Where does the time go ....

I believe yesterday was Christmas ... or am I mistaken?

I say that because now it is March. 3 months into the year already. 2007. Did I just catch up with the concept that time is passing us by you wonder ? My point is this -- I have friends that have new babies. I have friends that have just been married, or have weddings coming up. I think of all the wonderful things they have in store, and I look at my own 2 kids. All of the milestones they have conquered, and the ones coming up. On March 15th, we have HIGH SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE NIGHT.

That`s right. My baby, born 14 years ago in January, starts Grade 10 next year.

Oh. My. God.

This is what I meant about the time going so quick. The milestones started to blend into one another. First car ride - home from the hospital. Age 3 days. First trip shopping with Mom - to Kingsway Mall with Dad and Grandpa. Age 4 days. When she was born she was 7 lbs even, and was 18 3/4" long. Now she's as tall as me, and borrowing my clothes (and shoes, and makeup....).

She's really turned her grades around this year too. She went from a B-C average last year, to really studying and being prepared and getting an A-B average this year. I am so proud of her, but I still wish some days she was a toddler running around in pink, singing to herself and visiting Gram to make cookies and lick the bowl.

She has an opinion about everything, something that has grown with her since she was that toddler. Now it's starting to be tempered with a little bit of wisdom. The things that make you go hmmmmmm. She`s starting to consider her actions rather than just running out and throwing herself into what she wants to do. How did I get here? You try to be a good parent, and you're never sure if you're doing it right, and then suddenly you wake up one day and its obvious you did SOMETHING right.

I swear ... just yesterday .... I was starting high school .......

What Super Hero Are You ??

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern 70% Spider-Man 65% Robin 55% Catwoman 55% Wonder Woman 53% Superman 50% The Flash 50% Supergirl 48% Hulk 45% Iron Man 45% Batman 40%

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

The Sun is still shining ....

I had to smile this morning when I took Anthony to school. You know how you get that frost on your windows that makes the perfect backdrop for a single snowflake ?? That's what I saw this morning. I was wishing I had my camera, because you could see every detail on that snowflake.

It was perfect. 6 sides, all feathered out at the edges with a perfect circle at the center of it. It looked like someone had taken a paintbrush and painted that snowflake on my window, at just the right height, and it was just for me. Just a little something to wake me up.

I noticed the sun was a little brighter this morning, it was a little higher in the sky than it was yesterday at this time. My coffee tasted a little more rich when I poured myself a cup, and it doesn't seem like there's as many dishes to clean up this morning.

My heart feels lighter today too, it's amazing what you notice when you open your eyes and take a sec to look around.

I'm going to make the most of this and go for a walk. Who knows what else I'll discover ??

Would Somebody out there please explain the rules to the silly people ?!?!?!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I'm getting tired of people telling us "........ your rent will be this much ......." and then coming back to us and saying "...... oops, your rent is actually going to be THIS much........".

This is the SECOND place that's done this to us, so needless to say -- I don't think we're moving. Sigh. On one hand, I'm glad I don't have to pack anything else right at the moment, but on the other hand -- I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO mad !!! When I got home from work today (and what a day it was!), there was an email from the guy with the duplex saying something about a misunderstanding. When I got into the body of the message, he itemized all of the charges and credits he said he told us about. But there's a big difference in the basic rent. I went back to the site where we originally found the listing, and surprise surprise -- it's been updated. Since I delete no email before its time, I went back to the original email he sent me at the beginning of January that quoted the original amount he told us, and emailed it to him with a nice statement. And yes I was nice. Basically, the ball is in his court. And if he comes back and says "no, it's supposed to be THIS much ..." I don't know what I am going to do.

I even had a moving supervisor all lined up! (Thanks Miss Lily -- you'll have to stay home with Mom for now !!)

So, we are back to square one. Sigh. We should get our notice of rental increase at the end of this month, and we have until the first of June before it takes effect. We don't even know how much its going up, so maybe we'll stay here for another year. Or 6 months. Or whatever.

I think i'm going to go soak in the tub. I'll worry about it all tomorrow, because -- and I quote "After all, tomorrow is another day ........" (Scarlett O'Hara). End quote.

We Found A New Place to Live !!!

Yay !

We found a new place to call home. It's not a house (yet) but will allow us to pay off our car loans, and add to our down payment before we take that step.

It's a half duplex, and its not even 5 minutes away from where we are now. The kids will be able to finish school where they are, and will still be able to walk to school next year.

The property has been renovated; they have a new roof that was redone last year, and hardwood throughout, with new ceramic tile in the kitchen and dining room. It will be soooooooooooooo nice to not have carpet to vacuum !! The rooms are a little smaller, it's 1050 sf in total, but we'll also have the basement to use as well. It comes with fridge/stove/washer/dryer, and a bonus offer: if we look after the maintenance of the yard on both sides, and shovel sidewalks etc. we get a $200 credit towards our rent ($100 per side). We don't have to buy any equipment either, they will supply the lawnmower and shovels and whatever else is needed. There's a plot in the front that has been growing weeds for the last couple of years, so I even get a garden to plant flowers in !!

We lucked out BIGTIME finding this place, and it has an HD connection: the guy that's renting to us has a daughter that works in the paint dept. in St. Albert. What are the odds ?

The yard is fenced, with a center partition so our yard is just that ... ours. The living room windows face north, and there is a seniors lodge across the street from us, so we don't have to worry about noisy neighbors. The night we went to look at it, we stood at the bottom of the sidewalk and you couldn't even hear dogs barking. Of course, it's winter and they were all in the house, but I don't think it will be much different in the summer.

The window in the kitchen is right above the sink, it'll be nice to wash dishes and be able to see something rather than just a wall. Window coverings are included, but I have some returned blinds at the store that will fit and look better. I am sooooooooo psyched to get out of here. As much as I love it here, this is a new adventure .. and we're still close to everything -- shopping, doctor, schools, work and family.

I'm going to go snap some pics to post - be back in a flash !

Do I really need a title ??

I don't think I do, but I guess I can't post without one.

I have become dull. No, really !

I go to work, and come home. Sometimes I sleep. Then I go to work and come home. I might get out for groceries. I close my eyes, I open them and I go to work and come home.

I am in a rut.

On the flip side of this highly entertaining blog, work is just that -- work.

I am still getting the choice shifts, the 2-11's, because (and I quote): "I can't work nights ... I have a family at home you know ....." Hmmmm. Does this mean Andy and the kids are chopped liver ??

I also have keys, so sometimes I get to open. Like today when everyone else was scheduled for training. And there was one other person in with keys at 10am. And no ASM's until 2. And she called in sick. And I started at 5 and couldn't go for any kind of break, because I was the only manager in the building. Sigh.

But to my credit, my departments had a fantastic year in 2006. We were able to make plan in both, and comp some decent numbers. I have also managed to train 2 people and get them promoted elsewhere in the building. John gets to go to Hardware as DS, and Lorne gets to go to Tool Rental as DS. I have new department specialists, and have managed to hire some pretty decent people.

Inventory is upon us, and we look pretty good. HD is restructuring again, they have eliminated the ISM position, it will now be looked after by the Special Services Manager (which we have to hire for ...), and they are hiring someone called Zone Managers for each district who will address nothing but customer issues. They will be the only point of contact, and will deal directly with the installers on issues - so no more headaches at store level for us ! Yay !

Of course, that's the idea. Whether it works out that way or not is something else.

It's a Brand New Year !!

And how did we ring it in ?

We went down to Betty's and had snacks, conversation, and non-alcoholic beverages until about 10:30 when Andy and I kept dozing off on the couch. I had been up since 4am because I was the opening manager at work, and I knew I should have had a nap before we went down but never got to it. I moved to the lazy boy chair and that was it. Betty woke me up a few minutes later and told me to go home and come back next year ... which I did. We all went home and were asleep by 11. Are we exciting or what ??

I had to work New Year's Day as well, because now everyone is open on New Year's (thanks Sears!), and thankfully it wasn't that bad for us. Everyone kept coming in and saying "You know you're the only store open on this block ??". Yes, trust me, we knew.

January 2 was Lisa's 14th birthday. It seems like yesterday she was Lily's size, exploring things and learning about her world. Now she's a teen getting into all thing black (clothes, nail polish, eyeliner), vampires (don't ask me where this came from), and generally becoming an almost straight-A student. Her grades have improved so much this year from last year, we're starting to wonder if she's the same person. She's still playing the saxophone, and has become "quite accomplished" according to her music teacher.

She had a couple of friends over to help her celebrate, and they stayed in her room listening to music all afternoon, venturing out only for pizza and birthday cake. I always told her when she was small her birthday gift was a whole year in which to do whatever she wants, her gift from me this year was a journal to start recording what she does with her year. I've always saved the front pages of the newspaper for her since she was born, and its interesting to see how things have changed, and what the big news is every year. There's always the stories about the new year's babies, but the headlines are what's really interesting.

The kids finally went back to school on Monday, and I'm slowly starting to pack things up in preparation for our move. We haven't found anything yet, but we're packing the non-essentials and are going to store them in Rick's garage until we do move. That way we'll have less (or so the theory goes).

So that's the update for now. Back to my packing ....

My Wishes for Christmas ...

I thought this would be a neat post to do, and thought long and hard about what I wanted to wish for. So here goes:

- 2 Front Teeth. For Anthony, who lost his other front tooth last week and refuses to sing that silly song. LOL.

- Tolerance, for those that have none.

- Patience, also for those who have none.

- A new home for all of us, with a yard. I love the smell of fresh cut grass, and promise to faithfully mow the lawn whenever it needs it. I also seem to remember something in one of Carrie's blogs about the proper way to mow the lawn, according to her Dad, and may have to look that up. LOL.

- Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. Nuff said.

- A winning lottery ticket.

- Enough money to support my quest of finding said winning lottery ticket.

- Enough money to afford a new home in which to purchase said winning lottery ticket.

- A day of fun and frivolity with the kids, where everyone has fun and wants to do it all over again. I have a plan in mind for this .. Ill let you know how it goes.

- A month of Sundays, all of them non-working. Sigh.

I can't think of anymore ... but you get the idea. Happy Christmas !!

We Qualify !!

For our First Mortgage !! OMG!

When Andy phoned me at work to tell me, I just about fell over. Really. I thought we would, but actually knowing was such a HUGE relief. We're thinking that we still want to get rid of a few bills (car loans) before then, and that will put us in a better position down the road, but the stability of our jobs, and the fact we've never missed a payment on anything was the clincher.

So now we have the fun of searching for a house. I told Andy to make a list of 'needs' and 'wants'. We 'need' at least 3 bedrooms. We 'want' a decent sized yard to have a garden in. You get the idea.

I can't wait to choose paint and put it on the wall. I can't wait to choose flooring and install it myself. I can't wait to have a garden, and plant flowers in a flowerbed, instead of just a window box. I can't wait to invite everyone over and have a barbeque and roast marhsmallows over the fire pit. I can't wait to plant Anthony's grade one spruce tree into our yard so we can watch it grow along with him.

I just can't wait ....

Did you know .... ?

- ... The offer to buy our apartment had to be in on November 30? They gave us 3 DAYS to see if we could come up with the $$$ before they started showing our suite ! The first people to look at it so far, left their GARBAGE COFFEE CUPS on my kitchen table ! The second people to look at it came in when we were setting up our Christmas tree over the weekend. They came in and left just as quick. "Wow, the carpet is really old ....." I can't wait to be out of here.

- ... There is a Federal Government program for first time home buyers? It will let you double your down payment, and in some cases WRITE IT OFF AS TAX DEDUCTIBLE ! We have an app't to talk to the Realtor who's site we found it on. We have enough for our downpayment, we figured it out over the weekend. Between RRSP money and a gift from a friend, we are ready to go ! Yay!

- ... It is impossible to lick your elbow ?

- ... Elephants are the only mammal to have 4 knees ?

- ... Stressed spelled backwards is DESSERTS ? Hmmmmm desserts .... be right back !!

Be It Ever So Humble ....

Main Entry: con·do·min·i·um
Pronunciation: "kän-d&-'mi-nE-&m
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -iums also con·do·min·ia /-nE-&/
Etymology: New Latin, from Latin com- + dominium domain
3 a : individual ownership of a unit in a multiunit structure (as an apartment building) or on land owned in common (as a town house complex); also : a unit so owned b : a building containing condominiums

Main Entry: mort·gage
Pronunciation: 'mor-gij
Function: noun
1 : a conveyance of or lien against property (as for securing a loan) that becomes void upon payment or performance according to stipulated terms. Also known as the money that one pays out to live in the aforementioned definition of condo.

That's right. Our apartment building was sold last month. The new owner seemed like a nice enough guy. Until last night when our building manager John came upstairs to tell us that our new owner is "selling" his apartments for investor properties. In other words, the building is going condo. Merry Christmas boys and girls.

We have first option of buying our apartment, at a "fair market value", and as much as we were looking to get into a mortgage in the first place, this wasn't where we wanted to do it. Of course, we don't want to have to move in the middle of winter either. Nothing will happen without 3 months notice anyway, the rent won't change, and they can't make us move before then. If we don't buy, then we could get some new owner who wants our suite, or won't fix anything, or half a dozen other possibilities we can think of. (And have ... mostly in the wee hours of the morning.)

So back to the fair market value thing. We have a 3 bedroom apartment, on an upper floor, with a balcony. It's a big space, I would estimate it at 1200 sq.ft. I'm betting on $200,000. The apartment we used to live in downstairs is a 2 bdrm that is now on the block for $147,000. I think I will revise my estimate to $225,000. There's some repairs that need to be done, maybe that will reduce the value a little. I don't know.

Andy was so upset last night, he didn't even eat his dinner. He tends to look at the absolute worst side of things first, a "the-glass-is-EMPTY" kind of guy, and nothing I could say or do last night would persuade him otherwise. He has reason to worry, we are paying off 2 vehicles right now. Plus other assorted expenses. Will we qualify for a mortgage? Do we have enough saved for a down payment? Apartments are scarce right now, with the vacancy rate the lowest its been in 20 years.

Then there will be condo fees too. Sigh.

My Five Bucks

This is the funniest post I will ever write ... Trust me !!

Ok, so the story goes like this: Gary in hardware (yes Carrie, Grumpy-Old-Gary ...), comes to me in the lunchroom one day, and asked me to sign a T&A for him. (A T&A is Home Depot speak for Time and Attendance .. if you forget to punch in or out, or have training you need to fill one in to get paid, and it needs to be signed by a manager.)

I told him I had no problem signing it .... for Five Bucks. He laughed and said put it on my tab, I'll pay you later. I'm not worried I know where he works. (He knew I was kidding ... or so I thought).

So yesterday he comes to work, with this Cat-ate-the-Canary look on his face, and he was carrying a box. He hands me a little card, and says read this before you look in the box. The card looked like this:




And inside reads:
Tracy,

A while ago I asked you to sign a T&A for me. You stuck out your hand and said "five bucks!". Well here they are! Of course they are the short Italian ones. Watch out for "Ruldolpho" (the one with the red nose). He tends to get into the "Christmas Cheer" (Chianti) a bit to much for his own good!

Gary S.

And this was what was in the box:







My Five "Bucks" !! He made my day -- I laughed so hard, and I showed them to everyone! Just goes to show you can't judge a book by its cover. He made them all himself, and totally surprised me -- I can't wait to fill them up with Christmas Candy and leave them all over the house.

Update on Mom

Being busy at work is fun and not so fun.

It tends to take away from blog-updating time. It also makes it hard to visit Mom in the hospital.

My sister Erin and I took Mom in (finally!) for her cancer surgery on the 26th. We got her all checked in and settled, and then we helped to get her prepped for surgery. The Nurse was so great, we even had some laughs before they took Mom in. The nurse had to find the pulse in Mom's foot and mark it so they could monitor it throughout the surgery, and she wasn't having any luck finding it with her stethoscope, so she went and got one of those portable machines that you listen to baby's heartbeats with. I whispered to Erin it would be funny if a little voice came over the speaker saying something like "no habla espanol...", and I was laughing so hard after I said it I had to leave the room. Erin was so disgusted with me. She doesn't like hospitals much, she spent so much time in them when she was a kid.

They took Mom in about 9am, and said they would call us when she was out of Surgery. So we went for breakfast .... downtown. We left the car at the U of A and took the LRT to Edmonton Center. I can't remember the last time I was downtown! When we got back to the hospital, we checked in with Admitting to see if Mom had a room yet, and she did so we went up to the ward. She hadn't come up from Surgery yet, so we waited in the visiting area just outside. And waited. And waited.

She didn't come upstairs until almost 3:30, because she kept falling asleep in the recovery room and making the monitors go all funny. She had a spinal aenesthesia, so she was awake throughout the procedure. At least she wasn't sick afterwards, which usually happens if they put her right under. (If I was her, I would have said "ouch" sometime during the operation to see if they were listening.) Tee hee hee.

She had a basal cell carcinoma removed from her lower right leg, and a skin graft from higher on the same leg to cover the area where the cancer was. It looks really cool! (I know -- how could I say that?) I remember before the surgery her legs were always so swollen, afterwards her blood pressure has levelled out and her legs look back to normal! She even has ankles!

She came home on Tuesday after 10 days, and she has a walker to help her build up her strength, and home care comes everyday to changes her dressings. I'm so glad this is all over with !! The cancer was really starting to pollute her system, it hadn't spread, but Mom says she feels better now overall. And I know she'll be around a lot longer now ... :-) !

The busy at work part ?? Oh my god! It's been a zoo! Our free underpad carpet promo was over on Oct 22, and it helped us have our biggest week EVER! We had a day where Flooring did just over $40k, and it helped us finish the week at $140k ! (So I am now on the plus side for sales YTD, erasing the negative Numbers we were in. Yay!). Installs for the week finished just shy of $80k. YTD we are over $100k. I think we may make $2 million this year in labor sales. Can you believe it ?!

This was Halloween at our house ...

Anthony was "Mr. Incredible".




Lisa was the Monster from "Scream".




Artemis was his usual self.



And I was the pumpkin ... LOL!



The kids had a blast even though it was so cold. We ran into some of their friends and they stayed out for almost 3 hours. A stop at Tim Horton's on the way home for Hot Chocolate and that was it. Hopefully it won't be as cold next year ... !

I Came ThisClose To Winning the Lottery ....

... on my birthday. The numbers for the Super 7 were:


10 16 23 24 27 33 46 Bonus 25


My ticket looked like this:



After I circled the fourth number, I had to put the ticket down. When I looked again, I saw I only had the four numbers, but was close on the other ones. What a birthday present that would have been !!!

It's My Birthday today ...

I'm 39 for the FIRST time.



The funny thing is, I don't feel old. I don't know how to explain it. When you think of someone saying they're 39, it makes you go "wow, they're old!". I fully agree with people when they say age is just a number. It really is. I may be 39 in actuality, but some days I'm 12 playing pranks on people, and on the days where something happens, someone you love leaves you, then I'm in my 60's and just want to sleep. Know what I mean ?

When I put on a pink shirt, and some makeup to go out with friends, I'm 16 and full of mischief, you never know what will happen when you hang out with your friends. When I go out for a walk to crunch the leaves under my shoes (because fall is the best time of the year!), I'm reflective and remember how many times I've done it before, so I'm older.

I love where I am in my life, and I love how I got here. I would do everything the same, because I have awesome friends, and a family I love. Everything happens to shape the person you are or will become. My favorite quote is this: Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born. (Anais Nin) It kind of sums it all up doesn't it?

I've decided I'm going to have my pumpkin pie early, instead of birthday cake. (Who am I kidding ?!?! .... I know I'm going to have my cake too !!) I can't wait for what this year will bring. As I move from my 30's into my 40's, my inner self might make it to 20. :-)

Happy Anniversary to Us

It's our Anniversary today - We have been married for 17 years. Wow!

September 9, 1989. It was an overcast Saturday. Clouds were threatening to rain (and they did - but later, that's part of the story). I was still living with my Mom and sister just off 127th street, but I had moved most of my things into our new place on 124th street. I got up around 8 to do the last minutes things, get my hair done, get Andy to go get the flowers etc. My sister brought me coffee, and a card that said "On Your Wedding Day", that made me cry and still does everytime I read it.

Our wedding was at 2pm, and it was very small and intimate. Family and close friends, some from my work, some from Andy's and neighbors that had watched us grow up. Did I tell you I've known him since I was 7? LOL. Back to the story. There was about 30 people in all. My sisters friends drove me to the Church (in between bouts of rain) and we were there with time to spare.

The Priest we had had all of our meetings with was a nice Irish man, Father Cunningham. He phoned me the morning of the wedding to let me know that he had been called out of town on a family emergency, and another priest was going to marry us, Father Cordeaux. He was more upset than I was, but I told him I understood and all was well.

My sister was my bridesmaid, my best friend was my Maid of Honor, and Andy's Brother and Best Friend stood up for him. I didn't have anyone walk me down the aisle, and I remember wishing how much my Dad was still alive so he could have had the honor. I think he was there with me in spirit though.

After we said our vows, and our prayers, (there was no mass since I'm not catholic), we lit our candle together, and signed the register before he pronounced us Man and Wife. No sooner were the words out of his mouth, than it started to HAIL. It echoed on all of the stained glass panels in the roof, and EVERYONE looked up at the ceiling. My sister turns to me and says "It's the wrath of God!" It was hilarious! Our photographer, just at that moment, snapped a pic of our wedding party at the front of the church trying not to laugh.

The church we got married in is attached to a Senior's home with beautiful indoor gardens, and that's where we took our pictures. Then we went to the Edmonton Inn where we had a quick brunch, just the wedding party, before heading home to take some more pictures and have our reception. We had family, neighbors and close friends all come over for a buffet dinner that my Mom and Andy's Mom put together. We didn't want to rent a hall and then have to worry about cleaning up after, this was more fun.

So where are we now ? 17 years later, we have 2 great kids, careers we can live with and we're looking at finally getting into a house. We have some great old friends we've stayed close to, and have met some great new friends along the way. Would I change anything or do anything different? Nope. I married the man who knows me best (and likes me anyway!), and I'm looking forward to the NEXT 17 years.

Did I tell you I've known him since I was 7 ? That's another story ....

Note to self ....

Figure out the RIGHT way to post links to what you want people to read. Grrrrrrrrrr.


Stupid computer.

Today

... was an interesting day. Just in general. I caught up with an old friend, reached out to a new friend via a current friend, and found out I'll have to say goodbye to someone who's become a friend over the last year.

Intrigued? Read on ....


As I was cleaning out my hotmail that I had been neglecting for a few days (me? neglect mail?), I came across one from

Classmates

that said I had new mail. I opened it up and there was a message from someone I went to elementary school with! We had got together a couple of years ago, and had lost touch since then, but have been emailing furiously back and forth to make up for lost time. Her family took my sister and I in when my Mom had to have surgery away back when. We had no one else to stay with, and since we all went to school together, it made sense. She lives in Calgary and works for one of the Oil companies down there, I'm not sure which one. Hopefully we can arrange to get together soon .. I have some holidays coming up and since the kids will be in school and Andy at work - it's the perfect time to go.

My new friend is someone I've met before, at Carrie's wedding. Her name is Amy. Carrie sent out a questionaire a few days ago via email, and when I filled out mine I emailed it to whom she sent hers. I got a reply from Amy asking "is this the Tracy from Depot? If not, who the heck are you ??" So I emailed back to say yes it was me, and she could email me back anytime. I was going to send her some

Ptarmigan

recipes, but she said she had been sent a couple already. Apparently they like to fly into the side of your vehicle and lay on the road dead. One of the responses to Amy's questionaire asked if anyone had any good recipes for that and for

Caribou

so hopefully she finds one she can use. She's "Up North" in the "Frozen Tundra" so we'll have to email her lots of stuff to keep her occupied.

The friend I have to say goodbye to? Rob - our HR Manager at work. Over the last year he has been a listening post, advice dispenser, "is this really what you want to do" guy, lot attendant, how-come-no-one-saved-any-cake-for-me? guy, all over the district guy, and someone who I felt totally comfortable with just walking into his office unannounced and flopping in a chair. He's been promoted to District HRM for all of Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan ! He's originally from the center of the universe also known as the Greater Toronto Area, and will be working out of the Store Support Center there. WAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !

I mean that in a good way though. Change is inevitable. The more you resist, the worse it gets. So that was my day at work. I wonder what will happen tomorrow ....

Back to the Flooring Dept ...

Well, I am back in Flooring, as of this Monday. I'm exhausted !!

I'm not used to doing manual labor anymore ... (that's what i've been calling it all week.) I told one of the girls in the office I was going to have to charge all my shower gel/soap back to HD, since I shower before AND after work for the last few days. But I have to say the department hasn't been this clean for a long time !

My first order of business is to get the showroom cleaned up - so it actuall RESEMBLES a showroom. I washed all the blind pods down, and did all of the displays up to the front of the store where my wallpaper tables are. (That's tomorrow's project!) I have calls into Product Reps to double check samples/displays, etc., and make sure those are all up to date. I have someone repricing all of my carpet samples (something we had asked to be done in February), and I even managed to clean up some of the displays in the aisles.

I've been able to assign some stuff out as well, and am compiling a list of who-does-what so I can remake aisle assignments and stuff. I have some people that are transferring over from other departments and some that have tranferred to other departments. It's been an interesting few days.

We'll see what tomorrow brings, but for now .... i'm falling asleep at my keyboard ... zzzzzzzzzz ...