Introducing Charlotte Marie!

I'm exactly 2 weeks late writing this post. My daughter was born on June 19th, 4 weeks and 4 days early! As you can imagine, I've been in quite a tailspin. It's one thing to be caught unprepared for a babies arrival considering I'm a new mom and not used to getting up every 3 hours and sleeping in 2 hour intervals - if I'm lucky - but my little daughter decided to come very early!!! So early we had not set up the babies room with her furniture, so early I had not washed her clothes (but had spent the previous weekend unpackaging them - which took hours!!!), so early I had not packed a bag for the hospital, etc etc etc.

For those who love the details, here is what I wrote while in the hospital:

Thursday, June 19, 2008

So this is labor???

I woke up at 5am to use the bathroom, routine stop. The only thing unusual was that I had only woken up twice that night but then again I did go to bed at midnight so maybe I was just really tired and slept well. Most nights I had been getting up every hour.

Went back to bed and felt like I peed a little upon sitting down so went back to bathroom. Someone told me that in the last month it can be hard to hold pee in and that’s why you are supposed to do the kegle exercises - which I had done off-hand once a week maybe 3 times. Thinking this was a fine time to start but first needed to change the liner I returned to the bathroom. This went on 3-4 times until I returned to bed quite irritated with self and asked husband for towel just in case. He reorganized the bed and then snuggled behind me. Brave man. I lasted for about 20 or 30 minutes before feeling a large pressure against my bladder so assumed I needed to pee again. This repeated 3 times and progressively felt like cramps. At one point I went to the kitchen for yogurt because I was starving and felt lightheaded. The last cramp I confused with a bathroom break and while walking to toilet felt weak and lightheaded and almost threw up while on the toilet.

Tried calling doctor’s office at 7:30 because that’s when they open on Thursday’s but no one answered. Stayed in bed until 8 and finally felt slightly better but definitely not good enough to go to work. Ate a bowl of cereal, briefly wondered if I was experiencing something called Braxton Hicks that friend Gina was having recently. By 8:30 Husband was driving me to the doctor’s office and I texted my boss to say that I was not feeling well and going to the doctor’s office. We both left without showering, me wearing glasses. I read somewhere that your not supposed to wear contacts when giving birth so I thought on the rare chance I ended up at the hospital, I'd be prepared, plus it's my first step post shower. Might I just say it's extremely rare I'd leave the house without showering so I really thought I was just going in for a quick check up.

We arrived at 9am and waited for 45 minutes. I started falling asleep on Husbands shoulder while waiting. Once in the patient room, I striped at the waist (much to husbands amusement), midwife came in and asked a few questions about my morning and proceeded to check me for dilation. I swear her face expression did not change as she announced, you’re 3cm dilated and you’re going straight to the hospital. She left me to get dressed and I sat for a moment with jaw hanging, in shock. Husband went into mild shock.

Around 10:15, we left the doctor’s office for the hospital and I asked for a pit stop along the way at Barnes & Nobel for reading material. I figured hey I might need entertainment if they put me on a bunch of machines and monitor me all day. I actually walked into the store with a bad cramp - I tried to convince myself but it was most likely contractions - and went straight to the bathroom. Mike bought water and on the way out I grabbed a book - yeah I already knew it was there, I have my favorite authors book release dates in my phone calendar - I’ve been waiting for Marian Keyes book for quite some time, even considered ordering it straight from Amazon.uk but rationalized against the cost for postage. I actually had another contraction while paying for the book, that’s when I stopped deluding myself of the cramp part and as I’m trying to pay the woman gets really chatting and I’m just like “take my money damn it!”

On the way to the hospital I text my boss “3cm dilated, going to hospital”, the phone rings a second later. I calmly tell him it might be a false alarm or I’m going to have the baby that day. He says that’s fine and I sound great and very calm and to call back when I know what’s going on.

We get to the hospital around 10:30 or 10:45 and park really far from the entrance due to no parking, check in and get settled in a birthing room around 11:15. The nurse is 8 months pregnant like myself, she’s due July 24th, I’m “due” July 21st so it was some measure of comfort to know she had a good understanding of how I felt. I went to the bathroom before laying down.

Got hooked up to machines and she started monitoring my contractions (not cramps) and the first one on the screen I didn’t feel. The next hour they got a minute apart and got progressively stronger. At one point I looked at Mike and said with absolute certainty, this baby is coming in the next hour. He consulted with the nurse and she said she would be surprised if I had the baby before the end of her shift at 7pm.

The Premie doctor came in and consulted with us about the potential issues we could face by having the baby today, he wasn’t majorly concerned and was waiting for the doctor to make a decision on potentially delaying the labor with drugs, but if the benefits of delaying labor did not out weigh the benefits of having the baby, she would come straight over once I was further dilated.

Around noon, the nurse left to call the doctor with my stats and during her absence I used the bedpan twice, I swear no one told me contractions make you feel like peeing! It’s more annoying then anything. Maybe it has something to do with the instinct desire to push something out regardless of what it is or if it’s ready. It’s just this mental need to push and push and push!

By the time she got back the contractions had stayed 1 minute apart and gotten stronger. The IV drip didn’t slow them down as they had hoped. She did a vaginal check and found me to be 6cm dilated. She left to call the doctor again. Upon her return I was in full concentration mode, wait for beginning of contraction, breath through it, if it caught me off-guard I’d start gasping for breath mid-way. She came back after a 1/2 hour and did another vaginal check and I was fully dilated. Things went really fast from here. The clock showed 2pm. The nurse pulled out a bunch of paperwork and had me sign in between contractions. I might as well have drawn a line for the nonsense scribbled out,they wouldn't let my husband sign because it all had to do with emergency plans for removing baby. The room filled up with people. For every contraction, I had a room full of people telling me to not push. I assumed we were waiting for the doctor to show up.

Doctor got there surprisingly quick and suddenly I was allowed to push. Yeah, finally a release instead of clamping down on my vagina while trying to breath with the whoo whoo whoo every 60 seconds. The pushing was harder then I thought it would be. Every time a contraction would start, I would push for 10 seconds while Mike did the count down in my ear 3 times (10, 9, 8, etc). After the contraction I would fall back into bed and he would wipe my face with a damp towel and rub my back. Next contraction would start and I finally learned to take a deep breath, hold it and push until I was blue in the face and reached 10 seconds. At one point, between contractions, the doctor started a lively conversation with one of the nurses about a recent mission trip to the Dominican with her church. I actually enjoyed the distraction and found myself wondering what church she went to. Back on track to baby with die hard mission to get out of my body NOW! Was it something I said or ate, maybe that Philly cheese steak from last night was disagreeable? Back to pushing, Mike counting, wiping my face, feeding me ice chips, telling me I’m doing great, pushing, pushing, not feeling anything coming out but nurse and doctor are cheering great push keep it up. I do 2 more great pushes and liquid and baby rocket out of my body, I didn’t feel a thing at this point. I always thought it would feel shockingly painful when baby came out but not a thing.

I think it took around 20 minutes to push the baby out, she was born at 2:39pm.

Honestly the stitching was more painful then giving birth!

She cried a funny little cry of wah wha wah wah, short cries. It was so cute. For a 35 week baby she’s quite long, 19.25” and 5.6lbs. She has tight curls that are around 1” long and big feet! They finally let me hold her and she calmed down immediately. She has my face, my chin, lips, nose, not sure where Mike is in there but I’m sure we will see more of him in the days to come. Judging from the early arrival, she’s got my impatience.

Since giving birth I’ve been resting, relaxing and carefully going to the bathroom. Not going into details here, you birth mothers know what’s involved.

Friday - I haven’t seen much of baby but reports are she’s doing fine. I’m glad she being taken care of and hope I can take her home tomorrow. Everyone keeps telling me to sleep now, I’ll wish I did when I get her home and can’t sleep but I’m too wired to sleep. I got 5 hours last night and was restless after that. I tried to snooze today but I’ve had 8 or 10 hospital staff visitors.

Ever wonder how natural disasters may affect manufacturing?

First there were the blizzards in February that prevented workers from getting home in time for the most important holiday of the year - Chinese New Year - thus lowering worker moral and causing many to not return to their base factories. Labor forces had already been in a critically low state, this added to the stress.

Last month was the horrible earthquake in Sichuan; an area we were thinking of building a factory but hadn't started yet. It's excruciatingly painful to read the stories of school buildings crushed because they were built so badly. What kind of asshat builds a school without any metal support rods in the concrete in an earthquake zone??? The same jerk who has no concern for shipping lead paint to a toy factory. See most American's assumed - broadly - that Chinese factories didn't care about the kids in other countries - no it's simply an acrid lack of appreciation for life in certain corrupt individuals. I've seen how parents hold their babies in China, and cry in painful shock over the death of their children - with the same passion and intense love westerners do.

And now the flooding in Guangdong - China's factory floor. I've traveled this region many times and have trouble imagining it under water until I see the photos. We have a few factories affected - but fortunately not to the extent I was expecting. There are some damaged sound boxes, potentially a week delay on Christmas shipments, some damaged equipment and the laminated box maker for our Jack in a Coffin said the papers got damp but no loss of life which is the most important factor.


Poor Boo!

Early estimates put the damage in the 1.5 billion range. Expect this to impact product prices over the next year. If you thought oil was causing a leap in cost, wait until you see the cost impact of 3 major natural disasters in the worlds biggest manufacturing base.

Edited to add - this written around midnight, not knowing that 5 hours later I would be in labor!

Pain au chocolat

Not available in South Florida. I've been dreaming of Pain au chocolat recently and decided to make my own. Bought some mini croissants at Super Target and a bag of semi-sweet chocolate baking chips. Cut croissant in half, added handful of chocolate chips, popped into toaster oven for 4 minutes while eating slice of watermelon.

WOW!!!

It is the best thing I've eating in my entire life - must have really been craving this one!

2nd 3pm Friday

I got this one right! Walked out the door at 3:15pm

Home by 3:30, got on the internet and read for 2 hours to get caught up on blogs and have second lunch. This may sound like a waste of a perfectly good Friday outside but allow me to remind you it's blistering hot outside and I prefer to wait until 5 to go to the pool.

So from 5:30 - 7:30 I lounged at the pool. Yeah for me!

Around 8:30 I left to get fast food from KFC consisting of Potato Wedges, Popcorn Chicken and a Biscuit along with a chocolate frosty from Wendy's.

Watched "Long Kiss Goodnight" with Genna Davis; I love that short blond hair cut she has in that movie.

Had a painful initial 2-3 hours of sleep with indigestion, guess fast fried food before bed is NOT wise.

1st 3pm Friday,

One week late, date of occasion June 6th

Well it's my first 3pm Friday of the year which I didn't get to attend due to impromptu Orlando trip that lasted from 7am - midnight. For sake of reminding self in the future of how to pack properly for one day trip with boss, allow me to outline the following:

7am - arrive to work at assigned time, boss 45 min. late b/c alarm didn't go off
7:45 - leave for Orlando
Insist on 2 stops on the way up to use bathroom - hey I'm clearly 8 months pregnant, they knew what they were getting into when they invited self
Eat snack of grapes on drive up, boss can't complain about eating in his car b/c I'm pregnant and they don't leave any crumbs!
11am - 12:30 - meeting with Disney
1-2 - eat lunch at sucky Moe's Southwest Grill
eat more grapes on way to meeting
2-5 - meeting with Universal
5-6 - stop at Starbucks for snack and coffee, this is when I knew boss had no intension of providing dinner, regardless of the fact that it's a 3 hour drive home.
6-8 - stop at downtown Universal to buy products, I grab banana and cheese croissant from lunch box and eat while the others are shopping.
8-midnight - drive home, halfway stop to get Burger King because boss is finally hungry, order strawberry milkshake for snack but it is so loaded with sugar and fake taste that throw away after 3 sips. Gross, hate Burger King.

Lesson - pack a lunch box, it's just easier then waiting for others to make sensible decisions about food.

Food Diary

I suspect I now understand the reasoning behind pregnant women eating strange combinations of food - we need to eat everything in sight - regardless of how sensible it is together.

Case in point -
yesterday
breakfast - 3 large pancakes with strawberries
lunch - giant bowl of favorite tomato mac and cheese
4pm - I found a piece of cornbread in the fridge and ate with watermelon
7:45 - 9 Pizza Rolls, bowl of edamame, dinner of stir fry chicken with jalapeños and green peppers over rice, followed by a bowl of strawberry ice cream

today
breakfast - yogurt with strawberries and toast with peanut butter
12:30 lunch - leftover stir fry, ranch dorito's, watermelon
2pm - donut
4pm - banana with chocolate and vanilla ice cream
7pm - 5 bites of left over favorite tomato mac and cheese from Monday (hey - it was available)
7:15 - 2 large pancakes with strawberries
9:00 - 1/2 quesadilla with chicken, cheddar cheese, avocado & tomatoes (needed salsa), Black Cherry Jello and one mini chocolate dove bar.

Heartburn

Never had heartburn before 20 weeks of pregnancy. Husband has history of heartburn and I'd feel bad when he ate late and seemed enormously uncomfortable and only attributed it to that nasty stomach acid that creeps up occasionally. Apparently true heartburn is much worse. It's a quite nasty little distraction that works into one's subconscience while dreadfully tired and nags until one provides Pepto Bismol.

Earlier, around 12:30 I had the nagging feeling I was not falling asleep and we had run out of Pepto Bismol so I poked husband until he woke to mumble stage and asked if Tums worked the same. I explained my symtems and got him to verbalize yes; he rolled over and appeared possibly ready to get up and save me, waiting, waiting, not so lucky so I launch myself out of bed to search for Tums and instead find another bottom of Pepto Bismol - yeah, back to sleep in 5 minutes.

At 2am I wake for regularly scheduled bathroom break #2 and realize heart burn is gone, praise PB!

At 4am I wake for RSBB #3 and as I wrestle myself back between the pile of pillows, feel the acid burn. Throat feels like it has a jalapeño stuck in it. Time for another PB. This time convince self to get up, eat Strawberry ice cream and obviously write a short blog. Swallow pill wrong, choke, get more ice cream. Buy sheets on Overstock.com, play 3 games of Spider Solitare while dog runs back and forth 14 times to check on husbands status. Going back to bed now.

4pm Friday's changed to 3pm Friday's!!!!

100% thrilled with self for reminding bosses and somehow managing to catch them on a good week! 4pm Friday's were discussed mid-week with entire staff and boss decided to switch to 3pm Friday's but we all had to promise to attend a once a month off site staff brainstorming session. I only have 5 Friday's left before maternity leave so I'm happy for what I can get!

1st visit to babies Pediatrician

Yesterday Husband picked me up from work to go visit our babies Pediatrician. Sure it's a routine visit for all you mom's out there but it was a unique experience for me. I grew up in a church that didn't believe in doctor's so I've never had a Pediatrician and really had no idea what to expect.

We were running late because I was in a heated discussion with Boss about Universal Studios and ended up leaving 20 minutes late but the nice people at the Ped. office still agreed to see us.

I missed lunch and was so frantic to reduce the lateness of our arrival that I didn't even bother to take a snack.

On the way to the appointment my baby started kicking - she does that when Husband's around. By the time we arrived to the Ped's office she was in full swing mode and as we sat down, Husband leaned over to poke her as she kicked and it hit me - we are a family! I almost started crying but due to the circumstances thought it might be alarming to the children, parents and doctors milling about. Honestly it's the first time it hit me, we are a family! I'm getting so anxious and excited to meet this little girl.

I went to work in a bad mood today

Nothing happened to put me in a bad mood prior to work, it's just Monday and I was cranky about leaving my nest which I had not left for the entire weekend. Seriously I didn't leave at all, not even to get snacks or entertainment. Not even when the pool got dreadfully full with 12 kids and unhappy neighbors screaming at each other over who left the pool door propped open - I stayed in the pool and kept reading until I had to pee so bad I was forced to leave. Not even when next door neighbor got disgruntled with the gettho state of our condo and started bitching at his wife that nothing was being done and when she asked to drop it and have a nice evening he turned on her - it got a bit ugly - I stayed on my porch and kept reading. Nothing got in the way of my zen mindset and single minded attempt to fix up babies room and then forget the pain in my back through pooh, reading and ignoring my loud obnoxious neighbors. Nothing until I went to work and could no longer block out annoying distractions.

Work forces me to deal directly with clients who regardless of deadlines & ship dates continue to want more changes, factories who suddenly decide they no longer wish to take orders from August 1st but give no reason for why, offices who dispatch a very important collection of samples TO THE WRONG FREAKING ADDRESS and nearly send me into pre-labor with panic, boss who holds extremely long meetings that are supposed to be 1/2 hour long and cause self to stay until 7:30pm in order to finish work!!!

At least husband had favorite dinner waiting with chocolate cake for dessert.

Setting up babies room

Everything must be moved out of the spare bedroom and a new location found. It's like moving - but with a different deadline in mind.

Items found:
- ledger from 2002, full tank of gas cost $15.51, now cost $45.81 for SAME TRUCK!
- bag of cards intended for mother's day, father's day, etc can now be moved to proper stationary drawer.
- box of slippers husband bought for my 2006 birthday in the wrong size (he swore he returned them for the bigger size and when they didn't arrive, we assumed they were lost in the mail)

The list goes on and on.

I now have a giant pile of things in the room for donation and I'm trying to build a give away pile that is bigger then the baby shower gifts sitting next to the front door.

4pm Friday's

It just occurred to me that no one has said anything about 4pm Friday's following Memorial Day. Yesterday would have been the first Friday and everyone stayed late for my party. It seems everyone has either forgotten or realized it's such a pain in the ass that it's really not worth it.

See the rules are simple - arrive at 8am, take 1/2 hour lunch, leave by 4pm. Reward for working so hard throughout the year. It is supposed to last from post Memorial Day to Labor Day and the tradition is 4-5 years old.

Last year I had to lobby really hard to get boss to continue the tradition and I did so because my employees were pushing for it and I thought it would be great fun to get out early on a Friday and to go the beach.

The downside - I remember last year of boss bitching every Friday that people were taking advantage by taking too long for lunch and not arriving promptly by 8am. Employees were equally aggravated because they were unaccustomed to being prompt for work and it’s virtually impossible to eat out a ½ hour lunch and god forbid they actually pack a lunch! And they were incensed that it was not noticed when they stayed late throughout the week as those hours should have made up for it right??? So they found themselves leaving between 4-5 and really working a full 8 hour day anyway so what was really the point of coming in by 8am?

The worst crime of all were the days when everyone followed the rules and boss would start meetings at 3:45pm! Oh the bitter moral that created. By the end of the summer, everyone was down to 8:45 - 5ish.

Still wondering if it’s worth reminding the bosses? Regardless of the pain and anguish it causes everyone else, I enjoy leaving at 4pm and I’ve got 2 months left before baby arrives. I guess it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Work Baby Shower!

Friday was my 2nd baby shower of the year and it was sponsored by my job!

The night before, following prenatal yoga class, I bought a new dress and sandals. Yes I'm supposed to be on a budget and saving all resources for baby but I've only got 2 dresses and both were bought around 20 weeks and not actual maternity so they are getting quite snug. I bought a proper brown simple maternity dress because I look fantastic in brown and hate flowered patterns (99% of the dresses in the store are flowered - yuck).

CEO's wife came at 3 and spent 2 hours setting up in the kitchen with food and drinks. Everyone got tipsy with wine and I had Pellegrino. There was an amazing hummus, I need to get that recipe, and a Raspberry chocolate cake (which I took some home!!!)

Baby got lots of cool presents and it was a lovely evening. My work family is great!

Rockin' Good Memorial Day

Started with Memorial Day Pancakes with blueberries, strawberries and whipped cream!


Went to movie and ate hot dogs, curly fries and mozzarella sticks


and finished the day with Memorial Day dessert!

UPS drove over our package...

taped it closed and delivered it with comment, "your package got a little mangled".

No apology.



Ewok plush key chain and magnet are fine.



Don't worry, they are supposed to look that ugly.

Last weekend holiday before baby girl arrives

Okay I didn’t get drastically sick. Woke up Friday morning with a sniffle and felt well enough to launch weekend holiday. As usual, Husband and I took our sweet time packing, dropping dog off at dog sitters, doing last minute bills, eating 2 breakfasts and packing lunch (I am 7 months pregnant!) and leaving by 2pm.

We called our friends and plans had changed. Instead of meeting them at a camp site and spending the weekend canoeing, hiking and beach activities, they invited us to spend the evening at their’s cousin’s house which lead to the next 3 days/evenings there. So we showed up at a total strangers house first (they got lost with the directions they gave to me - hah!) and proceeded to make ourselves comfortable.

This is nothing new to me. My entire childhood was spent with summer vacations dropping in on distant relatives that my dad seemed to know but I had never met. It was a annual tradition. I’m still quite comfortable dropping in on strangers as long as the host appears welcoming.

We had a very relaxing weekend. The beach was a mess with lots of wind, waves and rip currents so it was really awesome to have a pool to chill at. The cousins invited their neighbors every night and we found everything in common from wild techno music loved in the 90’s (My life with the thrill cult, Rammstein, Lords of Acid) to old fashioned country. There was the mutual admiration and review of tattoo’s along with a high spirited conversation about well loved animation (Simpons, The Tick, Astro Boy, etc). And all the women took great care of me since I’m pregnant and need to eat like constantly. The pool was a great way to let my body relax, back pain has been getting worse along with a constant gnawing rib pain.

The cousins took our Pittsburgh friends out on their boat Sunday for a day of fishing. I begged out because 6 hours of direct sunlight without comfortable chair is my idea of hell. Later learned the trip would have likely initiated early labor since the wind got really bad and made the boat ride so rough my friend got sea sick and threw up every where.

The same day wild fires broke out in the area. We learned the main highway was cut off at 3pm but elected to stay in the area until friends returned from boat trip at 4. Around 6:30pm, we decided to head home on an alternative route and got stopped almost immediately as that road got blocked. So we returned to the house to discuss an another alternative but it would have become a 4 hour ride home verses 2 with potential of getting stuck in traffic with no access to a bathroom. The fire got worse to the point that our host was called into duty - yes our female host is a kick-ass firefighter, how cool is that (and she rides a Harley, captains her own recreational fishing boat and strangely thinks I’m cool for going to Asia 3 times in one year ). Husband didn’t work the next day and my job is fairly understanding so we spent the night and by the next morning all was calm and I got to work at noon.

Awesome relaxing weekend.

I’m extremely worried…

I woke up with a scratchy throat and immediately attributed it to the smoky air outside. Apparently there was a big brush fire in North Lauderdale.

At work I felt grumpy and sniffly and bitched at senior designer to keep it down so I could get my work done. Well he was yacking non-stop for a period of time before I hissed words of warning. I try to be a cool boss but seriously sometimes open room environments suck.

By mid-afternoon the girl to my right was sneezing non-stop and went through an entire box of tissues. I assume if someone is feeling bad enough they will take themselves home. Should I have said something? Sent her home? Is this going to affect my health?

I’m not a hypochondriac – but I’m 7 months pregnant and the last time I got sick – I got extremely sick on Valentine’s day followed by super business trip to New York and London (see Feb. 08 posting – I haven’t figured out the linking thing yet).

So I’m worried, my sniffle continued, my throat still scratchy. Is it that pregnancy nose clog that I’ve had for awhile anyway?

I’m panicking primarily because this weekend is a planned mini-holiday with close friends from Pittsburgh who I see once a year. Husband and I used to live down the street from them and we did all sorts of cool things. Now they come down to Florida once a year and drag us to all the places we normally wouldn’t think of going to. Like last year – we went to the Everglades and in trying our hand at canoeing the first time, almost became a delivery lunch to 3 of the biggest alligators every seen.



Followed by a night of torture as it poured rain and our tent was not suitably water proof – unhappy. But there were also brilliant moments where we cooked great food and saw many amazing animals. I saw a Bald Eagle and a death head spider!

Somewhere between the insanity of canoeing next to alligators and chasing buzzards from our campsite, it became the best vacation of the year and I would be so disappointed and upset if my last vacation before baby girl arrives involves me – SICK!

That’s it - I’m not going to work tomorrow. It’s either me or sick girl staying home. I can’t take the stress.

Husband claims I’m as emotionless as the Terminator

I took Chopper to the grooming salon today for a complete shave – an unforgivable act by AKC Cavalier King Charles standards. It was necessary; he’s had a run in with ticks that refuse to die regardless of months of bi-weekly tick bathes and front line medicine.

As I was signing him in at the grooming salon, he did his typical whining fret that he wasn’t someplace cooler like PetSmart. A lady to my left started fretting equally over my dog – cooing and giving him poor dog looks and finally asked if he was crying. To which I promptly replied no and continued filling out the form.

Crying? Dogs don’t cry; they are not human.

I take a seat and give him a few treats after he has calmed down. He settles and we both wait for the groomer who finally comes out and informs fretting lady that her dog is ready but had 4 ticks. She flies into panic mode and inquires what color are the ticks. Black. I tell Groomer that my dog has a really bad tick problem and must be completely shaved.

Groomer leaves and brings back her dog and she again asks what color the ticks are. Black. She leans over to ask me how to get rid of ticks and I say I have no idea but I’m having Chopper shaved so we can see them better and aid easier removal. She freaks out a little more and finally leaves.

In recounting the story to my husband later, he determined to buy me a set of black sunglasses with leather fingerless gloves and call me the Terminator – because I couldn’t remember what kind of dog fretting lady even had and showed no interest in her concern for my dog.

I should mention Husband works for PetSmart and deals with fretting dog ladies on a daily basis. I am completely impressed that he does his job with such a cheerful, patient attitude.

Baby Plans

Today my co-workers took a sudden interest in my plans for post maternity leave baby care. Senior designer, who was a stay at home dad for 5 years commented that he couldn't imagine leaving a 4 month old in day care. The single 25 year old ladies chimed in that they couldn't imagine it either, the horror - a 4 month old in day care. The single guy had no comment.

My boss has been insisting for years that I convince husband to be a stay at home dad. He hasn't brought it up lately, for which I'm grateful.

It's all so awkward; obviously in a perfect world all women might want to be a stay at home mom but I'm afraid that by choosing to live in South Florida and owning a home during the worst housing market of my lifetime which prevents selling and moving seem to indicate I will be a working mom. I'm not upset or depressed with this idea; I seem to have always had a firm grip on reality and I do the best with the hand I'm dealt.

My only idea so far is to ask my boss for "work from home Friday's" and have husband take off Thursday's so thus reducing day care to 3 days. Beyond this my baby plans are limited to putting together a baby registry. I promised husband I would do this tonight but have instead spent the evening reading favorite blogs and writing my own. Guess I best be working on that registry or my complaints about husband's absent mindedness towards household chores will fall on deaf ears.

I've found a way to receive compliments while pregnant

Wear black and monotone dress pants and blouses regularly prior to pregnancy. Then during pregnancy, suddenly switch to bright colored dresses. Compliments every day. Switch it up with a few Angelina Jolie black dresses occasionally and then back to brights.

Yes you can have my job

Last weekend, two of my favorite bloggers left the following comments on my blog:

Suburban Turmoil said...
I know travel sucks when you're pregnant, but please please please, can I have your job??? It sounds FANTASTIC!

Blogger Potty Mummy said...
Hi SB, just thought I'ld pop over after your visit and what do you know? We work (or in my case, worked), in similar fields. Reading about your trip really took me back to life pre-kids. Sounds like you're having a ball. And glad to hear that you too love the best city in the world! I love my children but (more than just) occassionally I miss that job...

I do get this comment a lot, and it always makes me pause and feel really thankful for my job. I work at a toy design and manufacturing company and I get to travel to Asia, LA and London regularly along with managing product development and great team of designers – it can be a lot of fun! Then Monday starts and the chaos begins. This week was no different; I walked into work to find my 2 senior creative guys spinning in their chairs stuck with how to proceed with a new line of dolls we are designing this month. Stuck on colors, story, style, you name it – stuck! I looked at my vast mountain of work and decided to drop everything and help them. One trip to Wal-Mart to check out competition to our idea, buy $100 of toys for reference, back to the office to solidify a few basics to get them started. Off to lunch, I stop at Jo Ann fabrics for $60 of fabrics to serve as further reference in material designs with swirly colors and different sparkle applications and they were finally set by 3. The next 5 hours were spent on email, charts and art packages.

Monday – Friday I worked 12 hour days every day! In broad strokes:
• I managed a team in the creation of a Harry Potter concept presentation that the client was vaguely unhappy with when I left on Friday and I can’t wait to get to work on Monday and find out how to appease on this one.
• I have procrastinated for several months on buying the new CS3 Illustrator and this month all art packages from our London client came in this program. I’m actually 2-3 weeks late in getting my art packages sent to Asia and this is bad because it delay’s their start on the samples which could potentially cause major stress to the production team later on. So I finally dropped everything and called Office Depot (upgrade not in stock), Best Buy (on hold for 20 minutes and finally hung up), Comp USA (confirmed they had it in stock but upon driving 20 minutes to Deerfield, found it not in stock and they asked who did I speak with because it’s not been in stock all day – grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) and finally Apple Store in Aventura mall which represents an hour drive from Comp USA. This day I stayed late to get 6 art packages out, the following day I sent 8.
• Quote project for factory that is increasing prices.
• Worked with guys on the doll project throughout the week and finalized presentation for Monday meeting with CEO.
• 2 weeks late in getting an art package out for a major Pooh promotion in the EU and after sending the entire art package to Asia and art to the client for confirmation, he changed his mind 2 times and Monday I get to start all the concepts over. Yeah!!!
• There was a frantic conference call on Wednesday between myself, Hong Kong GM and London client to clarify corrections for Halloween Pooh & Stitch with sound and movement. The goal of the conversation was to get approval on the sound so we can start the sound chip masking. I got the sound approved but by Friday failed to clarify in writing with the client that they were comfortable moving forward with sound chip masking and commitment to project even though quotes had not been finalized. Friday was the deadline, I’m hoping my Asia team will forgive my negligence and wait for Monday to resolve this.
• I can’t even remember what else I did but it involved a lot of email and updated charts.

I really feel like a ping pong ball when my week ends. So anyone still want my job?

Babymoon Weekend Trip to Sanibel Island

My anniversary is July 13; my baby is due July 21st. Hubs decided to take me for an early anniversary trip considering the obvious.
Vacation also came one week after marathon month of business trips and I was really ready for a break.

Day 1
We didn’t actually plan it too well. In fact, we didn’t start looking for a hotel until the morning of the 1st day of vacation. Hubs got bagels and post breakfast dropped puppy off at the dog sitters while I researched hotels at islands in South Florida (yes we vacation in the state we live in – it’s convenient which equals no airports/schedules and we don’t happen to “live” on the beach so anything on an island is novel).
Sanibel Island was selected because it had the following: Mimi’s restaurant in 15 mile zone (favorite restaurant in the world), beach access from hotel room, kayaking and heated pool (hey it might be FL but it’s 70F/21C during the day and 50F/10C at night).
We arrived to the area around 3:30pm and promptly went to Mimi’s for late lunch. I had a lovely seafood pasta and Hubs had a hamburger. Upon check-in we find our 1 bedroom hotel room has been upgraded to a 2 bed/2 bath with full kitchen suite that is like equal to the size of our condo. Had I known, I would have packed food – I rarely like hotel restaurants. We arrive to room and I promptly start reading Sophie Kinsella’s “Remember Me” (with cool dust cover from UK). In an hour its pitch black outside and we realize we are still too full from lunch to even consider dinner. It suddenly dawns on me that being on a very small island might equal nothing to do at night. Upon further discussion with concierge, we learn there is a local movie theater but it’s only playing old crappy movies and everyone just ends up at local pub which isn’t much fun while pregnant. We wandered around the resort and stopped for dessert, a game of shuffle board (I lost) and pin ball (I won!!!) before retiring to our room for an evening of Harry Potter for Hubs and Sophie’s book for me.

Day 2
Breakfast at hotel restaurant – not bad/not great as expected but while eating we saw DOLPHINS – yes dolphins hoping along the coast. I’m surprised I didn’t scream and run out of the restaurant. It was really so cool!!! After breakfast we changed and rented a tandem kayak to search for more dolphins – didn’t find any but managed to have a fairly compatible ride until Hubs started commenting on my unusual ability to paddle severely harder on the left then the right therefore causing him to counter correct. Once I corrected that small error, he had more advice which I’ve promptly forgotten. We somehow returned 2 hours later without killing each other and I was so tired I was happy to lay by the pooh reading more of Sophie’s book (I have this small problem with a high energy level and if I don’t exhaust myself, I find it hard to lay around and relax). By 2:30 we are ready for lunch and discover Chee Burger where they offer 20+ toppings for burgers and chicken sandwiches along with onion rings and fries. It’s a wonderful gooie mess of a sandwich with a Vanilla Coke to top it off (I only drank ½ - doctor said I can have small amounts of caffeine). In the same complex we find a small toy shop called Needful Things (it was not my idea to go in here, Hubs is a huge toy fan and really should have my job – I swear I’m not working on my vacation – not working!!!). I did however find a collection of Smurfs from Schleich and promptly bought 2 figs to decorate my desk along with The Cube – an office cubical friend named Ann with cubicle playset.
Evening was spent leaving the island for a trip to the mainland to dine at Mimi’s – I had no desire to experiment with other restaurants, why mess with a good thing followed by a viewing of “The Other Boylen Sister” at local theater. The book by Phillipa Gregory was amazing (I harbor a secret hunch that I might be related to the author because my mother’s maiden name is the same) but the movie – well I was a little disappointed, I thought the costumes would be more elaborate and the last hour was really rushed. It’s got to be very hard to bring such a detailed book into theater so I respect the effort.

Day 3 – I negotiated late check out of 1pm and we got up early, had breakfast in our room with muffins from Mimi’s  and tea and rushed down to the dock for one last killer kayak ride that should be early enough to encounter dolphins. This time we rented single kayak’s to avoid killing each other on our last day and cruised in the direction of the wind, really fast for a ½ hour (no dolphins) – I went in a very straight line and kept tossing satisfied “told you I knew what I was doing” looks at Hubs. We decided to be conservative with our energy levels and return after a ½ hour – it suddenly turned into a grueling trip as we kayaked against the wind. Yeah I noticed it was windy but I swear it got much stronger on the return trip and stronger and stronger as we got weaker and weaker. It took 1 ½ hours to return. Here’s the part where I tell you we are not extremely experienced kayakers – in fact we just started a year ago and this is likely our 5th trip but still I’m strong, I lift weights on a regular basis – this is not rocket science – it was really windy!
The rest of the day went really slow, we showered, checked out on time, went for a drive to the 2nd island that is so close it might as well be attached just to explore and check out future hotel options. Found the 2nd island to be more civilized with an actual Starbucks and really fancy grocery store. Around 2:30pm we made our last stop at Mimi’s – I do not apologize for my repetitive preference and I had another lovely pasta dish with 4 muffins to go (for future breakfasts). Pooh Hubs had to drive the 2 hour drive home while I disappeared into the end of Sophie’s book. I’m happy to say it was a very good read. Oh yeah and the vacation was definitely relaxing and fun – but I failed to realize how many folks might be concerned at my level of activity while pregnant – the list includes Hubs co-workers quoted as saying “she did WHAT?” and Hub’s mother lecture on how maybe I should take it easy and my boss’s confused look followed by “but your pregnant”. I think I broke a rule book somewhere but hey at least I wasn’t drinking martini’s and smoking cigars!

Baby started kicking 2 days ago

It's so cool, I was going to sleep when I felt a tiny blip, felt like the softest poof of air expanding outward. I immediately yelled for husband and he got to feel it too. Since then I've felt the kicks more often, just felt one now. It's so cool!

Pregnancy wouldn't be fun without several stressful business trips

February – my 4th month of pregnancy. I felt back to my old self, full of energy and thus announced to my boss that I felt up to traveling as needed. I was quickly lined up for 4 trips (one to Mexico got canceled).

Trip 1 - Drive to Orlando, boss was supposed to drive but got hang over from watching super bowl the night before - claimed he got chest pains - maybe it was a little both, ended up driving myself and co-worker on 3 hour drive. It should normally be an easy trip but was surprisingly tired in client meetings. Fortunately co-worker was the one to do all the talking.

Trip 2 - Fly to LA, meet with client, fly back next morning at 6am. We met up with LA based co-worker and she drove us to the meeting. She had a really bad cold and I cheerfully ignored this potential hazard. Meetings went well and we found our way through the LA airport at 5:00am the following morning with no problem (surprisingly full at this hour).

Trip 3 – New York/London Trip - scheduled 3 days after the LA trip. 2 days prior, I fell sick with the worst cold in my entire life, on Valentines Day (see below post).
Left for New York on the 17th with an extremely stuffy nose but at least the breathing had improved; spent the next 2 days walking around New York with a handbag full of tissues and Vicks. Toy Fair on Monday, visiting the shops in SoHo to find new toy ideas, non-stop nose blowing and eating Vicks, the weather was horribly cold and rainy – miserable. 2nd day was a meeting in morning where I had a massive nose bleed shortly before the meeting was to start and spent the entire breakfast in a paranoid terror that nose would betray me, meanwhile the pancakes were wonderful. Went to FAO Schwartz and was really disappointed in how the store has gone downhill in the last few years, it used to be such an exciting toy store. I really hated New York. Everyone I know loves this city but it’s enormous and cold – the streets are like 6 lanes, the buildings are enormous, and I was incredibly grumpy with my cold in the cold. Even left New York in the worst way possible, red eye flight to London leaving at mid-night. My bedtime is 10pm!!!

Got lucky on the flight; airline attendant blocked 2 seats next to mine and I got to sleep on 3 seats, granted it’s a challenge to find a comfortable position while pregnant but lying in a C shape seemed to work. Surprisingly I got to London at 11am and felt fantastic! I really love this city but I was still surprised at how energetic I felt after sleeping only 5-6 hours on the plane. Here’s the part where I explain the only reason I agreed to continue on the NY trip with miserable cold was to reach London – my favorite city in the world.

Met up with boss and his wife in afternoon and immediately stopped in cool café for cappuccino and tea (we do have real café’s in cold US city’s but in Florida, only Starbucks). Went shopping on Oxford Street at The Disney Store (of course to view our products), a gift card store (love the Mother’s day bear cards) and oddly Nike – boss felt the designs might be inspiring. Surprisingly, Nike has totally different clothing lines then US and the styles are much more interesting and exciting – more colors and designs, US tends to rely on lots of whites which is reason I’ve never seen Nike more then a shoe store. It was a really fun store. Went to eat at Thai restaurant.

2nd day – didn’t have meeting schedule until noon, so was left to own devices for morning. 1st priority – find bookstore. I love buying books in London because all my favorite author’s have totally better dust covers in UK then in US. Take for example Sofia Kinsella’s “Remember Me” – US version is giant sunflower, UK version cute lilac car covered in sunflowers. I promptly purchased the following:
Sophia Kinsella’s “Remember Me” – bonus points, bought few days before it came out in the US
Louise Bagshawe’s “Sparkles”
Zina Rohan’s “The Officer’s Daughter”
Wendy’s Holden’s “Filthy Rich”

Following the book store visit I joined boss for meeting with clients and a visit to Hamley’s (much better toy store then FAO Schwartz). Evening dinner was at an amazing Tuscan restaurant near our hotel.

Last day was spent with the Disney Store and I suffered with my damn stuffy nose the entire day. Morning meetings are the worst, after an hour I’m just holding my breath and trying not to choke on a drizzle of snot and make any disturbing sniffles, etc. Afternoon meetings got better as I made an hourly dash to the bathroom to clear nose. Evening was spent at Wodka with the head buyer and it was a lot of fun.

Saturday I took a 10am flight back to the US and finally after all above flights combined, had nice seat passenger who offered to help with my overhead bag – cheers London man, you are so sweet!

Spent all day Sunday sleeping, resting, eating and relaxing.

Not planning to business travel again for remainder of pregnancy.

Valentine’s Day ‘08

I started the day with a dentist appointment I'd been avoiding for several months. As a pregnant woman, I've been told to NOT AVOID THE DENTIST so I finally braved my fears and went. To be honest, I was in LA the day before and missed the follow up call confirming the appointment and had I received the call, I would have definitely canceled it. I'm no superwomen in this category.

Surprisingly, the appointment was fine. The new dental hygienist was incredibly kind and patient and she was very careful to apply the gum numbing paste, keep my mouth rinsed and didn't spray junk all over my face and give me a pair of goggles to wear (all previous experiences with Olga).

On my way to work, I stopped at Panera to get my favorite lunch, continued to work and had lunch before starting work. Around 1:30, I started sneezing and getting a clogged nose. I thought no big deal; pregnancy brings a daily sneeze and a bit of a clogged nose.

By 2:30, it got worse and people were telling me to go home and rest. So I left by 3:30 with a mild cold, came home and finished working by 7 while husband played a compilation of love songs in the background and made dinner. I had tea and dove bars before dinner and felt tired with a runny nose but not too bad. I went to bed to rest my eyes while hubs finished dinner. Got up, and progressively through dinner felt my nostrils close down. After dinner, I asked hubs to run to the store and get doctor approved Tylenol cold medicine because I cannot sleep with a completely clogged nose.

We watched Romancing the Stone and it's a really fun movie but during it my nose continued to clog until I could only breath out of my mouth and drinking any water made me feel like I was underwater with my mouth open. It caused me to dry heave, breath heavily and blow my nose non-stop until I looked ready to pass out. Needless to say the medicine did nothing! Halls did nothing. Usually one of these items works to open the clogged passage. Does pregnancy counter the affects of drugs?

Since I could not take any more medicine without consulting a doctor, hubs ransacked the home to find our trusty "Foods that harm, foods that heal" book and found the following remedy:

* Steam a pot of water to boiling, place face over steaming water with towel over head basically replicating a sauna or humidifier. This actually worked to clear enough space so I could drink water without feeling like I was drowning.

From my mom:

* Mom's cure for a cold is crushed garlic, lime juice and honey. I tried this after the nasal passages opened and surprisingly tasted nothing and was able to get it down.

From Make magazine:

* Rub Vicks vapor rub on the feet and cover with heavy socks.

By this time it was midnight and I was exhausted but with enough breathing ability to go to bed. I slept the entire night with bi-hourly bathroom breaks and felt marginally better by morning but not nearly as horrified and miserable as the night before.

From my humble perspective, my husband gave me the most romantic Valentines Day by doing every thing he could think of to reduce my suffering. Thanks hubs, for being this girl's hero.

Opps I missed posting in January

I can sum up the month as follows:

* I lost my appetite and no one warned me this would happen! Damn you all pregnant women for misleading me (upon questioning, they all finally admitted food cravings start in 2nd trimester)! All I heard is you eat and eat and eat! I could not eat my favorite foods or hardly anything for that matter. The last 4 weeks of my 1st Trimester were very disparaging days. Coming home from work exhausted and resorting to PB&J or Grilled Cheese. The only thing I enjoyed was fresh juice with my new juicer.

* January 28th my co-worker took our creative group to a new Mexican joint near the beach called Tijuana Flats. It was the best food Mexican I’ve eaten since my last trip to Texas!!! I went Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday! I’m seriously considering it today but I have a nice leftover lasagna from Too Jays. I think it’s the hot sauce that makes is so fabulous. I’ve heard hot sauce brings happy endorphins and I’ve definitely been coming back from lunch with a happy attitude.

Husband is from Texas so he’s psyched to see his ½ of the genes kicking in food preferences.

Baby’s first word might be Taco.

Company Christmas Dinner

Someone always gets really drunk. This year it's senior designer and boss.

Awkward Highlight -
Boss announces my senior designer leads a casual life at work and draws one or 2 drawings in the morning before rushing off to lunch. I felt compelled to defend his honor and announced that the other 3 ladies in the creative group are very good at keeping him on schedule and focused. Suddenly the boss bellows that all 3 women should move in with senior designer and then goes through a series of mock conversations he might have with each one - in bed. He then decides its not fair to the remaining ladies to leave them out and one by one suggests what it would be like for each to shack up with senior designer.

Amusing Highlights -
Boss's wife leans to our side of the table and discusses how her husband is a big baby and whines when he doesn't get his way. Somehow writing this does not seem to capture how funny it was in person.

Boss gives speech of how great we all are to work with, one big family, were small but wonderful - senior designer yells "speak for yourself".

I'm Pregnant

It was discussed at length for at least a year, but when we got right down to the moment it was a simple, do you want to? - uh sure let's see what happens. Immediately afterward I changed my mind and decided I needed to wait longer. Didn't have enough money, didn't feel ready. I immediately decided it could not have possibly have taken and went on with my life. Brother and wife came to visit for a week, followed by a busy few weeks of work. Suddenly, 2 days before my birthday I woke up at midnight in a cold sweat as I counted the days since my last period - I'm never late, every 3 weeks like clockwork. And I knew - I knew I was pregnant. The next day I bought a test on the way home, it didn't work. Nothing happened! No plus or minus. How aggravating. I went back to the drugstore to return the non-working test and bought another one. Quick search on the internet shows it's best to wait until the following morning because urine is more concentrated. I sleep badly, waking every hour to check the time. Finally at 6am I wake up without the alarm, take the test and find the word "pregnant" on digital reader. I stare in total alarm, I'm an adult, I'm 31 in fact, almost 32 but I find the entire idea so daunting and terrifying that I'm frozen in shock. I go over to wake husband. I simply shove him on the shoulder, he doesn't wake up so I push him harder while saying his name. He finally wakes up and I show him the digital reader, he freaks out and gets really excited, he's been ready for a long time. I'm thankful for his excitement but still feel so stunned I show no emotion. It's two weeks later, and I'm getting quietly excited as well. I still don't feel ready. My entire life is going to change.

Lions for Lambs

Leaving the theater in Boca Raton, I heard a woman announce in an upper crust falsetto "Well I found the movie rather pedantic!". I had to come home to look up the word. It means:
1 : of, relating to, or being a pedant 2 : narrowly, stodgily, and often ostentatiously learned 3 : unimaginative, pedestrian

From now on, I'm going to leave the movie theater announcing this line.

Personal note - I rather enjoyed the movie. It was thought provoking and made me want to do more for my country.

Sunglasses - gone!

I have this bad habit if hooking my sunglasses on my shirt. Today was no
exception. As I headed for the bathroom at Chinese customs station, I grabbed a
roll of toilet paper from my purse, handed purse to co-worker, hooked glasses
into shirt, briefly considered putting them in purse but was already mid-stride
to squat toilet and wanted to end the experience as quickly as possible.

Without going into too many embarrassing details, I assumed the position and
glasses promptly fell into the hole - not just the hole but into the deep deep
part of the hole. I briefly contemplated how far I would have to reach to find
$60.00 glasses. I immediately rationalized that they had recently appeared
crooked on my face and was tired of the design anyway. Furthermore, there is no
soap in said bathroom and could not imagine how to clean glasses or hand.

My sun glasses are now in a Chinese customs squat toilet (attached photo is far
cleaner - found on internet)

My dog...

I got home tonight at 8pm, after promising husband I would be home by 6 or 7. He had walked dog briefly in the morning and made me promise to be home at a reasonable hour, a promise I promptly forgot when dealing with a crisis at work.

I was greeted by a painful howl and dropped everything, purse, laptop bag, left overs in one pile and rushed dog outside to do his bathroom duties. I didn’t even stop to change out of work clothes and 3” stacked heels. It was drizzling outside and I forgot the umbrella. Dog took his sweet time sniffing neighbors yard where his former girlfriend lives. Last week she was out daily to greet him with her rear end in his face. This week the heat is gone and she barks angrily from her porch.

Back in the house I’m greeted by 3 hungry cats who boycott my desire to change into more comfortable clothing and start dinner. After feeding them in the garage I walk through the door and pause to watch happy dog bounce through the house, I laugh and suddenly scream in pain as the heavy steel door smashes my hand in the door frame. Literally double over in pain, I realize I’m starving and the combination makes me want to hurl/pass out at the same time.

Pets – they really dominate life.

As the interviewer...

Last week I found myself conducting the last interview. I had already made plans to hire 2 people prior to setting this interview. I only told the guy to come in so I could see his potential as a possible free-lancer. He was 15 minutes late. I met him in the front lobby and he looked 30ish, bald and giddy. I took him into the conference room. Big mistake, he could not take his eyes off the toys. Er, okay. He immediately launched into a tirade of adoration for our toys and his love for children. During his rambling I learned he was a kindergarten teacher, thinks all children need to have a special toy to care for, need to have that one special toy that makes their world amazing, loves to spend time with children and nurture their growth, etc etc. Normally at some point I ask to see a portfolio but I could not find a point to interrupt this "love the kids" rambling. Finally he breaks and dives for his portfolio which contains jewelry with magnets and toys with magnets.

Its at this point that I find myself in an uncomfortable predicament. He is sweating badly, staring at me with a hopeful puppy dog stare that says, I need a home, take me and I will be yours forever. He is sitting too close, leaning forward with hyper excitement. How do I get out of this interview as quickly as possible. In my heart, I'm not a mean person. I can't throw him out with nothing. I know how hard life can be for an artist. So I start explain as gently as possible that I think his portfolio is better suited for a science based toy company where ours is licensed product. We do not design product for children's learning values but based on what Mickey would do in his world. He almost sobs while stating, I've worked myself into a nitch market. Perhaps I was not direct enough so I say I have other candidates with more experience in line for the position. This seems to hit home as he quickly thanks me for my time and departs.

Later my boss comes back to ask what I said to the guy because he left in such a hurry that he almost crashed into several cars.

4pm Friday update

8:15 arrive to work
4:15 leave work
4:30 walk dog, attend to all needs
5:00 spend next 2 hours at pool, yeah for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently my allegiance knows no bounds…

Due to an unfortunate series of mistakes that angered a client, I found myself volunteering for a mission to correct the mistakes and thus restore the reputation of the Company.

Mistake 1 – asked client if we could change printed spots on Minnie to easier production method, get told angrily no and yelled at for even asking. Manage to follow approved method for production.

Mistake 2 – submit samples without proper paperwork, get screamed at.

Mistake 3 – fail testing, get screamed at for being only vendor to fail on whatever we failed for, find solution, get clients grumpy approval and fix before shipment.

Due to attention devoted to fixing above mistakes, somehow fail to show pre-production samples to client before shipment and thus produce with wrong clip colors for 2 pieces.

Mistake 4 – produce Pooh plush keychain with puke yellow clip instead of pretty red color clip to match his shirt.

Mistake 5 – produce Donald plush keychain with purple clip instead of white clip.

Client furious, thus we volunteer to drive to client’s warehouse and change the clips to approved colors for 2,400 pieces per character.

We planned this trip in advance by practicing the time it takes to change one clip – 10 seconds. Somehow through a series of faulty numbers boss announced that we had PLENTY OF TIME to complete the project within 7 hour time frame and 4 people. Client said we could only work in warehouse from 7am – 2:30pm.

Asia office gave the following recommendations after we asked how clips are attached at the factory:

Step 1 : Widen the space between two rings by using fingers.

Step 2 : Put wrong clip like the photo at the right side.

Step 3 : Insert the correct one at the same time as it is very easy to insert since the wrong one keep the space between two rings.

Step 4 : Remove the wrong and push the correct one.

Without going into every single painful detail of the day, I will list the highlights:

Monday – drive to Orlando a day in advance to visit Universal Studios, get free tickets to walk the park and look for product ideas. Get to bed around mid-night. Just as I’m falling into a deep sleep some jerk from HK office calls and I wake up on the last ring, fully waking up self and others in shared suite. Can’t sleep for ½ hour, hate hate hate.

Tuesday –

5:30am – wake up, wait for shower

5:45am – shower

6:30am – breakfast

7:00am – check out, stop at Dunkin Donuts for coffee (get frowns from others for wasting time but nothing stands between me and coffee)

7:45am – find warehouse, drop girls off at front with supplies and then park car

8:00am – begin changing clips

10:00am – discover new way of changing clips that does not involve fingernails as everyone is experiencing broken nails from splitting the metal clips with fingernails. Quickly show everyone. Am briefly lauded as hero.

10:15am – one person is on phone with management from our Company reviewing something and doing clips at the same time. Grumbling from other girls for wasted time talking and working slower.

10:30am – girl on phone call ends call and announces she will not go to bathroom to save time. I eat applesauce.

12:00pm – negotiate with warehouse manager to let us stay until 6pm so we can finish that day as there is no way in hell we are getting done by 2:30.

1:00pm – discuss shared hatred of client for insisting we had to leave warehouse by 2:30 and thus spent day before at Universal when we could have started ½ the work at warehouse.

1:30pm – discuss shared anger with moron who said we had PLENTY OF TIME and did not take into consideration the pain that slows fingers to a craw, re-taping boxes, plush falling off keychain when not properly situated before new clip, blurring of vision causing us to reach for wrong color clip, etc.

2:00pm – we finally finish 2,400pcs of Donald, stop for packed lunch. Discuss if we should spend the night in Orlando or finish that day and drive home same day. Already delirious from 2,400 Donald clips, do not want to drive home after another 2,400 Pooh clips. Learn no one has brought change of clothes but me. Everyone gets grumpy and silent.

2:30pm – buy water for everyone

3:00pm – one girl offers 2 options, stop at 4pm and stay in Orlando. Others counter with, if they stop and come back next day, fingers will be swollen and will not have mental stamina to start again. Angry faces set in stone want to finish that day no matter what. 10 boxes done, 40 to go.

4:00pm – 20 boxes done, 30 to go. We calculate finishing at 8 or 9pm

4:30pm – discover water dispensers everywhere.

5:00pm – dementia sets in and stories get wild but can’t remember any of them.

6:00pm – I leave to get dinner, gas and stop at downtown Disney for reference samples. On the way back, I take wrong turn, lose ½ hour, get back at 8pm.

8:00pm – 6 boxes left, no one wants to stop for dinner until they are done. I again try to negotiate staying the night because everyone is exhausted from 12 hour non-stop work day and I’m terrified of driving 3 hours while exhausted. Try to convey my concerns in hysterical tense voice; met with determined, frustrated angry faces of women who will cut me if I force them to spend the night in sticky gross clothes. We drove to Orlando in my car, I know I’m not capable of driving home, they ask to split the driving, I agree.

1:00am – we arrive back in Fort Lauderdale, safe, alive, stunned and need I say exhausted.

Speechless, worried staff will quit due to extreme, unexpected and badly planned working conditions.

Thursday, one girl (who would be very hard to replace) arrives to office with announcement that another company has offered her 12K more then current salary. In stand by mode as she takes the weekend to “consider the other offer and our counter offer”. Taking weekend very very slowly to recover from shocks of the week.

Friday Update

I left work at 5 today, got home at 5:30 and walked dog.

My co-worker invited me and other co-workers to a candle lite party starting at 6pm. I'm not good at arriving at anything early or on time. In this case, its because I had to walk the dog, then take a shower because its so painfully hot in South Florida, then I decided to surf my favorite blogs for a few minutes while hair was drying and finally left at 7pm.

Party had lots of candles. I didn't buy any because I'm broke. My co-workers spent the evening discussing children. I don't have kids yet but I've gotten used to parties with lots of kid talk. I assume it will happen to me some day. I will torture all people without kids with endless stories of clothing fits and day care costs.

Sorry this post is rather boring, I'm really tired. I've had a really bizarre week and I'd rather write about it tomorrow.

I suspect boss of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde syndrome…

Yesterday, in an attempt to thwart any further interruptions of 4pm Friday departure’s, I asked boss to have weekly creative meeting on Thursday afternoon vs’ 4pm Friday. He responded with a blank stare and a question of “why would we start a meeting at 4pm on Friday? We are supposed to leave at 4pm on Friday's”. I said yes but the last 2 weeks meetings have started at 4 on Friday and he continued to give me a blank stare. Either he is really messing with me or has the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde syndrome.

I left at 4:26 today and came straight home to continue my quest of find ways to save money. It was raining and I had originally planned to spend the remainder of the afternoon at the pool. I logged a call with Bellsouth for 43 minutes and found a fee of $4.99 to be removed. The customer assistant said “yeah you don’t really need that service” so I asked it to be removed from prior bills and she quickly agreed to go 3 months back so I am receiving a credit of $17.76 and I’ve now saved $4.99 per month. Yeah for me. Adding this to last weeks savings I’m up to $81.99. I think that’s worth a bottle of wine to celebrate.

I suspect my boss is conspiring to prevent 4pm Friday’s…

For today’s 4pm Friday record, I arrived at 8:10 and was productive from 8:15.

We recently moved to a new office and boss has chosen a corner office with 2 sides of windows that face the entire scope of employee parking lot – now he can clearly see when we come and go.

Today I went to my car to retrieve something. Upon returning I heard boss shouting my name as a summons. In front of the bookkeeper, he asks what time one of my employees arrived that day. I announce 10:30 but she is making up for that by staying late and will not be taking advantage of the 4pm Friday (were they just discussing said employee???). He then notices a group leaving for lunch and asked if they understand lunch is restricted to a half hour. I say yes they do but I will remind them. They take a 45 minute lunch so I remind each person of the half hour max lunch requirement for leaving at 4pm knowing full well that they arrived at 8:30 and 10:30. I get looks of exasperation. I suspect they find this perk more annoyance then benefit.

At 3pm, an employee tells me boss wants to have a meeting when he returns from picking up daughter. The soonest he will get back is 3:30, upon which he will likely jump on the phone and start the meeting at 4ish. So upon his return, I immediately run up and announce I’m leaving at 4:30 and would like to start the meeting immediately. We start at 4pm. I set my phone alarm for 4:30 and attend the meeting. Boss brings lap-top so he can send wires while we are talking. There are a few big silences while we waited for his attention and quite a few conversation repeats. At 4:25, I announce the follow up action plan for next week’s creative work, say goodbyes and escape.

And here are the benefits of leaving at 4pm, phone calls to find savings:

5 – 5:18 combine Cingular with Bellsouth into one bill, save $5.00

5:18 – 5:30 call Cingular back to set up voice mail service (yeah I’ve had the phone for 3.5 months and mom is getting really mad that she can’t leave a message even though the phone always shows who called)

5:30 – 5:49 call Washington Mutual to remove stupid $5.00 charge

5:50 – 6:15 make meat and garlic sauce

6:15 - 7:10 call Bellsouth to reduce DSL service to Lite. First guy transfers me to DSL dept, they have gone home but message says they close at 7pm and its only 6:30. Call Bellsouth back and complain about DSL leaving early and am told DSL does not deal with service changes, its Bellsouth. So they reduce the service and go through all my questions about other possible savings (none) and then transfer me to another department who confirms that yes they did get the message from Cingular about combined billing and $5.00 savings will appear on next bill. Just thought you might want to know why this last entry took an hour.

I’ve been writing this entire blog while on hold for above mentioned calls. I would have preferred the beach but I’m proud of myself for finding $77.00 savings. Go self! Now if I can just stay motivated and study for the GMAT, get MBA and reach for the stars.

I also want to mention that last Friday was my 7^th wedding anniversary and I visited Key West for holiday – it was awesome (went kayaking, snorkeling, saw Harry Potter, ate some very amazing food). On Monday I was informed that entire creative arrived the previous Friday at 8am, had ½ hour lunch in kitchen and that 2pm scheduled meeting did not start until 4:30. To add acid to injury, boss’s children were present, wildly screaming and running with loud toys. Creative was very bitter.

Group Pay Sucks

Yesterday Company had a meeting at Toy’s R Us for research field trip. After 1 hour, boss suggested a stop at Starbucks and then Target. I’m always game for Starbucks and feeling proud that I have a free coupon and am sticking with new budget commitment I happily jump in his rented mini cooper with a fellow employee.

I immediately assume this is not a business paid stop considering below mentioned “cash flow” so I walk up to counter, pull out wallet, order $3 drink and hand over coupon just as boss announces, “hey aren’t we going to all pay together?” Brain stops, confusion, who pays as a group for individually purchased coffee, is he actually going to pay for everything??? I opt to freeze with wallet still in hand. He orders a drink and hands over $3 that does not pay for ordered drink and then asks me to cover the difference with a “hey I owe you a dollar”. Fellow employee orders and hands over enough money to pay for her coffee and I present my free coupon. Boss then orders bread and says “hey I owe you another dollar”, I mumble don’t worry about it and start digging for change to cover the difference. He finds some change as well and somehow we complete the bill payment. I somehow got conned into paying for something when I had a free coupon. The cashier leans over and says, that free coupon was worth $4 so it really helped out. I mumble thanks and walk away.

I wonder if in his mind, he pays my salary so it’s really like my money is his money anyway?

I really hate confrontations about money and I have never collected any money borrowed from self and always opt to avoid repeating any uncomfortable money situation. When I was in college, my roommate would collect every freaking dollar that I caused with a “hey do you have that dollar for gas used on today’s car ride to school?” (oh yeah, she was always a same day collector). I stopped driving to school with her and took the bus because it was cheaper. Due to current budget constraints, I will not go to any coffee shops with boss even if I have a free coupon.

I’ve also stopped eating lunch out with fellow employees because of the group pay issue. When boss is involved (and he can jump in on any lunch at any time and want a sit down restaurant), we always end up paying $12 - $15 per person. Lunch should not cost this much – ever! It sucks. Somehow between certain unnamed people ordering the most expensive dish on the menu and everyone splitting the bill it ends up this high every freaking time. I now join birthday lunches only and budget for the $15.00 into the weekly budget.

For the record, 4pm Fridays…

June 1^st – see below post

June 8^th – my mom, aunt and cousin were visiting so took the day off

June 15^th – left work at 6:00, stayed late to help Christine get ready for Hong Kong trip and evening went to Biddy’s to see Dilana show

June 22^nd – left work at 4:20, went to the beach

June 29^th – office moving day, left work at 6:30pm, was exhausted so came home to shower and watch movies

July 6^th – left work at 7:30pm, we started the grand opening office party at 3pm with the hopes that it would not run too late. Everyone that tried to leave was met with cries of no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I stayed the latest out of obligation and guilt in leaving the boss’s wife since he had gone back to work with Kevin and she & I were the last 2 left. But after finishing my wine and running out of things to say I said goodbyes and left. My remaining evening was spent eating pizza rolls and watching Double Jeopardy.

Next Friday is my anniversary so I will not be working. After that, my commitment to leave Friday promptly at 4pm and go straight to the beach is resumed.

I met Dilana in Fort Lauderdale

Thankfully she updates her blog with casual appearances where I learned she would be at Biddy’s on June 15^th and Bahia Cabana on the 19^th.

Biddy's is only 7 miles from our condo so we arrived by 10 and passing through the alley behind the bar is where I caught my first glimpse of Dilana. The dreads and wide shoulders are unmistakable.

We got drinks at the bar and moved directly to the front of the crowded room standing directly behind a front row of obvious fans. The songs featured her amazing throaty voice over a mix of African songs composed with her original partner George along with classics like “I stand by you” where she points at the crowd and makes everyone feel her personal care and love. She sings "Black Velvet" with her amazing throaty voice and it’s perfect. Sorry I can’t remember all the songs, I was really too mesmerized.

At the end of the show, the front row surged forward to meet Dilana. I waited behind them but when finished she went outside. So we went outside where she was nabbed by another couple who she spoke with at length. I noticed she tried to say bye a couple of times but they wouldn’t leave, she just has that effect on people. The guy who was playing bongos with her on stage came out so we spoke with him for a few minutes. She finishes speaking with the couple and they reluctantly depart with longing glances over the shoulder. Honestly I’ve never seen anything like it in my life but this is the first time I’ve chased a rock star for an autograph. She turns and poises her body to rush back inside just as the bongo player shouts hey DiLANa. She turns and immediately berates him for saying her name wrong. Its Di lah na (misspelling to emphasize pronunciation). She repeats it like 4 or 5 times slowly, bongo guy laughs and disappears and suddenly I’m under her spell. I stutter my name and announce I’m a fan and loved the show. She apologizes for ending the show early (she sang for over an hour and her my-space page mentioned she might sing a FEW songs – early doesn’t seem appropriate) but the smoky bar became difficult to sing over. I’m immediately apologetic about Fort Lauderdale’s lack of smoke laws and remembering my 2 years in LA where smoke laws are militant and being a non-smoker I empathize. Regardless, a show for over an hour is more than enough and I do my best to convey my opinion and disgust for our local smoking laws. I finally request an autograph and pull out my joker card and pen. I get a laugh and response of “cool”. She hands the card back and husband suddenly launches into a short speech of “I just want to say that as her husband, (pause, clear throat, I look up in puzzlement as to what could he possibly say next???) and I just want you to know that my wife is just being modest, but she is actually a really huge fan”. Dilana stops and suddenly gives both of us huge hugs and thanks us for our support.

I wish recipe's came with warnings

Tonight I made Blackened Snapper. The recipe told me to heat an iron skillet for 15 minutes or until gray. First of all, the family iron skillet is maintained by husband and he takes great pride and joy in the lovingly maintained black color which is created by regular special salt and heat cleanings. So the recipe raised some minor concerns of scorching the skillet but like most issues between myself and husband, I simply assume to do as I wish and he will fix it later.

I followed the recipe exactly, cooked curved side down of fish for 90 seconds, remove from heat and cook a remaining 3 minutes. It was upon removing from heat that I realized I was standing in a very thick gray smoke cloud. It is interesting to note my fire alarm did not go off. I guess its time to check the batteries. Again, I'm hoping husband will read this shortly and take necessary action. Then again, some things like this may require some consistent reminders, or one short alarmed cry for help when he comes home from work tonight. Then I'll proudly offer tonight's meal with a short explanation of the remaining smoke by saying, "read my blog".

4pm Friday's

4 years ago my boss invented 3pm Friday's. Come in at 8am and leave at 3pm. It runs from the first weekend after Memorial Day through Labor Day. A gift for the hard work everyone does throughout the dark season. It lasted 2 years and shifted to 8am - 4pm with 1/2 hour lunch. It didn't take many long to realize this was only a 1/2 hour early release from our typical 9-6 days with 1 hour lunch. Personally, I'm fine with the schedule because it typically provides a Friday late afternoon at the beach with People magazine. Also, I tend to work 10 hour days so this is a nice reprieve.

Today is the 1st 4pm Friday of 2007. I actually left at 4:30pm. I was in a meeting from 2-4 where everyone spoke Spanish and translated the occasional comment (I think our guest was told I speak conversational Spanish but it’s not true, I only pick up occasional words). Then at 4pm I felt the need to finish projects I had told my Hong Kong office I would do. But then Christine left, and Sandra & Jaime started packing up so I neglected to send the projects and left. Lesson - just leave at 4pm.

Its raining so I came home, ate some Lay's Bar B Que chips and channel surfed using my laptop's direct TV internet connection b/c it’s faster then using the TV guide. This took 30 minutes, nothing interesting on yet so I made dinner - Angel Hair pasta with white sauce and spicy shrimp. I settled down with my laptop, dinner and wine to read Pink is the new blog while downloading an earlier episode of The Office (The Coup). The episode has such a humiliating ending for Dwight; I really don't think I can watch it again. Now I remember why I didn't download it after the first watching.

Moving on to the porch with Laurie Notaro's new book "there's a (slight) chance i might be going to hell" with water and a clove. She's such a fantastic author. In the past, her books have all been about her life but this is fictional. I love it. I had to leave the porch b/c the rain just got really splashy. I left a chair in front of the door for husband to put away when he comes home. He thinks I'm absent minded but really I'm just lazy.

Now I'm blogging and listening to Chris Cornell's "You know my name". I'm now moving onto to the evening's entertainment of Will Smith in Enemy of the State.

edited to add:
I just realized the employee manual provides two 15 minute breaks per day. Therefore, this 4pm business is just a consolidation of an 8 hour day.
Friday 8am - 4pm (1/2 hour lunch) = 7.5
Monday - Thursday 9am - 6pm (1 hour lunch, two 15 minute breaks) = 7.5

I hate it when my favorite dental hygienist leaves town without notification!!!

Going to the dentist for a cleaning sucks – but for the last 2 visits I appreciated Rosanne because she made me laugh while scraping my teeth and causing enough pain to bring tears. The pain was okay because afterwards my teeth/gums felt clean, slightly sore and I was in a good mood from chatting with Rosanne. In February she advised me to come back in 3 months for a follow up.

I went in today and she was gone! I reluctantly follow her replacement Olga down the hallway. She’s robotic and humorless with horrible technique. The procedure begins with the electronic tool that horrifies with the shrill sound and painful grinding (Rosanne used to start with the hand-scraping to scope out tooth issues and it was easier to converse before being blinded with pain). During the first minute of grinding she places the water hose in my mouth and somehow sprays my entire face. I protest so she switches to a smaller nozzle and hands me goggles, it still sprays my entire face. With the tool in my mouth, my goggles covered with water she asks “does this help?” Evil.

She moves onto the hand-scrapping. I remember a kinder Rosanne carefully cleaning each tooth and I somehow think this step will be better. Its not, she digs furiously into my gums and announces each 5mm space with a disgusted shake of her head. “Do you floss? Your gums are really red and you have 3 spaces that are 5mm wide”. Of course I floss, I have sensitive teeth.

She reaches the bottom row before I finally remember why it didn’t hurt so badly before. Rosanne used that pink stuff to numb my teeth. Olga didn’t offer the pink stuff. I immediately request it, she acts completely surprised and surveys my chart for history of sensitive teeth. I complain viciously that I have been crying in pain for 15 minutes she has the nerve to say she hadn’t noticed.

Pink stuff applied, remaining cleaning fine. In 6 months I need to find a new dentist.