Update

I know that all of you have been anxious to find out how my singles match went on Saturday. (except those of you who already know) My team carpooled to the Pittsburgh Golf Club which is near Squirrel Hill. I joked with the girls how I was hoping for a very old opponent that was really slow. Of course, that was not the case my opponent was young (in her 30's I'm guessing) and pretty quick. Her name is Louise Kay. "Louise," I asked? "No, it is Louise Kay," she responded. Okay, uh, so Louise Kay and I started to warm up. I noticed right away that her ground strokes were a little unpredictable, but as we continued to warm up she seemed to get better. Her serve was pretty shaky and she had a lot of trouble feeding me overhead shot practice. So, I went into the match feeling fairly confidant that she wouldn't blow me off the court and I might even have a good chance of winning. It was interesting to me that she chose to receive serve after winning the spin instead of serving first, which is usually an advantage. It was another indication of how uncomfortable with her serve she was.

To make a long story short(er), I won the match 6-0, 6-0. She seemed to think that hitting the ball as hard as you could was the way to go. That only is the case when you you can keep the ball in play, which Louise Kay really, really struggled doing. We only had one game that went to deuce. Louise Kay exceeded my expectations for an opponent. My only hope now is that my captains don't think that I can do that same thing against other teams. My team won the match 4-1, losing only line 1 singles. Interesting was the age of the line 1 and 2 doubles opponents. They were all at least in their 70's with one of the ladies playing line 1 doubles being 82 years old. I hope that when I am their age I am still playing tennis.

My team for Mt. Lebanon Team Tennis won again yesterday narrowly. My wonderful partner Penny and I won a tough match 9-6. We were able to come back after a three game to zero start. So, I have won all my matches so far this year, which I know won't continue once Pittsburgh Tennis League starts, but for now it is all good.

Work and Tennis

I have had many people ask me about my job and how I like it so far. I really do enjoy the work. I have always loved helping people with outfits and it is very gratifying when they take my suggestions. After just one 4 1/2 hour day I've come to a few conclusions:

1) I need more comfortable shoes.

2) I should never calculate how much I will be payed because it sounds so paltry.

3) This job will be easier when I know where everything in the store is located.

4) I was tired after just 4 hours. How will I feel after an 8 hour day?

All in all I had a good time and am looking forward to work again today.

On a completely different note, the tennis season is upon us. I have played in two matches so far for the Mt. Lebanon team tennis league. I won both of my matches 11-4 but my team's record is 1 and 1. Actually every team in the league has a 1 and 1 record. I had two different partners for the matches and feel really blessed to have such nice players to play with.

My first USTA match is on Saturday and I am scheduled to play singles. UGH!!! I am not a singles player. I am a much stronger doubles player. Of course, it is my own fault for offering once to play singles for a person who was injured. I hope that this is a one time thing. My biggest concern with singles is my stamina. I have been playing one set of singles a week with the Wednesday group I play with, but if I have a match that goes to three sets I could be in trouble. Pray for me on Saturday morning.

Job

I have been thinking of getting a job for quite a while now. Last year when Leah was in first grade I was contemplating it. One of my tennis friends said, "you should give it a year." So, I gave it a year but still felt like I needed something new to do. It really is a transition going from having small children that require a lot of attention to having "big girls" that are independent in many ways. Truth be told that I was kind of bored with my life. Not at all times of course, but generally speaking the sameness of every day was getting monotonous. I enjoy tennis but even that was feeling old.

I had always liked working before I had children and was a very good sales person. The question was what type of work would be best for me. I didn't want to go for a full-time career type job, at least not yet anyways. I also was hesitant to work retail because of the hours, which might be difficult when Mark is out-of-town. I decided that it was probably best for me to just get my feet wet with any job and then see how it goes. I applied to work at Borders about a month or so ago but was told that they were not looking for anyone at the time.

Last Friday I went to lunch with a friend from Bible study and then we went shopping afterwards. We ended up at Ann Taylor Loft, which is one of my favorite stores. I love picking out clothes for people and helping them shop. My joy must have been evident because several people said that I should consider a job there. My heart kind-of leaped at the idea, so I got an application.

Part of the application process is answering a questionnaire on-line. They had you put basic info about yourself and then asked personality questions that you had to say if you strongly agreed, agreed, were neutral, disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. They also said that you only had 20 seconds to answer and you couldn't go back once you hit enter. The very first question I hit strongly disagree instead of strongly agree and felt sick to my stomach. Would my blown answer ruin my chances? Argh!!! I don't remember what the question was but Mark and I joked that it was probably something like, "I consider myself to be an honest person" or "I am a friendly person."

After stewing for four whole days I received the call to come in for an interview. I felt fairly confidant because I am usually pretty good at speaking extemporarily, but I haven't interviewed for a very long time. After talking and answering questions for about ten minutes I was offered the job. I was doing the happy dance inside my head.

I will probably work for about 2-3 days a week. My biggest question is whether I will make any money at all because the employee discounts are really good and I do need work clothes, right? We will see how good my self-control is. I start training tomorrow at 2:00pm. Pray for me.