Thursday, July 27, 2006

Don't let the screen door

hit you in the backside on your way out...I'm not a fan of country music but that's got to be a song.  Just had the worst performance review ever and feel positively nauseous.  Suffice it to say that my reactions and responses to being harassed and pushed beyond my limit were duly noted, documented, and further discussed to come up with my dismal rating.  To add insult to injury I was told that at least I moved in to a new role because had I not it would have been tough going for me to turn things around perhaps not possible.  I'll go into lessons learned later when my head isn't hurting so badly.  I guess I'm supposed to feel fortunate that I wasn't asked to go. 

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Two Weeks Into It

Two weeks into the new gig and I'm loving life.  There are a few things work related that I'm thinking about because they're pending and I need to get on top of them but it's nothing like the constant angst about where to find candidates for hard to fill positions and which ones to devote the necessary chunks of time to and by process of elimination which ones to ignore  - which always led me to live the big lie and think I could give everything the attention it needed.  Ah well, no need to even go down that tought path any longer.  It's someone else's responsibility now and I have new ones.

The commute into the city is about 15 mins longer than I was doing to Tysons.  Getting up at 5:30 and getting there before 7:30 is a piece of cake and I get more time to ramp up before others come in and track me down.  Leaving by 4:00 is very cool because I'm picking up the kids earlier and am not as rushed to get dinner on the table.  Not thrilled about parking on the street and having the car out there on busy Wisconsin Avenue all day PLUS it's so dang hot these past two weeks - I cannot remember getting into a car as hot as mine has been this past week though I'm sure it would be impossible if I were driving the black on black BMW still.  I think I need to give up my parking in Tysons and save the money for the duration of this project.  It will help with the additional gas from the slightly shorter commute and fewer days working from home. 

Still have the urge to pinch myself to make sure I'm awake and this is for real and the stress is really gone.  I know there will be stressful days with this but I just can't believe the pressure will get to the point it was in the past six months with recruiting.  Talk about catching a break when I needed it the most!  Someone is looking out for me!

 

Sunday, July 9, 2006

Merrily Merrily Merrily Merrily

Last day of vacation.  Went to Mass, picked up some summer sales at Kohl's - clothes for 2 of 3 kids, hit Super Target for some groceries forgotten from the last list.  Printing more flowers & nature photos for my scrapbook.  This should be enough to run with and finish off the book if I keep up the momentum.  Still have clean laundry to fold and more to be washed...wish it would just disappear.  Want to keep chillin' out at least until Kate gets up and requires supervision.  Trying not to make tomorrow a bigger deal than it really is - first day at FM but not like it's a new job in a new company with all new people to get to know.  Still nervous about the new routine and getting out the door by 6:15 though.  It's going to be fine....

Saturday, July 8, 2006

Some Really Good Karma Finally Reaching my House

What a nice long break this week has been, a much needed long break.  Without very little angst I managed to get my work wrapped up for year end and to hand off and my paperwork completed and submitted for starting in my new role on Monday.  Also cleared with the partner my trip to Chicago for training.  Things have been really good for us - we love our house though we talk continuously of plans for improvements.  Our kids are terrific though we talk about how nice it would be to be awakened by an alarm clock at 8 a.m. vs. them at 6:30 every morning.  I love my job and my company even though work had gotten extremely stressful of late so after talking with my coach about the plan I had mapped out and with her urging me to take a few steps farther I had some conversations leading to my new role in HR and out of recruiting as well as the opportunity to be trained to facilitate a class on coaching skills.  Coach Lynn feels as I do that getting in with the group trained to deliver the coaching skills training gets me a little closer into the department where I ultimately want to work.  Now may not be the right time for me as they are just mapping things out organizationally but it's a great sign that they're now waiting for that to be complete before rolling out the training to our managers and partners.  Can you say jazzed?  I'm a little nervous but I totally love the idea of coaching and am going to have a blast with this training.....It was a little odd at first to actually have the green light to go ahead and stop knocking my head against that brick wall that is tax recruiting.  Don't get me wrong, I love a challenge and the rewards of that role were many - especially the people I've gotten to know better after they joined us and still count among my friends there.  But I finally knew I'd had enough and needed to make a change.  What an awesome opportunity I've been given!! 

Wednesday, July 5, 2006

Stuff

Today I have Stuff on my mind.  I've been blogging about getting rid of some of our Stuff that we no longer use, need, want or shouldn't have saved in the first place.  The garage sale was a minor hit, having things picked up for donation 3 days later took another chunk, as did Jeff giving a quantity of baby gear to someone he knows.  I sold 3/5 items listed on ebay and will list more when I have the time to take the pics and do the listings.  But the thing about the Stuff today is this...picking up Stuff is a full time job.  I am fairly conscientious about picking up my own Stuff after myself, though I have a major mess of a pile of scrapbook stuff taking over a corner in our room.  Then there is the kids' Stuff.  Must I even describe the phenomenon of the kids' Stuff?  I enter MY room, pick up a handful of kids' Stuff strewn about on my bed and the floor.  I go into another room for no more than 5 MINUTES and come back to find more kids' Stuff on my bed and on the floor. 
There is kids' Stuff on my front porch - a stroller, a wagon, 2 trikes, a scooter, a big bike.  There is kids' Stuff all over the family room - the pretend kitchen, nursery, overflowing toychest, books.  With very little room in the garage after two cars, a motorcycle, and lots of tools the overflow is on the front porch - no, I'm sorry, the main inventory is on the front porch and the overflow on the patio in back.  We spent the finishing the basement budget on the kitchen project so the family room remains the play room.  Ok, pat on the back to me for starting the mammoth task of clearing the basement so we CAN finish it off - but I digress....and I'm not including the kids' Stuff in their own rooms except to mention that strangely, my Stuff, ends up in there...in the same way they drag their Stuff into my room they drag mine out and into their own rooms....kind of like a tidal thing, maybe?
But wait, there's more about Stuff - there is the stuff that we carry in every day with us - mail, mostly junkmail, newspapers, school papers, pocket change, other Stuff from inside pants pockets.  I try to capture the mail pile before it even enters the house and sort out the bills and occasional real mail from the junk and toss it into the can - same with the junk newspapers - but it still manages to sneak inside in someone else's hands to sit on the kitchen counter taunting me. 
I've installed my new piggy bank collection throughout the house to capture the change, purchased a big basket to collect the magazines, sort the mail into his and mine and set aside in designated spots but it's only the tip of the iceberg.  I have nightmares about dirty laundry comingling with clean clothes and coming after me followed by newspapers and LLBean catalogs with an evil look in their eye.  I have to wonder if it's any different for the stay at home mom with stay at home little ones.  I'm imagining it gets better in that case when the kids start school.  But for we who work outside the home when do we have the chance to catch up on all of their Stuff?  Some people stay up and do it after everyone's in bed.  That's not happening here.  On the rare occasion when I have a few hours left in me after the little ones are in bed I selfishly do something that I like to do - read, work on my scrapbooks, surf around on the computer.  I suppose as the kids get a little older responsibility for their Stuff can be partially transferred to them.  It's got to get easier, right?