Memorial Day

Today was a busy day around here. Although it was our day off, we wanted to see how they put their picnic together with the buffet lines, etc. There were about 50 extra guests today beyond the normal amount of residents. We started in at breakfast and finished up around 3:30, once everything had settled down. Lunch was awesome. Wilbur came in off of the grill a little before noon. He was put on a large serving board and then placed out on the buffet line. Chef Steve did the carving throughout the meal. In addition to the sliced pork there was pork bbq, hamburgers, potato salad, macaroni salad, baked beans, cole slaw and all the fixins for the burgers. We also had an ice cream bar that had vanilla ice cream (regular and low sugar) with a multitude of toppings. There was also a cake decorated like the American flag...loads of food !

After lunch the hand bell choir performed, some of the ladies sang and we had a guest speaker from AMVETS there. He was retired from the Navy (33 yrs of service). His talk got too political in nature for us so we left part way through and went back to our apartment. I don't think that this type of event is the appropriate time to talk about military levels in current or past administrations. It's a day of remembrance and respect for those who have or do serve in our armed forces. Hope everyone had a safe and fun Memorial weekend !

The day here started out sunny but just as lunch was about to begin it started to pour outside. Wilbur got in out of the rain just in time ! Tomorrow we go in at 11:30, work till close and are then on-call throughout the night.

Back In Winston-Salem.....

We finished up our training, on Thursday in Chesapeake with a bang...There were servers/housekeepers out so we were helping to cover for these folks. On our last day we were supposed to socialize with folks but ending up serving during lunch. Right after lunch we got the car packed and headed out about 2:30. Had a nice drive back to Winston-Salem....arrived here around 7:00. We were exhausted so didn't stay up very long before hittin' the hay.

Got up Friday morning and started work. Rick and Susan, the managers, worked till early afternoon and then took the rest of the day off. They normally have Fridays and Saturdays off and we'll have Sunday and Mondays off. We had a server not show up Saturday night so Linda served. We've settled into our apartment...got caught up on laundry today.

Tomorrow is the annual pig roast here that they have each Memorial Day. "Wilbur" is ready to hit the grill early tomorrow morning...complete with an apple in his mouth. We have about 50 extra guests coming to join in the festivities. Although it's our day off, we're going to help with it for a while so we can see how they pull the whole thing together. I'll try and get some pictures to post here tomorrow after we "pig out".

The great kitchen staff at Lighthouse Pointe...

Rudy and Helen - Co-managers/Rosemary and Paul - Managers

Our buddy Jane...nicknamed "Trouble"

Look at all those smiling faces....such sweet ladies !

Winding Down With Training

We go into work today at 11:30 so we took Boomer to the dog park this morning to get some exercise before being cooped up all day. When we first arrived there were no other dogs in the park. After about 20 minutes some others started arriving. Usually most of the dogs that have been there don't seem to like to play or run...they just meander about doing their "business". A German Shepherd, named Abby, came with another beagle type dog (and of course their owner) and she was very playful with Boomer. They ran and chased each other all over the park. It was great to see Boomer get to run full tilt and get some much needed exercise. We are now back at Lighthouse Pointe for our last full day of training. We'll work till close tonight and will learn how to close the kitchen. Yesterday we learned how to do payroll so tonight we'll probably check everyone's time once they've finished their shift and approve it on the system. Tomorrow will be a short day....open at 6:30 a.m. and only work till lunch. Then we'll pack the car and head out for Winston-Salem...right after lunch. So many of the residents have come up to us and told us how happy they've been to have us here and they hope that we'll come back to visit. One lady even said that she'd love to come down to see us but she doesn't drive. I told her that maybe she could team up with someone else and they could make it a "road trip". Everyone has been wonderful...we will really miss them !

Nascar Hall of Fame

This afternoon I watched some of the induction ceremony for the first batch of inductees into the Nascar Hall of Fame. The pre-ceremony coverage started at noon. That concluded at one....watched the start of the actual ceremony...laid down for a nap and got up at 3:15 and it was still on !

This new facility honors sixty years of stock car racing and is located in Charlotte, NC. There's 40,000 square feet of display space on three floors. Sounds like a good place to take a road trip on our day off....it's only 80 miles away from us in Winston-Salem !

Change of Plans...

The day started out sunny but then the thunderstorms moved in and it's been raining ever since. Linda's daughter and her family arrived to have breakfast with us...Teagan and Ila were a big hit with the residents. Stephanie and Jessie also joined us. We had tropical french toast for breakfast (pineapple in the french toast batter) and it was really yummy. As soon as everyone left, we were told that we needed to call our regional boss. Did so and found out that we need to return to our facility in Winston-Salem, right after lunch on Thursday. We'll finish our training there. Our managers have been without co-managers since last November and they are pretty frazzled. There are floating managers that come in to give them some days off but do not do any of the operational things that need to get done. After a short while I can see where the work would pile up and it would get to be pretty overwhelming. We are still off today but will now go in tomorrow to start cramming in some of the info we haven't gone over yet. We'll probably work open to close Tuesday and Wednesday and then we'll leave after lunch Thursday for the 5.5 hour drive back to North Carolina. I'm looking forward to getting back there....starting to learn about our property and residents and get settled into a sense of normalcy. It will be hard to say goodbye to the people here. All of the residents are really great.

Today is my son, Jay's birthday....my "baby" turned 23 today. We talked for quite a while on the phone this morning. Is always nice to chat with both of my kids....am truly blessed.

Picnic

End of a tiring week....Today was our "Picnic in the Park" event and it was a very hectic day. Linda and I had to get the patio furniture cleaned up this morning and then get the grill out and wheel it around to the front of the building. The folding legs on the underside of this Coleman grill are in bad shape...one was bent when we got it out in the morning and the other side bent on the return trip so the whole set-up is "toast" at this point. The grill itself isn't bad (although it seems to be pretty old)but it was never meant to be wheeled so dang far to an event.

We cooked the hamburgers and hotdogs on our grill for the folks who decided to sit out on the patio (extra tables and chairs were set up outside so we wound up with seating for about 35 out there). The chef also prepared barbequed chicken, baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad, chips and ice cream and watermelon for dessert. We were all ready to go at 12:30 and had our folks fed in about 10 minutes time. After checking to see if anyone wanted seconds, we took our burgers and dogs inside to the serving line there so everyone could enjoy true "picnic fare", instead of burgers and dogs off the flat top grill from the kitchen. We had many compliments from folks who had our grilled items that they were very moist and really yummy !

After lunch, there was a male singer that performed for an hour. He was pretty good...the residents really enjoyed him and some of them kicked up their heels and had some fun dancing to his tunes.

At 8:00 this morning our yard sale started so that involved a lot of set-up yesterday and tear down today after the picnic. All of the proceeds went to the Muscular Dystrophy Assoc.There were also a number of really great prizes that folks could buy raffle tickets for and that money also went to MDA. After Linda and I helped gather up all the leftover yard sale items, we had to get the room ready for a birthday party and dance that is going on tonight from 6 - 9. Needless to say, we are exhausted tonight. Our day ended around 5 p.m. but it felt like we'd been run over by a herd of elephants....as we were walking to our room I'm sure we looked like some of our residents going down the hall.

Sunday and Monday off.....no plans at this point. Stay tuned...

Another Tiring Day...

The last two days were spent in the kitchen, prepping and doing dishes. Hard work! I've found muscles I haven't used in a while. Today was equally hard...we worked with the housekeepers cleaning the residents rooms. Reminded me of my college days when I had to do a stint, in Best Western's housekeeping dept., for my hospitality degree. Similar structured system of cleaning that lets us get a studio apt cleaned in 20 min, a one bedroom apt.in 30 minutes and a two bedroom apt.in 40 minutes. These skills can be utilized in everyday life, cleaning on our own. The four ladies that are the housekeepers are also the breakfast and lunch servers in the dining room. They have a non-stop day of work...five days a week ! Tomorrow Linda and I will help them again. There are a couple of rooms that are vacant and need to be "deep cleaned" to get them ready for new residents. I started one of the rooms today, scrubbing the kitchenette area. Tomorrow Linda and I will work together to clean several residents rooms and then deep clean one vacant room. The draperies are really neat that they use in the rooms. They are washed, on the gentle cycle, for 10 minutes and then they are hung while they are damp. They dry and look wonderful again....voila'. The draperies get done once a year as well as shampooing the carpets in each of the resident's rooms. Everything is maintained so immaculately here....

Our big spring event is this Saturday. Linda and I will be working on the grill, cooking burgers and hotdogs. There will be games like horseshoes, etc. and the indoor yard sale where proceeds will benefit MDA. There will be tours of the facility going on and lots of fun things to do. Anyone that tours a Holiday facility anytime before June 30 can sign up to win "Rent for Life"....

When we finish this week, we'll be half way done with our training...yippee !!

Yowie, do our feet/bodies hurt !

Well our new work week started today at 11:00 and we were assigned to the prep cook. We prepped some vegetables, diced some ham and did a few odds and ends. Once we had those tasks finished up (right after lunch) then we were told to clean....walls, ventilation grates, the wall behind the cooking line, etc. So we spent about 5 hours doing some heavy duty cleaning today....not sure what that was supposed to teach us. I know that the regional chef is coming this week to do his inspection so I guess the chef here figured he had a couple extra hands to get ready for the inspection. We also had the health inspector in today. We had an excellent inspection.

Tomorrow we start at 6:00 a.m. and we work with the dishwasher. The day should go by pretty quickly. Thursday we work with the housekeepers. Hopefully our umph won't git up and go before we can make it to Thursday. Gotta go....I need to put my feet over my head to try and get them to stop throbbing..

Rainy Day...

"Rainy days and Mondays always get me down"...Isn't that the way that song goes ? Not sure what happens when the rainy day FALLS on a Monday. Just some nourishment for the May flowers that we have here. Is really pouring though.... We left this morning to go to Linda's doctor appt in Williamsburg and on the way home we saw two accidents, just off Rt. 64. Looked like cars that had hydroplaned and found themselves in places other than the highway...one went down over the bank and the other went into the guardrail. Oops !

After we left Linda's appt, we drove up to American Heritage campground to see our friend Mike. Some of you may recall that this is the campground where we stayed the summer we worked at Busch Gardens and we workamped at this campground in exchange for our site. Had a good time chatting with Mike. He works in the security dept at Busch Gardens. He and his wife, Cindy, have a gorgeous motorhome. Linda had packed a picnic lunch and since it was raining we decided to have our picnic indoors and invite Mike. We sat at their table and enjoyed leftovers from Teagan's birthday party. It was just as yummy the second time around. Speaking of the birthday party, here are some pics from it.

Days Off...

Yesterday was our last day for this week. We are now off until Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. Today we hit some of the consignment and thrift shops and found some nice work clothes. When we went on the road we got rid of all of my business suits, etc. so today we found a couple of nice suits that will work in our new job. From there, we stopped by Firehouse Subs to pick up lunch and take it over to Linda's daughters' house. Tomorrow is Teagan's birthday party so we helped get things ready for that while hanging out and playing with the kids and Laurie. Linda is looking forward to the party since this is the first party, for Teagan, that she's been able to make it to.

The day was very warm today...thermometers on the various banks we drove by recorded 91 degrees. It was a perfect day to sit on the porch swing, at Laurie and Matt's house, and enjoy the warmth of the day. Supposed to be almost as warm tomorrow for the birthday party....hoping for clear and sunny skies !

Work...

We're on the second day of this work week and these two days are our long days. We open the building at 6:30 and get done about 8:00 p.m. The days go really quickly though and there is usually a lull during the day where we go up to the apartment for a little while. Linda and I were discussing today that this work is relatively easy compared to the last couple of jobs we've had. I can see where it can be hectic if a number of residents need something throughout the day or there are multiple walk-in tours, etc. Overall, though it's not that rough physically or mentally. I'll give you my final thoughts on it when we finish our 6 weeks of training. Maybe I'm missing something....

Today we had a server/housekeeper out so I served. Linda was my trainer since she served on another day. It seemed a little hectic at first but then I got into a rhythm with it. First the beverage/salad cart goes out. We have iced tea/lemonade/tomato juice and milk on the cart.(The coffee and hot tea service goes out prior to this cart.) The salad choices are a tossed salad( with and without cheese), cottage cheese (with and without fruit), applesauce and a featured salad of the day. After we finish with this cart, it goes into the kitchen and we take a tray stand and large tray into the dining room and start taking orders...one table at a time. You put your stand in the middle of four tables and work that "quad" until you finish and then move it up to the next quad. There are always two main choices, plus a featured salad, sandwich, baked potato and a pasta choice. Today choice # 1 was pork loin, brown rice pilaf and broccoli or choice #2..chicken cacciatore with peas. The residents can mix and match items and they can choose from a regular, small or large size portion. With four residents at a table and each picking all types of combinations (and no paper to write it all down on) it takes a good memory to remember it all till you get to the kitchen and back to the table again. It's kind of fun though....sharpens your mental acuity by matching the entree choice to the resident. It's also a workout !! Have to carry the large tray above your shoulder which I haven't done in a really long time. Overall it was fun.

This afternoon the manager took Linda and I on a tour of the facility, showing us mechanical rooms, storage areas, the unique design of this property in relationship to the surrounding wetlands and up to the roof. On the roof the manager showed us a smoke extraction system that would be used, in the event of fire, to pull the smoke out of the building. In the center core, that extends up through all three floors, metal curtains would drop down and seal this atrium area to create a chimney of sorts. The fan would suck the smoke up through this area and out of the building. I've never heard of such a system and it was really impressive. Our initial impressions of this company, when first interviewing with them, was that they are a class act. After seeing and hearing about the quality systems and upkeep to these properties, it truly sets this company apart from any other competitor. We're very impressed !

We also got to look at four different floor plans of rooms for the residents. Each property has around 26-28 different floor plans to choose from....wow ! We looked at a one bedroom unit that was huge! It was very impressive and would hold a ton of furniture. Was nice to see a few of the units that are available here.

Tomorrow we open again but get done mid-afternoon. We keep plugging along in our workbook....learning more of the things we'll need to know to run a property.

Babysitting...

We are over at Linda's daughters house babysitting her two small children (10 weeks and almost 3)while mom and dad get a night out. With two small kids, it takes quite the orchestration of events to get baths, books and bedtime in. While Linda started giving the baby her bath, I was reading books to Teagan. We get the books read then we head up so he can get his bath. Picking out of PJ's and then "12 tucks" to get him all nestled into bed.

In the meantime Linda is dressing and feeding Ila. That was a much longer process than what I had with Teagan. Both kids are settled down now and Mom and Dad just returned home. Linda and I were joking with each other that once you experience motherhood, it's a long time before you ever eat your food while it's still hot. When you go out to eat..You also learn to shovel your meal in...to get something in your belly before your kids start fussing. Mealtime becomes an entirely different experience than you've had for all the years leading up until that point.

When we first arrived here, it was playtime with Teagan. He loves the pop group... Journey. He has a DVD of this group, playing in concert that he plays all the time. He has a microphone, several play guitars, bongos, a keyboard and drums. He knows all of the songs on this DVD...knows all the moves of the singers and sings along. Once Teagan's dad left to go to dinner, he wanted me to get up and play guitar with him. We had to get up on stage (up on the fireplace)and play our guitars along with the DVD. It is so cute...We had a good time.

Linda is enjoying being here, in Virginia Beach, so she can spend time with her kids and grandkids. It was fun, playing with the kids. Reminded us what hard work it is to be a young mom....whew !!

End of First Week....

Today was our last day of work for the week....off till 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning. We will now open and close on our own. Have learned how to lock/unlock doors, where all the light switches are, make the morning coffee, etc. Today Linda and I helped run the crossword puzzle activity due to the other co-manager needing to give a tour. We had a great time with the ladies....they are sharp as a tack at completing the puzzles. Yesterday was Cinco De Mayo so a group of the folks in our Spanish club (led by their amazing 94 year old teacher who speaks fluent Spanish)sang a cute little song during lunch. You would never, in a million years, guess that the instructor is 94. She is very youthful looking and has no impairment whatsoever with walking. You would swear that she is in her sixties or seventies but certainly not in her nineties.

Nice breeze blowing this evening. I shut the air conditioning off and opened all the windows and the door to the patio. Boomer likes to walk out there and look through the railing to see what might be going on down below us. Tomorrow we're going to search for the local dog park so Boomer can get some exercise.

BEEP BEEP Bingo.....

View from our living room here in Virginia....

Training is going well. We watched a whole lot of videos, have helped serve lunch, bussed tables and today I worked with one of the managers waiting on a group of 18 women there for a business lunch. One of the residents passed away on Thursday so this afternoon was the service, which took the managers out of the building. That left us with the co-managers and they were tied up with other things so we had to oversee the bingo game. The bingo game was in the same room where the business luncheon was so we had to bus the tables, tear down...reset the room in time for the game at 2:00. Just as we started the game, (I called the numbers and Linda sat with the residents, poised to jump up and check the winning card)the fire alarm went off. These are really loud alarms with strobe lights. Do you know how hard it is to call out bingo numbers when these are going off every minute or two ? I-24...BEEP BEEP BEEP....O-75...BEEP BEEP BEEP....Turns out the fire department was there to check the alarm system which entails checking that the alarm, in every single room (we have 115 of them) activates when set off. Oh brother !! So for an hour and a half, the alarms were going off. Linda and I had a great time with the ladies though.....first time we've ever called a bingo game. This time they were playing for "funny money". There are all different types of bingo that are played here.

We're really enjoying the residents and the info we're learning. The residents are so great and just hearing them saying "thank you" after the game was worth a million bucks. They knew that everyone else was busy and couldn't run their game but they were so appreciative that Linda and I made it happen for them. We were happy to do it !

Today our day started at 6:30. We learned how to open the building and get the coffee ready for the early birds. Then we went back to our room till the day really starts at 7:30....just before breakfast. We finished up at 3:30 and now we don't go in until 11:30 tomorrow. We'll work till close tomorrow (around 7:30 or so) and lock up the building at 9. The days go by so quickly....so much of the day is spent eating and being in the dining room with the residents...LOL..We'll get into more of the administrative work over the coming weeks. We're excited to learn all of it !

First Day of Training.....

Today was our first official day of training. We spent the bulk of it watching videos on a variety of subjects. Holiday has a very extensive training program with excellent information. They have gotten everything down to a science with operational issues. We really like Paul and Rosemary, the managers here....they are great teachers. They are originally from Pittsburgh so native Pennsylvanians like us. We have another day of watching videos tomorrow and then on Tuesday we'll start learning the operational side of things.

It was so hot here yesterday and even worse today. High 90's and very high humidity. I think someone forgot to tell Mother Nature that spring comes in before summer. I think they skipped it altogether....It's only the beginning of May. Not the time to have temps in the 90's just yet. Right now....at 9:30 at night it's 85 degrees. How's that for hot ?!?! Yikes !

My daughter Becky flew to Nashville Saturday morning to visit with some friends from the Recording Academy office down there. She got there in time for all the serious flooding that has been taking place. A state of emergency has been declared. Opryland hotel was evacuated today. She said it is so bad down there....roads all around where she is staying have been closed. Poor kid can't even get out to sightsee.....many of the streets are under water and things are closed. She's not even sure if her flight will get out of there....all flights today were cancelled. :(

Tonight Linda's daughter Stephanie came over, after work, and they shot some pool after supper. Linda got her butt whooped so then the three of us sat down and played a game of scrabble. A good time...

Training in Virginia..

We left Winston-Salem after breakfast on Friday to make the drive to Chesapeake, VA to Lighthouse Point for our management training. We have been told we'll be here for six weeks. We arrived here a little before 3 p.m. and got our stuff moved up to the room. This facility is almost completely occupied so I think we are in the last room they have left to rent. It's a large room on the front corner of the property...overlooking the entrance. Weather getting here yesterday was gorgeous. We had all the windows down so the warm breezes could blow through the car.

Last night we went out to dinner with Linda's daughters Laurie and Stephanie and Laurie's husband and two kids. We went to a great Mexican restaurant...the food was very good.

After dinner we went to a frozen yogurt bar where they had a kazillion different toppings to put on the yogurt. Linda and I shared strawberry yogurt that I had topped with fresh strawberries, chocolate chips, hot fudge and hot caramel. Yum !! Went back to Laurie's house long enough to see the kids off to bed and then we returned to our facility. (We are only 10 miles from their house)

This morning we had breakfast in the dining room with the residents. We met Helen and Rudy, the co-managers here. They seem like super nice people and I'm sure we'll be working with them quite a bit while we are here. We're still not sure if we start our training tomorrow or Monday. Rudy is going to try and find that out and let us know. More later....

Pictures

 On our way south to our new home in North Carolina, we stopped at Cracker Barrel, near Winchester,VA to have coffee with Linda's best friend Susie (also her sister-in-law).

Linda's sister Carol and her boyfriend Barry. We visited with them during our overnight stay in Greencastle, PA.



Packed and ready to go to Virginia for our training...

The Winston-Salem Visitors Bureau....It's an old cotton mill.

The inside of the visitors bureau....gorgeous old building.

Out back of the bureau...