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11:51 a.m. - 2006-01-21 SNOW!!!!!!It has been Spring in Chicagoland all winter. We havn't seen much lower temps than 35 degrees since mid December. We have become spoiled. Thursday night I was driving at 11:00 at night, window wide open taking in the balmy 54 degree air on Shoe Factory Road heading home. They said we would get a ton of snow Friday. I gave that notion a haughty laugh. I was still laughing Friday around 5PM when all Mother Nature could manage was a slush storm. It was trying to be snow, but instead was falling as great gobs of slush that melted the minute it hit the warm ground. I made it home by the time the first real snoflake fell. Then there were more and more and more until so many giant quarter sized snowflakes were falling you couldn't see the house across the street. Two hours later there was a 6 inch high, arch shaped pile sitting perfect and undisturbed upon my mailbox. My neighbor, Michael-not-mike's lamp post looked as if it were wearing a huge white wool bonnet. By 10:30 PM there must have been 10 inches on the mailbox. We talked about getting the camera and taking a picture of the lamp post wearing a bonnet but decided to wait until morning. Michael-not-mike came out with his little Honda snowblower. It would run, then stop, run then stop. My Mike went out with our new snow scoop that normally takes care of our little driveway with ease and it would not budge. Michael-not-mike's snowblower wouln't handle the heavy snow either. I told Mike to just come in and we would both chip away at it on Saturday. I woke up to astounding beauty. It was as if we were Lilliputians who had made their homes in a great cotton field. The heavy wet snow outlined every tree and sat in tufts upon the tree tops and in the crotch of every branch terminal. Now and then a snow bomb would fall from the tippy top of a tree, begin to break apart on the way down and shatter when it hit the blanketed ground. The air is still, not a wisp of wind and the feathery sillohette of the naked trees lined in white against the clear blue sky is stunning. I could sit here all day in my flannel PJ's, curled up with a book, looking out at the gift Mother Nature bestowed, but I am also anxious to take a drive through Elgin's historic district and see the effect of this snow on the 130 year old Victorians and mansions that line Douglas Street. I had an interesting week. Mother in law has taken to hiding her purse and then forgets where she put it. We have found it stashed behind books on a bookshelf and hiddin in a bathroom drawer but this time it was under her bed, tucked behind boxes and crap she stores under there. A nightstand had to be moved and boxes pulled out to reach it so it was quite an effort to hide it this time and she didn't remember. Also found was the box of candy she accused me of taking several weeks ago. I think she might think that I am taking stuff out of her purse. It hurts to think that she would think me a theif, but I guess that is the dementia taking over. Thurday, I was accused of stealing her Coffee Mate she keeps in the fridge. Now I am no saint, but I am not a Coffee Mate thief...I mean really. If I didn't laugh at this stuff, I'd have to cry...so I choose to laugh. My Mother in Law can be excused for this odd behavior. She is almost 90 and the arteries in her brain are clogging. However what goes on in the brain of my 49 year old boss is a wonderment to me and my co-workers. The year end is a trying time for a Bookkeeper as our buddy H2OPhobic can attest. I don't have time for minutia. I am plowing along from one job to the next. Other than my year end work, we are not busy as a company right now. My boss is fine tuning and tightening what is already too tight in company operations. I submitted my cash requirements for our Thursday check runs to Joe for approval. One item that needed paying was our credit card bill. I can't pay this until all credit card holders return their portion of the bill with their receipts attached. Next to the amount on the report I wrote "Can't pay, I am still waiting for you and Greg to hand in receipts." The bill had arrived the day before and it was not even 24 hours since they had been given their copies of the statement. "What in the hell is this supposed to imply" Joe said, the tip of his pen pointing to my comment and the word STILL. "It means I'm STILL waiting for the receipts" I replied casually "Yeah, but why did you write STILL...we only got them yesterday." "I know...and I am STILL waiting" I commented back not knowing what in the world he was trying to say. "Well, I don't like it" he snapped back, "you imply that I am slow to get it back to you." At this I just shook my head and said "Joe, there isn't much to write about working here but at this rate you are going to make my blog." "Don't write about me in your blog" he said in a panicky tone. "that is against the company rules" "No, I don't think it is" an amused co-workers voice came from around the corner. Yesterday, I was embroiled in creating another year end report requested by our auditors. There were about 7 of us in the office, all working hard and dillegently. The office was silent except for the click click clicking of keyboards. I heard Joe's voice coming through the speaker on my phone. "Paula" "Yes" "I'm sitting here looking at our letterhead. Could you get out a copy of it please" "Sure" I sighed, wondering what on the letterhead could possibly compete with a report for the auditors. I looked at our 2" tall logo and next to it in tiny letters was the address. 1234 Whatnot street, Anytown, Illinois 6----. "OK, what's the problem?" I asked. "There's a comma between street and Anytown." he said "It just jumped right out at me like a sore thumb." I looked at the tiny letters and saw the comma, so small it could have been a fleck of dust. We have had this letterhead for years and he looks at it every day. The comma has always been there. I sat silently....my brain started flip flopping in my head. This takes the cake. The President of this company is sitting there questioning why there is a comma between street and anytown. We have had pathetic sales for the month and nothing much coming up for the future. We are not doing very well, and a comma on the letterhead is what concerns him. I'll bet the comma is the reason for our lack of sales. Before I could lasso my thought, it ran through the language center of my brain and came out as a sentence.... "Joe, don't you have anything to do this afternoon?" I blurted out. There was a pregnant pause, then as if one voice, the entire office began to laugh. My boldness in questioning the President's actions had set in motion, a series of jokes about Joe, his attention to minutia and his lack of having anything better to do. Sometimes Joe jokes around and sometimes he is dead serious. You never know which mood he is in so smarting off to him can be dangerous. Thank God he was in a jovial mood and was able to take the joke. I hope he also takes the hint. P. I. Yarnsmith
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