Smooth Away

I don't usually buy "as seen on TV" products, however, I did buy the Smooth Away.

I was tired of plucking the inevitable chin and mustache whiskers that come with age.
I have to say, I am impressed. I used it on my legs, underarms, mustache and chin.

I have not had to shave under my arms or my legs for over a week. The mustache is gone. The only place that it doesn't seem to work well is on my chin. It removes the hair but it is back within a couple of days.

Five Years Ago Today

Rob met me at the Manchester, NH airport. I was sooo nervous I didn't even see him standing there and started to walk right past him. I was here a couple of hours when his younger sister came by and interrogated me. Funny out of everything she asked the question I remember is "How long are going to be here?" My answer was "As long as he wants me here."
Later we went to see his father in the nursing home and his older sister was there and I got the second degree from her. I know they were just watching out for their brother. I wasn't offended, just very uncomfortable. I get along great with his sisters by the way.

Although we had known each other online since November 2001 and talked on the phone, we had never met. Both of us were aware that we may not be compatible. We were aware that the feelings may not be there in person. There are so many things against an online relationship working out in person. Was he/she honest about who they are?

We had to give it a try though, so I followed my heart to Maine and have been here ever since.

I'm not going to tell you that we have a perfect relationship. We have our disagreements. There are things about each of us that the other could do without, but we deal with those things because they are part of the whole person.

Being here with Rob has allowed me to grow. I was stifled by my ex. Since I have been here I have learned, if you want something go for it. He supports me with my art (my ex said it was a waste of time and money so I didn't create anything for many years). He encouraged me when I wanted to be a CSM. He encourages me in anything I want to do and I hope that I encourage him. Even my family which was against me coming here has admitted that it was the best thing I ever did and being with Rob has been very good for me.

When you find the right person for you, go for it.

Don't let fear hold you back

We had an idea, we made soaps for ourselves, we like them, other people that have used them like them, so why not sell them. Of course before we could do that we had to invest in supplies, more supplies than we would use for just us. When it comes to investing money to start a business you have to deal with the fear that it might not make it. You have to ask if you have faith in your product. We have faith in our product and took our savings and invested in supplies.


Now the question was how to get customers. The answer was to give out samples, which we did. We took samples to work with us and gave them out to people that wanted to try the lotion. That first day we were in business we had 4 orders. Now we have repeat customers. I guess that says alot, people like our products well enough to buy from us again, and they are telling their friends and family about us. Word of mouth is the best advertising that you can get. A person telling their friend about a product that they have tried and really like. We had one of our customers buy two sets of lotion, shampoo, conditioner and soap to give as gifts. I can't tell you how good that made me feel, our products were good enough for gifts.


I'm glad that we didn't let fear hold us back.

Romy's

Do You Wii?

My sister has a Wii and we had so much fun together bowling on it that mom decided I needed one. I have always loved video games, after all they came out in my generation, but I have to say that I haven't had as much fun with one as I have had with this one. What a great idea, play games and get some exercise at the same time. We love the Wii sports that came with our Wii. Of course my boyfriend seems to beat me most of the time, but I am improving. We did get a couple of games that were on sale that you can sit and play. I can't wait for my stepson to come visit. He doesn't know that we have it.

So do you Wii?

Been Busy

Hi all,

Sorry I've been gone for so long. In February my boyfriend and I decided to turn our soap making hobby into a home business. We spent quit some time doing research and in March started making sales. My days off are no longer days off and most of our free time is being spent filling orders for lotions, soaps and shampoos. I will try to get on at least once a week and hopefully have something interesting to write about.

Are you a chameleon?

I had a friend that was a chameleon, what I mean by this is that she would change herself to fit in with who ever she was hanging out with, especially men. When she was interested in a man she suddenly became interested in what ever his interests were. She would change herself to be the person that the man wanted. Since the person that she portrayed wasn't who she really was, her relationships didn't last long, and when the relationship was over so was her new interest. At one point I tried to point this out to her but she didn't listen. Over the years we have grown apart and both moved. I often wonder about her and if she finally found happiness with who she is.

Are you a chameleon? Do you change yourself to fit in with others?

Why can't sizes be universal?

A few days ago I went shopping for some new pants for work. Now I know that sizing may be different for different brands. I also know that I wear a size 12 because I have pants that are size 12 from 3 different brands. Even knowing what size I wear I still try on the pants when I go shopping.

I chose 2 pair of pants (same brand) and went to try them on. Both pair of pants were size 12. The first pair I tried on fit perfectly and I almost didn't try on the 2nd pair. I'm glad that I did. The 2nd pair was way too small and I had to go back and get a larger size (which I also tried on), this pair fit.

What I don't understand is how 2 pairs of pants from the same company can be so drastically different in the size. I really wish that all companies and brands would use the same sizing for pants.

Waiting for baby

My fifth grandchild is due to be born any time now. Waiting for a baby to be born is hard. Waiting for a baby to be born when you are 2000 miles away is even harder. I keep waiting for the phone to ring, I keep checking messages.

I wish I was there, but since I can't be, I will just keep waiting for a phone call, and then the pictures that me son said he will email to me.

Walmart: The good stuff

Walmart gets a lot of bad press, and the Gods know I do my own share of venting.

Here is some of the good about the company.

Walmart has what they call an Open Door policy. This means that any associate that has a problem can go to a supervisor or management and make a complaint or talk about their problem. I like that, I don't have to go a third party and talk to them and then have them do my talking for me. I know the open door works because I have used it.

You know those little paper balloons the cashiers ask if you want to purchase for CMN? Well the money from those balloons goes to the Children's Network Hospital nearest to your Walmart. All the money raised from the balloons at my Walmart goes to the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital in Portland, Maine.

Aside from the donations from customers for CMN, our store also has silent auctions, and bake sales for associates with the proceeds going to CMN.

Walmart has an associates in critical need fund. If your an an associate and you have a critical need you can talk to your personnel manager and get some help. Having never had the need to use it, I do not know exactly what is considered a critical need.

We support Relay for Life and our store has two teams.

Our store donates thousands of dollars every year to local causes.

The people, it doesn't matter what area you work in, there are no boundaries, people pull together to help each other, at work and outside of work.

If it weren't for our local Walmart many more people in our area would be unemployed.

A pig in the bed and lambs in the pantry

The year was 1992 and we were living 6 miles from Lavina, MT. Lavina is a very small town (pop. around 200) 50 miles away from Billings, MT. Our home included a barn, pig pen, chicken coop and a small pasture and a large garden area. It was ideal for me because I wanted to raise our own food. My (ex)husband worked with a man that raised pigs, he had a new litter. We had talked about getting a weaner pig from him when the piglets were ready. One day he brought home a very small piggy. She was the runt and couldn't compete well with her larger litter mates. We had a wood stove in the bedroom and made her a bed behind it so she would stay warm and I bought some baby formula and baby cereal to feed her. My boys were told told that when she grew up she would be butchered and would be dinner. They started calling her Dinner and that became her name.

A few weeks later I was given a lamb. He wasn't expected to live, but if I wanted to try I could have him. He had something wrong with his neck so that he had trouble standing. He looked like he was dizzy and we named him Dizzy. Dizzy had to be kept warm and in a small area where he couldn't hurt himself so he lived in our pantry.

Now as Dinner grew she got adventurous and started exploring. It was getting difficult to keep her in the bedroom, if I shut the bedroom door she would stand there and squeal which set my dogs off barking. I was thinking that it was probably time to put her out in the pig pen but was reluctant to do it because she was still so small. I changed my mind about putting her out when I woke up one morning and had 3 dogs and one small pig in my bed. If she could climb up onto the bed she was old enough to go outside.

Dizzy also flourished and grew. He over came his dizziness and was able to move out to the barn.

Welcome to_________now go home

I'm from Montana. Most native Montanans do not like Californians. They come to the state to escape the rat race and instead bring it with them. They drive up the costs of land and housing so that many native Montanans can't afford to buy. I have seen many bumper stickers telling Californians to go home.

I have lived in Maine for 4 years. In that time, I have found that many native Mainers feel the same way about 'people from away' particularly those from Massachusetts. If you are 'from away' you always will be, now matter how long you have lived here. I have seen a bumper sticker that says "Welcome to Maine, now go home". Maine is Vacationland, it says so on the license plates. Tourist season brings a lot of money into the state and many businesses rely on the tourists. If you run a retail business, a resort or hotel, you are happy to see the tourists, they equal sales. If you have to drive any where you are not happy to see them, they clog the roads with traffic. People from Massachusetts also come here and buy land and houses and drive the costs up.

I have to wonder if all states feel the same way about out of staters moving in.

Greatest Love

I've been tagged by fellow blogger Mae

To whom or what you give your greatest LOVE and why?

It should go without saying that I love my children and grandchildren, unconditionally.
I also love my boyfriend and his son unconditionally.

But my greatest love? Well, that is for myself. This is not narcissistic.

A few years ago I was in an emotionally/verbally abusive marriage. From my ex, I learned that I was a worthless human being. I learned not to stand up for myself, I learned that I wasn't capable of doing anything right no matter how hard I tried.

With the help of my online friends, that I have mentioned in another post on my blog,
I slowly came to realize that I wasn't worthless and useless. I began to love myself and I was able to break away from the abuse.

I have learned that if you can't love yourself you can't truly love another, or truly be loved by another.

I have learned that to love yourself you must forgive yourself for the past. You can't forgive others if you can't forgive yourself.

I have learned that to love yourself you must accept yourself for who you are. Once you do that you are more able to change those faults or habits that you may not be comfortable with, because now you have accepted that they are a part of you.

I have learned not to let anyone bully me, because I am just as important as the next person.

I know that I am not perfect, and I know that I do not have to be perfect to be worth being loved by another.

I have learned that when you love yourself you don't need an outside influence or another person to make you happy because you can find happiness within.

So my greatest love goes to myself and it is the source of the love I feel for everyone else and everything else that I love.

Corporate Control

I work for a major retail corporation. Awhile back the corporation decided that their computer program was better able to judge how many associates needed to be scheduled in the stores, than the managers that work in the stores.

The managers were told that the computer would be making the schedules and that changes couldn't be made. I'm told that the computer bases the scheduling on last year's sales for that day. The computer isn't programmed to take into account events that are happening in our area, it doesn't seem to be programmed to 'know' when it is a weekend. It doesn't 'know' that we may have had bad weather on a given day last year that affected the sales.

As a result of this, on the weekends there aren't any floor associates scheduled and very few cashiers. Many nights, including Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we have only 4 cashiers after 8:00 pm, there have been nights where there were only 2 cashiers scheduled. We are expected to give fast, friendly service, and not have lines, with 4 or fewer cashiers. Most nights, and always on the weekends, there aren't any floor associates to call up to run register in the case of lines. There aren't any floor associates to help the customers that need help in the different departments.


I have to wonder if the computer really does schedule according to last year's sales because, all summer long, every night we have the camp councilor kids in, 4 to 6 vans of them from the different camps in our area, plus the tourists and our regular customers. The computer is not scheduling for this, even though it is a yearly occurance.

None of this makes any sense to me. It is my opinion that the assistant manager that works over each area knows how many associates they need at any given time throughout the day. They know when events are in the area and how many extra people they would need to compensate for the extra customers. They know when it is a weekend.

In my opinion, a person should be making the schedule not a computer. Maybe it works for larger stores in big cities but it doesn't work for smaller stores. I know that the customer shopping experience would be greatly improved if we had more people scheduled than we do, especially at night.

Work

Yesterday afternoon I got to work and found out that the closing CSM quit yesterday morning. What happened to 2 week notices? I don't close, I only work as late as 11:00 pm. I can rush and get everything, meaning the CSM duties, done by 11:00 and then management has to be available to come up front if the cashiers need anything. It's just very difficult on a Friday and Saturday night to be the only CSM, because we are busy and a single CSM is running constantly and usually in three directions at once.

I am also alone tonight and I get out at 10:00. I haven't figured out how I am going to do this. There is no way I can get the registers pulled by 10:00. I can get the front ones but not the outlying and the self checks, they can't even be pulled until 10:00. I'm hoping that management has called one of the other night CSMs to come in and help.

Wish me luck.

Procrastination

Today is my day off. I went to bed last night with the thought that I would get up this morning and write something interesting in my blog. LOL! Now it is 4:03 pm.

I have managed to find all other kinds of things to do instead. Now, it wouldn't be bad if they were productive things but they weren't (I just finally got to the laundry). I have a half finished oil painting that I could've been working on, but wasn't, another procrastination.

So what have I been doing with my time today? I surfed the web a few times, I watched a little TV, and I played a computer game, a couple of times.

I wish I could figure out why I procrastinate. It isn't like I don't enjoy painting, or writing in my blog, because I enjoy both of those things. I can understand not getting excited about doing the laundry and housework they get done because they have to be done. I'm lucky too, because my boyfriend is great about helping with the household chores.

When I was growing up my mom taught me "never put off until tomorrow what you can do today". The older I get the more I put things off though. Am I the only person in the world that does this? Sometimes I wonder about that, my boyfriend doesn't procrastinate. It probably drives him nuts that I do, although he never says anything.

Well, at least my procrastination helped me to get one thing done. I don't know how interesting it is, but it's written.

Taking My Power Back

Lately it seems like everything I try to do ends up not working and when I think things are getting better I get kicked in the teeth.

I got to the point were I was feeling defeated. I just didn't know how much it showed until last night at work when two different people asked if I was okay, because; one said I was too quiet (which I don't get, because I am usually quiet any way) and the other said I wasn't my usual bubbly self (funny, I don't consider myself bubbly).

So, today I said okay, I have been feeling defeated lately, but I have to remember that I can make things happen for me and not let them happen to me.

I have been wanting to move up to Support Manager for over a year. Tonight a co-worker and I went to the Store Manager and told him that we would both like to learn and be licensed for the fork lift and the scissor lift, and I told him that I wanted to learn anything that would help me to be able to move up. I'm glad I did, the night manager will be teaching me and Melissa the things that we want to learn and need to know. She said any night after the 10:00 meeting to bring her a list of what we are interested in learning and she'll make sure that we get the training. So there, I am taking my power back, and I am not feeling so defeated right now.