the weekend... recapped!

Well, Thursday's staff meeting went way better than I had hoped for. I did an activity I called "Buttons and Levers" and had them write down 5 things that push their buttons in relation to working in this position and 5 things that lift them up like levers. Then we talked about them and I asked them to be as specific as they could and then told them that if they were not going to talk about it right then, then they needed to let it go and not bring it up in the future.
Well, that basically unleashed the beasts!!
Some were in tears when they were called out for things, others were flabbergasted at the thought that they had offended another... all in all, even with four of them in tears, they all seemed to feel much better at the end; and so did I!

Then I had dinner with my girlfriends from High School after that at Bar Louis in Foxboro. So much fun. Heather is 3 months pregnant, so that was pretty much the talk of the night... very exciting for her!

Friday night we had the RDs over for a game night and played Taboo and I drank too much wine! (Not very shocking actually!)

Saturday, my Godparents took Madison for the night (with my three nephew and niece!-she's crazy!) and Ryan and I had a great time together. We went iceskating at Patriot Place, then shopped around and then saw the Blindside.
I have a lot to say about that movie...
I loved it. I cried from about 10 minutes in until the end. I think there need to be more people like Sandra Bullock's character in this world. I feel like at the core, I am a lot like her, but I don't have the means to do the things she does. But I want to.
Also, Tim McGraw did a phenomenal job acting, as I knew he would, but really, he's excellent in that movie.
I'll leave my comments at that, since I could really post a whole blog entry on it...

Sunday, I had a baby shower, and it happened to be in Peabody so the best part of the weekend was stopping at Sonic on the way home!! Ooooh Sonic!!

Last night we went to Matt and Teresa's house for dinner. They just moved in in December and its such a cute house. I'm so happy for them. Its funny, after Maddie was born, our best friends Mike and Trish moved to TN, so we didn't hang out at all. But there are a few of our friends (some who actually just moved even closer to us) that we don't hang out with at all and I think it's the child thing. People told us we'd lose friends once we had a child (we were the 1st to get married and first to have a child) and I didn't believe them, but its true. Matt and Teresa however; are awesome with Maddie. And she adores them right back! They always make us feel comfortable bringing Maddie along whenever we get together and I appreciate that so much!

On another note. I started a weight loss plan. I saw my doctor today for a routine exam and explained that these last 10 pounds are not coming off no matter how much I run or whatever I do... she suggested I add so weight training to my routine and pilates maybe.

So, at lunch with my coworkers I was mentioning that I have 10 pounds to lose and a friend suggested we do the fatbet.net challenge. Basically we have $10 wagered on who can lose 10 pounds by February 25th... Our other coworkers can actually log in and watch the progress etc. So fun!! But now I need to step it up. I usually get a latte in the afternoon and drink my coffee with coffeemate creamer, which will need to go. My runs will be a definite each morning instead of a maybe or an option!!

I really just want to feel good about the way I look and feel and as of right now, I don't.

Here's hoping.

Work

For my job, I supervise 7 college students as Resident Assistants. I'm a pretty easy going supervisor but I am clear with my expectations and I don't accept crap. I hate being micromanaged and so I tend to NOT micromanage anyone... but I feel that if I show you respect in your work, if I do all the things I need to get done for you to do your job, you'll do it and you wont half-*ss it...

This weekend was the first time I really had to be a firm supervisor with my staff. One of their requirements is to have their bulletin boards up, doortags hung on all the doors, their welcome banners hung and all of the signs around the building done by 5pm on Saturday. As they were stressing out on Thursday, I reminded them that they did not have training sessions on Saturday so they had all day Saturday to finish these things up.

Well, Sunday afternoon some were still working on things, rushing to get them done. I decided I would let it slide and wait to do my walkthru until 5pm Sunday. Thinking that only one board was not up yet (for an excusable reason) I went on my round. Four out of the seven boards were not up and three welcome signs were not hung. This after finding out that more than half of them went out drinking three of the past five nights.

Monday was not a good day, for any of them!

I called a mandatory meeting over lunch and let loose!! When I told them that it looked like they basically said, "Screw Amanda, she doesn't care" they were mortified. One almost cried and the rest apologized and felt terrible. And I can't deny that it made me feel a little good to see them feel that way, after the way they made me feel.

Four of them have scheduled separate meetings to individually apologize to me and "not make excuses for themselves but..." It's fine. I remember being 18-22 and struggling with taking responsibility for my actions. This is a learning lesson for them just as it is for me. But man was I ticked off. I even went so far as to print up little cards with all the due dates for their bulletin boards for the next semester and programming deadlines. On the back of that card I printed the procedure for being fired "verbal warning, written warning, probation, termination"... it was a little extreme but it certainly got the point across!!

Tomorrow's staff meeting ought to be fun... I need to come up with some activity that isn't corny but hits on working with others and how people want to receive feedback, how they best give it, etc... If you have any such activities, please share!!

So What'dya think?

I changed my layout... it took me a while, but I think I like it.

Let me know what you think.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Just informing all of you that my page is under construction for a little while...

TO BE CONTINUED...

Haiti

Watching 60 Minutes last night I wept. They showed these bulldozers heaving bodies into giant dumpsters. I can not imagine that. Those are human beings. People who have families grieving for their loss, people who love them and they wont have proper burials or funerals. I just do NOT understand and can NOT fathom the devestation.

dear Lord, please be with those that lost loved ones and those who are hurting.

When it Rains it pours... for some...

And it almost always does for my sister...

She's going through with her divorce which is not easy when her husband doesn't want it. I don't know why or what he is holding on to, all they do is argue, why would you want to fight for that....?

But it's as if that were not enough... Now, out of the blue, she is stuck in a hospital bed in excruciating pain with gallstones up the wazooo and pancreatitus. Geeze... And to make matters worse, I'm stuck at work for the next few days. Normally, I don't work on weekends or I can easily take a day off; however, it's impossible to take work off during opening and training weeks. Which, naturally, this is training/opening week.

I did somehow get them to let me out on Friday; so I did get to see her.

And I'm leaving early tomorrow to see her too; however, it's VERY noticeable when I'm not here this week and I'm not being treated very nicely because of it... Don't get me wrong, I love love love my job and the people I work with... but it just doesn't look fair when I am not around and others have to cover my stuff. They don't mean to make me feel badly about it, but it happens.

Anyways, if you happen upon this blog, please say a prayer for my sister... she could really use the prayers!
thank you.

A Christmas To Remember

I did a little better this year at taking pictures, but not much!!

our whole Christmas-New Year's was fantastic!!

In Pictures, here's my best shot at capturing: