The littlest Littles have brought the cute AGAIN – and since we’ve been too busy to talk, too busy to even type, it ALL had to wait until I had time to breathe…
Well, fine. I still don’t have any of that, but since we skipped sharing a video of the sh!tshow that was 2020, I thought it might be time to share the highlight reel from 2021 with you before you all think that I don’t care at all. Because I do. I really, really do.
But now maybe you’ll see why you haven’t heard much from us lately (we’ve been a little busy):
I know some of y’all have kind of weird interests, too (I am looking at YOU, Dr. P!mp|eP0pper-watchers!), so I thought you might find this interesting.
You know you want to see it.
It IS pretty gross, though, so if you are not one of those weirdos like us, you should go away now.
You will get plenty of text as scrolling ‘ground cover’ to give yourself a chance to run away before then, but if you decide to continue…..consider yourself as having been officially warned.
So I was in the hospital last week (and ICYMI or you got here from somewhere else, you can catch up on itHERE).
I had so much abdominal pain that I couldn’t sleep one night, and by morning, I had had enough already.
Now, I’m a pretty tough cookie about most things, most of the time, but I knew this was not normal and was not going to fix itself.
I also have no patience for wasting time, so I raced off on the journey of discovery to find out wtf was the problem.
The entire day was somewhat of a debacle (and believe me, I will have plenty to say about thatsome other time), but fast forward to where I get to tell you I was admitted to a surgical center and scheduled for an appendectomy first thing the next morning.
Thankfully, my surgeon was not only amazing but also a weirdo like us, and seemed to know somehow that I would enjoy seeing full-color photos of my insides.
So she took some.
And I did!
And so will you, if you’re still here.
So THIS one is just for the weirdos who want to see it.
Are you ready for this?
This is what an appendix looks like, with some necrosis.
Blech.
So, who wants chicken for dinner? NOT ME. Maybe never ever again, now.
Time lapse of being diagnosed, admitted, operated on, released, and discharged from the hospital to home to recover = 30 hours.
The speed was probably a direct result of my being such a godawful patient but I’m #notevensorry about it, just wait until I tell y’all about it.I’m pretty sure you’ll be on my side.
I am still pretty sore and swollen from the surgery, but to those of you who called, texted, prayed, sent well wishes – thank you! I got them all and felt the love.
Back at you! From me AND the smiling swollen belly scar.
Excuse the nails, no polish allowed during surgery
I swear, I USED to have abs. Maybe they took those instead of my appendix?
Have you ever had your appendix taken out? If so, how long were you in the hospital and how long did it take you to fully recover?
So my last post talked about how “that’s quite enough, thanks” (and in case you got here from somewhere else, you can catch up on it HERE), right?
Well, that’s what I get for thinking…..
Literally within the next 72 hours of publishing it, I was:
Presented with a new business opportunity
Admitted to the hospital for a (surprise!) appendectomy
Involved in some very loud, tense arguments with several members of the hospital staff that spanned hours, by the end of which I was threatening to burn it all down (and meant every.effing.word.)
Through surgery, released (still on time to make my mani-pedi) and almost fully recovered
Working my way through $10k+ worth of projects that amassed while I wasn’t looking
But I’m fine. Really.
The scary thing is…..I look like this right about now, too.
Usually, this is where I want to know how you’re doing, and get your input – but I’m afraid the universe is listening and will take it as an invitation to show me more crazy, so maybe later…..
And we thought 2020 was the only year that needed therapy and chocolate and fuzzy blankets.
Spoiler alert: this is not a real post with anything particularly useful, but if you have it in you to hang through it, it might help to at least explain SOME of what all is going on around here.
I’ve been too busy everywhere but HERE for a while.
But I didn’t desert you.
I had my moments of temptation, though.
BUT if I ran away, I know that there would just be fires there for me to put out too, so no point in leaving all of my favorite stuff.
I have watched some $hitshows.
I get close enough to see, but not get splattered on
My own life became more chaotic than usual, and there were days that even ‘The Machine’ shut down because there was just not enough caffeine on the entire planetto handle so much crazy.
I guess its not ALL bad, though.
Here’s the recap:
I opened another business as Owner and it took off (much faster than I expected it to)
I fired and hired assistants (and the learning curves really need to lay off the nachos)
A frivolous claim was filed against me (that I disputed and won, but it was a pain to deal with)
Our local decision makers sometimes act worse than anyone else we know, and it is hard to stay optimistic about our future or passionate about opportunities with all of the drama going on, much less get actively involved or keep trying to make a difference
I am potentially losing my star player to bigger and better things (because I have worked myself out of a job again)
Three of the companies I work for are actively going through some big transitions (and I am responsible for much of the choices that affect the outcomes, so the pressure is real)
We lost my sweet Pop, with no warning at all (I am not only a Daddy’s Girl, but also the Executor of his estate, so there is a lot to do while grieving pretty hard, and no time to do it in)
Our newest Grand was born a month early, without warning, in the same week my Dad died and also on what would have been our son’s 30th birthday (so the emotions around all of that are pretty interesting)
We have two, count them, TWO new Grandgirls coming in November!
We took a long-overdue vacation and are still unpacking with another trip already booked
Our favorite niece is getting married and moving out next month and I am not ready for it
We’ll get to mark another concert off of our bucket list (Eric Clapton will be here soon and guess who has tickets?!?)
Captain Helpful reminds me that work-wise, I am getting everything I have worked so hard for, and I know he’s right, but still…..
I was all ready to be on board with this. I get a lot from Forbes AND the point of valuing ‘soft skills’ over ‘hard skills’ is totally valid to me, BUT…..I was surprised to realize that I had a slightly different opinion.
It was still a great resource and I totally used it, though!
After thinking more about why and then about what, I realized that these are what I personally value most when hiring:
Attention to detail: Those who do this will notice AND improve things others won’t. (This is a personal MUST when I am hiring OR when choosing other leaders to partner with. No matter how good you are, or how good the idea is – if there is no time for, interest in, or attention span for details, you’ll end up with half-@ssed results every time. No thank you!)
Innovative: Similar to creative, but specific to thinking of new ways to get existing things done AND in how to implement those improvements around existing setups.
Fearless: This for me actually ties for 1 AND 2, because if you’re too timid to explore the new ideas, bring them, or implement them over the negative committees – nothing ever happens anyway!
To me, THESE are what give you a truly excellent player!
UPDATE: I hired character (who decided this was a ‘soft skill’?) over ‘hard skills’ and it has still been the best hiring decision I have ever made!
20/20 vision is a term used to express perfect clarity and sharpness of vision. Too bad no one wanted to see ANY of THIS
Please forgive the language (theirs, not mine).
Remember those New Year’s Resolutions or affirmations or whatever the h-e-double-l we were making when we were younger, and had more hope? We werejustprecious.
Should have taken my eyes out with a dull butter knife
I have purposely not complained or really even mentioned the pandemic or the presidential election in any public spaces. I have also respectfully declined most opportunities to discuss them when someone is attempting to provoke me. Why, you ask? For one, there are already WAY too many opinions being yelled at each other out there to add MY one more. For two, it’s all just too…..what’s the word…..depressing? Stressful? Anxiety-inducing?
Found it.
I still don’t have anything necessary or thought-provoking or profound to add, so I’ll just leave us with a few more images that seem to sum it all up:
2020 is a southern male, and there WERE injuries
At first, introverts rejoiced – we like to “Stay the F*ck at Home”
Have you ever been surprised by things you have been told about yourself?
Many of us feel we are a wide-open book. We have the same families and most of the same friends for most of our lives and just add new ones to the pack as we go. I have also been with the same small, independently-owned company in daily interaction with the same core team for almost 15 years. Social media has us connected to each other (and some of us waaayyy oversharing) just as often as we care to be.
After ALL of that, we think we know each other pretty well, right?
Well, I am still surprised to find out that this is not always the case!
For someone who has been accused of being too honest, too blunt, too direct more times than I can count (now those are no big surprise), it DOES surprise me when someone has a brand new observation or perception of me that I just never saw coming.
Here are the most surprising (to me, anyway!) things I have been told about myself, all within the past year:
You are hard to get to know (said to me by new people)
It is hard to be your friend sometimes, you don’t seem to need anybody (said to me by a good friend)
You can be very intimidating (said to me by morepeople than I would have thought)
You always have a wall up (said to me by my best friend of 30+ years)
I was shocked, I tell you…..SHOCKED
I thought I was pretty open and have a lot of people in my life to be hard to know or hard to be friends with – but that last one shocked me right out of my socks. This is a person who has seen me through complete, full-blown meltdowns, who knows everything about me (or so I thought). How does she think I have a wall up with HER?Is it my RBF (resting b!tch face)? Hey, that one is NOT my fault.
And I thought I knew myself pretty well already. I have completed every personality and character identifier known to exist. I know my IQ, MBTI type, DISC profile, Kolbe index, Enneagram number, astrological sign, and what factors birth order play in things. Let me just tell you, EVERY SINGLE ONE of those reports some pretty strong warning labels traits. I suppose it is natural for some feathers to get ruffled along the way!
Random feathers have never concerned me very much, but the ones in my own pack DO. So I am doing some self-reflecting…..
While I am still figuring out how to be better at this whole “human interaction” thing, I have THIS:
Most accurate quote to describe me I have ever seen
Guess what? This means ALL of Y’ALL! HA!
NOW I want to hear more about YOU!
What have you heard about yourself that you thought was completely untrue?
Everything you say yes to means you have to say no to something else, and vice versa.
It really IS ok to establish healthy boundaries, set realistic expectations, and politely decline opportunities for relationships that seem destined to fail. That is the only way to have availability and resources for good ones! This also applies to client partnerships.
Clients deserve the best service provider for their needs, even when it’s (gasp!!) not us (at least at that time). If I know right away that we are not a good fit, or that I won’t be able to deliver the service and attention they need and deserve, I have no problem with saying so and genuinely wishing them all the best in their search for the next service provider.
I will also have those straightforward discussions to try to salvage a challenging relationship before we have no choice but to break up. Sometimes I am the problem. Sometimes not. The only way to find out is to have that difficult conversation! No one likes them, but they are necessary and are healthy, if done right. They key is to not be so afraid of them that you procrastinate and create some real damage.
My reputation for being a tough and demanding taskmaster comes honestly enough, I admit – and I am not the only one!
It is becoming more common for professionals to understand and better provide more value for the clients who are a good match when they are more strategic about their partnerships. Clients are generally more satisfied, too, because then their pro really is good at what they are really good at!
Someone else was waaaaay ahead of all of us, though……
We DO kind of have to give at least a little damn, she clearly does not
QUESTION: What are some of the criteria you use to evaluate client or service provider relationships? What is something that is not a dealbreaker, but troublesome enough to cause concern or frustration and trigger a discussion?
I enjoy being organized. You have to be if you are someone like me.
Sounds completely crazy coming from a free spirit, but it’s the truth.
It is the only way you can possibly hope to be productive and effective when you do so many differentallthethings. You prioritize. You streamline. You systemize processes and not have to re-think any of the tasks that need to be done consistently, every time you do them.
BUT……no matter how well you plan and structure……you will finally hit capacity.
What do you do when that happens?Shut it all down? Run away?
We’ve all been tempted, but this seems extreme to me.
Most of the time, the first response I hear is: “Maybe you are doing too many things. You should quit some.”
The problem with that for me is that I love being part of something bigger than myself. There are a lot of those! I never know right away how much time and energy I will need to devote to a new endeavor, so I just jump in with both feet and as much enthusiasm as I can bring!
Not only that, but I firmly believe that once you have committed to something, and there are people counting on you to show up and do your part…..you don’t just quit because you get tired. Especiallywhen those things are successful!
I also love being the architect of my own life. Ok, who am I kidding here? I also prefer to be the contractor, the foreman, the builder, the interior designer, the stager, the quality inspector……
Sound familiar?
My ‘busy’ is not a euphemism for spinning wheels, we ARE building some pretty successful things with it!
So I prefer to just raise my capacity and keep right on doing them.
There is no way I am the only one who decided they just needed to raise their capacity, too……and if you are one of those people,I would love to hear from YOU!
Did you decide to strengthen your leadership skills, start delegating more, outsource tasks altogether, find better resources? What can you not run your business or business(es) without?
Remember when we first started talking about ourselves online?
Now, we ALL know WAY too much! Just in case you didn’t know, though…..
The following was originally posted as an FB Note – January 28, 2009
25 Random Things About Me: 1. I used to be a gymnast and kickboxer – before I got old and tired and lazy and fat and busy and….. 2. I am a huge IT-geek, and own every technology and gadget on the market. 3. I love ALL kinds of music, and need it like a drug. I am never without my I-Touch! 4. FasTaco is my guiltiest pleasure. 5. My husband is an incredible cook, and along with random fact #4 above, is the reason I now need a gym membership! 6. I still miss working with my hubby all day. 7. I have been in love with Sammy Hagar since I was 8 years old, and absolutely plan on retiring to Cabo San Lucas eventually. 8. I am seriously contemplating our need for a housekeeping service! 9. I truly love and enjoy my in-laws (most of them, most of the time :). 10. I have a gorgeous son who is a senior graduating from high school this year. 11. I adore my stepchildren, and appreciate their emerging strong personalities. 12. I wear a tattoo that I designed myself, and a navel ring on under my suits! 13. My favorite flavors are chocolate-hazelnut and raspberry-lemon. 14. I have never tried drugs of any kind, ever. (Alcohol doesn’t count!) 15. I CAN’T WAIT to get back to Vegas this spring! 16. I have ABSOLUTELY NO PATIENCE when it comes to stupidity, dishonesty, cowardice, or pettiness. 17. I have an obsession with all things retro, and dressed as a classic television for Halloween. 18. My ultimate career goal is to become guardian of the archives at Nick-at-Nite. 19. I don’t deserve my beautiful family, but neither does anyone else, so I’ll just keep them for myself! 20. My friends ROCK. 21. I am a rebel who doesn’t follow the rules, so I think I’ll stop at 21 (my age of course), and go enjoy my day off!
#10 – My #4 (back row) definitely got that attitude from his Mama – Senior Varsity Soccer
#17: See? Told you!
UPDATE: The details of my life have changed, but I have definitely not! 05/21/20
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