Today's blog is brought to you by the letters B, A and the number 20.

I've decided to finish school and finally get my B.A. (Bachelor of Business Administration). I signed up with National University, a school of mainly online classes similar to the University of Phoenix. I've completed one class so far and earned a B-. I was pretty disappointed in myself at first, but considering only one person in the entire class was able to earn an A, based on the curve, I feel like I did pretty well. It was a tough class and many of the exam questions were subjective which I didn't feel was fair, but that's college for ya. Budgeting time between a full time job, a toddler and school isn't easy, but I was recently motivated to make a change and enhance my career.....

Returning to work after treatment was great. Everyone embraced me, and took me to lunch and gave me a card and let me ease back into my tasks. I felt so blessed to have such a great job to come back to, and lucky that I didn't end up demoted or displaced. I hadn't been working for more than 3 months before I was diagnosed so my job wasn't protected by FMLA if I decided to take leave. But they held my position and used some temp staff until I was able to return. When I went on leave I was still in training mode. When I came back I made the same bone-headed mistakes I was making before I left. I realize this makes more work for others and answering questions constantly is not something a busy person always has time for. I'd like to blame some of it on recovery mode (ever hear of chemo-brain? it doesn't disappear after treatment) but I definitely take some responsibility for not studying my notes or the procedures thoroughly. The seasoned staff at my job no longer seem patient and understanding to say the least. I understand that the busy season is stressful, but I seem to have turned into a punching bag somehow. People really do mistake kindness for weakness. To sum up I ended up having to tell my boss I'd speak to HR if the hostile work environment didn't change. I really really hate that it had to come to that, but I had no choice. I'm purposely being vague, but the point is if I want a better situation, I have to make that happen myself. So my new plan is to complete my degree and then look for a better job. I know that there will always be conflict resolution in any team environment, but on the flip side of that same coin, if you can't get along with your co-workers then you can never truly be productive. Someone posted on FB recently that Staples should sell battle axes, lol. I am an extremely outgoing and positive person and having to work with an extremely negative and introverted team is too much of a challenge that I am not willing to take on without appropriate compensation! Also from experience, working with a real office bully is also not the norm. I've been part of a team and/or led work teams plenty of times and never had to manage this much drama. A quote by Ian MacLaren; "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." I believe I epitomize those words on a daily basis, but I expect minimum decency in return. Granted I probably should have stood up for myself a little more, but that wouldn't have changed any one's bad attitude. So I am spit-shining my resume and have been putting my wandering eye on careerbuilder.com. Life is too short for 40 hours a week of Mean Girls.

On a lighter note (pun intended) I have lost close to 20 pounds since I started working out and eating better. I'm officially a size 6 again! Fitting into my pre-cancer pants and dresses is a spectacular mood lifter. I wish I had a little more hair, but I get plenty of compliments on the edgy short look and so far I am still embracing my gray. Exercise helps relieve a lot of stress from work and school too. So with that thought, I will end this entry and get off my butt!