These guys are no Michael Scott**

I’ve worked for a whole gamut of bosses; from passive/aggressive wieners who snuck unauthorized one-sided yearly reviews into my HR file to power hungry-chip-on-my-shoulder women who glared me down every time I spoke up or asked questions.

And so when I switched jobs back in Feb, I braced myself for the worst but holy hannah I got the best.

Yesterday when the snow started coming down and I was up north working with the old b*ookkeeper at the c*hurch, I decided I wouldn’t drive back to the office. You look at me funny but where I live, without fail, during the first big snow storm of the year people forget how to drive in the snow. If possible it’s best to just avoid it. So when 4:45 showed on the clock, I justified it by telling myself traveling in that kind of weather across town would be ridiculous (geez! am I really 31 or did I turn 67 overnight?). So I headed home and forgot to call the office. Oops!

Boss #2 called me later that evening to see if I was okay. Threatening/joking to call the search and rescue if I didn’t return his call, he was worried b/c I had mentioned coming back to the office and b/c it was late he was concerned something had happened to me.

Seriously – could it get any better?


** For those of you living under a rock (or without television) Micheal is the boss on the hit, very hilarious, show “The Office”.

I'm all over the place in this one

Awhile back one of my bosses sent me an email asking if I’d be up for doing the book*keeping work for his c*hurch. I must have been on crack when I accepted b/c I somehow forgot that starting on Dec 1 corresponds with the end of the semester at school, finals, all the year end financials that go along with my current job as well as figuring out the year end for the c*hurch. Whoa!! Truth be told - putting myself through school on a part time salary and student loans has been stressful and the extra money I’ll make from the part time job will be nice. (Bonus – I’ll be able to work from home. In my pajamas. Could I want for more?) (extra Bonus – one of the founding CPA’s of a large local firm attends said c*hurch. A possible in to working at his firm after I graduate)

My bosses (who are both superb) keep haggling me to stay on after graduation and I have yet to give them a yes or no. I usually give a “just keeping my options open” answer. I’d love to continue working with them, but the job doesn’t entail all that I could do with my degree. So to stay on b/c I like whom I work for is appealing but being able to broaden my experiences and do more with my degree is also enticing. Time will tell. They’ve even offered me a position of working part time (with benefits) for them with the availability of being able to bring on my own clients.

Thanksgiving was not good. But I hope yours was! My stepfather can make a holiday a horror story in 5 seconds. And I’m sad to report that he lived up to his reputation again this year. The icing was when he started yelling racial remarks at the football players on TV Thursday night (in front of the entire extended family). Then had the nerve to tell my mom she made a derogatory comment when she questioned if our server (at my grandma’s retirement home) ground the coffee beans. Yes he's a bitter, old, hateful moron.

However the highlight of the Thanksgiving weekend was receiving acupuncture from my cousin, a world-renowned acupuncturist. Seriously, he is. I swear. Would I lie to you? He works with the local NFL team as well as many US Olympians and local triathletes. So when I mentioned that my knee was sore, he offered up services. Right there, in my grandma’s house. The humiliating part (brought on by myself) was when the whole family (including uncles, grandma and my very own mother) “wanted to see it ” and I agreed to let them in. Hey what’s family if they can’t see you lying face down, shirt pulled up, bra unhooked with a bunch of needles in your back. Right now you’re saying something like “what’s she doing on her stomach if it was her knee that hurt?” And I’d say “he had already done the work on the knee and was now helping me with getting my chi and energy aligned, released, something like that ” To quote my college campus acquaintances “It was really cool.” The boyfriend is already sick of hearing me joke “well you know, my acupuncturist says…..” Pictures to follow..


Summer has inspired me to try T-tapp. I’ll be posting the results periodically once I get the book and figure it all out. I’ll still continue the three times a week morning workouts at the gym so it’ll be interesting to combine the two and see the results. I gotta do something as I turned 30 and noticed a slower metabolism. I turned 31 and I’m pretty sure my metabolism hasn’t yet returned from its extended vacation. (Should I even be questioning or wondering about this? See 11/6 entry. We're a family of food forgivers) I’ve noticed some weight just hanging out around my stomach. Acceptable perhaps if I’ve had kids. Not so much since I haven’t yet.

Like Totally

Hey internet! Do you remember this girl? Well karma and Uncle Murphy paid a visit last week to assign us to the same group for a class project. I should have known I’d get stuck with the girl who never shows up for review sessions, then posts pleading replies on the discussion board to please tell her what’s going to be on the test. And I should have known I’d get stuck with the girl who freely admits she is having to retake the class b/c she couldn’t pass it the first time. Because if we’re anything Karma and Murphy are like me, myself, and I.

I should have known.

Tonight we had our first group meeting and it was like, you know, totally, like, HORRIBLE.

It was reminiscent of every Thanksgiving dinner I’ve ever attended in that the young kids went one way and the adults went another. Thank goodness a graduate student is in my group b/c I took one look at the assigned list and said “holy hannah, I’m screwed!” At one point tonight “the girl” was talking about what we should defend and why when graduate student and I looked at each other and made that confused “shoulders-scrunched what-the-hell-is-she-talking-about?” look toward each other.

She was off like in the total like wrong direction. Like totally. When we mentioned it to her she replied “oh….. yeah…..okay”

4 weeks till winter break!

Foyer cookies = love

After the divorce I moved in and lived with my father for about 8 or 9 months. During the first 5 months or so I hardly ate. Too depressed to care, I just wasn’t hungry. ( I went from a healthy 129 down to 108 in the matter of weeks after initially finding out what was going on. I maintained that wafer thin status for over a year. Ewh!) Exceptions to my not eating were bakery cookies from W*ild Oats.

Sometime before I moved back my dad became a health food nut and started shopping at the organic only grocery store. One day he bought a cookie from their bakery (the big round $1/piece cookies, thick, chunky and tasty!), brought it home and shared it with me. (Organic doesn’t always mean gross. You’ve gotta try these cookies!) I must have mentioned how good it was b/c from that time on till I moved out, twice or three times a week he would leave me a bakery cookie next to my car keys in the foyer. Never a note or word was spoken about it. But like I do now with Saturday afternoons, I ALWAYS looked forward to the cookie mornings.

5 years later my dad still insists on giving me food when I leave after visiting with him. In this week alone I have obtained 5 bananas and half a cooked chicken. Odd? Yes. But I know it’s his way of showing he cares and I adore it.

We don’t always express our thoughts and feelings with words but we managed to do a bang up job with food. A few months ago we were disagreeing about something, I felt bad/awkward about it. So later that night I bought and took him a bakery muffin. “High cholesterol be damned, I bought you a cookie. Sorry we fought”

The sun, not you.

When I started this job back in February it was exciting and new and “oh boy, oh boy, oh boy I can’t believe it!” But as with most new things, eventually the shiny disappeared and I was left with what it really is.

It’s still cool and great and wonderful; it’s just that I have days where I leave thinking “WTF?”

Today I watched a 30-year-old mother of two throw a tantrum b/c no one in the office properly acknowledged her birthday. I can understand kids getting upset about their birthdays. But 30 year old mothers? – by that age I assume you’re old enough to understand the world doesn’t revolve around you.

Thank you Veterans!

National A*merican University is running a tv ad where they’re promoting tuition discounts to military vets. For those of you who don’t know (or haven’t seen the horribly annoying commercials) NAU is a “regionally credited career college” specializing in such careers as medical billing/coding and vet assistants. This commercial always strikes me as odd. B/c are they serious? A military vet 1) usually learns a career/skill in the military that is worthy of big bucks in the real world (mechanics, aviation, nurse, sniper shooting* etc) and 2) most military vets that I’ve met or know personally are go-getters who excel above and beyond the rest of us.

And besides -exactly what is “regionally credited career college”? If you get certified to do medically billing in Montana, does that mean you can’t do it in Arizona? I’m totally confused.


It only seems fitting to end this by reminding you that next Saturday is Veteran’s day. Please, please, please take a moment out of your day to thank a veteran for all they’ve done for us! Last year I met a WWII vet that left me in tears with his stories. Several years before that I met another WWII vet that cried when I thanked him for his service. Those men and women, despite your beliefs on the current war, deserve our gratitude!

* My nephew just entered the Marines with the intent to become a sniper. (I suppose the mob is always looking for contract employees) Seriously; what is my uncle doing with those kids?. Apparently he’s raising smart ones too – my other nephew just graduated college in 3 ½ years with a double major.