Wow... thank you so much for the support! I know I will need more as time gets closer. I am counting down the days.

I am working all weekend. Hope you are all enjoying your holiday weekend with those you love.

Surgery?

Well, I have some bad news. Sort of...

I have to have surgery. I don't want to go into any details, as I am very private with certain things in my life, but I need to have surgery.

It is scheduled for Tuesday, September 16. I am a little scared. The doctor told me I would not be able to return to work for two weeks. He is obviously a little crazy, or I am a little crazy. Two weeks? We shall see.

Just thought you might want to know.

Is It Friday Yet?

Well, today feels more like a Friday. Maybe it's because I have the day off and I have done absolutely nothing. I am just waiting for the kid to get home and then I have a doctor's appointment at 4:30. So, I just thought I would check in real quick.

How is your week going? It's going by so fast!

Monday, Monday

Hello! Just checking in before I hit the hay. Long day tomorrow. We have some visitors from Michigan coming, so it will be a long day. I am anxious to work with them.

Today proved to be another one of those Mondays we all love to hate. Why is it that the most trying of days has to be Monday? Why? Why do people all of a sudden get stupid and annoying on a Monday? Yes, I am being mean, but my goodness!

First, it all starts off with my inability to remember the simplest of things - like laundering the kid's gym clothes last night while I was actually doing the laundry. Duh! Then I had to have Josh drop the gym clothes off at the school after they were dry.

Second, this morning, I casually check over the kid's algebra homework and it was done lazily. He didn't write out all of the algebraic equations properly. And by golly, I am a stickler for using the words sum, difference, product, and quotient! So on the way to school, he is correcting his homework. Halfway there, I notice he did not brush his teeth. Aargh! How much were those precious braces framing your beautiful, soon to be straight teeth? Yes... can you feel my pain?

Third, I had to sit through a 2 and 1/2 hour conference call this morning, putting me behind an hour. Lovely....

Fourth, I get to my second store and it is tore up from the floor up. The department was completely unorganized, with remnants of inventory being counted, but nothing put back. Looks like I am going to have to resort to making this department schedule out again.

Fifth, one of my tables got sent back to the warehouse by my lovely director. No communication... gotta love that.

I will spare you the rest as all of this happened before lunch. With that, I am going to hit the shower and it's off to bed for this one. Too much for one day.

Hey there. We got into town around 7:30 this evening. We had a great time at my parents' house. I was able to see my nephew for a couple of hours. He is getting really big. My sister couldn't believe how tall the kid was. I think he has grown 2 inches since she has seen him.

I am just playing around on the computer while doing a couple of loads of laundry. I need to refill my ice tea...

Okay, that's better!

Well, it is back to the daily grind tomorrow. We have a couple of meetings this week. I have to work with some people from Michigan. They are arriving into town on Tuesday afternoon. I am suppose to work with my counterpart from that area in our new store. They are getting a similar store and their VP used to be our VP. So, he is sending them our way. I will work with them until Thursday.

Okay, so I am off to check on all of you. Hope you all had a great weekend.

Heartburn

Good morning. I am waiting for my coffee to brew and I am heading to work in a bit.

We had a good day yesterday. I made mac and beef and we also played some cards last night. It was a fun time. The kid and I are going out to my parents' house this evening and will stay until tomorrow afternoon. My mom is missing us pretty bad and my dad will be home for a couple of days from driving.

I have heartburn this morning from the food I made last night. I added sauteed onions, garlic and mushrooms to my mac and beef, so it seems I may have to pay for that today.

Well, I will check in with all of you later. Have a great day!

Meme From Annabel

Okay, so I got this meme from Annabel, who got it from Mama Llama. I loved it so I decided to do it.

A. Attached or single? I am attached to Josh (real name) and he is 5 years younger than I am.

B. Best friend? Well, I used to have a male best friend (WRH), but we haven't really spoke since he started seeing his girlfriend. I would have to say that my co-worker from Omaha (Debbie) is my best friend. I talk to her every day.

C. Cake or pie? Hmmm... this one is tough. I would have to say cake. My favorite cake is strawberry.

D. Day of choice? Any day I can have a day off, but if I could choose, I would say Sunday. Most family get-togethers and holidays are on Sunday.

E. Essential item? My cell phone. I could not live without it.

F. Favorite color? Yellow, of course.

G. Gummy bears or worm? Gummy bears for sure. They remind me of my childhood.

H. Hometown? Great Bend, KS

I. Indulgence? Olive oil from O&Co. in NYC.

J. January or July? January for sure. I love cold weather over hot.

K. Kids? Of course - the kid is now 13 going on 14.

L. Life isn't complete without? Family

M. Marriage date? I am not sure on this one. Josh and I have talked about marriage, but I am definitely not in any rush.

N. Number of brothers and sisters? One brother - 28 years old, and one sister - 33 years old.

O. Oranges or apples? Apples for sure when I was younger, but now I would say oranges.

P. Phobias? Yes, lots of them. Fear of death, heights, spiders, any kind of bugs, clowns, and drowning.

Q. Quotes? 'Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.' Gandhi

R. Reasons to smile? The kid, Josh, my family, my friends, my very good life. I am lucky.

S. Season of choice? Autumn

T. Tag Seven Peeps! Lois, Leann, Terri, Becky, Jenni, Sally, and Cheryl - only if you want to. No pressure!

U. Unknown fact about me? This one is hard. Let's see... I bite my fingernails. Horrid habit.

V. Vegetable? This is another hard one since I like all vegetables. Um, can I say my mom's kimchi? It's mostly made of cabbage.

W. Worst habits? Aha, I should have put nail biting here. Another would be interrupting people when they talk. I am getting better at this one though.

X. X-ray or ultrasound? It doesn't matter to me as long as either one does it's job.

Y. Your favorite food? My mom's Korean food.

Z. Zodiac sign? PISCES!!!! But I am really not a believer in such things.

Well, there you go. More info on yours truly. If you like this meme, please be sure to do it and let me know. I would love to read your answers. If not, no worries.

Yay!

Yay! It's a day off for me. I had so many flippin' meetings to go to and present at this week, it was unreal! I am so glad it's over!

I plan on reading the other blogs today and I am writing my very first Foodie Feedback on a restaurant at my other blog. This new blog is set to private at the moment. I don't like saying that I am doing a food critic blog, but I do like the word feedback. It's not so negative.

Well, lots to do today. Hope everyone is preparing for a fantastic weekend!

Bah! It's going to be another one of those weeks.


Must. have. vacation!!!!

Wish I Could Be Like David Kim

Sunday, a day of rest. Well, maybe if you don't work retail. I have to be in Hutch by 11 am this morning. I am only working until 6 pm though. It should be a fairly easy day.

I have several loads of laundry staring at me in the face this morning. It's all from the big president's meeting we had last week. You want to talk about some hard work. Whew! Working 14 hour days is not my favorite thing to do. This is the reason why I didn't post. I was just too dang tired!

As I sit here eating my cream of wheat and drinking my coffee, I realize I have such a boring life. It's filled with too much work. I need to get out more. I wish I could be more like my blogging friend David Kim. He and his wife Sarah travel to many local places and visit. I love tuning into his blog to see where he is going or where he has been riding his bike. Very interesting guy. You should check his blog out. Go here, for the fun-loving Korean guy who loves to cycle and loves BMW. Tell him I sent you!

Okay, I better get going this morning. I have to drop some supplies off to some store before I head over to Hutch. Have a great Sunday!

Average Day Waiting For The KC Chiefs

Today was a totally average day. It's good to have average days, don't you think? I headed for work around 8 this morning, hit a couple of stores, then had lunch with the kid. The afternoon proved to be the same stuff as usual.

I am in need of a serious vacation, but I don't want to take one until the whole custody issue is resolved. That won't be until late October. I am taking a weekend off in September to go to the opening day of the Kansas City Chiefs. They are hosting the Oakland Raiders and this game is always a big one. We have season tickets, but won't be attending all of the games. If anyone is interested in buying any tickets, let me know. We have already sold the Broncos game, but the others are still available.

Well, I am finally going to catch up with every one's blog. Should be a good evening.

Later...

I am seriously behind in posting and reading every one's blog. Please accept my apologies. There has just been so much going on at work. Hope you are all having a grand weekend.

Josh and I are looking at a quick trip to Vegas in late October. 4 nights should do it.

Later...

Sorry for not posting. We have a huge president convention going on. Lots of stress and work. I will catch up with you later.

A Day Off Already?

Good morning. It's a day off already. We have lots to do today. The kid has a sport's physical and we need to go clothes shopping for school. School starts on August 14. We are really excited! This is the last year of junior high for the kid before he starts high school.

It's soooo hot here! We are under a heat advisory. It will start to get a little cooler around Thursday, which only means high 80's instead of 100 degree weather. I am totally looking forward to that. It's just so hot!

Well, I need to get around here. I will catch up with all of you later.

Best Damn Weekend Ever!

** warning**
Lengthy post ahead, not what you are used to from me...


Hey there. I had a wonderful time in Omaha, home of Warren Buffet. I even saw what area of the city he lives in. I arrived around 6:30 pm, but would have arrived sooner had it not been for the 30 minutes I spent on Highway 80 dead center in the middle of nowhere, with traffic at a complete standstill. I think I was about 35 miles outside of Lincoln. All of the construction caused the major delay. Those cars without full tanks of gas were nervous, I'm sure.

Anyway, I rolled into Omaha and checked in to the Residence Inn on Dodge. It was a nice room. I met up with my friends for dinner at Lo Sole Mio. It is a beautiful authentic Italian restaurant. This restaurant had unexpected large portions of food that looked so wonderful and mouthwatering. The service was impeccable. We started off with the Calamari Fritti and Beef Ravioli. We also had fresh sliced baguette bread with several offers for condiments and a house salad. I ordered the Orange Roughy with angel hair pasta. The Florentine cream sauce was rich and light at the same time and the lovely glazed carrots complimented the fish and pasta so well. I must say the portion was absolutely huge. I could only eat about three bites of fish and pasta and had to take the rest back to my hotel room. But, we also ordered dessert. I had the homemade bread pudding. Oh lord have mercy, it was simply divine!

We all decided at dinner we needed to quit our jobs and become world travelled authors and food critics. We talked of Anthony Bourdain and his dislike of Abba, Samantha Brown and her easy, easy job, and Andrew Zimmern's stomach-of-steel-lacking-compassion for the wonderful food he does try. Oh yes, if only the Travel Channel needed someone else. That job would be for me.

Saturday promised to be a fantastic day. It started off with a breakfast at the Hollywood diner in the Old Market. Not bad for diner food. The sausage was delicious. We then headed over to the Farmer's Market and found a true treasure. I purchased some jalapeno and cheese wieners and kraut stuffed sausage from Chlupacek's. I was told it was a 5th generation recipe. It was made fresh and put in casing the night before. I do love fresh sausage. I plan on cooking the kraut sausage tomorrow. We also purchased two pies, candy from the candy store, and looked around at several of the shops.

On our way back, we stopped at Whole Foods and the Cheesecake Factory for the rest of our groceries for the evening meal. You see, my friends were having a soul food dinner party. I bought some fresh baguette bread, manchego cheese, Fromage de Meaux, Boursin garlic and herb spread and some quince paste. I had to bring a little taste of Europe to the dinner party. I was quickly put to work on deveining the collard greens and giving them a two bath soak. My friends prepared BBQ pork steaks, collard greens with smoked turkey legs, homemade smothered sweet potatoes, and pan corn bread with a touch of vanilla.

sigh.......

It was so good. I can't even lie. Next to my mom's food, it was the best food I have ever tasted. After dinner, we sampled 5 different types of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory, a fresh strawberry pie and pecan pie from the Farmer's Market. We couldn't move from our seats.

Sunday morning we decided to have a late brunch at Le Peeps. This is my favorite place to go for breakfast. After brunch, I went to check out Hobbytown USA. I purchased about $100 worth of stuff for the kid and his train set. Money well spent. After that, I headed back to Wichita.

The weekend was much needed and I had such a wonderful time making memories with my friends. We had good food, good conversations, lots of laughs and relaxation. It was a damn near perfect weekend.

I am off to Omaha! Talk to you all on Monday!