Happy Birthday Diana!

Yesterday morning I woke up to what I love about winter.  It had snowed during the night and everything was covered in beautiful white snow!  The sun was just coming up over the mountain and everything was glistening.  The sky that was showing was already a brilliant blue. So I got out my camera and snapped some pictures to share.

Here is a look at my backyard, even the wires to the house were coated with snow....

This is my maple tree....so pretty...... 

This is looking down my driveway at the mountain.  The plows had already been out this morning so as you can see my work was cut out for me.  Oh well, a great way to burn off some calories....... 

I had just started shoveling when Carol and her husband and their son-in-law Troy came over with their 4wheeler and shovels.  We made quick time of the almost foot of snow in my driveway and the 2 feet the @#%^ plows had left at the end of the drive.  The 4wheeler is light so Carol (who probably weighs in at 110 on a good day) had to sit on the back to add some 'weight' for traction.  She looked like a rag doll every time Bill hit the pile of snow left by the plows. I told her she was going to be suffering from whip lash by the end of the day.

While they were finishing my drive Troy went over to my neighbors (whose husband just had open heart surgery) and started on their drive.  The neighbor on my other side was just coming out and putting her little girl in the car so she could go to work and looked at the end of her drive and then at her car.  Carol and I went over and started shoveling her out until Bill came with the 4 wheeler.

I'm not sure how many more people they helped out but I'm sure glad they were there to help me, I would have been at it for hours (okay a little exaggeration).

At work it was inventory week.  I got to work the marathon from last Monday to Friday this week. Inventory was Wednesday.  We did great, my shrink number came down from .40 to .31!  The market goal for us was .39.  This was my second inventory but my first of me being in the office the full year.
Bob was very happy with me.

Speaking of Bob.....he has been our store manager for 8 years now.  His last day was Thursday.  He is going to manage the Chubbock Idaho store.  It is a promotion for him and a move that he has needed to make.  That being said it didn't make it any easier for us to say goodbye to him.  He is a great friend and I've learned a lot from him.  In the world of retail he is one of the best bosses that I have had.

Sooooo I am thinking of transferring to the new Ogden store.  I have an interview Monday at 1pm with Josh Bambrough, who used to be one of our assistant managers but will be the manager of the new store.  I've been praying and pondering this move for the last couple of weeks and it has been on my mind all weekend.

I, sadly, am a creature of habit.  Change is not easy for me.  My life has been so full of changes, not all of which were in my control.  So when I am in control I tend to settle in and get comfortable.  So in my head I keep going over the pros and cons to this move and really the main argument against going is the commute.  It is not a terrible drive, it is only going to be a little farther than when I worked for Fred Meyer and drove to Ogden, it will probably take me 25-30 minutes.  But when we have those bad weather days the drive can be torturous.  The price of gas is not helping the argument either, but I could get a little raise if their base hiring rate is more than ours.

I'm intrigued at the prospect of going in to a new store and proving myself as a Invoice/UPC associate.  The challenge seems to be calling me.  I have gone through a lot of changes both physically and personally this last year and I feel myself getting restless.  Our store could be in for some huge changes because there are several of us that are interviewing this week.

"If nothing changes....nothing changes!"

So I find out that I'm not a dog person.....

Everyone said how I needed a dog.  That I'd have something to walk with.  That I wouldn't be so lonely. Blah Blah Blah Yadda Yadda Yadda........

So I got a dog.  She was a good dog, house trained, crate trained, smart, what more could you want in a dog?!  She was even a double champion.  I tried for over a month to form some kind of bond with her.  It just wasn't happening. 

I couldn't take the mess of her tracking up my floors, and shedding all over everything or finding accidents when the dog door was right there and I was in a hurry to go somewhere (like work).  I couldn't take her being under my feet ALL the time.  I felt like I was being tied down to my house, not being able to go whenever I wanted to, for as long as I wanted to because I had a dog to worry about.

I have lived alone for 10 years now.  This last spring/summer I was walking at least 2 miles a day, and I didn't need something to take for a walk to get me going.  I was happy walking on my own.  For one thing I walk for exercise not to be social, so I push myself and to tell the truth a dog would slow me down. 

As far a dog helping me not be so lonely.....She couldn't carry on a conversation with me, couldn't go to the movies or shopping, or anything with me.  Just having her in the house didn't help the loneliness I sometimes feel.  My sisters both said that there is nothing better that a warm dog in your bed at night......I can think of A LOT of better things.

Maybe I'm just too OCD to deal with a dog, maybe it's because I've never had a pet (other than birds) but whatever the case I took Chris back to Kathy yesterday. Chris and I just were NOT giving each other what the other needed.  When I got back home later that day I immediately felt more zen. 

Don't get wrong, I love dogs, I just can't live with them at this point in my life.  So don't think poorly of me.  Kathy was very understanding and I do appreciate everything that she and Mike did for me to try to help the situation.

So yesterday after I dropped off Chris I went over to Leslie's.  Jamie and Leslie and all the kids were there.  Jamie and Leslie went shopping Friday for things for their homes and then Jamie and the boys spent the night at Leslie's so that they could do some decorating of Leslie's new house.  I went over to see the progress they were making and to give the kids their Valentines goodies.

Leslie's house is looking very cute.  The kids loved their Valentines and I got to spend time with my family (much better than sitting at home with Chris).  Cambria has been sick for the past couple of days so she was not her usual active self.  But the boys were loving having each other to play with.

Gunner was at the counter drawing and I heard him complaining of his elbow hurting so I turned around to see what was wrong and as I did he said again, "my elbow hurts" while grabbing his RIBS.  So Leslie asked him what these were (pointing to her ribs) and he said elbows.  So we had a little anatomy lesson and he finally got it right.