Long time, no write...

It's been so chaotic here with us as a family that sitting down to take time to write hasn't really happened as I had made time before for it. Well, here's what "you've" missed.
~I'm working two jobs

• Between working at Panera Bread and The Columbus Dispatch, I've had little to no time to breath lately.

Let's start with Panera:

1. When I started at Panera, it was a job that I felt rushed to get. I wasn't certain that I'd stay there for an extended period of time because fact is, it's restaurant business and it's been a long time since I've worked in a restaurant type of job. 
2. Management within the store I work in is pretty together. There are some typical behaviors that you see in every restaurant with managers, but this store doesn't amount to much of the bullshit I've seen in my time in the many restaurants I've worked in previously. 
1. My GM is the flirtatious, unmarried, unattached manager who has an eye for the lookers.
2. My Assistant manager is pretty together. Soft spoken, married with a child and has informed me that he doesn't cuss at home so "It's fair game at work." LOL
3. My scheduling manager does not have kids and I'm uncertain if he's married but he's got a pretty good head on his shoulders as it appears at work.
4. My shift supervisor is pretty cool. She's attending school for the Police Academy and is in a relationship happily. 
3. All of the managers know how to work within every position in the store and are capable of jumping in to help at any given time, as needed. Heck at one point all of the managers were on the line cooking. At other times they'll help tidy up the dining room, brew coffees, restock needed items, work dish, take the trash out, work barista making drinks, ring on the registers, and I've even witnessed a few checking the bathroom's cleanliness. That is a huge difference from what I've seen in the past. The office at our store is rarely ever occupied and when it is, it's for checking out cashiers or making orders, not for sitting in and watching others work.
4. How I've grown ALREADY with the company after being there for a little over a month:
1. I started working in the dining room which consisted of cleaning, bussing tables, interaction with guests was absolute key, brewing/restocking coffees and coffee stations, etc.
2. I'm now trained as a Cashier.
3. I've been certified on both dining room and Cashier.
4. The management wants to train me on the line.
5. I have become a trainer for the dining room. The management is so pleased with how I run the floor that they want me to train 3-4 people this week on the floor. 
6. With this training, I will be able to move onto other areas that will allow me to advance into other areas. 
5. Over-all, my happiness level is pretty good there. With the management's support in some limitations I've had since working there, they've shown me that a good management team is possible in the restaurant business. There are good days and bad days, but I think that's going to be anywhere. 

Now onto the Route delivery:

1. I must say, I am not very happy with how shitty my route coordinator is about taking care of what needs to be. He has complained about the people who work for him not delivering, however, when I bring anything up to him, I'm too enthusiastic as a delivery person. 
2. In my eyes if you want a job to be done, hire people who will actually deliver it and stop bitching about how unreliable your staff is! As I've told my route coordinator, there are many people who do not have a job who would actually deliver the route as it's supposed to be. But, then again, maybe my thoughts are too high of others.
3. I've begun to lose respect for my route coordinator for the reasons listed above. 
4. Over-all happiness, meh! If not for financial loans needing to be repaid, I would not stay there.

Home life:

1. Let's start with health:
1. Dental:
1. Claire is doing alright with his dental visits, no cavities. We were however informed that she may need braces in the upcoming years. We do have some time to determine if that is a must have, but it's only between the ages of 11-13 years old. 
2. D's is good, no cavities. They do say that he may need to get his wisdom teeth extracted soon due to a more than likely chance of them beginning to bother him. 
3. Mine is pretty good too! Since getting my dental procedures done in June, things have improved quite a bit, however, I'm still concerned a bit about how my gums are, and have an appointment for the 9th of January to get a cleaning and I'll address those problems then.
2. Health:
1. D's been doing pretty well, aside from this cold he's been dealing with for quite some time now. He does seem to be improving over the past couple of days with some new OTC meds that were just started a couple of days ago.
2. Claire's been doing alright. She had a double ear infection a few weeks ago and is doing better now that that's all cleared up. She's still dealing with some ankle issues but it's not as persistent as it was a while ago. 
3. Me, I'm okay. Yesterday I fell on the newly wet floor and slammed my right side of my chest into the corner of my chest. Since then I've had some elevated pain that has made it difficult for me to carry anything that isn't extremely light. Lifting things are really hard to do also. And bending down has been quite the issue, also. I've had some shortness of breath and also some sharp pains that have made it hard to handle much at all. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow for my 3 month check up and I will bring this up to the doctor when I see her. I have a cardiologist appointment for January 9th to figure out what's going on with my irregular pulse rate.
2. Holidays:
1. This holiday has and always will be a pain in the ass. I'm not a huge fan of the holidays and all that it has to "offer". I've become even more anti this year than years previous. 
1. My phone was stolen from my front porch last Friday from a stranger who is an idiot. After practically reaching through the phone and strangling Verizon associates, I finally became satisfied by getting my contract renewed and a new phone being issued so that I did not have to pay a $300+ fee to replace the phone that was stolen. 
2. D and I have decided to talk to Claire about the truth of Santa Claus. She did handle it well and to be honest I'm thankful that it was spoken of and that's cleared off of the table. It's been something we've wanted to talk to her about, but held off to help keep her innocence. This time was just best. She admitted that it all made sense now because all but one other person in her classroom had said Santa was fake! 
3. Claire got a lot of cool things this Christmas and doesn't believe that we'll be celebrating Christmas this year, so this year will be special I really do believe.
3. Animals:
1. Ninja is getting spayed January 2nd.
2. All of the cats are inside for the winter and are getting along. It took quite the adjustment for the cats to get along with Ninja inside too, but finally after much adjusting, everyone is getting along, with the occasional hiss here and there.
3. All of the others in the house are doing good too! All is good with the animals. 
4. D's school:
1. Yet another quarter with great grades. 2 B's and 1 A this quarter. Even with some roadblocks throughout the quarter for him, he still managed to pull out above passing grades!
5. D's work:
1. While he's still working on his degree, he's working his butt off at work too. We're finally alright enough so that he can invest in life insurances for all of us at his work, also be a part of short and long term disability, and keep us on his benefits package. So while it's not the dream job, it still definitely provides for us in a way that allows us as a family to be taken care of.

Well I think that pretty much sums it up here.

Thanks for reading my lengthy update! Happy Holidays everyone!!!