How Appropriate for my year

This is part 2 of my updates....



Those of you who come fromCSC may have noticed my signature line has a quote from Mother Teresa..."I know that the Lord will only give me what I can handle, I wish he didn't trust that I could handle so much."

That has been my feeling for the year 2007, especially at work. It started in January and February as our now former CFO and Controller were stuck on what was believed to be a special project and left the month end close in my lap as our senior G/L accountant was out on leave along with another member of our team.We did the best we could but with them having to approve journal entries and such, closes went really slow. Plus they had to check everything over and it usually ended up in at least 1 late night for that and fixing the things we missed.

March had the introduction of an Assistant Controller who in hindsight did all of things to get hired for the job and said the stuff our former controller wanted to hear. Once she was in position, she only did things beneficial for her image( it was an effort to get her to do other stuff that needed to be done), gave us (the rest of the team) a hard time but especially me, and when things went wrong not only didn't she take any of the blame, but she'd throw anyone "under the bus" . I got thrown there a couple of times and she even had the audacity to do it once right in front of my face.

The summer was full of high tension as we knew the deal closing was impending and of course our now former assistant controller was basically worthless. Morale dropped around the company and it basically has kept on plummeting until maybe year end. With the new ownership having quite a bit of say, it meant recording new stuff related to the deal and the interim CFO ( our old one had to leave when the deal was finalized) gave us spreadsheets with detail on how to record stuff and it became a major mess that only finally got resolved in late November. Not only that we were putting lots of extra hours. Under the old ownership, it didn't mean as much because they'd make sure we'd leave a bit early once things were done and they were also always making sure morale was good and people were getting respect.

Our Controller quit of her own devices in September with her last day in early October. Our former assistant controller, after hearing some of our reports that we were heavily relying on weren't perfect, left 2 weeks afterward. Her leaving was more to preserve her image that all of us knew wasn't that great though I think she was saving face in her mind.

The new CEO and CFO came in in September and October and basically took over wanting to find their pet projects of gaining understanding of our financials and causing issues while we were dealing with new reporting requirements. They also decided to close the accounting operations in Vancouver in Septmeber and bring it down to us, plus do 2 systems changes in 6 months with no back up. The first one went down in July and put us back 2 weeks during close. The second one is still in process...it is a new accounting system and AP is moving over now, the G/L functions aren't moving over until probably late January. All of this has meant putting in long hours and while it didn't matter as much under the old team, this one it does because they are rewarding us in any shape or form seemingly. We don't get to leave early before a holiday weekend, we aren't getting comp time or whatever. It has REALLY brought me down, which is why I didn't post as much on the board and didn't get a chance to really stitch much this past year.

Adding to that the usual family stuff and dd issues with school etc and you canunderstand why I find my "tagline" is so appropriate.

A few more minor updates on DD since last post

I'm one proud mama but I'm looking at a VERY crazy schedule coming up this Winter into Spring......

DD made honor roll for the first quarter...mostly B's..a couple A's....a mix of O's and S's and all I's in Learning skills(I is best there...equals independent)....surprised the heck out of me on that last one.

She also passed her belt test in the middle of October and is a proud purple belt!!! She will either be a red or red 1 stripe when the next tournament hits, which I think judging from last time should be sometime in April.

Basketball starts with a vengenance this weekend( the clinic day) and then the next 2 Saturdays as practice before the new year. I'm guessing a Tuesday practice night after the new year (same coach for the last 3 years and it has always been then). That will be January through the end of February, with games on Saturdays.

Late 2 weeks ago, DD states" Guess what ....I made honors chorus"...... WHAT?!?! She hadn't said anything to us but tried out and was one of 3 from her school's 5th grade class to make it in ( we are talking 40-55 kids total potentially from both classes). Impressive as she said she was the only one to identify notes on a scale(flute for over a year certainly helped). Honor's chorus starts mid February and runs thorugh mid May with a final concert.....local gals if you want the details, email me and I'll give them to you.

This is on top of flute practice and Homework every week night and karate 2x a week ( looks like it will be friday-saturday during this stretch). You don't see me around much on the boards and like(unless I'm snuck in at work...SHHH), you'll know why.

Updates part 1 of many

I titled this post as updates part one of many because i'm not sure how many parts this will run.



I'll start with DD



In the April post, she was in 4th grade. She was about to test for her green belt in karate. She had been playing flute, and major involved in school activities( peer mediation, helping with the disabled kids(LFI) in her school during lunch). She finished the year strong after bumps in the middle. She received 6 awards for chorus, band, honor roll and a few other activities. We were very pleased. This year she has started 5 grade and shown some great maturity that seems to have slid the past week or so a bit, but has been working with some tough stuff including above and way above level math. She is playing flute again this year( we are still having practice issues a touch) and is doing 2nd time peer mediator. I'm just hoping after last year's experiences that we can deal with the coming year better.

Karatewise not only has she since tested for her green belt and passed, she tested for blue during July ( my parents came down to watch her) and passed it also! She has improved so much in the past year. I have heard compliments from a couple of the parents and one of her classmates recently asked for help on a move and dd did a great job showing her it. She tests next weekend for her purple belt.

Just for those not familiar and since there are so many different forms of Martial arts and belt structures, here's her listing in order: white,gold,yellow,orange,green,blue,purple, red, red 1 stripe, red 2 stripes, brown, brown 1 stripe, brown 2 stripes, black.

The week before dd's birthday was basketball camp and both DH and I took it off, we did day things and had fun with DD right after camp. I took her 1 evening down to a Mystics game and we had a blast. She got a basketball with everyone of the ALL Stars from this past year signed and a "floorboard" signed by Nikki Teasley for her birthday amongst her presents. I figured you only turn double digits once so a little spoiling was a good thing. Summer camp for her was fun too. Going to the pool twice a week, a field trip once a week to various places including 6 flags, medieval times, the aquarium and such. She seemed to enjoy herself.

We also had a visit from the troops from England( think it might amongst the last time they'll fly over here) for 3 weeks. We didn't get to spend as much time with them as I'd have liked, but we did get to see them. We also suffered through basically the month of August with no A/C( another long story for the next update).

All in all not a bad time for DD.

DC highlights (and lowlights ;) )... A fun meme

A freind of mine had this in her Blog and they are so true and funny that I had to copy it from her. (thanks Holly and her blog http://stitchesoflife.blogspot.com)

You know you're from Washington DC when...

You say you're from DC, but you actually live in VA or MD but are too tired to explain where.

You don't consider exploding man hole covers to be an unusual occurrence.

You know where the Pentagon really is but never bother to correct anyone about its location.

When it takes you 45 minutes to drive 3 miles on I-66, 95, 395, 495, 50, 123, 29, or 270, it's a pretty good day.

There are at least fifteen ways to get everywhere and you know which way to go based on the weather, time of day, current political climate, terrorism road closures, and whether you are coming or going.

You pay more money in parking tickets in a year than you do in medical bills, college costs and rent combined.

You know that driving through Georgetown, you will hear the music of the car next to you louder than you can hear your own.

"I got stuck behind a motorcade" is a common and real excuse for being late.

"Finding a parking space" actually becomes an appointment on your calendar. (E.g.. 7:00-8:00 Gym, 8:30-9:00PM - find a parking space, 9:00-10:30PM - Dinner reservations.)

You've never once been to Wal-Mart and don't even know if there is one.

When you say you're going to the mall and you don't mean shopping.

You never refer to the 'Metro' as the 'subway'.

You elbow tourists out of the way on the Metro escalators to "gently" remind them to WALK LEFT, STAND RIGHT.

Going to work early means being there by 9:00AM.

You don't bat an eye at 500 politicians and businessmen in suits running like their lives depended on it just to catch a Metro that will be followed by another in 90 seconds.

You call it Targét, not Target, and are well aware that the one in Alexandria is just a "tad different".

When Washington National Airport is and will always be "WASHINGTON NATIONAL" or just NATIONAL, not "Reagan National".

You can tell by people's cars where they live and maybe even what neighborhood.

You've claimed that there's nothing to do on a weekend night even when you have the entire nation's capitol to explore.

You have the Metro map memorized, yet act like you don't know when someone asks you how to get to Metro Center.

You meet someone else who says they're from the DC area and you realize they live two hours away from you.

You notice that there's been construction on the same stretch of highway for the past 5 years and you've never see anyone working on it.

You know you've crossed into Northern Virginia, without ever seeing a sign, only because your speedometer goes from 60 to 0.

You know that Vietnam is no longer in the South Pacific, it's now been re-located to Seven Corners.

The few times you have gotten lost in DC you have somehow ALWAYS ended up in Anacostia and every road out somehow leads back to Anacostia.

You realize that I-395 is Northern Virginia's version of NASCAR.

There is no such thing as North, South, East, or West on the beltway, it's just go "that" way!(Inner circle/outer circle)

You go anywhere on the Eastern Shore, Rehoboth, Dewey, Ocean City, Skyline Drive, or the Outer Banks for vacation and everyone you meet is from DC.

You don't find it unusual for the city (and the government) to shut down when 1 inch of snow falls.

When you refer to "the government" you mean the federal government.

You can see the national cathedral from almost anywhere.

You know at least 2 rowers.

You know that Georgetown is NOT only a school.

You consider Northern VA to be in no way similar to southern VA.

You know which bridges to cross to get to Maryland or VA.

You actually know what goes on in Dupont circle.

You can't go to Tysons Mall without seeing someone you know!!

You have a few friends who don't know what their parents do...It's Top Secret government work.

People don't ask you if Chevy Chase is named after the actor.

You can harmonize perfectly with the alert for "Doors Closing" on the Metro.

50% of your senior class went to Mason, JMU, Tech, VCU or UVA.

You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from DC.

A ramble or two

Firstly, let me say I will be making a mass or 2 update posts soon. There just hasn't been time or inclination yet, but I think I will see it coming down the pike shortly.

I just finished watching a movie that I was highly impressed with seeing. In fact, because it was cable, I caught it all the way on the East Coast feed and watched the tail end of it again on the West Coast feed. Those of you with kids, it is certainly worth it to see, but there was a quote in it that struck me that even us as adults could carry away from it. The movie is Akeelah and the Bee. The scene is relatively early in the movie where Akeelah is over with Dr. Larabee at his house, the second time and he has started to work with her for the Scripps spelling bee levels. The Dr. (played by Laurence Fishburne) asks Akeelah(played by Keke Palmer) to go over to a wall to read a quote that he has framed on the wall.....
I'm taking the quote level from IMDB.com ( a great reference site for TV and movie stuff)

Akeelah: [quoting Marianne Williamson] Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
Dr. Larabee: Does that mean anything to you?
Akeelah: I don't know.
Dr. Larabee: It's written in plain English. What does it mean?
Akeelah: That I'm not supposed to be afraid?
Dr. Larabee: Afraid of what?
Akeelah: Afraid of... me?

That quote really hit me because of the way things are in my life at times, the self-doubt and such play so heavily and make it hard to see just how powerful I can be. We as individuals can be a formibile fighting force when we have our minds set and focused on our goals. In a respect, it makes me think of another important saying ; that at times the only person who can stop ourselves from being the best people we can be, are ourselves. Hopefully my light shines through more often than not so that your light will grow too!!! Hopefully you can take something from this and apply it to your own life on a constant basis.

Until later and Happy Labor Day!!!!

Just a quick note....

to let y'all know that I haven't fallen off of the face of the earth. I have kind of lost my blogging "mojo" and several issues have contributed to me not updating this in over 2 months. I'll explain more in detail once I get the chance but needless to say I'm not quite sure how to handle all of the circumstances and need to do some thinking. It will still be a busy summer too so I'll try to jump here when I can!

Til Later!

Can we just cancel this week forever???

Firstly I promise to go back and add parts 2&3 to my life and why everything else seemed to take a backseat for 2 - 2 1/2 months but something today has made me want to blog about this.

If there ever has ever been a week in history that should be wiped off the face of the earth, I think we have found it.

For those of you who slept through the day, a shooting spree took place roughly 2- 2 1/2 hours from my house at Virginia Tech. From what it sounds like a student got upset with an ex girlfriend, shot and killed her and the RA and then decided to attack a specific classroom deliberately shooting a professor in the head and injuring and killing most everyone in that classroom at the time. For the area where I live it is a big deal because bunches of kids have in the past and are going there presently. I just saw on the news that one of the football guys from the area, had a former high school classmate that is among the victims. April 16th is just the first of many black marks in US history this week.

Further down this week is 2 incidents on the 19th(Thursday in 2007) seperated by 2 years, the destruction at Waco and the Oklahoma City bombings. Many people there lost their lives needlessly from 2 unstable people and their accomplices deciding to make a statement about themselves and our government, either way it was not needed and wanted in life. The Waco incident was compound full of people including women and kids. The Oklahoma City bombing involved a federal building that happened to house a daycare on the second floor in which many of the young little kids were among the dead as the entire front of the building was blown off.

Finally on the 20th (Friday in 2007) and also known as Hitler's birthday (main reason this day was chosen I do believe remembering to hear) was one of the other "big" school shootings as 2 high school students not happy at fitting in decided to take it out on classmates and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton CO. They killed 12 people before turning the guns on themselves after making "their" statement.

All I can say is can we say enough of these kinds of statements, we have enough enemies outside of our country's borders why are we turning on ourselves? What has happened to the world that I grew up in where schools were safehavens.....I am tired of holding my breathe waiting for the next statement. While we need to remember so history won't repeat, apparently we haven't learned the lesson for this week and it would be nice to obliterate this week from the calendars forever!

Please keep the families of this latest attack in Blacksburg (VA Tech) in your prayers especially those who will have to bury kids way too soon and before they could ever make a major mark on our society.

Part 1: The Mom's Curse

Remember when you were younger and your mother would tell you as you gave her trouble, may you be blessed with a child that is just like you or even a touch worse.I’m here to say that the mom’s curse is a sure thing. Too many times on occasion lately have I seen that dd is SOOOO much like me at her age that it wasn’t funny. She is better in a few things than I was but she is every bit her mother in a lot of things.

The beginning of this current year, with all that has been going on, we have had issues with dd in school. She has been in the classroom during recess making up assignments for things that she either forgot to bring home or was too disorganized to keep track of to do. She then decided that if we didn’t ask to see her assignment book, she wouldn’t volunteer it, knowing that the teacher had placed negative comments in there. DH and I wouldn’t see the notes until we finally would force or remember to sign the book several days later. It got so bad that finally we had to go in for a conference with the teacher. The teacher basically said that in the past couple months that both she and the math teacher had noticed that dd wasn’t always as focused as she should be. She’d “laze” through a test like she knew the information or not completely read all the directions or just generally allow herself to get sidetracked in school. Her math teacher said, if there were like 7 problems in a row on a sheet of paper, dd would get the first 6 and just not think on the 7th and get it wrong or not go back and correct it. We explained that it would take her most of the evening to do homework and the teacher said it sounded like we had the same trouble in both places. We have in the past couple weeks tried to treat homework as a challenge…..give her a timer to see if she can get the stuff done well and correctly and it seems to have been working. She has been able to get things done in the timeframe (usually with a bit to spare) and has been able to play outside with the neighborhood kids for a bit most nights since the time switch. I think she just generally needed the wake up call as did we that life needed to try to get back to some semblance of normalcy for us.

After talking to my mother about all that has been going on, she reminded me of how much she used to have to do the same thing….go behind me if my hair wasn’t brushed well, or homework was only ½ done or whatever…… it just truly shows how well the mom’s curse works. I have the sweet loveable kid but does she give me issues and grey hairs. So if you think the mom’s curse doesn’t work, think again and go reflect on your childhood and see if I’m not right.

Preview for longer post

To go further on from yesterday's post and not make it so cryptic, I have been dealing with general family issues ( those who know me IRL, have known about my grnadmother complaints and it deals a LOT with her), dd's school issues( let's say the mom's curse works for now and I'll go into deal later ;) ) and some MAJOR goings on at work. Needless to say it has caused havoc the past month or so but that light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and I'm not hearing a train whistle. It hasn't been as drastic as some of my online buddies have been dealing with but it still has been stressful and I'm looking forward to the break from it. More hopefully later tonight!!!!

Quick note

Just dropping a quick entry in this to let y'all know I'm around and haven't forgotten this or y'all. It has been a big mixed bag of things going on in the past month and I just have had to focus where things needed and nothing else could get in my way. I'll save more of it for a longer entry that I have started at home. I'm knocking wood as I type this that things may have FINALLY calmed down enough to allow me a chance to enjoy all things in my life again, but we will see. Anyway I'll catch you soon with that longer post!!! Thanks for reading and keeping up with me.

Random rambles

Sorry that it has been almost a month to leave another blog post but as life would have it, it threw things up left and right.

I think we are close if not done with the auditors at work but my boss seems to have been thrown into another project (a potential acquistion is the speculation..she's doing a lot of the due diligence) which left myself and one of the guys in our group as the main ones riding the close but there have been issues. Toss into this homework and fibbing bissues with dd and I just haven't had time to really pay attention to this.

We have most of it cleared up but dd has been down sick past couple of days with Strep.....its bad when she feels tired enough not to want to paly in a basketball game Saturday..(she loves the game too much) but she really wasn't showing signs of anything drastic. It only really showed itself, Monday night. DH and I split my b-day(Tuesday) home with her and today we were here all day shovelling out from the mess that hit our area.

Birthday here wasn't that big of a deal..it will be this weekend though, took Friday off and dd will be back in school as long as the weather and roads are clear which I anticipate will be the case. My folks are taking her for an overnight Saturday so we will have a ggod time.

More on work, bonuses were handed out that Friday right afer my last entry and I got a nice one. Spent some of the money on fabbie for Enchanted Fairy and a bit more retail therapy, which is for a holiday present as long as I find time to do it.

Well now I'll add one more thing to this entry and close it out. A few weeks ago, I saw a blog with a question about 5 movies that you don't mind seeing over and over. Here's my list in no particular order except maybe #1:

1. Independence day...hubby and I quote lines from this regulary and I just can stitch through it and not miss anything. Course it doesn't hurt they focus on my area to start

2. On Golden Pond....have always said this is the story of my life and so I just enjoy it. I also like Katherine Hepburn.

3. Twister.....more lines from here, i love some of the weather terms and the effects are pretty good.

4. Pretty Woman...it is just a simple story but I like it lots

5. Dirty Dancing..... was the movie I went on my first date with my first guy

Honorable mention: Titanic( love the history behind it more than the love story), Same Time Next Year (this is a special mom and I flick connection), Chronicles of Narnia( it was just well done and I remember the animated movie and reading it when I was younger), Crocodile dundee 2 ( for its scenery), Star Wars first trilogy released aka 4-6 episodes and more of Star Wars and Jedi than Empire, Men in Black the original one and probably Back to the Future 1 and 3( never EVER liked #2)

I'm sure there are other but can't think

Hope you all had a great valentine's day today and great rest of the week or so until my next post

More Ramblings and trouble

Sorry it has been almost 2 weeks since I last added a topic but it has not been a fun 2 weeks. I have been hacking like crazy and still have just the tiny bits left of the "cold from H#$%$" I just want it gone already.... have stitched some but not a lot only cause I have been "vegging out "instead trying to rid myself of this. DH has some of it too and dd was fighting cold stuff last night tho this am was a very chipper self.

DD has gotten herself into trouble yet again. She didn't show us notes from the teacher about her not doing or turning in homework late yet again. The reasoning was that she didn't want to get in trouble and not belt test or play in the game this weekend. We let her do both but I'm still considering making her sit out next weeks game even though they are doing pictures afterward.

The only reason stopping me is they started with 10 girls and last week we had 2 girls sitting out ( 1 was her first time(injury) and the other also sat out the week before(not sure reasoning why)). I'm afraid of putting the team in a spot without dd but dd needs to know it is trouble if she continues to do it. It won't be just 1 game either when she hits middle/high school but until next grades come out........ She's doing without TV all week though and we may have more coming( ideas are certainly welcome). She knows that we aren't pleased with that action. I think some of it though also stems from what has been a VERY hectic close for me and I haven't been around and home. She has acted out in the past if the routine gets messed up and I think a bit of this stems from it. We will do a girls night deal, I think, Friday night as DH has to work late and dd has a busy day Saturday with karate and game, and her grandparents coming down to watch too I think.

DD passed her test and is now an Orange belt. She seemed like it was an off day but she said she was nervous. She played real well during the game though...great steals and rebounds etc. She also had a shot or 2 up I think.

Glad the Colt won their game last night otherwise I wouldn't be watching the Super Bowl. I didn't want to see Mr overrated(TB) get another ring and watch the Bears self-destruct like I knew they would if they had played the PATS. Sorry but it was Mr. V their kicker that saved them all the time and got them the 3 rings not the beloved QB as has been seen this year.

Enough ramblings between the storm lulls at work...auditors are here next week...happy happy joy joy.

Later

A Week for the Ages....NOT!

Firstly, here's the update from Saturday. The gals played really well. All of the 9 of the gals played at least 2 quarters and 4-5 of them played a portion 1/2 a quarter passed that. I feel like we did well with the subbing etc. DD even scored 1 basket and had shots up a couple of more times. That was the highlight of the week as it has tumbled downhill to the incredible low of last night.

First I started with sinus/cold like symptoms Saturday night at dinner and they have only progressed to get worse as the week has gone along. Right now it is sitting on my throat and I just feel a little tired and a little miserable (isn't amazing as you get older the less you like being sick..at least in my case). It was inevitable that I'd come down with something, my boss and hubby were both at least sneezing or worse Friday or before that.

Place on top of that being at work late Friday and Monday until 8-8:30 both nights...which wouldn't be bad except we have a temp who has spent more time running kid errands,on the phone or email, or seeming wandering than actually working. Itwouldn't be as bad if we weren't on a tight deadline close. Also add to the fact that for about a day or so, that our network drive where most of our excel files was either down or malfunctioning.... and then discovering that one account needed a part reclassed for the entire year! Both my boss and I were pretty unhappy.

I got home kind of early last night and was looking forward to "just chillin" and the convertor box on this one TV started acting up again and the person I talked to, I don't feel entirely knew what was going on. thought we fixed it but none of the movie channels came back so I unplugged it and ended with a black screen TV all nigth...stuck a DVD in but still just added to the aggrivation.

Finally when I dropped dd off yesterday, I reminded her that she needed to get the majority of her homework done because she had b-ball practice and we still had the city balls from Saturday. she had only 1/2 her math done and none of her spelling (easy stuff...5 pics and rainbow words). I let her go to practice only cause I thought she could handle the math and wouldn't have a bunch of errors (wrong) but she wasn't focused and ended up until 10pm finishing everything.

I ended up yelling at her cause everything got to me all at once and I feel soooo guilty about it now. She gets it soooooo honestly, it isn't funny. She's a sharp cookie doing 1-2 levels above in math and 1 level above in reading. It's like she just doesn't hear me or want to hear when things get done. I still might have to treat her to something on monday though just as a partial make-up since I SOOOO lost it on her. She does have her paperwork for her belt tes, but after doing things like she did yesterday......I just don't know about letting her test.

Today has been ok thus far and maybe things will finally calm down.

Hopefully my sanity will follow suit and I can get back to stitching this weekend.....just haven't wanted to since it is "obligation" stitching and pass my crud along.

Bummer way to Start a New Year

Just got word that after being sick for a little bit, one of my co-worker's husband passed away last night. If y'all can keep her and their 3 year old son in your prayers as they deal with this and move on....I'm sure that she'd appreciate it.

On another note, grant DH and I patience on Saturday as we are fill in coaches for dd's basketball team. I think it will be fun and the gals will do a great job.