Thank you so much for being so kind to me last week when I was having a really difficult time. Things are looking up this week mostly because I feel healthier. It’s much easier to adopt an optimistic outlook when you don’t feel achy, tired, sniffly, sneezy, etc. :yuck:

I also had a productive meeting with the HR person at work and feel a little better about my situation. I’m still working on my resume and have a couple of interesting leads. It won’t hurt to look around and see if there’s some situation I’d be happier in. It’d also be awesome to find something closer to home so I could cut down on my commute time… Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Sam is starting to feel better too. He showed some symptoms of coming down with a cold on Thursday. By Friday, he had a full-blown ear infection and horrible fever. We stayed up most of the night with him. Robert ended up taking Sam to work for a couple of hours (we couldn’t take him to daycare) and then to the doctor who prescribed some antibiotics to treat the infection. It’s a blessing that they work so quickly! By Saturday, Sam was acting more like his usual self. (I’m so proud of my little guy. Every day, he says a couple of new words. He’s added coat, Mo (Elmo), thankyou and bubble to his vocabulary!)

I’ve also had a productive couple of weeks design-wise. Two new sets are up at Quixotic Pixels. I’m really proud of this pair! :cloudnine:

User: quixotic Password: pixels (all lower case letters)

In addition to that, I’ve finally come up with a new site design for Quixotic Pixels, which helps keep me inspired. I really like it! The mouseovers are pretty spiffy, if you ask me. Go take a peek

Enough tooting of my own horn…

It’s been the pits lately!!!! I have been very sick (again–or still). I woke up on the first day of my three-day weekend with swollen glands the size of golf balls and a horrible headache. I’m still feeling pretty rotten.

On top of that, the H.R. person came to talk to me on Tuesday. It seems my boss has been complaining about my performance. Considering the fact that she never gives me any feedback, it’s no wonder I had no idea where I stood with her. Apparently, she was upset with how slowly I worked one day when we had an important filing. I thought I had done a respectable job that day. She had me running around the office after documents which were never where they were supposed to be. She also failed to give me very clear or consistent instructions. I screwed up by leaving my crystal ball at home :irked: I had warned her that day that I was not feeling well, so if I was any slower than normal, it was because of that. She should have been grateful that I came in to work at all. I could have stayed at home and let her do all the grunt work.

The thing that really seemed to upset my boss was my absence from the office for a 10-15 minute stretch of time. I chose a moment when things seemed quiet and my assistance wasn’t immediately needed to go downstairs to buy some lunch. I brought the lunch back up to my office and ate it there. (I’m supposed to have an hour long lunch and there’s no requirement that I eat in my office.) While I was gone, she had come looking for me and decided that I had gone home without bothering to tell anyone. I’m uncertain what in my three years of working here would have led to such an assumption. I just don’t do things like that! :boggled:

Why she would have complained to the HR person and had a negative entry put in my performance record because of one bad day, boggles the imagination–especially since she knew I was suffering from ill health. I go above and beyond the call of duty all the time!

So, I’m pissed. I spent a lot of time crying over this. I found my resume, though, and have blown the cobwebs off it.

Every which way I look today, there are sweet things beckoning to me: cookies in the kitchen, foil-wrapped chocolates at one of the secretarial stations, cupcakes, and those little sugar hearts with messages like “fax me,” “I do,” and “pucker up” written on them. The most amusing treat so far (I’m withholding final judgment until I see what people dole out this afternoon) are the chocolate frogs. The wrapping instructs you to “kiss me.” LOL! If only they *would* turn into princes. Well, today is a day for romance & fantasy, so I’m going to sit here and imagine what that would be like

Robert and I agreed to make this a giftless holiday. I find myself more at peace with everything than I was last year. Every time a bouquet of roses was delivered to the office, I held my breath wondering if it were for me. This year, I know I won’t be receiving anything and that’s OK. I’ve got more than my share of blessings. One is having such a sweet husband who let–nay encouraged–me to bake frozen pizzas two nights running. The second blessing is having such a cute little boy who happily cuddles with me and plays the kissing game, which usually starts out with me entreating him for a kiss and then him holding out his hand (lah-di-dah!) for a kiss and then offering his stuffed Clifford doll up for some lovin’. What a funny boy! So anyway, I’m pretty happy today :lovestruck:

In other news, I put up the awesome design I received from Becky for the February 2003 Design Trade. She put a lot of work and thought into it. She wanted it to mean something special to me, and knowing how much I love children, she created something that speaks of maternal longings. She used my photo of Sam’s rubber ducky I’m lucky to have such a nice friend. You can preview the “rubber ducky” skin on the skins page.