Monday & Tuesday, 28th & 29th of March 2011

Surgery & the day after.

Monday had to be at the hospital at 5:30 , Surgery scheduled for 7:15. It was scheduled to take 6 hours, they finished up in 4. Not to bad, Dr Teal told Robert there was a lot of arthritis they cleaned up, they removed the degenerate discs in between the vertebra replacing it with donor bone/glue mix, fusing the C3 to the C6 together and placing a plate on them. So major drugged up last night, did ok. Except for one hour when I had all sorts of alarms going off ran out of my pump of hydomorph and couldn't get my nurse to come help. But on her behalf when she finally did come after almost an hour & a half, she said they'd gotten busy down stairs, I think she had to go help.

Today a different day, liquid diet since last night, took pain meds this morning, then a couple of pills for head ache this afternoon. So doing fairly well, hope to go home tomorrow. If my drains have stopped draining I will get to go home.

Before the surgery, they asked if I was diabetic, I said no, they did a blood test I was an 88, during the surgery and after they've been given me steroids and apparently is makes you diabetic while on them. After the surgery it registered 148, then 163, down to 161, up to 168, of course like I said earlier been on a liquid diet of popsicles, jello & fruit juices along with a bowl of beef bouillon. Then Dad & Debbie came to see me around 10 and brought me a large raspberry limeade from Sonic so later when they did a test it was over 200. So since last night I've been getting insulin shots. Hopefully that will go back to normal also after I go home.

Had a beautiful set of flowers delivered from my friend Kelley. Cindy, Uncle David & Aunt Glenda, Glen & La Rue stopped by for a visit and delivered a beautiful set of roses ordered by my Mom, Alicia & Robin.

So that's about all I have to report on, just hanging out in my room, get poked and prodded, watching tv and that's about it.

Thanks for all your prayers. It means a lot.

God Bless

Sunday, 27th of March 2011

What did I do today??? LOL, slept till 10, went to Walmart with my hubby to grab a few extra groceries and Robert needed 2 new batteries for the truck. When we got home I cleaned out and cleaned the fridge for the groceries. Robert noticed that the fridge didn't seem to be working right a couple of days ago, then it seemed ok. When I was putting things in the freezer I noticed that the ice cream that was in there was very soft, not melted but super soft. So I told Robert and he started checking out the freezer, pulled the fridge out from the wall, vacuumed the back. It's still up in the air if there might be something broke or not, it's cooled down but not as much as it should be.

We were invited to dinner at Glen & La Rues. Amanda & Jason were gonna come over to spend some time with us, so La Rue said they could come with, it would work out fine cause her oldest daughter & her husband and 2 kids were gonna be there also. It was very nice, great pork loin for me and a braut, mashed taters, mac & cheese and salad. After dinner we watched The A-Team, lets say tried to watch, between the 1 & 2 year old grand girls running around and climbing all over Robert on the floor and their cute little giggles and me sleeping on the couch, in and out. lol I can't say we really watched it. LOL I'll have to order it on blockbuster and watch it again. lol

We got home around 10:30, Robert started messin with the fridge and I started getting things ready for my trip tomorrow.

It's midnight now and I have about 4 1/2 hours before we leave for the hospital, surgery in T minus 7 hours & 25 minutes.

I'll be off for a couple of days but as soon as I can I'll catch ya'll up. not sure how this will work since I like to sit with my lap top on my lap, having a neck brace on not sure how it will work. I'll figure it out. Till then, May you each have a blessed week, God love and keep you.

Saturday, 26th of March 2011

I crashed after going to bed last night, just after 11 and believe me when the alarm went off just before 5 I was not ready to get up. But I did, got ready for work while Robert didn't move, lol, that's a switch, usually he's getting ready while I snooze away.

Dark drive to work, since the sun wasn't even up yet. Got there right at 6. The large to go order I was wrong I think I reported it was for Lowe's it wasn't, Mike's been in talks with Home Depot to do a large to go bulk meal. Any way this one, and the reason I had to work today, was for the National Guard, on maneuvers. We had eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuit and hash brown casserole for 66, a grand total of $1320 before tax, and they were tax exempt. They were supposed to pick it up at 7:30 and by 9:30 still hadn't shown up. I tried several times to call the one phone number we had and of course it wasn't on, straight to voice mail, a voice mail box that hasn't been set up. ARG, seriously if you have a cell phone set up your voice mail people. just after 9:30 we get a call from this guy wanting to check on their order, to make sure we were still on for the 4:30 evening meal. This whole order was supposed to be a Saturday breakfast and dinner and Sunday breakfast, Mike has spoken with this guy 2 or 3 times to work this out and when he called and I spoke with him this morning he said Oh, no, I only wanted dinner tonight & breakfast tomorrow. I told him we'd been waiting since 7:30. Any way, Mike showed up around 11, I told him that was the only major issue for the day so far, explained what the NG guy had said, of course he was upset cause he had the original conversation with the guy. I told him he said that he only got the allotment from his superiors. So, he could work it our with him he came to get dinner.

I clocked in to ETC and out of Shift leader just after 11, got the rising star evals all filled out and into Mike's folder so he could get those done and soon. I really think I got everything done I needed to and Lisa all set up to cover me for the next 4 to 6 weeks. She'll have to do all the other evals for the cycles coming up.

I left just after noon and headed home, completely forgot that I needed to go to the pharmacy to check on my scripts for surgery. Got home and basically had just enough time to change clothes before Robert & I headed to Haltom City to check out an RV, nice, we might be rethinking this waiting till May, the one we looked at is an 08 so previously owned and we might be able to get a really great deal. Robert will take care of checking with the bank and other things on Monday while he's hanging out in the waiting room.

Robert had decided to fix me something special for dinner tonight and we invited Glen & La Rue, then we decided we'd buy more of the main course on our way home. I sent out a text to other friends, Leon & Christy, Cindy, Kim & Kelley and invited them to join us for dinner and probably dominoes. All got back to me except Kim & Kelley, Cindy says she thinks they are out of town. Hmm don't know. LOL.

We stopped off at the Hudson Oaks Walmart and picked up more Crawfish and the extras of tonight. Got home and Robert and I did some quick cleaning cause it was just after 3 and everyone one was coming over around 6ish. Cleaned the mess in the now guest bath, which was the one my children used, wasn't to bad, counter dusty and needed to be swept. Vacuumed the hall and living room and we cleaned off the dinning table. Robert cooked Crawfish, dirty rice, white rice, red beans and sausage. Glen & La Rue came over and her cousin Carol came with, Leon & Christy and Cindy and we just had a wonderful time of good food and fun playing train. We had a great time. Everyone had left by midnight and we just watched some TV, Robert did, I've been trying to type this out for an hour and 1/2 and keep dozing off. LOL

So everyone have a great day tomorrow, enjoy this spring weather, keep me in your prayers if you will. Surgery a day away.

God Bless

Friday, 25th of March 2011

Went in at 8 this morning, hid out in my office to get things done. Ventured out a couple of time to go print some reports. Thought I could get out by 11, then 12 didn't leave till after 1. Went to Whataburger got some lunch and headed on home.

Robert and I watched Hamburger Hill then we got ready and headed to Cleburne to check out the RV's. Saw what they had, liked some better than others, like some things about each, if we could put it all together in one we'd be happy, lol. We've decided we'll buy in May since I'll be laid up for the month of April. We left Fun Town and headed to Joshua to have dinner with my Dad and step mom Debbie. Go Dad, home made taco's the absolute best and Debbie had a dessert after ward, OMG it was to die for awesome. Sopapilla Cheesecake, lets just say don't be on a diet, crescent roll crust, lots of butter, sugar and cinnamon with a cream cheese center. It was like eating cream cheese stuffed cinnamon toast.

We hung out for just a bit, would love to have been able to stay longer to play dominoes but I started falling asleep in the middle of mine & Debbies conversation. So we headed on home around 8:30, stopped in Cresson for Sonic, of course I slept just about the entire way, except at Sonic.

Got home, got on my lap top do farm my crops, collect from my factor and post here before heading to bed, it's not even 11 yet but being that I have to be at work at 6 AM. That's all she wrote folks. LOL

God Bless, take care

Thursday, 24th of March 2011

Early mornin, needed to get some gas before I could head to Arlington to see Dr. Teal. Got there for my 9:15 appointment at 9:18, left at 11 and headed to the hospital in Mansfield.

As much as I hate having to wait, especially at a doctor's office, when they set an appointment you should be able to see the dr at least around the time you're scheduled. However, I do have to say that Dr. Teal is one dr out there who takes his time with all his patients, like an hour with each. He ran over what he's gonna do, incision in the front of the neck so he can fuse together the C3 to the C6 vertebraes and put a plate on them. Had to go the hospital for my pre-registration, blood work, x-rays, ekg and urine sample. Had to wait around for them to get me in to see the registration clerk but once I did things really moved fairly quickly. Really liked this hospital.

Got on the road back to Weatherford a bit after 1, stopped at Sprouts since I've really wanted to check it out for a while, didn't get to shop cause no time but I did grab a few things. Got back to Weatherford just in time to grab something to eat and got to work at 3. Almost immediately we got hit. 3:30 in the afternoon, I think we only had like one table and this very abrasive man came strolling in demanding to have a table for 2 and one for 4 and in a few minutes another 15. Some coach or something, I think they were FFA or something from a school in Paradise heading back home. He wanted to sit with the other teacher, he had a group of 4 teens come in with him that we sat and then the other 15 came in. So here I am trying to run the store and the kitchen, because one manager was in an interview that for some reason he couldn't break away from, another manager was in a meeting with ALL my dish crew and again couldn't stop to come and help and the third manager was at the bank and when he got back we were now in the thick of trying to get all the food cooked and out with out any problems. He left while we were still busy. On his behalf he might have had an appointment to get to himself as he is having medical problems again, afraid his cancer may have returned.

But when these 15 came in it seemed to open the gates cause all of a sudden we were getting a full dinning room, I had 3 servers, 1 grill cook, no one in dish, no one in prep and no one in back up, no host. Oh and did I mention NO MANAGERS. We got it done and I think with out to many problems. So before it was all said and done Shawn was the only manager left by 5 and who really knows what he was doing. Before I knew it I was stuck in prep the rest of the night making salads.

Left work just after 8:30 and headed home. Randy & Niki were here for a few minutes, she wanted to borrow my camera to go to Galveston. They're going with Springtown Drill Team for competition, since she choreographed a couple of the solo's.

Since getting home I've just vegged on the couch, not doing anything but writing this blog for all my fans out there. LOL

My back is really killing me tonight, lower back and right hip, it's getting worse as well. Told Dr. Teal today that once we got past this neck thing we'll have to look into my lower back and right hip. I also asked him if he could suction out some of my double chin while he was in my neck. LOL, he laughed too.

I need to go in to work for a couple of hours tomorrow morning to get my end of month(tattle tale)report done for Mike and go over some things with Lisa.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, I'm going to do what I can to enjoy what little I will have it. God Bless you all and thanks in advance for all the prayer going up for me.

Wednesday, 23rd of March 2011

Well this is the second time for me to type this, because some how or another I don't know what I did or what I hit but it wiped everything I typed out. I'm not even sure what all I'd written. Telling you it was an uneventful day at work, got Amanda the new trainee just about done, she just has to do micros tomorrow to learn how to ring in orders.

I left work early again today cause Brandy the young lady I was supposed to meet about my neck brace was in the area so I headed home. She was actually in the church parking lot down the road from the house. When we got to the house I found out that she was actually there to show me and give me my bone stimulator that Dr Teal prescribed for me to use after my surgery. She was really nice.

After she left I got a phone call from Dr Young's office about the results of having blood show up in my urine sample last week on my 6 month check up after my surgery. Dr Young is a urologist. Long story that I was telling in my first attempt at this post made short - the culture showed I have Strep. Not sure what's happening, they called me in a script for Levaquin. I'll call tomorrow and find out more info and why?

Ran to La Rue's for a bit, while I was there two mom's came in about corsages and boutonniers for Springtown's prom in 3 weeks. I visited with her cousin Carol who's come to town for a few days while Rue took care of these ladies. Then she had a delivery in Pelican Bay so I headed home, cause Robert was back from Abilene - he had to run out there for work today. He picked up my scrip for me on his way home.

Got home and we didn't do much as usual, watched recorded tv while Robert researched RV's online.

I see Dr Teal in the morning and get the rest of my info for my surgery, so you'll see the report on that tomorrow.

Until then ya'll have a great day and my God Bless you in all you do.

Tuesday, 22 March 2011

What a nice day today was? Spring is the air. Blue bonnets are blooming, trees are buddin.

Had my orientee come in today and finish up her videos and do her computer work. While she was doing that I called applicants for interviews and cleaned out the snag a job box again. Helped in the window when needed, it wasn't that busy today.

Left work around 3:30 cause a lady from some medical company called and was going to come out to the house from Dallas to fit me for my collar. LOL - I'll call it a collar, you can call it a neck brace. LOL. Anyway it's a new design and she says it only weights like 1oz. Ran to Tuesday Morning first to grab a couple of more things for scrapkeno tonight. Got home and was going to vacuum cause it needs it, the dogs are loosing their winter coats, and vacuum isn't here, Niki has not brought it home. Gonna get it tomorrow. Back to my collar - she called and I knew she was going to stop in Bedford first, but when she called she had had to stop in Bedford, then I think she said Hurst and had to got back to Dallas so wanted to know if we could meet tomorrow night. I said I understood, lots of driving for her and a long day and the time of day the traffic would not be good and I had plans at 6. So she's coming tomorrow night.

Gathered up my scrapkeno gift and the Keno bag with all the cards etc in it and headed to Springtown for an evening of Scrapkeno fun. If you have never played keno or you don't know what keno is, it is a combination poker/bingo, you have a bingo type card but instead of numbers 1 - 70 something and the letters B I N G O, there are pictures of a deck of cards and the caller flips cards from the deck and if you have the A of hearts or what ever the card is you cover it. Once you get a straight bingo - 5 in a row you call out Keno. Now what we do is we each bring a 10 to 15 $ scrapbook gift in a bag, we top it with what we call a topper, instead of a bow we will tie a spool of ribbon, a pkg of stickers, something little that who ever picks your gift gets to keep. We also bring another little something and that goes into the blackout bag cause at the end of the night the last game played is blackout and the winner gets the whole bag. We usually start at 7, who ever is hosting will serve dinner and after we eat we'll play the first round which the hostess is the caller until all the gifts have been won, once they've all been won we break for dessert and everyone opens their gift. We number each gift and we start the second round. This round starts with the hostess calling the first hand - the winner then steals one of the gifts. In case there are two people with a keno the one with the highest poker hand is the winner. We each take a turn being a caller until everyone has called and it gets back to the hostess, the hostess calls once more for one last steal and then she will call for blackout. It's really alot of fun, especially the stealing sometimes, I think we each try to find the perfect gift that will be the hit for the night that everyone will want to fight over. Makes for a lot of laughs plus you add to your collection of scrapbook supplies. LOL

It's a nice 3 hours of fun.

We only had 7 of us tonight so it went fast, always does when we are a small group, we were done by 9:15. We've had as many as 17 and as little a 6. It's a blast the more people we have.

So I was home before 10 and then not much after that, changed, took off my make up, watched some news with my hubby and looked at a couple of RV's online he sent me links for.

And now I'm watching the Biggest Looser which was recorded for me.

Tomorrow I'll finish up with my trainee with menu's and plate presentation, the rest of her computer courses and the micros. Hopefully I can get my evals all written up for the next few weeks and get them into the mgrs folders, update all my employees in the CAI computer so that Lisa will be able to get people in for PAR tests and to get their overdue courses done.

Looked at the schedule for next week since our week starts on Saturday, I told Mike I could work Saturday cause we have a HUGE to go order for LOWE's Saturday morning, so he has me coming in at - get this - ready - remember if you know me I am NOT a morning person, I have to be at the store at, I really can't believe it - 6 AM, when we open. OMG, that means I can't stay up to late Friday night, I don't do 6 AM. Oh well, lol, Mike and I had talked about this order last week and knew that in order to have just the biscuits ready by the time they want this order who ever the opening manager is will have to start mixing and cooking them by 4 AM, and we have to have all the eggs, meat and gravy all ready by 6 for them to pick up. Although now that I think about it we may have to deliver it. LOL

Any way 6 AM to 11 AM not to bad. Ugh, can we say nap as soon as I get home. LOL

Ok, so that's it for today. Enjoy your Wednesday. God Bless

Sunday & Monday, the 20th & 21st of March 2011

Ok, I've been totally reprimanded by one of my fans that I threw off her whole morning routine by not having my blog posted for the day. LOL

I'm terribly sorry, in my defense I took some new medication forgetting that I didn't want to take it until I was ready for bed. Bad me. So sitting on the couch watching some of my recorded TV, what I couldn't tell you because I also had my lap top on my lap and it gets nice and warm on my lap and before I knew it I was snoozing, before I knew it I was trying to wake up, I couldn't even open my eyes, took a few minutes to wake up, so I close the lap top and stumbled my way to bed.

So as for my day, lol, I had to work again 8 to 2 as shift leader, this time I was front of house with Mani. Let's say it could have gone better, ever feel like a buffer between 2 people or peoples, well that's pretty much what happened to me being in between Mani and my 2 hostesses, it was rough but we got through it. After work I headed home where Robert & Glen had been working on the delivery van. When I got home Glen wasn't there he and La Rue had to go to Costco and also get a couple of parts for the van. The got here a little after 5 and the boys were doing more work on the van. After about an hour La Rue and I headed to her house to drop off all the stuff they'd bought and we headed back to my house(nice we only live about 10 minutes apart). On our way back we were about a mile from the house and Robert called me on my cell and said he and Glen had just passed us, they'd tried to call, I missed the first call but got the second, told Robert that we were headed back to the house to cook dinner.

When we got to the house I made breakfast for supper, always our fav. lol

Cooked up some biscuits, gravy, bacon, eggs & sausage along with tater tots.

Now Glen & La Rue have feed us dinner the past few nights so I figured cooking dinner for them was due. The van is almost fixed but not quite. We watched Undercover Boss while we ate dinner. Not long afterward they went home and we watched the news and my honey went to bed and you know what happened from what I told you at the beginning.

So today, got up around 7, got showered and ready for work. Late getting there, thanks to the idiots that cant read a frickin speed limit sign on 730. Not hard, it's 60, so you always know who doesn't live out here cause they think doing 45 it ok. The guy at the head of the line this morning I just wanted to scream, "look in your rear view mirror you idiot, when you have a parade following you that means you AREN'T doing something right, LIKE GOING THE SPEED LIMIT, at least. ARGGGG can you tell what my hot button is. lol

Was supposed to have 2 people in orientation today, only one showed up. Had a grill cook training Lynda and a server with Phyllis. Seemed to go well on both accounts. We'll see, time will tell, do they conform to the Cracker Barrel way or do they think they already know it all and do what they want?

Left work a little after 2, went home and changed clothes then headed to the flower shop to help La Rue. Good thing, she had a delivery and since her delivery van is sitting in my driveway on blocks, lol. Now when I got there she was moving that big ol counter and said that Nicki the girl in the shop next door decided she want it. When I got back to the shop we moved a few things and Nicki's husband showed up and we all moved the big counter out and into her shop and the little one from her's into the flower shop. We spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up. La Rue cleaned the floor area where the old counter had been while I cleaned the new counter. We decide to place it in line with the cooler wall in front of the back room door. The counter was white so I told Rue that we needed to paint it to match the rest of the wall and to do the wall with the cooler doors. She started painting and I started replacing the jewelry in the cabinet and moving crates around.

So if you haven't friended Cozycreations Flowers on FB, you need to friend us you can see all the work we've been doing. Looks great. We left the store around 6:30, picked up pizza and beer and headed home because again Robert and Glen were working on the van. They figured they'd gotten it fixed and then they found a small pin sized hole in the front of the engine that holds the oil, I honestly can't remember what part it is, it is not the oil pan. Any way Robert says it looks like some one had done some work on it before and they had hit it or something at some time and might have tried to fix it but didn't so it's been messed up for a while, which is why they(original owners) had a note on the back door to every day check the oil before even starting it. Robert and Glen used heavy duty epoxy to seal it, letting it sit all night and may reapply tomorrow before they decide it might work. Please pray it does, other wise it's gonna be a small fortune she doesn't have to get a new(rebuilt) engine. If they can fix it long enough for it to last even 6 months would help, we're hoping for business from prom and Mother's Day, not so much from Easter, that would be nice too.

Got a call from Mansfield Methodist Hospital to do my pre-registry for my surgery next Monday. Will know what time after dr appointment on Thursday.

God Bless and take care

Saturday, 19th of March 2011

Worked 6 hours today, first time in a while that I've had to work on a Saturday. Spent pretty much the entire time in the window getting the trays out, some issues but I did my job and I never had a ticket go over 12. Last Saturday they ran like 53% first shift and I had almost 79%, yea me. To top it off I only had 5 tickets go over 10 minutes, excellent since they had 27 last weekend. I'm good. LOL

When I got home I crashed though. I laid down around 2:30, watching a recorded show, fell asleep around 3 and didn't wake up till after 6.

Robert & Glen were outside working on La Rue's delivery van, she had some seals go bad and was leaking oil really bad. We thought it was worse at first, but once Robert got a look at it thank Heavens it was only the seals and not the the head gasket. They wrapped it up and La Rue called us to say she'd fixed dinner for everyone so Robert got cleaned up and we headed that away.

After dinner we watched a really bad foreign film on the sundance channel. It really was a waste of time. Subtitled to boot.

We came home a bit after 11, just finished watching Grown ups, funny, good movie and got my laundry done, about to head to bed, gotta work again tomorrow. Ugh

Not a lot to talk about or report, Oh, found out that Stephanie has my Ipod - little brat, sent me a text after I've been freaking over it, saying she asked me on Wednesday when she was here at 6 AM doing her laundry. Then she proceeded to say "of course it was right after you woke up and you were groggy", Ya think?

So now my eyes are drooping and I can't keep them open. So good night all and God Bless

Friday, 18th March 2011

What a wonderful day off I had. Got to my dr's appt, all's well, check again in 6 mths. Headed to the store in Arlington, where all the had to do was give me 10/15 minutes with Lorena and OHHHH NOOO, Chuck is ______, pick your own expletive. They were busy to a point but not so busy they couldn't have spared her for a few minutes.

Headed to Lake Worth, stopped at Hobby Lobby to buy Amanda's easel. La Rue met me there. We found some clearance frames and bought those for the decorating project we are working on at the store. Stopped by Chili's no I-pod. Did I tell you all I think I lost it on Sunday when I had lunch with Valerie.

Went by Amanda's to give her the easel, saw the puppies, cute. Got to the flower shop and ate my lunch, watched the store while Rue ran some errands. While she was gone I worked on one of my windows, scrapping the old paint off and getting the trim off to get the window out.

Something happened to the van when La Rue was out, think it's a blown head gasket or worse. Robert is gonna look at it tomorrow. I got one of the frames and the window painted. The 5:30 appointment for the tux fitting came in. Got an order from it. Yeah, now we need to work on the rest of the project to get Azle in for all their prom floral needs. LOL

We closed up the store around 6:30 and headed to La Rue's house where Robert was gonna meet us for dinner. We made garlic toast and a chicken pasta dish. Pretty good.

After dinner we watched Burlesque, love the dancing and the music.

Got home around 11 PM and now I'm ready to crash. So good night moon.

God Bless all

Thursday, 17th of March 2011

To let you all know we got through orientation today. He's very very quiet.

I got Lizzy done with her computer work, Sam PAR tested, Megan & John did the micros, Mike & James did the grill micros ticket books. Managed to finish up and leave by 1, yeah, headed to the drug store to pick up prescriptions. Went home, changed clothes and headed to Azle. Wasn't there for very long when the lady with the furniture showed up. We found some awesome antique pieces a couple of weeks ago when we were up in Oklahoma.

So we spent almost 4 hours re arranging and painting the shop. It's really looking great, I'll have some pictures done & posted up on the FB site tomorrow.

Got home right at 7 and again wasn't home long when Mary Lou - my mom in law - called and needed some help from Robert. So he headed over to her house for a bit. Absolutely nothing on TV tonight. Did watch Wipe Out alway funny. Recorded Fairly Legal, watching it now. Watched The back up plan, cute & funny.

I'm off tomorrow, gotta run into Fort Worth to a dr's appointment, then I'm gonna run to Arlington to run over some things with Lorena for the Seat to Eat training in April, that I should be doing but cant because of my surgery in 10 days.

Hope everyone had a great Saint Patrick's Day, I know I did, although I really did forget cause I had gotten so busy at work.

Spring is springing, enjoying the weather, but the winds are coming, it's that time of year. Just wished we'd get some rain. Please pray for some rain for us. It's so terribly needed.

Till tomorrow, God Bless and watch over you.

Wednesday, 16th of March 2011

Hump day, the middle of the week, ONLY. ugh. LOL

Got menu's & plate presentation done with my 2 servers & 2 grill cooks. Got my schedule for next week worked out, gonna be a LONG, LONG week. I'll have this Friday off, then I'm shift leading 8 -2 on both Saturday & Sunday, then Monday - Wednesday I'll have orientation, finishing the week on Thursday shift leading again 3 - 8. I should have next Friday off as well, can't decide if I want to work the 26th &/or the 27th, that Saturday/Sunday, it's the weekend before my surgery, thinking I'll take the whole weekend off to do stuff with hubby & around the house before my surgery. Maybe go out of town for the weekend or something, who knows?

So as I like to say about my work, As the Barrel Turns these are the days of our lives with all my children. LOL. Seriously, there is usually so much drama and issues going on. Maybe if we had more men working for us??? Of course not even sure about that cause some of the male managers we have sometimes seem to have just as much drama.

Tomorrow I will be doing the orientation with my non english speaking rising star. Maria will be there to help. Shouldn't take to very long, we'll need to do paper work, he'll have to watch a few videos and then we'll need to work on another time to get him in for computer work.

Having my office connected to the break room I hear and learn so much in our building and heard that one of our former employee's wants to come back to work in our store and that 2 of my "ass"ociate managers were trying to get her rehired behind my back to make me mad. She is the kind that will be so very nice to your face but will stab you in the back the instant you turn it. When she worked for us before she had the managers so bamboozled and 2 of them are the 2 I mentioned above. They tried to tell Mike that she's awesome and he needs to hire her etc. I had the opportunity to speak to Mike on my own today, he has not even met her yet. I explained to him as a server & back up cook she wasn't bad, she worked when needed and then some but she was the one who was always stirring the pot of trouble and kept it stirred in one way or another. She is the type that will get something started and sit back and let someone else take the blame. She ran off so many good employees when she was there before, if she didn't like them or they crossed her in any way she always managed to run them off. I gave Mike my input, told him it's my opinion and he could take it how he wanted, but he needs to speak to some of the other employees that worked with her more when she was there before. So we'll see.

Will keep ya'll posted on this situation. Till tomorrow, have a great Saint Patrick's Day tomorrow, don't forget your green. LOL

God Bless

Tuesday, 15th of March 2011

Well when I got to work today my orientee was not in uniform so we rescheduled for Thursday. Still to much to do with all the other people. Got 3 of them done with all their computer work today, the forth will finish hers tomorrow. Will have the 2 servers and the 2 grill cooks from last week in the morning at 9 for menu's and plate presentation and hopefully the 2 servers will be able to do their micros tomorrow also.

I spent the day cleaning out the snag a job emails, almost 200 of them. A lot to delete several to print, once I got the most recent ones printed then I started calling them to ask them to come in and fill out one of our applications, this way I can do back ground checks and set them up for interviews.

When I finally did get to eat my lunch Lynda & Kelley joined me. It was nice to catch up with them since I don't really get to see Kelley much any more with her going back to school and Lynda is usually so busy on the grill at the same time I'm busy on the opposite side of the window or with new hires, we don't get a chance to talk much any more. As usual Lynda is angery and frustrated with management and the way they run things, I have to agree with her. Still a long way to go.

Finished up my day making a few appointments for interviews. Then headed home. All in all not a bad day.

So once again until tomorrow, God Bless you all.

Monday, 14th of March 2011

Did not sleep well last night at all. Had a hard time getting up, but did. LOL Got to work and had four rising stars to orientate today. Not a bad day, did get a bit busy during lunch due to this being spring break. Gonna be a busy week.

Gave a PAR test, got some more people to watch the new promo video and left work around 4:45, took one of our employee's home, she needed a ride, then headed home.

When I got home I changed clothes and laid down and Robert woke me up just after 7 to see if I wanted to watch Chuck. Knew I needed to get up anyway. We watched Chuck - love Chuck - lol. After Chuck we watched a show that I started recording the other day called Coming Home on Lifetime, if you haven't watched it or seen anything about it, it is a wonderful, heart warming show. It is about our military and their surprising their families when they come home and the looks on their children's faces when they see their Daddy's walk in the room. Have tissues when you watch. It's on the Lifetime Channel. Check it out.

So tomorrow I have orientation again, this time with a man who can't speak any english, so I have Maria one of my hostesses coming in to translate for me. Hope we can get through this with ease.

Have a great week all, God Bless

Sunday, 13th of March 2011

Slept in, loosing that hour was not good. LOL

Robert had pancakes & bacon ready for me when I got up. He's so good. After breakfast he headed out to clean out the garage.

Went to Lake Worth to meet my friend Valerie for a late lunch at Chili's. Haven't seen her in months and wanted to get together with her before her move to Utah on Friday. Miss hangin out with that lady. We did some catching up.

I headed back toward Azle to swing in and see Amanda since Annabelle was having her puppies, she finished out with 5 pups.

Stephanie was at the house when I got home cleaning out more of her stuff. I thought I might do something productive when I got home but seriously by the time I got home I was dragging. I really think that hour loss did mess me up. I laid down to take a short nap that turned into 2 hours.

When I got up my wonderful hubby again had a meal ready for me. He'd smoke some boneless ribs and warmed up Ranch Style beans. It was good.

So tomorrow starts another week of training new people. We'll see how it goes.

Ya'll enjoy spring break, God Bless and keep you

Saturday, 12th of March 2011

What a nice day today was. Got up around 8:30 and did a couple of things around the house then left for the flower shop to help La Rue. The Prom Show at Ridgmar was today. When I got to the shop I made up coupon flyers to take with us. We headed on over to the Mall and got there as they were doing a rehearsal. Matched the corsages with the girls and then went to get some lunch in the food court and back to the show before 2.

Took my camera with me and got some great pics of the corsages and the young ladies in all the pretty dresses. Also, 3 very handsome young men. I'll get the pictures posted on FB. Go to Cozycreations Flowers on FB to see them.

After the show we meet up with Glen and did a little birthday shopping for our friend Leon who's birthday we were going to celebrate tonight. We headed on back to Azle and then home to get ready for the evening.

We meet Leon & Christy at a place called Twin Peaks off 121, the service was marginal at best. The food was only a little bit better but not much. The we went to a little club for some dancing meet up with some other friends of ours, had a nice night of dancing. Christy brought cupcakes for Leon's birthday and of course most of us were dressed in green for Saint Pat's day.

Loosing an hour put us home after 2. LOL. Where Robert quickly went to sleep, me not so fast. It took me a good 30 minutes to get the tangles out of my hair and get it braided. I wore it down and in a clip so it got nice and tangled. Once I got it all untangled and braided it didn't take me long either to crash.

Like I said in the beginning it was a nice day.

Till later God Bless

Friday, 11th of March 2011

Yeah, it's the weekend. I really, really, REALLY did not want to work today. But did.

Went and helped Rue for about an hour and a half, made two deliveries for her so she could work on some orders. Then headed home and got ready for work. Got to work at 2, had 4 new hires to call and set up for orientation next week. My new grill guys came in early and I got them on the computer to do all their computer work.

Took care of some paper work, called the new hires, fixed my schedule for next week. Left work just after 8:30, stopped in at Ross to buy the shoes I didn't buy last night. LOL

Got home, changed clothes and Robert and I jumped into his new truck, 07 full ton King Ranch - loaded and sooooo nice, and headed to the movie theater where we meet Miss Cindy and saw Battle Los Angeles. Not bad an updated version of Independence Day(one of my favs). It was good - from the grunts point of view. Lot's of action and shoot em up, blow em up stuff.

I drove the new truck home, WOW, big. Nice ride. Just need to find a toy hauler now and we'll be set for camping and our trip in September to Arizona.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, God Bless and keep you.

Thursday, 10th of March 2011

Left yesterday morning and headed down to Cleburne to check out a couple of RV's, looked at the one I went down to look at, nice, might be the one. My friend Thersia Evone went with. We had a nice drive down, looked at a few trailers, some way way nice, I could have lived in one of them. We grabbed some lunch before heading back to Weatherford.

I went back to Thersia's house with her, just to hang out till I had to go to work at 3. Got to work and as usual, the rush was on. Always so much to do. Setting up new people for orientation for next week, more back ground checks and had to get ready for orientation. Two guys in my orientation both grill cooks, let's hope they can do this, all but one of my grill cooks SUCK. Don't get me wrong, they can cook ok, they just aren't fast or good multi taskers. Lynda is my best and that girl can run the whole grill line like a top, unfortunately she can't be there all the time and certain managers several months ago changed her schedule so that she is off on Thurs & Fri when we need her most, those are the days and nights we need someone fast and good, not ok and slow. Ok and slow works on the early part of the week cause we aren't as busy. Just aggravating that the mgrs wont fix the schedule. Both Lynda and I have talked and talked till we I think we're blue in the face. Last Friday Lynda worked for one of the other cooks, the one that keeps getting what he wants. We have a way of measuring our ticket times now and we want to always be inthe high 90's to 100%. Friday 2 weeks ago when this other cook worked they ran 74% during lunch, last Friday we ran 99% during lunch, would have been 100 but we had one ticket that went over 10 minutes. But Lynda proved her point about who's the better grill cook.

So after I left work, stopped at Ross's for a few to see what they had, found a shirt and some scrap booking stuff, also some shoes but Niki's gonna get those for me with her discount.

got home close to 10 and just vegged.

God bless and keep you till the next time.

Wednesday, 9th of March 2011

Really, was this only Wednesday? Yes it was. LOL

Saw the dermatologist about my face, just what a thought, a bit of rosacea. Gave me a couple of scripts so we'll see what happens. After my appointment I headed to work, had to totally reschedule all interviews for the rest of the week, Mike didn't come in till almost 8PM to help with retails inventory tonight.

It wasn't to busy early in the day but the evening got much busier, not really a lot to report. Saw another one of our regulars tonight that I haven't seen in months. He's doing great as is his wife. Nice to see him.

I left work close to 8:30 and got some taco's from Rosa's, stopped by Niki & Stephanie's place to give Steph a gas card so she could get to Burleson for work tomorrow.

Got home around 9 and ate my dinner and chilled. Long day, I'm beat. Gonna go to Cleburne tomorrow to look at a couple of RV's we've inquired about.

God Bless and keep you all.

Tuesday, 8th of March 2011

It's a Tuesday, lol. Got to work today at 9, checked emails, got back some of the back ground checks that I sent yesterday. All but one was good to go. Called Kimberly and had her come in at 11 to do paperwork, so we could get her started ASAP. Had to revamp my schedule for the rest of the week. The grill new hire finally called me back this morning, we're gonna do his orientation Thursday & Friday nights from 5 - 9. UGH. I really hate working nights.

Gotta work tomorrow night as shift leader from 3 to 8. Got a dermatology appointment at noon, so I'll get to work around 1, take care of some things before I have to shift lead at 3.

So I left work around 1 today because of the hours thing, certain amount of hours, gotta stay in the ballpark. Went home and changed clothes and headed to Cozy Creations to help where ever needed. Took care of the plants, brought a couple of them to doctor back to health. lol. Moved a few things around and took some more pics of the changes to be posted on FB. BTW - if you haven't check it out, search Cozycreations on FB and you'll see the shop and things we are doing. Poor Rue, hadn't really had any business all day and an hour after I got there we had 3 sales.

Got home around 6 and we made breakfast for dinner, always good. And watched The Biggest Looser, one of our favs, then Southland at 9. Woo hoo another big night at the Bartee household. LOL

So that's about it for this day, which also btw was a nice day, a bit over cast but a nice day.

Everyone have a fantastic day tomorrow. God Bless & keep you all.

Monday, 7th of March 2011

Typical Monday for the most part today. Got up, went to work, got there before 9, there was a group of 30 women and all we had were 4 servers this morning, of course we got busy, very busy. Rising Star Brian did his day one of follow training today with Phyllis, did very well, especially since we were slammed.

Once it settled down some I was able to run a couple of back ground checks, laminate some papers for Tina and chatted with her for a while. Gave 2 PAR tests, made some calls to set up interviews for tomorrow. Got a bowl of soup around 2:30 and didn't get to eat it till almost 3, Sarah and Morgan arrived just before 3 to do their micros training. So I had Christena show them how to use the micros while I ate my soup which was still warm. LOL

Left work around 5:30, went to the pharmacy to get my nose spray and headed home. Where I proceeded to do nothing but relax, after I made myself a mushroom & spinach pizza with added pepperoni.

So once again, not a whole lot to talk about. Oh, saw one of our regulars Ed Stephens who's wife Hazel is now home bound. Both have been in bad health, her more than him over several years now, she's really gone down hill. Please if you are reading my blogs keep them in your prayers along with another one of our regulars Ruby - sweetest lady you'll ever meet, she makes jewelry and gives it away, she has given me several pairs of earrings she's made and several of the other ladies I work with. Ruby was injured several years ago on the job at Walmart and has been on workmans comp sinse, the insurance company keeps giving her the run around, she needs surgery in a bad way on her spine, she's on a constant morphine drip, she can't do much of anything, can barely walk, but she trys. Her husband had to come out of retirement to help pay bills, he's a truck driver, so now he works as a contract driver for a company out of Dallas so some days he has deliveries to make others nothing. His name is Charles and he almost died last year with a heart attack, he had triple by pass surgery and he's doing fantastic now.

Well that's all for now. Thanks for reading and all your prayers. Take care and God Bless

Sunday, 6th of March 2011

So yesterday was 9 years since Jerry passed away. What a year that was, loosing him and 4 weeks later loosing my grandmother and 3 weeks after that my step mom's dad passed. It was a rough 2 1/2 months. Still miss them.

Moving on to today, slept in, didn't do a whole lot. We watched The Princess & the Frog, cute movie. Warmed up some left overs for lunch from last nights oriental food. Little afternoon delight - it's so nice having an empty house. LOL.

Facebook, facebook & more facebook. LOL

Created a FB page for my friend La Rue and her new floral shop, you'll need to check it out under Cozycreations, loaded pictures of the shop and some of her work.

I think we have a plan to bring in Prom business. Pray it works. This business really needs to succeed, I know it can. I believe it will. Just gotta get the word out and the people in.

Robert did our taxes finally, he's never procrastinated this long, he's the one usually ready to do them Jan 2nd if he could. Again, 2nd year in a row we're having to pay. So our first 24 years of marriage we never had to pay and now in the past 2 years, hmmm, how long has the President been in office.

Oh, I don't think I reported this, maybe I did I don't remember but either way, I'm still excited about it. NIKI & STEPHANIE both got jobs and start this week. YEAH.

Prayer request for my phys therapist Rita, I told ya'll about her newest health problem, apparently there is also a clot they are concerned about. Her son called me today to cancel my appointment on Tues because Rita is in the hospital with them observing the clot. Not even sure she'll be back on Thurs. Please keep her in your prayers that all the cancers, tumors, clots or what ever else she has will go away. She's only a few years older than me, she's in her mid/late 50's. Still VERY young.

So until the next time I'm here, take care and God Bless

Friday & Saturday, 4th & 5th of March 2011

So not much to tell you about Friday, just another day. Got up, went to work around 9, got Brian, one of the newbies to finish his computer work then placed him on the micros to learn how to ring in orders, during the lunch rush, so he got a bit of a taste of how lunch works. Worked till 3, left & headed to the bank, got some lunch, checked out Tuesday Morning & found a few good scrapbooking items for keno this month. Got home around 5 & did absolutely nothing but watch tv & play on my lap top for the rest of the night. Of course Robert had me all psyched up to go to the movies & then we didn't.

Went to bed earlier than normal cause I had to get up around 5:15 so Steph & I could be at La Rues by 6 to head to Marlow, Oklahoma for a class on prom corsages. Let me tell you we really had an awesome day. Nice drive north, around 2 1/2 hours up, great little town. We checked out a few nick/nack shops, junk stores & antique shops while there. We did get there an hour or so early & we had some time during out lunch break, actually went next door to the shop we were in & on the 3rd floor was a museum of the town. I was surprised that the town Marlow was named after a family, all boys who I guess were possible outlaws & that also the John Wayne/Dean Martin movie "The sons of Katie Elder" was based on these Marlow boys. Cool since I love that movie. We ate lunch at a restaurant, I think the only one in town, a couple of fast food places but the only restaurant we saw & it was on Main street just a couple of doors down from where we were. Any way this little place was call Giuseppe's, a little italian place, OMG, SO GOOD. Big city quality in a very small town. The location, atmosphere, cuisine & service were beyond excellent. Stephanie had shrimp fettucini, La Rue had the lasagna & I had a salad of blue cheese with bacon, it was more like a lettuce wrap. I forgo the tomato's & boiled egg on the salad. It wasn't bad. But we also had the artichoke dip with bite sized pieces of home made garlic bread. It was soo very good.

So anyway, this class we took on corsages & boutonniere's we very good, helpful & interesting. We've got some great ideas to move forward with the shop and create some great things. She just needs the business. Workin on that as well.

After some shopping since this place was also a wholesale shop, we headed back to Texas, called for oriental take out when we were 30 minutes out, texted Robert & called Glen that we would hang out at Glen & La Rues to play dominoes for a while. So we picked up dinner & got to the house just after 7, ate, played dominoes till just after 10 and now we're home just chillin, gonna head to bed here soon. Very long day on very little sleep.

Hope everyone has had a great day. I know I did. God Bless and keep you all each day.

Thursday, 3rd of March 2011

My day off, started with a trip to see Rita & get my neck stretched. As always felt pretty good afterward. If ya'll could keep Rita Burnett in your prayers would be greatly appreciated. She's been going through some rough times this past year and a half with different cancers. Saw her doctor for a few tests last week & they found a growth on the top of one of her kidneys now, no surgery, no radiation - they say they can only do chemo. She's such a bundle of energy usually & I know this is wearing on her, running her own business - rehabilitation physical therapy. She's the best, my whole family has gone to her for one thing or another for about 6 years now. If you'd keep her in prayer, please.

Left there & went to Dr. Brenner's office about my toe, tmj & a referral to a dermatologist. He thinks it might be osteo-arthritis in my toe, went ahead & sent me to have blood work done to test the uric acid, see if it might be gout. Hope it's isn't. Afraid it might be though.

Ran over to Wal-mart where I paid 3.40 a gallon for gas. Time to start complaining, but who too. Then drove on over to Arlington to see Dr. Teal & schedule surgery. Robert met me there. I asked Dr. Teal if he had anything opened the week of the 28th & he said what about the 28th. So my surgery is scheduled for the 28th of March, definite 4 weeks in a neck collar. Yee haw. No driving, not much of anything for 4 weeks. Gonna put a plate on the C3 to C7.

Went back to Weatherford & got the blood work done cause the wait was too long earlier in the day. Stopped at the hospital to see Hollis & was told I missed him by about an hour, they'd released him. I hope that means he's doing better. Headed home to grab a couple of things, ran to Azle to take those things to the flower shop. Rue was off having her tooth pulled & got to the store about 10 minutes after I got there. All's well & looking good.

Got home around 5:30, Robert & I put on some dinner, chorizo & cheese stuffed chicken breast, Robert had tater tots with his, I had sweet potato fries, tot's & fries both baked in the oven. Very good. Then I baked up some apple bites for dessert, had mine with cinnamon ice cream. We watched Wipe Out, OMGosh, I laughed so hard & I feel bad too, cause I feel I'm laughing at others pain & suffering. At 8:00 we turned on The Man from Snowy River, if you've never seen it, it really is good. 1982 Australian movie with horses. Kirk Douglas is the star, playing 2 parts.

So that's about it for the day. Gotta be at work in the AM around 9 till about 3, not a long day.

Till tomorrow, have a great Friday. God Bless and keep you.

Wednesday, 2nd of March 2011

Another nice day and I was stuck inside all day. Had to get my dry cleaning before I could even go to work this morning. Got there around 11:30, ran through a few things with Mike to catch up on things. Made appointments for interviews tomorrow and Friday with the managers. Finished a few more things with the new hires. Got meetings and training scheduled on next weeks schedule and left work at 9. Made for a long day.

Talked to my son on the drive home, just missed the baby, Audrey was putting her to bed.

Got home to hubby still researching RV's, lol. Not alot to tell, most of my day was wrapped up with work and watching recorded TV when I got home.

Tomorrow I have the day off from work but I'll be at Rita's around 9:15, then I see Dr. Brenner at 10:30, depending on the time I might be able to stop at the hospital to see Hollis before I head to Arlington to see Dr. Teal at 1:00. Makes for a long day with lot's of appointments. LOL

Should have a date for my surgery tomorrow.

So until then, have a blessed day, may God keep you safe.

Tuesday, 1st of March 2011

The beginning of a new month, spring is springing. We have some blooms on the plum trees so there will definately be another freeze, at least one more.

Went into work a little earlier yesterday, started orientation at 12:30 with Brian, one of the new hires who should have been there Monday night if others had done their job and called him. Both my girls from Monday night arrived at 3 and I got them on the computer doing their courses.

Working were I work, Cracker Barrel Restaurant, since we opened the 1st of August 2005, we have regulars who come in once a week, once a day, sometimes even twice a day. So of course they become like family, you know them, their ups and downs etc. One of my favorites is a gentleman(not just a man, a true gentleman) by the name of Hollis Langford. I met Hollis just over 5 years ago. At that time he would come into the store alone, he was always dressed in black dress jeans and a black western shirt with a bolo tie and sporting a black cowboy hat with all sorts of military pins around the front brim. He came in to eat on Memorial day and I stopped to speak with him at his table. I asked him what branch of the service he'd served in and thanked him for his service. He told me that he'd been in the Navy during WW II as had his 3 brothers. What wonderful history he has. He told me that they had all served in the war, that one of his brothers had become a pilot but that he was also a scientist and when they started working on the Manhattan project his brother was on the team. This same brother worked with Albert Einstein also. I know he has many other stories and he's told me some of them which I can't remember at the moment. He loves to dance, every Thursday &/or Saturday night he could be found at the Seniors center in Weatherford or in Springtown dancing with the ladies. LOL. He was a bow hunter and taught others how to use a bow.

A little over 3 years ago Hollis came in to eat and he wasn't alone any more, he came in with a group of people including a lovely lady named Irene. Very petite, cute & sweet as can be. She was one of his many different dancing partners. Not long after Hollis and Irene came in alone and they'd gotten married, now Hollis is in his early 90's and Irene is a couple years older. They make the most adorable couple.

Just over a year ago Hollis was diagnosed for the 3rd time in his life with cancer, this time in his prostate, he was doing ok for a while but last night I saw Irene and her daughter Sue, they were in eating dinner and informed me that they'd had to have Hollis rushed to the hospital. He woke up in severe pain and couldn't hardly talk. Irene told me she had to lean down so close to hear him. He told her to call an ambulance.

Just a little history on Irene - Hollis is so proud of her, he tells everyone he meets that she is in the Hall of Fame for Women in the War. During WW II Irene was a welder on tanks, because of her petite size she was able to get into the inside of the cannon barrel and other tight, small places to weld.

I love these people, they are the most gentlest, sweetest people you would ever meet. It breaks my heart that he isn't doing well and Sue tells me they think that the cancer has moved into the bone. He's beaten cancer twice in his life, I'd like to see it happen again but I know it's unlikely. So prayers needed for comfort.

On another note to finish out my day, got home a bit after 7 and chilled out watching Biggest Looser and Southland all while Robert searched for travel trailers for sale and showed me different pictures. LOL

So that wraps up my day. God Bless and keep you until tomorrow.