Hi all! It's been so long I think I'm out of practice. :) Here's a little taste of life in the Jenn lane...(I'm gonna do it backwards, so some will overlap!)

Tonight I got to drive a Caddy. Pretty neat, but big as a freakin' boat. The reason I was driving a Caddy is all b/c of Dad. This past Wed. morning, Dad was in an accident. Luckily for him, not a bad one. He was pulling out of our development when I lady broadsided him. Luckily for him, he's a little sore, but no other physical damage. Unluckily for him the T-mobile sustained frame damage, driver side door damage, and a broken windshield. He's w/o a car for 3 weeks! My Uncle Ed offered Dad the use of his Caddy while his car is in the shop, so mom and I went to kidnap it this evening. I got to drive it home.

Drive home tonight wasn't good. I'll back up. Work stinks! B/c I'm so compitent they've heaped tons of work on me. The stack of forms is as tall as the height from my elbow to wrist...no exaggeration. In addition to inputting all the people attending this 800 team event, I am expected to alphabetize folders for all 50 states and International sites and then file all the forms into the appropriate folders beginning with all the papers they've already put in the computer that are just mounting up on a table, plus the ones I'm inputting. I think I might even be able to handle this, if the phone weren't ringing off the hook every six minutes with people who are teaching gifted and talented children but can't read a stupid packet to find the answers they are annoying and bothering me to find! :) Credit card forms need to be faxed, mail needs to be opened, sorted, copied, distributed, packages need to be signed for, you know...daily office stuff. Another of my daily duties is to collect the messages off the answering machine. This wouldn't be so bad except there are 20 messages each morning and since no one in our office thinks they should RETURN phone calls...guess who gets to do that?

The unorganized office manager realized I needed help, so she hired a temp (ironic, don'cha think?). Ellie, our temp has been a slight bit of help. She is older and talks incessantly.(Scott, think Dawn.) About anything and everything to anyone who walks in. Ellie and I get to work in the same room, so all day all I hear is her. She doesn't feel the need to stop talking when I , say, answer the telephone b/c it's ringing. Or when I need to ask someone who just walked in the room a question for the person on the phone. That said, I am her supervisor. So, if she needs a copy of something to be stuffed, she asks me. (I've showed her how to work the copier...doesn't matter) When she runs out of work assigned to her by Rene, she waits for me to tell her what to do (even though no one has told ME what she's supposed to do!). Ellie fell in Feb. and broke her arm, she's healing and still in therapy, so I get to hear every day how therapy is going, how her insurance isn't covering her therapy, what appeals she has to file...and best yet. How she can't do alot of things b/c of her arm. For a whopping pay of $8.50 an hour, you too could have this much fun!

I've been working overtime everyday for the last 3 or 4 days to try and catch up, but the REAL workers stay later, so I always end up further behind. Needless to say, work is not an enjoyable activity. About 5:28 tonight I got a brief pang of Neil and Christy having each other to vent to about work things and I started crying. I knew I had to leave, so I finished what I was working on and headed for home. Unfort., I couldn't stop the tears the entire 30 min home. Mom called...said my Uncle Ed was going to led my Dad a car and she and I had to go get it b/c dad wasn't feeling well and Jill didn't want to go. (Forget if I wanted to go or not.)

Another probable reason for my current weird state of mood (despite the last couple of sentances, I'm not in a bad one...kind of a detached one) is my sunburn. Jill and I accompanied Chad and Trish and their friends to a horse "race?" in Delaware yesterday. It was alot of fun. Think Buffett tailgate, but instead of Hawaiian shirts and lei's everyone was in "biff and Buffy" gear (long flowy dresses, hats; khakis and polo button downs).

Saturday was Jamie's shower. For those of you who aren't sure, Jamie is my cousin Josh's fiancee. My Aunt Jane (Josh's mom) held a brunch shower for Jamie at her house on Saturday. The food was wonderful. We had a good time. Didn't even flinch when 2 or 3 of my Aunt's relatives asked me if I was married or "serious with anyone". Jill was the hit of the day in her white capri pants with big red flowers. I loved them! and Jill has just the right figure to wear them.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were about what you'd expect from a trio that starts at 7am with "JENN! Dad's been broadsided. I was just down there. He's o.k., but a little sore. They're taking him to the hospital. The other driver said he was acting funny just before she hit him. I'm going to the hospital now." :)

Can't remember back as far as Monday and Tuesday. Guess they couldn't have been too bad then, right?

Now, on to other's news: My cousin Jeremiah was inducted into Mu something something an academic honor society for Marketing. AND he won 2 other scholarships based on academic merit. My cousin Adam doubled his current scholarship for his academic performance at Rutgers as well. (Where were those genes in my body?!?!?) Hank's son was awarded a scholarship (full ride) to get his Doctorate at U of Washington. I'm not exactly sure what his Doctorate will be in, but his thesis (blah, blah, math something) had algebra in the title and immediately my brain wandered! Just like in High School! ;)

Kare had a song made for her (o.k. well, sung for her...but the words were made up on the spot...so that's gotta count, right?) because she was so beautiful! Amy bought a new lawnmower ANd passed all her evaluations with flying colors! (Uh...I don't have confirmation on that, but I know Amy and she's a WONDERFUL 4th grade teacher so....duh.) Trish has become a Dog Show groupie (well, not yet, but we think it's in the works). Scott informed me he's got a speaker for the banquet (that means he's WAY ahead of last year! ;) ) and from all accounts gets the award for strength and hanging in there and moving on. Jeremy and Kris have dropped off the face of the Earth, but we do know that Kris' favorite Sesame Street character is Oscar, so maybe he's just buried and can't reach his keyboard! ;) I talked to Mike (Are you out there?) and even though they keep losing players left and right, the Spartans are hanging in there and will hopefully get a decent seed for the upcoming tournament in Charleston. He thinks he's on the verge of getting a Starsky to his Hutch for the Head Coaching debut this summer! Kristina has met a fellow Wake P.A. school-mate and they will be moving to either Winston of Kernersville or something soon. She starts PA school in June and will make a WONDERFUL Physician's Assistant. (And if the Spartans keep it up, they might need her full time! ;) ) Meg and Andy are happily planning for the wedding in September. Keep your fingers crossed for Andy to relocate (maybe to Greensboro - if that's where they want to be). Dan is moving to Newark sometime soon. I talked to Mark (my former boss at the Wine store). He's doing well and seems to be moving along just fine without us (even though I secretly know he misses us!). I miss them! Speaking of missing people....

....here's the latest Mav update! He's fat and doing well. He loves the fact he's got other cats to play with and that everywhere he looks there are hands to pet him. Mom and I are having a little debate about the other thing he loves...food. I think we need to make it not quite as accessible all the time as Mark, my Greensboro Vet threatened my life he Maverick gained a pound!

Well, minus the same old same old emotions, that's life from here! Hope you all are well.