Frustration and Alzheimer's

HOLY CRAP!! Yesterday I had never been so glad it was Friday in my life! Our new director at work seems to think that I’m his personal slave, and it’s driving me insane. I do payroll and accounts payable. We HAVE an administrative assistant. Why am I having to everything for him! He’s an alright guy, and can be funny, but when he gets frustrated, holy cow, watch out. If he can’t find some form or information, he asks me. And I’m like, “hell if I know!!” He wanted me to teach him how to approve the invoices I park, and I’m like, “I don’t know….I haven’t been the director before!!” And I offer to get lunch for one of the girls here, and all of the sudden, he’s in my office giving me a run down of what people in the conference room want for lunch. When did I become a delivery driver again?? The admin. Assistant said, “I usually do the lunch orders.” Because she knew that I was in the middle of a million things, and he said, “No, Danielle can go get it.” FREAK!
Then I have whiney little employees telling me that I shorted them hours, so I just sit here thinking: “uh, NO, I didn’t…you’re just too stupid to look at the Time Report book that I put out for you to CHECK your OWN hours!! I don’t know when the crap you work!! YOU shorted YOURSELF hours.” There are 125 employees, I can’t keep track of every single one.
Ok….now that I’m done venting for a second……..PHEW……….
I hope I have a GOOD, LONG weekend! So far, its started off well. My mom and I teamed up to do the ‘Memory Walk’ for the Alzheimer’s Association this morning, it was actually pretty fun, and I was really happy that my mom came with me.

It was just a mile, but our facility has earned a good amount of money to contribute so that makes me happy. I got some pictures of the action.


There were a lot more people there than I expected, so YAY!
It was a BEAUTIFUL day for the walk too. It was at Sunriver Golf Course:

The temporary 'Memory Garden':

Mom was walking Debbie's dog Izzie trying to wear him out:

Our whole group:

Anyway….I’m off to find something to do! (or it will find ME).

A few things lately:

First off...What an amazing time in history, that I thought I'd never see. The first black President of the United States! No matter who you or I voted for, you have to be able to recognize how amazing that is!

This is the first time ever, but I finally exercised my freedom to vote. I've been old enough for the two elections before this, but I never felt as strong about it as I do this time around. I guess just being in the middle of such hard economic times, etc, can make you think more about it.
Second: Since Rob lost his job in January, he's been working "temporarily" (which has turned into longer since no one is hiring) for his brother in law...but this last week we found out that his brother-in-law's company has to shut down. So as of next week, Rob's on the job hunt again. Basically the only jobs open anymore is nursing, so I hope some miracle happens and he can find something good! Until then, I don't know what we're going to do.
And Last but NOT least: Happy Birthday Grandpa Jerry!!!

Him and Grandma Jerri have been such a big help to me all my life! They've instilled so many core values in me, and I will be eternally grateful for everything they've ever done for me. My grandpa is a retired California Highway Patrolman and has been working on a book of his experiences. He's been working on it a long time, and I hope I get to see it completed. Grandpa Jerry, I love you more than you'll ever know!

HALLOWEEN!!!

I guess when you get older, and don't have kids yet, Halloween is just not that exciting anymore. I mean, I enjoy all the decorations, and I even like dressing up if other people are going to (and thank goodness me and the people at my work are into making fools of ourselves). But as I was driving home from work and saw some kids already starting to head out Trick-or-Treating, I got thinking how fun it will be to have my own kids to take out. I like handing out candy, but we don't get many people by our houses. Especially now that everyone "Trunk-or-Treats" now. Which is convenient for them.
Anyway...I'm glad that at my work we try to make it fun for the residents to matter what, so that's cool. So I wanted to share some of the pictures from my work for Halloween, etc.
Me and Rob's pumpkins:

Debbie, her flying monkey, Becca, and me (I didn't have the time or money or energy for a costume, so I recycled my straight jacket from 2 years ago):

Mitch (our Occupational Therapist), Mikey (one of my FAVORITE residents) the "paperboy", and me:

Donut eating contest:

Pinata:

Dale, the Pirate, he's a crack up!

The business office assistant, Amanda, as Cruella De Vil, and her son, Hunter, a dalmation. Her miniature pincher was a dalmation too. And Marge, the hippy:

Jalee brought the kids to visit me:



My mom borrowed stuff from my costume last year:

Madison was Hermine:

Brycen was Darth Vader:

Josh and Jalee were just plain sexy:

And Michelle (Rob's sister) and Russ brought the girls over. Kalie is 13, so she's "Too old" to dress up anymore, but Brittany and Stephanie were a princess and a pirate:

Now.....gearing up for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

SURPRISE!!!

Yesterday for my mom's b-day, April, Jalee, Madison, and I, took mom out to Cafe Rio for lunch! Mom got a way nice camera from Dave, so she wanted to take it by Mark's photo shop to get some pointers on using it and get the RIGHT memory card. Once we dropped mom off, April and I went to the party supply store. We had talked about having a surprise party for mom's 50th for a while, but slacked on the planning. So it was just our family there, minus Josh (he had to work in Vegas). But it was fun anyway.

Dave took mom to dinner, and when she got home we had all the lights off, but jumped out and surprised her.

I think Skylar, Gwennie, and Owen really liked that part...but not more than running around like a bunch of crazies with the balloons! They were so funny.

It was kind of nice just having us and kicking back. I made a cake, so we ate that and sat and talked.


April's gift bag had a rotating number on it, for several ages, and mom decided she wanted to be 30 today.... :P
We all signed a pair of "Granny Panties" for mom too, pink silky ones. Mom put them on over her clothes and modeled them, it was funny, I got a picture but Dave threatened my life if I posted the picture of it on ANY site. Dang it.

For my Best Friend.....Happy Birthday

When I was in kindergarten, we did these little pictures with our handprints and a saying that was similar to this one:

Sometimes you get discouraged
Because I am so small
And always leave my fingerprints
On furniture and walls
But every day I'm growing
I'll be grown up some day
And all those tiny handprints
Will surely fade away
So here's a final handprint
Just so you can recall
Exactly how my fingers looked
When I was very small.

My mom turns 50 tomorrow, October 25th. I just wanted to take a minute to tell her Happy Birthday and tell her how much I love her. She has done so much for me and I could never thank her enough. She is so amazing and I look up to her so much. We have shared some good times and we will share many more. We need to just go on a road trip once a year and that will help keep us sane. Our road trips are the best! We can just let loose, laugh, talk, and have a blast! I look forward to our next one!

Happy Birthday, Mom. I love you.

1990s

So today was the 90s. And like I said, the first thing that came to mind was "grunge". So I wore Rob's pants and a pair of big shoes (because I don't have my Doc Martens anymore!!), and of course the flannel around my waist. I also had my "bottle cap/seat belt" belt on...ahahaha. Today I felt more like a moron than the other days this week. I think it was because the other days were more "out there" and today was a little more close to home...like actually HOW I dressed in middle school. So, that was a little weird. I had a hard time with feeling like a complete idiot in something I used to leave the house in....I dunno....hard to explain. The other days, no I didn't want to like go to the store or anything dressed like that, but today was more like someone might think "oh, not a costume, just someone who's NOT with the times!!"
Anyway......That's diversity week!

A new Nephew!

This weekend my sister, Lizzi, had her baby! Aidyn Reece Fortner was born 7 lbs 4 oz, 21 1/4 inches. I have only gotten a text from Lizzi, and from her myspace pictures I can tell she's been exhausted. So I hope she's getting rested up! Congratulations Matt and Lizzi, and WELCOME AIDYN!!!



AND my pseudo-sister, Andee had her baby today around 3!! Welcome Little Ethan!!! I can't wait to see both little babies!! CONGRATS Andee and Steve!!!!
I love you guys!!! ***This is Andee's picture, and I'm not sure who took it to give the credit to, but I hope you guys don't mind that I posted it, its just too cute!!**