Beautiful Whirlwind of a month

So many wonderful events over the last several weeks...

My BabyGirl graduated college, Senior Awards, my Man Child graduated high school, Mother's Day, Hubby's Birthday, my Birthday, my son's GM debut, Father's Day and a horrible DM visit gone bad.....

I thought my heart was going to burst with pride of my two graduates. I could not have been anymore proud of my children. My daughter was so beautiful in her cap and gown. She received her BASW and now is in the interviewing process to enter her field of career. She's a little disappointed she did not get the position she applied for right out the gate but she still has lots of leads. Sometimes its ok to not go with the first thing that comes along.

My son...Senior Award night was some what a let down for him. He received a ton of awards and scholarships. He expected to be named Valedictorian but received Saledictorian. Quentin, Connor's best friend received the highest honor instead. The look on Connor's face was heart breaking. It was very close between the two of them. Connor took two college courses where Quentin only took one...but when everything was calculated out the extra course did not put him ahead after all??

Connor's Graduation Day....so many things, so many emotions. Seeing him in the Red cap/gown with the white top ten sash and blue/gold ropes for Honor Society...So Proud! It was a beautiful day with the threat of rain. Luck was with us and the rain held off. It wasn't tooooo hot but being my poor hubby being in a full suit got a little uncomfortable. It was good to have the whole family sitting together in the bleachers rooting him on.

All the other events are a blur...well except my DM visit. OMG I had flash back to Rehoboth all over again. My Ops Manager was dumb-founded. She had never seen Mark like that. He ripped us apart. He was in super ASS mode it seemed. I had 4 associates quit after his visit. So we rebuild the team, fix the issues he pointed out and go on. We had 2 weeks, the deadline was last Thursday. I feel we have accomplished what he asked. But he has not been in yet. I refuse to let my work have control over to me like it did last year.

I think that's enough of an update for now.....
Knee is still doing well. I am dealing with the new pains and finding ways to get exercise in where I can.


 

And here I go back to work...

I started back to work on April 6th...work 2 days then took 2 days off. WHO does that? Me that's who. We had pre-planned a trip to Lancaster PA for a Blue Oyster Cult/Kansas concert at the American Music Theater over 8 months ago.

The concert was awesome. The seats were great. The bands rocked. We had a ball! My son enjoyed it the most! He considers it his first concert lol.

We stayed over in the Hilton Gardens that night and woke up the next morning to a blanket of snow. Needless to say we were surprised. We had plan on hitting up the outlets but we decided to grab some lunch then head back home cautiously. Red Robin sucks that's all I am going to say about lunch.

Back to work---so now I am back in my original store. The Acting SM did a good job especially knowing she did not have very much training. Now getting her to step back to being an Ops Mgr is not easy. She wants to still be in charge and she and I do not have the same management style. So I have to find a way to ease back in without alienating her. I have to rebuild relationships and ensure the team understands I am the boss.

The last 2 weeks have been spent trying to get the store ready for inventory. NO Prep had been started. The store appeared ready but was no where near ready. A stressful way to start.

Now inventory is over. I have had my first district meeting..with my CEM in tow. Now to get to work inserting myself. I need to ensure the team is on the right programs as discussed at the meeting. My CEM seemed to be on board with the changes we need to make. Now to get my other managers on board. I feel they are not going to be as easy especially my Ops Mgr.

Wish me luck...

ps the new knee is doing well. Still have some pain but over all doing well :)

It all new...

A new year has begun. I have a new knee. When I go back to work I will have a new store (not really it is my original store). Hopefully I will have a new attitude. 

I ended the year in Rehoboth barely hanging on as the SM...the replacement SM had already started pushing her way in and well I was in so much pain I let her. I needed to be done. I needed to look forward to my pending TKR surgery that was coming up quickly. Jan 1st was my last day. 

I left knowing I would probably not be back to that store but didn't know for sure. I had not heard anything from my DM in weeks. He had been communicating with the other SM that would be coming to cover the store while I was out. So many things I should have done but just didn't care towards the end. I won't lie it bothered me.

Jan. 4th I checked into the hospital at 11am as instructed and approximately 4pm I was wheeled into surgery. I remember having 2 nurses talking to me, telling me what they were doing. At that point the first sedative was kicking in so I barely remember them much less what they were saying. I know one was prepping me for an epidural and the other was very calming but I have no idea what she was saying or doing...next thing I know I am being wheeled into my room on the 5th floor. I had been in surgery for 3 hours and recovery for an hour with no awareness of any of it. I was told everything went extremely well. I was back home by 5pm the next day. Talk about in and out. New Knee :)

You would think over the last 7 weeks I would have taken some time to blog but nope go figure. 

Its time for something new....