Compliment

I got back from lunch today to find a very cheerfully colored card sitting in my mailbox. I had no idea what it was or who it was from. I opened it and it said:

"Jennifer, I wanted to let you know how much I appreciated everything you did for me and everything you helped me with this semester! I did not receive very much help from anyone else at the University, so I was so pleased that you were always there to help me so much. Thank you!!"

It was from one of the students in our program and her note just made my day! Little things like that just make me feel like my efforts in my job are worth it. :o) I hope that you, too, have had a little something today that's lifted your spirits a bit. We all need that from time to time! :)

Drama No More

Well, yes, there is still drama going on within the walls of the building where I work, but I have removed myself from it. I made a decision within a day after my last post, but I left it up hoping maybe a few others would comment. So, thank you to the two (Mel & Sandy!) who did. It was greatly appreciated. :o)

My final decision was to remove myself from the drama. I just wouldn't participate in it. If someone said something to me, I decided that I just wouldn't comment back. Although I did speak up late Friday afternoon when someone was saying bad things about so-and-so and I said, "No. That is inaccurate." It felt good. What was ironic about it all was that my friend was making the situation personal when it really shouldn't have been that way. So what was I doing? Well, I was taking her response to said situation and making it personal. *sigh* Once I let go and realized that I didn't have to be a part of it all, I felt much better. I can offer words of support to her and I can offer thoughts about how I would handle a situation like the one she is in, but I will not speak to her as if I agree with her. Because I don't. And that was one huge thing that I realized on Friday. I feel for my friend during this tumultuous time at work, but I don't know that I agree with her take on the situation. And that's okay because I don't have to. I can only encourage her to be true to herself and her own beliefs and I will do the same thing with myself. It may mean that we might not see eye to eye on some things, but if our friendship is as strong as I think it is, then that won't be an issue at all. :)

Drama

It seems that my blog is rather boring these days, but there's not much going on, I'm afraid. I'm just keeping busy with work and with school. In my spare time I'm packing my apartment little by little. My plan is to have it ready to go on the day that I can start moving so then I'm not rushing around last minute to get things finished. It's exciting times! Not only are classes ending in the next week, but summer is coming and my apartment move is drawing nearer. Wahoo! :)

Moving on to the title of this post...drama. Unfortunately, there has been a little bit of drama going on at work and I've inadvertently found myself in the middle of it all and it's been quite unsettling. But then I had to ask myself...have I really "inadvertently" found myself in the middle of it all?!? No. As with anything, we choose to become involved in situations. In choosing to be a friend to a coworker, I've been placed smack in the middle of some drama and it is NOT enjoyable. But in being a friend to someone, coworker or not, does that mean that you need to be part of the drama sometimes? Is it possible to detach yourself from the entire situation but still be a friend to that person? Isn't listening to the drama part of empathizing with your friend and being understanding? But what do you do if that begins to affect your attitude toward the place you work for and toward other people you work with? A good friend reminded me this morning of a question that we need to ask ourselves and I had forgotten about it until this morning. We should be asking, "Does this involve me?" If it does, then you DO have a place to speak up and say something. But if the situation has nothing to do with you (like my current situation at work), then I need to remove myself and not become involved with it. But what do I do about the friend in the midst of the drama? How do I offer support to her while being removed from the situation? In trying to be her friend, thus far, I've gotten to a place that's not healthy to be in and my feelings toward others I work with is negative and full of sarcasm. Not good. Not good at all.

So, tell me, friends...how do you remain a friend to someone in a difficult situation when you work with that friend and you know that what she might say may hinder your view of others? I want to be a friend to her, but I also want to remain detached enough so that I'm not affected by her negative views. I look forward to hearing from you!!

For the parents

I found the following website on another blog that I was browsing this evening. It seemed kind of interesting, so I thought I'd point it out to those of you who are parents. Here's what the blog writer said about it: You can put in your child's age and it will e-mail you daily with age appropriate activities. Or you can search the site for ideas.

Maybe all of you already know about it!! :o) Even so, I wanted to put it here for those of you who didn't know it existed. :) Here it is... http://www.productiveparenting.com/

Four

My friend, Michelle, tagged me the other day and so I figured that I'd better get this taken care of! :) Here are the rules...

1. Choose the fourth folder where you store pictures on your computer.
2. Choose the fourth picture.
3. Explain that picture.
4. Tag 4 other people.

This picture was taken last September when Michelle's sister, Monique, and I traveled out of town to visit some good friends of ours. Monique was "hunting" with Fischer (you can't see him in the tent) and he had decided that they'd have to hide out in the "tent" and wait for the bears and moose to come around. :) In this picture, his little brother, Hazen, was heading over that way to check things out, too! :)

Now, I know that I'm supposed to tag four other people, but this was kind of a fun little thing to do. So...if you read this blog post and you feel like you want to do it, just go for it! I had fun reminiscing and you will, too!! :)

Good Things

Here is a list of good things that came my way this past week:

• I just figured out that at the end of this spring semester, I'll have enough college credits completed to be considered "senior status". Even though I won't graduate for a while longer, having senior status offers early registration perks. Wahoo! :)
• About graduating...I still plan to continue working full time while I go to school part time, so even though I have senior status, my estimated graduation date (if I've figured things out correctly!) is December 2012!!! Wahoo!! Now, I could finish a lot earlier than that date, but I'm not too thrilled with the idea of living the life of poverty again while going to school full time. I like the 8-5 schedule and I like having my weekends free and I like being financially comfortable. So...2012 it is. Be on the lookout for your party invitation. :)
• I received a call this week that an apartment may be ready for me in the place that I'm moving to!!! They told me that it would be available on May 20. I'm going to go and look at it next week before making a decision, but I'm really excited about moving and I can hardly wait!! :)
• On the same note, I think that I've helped my landlords out by finding someone to rent my current place. Details are still being worked out for that, but I think that it will all work out nicely. :)
• This week, I planned out the classes that I'm going to take this summer and this fall and they were signed off on and approved. Yay! What's even more "yay!" is that after this fall, I will be done with my generals and I will be focusing only on the last phase of my program (the remaining 3000-4000 level classes). Wahoo!
• A plan is also in the works for a fall trip to Yellowstone with my parents. I've never been there and I'm super excited about going!!!
• After working seven years for the company I'm employed by, someone just clued me in yesterday to the fact that I can get an 18% discount on my cell phone bill just because of the people I work for!! I signed up for that yesterday afternoon. :)

I had just been thinking last night about how good this week has been and I decided to share it with you!! What good things have YOU experienced this week? Tell us! :o)