Doing performance appraisals is the pits.

Even when you work in Human Resources and it's your job to make sure that the appraisal conversations that take place in your company are productive, informative, and motivating, you know that most appraisal conversations leave the appraisalee at least a little ticked off.

The boss never seems to think they're as great as they themselves think. Don't believe me? Try having people appraise themselves and then compare your scores to theirs. Not fun, but it induces productive, informative conversations.

It's too bad someone ends up unmotivated most of the time.

I read in the paper today that OK is the most common spoken word in the English language.

Tonight, I was bathing both girls in the bathtub. They'd both been scrubbed and next I sudsed up Julia's hair. I put a rolled-up washcloth on her forehead to help divert some of the rinse water and then pushed her head back gently as I said, "Look up, Julia, look up," to help keep more water off her face.

She wasn't looking up, so I repeated myself, but my gentle push was a little too hard for her resistance. She started slipping backwards in the water, so she put her hands back and started yelling as her butt slid a little bit on the slick bathtub bottom.

She didn't go under or anything, but she definitely wasn't happy, especially since she now had water dripping all over her face. I immediately wiped the water off with the washcloth. I told her, "I'm sorry, Julia. Are you OK, are you OK?"

Her emphatic reply--"I NOT OK."

I guess this was one of those times when that word (plus two others) said it all.

Allie and Greg have both been taking piano lessons for about two months now. Neither of them practices nearly enough, unless you consider 1/2 hour just before their 1/2 hour lesson enough.

I told Greg that we need to get serious both about Allie practicing piano (Greg is a big boy, he can remember to practice by himself) and about Allie practicing reading (Greg has that one covered).

Last night, we worked a little on her reading. Tonight we were in the living room, watching TV with the sound on low, while Allie tried to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb," among other songs, in the dining room. She was doing well, so we hollered some encouragement.

She did not think she was doing well, so she hollered back, "This one is called Head Music." Blamm, blamm, blamm, blamm, came the sound. She's a prodigy!

Back in the day when I lived in central Illinois (before meeting and marrying Greg), my family developed this custom called "Blank" Family Weekend. No, obviously not really "blank," but I don't know that my parents want their last name splashed over the internet.

Each February, we'd plan an annual weekend getaway somewhere in northern Illinois (about halfway between our homes). We went to Rockford and Elgin (I believe it was Elgin because don't they have a casino there?) and so on. Stay at a hotel with an indoor pool and either shopping or the aforementioned casino readily available.

It was fun and a nice break in the winter. There's a photo somewhere of me and my sisters jumping on a hotel bed. We'd have drinks and snacks in the room, go swimming, and eat somewhere highly recommended by AAA.

Then I had my first date with Greg and shortly afterwards, the first time my family met him was on a Blank Family Weekend.

We had one more family weekend the next year and then we lost the habit. I lost my job, Greg and I moved to Wisconsin, we bought our house and we had Allie. Since her birthday is at the end of January and everyone comes to our house for it, we didn't revive the custom.

Well, I figure it's been 10 whole years, but we're bringing back the Blank Family Weekend. Sometime in February, me and Greg and our girls and my parents and my sister Pam and her man Jeff and my sister Claudette and her husband Mike are all going to vacation together in Wisconsin Dells.

I am really truly looking forward to it. The rooms we're getting have a full kitchen and dining area, fireplace, four TVS, three bathrooms (one with whirlpool tub), and three balconies (which I'm sure we'll make much use of in February, but it'll make for a nice view). It's at one of the many resorts with an indoor water park, so our girls will exhaust themselves and collapse happy.

How many weeks do I have to wait?

So I got my new business cards today. I'm ridiculously proud of them. Human Resources Director. I can't thank my old boss enough for being entrepreneurial minded and wanting to open her own business, so I could earn her job.

It's been an OK three weeks so far. Lots of overtime. Finding my feet, while Greg holds down the fort. What a sweetie.

And he remembered to send me beautiful flowers on the 11th anniversary of our first date. I am indeed a lucky woman.

But I knew that already.