Stress is Hitting...HARD!

Sometimes a person can't help but think that maybe things happen for a reason.

Last week Monday to Friday my 2 employees were at training. I knew it wasn't going to be a walk in the park for any of us. As I had to stay back to man the Centre while they were gone. Apparently the 2 had a fight...neither of them were adult enough to talk it out. I guess it got a little out of hand over the last few days of training. One of them went back to attend another day of training this past Monday. While the other didn't want anything to do with her co-worker. [sigh] Am I dealing with school children or adults here?

Tuesday & Wednesday we had a service rep out from Head Office to help us increase sales. Everything was going great...or so we thought. Wednesday evening one of the ladies had to leave at 3 to attend a doctor appointment and left hardly saying good-bye. I thought it was kind of strange but figured we were all just stressed out. I found a note peeking out of my purse in the staff room with my name on it. On the inside was a key with the words "I QUIT!". Obviously not adult enough to tell me to my face. I really don't need someone with a bad attitude like that. Now I have one lady left...and myself. Quite the workload! But the remaining lady I have works enough for 2 people so I find myself quite lucky.

As I sit here with a 8 page lease in my hand for centre #2...it leaves me wondering if this is such a good idea? Is this my opportunity to keep centre #1 and have a 2nd business on the side? I've always wanted to either a) open my own self-storage centre or b) own my own up-scale modular home community.

Everything happens for a reason but I wish someone would tell me what to do!!
Time will tell...I hope.

Blasted By My Ex-Boss

Is what I'm waiting for.

One of my employees just called to give me a heads up on what happened about 2 hours ago in their training session. Apparently the trainer had asked everyone around the room what our operating hours are. They're supposed to be... Mon-Fri 9-7pm & Sat 10-4pm OR Sat 9-5. We had ours set to 10-4pm on Saturday & then changed them to 9-1pm because we hardly see anyone anyways. Leah was prepared to answer the question with the 'proper' answer of 10-4pm but, unfortunately, Barb was asked first and answered with the 'improper' answer of 9-1pm & the trainers head spun around 3 times and her eyes popped out. Did I mention that the 'trainer' is my former boss?

So she's either going to write me a nasty e-mail, tell Head Office on me...or both. Or she could say nothing and hope that I rot in hell but I really can't see her keeping her mouth shut. Hmmmm.

I'm going to end this before I get myself into trouble. ha ha!

Thank God It's Friday!!

So at work, our roof is leaking and running down the firewall onto our carpet. Of course it couldn't leak on the other side, which is vacant. My mom brought her carpet cleaner for me yesterday and I just got a chance to use it this morning. Our carpet is grey and because it was so super wet, it looked black. I sucked up the water with the carpet machine and FILLED a 5 gallon bucket. I'm going to have to do it again tonight. My new working hours are going to be from 8am to 8pm just because I have to suck up water! I'm going to call the carpet cleaners in here AGAIN (they were just here on Thursday) and I'm going to get them to come in EVERY week until this is done. Depending on what they [the carpet cleaners] say, I might get new carpet out of it.

I still have today, tomorrow & Monday by myself. I can't wait until Tuesday!!

On a better note...I finally broke down and exercised yesterday morning. I'm getting back into my Pilates kick that I had happening before we went on our cruise. So I woke up this morning and did it again! It's only a 20 minute exercise but it's targeting a GREAT area of my body and it makes me feel good. I might do it again tonight because it feels soooooooooo good. ha ha.

Did I also mention I'm still going through the process of trying to get a finalized lease in my hand for our Canmore/Banff centre? Oh, the fun I'm having this week!

Anyways, I should get back to work. The countdown begins!
Only 9 more hours to go.......

I don't want to!

My mom is super annoying. She always wants to exercise with me. No! I really would like to say to her that I'm not her friend, I'm her daughter, if she wants to exercise with someone...go find a friend! I like exercising in the morning but not with her! Anyways...

It's snowing. I don't want to live in Alberta anymore! We're expected to get around 50cm of snow. Yes, it's falling super fast but melting as it hits the ground. I just want to cry like a baby!

Now because of the weather work is DEAD today. It should be super busy because I need to make $$ but it's not. I have a consultation at 5pm that I really don't want to do but once again it's the $. I'm just suffering from really bad attitude because the other 2 ladies are away for training and because I fired that other one I'm alone. Next Monday they'll still be gone. Tuesday & Wednesday I'm having someone from Head Office come out. Thursday, I have to come to work because I don't want to leave a person by herself for the day. So that leaves me with possibly taking Friday off. But I won't actually take the whole day off because I have stuff to do so I'll only take 1/2 the day off.

Is it Friday yet?

Dark Details

I found something out with a simple google search. That personal trainer that I worked with on the Cruise ship wrote some ship secrets on a message board on the internet. By typing his name into google I stumbled across them. They earn commission as well as the money from tips. Now don't get me wrong, I learned valuable information from him for my health and I think it was worth every penny! But he gave me two options to help me with my weight loss.. a) to do an internal cleanse, b) to do an external cleasen or c) to do both. I fell for it. Leading me to believe that he wasn't going to sell me anything but recommend herbal things for me to purchase once I got home. I chose both and he came back with $1200US in product & services for me. I paid for it and never looked back. He was there to make commission (because I was cheap and never gave him a tip)...he's using that money to go to flight school to serve the South African Army. Pretty sneaky. He also wrote that on one particular cruise he brought in $5000 in 10 days on one cruise. People like to spend money on those ships and I was no exception!

On another note...RA hasn't come in yet to my workplace. He doesn't want to lose weight (he's getting free services & product in return for radio publicity). And he probably doesn't want to come here to face me since I unknowingly (how stupid could I be?) turned him down. Little does he know I want to take him up on his offer! Ahhh!! I hope fate brings him through my front door tomorrow!

I should be doing close out...I want to go home.

You're Fired!

So I kinda snapped yesterday. I fired our new lady at work. I had had enough and it was to the point where I thought that some of our clients were going to leave because of her. It was before the 3 month probation was up -- she was only there for a month and a handful of days. I gave her 4 reasons for firing her...

1) She didn't tell me that she was leaving for an hour to go to the bank and to go get a console installed in her truck (Monday, Wednesday & Friday are our busy days so I try and get the ladies to book things on Tuesdays & Thursdays if possible). I told them that I was going to Canmore on Friday and that I wouldn't be in the Centre, she saw that as an opportunity to leave thinking that I would never know about it.

2) When she got back late she apologized to a co-worker of hers. I told her that I was the boss, not the other lady.

3) Cell phones...for the 4th time...are not allowed in the room when you are with a client. I told her that it was ringing & vibrating far too often and that she should leave it in the staff room like everyone else. I told her that if her kids needed to phone her they should be using the Centre phone number not her cell. She had heard this all before and pretended she was hearing it for the first time.

4) Leave your personal life at home. Do not mention your relationship troubles in the room with a client because 90% of the clients don't care and the other 10% are glad you are miserable in your relationship!!

She had this stunned look on her face and asked me if she could have a second chance. I told her no, my decision was made and she was to pack her things and leave. Then she phone stalked my other two employees for the rest of the night. You think that a 40-something year old woman would be more mature than that.

So after that...the drinking began! Leah and I went out to the bar after work. We both needed the drinks to calm us down. Before we had had too many, we decided to take a drive past RA's house. He was home. I think he stayed home the whole night. I was kind of disappointed and I think Leah picked up on it. She was worried it was going to ruin my night. It definately did not. I told her that it was a good thing he wasn't out...more chance of him being single if he stays home. ha ha!

Now that I fired that useless lady and the other two are going to training in Calgary...I'm going to be all alone for the week. Oh well. Nothing I can do put post notes in the Centre that explain why there is now wait times. Maybe people will start coming in at different times of the day rather than all at once in the morning.

Oh well. Can't wait to tell RA that I didn't mean to shoot him down and that I really want his body....ha ha ha. I really won't tell him the body part.
I'm headed out for a nice Saturday dinner with my daughter & my mom.

Happy Weekend!

Pet Food Recall

Was Cally a victim of this? Do they really know how BIG this recall was? Is it a coincidence that she got sick at the same time there was recalled pet food sitting on the shelves of these stores? Unfortunately, we were using a brand that had been recalled. They are claiming that it was only the soft food and not the hard food. I think they're probably wrong. How do they know since most of the tainted stuff has been consumed? Everytime I thought I was nourishing my cat was I really unknowingly killing her? I feel terrible. Since I figured I was 'safe' since it was only supposed to be the wet catfood I've been feeding Sophie (our new little bundle of love) the same brand of cat food. She's been throwing up every now and then. I'm nervous but she's going to the vet on Thursday. Since Sophie is almost identical to Cally I am afraid she'll have the same fate as Cally....it's a crazy fear that I'm trying to talk myself out of. Enough of that, the picture attached is that of our new baby! (To see a picture of Cally you would have to go back to a post from December 2006).

Buy Nothing For A Month

I was reading on MSN money that people took a challenge to not buy anything (except what they needed to survive such as produce...toiletries, etc) in an attempt to eliminate (not just cut back but eliminate!) spending money on extras. Since I need to pay off my debt in order to save for a house...I'm going to start my own little challenge.

At this point I'm thanking god that I live with my parents still because there is absolutely no way I should be strapped for cash. Here it goes...I'm going to leave my debit cards (they are so evil) and my credit cards at home for a full month. Now I'm really not going to have a dollar amount for what I have saved in doing this but I will be able to put more money towards my bills.

All the important things come out automatically. My credit cards I can pay online. Babysitting can be paid with a cheque. And I'll have to make a special trip to the gas station with my debit card in hand to fill up...purchasing NOTHING but gas at the gas station. No pop. No gum. No chocolate bars or candy for Emily. Yikes!!

I'm going to keep a spread sheet so when I pay a bill I can subtract the payment from the balance and so I know exactly how much I owe at all times. That will take me a couple days to put together.

This challenge will be from April 9th to May 9th. Go me!!

Neglect

Wow, I have so neglected this blog! I must admit, I signed up for a myspace page and it has got more attention than my blog.

I have been hooked on Cottage style decorating, my Style at Home magazine and...searching the mls website for a new house (not NEW but new to me). Oh, did I mention I'm addicted to the Ikea catalogue too? I want to get some of my debt cleared up (it's not much) and then start saving for a down payment.

Our vacation was awesome. We flew to Ft.Lauderdale, Florida then got on the ship in Miami. We stopped at Aruba, Costa Rica, we went through the Panama Canal (well, half way) and stopped at the Grand Cayman Islands. It was great. I wish it would have been a little hotter but it was still warmer than home!! I'm definately going to make a slideshow and post it here. We met alot of great people. I definately drank more in 10 days than I have my whole life. There was 21 of us (my dad's side of the family) and it was one big PARTY!

Work is going alright. We hired a lady who has baggage. I'm not sure if she's going to work out (what is with me and ending up with the nutty ones?). It's really hard to keep reminding someone to keep their problems at home and not bring them to work OR talk about her problems to the clients. She's 44! I really shouldn't have to keep reminding someone about that. [insert huge sigh here]

My love life...ummm, lack of. ha ha. I did meet up with the personal trainer on the ship that I worked with. He's moving to Canada! Nevermind Canada...he's moving to Edmonton (which is only 2 hours away from me) to go to school to expand his degree. He's a hottie. I'm not sure if anything will come of it but atleast I have a new friend!

My weight loss has been neglected since I got back from my trip (it is soooo hard to get going again). I have 5 months until Big Valley Jamboree. Realistically, I could be down 50 pounds by then. AND...RA (remember, the Radio Announcer who is now a weight loss client of mine?) will be at Big Valley Jamboree. Oh, yes, big news!! I found out that he really is ready for a relationship again...he's tired of the party scene (so soon?). Those slutty girls really do get annoying after awhile, don't they? ha ha. Sooo...if I'm feeling hot, skinny & sexy I might have a chance with him (I think he likes girls with confidence). For some reason, I have a feeling that this will be a kick ass summer!

That's all for now...Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter Sunday!
xo