I better get busy,,,

I got a little unexpected reprieve today since G-man pulled a hamstring and cannot run. That means I do not need to make the trip to Medina, though I am bummed for him.

But, I need to get my butt in gear and grab a couple things I missed at the grocery store and get ready for Easter dinner before I go work bingo later....

Bingo on a Saturday night before Easter? I guess many want to play, but those who don't are pretty busy getting things together for tomorrow and do not want to work the floor, getting yelled at because we do not hear our name ("Instant") or we do not understand that "2 from the back, 2 from the front, 2 from the middle, and 2 from wherever" does not mean our wherever...

But, I will, because the bingo money sure helps the football and track teams of which G-man reaps the benefits....too bad he is not old enough to work the floor:) or that his Dad does not volunteer to work once in a while - I keep hinting:) Something about not believing in bingo or not being able to smoke or....

40 Days and 40 Nights...

I think I just might have to go back to giving up something or someone for Lent...

Why? (You asked, I heard you).

Because I sorta miss looking forward to Easter and being able to indulge in what I gave up for 40 days and 40 nights (minus Sundays, holidays and holy days).

Of course, that means I have to give up something I really like or want - unlike that time I gave up knowing guys (yeah, in the Biblical sense) because none of that was happening anyway. Did I tell you my kids are the product of Immaculate Conception - all three of them...

Or the time I gave up haystacks (chocolate covered coconut and the country life). I knew I could never give up any other chocolate, so why subject myself to failure before I even start?

Then there was the time I gave up my gym membership...that was a tough one - especially since the gym was not open on Easter Sunday and I had to wait til Monday to sweat to the oldies.

But I have a whole year to think about this. And indulge in all the things I love in case I decide to give one of them up for Lent 2010....

Peyton PHlaCe Ethics...

Just to make sure I know when it is appropriate to accept a bribe (never) or a gift that may be misunderstood as a bribe (ooops) I participated in another round of corporate ethics training this past week...

I believe this course is meant as a refresher, because I take a very similar (on-line) course every few months. The example stories and quiz questions are pretty straight forward.

Employee X went on an all-expense paid vacation with Vendor Y while trying to select a cost-effective vendor for Project YNot. Is this appropriate? (Only if vendor Y allowed Employee X to bring his wife and kids so it could be considered a "family vacation.")


Employee Z hinted to Vendor W that he should rework his quote if he wanted to win ProjectNeverEnds. Is this appropriate? (Only if Employee Z provided Vendor W with copies of quotes provided by all competing vendors so Vendor W knew what he was up against.)

This course did not include corporate policy on office solicitation (or if it did I totally missed it). However, there must be a solicitation policy on the books somewhere and someone on the Executive Team must have come across it and decided to take a look. Because this week an email blast informed us that Employee Classified Ads is in direct violation to the corporate solicitation policy and will be discontinued effective immediately (by that we mean yesterday). Bummer, who am I going to buy my refurbished Dell computer peripherals from?

Not 24 hours after the execution of the Classified Ads, we received another email blast reminding us of corporate sponshorship of a certain charitable organization and soliciting (in not such explicit words of course) employee support of this sponsorship. To that I say...when you bring back the classified ads....

...because, you know the next thing to go is Girl Scout Cookie sales...

BTW, have you seen the list of new flavors?

Happy Thursday before Easter!

I know Easter is not suppose to be about the bunny...butt...

Chocoholic that I am...

Ho's Revised....

I do not know how could I forget
someone as good to me as Santa.
Thanks to Steve H. for setting me straight.

Thunder....

I stumbled upon this the other night

and was reminded of the year CareBear was born.

Ldboy was big into Thundercats.

I dreaded Carebear's first word ....

If your cat could blog...

Week in Review...

It is spring...and with spring comes lots to do...

Fortunately, I live in a condo, so I do not have to worry about yardwork...

Unfortunately, I do have to worry about the inside...and, if you know me, you know I am one of the least domestic women alive...But I did spend a good part of the weekend cleaning and doing laundry....let's not talk about that...

Monday - I do not remember what I did, except that I know I went to the office ....

Tuesday - Again, I know I went into the office to work...in fact, I worked til pretty late in the day...I just do not remember most of it...or I have blocked it out for good reason...or maybe I am just getting old...er...

Wednesday - I participated in a localization conference in downtown Cleveland - once I found my way there, that is...then I worked at home a couple of hours before heading to the first track meet of the season...which did not have the hoped for result (as a Mom, I thought both teams were awesome, there cannot be two winners - but try to tell G-man that... I let the team down, Mom).

Thursday was another hectic day at the office...lots of meetings and lots of work...I was there til 8:30 and still brought work home (not that I did any of it, but I had good intentions). When I got home I had to do laundry so G-man would have clothes to run in Friday night and then I fell asleep on the couch.

Friday, early, I woke to the cat batting around what I thought was a toy....yeah, not until I picked it up to tease her did I realize her toy was alive, barely ....yuck...that toy went out the front door. Then a full day of training at Peyton PHlaCe. I finally walked out because I wanted to get to the track meet in time to see G-man run. And I just made it; I stopped the car as I was pulling in to watch him cross the finish line. Yeah, I saw ya...you did awesome:) And that was just the beginning of a long night. I watched him and his teammates in the freezing cold til 9:30 (ok, they were probably a lot colder than I was).

Saturday morning G-man finally took the ACT test; I say finally because I had him signed up twice last year and he found reasons both times not to go. In fact, he had several reasons not to take it this Saturday as well (I entered a body-building contest, I'm going on retreat, I ran out of gas, it wasn't my fault...). But this time I had the help of those he respects more than Mom...coaches....thank you. You will not enter a body-building contest during track season....You will take the ACT if you want me to help you get recruited....oh yeah...us moms need help at times...