workplace dyanetics

I have an interesting job. There are almost 20 professional women, many of whom have been in management and made a more or less lateral transfer into the position now held. That means you have strong personalities, people who can easily work independently, are opinionated, and have lives outside of work. Our immediate supervisor is not well organized and does not have consistent follow through. Her immediate supervisor, who was recently promoted to vice president is 1. never wrong, 2. loves to point out that she has the best idea of how a task should be performed, whether or not she will ever have occassion to actually perform that task. TOday we had a staff meeting. It took more than an hour for our immediate supervisor to go over 4 items because some of the staff who love the sound of their own voices had comments to make regarding any and all agenda items that were addressed. Of course, we did not get to all the agenda items because there was so much discussion about the other items. Can't wait till the next staff meeting or mini meeting in which the supervisor wants to go over the results of the staff evaluation regarding our satisfaction with the job, the hospital, the managtement ,e tc.

GETTING WOUND TOO TIGHT

I find myself getting wound too tight (or tightly as the case may be.) I have been having this feeling of "well, what next?" for a little while now and today it became a HEADACHE of sickening proportions. There are any number of reasons why this what next feeling has been creeping up on me and wrapping itself around my ground wires, but I thought I had things undercontrol and would be able to calm the feeling and shoo it away. It didn't leave. As a matter of fact it has been joined by some other feelings that are equally as unpleasant. Today, instead of being able to work away at my desk as usual, the new building inspector type people came and told us that those of us in the outmost offices would have to vacate them today until 12 noon because the gigantic piece of equipment just outside our wall has the potential to fall into the one story building section that we are in. We will know when they are using the giant piece of equipment because the whole office will shake, rattle or roll to some extent. Great!. So I get some of my stuff and go to an available work area that is not programmed to allow me to work. After waiting some time for the IS people to call me back, I get the coordinator to call up the ranks to see if anyone is going to help us with the problem. An hour or so later, I am working at the terminal, slowly but working. Every email I get causes me to go back to the vibrating office to pick up another case file. I have to go to a meeting which went well until I discuss a problem involving priority of cases. I am told in no uncertain terms by the big cheese that I am wrong and that we have a hierarchy of circumstances used to prioritize cases. This is the first I have had this explained to me,,,,and SOOOOOO nicely too. I wanted to pull her head off and toss it down the hall. This witch is never wrong, always has an opinion and loves to express it. I worked a little more and decided the smell of fried chicken wafting through the office was a good reason to go get some lunch. I had a good lunch until the now not so permanent bridge became dislodged while I was eating. This has been a minor problem until today. I keep my fingers crossed that I can get it fixed tomorrow as planned at the dentist office. When I get back to my desk, there is a call from the dentist, verifying that everything is a go for tomorrow. A ray of hope amid the gloom. During all this activity today, the fiancee' calls to tell me what happened at court, This court appearance could have been avoided if my spouse had contacted the city prosecutor at an earlier date and hashed out some kind of compromise on a traffic ticket the finacee got while parked in front of our house. Well, the short version is that she needs $100 or gets to spend two days in jail. Of course, there is no available money. It works out but I am not informed until much later. I use all this time worrying about it along with everything else that is going on and the stuff that I have not mentioned. The moral of the story is don't let yourself get wound too tight. It's not worth it.

an unbirthday

Today The Girl and her dad and his finacee went to a close friend's one year old daughter's birthday party. The party was at the grandparents house where the mom and baby live. I nice home in a nice neighborhood with family and friends in attendance. After they were there about 2 hours, The She DEVIL called, freaking out over the fact that they had her all by themselves, that she had ridden in the finacee's car to get to the party, that one of us (Mawmaw or Pawpaw) was not with them and that something might happen to her. She brought up old stuff and ranted about it. She brought up Dylan's past and His finacee's past. She asked id she needed to go to the party and pick The Girl up herself. I told her yes she could go if she wanted to make a fool of herself. I called the kids to let them know what was going on. They made preparations to bring the Girl to us. The Girl did not want to leave the party and said "I don't like to go to my Mama's house." with plenty of witnesses to hear it. In the meantime, the She Devil called me back, more calm and able to make complete sentences without screaming. She tried to explain why she was so upset, that her other child's grandmother had just picked him up without asking because the She Devil wouldn't answer her phone. The She Devil is always late. which makes her kids late to their functions. The other grandmother couldn't get a response by phone, so she went to the other grandmother's house to pick him up. That grandmother assumed that the She Devil had asked for assistance with transportation. She frequently needs someone to pick up a child from school or day school because she is so swamped and busy at work that she just can't get to it. So the grandmother didn't think anything of him being picked up by her. Well the She Devil got hot about it, Who does she think she is trying to take care of my son,I am the mother here and I will take care of the situation. (Words I have heard before.) So she was loaded for bear when she found out that we had neglected to explain in detail how the party was going down. When the finace and The Girl arrived home I was still on the phone with the She Devil, The Fiancee wanted to talk to the She Devil, and talk she did!!. She told her that when She and the Daddy and The Girl were together, they were a family whether she liked it or not, and that she would be becoming an official member of our family and be welcomed into the family. She told her it wasn't about anny of the things that were discussed, but that is was about the She Devil being jealous of the fact that the Daddy was happy with whom he was dating and engaged to, that they were both getting on with their lives and that the both loved and cared for The Girl. She really laid it on the line and even told her that she was not going to put up with this kind of disturbance and disruption in her life everytime the She Devil wanted to cause trouble or didn't like how something was going. We shall see how it comes out. It looks to me like the She Devil has met her match.!!

black and white princess

The Girl is going to be in a wedding. She will bring flowers down the aisle, give them to the bride who then lays them at the statue of Mary. The wedding colors are black and white. The other grandmother was fretting over how to find a black and white formal for a 3 year old. I looked on eBay and guess what? I found a beautiful black and white satin and tulle formal dress and got it for $10. There is no telling how much it cost originally. It may have been worn once. Scoop neck, sleevless black satin bodice, an attached white satin sash that ends in the back with two white rosettes. the black skirt is scalloped over 3 layers of white tulle and satin. Each scallop is accented by another rosette. We got her to try it on this week. It looked great and fit like a dream. She didn't want to take it off. We convinced her it would be waiting for her next time she was at other grandmother's. I hope she enjoys her role. She will be with lots of older girls and grown ups who will also be dressed up, so she should like that.

Trauma leftovers

The Girl seems to have recovered physically pretty well, but I wonder about the emotional -psychological issues involved with surprise surgery and then having to be hospitalized. She vacilates between two moods, happy and whinny/mean. She can be so very whinny and burst into tears at the drop of a hat. She seems to have no ability to cope with anything that is not exactly to her liking. She is into "NO" like she was some months ago, as in I feel she has reverted emotionally. It is hard to watch and or endure at times, when she is so negative or hysterical that there doesn't seem to be a stop to it coming and we have to ignore her till she gets it out of her system. When she is happy she is wonderful, smiling, joking, playing with this huge imagination that she has. She is growing up before our eyes. The days pass fast and she is now 3 years old. She is smart beyond her years and knows a lot more that she articulates.

Life Saver

At the last minute today, The Girl's mother returned my call I made to her at 3pm. I was calling to be sure she knew we were not planning to pick The Girl up, since we had her so much last week. Well, her mother was planning on us picking her up. I told her she would have to go get her and we would come to her house to pick her up. While waiting for her to get ready to come with us, The Girl got into her whiny mode and her I will do it whether you like it or not mode at the same time. I spoke sharply to her about getting her tap shoes off the furniture after she had been told nicely. Well, she got her nose out of joint big time and started crying because I had "hollered" at her. She continued this crying and wailing all the way home. It was awful. As soon as we got in the house, Our son's fiancee went in to action. Fiancee totally focused on The Girl, but was able to distract her, tell she could not be ugly, and worm a smile out of her within 5 minutes. Once we got some food into her, she began to really feel better. Fiancee continued to work her magic all evening, in between attending to our son, who now has the stomach bug that is going around. Don't ask, it is too gross to discuss, but rest assured you do not want to contract this ailment. Fiancee took The Girl around the corner to the store, they came back with a Green Apple Hawaiian Punch Slurpee. Yum. After her bath, The Girl and I watched Kipper the Dog while she ate popcorn and some grapes. She is now sleeping peacefully and Fiancee is out on the carport with talking with PawPaw.

Tiny Dancer

The GIrl is by far the cutest and most talented child in the Tippee Toes Dance Class that she attended today. Even though the other students are a whole week ahead of her, she out shined them all with her delft movements and grace. Such Poise! Such Balance!! Such a Tapper has never been seen before. Ahem... OK, it's not quite that bad. Her PawPaw stayed for the whole class. I only got to see for a few moments, but she did catch my eye with her big smile on her happy little face. Her mother came in, so I made space and went on to my meeting. According to PawPaw she seemed to warm up to the class pretty well and tried everything they went through. They used the dance slippers and the tap shoes and they did some gymnastics too. I hope she continues to enjoy the class. There were about 20 little girls in this class. One of them is her classmate at day care also whose mother is married to The GIrl's half-brother's father (got that? It could make for interesing family nights). One is a special needs child that requires a lot of hands on assistance from her mom as well as the teachers. One is B A D and requires a teacher at her side most of the time. The Girl appears to be one of the most petite in the class, our Tiny Dancer.

A Child's Will

How strong is a child's will? I'd say very strong, and persistent. Especially when they do NOT want to do whatever it is you want them to do,,,,such as TAKE A NAP. It was time for The Girl's nap, which usually means time for my nap too. She came up with several diverting tactics to avoid the said nap. She was aware that she was tired but she got busier and busier so that she would not slow down long enough to be corralled. She helped give the dog his medicine, she wanted something to eat, to drink, to play with, She drug her big Duplo blocks around the house. Her Daddy's girlfriend got her in the bed, laying down with the radio on and reading a book before she bounded up and out of there. She came in our room and looked over the situation, and thinking that there was no way she would have to go to sleep if her Pawpaw was watching a football game, she climbed in the bed. We had a chat about needing a nap. She had a list of reasons not to take a nap. I was undaunted, but sleepy. I cleverly (ok acidentally) introduced her to a still warm bed buddy that she took a liking to. She decided to use it as a pillow. That was my ticket in. I sat on the edge of the bed and rocked her into oblivion. She is now sleeping peacefully and I am tired but not sleepy. So I am doing laundry in between checking on her and the ball game. Now Pawpaw is taking a cue from her and has assumed his sleep mode, too. Durn, I may have to give it another try.

THE GIRL IS MUCH BETTER THANK YOU

Hooray, she is home from 2 nights in the hospital. She was so hyper & happy to be home. She was continuing to give her mom a run for her money. Her mom told me she was tired of waiting for the nurse to come discharge them, so she was just going to l eave the building. Well, the HUGS tag went off, that is a child abduction alert. People came from all over and sent her back to her room. Then she had to wait some more for the girl to eat lunch and then for the nurse to come bring the papers. The girl should be good to go back to "school" Monday. And then she can start her dance class on Tuesday.

The Girl is ill

The Girl had to go into the hospital this afternoon. It could be a complication from the tonsillectomy or it could be a virus. We may know tomorrow. We did not see her Monday...her mother said she had fever last night. And today she drank very little and did not urinate for 8 hours. So into the hospital for IV fluids and tests and antibiotics. I was with her when they started the IV line. She was so dry, the vessels were nearly flat and they went thru two of them before they got one in her mid arm. The Girl did better than I thought. I told her it might scare her and it might hurt a little, but it was a little needle like I use each evening. She clung to me afterward and in a short time was asleep for about 45 minutes. She was curled up by her mother when I left. Dear Lord, let her feel better soon.

I am a pack rat

Why do I feel the need to keep (hoard) stuff that I MIGHT need? I don't even have to buy the stuff. It can be a left over or hand me down or...a ribbon off one of The Girl's birthday presents. I will keep this a long time, maybe till I croak. I have a certain attachment to it, but not to the others. This is a sure sign of sickness, ya'll. I have some boxes in my bedroom that are full of stuff. Yesterday I emptied two of them, sorting trash and treasure into two separate areas,,,,and I threw away a paper grocery bag full of old, useless papers and stuff. The stuff to keep has been sorted into a rolling set of drawers for easy access and can be moved into the sewing room. I made a lot of headway on reducing the clutter I have accumulated. This is a very good thing. I have way too much stuff, figuratively and literally in my life these days. PawPaw and I both do. We are starting to thin out and pare down. He cleaned off and rearranged the carport / smoking area yesterday. I helped somewhat. The weather was nice enough to be outside and we enjoyed being outside. There were very few distractions to get us off track.

The Girl is doing much better today seeing as how her mother is giving her the pain medication on a better schedule. The Girl has done remarkably well. Again, THank You God. She wanted me to bring her home with me again today. I convinced her that I would come get her tomorrow and she became satisfied with that, gave me several hugs and kisses before I left. I do love that child. Her mother had to face a problem with her (half) brother today. Her mother can not accept any responsibility for his problems. It is difficult to get any adult involved in his life to accept the fact that at the least he needs counseling AND then to take action on it. He was evaluated last year and his mother decided not to take him for the counseling. His father just got married and went to Jamaica to celebrate. He told his teacher that he was upset that he didn't know the wedding was taking place and that his dad didn't ask him to go with them to Jamaica. He got into a fight at school again. He has had only one day this year so far without a discipline problem documented. It concerns me because he could easily take out his frustrations on The GIrl. It never ends.