Waves in the Bathtub

Wow. Over a month since my last entry. How bizarre. From 2-3 posts a day to so few... life is moving at a quicker pace than I remember in a long time. Holidays over. Quiet this year. Yay.

Pickle hasn't been home much. We're now 18, so apparently we're taking full advantage of it. Kind of sad, but I guess we all go through that stage. Just seems like I worked so hard to finally get her home, and this is not where she wants to be. *sigh* ahh well.

On the other hand, Junior has come back to the nest. With fiancee in tow. Which is fine, because he's very pleasant and quite helpful. She, on the other hand.... *grin* She is down to one nearly full time job, and full time at school. He will be finishing up in March, and after she finishes her spring quarter, they will be moving down to the southeast in June. She wanted to be around here for all the big stuff for Pickle this year. It's been kind of fun having them around. Of course, parking becomes rather like a tetris puzzle, especially with the snow that hammered us over the last week. However, I am brushing up on my backing skills. lol.

They (being the kids) had cable installed. Yes, I know. It sounds impossible but I have not had cable or dish since I moved in here over a year ago. Actually, haven't had it for about 3 years. Never had time to watch it before, and just too busy catching up on things - it was an unnecessary expense. Thank Gawd. I am so addicted to the Military Channel, the History Channel, AMC, TNT and the frickin' cartoon network. We (as in me and dad) would watch dvds over and over. I love the music in The DaVinci code, Kingdom of Heaven and Underworld. I'm kinda likin' the political thrillers too. Shooter - awesome. I so want to be a sniper. Well, I did until I saw what the hell they had to go through at sniper school on a MC special the other night. I wouldn't make the walk from the truck to the field with my equipment and gilly suit! But it still would be awesome. I'm going to go with dad this spring to the gun club. We used to go all the time with him and mom when we were kids. We grew up around guns, as he loved shooting, and mom was a cop. It was just a way of life for us. He has a couple pretty incredible rifles. One is a 1943 Springfield, standard Army issue with iron sights. Put 5 in the SAME hole at 100 yards. We have the match paper to prove it. If you don't understand that, don't worry. :) If you do, you know how frickin' awesome that is for a non-scope rifle. Or even a scope rifle. I'm going to learn to shoot it again. I used to target shoot with handguns in junior high and high school. I miss it. Never really learned rifles. I guess I'll find out if I have the patience to do it.

College day this past week with Pickle at (one of) my old alma mater... what a completely cool walk down memory lane. I remembered when they put in a few of the buildings, told the little junior tour guide a few things SHE didn't know, and just had a wonderful day. Because, you know, it's all about me! ;)

We're going to take another one in March to the Carolina school. She wasn't sure she could 'coz she didn't know if we could afford it. My position is, if both schools are similar, and they have both accepted her, it would only be fair for her to see both of them and make a decision based on a true comparison. She was surprised. Meh. I did not take full advantage of my opportunities. Who am I to keep them down? My choices were mine; they need to explore their own worlds. Don't think I don't have jealous thoughts, though. I told Pickle she could have the house and the car, and I'd go back to school. :) She politely declined.

OOOOhhhh, she got a 1 on a Class A Choral Solo and Solo and Ensemble competition last week. Sweet. I can't wait until her dinner theater this year. She'll have a solo. And she has the lead in Guys N Dolls for the senior play. I'm stoked.

The accountant was in the office today to go over the first month-end/year-end with us. And I am awe-sooooome. 'Coz I understand what he was talkin' about. And we had very few adjustments. And the program came up with the same numbers he did based on his system. And we're gonna save moooonnneeey. 'Coz I am awe-sooome. I love my job. I work with computers, numbers, and problem-solving, and few people. And run the operational end of it. Successfully.

So successfully, I might add, that last week we had a meeting (we being me and the four owners) to go over progress with the new system, and where we stood. I had created some reports for production and daily dispatching that have helped. The production manager said it's made his job planning the line work much easier. The payroll is now done in 1 hour rather than 4. We have developed even more catch features to make sure that loads are not slipping through the system. We are in a position where I can hand my boss a report at any given time, accurate to the penny on the cost of our equipment, including all fuel, maintenance, insurance, and revenue generated and the cost of labor for each tractor and trailer. Did I mention it has been successful? :) Ahh yes. And they wanted to all be there at the meeting to let me know that they appreciated my efforts, and were pleased at how smoothly I handled the transition. AND that in my check this week was a bonus. $1000. Seriously. I just about fell out of my chair. The office manager (my boss' sister) said they felt I deserved that much just hearing my boss bitch all the time. *deadpan* "Only a grand? Have you HEARD him whine???" Truly, he is doing exceptionally well. He is using the system the way it is meant to be used, and it is working. He still gets a little nervous, but he runs through the screens, remembers where to find stuff, and looks like a little pro. I give him the thumbs up and tell him, "Good Job." All the time. And he hates it. A lot. So I do it. A lot. Because that's how I roll. *wink*

Then my boss gave my a card that he had written himself thanking me, with gift cards to Applebee's and Kohl's. $50 each. How cool is that? So of course, I called up M (my old boss and mentor) and took her out to eat, 'coz she's a large part of my success. I told her I want to be like her when I grow up. :) She laughed. I told her I was serious; she is an inspiration as far as professional women go, and if I had half her skills, I would be most fortunate. She's the bestest!

So of course, I wrote personal thank you notes (yes, handwritten - such a lost art) to all of them. To the office manager, I thanked her and told her how much I enjoyed working for her. Mostly because of her wicked sense of humor - which matches mine. To the production manager and his wife, I told them how wonderful and generous their family is. Oh, and he's ok too. She got a huge kick out of that! Now, my boss is always having me write up letters/emails, etc because he claims I have a "gift" for putting his thoughts into words. So, of course, I had to remind him of this on the thank you card, which read:

Thank you so much for the gift cards. Your generosity is overwhelming. (Insert more witty, prolific verbage here.) Much appreciated! Miss B.

He laughed. Phew.

Anyhow... busy with homework, busy with kids (who, btw, have been told that a condition of them staying here is that they MUST play board games with me once a week) and busy at work. I haven't been this happy in a long time.

Our bosses built a new building on the lot for meetings, gatherings and such. It also includes an area with gym equipment, free to all employees. Every day at lunch I go over there and walk, or bike, and work with the weights three days a week. They even included a surround-sound home theatre system (Bose) so we can listen to radio, cd's, watch dvd's or just tv while we workout. And there's a shower area. I am by no means anywhere near where I was 20 years ago *cries* but I'm feeling better. And I'm drinking more water. yuk. One of the office girls goes over with me. She's fun, but she's a talker. Always yakkin' about something. And I really like her, but STFU already. I try to turn the music up really loud. I know, I'm a heel, but it's less rude than putting on my mp3 player and ignoring her completely.

I can't do the elliptical yet because of the knee, but I alternate walking and jogging for 30 minutes on the treadmill. On the weight days, I also do a cardio workout on the bike. Yea, these are high-tech, professional level pieces of equipment. Did I say I love my job? Actually, the goal is to just get the blood pressure down enough to come off the medicine. I'm on a very low dose, because it's borderline, so if I drop some weight, I believe it will take care of itself.

Crazy dreams the last few weeks. Many with Captain Crazy in them. Real. Wake up and believe he's been there real. Disturbing. Not sure why those thoughts are showing up now. They were gone for a long time. I hate when the past creeps up and interrupts our daily life. Hopefully they shall pass again.

And Mr M, forgive me. I miss talking to you, and I have received your messages. I hope you will understand that with your current relationship so public, and obviously moving into a more serious realm, that I am uncomortable. It's not that I don't enjoy your company; I always did. I'm just not one to spend time with someone just because they are there, or talk about personal stuff, or let someone into that space that is mine, especially if there is no future in it. I truly wish you and your lady-friend the best. It's great to see happy people together. I'm still hoping to find mine out there, so I best keep moving forward...

And thus ends the ramble... how was YOUR month?