Store ASSIGNED!

I won't even work as a bench manager through the rest of the year. I've been assigned my own store! YEAH! And it's not far from where Scott works so we are thinking that we may be able to car pool and save on gas. I have my work cut out for me as the store is in need of some tender love and care. I can make it work! I just have to complete my 2 weeks of training in TN and then I will take on my next adventure.

Autumn Sunset

Last night we had the most amazing sunset out our back door. It was so intense and glorious that I had to try to capture it.

HOME!!!!!

Yeah! I'm home until Thursday morning and then I will have just 2 days (Thursday and Friday) left to work in Fort Mill SC and then Sunday it's off to TN for 12 days of training! THEN I will get to come home and STAY and work here in the area. Not sure which store I will be a Bench Manager yet but thats OK... at least I will be sleeping in my own bed EVERY night for awhile. I've learned a LOT and am looking forward to learning more.

It's good to be home! All the animals missed me; especially Tesla. He will hardly let me out of his sight and when I do get out of his sight he MEOWS. Silly cat!

GWEN made the top 5 and will be going to the Mall of America to perform and is closer to winning the money for college! YEAH! And if you voted for her and Christine's video - THANK YOU!
http://www.holidayholla.com/watch.cfm?id=12

I've got a lot to do the next couple days and then when I'm home over the weekend I will have a lot to pull together in time for my trip to TN. And some how I've got to figure out how to finish all my Christmas shopping as well... perhaps I need to pull together catalogs to take with me and plan on ordering from them in my down time while in TN. HMMMMmmmm..... I will have 10 days to shop once I get home.

Christmas Season

Well today is the first day of the Christmas madness! I have to be back up to Fort Mill by 2 pm today and then will stay up there until Monday night. I will actually get two days off in a row next week and then I will work my final two days in Fort Mill. Next Sunday I will be leaving for Lebanon, TN for my 2 weeks there. Should be interesting and I'm sure educational. I'm going to miss being home though and will look forward to December 14th when I return home.

I'm trying to get all the laundry pushed through so that I can pack and be on the road by 11 this morning. I would like to have my oil changed in my car as the light has come on saying that it's time for a change. Perhaps Scott will get up soon and take care of that for me.

Tesla has decided that he needs to be the center of attention this morning. He keeps running by and has had me open all the blinds along the front of the house. He is such a spoiled little wretch.

HOME SWEET HOME!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Tomorrow is turkey day! We will be going over to Scott's Moms' for dinner and I am to make a broccoli casserole and I am thinking about making a Mexican Chocolate cake. A lot will depend on what time we get out of bed in the morning. Dinner is at 1 per Scott's Mom so I will aim for that.

Only one more week of training in Fort Mill and then I'll have the two weeks in TN of training and after that I will be a bench manager at another store until mine is completed. Should make for an interesting ending to this year.

VOTE FOR MY NEICE AND FRIEND!

http://www.holidayholla.com/watch.cfm?id=12

Gwen and Christine are trying to win this jingle contest... it will help pay their tuitions!

U.S. Navy

Greg and his Dad have gone to talk to the recruiter; I'm a bit nervous and scared but feel it's something he needs to do to help him grow up. I pray to God nothing happens to him as he is my only child but if he remains here something could happen too. He's got to get some education and some skills on living away from home. All I can do is hope and pray like any other day.

Where's my Momma?!

This is Mr. Tesla and this is what he does when I'm away... waits at the door or the window or he walks around the house looking for me and meowing. He IS a bit spoiled; can't say whose to blame though... ha ha!

FALL! Colors out our front door

This is what we see when we open our front door. We believe it to be a Hawthorne tree; isn't it lovely! The next time I'm home the leaves will probably be on the ground.

My brother Jack's kiddos!

Aren't they adorable... Dougie and Christina!

Thanksgiving - just 3 days away

I can hardly believe that it is nearly Thanksgiving all ready. My training time in Fort Mill is nearly over and then I will be starting my two weeks in TN the first week in December. I'm afraid I'm going to get horribly homesick. It's been nice coming home every few days to sleep in my own bed and to see my best friend who happens to also be my husband. Oh well it's ONLY 2 weeks and then I will be home and starting another grand adventure with this new job.

Scott and I both have appointments with Dr Grigg's today - sinus infections for the both of us I believe. YEAH! NOT! Oh well it's better I get it taken care of now while I am home.

It's finally feeling a bit more Fall like here and the trees are dropping their leaves. It's been quite the beautiful drive the past couple times I have come home from Fort Mill. Now the trees are showing more limbs than color. I absolutely love FALL colors; they're all so Earthy in tone.

Poor Tesla!

Tesla has a urinary tract infection. I knew something was major up with him by the amount of liter that was on the den floor when I got home night before last. So yesterday I took him to the vet and got him some medications that now Scott will have to give him twice a day as I won't be home again until Sunday evening. Tesla has to take the medication for 10 days and then go back for a recheck the following week to be sure it's all gone.

I'm getting ready to head up the road and Tesla is following me around... he even tried to climb in my back pack. The stinker!

Back to Fort Mill!

I'll be leaving in about 20 minutes for Fort Mill. I'll stay up there tonight and will come back home tomorrow night to do laundry and reload my suitcase. When I go to TN next month I will need to have enough clothes with me to go 12 to 14 days with no laundry days. UGH! that will mean more shopping! YUCK! Once I'm done with training and traveling I plan to sew up some outfits for myself in fabric and styles that I like. I'm taking my pattern box with me this time so once I get my homework out of the way I will cut out pattern pieces while I'm settling down for the evenings. Well I better load up the rest of the stuff and get out of here. It's truck day so I will get to help with that today.

A last summer rose!

I noticed this rose earlier today and decided to photograph it tonight. This was the best shot... I would have tried for something even better if I hadn't been out in the yard in my nighty barefoot taking pictures with it dropping to about 37* here before morning.

My Mom's HAM BONE!

My Mom's dog seems to adore me and when I pulled out the camera the last time that I was up there she kept striking a pose... this was the best shot. EVERYONE PLEASE LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO BUTTERCUP! PUP!

Training WEEK !

Well the first week went pretty good at least from my perspective. Everyone has been so helpful and positive... it's been GREAT! I came home last night and will need to get back up there either tonight or early tomorrow. I will see how I feel about an early morning drive later today. It WAS so good to sleep in my own bed with my own feather pillow.

The animals acted so mad at me last night but are warming back up to me this morning. I think they all thought I had been eaten by predators or at the minimum my head had been bitten off.

On my way home I stopped at Jo-Ann's to see the girls and to give Lenora the baby girl hat I crocheted her for "luck"... she all ready has two wild boys. The store looked empty.... it was so sad to see so much empty space... I bet their sales have dropped WAY OFF. Oh well I just couldn't stay in that environment anymore. There was 6 people on the sales floor and no freight was being pushed. OH WELL... NOT my concern anymore. The big thing at Cracker Barrel is freight is ALWAYS moving from the stock room to the sales floor with the retail employees shopping the stock room for guests too... when you go back to get one thing you bring out at least two more things that go with what you went to look for. It's GREAT!

I've got three more weeks in Fort Mill and then I will be going to Lebanon TN for two weeks. LOTS to learn and lots of fun to be had!

An intersting thought provocative article

http://www.pamij.com/hickok.html

Understanding the new way of organizational changes in the work force. I'm still reading through this so will add more later once I've "digested" it all. It's one of those things I stumble upon and share with others. If we don't educate ourselves more we are doomed to become two dimensional knit whits!

Slowly but surely...

I'm making my way through the build up in our dining room next I will clean bathrooms thoroughly and catch all the laundry up tomorrow; it's getting late and I don't want to be up all night. Greg got a job ticket to wash dishes at the Radisson Hotel. I wish that he would find a real job with benefits or join the Navy. He has got to find some sort of direction SOON!

I stopped in to Jo-Ann's today to get my pay stub and to check on the girls. There are changes happening and I'm not sure who will be left standing there when it's all said and done. I leave Sunday and will begin my training in Fort Mill on Monday. I wish that I knew more about my schedule for this next week. But I won't find that out until I get to the store on Monday morning. It's all so exciting.

New lap top and clothes mission

Well Scott and I went to Walmart and got a lap top so that when we are traveling we will have a way to get online to check email. Now to learn to use it before Sunday. We also looked for some more business clothes for me but everything I tried on had that "new" teeny bopper below the waist line crap... YUCK! I may end up making some clothes tomorrow. I did get a total of three new outfits a few days back and they are pretty much interchangeable so in actuality I have 9 outfits and one pair of decent shoes. May need to get another pair in black. I will be staying across the street from an outlet mall so may just wait and do some shopping up there in Fort Mill. It's so hard for me to buy "professional" attire after spending nearly 20 years at home being a homemaker and Mom whose ward robe really didn't matter as long as I got Scott fed and clothed and Greg to the places he needed to be each day. Now I'm having to learn about real work clothes that present a professional appearance. I'll get there with probably some major OOPS! along the way.

Paperwork Mountain

I have spent the day going through our personal papers and shredding the outdated stuff. So far I have taken 3 black trash bags of shredded paper to the garbage can. WOW! I can not believe how neglectful I have been toward my family and our dwelling and am wishing now that I had put in for 2 weeks vacation BEFORE I turned in my two weeks notice just so that I would have a bit more time to get this house back in order. But I'm getting there and hopefully if I get us caught up and ahead of the game a bit we will be better able to care for things from now on. At least thats the plan.

EARLY Morning!~

I'm up again at this early hour of 4 AM; I'm not sure what is going on with my internal clock but it is whacked out thats for sure. Yesterday I survived the clothes shopping but only came home with 3 outfits and a pair of shoes. I plan to try again today; I got a bit more clarification on the dress code for managers and that has opened up some other possibilities that I will revisit. I was called by Janet the Training Coordinator yesterday and they have everything lined up for my training and lodging for the next month. So different from my recent history and so wondrous to look forward to; maybe thats why I'm having trouble sleeping these days.