What's New Pussycat?

While pondering what to write about for my Friday wrap up I hopped on my Facebook page and saw a post and tune my brother posted... He posted the song, "What's New Pussycat?" on my page and all I could do was laugh..

My brother is definitely a music connoisseur.. He's got an amazing amount of tunes in his possession and is a lover of all different kinds of music. He's the one you can rely on to come up with an appropriate tune to match any occasion or thought you've got. So, while thinking about my post for Friday, I figured this song and title basically summed it up.. 

The week seemed to fly by as quickly as it came. Is it me, or are the weeks just ticking away faster and faster. Before you know it, I'll be saying, "Happy Holidays" again... It sure as heck feels still like winter!

Back to working six day weeks has me feeling like this some days..

But, once I get a day off I'm back to feeling recharged! I'm learning how to pace myself again that is for sure.

I can tell the spring rush is on because I'm slowly starting to loose the comfort weight I packed on during winter.. Yippee..

One of my goals this season is to learn patience... I need to be patient with myself, my family and my employees. Perhaps all I need is to take a deep breath, realize that everything isn't going to be perfect always.. It isn't an easy goal, but I'm committed to trying..

Friday is my first day of being "Chief Happiness Officer" at work.. I've decided to put out a gigantic bowl of Cheese Balls! Silly I know, but the following week will become more interesting!

Along side the bowl will be this sign..

Do you know where this came from? See if you can guess.. 

That's all from me! Now, I ask you.. "What's Up Pussycat?"

My Labor Of Love

On and off for the past several weeks I've written to you about my workplace.. Well, I thought it high time that I show you exactly where I work. Obviously you realize by now that I work at a Nursery a.k.a Garden Center. But let's not get it confused with just any ordinary "Mom and Pop" garden center.. I work for one of the largest nurseries in the Northeast.

(See the woman in the dark blue shirt.. that's me - Naturally with my hands on my hip!)

When I first moved to Hunterdon County I was stumped...Should I continue to travel to my current job, or should I shed my skin, pull up my boot straps and find new digs.. I previously had worked for another Nursery but some distance away from my new house. I dusted off my resume and started the search. At this point in my life I was willing to do what ever it took to bring in an extra income into our new budget. I applied at small garden centers, box stores, grocery stores and even schools for a teachers aide position. None of which panned out until I applied at Rutgers Landscape & Nursery.  Naturally, I was shivering in my work boots during the interview. I left thinking that I embarrassed myself during the interview saying that I knew a lot about this and that. Is there ever a comfortable interview I wondered?

Several weeks later I received a call asking me if I'd like to come back in as they were interested in 'little ole me'.  I started as a Sales Associate and gradually learned the systems in place. Yes, I said 'systems' as remember I said, this is no ordinary nursery I am employed at. We follow systems, we have back up plans and know what to do each and every day, every week and every new year. There is no scratching our chinny chin chin wondering what to do each day... we've got tried and true plans that bring us success and I wouldn't want it any other way..

It was about one year or so before I was asked by the owner (who by the way I was afraid of.. not because of his personality, but that was the way I had always been with my bosses) if I'd consider being the Nursery Sales & Customer Service Manager. At first I was shocked that "I" would be asked to assume such a position, me, being the newbie in the group, but after discussing it with my husband I decided to give it a whirl..

That whirl has lasted me now for three years.. I'm still grabbing on to the ring on the merry go round at Rutgers Nursery and am still enjoying the ride. Sure, there are the days that I have to work harder than others. I have to make difficult decisions, I have to work late to get things done. But then there are the days when the sun is shining, the customers are dancing in the music filled aisles, my employees are laughing, my registers are counting and my boss is happy so could there be a better job on earth? I doubt it.

My job keeps me active. It keeps my mind active and creative. It's the place that has broaden my horizons both professionally and personally. But, most of all.. it's the place that I call my "Home Away From Home" as there are some months that I'm with my employees more than my own family...  Want to see where I work, click on Rutgers Landscape & Nursery.. Or, maybe you'd like to visit the blog I write for Rutgers? Click on the Rutgers Reuters.. and see the more professional side of me..

Ending the Week with Daisies!

What an interesting week.. We had a variety show of weather. I don't think I've ever seen so many different representations of weather in one week. The last sample though was enough to last me until December. Enough with the snow already I kept thinking. My plant minded brain kept telling me it's a great insulator though! OK, well it's time to put the winter coats away and start wearing flip flops and short sleeved t-shirts!

In an earlier post this week I wrote about my crazy experience Wednesday with all service related people. After thinking about it more, I must excuse myself for being so rough on these hard working people. In today's world, sometimes we encounter people that aren't all happy and cheery all the time. I must remember that I don't know what is going on with these people and in their worlds and often we do everything we can just to get through the day. I find myself doing just that some days.. Maybe we all do from time to time?

A busy week at work getting ready for our season opening sale this weekend.. it feels really good to get my brain so active after a long winter. My job is filled with lots of different responsibilities, none of which could not be successfully done without continued organization, passion and dedication. I will be the first to admit that sometimes I can crack the whip pretty hard. But, what some don't understand is that I am secretly pushing them to be their best. I have a wonderful staff who needs little to no direction from me most of the time. It's my hope that they all know how much I truly appreciate and am proud of every last one of them. Do you ever find yourself so involved in your job that you forget to say "Thank you" to those who have made you who you are, or who have lifted you to a greater position?

One of my job responsibilities is taking care of our seminar program. It's a job that I have a deep passion for as I love to see when our customers are engaged in our workshops. I have a sense of pride when a customer comes up to me and thanks me for a great day. Not only do I do seminars and workshops, but I ask my employees to step out of their comfort zone and present a seminar during the year. All of them have done a wonderful job in the past and I expect nothing less this year as well. Last year, one of the last workshops we had was a Fall Bulb Planting day and rather than sitting around listening to me explain how to plant the bulbs I had some customers plant their own bulbs in the nursery. Well, this past week, I looked over and saw the fruits of their labors coming up and ready to bust open with color!

And, lastly, here come the Daisies to put the cherry on top of the cake for me.. Last year I did a little workshop for a local Daisy troop and word must have gotten out because, now I am the Daisy troop seminar hostess. Need a badge? Call Leslie at Rutgers! What a wonderful day I had with these Daisies who instantly reminded me of my early Girl Scout days. I giggled, I laughed, I got down and dirty with them as I taught them how to Compost! It was a great way to end the week don't you think?

Have a great weekend, and if you could, wish a little warm weather for us in NJ this weekend! 

Is Mother Nature Mad?

I'm trying to figure out if Mother Nature is mad or something? Last night was such an odd mixture of weather.. snow, rain, sleet, ice, thunder & lightening! Is she confused? Is she mad? Is she disappointed? Did "Father Time" not finish his "Honey Do" list?

I know snow is a great insulator, but our poor spring flowers are shivering.. The leaves are frozen, snow is bending the branches, the grass is cowering! Are we to not have a spring where everything is bright and thrilling?

I want to turn on the water in my outdoor shower! But with snow on the door I might as well be an Eskimo!

Maybe if I close my eyes real tight and wish upon a star, Mother Nature will hear me and return with Spring!

Would you like to join me in this wish?

Weird Wednesday

Today was the day of strange.. Pure and simple, strange. Have you ever had one of those days where you set out to accomplish a list of things but oddities constantly got in your way?  A snowy spring day here in the Garden State. {Just when I'm going to begin the gardening is up for debate..} 

I started my usual Wednesday routine of cleaning the house, doing the laundry and getting a weeks worth of chores done. When you only have one day off a week, one tends to jam a lot into one day and today's intention was no different.

While cleaning I realized I had lost my bottle of window cleaner. I looked for this bottle for at least one hour with no luck. I was totally miffed as I couldn't imagine where I had placed it. It was one of those moments where you needed an extra set of eyes to find it. Then suddenly I got the urge to have a glass of ice tea, opened the fridge and guess what... there it was!  Much earlier I had washed the glass shelves and must have left in there.. It was then that I knew it was going to be an interesting day!

I headed out to the post office, where I received the normal nastiness from the clerk behind the counter. She inquired about the address of the package I was mailing to.. OK, so what, I was mailing something to Australia.. Did I need to leave a blood sample to do so? The questions I incurred was unreasonable to say the least.

Next I went to a local department store where I figured I would find a few pairs of work pants. It seems I've lost some weight already this spring, not such a bad thing, but finding new pants apparently is something! I gathered up a few pairs and went into the dressing room only to realize the door was slightly off. The lock wouldn't work but the store was dead so I figured, no big deal right? WRONG! Of course, it was only after I had my old pants off that someone opened the door to see me half naked! HELLO! I said, "A..... I'm in here!"  Figures this would happen. Of course, the pants were either too long, too short, too small or too big, none of fit, so out I went. 

I headed to my local Wal-Mart and found a few pairs of new pants and apparently a new friend... I went to check out and found a register that had no line. All I said was "Are you Open?" and with that, my new friend "Ann" unleashed a non stop parade of chattiness. All I said were those three little words, and nothing else as Ann carried on a conversation all by herself. She apparently saw my work jacket, and went on and on and on about her gardening, how her mother gardens, her brothers, her nephews and nieces. How she is only off Mondays and Tuesdays, she's tired, Wednesdays are like her Mondays and how she broke a fingernail last night... WHAT? WHY ME?  It was at this moment that I totally turned off my hearing.. I couldn't bare to hear another word from my overly friendly cashier. Just give me my goods and I'll be on my way. I insisted on bagging my own things as I didn't want to wait another second to stand there. I paid for my things and got on my way.. as I left, I realized, that Ann was still talking... did she even realize I had escaped? 

I got home and unpacked, had a glass of wine and started dinner. It was then that my daughter pulled up with her precious new baby.. Meet Angus..! He is a miniature Pincher! Isn't he adorable!

A very weird day indeed. A day where my bones hurt from my teeth down to my soles, a day of rain, snow, sleet, ice, thunder & lightning. A very weird day indeed!

Shoes or No Shoes?

Shoes or no shoes is the question.. I've already admitted that I am a clean freak so this post won't be too much of a surprise to many. Maybe I'm allergic to dirt?

I have this sign hung on my front door and another near my backdoor..

It definitely expresses my feelings on the subject wouldn't you say? I've learned through the years that shoes in the house create such a mess, let alone the germs that it deposits in the rugs that we often lay on..   Muddy boots are the worst!

Then there are the high heels that have actually punctured holes in my linoleum floor with their pretty little heal taps..

I figured someone must be in my corner or I wouldn't have ever found this sign. Right?

Am I an odd ball I sometimes wonder? Are you like me and have a problem with shoes entering your home?

Working In a Nursery

Many of you already know that I work at a Nursery, or to some you may call it a Garden Center...either way, I work with plants and people. A great combination wouldn't you say? When I started working for this company I was hired as a Sales Associate. Needless to say, I was very nervous because my knowledge was limited to annuals and perennials. I always shied away from all the larger sales that included trees, ornamental and most shrubs. But, over time, I learned so much from my co-workers that I started to sell some of the larger stock. Of course, there's always room for improvement!

I must have done something right because I was quickly promoted to the Sales Manager..Today, I do know more about  trees, woody ornamentals and other plants but my forte is still in the annual and greenhouse stock. Of course my main responsibility though is Customer Service and motivating my sales staff.  

I do love my job even though at this time of the year it's very busy as you could understand. Sometimes, I get caught up in the daily grind of my responsibilities that I don't appreciate the plants that make my job a possibility, but recently I have found myself appreciating the plant material that we have been receiving in daily more and more. I will attribute that to the long hard winter NJ has had and at this point I'm starving to see color and the promise of Spring ahead.

Recently, we've gotten in some beautiful plants from areas that are warmer and have tickled my enthusiasm for sure! Let's take a look at some of the plants that made me drool with excitement to a great season ahead..

Royal Star Magnolia.. isn't she fascinating! When I walk into the nursery I can't help but look at the beautiful blooms she is displaying!

This Oregon Pine is so rich with color and has such bold branches that I can get knocked out just walking past it.

Then there are the pansies that I recently brought in.. I can't wait to plant these beautiful blue flowers as they are the true sign of Spring in a gardeners planting bed...

While working in a Nursery might be hard work for some, for me, it's a breath of fresh air looking at all the things that Mother Nature creates...

Come on spring! Come here and stay a while!!