Happy Mother's Day!!

A very dear friend sent this to me after spending the weekend with us at a local rodeo. She got to experience my 3 year old son first-hand so when she sent it to me she noted, "I simply could not get the Bear out of my mind when I first read this!! Hope this hasn't happened to you and that you have wonderful Mother's Day with that entertaining little man!!"

For all you moms out there! Happy Mother's Day!

At the time of this story we had this great 10-year old cat named Jack. Jack was a great cat and the kids would carry him around and sit on him and nothing ever bothered him. He used to hang out and nap all day long on this mat in our bathroom.

Well, we have 3 kids and at the time of this story they were 4 years old, 3 years old and 1 year old. The middle one is Eli. Eli really loves chapstick. LOVES it. He kept asking to use my chapstick and then losing it. So finally one day I showed him where in the bathroom I keep my chapstick and how he could use it whenever he wanted to but he needed to put it right back in the drawer when he was done.

Last year on Mother's Day, we were having the typical rush around to try to get ready for church with everyone crying and carrying on. My two boys were fighting over the toy in the cereal box. I was trying to nurse my little one at the same time I was putting on my make-up. Everything was a mess and everyone had long forgotten that it was supposed to be a wonderful day to honor me and the amazing job that is motherhood.

We finally had the older one and the baby loaded in the car, and I was looking for Eli. I had searched everywhere, and I finally rounded the corner to go into the bathroom. And there was Eli. He was applying my chapstick very carefully to Jack's rear end. Eli looked right into my eyes and said "chapped."

Now if you have a cat, you know that he was right--their little butts do look pretty chapped. And, frankly, Jack didn't seem to mind.

And the only question really to ask at that point was whether it was the FIRST time Eli had done that to the cat's behind -- or the hundredth.

And THAT is my favorite Mother's Day moment ever, because it reminds us that no matter how hard we try to civilize these glorious little creatures, there will always be that day when you realize they've been using your chapstick on the cat's butt.

e-GADS!!

Crikey! Has it really been almost three weeks since I last posted? Totally not acceptable. Seriously. This new job is interfering with my Blogger time and that just ain't gonna work no mo'.

The new job is going really great. I had a couple of bumpy first weeks and I think it was more from the company's tremendous growth that I came in on more than a lack of ability on my part. It wasn't until my third week that I (and even my boss) had a clear comprehension of what my job duties and responsibilities would be. And even now into my sixth week, my job description is still evolving. But that is a good thing.

And since the new job is not with the CIA, I can tell you a little bit about it. I am the new (not improved, just new) Human Resources Administrator for a local land services company. We have two offices in Texas with the Mason office being the headquarters. We are in the early planning stages for our third office. Now, you might be saying, "Who knew surveying was such a boomin' bidness?" Well, hey. I had no idea either. But we do more than that - we are also into the geophysical-engineering part of land services also. One of our biggest clients is an energy corporation.

With that being said, my duties include advertising and hiring needed personnel for both offices (no small feat since our second office is four hours away). I also take care of the multiple administrative type issues. We are needing significant interior construction for additional offices and conference rooms and the such so I will be working with contractors to get bids and eventually get the work done. We are planning a big "appreciation" event for our biggest client in June so I am knee deep in party planning - WHICH I LOVE, by the way! I am - without the designated title - the right hand person to our Operations Director so she keeps me very busy with all the various and sundry minute detail work of actually running the day to day operations of the business. In between all that I field phone call after phone call responses to the numerous newspaper and internet employment ads we have posted to fill personnel needs. And each phone call generates some type of task on my part whether it is sending an application via email, postal mail or fax. One of my top priorities is entering daily billable time from our researchers, draftsman, and field crews which in turn generates invoices to the clients. And I haven't even told you about the multiple spreadsheet reports I keep updated on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis.

But still. I need to make time for Blogging, mustn't I?

I hope all is well with everyone. I extend my sincerest apologies for my lack of interaction in our wonderful little Blogging community. I am hopeful that once I get my daily duties into a less chaotic rhythm I will be able to be more participatory again with you all. I have an overwhelming amount of Blogs to catch up on!!

Still Kickin!

Man! Has it really been two whole weeks since I lasted posted? WOW! Time really does fly when you're living in the middle of a tornado!

The new job? eh - let's just say it's there for now. More dish on that later.

The old job? Still hanging on to me. My replacement is not as qualified as my former employers led me to believe. In the first two weeks of April I put in 80 hours at the new job while putting in 26 hours at the old job. And the former employer expects me to put in more time this week with the new girl. Uh uh. Ain't gonna happen.

All is well with the family. Apparently my 3 year old son is quite smitten with one of my new co-workers. Can you believe he would rather come by and see her than rush home to ride on his brand new battery powered John Deere tractor??!!!?? Hubby and I are completely befuddled by this. She gave him some cash the other day. The boy already knows how to work it.

Gotta go. More later!

Hugs to all!

Wake Up Call

So I've been on the new job for 3.5 days. While the new duties and opportunity for challenge are stimulating in and of themselves, I've had a pretty big jolt back to "the real world."

The secular work environment is very different from employment that requires one to be knee deep (literally) in religion on a day-to-day basis. Not only is secular employment 90% for profit, the competitiveness in the workplace is almost palpable. I had forgotten the dog eat dog mentality despite retaining my alligator skin from my lawyering days.

This is not to say that I am not enjoying the new work. I feel like it was a good choice for me and my family and I truly believe that I will be an asset to this company that has such huge potential. But there is something to be said for the very warm, very heart-engaging work that one does in a church office.

My time with my church will be remembered fondly.

And my acquired servant's heart will always be thankful for the experience.

Off to See the Wizard!

Well, I start my new job tomorrow. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I am pretty excited about it. I'm not real thrilled about all the soap opera dramma that has been transpiring in and around the new office but I'm feeling confident that I will be able to set the tone (as the new Office Administrator/HR Director) for the office to be professional and productive without all the teen-age angst mentality that has apparently been going on.

So if you don't hear from me for a few days, never fear! I will be back and with any luck, I'll have some interesting if not funny stories to tell.


To Infinity and Beyonnnnnnnnddddddd . . . . . . ! ! ! !