Sorry about the skiparoo!

Yikes, hard to believe I've gone three days without writing!

The new job is a little insane. I haven't been home before 6 pm since I started. I work with three workaholics and one gal who's smart enough to work an 8 hour day. Luckily my boss is out for the rest of the week, so I plan to get the hell out of dodge on time for four days. While I'm at work, it's go-go-go. I haven't been this busy this many days in a row since some of my more insane days at the PR agency.

All that aside, I'm happy I took the job. The busy is good. I know what I'm doing, I just have a lot of stuff to do. I think I'm doing well - but my boss is hard to read on that one, so I'm not 100% sure what to think. My boss is nice, but there are so many unknowns with dealing with a new boss - am I reporting to her too much? Not enough? Does she prefer me to e-mail or drop by her office with questions? Am I annoying her? I'm sure I'll get that down pat soon.

One thing: I miss my kids. I see them for 40 minutes before bedtime, and then an hour or so in the morning. There's the weekends - just not this past one. Friday night, the kids slept at my parents while hubby and I went out for dinner. Then Sunday afternoon, the gal from next door was over again while we organized more of the house. I plan on spending more time with them this weekend.

Speaking of dinner Friday night - hubby and I went to Baton Rouge, a high-er end chicken, ribs and such joint. We got there around 7 ish, after dropping in to the local home show for a quick peek. The place was packed with couples, what looked like a few large work groups and a few extended families. When the group next to us cleared out, they got a table ready for an even larger one. And then in pranced 12 young girls - 13, maybe - with their birthday gift bags, cell phones, digital cameras and high-pitched chatter. The girls got seated, the birthday girl's mom and dad distributed "birthday menus" to limit the kids choices, and promptly disappeared.

That's right. These parents left 12 thirteen year olds unattended in a restaurant where bills are rarely under $40 a person. They buggered off to a table across the restaurant while we had to sit next to them.

The waitress was mortified, and the manager came to apologize. In hindsight I wish I'd made more of a fuss. But I didn't, I accepted his apology, and he didn't offer anything more - not even a discount on our meal. Lesson learned.

I've lost track of my numbering system, but here we go:

I need to learn to better stand up for myself, especially when it means it's the difference between getting what's right, and getting fair treatment. Or a free/discounted meal.