Sam Skiing with Grandma Lom

Yeah, I know it's side ways.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Day one at the new office was pretty unorganized. Not much instruction was given and most people were running around like chickens with their heads cut off! It was, however, a huge undertaking and I have to say that the people in charge of the transition did a good job. I don't envy them at all!



The drive went real well. I was nervous with the snow but the roads were just wet and traffic wasn't bad. Belinda Jensen tells me it's tomorrow that I should be worried about. Ugh....



Happy Birthday Caytie! I hope you are doing something fun tonight. Some green kool-aid and pickles perhaps? :)



The Irish in me would like to make up a fun Irish ditty for your entertainment but the working mom in me says just copy something off the internet and go to bed! here you go!

Legend of Saint Patrick
Good St. Patrick travelled far, to teach God's Holy Word And when he came to Erin's sod, a wondrous thing occurred. He plucked a shamrock from the earth and held it in His hand To symbolise the Trinity that all might understand. The first leaf for the Father And the second for the Son The third leaf for the Holy Spirit All three of them in one.

And on a lighter note:

The Mouse on the Barroom Floor
Some Guinness was spilled on the barroom floor when the pub was shut for the night. Out of his hole crept a wee brown mouse and stood in the pale moonlight. He lapped up the frothy brew from the floor, then back on his haunches he sat. And all night long you could hear him roar, 'Bring on the goddam cat!'

The Day After

I made it through yesterday okay. I can't believe my desk is empty. My eyes only welled twice. Monika took me to lunch and gave me hug when we got back. That was the first time. The second was when I left with my final boxes. I'll have to say my eyes more than welled; there were actual streams of tears coming down! Taryn told me jokes until I pulled it together so I could make the final walk out with a bit of dignity. After I left, I drove about 7 boxes of files and plants down to the new office. I don't know what I am going to do with all my stuff. My new desk is literally about 6 times smaller. No joke.

Samantha will be going to the Y this summer for her child care so I do get to come back twice a day for drop off and pick up. It will be weird, however, to not have a place to sit and throw the purse down and kick back for a while if I wanted to. I'm sure there will be new staff and pretty soon I won't know anyone and it will be like I was never there. Seems sad to think about it that way but I guess we all make sacrifices in the name of progress. If, in fact, this is progression ???

Big day tomorrow!

I am soooooooo bad! I can't believe its been over a month since my last post! Oh, who am I kidding, I totally believe it. Life has really been a ball of cherries lately let me tell ya! Since my last post, Sam got the flu, then I got the flu, then Sam got pneumonia, then I ended up car-less, then.... well, you can just imagine. I won't go on and on.

Tomorrow is my last day of work at the Emma B. Howe YMCA in Coon Rapids. Ugh, I can hardly believe it. I started my journey there July 1, 1996. Time flies. I will still work for the YMCA but they centralized all us admin jockeys and are placing us at what they call the ATC (Association Training Center). It's in a brand new portion of the building and it's beautiful. All new desks, computers with duel monitors, etc. But.... it won't be the same.
A lot of special relationships where created with my co-workers and I miss them already. Caytie moved over to the Andover Y to run their office. Lisa is staying back to handle the Coon Rapids office, our receptionist Taryn put in her two weeks. Our Desk supervisor Heidi put in her two weeks, a bunch of other desk staff quit. On a good note, I'm bringing Jan, Laura, Nicole, Carolyn, and Shelly with me down to the ATC.

The drive - there is a new issue in my life! I've been so spoiled with the two mile drive for 11 years! It's not that bad, right off of 280 on Hennepin so it's just south of the St. Anthony neighborhood I think. But still, I'm not used to it and I recently went from a Ford Expedition
to a little beater mini van. I keep imagining the old flat tires exploding as I white knuckle it down 35W. Sometimes the fake plexi glass window distracts me from that awful thought when the duct tape gets loose and flaps in the wind! hee hee.

Let's hope I make it through tomorrow with no tears.

Oh such is life. What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger. Well, I am one tough son of a bitch lately!

Any whooooooo...I promise (Caytie) I will be better at keeping my blog updated from now on. Lord knows I can ramble on when I need to.