"Regrets Only" - bad idea

This past weekend we had a small "open house" so that our families could see this house we have been talking about building for a year now. We sent out invitations saying "regrets only." Well let me tell you, I will never do that again. Knowing that you always get way more food than you need, I only ordered food for 40 people even though we were expecting 60 - well we ended up having 40 show up. So 3 extra pans of roasted chicken and mostacholi later, dennis and I are ready to toss the rest of the leftovers. You can only eat so many roast beef sandiches....From now on, I will have a normal RSVP for all parties, and if you don't call, then I am not ordering food for you! so there!

Better Homes and Gardens

Today I went to the post office and found the new issue of Better Homes and Gardens. However it had been forwarded from my old address and still had my maiden name on it. Attached to the magazine was an envelope asking me to "renew my subrscription." This envelope has been attached to the last 5 issues and I have never sent it back in to renew. So, I thought this time I better call and see what's up. Upon speaking with someone in Customer Service, they assured me that my name and address have been changed so there is no worry of future issues being lost in the mail. I asked the woman how much longer I had on my subscription before it ran out. At this point she told me that I was paid up through FEBRUARY 2010!!! That's right - I am paid up for the next 3.5 years - 42 months more of BHG for me. I must have paid too much attention to those renewal forms at some point in the past 3 years and actually sent them in from time to time with money to extend my subscription. Well no more of that for me! Looks like I will be ignoring all the rest of those forms until I my 29th birthday. So beware if any of your subscriptions send you these "super special offers" with your magazines...you are probably not really up for renewal yet!

Dishwasher Detergent Matters

For the past month I have been at war with my dishwasher. We got it with the house and were starting to feel like we got ripped off. We did pick the make and model ourselves and thought it would be a good dishwasher, but everything I put in there comes out looking just as dirty as it was when it went in. I added jet dry, put an actual cleaner in the dishwasher without any dishes to clean the inside of the machine itself. Nothing worked. I was starting to think we needed to get a water softener. A few people around here have them. The water isn't super-hard but it isn't the best. Last week I gave up and started washing dishes by hand. Then I realized that we had switched detergent a while ago. I bought the Cascade Complete that I was accustomed to using in my old house. (Remember now, before moving in here, I was living like a gypsie for 6 months and didn't wash any dishes...) Anyway I was with a friend when I bought the Cascade Complete and accidentally left it in their car. Since I needed detergent right away I ran up to our local store here and bought the one kind they had - Sun Light lemon scented. So last night I asked Dennis to pick up some Cascade Complete on his way home from golfing. Today, I ran the dishwasher again with some seriously dirty dishes in there, but used the Cascade Complete instead. It worked! yay! So I will be throwing out the rest of the Sun Light and will remain loyal to my Cascade Complete.

allergies - yuck

so i have been feeling like absolute crap lately - i should have thought a little longer before deciding to build a house in a new subdivision between a corn field and giant vasts of open space filled with weeds. i am probably not in the best location for someone with severe hayfever, and major allergies to all things outdoors. august has always been the very worst month for me when it comes to allergies. i remember the beginning of every schoolyear, i would walk around with a box of kleenex and sudafed. it's no different now. i can't walk from one room to the nex without needing more kleenex. i got some allergy medicing friday morning which seemed to work great (wal-itin) but when i took it saturday morning and then sunday morning, it caused me to sleep all weekend. i literally slept 40 hours this weekend i think. does anyone have any other suggestions for allergy medicine that works without side-effects, or does anyone know anything about what a dr. might be able to do for me??? help!!!!

FIREFOX vs IE

OK So why didn't anyone tell me to get Firefox earlier???? OK, wellsome people may have mentioned it - but I guess I didn't pay attention. All week I have been trying to post pictures to my blog and all week blogger refuses to upload my pictures. So I start looking at some forums and realize that many other people have experienced the same problem. Their suggestion - switch browsers - If you are using Firefox, switch to Internet Explorer....If you are using Internet Explorer, switch to Firefox. I thought this sounded crazy, but I did it - and voila! I got to post all the pictures I wanted from the last week. Amazing!

Go Go GO White Sox!!!

Here we are at the SOX game on Monday night. You can see me and Lisa at the game, the scoreboard and the Chicago skyline. It was a great night for a game - beautiful weather and they won! 12-2 against Kansas City. The fireworks went off a lot - lots of homeruns!

94 Sucks

So I went to the sox game on Monday night with my sister and my husband. As you can see from these pictures we were stuck on the Dan Ryan FOREVER. It took a half hour to go 1 mile. We were literally going 2 miles per hour!!! I-94 being under construction is the worst route ever. Luckily it cleared up at the 57 split. However, it took us 2.5 hours to get to the game and we missed the first inning.
And then, I went through the SAME exact ordeal on Tuesday night while going to the Dixie Chicks concert with my friends. AHHHH I am DONE with chicago for a while!

The Green Grass Grows (and grows and grows)

So 2 weeks ago, Dennis worked overtime all weekend and being the woderful wife that I am,I thought I would mow the grass. He had done it the week before and it took him over 3 hours. We aren't sitting on 5 acres or anything, but it is a big yard and without any landscaping, there is a LOT of grass. Little did I know that our piece of crap mower was non self-propelled. After about 5 hours of cutting the grass and taking breaks for water and to check my pulse, I decided it was time to scour the papers for a riding lawnmower. Let me tell you folks, this is the best investment we have made yet. We picked up the mower on Friday last week and cut the grass again on Saturday. It took 40 minutes! This is a wonderful thing! Here you can see Dennis cruising up and down the backyard on it.

Flavia Fusion Coffee Drinks

OK, so I never was really a big fan of coffee, but I love coffee drinks. Recently I got an email from my macy's account and one of the things they were advertising was the FLAVIA FUSION (see www.myflavia.com ) I went to the product's website and learned all about it. Consequently I told my mom about it and she bought it for us as a housewarming gift. We have it on our kitchen counter and use it every day. Basically, this thing will make a single serving of coffee in about 90 seconds, not only that but there are about 50 different types of coffee drinks to choose from every morning. The way it works is that you purchase the unit as well as whatever "filterpacks"you want. One filterpack will make one cup of coffee. There are about 20 different flavors of regular coffee, 10 types of teas and well-being drinks, and also some indulgence drinks. If you want a cappuccino you just add a creamy topping filterpack to your coffee filterpack and it makes it for you. It is so simple. This morning I wanted an Irish Cream cappuccino. I sewt my cup under the brewing head, inserted the creamy topping packet and hit start. after about 20 seconds the creamy topping was in my cup. I took out the creamy topping packet and threw it away. I then added the Irish Cream coffee filterpack. After about 30 seconds it had brewed inside the bag and filled up my cup. The best part is that there is no cleanup involved. All you do is insert filter packs and when you are done, throw them away. We have to refill the water tank every other day. Otherwise there is hot coffee and tea in delicious flavors available to me on my countertop every morning. When we got the original flavia fusion, it came with an 18 pack sample kit. We tried them out and then ordered the ones we wanted from the website. We now literally have the makings for about 500 cups of coffee. We also tried out some of their mix-ins like the vanilla syrup, carmel syrup, and cinnamon sprinkles. I highly recommend this product. We give it 5 stars! ***** check out the website - if you like coffee this will make you LOVE it!

My Puppies

For as many pictures as I have posted on the blog, there aren't any of my dogs! Someone pointed that out to me recently, so I thought I better get on top of that. I love my dogs - a lot! Rusty is a Yorkshire Terrier. I have had him since he was born. Actually, an ex-boyfriend bought Rusty for me on my 22nd birthday. So, Rusty will be 4 this January. He is the cutest little Yorkie out there. He loves playing fetch, running around the yard, and hanging out with me!



BamBam is a mix between a WestHighland White Terrier, a Cairn Terrier, and possibly a Yorkie. I got BamBam on petfinder.com The website was recommended to me by one of my candidates in TX who got his Cairn Terrier on petfinder.com At the time (September 2004) I was looking for a pal for Rusty. I was living in Lansing and because of my commute I was gone about 12 hours a day. My dad would stop by to let Rusty out and take him on walks, but the rest of the day he was alone. BamBam came from the Westie Rescue of Missouri. He is actually from Boston. He was an abused pup who lived in Boston for about 4 years. The family that had him there dropped him off at a shelter. He was then shipped to Missouri. He was scheduled to be put to sleep when a lady from WI found him. She picked him up and set him up with foster parents in Naperville, IL. I ended up getting him from the foster parents in September 2004. We think he is about 6 or 7 years old but we aren't really sure. When we first got him he was really nervous all the time and would never sit on the furniture or even let you pet him. He has really come around now. He will sit on our laps on the couch, loves belly rubs, and will even lay on the bed at night. He is super lovable and has now gotten to the point that I can sometimes pick him up without freaking him out. Someday he will be all better - we hope!
Here they are - my boys - Russ and Bam :)

Coldwater, MI - July 29 - 30

Dennis and I drove to Blaire's Hideaway in Coldwater, MI on Randle Lake for the weekend. We met up with his parents, sister, nephews, brother and sister-in-law, aunt, uncle, and cousin. They all rented 3 cabins and stayed for the week. We just stayed for the weekend. Here are some pictures from our weekend of fishing, swimming, and boating.

Dennis's brother Greg catches the biggest fish of the weekend!

Tony looks overboard as his uncles and mommy fish.

Blue sits patiently with Linda and Shelley on the boatride.

Nathan catches the first fish of the weekend off of the pier.

Miracle Whip vs. Mayo

So Friday night, my sister was over helping me put away groceries when I realized that I had just bought a 5 lb bag of potatos and my husband had bought a 5lb bag of potatos earlier that week. What in the world were we going to do with 10 lbs of potatos!!! I called my Grandma because she is literally known for her amazing potato salad. I figured it was the only logical thing to do - make potato salad and bring it on our weekend trip to Michigan. Dennis was still out at his brother's helping him with some flooring so I called and asked him to please bring me a large can of Miracle Whip and a dozen eggs when he came home. I stressed the fact that I needed Miracle Whip for my grandma's recipe. Well at about midnight, he comes wandering in with the largest jar of mayonnaise I have ever seen and no eggs. Since we were leaving by 9am for Michigan the next morning, there wasn't really time to go back to the store and get the ingredients I needed. Needless to say, I still have 10 lbs. of potatos. My argument is that he just didn't listen to me. His argument is that miracle whip and mayo are the same! Please tell me that is the nuttiest thing you have ever heard. I for one HATE mayonnaise and LOVE miracle whip. He thinks I am crazy now. Since the "grandfather sized" mayo cost about $8.00 I have sent him to return it and get the money back. I don't think I will ever use that much mayo in my entire life. yuck!

The Myers Group - They Say "Julie's new husband doesn't want her to work - she retired!" Here is the real story.

So as many of you know, I started a new job back in May. It was something I had been considering doing for a while and was given the final abrupt push when I was fired in early May from The Myers Group Inc. DBA Management Recruiters of Kankakee County. Since I have never been fired in my life, you would think it would have been a bad experience, but really it turned out to be the answer to my prayers. The Myers Group was nothing more than a shotty company with shotty management run by an owner who knows nothing more than greed and intimidation. I was sick of the constant lies he pumped into his staff, sick of the astronomical turnover, sick of the hidden agenda, and sick of his attempts to mentally beat me up. I cannot begin to tell you how many times this jerk asked me to write letters to him about why I deserved to keep my job, told me I was worthless and naieve, and constantly pointed out that I was lucky to have the opportunity to work for his "world-class" company.

I'm sorry, but in my book a "world-class" company does not exist when you have a regualr staff of about 6 people and you turn-over at least 10-12 employees a year. A "world-class" company listens and reacts to the needs of it's employees. A "world-class" company doesn't micromanage every breath you take and find every opportunity to tell you how worthless you are. A "world-class" company doesn't advertise that they are members of a particualr organization in order to secure clients, when in reality they stopped paying dues 2 years prior." A "world-class" company also doesn't lie about invoices and AP/AR and threaten their office manager to never discuss when receivables came in the mail. The only reason I stayed for nearly 3 years was because I absolutely loved my actual job, and due to a ridiculous non-compete I signed, I didn't think I would be able to work anywhere else.

In my attempt to find a way to get out of this living hell, I talked with other ex-Myers Group employees. Believe me, there are probably over 100 of us out there, and I discovered that the owner actually attempted to sue some of them for continuing to work as recruiters after they left. I spoke with lawyers and I pulled the public-record court cases and found that he lost every case and also was counter-sued. In every case I was told that his "non-compete" was an illegal contract and could not be considered binding. I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I also had some dirt to prove that the company was unethical and that I was treated unfairly time and again in terms of being paid my commissions on time. One of the last things I found was that we had been advertising that we were members of AMSA - The American Moving and Storage Association - since 1999. We stopped getting AMSA's newsletter a while ago. When I asked my boss why, he told me that AMSA stopped publishing a newsletter. In a later google search I found the newsletter was still up and running, I emailed AMSA and they told me that The Myers Group had not paid dues since 2004 and were in fact NOT members of AMSA. I printed this email for myself, and forwarded it to my home email address.

Then, the day after I pulled those court cases, and after I forwarded the email, I was mysteriously fired. When I asked why I was being fired, the owner said it was "with cause" and that I had "violated my electronic media covenant." Hmmmm does anyone else here think that either he has insiders at the court house or he somehow found out about my job interviewing? I asked him to be more specific and he told me I needed to "think long and hard about it" and that I would "figure it out." Basically there was no real reason. He owed me thousands of dollars in commissions and knew I wanted to leave and thought he could get out of paying me what he owed me.

Let's really think about it. If you have a business that is struggling so bad that you have to lie to your salespeople and withold their commissions, and you only have 3 people producing your revenue, would you really just fire one of them?

He then proceeded to "brag" to everyone else in the office that my wedding would be ruined because I would be unemployed, that I wouldn't be able to close on my house without verification of employment, and that he knew I would never find another job where I could make "this kind of money" Well guess what buddy - I have, it's better, and I will make much more money and be treated fairly and with respect.

He then proceeded to take the new girl he hired that week and instead of having her recruit in banking like he planned, he put her in my desk - moving and storage. He directed her to use all of the documents that I had created over the past 3 years and just change the signature to say her name instead of mine. He even attempted to secure exclusive contracts with clients that had been loyal to me. Needless to say, none of that was a success.

As I sit here in my new job, working with my new company, I can't help but laugh at all the phone calls coming in to me every day. People that I worked with in the past are calling The Myers Group looking for me. The new girl has been directed to tell them that "Julie Brewer got married and her husband didn't want her to work, so she retired." Yah ok honey, I am not quite at retirement age yet. Because these people know me, and know I would have been honest and told them I would be leaving had I known, they do a quick google search, find me, and call to laugh with me about what a hack job the new girl is doing and how unethical The Myers Group really is. On a daily basis I get calls from people telling me that "the new girl from The Myers Group" called them and she hadn't a clue what she was talking about. People even forward me emails she has sent them just to show me that she is essentially forging what was my work.

I agree that the work I did while I was with The Myers Group is considered to be property of The Myers Group. And they can have all the data, notes, and paperwork I created while I was there. But the one thing they can't have is my personality, my successful ability to make and maintain relationships, my charisma and charm...the one thing that the Myer's Group can't have is me. They didn't want me. And without me, they will no longer enjoy the success they once had. This should be the biggest lesson ever to the owner. Candidates and Clients don't work The Myers Group because of the reputation of The Myers Group. They work with Julie Brewer i.e. Julie Smith because they liked her.

But really who am I anyway, just a naieve, small-minded, bad seed. Call me what you will, and say what you will say, but anyone looking in from the outside can see me for who I really am. I am smart, successful, and young. And as young as I am, I will become a much bigger success with much bigger accomplishments in my lifetime than the owner of The Myers Group ever had.

And as I look back on what my working life was like while I was there, I know I made the right decision. I was a hard working, dedicated employee. I was always the one in the office to come up with new ideas, new forms, ways of streamlining things. I managed my day meticulously to make the most out of it and I truly cared about improving myself as a recruiter. While all the other employees are local people who drive 2-10 minutes to get to the office, I drove over an hour to get there and usually 90 minutes to get home. I truly cared about my job. And what did I get for it? not much. Not only that, but other ex-employees have started telling me how the owner told them that if they collected unemployment he would give them a bad reference, he would never hire a minority, he would tell one of us one thing and another one of us something entirely different. There were so many lies that he couldn't even manage them. You can't work for a company like that. You never know what to expect and you always worry if your boss is being honest with you. Eliminating that stress from my life has turned my whole perspective around and I am now achieving more success than ever before. Had I not been fired, I surely would have resigned, but I guess I can thank the ex-boss for getting me to a better place faster than I ever thought possible. What goes around comes around and now I am getting what I deserve.

SpotBot

I got the SpotBot for Christmas from my mom, and let me tell you, it is a wonderful gift. If you like red wine, spaghetti sauce, or have three small dogs, like I do, then the SpotBot could be the answer to your carpet-cleaning prayers. Whether it's a new stain or an old stain, SpotBot will rescue your carpeting and bring it back to looking like new. There are different solutions to use in the SpotBot based on the type of stain you are trying to eliminate. It is simple to use. You literally fill the cleaning tank up, set the SpotBot on top of the stain and press the start button. 6 minutes later you have a clean carpet. This is something I highly recommend for any household. Check out the Bissel website to learn more about it.

Bowling for Bjorklund

On Saturday night, we went to Orland Bowl for a fundraiser for the house that Dennis's older brother, Ray, lives in - the Bjorklund House. There was a candlelight bowl, a buffet dinner, raffles, prizes, and drinks. Everyone had a great time and the whole family made it out. Here are some of the pictures.

The Brothers: from youngest to oldest:

Greg, Dennis, and Ray

Linda and Shelley bowling

Husband and Wife team: Greg and Linda

The Balls

Sister (in-laws) : Linda, Julie and Shelley