We were up early and packed the truck got gas (diesel has finally dropped a little - down to $4.24) and got to their airport by 8:00. Greg and Jean got there right after and we got the plane packed, Greg did the pre-flight and we took off by 9:15. Flight was great. Went quick. I finished a book by Barbara Delinsky and started one by Sandra. We had expected to get into a lot of weather and be in instrument conditions a lot of the time. It didn't work that way, flight was smooth and cool at 7000 feet. We only had a minute of actual coming down through the clouds for Appleton. We landed around 12:50.
Dave and Larry had arrived Sunday and came and got us from the airport and took us to hotel. Our room wasn't ready until 3:00 so we hung out in Greg's and Jean's room until then. I finished my book and used laptop to check work and personal emails. Made a few responses to some work stuff and quickly logged off before they could reply.
We got cleaned up and met in hotel bar at 5:00. They give two free drinks per overnight guest each night from 5:00 - 7:00. I had one even though I shouldn't have due to some of my medication. We left about 6:00 for Oshkosh to go to a Cessna Pilot Association dinner. Dave always treats us to it. It is a good buffet out on the desk of the Hilton Garden Hotel. It overlooks the airport and we watch planes take off the entire time.
This was out first glimpse of the airshow grounds this year and it was packed. The airport in Appleton was not as crowded as before and we were worried the airshow was going to feel the hit off fuel prices. I think more people flew in to Oshkosh and were camping. It was packed. Dinner was great and we even won two door prizes. Dave won them both. First was simple notebook donated by some aviation insurance company and a T-shirt. Second gift was really nice. A Cessna history book signed by the retiring CEO. Very nice tabletop book. It was perfect for Dave. He lives and breathes aviation.
We came back to bar in hotel for another drink or two then headed to bed about 11:00. A very good begininning for the trip.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Weekend-Monday
Well, so much for my promise from my last post. I did stay home all weekend but did not get any additional posts added. M worked Saturday morning and then went to the lake. I stayed home to do laundry, shop, run errands, etc. to get ready to go on vacation. It was so hot running errands. It was over 100 degrees and sunny and humid. Yuck.
I got everything bought this weekend then ended up working 1/2 a day Monday, Monday afternoon I went to lunch with M and L before going by the bank, paying any bills due while we are gone, and then home to finish laundry and read. M moved Monday night and I packed us up.
We ended up totall ready to go by Monday 10:30 p.m. . . more later.
I got everything bought this weekend then ended up working 1/2 a day Monday, Monday afternoon I went to lunch with M and L before going by the bank, paying any bills due while we are gone, and then home to finish laundry and read. M moved Monday night and I packed us up.
We ended up totall ready to go by Monday 10:30 p.m. . . more later.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Saturday
Just a quick note. I am off to work! on a Saturday! My employee that had the problems resigned with no notice Thursday so instead of doing my own work and just supervising while they catch up today. I actually get to do the work that is behind. That's okay. It needs to get done and I can do it quick and painless.
M also headed off to work today. He helped a friend build a room in his attic a few years ago and they are going to add to dormer windows to the room today. He has wanted to all along but was waiting until he had to re-roof the house anyway so he could get that done at the same time.
Bye for now . . . plan to blog more this weekend since we are staying home from the lake.
M also headed off to work today. He helped a friend build a room in his attic a few years ago and they are going to add to dormer windows to the room today. He has wanted to all along but was waiting until he had to re-roof the house anyway so he could get that done at the same time.
Bye for now . . . plan to blog more this weekend since we are staying home from the lake.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Wednesday
Had a pretty good day today. Had a "talk" with one of my employees. It has been set. This person now knows what needs to be done and the rest is in their hands. They can do what they need to do or the consequences have already been outlined. To be dramatic - "their destiny lies in their hands."
I got a lot accomplished today. Finished several end of quarter things and got them distributed. I am also working ahead on end of July stuff since I will miss the last week of July while I am on vacation. I still have to go in on Saturday since a supervisor must be there when employees are there. I am still having a small dilemma on if I should help them with their work that is behind or work on my own projects. The behind work needs to get done but if I do it for them, I am not sure the lesson will be learned.
Mike is wrapping up a job in Seminole and only going there occasionally while working on other local projects on other days. Today he called me on his way to the airport! He and L had decided to fly to Seminole to check on the job's progress. I had to laugh. Seminole is not so far away that it probably didn't take him just as long to drive the opposite direction to the airport, pre-flight the plane, fly to Seminole, park and tie-down the plane, and arrange to use the courtesy car to drive to the job site as it would have just to drive there. However, he and L had a good flight and I know he enjoyed the opportunity to be in the air.
After work, M and I went to local boat sale place to buy our nephews a new wake surfboard. I got a bonus a few weeks ago and while I didn't tell them how much it was, they have spent last few weekends coming up with ways to help me spend it. They have been quite creative with their wishes. From tower speakers for the new boat, trips to Vegas, new koozies for the lake house, fireworks, everything that even slightly worn out or missing was mentioned for me to spend my bonus on for them. M and I talked about it and decided to get them a wake surfboard. The new boat is so very cool to play behind. They have been wakeboarding and wakeskating all the time and have talked about getting a wake surfboard. We decided to just get it for them. We all enjoy watching them and M will probably try it too at least a few times.
After we got it, we drove over to my brother-in-law's to go out to dinner with them. My nephew doesn't live very far away and he came over to look at the surfboard and ended up taking it with him. He was going to other nephew's house tonight and took it with him. I told him we wouldn't be down on Saturday so they had one day to get really good at it. We might try to go down Saturday night but maybe not at all.
My other nephew isn't really my nephew. He is my sister-in-law's nephew on her side of the family. I call him my nephew-type-person. Or sometimes I introduce him as my husband's brother's wife's sister's kid. I am really good at saying it really fast. This is the confusing part: His wife's sister (or better described as my husband's brother's wife's sister's kid's wife's sister) is dating my actual nephew. That is right. The boys are cousins to each other. One is married to H and the other is dating H's sister. We have had a lot of fun with this. It's great though because we get to see so much of them and sometimes the girl's parents go to the lake with us since both of their daughters are there.
My nephew-type-person W and his wife H are expecting a baby in October. We have all been very excited. This is the baby that was announced at our Mardi Gras party in February. It is a girl. They are naming her Kate Avery ________. The shower is in August and I got on babiesrus.com to order the present from their registry. H is a big Internet user and I just knew that she was probably checking the registry daily to see what got bought already. W said "No, she really isn't checking it. She was going to but her mother told he not too and she really hasn't". I let him think this but I knew better. I would look. No way could you keep me from it. I got on myspace to tell H that I had bought Katie Jo's present. (Katie Jo is what we have been calling the baby at the lake because they were so adamant that it was just Kate and not Katie.) H swore she wasn't looking at the registry. I told her I would I would just lie about it. She finally confessed. She has been looking. I just laughed. I knew she would.
Going to start my before-bed rituals now and get ready for another day.
I got a lot accomplished today. Finished several end of quarter things and got them distributed. I am also working ahead on end of July stuff since I will miss the last week of July while I am on vacation. I still have to go in on Saturday since a supervisor must be there when employees are there. I am still having a small dilemma on if I should help them with their work that is behind or work on my own projects. The behind work needs to get done but if I do it for them, I am not sure the lesson will be learned.
Mike is wrapping up a job in Seminole and only going there occasionally while working on other local projects on other days. Today he called me on his way to the airport! He and L had decided to fly to Seminole to check on the job's progress. I had to laugh. Seminole is not so far away that it probably didn't take him just as long to drive the opposite direction to the airport, pre-flight the plane, fly to Seminole, park and tie-down the plane, and arrange to use the courtesy car to drive to the job site as it would have just to drive there. However, he and L had a good flight and I know he enjoyed the opportunity to be in the air.
After work, M and I went to local boat sale place to buy our nephews a new wake surfboard. I got a bonus a few weeks ago and while I didn't tell them how much it was, they have spent last few weekends coming up with ways to help me spend it. They have been quite creative with their wishes. From tower speakers for the new boat, trips to Vegas, new koozies for the lake house, fireworks, everything that even slightly worn out or missing was mentioned for me to spend my bonus on for them. M and I talked about it and decided to get them a wake surfboard. The new boat is so very cool to play behind. They have been wakeboarding and wakeskating all the time and have talked about getting a wake surfboard. We decided to just get it for them. We all enjoy watching them and M will probably try it too at least a few times.
After we got it, we drove over to my brother-in-law's to go out to dinner with them. My nephew doesn't live very far away and he came over to look at the surfboard and ended up taking it with him. He was going to other nephew's house tonight and took it with him. I told him we wouldn't be down on Saturday so they had one day to get really good at it. We might try to go down Saturday night but maybe not at all.
My other nephew isn't really my nephew. He is my sister-in-law's nephew on her side of the family. I call him my nephew-type-person. Or sometimes I introduce him as my husband's brother's wife's sister's kid. I am really good at saying it really fast. This is the confusing part: His wife's sister (or better described as my husband's brother's wife's sister's kid's wife's sister) is dating my actual nephew. That is right. The boys are cousins to each other. One is married to H and the other is dating H's sister. We have had a lot of fun with this. It's great though because we get to see so much of them and sometimes the girl's parents go to the lake with us since both of their daughters are there.
My nephew-type-person W and his wife H are expecting a baby in October. We have all been very excited. This is the baby that was announced at our Mardi Gras party in February. It is a girl. They are naming her Kate Avery ________. The shower is in August and I got on babiesrus.com to order the present from their registry. H is a big Internet user and I just knew that she was probably checking the registry daily to see what got bought already. W said "No, she really isn't checking it. She was going to but her mother told he not too and she really hasn't". I let him think this but I knew better. I would look. No way could you keep me from it. I got on myspace to tell H that I had bought Katie Jo's present. (Katie Jo is what we have been calling the baby at the lake because they were so adamant that it was just Kate and not Katie.) H swore she wasn't looking at the registry. I told her I would I would just lie about it. She finally confessed. She has been looking. I just laughed. I knew she would.
Going to start my before-bed rituals now and get ready for another day.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Someplace Different
Thursday is my sister's birthday! We are going out to eat with my mom and sister and L and T. C has to pick where because we always make the birthday person choose. Birthday dinners are the best because we can force someone to actually make a decision about where to go. Usually we play the "where do you want to go?",
"no, where do you want to go"
"let's go someplace different"
"where's that?"
"I don't know, anyplace is fine."
"How about (fill in the blank)"
"No, I had that for lunch"
It doesn't matter what group of people we are with the conversation always goes the same.
I can remember my mom and sister and I when I was little having the same conversation and always ending up at Taco Tico. I don't know why. There wasn't a lot of places to go in Edmond back then and it was cheap and we were poor so I guess that is why.
When the kids were young, we would do the same thing. Sometimes I would make everyone write down the two places that sounded good to them and the place with the most votes is where we would go. This always resulted in the same place - Alvarado's Mexican Restaurant because all of us would list it and some other place so Alvarado's always had 4 votes and then four places had one vote each.
C is hard to buy for because she lives with our mom, so she doesn't have a lot of space and she doesn't do a lot of things. I often get her a B&N gift card but this year I got her a 6 quart dutch oven in red enamel. I know she has been wanting one and not wanting to spend the money on it so I thought it would be a good thing. I also got her some Crayola colored pencils. Sounds like a strange gift for a 42-year-old but sometimes while she watches TV, she colors. I know that also sounds strange but it relaxes her. She colors in geometric shape color books for adults. Our Aunt Stef used to do this too.
I just got back from shopping for her gift and also buying groceries and a few books. M is out mowing but it will be dark soon so I can start dinner and he will be inside soon.
I want to just blog and blog when I get time.
Lake season has really interfered with my blogging time.
More soon I hope.
"no, where do you want to go"
"let's go someplace different"
"where's that?"
"I don't know, anyplace is fine."
"How about (fill in the blank)"
"No, I had that for lunch"
It doesn't matter what group of people we are with the conversation always goes the same.
I can remember my mom and sister and I when I was little having the same conversation and always ending up at Taco Tico. I don't know why. There wasn't a lot of places to go in Edmond back then and it was cheap and we were poor so I guess that is why.
When the kids were young, we would do the same thing. Sometimes I would make everyone write down the two places that sounded good to them and the place with the most votes is where we would go. This always resulted in the same place - Alvarado's Mexican Restaurant because all of us would list it and some other place so Alvarado's always had 4 votes and then four places had one vote each.
C is hard to buy for because she lives with our mom, so she doesn't have a lot of space and she doesn't do a lot of things. I often get her a B&N gift card but this year I got her a 6 quart dutch oven in red enamel. I know she has been wanting one and not wanting to spend the money on it so I thought it would be a good thing. I also got her some Crayola colored pencils. Sounds like a strange gift for a 42-year-old but sometimes while she watches TV, she colors. I know that also sounds strange but it relaxes her. She colors in geometric shape color books for adults. Our Aunt Stef used to do this too.
I just got back from shopping for her gift and also buying groceries and a few books. M is out mowing but it will be dark soon so I can start dinner and he will be inside soon.
I want to just blog and blog when I get time.
Lake season has really interfered with my blogging time.
More soon I hope.
Only Tuesday
It is 8:24 Tuesday and I am sitting still for the first time this week. It feels like it should be at least Thursday. Hectic day at work last two days. Had support staff out both days with very flimsy excuses. They were both already behind on their work and I had decided to require them to work Saturday which requires me to work Saturday. Now with each missing a day, we are even more behind.
Selecting, training, mentoring, encouraging, disciplining, firing, and just dealing with personnel has got to be the hardest part of my career. I don't know why everyone can't just be like me. I care about my work. I always have, even when I was only making $3.53/hour. I know it is what has let me make such big leaps in my career. I care. I care that things get done and get done right. Sometimes I end up with too much on my plate because I care too much and have "control issues" as my husband calls it.
Sometimes it feels like some of my employees work harder at being lazy than they would if they just did the work. I don't like it. I don't like games. I resent when I get tangled up in someone else's games. Okay. I have vented. I feel better, right? . . . Yes, I do. I will go back tomorrow caring again that I do a good job and contribute and I won't get frustrated anymore at something I don't have control over. I will just deal with what I can deal with and let the rest go.
I repeat I won't get frustrated anymore about things I can't control.
I won't get frustrated anymore about things I can't control.
I won't get frustrated anymore about things I can't control.
I won't get frustrated anymore about things I can't control.
I won't get frustrated anymore . . . . . . . . . . .
Selecting, training, mentoring, encouraging, disciplining, firing, and just dealing with personnel has got to be the hardest part of my career. I don't know why everyone can't just be like me. I care about my work. I always have, even when I was only making $3.53/hour. I know it is what has let me make such big leaps in my career. I care. I care that things get done and get done right. Sometimes I end up with too much on my plate because I care too much and have "control issues" as my husband calls it.
Sometimes it feels like some of my employees work harder at being lazy than they would if they just did the work. I don't like it. I don't like games. I resent when I get tangled up in someone else's games. Okay. I have vented. I feel better, right? . . . Yes, I do. I will go back tomorrow caring again that I do a good job and contribute and I won't get frustrated anymore at something I don't have control over. I will just deal with what I can deal with and let the rest go.
I repeat I won't get frustrated anymore about things I can't control.
I won't get frustrated anymore about things I can't control.
I won't get frustrated anymore about things I can't control.
I won't get frustrated anymore about things I can't control.
I won't get frustrated anymore . . . . . . . . . . .
Thursday, July 10, 2008
4th July
I spent the week before the fourth sick. Monday, 30 Jun we went to some friend's house to check on something and I felt increasingly uncomfortable. We were outside and it was 95 degrees so I just thought I was dehydrated, hot, etc. I managed to get cooled down on our trip home and we went out to Red Lobster with family. I couldn't eat and felt worse and worse. When I got home, my temperature was 101. I was miserable.
Went to the doctor the next day and found out I had an upper respiratory infection and they were afraid I was going to get pneumonia. I started antibiotics but fever continued for next several days. We went to the lake the night of the 3rd but I never left the lake house all weekend. I felt better and better but my voice gave out and I was worried about pneumonia so I rested a lot. Today I had follow-up with doctor and other than a continuing cough I am all better. Lungs are clear.
We still had a great weekend. Popped some good fireworks. Played Texas Hold 'Em, ate good food, had fun with friends and family. We had 20 people at lake. I spent most of my days doing laundry while everyone was out on lake. We go through a LOT of towels with that many people and a couple of showers a day each plus beach towels, bedding, kitchen towels, bathing suits, etc.
Went to the doctor the next day and found out I had an upper respiratory infection and they were afraid I was going to get pneumonia. I started antibiotics but fever continued for next several days. We went to the lake the night of the 3rd but I never left the lake house all weekend. I felt better and better but my voice gave out and I was worried about pneumonia so I rested a lot. Today I had follow-up with doctor and other than a continuing cough I am all better. Lungs are clear.
We still had a great weekend. Popped some good fireworks. Played Texas Hold 'Em, ate good food, had fun with friends and family. We had 20 people at lake. I spent most of my days doing laundry while everyone was out on lake. We go through a LOT of towels with that many people and a couple of showers a day each plus beach towels, bedding, kitchen towels, bathing suits, etc.
Study
I came home to a surprise today. M and L were working in the shop today so I expected to see their cars in the driveway but I wondered why the front door was wide open. Turns out they spent the afternoon working on the study.
M said he didn't feel like doing "real" work this afternoon so he stopped and starting working in the study. The carpet is out and gone. The base is pulled up and the subflooring is installed. He already put down a few rows of wood flooring. It looks great!
I was very surprised. We had emptied the study out several weeks ago but it wasn't until last night that we finally got rid of the desk. I just didn't expect him to start on it so quick. What a surprise. It is going to look great.
M said he didn't feel like doing "real" work this afternoon so he stopped and starting working in the study. The carpet is out and gone. The base is pulled up and the subflooring is installed. He already put down a few rows of wood flooring. It looks great!
I was very surprised. We had emptied the study out several weeks ago but it wasn't until last night that we finally got rid of the desk. I just didn't expect him to start on it so quick. What a surprise. It is going to look great.
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