More than I ever wanted to know about feet.

Today was the first class for those 4 of us at the shoe store who are ready to train to be salespeople, or are already salespeople to watch the new Salesmanship Training video. The basis of the course is the more we know about the foot and its problems, the better we can find a shoe that will make the customer's feet feel good and therefore buy the shoes. There's a lot of anatomy in the course. A lot of it is stuff I'll never remember, but it's always good to learn something new. They did show a good sales trick that kind of made me go "oooh that's sneaky". I told Christopher about it and he thought it was great and said it was definitely a wonderful course then LOL.

I have some other news related to my job too. I finally officially got my promotion to Assistant Manager and a nice raise to go with it. I've been doing the job forever without the title, because he wanted to make sure the ladies who have been there for 20 years could deal with it. So now, over a year later, I get the title. I actually ought to also have a title pertaining to the online store. Though it's possible that he means the title does cover both areas. I'm not sure.

Not only do I continue the position at the store, but I also am now officially in charge of getting the guy who works online as well to actually sign into AIM and let me know when he's working on it (we have minimum mandatory scheduled hours now in addition to the hours we work whenever we have time to just do it.) He's supposed to have been AIMing the boss when he is working online, but hasn't so far. So I have to deal with that. In addition, we have a girl who is really good and we want to get her working online too. She wasn't getting enough hours, so she got a weekend job working at a bar waitressing. She hated the job there and the boss wasn't happy she got another job, so I told her I'd train her to do the online stuff as soon as tomorrow so she could work as many hours as she could find time to do it. She agreed and quit the bar job :) So tomorrow, I have to train her to do Excel spreadsheet editing for new products which will be uploaded onto the site, how to edit the raw products once the file is uploaded, how to get images and edit them to the correct sizes, group like products together, add each product to all the categories it belongs in...etc etc etc... I know boring. The problem is... it all came naturally to me. The boss showed me how to do the basics once over the phone while he and I were both signed into the website at the same time. I have not however, been able to find someone who took to it as easily. Nick, the college guy has been really good about doing stuff, but none of the countless others that I've trained ever got it. They'd look at me like HUH? ..I really hate getting the deer-in-the-headlights-look ... One or two would get it and then NEVER do the job. Weeks later, I'd end up giving the work to someone else,.. eventually doing it myself when it was basically too late to even matter. So now I get to train the new girl, Candice on it tomorrow. She's very bright and has caught onto just about everything at the store. She's a junior in college, education major. Whew,.. I have plenty of work I can give her to do for the rest of this week. She can't get more than 40 hours a week anyway. Next Monday when I'm at the office, I will have to get the fall stuff ready to go into Excel files to be edited then uploaded. Plenty to do,...

Are you still awake? I know how boring it is to read about. So I like my job

Earlier today, we got new car insurance on the 2 vehicles then had to go to Johnson City to show it to the police. They had pulled Christopher over for having a headlight out when he was on his way to pick me up when I got back from England in March. After showing compliance, we went out for lunch and then to the mall. Christopher got his hair cut at the mall at Regis. Here’s the latest pic of my hubby. They really don't do him justice. It looks awesome :)






That's it for my ultra boring life today.

I'm sane.

You know, there are many people in the country today who, through no fault of their own, are sane. Some of them were born sane. Some of them became sane later in their lives. It is up to people like you and me who are out of our tiny little minds to try and help these people overcome their sanity. You can start in small ways with ping-pong ball eyes and a funny voice and then you can paint half of your body red and the other half green and then you can jump up and down in a bowl of treacle going "squawk, squawk, squawk..." And then you can go "Neurhhh! Neurhhh!" and then you can roll around on the floor going "pting pting pting"... - Monty Python: "Show Twenty-One"

This week has been one to test my sanity. Actually I guess it's been pretty dull and boring compared to a lot of lives out there.

Yesterday, I had a woman come in an put a pair of shoes on the counter and show me where they were torn. I agreed it was terrible to have them break like that, and went to look at her receipt. Now,.. the shoes she was showing me haven't been carried in my store for over 2 years. Our return policy is for 1 year. So I was already trying to get my words formed in my mind to let her down nicely. Then I realized the receipt was for March of this year. Looking closer it was for a different kind of shoe. They were very similar shoes, but different nonetheless. I told her they were not the ones she had purchased with the receipt. By then, her husband had come in. I *know* this racket, but there weren't any other customers or anyone to back me up. I know they watched the store long enough to know I was alone. The guy got very adamant about the refund. I started to ring it up just to make them go away and I realized the receipt was for a pair of size 7, and the shoes were 6. I outright refused at that point, wishing Robert (my boss) were there. They got very irate then and the man started yelling. I told them they didn't even have the box from the purchase. They said they'd go get it. I figured they'd never be back . well about an hour later, they were back with the box. The man looked at me like I shouldn't even dare consider refusing the refund. I was seriously scared of them. They were really redneck-like people. I also knew they were professional at this kind of harassment. It made me mad as hell, but I feared my own safetly and the money wasn't worth it. I went to call Laura first, since she had sold them the shoes. But she wasn't home. I figured she could tell me if she had looked at the shoes in the box first. I was completely in the right, but again, fearing my own safety, I gave them the refund. I did however make it very clear I did NOT want to. Afterwards, the man said it was like I was calling him a liar and he didn't appreciate it. I told him the shoes WERE NOT WHAT THEY BOUGHT. I was SO pissed off at him by this time. He said they were so what had been in the box and said they'd never shop there again. I yelled back "I DON'T CARE", and as they left the store, he called me a motherfucker. I screamed at him not to DARE cuss me in my own store. He considered going back in (cause the door had just closed) but he left. I'd have been on the phone to the cops so fast!

The girl at the other store had a rude customer too, so I don't feel alone.

Then before I left work yesterday, the new girl we got to work nights and weekends called and told me she has a Fri and Sat night job at a local night club/restaurant. So, now I have to rearrange the schedule, and I do NOT want to work Sat. nights due to my online game. Damn.

Then today, she came by to tell me she lost the store keys... *bangs head on wall*

Also today, Peggy (the lady who forgot we were having the team meeting at her house) confronted me about what I said to Robert about it. I told her the truth. I told her I was ticked off and had to call him to let him know it wasn't happening after he had pestered me to get a time arranged and everything (AND HAD IT ON THE SCHEDULE!) Then she asked me to tell her the truth, was he trying to make her quit. I laughed. I said No! and that *I* wasn't trying to get rid of her either, but that I wanted her to start following some basic rules. I don't want her making copies of the schedule anymore. She has to write down her hours and refer to them at home on her own calendar, and she has to re-check the schedule everytime she comes in. THIS IS COMMON PRACTICE AT EVERY JOB I EVER HAD!!! This woman thinks the whole damn world revolves around her., but she is oblivious to the fact that that view is wrong or would possibly annoy other people. She even said she wished she could just talk to Robert the way I do. I told her to just talk to him. Hell he's just a human being like everyone else.

Anyway, what amazes me is how I've just let everything slide off my back. I've even worked all my newly-scheduled minimum online hours, making my total for the 2 weeks well over 80. I'm not gonna get paid overtime thopugh I'll bet. I believe he's found some law or something that makes it possible to not add in-store hours to online hours. Figures. I'd better have my new raise included on my next paycheck though. That'll be a nice check :-D

Well that's it,.. no ranting lunatic in this post. Maybe next week ;)

Finally! Good Days!!!

I'm smiling finally. I do admit I really love my up days so much better than my down ones.

Sunday was a fairly good day afterall. Mom was really tired and was having a down day of her own. She cried a few times at the party. But I know she's doing better because she went to a Tupperware party the previous night, and cooked a pot of chicken and dumplings the day before. She's not great, but she isn't just laying around moping.
Sunday night was our Vampire game. I rearranged the living room, so now I get to sit in MY recliner for the game :-D Even though I had sent out emails to everyone telliong them NOT to show up til 6, 2 of the guys were here when we got home at 4:30. It never fails. I stifled my mood about it though til C announced that it's not a good idea to come early after I tell them not to. They both said they hadn't seen the emails. Oh well..

The game was pretty good. we finally ALL got together and did stuff as a group. Well, except C who fell asleep cause he never went to bed Sunday morning. My character Sabina got a new bike given to her by Luther, got a permanent asst manager job offer at her sire's dance club, and hwe a record deal to consider. And she's gotten the whole group to work together to find out where her ex bf is. He turned out to be some prophesied evil dude. He nearly killed her and wrecked her first bike with a curse. Now we know where he is and where he'll be staying when he gets back, and when. I can't wait to play again. :-D

Monday was pretty good too. Even though I have to hit the snooze button a half dozen times, I got to the mall close to on-time since I had to load the car with 7 large boxes all by myself. 2 in the trunk, 4 in the back seat, 1 in the passenger seat. Had to unload them by myself at the mall and re-load the car with their boxes. Most of it was all loose which fell off the cart. Fortunately it was a gorgeous day and I didn't mind being outside at all. :) Finally got to the office downtown around noon. I did some simple office work which I enjoy since it's a break from the actual store stuff. Then for about 2 hours, I got to play with html working on our website. I got this page's lifestyle images done. http://holmesshoes.com/WalkStore/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=56 I found the images, edited them, linked them to the categories and made the mouseover text. I actually also created the subcategories. Of course now the guy in charge of Timberlands on the website now has to link all the products to the subcats. Oh well, he gets paid for it. All in all, it was a pretty good day at work.

Christopher had an online Eberron game that night, so I went to a seminar on beginning to understand how the moderate the message boards. It was really good, and I get paid for it :-D

Today was good. Started very nicely ;) We slept in late, finally got dressed and had breakfast just before lunchtime. I called about getting car insurance. They said they'd call back with the quote. Then we went out for the day. Paid a bill, went to the antique store, got Zoe a doll and a rocking chair. Then we went to the gaming store and got a couple of SW minis for the Sunday game when we switch back to C's SWgame. Then we went to McDonalds with the indoor play area so Zoe (and we) could play a little.







What happened next is actually a rant I wanna get into later.
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Ok, So it's later. (Friday night actually) I just posted the next blog entry and realized I hadn't finished this one.

When I was getting ready to leave McDonalds. I called Laura at the shoe store to ask her to briong my workbook with her to Peggy's house because I didn't want to have to go all the way to the store to get it, tehn go on over to Peggy's, espceially not in the rain.... See we were supposed to have a training class of the 4 of us (not inclusing the new girl - who was working Tuesday evening) and the class was to be at Peggy's house because she had room and a VCR. Well, Laura was surprised to hear from me about it and asked if the class was that night. I said yes,.. and she said she didn't know. I informed her we had decided on teh day and time after she had discussed it with Peggy first,.. everyone knew about it,.. especially since it was on the work schedule at the store ...where they were... So by now, I was flustered,.. then she said Peggy didn't know about it etiher because she was there at the store. So I talked to Peggy. Peggy informed me she couldn't do the class since she didn't know about it because it wasn't written on the copy of the schedule she had at home and she had to cook dinner for her husband who needed to eat right at 5pm due to a class he was attending that night. I was absolutely flabbergasted at teh supidity I was hearing. I ended up trying to explain to no avail that her reasoning was totally flawed. She can't use the fact that it was because she didn't write it on a copy of the schedule she's not even supposed to have. She also apparently didn't tell Laura about it (although Laura should have LOOKED at the schedule. Nick was already at teh store doing onlien work, waitnf rot eh class to meet,.. and they *thought hje was kidding* when he told them it was that night. I am still utterly amazed at this... it's got to be the dumbest thing yet that's happened at the store.

As I said in today's blog (Fri April 15) Peggy brought it up again today. She STUILL doesn't feel she was in the wrong even though I pointed out she cost all 4 of us 2.5 hours off our paychecks and cost me and Nick time in getting our training done. Also, I told her I had planned my day around the meting Tuesday. She threw up the fact that I had mentioned that I "was going to bake brownies" but if I had planned my day around it, why hadn't I baked the brownies. I told her I had mentioned I "had planned" on it, but decided not to so I could spend the day with Christopher inxtead of baking... She had the NERVE to throw shit like that in my face after the stunt she pulled. She kept saying everyone makes mistakes (and brought up one time *2 YEARS AGO* that I forgot to check the schedule and didn't come ion at 1pm like I was supposed to, and the girl working had to cover for me even though she had plans. I told Peggy I can accept the fact that she forgot, but she had to understand it wasn't OK to say it wasn't her fault.... ARGH. she still just doesn't get it. I just dropped it.

Flirting

Ok,.. so call me bi-polar( like I care), my last post a few minutes ago was utterly depressing (I think) and now I'm talking about this

Out of no where a guy I know very vaguely has started flirting with me... and at about the same time a guy I knew years ago has reappeared and is flirting with me. WHAT THE HELL!?

I like the attention of course. But I'm just wondering what the hell planets are aligning that this stuff is happening...???? There is more, but I will not post it in this blog cause it's not anonymous. More stuff that has been happening (mostly all in my head-more than likely) that makes the flirting seem very coincidental and strange. It's almost ike my life is one HUGE deja vu.

Maybe that *is* what it's like to be crazy. LOL maybe my blogs can be research material for psych students someday after I'm diagnosed heheheheeh

Wow I need sleep.....

Ever Feel Like You're on the Verge of a Total Nervous Breakdown?

Seriously, as I write this,.. I can almost feel the brink of a panic attack. My heart is racing...

I've wanted to talk to my Best Friend (yes we capitalize it on purpose) for days now, but he's always unavailable. I know he might end up reading this, and I know mutual friends might read this as well... but a blog is where you get things off your chest, so at this moment,.. I've got to get stuff out and no one's online to talk to.

I don't even know what I'd say if I could talk to him,... Ever have one of those days when you just simply want to be *near* the person who you understands you? Ok ok, yes I *am* married,.. and yes Christopher and I are close. but it's different. I can't explain it,.. not even to Christopher. Of course other people just look at me funny when they find out my Best Friend is a guy 10 years younger than me on another continent. I really don't give a shit. I'm not making excuses to people. This is who I am. Take it or go away.

So anyway, I'm trying not to have a panic attack. I don't even know why I'm feeling this way. I've had so many things running through my head lately. Tomorrow is the birthday party. I *just* realized I was supposed to make headers for a display board my sister was making,.. I *completely* forgot all about it. I'm sure she just did it herself. Being around my family always causes some kind of anxiety.

I want to get into a new house before the kids go back to school in the fall and before Daniel comes to visit again,.. and that's getting to me. Our credit is as bad as it gets... I'm worried about so many things really. So many things I can't even name them all, so I won't bother.

I don't even know if talking to someone will help... Maybe I need to see a Dr. People my co-workers talk to at work talk about their mediacations for ADD and panic attacks etc. They talk about the ones they happen to both be on or whatever... So I think to myself, maybe that's what I need. We will finally have medical insurance again soon (Next month). Maybe it's time I saw someone about all this... Maybe I really am crazy.

Ok so today wasn't as bad...

Well, it did start raining just as I got off work and poured it down the entire time I had to paybills and run errands. As soon as I got home, it stopped and the sun came out. Go figure.

Tuesday was a good day though I didn't write about it. We took Zoë to the farm to look around and get some sunshine.

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She had a great time with Mommy and Daddy.

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But when I chased her around, she ran right to the prickly pear patch I had forgotten all about. And of course she fell down. She had seemingly hundreds of tiny little needles in her hand. I felt so sorry for her. We still had an hour's drive before we vould get home to the tweezers. I should have just put her hands back in the water. That seemed to have done the most good after we got her home, just cold water.



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We did have a great time otherwise. here's a couple more shots of the land. The hillside on the other side of the creek is going to be divided into a subdivision I think. So if we move back there someday, maybe the kids will actually have other kids to play with. I dunno... I'm really partial to living in the city now. I really liked Swindon,... a lot.



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Thursday Utterly Sucked...

I woke up Very tired from working 11 hours at store, then 1 hour modding chatroom, then til 1am editing website. So I got to work this morning draggin. I immediately felt guilt when I saw the work I’d left for myself to do cause I was too lazy to do it yesterday. So while I was already feeling guilt, I decided to call Mom even though it would cost me a fortune on my cell. She wasn’t home. Mom has Ovarian Cancer which is the incarnation of pure Evil on Earth. She’s been on chemo, had the surgery, been completely fine afterward and left the rest of us in the dust trying to keep up with her,… Until recently.

Just after Connie(my sister) and Mom decided to go in together on a business deal to sell their baked goods, things started going downhill. They couldn’t get the business til they got a certified kitchen. Then Mom started feeling a pain. She just knew it was the cancer again… one Dr told her it was constipation. So we laughed it off. Then she had to go to the hospital to drain fluid from her lungs. It wasn’t her heart this time, it was the cancer. Ovarian cancer causes fluid…LOTS of it. So after they drained it, she was still really weak. They put her on a new medication which is for something else, but should work on her problem. She was on it for a while. Last Monday she was supposed to come off of it and get the results from her Dr. I was supposed to call her… I never did.. I meant to. I work all day and have a million things occupying my mind and never even look at a phone til 10pm or so. Then yesterday was her birthday and I couldn’t call because I had to work 9am-8pm and my cellphone was dead.

Ok so I called this morning and there was no answer. So I called Connie’s house. No answer. So I called Connie’s cellphone. She answered and I asked if she was busy. She said “I’m sitting ehre with Mom in the hospital ER, what are YOU doing?” It was a nasty tone of voice… one I know well from her. So she said they needed to get Mom on fluids because she was completely dehydrated due to the chemo.. which I didn’t know she was on again,.. So I talked to Mom and she told me she didn’t believe I had meant to call.. she really had me in tears. I told her I did think of her and always meant to call,.. but she just didn’t know what my life is like… She actually then said “Well I forgive you” I know she doesn’t feel well. But I don’t think I deserved that.

I called back a little while later and asked if they had a room number yet. I planned to go see her since C needed to drive back to Rogersville today anyway. They said they wouldn’t admit her, but had given her a bag of fluids, a nausea shot and a med to make her hungry. Then as if nothing mean had been said, Connie said we needed to talk about the birthday party Sunday. I told her I’d get the garlic bread and not to worry about it. She said it would be for 60 people instead of the 100 she had told me. They said they’d see me Sunday… I guess it’s all fine and dandy now. Make Patty feel guilty, make her feel like the belly of a snake then forget it all happened.

They never asked how I was….

I’m not bitter…

Owwww...

Ok, I haven't worked out in a loooong time. I've had 2 days of upper body workouts with dumbells and 1 day of lower body workout. I can barely move.... I used to just do crunches, and my abs would be a little sore.. now I can't even stretch with a yawn without yelping in pain,... My abs are SO SORE! But that's not all,.. my triceps feel like they were ripped off and reattached. My back is achier than normal, and it's from muscle fatigue rather than the bone pain I normally feel. (3 vert. broken in 1989 car accident- not noticed by Dr. til too late to fix)

I didn't think the lower body one would be any big deal since my legs have always been pretty strong,.. but OMG.. I can barely walk now.

So I know this strength training regimin is good for my target areas,.. now I've got to get back to the cardio. I don't go to work til 12 noon tomorrow, so I'll go to the park and walk the trail. They lengthened it, so I think I'm going to walk an extra 1/2 mile to mile and then come back to the car. (I usually walk 1 mile then return to the car for 2 miles total).
The walking trail is so great. It's clearly marked each 1/4 mile from the starting point. has flashing light crosswalks at each street, and it's being lengthened to 4 linear miles (8 total if you walk back to beginning) complete with an overpass walkway over the 4 lane busier street.

As far as calories go,.. I had about 2000 the first day, then 1800 yesterday, but I totally blew it today.
Had WAY too much chocolate at work. And Peggy refilled the candy basket!!!! ARGH. What pisses me off is that she said she's starting her diet and has to lose 25 lbs by July when she goes on vacation,.. while she's filling the candy basket. I don't think she wants to lose the weight so much as she wants us to gain more than her! I had a hamburger with no mayo and fries for lunch, so not really healthy,.. Tonight we had a good dinner, pork, veggies, no starches,.. but then i had the leftover choc pudding from last night and then I ate the Fast Break candybar Peggy had given me (grrrr).

I've got to count calories and keep it at or under 1800 a day,.. that is a LOT harder than it sounds. And I'm so sick of bottled water... Gotta keep my mind set on my goal. I WILL BE 170 lbs by August!!!