Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Week In Review

We went with five couples to the Kenny Chesney Concert this weekend.  We saw Uncle Kracker, Billy Currington, Zac Brown Band and then Kenny Chesney.  It was a long hot day, but the music was great.  Long and hot are the important words in the last sentence.

Most adults realize that this concert is a great big party for adults.  Which means, there is going to be a lot of alcohol.  Add in the heat and the fact that we got there at 2 p.m and didn't leave until 11 p.m. and it becomes a recipe for disaster.  Seeing as I was the designated driver, I was witnessing everyone going down hill really fast!  At the end of the concert, there were only 4 of us left of our party of 12.  What happened to the other 8 people?  Ohhh, they all got kicked out for one reason or another.  Again, heat, alcohol and a long day don't mix well! 

We returned to realize we have an issue with our septic again.  You can read about our last issue (here).  I called the septic company, they came out and pumped our tank and then sent someone else out to take a look.  Seems that our leach field needs to be replaced.  Add in the doors that we are replacing, the new carpet, the tax bill and now the septic and I'm beginning to think someone believes we won the lottery.  We certainly would have waited on the doors if we had an inkling of all the issues we were going to have.

On a brighter note, Duchess had her senior checkup and all is well.  Her medications now cost more than all of our meds combined, but hey, go figure.  The doctor said they have few dogs over the age of 15, let alone Duchess' age of 16.  Her heart and lungs sounded good.  Not sure what we have done, but I guess we need to keep it up!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

I Hate Mondays, Yes I Know It is Thursday.

I should have known to just crawl into bed on Monday and forget getting up until the following one. 

Our Monday morning started with a transformer blowing up in the neighborhood, which ultimately caused us to lose power.  So, you hear the big BOOM from the transformer, which wakes you up, then you realize the power is off.  We have a generator that is hooked into the house, so the power isn't off long.  After about a minute of the power being off, the alarm clock went off.  Jeff crawled out of bed and I shortly followed.

As I walked out into the kitchen I couldn't believe how tired I was for 6:15.  I'm normally a wake up and ready to go kind of girl.  Jeff mentioned to me that the newspaper wasn't delivered this morning.  This surprised me since our newspaper is usually in our driveway by 5:45 a.m each morning. 

We drank our coffee, Jeff read the news on the computer and then got up to get dressed to leave for work.  I sat down to watch the morning news.  With everything going on in Japan, I wanted to see the news at 7, so I sat down to watch the local news until that time.  I had to fumble with the television since we had lost power and of course it messes up your cable as well.  At which point I glanced at the time on the cable box.

5:33 AM

As I sat and stared trying to figure out what the heck time was it really, the nice lady on the news informed me that yep, sure indeed, it was 5:33 a.m.  I walked into our bedroom to find Jeff fully dressed and ready to go.  "Wanna know why the paper isn't here yet?" I asked.  "Why", he replied.  "Because it is only 5:30 in the morning" I yelled back! 

Somewhere in the confusion of the power going out, and coming back on, our clock set itself to some funky time.  (And yes, we had set our clocks back on Saturday!)  I'm glad I discovered it before Jeff left.  It would have been interesting for him to one, not only work in the dark, but two, to show up at someones house at 6 a.m. for work! 

The day continued at our accountants office that afternoon where we discovered my former wonderful employer never took any federal withholding taxes out of my pay check last year.  I'm not even going into the explanation they gave me as to how and why it happened.  But this now causes us to have a LARGE tax bill that we were not expecting to have.  I could sit down and cry.  Truth be told, I did sit down and cry. 

That was the beginning to our week.  On a better note, I hope, we have selected someone to work for us.  We now have to wait on the insurance company to confirm his driving record and that he is okay to drive for us.  Guess when we get the answer?  MONDAY. 

I'm not even working and I hate Mondays!


Friday, March 11, 2011

I Don't Get It!

We have owned our own business since 2000.  During this time we have had numerous employees. And also numerous wanna be employees.

What do I mean by that?  This is an example of yesterday.

We placed an ad for a part time position with our company.  Within 4 hours of the ad being posted, we had 9 potentials.  We narrowed those down to three, then spoke and met with them. 

Every single person is pretty much asked the same questions, with the main one being, you are okay with part time?!  And the pay is this, with the potential of increasing.  Every single one of them said yes.  Jeff picked the person he thought would be the most helpful, and offered to let him start today to try it out.  We had a lot of rain yesterday, so he is far behind in the schedule for the week.

Excited with the prospect of having 3 employees today, Jeff headed out the door to get started.  And guess who didn't show up for work this morning! 

I don't get it.  If you don't want the job, just say so.  If something else comes up, have the courtesy to call.  We didn't give the opportunity to others because this one person said they wanted it.  We sold the business back in 2005 for primarily this same reason.  We were tired of people not being honest and not showing up for work.  You can't plan your day when you are not sure if people will show up. 

Work ethic seems to be dying a slow death.  The excuses we hear from employees as to why they are late, not showing up, etc. are almost funny.  But to have people rely on you and you don't show up is just ridiculous.  If there is one thing I hope we are instilling in our son is a good work ethic.  Go to work, do a good job and you will one day be rewarded.  The problem that I see is most want it all and they don't want to work for it. 

Here's to the weekend!  Jeff is going to need it!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Where Have I Been?

Where have I been?  It has been almost two weeks since my last post.

I would love to say that I was somewhere fabulous.  Hawaii, or the Bahamas or I don't know, anywhere.  But, no such luck.

We have just been busy.  It is Spring Break here, so my schedule is not normal right now.  I guess I should rephrase that.  It is Spring Break for Kyle this week.  Since we live in Florida, Spring Break actually lasts until late April!  Just try to drive out to the islands.  Or back for that matter.  Traffic just plain stinks this time of year. 

Last weekend we spent with some friends who were in town for their daughters basketball tournament.  It was fun having something a little different to do for the weekend.  Plus it was great to see the whole family and spend time with them.  The two youngest made soap with me.  They enjoyed the process and their soaps turned out great!

Next weekend is a biggie.  We will be in Tampa for the weekend with some friends for the Kenny Chesney concert.  Should be a great time! 

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Problem with Blogging

This has been my problem with blogging lately.




The weather.  I blame it all on the weather.  These are photos from where Jeff and I had lunch on Sunday.  Since Sundays tend to be the only day my husband gets to truly relax, this is how we choose to spend it. 

We pick a table in the shade, because lets face it, even if I have sunblock 115 on, it doesn't help.  I actually just had to get the windows in my car tinted because after a long drive, I came home with a farmers sunburn!  True story!

Then, we each order a few items, some wine, and kick back.  I think this past Sunday we were there for almost 3 hours.  I do tip well so our waitress won't hate us! 

And then, before we leave...
The smore's dessert.  This is OH MY GOODNESS good!  Brownie Sundea with graham cracker crusted ice cream, and marshmallow topping.  Then drizzled with chocolate sauce and caramel.  Was it any good?


I don't know.  You be the judge!