Sassy Lassie .net

Days like this, I really love my job

I've been doing a lot of networking lately these past couple of months.  I'm not sure why, but this year I finally "got it."  I understand what networking is about, and how it works. I discovered I can easily talk to people, and figured out how to follow up and follow through.  Or maybe I just came in to my own this year after everything that has happened, and finally stepped in to who I authentically am. 

Regardless...it's working for me.

I went to a networking event early in the week that was hosted by a woman that I met at the end of February.  This woman works as a Senior Executive for a financial institution, and we connected personally.  I followed up and we met for coffee in early March -- that was when she told me that her daughter's friends had just adopted a baby who has some serious vision issues.  I gave her my card, told her about our children's program, and  described how we help families deal with the process of navigating the bureaucracy involved in getting their child's needs met in the school system.  We see children as young as 6 months old, and honestly?  The sooner they start getting help, the easier it is for them to adjust. 

When I saw this woman at the networking event this week, she gave me an update.  "Lives were changed because of Visionary," she told me.  "I can't tell you the profound difference you made in this family's life.  Lives were CHANGED."  She then proceeded to rave about Visionary to the networking group and told them the story of the family and how we had helped and made such an important and significant difference to them. 

Gotta say, it made me pretty happy.  Very good day at work.

Kinda makes makes it all worthwhile, no?

New look!

Some of you may notice that I have changed the look and feel of my blog.  I wanted something that reflected a bit more of who I really was...and anyone who knows me knows that I am SUCH a girlie girl.  Pink makes me happy.  Frou frou makes me happy.  Tea parties make me happy.  Personally, I believe that it is possible to be a smart, savvy, sophisticated, accomplished woman...AND still embrace your inner tween.  I look forward to exploring some of those issues here, and would love to hear your feedback.

For now, here is a little sumpin' sumpin' to kick us off right.   Hysterical!  I think I have a girl crush on Sarah Silverman.

Hooverville no more

Oh happy day!  My heater is fixed!  Now I can stop burning wood and newspaper for heat.  It was beginning to feel like a shanty-town in my place with all of the frosty air and small circumference of warmth around the fire. 

Coooold

I woke up on Sunday to discover it was f***ing cold in my house.  I checked my thermostat and sure enough, it was in the low 60's.  Brrrrrrrr.  I have the heat set to go on and off on a timer so it goes on and off automatically, so I was confused.  I decided...maybe it was tired?  So I turned the heater off for half an hour and then turned it back on.  Nothing.  Definitely broken.  Just in time for the first cold spell to hit the area. 

Lovely.

I couldn't feel my frozen fingers, and decided this just wouldn't do.  Grateful for the long-burning log my brother brought over last weekend, I put it in the fireplace and lit it.  I opened the fireplace screen (more warmth) and sat in front of the fire.  After about 45 minutes my hands were toasty warm again.  Ahhh.

This whole thing reminds me of something I haven't thought about for quite a while.  It was a cold, frosty January evening two years ago, and X. and I were just returning from the hospital after I had had emergency surgery earlier in the week.  We walked in to a freezing house to discover that our gas had been shut off.  Turns out X. hadn't paid the gas bill in a few months, after repeatedly assuring me he was taking care of things.  I was livid.  I was in pain.  I was tired.  And I was cold.  We lit a fire for warmth, and after one very cold night and much haggling, he got the Gas Company to come out and turn it back on the next morning.  He finally paid the bill, along with the hefty deposit that was required now because of his delinquency.

The thing that angered me the most was that we HAD the money to pay the bill -- he just neglected to do so.  As we tried to work through our problems in the final years, he kept saying he wanted and needed more responsibility and trust (which I very much wanted to give him).  But the sad reality was that when he took stuff on his plate, things like this happened with alarming regularity.  I constantly struggled with wanting to save my marriage, needing a partner and NOT someone to monitor, and also realizing I had to protect my own credit and financial standing so that I didn't drown in his irresponsibility. 

It makes me happy to realize, on days like today, that the heat isn't working because of a mechanical malfunction and not because the bill hasn't been paid. 

Oh, silver lining.