on that.

New baby and various other items

Eleanor Charlotte Hilligoss was born on October 1, 2007, at 3:34 pm, weighing in at 7 lbs 2 oz, and 19.5 inches long. They will call her Ella. All this time it was going to be Elli, until Elizabeth heard a woman (that she doesn't like) across the street calling her dog and the name was Ellie. That was it for the name Elli. I like Ella better anyway.

The delivery was incredible. She made it look like something she does every day, no big deal. One - yes, ONE push. That's it.

After Ella was all cleaned up and Elizabeth settled in, she nursed right away, just like an old pro. No problems at all. So Eliz is sitting there all content, and says, "I think I like this baby." Matt and I just cracked up. When Sofi was born, she wouldn't nurse, cried all the time, made everyone so miserable WE all cried, too. I Elizabeth said, "I don't like this baby." (Of course she does NOW, but at the time...) Matt and I were relieved to hear this baby would be accepted into the family with no problems. So far, we have had 3 sleepless nights since Elizabeth came home. It will be interesting to see if Elizabeth still likes the baby if she continues to insist on being held - and only by mom - all night every night.

Yesterday, was Joe & my first anniversary. Today, we are spending the night in Plainfield, close to Eliz, and will be going out to a nice dinner. What a nice break. This afternoon we both went to the local mall and bought new tennis shoes. Tennis shoes? Do they even call them that anymore? Athletic shoes. Not that we are athletic or anything like that, but we don't play tennis either, so I don't think it really matters what we call them.

I'm getting hungry. Time to head out for a lovely steak dinner. Maybe tomorrow I'll write about the adventures of my wayward daughter Sarah. Stay tuned.

More cute "Yuki-isms"

*Yuki when presented with baked beans "I can't like that."

*Elizabeth put a caterpillar in his hand, and when it moved, Yuki squished it, and then was very upset that he killed it. His comment? "I'm sorry the caterpillar tickled my hand. That's not safe!"

*While watching Elizabeth nursing Ella the first time, "Why is she biting you?"

*While watching Elizabeth nursing Ella another time, "There's milk in there? How does it get there?"

He is so cute and funny.

Today is the day!!

Oh my gosh I'm a nervous wreck. I woke up at 4 am, just wide awake, and couldn't go back to sleep. Finally, at about 5 am, I got up, balanced my checking account, checked to make sure all the 1st of the month bills are paid and then checked out my e-mail.

At 6:00 am , Elizabeth called and said she was in labor. She has been in labor since last night. The contractions are strong enough to wake her up and she's been up since...4:00 am!

So, she tells me she's going to wait for the doc office to open at 8:00 am and call the doctor. **8:00!**. Two hours later. After being in labor all night. I tell her to please pay attention to her body and maybe she should just start driving now. No. She wants to take a shower, get the kids ready and then she'll call the doctor.

So, I go to work to get some stuff done. At 8:15, I haven't heard anything, so I call her. Matt answers. The doctor doesn't get in until 9:00 am, so she's going to wait until then to call and start to B'ton. OMG! I ask where she is now. She's in the SHOWER! (So I can't talk to her and tell her to get her butt in the car and start driving). I tell Matt to tell Eliz to get in the car as soon as she's out of the shower and start driving. They can call the doctor on the way. It takes 45 minutes to get here. The contractions are around 5-8 minutes apart. ARGH!!!

9:15. I call. Matt answers. "Where are you? " " We are getting in the van now." "What did the doctor say?" "He said to come to the office if you think you can make it but if not go to the hospital." (my emphasis there)

I say o.k. Call me when you get south of Martinsville and I'll come meet them at home (or the doctor or the hospital or where ever they need me).

I'm nervous and excited and praying that that baby won't be born in the van on the way to Bloomington...