I have started a new private blog at http://lisacisa.tumblr.com/
Because I can't import this blog over to the new one, I will keep this blog open as an archive.
The new blog is password protected, you will need to contact me privately through facebook private message or text to get the password that allows you access to the above link.
Thanks!!
KUA
4/19/14
4/18/14
A Sad Day Indeed ...
I had literally JUST punched into work this morning when my cell phone rang. Caller ID showed it to be Mom. Normally I wouldn't have answered it, but because of the situation with Daddy I answered immediately.
Mom began with some small talk. Where was I? What was I doing? I think it gave me enough time to sit down at one of the tables in the break room, "Mom, what is it? What's happened?"
That's when she told me that Daddy had passed in the wee hours of the morning.
I have no other details than that. Daddy's gone.
Mom was a great comfort to me during that call. Telling me to remember that he's at peace now. That he's in a better place.
I honestly don't remember all that we talked about.
I ended up going to the manager's office and explained what had just happened. I was told to punch out and go home. However, I was not allowed to leave until I was composed enough to drive home.
By the time I made it to the front of the store, everyone seemed to have known about Daddy's passing. I was stopped by just about every cashier and given a hug of support. Even my boss, "D", called me at home and asked if I needed anything.
There's days where I really hate my job, but they've been so supportive lately. Can't HATE that sort of support.
Not sure what is going on. Funeral arrangements are pending ... Mom and Brother Deere were going to the Funeral home today to make arrangements.
I don't know when my next entry will be ... but I'll get back to blogging as time permits.
Love ya'll.
PLEASE... not everyone on my FB page has yet been notified, please keep your comment to blogger for the time being. Thank you, I appreciate it!!
Mom began with some small talk. Where was I? What was I doing? I think it gave me enough time to sit down at one of the tables in the break room, "Mom, what is it? What's happened?"
That's when she told me that Daddy had passed in the wee hours of the morning.
I have no other details than that. Daddy's gone.
Mom was a great comfort to me during that call. Telling me to remember that he's at peace now. That he's in a better place.
I honestly don't remember all that we talked about.
I ended up going to the manager's office and explained what had just happened. I was told to punch out and go home. However, I was not allowed to leave until I was composed enough to drive home.
By the time I made it to the front of the store, everyone seemed to have known about Daddy's passing. I was stopped by just about every cashier and given a hug of support. Even my boss, "D", called me at home and asked if I needed anything.
There's days where I really hate my job, but they've been so supportive lately. Can't HATE that sort of support.
Not sure what is going on. Funeral arrangements are pending ... Mom and Brother Deere were going to the Funeral home today to make arrangements.
I don't know when my next entry will be ... but I'll get back to blogging as time permits.
Love ya'll.
PLEASE... not everyone on my FB page has yet been notified, please keep your comment to blogger for the time being. Thank you, I appreciate it!!
4/16/14
Just a quicky ...
Just got back from seeing Daddy.
He's resting comfortably thanks to the morphine injections they're giving him.
He'll be moved to Hospice tomorrow some time.
Brother Deere was there for a while. He didn't stay long. But then, Mom and I only stayed about an hour.
Went to see Uncle Pain for a few minutes on our way out. He is looking better than he did yesterday, but still no idea what's causing him to be ill.
Aunt Silly has been released from the hospital and gone to a respite facility until she's well enough to go home. So, we didn't get to see her today.
Sorry this is so "newsy" and not very personal or emotional. I'm drained but wanted to keep ya'll updated.
Time for a shower and bed. Long day tomorrow with a full work day before going back to be with Daddy.
He's resting comfortably thanks to the morphine injections they're giving him.
He'll be moved to Hospice tomorrow some time.
Brother Deere was there for a while. He didn't stay long. But then, Mom and I only stayed about an hour.
Went to see Uncle Pain for a few minutes on our way out. He is looking better than he did yesterday, but still no idea what's causing him to be ill.
Aunt Silly has been released from the hospital and gone to a respite facility until she's well enough to go home. So, we didn't get to see her today.
Sorry this is so "newsy" and not very personal or emotional. I'm drained but wanted to keep ya'll updated.
Time for a shower and bed. Long day tomorrow with a full work day before going back to be with Daddy.
4/15/14
My favorite Men
One of my favorite photos.
Christmas 2013.
Left to right ... Butterball, JR, Grandson and Daddy.
Tax Day
Or taxing day if you will.
I had fully intended to blog more about the New Wrecking Crew today. I even thought about what I'd blog whilst working.
But all that would change.
After work I went to the hospital to visit Aunt Silly, Uncle Pain and Daddy.
First stop was Uncle Pain's room. He was doing okay, not exceptional, just okay. Just down the hall from Uncle Pain was Aunt Silly's room, so she was the next one I'd visit. She's doing considerably better and will be released to a nursing home until she's feeling well enough to go home.
On the same floor but in a different wing of the hospital, I get to Daddy's room after visiting my aunt and uncle. Sitting out in the hallway is Mom, crying.
"Daddy's dying" is all she says to me.
Come to find out later, the doctor has left about a half an hour earlier, and said she doesn't expect Daddy to last until Easter.
There's a nurse in his room, attending Daddy. I can hear sounds that I'd rather not relive here. It was the most heart breaking thing I've ever heard.
Finally we are told we can go into the room. Daddy knew we were there, but through his pain and labored breathing can barely speak.
I sat on the sofa in the private room, out of Daddy's sight, and did my damnedest to not cry.
Must be Daddy's brave Pumpkin.
For the next hour I choked back the tears whilst Mom and I talked to Daddy. He responded with inaudible words and groans of pain.
Not being able to hold it in much longer, I excused myself saying I needed to get something for dinner. Mom said she'd come with me, she needed to eat, too.
Bending over to kiss Daddy good night, and tell him I love him I see a tear forming in his eye. I can even understand him saying "I love you, Cisa".
I broke down as soon as we passed Uncle Pain's room, where Cousin met us outside in the hallway asking how Daddy was doing. She hadn't yet been to visit him and had no idea of the latest developments.
Mom and I went to a restaurant in town. Good place. I think. I couldn't taste anything ... barely ate my dinner.
The dinner conversation was almost non-existent, other than comments Mom would make about "you realize that your brother's memorial service was on Good Friday", "I've never watched someone die before" or "We'll have the funeral here in town. No sense inconveniencing the family, since most of them live close by".
I'm sure I'll get back to bitching about the New Wrecking Crew soon, but today they're the last thing on my mind.
I had fully intended to blog more about the New Wrecking Crew today. I even thought about what I'd blog whilst working.
But all that would change.
After work I went to the hospital to visit Aunt Silly, Uncle Pain and Daddy.
First stop was Uncle Pain's room. He was doing okay, not exceptional, just okay. Just down the hall from Uncle Pain was Aunt Silly's room, so she was the next one I'd visit. She's doing considerably better and will be released to a nursing home until she's feeling well enough to go home.
On the same floor but in a different wing of the hospital, I get to Daddy's room after visiting my aunt and uncle. Sitting out in the hallway is Mom, crying.
"Daddy's dying" is all she says to me.
Come to find out later, the doctor has left about a half an hour earlier, and said she doesn't expect Daddy to last until Easter.
There's a nurse in his room, attending Daddy. I can hear sounds that I'd rather not relive here. It was the most heart breaking thing I've ever heard.
Finally we are told we can go into the room. Daddy knew we were there, but through his pain and labored breathing can barely speak.
I sat on the sofa in the private room, out of Daddy's sight, and did my damnedest to not cry.
Must be Daddy's brave Pumpkin.
For the next hour I choked back the tears whilst Mom and I talked to Daddy. He responded with inaudible words and groans of pain.
Not being able to hold it in much longer, I excused myself saying I needed to get something for dinner. Mom said she'd come with me, she needed to eat, too.
Bending over to kiss Daddy good night, and tell him I love him I see a tear forming in his eye. I can even understand him saying "I love you, Cisa".
I broke down as soon as we passed Uncle Pain's room, where Cousin met us outside in the hallway asking how Daddy was doing. She hadn't yet been to visit him and had no idea of the latest developments.
*****
Mom and I went to a restaurant in town. Good place. I think. I couldn't taste anything ... barely ate my dinner.
The dinner conversation was almost non-existent, other than comments Mom would make about "you realize that your brother's memorial service was on Good Friday", "I've never watched someone die before" or "We'll have the funeral here in town. No sense inconveniencing the family, since most of them live close by".
*****
I'm sure I'll get back to bitching about the New Wrecking Crew soon, but today they're the last thing on my mind.
4/13/14
It's been 10 months ...
And a blog post is LONG overdue!!
Let's see ... where to begin? I guess I do it by subject matter, chronological order would be too hard (and confusing, LOL).
Work is going good. As good as part time work can go. With the horrible winter hours were scarce, but now that spring is finally here, I'm getting almost 50 hours in a pay period (two weeks). Speaking of pay, I should be seeing my one year raise coming soon. Yeah, it's been a year already that I've been working at Home Depot. I'm still looking for a better job, but that'll happen eventually.
My folks are going through some rough times. Mom's been in and out of the hospital a few times, mostly when Daddy's in the hospital, too. She goes through these episodes of anxiety anymore ... scary stuff. Daddy's health is failing more and more as every day passes. He's presently in the hospital, so weak from his body shutting down that he is incapable of even staying awake for more than a few minutes at a time. It's heartbreaking to see him like this. Mom has finally admitted she can no longer take care of him, and has told the doctor that once released he will have to go into a nursing home. Brother Deere and I have been trying to persuade her of this for years now.
Aunt Silly and Uncle Pain have been going through health issues, too.Both have been hospitalized. Aunt Silly took a fall and broke her shoulder, and has been having severe anxiety issues ever since.
Cousin and I have really been busy with our folks lately. I just hope this isn't a sneak-peak of our lives as octogenarians!! I've already told my kids to stick me in a happy home and leave me be, if that's the case.
Speaking of kids ...
Gizmo and his girlfriend, Drama-rama, are doing fine. After they moved out in March of last year I had no idea where they'd moved to. I'd only seen Son a few times since they'd moved. That all changed when the GF invited me over for Christmas dinner. We had a nice evening, and were able to start to re-build a positive relationship. It's a work in progress.
Married Son ... BossMan ... whatever he is called (I need to find a new name for him!) has moved to the opposite end if the state, to Grand Rapids. He's still legally married, but the divorce is progressing well. He went to Grand Rapids to be closer to his girlfriend (yes, he's got a new one already), and has found a job there. He's still driving trucks. He's "home" every weekend to see his son. So it's almost like he's not even so far away. I see him more now than when he was living locally. LOL.
Alien ... now there's an entire blog all by itself. And I'm sure now that I'm back to blogging she'll be a regular blog topic. Then again, if it weren't for Alien, I might not have taken up blogging again. It's therapy, cheap therapy. And I sure need it right now!
Okay ... I'll keep some of the details short for now, only because there's a lot of ground to cover here.
On February 17 of this year, Alien's house caught fire. Thankfully ALL got out safely. Including the pets. The Red Cross put them up in a hotel for two weeks, but after that, having no place else to go they moved in with me. All five of them, and the animals.
I was one week short of celebrating my first anniversary of the Empty Nest. One freaking week.
They've only been with me since March 1st, but it seems like FOREVER!!
I know, I know! I said I'd never ever open my doors to any of my kids ever again. BUT ... there's those three babies that needed to be considered. IF it was only Alien I would have said no way.
And those babies are the biggest source of stress for me.
Granted, Butterball is now 4, JR is 3 and there's the newest addition ... five month old RyRy. RyRy is the least stressful, he rarely cries.
It's Butterball and JR. They don't listen ... but then, Alien has NO disciplinary measures she follows. I try to be patient, knowing they are stuck indoors a lot (weather and all), but damn, that doesn't mean they can destroy the house.
They're worse than the original Wrecking Crew was!! WORSE!!
They don't pick up anything!! Toys, clothes, food wrappers, food. You name it, it lays on the floor until Dear Ol' MomMom goes ballistic! I have to stand over them like a Drill Sgt and turn into Bitchy MomMom!! And forget Alien or her BF supervising them. She claims she can't whilst taking care of the baby.
She even uses the baby as her excuse for not picking up her clothes from the floor, doing the dishes or taking their tons of trash out on a regular basis.
It's a constant battle.
Just yesterday they managed to pull the door entirely off the bathroom cabinet from climbing on it. They wanted to play in the water in the sink. I've told them a hundred times before (if I told them once), that they are NOT to climb the cabinets. Yet, here they are ... the damned door pulled out of the cabinet (hinges and all).
A day doesn't go by when I'm not hounding Alien or her BF on the progress of their house hunting. And yes, both of them are working at WalMart (that's a blog entry for later). They know I'm way beyond stressed and I make sure to remind them constantly.
Usually as I'm hovering over the boys and barking orders at them.
Butterball is finally getting it. He's the least resistance I have.
It's so I want to be away from the house, but know if I'm not here to supervise (read BITCH) then this house would probably fall apart. No. No probably about it!!
********
So, yeah, plenty going on ...
and I'm getting too old for this shit!!
Will blog more later. It's my day off today and I have a few errands I need to run. Time to get ready for the day.
Let's see ... where to begin? I guess I do it by subject matter, chronological order would be too hard (and confusing, LOL).
Work is going good. As good as part time work can go. With the horrible winter hours were scarce, but now that spring is finally here, I'm getting almost 50 hours in a pay period (two weeks). Speaking of pay, I should be seeing my one year raise coming soon. Yeah, it's been a year already that I've been working at Home Depot. I'm still looking for a better job, but that'll happen eventually.
My folks are going through some rough times. Mom's been in and out of the hospital a few times, mostly when Daddy's in the hospital, too. She goes through these episodes of anxiety anymore ... scary stuff. Daddy's health is failing more and more as every day passes. He's presently in the hospital, so weak from his body shutting down that he is incapable of even staying awake for more than a few minutes at a time. It's heartbreaking to see him like this. Mom has finally admitted she can no longer take care of him, and has told the doctor that once released he will have to go into a nursing home. Brother Deere and I have been trying to persuade her of this for years now.
Aunt Silly and Uncle Pain have been going through health issues, too.Both have been hospitalized. Aunt Silly took a fall and broke her shoulder, and has been having severe anxiety issues ever since.
Cousin and I have really been busy with our folks lately. I just hope this isn't a sneak-peak of our lives as octogenarians!! I've already told my kids to stick me in a happy home and leave me be, if that's the case.
Speaking of kids ...
Gizmo and his girlfriend, Drama-rama, are doing fine. After they moved out in March of last year I had no idea where they'd moved to. I'd only seen Son a few times since they'd moved. That all changed when the GF invited me over for Christmas dinner. We had a nice evening, and were able to start to re-build a positive relationship. It's a work in progress.
Married Son ... BossMan ... whatever he is called (I need to find a new name for him!) has moved to the opposite end if the state, to Grand Rapids. He's still legally married, but the divorce is progressing well. He went to Grand Rapids to be closer to his girlfriend (yes, he's got a new one already), and has found a job there. He's still driving trucks. He's "home" every weekend to see his son. So it's almost like he's not even so far away. I see him more now than when he was living locally. LOL.
Alien ... now there's an entire blog all by itself. And I'm sure now that I'm back to blogging she'll be a regular blog topic. Then again, if it weren't for Alien, I might not have taken up blogging again. It's therapy, cheap therapy. And I sure need it right now!
Okay ... I'll keep some of the details short for now, only because there's a lot of ground to cover here.
On February 17 of this year, Alien's house caught fire. Thankfully ALL got out safely. Including the pets. The Red Cross put them up in a hotel for two weeks, but after that, having no place else to go they moved in with me. All five of them, and the animals.
I was one week short of celebrating my first anniversary of the Empty Nest. One freaking week.
They've only been with me since March 1st, but it seems like FOREVER!!
I know, I know! I said I'd never ever open my doors to any of my kids ever again. BUT ... there's those three babies that needed to be considered. IF it was only Alien I would have said no way.
And those babies are the biggest source of stress for me.
Granted, Butterball is now 4, JR is 3 and there's the newest addition ... five month old RyRy. RyRy is the least stressful, he rarely cries.
It's Butterball and JR. They don't listen ... but then, Alien has NO disciplinary measures she follows. I try to be patient, knowing they are stuck indoors a lot (weather and all), but damn, that doesn't mean they can destroy the house.
They're worse than the original Wrecking Crew was!! WORSE!!
They don't pick up anything!! Toys, clothes, food wrappers, food. You name it, it lays on the floor until Dear Ol' MomMom goes ballistic! I have to stand over them like a Drill Sgt and turn into Bitchy MomMom!! And forget Alien or her BF supervising them. She claims she can't whilst taking care of the baby.
She even uses the baby as her excuse for not picking up her clothes from the floor, doing the dishes or taking their tons of trash out on a regular basis.
It's a constant battle.
Just yesterday they managed to pull the door entirely off the bathroom cabinet from climbing on it. They wanted to play in the water in the sink. I've told them a hundred times before (if I told them once), that they are NOT to climb the cabinets. Yet, here they are ... the damned door pulled out of the cabinet (hinges and all).
A day doesn't go by when I'm not hounding Alien or her BF on the progress of their house hunting. And yes, both of them are working at WalMart (that's a blog entry for later). They know I'm way beyond stressed and I make sure to remind them constantly.
Usually as I'm hovering over the boys and barking orders at them.
Butterball is finally getting it. He's the least resistance I have.
It's so I want to be away from the house, but know if I'm not here to supervise (read BITCH) then this house would probably fall apart. No. No probably about it!!
********
So, yeah, plenty going on ...
and I'm getting too old for this shit!!
Will blog more later. It's my day off today and I have a few errands I need to run. Time to get ready for the day.
6/16/13
Two Months Later ...
And I'm already hating my job. Oh, I love working with customers again, and MOST of them are awesome, as are the majority of my coworkers.
BUT ...
Half the registers don't work, and the half that do don't work very well ... the roof leaks during bad rains and of course, one of the leaks is over the register they usually put me on.
Rain coat, anyone?
Then there's the SELL SELL SELL of the whole company credit card ... suggest it to each and every customer. And yes, they can apply at the register. It only ties the line up for about five minutes, and a high majority don't even get accepted for the damned HIGH interest credit card anyway.
And the ONE thing I hate pushing is credit!! I don't have but ONE credit card that I rarely use, and firmly believe that we as a society depend too much on credit. But that's just my belief.
Yes, that's what got me in trouble years ago ... and I don't regret adopting the "if I can't pay cash, I'm not buying it" mentality. Cars and houses, obviously are the exception to that rule, but then, only within the means of the borrower ... I will never hyper-extend my finances ever again.
But, I digress ...
Oh, and the Credit Financial Department actually sends a representative to the stores to talk to each and every cashier about their performance in pushing the credit card!! Each and every application (and approvals) is there, in printed form, to be discussed with the employee.
And if you answer their questions the right way about how you plan on improving your approval rates, they present you with a pen. A plastic pen at that.
And that's only the icing on the cake!!
My hours (as well as all seasonal employees, so it's not just me) have been cut to just 20 hours a week. Okay I do realize that all the cruddy weather we've had isn't conducive to home improvements ... but it's harder than hell to live off of a 20 hour a week paycheck!! I've tried ... oh, the bills get paid, but at the end of the paycheck there's still way too many days left!!
Thank goodness for ramen noodles and groceries at the Dollar Tree!!
Just yesterday I got a text "This is Nina, can you work 1 - 4 for me today?" "Sorry, no can do" was my response. I never gave her my cell number!! So, who broke PRIVACY rules and provided her with it? I haven't been able to find out but I'm a little upset that my number was passed on to a cashier without my prior consent!!
So ... as my time allows I've been job hunting again. I won't quit this one until I have a replacement ... or I'm laid off because the season that I was hired for has ended. I'm hoping to have a NEW and IMPROVED job well before end of season!!
And with working 20 hours a week what has me so busy? Taking care of my Dad whilst Mom was in the hospital. The first trip in was for congestive heart failure. She was home for a few days and had to be taken by ambulance back to the hospital. She had stroke-like symptoms, but they ruled out stroke or heart attack. She showed signs of improvement, so they released her today. Monday she starts to see a battery of specialists to find out what happened, and how to prevent any future episodes.
Dad doesn't have WiFi, and frankly I'm uncomfortable using his computer. He's at the computer for pretty much most of his day, and I'd hate to kick him off for any reason. So, I sit computerless, either watching cable tv or finding something constructive to do.
I've also decided that once I can afford cable tv I will NOT spend the money on it!! LOL. 100 channels and only three that I'd bother to even watch. No thanks, not worth it to me!!
So, that's been my two months ...
I'm still trying to get the house in order. It's been more of a challenge than I thought it would be. Part of that is financial, I just have to have the spare money laying around to get some of the things I need. Mom will provide some of the materials; paint, flooring, and the typical things any landlady would provide. I just need to provide those comfort things ... bedding, new window covering, organizational stuff, etc.
It looks like it's going to definitely be an ongoing project.
Until then, I'm sorting through things for a yard sale. Maybe I'll even earn enough to reinvest into the house ... at least that's my hopes.
Back to job hunting ...
BUT ...
Half the registers don't work, and the half that do don't work very well ... the roof leaks during bad rains and of course, one of the leaks is over the register they usually put me on.
Rain coat, anyone?
Then there's the SELL SELL SELL of the whole company credit card ... suggest it to each and every customer. And yes, they can apply at the register. It only ties the line up for about five minutes, and a high majority don't even get accepted for the damned HIGH interest credit card anyway.
And the ONE thing I hate pushing is credit!! I don't have but ONE credit card that I rarely use, and firmly believe that we as a society depend too much on credit. But that's just my belief.
Yes, that's what got me in trouble years ago ... and I don't regret adopting the "if I can't pay cash, I'm not buying it" mentality. Cars and houses, obviously are the exception to that rule, but then, only within the means of the borrower ... I will never hyper-extend my finances ever again.
But, I digress ...
Oh, and the Credit Financial Department actually sends a representative to the stores to talk to each and every cashier about their performance in pushing the credit card!! Each and every application (and approvals) is there, in printed form, to be discussed with the employee.
And if you answer their questions the right way about how you plan on improving your approval rates, they present you with a pen. A plastic pen at that.
And that's only the icing on the cake!!
My hours (as well as all seasonal employees, so it's not just me) have been cut to just 20 hours a week. Okay I do realize that all the cruddy weather we've had isn't conducive to home improvements ... but it's harder than hell to live off of a 20 hour a week paycheck!! I've tried ... oh, the bills get paid, but at the end of the paycheck there's still way too many days left!!
Thank goodness for ramen noodles and groceries at the Dollar Tree!!
Just yesterday I got a text "This is Nina, can you work 1 - 4 for me today?" "Sorry, no can do" was my response. I never gave her my cell number!! So, who broke PRIVACY rules and provided her with it? I haven't been able to find out but I'm a little upset that my number was passed on to a cashier without my prior consent!!
So ... as my time allows I've been job hunting again. I won't quit this one until I have a replacement ... or I'm laid off because the season that I was hired for has ended. I'm hoping to have a NEW and IMPROVED job well before end of season!!
And with working 20 hours a week what has me so busy? Taking care of my Dad whilst Mom was in the hospital. The first trip in was for congestive heart failure. She was home for a few days and had to be taken by ambulance back to the hospital. She had stroke-like symptoms, but they ruled out stroke or heart attack. She showed signs of improvement, so they released her today. Monday she starts to see a battery of specialists to find out what happened, and how to prevent any future episodes.
Dad doesn't have WiFi, and frankly I'm uncomfortable using his computer. He's at the computer for pretty much most of his day, and I'd hate to kick him off for any reason. So, I sit computerless, either watching cable tv or finding something constructive to do.
I've also decided that once I can afford cable tv I will NOT spend the money on it!! LOL. 100 channels and only three that I'd bother to even watch. No thanks, not worth it to me!!
So, that's been my two months ...
I'm still trying to get the house in order. It's been more of a challenge than I thought it would be. Part of that is financial, I just have to have the spare money laying around to get some of the things I need. Mom will provide some of the materials; paint, flooring, and the typical things any landlady would provide. I just need to provide those comfort things ... bedding, new window covering, organizational stuff, etc.
It looks like it's going to definitely be an ongoing project.
Until then, I'm sorting through things for a yard sale. Maybe I'll even earn enough to reinvest into the house ... at least that's my hopes.
Back to job hunting ...
4/21/13
Work ... and things ...
So, work is going well. Well, the training part is anyway. That's all I've done all week, and all I'll do next week ... sitting at the computer training.
I'm NOT complaining, other than my butt goes to sleep after four hours on that hard chair!! I really appreciate the time and efforts they put into creating a comprehensive training program. Something few companies I've worked for in the past have done.
I won't name names, but one place I worked at briefly just told me "here's the sandwich build chart. I'm leaving you on the line to make whatever the customer orders." And that was it!! No training, no nothing!! Oh, they did show me how to use the meat slicer, but that's about it! And it was during a rush that they dumped me on the line!! And got mad when I couldn't keep up with orders!! Now, that was training. NOT.
Thank Heavens that Home Depot cares about properly training their employees!!
Cleaning and organizing is progressing at a steady pace. No break-neck speeds, but it's slow and steady, that's for sure.
It took me a few more days then I would have liked, but the videos (including vhs tapes) have finally been sorted and taken to Aliens house. They're having a ball watching all those videos. Stuff that will be new to the boys for a long time to come.
Alien has decided, too, that it's time to sort out her house!! I was over the other day dropping off the tv set and she asks me if she can bring her old hutch to my house, for my garbage company to pick up. I look at the hutch, it's a mid-century modern (MCM) hutch in good condition (will need no restoration). Like hell she's going to throw that away ... so I've adopted it!! It won't fit in my dining room, but it'll go in my living room to display my beloved antique glass collection.
I know, I know ... I'm supposed to be getting rid of the stuff. BUT, an MCM hutch is actually on my wish list and has been for years. I love the whole MCM thing! And by adopting this one, I saved a few hundred dollars. Not bad.
But, I'm still on the look-out for a buffet for my dining room, as well as a kitchen table and chairs that's more in line with that whole era.
I planted some seeds ... I think I blogged about that earlier. Mostly veggie seeds ... but a few flowers, and coleus, too. I got sooooooo excited that they actually sprouted that I went out for some more seeds and a few more containers. I also decided to try my hand at growing herbs and scallions indoors. We'll see how that one turns out! LOL.
Well, most of 'em are sprouting. Seems I failed the eggplant seeds miserably. Not sure what I did wrong, but there's no sign of any sprouts at all. Poor things!
Mom laughs at me about the seeds. We talk almost every day now. "How's the job? How's your seeds?" She calls me a late bloomer, pun intended. I was never good at gardening before. She can't understand why now. I don't either. But I'm gonna enjoy it. So is she. Daddy's already pretty much handed me his "grocery list" come harvesting time.
I'm NOT complaining, other than my butt goes to sleep after four hours on that hard chair!! I really appreciate the time and efforts they put into creating a comprehensive training program. Something few companies I've worked for in the past have done.
I won't name names, but one place I worked at briefly just told me "here's the sandwich build chart. I'm leaving you on the line to make whatever the customer orders." And that was it!! No training, no nothing!! Oh, they did show me how to use the meat slicer, but that's about it! And it was during a rush that they dumped me on the line!! And got mad when I couldn't keep up with orders!! Now, that was training. NOT.
Thank Heavens that Home Depot cares about properly training their employees!!
*****
Cleaning and organizing is progressing at a steady pace. No break-neck speeds, but it's slow and steady, that's for sure.
It took me a few more days then I would have liked, but the videos (including vhs tapes) have finally been sorted and taken to Aliens house. They're having a ball watching all those videos. Stuff that will be new to the boys for a long time to come.
Alien has decided, too, that it's time to sort out her house!! I was over the other day dropping off the tv set and she asks me if she can bring her old hutch to my house, for my garbage company to pick up. I look at the hutch, it's a mid-century modern (MCM) hutch in good condition (will need no restoration). Like hell she's going to throw that away ... so I've adopted it!! It won't fit in my dining room, but it'll go in my living room to display my beloved antique glass collection.
I know, I know ... I'm supposed to be getting rid of the stuff. BUT, an MCM hutch is actually on my wish list and has been for years. I love the whole MCM thing! And by adopting this one, I saved a few hundred dollars. Not bad.
But, I'm still on the look-out for a buffet for my dining room, as well as a kitchen table and chairs that's more in line with that whole era.
*****
I planted some seeds ... I think I blogged about that earlier. Mostly veggie seeds ... but a few flowers, and coleus, too. I got sooooooo excited that they actually sprouted that I went out for some more seeds and a few more containers. I also decided to try my hand at growing herbs and scallions indoors. We'll see how that one turns out! LOL.
Well, most of 'em are sprouting. Seems I failed the eggplant seeds miserably. Not sure what I did wrong, but there's no sign of any sprouts at all. Poor things!
Mom laughs at me about the seeds. We talk almost every day now. "How's the job? How's your seeds?" She calls me a late bloomer, pun intended. I was never good at gardening before. She can't understand why now. I don't either. But I'm gonna enjoy it. So is she. Daddy's already pretty much handed me his "grocery list" come harvesting time.
4/16/13
Um, DOIH!!
I was awakened this morning by a phone call from my mom. Could I come over asap? The tone in her voice seemed rather upset. My first reaction was to ask what was wrong.
"Daddy got a new power strip for his computer. I know nothing about computers and can't crawl under his desk to install it."
I didn't have the heart to tell her that you don't "install" a power strip, you just move plugs from the old to the new.
So, barely awake, I said I'd be over in about an hour.
I got there within the hour. I did admit to Mom that she had me worried at the beginning of our call, that I thought something was wrong with Daddy. Nope, only thing wrong was he was impatient to get the old power strip replaced.
Crawling under his computer desk, I made pretty short work out of the whole thing. Until I discovered that there was one more plug than there was outlet on the new power strip.
Daddy had an extra three outlet adapter, so we ended up using that with the power strip.
I went to plug the new power strip in, and discovered I had made a huge error. I plugged the power strip into itself!! There was where the extra plug came from!!
We had a good laugh over it, that's for sure.
I tried to remove the three outlet adapter and fix my error. The plugs are stuck in it!! Figures, since they weren't that easy to plug into the adapter to begin with. So I ended up having to leave it for Brother Deere to work on later.
Daddy wouldn't let me out of his sight until he had everything turned on and tested. I guess he really doubted my ability to plug stuff into a power strip. Or did I shatter his faith with my little blooper??
Just too funny!!
"Daddy got a new power strip for his computer. I know nothing about computers and can't crawl under his desk to install it."
I didn't have the heart to tell her that you don't "install" a power strip, you just move plugs from the old to the new.
So, barely awake, I said I'd be over in about an hour.
I got there within the hour. I did admit to Mom that she had me worried at the beginning of our call, that I thought something was wrong with Daddy. Nope, only thing wrong was he was impatient to get the old power strip replaced.
Crawling under his computer desk, I made pretty short work out of the whole thing. Until I discovered that there was one more plug than there was outlet on the new power strip.
Daddy had an extra three outlet adapter, so we ended up using that with the power strip.
I went to plug the new power strip in, and discovered I had made a huge error. I plugged the power strip into itself!! There was where the extra plug came from!!
We had a good laugh over it, that's for sure.
I tried to remove the three outlet adapter and fix my error. The plugs are stuck in it!! Figures, since they weren't that easy to plug into the adapter to begin with. So I ended up having to leave it for Brother Deere to work on later.
Daddy wouldn't let me out of his sight until he had everything turned on and tested. I guess he really doubted my ability to plug stuff into a power strip. Or did I shatter his faith with my little blooper??
Just too funny!!
4/14/13
Giving Thanks ...
So, yesterday at Orientation I met a gal who is a lot like me it turns out. Like me, she's hiring in as a cashier, too.
We laughed at the same time over silly little jokes the store manager cracked, or during those sometimes outright goofy training videos. We definitely share the same warped sense of humor, lol.
We talked for a little bit in the breakroom after orientation was done. Got to know a little about each other ... we're both mothers of three (although mine are slightly older, and hers are all girls -bless her little heart for mothering three girls, I couldn't have done it!) and we're both proud grandmothers, too!!
Her nest isn't quite yet empty, one to go before that happens.
I told her my nest had just recently emptied, and a little about the messes they had left me with.
Something she said really got to me, got me thinking long into the night last night ...
She said something to the effect of "After living in my house for over 15 years, I could only hope to have the excuse to go through every little box or bag in storage throughout my home. Give it a real good cleaning out. Walk through those memories one last time as I give the girls those memories to pass on to their little ones, or to bless someone else with something that still has life left in it. You really are blessed to have that opportunity."
To be honest, what "T" has said brought a tear to my eyes. I had NEVER thought of the work dumped on me as a blessing ... to sort through stuff collected after 18 years of living in the same house.
Yes, I have had a great feeling of satisfaction knowing that a lot of the things I have already passed on to the Alien will be used for years to come.
But I'd never thought of this as an opportunity to spread the joy, so to speak.
It's going to make all the sorting take on a whole new meaning for me ...
I stopped today at my favorite dollar store. I love when they get their close-out specials in, and today I hit the jackpot!! They had planters in the size I need for the plants I've sown seeds for. I'd checked out some planters I liked at another store that were about the same size, and were about eighteen dollars more a planter!! I just saved a butt-load of money!!
All I need now are four tomato cages for the planters and I'll be all set. Luckily I have a few weeks to check out sales on those items.
So, now that I have four (instead of the two I was originally going to buy), I can put the shepherd's hook away until next season and not even worry about the problem I blogged about a few days ago. That'll give me another year to figure all that out, LOL.
I stopped to visit Alien and the boys after my dollar store trip. I haven't seen them in about a week and I really missed the little guys. And as usual the first thing they do after kissing and hugging their MomMom is to to go through my purse for my tin of Altoids!! Oops! I forgot about keeping only a half dozen or so in the tin in my purse! Needless to say, they ate almost a full tin of Altoids. Butterball tells me "my tongue hot, MomMom", but would he stop munching on them like they're M&Ms? NO!!
I didn't stay long, Alien had to run up to the store and the boys were starting to get fussy anyway.
The Rusty Knight and I had a chance to get our schedules worked out ... he'll be over on Thursday after an appointment to help me tackle that crawlspace. Yay!! I'll be glad when that's out of the way.
So, that gives me tomorrow and Tuesday to get the basement done. Training is on Wednesday, but I'll have Wednesday evening to finish up the basement.
I just need to remember to get boxes tomorrow for what needs to be boxed up.
We laughed at the same time over silly little jokes the store manager cracked, or during those sometimes outright goofy training videos. We definitely share the same warped sense of humor, lol.
We talked for a little bit in the breakroom after orientation was done. Got to know a little about each other ... we're both mothers of three (although mine are slightly older, and hers are all girls -bless her little heart for mothering three girls, I couldn't have done it!) and we're both proud grandmothers, too!!
Her nest isn't quite yet empty, one to go before that happens.
I told her my nest had just recently emptied, and a little about the messes they had left me with.
Something she said really got to me, got me thinking long into the night last night ...
She said something to the effect of "After living in my house for over 15 years, I could only hope to have the excuse to go through every little box or bag in storage throughout my home. Give it a real good cleaning out. Walk through those memories one last time as I give the girls those memories to pass on to their little ones, or to bless someone else with something that still has life left in it. You really are blessed to have that opportunity."
To be honest, what "T" has said brought a tear to my eyes. I had NEVER thought of the work dumped on me as a blessing ... to sort through stuff collected after 18 years of living in the same house.
Yes, I have had a great feeling of satisfaction knowing that a lot of the things I have already passed on to the Alien will be used for years to come.
But I'd never thought of this as an opportunity to spread the joy, so to speak.
It's going to make all the sorting take on a whole new meaning for me ...
*****
I stopped today at my favorite dollar store. I love when they get their close-out specials in, and today I hit the jackpot!! They had planters in the size I need for the plants I've sown seeds for. I'd checked out some planters I liked at another store that were about the same size, and were about eighteen dollars more a planter!! I just saved a butt-load of money!!
All I need now are four tomato cages for the planters and I'll be all set. Luckily I have a few weeks to check out sales on those items.
So, now that I have four (instead of the two I was originally going to buy), I can put the shepherd's hook away until next season and not even worry about the problem I blogged about a few days ago. That'll give me another year to figure all that out, LOL.
*****
I stopped to visit Alien and the boys after my dollar store trip. I haven't seen them in about a week and I really missed the little guys. And as usual the first thing they do after kissing and hugging their MomMom is to to go through my purse for my tin of Altoids!! Oops! I forgot about keeping only a half dozen or so in the tin in my purse! Needless to say, they ate almost a full tin of Altoids. Butterball tells me "my tongue hot, MomMom", but would he stop munching on them like they're M&Ms? NO!!
I didn't stay long, Alien had to run up to the store and the boys were starting to get fussy anyway.
The Rusty Knight and I had a chance to get our schedules worked out ... he'll be over on Thursday after an appointment to help me tackle that crawlspace. Yay!! I'll be glad when that's out of the way.
So, that gives me tomorrow and Tuesday to get the basement done. Training is on Wednesday, but I'll have Wednesday evening to finish up the basement.
I just need to remember to get boxes tomorrow for what needs to be boxed up.
4/13/13
Orientation
Orientation went well. There were eight of us in "class" today.
It was a little long-winded, but that's fine. There wasn't anything that wasn't covered in the four hour orienation.
Training begins on Wednesday - computer training anyway. Because of limited computer access, we're training in small groups of two or three. I was lucky to get the first block of training. Then again, I was also one of the first to speak up when asked about which time slots we'd prefer. LOL.
It'll be next weekend before my cash register training begins.
I knew from the beginning that I was going to probably love working at Home Depot. After orientation, and getting to talk to a few of the people who work there (including a long-time cashier), I know I'm gonna fit right in!!
Now to figure out what I'm going to do for the rest of the day! LOL, I know what I'm gonna do, it's just getting started really. Today it's sort through all those videos and box up what's going to go to Aliens house for the kiddos.
Then it'll be a nap. Although, the nap may come first. I'm not used to day hours. I was up before the sun came up! Not normal for me!! Usually I'm going to bed when the sun is just coming up!!
Last night I was in bed by 10 pm, and thanks to a dose of Zzz-quil actually slept until about fifteen minutes before my alarms were due to start going off at 6 am.
Tonight will be the same ... go to bed early (with or without the Zzz-quil, I'm not sure). Force myself to get and stay on a day schedule. Or so that's the plan. Let's see how it works, LOL.
It was a little long-winded, but that's fine. There wasn't anything that wasn't covered in the four hour orienation.
Training begins on Wednesday - computer training anyway. Because of limited computer access, we're training in small groups of two or three. I was lucky to get the first block of training. Then again, I was also one of the first to speak up when asked about which time slots we'd prefer. LOL.
It'll be next weekend before my cash register training begins.
*****
I knew from the beginning that I was going to probably love working at Home Depot. After orientation, and getting to talk to a few of the people who work there (including a long-time cashier), I know I'm gonna fit right in!!
*****
Now to figure out what I'm going to do for the rest of the day! LOL, I know what I'm gonna do, it's just getting started really. Today it's sort through all those videos and box up what's going to go to Aliens house for the kiddos.
Then it'll be a nap. Although, the nap may come first. I'm not used to day hours. I was up before the sun came up! Not normal for me!! Usually I'm going to bed when the sun is just coming up!!
Last night I was in bed by 10 pm, and thanks to a dose of Zzz-quil actually slept until about fifteen minutes before my alarms were due to start going off at 6 am.
Tonight will be the same ... go to bed early (with or without the Zzz-quil, I'm not sure). Force myself to get and stay on a day schedule. Or so that's the plan. Let's see how it works, LOL.
4/12/13
BEFORE PICS - Utility Room and Crawlspace
Hold onto your hats, ladies, this is gonna get rough!!
But first, let's start off with the money shot ... the photo of my pretty new furnace!! Ain't she grand?
Next we have the previous location of Gizmo and Drama-rama's bed. Yes, all that crap in the corner was once just shoved under their bed!! Out of sight, out of mind, right?
Furniture left behind ... a slightly slanting computer desk that I'll put on FreeCycle (free if they pick it up) and in the back corner, the entertainment center that I'll use once the family room is done. I'll probably need to refinish it, though. But it'll be worth it, as this was a piece my dad built for me a long time ago. And no, this room was never finished, the whole time they used this as their bedroom there was exposed studs and insulation.
Just another angle looking at the under-bed stash of crap.
Gizmo's collection of Star Trek videos still sits here. I don't believe this to be the entire collection, though. Odd how he'd take some, but not all of his precious video collection.
And opening the little brown door to the crawlspace we see ... piles and piles of what looks like CRAP!! Some in storage totes, a lot not in totes (that gold looking vintage lamp shade is indeed a lampshade from the 70s that I salvaged for use as carpeting in the antique dollhouse that will be restored once I have my house - and my life - back!). I have no idea what's in those totes, or who the contents belong to at this point!
See the vintage picnic baskets that were lovingly just shoved into the crawlspace? Nice. I can also see an antique galvanized coffee pot ... I have no idea what that cord is!
Just another angle of the same crawlspace. I notice what appears to be insulation hanging from the rafters. However, I see no other insulation in any of the other pictures. Great, something else to add to the to-do list ... insulate the crawlspace!
I also noticed in one of the crawlspace photos that there's a steel shelving unit. Good!! I can use that to organize the stuff in the utility area.
I'm dreading this more than I am dreading the gutting of BossMan's bedroom!! But once done, there will be ONLY the artificial Christmas Tree and the two boxes of ornaments. Everything else either distributed to other parts of the house (kitchen, office, craft room, etc), given away, sold, or tossed.
There's gonna be one huge yard sale at my house late this summer!!
But first, let's start off with the money shot ... the photo of my pretty new furnace!! Ain't she grand?
The little brown door to the left of the water heater is the access door
for the approximately 20 foot x 28 foot (three foot high) crawlspace
located under the main living area.
Next we have the previous location of Gizmo and Drama-rama's bed. Yes, all that crap in the corner was once just shoved under their bed!! Out of sight, out of mind, right?
Furniture left behind ... a slightly slanting computer desk that I'll put on FreeCycle (free if they pick it up) and in the back corner, the entertainment center that I'll use once the family room is done. I'll probably need to refinish it, though. But it'll be worth it, as this was a piece my dad built for me a long time ago. And no, this room was never finished, the whole time they used this as their bedroom there was exposed studs and insulation.
Just another angle looking at the under-bed stash of crap.
Gizmo's collection of Star Trek videos still sits here. I don't believe this to be the entire collection, though. Odd how he'd take some, but not all of his precious video collection.
And opening the little brown door to the crawlspace we see ... piles and piles of what looks like CRAP!! Some in storage totes, a lot not in totes (that gold looking vintage lamp shade is indeed a lampshade from the 70s that I salvaged for use as carpeting in the antique dollhouse that will be restored once I have my house - and my life - back!). I have no idea what's in those totes, or who the contents belong to at this point!
See the vintage picnic baskets that were lovingly just shoved into the crawlspace? Nice. I can also see an antique galvanized coffee pot ... I have no idea what that cord is!
Just another angle of the same crawlspace. I notice what appears to be insulation hanging from the rafters. However, I see no other insulation in any of the other pictures. Great, something else to add to the to-do list ... insulate the crawlspace!
I also noticed in one of the crawlspace photos that there's a steel shelving unit. Good!! I can use that to organize the stuff in the utility area.
I'm dreading this more than I am dreading the gutting of BossMan's bedroom!! But once done, there will be ONLY the artificial Christmas Tree and the two boxes of ornaments. Everything else either distributed to other parts of the house (kitchen, office, craft room, etc), given away, sold, or tossed.
There's gonna be one huge yard sale at my house late this summer!!
Tulips Growing In The Strangest Places ...
Some five years ago Brother Deere had re-sided my house. He also decided to till the lawn and plant new grass seed. During the tilling, he disturbed a tulip garden that had been growing ever since I first moved into this house. Every year since then, I get tulips growing in strange places throughout my front yard. This year, however, I haven't seen them spring up in their usual spots.
Today while out getting the mail I noticed that a lonely little tulip was growing very close to foundation of the house. Much more growth and it'll be growing literally up into the bottom edge of the siding.
I guess tomorrow after orientation, I see if I can successfully move it to a location where it can be better admired, one that will allow it to actually grow straight and tall!
I finally got the assortment of herb seeds sown today. It'll be interesting to see what grows. Hopefully I'll even recognize what they are once they've grown. Otherwise, I could give new meaning to "chef's surprise". LOL.
I ventured back into the crawlspace today to see if I could pull out some of my antique glass and the two dollhouse kits I blogged about yesterday. OMG!! I couldn't even locate them with all the stuff that's crammed into that crawlspace!
A little back-story here ... around the first of December last year Drama-rama started whining that she needed a Christmas Tree (I haven't put trees up in ages), and wouldn't take NO for an answer when I told her we didn't have the space, nor did we need it since Christmas wasn't going to be held here. I got so sick of the whining I sort of gave in with a "whatever, just STFU about it already". In preparation they ripped up the 20+ year old carpeting, stripped the wallpaper, put a thin coat of paint on the walls and called the room ready for Christmas decorations. Oh, and they they moved the book cases to their present location, destroying one short and one tall bookcase in the process (that honestly were ready for the junk pile anyway). The tall bookcase held my antique glass collection ... a variety of Carnival Glass that my grandmother had collected throughout her lifetime, hand-painted (by my own mother) china, and a few other highly fragile glass odd and ends that mean a lot to me.
All packed away and put in the crawlspace because they were in the way of someone's Christmas decorations. And they never asked (or were given) permission to so much as touch the stuff!! But then again, I have to remember who we're talking about here ... Drama-rama ... that person with grand delusions of entitlement ... who just wouldn't understand the boundaries or limits involved in living in another woman's house.
Thankfully, Gizmo did put them in plastic tubs so they're somewhat safe. He didn't wrap them up in paper first, though, so each tub will have to be treated with extreme care until the contents are determined.
Every time I think of the condition of that crawlspace, I could cry. Three years ago, it was empty, except for the artificial Christmas tree and a box or two of decorations that hadn't been touched in a few years. Today? Well, I can't even locate the tree! I'm sure it's been pushed so far into the back of the crawlspace that it'll take Search and Rescue to find it!!
I did take pictures of the crawlspace and the room formerly used by Gizmo and Drama-rama as their bedroom. It makes me sick just being down there for the few minutes it takes to put a load of laundry into the washer, or swap it over to the dryer.
I'll post those in a separate blog entry, only because it'll be easier for me to find them later on down the line when I want to take a walk down memory lane and remember what it used to look like around here ... and as a reminder of why this nest will forever stay empty.
And since tomorrow is Orientation I'm going to call it an early night tonight. I've got a bottle of Zzz-quil at the ready just to make sure I fall asleep and stay asleep until my alarms go off at 6 am! Otherwise, I suspect I'd be too geeked about starting this new job tomorrow to get a full night's sleep!!
But first, I'll post those pictures of the utility room (including my pretty new furnace, lol) ...
I'm sure I'll blog all about Orientation tomorrow and how that went!!
Today while out getting the mail I noticed that a lonely little tulip was growing very close to foundation of the house. Much more growth and it'll be growing literally up into the bottom edge of the siding.
I guess tomorrow after orientation, I see if I can successfully move it to a location where it can be better admired, one that will allow it to actually grow straight and tall!
*****
I finally got the assortment of herb seeds sown today. It'll be interesting to see what grows. Hopefully I'll even recognize what they are once they've grown. Otherwise, I could give new meaning to "chef's surprise". LOL.
*****
I ventured back into the crawlspace today to see if I could pull out some of my antique glass and the two dollhouse kits I blogged about yesterday. OMG!! I couldn't even locate them with all the stuff that's crammed into that crawlspace!
A little back-story here ... around the first of December last year Drama-rama started whining that she needed a Christmas Tree (I haven't put trees up in ages), and wouldn't take NO for an answer when I told her we didn't have the space, nor did we need it since Christmas wasn't going to be held here. I got so sick of the whining I sort of gave in with a "whatever, just STFU about it already". In preparation they ripped up the 20+ year old carpeting, stripped the wallpaper, put a thin coat of paint on the walls and called the room ready for Christmas decorations. Oh, and they they moved the book cases to their present location, destroying one short and one tall bookcase in the process (that honestly were ready for the junk pile anyway). The tall bookcase held my antique glass collection ... a variety of Carnival Glass that my grandmother had collected throughout her lifetime, hand-painted (by my own mother) china, and a few other highly fragile glass odd and ends that mean a lot to me.
All packed away and put in the crawlspace because they were in the way of someone's Christmas decorations. And they never asked (or were given) permission to so much as touch the stuff!! But then again, I have to remember who we're talking about here ... Drama-rama ... that person with grand delusions of entitlement ... who just wouldn't understand the boundaries or limits involved in living in another woman's house.
Thankfully, Gizmo did put them in plastic tubs so they're somewhat safe. He didn't wrap them up in paper first, though, so each tub will have to be treated with extreme care until the contents are determined.
Every time I think of the condition of that crawlspace, I could cry. Three years ago, it was empty, except for the artificial Christmas tree and a box or two of decorations that hadn't been touched in a few years. Today? Well, I can't even locate the tree! I'm sure it's been pushed so far into the back of the crawlspace that it'll take Search and Rescue to find it!!
I did take pictures of the crawlspace and the room formerly used by Gizmo and Drama-rama as their bedroom. It makes me sick just being down there for the few minutes it takes to put a load of laundry into the washer, or swap it over to the dryer.
I'll post those in a separate blog entry, only because it'll be easier for me to find them later on down the line when I want to take a walk down memory lane and remember what it used to look like around here ... and as a reminder of why this nest will forever stay empty.
*****
And since tomorrow is Orientation I'm going to call it an early night tonight. I've got a bottle of Zzz-quil at the ready just to make sure I fall asleep and stay asleep until my alarms go off at 6 am! Otherwise, I suspect I'd be too geeked about starting this new job tomorrow to get a full night's sleep!!
But first, I'll post those pictures of the utility room (including my pretty new furnace, lol) ...
I'm sure I'll blog all about Orientation tomorrow and how that went!!
4/11/13
More Before Pictures ...
Here's some more before pictures ...
Still a dumping ground for the Wrecking Crews stuff as it's sorted and eventually removed from the house. Note: the stuff on the sofa is from the entertainment center you see in the picture below. It's waiting for demolition (later today). The crap on the sofa is mostly movies that need to be sorted and boxed for Alien. She's also getting that huge ol' tv set and a dvd/vcr that isn't visible in the photo below. Bookcases from the family room (see below) will occupy the space the entertainment center now occupies, the beige chair will be the only seating in my new "library".The sofa will be moved to the family room when that room is finished.
The tall book case will be moved up to the living room (visible through the railing). I still have another bookcase that needs to be assembled that will take the place of the smaller bookcase (on the left). I just hope there's enough shelf space for all of my books!! The short bookcase will house the videos I will save for my viewing pleasure.
Below is the last of the Wrecking Crew(s) stuff in the family room. Then Rusty Knight can begin painting!! He'll paint the walls, the paneling, the ledge, and the ceiling. Then we can lay the flooring, move the couch from the living room, bring in a different entertainment center, move the toybox to this room and make it a usable family room!! I can't wait!! It'll be a great place for the grandsons to play when they visit MomMom!!
Still a dumping ground for the Wrecking Crews stuff as it's sorted and eventually removed from the house. Note: the stuff on the sofa is from the entertainment center you see in the picture below. It's waiting for demolition (later today). The crap on the sofa is mostly movies that need to be sorted and boxed for Alien. She's also getting that huge ol' tv set and a dvd/vcr that isn't visible in the photo below. Bookcases from the family room (see below) will occupy the space the entertainment center now occupies, the beige chair will be the only seating in my new "library".The sofa will be moved to the family room when that room is finished.
FAMILY ROOM:
Notice there's no carpeting? That was ripped out before Christmas 2012. The tall book case will be moved up to the living room (visible through the railing). I still have another bookcase that needs to be assembled that will take the place of the smaller bookcase (on the left). I just hope there's enough shelf space for all of my books!! The short bookcase will house the videos I will save for my viewing pleasure.
Below is the last of the Wrecking Crew(s) stuff in the family room. Then Rusty Knight can begin painting!! He'll paint the walls, the paneling, the ledge, and the ceiling. Then we can lay the flooring, move the couch from the living room, bring in a different entertainment center, move the toybox to this room and make it a usable family room!! I can't wait!! It'll be a great place for the grandsons to play when they visit MomMom!!
More pictures will follow shortly. I still haven't photographed the storage room (Gizmo's former bedroom), or the crawlspace. I'm working up the nerve (courage?) to tackle those areas.
But first things first ... the living areas. Then I can figure out what from storage I wish to keep and what I'm ready to let go of once and for all.
UPDATE: 8:30 PM ... well, BossMan totally forgot about coming over today to help demolish the entertainment center. He says he'll be over Monday now to do it. You know I'll be burning up his phone with reminder texts. Then I'll have to burn up his phone on Thursday night, when the trash goes to the curb. There's no way I'll be able to get that stuff down to the curb!!
And they claim *I* have memory problems? Geesh.
UPDATE: 8:30 PM ... well, BossMan totally forgot about coming over today to help demolish the entertainment center. He says he'll be over Monday now to do it. You know I'll be burning up his phone with reminder texts. Then I'll have to burn up his phone on Thursday night, when the trash goes to the curb. There's no way I'll be able to get that stuff down to the curb!!
And they claim *I* have memory problems? Geesh.
Two days and counting ...
Time's flying! A month ago I applied for the job at Home Depot. Orientation is finally only two days away. I'm so ready to get back to working for a regular paycheck.
And, in all honesty, I've missed working with customers. I also have missed the pace of retail. Crazy, eh?
Speaking of "paychecks", BossMan paid me a fraction of what he owes me. Enough that I was able to get some groceries and have enough left in my wallet for putting gas in the van. Now for him to pay me the rest, I have a student loan and a medical lab bill I need to pay off. I'll be paying them off in full, getting those monkeys off my back once and for all.
BossMan was here on Tuesday to pick some things up. He was telling me that only that morning, Gizmo was in a car wreck. First thing out of my mouth was "is he okay?" He's fine, just some front end damage that makes the car un-drivable. Since BossMan is now working for a towing company, Gizmo called him to tow the car to my ex husbands house so repairs can be made. Seems that good ol' Exie-Poo worked on Gizmo's brakes over the weekend. They worked for a total of SIX stops, the seventh Gizmo rear-ended someone when the brakes failed. All Exie-poo had to say was "oops, sorry".
I don't know how he's getting to work, since his van is STILL here. And it really isn't my problem, Momma's Loan-a-car is out of business.
Not a whole lot else going on here, besides cleaning and sorting.
BossMan will be over after work today to help me demolish an old entertainment center and get it to the curb for tomorrow's garbage pick-up. I'll give the old tv set and dvd/vcr to Alien, along with a few dozen kids videos that I still have from when my kids were younger. I know she'll appreciate them, she's sick of watching the half dozen kids videos they have now. LOL.
I'm still in the process of taking BEFORE pictures ... so stay tuned for those. I'm still bouncing around doing assorted stuff, not really concentrating on a particular room. I really don't think you want to see before pics of the two coat closets, the linen closet, or other miscellaneous closets that I've been tackling. LOL. Then it's onto the big stuff, like... the entertainment center has to go before I can move the bookcases up from the family room. Then the books will be moved after that. Then the family room will finally be ready for painting!! While the paint dries, I'll organize the books and start a new project. After that, the crawl space (that's worthy of a bunch of before pics, btw), and organizing that crap into GARAGE SALE, FREEBIES, THROW AWAY and KEEP piles.
I did manage to get a few seeds planted. Eggplant, and cucumbers to start. Tomorrow I plant an assortment of herbs (not sure what's in the packet, it's a mixture of various seeds that my mom gave me). Monday I'll plant the seeds for sweet peppers and tomatoes. Oh, and there's the coleus seeds that Gizmo gave me, they're planted and waiting for some sign of growth. LOL.
I wanted to get my outdoor planters ready, but I'm holding off on buying them right now. First off, this is the first time I've planted seeds so I'm wondering how successful I'll be in this whole sowing thing so I'm not sure exactly how many containers I'll need (I'm thinking two but we'll see). Secondly, I need some money to buy them along with all of the other things I'll need, like dirt and plant cages. LOL.
I don't want anything fancy, just a few galvanized tubs. Coincidentally, Home Depot sells the ones I want. Twenty one bucks each. Not bad. Plus, that employee discount ... and I'll be in business.
What I need to solve is the double shepherds hook problem I have. I will use it for my hanging baskets of tomatoes and peppers ... the problem is that this house was built on sand. Now, it's great because I don't have to worry about drainage issues, BUT the shepherds hook will not stay in the ground. It started last season okay, but after the baskets grew heavy, it started to resemble the Leaning Tower of Pisa. My only solution seems to be sticking it in a container of some sort and filling the container with concrete. My problem seems to be finding a container (that I can afford) that would survive six inches of concrete in it.
Because of the siding on the house, I can't use hooks to hang them off the eaves of the house, either. Brother Deere put siding on the underside of the eaves, so that hanging anything off them would destroy the siding. It's a nice architectural finish, but crap when it comes to using the overhang of the house for hanging anything. Not even my flag pole!!
Any thoughts? Other ideas on what to do to keep that blasted thing anchored in the ground with or without concrete?
And, in all honesty, I've missed working with customers. I also have missed the pace of retail. Crazy, eh?
*****
Speaking of "paychecks", BossMan paid me a fraction of what he owes me. Enough that I was able to get some groceries and have enough left in my wallet for putting gas in the van. Now for him to pay me the rest, I have a student loan and a medical lab bill I need to pay off. I'll be paying them off in full, getting those monkeys off my back once and for all.
*****
BossMan was here on Tuesday to pick some things up. He was telling me that only that morning, Gizmo was in a car wreck. First thing out of my mouth was "is he okay?" He's fine, just some front end damage that makes the car un-drivable. Since BossMan is now working for a towing company, Gizmo called him to tow the car to my ex husbands house so repairs can be made. Seems that good ol' Exie-Poo worked on Gizmo's brakes over the weekend. They worked for a total of SIX stops, the seventh Gizmo rear-ended someone when the brakes failed. All Exie-poo had to say was "oops, sorry".
I don't know how he's getting to work, since his van is STILL here. And it really isn't my problem, Momma's Loan-a-car is out of business.
*****
Other than that, not a word from Gizmo. I still need him to come get his crap out of here. It's getting to the point I'm about to load my van up with his crap, and drop it off on his porch. Forget the fact I don't know exactly WHERE they live now, that's not my problem. I need this crap out of here, and I've told him that quite a few times now. I'm tired of the excuses that Drama-rama gives me as to why they can't make it when I ask.
*****
Not a whole lot else going on here, besides cleaning and sorting.
BossMan will be over after work today to help me demolish an old entertainment center and get it to the curb for tomorrow's garbage pick-up. I'll give the old tv set and dvd/vcr to Alien, along with a few dozen kids videos that I still have from when my kids were younger. I know she'll appreciate them, she's sick of watching the half dozen kids videos they have now. LOL.
I'm still in the process of taking BEFORE pictures ... so stay tuned for those. I'm still bouncing around doing assorted stuff, not really concentrating on a particular room. I really don't think you want to see before pics of the two coat closets, the linen closet, or other miscellaneous closets that I've been tackling. LOL. Then it's onto the big stuff, like... the entertainment center has to go before I can move the bookcases up from the family room. Then the books will be moved after that. Then the family room will finally be ready for painting!! While the paint dries, I'll organize the books and start a new project. After that, the crawl space (that's worthy of a bunch of before pics, btw), and organizing that crap into GARAGE SALE, FREEBIES, THROW AWAY and KEEP piles.
*****
I did manage to get a few seeds planted. Eggplant, and cucumbers to start. Tomorrow I plant an assortment of herbs (not sure what's in the packet, it's a mixture of various seeds that my mom gave me). Monday I'll plant the seeds for sweet peppers and tomatoes. Oh, and there's the coleus seeds that Gizmo gave me, they're planted and waiting for some sign of growth. LOL.
I wanted to get my outdoor planters ready, but I'm holding off on buying them right now. First off, this is the first time I've planted seeds so I'm wondering how successful I'll be in this whole sowing thing so I'm not sure exactly how many containers I'll need (I'm thinking two but we'll see). Secondly, I need some money to buy them along with all of the other things I'll need, like dirt and plant cages. LOL.
I don't want anything fancy, just a few galvanized tubs. Coincidentally, Home Depot sells the ones I want. Twenty one bucks each. Not bad. Plus, that employee discount ... and I'll be in business.
What I need to solve is the double shepherds hook problem I have. I will use it for my hanging baskets of tomatoes and peppers ... the problem is that this house was built on sand. Now, it's great because I don't have to worry about drainage issues, BUT the shepherds hook will not stay in the ground. It started last season okay, but after the baskets grew heavy, it started to resemble the Leaning Tower of Pisa. My only solution seems to be sticking it in a container of some sort and filling the container with concrete. My problem seems to be finding a container (that I can afford) that would survive six inches of concrete in it.
Because of the siding on the house, I can't use hooks to hang them off the eaves of the house, either. Brother Deere put siding on the underside of the eaves, so that hanging anything off them would destroy the siding. It's a nice architectural finish, but crap when it comes to using the overhang of the house for hanging anything. Not even my flag pole!!
Any thoughts? Other ideas on what to do to keep that blasted thing anchored in the ground with or without concrete?
4/8/13
Thus Ends Another "Era" ...
And that era being that of begging for transportation someplace. Five long years I've had to either coordinate usage of a shared vehicle, or these last few years having to beg for a ride to wherever.
Meet my new wheels ...
Isn't she pretty? She's a 2005 Chrysler Town And Country. Less than 70,000 original miles. First red vehicle I've ever "owned".
She's actually a lease for now, but if the price is right, I'll buy her when the lease is up.
Since the lease is primarily in my mom's name, the use of this beauty comes with these conditions ...
1) The house must be cleaned and stay clean. Mom knows I'm working on that. She also knows I'm so over the wrecking crew and living in less than desirable conditions.
2) I must stay employed. That I have every intention of doing, and hopefully will be made permanent soon.
3) I pay the lease payment (she'll cover insurance for now until I'm permanently employed).
And ...
4) NO ONE ELSE is to drive her! Not a problem!! I had already promised myself that I'm done loaning vehicles out to anyone. So this is really a no brainer, lol.
It's so nice to know that if I need to run to the store I don't have to sit and wait for someone to come pick me up, or have to walk (in the rain or snow) to the gas station to pay too much for whatever I need. And I'm sure not going to have to bum a ride to work either.
Yay!!
Like I said over on facebook earlier "shit's looking up for Momma".
Meet my new wheels ...
Isn't she pretty? She's a 2005 Chrysler Town And Country. Less than 70,000 original miles. First red vehicle I've ever "owned".
She's actually a lease for now, but if the price is right, I'll buy her when the lease is up.
Since the lease is primarily in my mom's name, the use of this beauty comes with these conditions ...
1) The house must be cleaned and stay clean. Mom knows I'm working on that. She also knows I'm so over the wrecking crew and living in less than desirable conditions.
2) I must stay employed. That I have every intention of doing, and hopefully will be made permanent soon.
3) I pay the lease payment (she'll cover insurance for now until I'm permanently employed).
And ...
4) NO ONE ELSE is to drive her! Not a problem!! I had already promised myself that I'm done loaning vehicles out to anyone. So this is really a no brainer, lol.
It's so nice to know that if I need to run to the store I don't have to sit and wait for someone to come pick me up, or have to walk (in the rain or snow) to the gas station to pay too much for whatever I need. And I'm sure not going to have to bum a ride to work either.
Yay!!
Like I said over on facebook earlier "shit's looking up for Momma".
4/4/13
After Pics!!
Look at all that counter space!! Isn't it grand? And I can find everything I need! What I need to put on my wish list is a crock pot for all of those utensils!!
Not sure why I'm including this ... this is the view from my kitchen sink. It's a stained glass design film sheet that offers me privacy from the too-close next door neighbor.
And an overview of the kitchen. Much cleaner than in the before pics, eh? It's a joy to walk into the kitchen now, that's for sure!!
But it's done! The kitchen is finished. I decided to not bore you with after shots of the interior of the cupboards ... but they're nice and organized for the first time in more than a decade. I know where stuff is for a change! And it's grand!!
What A Week ...
I can't believe it's been a week since my last blog. So much for trying to do better at blogging. I really do need to try to stick with this!!
Things here were going well until Easter Sunday. But let's start closer to the beginning of last week ...
Mom loaned me the money I needed to get the bills current. The $500 worth of bills that Gizmo stuck me with are now paid off. I'll pay Mom back when I can. She said to just wait until next year when I get some sort of tax refund back.
Daddy's really complicating this getting a new car thing. He's researching to death the different models of cars they might consider leasing when they give me the van. Then they still have to test drive whatever they decide on. Daddy's a stroke patient and getting in and out of vehicles is a challenge on a good day. A new vehicle can't be too low, or too high off the ground, or it causes major problems for a man with huge mobility problems.
Thankfully, we have nine days before I start working at The Home Depot! I'm wondering if I'm not going to have to ask someone for a ride for orientation, LOL.
Speaking of the utilities ... I've already noticed big drops in my gas and electric usage. Gas bill has already dropped $20 a month (down from $140 a month), and that's just from the thermostat NOT being tampered with any more. I can't wait to see what the new high efficiency furnace will bring me savings wise!!
The electric bill is on a monthly payment plan. It's $101 a month. I'm expecting that bill to drop dramatically after my June low-income payment re-evaluation. I barely use two or three lights/appliances at a time, where it used to look like Grand Central Station lit up around here!!
I also talked to the phone company, and managed to get my bill lowered by about $25 a month. Just for asking!! Well, I did tell them a bit about my financial situation, and they were more than willing to work with me to keep my service affordable to me. Guess being a life-long customer helps, eh?
Since Mom pays the water and sewer bill, I'm not sure what those bills will see as far as savings, but I know they'll be much lower with a whole lot less showers, loads of laundry and even toilet flushes around here.
Speaking of toilets, LOL, I found the toilet plunger. Seems Drama-rama didn't steal it after all! Nope, one of them took it down to the laundry room to unplug the laundry tub down there, and never returned it to it's place in the bathroom. It fell behind the washing machine, had I not dropped something under the laundry tub, I'd never have spotted the handle poking from behind the washer. Don't get me started with them using it to unclog the laundry tub. Needless to say, about a gallon and a half later of bleach in the laundry tub, and I'm sooooo over this having "room mates" thing!
On Good Friday I was informed by BossMan that he's closing down One Time Express. There wasn't enough profit in it ... which I can understand. I haven't been paid in five weeks now!! That's $500 that he owes me for those weeks. And I need it. I kinda wanna eat, you know? Thankfully, Mom's come through for me again ... with a gift card to the local grocery store and cleaning out her pantry of food she claims she won't eat. Right, we believe that, don't we?
Anyway, he's shut down 1te for good. I have about three more weeks of paperwork to do (as it comes in) and I'll be done working for 1te.
BossMan starts work for a local towing company tomorrow.
Easter Sunday was a bad day here. There were no plans for the day, which was fine with me. I texted BossMan telling him Happy Easter, and asked if he could do me a favor on Monday by taking me to the bank so I could deposit the money Mom had loaned me for the bills. Instead of getting a "sorry Mom, I'm busy tomorrow but how about on Tuesday" he jumps down my throat with a "why does everyone assume I have nothing to do but sit in the couch with my thumb up my ass?" Of course, that lead to a pretty nasty text-message fight.
In the meantime, he's also texting Alien, telling her that he thinks I'm being unrealistic about wanting Gizmo to replace the vehicle that he destroyed. That it's MY fault, that I shouldn't have loaned him the vehicle to begin with. Alien tried to reason with him, but failed. BossMan then goes on to say all sorts of crap that really angered Alien. That I'm unreasonable for the bill money, and that if I think he's going to pay rent for staying here, I'm full of it.
Alien texted me asking if she could be my only child. And then proceeded to tell me about the lengthy text-fight they got in too.
A bunch of ingrates, that's what my sons are. Forget the seven years I housed BossMan AND his family, and two long time live in girlfriends of Gizmo's, and didn't get anything in return except for their messes, demands, bullcrap and lies.
Nope, I'm done ... DONE ... none of them will be moving back in this, or the next dozen, lifetimes.
And no, BossMan hasn't been sleeping here. Today is the second time I've seen him in the last week. Maybe an hour or two at a time. He says he's crashing on Gizmo's couch. Funny, since he claims that Drama-rama grinds on his nerves. But whatever, Hotel Momma is closed.
Now, for him to pay me what he owes me ... AND get his crap out of here, too!!
Things here were going well until Easter Sunday. But let's start closer to the beginning of last week ...
Mom loaned me the money I needed to get the bills current. The $500 worth of bills that Gizmo stuck me with are now paid off. I'll pay Mom back when I can. She said to just wait until next year when I get some sort of tax refund back.
Daddy's really complicating this getting a new car thing. He's researching to death the different models of cars they might consider leasing when they give me the van. Then they still have to test drive whatever they decide on. Daddy's a stroke patient and getting in and out of vehicles is a challenge on a good day. A new vehicle can't be too low, or too high off the ground, or it causes major problems for a man with huge mobility problems.
Thankfully, we have nine days before I start working at The Home Depot! I'm wondering if I'm not going to have to ask someone for a ride for orientation, LOL.
*****
Speaking of the utilities ... I've already noticed big drops in my gas and electric usage. Gas bill has already dropped $20 a month (down from $140 a month), and that's just from the thermostat NOT being tampered with any more. I can't wait to see what the new high efficiency furnace will bring me savings wise!!
The electric bill is on a monthly payment plan. It's $101 a month. I'm expecting that bill to drop dramatically after my June low-income payment re-evaluation. I barely use two or three lights/appliances at a time, where it used to look like Grand Central Station lit up around here!!
I also talked to the phone company, and managed to get my bill lowered by about $25 a month. Just for asking!! Well, I did tell them a bit about my financial situation, and they were more than willing to work with me to keep my service affordable to me. Guess being a life-long customer helps, eh?
Since Mom pays the water and sewer bill, I'm not sure what those bills will see as far as savings, but I know they'll be much lower with a whole lot less showers, loads of laundry and even toilet flushes around here.
Speaking of toilets, LOL, I found the toilet plunger. Seems Drama-rama didn't steal it after all! Nope, one of them took it down to the laundry room to unplug the laundry tub down there, and never returned it to it's place in the bathroom. It fell behind the washing machine, had I not dropped something under the laundry tub, I'd never have spotted the handle poking from behind the washer. Don't get me started with them using it to unclog the laundry tub. Needless to say, about a gallon and a half later of bleach in the laundry tub, and I'm sooooo over this having "room mates" thing!
*****
On Good Friday I was informed by BossMan that he's closing down One Time Express. There wasn't enough profit in it ... which I can understand. I haven't been paid in five weeks now!! That's $500 that he owes me for those weeks. And I need it. I kinda wanna eat, you know? Thankfully, Mom's come through for me again ... with a gift card to the local grocery store and cleaning out her pantry of food she claims she won't eat. Right, we believe that, don't we?
Anyway, he's shut down 1te for good. I have about three more weeks of paperwork to do (as it comes in) and I'll be done working for 1te.
BossMan starts work for a local towing company tomorrow.
*****
Easter Sunday was a bad day here. There were no plans for the day, which was fine with me. I texted BossMan telling him Happy Easter, and asked if he could do me a favor on Monday by taking me to the bank so I could deposit the money Mom had loaned me for the bills. Instead of getting a "sorry Mom, I'm busy tomorrow but how about on Tuesday" he jumps down my throat with a "why does everyone assume I have nothing to do but sit in the couch with my thumb up my ass?" Of course, that lead to a pretty nasty text-message fight.
In the meantime, he's also texting Alien, telling her that he thinks I'm being unrealistic about wanting Gizmo to replace the vehicle that he destroyed. That it's MY fault, that I shouldn't have loaned him the vehicle to begin with. Alien tried to reason with him, but failed. BossMan then goes on to say all sorts of crap that really angered Alien. That I'm unreasonable for the bill money, and that if I think he's going to pay rent for staying here, I'm full of it.
Alien texted me asking if she could be my only child. And then proceeded to tell me about the lengthy text-fight they got in too.
*****
A bunch of ingrates, that's what my sons are. Forget the seven years I housed BossMan AND his family, and two long time live in girlfriends of Gizmo's, and didn't get anything in return except for their messes, demands, bullcrap and lies.
Nope, I'm done ... DONE ... none of them will be moving back in this, or the next dozen, lifetimes.
And no, BossMan hasn't been sleeping here. Today is the second time I've seen him in the last week. Maybe an hour or two at a time. He says he's crashing on Gizmo's couch. Funny, since he claims that Drama-rama grinds on his nerves. But whatever, Hotel Momma is closed.
Now, for him to pay me what he owes me ... AND get his crap out of here, too!!
3/27/13
Ketchup ...
I mean ... Catch Up ... let's see ... the last few days ...
The kitchen is officially done. Well, the stuff I could afford to do anyway. Window treatments and a few storage solutions I have yet to do will have to wait. But, I'll snap pictures as soon as I remember where I hid the camera. Butterball loves all things electronic, especially MomMom's gadgets, so I have to hide everything really well. Too well in this case, I can't remember where I put it!! Can't use my cell phone to snap pics either, as I seem to have hidden the data cord for that as well.
But pics coming soon!
It'll be soooo nice when things are fully organized around here and I can have ONE hiding place for all of the things I need to keep Butterball away from! Preferably something with a lock on it!
I still haven't heard from Gizmo or Drama-rama. I've left several messages that they have mail here, and they need to get the rest of their stuff. Their crap is holding me back with progress on the rest of the house!!
Heaven help Drama-rama should be told to come get her stuff. Of course, I'm being ignored. It's got to be her way of having a little control over Big-Bad-Me. She'll do it in her own time, not in my time preferences. I've left messages on my son's cell phone. Yes, my son's cell phone. Apparently she's taken it over as the two times I did get a response in the last few weeks was her calling me back, stating "I got your message on Gizmo's phone. We can't possibly come over this week to get the rest of our things because DOT DOT DOT". She's got an excuse every time.
But never mind, the emotions she thinks she's going to stir up for me just aren't gonna happen. I'm done with it. I need to move on. Besides, I just don't need that stress. And since I've adopted this whole not-going-to-have-any-emotions-whatsover mentality, my stress levels have gone down considerably.
Now to just figure out how I'm going to get those bills paid and I'll be stress free!!
So, you may have seen on facebook that I got the job at Home Depot! YAY!! Finally. Orientation isn't until April 13th. But I'm in!! I'm good to go! Now I'll just need to prove to them that making me a full time, year 'round employee is in their best interest!! And that won't be too hard to do once they see what type of a cashier I am.
The kitchen is officially done. Well, the stuff I could afford to do anyway. Window treatments and a few storage solutions I have yet to do will have to wait. But, I'll snap pictures as soon as I remember where I hid the camera. Butterball loves all things electronic, especially MomMom's gadgets, so I have to hide everything really well. Too well in this case, I can't remember where I put it!! Can't use my cell phone to snap pics either, as I seem to have hidden the data cord for that as well.
But pics coming soon!
It'll be soooo nice when things are fully organized around here and I can have ONE hiding place for all of the things I need to keep Butterball away from! Preferably something with a lock on it!
*****
I still haven't heard from Gizmo or Drama-rama. I've left several messages that they have mail here, and they need to get the rest of their stuff. Their crap is holding me back with progress on the rest of the house!!
Heaven help Drama-rama should be told to come get her stuff. Of course, I'm being ignored. It's got to be her way of having a little control over Big-Bad-Me. She'll do it in her own time, not in my time preferences. I've left messages on my son's cell phone. Yes, my son's cell phone. Apparently she's taken it over as the two times I did get a response in the last few weeks was her calling me back, stating "I got your message on Gizmo's phone. We can't possibly come over this week to get the rest of our things because DOT DOT DOT". She's got an excuse every time.
But never mind, the emotions she thinks she's going to stir up for me just aren't gonna happen. I'm done with it. I need to move on. Besides, I just don't need that stress. And since I've adopted this whole not-going-to-have-any-emotions-whatsover mentality, my stress levels have gone down considerably.
Now to just figure out how I'm going to get those bills paid and I'll be stress free!!
*****
So, you may have seen on facebook that I got the job at Home Depot! YAY!! Finally. Orientation isn't until April 13th. But I'm in!! I'm good to go! Now I'll just need to prove to them that making me a full time, year 'round employee is in their best interest!! And that won't be too hard to do once they see what type of a cashier I am.
*****
I'll keep my 1te job (with BossMan). The pay will help, well, when I get paid anyway, LOL. The company is going through a huge transition right now. To leave would only end up devestating BossMan. I'm the only employee he has left!! He had to fire the Truck Driver over the weekend. He ended up going to North Carolina (where the truck was) to empty out his personal belongings that he'd loaned to the driver and is turning the truck back to the leasing company. So that'll end the semi-truck portion of One Time Express.
He will keep the van he's been working out of for expedite deliveries, though. It's much more lucrative, the overhead isn't nearly as high as with the semi, and there's a much better profit margin with the company we're now contracting with.
It'll take a few months, I'm sure, but we'll finally be in the black again.
So, that's an ongoing thing. I'll keep ya'll posted as things develop.
*****
Mom has talked to the Knight in Rusty Armor and has asked him to paint the family room. She'll pay him $100 to do it, something he said wasn't necessary. His words were something like "I enjoy helping family out, you don't need to pay me". Mom said "don't be a fool, take the money, use it for your sons". So ... that'll happen in about a month. AFTER Gizmo and Drama-rama get their crap out of here so I can move forward with where to put the stuff that's in the family room now.
Then she's got more that she wants Rusty Knight to do, but we'll keep that to ourselves for now. If not, he'd come on here, wanting to do it all right away, and not pace himself. And pacing is all important when you have a budget to consider.
*****
After a week and a half of calling the phone company with no results, they have finally agreed there is a problem with my phone line and will be out next week to do repairs.
You'd think after 18 years of my living in this house, I would know of which I speak. But noooooo, they think that I don't know squat. They claim squirrels don't like teflon. Ummm, my squirrels LOVE it.
One of the techs I spoke to today actually had a suggestion for me .... "lady, you need to put up squirrel feeders throughout your property. They're obviously hungry". I DO feed them, but don't have any fancy feeders for their meals. I just put their feed on the ground!! Maybe I need to rethink the whole squirrel dining environment. Create a little ambience?
But they are fed ... and rather well at that. I think the squirrels use the teflon-coated phone lines as dental floss, and I told the tech so!!
3/23/13
Rough Day
The last two days haven't been good. Seems like every time I make a few steps forward, I get kicked back even more steps.
BossMan's having huge financial problems with the company right now. Which means, the secretary is the last one to get paid. Or in this case, not paid at all. I can handle being owed a week's wages, but three weeks?
What little savings I had was used last week for groceries. This week I'll have to dip into the money I had saved for "my" share of the bills (my share before the nest emptied anyway, now they're all "my" bills). What I will do after that I have no idea. I just hope that BossMan can come up with the three weeks of wages he owes me ...
At the rate it's going, I'll be forced to see if I can get some sort of assistance or aid. DT, the guy who took over command of the USS Sinclair, works for a charity organization and told me that if I need anything to contact him. It may just boil down to that yet.
Still haven't heard about the background check. I was told it could be as late as Monday, as they're on a hiring binge throughout the district. I did call yesterday, and was told no word yet.
I know I have to do something to get myself out of the funk of the last few days. This isn't where I had imagined myself at the age of 53. I don't like it, not one bit. I should be planning my next weekend getaway ... not figuring out how to make a lousy $35-40 stretch for food for a week.
I keep reminding myself that the stress of the full nest is gone ... that I do have that freedom I'd long been dreaming of.
And don't get me wrong, I love every second of the empty nest. I deserve it!! I've put up with a lot in the last three decades.
It's just getting over this financial hump.
BossMan's having huge financial problems with the company right now. Which means, the secretary is the last one to get paid. Or in this case, not paid at all. I can handle being owed a week's wages, but three weeks?
What little savings I had was used last week for groceries. This week I'll have to dip into the money I had saved for "my" share of the bills (my share before the nest emptied anyway, now they're all "my" bills). What I will do after that I have no idea. I just hope that BossMan can come up with the three weeks of wages he owes me ...
At the rate it's going, I'll be forced to see if I can get some sort of assistance or aid. DT, the guy who took over command of the USS Sinclair, works for a charity organization and told me that if I need anything to contact him. It may just boil down to that yet.
Still haven't heard about the background check. I was told it could be as late as Monday, as they're on a hiring binge throughout the district. I did call yesterday, and was told no word yet.
I know I have to do something to get myself out of the funk of the last few days. This isn't where I had imagined myself at the age of 53. I don't like it, not one bit. I should be planning my next weekend getaway ... not figuring out how to make a lousy $35-40 stretch for food for a week.
I keep reminding myself that the stress of the full nest is gone ... that I do have that freedom I'd long been dreaming of.
And don't get me wrong, I love every second of the empty nest. I deserve it!! I've put up with a lot in the last three decades.
It's just getting over this financial hump.
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