I feel so mean doing this instead of Marge, but I got to June first, being here in Bonnie Old England, so I took the plunge.

Hope everyone has a great June 1, it's pouring with rain here, fabulous. I am going to do some power shopping before work (that counts as exercise doesn't it????)

Two more sleeps til I'm 33, can I not start going backwards now!!!

Thanks for starting the new thread, Kylie. I checked out Marge's profile, too...it said she was active just a couple days ago, but the last time she posted anywhere was May 6--almost a month ago! I sure hope everything's okay...

Well, Happy June, I suppose. I just requested some time off from work yesterday. Towards the end of June (I requested vacation for June 22-24), Jeff and I are going to drive down to Georgia to visit his aunt and uncle who he lived with for a year before I met him. We're also going to see a concert while we're there, but I don't know much about it--something Jeff wants to see. Then, at the end of July, I took 2 days off because my parents are coming to visit from CT for my birthday (they'll be here the weekend of the 30th even though my birthday is actually the 20th). My sister will also come up from Va Beach that weekend, and Jeff will come stay with me as usual, so my whole family will be here My parents and sister want to take me shopping--who am I to say no! I know my sister wants to buy me an indor grill thing like hers (it's like a Foreman grill, but the grill trays come out so you can put them in the dishwasher--ingenius!) so I can easily cook burgers and chicken and stuff. I know my mom wants to buy me a good food processor and probably a real vacuum cleaner, too (the one I have is very tiny and not so powerful). I'm so excited, and it's still 2 months away! I'm excited for the trip to Georgia, too, though. It'll be a 12-hour drive each way, so lots of quality Jeff time in the car

I do not know what I ate yesterday, but boy did it tear me up! I had horrible crampy gas pains in my stomach aaaaaall day--thank goodness I didn't have to work at the restaurant. I did meet up with a friend whom I haven't seen in over 2 years--we were good friends in high school, but her mother passed away while we were in college, so she never had much reason to return home to CT, so she stayed in Nashville, which is where she went to college. Well, last night she flew into Dulles airport, which is like 10 minutes from my office, so I picked her up and brought her to her hotel in Arlington (she is in town working for a tour guide company--she has to set up the arrangements to get 3 groups of middle school kids from the airport to the Smithsonian to their hotel and then to New York the next day). we ate out at the Macaroni Grill, but my stomach hurt so badly that I only took about 5 bites (and man do I LOVE their chicken parmesan!). The last time my stomach hurt so badly was when I had eaten a bunch of sugar-free Reese's peanut butter cups on an empty stomach (the ones with malitol or lacitol or whatever sugar alcohols Reese's uses). Those KILLED me for an entire day! But I thought and thought and thought, and I just couldn't think of anything that has sugar alcohols in it that I ate. I did splurge and have a box of Junior Mints yesterday at work (much less fat than anything solid chocolate, at least), which is definitelya deviation from my normal food plan, but I have had thembefore without recourse. Who knows--all that matters is that I'm all better now

Well, I came in this morning to an email from my boss. Rather than repeat what she said, here are the highlights (copied and pasted directly from the email):

I do not know the exact number but what Cheryl told me is that you were put in for a raise that would bring you up to $39,500. Usually Cheryl [our group manager] and Tina [other group manager] work the numbers out to be a nice even number for your biweekly salary so it will probably work out to be a few dollars more or less than this.
I do hope that this alleviates some of your stress and that it will keep you with us. This sort of raise is almost unheard of in our group, and certainly within the entire company [I'm sure no one from my company is knowingly reading my posts, but since they have over 90,000 employees worldwide, I'll just go ahead and delete the comany name from here]. But that isn't to say that you haven't earned it! However, there are folks around you who have not been as fortunate so I ask that you keep this information to yourself (I know you know that, that goes without saying but I still have to say it).

I do want to take this opportunity to say it again…I personally appreciate all the hard work you put in to help me produce quality products for our various clients. You are a key member of our team and I think that your contribution to the group/projects will grow exponentially in the next few months. You're ability to work quickly, learn quickly, grow, and make decisions is to be commended considering your very few years of work experience. It is because of these skills that I trust you with our projects and will continue to call upon you to take more of a leadership position on various projects.

How exciting is that!! I'm getting bumped from $31,400 annually to close to $39,500!! That will certainly help to pay the bills and reduce the number of nights per week I have to work at the restaurant! Of course, it all also makes me feel kinda guilty about having gone on that job interview last week (which I have yet to hear a verdict from), but I gotta do what's best for me, right? If that other company comes back offering me nearly $50,000, I will still have to consider it.

Well, I also came in to find a pile of papers awaiting me on my chair, so off to work I go! Have a great day, everyone (it's already Wednesday--gotta love the long weekends!)!

HELLOOOOO!!! and don't feel mean Kylee..I am sure she will understand...and I am hoping along with all of you, that she is okay....Not been to Curves yet this morning, just woke up after a long night of terrible sleep...I will go after I consume some much needed JAVA...wel..., Jill, WTG, that must be a wonderful feeling...and you should be proud of yourself for such a great compliment they have given you!!! And, on that note, am off...HAPPY JUNE Ya'll!!

Goodmorning! I am up EARLY!! I have my first morning shift at this new job, I'd like to say I get off early because of it.. but I'm working 9:30 am until 6:30pm. Loooong day! It's raining here too I suspect, I haven't looked outside yet, just watching the morning news and they say heavy rain. Which means it'll be dead all day at work, so we can finally get the 10 boxes of stock out.

kykaree - thanks for starting this I totally think power shopping should count as exercise! Its hard work! Happy early bday incase I don't see yah then.. I love love love birthdays

Jill - congrats on the raise! It doesn't quite compare to 50,000 a year, but it sure is a start Sometimes I find if I eat something completely different than what I've been eating lately, I get a really upset tummy... so I'm betting it was the chocolate things you ate that did it... I once ate TONS of gumym bears without sugar.. oh lordy, I could hear my tummy gurgling and the bears making their way down. It was completely unpleasant! Thankfully I was at home...ouchies. my tummy hurts THINKING about it! heh..

Diana - Thats too bad you had such a bad sleep last night, I read your post.. it was very late! I actually went to bed early last night, well semi early. I was in bed by 10:45pm, but I had to get up at 7:30.... so it didn't really feel early enough.

Well I am off to finish my breakfast and get ready for work! Have a good one

-Aimee

Good Morning! Happy June!!!

I got up early this morning (5:20) and was out the door at 5:35 to go rollerblading before work! Sam and I took Lexi with us... first time. She did very well, didn't get ran over or make either of us fall down! It only took us 20 mins to go about 2.5 miles, Lexi got to run which she really likes to do, then she just DROPPED when we got home! Too much for her so early!!! I forgot how much fun blading was! Haven't done it for about 7 years until Monday. Needless to say... my a$$ is sore from using a muscle that I didn't know I had in there!!!

It is going to be a beautiful day today... high of 78. I have to work in a room with no windows until 8pm tonight. Tomorrow I'm off of work so I'm hopeing it's just as nice out.

Jill, awesome deal on the job front! Way to go!!

Aimee, have a great 'long' day at work. I work 11 hour days so your 'long' makes me giggle!

Marge, ??? Hello!? Are you there??

Kimberly, Good morning sunshine!!! (you're almost awake by now)

Diane, hope you sleep better tonight!

Hey... just browsing... I don't usually post here, but I know Kylie and Jill! I just had to stop and say, WAY TO GO JILL!!! what type of work do you do and how long have you been with the company? It's always nice to see that your employor appreciates your work, isn't it? congrats...

I started working there in November as a Technical Writer/Editor. I don't do much writing--mostly editing, proofreading, QCing, researching, procrastinating... So I will have been with the company for 7 months as of June 11. It DEFINITELY feels good to know they want me to stay so badly! Here I am, an itty bitty nobody in a corporation of over 90,000 employees, and I have never felt so appreciated It's a good company to stick with, though, since they have offices practically everywhere, so no matter where my future takes me, I should be able to stay with them. Another bonus of such a huge corporation is the benefits--I've got a 401k and pension plan plus inexpensive (but good enough for me!) medical, dental, and vision coverage. I also get a 10% discount on my car insurance and a discount on my personal cell phone service just for working here. I also get discounts for other stuff, too (theme park tickets, flower delivery, certain online retailers, etc.), so I've discovered first-hand that while I may feel like a nobody in the grand scheme of things, sometimes it's worth it!

hehe Sara, I chuckle at Aimee's "long day" too--but then I remember what working retail was like, and 9 hours of that really does seem like forever! I'll take my 8 hours in the office plus 5-ish hours of serving at the restaurant over her 9 hours of retail any day!

Jill, How TRUE! If I never work retail again my life will be complete! Oh how I hated it.

First off, hi Biggirl - welcome, you! Jump on in any time.

Kykaree, absolutely shopping counts. What'd you amass?

Jill, what a great e-mail from your boss - aside from the excellent raise, it's obvious she really appreciates you!

Diana, here's to java!

Aimee, those Lane Bryant bras sound good. I should at least go get fitted and then I can order them online once I know what fits well.

Sara, I've never roller bladed. I used to roller skate all the time, back in the mid to late 1980's. We have a really good family-owned rink here in town, with owners who keep it clean and well maintained.

I'm feeling kind of subdued today. My working out in the yard yesterday netted me a sinus headache today. Hopefully acetominophen and aspirin with my morning coffee will help. I need to get back out there and finish up those beds! (We need a gardening smiley)

I am home!! Home sweet home.. I had a LONG LONG day. Yes, 9 hours retail insane, there really is nothing like it. Dealing with customers, pretending to look busy (which I didn't get to do today ). It was overall a good day, I got up, got ready for work, the bf came home at 9:10, and we left again at 9:15am to head to work (it's SO nice working in the same mall!), we stopped for coffee, he gave me a kiss on the cheek and I headed to work. I was busy with stock and customers, and one of my fav co-workers came in, we babbled for a bit, and did some more work. To top THAT off, my other FAV co-worker came in and we all worked together, and then I took a lunch break with the first girl. Other than my incredibly upset tummy, it was good

So a long time ago, and far far away, I used to work in a photo lab. Very little dealing with customers, and I gotta tell yah, the 12 hour days I used to pull without breaks was EASY compared to this kinda retail. It's draining! It was SUCH an interesting job, not great pay in the long run though.

Jill - a job with benefits is a nice thing

Josh gets benefits at his job, really really good ones, and since I'm living with him, I get them too He pays 22.19 once a month, which covers our Medical Services Plan fee ($50 each a month). We get dental (1500 each a calender year), free prescriptions, vision, naturalpath, chiropracter, massage therapist, psychologists, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. His company is in the business to compete with Unions, they don't want to become unionized, so they offer good wages and insane benefits. It baffles me the medical system in the USA, I know when I was in university I was fairly poor, and I got REALLY sick and had to see like 6 doctors in the quest to find out what was wrong with me. It was all covered, and all the hospital visits were covered as well.. but I guess our world isn't perfect..

Kimberley - I am sure we've covered this ground before... why can't you take sinus medication? I get those sinus headaches every once in a while, they are killer, it feels like your face is throbbing and you wanna rip it off! heh. Hope you are feeling better!

Alrighty, my tummy is fricking INSANE, so i'm going to go lay down and try not to move. Be good

-Aimee

Just a quickie, early start at work. Hi tammara!!!! (biggirl)

I bought towels and sheets coz I have a friend sleeping over, and I didn't have any spare linen to speak of. We have never had anyone to stay!!! I got some new jeans and a nice red top to wear out tonight (and on Saturday - going to a concert for my birthday)

I feel so bad coz I haven't replied to Jill or anyone else properly but must jump on the broomstick, gonna be late for work!!!

Why am I so dang tired?! I was in bed by 10 last night--got out of work just a little after 9 (a nice early night!) and walked with $45. Not bad at all for a not-too-long shift. I also found some $$ in my server book from tips that I had forgotten to take out and put in my purse from last time I work. I love that--it's like when you find $$ in the laundry: even though it's rightfully yours, you feel like you just discovered a little treasure

So, my stomach hurt AGAIN yesterday. I got up in the morning feeling just fine. I didn't eat any candy like I had the day before, so I didn't know what it was! The only thing I had both days that I don't normally eat is my breakfast--Kashi GoLean Crunch. Maybe since I don't eat much in the way of veggies, this has more fiber than I'm used to? I've eaten other Kashi cereals without a problem before, but I haven't had time to sit and compare the labels to see if there's really that much more fiber in the Crunch kind. I'm having a bagel with cream cheese fr breakfast today, so I'll see if I get an icky tummy again. If I do, then I really don't know what it could be!

Kylie--don't feel obligated to write personal responses to everyone individually--we're just glad you're here, and hearing about your experiences could help us out even if you never even acknowledged our existence

Aimee--yeah, the US medical system--HA! Just for my ingrown toenail, I spent about 2 nights worth of tips. First, I had to go to my regular doctor to get a referral to a podiatrist (they won't cover fees for a specialist unless you get a referral), so I had to pay the copay ($10) for that visit. Then he gave me the prescription for my antibiotic for the infection, so I had to pay the copay for that ($20). Then I had to go to the podiatrist for the procedure ($20 copay) and then back to the podiatrist again for a follow-up appointment ($20). I know I'm lucky to have insurance or else it would have been hundreds of dollars for all of this, but it's still a pain in my butt. I know I have to go to a dentist, but I don't want to because I don't want to have to pay for it! I know I have at least one cavity to be filled, and I'll have to pay a certain percentage of whatever the cost for that is plus the copay for the cleaning plus the copay for the filling appointment...jeez, I hate being a grown up!

Kimberley--hope today finds you feeling a bit better!

Ahh, our medical care, and a lot of thigs, in fact, really bites here...if it weren't for our families, and his job, we would move to Canada in a heartbeat...I love it there...hehe..
was a short note, am off to Curves, bbl all, hag1, Diana

I'm off work today!! JOY! It's supposed to be 80 degrees today! I'm soooo excited! Leaving with the dog when Sam leaves for work and taking her to the dog club so she can run off leash for a while. Then my plan for the day is to go to a few consignment shops in the area to look for some clothes that actually FIT me! I have exactly 1 pair of pants, 1 pair of capri's and 4 skirts that can be worn to work, and I'm fast shrinking out of them! I have 2 pairs of jeans that are the next size down and a really cute Tommy Girl denim dress that I got for $8 last time I went to the consignment shops. That's it! I need to find things soon in 22's and lower for work clothes or I'll be going in wearing a potato sack! We can only wear blue jeans on Fri,Sat,Sun. Rest of the week it's business casual. Really sucks when I'M the hand-me-downer to everyone else!!

I'm also closing in on my next goal of 240 and need to start calling places to get prices on that hot stone massage! I want to be at 240 by the time we go to the Dells on July 24th... 7 1/2 weeks - 15 pounds... no problem!

Later when Sam get's home we're planning on walking to a new chinese food place for dinner. I mapquested it and it's only 2.4 miles. Good walk for (hopefully) good food?!!?

Have a great morning!! I'll talk to y'all later!

Goodmorning! I was feeling pretty nasty last night, so I got into bed at 9:30pm, and was sleeping by about 10:30pm. I was up in the middle of the night with a sore tummy (Jill maybe we have the same thing? Mine is IBS, grr I hate it!). So I am feeling tired this morning as well.

Jill - your medical system sucks... however if the Canadian one isn't managed properly, it ain't gonna be around for too long. I can't imagine paying for seeing a doctor... it completely baffles me.. I think depending on your medical coverage here you have to pay for part of chiropracter visits.. I haven't been to one in YEARS, so I can't remember. I hope your tummy feels better, drink some peppermint tea, eat some fat free yogurt with active bacterial cultures!

kykaree - I love love new sheets, heh. I'm addicted to bed stuff, I sleep with 2 blankets (one against the wall) and 8 pillows. 3 of them are feather pillows. I also have a feather matress cover.. I'm SERIOUS about bedtime

Diana - you can come stay in my guest bedroom! Josh and I were having a hard time sleeping in the bedroom, so we moved into the livingroom (couch is pullout). We've been using our bedroom for guests.. hehe..

Sara - I am trying to lose 15 pounds in 5 weeks! I am down 1 pound thus far (today is weigh in). I hope to be handing down more clothes soon, you should live closer to me! I gave away all my 20's (except 2 pairs which fit TIGHT!), and some 22's. I hope to be shrunk down to a 16 with those 15 pounds (I am on the border right now), so I'll be getting rid of my 18's! I should figure out how much it would actually cost to send stuff via greyhound. We also might have different taste in clothes..

Alrighty! I am off to drink some water, make some breakfast, and I guess do that weigh in.. I don't like weighing in these days... I always worry the scale won't move.. oh well!

-Aimee