The Simple Things

It's amazing how excited you can get about just the little things in life! haha

Today I got the internet hooked up at the golf course...Verizon DSL is pretty awesome. :) No more boring days and evenings for us! When there's no one on the course, this place can be Dullsville. I've been walking 4-5 miles a day out of sheer boredom. (although hopefully that will help my waistline! ha)

Thursday our DishNetwork will get setup! Woohoo!

If it was your first time here, you might actually think we are some sort of golf course. ha ;) We can only hope!

Spring is Near

I know we've had warm spells here and there....and the official first day of spring is close (also happens to be the day of my cousin Monica's birthday)...but there is a way I really know spring is close................


Yep, you guessed it! Golf course season! (this pic was taken yesterday when it was still gray and drizzly)

I'm not real sure how I feel about it yet. haha Um, let me rephrase that. :p I enjoy working at the golf course, but it seems to take up more and more of my time each year. This year the owner wants to cut back on number of employees and thinks he will be there more (yeah, right)...so I guess once again, I'll have healthy paychecks. Unfortunately, as much as I love the pay and the ability to travel from said paychecks, I am also trying to rebuild my Mary Kay business. This month our team is focusing on finishing 1st month of car production...so I need to be busy doing that!! :) I'm going to have to find a balance this year. I think we'll manage, somehow we always do, but it's going to be tough! I've had to "lay down the law" already about times of the week that I absolutely cannot work due to MK obligations.

The course is not officially open yet, but we will be soon. I started cleaning clubhouse today! I have a little more to do tomorrow since it's supposed to be so nice. Then it sounds like another crummy IN spring rainy weekend....then it's a day by day guess of when we're open or not. haha Ah, I just love it. NOT. ;)

Stay tuned for my Adventures in Managing (much like the movie Adventures in Babysitting!). hahahahaha Seriously. I laugh, but it's not too far from the mark!

Another Season Ends

The golf course is officially closed for another winter! Everyone had finished up their last day of golfing and I got the clubhouse cleaned/locked down by 5pm! :)

Now I have a week off work (sorta...still gotta do payroll/bookwork per usual), then I'll be headed to Australia! I am sooooooooooooo excited I can hardly stand it! It's becoming more real and I'm sure reality will set in when I have my bags packed!?!

I'll try to do a few updates this week before I leave! Hope you're all enjoying the wonderful weather!

These are a few of my Favorite Things!

Well, thought I'd do a quick update...it's been pretty hectic around here lately, although there really isn't much going on! haha Explain that, huh? The golf course closes for the winter on Sunday night. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know, I'm a little more enthusiastic than I should be about not having a job all winter long, but really...I work so many hours from March-November that I am completely burnt out by this point. I'm over the crap that goes along with taking care of everyone and everything. I need a break! :) How lucky that in less than 2 weeks I will officially be on my way to Australia! Actually, I'll probably be there by now in 2 weeks. I cannot wait!! So I've been working a lot to get the clubhouse and course ready for shutdown...and I've been trying to get everything else squared away so I'm ready to be gone for a month! I've been teaching the bosses (Matt & Jesse) how to run their payroll on the computer and pay bills with computer checks...it's been interesting! ha Their other employees have little faith in them, I'm really just hoping the computers are in one piece when I get home...I'll fix it then! ha

And I haven't done any suggestions in awhile, so I thought I'd list some of my favorite music and books!

I'm currently reading the entire Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich and I can't put the books down!!! Actually, I'd probably be done reading the series (18 books I think), but I'm being held up waiting on the mail to arrive so I can get 1 of the books I need before I continue on! I'm becoming quite impatient! haha It's a cross of mystery and love/drama...so good! At least I think so! ha

And now for some new music...songs that have been on repeat on my iPod for the past week or two! I love new music and/or new artists...I'm always on the lookout! (I am just linking the music so if you don't have high speed internet, it won't slow you down!)

Alexandra Burke's Bad Boys

Michael Buble's Haven't Met You Yet

Owl City's Fireflies

Golf is my Life

Isn't it ironic that a girl who doesn't play golf...manages a golf course and feels like she eats, sleeps, breathes golf?!? haha The past week has felt like I'm on golf overload!! Sadly, it's not getting any better.

Sunday the golf course was host to the Samples Scramble. I really didn't have much to do for this event besides make sure the course was ready, but it's still a big undertaking to get there early and get all the carts out, and then handle 40 people at once wanting to buy drinks/snacks before heading out to play. They made it through their scramble, amidst some sprinkles. It started POURING down rain as they were parking their carts. I got soaked trying to clean the carts out and put some of them away. I had people waiting to go out (once the course was officially open), but it never let up rain...so they had to go home. I ended up putting the rest of the carts away and closing up shop for the day!

Wednesday was our first ever Member Day. Now this is an event I have been bustling to get planned for the past month. We decided we needed to have an "appreciation" day and thankfully, the weather was perfect!! We had about 3/4 of our members come spend the ENTIRE day with us. They didn't have to pay anything to ride as many holes as they wanted...they definitely took advantage of that deal! haha We provided coffee and danish for them in the morning, which they loved! Then I grilled hamburgers and hotdogs to serve with potato salad, baked beans, chips, and fantastic golf ball decorated sugar cookies. It was a big hit! The last surprise of the day was that each member got a thank you gift, a custom Pine Hills Golf Course can koozie. :) Everyone really seemed to enjoy the day and were quite thankful. Although it was a long 12 hour day for me (especially since Wednesdays are my only day off each week), it was still a fun day with my favorite people!

chow time!

our golf themed cookies!

getting ready for yet another scramble on Member Day

Now I have to get through a few more days and then Saturday the course is hosting the Raider Open. It will be a big event with about 22 teams (11 morning and 11 afternoon) to raise money for the South Ripley Athletic Program. They have this event every year, but it is our first time to host it. A true sign that we are moving up in the world! (our course looks AMAZING right now) So, I have to be there ALL day...it'll probably be a 15 hour day for me...ugh. :(

Other than that....I haven't accomplished much of anything lately. I have not had less than 60 hours since my vacation to Wisconsin. Most weeks, it's been almost 70. I need a break! :p

Not Much to Report

I feel like I should have something exciting to share, but in fact I do not. haha It's pretty much been the usual hustle and bustle around here the past week or so.

Toby has been his usual rotten little self. As I type this, I just got done swatting him for biting my toe. This is the third attempt at that in the past 30 minutes!

I've been keeping mom busy! ha She volunteered to do it though...so it's really not my fault. ;) We're creating an outdoor scoreboard for the golf course so when we have big tournaments/events, we can post all the team scores in a more grand manner! Jesse and his dad, Gary, found an old chalkboard at the barn...and since they never use it (haven't in 6 years anyway), we decided to re-purpose it. After much debate and shopping for what I thought it would take to clean the chalkboard (and not finding anything), we decided to prime it and paint it with chalkboard paint before painting our scoreboard lines on it. We're keeping our fingers crossed that this works! The old chalkboard surface was not usable in its present state, even after scrubbing it clean. :/

I myself have been staying busy with golf course stuff, per usual. I'm gearing up for Member Day next week. I've ordered in some goodies (yay, surprises!) and am just waiting for the 9th to roll around so I can spend the day schmoozing with our members while running the grill. Yay rah. :p haha We have an event at least one day each weekend for the next month! It's gonna be a little hectic, but it's good business for the course. Yesterday we hosted a group of 30 for a Bachelor Party. I've known Matt his whole life, so it was fun to see a lot of my friends and church family out at the course.

As I was walking this morning, I had the realization that "FALL IS COMING!" Now if you don't know, I absolutely LOVE fall weather! It's my favorite season, hands down. :) I just love the sunshine and crisp air....the leaves will change colors...it's football season...harvest should be around the corner, but will be a little late around here this year... What's not to love? haha Yesterday and today have been gorgeous! The sun is out and warm, but the air and breeze keeps pretty cool in the 60's and maybe low 70's. Kinda makes me miss my days spent "Boiler'ing Up" in good ol' Ross Ade! I haven't been to a football game since my junior year (my senior semester I was student teaching down here), so I may have to try to get a group together for a game some time! Anyone interested???

All in all, I can't believe it's almost September! This summer flew by. It's really hard to believe that 4 weeks from now I will have already been home from New York for a few days! Woah. Before ya know it, I'll be in Australia. Mom mentioned today how she'll either have to go out for brunch on her own on Sundays while I'm gone, or not go out at all. I realized today that I'm going to miss Toby's 2nd birthday while I'm gone too. Bummer. I'm sure he'll forgive me (or rather be glad I'm not home) considering I made him wear a little cone party hat last year! hahaha :)

Okay, enough yammering!! I just put away all my clean laundry, but I think I might clean for a little bit before going to work at the golf course this afternoon. Hopefully it's a busy day!!

Enjoy this amazing weather! :)

Glow in the Dark Fun

Last weekend, the golf course hosted (ahem, I should say "I" hosted) a Moonlight Golf event. Each player wears a glow-in-the-dark necklace, gets a special golf ball that you insert a glow stick in, all the flags have glow sticks on them, the holes have glow bracelets in them, and there are glow stakes marking every 150 yards along the fairways. We had 13 pairs come out and play, mostly husband and wife teams. The group had a BLAST! Of course, we started almost an hour late because half the players were having a pre-party at one of their houses. It took us 2 hours extra to play and by then, all but 5 teams gave up and went home. ha Not that I blame them, but I was EXHAUSTED. I worked 18.5 hours total before going home to get 4 hours of sleep and working another 8 hour shift that afternoon. Even the boss man got cranky (yes, men are often more trouble) and went home....much to my dismay since he didn't even tell me!?! :( Luckily, mom and Tosha were there helping me, so it was a fast cleanup. Jesse doesn't ever want to do night golf again...but I have to say, even with the long hours...I know EXACTLY what to do next time for a better evening! ha I plan on another event with even more people next year!!

Here's a few pictures of the night...

listening to the rules

the glow sticks looked cool around the course

time to hit up the beer cart...ha

all night it looked like floating orbs were walking around

teeing off

Matty and his beer "cooler"

waiting for Heather to chip the ball

I know some of the pictures are hard to make out, but if you know what's going on, you can generally make it out pretty well. I wish there was a better way to capture everything. The glow sticks light up so well...but the minute you go to take a picture, the camera can't find anything to focus on! :p

Rainy Fourth

If you are in the southern Indiana area, you surely experienced RAIN today! ha I spent my day at the golf course...working. Yes, I put in 14 hours today. ugh!

We hosted the 2nd Annual Beatle Hughes Classic today and it was an absolute blast! Of course, if you know Beatle, you understand how the day went! ha ;) This year everyone played in the rain AGAIN...yep, you read that right, last year it poured, this year it poured. Anyone seeing a trend? Today the joke was that if it rains again next year we have to change the name of the event to try to prevent rain!

We had 13 teams play in our 18 hole scramble. The pictures below are of my "golf course family." I see most of these guys more than once a week! :)

Rain + Beer + Beatle Hughes + the "crew" = GREAT 4th of JULY

Beatle teeing off Hole #1

Jesse, Keith, & Blake eyeing their shot on the 9th green

Dave Bultman & Jeff Dilk


The Winning Team - Jesse, Keith, Blake, Rick


3rd Place - Holman team


my crazy friends, Cooters & Shooters!
Jodi, Jeff, Dave, Marie


hanging out after a long, wet afternoon!

Eagles, Wild Things, Gray Skies

Good Luck Jac-Cen-Del Eagles! The boys are playing the for STATE 1A CHAMPIONSHIP today in Conseco! I think the town of Osgood will be completely desolate today. haha Jenna is attending the game as she lives right in Indy, but they sold 2,000+ tickets to regular season ticket holders and MANY others purchased tickets through Conseco. G-O, Let's Go, Let's Go, G-O, Let's Go!!

As a kid, did you ever read the book Where the Wild Things Are? I remember reading it, but I can't say that it was ever a favorite. I have several friends that loved it and even some who's kids enjoy it... I saw this today on the web. They have made a movie from the book and it actually looks really good! (I know it shouldn't amaze me the things they can do in movies, especially since an ex of mine works for George Lucas, but it always does! ha)



It's another cold, gray day here in southeastern IN. Blah! We did have a few lovely hours on Thursday afternoon/evening and several people came out yesterday to the course despite the cooler temps. I'm still waiting for the glorious spring/summer weather to be here! Hopefully it's nice NEXT Saturday because I'm hosting my first ever event at the course! (It's one I planned, named, promoted, etc....yikes!)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

For the Love of....

RAIN!!

Well, it's another lovely rainy day here in southeastern Indiana....and for once, I don't mind! haha My day started off with a bang when one of the girls who works at the course called me before 7am (and yes, until then I was peacefully sleeping in bed) to tell me that she wouldn't be able to work today because she'd spent the night in the ER!?! Oh frickin' great! Don't get me wrong, I'm sincerely worried about her, but now I have less than an hour to get ready, check my email, try to do a few of the things I needed to do this morning, AND make the 10-15 minute drive to the course! I hurriedly got myself ready and then mom called from town and said that the farther south you went, the more rain there was...so I called Jesse and we decided to close the course for the day! Yippee! Only now - - I am already up and dressed! Ugh! I'm one of those people that just can't go back to bed once I'm up, so I've been quite productive in getting my To Do list wrapped up. :)

Rainy days always make me tired anyway, so tonight I will probably CRASH! ha Sunday was a terrible day for me, Monday was slightly better, Tuesday was good, today is down again...only Lord knows how the rest of the week will be! The weather people are all calling for rain through Sunday...yuck, yuck, yuck!! One day of rain is good in the Golf industry, 2 is bad, 3 is terrible, and 4+ is downright miserable!! Our little country course can't handle THAT much rain, so in all likelihood we're gonna be closed for a few days. Bummer.

All in all this year is MUCH better start for the golf course than last year....so far anyway! haha Last year for the first month or two it rained every Friday-Sunday. Talk about killing your revenue!! On the nice days we've had, we've been swamped...so hopefully we can keep that going with some decent weather! So God, if you're reading this...please bring me a nice sunny, slightly breezy summer! ;)

Hope everyone else is enjoying their day! Here's to rainy days and cabin fever! Don't you just love Spring Break time? haha

Pine Hills Golf Course

To answer Molly's question (and mainly because it wouldn't let me post another comment for some reason!?!), I manage Pine Hills Golf Course in Holton, IN. It's a small 9 hole golf course that was truly neglected by it's owners. A family friend decided to lease the course last year and after making LOTS of improvements, here we are getting ready to start the second season!

The course still has quite a ways to go in order to be the type of place we all envision, but I have to say that every little detail helps!

Hopefully everyone will come out and see it! Our driving range will be open this year...thankfully! :) Also, I designed a new logo with Jenna and Zach's help. We also have new scorecards coming that feature one of Jenna's pictures on the front! (She is officially a commissioned photographer! ha)

If you get time, bebop over to our new website. It's still a work in progress...it's getting there! :p

Tired Tootsies

My feet are aching tonight...it's been a long couple of days! I usually don't let little stuff bother me, but I'm tired AND my body is tired! haha

The past few days I have been starting the process of cleaning/organizing the clubhouse at the golf course. I managed to wipe the walls and ceilings to rid the place of cobwebs! (Note to all: I HATE spiders!!) After knocking down all the dead bugs and cleaning out the window sills, I swept the carpet and moved out all the small furniture. Today mom brought her carpet shampooer (is that even a word?!?) to the course and we cleaned the carpet. It is AMAZING! If only you could see how much dirt and grime we sucked out of the carpet! haha Not to mention that while cleaning, I've also been taking membership payments and dealing with people stopping by to golf...and no, we are NOT open yet! ha On top of cleaning, Jesse has had to get the heat hooked up, turn the water back on...and today while doing that, had to run to town to get parts to fix one of the leaky pipes. It's just been one thing after the other! :p

And to add to all my fun, I've been trying to help Jesse & Matt get the office up and running. It's ALMOST there! All the office equipment has been purchased and with any lucky (I'm not holding my breath) they finished the office remodel this afternoon/evening! It is looking pretty good and will look very nice once I get in there to CLEAN and set everything up! I still have tons of organizing to do, but in a few weeks I think we'll have it operating to everyone's standards. :)

I am having a good weekend overall! Jenna came home last night for the first time since Christmas! haha Zach was also home last night because he left from Indy today with his sister, brother in law, niece, and cousins for Florida. :p Wish I was there with them, but it was nice to spend time with him!! He came over and we all had dinner together. :) :)

Well, I'm going to rest for the remainder of the evening! (I say rest, but really I mean sit here and do computer work while watching tv! The work NEVER ends! ha)

Hope everyone is enjoying the absolutely GORGEOUS weather!! If only it were sunny and 72 year round! Oh wait, then we'd be like Florida! hahaha ;)

Has Spring Sprung?

When the weather warms up, it means one thing for me...HOURS & HOURS OF WORK!! :p Today as the temperatures spiked, I have been busy indoors working on everything for the golf course. I feel like I have surfed more internet sites than humanly possible looking for supplies that we need. It is really insane how much companies charge for things that really shouldn't be THAT expensive! Argh! I have become an expert on the range of prices and the quality of those items...and the companies that sell them over the past month. haha I am very ready to have everything in hand so that the course can be opened. Luckily, things are going well...and with any luck, Jesse & his dad, Gary, will have the office redone by the beginning of the week so that I can get crackin' on all the bookwork! I only have one thing left to order for the golf course...the nets for the driving range! Well, that's a lie really!?! haha I have to order drinks, snacks, scorecards, etc...oh to just be done!

I'm ready to be out at the course and see all my members again! They definitely make the job worth all the hours!! haha

Here's to prayers for continued warm weather and the golf course opening soon...and being busy!