Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!

Erik with a fabulous pumpkin he carved a few years ago - it's the "What me worry?" guy - Alfed E. Newman. :) This picture doesn't do it justice - but here it is!


Well, we had fun carving pumpkins this morning! Alyson was in charge of making sure that none of us cut off any appendages - she was a cruel task master.


Or not. :)



I think she was giving me inspiration for the face I was carving in this picture. :)



Daddy (Erik) did all of the hard (yucky) work for us. Thanks honey! He cut the tops for us and scooped out all the guts!





I felt badly for the other pumpkins that were watching the carnage. They knew what was coming for them soon...



I finished our Halloween Costumes just in the nick of time (thanks to my boss who gave me the day off without using my paid time off because of all the extra hours I've been putting in).


We are Hershey's Kisses. Mine is ambiguous enough that I can be a foil wrapped baked potato next year if I want to be. :)




Saturday, October 17, 2009

Updates

Wow, this is embarrasingly late. I've been ridiculously busy at work lately as we're down a member of our recruitment team during their busiest time of the year. Therefore, our front office assistant who assists our Occupational Services Specialist is covering for that position. That means I'm covering for her while trying to still do my job at the same time. I've had about 50 hour weeks for the last 4 or 5 weeks WHILE being pregnant. I don't know that anyone there knows how many hours I'm really working right now, though there's really no way around it. This is with letting things go that were my major goals for this year. For example, before the baby comes I have to:
1. Help our Occ Svcs Spec maintain our L&I claims, meet with our new hires, enter the information, remake their system since it was different than makes sense to me, oh and the small process of making sure that our employees get the Seasonal Flu Vaccine and the H1N1 (formerly Swine Flu) Vaccine. Since the H1N1 is insanely regulated by the Department of Health, Vicki's pretty worried and I'm trying to help her have perspective and prepare for the onslaught of questions and actually make it happen
2. Reprint all Medical Center employee (and physician and contractor and volunteer) badges since we have a new name and logo (Kadlec Medical Center became Kadlec Regional Medical Center)
3. Complete my all inclusive HR Assistant training and reference manual so that they know what the heck to do while I'm on leave (this includes the Badge System - which is part of our Security System. It makes me more than a little nervous that I'm answering our Security Department's questions about their system more often than can make me feel warm and fuzzy)
4. Train our Benefits/Compensation Assistant on ERC (employee relations committee) Recognition Banquet preparation. This includes making sure that we recognize all of the right people without recognizing them too early or missing anyone. This wouldn't generally be such a big deal except that for the last two years that I've done it, it's been a nightmare each time. There's always someone that's upset and thinks that they should be recognized or didn't make it last year so they think that we ought to recognize them this year, etc. I spent a couple months auditing the system and notifying all employees of when they'll be recognized with the intention of making it easier. It should be - I just have to cross check to make sure that all the changes/notifications I made in the system report correctly. So I'll have to show her that and how to order the recognition pins and plaques, print the certifications for CEO and board signature, prepare the packets, etc.
5. Those are the projects in addition to the regular things that I try to do every day. Something's going to have to give, I'm just not sure yet what...

:) Not that you checked up on us to hear me whining - I still love my job, just need to be better at saying - "no, I'll need to let something go or I'll need a cot set up and a substantial bonus".

Here at home, everything is awesome. We enjoyed a wonderful visit with my sister and then my parents and grandparents drove through on a road trip. I'll post pictures tomorrow or the next day - this post is already pretty long. :)

MayLee (the bun in the oven) is growing and moving very well - I can't wait to meet her, though she'll be in trouble if I meet her too soon - she's not due until mid December. I guess me making better boundaries for myself at work will help ensure that - and will make it easier to spend time with each other and do some nesting at home. :)