Ramblings of a Sorta Single Mom

So I met with my boss about putting in a plan of action to get me where I will own/manage my own agency with in 18 months.  I must say there is a lot of work to get there but it is definitely possible.  He thinks there is a chance I could pull it off sooner but I say 18 months to give for plenty of time in learning and getting things set up.   I already have the product and sales knowledge.  i certainly hope I do after 8 years in the business!   The only product I need to work more in is commercial for businesses.  I have the residential stuff down but business liability, workers comp, etc….it just eludes me.  So he’s tasked me with finding some training programs that I could attend.  Course these would be located at our home office in Columbus, Oh which means traveling and figuring out Jayden but it’s doable.  In addition every other week meeting with him at night for training on accounting, budgeting, financial planning, break even analysis, etc.  Plus management tasks, marketing, the whole shebang.   In a way it’s kinda daunting but I love a challenge.  And honestly, my boss is a good one to learn from.  I started with him 5 years ago when he was just one office with 4 employees.  Now he has 5 offices with 14 employees and is one of the top agencies in the state.  He is one who is constantly trying new things and has lots of experience in business and such.   So this should be an interesting journey and with the right touches a successful one.  My boss said he believes I will have some challenges along the way but nothing that can’t be overcome.  The biggest thing now is time.  I’m already doing so many things that adding more could be even more stressful.  But he also knows me, I’m at my best when I have a lot on my plate.  For some reason the pressure really gets me moving.   So we’ll see.  Those who already complain about never seeing me just might be complaining more!!

Went to a couple halloween parties last night.  Played my first ever game of beer pong and won!  I even threw the winning shot. hehe  Left that party soon after and headed to another.  Lots of fun there including taking pics with a cop in our halloween costumes.   Thank goodness he had a sense of humor.  The embarrassment began when things were winding down and I headed home.  Someone really should take my phone away on nights like that.   Lets just say tomorrow is gonna be interesting.  I’ll probably spend the entire day beet red!

It’s amazing how much our kids know and understand even at a young age.  I know that J understands that other kids have a daddy and she doesn’t.   I just don’t think I realized how it impacts her.  Yesterday I picked her up from my coworkers house after work.  When I got there the girl pulled me aside to tell me something so the kids wouldn’t hear.  She tells me that she was doing something in the kitchen and her son and J were talking and playing. She overheard the conversation and her son was talking about how his daddy just sent him a present.  He’s stationed over in Iraq right now.  Anyways, J responds back to him that she wishes her daddy would send her a present.  Her son asked J where her daddy was and J tells him she doesn’t know.  The kicker….she also tells him that she doesn’t think her daddy wants her.   Even typing that I’m tearing up and I almost started bawling when I heard it!!!!  This is so sad………….

Going for the 80’s Valley girl look for the hallween party this week.  Imagine adding big/crimped hair, lots of makup and scrunched up socks in multiple colors, etc.  What ya think so far though?

First the loaner car they gave me, an 04 Altima, had issues so I had to get a replacement. Then while there when I asked what the status of my car was I find out that the original one they found had a problem so they had to find another one to do the exchange on which would take longer. I was told I’d be called Tuesday night to let me know what the status was. They never called. Wednesday morning I finally get a call stating the car was on it’s way and the sales manager would call me later that afternoon. Which he never did. My salesman however did call and told me that the car would be there that afternoon and would be ready for delivery by 4:30-5pm. so I reschedules some things and made arrangements to go down there after work. The salesman had told me that he would call as soon as the car hit hte lot to confirm everything. Well by 5pm he stll hadn’t called so I called him only to find out the car wasn’t even on the lot yet and wouldn’t be for a bit. And since it came from out of state it had to get the Virginia State inspections and all that and their service department was closed by then so it wouldn’t be ready till Thursday. By this point I’m livid b/c there has been no communication at all. So I got ahold of hte sales manager again who basically acts like he could care less and that the car would be ready by Thursday night for delivery. It doesn’t take 8 hours to clean and inspect a car so I told him that I would be at the dealership by 1pm on Thursday. If it wasn’t ready by then I was taking it to the general manager. The sales manager todl me he would call me thursday morning to confirm everything. Course he never called.

It doesn’t stop there!! I actually got there late yesterday b/c of work issues and when I showed up I’m told that the sales manager wasn’t even scheduled to work so he of course isn’t there. They finally track down the salesman who tells me he didn’t even know I was coming in. So we finally go look at the car and there is a paint issue on the driver door and it is missing some features I specifically said I wanted. And in all this time they never said that this particular car didn’t have it. So it went back to the finance guy and I told him they need to adjust the price of the car because this car isn’t worth as much as one with the features I asked for. The other issues is after a search there wasn’t another one that had them so it wasn’t like we could do another order to get the car in. I was kinda stuck.

So after all the hassel I walked away with an upgraded warranty. From the 3 year to a 7 year bumper to bumper. I also got a 3 year maintenance plan which means basically all my maintenance is taken care of. Oil changes, tire rotations, filter changes, etc. It also includes tire protection so if I blow a tire for any reason they will either fix it or repair it for free. I also got free cleaning/detailing when ever I take the car in. And I got a bit of an adjustment on the car price. Better deal?? Don’t know if it was worth all the hassel though.

On a funny note by the time I got to the delivery guy i was just fed up and wanted out of there. He kept asking me if I was ok, if there was anythign else I wanted, something he could do etc etc etc. I made the comment that I had a headache and needed some tylenol and he thought I said I needed some alcohol. The moment was kinda funny the way it played out and I laughed. He said thats better, you shouldn’t be mad so much. I told him that it’s just been a week from hell and that someone once told me there are two types of women you don’t tick off….black women and redheads…..to which he tells me he knows….he only dates red heads. HAHA By the end he’s telling me he’s going to give me a call the next day. Hmmmmm I think I got hit on.

After a week of hell the car is finally in my possession.  I’d go through the story but I’ll save that for later.  Here’s some pic’s though!

Wanting the phone to ring and when it does it’s everybody but the person you were looking for.  Thank goodness for busy days to so your not just waiting for tha tone call.  I was sorta hoping the dealership would call and by miracle teh car be there already.  No such luck.  Even almost had a stroke when the dealership # came up on the caller ID but turns out it was just a automated system looking for feedback from the service I got.   Blah.  such a tease.  i want the real thing!!!

On top of that Brian is back.  He will be here tomorrow!!  Am i ready???  No.  Am I ready to deal with him and his girlfriend?  Far from it.  

Wanting something your too chicken to go after.   Need i say more??

I’ve been having the strangest dreams lately about babies.  I can’t remember if I blogged on any of the others but one that stands out the most, besides last night, was where I knew I was having another girl and her name would be Samantha.  In that one though there was a “father” but I couldn’t tell who it was.  I just couldn’t see his face at all.  Last night was totally different.  I had the dream again but this time…..I saw the face.   I’m not naming a name for my own personal reasons but it was just so wierd to see that last night.  My mind has seriously got to be playing tricks on me.