A Little Insulation Can Go A Long Way

My brother is fabulous.  He really is one of those people who is there whenever I need him and he is always looking out for me.  I am blessed beyond measure to have a brother who so very often goes out of his way to make my life easier, to make my life better.

He lives in Michigan and therefore is very much aware of living in the cold.  On his last visit, he noticed what I a tiny crack of light around my back door.  He saw the same around the front door.  I told him not to worry about it, that it was so small and probably no big deal.  Well, you'd have to know my brother, but this would not do for him.

He made a complete evaluation of the house and all it's windows, doors and cracks and crevices.  He went to the hardware store and returned with various types of insulation.  He cut, and fit, and glued, and pasted various pieces in various places.  To be honest, I didn't think any of this would really make a difference.  It was just my brother being over protective and his usual routine of going above and beyond.

The first thing was when my kids said that the kitchen and front room were so much warmer.  The front room had the front door and the kitchen had the back door.  Both of which were doors my brother mentioned had cracks of light showing around the edges.  And then the most astonishing part:  My gas bill was lower.  Not a huge reduction, but enough that I noticed.

I should remember, he always knows best.  A little does go a long way.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for Continuous Insulation and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my
own.

Be Grateful For Evaluations

When you ask employees about evaluations, for the most part, you will here nothing but negativity and apprehension.  At times, I have felt uneasy with my feelings of excitement.  I must be the office nerd.

And it's not like I'm this amazing worker who receives glowing evaluations of how fabulous and indispensable I am, but I enjoy the feedback.  I like knowing where I stand.  I have always taking the view of wanting to be assured that I am on the right track.  What if I am doing a fabulous job... but not the job I am supposed to be doing.

When in an evaluation, the first thing I ask is for criticism.  For me this opens up areas for improvement.  How better to know that you are covering all aspects of your job than to see if you are missing something.  Should I be handling an aspect of my job differently?  Maybe tweak something a little?

And it is always insightful to ask where your supervisor sees you in the future.  I like asking if I am on the correct course for job advancement and salary raises.  Keeping an open mind when receiving an evaluation can be very helpful and give you a better opportunity to do your very best at your job.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for contractor management and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my
own.

The Shocking Results of Lap Band Surgery

Our family goes to church regularly.  It is a neighborhood ritual and we enjoy not only the worship, but the community involvement.  There was a period there when both my daughter and I noticed that a few of our members looked like they were perhaps ill.  There were two men and a woman who all showed dramatic weight loss, as well as, hair loss, and basically did not look well.  Being a cancer patient, I worried that they were indeed going through chemo or some other debilitating treatment, but our church is so good about communication in helping those in need and we would have surely hear something.

Discreetly, we asked about one of the men and found that he had had lap band surgery.  It had never occurred to me that there was a common denominator in that all three of these individuals had been rather large... very large.  I admit that at first, I was concerned that someone would take such drastic measures to lose weight rather than the discipline of eating healthy and working out.  But I have never been over weight to this degree.

In time, all of these individuals have gained a healthy look about them.  Hair has come back in, strength has shown, but the weight has stayed off.  The transformation has been absolutely amazing and I am happy that they have found a healthier and more complimentary body image.  As always, we should never judge.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Fork Lift Certified?

Throughout the course of my life, from college into mid life, I have always embraced opportunities to learn new skills.  Not because I'm an over achiever by any means, but I simply like the diversion and the distraction of something new.  My Dad also always taught me that no matter what your position in a company, the more you know, the more valuable you become.  So whenever additional training came along, I did it.

And I'm not really talking major things.  I worked for a grocery store as a front end manager and closed up the safe and balanced cashiers tills each night.  After weeks of using an adding machine, it became apparent that it would be most useful and make me more efficient, if I learned 10-key by touch.  I found an online course and taught myself.  I could close up our store with all books balanced faster than any other person there.  There was a need for some back up cashiers.  I figured, I was there anyway, and why not learn to be a cashier.  I learned every PLU Code for every produce item most proficiently.  As a supervisor, I was there all hours and sometimes a truck would roll in to be unloaded but we had no one at the store fork lift certified.  I signed up to become fork lift certified so these trucks would not have to wait until morning to be unloaded.  A forty year old woman at 115 pounds driving the forklift.  They thought I was crazy.  As I soon found that the company I worked for would not ever become a position where I could live comfortable I began my search for new job.

I found the perfect job with a great salary, great benefits, and only five minutes from home.  The problem is, so did everybody else.  I called to follow up on my resume, and the General Manager had already received over 200 and this was only two days into the ad.  Unbelievably, I received a call for a phone interview.

It was a produce company and was I familiar with the produce PLU codes.  Why yes, I was.  The codes were used to enter every Sales Order and every Purchase Order and I knew 10-Key, making it possible for me to enter a 6 page order in less than five minutes.  The job was mine.  Curious, I asked why he picked my resume out of over 200.  He said he wanted to see this 115 pound woman who was... you got it... forklift certified.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for an employee engagement survey company and was compensated. However, the views and
opinions are my own.

Insurance? No Big Deal Right?

High school brings such freedoms, especially when you get the all might license and for those of us who may be lucky enough to have a car or have a friend with a car.  I loved being able to leave campus at a moments notice whether to go to the beach ( I grew up in San Diego.) or out to get something better to eat than the school cafeteria had to offer.  As an adult, looking back, this new found freedom comes at a time when a teenager really shouldn't be given that freedom.  I'll be honest.  My sense of responsibility and the seriousness of driving a car were no where in my head.  I could drive and that was what it was all about.  And sure enough my girlfriend and I learned a valuable lesson.

We were heading down the main drag to go find food.  It was raining.  I was driving her old, beat up, white compact car.  The street had light after light and we were making them, but then we got to an intersection where it was clearly yellow, which in teenager terms mean drive faster to avoid the red.  Besides it was raining and I did have the fore thought to not skid into the intersection, so goose it I did... unfortunately I had not seen that the light ahead was backed up to the intersection I was speeding through.  I had to slam on the brakes.  We slid and slid and watched as we knew inevitably we were going to hit the car in front of us.  And we did.  It didn't seem so bad.  We all jumped out.  My girlfriend had hit her tooth on the dash and it was bleeding.  We laughed when we looked at our car and realized her car was such a piece of junk, we had no idea which dent was the one we just put into her car.  All was good.  She said she had no insurance but no big deal, she didn't care what her car looked like and we wouldn't need to fix it.  We were golden.  But then the driver of the car we hit came over.

He was almost in tears.  He was driving off the lot, still with brand new stickers, a brand new TR7 sports car in bright red.  Both side doors had popped out to he side like a can when we hit the back.  We told him we were sorry and then he asked for our auto insurance information.  We said we didn't have any, but he must have some with such a nice car.  And then reality.  You mean we use our insurance if it is our fault?  A phone call to Daddy and once again, my ever efficient father had had me on the auto insurance since I had my permit.  He made me go through the entire process.  All the paperwork.  And an irresponsible teen gained a little insight to the responsibilities of driving a car.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for san diego auto insurance and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Cold But Cute!

For me, dressing for the cold is so much more fun than dressing for the heat.  I mean, let's face it, in the summer, you have camisole, or t-shirt.  T-shirt or camisole.  Or if it's not too dreadfully hot, you can wear the camisole, over the t-shirt.  Boring.

Take the temperature down, and more clothes are required, making coming up with outfits profoundly more fun and interesting.  Layering in and of itself, brings countless possibilities.  There are cute tops, trendy vests, sweaters of all shapes and texture, crazy scarves which make the combinations endless.

There are so many fun and stylish trends out today, with my personal favorite being the vests and scarves.  There are long vests, fitted vests, vests with ruffles, ragged looking vests, structured business type vests and best of all, they look great on everybody!

I love the comfy cozy feeling of all the soft layers.  I love being comfortable with the lose shape on my body, unlike summer, where I feel so exposed.  And I love the added control of your body temperature.  Too cold?  Add more layers.  A little warm?  Remove a layer.  It's the perfect time of year for dressing to me.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was
compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Cheap Shoes or Expensive Shoes?

There is the old adage that you get what you pay for, and when it comes to shoes this certainly rings true!  Having five daughters, I'm sure I can't begin to tell the number of hours spent shopping for shoes.  When they were so young, it was a matter of getting them all in shoes.  This involved the balancing act of handing down shoes, timing the seasons, because outfitting five daughters with shoes for school, athletics, church, and various other events is not small task.  In the beginning, it was a matter of the cheapest shoe we could find... but I grew wiser.  In some cases, this was best.  If for example, one of them needed sandals for the summer, which would undoubtedly be lost, cheap was good.  But if they needed winter shoes or a pair of dress shoes, I soon found that if I could find the more expensive shoes, on sale or clearance, then they would last much longer and therefore be able to be handed down from one daughter to the next.

This philosophy continued when the girl's feet were done growing.  Cheap shoes were a quick fix for the pocketbook, but inevitably I would be right back after a month or two, purchasing another pair because the previous cheap pair had fallen apart.  Now my girls and I thrive and hunt for the expensive shoes that look so great, feel so good, and last so long.  This is my favorite feature of the expensive shoe is that when you find one you like, it will be with you... not just for a season... but for a long time.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for handmade shoes
and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.