Sunday, 9th of October 2011

What a very busy day it was at work today.

But first let me tell you of what a wonderful breakfast my hubby made for me this morning before I went to work, bacon, eggs & tatercakes with a large glass of oj. It was really good.

Got to work around 9 & it was hit the floor running, stayed that way until I left at 2:15. Had a guest come up to me & tell me what a wonderful staff we have, said everyone was on the ball. They had several servers check on them, refill their drinks etc. He told me that the store in Tyler seems like all the servers have blinders on but we were really on the ball. I asked him to please call home office & let them know what a great job we did.

Driving home I called Debbie (stepmom) to check on her. Her spinal surgery was about 4 weeks ago, it's been a very slow recovery process for her but she's getting there.

Once I got home, I changed clothes, took off my make up & warmed up left overs from yesterdays, red beans/sausage & rice with corn bread. Just finished a wonderful home made butterfinger blizzard that my hubby made for me. Yummy.

Hanging out now, watching CSI Miami recorded from the past two weeks. Finally just about caught up on all of my recorded tv. LOL

Oh, BTW, do you all know it's only 6 1/2 weeks till Thanksgiving. LOL just thougth I'd throw that out there.

Ya'll have a great week, God Bless.

Saturday, 8th of October 2011

Well to start with today, I've done absolutely nothing much. Robert & I slept late, I've been on my laptop all day playing games(catching up on them) & watching the two weeks of recorded tv shows to catch up on them as well. We are now watching the Rangers with the back door open listening to it rain & thunder. It's awesome. I did make a pan of sweet corn bread to go with the red beans, rice & sausage that my honey made us for dinner.

I'm really sorry, once again, to be so remiss in posting.

Starting with the week we left for our trip, had a lot of work to do at the store before we left, that Thursday I didn't get home until close to 9, Robert & Cindy had loaded up the trailer with most everything except my stuff. So as soon as I got home I immediately started going through my clothes to decide what I was taking & started hauling all my things out to the trailer as well.

We had finally finished the guest bedroom, got a little touching up to do with the paint but all in all it's finished. Now I just need to figure out what I want to hang on the walls in there. It looks really good. We didn't have the blinds before we left so there still wasn't anything up on the window. But after we got home this past Saturday night, the blinds had arrived while we were gone & on Sunday Robert hung the blinds & the curtain rod, so I got the curtains hung up after he got everything else up. It looks really nice, I'm very pleased.

Back to the trip, we pulled out of here on Friday morning the 23rd at 7:30 AM, stopped at the gas station 3 miles up the road & bought breakfast burritos & coffee for Cindy then headed on down the road. We made it almost to Wichita Falls before we had a tire on the trailer blow out on us, not good. We had only been on the road an hour & a half. There are 3 tires on each side & this was the front passenger side right under the kitchen slide out. Needless to say it tore up the sheet metal & the trim as well as ripped off the hose that runs from the propane tank to the fridge which was running to keep our food. We had to quickly cut the gas off. Robert got the tire changed & we limped it into WF, finding a trailer place which sent us up the road to a hardware place which sent us to some hole in the wall place looking for a new hose to replace the one that runs to the fridge. Once we found the place which wasn't called "The hose place" like the people at the hardware store called it. Luckily right across the street was a tire place that did tires for every size vehicle you can imagine & enough room for us to pull in & turn around. Robert changed the hose out & got the fridge running again then we got the tire changed. Putting us back on the road close to 11:00, now we were about an hour & a half behind on the schedule. Got through WF & most the little towns until we stopped for gas & poor Robert had been doing so well it was a difficult place to get into & he was watching out the side mirror looking low that he missed how far out the pump hung up top taking out the pump & some of the sheet metal on the side of the trailer. No camera's, no one saw it happen but we did the right thing & Robert went in & spoke with the manager who told him they never would have known. Not sure if they'll contact our insurance or not?? Went on up the road to the next town where we were able to get some gas. We got 30 minutes east of Amarillo & once again another blow out, this one being the middle tire, the one behind the one from the morning. It was just after 5 so I got on the laptop & Cindy got on the Tomtom looking for a tire place. I called 3 different places that did not have the size tires we needed. Found directions to a place & when we got off the highway at 5:35 in the afternoon on a friday, rush hour traffic mess with a one ton four wheel, four door truck pulling a 40 foot 5th wheel that was quite the feat. The street we were trying to get down had to major accidents, the place we were looking for wasn't there but thank God there was a Firestone on the opposite side of the road from where we were & when there was a bit of a break in the traffic we crossed 4 lanes to pull into their drive. Robert went in to talk with the guys & they also didn't have what we needed but thankfully another store did & they sent a guy to pick two up. I didn't mention when the tire blew after looking at it & it being in the middle didn't change it driving very slowly into Amarillo so that by the time we made it to the tire place there was about an inch of rubber around each outside rim of the wheel & that was it. We had them change the middle & the back tire on the right side of the camper giving us 3 brand new tires on that side. Four weeks earlier we'd changed the left rear tire from that one blowing out after our trip to Hillbilly Haven. Cindy & I just prayed that the last two on the left would hold out even though we thought that we should have changed all of them there. We finally got back on the road around 7. Now we're a good 3 hours behind on the schedule. We made it into Albuquerque just after 9 PM their time(10 central). Tried two different gates to get onto the base one not made to get a trailer into & the other closed. We found the gate we could get into which was on the total opposite side of the base from were we needed to be. About a forth of the way to the FamCamp a small car pulled up beside us & asked if we were looking for FamCamp & told us to follow him. Good thing, the GPS was going to take us one way which wouldn't have been conducive for a 40 foot trailer. Got to the camp & got set up. Had called Justin when we got into town, then again after we got set up called him to tell him we were all beat after 15 hours on the road, which with out the trailer would have been around 10 hours, with the trailer we figured 12 even with gas stops. We just didn't figure on all the other probs we had.

Got up the next morning, had breakfast, got cleaned up & Robert took Cindy & I to Justin's. It was so nice & I wished someone had had a camera to take a picture of Kali's face when she saw me. It was wonderful. I came in the door, gave Audrey a hug, turned to my left into the kitchen & she was in the living room looking toward the front door to see who was coming in & when she saw me her face lit up & she hollered MIMI, I just melted right there, all the bags I was carrying as well as myself dropped right there to the floor & held out my arms which she promptly ran into & gave me the biggest hug. In case most of you don't know, I've only seen & spent 4 other occasions with her since she was born & she's only 2. So I was very very happy she recognized me & came to me. I have so much love for her it's so hard to explain. Those of you who are grandparent probably understand. I love all my children so very much but there is something about a grandchild.

She'd been up since before 6 so not long after we got there she was getting very cranky. Robert had left because he has work to do on the trailer, the siding, the gas hose, the trim above the wheel wells & the air conditioner. Cindy & I went with Justin & Audrey & Kali to Walmart. We all needed to get a few things. Kali was still throwing a fit, she was so tired & wouldn't fall asleep. We finished up at the store, headed back to the house dropping Kali, Audrey & the groceries off so that Cindy, Justin & I could go to his football game. He's coaching 7 yr olds in little league football. We dropped Justin off at the field & Cindy & I went to Dion's, a pizza place very popular in Albuquerque, really good pizza. Heard from Robert just as we got there & he was done so wanted to meet up with us. We all had a great lunch then headed to the park. The game was supposed to start at 2, it was about 2:15 before it got started. We stayed & watched for a bit but when we found out they'd be there playing a full game till like 4, unreal in my mind for 7 year olds. And people think Texas is gungho about football. Anyway, standing outside, even though it was a beautiful day, that high of an altitude under the sun at 2 in the afternoon, no shade, we didn't stay long. The 3 of us went back to the trailer so Robert could get cleaned up then we went back up to Justin's house. Kali was up from her nap & in a much better mood. She helped me make cornbread for dinner & was supposed to help with the peanut butter/chocolate chip cookies too but got side tracked. LOL We had a very nice dinner & visit with Audrey's dad Art & a co worker/friend of Justin's, Adrian, had come over so they could make some beer. After Kali went to bed around 9, Robert, Cindy & I headed west to Rio Rancho to some old AF friends of ours that was having a get together. We hung out over there for 2/3 hours visiting. Cindy had a chance to meet the Smith family. Topper, Debbie & their son Dalton, their daughter Dotty was at the homecoming dance. Around 11:30 we headed back over to Justin's, Cindy & I spent the night their & Robert went back to the trailer.

The next morning we all got up & Audrey made a wonderful breakfast while Cindy & I played with Kali. We watched Rio & Ringo, Kali & I played airplane in the kitchen after a while. She loves to fly. So for about 10 minutes we're going round n round in the kitchen. Kali saying "do it again, do it again", we had fun. Robert finally showed up around 10 & we all just hung out around the house for the day. Later in the afternoon Cindy, Audrey & I decided to take Kali to the park around the corner from their house, Kali fell asleep on the ride in her stroller so when we got to the park we just sat & visited under the pavillion. Robert caught up with us & we enjoyed the outside & each other's company. While I was taking pictures something woke Kali up & it wasn't a good thing. She wasn't ready to wake up & she became a very cranky kid.

We went back to the house, Justin & Art had been working on the back yard wall when we left & returned. There was a low place & earlier in the week one of their dogs had gotten out & disappeared for the week. So they built it up & got it fixed. We had another nice dinner, played more with Kali, gave her her bath, got lots more pictures, played a little bit more before she went to bed. We hung out for a little while longer then decided we'd better head back to the trailer because we would be getting up earlier the next day to head on over to Arizona. It was bitter sweet, I never get enough time with my boy & his family.

We got up before sunrise Monday morning, ate some breakfast, cleaned up, packed up, hooked up & headed out of Albuquerque, west. We got on the highway just as the sun was coming up over the mountains. We had a wonderful drive during the day, making a few stops. One of the stops we made we spent 2 hours at the Petrified Forest National Park. WOW. Amazing sights to see. We made it to the Grand Canyon just after 4, got to our campsite & got things set up then walked to the market which was about a mile or so from our camp. Checked out the store & bought a couple of things. Robert went back to the trailer & Cindy & I walked out to the canyon rim as the sun was setting to get some pictures. AMAZING. Definitely one of the most amazing natural wonders I've ever seen. Up there with some of my favorite places in Iceland. Cindy & I made it back to camp, gathered up my laptop & her nook & we went back over to the cafe by the market to get online. Met some wonderful people who work at the park, we shared a table with a young lady who was also on her laptop. We got online but the speed was very very slow. Connections up there not good same goes for cell reception. Verizon seems to be the only one that works. Cindy is Sprint & we're AT&T. We hung out till a bit after 10 then went back to the trailer. Watched some tv then we all went to bed.

Got up around 7 the next morning, Robert cooked breakfast outside for us, we got showers, dressed then headed over to the West village where most the hotels & shops are. We started at the west side taking pictures & checking the sights, looking through the shops. We were supposed to meet Kelley & Kim at the ice cream shop around noon, we got there around 11:15 & waited but never heard from them. We finally left around 1 & went back to the trailer. Decided to relax & watched Alpha & Omega. Around 3:30 we finally heard from Kelley. They were late coming back up out of the Canyon. Cindy & I left Robert at the trailer & went to their rooms around 4:30, hung out for a bit & went to catch the redline bus to Hermit's Rest to get some sunset pictures of the canyon. Told Robert we'd be back at the trailer for dinner around 7/7:30. Which we were. He'd made penne rustica for us with sour dough bread. It was sooo good. After dinner, Robert had a book he'd been reading so he went to the master bedroom to read, Cindy & I decided to watch Thor. We didn't finish it cause we both started dozing. I got up & got my stuff ready & laid out for the next morning because I was getting up at 5 to catch the bus to the East rim out at Yaki Point for sunrise pictures. Went to bed & crashed.

Got up a little before 5(which at home was really 7), got dressed & headed to the bus stop. Caught the bus with a little couple who are avid & professional bird watchers from Canada. They were also going to Yaki Point, it was very nice to visit with them. They are working their way to Texas. He has a conference the first week in November in Houston, they were headed to Harlingen. I headed back to the trailer around 7:30 getting back just after 8 for breakfast & in time to start getting ready for Kelley & Kim's ceremony. We were supposed to meet them at the point but Kelley called & they were running late, so we decided Cindy & I would go to their room to finish getting ready & help her. Kim & Mark would head to the market to get the burger makings for our cook out & pick up Robert at the trailer. Cindy & I got to the hotel & Kelley was just starting her make up, I still needed to get mine on as well as do my hair & get dressed. I got finished, Kelley needed help getting her hair done. Cindy was already done & ready before we got there & looked great. Sue just needed to change into her dress. We all finally got ready it was after 10 (when we were already supposed to be at the point). Got some pictures & it was so funny walking through the hotel lobby in our semi formal dress, Kelley who looked amazingly beautiful in her long red dress with her bouquet of red flowers. She got quite a few complements from the staff. Needless to say we didn't look like we were going hiking like most everyone else. LOL All us girls loaded up into our truck, again a funny sight, remember it's a 4 wheel drive 4 door one ton long bed pick up. I have to step up on the running boards just to get in, Kelley & I both in long dresses climbing into that truck. Once we got to the road that we needed to take to the picnic area, it was a private road so no one could drive back except us cause we had the key to the gate. Driving back up into the woods toward the rim & passing hikers on the road driving in also got us some looks, again 4 women, all dressed up in a big ol truck. The boys were already there & had most everything set up. I had to hurry to the point with my tripod to get things set up with the camera & make sure everyone got to were they needed to go.

It was sooooooo beautiful. The day was perfect, the weather, not to hot, a slight breeze & a few clouds in the distance. All Cindy & I could say almost the entire time from Monday until we left Friday was WOW. Every sight we saw was awesome. The ceremony was wonderful, we all cried. Afterward we took a bunch of pictures(imagine that) lol, then headed back to the pavillion where Robert cooked us all some burgers. It was funny at one point a couple came hiking through & were sorta looking at us, I made the comment "yes, we always dress formal when we hike". LOL the lady looked, stopped a bit & said " Oh my, you are all dressed up". We all got a great laugh out of it. We drove out a little after 1 to head back to camp, they headed back to the hotel so everyone could change & rest or whatever. We meet back up at their hotel around 5 for cake & champagne. Cindy & I then left & went to dinner at the Bright Angel hotel restaurant. After our dinner we went back to their hotel room, where Robert was still hanging out, gathered him up & went back to the camper. Got into bed around 11 & crashed.

Had plans to meet up with everyone back at the hotel for breakfast, which was very good. Afterward, I went on a hike with Kim, Cindy went shopping with Kelley, Mark & Sue did some shopping & sight seeing & Robert went back to the camper. His ankle & knee wouldn't allow him to hike to much. Our hiking trip took longer than I thought it would so when I got back to camp Robert was very upset with me. The one thing he wanted to do we didn't do because he said it was to late. It was 3, sunset wasn't until 6:30 but he was angry with me so therefore we couldn't do it. So I went shopping since I hadn't gotten any gifts or souvenirs yet. The one big ticket item I wanted I didn't get because it was expensive but after getting back to camp & telling Robert about it, he asked what time the shop closed, which was 6, it was 5:30 he said I would make it to get it, I said if I take the truck instead of the bus I could. So I drove back over & got it. Got all my shopping done by 6:30. We had steak & baked potatos for dinner outside on the picnic table then did roasted marshmallows. Cindy played on her nook, Robert & I on our laptops, he online with our sprint connector, I downloading & organizing pictures. We all went inside around 10 or so. Robert went to the bedroom to read, I got online with the sprint connector for a bit, Cindy reading her nook. Then we were all in bed & asleep I think by 11:30.

We all got up early to pack everything up to head out. Time to leave & head east toward home. Boo hoo, didn't want to leave. It would have been nice to stay a couple more days. We had a very nice drive back through Arizona, made it into New Mexico & 30 minutes west of Albuquerque one of those other tires on the trailer finally blew. The middle one on the left side of the trailer. We pulled into the Route 66 Casino & travel center got the spare put on & limped about 5 miles up the road to Camper World, again being 5:30 in the evening & they closed at 6. Bought 2 new tires to replace the last two that were on the left side of the trailer. Finally getting back on the road around 6:45, we drove straight through Albuquerque since there wasn't a place to keep the trailer since the Balloon fiesta opening day was the next morning. All hotels, camping areas everything was full. We went on to Santa Rosa, getting there around 9 & set up for the night. The next morning Robert started breakfast, then ran to the store, I finished breakfast up by the time he returned. We chowed down, loaded & closed everything up & headed on to Texas.

We stopped at the Cadillac Ranch just west of Amarillo for Cindy, got some pictures & back on the road. We pulled into our drive way around 5:30, got the trailer pulled up onto the blocks & parked finally. Cindy gathered up her things, we unloaded some stuff from the trailer. Cindy headed home, we unpacked some, then vegged out for the night.

Sunday morning we got up, Robert & I just hung out in the living room watching his morning shows & on our laptops. Then he had some errands to run, while he was gone I went out & cleaned the trailer, thoroughly, took me 3 hours. But it looks great & is ready for the next trip.

Monday - Robert was supposed to have knee cap replacement surgery, he didn't. The dr decided to just scope the knee to check out exactly what the inside looks like, cleaned up a bunch of stuff in his knee. We waited longer for them to take him back than the whole surgery. He didn't have to spend the night which please him greatly. Got back to Hudson Oaks around 2:15, dropped off his script at Walgreens. They said 3 so we went to Boo Ray's to get a late lunch. Picked up the prescription & headed home. Spent the rest of the day taking it easy.

Tuesday - Friday, ugh, back to work. Orientation on Tuesday with four newbies. 2 servers, a host & a grill cook. Lost a grill cook, cashier, server & manager while I was on vacation. Busy week catching back up, the only bad thing about leaving for more than a couple of days. Had another orientee Friday, a server. Got somethings caught up. Doug our new manager started the first Saturday that I was on Vaca. Been trying to get him in our store for over a year. He's Domino, my workout buddy's boyfriend. Really glad he's finally in our building. Mani went to Arlington, which he told me before I left for vaca. Doug is great. I think everyone is liking him. I know I do, finally someone with the guts to do their job.

Well, there ya have it folks, a bit of a book I know. But I think I've finally caught up on this. Rangers still playing, it's still raining here at my house and it keeps moving that direction. They are still in the 5th inning due to 2 rain stops. Go Rangers. I really hope they win.

I have to work tomorrow as Shift Leader, ugh, I have another orientation lined up for Tues/Weds, a server, dish, & I think 2 seasonal retail.

Till the next time, have a wonderful day, God Bless

Friday to Thursday 16th - 22nd of Sept, 2011

I'm gonna post this alittle at a time. I've been rather busy this past week and hadn't had a chance to do much on the computer and that includes my FB and FB games. So I started with my day from last Friday it's almost 1 AM now and we'll be getting up in a few hours to leave on our big trip so I'll post this now and add more tomorrow when we're out on the road.

OMG, I have been so busy, I got some catchin up to do. I was off this past weekend and Robert & I stayed home all weekend. I was going to go help my friend La Rue at her shop Friday and not long after I got up and was sitting on the couch catching up on FB, I heard a whining noise at the garage door. Knew it was Sophie wanting in and when I opened the door there she lay covered in blood and couldn't hardly move. When I walked away to go around from the front door she pulled herself up into the laundry room. I had to get her cleaned up just to see what was wrong. Our neighbor has a female who was in heat for about 2 weeks and every boy dog in the area was hanging out in our yard causing all the dogs to go nuts. So we think one of them in the heated moment of fighting that all the boys were doing, because she might have jumped in to help Boxer. Any way they got her good. Once I got her cleaned up and checked how bad it was, she had a couple gashes and I got her bandaged up got her moved eventually onto her bed in the living room and there she laid the rest of the day and most of the night. I didn't go anywhere I stayed on the couch did some things on my computer and watched her all day. I did do a bit of piant in the bed room. But I didn't go very far from Sophie. I got her to drink some water and after Robert got home we got her to drink more water and I got to wennies and broke up a tylenol into them and she scarfed it down.

The rest of the weekend Robert and I painted. I never left the house until Sunday morning when I had to work. I worked 9 to 2 as a shift leader and ran the dinning room. I had Mani with me but again I ran the dinning room. One of my newer hosts, a young man, who is quickly turning into another some one in our building who is a pain in my neck, I made him stay at the podium and be my name taker and caller. He wasn't happy about that. But he did ok once we got him over the hurdle and I told him everyone has to do it they can't all be the seaters or running all over, which is really what he wants to do.

I had orientation during the week with 2 ladies and a very tall young man who is the brother to one of our other servers, a cash, retail and a server. So working all week getting the 3 of them trained, do PAR tests, finish up some paper work, did my DM report since it was the end of the month. When I wasn't at work I was at home painting and working in the bedroom getting it ready for Cindy on Thursday night and Stephanie to stay in while we're on our trip. So that would be why I'm sooooooo behind on my blog. Once again I apologize to those of you who like to read about my boring life. LOL

On Tuesday Mani told me that he was leaving. I said leaving the company? No, he's leaving our building and going to the store on 360 in Arlington. YEAH. Our replacement is Doug Brown who I've been trying to get into our store over a year. I promoted him to Mike Taylor last fall when he was trying to move down from Arkansas. He happens to be my work out buddies boyfriend and he lives only like 15 minutes from the store. They moved him down last year and when we got Mani they sent him to Grapevine. So I'm happy, Domino is happy and I'm sure Doug is happy. He's gonna shake some things up I know but I told Domino to tell him to not go in guns ablazin and not to upset any of my people until after I get back. LOL

So there ya have it, my week in a nut shell. Thursday I worked 13 hours and then had to go home to pack and put all my stuff in the trailer for our trip. Robert had gotten pretty much everything done, Cindy was at the house and helped me pick out clothes. I was up late, late, late after the two of them headed to bed to finish stuff.

My next post will have the beginning of our trip. Till next time, God Bless you all.

Monday to Thursday, 12th - 15th of September 2011

What a week I've had this week. Monday I didn't have orientation this week due to the fact I scheduled two hour classes with all the servers/grill cooks & hosts for the entire week. Monday I was to have two classes but some of those scheduled didn't bother to show up. We were very busy between 12 & 1 which was very unusual for a Monday. So I helped out then had my class in the afternoon.

Tuesday again a morning, an afternoon and late afternoon class, busy busy. These classes were all about focusing on the guest experience and changes to the some of our procedures to help employees. I believe those who did read their schedules and came got a lot out of it. Again when I wasn't in my class I was helping out in the window and Nick one of our grill cooks cooked a burger and the guest wanted it on grilled bread instead of a bun. He had the plate with the sandwich on it in his hand and turned to put fries on the plate and as he turned the sandwich literally kept going and ended up in the floor, the look on his face it was so funny, I looked at him and said "you didn't just throw that on the floor did you?" LOL he just looked so crestfallen, we all got a laugh out of it, even Nick however he had to cook another burger. I went to the dinning room to the guest and explain what had happened, it was so hard not to laugh, although the man did laugh with me and said "that was fine, he wasn't in a hurry."

Wednesday again with my classes, finished up my day around 6:30 and headed home to paint, Niki came home with me to help and Randy came over to pick her up around 10. Got the front bedroom started with the primer and spackled up some of the holes in the walls.

Thursday my long day, still classes one this morning and another at 2, switched to shift leader at 3, finished the class at 4 and had about an 1 1/2 break to finish up the schedule for next week before we got hit around 5:30 and it was hard, new grill cook and he was doing the cooking, Jennifer not the new one what doing the salads and dipping and frying and trying to keep up, we ended up with 25 minute tickets, not good. Shawn finally got on the line to help move the food. We stayed busy till 7 when it slowed just a bit but never really stopped until close to 8, thank Heavens, I really didn't want to stay past 8. I was beat.

Robert has been in Dallas since Monday and got home tonight about 2 hours before me. He had to be over there for work. So I had the house to myself the past 3 nights. Quite most the time. Steph & Niki came over for a bit Monday night. Monday was an off day for me though, I woke up feeling off, if ya'll know what I mean. The whole day I felt that way and even into the night. I crashed fairly early Monday night and for those of you who know me I'm a night owl and up till 1 or 2 in the morning. But Monday night I was in be by 11:30. Got some good sleep and Tuesday was much better. Had Tuesday night to myself and watched the second & third Twilight movies on sat tv. Wednesday like I said earlier Niki came over for a while after I got home from work and helped me do some of the painting. After her and Randy left I finished up some of the painting and washed out all the rollers and brushes and then washed the paint off of me. LOL

Robert did more in the front room before I got home with more of the primer. We've just hung out watched the new Christina Applegate show and Free Agents which I had recorded this evening and last night. Pretty funny.

I'm off work tomorrow and Saturday and I'll be working in the front bedroom to get it finished up.

Tuesday began our count down to vacation. Now we're down to ONE week. Wooo whoo. We are getting excited, at least Cindy and I are as is our friend Kelley. Robert I think is also since he told me we need to start preparing and packing the trailer this week getting ready so we can pull out next Friday.

Soooooo excited. Get to see my grandbaby girl, Kali next weekend and then on to the Grand Canyon.

Ya'll have a great weekend and an even better week, God Bless

Friday to Sunday, 9th to 11th of September 2011

Friday - the first day of my weekend off. Started cleaning out one of the bedrooms, then headed to Lake Worth with Robert to do some shopping at Home Depot/Lowes looking for paint colors to paint the rooms we are now cleaning out. After we left Lake Worth Robert took me La Rues shop in Azle so that I could help her out with all the homecoming mums. Getting it all organized. Just after 6 we closed the shop and Rue took me home. Robert's back, ankle and knee were all bothering him so we stayed home and chilled for the night.

Saturday - got up and figured I'd run up to Home Depot in Weatherford to get the colors I finally decided on, along with new light fixtures for the hallway, blinds and all the brushes and such to do the job. Once I got home I played with the paint a bit to get an idea, being that I bought samples and not the full size. Good thing, the darker color I wanted the guy convinced me to go even darker and when I got it on the wall it's a deep maroon almost a claret color. So it's not gonna work. Had Niki & Stephanie come load up the stuff of theirs that I was cleaning out on Friday. Lined up my hall way. Around 5 or so I started getting ready for out night out. We had plans to go to some friends house for the evening and just hang out. We left around 7:10 and headed into Fort Worth. Had a nice evening, enjoyed good company and good food. Didn't get home till after 2 in the morning but oh well. We had a nice time.

Sunday - Slept in a bit, but not much had plans to go to the movies with Cindy and then to Penney's so she could looks for some boots & jeans. Met her at the Starplex at 11:15 to see Contagion - ok movie, not great. Good story line but no real connection to any of the characters. You don't get invested really in any one person. Maybe a little in Matt Damon's character but he's not really a central character. After the movie we went to Ridgmar to Penney's. Found Cindy 2 pairs of jeans, 2 shirts, a great dress and a pair of boots that she can wear to Kelley's ceremony in a couple of weeks. I still don't have a clue of what I'm gonna wear. LOL. Got back to Cindy's and into my truck to head home. We'd invited Glen & La Rue over for dinner, found out we would have 2 more for dinner so I stopped in at Kroger and picked up two more bakers and some veggie skewers to add to everything. When I got home I made Robert sit down and soak his foot again(had him do it Saturday also, bought epsom salt) and I cleaned the kitchen. He already had the ribs on the smoker. I put the potatoes in the oven just after 5 and while they cooked finished cleaning the kitchen and vacuuming the living room. Robert had painted the entry hall with the kilz's and patched holes in the walls in the first bedroom. Had everything ready by 6 when company was coming over. They didn't get here until 6:40ish. We had a really nice visit and great dinner. Smoked ribs & brats, baked potatoes, ranch beans, a mixed salad and I smoked the fresh veggie skewers(onion, red & green bell peppers, zuc's & yellow squash and mushrooms) they were good. Company hung out till about 9:30. We had a nice time. After company left, Robert got his laundry done, so he could pack because he is in Dallas Monday to Thursday for work. We watched some of the recorded tv and headed off to bed.

That was my big weekend, I didn't watch any of the 911 specials because I knew I'd do nothing but cry and get really down. I did have the families and the country in my thoughts and prayers.

I'll post another posting with my week at work and home alone.

Till next time, God Bless and take care.

Sunday to Thursday, 4th to the 8th of September 2011

Sunday was a lazy day for us, we did go to Grapevine in the late afternoon. We were supposed to meet friends for dinner at the El Fenix over there and they were gonna be late so for the first time ever in my life Robert took me to the Bass Pro Shop. That's one big place with alot of out door sports stuff. We tootled around for about an hour and a half then headed back over to the restaurant. We had a nice visit and dinner. Leaving for home around 9. Just chilled the rest of the evening. Not a very busy day for us. LOL

Monday - Labor day - I had to work of course since it was a holiday. Woke up with a headache. Got to work a little after 8:30. Got a couple of things done and then at 9 it was really getting busy. Ended up in the window setting trays to be run. Long ticket times due to incompetence on the grill line. Seriously you have 2 grills and the managers put the two slowest and worst on one side and the better two on the other. Let's just say the side with the best were putting across 2 to 3 orders to every one of the not so good side. Unreal. Finally I'd had enough around 1 and stepped out leaving the window to Fred. I went out to the dinning room and made sure that servers were bringing in dishes since quite a few of them were not cleaning tables and the dinning room wasn't getting cleaned. We finally slowed down a good bit after 2 and I left about 10 to 3. My earlier headache had left me feeling ugh all day and my lower back was spasming so I left like 10 min early. Came home and chilled out the rest of the day. Robert of course had the day off and he was just a bum. LOL

Tuesday - I had orientation today with 3 new servers. Got everything done with them, had people lined up since Saturday to watch the promo video, those who didn't do it on Sat or Sun I did write up's on them and gave them to Mike on Monday. Mani told me he had brought his portable in on Saturday and put it on the alley line and played the video all day. Others told me that they didn't pay any attention to it because they were to busy. Well of course and they would have had to stop to start each section of Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner/Dessert. Mike told me on Thursday that Mani reminded him of that to which I told Mike they still need the write ups because they were scheduled, it was only an hour after their shifts and those who worked Saturday that I had seen Mon - Weds had told me that they had not paid any attention to it at all. We'll see what he does. He probably wont give them the write ups.

Wednesday - day two of orientation - menu's and plate presentation with the 3 new servers plus Jaron - one of my cashiers who wants to cross train into serving. Got through that and put the 4 of them on micros ringing in practice orders. Had people lined up in the afternoon to watch the video, some PAR courses and tests. I finally got into the office to call about half of the applications to line them up for interviews for Thursday and Friday. Had about 13 people in the rising star meeting. I left work around 5:30 and headed home.

Thursday - Had people lined up all day to watch the video and/or do courses or test. Stayed busy all day. Of course it was my 12 hour day. Luckily the evening wasn't as busy as it has been in the past so I was able to stay in the office and get my part of the schedule done for next week. I wont have any orientation but I have 2 hour meetings lined up for everyday at least 3 a day to go over the newest info that home office wants us to deliver to the host/server/grill. We did the trainers 2 weeks ago(a week late cause they didn't show up) so we are behind by a week or two getting this done. Oh well, no orientation. We'll see who pays attention to their schedules and actually shows for the training. May have some more write ups to do. Left work at 8 and headed home. We watched Burn Notice and Mega Mind(I watched Mega Mind - about half way through Robert went to bed) LOL.

So there it is my week. LOL not a whole lot to tell. Just getting excited about our trip. TWO WEEKS and I'm off for 10 days. OH YEAH. I really need it. I'm so very tired of work, tired of the crap and the some of the losers we have working for us. The attitudes and the lying. The theft that no one will do anything about. I really should call LP and report it.

Ya'll have a great weekend, God bless.

Monday to Saturday, 29th of August to 3nd of September 2011

Well it was a fairly busy week, of course you all know I had to work nights this week which is one of the reasons I didn't post.

Monday, I got up and hung around the house for a while catching up on somethings before I had to get ready for work. I went around 2 and got somethings done before my class arrived at 4. I have 2 new grill cooks, a server and a host. One of the new grill cooks is an 18 yr old kid who is still in high school which is why we had to have night orientation. He seems to be a good kid, he's only been in the US for just under 2 years, he's originally from Columbia. He's worked really hard to learn english and he does speak and understand it better than most. So Monday night we did the videos and paper work.

Tuesday, Got up, got dressed and went to La Rues for a while, needed to get a plant for my Aunt who lost her Mom this past Saturday. The visitation was set for Wednesday night and the funeral for Thursday. I knew I could change my schedule to let me work Wednesday day so that I could at least go to the visitation. So that's what I did when I got to work today. Reworked my schedule and worked it out that my rising stars could finish their training at different times the rest of the week. We did menu's and plate presentation with my two grill cooks because my new server called out had something come up. He told me he could work anytime on Wednesday so I had him come in Wednesday day to do his menu's class. I had the others come in to do their computer work. I also had last weeks new grill cook to come in Wednesday to do all his computer work so that he'd be ready to work with Lynda on Thursday & Friday.

Wednesday, I also went to work at 8:30 still working with all the new hires and fielding calls from all our newest applicants. I never really had a chance to call any of them this week like I thought, I was so busy with all the new hires and getting the schedule finished for everyone who needs to PAR as well as those who need to watch the new promo video. I left work close to 4 and headed home to change clothes and eat something before I drove to Colleyville for the visitation. Got over there close to 7. My Aunt Glenda looked well but tired which was understandable due to the kind of week she'd had. I got home a bit after 9 and just chilled before I crashed for the night.

Thursday, Got to work around 8 and worked till 9 PM. Got home and once again just chilled, watched my recorded shows, Burn Notice one of my favs.

Friday, got up early to head to town and run some errands, went to the dry cleaners then to the bank to cash in some of my rolls of coins. Then to Walmart to get a couple of things killing time till 10 when Belk opened. Went to Belk and got new pillows cause one we needed them and two I had great discount coupons. I got 3 pillows, Robert a shirt and pair of shorts, a great pair of sandels for me and a freezable cup with lid and straw and saved $195, I love coupons. LOL After Belk I ran over to Best Buy to check on the status of my camera, which I have been with out for almost 2 weeks and I'm not liking not having my camera with my all the time. They told me that as of the 31st it was being looked at by a tech. So lets hope that I get it back real soon. Then I left for Burleson for lunch with Kelley and to give her her Pampered Chef. After lunch I went out to her house for a bit to go over some things once we get to the Canyon for the day of the ceremony. Got home just after 2 and Robert fixed me a great dinner of teriyake chicken & rice. Later we went to a party over in Dallas. Had a nice time. Got home around 2:30 in the morning and we crashed.

Woke up around 8 this morning and decided I didn't want to get up, so I rolled over and went back to sleep, lol. Slept till about 10:30. After I woke up Robert came in and said he was going into town did I need him to do anything like get my dry cleaning. Yes, please. LOL. I got up, did a couple things around the house and then got on my laptop to start looking at the route for our trip. I watched Haven & Torchwood. My momma called to let me know she was gonna get to go to CKC in San Marcos after all and wanted to invite me. Told her I wished I could but we're saving the extra's for the trip.

Around 3:45 Robert and I decided to drive to Lake Worth to the Starplex to see Conan. I thought it was pretty good. For a blood & guts action movie I liked it. Robert said it was ok, he doesn't like it when the camera's move around alot. I guess it makes him dizzy. LOL

After the movie we went to Best Buy and looked around a bit. Then we headed home and now we're sitting here each on our laptops and watching a movie called Get Low on Starz. Robert Duvall & Sissy Spacek, good movie so far. Love Robert Duvall he does make good movies.

So there ya have it everyone, my past week in a nut shell. Not a lot to really tell. Or maybe I'm just not that good of a story teller or I just have one down right boring life - Sometimes. LOL

Night to all, God Bless and take care.