Vanquishing the grass

Well, it was a really good weekend. Hope yours was too.

I applied for the other job, the one that's a block and a half away from home. I have no idea of the pay scale though, probably not enough, most jobs aren't. I also conquered the front garden. I went out with a hoe and a scratcher tool but the neighbor came over with this really amazing garden tool. It's a weird thingy with two handles on one end and a square of sharp spikes on the other. Although it took brute strength to rip up the sod, it was much faster than the hoe. I'm awfully sore this morning but it was worth it. There's actually a garden in the raised bed at the front of the house now!

The neighbor said I could keep the tool for a while, so I'm going to tackle the biggest (and only undone) garden in the back. Just not yet, maybe in a couple of days! The rain we've been having really helped as the soil was even harder to get through before. There were huge piles of grass and grassroots when I was done. Now you can see the couple of flower plants that are still alive in the garden.

I also met SLA and Houseguest for breakfast early yesterday morning. They both work nights and were just getting off work. We exchanged work stories. I mentioned my situation and that I'm looking for a new job, but didn't go into it all at length.

Another week, and very soon--another month. Have a good day, even if it's a Monday!

Anyway

I ran into this while searching for something on the Web:

People are often unreasonable, illogical, & self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight:
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.


- Mother Theresa

Wow, I have to try to remember that!

On and off of the work topic

Yep, it's more about work today, surprised? Either that or I would have to write pages in my notebook journal and I don't have time or the arm (and hand) for that much writing!

Former Big Boss came back from vacation yesterday. He has been the only person to actually come up to me and talk about my move to the reception desk. I really appreciate it more than I can say. Everyone else has ignored the very obvious fact that I've moved out of my office and now sit at a desk in the middle of the front office floor. It's like they are uncomfortable or embarrassed to even bring it up. If they're uncomfortable or embarrassed--my feelings are ten-fold!

Why is it that people are loath to actually come out and talk about, or at least mention and acknowledge stuff like that? I believe it's simple cowardice.

Like when there's a death in the family. Many if not most people shy away from mentioning it beyond the "Sorry about your ____(insert loved one's role), as if they might remind the person their mother or father has died. I would rather doubt a person would forget something like that, even for a moment when it's a recent, fresh fact!

People say things like, "I don't want to reopen wounds." As if the mention of the fact is going to hurt the person worse than losing a loved one did! Everyone is different, but when my Dad died I WANTED to talk about it, about him, at least a little bit but most people would shy away from that subject or change the subject if I brought it up. I think they were afraid that I might cry or something. And then what would they do?! Oooh that might be awkward or uncomfortable--for THEM!

I think that's a huge cop-out for avoiding very real human feelings. So what if I cried a little (I didn't, actually) that's not scary or horrible, just normal. We can deal with things like that and support each other instead of shying away from the "uncomfortable" subjects! Well, enough of that, but I do feel strongly about getting up some courage and dealing with each other in an honest and supportive manner!

OK, I got off into one of my (many) rant subjects and was sidetracked from talk about work. Are you glad? It's Friday, and I am SO glad to get relief from the busy crossroads of sitting at the front desk! Have a good day and a great weekend!

So weird

As I mentioned below, I was assigned to do an orientation for the newly hired staff member. It was so weird, bordering on surreal to sit in my old office in the "guest" chair while she sat in "my" chair at "my" desk. The office had been stripped of anything of me or mine. I'd had the office as a home away from home since February of 2002. Nobody seemed to appreciate how strange and uncomfortable of a situation that was for me. Oh well. I can talk about it here. And I survived.

I'm going to have to put some effort into liking this new person, though, which surprised me. But maybe it shouldn't have. For another count against her is that she looks almost exactly like the woman with whom my husband cheated on me! She's small and dark and has long, straight black hair and a longish face. Now what were the chances of that? This coincidence thing is getting out of hand, but I think that I'm just in such a strange, stressed place that I'm seeing them (coincidences) everywhere!

She's a 5'1" 100 pounds on a bad day person, like all of the rest of the women here. I'm still the only exception, and a giant among the "little people" as I privately call them. Well, enough of that for now. Since work is such an issue for me now, I'm sure that it will will cropping up again and again!

I stopped at the farmer's market on the way home from work and bought some lovely vegetables. I also bought some herb plants and they are making the house smell very good. Made lattes last night but they were rather weak. I think I put too much ice into the blender. It was so humid and hot that I just kept putting in more ice. The coffees were very refreshing, though, anyway. My Mom called to let me know that she will not be available on Saturday. It was considerate of her but I've been trying to get away from having a certain day to take her places. It hasn't worked, apparently.

Well, it's time to go to the display booth. Have a great day!

Fence me in

Well, I got the resume and cover letter off to the engineering company OK. I wish I'd had time to give them one more check over, but had to be sneaky at work. I'd reviewed them carefully at home so hope they are flawless. I also called the nearby place to ask for an application. Applications are more difficult, as they really ought to be typed for a secretarial or administrative position. I don't have a typewriter at home. There's a great one at work, with correction on it even, but that would be going too far! Even if I came in extra early it would be too easy to get caught doing that.

I had my first day in the display booth yesterday. The IT guy fixed it so it really is a decent space. He moved the cabinet with the computer so it was under some lights that were still actually working. When I sit there I can hardly tell that so many lights are burned out in the ceiling. Also, we closed in the space so I practically have to squeeze to get into it. This was as I wanted, to make it inaccessable to others. One of the (many) things I dislike about sitting at a front desk is the way people help themselves to your stuff. They open drawers looking for things, like it is public property. So as much as I hated sitting there, it was a bit better than it could have been.

The new person starts today. I have the assignment to be with her all morning, to show her around and tell her the ropes of mailing--give letters to me, sending out publications--give requests to me, well, you get the idea. It's heartbreaking to walk by my old office, which I cleaned and polished, and see it empty and ready for someone else to occupy.

Last night when we had the ferrets and Ricky (chinchilla)outside the neighbor woman brought her large dog over to meet them. He will chase cats but seemed gentle and playful enough with the ferrets. We didn't do more than show him Ricky because Ricky acts too much like a squirrel and this is a hunting dog.

Neighbor lady didn't actually release her dog, though, as he's so much bigger than any of my animals and could hurt them, even in play. My little dog was terribly jealous and barked at him. She normally is a quiet, nonassuming dog. It was difficult to keep up a conversation with the neighbor lady and still keep an eye on the ferrets. Nebby, especially is very talented at getting away. Finally her mother, whom I hadn't yet met, came out and they had to go somewhere. And so did I. We brought the animals back inside and then I went grocery shopping.

Have a great day!

Out looking

Sorry, but I won't have much time to read and comment on blogs today. I'm working on a RESUME to a Canadian engineering company that has a branch right here in town. I wouldn't even need to go across the bridge into that other state, which would be so sweet in the winter. Best of all, I could leave my current job bitterness behind.

The chances aren't that good that I'll get the job, though, or even an interview. Job competitiion is stiff here, especially for the better paying positions. It used to be that I got every job that I interviewed for, but things have changed both on the inside and the outside. For one thing I've gotten older and fatter and that's not a plus for a woman looking for a job. It's funny but I never truly realized all of the advantages to being a younger woman until I wasn't one anymore! Isn't life just like that, and human nature too.

My friends think I'm being negative when I say things like, "I probably won't get this job" but I say it's just being realistic. It doesn't mean that I won't try hard and do my best with the cover letter, resume and hopefully, if I get one, the interview. It just means that I'm not putting all my eggs in this one basket, counting on this job to save me or something. I'm applying for another job that's a little over a block away from home! I don't think it pays enough, however, but I'll find out.

The really bad part of all this is that I don't have a printer at home. So you guessed it, I'm printing my application stuff off at work. Bad bad bad, I know, and risky too. But what are they going to do if they catch me, demote me or something, ha ha! We are allowed to copy and print off "reasonable" personal documents, but I think applying for another job would NOT be considered reasonable. Guess I'm just sticking it to the man. Gee, but I'm full of cliche's today! Maybe I should have read other blogs rather than posting!

Well, I'm off to my display booth (sitting in front at the receptionist desk) have a good one!

The thrill is gone

Hey, it's Monday and the thrill is gone. Since you've asked for it, ha ha, here's the brief, sad summary of my time with this current job:

I started working at the place (where I work now) as a temp in May 2000. I was also working a 40 hours per week night job at the same time.

In 2002 I took a "real" job in the HR department of the ciy school district and quit the other night job. The school district was an eye opener at many levels. The main disturbing thing was that I worked for a boss who was certifiably crazy, had a breakdown shortly after I left. Before him, I'd liked and got along with every boss I'd had very well, we'd always have a good working relationship and mutual respect. He broke my long winning streak with bosses....

I only worked at the school district for 4 1/2 months and quit, before I did something crazy! There's nothing like a wacko boss to make working quite difficult and drive one almost as crazy as he was.

The first job (where I temped, and where I work now) created another position, especially for me--they loved me and wanted me back! Too bad that didn't last long...

I started at my new job just as the receptionist was suffering a lot of personal stress and family grief. I filled in at her job more and more often. We still had a temp doing clerical work, too. The receptionist was first gone for days, then for weeks and finally it was a couple of months at a time. I still had temps to help me then, though, and I was told my working both jobs was a temporary situation.

Finally the receptionist quit and we advertised the position and interviewed two good candidates. The day after the interviews there was a staff meeting in which everyone knew what was going to happen but me. They told me I would be doing the receptionist job permanently, they weren't going to hire anyone else. When I protested, I was accused of being a bad team member by all of my co-workers, even ones I had thought were my friends. The meeting took two hours and I had talked all the way through it. I found out later that they had expected me to walk out (and oh how I'd wanted to do just that!) which is why they had interviewed the two candidates first, just in case I quit.

So I was stuck doing both jobs, but the receptionist job is much more immediate, I couldn't tell a phone caller or an office visitor, "Please wait just a moment. I'd like to finish my research on this." And when they took the temps away from me which was shortly after that, my own job, the job I was hired to do, suffered.

So here we are to the present day, today, Monday, and today I'm giving up my office and my privacy to a person I've not even met. We don't even know her, and I've worked at this place for six years and have proven my loyalty and work ethic many times over. That's why I'm unhappy and bitter about it. I was hired as a researcher/librarian and now I'll be sitting at the front desk as the receptionist. You could hardly get more opposite than those two jobs. And all because I started helping out the receptionist who was having problems. Yes it's true in a work situation, good guys finish last while the mean, cutthroat people thrive.

It's a sad tale, but turned out to be not so brief after all! I've been hearing like stories from my friends. Do you have sad work tales like that?

Dihydrogen monoxide

I went to bed early last night and catch up on sleep. It feels good! Yesterday I was told to relocate by Tuesday (after being told not to worry about it two days ago). You know how I feel about all that, so I won't rehash it.

It's Friday today and looks like the weekend will be quite warm but not hot. What a relief to both Friday and decent weather!

From my E-Mail
A warning
Dihydrogen monoxide is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and kills uncounted thousands of people every year. Most of these deaths are caused by accidental inhalation of DHMO, but the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide do not end there. Prolonged exposure to its solid form causes severe tissue damage. Symptoms of DHMO over-ingestion can include excessive sweating and urination, and possibly a bloated feeling, nausea, vomiting and body electrolyte imbalance. For those who have become dependent, DHMO withdrawal means death.

Dihydrogen monoxide:

* is also known as hydric acid, and is the major component of acid rain.

* contributes to the "greenhouse effect."
* may cause severe burns.

* contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape.

* accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals.

* may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes.

* has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients.

CONTAMINATION IS REACHING EPIDEMIC PROPORTIONS!
Quantities of dihydrogen monoxide have been found in almost every stream, lake, and reservoir in America today. But the pollution is global, and the contaminant has even been found in Antarctic ice. In the midwest alone DHMO has caused millions of dollars of property damage.

Despite the danger, dihydrogen monoxide is often used:

* as an industrial solvent and coolant.

* in nuclear power plants.

* in the production of styrofoam.

* as a fire retardant.

* in many forms of cruel animal research.

* in the distribution of pesticides. Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical.

* as an additive in "junk-foods" and other food products.

Companies dump waste DHMO into rivers and the ocean, and nothing can be done to stop them because this practice is still legal. The impact on wildlife is extreme, and we cannot afford to ignore it any longer!
THE HORROR MUST BE STOPPED!

The American government has refused to ban the production, distribution, or use of this damaging chemical due to its "importance to the economic health of this nation." In fact, the navy and other military organizations are conducting experiments with DHMO, and designing multi-billion dollar devices to control and utilize it during warfare situations. Hundreds of military research facilities receive tons of it through a highly sophisticated underground distribution network. Many store large quantities for later use.

IT'S NOT TOO LATE!

Act NOW to prevent further contamination. Find out more about this dangerous chemical. What you don't know CAN hurt you and others throughout the world.

Can you guess what this dangerous substance is?


(Note: Dihydrogen monoxide is another way of saying H20, or just plain water)
Be sure to drink your eight glasses of Dihydrogen monoxide or hydric acid today!
Have a good Friday and a great weekend!

How to make a simple thing complex

The musical was wonderful, I had forgotten how cool a live performance can be! Usher duty was fun, too. Events are my favorite part of my job at work, too.

My friend is the head of the box office, so she was very busy. A student gave us our tickets and assignments. I was assigned to stand at the ropes and take tickets, which doesn't sound too hard, and I pride myself on being a quick learner. But it did take me a bit to get the hang of which door to tell each person or group to go through. I had a little map of the theater but had not actually seen the inside, as the doors were locked before the show so the cast and crew could set up and warm up. So I was told to tear the ticket, put the stub into a box according to which side of the theater they were on. Then I was to inform them of which door. I was told Section Three goes in the door on the left and Section Five goes in the door on the right, so far so good.

But for the largest section, Section Four, small number were to go to the left, large numbers to the right. It was there I had some questions but nobody around to answer them, how small or how large, what was the dividing line? And the balcony had a system like that, too. I hadn't seen the theater and the map didn't show how many seats so I could divide them. I worried and stressed a bit about putting the stub into the wrong box and telling the people the wrong door! But otherwise it was fun to get to greet and talk to everyone as they came through! My friend picked the best usher job for me, I think.

Amanda and Anton said that they had NOT ushered before, I could have sworn that they had. They had done other things like hand out programs and take tickets (which were part of ushering at this event). I saw an ex-co-worker who was mistreated and left over a year ago who came with her friend to the show. She asked me how it was going and I told her, "not that well" and told her about the four people who were mistreated and two were forced out, who all left the company since she was gone. It probably wasn't a very positive conversation when I hadn't seen her for a year! She said that her new company is opening a branch downtown, wonder what the pay will be.

We had to open and close the doors for intermission and at the beginning and end of the show. Otherwise, we could sit together in the back row and watch. And I could see the show again, if I wanted to! This is a super good deal. But probably will wait for jazz, opera and some different things. I think I've got the seating arrangements down fairly well, finally, ha ha.

Have a good whatever day this is! Thursday, I think. It's been late nights for me twice in a row and I've not had my cup of coffee yet this morning.

Usher in

Well, I'm going to have to look up Shelby, using the link Anvilcloud provided, thanks! I had another weird dream (almost always have dreams--I used to write them all done but it was too much work and took 45 minutes every morning!) The dream was about being in a camp situation with a lot of girl-bands. There was a band called "99" who became my best friends and we hung around together. Wasn't Maxwell Smart's sidekick called "99"? I don't remember. I seemed to be a whole lot younger in the dream, like in my teens. There were physical brawls with other bands and it would take many paragraphs to relate the entire dream. So I won't.

A friend just got a new job at the theater office in one of our three nearby universities! She is very much an activist and also just got elected to a position in the local Greens party. On Friday she called and told me about an opportunity to see the production "Godspell" for free. All I have to do is be an usher before the show and after. We can sit in the back and watch otherwise. She said that I could invite family and other friends, so I called SLA, thinking this would be in her budget. But she hasn't returned my call yet! So last night at a "Stamping Up" party I told Amanda about the opportunity. She and Anton want to go tonight. There is only room for six ushers and we will be three. I'm going to call my friend as soon as the box office opens and hope that we can get in for tonight.

I've been thinking, if there's only room for two I'd better just let A & A have the chance as tonight is the only time they can go. I still have Thursday and Friday night, if there's no room tonight. We have to arrive 45 minutes early for the show and wear black and white. Amanda is excited about the opportunity, she and Anton used to be very involved with the community theater. V-Man used to be involved with the community theater too. In fact he's had two starring roles, one was the lead singing role in "Honk"! I'm not going to invite him, though. He lives too far out of town to come in for a couple of hours. When he was active in the community theater and going to practice all the time, he lived in town. Also I haven't spoken to him since the move!

Hope you've got a lot of fun things going on for yourself today, and not just all work!

Where's Shelby?

I had a weird dream last night. Well, maybe not so weird. It was one of those story dreams that I often have. In fact I used to take some of my writing from those kind of dreams.

In the dream I was looking to settle down in a different town and came to Shelby. I think there's a Shelby Tennessee, but the people in my dream didn't have the accent. They did call other women "honey" which I find rather friendly and sweet, not offensive. They were hiring for some large plant, maybe some sort of garment industry (I might have gotten that from the socks, Deni!) and the pay was good. I was talking to two women in a little field office type building and they seemed very friendly. They said they were loading up the bus to take the regulars to work. There was an entrance exam to get hired, and then it was OJT.

The little field office was messy and cluttered. One put a test on a already quite full table, the other woman offered me some ice cream with melted fudge on top. It was hot out, so I took the ice cream and could hardly stop eating it. After a bit I asked, "When can I start on the test?"

The women both smiled in an agreeable manner, "Oh anytime, honey."

So I realized that I'd better get cracking on the test, but it was difficult to stop eating the ice cream and concentrate. Also people were starting to get on to the bus. I did a couple of the questions on the test and found them difficult. The test seemed to be mostly math, not my strong suit.

"It's so hot in this office, why don't you finish the test on the bus, honey. It has air conditioning." one woman told me. It was too tempting to pass up, so I took the test and the pencil and went on the bus.

On the bus were many friendly people, it was hard to concentrate and I ended up talking to many of them. I was very excited and happy about living in this new town and having such nice co-workers. After a while the bus was filling and I realized I still had a lot left of the test to do. I got off the bus to ask the two women how long I had to do the test. But they were gone from the field office, and you guessed it--then the bus pulled away, full of happy workers and I wasn't one of them.

As I was between waking and sleep I realized there were several morals to the story dream. One, was that I had been pretty arrogant about the test, thinking it would be a cinch, which was not the case. The second moral to the story had to do with temptation: the ice cream, the ice conditioning, conversations all getting in the way of what I had to do. My dreams often have morals to the story.

Yesterday was a brutal day at work. BZ announced my "relocation" at the staff meeting. Several co-workers offered to share their office with the two new people. So while nobody defended me directly, they sort of did by their actions. Unless they just felt like sharing their office with a total stranger, ha ha!

After the meeting BZ seemed flustered and came into my office to talk with me. She said that the relocation wouldn't be for a bit yet, and not to worry. But then she said one of the new people was starting on the 24th, so I'm still thinking that I'll have to move. And probably it will be a sudden thing, too. So I'll be cleaning and clearing files. I had been planning to start on that Monday but there was no time, I was very very busy. Happy Tuesday today!

Just a coincidence?

I had a dream about the black dog last night. He was friendy to me and playing with children! Well, this morning I'm not so eager to go to work. I guess a week (no, four days, as the bad news came on Friday) of liking my job was better than never at all.

Here's a weird coincidence. Blinds Lady and I are opposite zodiac signs, and...

I had: a wonderful thing happen with my housing--I found, bought and moved into a great house that I really love--all in two weeks time.
But: I had a horrible terrible job blow late last week.

Blinds Lady: was just hired for a fantastic job, the job of her dreams. It pays really well and has benefits too. She was hired two weeks ago and had just started actually working the job.
But: Her house burned down last week with all of her stuff in it!

Isn't that the weirdest thing? Especially the timing of those four events. Not to mention that she and I had a take-turns thing going on with the V-Man. I first met her at his house a few years ago. They broke up and then I was going with him. We broke up and now they're back together (I think).

What's your opinion on all of that, mere coincidence, or not?

I may have saved a life

I may have saved a life yesterday. And, no, I'm not talking about my own, although I believe we each save our own lives many times over by making the right move, having the right attitute, blah blah blah.

It was hot here yesterday (and again today). We made some record temperatures, it reached 101F. That's just plain too hot for man, woman or beast. We northerners aren't used to temps like that, we don't know what to do, all the tricks for staying cool. Give us -30 and we can cope, but 101 is beyond most of us. The neighborhood was empty, no kids playing outside, no bicyclists or pedestrians, there were barely even any cars moving, it was just still, and hot. I thought maybe the families all went swimming, which sounded like a great idea except I had things to do. I hit the (very) few rummage sales, nobody was there. Even the thrift shops didn't have many people, nor any furniture that I liked.

Then I went to the grocery store and it was packed. The store has A/C! After buying a lot of groceries, and lingering in the coolness of the store, I went home and put it all away. I did a few things around the house, made lunch because son was going to work. Then after a soda--if it stays this hot I could pick up a soda-drinking habit quickly--I went to the nearby branch of the retail store where my son works. Well, he works in the one up near where we used to live in the country. The one I went to is in the new city.

The store was packed with shoppers. Again I lingered in the nice, refreshing A/C. Although I have two fans going at home, the upstairs of the house is very very warm. When I got back home, a dog was barking, the only sign of life. I did a few things around the house, sweltering all the while. The dog was still barking. It's a large, black, hairy, mongrel dog who lives two houses down. He looks like a weird mix of Newfoundland and maybe a Rottweiler and is rather a fearsome beast that guards his backyard. He is a good watchdog who barks at everything and everyone who walks by in the alleyway.

I went to a side window to see if I could see him in his back yard. And there he was, on a really short chain, in the hot sun. His barking sounded different and more hoarse now too. In fact he had stopped barking much and stood like a giant, resigned elephant or something, in the hot sun. I realized that the poor thing must have tangled himself somehow and was stuck out in the sun with no water. The neighborhood was empty, who knows how long he had been out like that.

I quickly filled a bucket with water and added two trays of icecubes to it. The dog was tied inside the neighbor's tall chainlink fence and I was praying that the fence wasn't locked, and/or I could somehow get over it if the gates were locked. If I couldn't reach him, Plan B was to call the police and have them send the animal control people to rescue him. But the fence was not locked. I went in and gave him the bucket of water. He feebly tapped his tail. His chain was so tangled and wound around that I had to unclip him to get it untangled. There was no fear of him running off or biting me, he had his head buried in the water, poor thing.

It took me awhile to get the chain untangled. And as he took in the cold water, the dog started to revive a little and get more color in his face. His tongue and doggy lips were very pale and unhealthy-looking when I first came. Actually he had shade, lots of water and a cool doghouse but couldn't reach any of his goodies because of the chain getting tangled. I had to reclip him, of course. But I made sure he couldn't get tangled up like that again.

Periodically I checked on him from my window. He first lay down in the shade like a dead dog. In fact I was afraid I'd killed him by giving him ice water when he was so overheated. But after a while he sat up and stayed in the shade by his water dish. The neighbors didn't come home until around 9:00 PM or so. I don't think the poor dog would have made it out in the sun that long.

Well, enjoy the rest of your weekend and stay cool!

Certainly a mix

Whew, what a day yesterday was, both good and bad. Did I say that I was liking work? Hmmm, must have jinxed something there. BZ told me that one of the new hires will have my office. It's true that I knew I was going to be moved to sit at the reception desk at the front, but that was after our office move in October!

I found out Friday afternoon that I will need to move out of my office next week and sit in the front! I was very upset and depressed. What about my two large plants, I can't keep them in the front, there's no light. There's certainly no light there because there are no windows and BZ is in a battle with the building maintenance people so they decided not to replace the three ceiling lights that are out until after we leave! I hate working in dim light, and it has a crappy low-budget feel to it. There's no room or space for my bulletin board or the cool calendar that Fizzy sent me.

Also, there's not room for my work files in the front desk area. I'm leery of putting my work files into a "common" area because last time I did that some of them disappeared! I found out later that favorite coworker had taken all of my event files. She's the event manager, didn't she have her own files on all the events? And that left me with nowhere to go to find important information about those past events--that's why I kept the files! Now I need to go to her to retrieve information from my own files, and she won't actually give me any documents (so I could copy them) but verbally tells me--usually that it's not important that I know that information! She won't give the files back either, BZ told her she could have them.

Yikes! So I was majorly sad, angry and depressed as I sat at home waiting for the blinds lady to show up. First she was coming at 5:00, so I hurried home, didn't have time to cook and eat anything, just made some lattes. Then it turned into 7:30 when she would be coming. At 8:15 she called and told me that she hadn't eaten yet so was going to get dinner! I think she finally arrived after 9:00 (I get up up 5:00 AM and had a rough day, so I was getting tired by then). She is so cheerful and competent. She has a great attitude, and although I didn't tell her about work, I soon felt much better. It took a couple of hours to put up three blinds in my bedroom and four in the living room. The house looks so much better now without pieces of material hung over the windows!

I've decided that to remain sane I simply cannot dwell on the horrid situation at work. It will be humiliating to sit in front after having my own office with a window and a door. It totally looks like--and I think it is--a demotion. But on the bright side of it, I will be a very well paid receptionist! And I certainly won't be invisible to co-workers any more.

I'm soon off to rummage sales to look for furniture for the living room. That will be fun! Have a great day and weekend!

The late V-Man

Wow, the week went fast! It's Friday already and unlike my normal TGIF feelings, I'm not sure it's a good thing. Work continues to be very busy and the days go by quickly. We're hiring two more people to go out and travel for us. I'm the only clerical so that will mean even more work for me. I guess it's job security!

V-Man's ex came over to measure and have our old blinds cut down to fit the house windows. The windows in the apartment were huge. My son took the blinds down and we moved them along with all of the other stuff. The strings were horribly tangled up into each other, though. I would have untangled them before she arrived, had I noticed.

I'm not so sure that she still is an ex. She and V-Man may be sort of back together. After the trauma of a move, that may be a good thing. I'm not so sure I want to hang out with him much, at least for awhile. My son does (and recently said it) regard him as a father figure. We all were together for six years from the time son was 6 to around 12, formative years. And of course friends after that.

Blinds-Lady and V-Man are probably more well-suited to each other. For one thing neither has any sense of time. I don't know how a person could get to their respective ages and not be on time for anything, ever! Guess I'm just a stickler for it. But waiting for hours only to be told "Today isn't a good day, how about tomorrow?" is a waste of my time. V-Man does not like waiting either, he's very impatient. Maybe that's why he's always late, so he seldom has to wait for anyone, they all are waiting for him. Oh well. I like my house so it was worth it. I just don't want to ever ever do that sort of a move again.

Have a great day and a wonderful weekend!

No cocktails yet

No cocktails yet, but I did see that neighbor (N3) last night. I was out clawing through the part of the garden I'd dug up earlier. The soil was dry from no rain and the grass and weed roots came out easily. Now, if the digging was just that easy! N3 said that her guy had come over during the day with his gas-powered weedwacker, no luck. Those are some tough weeds.

One end of the garden is a lot of beautiful yellow daisies. I kind of like them and want to keep them--but without the head-high grass. I already have a bunch in a vase in the house. The rest is mostly regular old grass but mixed in there is something we used to call "Goatsbeard" when we were kids. It's a round puffy ball of seeds, about the size of a baseball. We used them for decoration around the house and even spray-painted them different colors, like silver or gold to sell in our vegetable stand. I kind of like those too, but they're really mixed in the regular grass.

N3 and I decided that sadly, I probably will not have a garden ready by this year. VMan (and I've done it too, in the country) have killed off plots of grass for a garden by covering them with a black tarp or black plastic. That won't look so good in the city, but then, head-high grass doesn't exactly either.

N3 had neither a cocktail nor a cigarette in her hands this time. And she met my son, who was mowing the lawn. She didn't see, or at least comment on the two cages of pets outside. When the weather is nice, I bring out the chinchilla and the ferrets to enjoy the fresh air. The weather has been very hot lately, though, so I keep them in the shade and make sure they have enough water (which I do anyway, of course, but more diligently when it's so hot). I even took Duggie out to the garden, because ferrets love to dig. But he was too distracting while I was trying to work. He didn't want to dig but wanted to run across the lawn instead. Ferrets are kind of like some (most?) people in that they're not satisfied where they are but always want to see somewhere else. I find that I'm getting less like that the older I get, however.

Work has been crazy, hectic, exciting. And there's another day of it today. I've actually been looking forward to going to work lately! I think it's because I was off so much for the move(s) and because things have really stepped up there. Have a great day!

Meeting some neighbors

We hadn't even moved in yet when we met our nearest neighbors. They are always out in their yard mucking around with this and that. The first day I met them they had laundry strewn out the back door. I don't know what was up with that and I didn't ask. I see and talk to them just about every time I go outside. They seem to always be going to church and/or washing one of their cars in the middle of their/our lawn. They are sweet though; as our welcome to the neighborhood they hacked down our head-high grass! And for that I was very grateful.

The wife of the nearest neighbor couple (no kids, just a large dog) seems to be good buddies with an older widow from across the street. She often comes over when she sees nearest neighbor and I talking. I'm not good at telling ages anymore but she looks like she's in her 60's. She's full of good gossip about everyone on the street, but also prejudiced, as in her disapproving of "those people" who have moved in the end of the block supposedly bringing drugs and crime. She is a PT manager or something of a trucker restaurant not far from here. She's pretty strong too, helped me pull out the huge and heavy real estate sign when the company didn't come to get it yet (and they still haven't, it's under my deck.)

I met the third batch of neighbors when I was outside trying to garden, which consisted of trying to dig through thick sod in the raised garden bed. The nearest neighbors had chopped down the grass in it. Third neighbor came with a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. I was dripping sweat, it was a hot day and the effort of digging through sod was pretty grueling. The third neighbors have beautiful gardens. She grew up there as a child and bought the house from her mother, who still lives there in the downstairs part. Nearest neighbor also has her Mom living with them, but I've not actually met her mother yet. Must be a trend nowadays to be roomies with Mom.

The live-in boyfriend of neighbor three (N3) soon came over to join the conversation. He volunteered to cut down the weeds in my largest garden, the only place the nearest neighbors hadn't done. He broke the weedwacker when he tried though, the same thing I had done to my brand new WW. So then they volunteered to rototill the plot when it gets cooler out. Apparently the boyfriend has a heart condition. They are also selling their large lake fishing boat. I had quite an interesting conversation with N3, where she was telling me that she has four "cocktails" every day after she gets home from work. She asked me if I liked cocktails, and it sounded pretty good while standing out there in the heat and humidity. We haven't yet though.

I'm sure there will be more stories to tell with this interesting cast of characters! Have a good day!

we're here we're here we're here

Wow, that was certainly a long desert and dry spell of no blogging! The move was a move from hell, the worst ever, and I've had a lot of moves. I don't know if I want to re-live it. Probably not. It's better forgotten. Little bits may pop up in my journaling now and then as it was a traumatic event that changed a few of my relationships. But the main thing is that we're here now, in the new house and I love it!

This house has such a nice feeling to it, serene, peaceful, calm, safe, I really like it here. I had no computer connection until tonight. Had no phone for days either. The phone company had to come in to repair the lines before we could even get service hooked up. But I had plenty else to do. The boxes were piled up head-high in the kitchen, the basement and in my room. I've gone through most of them and found pretty much everything we need.

I've missed blogging but got out of the habit. Nevertheless, as soon as the computer was hooked up, I was back! There are a awfully lot of E-mails to check, though, so I may go and do that. I've missed you all and want to catch up, but it will probably take a few days. Hope you had a terrific Tuesday!

Today's the day!

Whew, and we haven't even started the actual move yet today! I'm packing up last-minute stuff and waiting to hear back from my movers--so I have to get off of the computer because we have dial-up! Our phone service is being moved over to the new place tomorrow but the computer and the rest will be moved today. So I won't have a computer hook-up until at least Friday. I'll miss all of you. Have a great rest of your week!

Happy Holidays!

Ah, I'm feeling much better about the impending move now. It really helps that I took Friday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday off from work as vacation days (today, Tuesday is a holiday.) I've been using up all of my vacation on moving, as this is the fourth time we've moved in five months!

First son and I moved to this three bedroom apartment in early February. That was a stressful and horrendous move as the house had to be completely cleared and cleaned. Then we moved my Mom to the apartment from her house out in the country, not a good move either. Then on May 10 we moved Mom out to a ground-level apartment, and now we will be moving to our new house on Wednesday. Just thought I'd wrap it all up for you so you could see the short timeline! Each of those times I took vacation days off from work.

During the past few days I've packed and taken many jeep-loads over to the house. Most of the stuff I've also unpacked and put away. After I set it up and turned it on I found out that the refrigerator that they so graciously allowed to stay with the house is a piece of junk. The rubber strip is torn and you can feel the cold from OUTSIDE the 'fridge! So yesterday I bought a new refrigerator. Yes, I know that one can have the rubber strip replaced but I'm not that damn poor (anymore) to have to do that! The refrigerator is rusty and old and I just plain don't want it to hold our food! The new 'fridge will be delivered on Friday and they will take the old icky one away, thank God.

That was crummy appliance #1. I took a load of clothes over to be washed yesterday as I fought with the head-high weeds and grass in the gardens outside. The washer worked just fine but I could not get the (stupid #^$*&^) dryer to stay on long enough to dry the clothes. Crummy appliance #2. I hope there aren't any more.

I was working in the garden when SLA came by. She's not seen the house before, so we went in and spent a pleasant few hours catching up while sitting on the deck. I needed the break after another busy day of lugging boxes and hacking weeds. I had to keep going back inside to re-start the dryer, and SLA tried to figure out how to keep it going but couldn't either. I ended up having to hang the still damp clothes to dry.

Then SLA and I went out to eat at Perkin's, which was really nice. I hadn't been out with her for a couple of months. The best part was that she had just received a PAYCHECK! Yes, she's working very part-time but that's good. (She paid for her own food, too, which was also good...) It was nice to see her, I've missed her.

Tomorrow is the move. Tomorrow! Happy Holidays to all of you US and Canada (July 1st)people! And a Totally Awesome Tuesday to everybody!

Explaining God

Ahhh, another day off from work! It seems like a long time since I've been there. Well, it has been since Thursday. I've been sleeping in later and later, too. This morning I didn't even wake up until after 7:00 AM! A person can certainly get much more done without that pesky work to suck up most of the day--using up both time and energy.

Today I have a long line-up of things to do. There just is so much to get done. Not only does the stuff here in the old place need to be packed and marked, but there are no curtain or blinds on any of the windows in the new place. And the yard needs attention. But moving our stuff is the priority, so I'm concentrating on that.

Yesterday was a good work day. It was very hot and muggy like it's been for days. But I paced myself and packed, loaded and took two jeep-loads to the new house. I unloaded and put away most of the stuff while there too, to get a head start. We won't have time to do that during the actual moving. I have the two bathrooms set up with necessities and the kitchen too. Much of the personal stuff from my bedroom has already been moved over, too.

From my E-mail
Amanda sent me this. It would have been great for a Sunday posting.
Subject: fwd: explanation of God (this is cute)

It was written by an 8-year-old named Danny Dutton, who lives in Chula Vista, CA. He wrote it for his third grade homework assignment, to "explain God." I wonder if any of us could have done as well?

EXPLANATION OF GOD:
"One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn't make grownups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers."

"God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times beside bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because he hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears, unless he has thought of a way to turn it off."

"God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting his time by going over your mom and dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have."

"Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to our church."

"Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of him preaching to them and they crucified him But he was good and kind, like his father, and he told his father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said O.K."

"His dad (God) appreciated everything that he had done and all his hard work on earth so he told him he didn't have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So he did. And now he helps his dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones he can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important."

"You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time."

"You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God!

Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong. And besides the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway."

"If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared, in the dark or when you can't swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids."

"But...you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and he can take me back anytime he pleases."
_______

Have a good Monday, and start to the week!

A long but productive day

Well, I--and everyone else(!) lived through yesterday. I packed boxes, loaded up the jeep and took some to the new house. It was soothing to roam around putting things away. Then, when it wasn't so early anymore, I called the locksmith to have him come out on Monday to change the locks.

I only have the key to ONE lock on the house. Tenants lost or changed the others, apparently. And each of the three doors that go to the outside have the regular lock and a deadbolt. The key isn't to a deadbolt lock but to a regular, door-handle-type lock. In fact I recalled on the second time I'd seen the house, the real estate agent/owner had accidently locked himself out! The tenants were home, so they just let us back in. But it would be very easy to do, if you come into the house with the regular, and only key, lock the deadbolt to that door (which has no key) and then go outside from another door. I've almost done it already!

The locksmith, who is from my old city and has rekeyed my houses for me before, was doing a job at a hotel in the new city, so said he could do it on Saturday! I was thrilled when he said he'd call me as soon as he was done with the other job, and we'd meet at the new house. Well, I packed boxes, son and I brought a car-and-jeep-load over, and no phone call from the locksmith. I called him before we left with the vehicles and left a message asking if he still could do it today (Saturday).

I also called the rummage sale people and the fence people to let them know that I wouldn't be coming over to pick up the stuff that day. Neither were home, so I left messages and felt a bit better about that, for some reason. Probably because I knew they weren't still sitting around waiting on us! Son had to go to work, so I went to our dusty storage shed and got our lawn mower, some garden tools and the clamshell outdoor cooker. Then I drove to son's store to buy a shower curtain rod, CO2 alarm, smoke alarm (there is one already there but we needed at least one more) an electric weed eater, a mailbox, a toilet paper holder for the downstairs bathroom and some other things.

It was fun to put the letters and numbers on our new mailbox. The agent/owner had not rehung the old mailbox as he had promised. But when I really looked at it carefully, I was glad of it. The old box is brown colored and didn't match the house at all, it's also dirty and rusty. The lawn mower, garden tools and the weedeater had to go downstairs in the basement. I don't have a lock yet for the storage shed on the property. We're going to use the lock off our rented storage shed but can't yet, until it's empty.

So I came back home, tired, exhausted and not feeling well. The temperature was 89F and very humid and I had been doing physical labor all day. I had a message on our phone: the locksmith had been calling my cell number and said it didn't work. I called him back but it was too late for him to come out by then. He told me to try calling the cell from my phone. My son has never had trouble in getting ahold of me during business travel, which is almost the only time I use the cell phone (it's a work phone.) It's long distance to call the cell from our phone, but I tried it and it worked fine. So I called the locksmith guy back and politely told him that. We decided that I'll call him on Monday morning to set something up.

Then I went to lie down. I was feeling very awful, a pounding headache and even though I'd barely eaten anything, I felt like I was going to upchuck at any moment. The phone rang and it was the nice elderly people that I'd bought stuff from at the rummage sale last week. They had been out of town all day helping their daughter pick out a new puppy! It was an Avon Terrier, which I've not heard of before, but sounds very cute. Anyway, he offered to take my stuff over in his pickup! So I hurried, put my sandals back on and drove to his house.

The vacuum cleaner and rug shampooer, bocce set and the two pretty yellow chairs all fit into the jeep. The outside lounger and the wheelbarrow went into the pickup. We drove to the new place where I unloaded everything (he's a old guy, remember) thanked him profusely and waved as he drove away. I stored everything in the basement and drove back home where I was horribly and violently sick for several hours. The only thing that seemed to help at all was taking a mint teabag and breathing the scent up alternative nostrils. I was so sick that I couldn't even hold water down.

My son came home at midnight and shook his head. "You overdid it again, Mom. Why do you always do that?" Why indeed? Well I finally got to bed and to sleep at 2:30 AM and today is another day. I do hope it won't be so hot out today, though. I don't take heat well. Oh, I like it fine when I'm just sitting around but for physical labor it's pretty brutal. Happy Sunday to you!

Breathe, breathe

I'm SO stressed out about the (lack of) moving plans that I swear my heart is pounding! I'm really between a rock and a hard place and to make it worse, nobody else seems at all stressed or even concerned about it! I just opened an E-mail from the V-Man. I had called and E-mailed him to find out when he was coming into town today as promised to clear the storage shed, get the fence and rummage sale stuff I bought last week. Well he apologized for being so slow to get back to me (it's been days). Apparently he has a lot of work to do on the farm this weekend and can't make it! Oooooh! I'm really trying not to get mad here. Now I have to call up these people and make other arrangements. I may be being selfish here, but he has no animals on the farm that would absolutely positively need care right this very moment, today!

Yes, I realize that it's sort of a favor to me but he agreed to it over a week ago, I was counting on him and it's not like it a free favor for me, I'm paying him. Gosh I'm ticked now, but if I want his (paid) help later, I'd better not push too hard. Son works today, so he's out of the picture too, but at least I already knew that and wasn't counting on him.

Oh, and speaking of son: he casually informed me yesterday that he is working on July 5th, our moving date! Yikes! That is the moving date we had set up when I first signed the purchase agreement. He's known about our moving date and even if he was scheduled to work that day, he could have traded with someone. But he says he can't now, it's too late. So I had to call up BZ at work yesterday in the midst of my closing commotion (I'll tell about that some other time) and negociate for July 6th off too.

I certainly hope that date works out for moving, something has to! For someone who just bought a house that she loves, I'm in a really pissy, ugly mood! I feel like the stress and burden is entirely on me, that nobody else except the landlord, of course, really seems to care when or if we finally move to the new house. OK, I think I'm going to pack more boxes before I explode! Later I'll need to call the fence people and the rummage sale people and let them know that we're not coming to get the stuff today. Hope your day is much much better and thanks for listening!