Well, I have been at my present position since May 31, 2005.  I truly believe that when you chase the dollar, things don't always turn out the way you would like.  As the old saying goes...money isn't everything.  The organization was just a baby when I started.  The foundation was building a new museum and I was to help raise money for the exhibit.  I handle the donor database and all that that entails.  I won't go into details, but in a fledgling organization managing the donors we have is not a full-time job.  So, I picked up some other duties along the way. 

I started to handle their computer needs, email problems, software purchases, networking and the like.  I also took on updating their website.  I love working with websites.  Anyway, my creative side picked up the tasks of designing invitations, program flyers and postcards, etc.  Well you get the picture.

 

Recently we have hired a new president.  She sat down with me to try and define what I do at the organization.  Since I do so many things, she couldn't really pigeon-hole my job to any one department.  The president is looking to decrease the budget for FY2009 and it started to look like she was trying to do this by eliminating my position.  She said that..."no, no, that wasn't it, she just wants to get a better overall view of how the organization functions.  Hmmm, sounded like double talk to me.

 

Now I was very calm about the whole meeting and told her that if she was considering letting me go that I would hope she would give me a lot of notice.  She said of course she would, but we aren't there yet.  What does that mean?

 

I left the meeting not sure where I sat.  I did tell her at the end of our meeting..."if a staff member in our organization wants a job done right they usually bring it to me."  She said that is what she had been hearing from other staff.

 

Well, as you can imagine, I have started looking for new employment.  I did mention the content of my meeting with the new president to my immediate supervisor, the director of development.  She said that is crazy, they wouldn't get rid of me.  Famous lasts words.  I said the same thing about the former president leaving.  I mentioned to a co-worker before he left that he wouldn't leave in a million years....well, in a months time he had resigned. 

 

The only constant is change.

 

I don't really want to look for a new job, but sometimes these things are out of our control.  Maybe it's time.  I haven't been very happy here, so maybe this is destiny's way of giving me a little shove.  What I want to say is..."quit pushing already, I am going". 

 

Since my meeting a week ago, things have calmed down a bit, but no news concerning my position.  I am not worried.  I can always find a job.

 

For those people who say they can't find a job, I find that hard to believe.  We may not always find a job that pays what we want, but that may come later.  Several jobs I have had led to better positions within the organization.  You never know what you may find.  And appearances can be deceiving.  I have learned that much in my 36 years in the workforce.

 

monster.com here I come.

 

 

I don't often talk about work, but today it's been on my mind.  A little background on my working history.  I started working when I was 15 years old as a carhop at the local A(and)W...yes, a carhop.  Baby root beers, mammaburgers, pappaburgers, baby burgers and the ever popular teenburger (I believe it had bacon on it).  Anyway, from there I worked at a factory for three months before my freshman year of college.  I went to the University of Wisconsin (Madison) for two years.  I worked part time at my mom's place of work while in college.  General office work.  This was pre-personal computers.  We used a Burroughs* machine to write checks to pay bills.  They had one of those large computers that used punch cards to run the programs.  You youngsters wouldn't have a clue what I am talking about.  But I digress.

 

My next job was working at an industrial distributorship in a suburb of Milwaukee.  That's right, beer, bratz, and cheese that Milwaukee, the whole nine yards.  I worked there two years and moved to an office job at a manufacturing company that made closures.  Boring I won't go into details.  I was lucky enough to get laid off after two or so years.  Lucky because I have always wondered what it would be like not to work and still get paid.  Cool for awhile, but I did feel like a deadbeat a lot of the time.  I took a job as a waitress to tide me over.

 

In 1981 I  landed a full-time job at the corporate headquarters of a midwest hotel chain.  I worked as an accounts payable clerk.

 

Anyway back to my job history.  I loved working at the hotel chain.  Employees received complimentary rooms at any of the hotels as long as they weren't at full-occupancy.  I stayed in a hotel right next to Lambeau field in Green Bay in February when it was 25 below zero.  That's Fahrenheit.  But again I digress.  I worked at the hotel chain for seven years, from 1981 to 1988.  One time I stepped into the elevator to get to my 6th floor office and who steps in with me...Bart Starr.  Now unless you are a Packer fan or a really diehard football fan you might not know who he is.  Well, he was none other than the most famous quarterback to ever play with the Green Bay Packers before Bret Favre came along.  He was very tall and handsome, he turned to me and said hi.  I just smiled back and said hi.  He is very tall.

 

I remember reading in someone's blog about setting goals and writing them down.  Well, I decided way back then to write down my long-term lifetime goals.  I kept the list with me where ever I went and pulled it out from time-to-time to remind myself what my goals ultimately were.  One of my goals was to finish my college degree.  Well, in 1988, January to be exact, I decided I had finally had it.  I quit my job, asked my parents if I could move back in with them and returned to college full-time.  My parents are wonderful and their response was..."you know you can always come home".  Wonderful parents...but that's another story.

 

I headed back to college, I applied to the University of Wisconsin extension close to where I was living and got accepted.  I majored in Math and got my teaching degree in three years.  Not too bad considering I hadn't been in college for 11 years.  I worked part-time at a local grocery store while in college.  I graduated in 1990 and found a teaching job six months after graduation.  I taught two years at a public school and then took a teaching position at a private military academy closer to my family in 1993.  I spent three years teaching at the military school.

 

This is taking longer than I thought...I just wanted to talk about a problem I am having at work and this has turned into Damselfly--This is Your Life.  Gosh I loved that show with Ralph Edwards.  I know I am again dating myself.

 

Anyhow, I met my husband the second year I was teaching at the military school.  He was another teacher at the school.  He taught History.  We met and fell madly in love :).  As close as you can get anyway.  He decided to apply to graduate school during his 2nd year and my 3rd year at the school.  He asked me to marry him and move to the town where he would be going to graduate school.  I said yes and off we both went.  To Indiana of all places.  While in Indiana I found a job at a local high school...not teaching but working in the front office as Secretary/Treasurer.  I loved that job, but the pay was pitiful...and I mean P-I-T-I-F-U-L.  I made $15,000/year, which my husband and I lived on for two years.  Did I mention that I loved that job.

 

Then my husband took a position (did you notice how I elevated it to 'position' instead of 'job', much classier given his graduate degree status) in a neighboring state.  I am not going to tell you which one, because that is getting a little too close to my current living area.  Anyhow, he took a position with the state in historic preservation.  I  found a job in the development office of the local university.  I loved that job also, it also had a pitiful salary, but my husband was working now, so it wasn't as bad.  I worked as the secretary for the alumni house.  Fun job.  We spent three years in this state and then my husband took another job in a neighboring state doing the same thing working for the state in a historic preservation capacity.  I decided to return to teaching.  I was excited to be teaching again, but a lot had changed.  One thing I noticed, the students were getting more and more disrespectful to the teachers...what's up with that?  I just couldn't stomach it, so I quit teaching and took a job working for an adoption agency.  You guessed it...I loved the job.  I was the assistant to the Executive Director as well as the office manager.  Such a great place to work and the leave time per year was phenomenal.  I worked at the agency for four years and made a hugh mistake.  I left the agency to take a position that offered me more money...and now we are at my present place of employment.  I have been working her one month shy of three years.  I am a development assistant.  Well that's not my title...

 

To be continued...

 

P.S. I hate it when people continue a story, but this is getting way too long.  Have heart I will finish it.

 

 

 

Well, my female puppy is about the same.  We are two weeks into the four weeks of full-strength steroids she is taking.  So she is still drinking and peeing a lot.  A LOT.  Her lethargy is the same. 

 

My mom is still in the hospital.  They couldn't get her heart to a normal rhythm, so they decided to shock it into it.  They have done this twice before and it has worked, so I hope it works this time.  I spoke with her yesterday and she seemed to think it had worked.  She may go home today or tomorrow.

 

Gosh, getting older is a pain in the butt.  Here is what I looked like at 17 years old...if only I could stay looking 17 forever.

 

 

Happy hump day everyone!

Well I have been having a difficulty time this past week and a half.  Early last week our female dog was having trouble eating her dog biscuits and she whimpered a little when I would open her mouth to give her her pills.  I took her to our Vet and he said she might have a condition similar to TMJ in humans.  Her muscles around her jaw and head were inflamed.  He gave me some antibiotics for a possible infection along with prednisone(steroid) for the inflammation.  Of course along with prednisone comes a lot more drinking and of course, you guessed it...peeing, a lot of peeing.  When we are home we have to take her out almost every hour, otherwise we will have an accident.

 

On Monday I came home from lunch and she looked very strange.  Her face looked gaunt and sunken-in.  I freaked-out of course.  I loaded her and her brother into the car and drove to our Vet's office.  Luckily he was able to see her right away.  He said this was a progression of the condition and that the prednisone had reduced the swelling and that her muscles were atrophying.  Hopefully the prednisone would stop the muscles from getting any worse.  I was very concerned so my Vet recommended an internal medicine specialist for dogs...I said yes, that would be a good idea.  We went to see the specialist on Wednesday.  She confirmed my Vet's diagnosis.  She did give me a better idea of what the condition is.  My dog's immune system was attacking her body...specifically her jaw muscle.  I asked about the possibility of the other muscles in her body being affected.  She said, no, that the jaw muscle is made of different material than other muscles in her body, so the immune system only attacks the jaw muscle.  I asked if her muscle would return to normal after the medicine had time to work...she said sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.  It depends on how much damage was done before she started taking the prednisone.

 

Another side affect of this whole problem is lethargy.  She doesn't seem to even want to go for a walk.  She is able to walk, but acts like she is too weak to go for a walk.  So now we have...peeing all lthe time and no walking.

 

I can't even express to you how much I love my dogs.  If you have read any of my other posts concerning them you would have some idea.  They are my family and all that that entails.  I am only as happy as my dogs are healthy.  I know that is not always good to depend on my dogs health for my happiness...but there it is.  They are a part of me.

 

Now, another stress this week is...my mother has had surgery on her heart.  She has a pacemaker and there is a new procedure that if successful will reduce her medications by two, I believe.  She had the surgery on Tuesday, and is doing okay, still having trouble getting her breathing back to full capacity.  She might go home from the hospital tomorrow or Sunday.

 

When I spoke with her yesterday I mentioned that my dog was sick.  She never asked me what was wrong with her, how she was, will she be okay.  Now I know what you are going to say...she just had surgery...cut her some slack.  I did, I dropped the subject and talked about something else.  I love my mother very much, but she has never understood how important my dogs are to me.  She does not get it...that they are members of my family.  And before you ask, yes I have tried to explain it to her many times...she will never understand.

 

Case in point.  When I spoke with her today on the phone, she mentioned my dog and asked what was wrong with her.  I told her a summarized version of the above...her very first comment to me was "Well, maybe you will have to put her to SLEEP".  Death was her first choice for treatment.  Hmmmmm.  Not my first choice, and hopefully not my last choice.  All animal lovers out there can imagine how her comment made me feel.  I struggle every single day watching her deal with the steroid side-effects.  She is such a little trouper, she has been through so much already.  Just under two years ago she ruptured a disk in her back and had to have back surgery.  It took her quite a while to recover, and she still does not have much strength in her hind legs, but she is our little miracle puppy. 

 

I am devastated by all that has happened to her.  I am her owner, I am supposed to be her protector...but I can't seem to protect her from these difficult medical problems.  I am beside myself on how to handle all of this.  At this point, I just try to get through each day as best I can.

 

Well, that's what has been happening in my crazy, mixed-up world of late.

 

Damselfly Lady and mother of a very sick puppy.

 

Here is a photo of my family.  My sick littlel girl is the one in white. :...(

 

 

 

 

 

Well, another weekend has come and gone.  It rained here the entire weekend and is still raining today.  I helped out at work on Saturday, they were having an event and needed extra hands.  After 3 1/2 hours I decided to go home...the rain kept many people away.  I left around 2:30, although a co-worker told me it started to pick-up around 3:00 again. 

 

We went to see the movie Leatherheads yesterday.  It was pretty good.  I am not a big George Clooney fan, but I do like John Krasinski from The Office fame.  He cracks me up. 

 

I ordered 5 yards of mulch last week, but it hasn't stopped raining long enough for me to spread it around the yard.  Hopefully one day this week I will be able to get it distributed.  I would like to get it out of my driveway. 

 

Our neighbor invited us to her daughter's third birthday party yesterday afternoon.  She did a nice job of planning it.  She had an old fashion tea party for all the little ones.  They were all so cute with their tea cups and finger sandwiches.  She had quiche for the adults, along with beer and Champaign.  Yum!  Technically it was sparkling wine, since it wasn't from Champaign.  My husband was kind enough to point that out for me. Hmmm.

 

Have a great week everyone!

 

Damselfly Lady