Life is a PB Sandwich

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones!

2011-11-24T23:58:00.002-06:00

Part 2, the fine line between actual limitations (physical, emotional, etc.) and victimhood, or is it a cry of “wolf” or a cry of “help”?

2011-11-23T21:59:00.001-06:00

This is where it gets tricky. It can be difficult to determine whether the issue is the person’s actual limitations or are they faking it? Strange to say, I think it can be difficult for the T.O.W. (Tyranny of the Weak) person to figure it out sometimes too. It seems to become such a habit for them to call upon, and call attention to their weakness to get out of things they don’t want to do, and to have others coddle or cushion them from experiencing normal life. It has become normal life for them and they often feel a sense of entitlement, and then outrage if the coddling and cushioning are not forthcoming.

Once again, I can use my dad is a good example. We were urged not to upset him, and there was a huge list of things that were not allowed—for no other reason than they might upset him. These ranged from the usual parental restrictions to things that seemed downright silly or unduly harsh. My mom spent her 50 years of marriage tip-toeing around all of these restrictions and doing everything needed for the family. When my dad was suffering, and it turns out, dying from cancer, he was unable to get up from his chair. My mother did not believe him and exhorted him to try harder. Later after he was gone and she was ten years older, at the same age he had been, she ruefully mentioned that she should have believed him when he said he couldn’t get up. So why didn’t she believe him? He was ill and if he said he was unable to get up, that should have been that. But she had spent all those years helping him, doing his work, coddling him because he was ill, or so he said. She either had just gotten tired of hearing it, and/or she just didn’t believe him anymore when he said it.

To use a more minor example, my son often had friends over at the house when he was in high school. One of these was a horribly picky eater. Among the many things he would not touch was cheese, he told me he was allergic to it. Well, imagine my surprise when I found him happily (and healthily) eating pizza with lots of cheese on it! The so-called allergy had been a ploy because he didn’t like how my Mac ‘n cheese had looked. Needless to say, I didn’t believe him anymore when he claimed to be allergic to various foods he didn’t want to eat. Now if he had really been allergic to something, it could have been disastrous to offer it to him. Although he was only a teen, that was sort of a dangerous game to play if he had any real allergies.

I ran into a situation like that at work where I normally am unfailingly honest, even when it does not turn to my advantage. Anyway, I was the low-person there and everyone could and did give me tasks to do which I took seriously and completed the best I could. My supervisor encouraged me to speak up in meetings because I hadn’t been doing that. It was very difficult for me to do. I tried to speak up, once, twice, maybe three times and each time whatever I had said was either ignored completely or someone said the exact same thing immediately after and received kudos for it. My supervisor urged me more than once, over a period of time. I was discouraged and didn’t really try much harder to do as she had asked me. Without realizing it, I was expecting her (and the others) to compensate for my own lack of participation—because I was so shy, it was too hard for me, blah blah blah, victimhood excuses. I was coasting on my weakness and expecting different treatment than the others. I completed all the other assignments when asked to do so, but this task I ignored because I felt that I “couldn’t” do it. This crying wolf and asking for special treatment came back to bite me, just like his behavior came back to bite my Dad when he actually could not get up from his chair.

When I was injured at work, this same boss, along with co-workers, did not believe me and thought I was faking it! I was outraged and felt they had no compassion over my very real injury and pain. But I had forgotten that they had been carrying “poor me” along, allowing me to be silent in the meetings and not participating or adding value to the team. They rightfully thought that I had already taken myself off their team by not speaking up. They felt little loyalty or compassion but instead figured I was faking it yet again to get out of something. Even though it was a job I had loved, I ended up getting fired. It has taken me quite a while to figure out exactly why that had happened.

My son had a girlfriend who constantly got out of things by pleading illness. He is a compassionate sort, he works with people with disabilities and loves his job. Yet he got tired of picking up the slack in the relationship all of the time. When there was work to be done, girlfriend could not do it. When fun or friends beckoned, she was fine and raring to go. He felt guilty about it, but became suspicious of her, they fought over every task to be done and ended breaking up. Was she actually unable to do the tasks? Hard to say, perhaps she was, for at least some of them. But she took out her victimhood too much and expected someone (him) to do it all. She didn’t put forth an effort but expected to be coddled and totally taken care of and he got tired of it. She was outraged that he dared to doubt her and dared to leave. Now she is, through necessity, doing most of those tasks by herself.

The online, recent example was of a talented, beautiful woman who demanded that she be treated with special consideration because she was so emotional. We could not disagree, however mildly with her proclamations without her becoming very upset. She would warn us that it was that time of the month, or some other such reason (the last one being quite serious, but by that time, I at least, was tired of her crying wolf all the time). We were supposed to coddle, agree with and generally not rock the boat with her. It hampered free conversation and created much chaos and havoc until she finally left. We all felt a bit guilty, as we had genuinely liked her, but also relief that now we could speak freely without constantly having to “mind” what we said so as to not upset her.

So what’s the moral of this long story? Well, don’t cry wolf, I guess could be one good lesson. And not to expect other people to keep picking up your slack—or if you continue to do so, there could be repercussions! But basically, I think, pulling out the victimhood card weakens relationships, weakens mutual respect. We all have limitations, and some of us are blessed with fewer than others. But it’s important not to use those limitations as a guilt trip to force someone to do what you, yourself are able to do, and not to continually ask for special treatment because of X or Y. Doing so creates a sense of entitlement from the T.O.W. person and feelings of resentment and guilt over that resentment in the person stuck with doing all the work in the relationship. It's unhealthy game-playing, dishonest and not conducive to strong, happy relationships. Take Off Your “Fragile” Sign!

Tyranny of the Weak, or the Badge of Victimhood

2011-11-20T12:28:00.002-06:00

Off and on throughout my life I have thought of writing a book about the tyranny of the weak. Of course using the term “weak” could be construed as being quite judgmental so the alternate title might better be: the badge of victimhood. A recent occurrence online reminded me of it and got me to thinking about it once again.

I had an excellent teacher and demonstration of the tyranny of the weak in my own father, as I was growing up. Although I loved him dearly, and indeed, am like him in some ways, he was a consummate teacher of how to rule the roost by being weak. He had health issues, which conveniently came up whenever there was something he didn’t want to do. My mother, a strong personality, ended up doing most of everything, earning a living for our family, all of the housework (except limited amounts done by us kids) all the shopping, taking the car to be repaired, pretty much anything that was needed to be done in or for the family was done by her. The entire family all tip-toed as if on eggshells around him and his health/emotional issues. Not too surprisingly, his health issues did not keep him from doing the things he wanted to do, like going out to drink, hunting, or other activities.

So I grew up and married a strong personality, beloved by all who met him, he was tremendously popular and I’m sure many people wondered how I “snagged” him. Well, as you have probably guessed, it was through the magic of the tyranny of the weak! I was shy and he got great pleasure from helping me be more social, coaching and coaxing me along. I didn’t do it on purpose, but it was the perfect set-up, I ruled that roost as sort of the power behind the throne. I have done that a few times in my life, usually not on purpose, it’s sort of an instinctual position I fell back on in my younger years when intimidated by a stronger personality or by conflict between personalities. The problem is that, especially among kind, compassionate people, it usually works and the behavior gets rewarded. I’ve spent the past twenty-plus years learning to be my own strong personality and not to emotionally parasite off of other people, however kind and generous they may be (and thus tempting as easy targets, sadly).

But the gist of my wanting to write about this topic is for two main reasons:

-For the targets to learn to protect themselves from people who on purpose or just instinctually will use their weaknesses to get their own way;

-And for those who use that strategy to realize what they are doing to harm the people and relationships around them and to find more appropriate ways to relate to people.

Perhaps I should clarify exactly what behaviors I’m talking about. Any behavior that tries to make/force people to treat oneself differently because of health, emotional, situational and other issues. This would include things like “I can’t do that because ____ “(fill in the blank for physical, emotional, etc. issues), “You shouldn’t disagree with me because I’m _______ (fill in the blank with physical, emotional, situational etc. issue). “You need to make allowances for me because ___” Funny how they always have a reason why we should make allowances for them and treat them differently! They wear a “Fragile” sign and demand that other people cushion, protect and coddle them instead of being honest and expecting mutual participation and give-and-take in their relationships.

The spoken or unspoken “reason” for the person needing to get their own way is because whatever issue they have might become even worse. Examples: It will set off my _____ headaches, backaches, emotional issues, make me feel bad because ____ (I’m already suffering from ______ name the issue or situation).

A normal, compassionate person will not want to inflict (more) pain upon someone they care for, and thus will often step back and refrain from speaking their mind, do things for the other person that they could do for themselves, or other enabling behavior. The really sad thing is that these people are trying to force other people to treat them specially, different from the way “normal” or “average” people get treated. It’s looking for love from other people, but in the wrong way; looking for people to take care of them rather than being responsible for oneself, emotionally, physically and in every adult way.

One can’t force others to love them and those types of behaviors damage relationships. It’s hard not to be resentful once one learns they have been “played” by a loved one’s victimhood. And holding back from speaking one’s mind can create dishonesty and miscommunication—not conducive to healthy relationships. Maybe that’s why I can spot those behaviors so easily, I’ve done them in my earlier years and learned they create nothing but problems between people. Clean, clear and honest communication can be so difficult, but it works the best. Maybe a good title for my potential book would be: Take Off Your “Fragile” Sign!

Next time: Part 2, the fine line between actual limitations (physical, emotional, etc.) and victimhood, or is it a cry of “wolf” or a cry of “help”?

Eating the living room decorations

2011-10-21T10:09:00.003-05:00

Another morning, more baked squash for breakfast. It's become a habit for me lately. Although a visit to the neighboring state's farmer's market is in order for tomorrow because I had to look around to find a squash of the day this morning. The chosen one was a beautiful Buttercup squash that had been a decoration in the living room. How I hated to cut into it, so gorgeous. The little striped squashes were so pretty too, but I already ate them. Sometimes it's hard to eat such gorgeous decorations, wish they would last forever but they would not. Not around here with a daily squash-eater!

Had a momentary panic when the shaker of black pepper ran out and I could not immediately find more. Nooooooooo! Black pepper is a necessary item on baked vegetables along with olive oil and sea salt, love it, crave it.

In fact a couple of days ago a group I belong to on Facebook had information on dosha, or ayurveda mind & body type. I took the quiz and ended up a Vata type which was surprising to me as that type has a light frame and are agile. When I was done laughing, I tried another dosha quiz--same result. Hmmmm, the mystery cleared up when I read the lists of foods recommended for Vata types, black pepper being a prominent one (and you were wondering how black pepper related to this...) also squash and sweet vegetables. Olive oil is recommended, as are cumin, and cinnamon, spices I crave too.

A few years ago I found that having cinnamon daily has taken away the soreness and stiffness from my joints. The Dosha list says that beans, uncooked vegetables and sprouts are not so good for Vatas--very true even though I kept trying them. The raw food diet I was on made my inner core so chilled that I could not get warm no matter how many blankets, sweaters or jackets I wore. And that's why ultimately cooked food returned to my diet. The Vata designation explains that, as raw foods don't work well for Vatas, they need warm and warming foods. Wish I'd known all this before, but at least I know it now!

There's a book titled "What's Your Dosha, Baby?" and there is a quiz at if you're curious. (have tried several times and cannot get the link to show up on the blog, it shows up fine in editing, guess you will have to Google it, sigh)

So, I just gotta ask; what's your Dosha, baby?

Restless Feet Syndrome

2011-10-18T19:44:00.000-05:00

Ah yes, life is very comfortable here in my new apartment. And it's not really so new anymore, I've been living here for going on six months already--nearly half a year!

Tomatoes, garlic, chives, lettuce and herbs all grew on the wide windowsills. The herbs had a drastic decline but are re-rallying back again. The Farmer's Market is across the street and all summer I went there for fresh produce. In fact squash, thinly sliced with sea salt, black pepper and olive oil is baking in the oven right now.

Life is good, almost too good in that it has become too predictable, too easy. I like a challenge. Nothing horrendous, you understand. There are many challenges, like health problems, family difficulties, work horrors, that I would not like to have or to revisit. I'd like a worthy and interesting challenge.

In that vein, I drove out to the country to look at a cabin. It was a cabin in the woods, very scenic, quite lovely. It also has no running water or indoor plumbing and has wood heat. Now that would be quite the challenge and maybe would be a little too much roughing it for me, like the experiment of trying to sleep on a yoga mat!

So the question(s) for today are:

--Are YOU the type of person who enjoys a challenge?

--What sort(s) of challenges do you enjoy accepting and handling?

New place, same face

2011-06-30T20:59:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm living in and loving my new apartment! It's small but beautiful, in a building that's on the National Historic Register and right in the heart of downtown in this small city. And the amenities, with the great definition of something that conduces to comfort, convenience, or enjoyment, are such that I haven't enjoyed since being married, long long ago. I have ceiling fans in each main room, an ice maker, garbage disposal and a dishwasher. Oh, I can hear you all laughing from here, but really, these are unheard of luxuries to a poor, single parent! There's also an intercom, an elevator, a parking space right in the back of the building, an exercise room and more. I think I've died and gone to heaven, all for a pittance. My house was ever so much more hassle and more expensive and it had none of those things. Yes, I loved the house but it was a love gone sour with huge monthly expenses, constant repair, cold in the winter, and basement flooded and redone twice. Someone else has my blessing (and prayers) to love the house now, instead of me.

But, anticipating the move, I had a whole new life planned out for myself. I was going to eat only raw foods, a practice which shed (fairly easily, actually) 60 pounds of overweight a couple of years ago. The crushed foot, firing, and generally more sedentary lifestyle had returned them all, of course. I had prepped during April by weaning myself off from coffee. It was a difficult thing that took a full three weeks to accomplish. I've gone off coffee several times before and each time is a horror of migraine-level headaches and violent illness. Coffee, that is, the caffeine in it, really is a drug and gives awful withdrawal symptoms. When I moved, I was ready to begin the raw food diet and also grow greens on the windowsills and sprouts in the kitchen. I was going to walk or bike most everywhere and generally be the most healthy and "green" person possible.

Well, only the greens and sprouts remain, cooked food has returned to my meals, unfortunately. First the coffee returned, a cup or two per day gradually rising up to my normal pot or more. Coffee requires milk in it (in my world) so milk returned, and with it cheese on salads and other digressions from raw foods. Other cooked food slowly returned too, as the caffeine makes me more hungry and have "the munchies" in a way that eating only raw foods does not. (which is why I had to give up coffee-drinking for this diet/lifestyle)

So the same old me is living and enjoying this new place.

As for my son and grandson, after a huge hassle and flurry of activity, he found and moved to an apartment with a friend. His roomie is great, a guy who lived with us about six years when they both were teens, I call him my "pseudo son" and they are like brothers. He does a lot of child care and I do, too. Both he and my son have found good jobs and are working quite a lot, rare for this area of high unemployment. Son and grandson lived with me for nine months in which he did not work. He was resentful, at first about the changes but we all are much happier now. Life is good! Hope yours is, also.

Moving Along

2011-04-13T09:02:00.000-05:00

It's been nearly a month since my last post and what a difference a few weeks can make! Many things have happened since then. Well, that sounds rather passive, doesn't it? These things didn't just happen but finally came together after much struggle and strife. Well maybe not as dramatic as all of that, I always wanted to use "struggle and strife" but dramatic enough for me. In getting the mortgage bank's permission to do a short sale on my house, I had to write them a Hardship Letter. The letter actually got to be two-and-a-half pages long because there wasn't a single, simple factor of causation, rather it was the laying on of multiple (negative) changes.

But the result is that, after four long years of trying to sell this house, I finally have a buyer--yippee! I would have preferred, and tried very hard, to sell it in the usual, normal way, at break-even point. I would have not recovered the money I put down in the house, which was a substantial amount of my savings. Even at a break-even point, there were no takers. The mortgage was still much higher than the house was now worth since the housing prices have fallen as much as 50% in this area.

I still won't recover any of my down money or receive any sort of profit or pay back whatsoever. It was difficult to find a Real Estate Agent willing to do the tremendous work involved with a short sale, but I found a winner. Both of us have spent countless hours on the phone with my mortgage bank setting this up. And of course she had to show the house many times and I had to prepare for it each time.

But after some offers and counter-offers there is a buyer, a signed contract and the sale is in the works. Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

A parallel situation and happening is that I went to a housing expo with a friend. There we saw all sorts of interesting information, including rent-controlled apartments. I had been half-heartedly looking for an apartment, thinking I'd never get out from under the house mortgage, unless they finally foreclosed on me. The apartments in my price range were dreadful, grubby, tiny, and usually in an iffy neighborhood. At the expo I picked up brochures and information and made an appointment to check out a newly revamped apartment building, which is on the National Register for Historic buildings.

I later toured two apartments and talked to the manager about my housing situation. She was encouraging and told me it wouldn't be a problem, which was a huge surprise to me. I did have to supply documentation and while I was getting it (several days) both apartments were taken plus another one I hadn't seen. She called a week later with another apartment becoming available and I quickly went to see it. The apartment was small, but well kept and lovely. After seeing how quickly these apartments were rented, I snapped it up and paid a minimal deposit to hold it.

So all of that leads to the biggest news: I'm moving on the 30th!

There may be an age limit to sleeping on a yoga mat

2011-03-15T08:38:00.000-05:00

As you may know if you've read my posts in the past, I like variety and change. Doing the same thing day after day is soul-deadening to me. However, the older I get, the more the issue of COMFORT also comes into play. Thus Experiment 1 for today:

Experiment 1, Tuesday, March 15th (ides of March). I've been reading about minimalistic living. One such post told about giving up the bed and sleeping on the floor. He said it took about two weeks to get accustomed and that he still would find a mattress far more comfortable but was OK with sleeping on the floor now. He appears to be just a bit older than college age. This is relevant, as you shall see.

Last night I decided to sleep on my yoga mat Getting settled in was difficult and even with the mat, the floor still felt pretty hard. I wasn't able to lie on either side so I lay on my back. I usually sleep in this position in bed, so didn't think it would be much of an issue. My sciatica soon set in because of my flat back, so I tucked a small pillow under my knees. Better, but still not anywhere what one could call actually comfortable. It was around 1:00 a.m. or so and I was tired so did finally fall asleep. Many times. I normally wake up quite a bit even in bed, so I changed position slightly each time.

I actually slept, off and on, until around 5:00 or so. At that time my back was sore and no matter what position I took I couldn't fall back asleep. Spent what seemed like several hours changing positions and trying to go back to sleep. Finally looked at the clock again and it was only 55 minutes later. I tried lying on my stomach but that wasn't comfortable enough to go back to sleep either.

The yoga mat was perfect for stretching out my sore back, neck, legs, arms and entire body before getting up--still far too early--without enough sleep.

I took a long shower and did Experiment 2, which I'll write about later when my hair is dried and I can tell what it looks like.

Are you a routine-sort-of-a-person or do you like to change it up like me?

Gotta have a Goal

2011-03-02T21:51:00.000-06:00

It seems as though I always need to have a goal or a project to work on. This is probably true of most people, so I don't feel like I'm really super-special or anything! Lately I've been reading minimalist blogs. Before that "living simple" books were one of my passions.

The ironic thing is, if you saw my house, you would laugh. It's quite far from living simply and further still from minimalistic living. Yet, that's my goal and my dream, to someday live in a tiny little place, with barely any furnishings or belongings.

Wait, that was sort of like my tiny little studio house in the country, at least before my son moved in with me. So I've already (sort of) done it. That's good news and encouraging because right now it seems quite daunting to subtract most of the things contained in this (much larger) house.

My bedroom is piled with heaps of clothing, sorted and rejected from the clothes-hangers to await disposal. I have a lot of clothes. They weren't purchased new but gained from friends, rummage sales and thrift stores. There are altogether too many boxes of decorations, too much jewelry, too much furniture and too much paper. There's a lot of clearing out for me to do!

What's your current or latest goal, and how is that going for you?

Arrrggggghhhh!

2011-03-01T20:08:00.000-06:00

I have a sick three-year-old in the house who is driving me crazy. And yes, I agree that sounds rather unkind of me to say. But unless you've been through it--and if you have children, you certainly have--it's hard to describe how hearing the same thing over and over for 48 hours can WEAR on a person! I love the little fellow dearly but hearing all the whining and repeating the same three lines again and again has driven away what little sanity that still remained. Yikes! Living child-free was so wonderfully quiet and peaceful. It's nearing seven months of living together as an extended family in this 2-bedroom house. I really don't know how people did this in the "olden days" haha, probably only because there weren't any other options!

Sans comments, maybe not a bad thing?

2011-02-26T12:41:00.000-06:00

A vacation from blogging is a little premature, since I've only been back for one post. I was having a fun time reading other blogs and suddenly I couldn't comment on them anymore. This might be a GOOD thing for the blogs I was visiting, but I wasn't too happy about it. Spent some time messing around to try to restore this function, with no luck. I guess you will know when it's restored for me, because until then, there won't be any comments from me on your blogs. As I said, maybe not such a bad thing. I do prefer a conversation over a monologue--from me or from anybody else. Also spell-checking my post has also been disabled, for some strange reason. Both the comments and spell-checking were working fine when I started this new blogging run.

Blog visiting was quite interesting, many of my old bloggy friends are still around and some of them are not here anymore. When someone just stops posting, I think about them once in awhile and wonder: what happened? My son had an online friend who died recently and says it's very sobering to go to his site (which is still up, probably nobody else has his password) and see his happy posts about his girlfriend and about his life, photos and all. I bet it is very sobering, especially because they are/were so young.

Yep, it does make me wonder when someone suddenly stops blogging, but maybe they just had better things to do, haha! Facebook isn't really a better thing to do but it's much quicker than blogging. Blogging is more fun and rewarding, however.

Thank you for all of your comments. I sure hope I'll be able to comment on other blogs again soon. If not, please realize that I've probably visited you!!

Long time, no post

2011-02-24T13:12:00.002-06:00

It feels strange to be back here again, but in a good way. I've done a lot of Facebook and do enjoy it, but have really missed the more in-depth posting and reading of blogs.

Coming back to this blog after--is it really a year--seems rather like re-visiting a house one once lived in. It feels good all right, but weird, like visiting the past. So much has changed and yet a lot of things are still the same.

Not only did I spend my online time on Facebook, but had lost the password to access this blog! How embarrassing. Just get a new one, people told me. That would have been easy had I not finagled a complicated path to it by setting up a separate email account with a new password, yada yadda yaddda.

Anyway, it was a torturous recovery but I'm back with some new priorities in my life. And I'm eager to hear how things have gone this past year for you!

Conan or Leno?

2010-01-25T13:08:00.005-06:00

Did you see the last show with Conan? But hopefully he will be back, somewhere. There are conflicting stories about what happened. It sounded like Leno was being a Brett Favre and retiring, coming back, then wanting to take the show back. But maybe not. There also is a story that NBC was trying to force him out. Really, I doubt it, and am more inclined to believe that he just changed his mind and wanted to stay.

People talk about all the money these guys make, and it's a lot. But they seem to need to be out there too. It doesn't seem to be just about the money.

Oh, and I'm also glad that the Vikings didn't make it to the Super Bowl. Normally they are my #2 team but not with that traitor BF!

My last two visits (for work) got canceled. Have 2 or 3 left to do today, if they aren't canceled too. The weather is not the best today for transporting little children.

So, who do ya like better: Leno or Conan?

How are you?

2010-01-21T09:52:00.002-06:00

Wow, it's been so long since I've blogged. It would be so nice to get into a regular posting and reading routine again. Work takes up a long of my time, plus Facebook!

How have you been, and are you all doing?

Is it wrong?

2009-08-03T20:28:00.004-05:00

Is it just plain wrong to put vegetarian chili on a hot dog and make a chili dog? How would you vote on that?

The Obvious Answers Quiz
(Passing grade - 40%)

1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?

2) Which country makes Panama hats?

3) From which animal do we get catgut?

4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?

5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?

6) The Canary Islands are named after what animal?

7) What was King George VI's first name?

8) What color is a purple finch?

9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?

10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane?

Now, before listing the answers, let's talk about the chili dog...
A friend from church gave me the vegetarian chili. The next time that she saw me she asked if I liked it. I told her honestly, very much! I didn't reveal, however, that I'd enjoyed it on top of a hotdog, and that two kinds of cheese were sprinkled on top and some BBQ sauce, too. Yummy!

OK, here are the answers:

QUIZ ANSWERS
1) How long did the Hundred Years War last? 116 years
2) Which country makes Panama hats? Ecuador
3) >From which animal do we get cat gut? Sheep and Horses
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? November
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of? Squirrel fur
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal? Dogs
7) What was King George VI's first name? Albert
8) What color is a purple finch? Crimson

Tricky, eh? I found the quiz online. So what's new in your life?

some jokes

2009-07-22T10:21:00.003-05:00

Hope these jokes I received by E-mail won't be offensive to anyone. I kind of like redneck jokes since I grew up in a rather "northern-redneck" family! Do I ever have some stories about that! Some I've already mentioned in the YEARS spent blogging. Maybe I'll take a trip down memory lane some day soon.

You know you're a redneck jedi when..
- You hear "Luke, I am your father... and your uncle..."

- You ever said the phrase, "May the force be with y'all."

- Your Jedi robe is camouflage.

- You have ever used your light saber to open a bottle of Bud Light.

- At least one wing of your X-Wings is primer colored.

- You can easily describe the taste of an Ewok.

- You have ever had a land-speeder up on blocks in your yard.

- The worst part of spending time on Dagobah is the dadgum skeeters.

- You have ever used the force to get yourself another beer so you didn't have to wait for a commercial.

- You have ever used the force in conjunction with fishing or bowling.

- You have ever had your R-2 unit use its self-defense electro-shock thingy to get the barbecue grill to light up.

- You have a confederate flag painted on the hood of your land-speeder.

- You ever fantasized about Princess Leia wearing Daisy Duke shorts.

- You have the doors of your X-wing welded shut and you have to get in through the window.

- You have a cousin who bears a strong resemblance to Chewbacca.

- You suggested that they outfit the Millennium Falcon with redwood deck.

- You were the only person drinking Jack Daniels during the cantina scene.

- Your father has ever said to you, "Shoot, son come on over to the dark side...it'll be a hoot."

Martha Stewart's Rules for Rednecks
GENERAL

1. Never take a beer to a job interview.

2. Always identify people in your yard before shooting at them.

3. It's considered tacky to take a cooler to church.

4. If you have to vacuum the bed, it is time to change the sheets.

5. Even if you're certain that you are included in the will, it is still considered tacky to drive a U-Haul to the funeral home.

DINING OUT

1. When decanting wine, make sure that you tilt the paper cup, and pour slowly so as not to "bruise" the fruit of the vine.

2. If drinking directly from the bottle, always hold it with your fingers covering the label.

ENTERTAINING IN YOUR HOME

1. A centerpiece for the table should never be anything prepared by a taxidermist.

2. Do not allow the dog to eat at the table...no matter how good his manners are.

PERSONAL HYGIENE

1. While ears need to be cleaned regularly, this is a job that should be done in private using one's OWN truck keys.

2. Proper use of toiletries can forestall bathing for several days. However, if you live alone, deodorant is a waste of good money.

3. Dirt and grease under the fingernails is a social no-no, as they tend to detract from a woman's jewelry and alter the taste of finger foods.

Happy 4th and Freedom to all!

2009-07-04T09:33:00.003-05:00

Hey, Happy 4th and Freedom to all!

I hadn't been able to sign in for about two weeks. Very weird it was, and I think maybe because we use a Google sign-in for work. The blog kept insisting on my using that sign-in, yet wouldn't accept any passwords. I only tried a few times, as I'm on the computer quite a bit, but it's for work. By the time the reports are finished up and sent, I usually have had my fill of computer usage! Plus it's also usually quite late/early and I work fairly early in the morning, seven days a week. I haven't even Twittered very often and that is the quickest, easiest thing to do.

Anyway, I finally had time to monkey around with the blog sign-in today, even though I got on the computer to write up two reports from yesterday. Yeah, OK, now I'm feeling guilty about that and need to get to work and get those finished and sent.

A bad, bad blogger

2009-06-04T09:32:00.004-05:00

I've been a bad, bad blogger (hangs head in shame) Being a "bad" blogger actually means being a NON-blogger. I love to blog but so many other things get in the way. Like work, for example. Last night I got home at 8:30 pm, hadn't eaten lunch or dinner yet and still had about six hours of documentation to do. So I've been on the computer, all right, but doing other things.

Another confession: I've been twittering instead. Yeah, I like blogging and reading blogs much, much better than the short, more impersonal "announcements" on Twitter. But Twitter works for me in the short bursts of time available, whereas, lately, at least, blogging, although more emotionally satisfying for sure(!) has not. I MISS you all! Anybody want to Twitter?

The Patriotic Retirement Plan

2009-05-14T14:02:00.002-05:00

I received this (below) in an E-mail. Sorry about the post-and-run lately. I WILL find time to read your blog! Hopefully soon.

This is from an article in the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper on last Sunday The Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy?" I think this guy nailed it!

Dear Mr. President,
Please find below my suggestion for fixing America 's economy. Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan. You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. - Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.
2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing Crisis fixed.
It can't get any easier than that!

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members in Congress and their constituents pay their taxes...

If you think this would work, please forward to everyone you know. If not, please disregard.

"The problem with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." Margaret Thatcher

It's ODD Day today!

2009-05-07T08:54:00.002-05:00

It's Odd Day today, go forth and celebrate, in the most odd way you can, of course.

So why is today Odd Day?

It's 05-07-09 today (just a hint)

I even heard on the radio that some local place is giving a prize for the most odd Odd Day.

Well, have a good Odd Day everyone!

Jokes, in the middle of the week

2009-04-29T05:57:00.002-05:00

The little church in the suburbs
The little church in the suburbs suddenly stopped buying from its regular office supply dealer. So, the dealer telephoned Deacon Brown to ask why.

“I'll tell you why,” shouted Deacon Brown. “Our church ordered some pencils from you to be used in the pews for visitors to register.”

“Well,” interrupted the dealer, “didn't you receive them yet?”

“Oh, we received them all right,” replied Deacon Brown. “However, you sent us some golf pencils...each stamped with the words, ‘Play Golf Next Sunday.’”

Tree Problem
Last October a wife bought a magnolia tree from the local nursery, but after only a few weeks the leaves shriveled. It appeared to be on its last legs. She took some leaf samples and marched into the nursery to demand an explanation.

"I know exactly what's wrong with your magnolia," said the manager.

"Good," said the wife. "What's it suffering from?"

"Autumn," he replied.

Magic of the Internet
Nancy and Steph decided to introduce Nancy’s elderly mother to the magic of the Internet. Their first move was to access the popular Ask Jeeves website, and they told her it could answer any question she had.

Nancy's mother was very skeptical until Nancy said, "It's true, Mom. Think of something to ask it."

As Steph sat with fingers poised over the keyboard, Nancy's mother thought a minute, then responded, "How is Aunt Helen feeling?"

Cowboy Boots
Anyone who has ever dressed a child will love this one!

Did you hear about the Texas teacher who was helping one of her kindergarten students put on his cowboy boots? He asked for help & she could see why.

Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots still didn't want to go on. Finally, when the 2nd boot was on, she had worked up a sweat.

She almost cried when the little boy said, "Teacher, they're on the wrong feet." She looked and sure enough, they were. It wasn't any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on, this time on the right feet.

He then announced, "These aren't my boots."
She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, "Why didn't you say so?" like she wanted to. And, once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet.

No sooner they got the boots off and he said, "They're my brother's boots. My Mom made me wear 'em."

Now she didn't know if she should laugh or cry. But, she mustered up the grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots on his feet again.

Helping him into his coat, she asked, "Now, where are your mittens?"

He said, "I stuffed 'em in the toes of my boots."

Her trial starts next month.

How to Simplify Your Life

2009-04-26T19:43:00.002-05:00

Here's a way to simplify your life: from the Utne Reader

_______________________

The last word: I’m no decider

Overwhelmed by too many choices, writer T.M. Shine came up with a novel solution: Henceforth, all his decisions would be made by strangers. That turned out to be the best decision he’s ever made.

This social experiment had to begin with doughnuts. They have always been my downfall. Not because of the fat, floury contents or the mortality-threatening sugar count, but because I can never decide which dozen to order in the intense pressure of a crowded Dunkin’ Donuts. I start to drown in a torrent of rushed decisions and false moves, with nothing to look forward to but inevitable dissatisfaction with the choices I’ve made; the act has always been a metaphor for my life.

At some point, it occurred to me that my problem wasn’t really doughnuts.

It was making decisions.

These days, there are so many choices to labor through, from the most basic, such as paper or plastic at the grocery checkout counter, to the nearly suicide-inducing, such as the friends-and-family plan or unlimited texting. And don’t even get me started on undercoating or extended warranties.

In these tough times, the abundance of life-changing decisions—finances, health care, career moves—can be overwhelming. But don’t take it from me. Ask the guy who wrote the book The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making. That would be Scott Plous, a psychology professor at Wesleyan University. “There’s no question that we have more choices than ever before,” Plous agreed. “And decisions are generally harder and more time-consuming when there are lots of alternatives.”

Even Steve Jobs, whose technology allows us the misery of 18,000 music selections in our pockets, has to counteract so many choices by wearing the same outfit—blue jeans, black turtleneck, New Balance sneakers—every single day of his life. With every move you make, you’re bombarded with predicaments from the banal to the extraordinary, and you obviously can’t trust yourself to make the right decisions anymore—look where that’s gotten you.

I know I’m not alone in this. We’re all feeling a little needy now that the Decider is about to caravan back down to Texas. Whom can we turn to? Friends and family always have their own agendas; therapists are useless. So, who’s left?

Strangers, of course. They’re everywhere.

“Excuse me,” I said to the woman behind me one morning in the queue at Dunkin’ Donuts. “I’m currently asking strangers to make all my decisions. Would you mind picking out a dozen doughnuts for me?”
“I’ll order two, but then you’re on your own,” she said.

“Never mind.”

Everyone knows the first two doughnuts are the easy ones.

“I’ll do it, but you’ll have to tell me what you like,” a gangly woman who had overheard the previous exchange said.

“Thanks, but that kind of defeats my purpose,” I responded.

“As long as you’re paying,” a thick-armed guy shrugged at me just as it was his turn to order.

He attacked the chore with glee. His choices were a blur of glaze and frosting. He stopped only once, looked back at me and said, “Sprinkles, two sprinkles,” and they fell into the box with the majesty of a fireworks grand finale.

It was a win-win, a successful random act of indecision (RAI). And I was striking a blow for science. “Your experiment will reveal how much pleasure in a dessert comes from it simply being a dessert, rather than a dessert that you would have chosen,” Plous had observed. “In many cases, the difference in benefit between two choices is smaller than we’d guess.”

And that’s not even counting the pleasure of not having to be the one to make the tough decisions. I couldn’t wait to get home and have someone in my family make a face about the two apple crumbs—Why’d you pick the-e-e-se?—so I could reply quite proudly, “I didn’t.”

This may be the best idea I’ve ever had. For two weeks, I relinquished control over my decisions. I turned the reins over to perfect strangers.

At a Starbucks, I was perspiring heavily from a bike ride when I started to ask the woman beside me what I wanted to drink. She cut me off midway through my spiel about how I was conducting a social experiment and whatnot.

“Just have a water,” she said, snatching a bottle from the front case and thrusting it at me.

She herself ordered something that took the barista 11 moves to make, but I was suddenly a model of simplicity: a sweaty man drinking cold water.

Already, my life was beginning to emerge from the fog. Left to stew in my own brew of insecurities, I’d still be tortured over caf, decaf, or half-caf. And the encounter didn’t seem odd. Thanks to television shows such as The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm, awkwardness is now fashionable. Awkward is the new suave.

Moments later, I asked a man at the newsstand if I should become a night shaver instead of a morning shaver. I always wanted to be a night shaver—go to bed cleanly shaven and wake up with sexy stubble that would be alluring until at least noon and ...

“Absolutely not,” the gentleman said.

I’m sure he’s right.

Later in the day, when I asked a sandy-haired woman at Old Navy to pick out a shirt for me, she quickly devoted herself to the cause. “I want you to have a crisper, cleaner look,” she exclaimed.

I was still feeling crisp and clean when I stopped at the library. The mission: to give a stranger the chore of selecting a book for me to read.

“You sure? Picking out a book ... that’s kind of an intimate decision,” the chosen one said. She was sitting at a tiny table with a little boy and looking up at me as if I were one more irritation in an already long day. But once I said I was positive, she popped up as if she’d just adopted me.

“Follow me,” she said.

With the little boy in hand, she cut across the library with the supermarket stride of a mom who just realized she’d forgotten the Fruit Roll-Ups two aisles back. We were headed deep into the bowels—past the self-helps, beyond the reference books, even. Then she stopped, pivoted, dropped a 4-pound book in my hands and said,
“Here.”

I thanked her profusely, but I’m not sure it even registered. She just mentally checked me off her list and was on her way. The whole encounter—in fact, the entire day—was astonishing. By dusk, my new life’s course had been set by an entire team of people whose names I didn’t even know.

I’d accepted all advice without question, with one exception: While at the local cineplex, I asked the third woman in line what I should see, and she said, Nights in Rodanthe. I just couldn’t do it. I went home to watch Bones on TV.

At an ATM stop on the way home, I gave the guy waiting behind me no preface. I just asked—“Should I get up early tomorrow or sleep in?”—and he just knew.

“Sleep in.”

Good decision. I needed the sleep, because I stayed up late reading The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong. I got to Page 136 before closing my eyes on a brave new world.

If any one group of people was ever in need of a diversion it’s the group waiting for the 12:15 p.m. to Newark.

At least that’s what I thought when I arrived at the airport with an armful of decisions that needed making. In my hands were printouts of several health-care and financial options, as well as a brochure for night courses available at a nearby junior high school. With that kind of workload, I needed people both bored and contained.

My initial stratagem was to approach individuals who appeared friendly—which meant they were wearing sneakers. Well, people who wear sneakers are actually quite ornery. Oddly, it’s the Bluetooth type—and, more specifically, individuals with two laptops—who are the most gracious, endearing people on the planet and who are ideal for this type of social experiment.

“I don’t do experiments, but let me see those papers,” a two-laptop guy said, snatching the documents out of my hands.

I told him he didn’t have to do it all, that I was going to spread the work around, but he ignored me. Then, without looking up, he handed the course brochure back to me and said, “Get somebody else for this.”

I left him looking over the financial papers and found a guy four seats over who took two phone calls just during the 15 seconds it took me to explain my predicament.

“Okay, what have we got here?” he finally said as if he were used to people constantly sticking things under his nose to sign off on. When it came to making big decisions, he was on cruise control. “Does the class have to be useful?” he asked. “There’s stuff like ‘How to Start a Home Business,’ and then there’s just junk like ... like calligraphy.”

“Useless is good,” I said.

Back in the next row, just as Two-Laptops started thumbing through the health-care and financial documents, a colleague of his showed up, and I thought for sure my man was going to get sidetracked. But Two-Laptops was homed in on my task, and the next thing I knew, the associate wanted in and had his hands on the health plans. “I used to be in the insurance business,” the associate said. “They’re all scum.”

I had planned to leave the three Bluetooth types alone while they worked diligently on major decisions I didn’t want any part of, but they started bombarding me with questions before I could stray.

“Do you already have coverage?”

“Yes, but I need to switch.”

“Are you going to be adding money to your 401(k)?”

“No, I don’t plan on ever making any more money.”

“Do you like watercolors?”

“No, I mean, yes!”

“Are you the type that would seek out unconventional treatments and never give up?” Two-Laptops asked.

“No, no, I’m famous for giving up.”

But, they didn’t give up. Which is the beauty of RAI.

End result:
1. BlueCross BlueShield Limited Benefits Plan 71—hospital and surgical only.
2. Straight Vanguard money market account with annual yield of 0.09 percent.
3. One-stroke painting.

I was almost giddy.

When I told a friend about my experiment and how much I was getting accomplished, she posed an interesting question: “What if you can’t stop?”

In fact, the question was so good that I’ve decided there is no good reason to shut down this adventure after only two weeks. Random Acts of Indecision is not a social experiment. It’s a lifestyle.

As I write these words, I am sitting in a pizzeria eating pizza toppings—mushroom and sausage—chosen by the frail man I had held the door for on my way in. I am wearing a striped shirt picked out by a meticulous woman and, between sips of iced tea, glancing at Page 351 of a book that is enlightening me to the “Cho-WE Cho-WE” of the Carolina wren.

The old adage “You have no one to blame but yourself” doesn’t apply to me anymore. In 2009, when things go wrong, I will have no one to blame but each and every one of you.

From a longer story published by The Washington Post Magazine
________________________

Well, are you ready to try this method to simplify your life? We could do the bloggy version and post all of our decisions and take a count in the comments! I'm not planning to do it, but it'd make for some interesting blogging material. Let me know how it all works out for you!

Happy Earth Day to You!

2009-04-22T09:08:00.002-05:00

Happy Earth Day to You
Happy Earth Day to You
Happy Earth Day toooo Youuuuu
Happy Earth Day to You

It's a beautiful sunny day again today. I've taken a shower, my quota of coffee, that mix of fresh fruit and yogurt that I eat for breakfast and am off for a visit (work). All's well with the world.

How are you celebrating Earth Day this year?

A sunny day

2009-04-21T08:07:00.003-05:00

SUNBATHER
A woman was staying at a hotel and she decided to go sunbathing on the hotel roof. When she laid down her bikini top fell off. But, she didn't care because no one would see her anyway.

After a while she heard footsteps; it was the hotel manager. She hurried and covered herself up.

The hotel manager said, "We don't mind if you sunbathe up here, but we really would appreciate it if you would keep your bikini top on!"

She answered, "No one will see me anyway."

The hotel manager replied, "I hate to break this to you. But, you've been lying on the dining room skylights."

THE RING-BEAR-ER
A little boy was in a relative's wedding. As he was coming down the aisle he would take two steps, stop, and turn to the crowd (alternating between bride's side and groom's side).

While facing the crowd, he would put his hands up like claws and roar. So it went, step, step, ROAR, step, step, ROAR all the way down the aisle. As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from laughing so hard by the time he reached the pulpit.

The little boy, however, was getting more and more distressed from all the laughing, and was also near tears by the time he reached the pulpit. When asked what he was doing, the child sniffed and said, "I was being the Ring Bear!"

THE NEAT-NIK
Ray, was attempting to build a patio for the first time. He bought 100 cement blocks. Laying them out in a pattern, he discovered the chosen area was too small.

He stacked the blocks against the house and cleared more space. The next day Ray put the cement blocks back down, only to find that the ground was too hard to keep the patio level.

He ordered a truckload of sand to be delivered the following morning. Again he stacked the 100 blocks against the house.

Observing all this, his next-door neighbor asked, "Ray, are you going to put your patio away every night?"

FAKING IT
Finally, the good-natured boss was compelled to call Smith into his office.

"It has not escaped my attention," he pointed out, "that every time there's a home game at the stadium, you have to take your aunt to the doctor."

"You know you're right, sir," exclaimed Smith. "I didn't realize it. You don't suppose she's faking, do you?"

AN ARTIST'S EYE
A wealthy man commissioned an artist to paint a portrait of his wife. Startled by the nonrepresentational image on the final canvas, the woman's husband complained, "It isn't how she really looks."

When asked by the painter how she really looked, the man produced a photograph from his wallet.

Returning the photography the artist observed, "Small, isn't she?"

A RIDDLE
If a train station is where the train stops and a bus station is where the bus stops, what is a work station?

____________________________

My early morning visit got cancelled. But now I have time to do the documentation for the three visits that I had yesterday. Oh, and one of my visit families want to go to the circus! I haven't seen the circus for years and years, since my own son was little. I got to hang out on a playground all day during a beautiful couple of days last week and got the sunburn to prove it! Also have gotten to go to the zoo and the children's museum, art gallery and other fun stuff many times. And I get paid for this! It's sometimes sad and sometimes hard but basically I love my job!

Something Lighter

2009-04-20T14:29:00.004-05:00

Some (old) jokes:

The Classifieds

Auto Repair Service. Free pick-up and delivery. Try us once, you'll never go anywhere again.

Our experienced Mom will care for your child. Fenced yard, meals, and smacks included.

Dog for sale: Eats anything and is fond of children.

Man wanted to work in dynamite factory. Must be willing to travel.

Stock up and save. Limit: one.

Semi-Annual after Christmas Sale

3 year old teacher needed for pre-school. Experience preferred.

Mixing bowl set designed to please a cook with round bottom for efficient beating.

Girl wanted to assist magician in cutting off head illusion. Blue Cross and salary.

Dinner Special -- Turkey $2.35; Chicken or Beef $2.25; Children $2.00

For sale: antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.

Now is your chance to have your ears pierced and get an extra pair to take home, too.

We do not tear your clothing with machinery. We do it carefully by hand.

For sale. Three canaries of undermined sex.

Great Dames for sale.

Have several very old dresses from grandmother in beautiful condition.

Have a great day!

Better to say nothing

2009-04-19T19:20:00.003-05:00

Do you know that old saying, you know, the one that says if you don't have anything good to say don't say anything at all? Well, that's been sort of what life has been like lately. In real life I'm the quiet but cheery sort. In my journal and writing on this blog, it's a different story! But it is good to have a place to vent and to write what's on one's heart, even when it's not so cheery or upbeat.

And it's been busy, really really busy. Most everybody is busy, too busy nowadays and I've been no exception to that. Had another FT job in an office, while still trying to keep my beloved job working with families. It made for some long days, like 12-hour ones, and 7 days a week as there wasn't any time off. It didn't kill me but any time home and particularly any time on the computer was late nights spent writing up the reports for Job #1.

And during one quite notable week, I went on four job interviews (how I was hired for Job #2, the FT office job) AND the basement of my house got flooded again. Oh, and there was a Podiatrist appointment, two days worth of long-distance phone calls to the insurance company. Did you know that if water comes into your house from the outside that flood insurance doesn't cover it? An interesting fact I didn't realize. "Flood" insurance merely covers broken pipes, backed up storm drains and things like that. Again and again those insurance people told me that was why Katrina and the flooding in Fargo were so destructive. The insurance people kept telling me that only FEMA covers that type of incident--and only after the fact. Very interesting but I had ankle-deep water covering the carpet in the basement. That carpet was laid down in the spring of 2008 and the basement entirely re-sheetrocked, painted and trimmed. There's a bedroom, full bath and a living room down there that were wiped out in October 2007 because of a storm drain backup of 11.5 inches of water. This time it was a mere 4-5 inches but enough to cause a lot of damage, especially when I wasn't able to get it drained and dry for three days. It's a bit musty and still a mess down there. So the job offer came at a good time, right when I really needed some more money! But who doesn't need some more money?

To add to the surreal-ity of it all, the Real Estate company where I have the house listed suddenly kept calling me to show the house. Very bad timing that was! The agent finally called and chewed me out and I explained about the basement and thought he had gotten it. Nope, just yesterday he called me while I was at work with a family. He basically chewed me out again and I reminded him about the basement and asked if he really wanted to bring people through the house. Anyway, he was a nice guy about it and offered to help me find a way to do a short-sale on the house. Gotta do something about it....

Well, I could go on and on as life certainly has been "interesting" lately. Hope your life has been interesting too, but in a good way!

Happy Heart Day!

2009-02-14T22:49:00.002-06:00

Today is my favorite day of the year.

Happy Valentines Day to you!

Ice Fishing

2009-02-09T13:57:00.004-06:00

Have you ever gone ice fishing? When I was young my Dad built a ice fishing house and he and a neighbor used to go every year. Mom would bring hot, freshly made cornbread for us to eat later in the afternoon. She would also retrieve those kids tired of hanging out on the lake and bring us back home.

This photo gives a new meaning to ice fishing!

Later: And then a friend E-mailed me this Jeff Foxworthy joke:

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 38 inches of ice

and sitting there all day

hoping that the food will swim by,

you might live in Wisconsin. (or Minnesota)

Moving Fast

2009-02-03T20:43:00.003-06:00

Life has been hectic. Mostly a good hectic, but some other mixed in: Interviews, reject letters, second-opinion doctor visit, and work, lots of work. My bosses are aware of my job hunting and are giving me more hours! Another job interview tomorrow morning, working and training in the afternoon and a County exam for a job at 5:30. Another busy day coming up! How is YOUR life going? Has it also seemed to speed up suddenly?

Some jokes from a website:

What It Means

Five year old Becky answered the door when the Census taker came by.

She told the Census taker that her daddy was a doctor and wasn't home, because he was performing an appendectomy.

"My," said the census taker, "that sure is a big word for such a little girl. Do you know what it means?"

"Sure! Fifteen hundred bucks, and that doesn't even include the anaesthesiologist!"

George and Moses

George W. Bush, in an airport lobby, noticed a man in a long flowing white robe with a long flowing white beard and flowing white hair. The man had a staff in one hand and some stone tablets under the other arm.

George W. approached the man and inquired, "Aren't you Moses."

The man ignored George W. and stared at the ceiling.

George W. positioned himself more directly in the man's view and asked again, "Aren't you Moses".

The man continued to peruse the ceiling.

George W. tugged at the man's sleeve and asked once again, "Aren't you Moses".

The man finally responded in an irritated voice, "Yes I am".

George W. asked him why he was so uppity and the man replied, "The last time a bush spoke to me I ended up spending forty years in the wilderness".

Road Repair

The road by my house was in bad condition. Every day, I dodged potholes on the way to work, so I was relieved to see a construction crew working on the road one morning.

Later, on my way home, I noticed the men were gone and no improvement in the road. Where the crew had been working stood a new, bright-yellow sign with the words, "Rough Road."

and my favorite joke...

It's a Girl

Stationed in Okinawa, Japan, my son and his wife were expecting their first baby. I was elated when he called me at work with the news of my grandchild's birth. I took down all the statistics and turned to relate it all to my co-workers.

"I'm a grandmother!" I declared. "It's a baby girl, and she weighs five pounds."

"When was she born?" someone asked.

Recalling the date my son told me, I stopped, looked at the calendar, and said in amazement, "Tomorrow!"

Smoking

2009-01-25T12:37:00.004-06:00

Two jokes, one terrible and the other sort of funny:

Social Worker vs. Pitt Bull
What's the difference between a social worker and a pitt bull terrier?

At least you can get part of your baby back from the pitt bull

(Sorry to PQ--I know Pitt Bulls are really a great dog...)

Bald Eagle
How do you identify a bald eagle?

All his feathers are combed over to one side.

Well, it's been. Been what? Well, hard to go into it all. Imagine standing on the road with a stalled car at -20F (actual temp, the windchill was even worse), imagine it again, and one more time. The car kept stalling as I was trying to get back home and then to the garage. Then imagine standing alongside of a car that's billowing black smoke. Fun. And I thought I'd dressed warm for the weather. Certainly not. After 45-minutes out there I couldn't feel my hands or feet.

Although I already had an appointment at the garage for the following afternoon, I had thought I could avoid a tow, but it was not to be. The tow truck driver was nice and dropped SLA at her apt and me at home. By the time we were done fooling around with all of that, it had been several hours.

I had an interview scheduled for the following day too. I was going to bring the car in right after it, and now--no car. Taking the bus isn't really such a big deal, many people take it every day. But I hadn't ridden the bus for close to two years, had to get all dressed up in the suit and carry a satchel and I'm still using a cane and limping. Plus it was still -20F and cold for waiting for the bus and walking around out there. But I'm proud to say that I made it to the interview (and back--had a WC person waiting for me at home, in fact) and am waiting to hear back from them.

Have another interview this week and had one (diff one) last week. At least I have the car for this upcoming one and had it for the last interview. I've been netting lots of interviews lately but the employers are interviewing HORDES of people for each position, so I haven't gotten one yet. But have not given up hope. It helps that I really love my present job.

I'm getting ready for work and won't be able to make bloggy rounds yet but hope all of you are having a great year so far!

The Birthday Quiz Key

2009-01-12T23:20:00.003-06:00

Well here it is, the Birthday Quiz Key. This is your last chance to quickly think up 5 items related to a birthday party, if you haven't already done so.

Actually, after I'd thought of 5 things and read the key--I wished that I would have gone further and named 10 items (if I could have thought of that many things quickly) because the answers and the ordering were so intriguing. Yes, I know the quiz was just for fun but it seemed to work quite well, for me, anyway. The order of life priorities was something to think about.

Last chance to quickly think up 5 items related to a birthday party.....

The Birthday Quiz Key

Age = the past
Balloons = adventure, change
Birthday honoree = self, ego
Bows = tradition
Cake = material comforts
Candles = personal connections
Cards = feelings/emotion
Decorations = physical, the body
Drinks = fun, sports or hobbies
Games = work or career
Gifts = helping others, altruism
Guests = intimate relationships
Hats = humor
Ice Cream = ambition
Invitations = manners, social niceties
Paper Plates = worries, concerns
Party = family
Party Favors = community, neighbors
Ribbons = organization and order
Sleepover = children
Song = communication
Toasts = optimism and planning ahead
Wrapping Paper = style, appearances

Mine were:
1) Balloons
2) Cake
3) Candles
4) The Happy Birthday Song (Song)
5) Birthday Hats (Hats)

And no, the answer “Birthday Suit” did not have a corresponding key. Some of the answers were kind of logical and others, more like, huh? Glad I didn't think of paper plates. Try this quiz on your friends—it’s fun. I did! It seemed to promote a lot of discussion.

A birthday quiz

2009-01-11T23:00:00.004-06:00

OK, I'm feeling better now. Thanks for the dose-of-reality comments! I'm certainly not the only grandparent to miss their grandchildren, and not see them very often. It's the norm nowadays, I guess. Still painful though but I'll live. Just can't resist saying how very lucky those grandparents who live nearby their grandchildren are, though...

In honor of all the birthdays, below is a birthday quiz. It's just for fun and it supposed to show what your priorities are.

Quick--think of five objects related to a birthday party.

Here are the rules:
--Be sure to remember and/or jot down the ORDER or RANKING that you pick the five objects: the first object that came to your mind is #1, next #2, etc.
--The ranking is how you prioritize certain areas of life.

I'll post the key (answers) later.

What should have been a super day

2009-01-10T21:04:00.005-06:00

I was kind of sad today--on what should have been a happy day. Today was my Grandson's first birthday! I had bought him a gift and got a cute card. I'd put off sending the card until Wednesday as I was hoping that somehow I could manage to get down there but it was not to be.

I mailed the card on Wednesday with rather a heavy heart and today was sort of sad for me, too. What I had feared has come to pass, my own Grandson barely knows me. We've only visited a couple of times all this past year. I miss him and miss my son and his girlfriend too. Son had called several times on Friday to see when/if I was coming. We finally talked in the evening and it was a short conversation because girlfriend had to get to work. I do hope this year will get better, as this was a huge disappointment. Part of my feeling is envy, too. The other side of the family sees Grandson a lot. They live in the same town and get to babysit him often. That's the "Grandma" he knows, not me, sigh.

But it WAS a busy day of work and I did get to see my Mom for a few hours.

A bit of bragging

2009-01-06T23:22:00.004-06:00

Yet another action-filled day, as most days have been. Two hours in the morning of Tori Tori Tori, the Workers Comp job finding person. She was rather pleased with me, for once, because of all the pending interviews.

Then on to the City County Complex for the three-part test for Economic Specialist. As already mentioned, I had previously passed the first test, mostly math--calculating housing and food stamp allowances--given early one Saturday morning. The second batch of tests started off with a data entry test. It was a timed test and yet accuracy was also of utmost importance. It was awkward, as some of the fields needed a tab between and others did not. One could not go back to a field once you tabbed. So there were issues and I was just starting to get the hang of it when the timer sounded to end the test. I did pass the test, although I'm sure it wasn't an outstanding score.

Then a typing test, "keyboarding" was next. The passing score for this test had to be a typing speed above 55 WPM, which is quite fast. There was a two-minute warm-up and then the three-minute test. I could whip along pretty quickly once warmed up, although at one point I lost my place in reading the copy during the test and nearly panicked. But the result was gratifying, 72 WPM and a passing score!

The last of the tests I took this afternoon was the math test. It, too was timed, no calculator allowed, just a piece of scratch paper. I was surprised to complete both sides of the test and was re-checking my work (and good thing I did, as I had accidentally skipped one) when the timer went off. The test-giver disappeared with the test for a brief time and then returned with a "Congratulations!" and that they would be calling me for an interview. I had scored 100% correct in the math test! If you know me at all, you will know that math is certainly not a friend of mine. In fact I received a "D" in high school math during one semester. So a bit of bragging is in order: that score today was a total miracle!

After that morning and afternoon, it was time for a counseling appointment. And after it was done then out with my best friend SLA. So it was a good, productive, but very long day. Maybe something job-wise will come out of it--or not.

Another Typical Day

2009-01-05T12:03:00.005-06:00

Well, it's turning into another typical day so far, which includes:

--An early morning call from my mother which lasted 45 minutes--before I'd had my coffee or made a "pit stop"

--Three calls to potential employers, including asking about an interview that I had on December 16th. One call-back about setting up an interview

--Called to set up the next batch of tests for the County Economic Specialist position

--Wrote a cover letter, printed off a resume, packaged and addressed to a new potential employer

--Waiting to hear whether I work or not today, and when

And it's just noon so far. The first Economic Specialist test was really difficult. There were 100 questions and 10 were spelling (easy) 10 were grammar (not too bad) but the other 80 questions were MATH questions--with no calculator allowed! Yikes.

When the test-giver asked who needed scratch paper, every hand in the room was raised and waving. I used up 3 sheets of scratch paper, had to turn in a used one to get another. Most people taking the test used pretty much the same, except for the couple of people who threw down the test in disgust and left the room.

I wish I could have kept the test just to look it over. There were formulas for figuring housing allowances, food stamps, etc. and boy, were they ever complex, I'd had no idea! And not just a one-stop calculation for each, but a long series of multiplying, figuring percentages and looking up on a chart (on a different page)to get ONE answer. It was so grueling that I began to wonder if I even wanted the job but it pays so well. And I passed, so on to the next batch of tests. I'm scheduled to take them tomorrow afternoon, between the worker's comp consultation and 2 visitations for work.

Yesterday we had 7 inches of snow. Today it's 15 degrees below zero and the windchill is supposed to be 20-40 below. It looks nice and sunny outside but sunny days are the coldest in the wintertime. The house was cracking and creaking all night long and the furnace also ran all night. Thank goodness the furnace has been working great!

Speaking of great: My wonderful neighbors used their snow-blower to clean my side and driveway! The sidewalk is half a block on one side and a good portion in the front. I've mentioned before how I always seem to buy the corner house which gets stuck with all that shoveling in the winter.

Cute joke from the Urban Chickens group:

Why do chicken coops have 2 doors?
If they had 4 they would be a sedan

So how's your new year going so far?

What was I thinking?

2009-01-04T13:16:00.002-06:00

I just finished talking to one of my bosses. She said I don't have to come in for my two scheduled visits--unless I want to work them. Both bosses are there and the visits are covered. After just spending a couple of hours doing my paperwork for visits that occurred yesterday the prospect of a free day (I don't work full time but it's seven days a week)was too good to resist. I said, well, as long as the visits are covered and they don't really need me....

And now, after hanging up the phone I figured it out. I'm losing around $40 by passing up those visits. Yikes, I cannot really afford to do that! What was I thinking?

Well, on to enjoy the rest of the day. Have a good one!

Happy New Year! And a new use for Hwy 61

2008-12-31T09:08:00.003-06:00

2009 has already struck in some parts of the world. In Minnesota they are still counting and re-counting votes. Al Franken is leading by 50 votes. We like our media celebrities in Minnesota--remember Jesse Ventura? California has a thing for celebrities too, apparently.

Update: The famous Highway 61--now a runway. An airplane made an emergency landing on the Highway 61 expressway. “The engine ate itself for breakfast. That doesn’t happen often.” said the vice president of business admin for Cirrus. The engine apparently threw a rod shortly after takeoff, causing the aircraft to lose power and need to make an emergency landing.

And if that wasn't odd enough, after the plane landed on the highway--the passing traffic started honking at them! Ha ha, wish I had been there to see (and hear) that!

Oh well. 2009 is going to be a super-duper, fantastic, fabulous, wonderful and GREAT year! Happy New Year to you!

Merry Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T20:02:00.005-06:00

New music love: Ghostland Observatory. I love, love, LOVE them!
The vocals remind me a bit of The Cure, but the sound is unique and can't really be categorized, Techno-Rock is probably the closest.

Some of their songs:
Move With Your Lover
Sad Sad City

Rich Man

But I like nearly everything of theirs that I've heard.

You have the right to remain MERRY!

Once bitten, twice snowed on

2008-12-19T08:48:00.003-06:00

It's snowing out again. The weather has been alternating between 20's and 30's below--and that's actually temperature NOT windchill which would sound even worse--and snow. The temps have been too cold to use road salt and so they've been only using sand. Sand on the roads is certainly better than nothing but it makes a slippery, slushy roadway. The city where I live is flat, and a driver just needs to remember to start braking long before they actually need to stop. But the neighboring city is hilly and the slippery roads are quite dangerous there.

I haven't written much about the particulars of my new job. There are many interesting stories, but they aren't MY stories and are confidential, so not appropriate blog-fodder. But last night as a visitation was ending, I needed to bring the children down the long halls out to the foster parent's vehicle. One child took my hand, and I was pleased and relieved as we aren't allowed to carry them or hold their hands against their will. We were all dressed for outdoors. I was wearing thick leather gloves--and good thing that I was! The child bit into the fleshy part of my thumb where it joins my hand like she was biting into an apple. She hung on until I looked her sternly in the eye and said, "No, stop that." a whole lot calmer than I felt! They were the last family in the Center and I was supposed to leave at when the visit was over as the Center isn't in the best of neighborhoods. But my hand was throbbing so I went back into the bathroom. There was a dime-sized open wound, surrounded by bright orange and purple bruising. I ran warm water and soap from the dispenser over my hand until it quit throbbing, then put the glove back on to drive home.

As I was driving down the slick, slippery hill and the car wasn't stopping at intersections in the manner I would have liked, a child's verse was in my head:

Child bite, child bite
Last family I see tonight
I wish I may
I wish I might
Avoid further injury tonight.

I got home OK and put honey on the wound. Today it is much better and barely painful. Long ago as a meter reader I received dog bites fairly often. Those wounds would be painful for days because I hadn't given them first aid right away with warm water and soap. Also didn't know about the curative powers of honey!

The question of today is: How's your work going lately?

The Annual Christmas Letter

2008-12-17T17:00:00.002-06:00

The Annual Christmas Letter

Greetings to Family and Friends,

Hope this letter finds you and your loved ones in peace and joy. It’s been quite the year around here. In fact “here” was very nearly “where?” Many of you know that and have assisted in various and much appreciated ways. I will try to condense the year into a sort of ‘Reader’s Digest” version, yet even so, I’d like to offer my apologies in advance for such a long, rambling letter. Hope I put enough postage on the envelope to get it to you.

January was the start of the year and also of my job hunt. Work was stressful and ominous things were happening. Little did I realize that being out of work also could be quite stressful. I have to brag a bit and tell you that I was one of a “final four” out of 60 candidates to get a good job. No, I didn’t get the job, but on January 10th a wonderful thing happened: my Grandson was born. I was the first non-medical person to see him. I’m not being biased at all when I tell you that he is the cutest baby who was ever born! Those of you who have seen him will have to agree.

In February I was injured at work and had a doctor-ordered five week vacation. The bosses at work didn’t like that much and were pretty mean to me when I returned. But I didn’t have to suffer long, they soon fired me and I was home for another vacation.

Summer went by quickly, with moving Mom to Assisted Care, cleaning out her two-bedroom apartment, finding places for her things and all. Big Brother and his family helped a lot, as did many of my friends, thank you! There was a temporary, minor glitch when Mom forgot she had chosen to live in her new digs and called Younger Brother (from out of state) to rescue her. All was soon straightened out. But only after he had driven through three states in a hurry to see her and make sure she was OK. Mom was living more or less happily in her one-room quarters and had forgotten that she had called him so desperately.

The parents of Cutest Baby received a low-mileage car when Mom “decided” not to drive (yikes!) any more. They came up with Cutest Baby to attend the annual and really fun Blues Fest. They stayed at my house for a week and then drove their new car back home. I was glad they had a place to stay while they were visiting, and that I had a place to stay, too. Keeping up with the Jones’ can be a bad thing when it means not being able to make the mortgage payment, like so many other people. What a copy cat I am! An interesting and curious fact that you may not know (I didn’t) is that when fired, a person doesn’t receive Unemployment Compensation. I utilized my time off with lots of writing and soon Worker’s Compensation agreed to pay 2/3 my former wage, drawn on former employer’s account, ho ho ho!

The Worker’s Comp people are sociable and they stop in often and delight in spontaneous visits with me. These are not merely meet-and-greet but long, serious conversations for two and a half hours. They are big on communication and encourage me to do more writing—of everything I do during the week days. They don’t just skim over my writing either, which is most flattering. They read every bit carefully and ask me a lot of personal questions about it. They are so fond of me that they have demanded that I stay in a 50-mile radius, so they will not have to miss the joy of spontaneous visits at my home. So I’m getting a lot of attention, as well as some money from them.

Well, until I got a part-time job. Now it’s been five weeks since I’ve received a WC check and the earned income from my new job doesn’t pay the bills. But the Worker’s Comp people are still really chummy and encourage me to keep up my daily writing. It’s good to have people who care about you.

The new job is really interesting with two bosses each telling me different things, being on call 24/7 and dealing with dysfunctional families. I’m trying to obtain more (paid) work hours from my new employer. But they appear to believe in the virtue of sharing, as they keep hiring on more people. I have gotten to know several other employers too, in special little intimate meetings, but so far no one else has hired me yet. Instead I have received the employer version of a “Dear John” letter, telling me that they liked someone else better, sniff. Well, “Boo” to them and their little job too.

On a brighter note, I have to tell you that I’m simply thrilled with the November election—because Mom received an ID card from her new state in time for her to vote! It only took me a couple of days, some phone calls and driving around, too. Those guys at the DMV who said they couldn’t give her one because of the terrorists had better be sorry now! OK, I suppose I shouldn’t really threaten them, even on paper….

This has been quite the year for vacations! I took yet another vacation, camping in my sleeping bag without even leaving home! I greedily took two vacations of four days each, with less than a week between them. I’m wondering if I could market that concept of “stay at home camping” as a boon to people without a lot of money? This type of vacation actually SAVES money because there’s no heating cost for the duration of it. Well, not if you do it the way I did (not recommended) as the repair bills will cost nearly as much as a “normal” camping vacation. But it may have some marketing potential, don’t you think?

For Christmas I had the desperate inspired idea of making coffee and tea mixes and giving them out as gifts. Oops, sorry but that was kind of a spoiler! Well, you won’t know which mix your family will get, coffee or tea, so it will still be a surprise, right?

Well, it’s time to close down this year. Whew, I have to say that I’m not sorry to see it end. Here’s hoping that 2009 will be a much better year for us all! How could it not?

Love, PBS

I stole this idea from Violet Thanks! But really wouldn’t SEND this letter, even though I love getting Annual Christmas Letters from friends and family. It’s a great way to catch up with people that you don’t see much, or at all, during the year. I think this would make a great meme. Any meme-rs for an Annual Christmas Letter?

Winter has arrived at the home of the champions

2008-12-15T11:11:00.008-06:00

"Winter has arrived with a vengeance." the local newspaper reports. We received our first blizzard of the 2008-09 winter season. This included:

"The city is advising no travel," according to Amy Norris, public information coordinator. “The snow plows are on the main roads only,” Norris said, “and with the rate of snow fall and the wind there is a lot of drifting going on, which is making driving very dangerous at this point.”

The Weather Service reports that travel may become “very dangerous to near impossible” across the region.

Bus service was stopped at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. “We’ve been hearing from drivers and they say with the blowing snow, it is impossible to see past their windshields,” said general manager Dennis Jensen. Jensen said they tried to give two hours’ notice to riders and that two buses are stuck.

"On Monday night, temperatures are forecast to fall to near 20 below and near 30 below just to the north." This doesn't even take into account the wind-chill factor.

"Wind and blowing snow are beginning to hit at full force. Gusts are expected in the 40 to 60 mph range. A gust of 58 mph was reported."

"Most flights were canceled." (of course-if ground travel isn't advised!)

All the area schools and many businesses are closed today.

But on the bright side:

"University of Minnesota Duluth’s 21-14 mens football victory over Northwest Missouri State on Saturday in Florence, Ala., secured the first NCAA Division II championship in the storied 76-year history of Bulldogs football. The Bulldogs went undefeated 15-0 in the greatest turnaround since Division II starting keeping track of the statistic in 1996." I graduated from that school so this is my team!!!! (Even though I haven't really followed them.) Yay for us, we're champions!

And then yesterday I stayed home and made bread and a casserole. Mmmm, nice hot food to eat! At least we still have electric power--unlike unlucky people on the eastern coast. Today I'm doing the laundry and making those coffee and tea mixes for Christmas gifts.

Have you finished your Christmas shopping and preparation yet?

Paying the taxes

2008-12-11T09:43:00.001-06:00

Tax Bill

Dear Internal Revenue Service:

Enclosed you will find my 2005 tax return showing that I owe $3,407.00 in taxes. Please note the attached article from the USA Today newspaper, dated 12 November, wherein you will see the Pentagon (Department of Defense) is paying $171.50 per hammer and NASA has paid $600.00 per toilet seat.

I am enclosing four (4) toilet seats (valued @ $2,400) and six (6) hammers valued @ $1,029), which I secured at Home Depot, bringing my total remittance to $3,429.00.

Please apply the overpayment of $22.00 to the "Presidential Election Fund," as noted on my return. You can do this inexpensively by sending them one (1) 1.5 " Phillips Head screw (see aforementioned article from USA Today newspaper detailing how H.U.D. pays $22.00 each for 1.5" Phillips Head Screws). One screw is enclosed for your convenience.

It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year.

Sincerely,

A Satisfied Taxpayer

Find out what Barack Obama can do for you!

2008-12-05T22:46:00.002-06:00

Did you know that:
Barack Obama left a comment on your blog?

Check it out at:

What Barack Obama can do for you!

(click on the words to change the saying!)

History's Greatest Conspiracy Theories

2008-12-01T12:07:00.003-06:00

These are from the Telegraph. And you can see by the numbers in front that they listed at least 30 of them!

30. Chemtrails - Chemtrail conspiracy theorists believe that some contrails, which consist of ice crystals or water vapor condensed behind aircraft, actually result from chemicals or biological agents being deliberately sprayed at high altitude for some undisclosed purpose. The staple of right-wing radio shows in the US, there is fevered speculation that the chemicals being sprayed are part of a wider plot that involves the so-called New World Order and is being directed by shadowy forces within the government. The existence of chemtrails has been repeatedly denied by federal agencies and scientists.

29. Global warming is a hoax - Some climate change doubters believe that man-made global warming is a conspiracy designed to soften up the world's population to higher taxation, controls on lifestyle and more authoritarian government. These sceptics cite a fall in global temperatures since last year and a levelling off in the rise in temperature since 1998 as evidence.

28. The Aids virus was created in a laboratory - Based on the theories of Dr William Campbell Douglass, many believe that that HIV was genetically engineered in 1974 by the World Health Organisation. Dr Douglass believed that it was a cold-blooded attempt to create a killer virus which was then used in a successful experiment in Africa. Others have claimed that it was created by the CIA or the KGB as a means to reduce world population.

27. HAARP - More than 200 miles east of Anchorage, Alaska, is the Pentagon's High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program, officially an enormous experiment to heat the ionosphere with radio waves. But conspiracy theorists believe the project is a weapon to bring down aircraft and missiles by lifting sections of the atmosphere, cause earthquakes or even a huge weather modification machine.

26. Plastic coffins and concentration camps - Just outside Atlanta, Georgia, beside a major road are approximately 500,000 plastic coffins. Stacked neatly and in full view, the coffins are allegedly owned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema). Conspiracy theorists believe that Fema has also set up several concentration camps in the US in preparation for the imposition of a state of martial law and the killing of millions of Americans. They suggest that the financial crisis will be used to justify the imposition of a police state.

25. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami - A popular theory in the Muslim world is that the tsunami could have been caused by an Indian nuclear experiment in which Israeli and American nuclear experts participated. Several newspapers in Egypt and the Middle East alleged that India, in its heated nuclear race with Pakistan, has acquired sophisticated nuclear technology from the US and Israel, both of which "showed readiness to co-operate with India in experiments to exterminate humankind," beginning with the heavily populated Muslim regions of southeast Asia, where the bulk of casualties took place.

24. Fluoridation - Fluoride is commonly added to drinking water as a way to reduce tooth decay. However, there has been some evidence that there could be some harmful side effects from fluoride and conspiracy theorists believe that this information is known and recognised by those responsible for adding the fluoride, but that they continue the practice regardless. Drug companies have been targeted as possible beneficiaries, as they will profit from a population with ill-health. Another motive is that fluoride lowers mental abilities thereby "dumbing down" the entire population.

I remember the Fluoride debate from my childhood. Since we lived in the country, we didn't have fluoridated water. Instead we had lots of lots of cavities and dental work! Which is your favorite C.Theory?

So quiet

2008-11-29T21:01:00.004-06:00

It's so quiet with son and grandson and ex-dog gone that I've had the TV on for most of the evening. Since I got home from taking Mom out, like I do every Saturday, anyway. I'd been on a sort of TV diet, had it on only about 2 or 3 times in the past month. The police radio has been off all of that time too. Just wanted the quiet. But now it feels odd and sort of wrong. Right now the background noise is sort of nice.

The visit was great and far too short, like always. Son had to work this weekend, he's in retail, and so had to return back to his home. How he managed to get Black Friday off, I don't know. That was a feat and I appreciate it! His girlfriend was working nearly the entire time he and grandson were gone. She really missed her sweetie and her baby. I don't blame her, I miss them now. Funny how quickly one becomes accustomed to having kids/grandkids around!

They only stayed for two nights, came late on Wednesday and left on Friday. He had many other friends and family to see (they all wanted to see grandbaby!) so while I got to see him, it wasn't for any extended amount of time.

Grandbaby LOVED the baby playland! We brought many of his favorite toys upstairs and he had a good time with them and in getting into other things.

Hope you had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving! I did.

The Six Things Meme

2008-11-28T13:19:00.004-06:00

Ordinary Girl who is not ordinary at all, has tagged me for the Six Things Meme. And you know how I feel about memes! (Love them)

These are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random, arbitrary things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I grew up on a farm, in the country. Of course it would be hard to have a farm in the city! We do have an urban chickens movement around here. The proposal went to the City Council several times and now, with a signed document from all of your neighbors, one can apply and pay for a permit to keep chickens in town. I like chickens but won’t be doing that.

2. The farm that I grew up on wasn’t the usual type of farm with lots of livestock. We had chickens and ducks but that was only when I was quite young. The farm was a berry and vegetable farm, sort of like a truck farm. And it was lots of work, but I have fond memories of it now and really enjoy gardening.

3. Right now I have no pets, not a single living thing besides plants in the house. I do currently have a visiting dog. My ex-dog is here with son and grandson. The two people are gone visiting other relatives in the area so it’s just me and my ex-dog.

4. As much as I like and am interested in people, I really am kind of a loner at home. That’s my deep, dark secret. I need lots of space and alone time. Can’t stand to have someone else around all the time. My son, Pseudo Son and now Grandbaby are the only exceptions. That’s not been conducive to long-term relationships! That’s why when finances were tough this summer, getting a roommate was NOT a good option for me to consider.

5. Pursuant to that (always wanted to use that phrase!) I’m not looking for or interested in finding another man/partner, at least not for now.

6. I’ve been “connected” now and then over the years and even married for a while but have spent most of my life single. And like it that way!

This is the part where I’m supposed to tag six other victims, I mean, people! Any volunteers? Are there SIX volunteers? Anybody with deep, dark secrets?

Happy Turkey Day!

2008-11-26T12:47:00.003-06:00

Happy Turkey Day to all, except those not having turkey...
To them I wish:

Happy Ham Day!

Happy Prime Rib Day!

Happy Marinated Shrimp Day!

Happy BBQ Day!

and a Happy To-furky Day for the vegetarians! And not TODAY, of course, but tomorrow. I've also heard it called Gratitude Day or Gratitude Attitude. So:

Happy Gratitude Attitude Day!
No matter what's for dinner...

Stonehenge was built to impress the girls

2008-11-23T11:47:00.002-06:00

Sometimes I like to read letters written to "National Geographic" magazine. The magazine had an article about Stonehenge in the June 2008 issue. Letters regarding the article appeared in the October 2008 issue.

One letter writer ventured that Stonehenge was built as a sport complex. His/Her (only initials were given) reasoning being that humans tend to build things for three reasons: religion, defense and sports arenas. Examples given were the Colosseum in Rome, Mayan ball courts and today's "monstrous stadiums and ball parks."

But my favorite letter was from a writer in California who wanted "to share an epiphany I had the last time we visited." The writer went on to say, "Stonehenge, if understood more obliquely, was ultimately built to impress the girls."

A Flunk-ee on Probation

2008-11-21T21:04:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I didn't post about all the tests I took. I'd applied for three county jobs in the neighboring state. They sent me three letters, all packed into one envelope (encouraging that they are saving on postage!) Each of the three letters said the same thing in a slightly different manner: I needed to pass some tests to be considered for the job.

The County Courthouse is downtown. Parking, except on meters is difficult to come by and now I'm not able to walk for blocks and blocks. When my old job's old office was downtown, I became adept at finding free parking and fitting into the tightest of spots. If the parking spot was even a tiny bit larger than the Jeep, I could somehow get into it. Now, faced with tests that would take up most of the day, I really didn't want to have to keep plugging a parking meter. To my joy and amazement, I found a FREE parking space less than a block from the Courthouse! That was truly a miracle to find a free parking spot right downtown, at 10:00 AM. I wish the tests had turned out to be miracles too, but that was not to be.

I took the first test, Information Specialist I. It was long and rather difficult with two hours allowed for it. I think I did OK, good enough to pass, I hope. There was an addendum to it called the "Bookkeeping Test" that passing would qualify one to be listed for County Auditor jobs. I took the Bookkeeping Test even though I really haven't done much bookkeeping for years. It seemed to go OK. After taking those two tests I took the Information Specialist II test, two hours allowed. That actually seemed easier than the I test, not as much math on it--and no calculators were allowed for the tests--not even for the Bookkeeping Test which had calculating interest and adding up columns of figures.

Then it was on to the performance tests but the computer room was filled up. The attendant asked if I wanted a break while waiting for an opening. I took a break in the Courthouse coffee shop and had a tiny little coffee and a half tuna sandwich. Both were little but very good. Thus fortified I returned to the testing office for the performance tests.

Took the typing test and passed at 58 WPM. I always put that I can do 60 WPM but I guess not, anymore. The last test was a MS Word 2002 test. I used that program all of the time at my former job and know it well. The attendant sat with me through the sample test, in which I got one wrong that she said, "That wasn't wrong!" That didn't bode well for the test.

I have to hang my head and tell you--I didn't pass that last test. I thought I knew how to do everything but one question, but obviously I missed far more than one question to flunk the test! You were asked to click on the first thing you would do to perform the given task. They seemed to allow only one way to do things and apparently that wasn't the way I was used to doing those things. Very discouraging and I don't know how to even study up to take it again.

The good news is that I CAN take that test again, but who knows if I'll do any better at it. At least I will look up the one thing I didn't know how to do, so there will be one more correct answer, maybe.

The Worker's Comp person called me today between visitations to ask about all the testing too, so I had to tell her about needing to re-take the test. She wasn't impressed and told me I needed to get some training. During our last meeting she told me that I couldn't go out of town to visit my son, his girlfriend and grandson, not even during the holidays. Worker's Comp wants me to either be working or applying for jobs. Reminding her that I've been working 7 days a week didn't change her mind about that, either. That's why I was so thrilled and happy to hear that son and grandson would be coming here to visit--since I'm not allowed to go there to see them. Now THAT is a miracle, thank goodness!

Build it and they will come

2008-11-20T18:42:00.003-06:00

I've been putting together a play area downstairs in my son's old bedroom. My Mom likes to go to thrift stores and buy mystery books and while we're there, I've been picking up some baby toys. The toys are just like new, probably weren't used long before the child grew out of them. Since I've been around children a whole lot lately, I'm more up on what sort of toys are the favorites. Whenever I saw a toy that the children of around a year or so old at visitation loved, I nabbed it. Soon I had a wonderful playland downstairs, just waiting for a baby to come and play in it.

Well guess what? Yesterday I got a call from my son that he is coming with grandson to visit me for a few days next week! His girlfriend will be working (at double her normal wage, because of the holiday) so she can't come. That's really too bad as I really enjoy her company nearly as much as my son's. But---GRANDSON IS COMING!!!!
The playland will soon have a baby to play in it!

Just call me Gumby

2008-11-17T08:51:00.004-06:00

Well, yesterday was certainly interesting. I do like flexibility and unpredictability. The trouble is that last one can interfere with the rest of one's life. I was making chicken soup, watching the time and listening for the phone or the cell. I'd talked to both bosses but that was no guarantee that things wouldn't get all switched up. At 1:20 there was a call on the cell phone. It was direct boss calling to ask if I could come to a 1:30 visitation at the Center. As the other boss had said earlier, my regular visitation at 2:00 had been given to somebody else. Yikes!

I was (sort of, just in case) planning for the scheduled 2:00 at the client's house. While just a half-hour difference might not sound so bad or such a scramble, it was because I'd planned the soup to be done at 1:30, then pack up and leave. I said I was right in the middle of soup-making and wouldn't be able to leave home until 1:30, so would be late to the visitation. The boss said she'd switch the 2:00 person to the 1:30. I asked if I was still scheduled for the 2:00 then? She said she'd get back to me.

Ten minutes later I was done with the soup and sort of packed up. I really didn't want to waste the gas (and time) to go flying over there if someone else had been assigned to my 2:00 visitation. Finally I called the boss back and left a message. She called me back wondering why I'd called (?) because she just saw my number and hadn't listened to the message. I asked if the 2:00 was on or off for me. Apparently in the commotion she'd forgotten that it had been still up in the air and that she'd said she would call me back. It was on. So I rushed over the High Bridge to the neighboring state and to the client's house.

Whew! Now wasn't that interesting? I'm still waiting for a schedule for this week, have no idea what the scheduled times are, let alone the certain changes. Boss said she needed my E-mail, so sent it so her last night. This morning I'm on the computer checking for the schedule and got a "test" E-mail from her. Sent it back and am still waiting to see if or when I'm working today!

During the commotion of yesterday the land-line phone rang while I was on the cell talking to the boss. It was the Real Estate Agent with a showing for today! So I've been cleaning and sprucing up too. Away with the discount Halloween goblets and candles I'd bought for a quarter apiece and a set for a quarter. Also put away all the jars that were sitting on the kitchen counter. I'm going to clean and fill them with homemade "Cafe Vienna" "Mocha" "Spiced Tea" "Chai Tea" for (inexpensive) Christmas gifts.

Flexible Schedule

2008-11-16T11:16:00.003-06:00

The utility guys came to fix the furnace last Tuesday. I waited most the day for them but it was worth it! They told me they had been making bets in the truck about what sort of furnace I had, and one had guessed correctly and also had guessed correctly what the problem was. These type of furnaces are known for that problem, apparently. So charged me for a hour of time and $4 for supplies for a total of $84--the cheapest furnace repair I'd paid yet. And also the only effective one. I'm very much enjoying the heat in here now!

I should be at a visitation right now, but it was canceled. This is the third one in a row that has been canceled. I got ready, took out the garbage and moved the garbage bin to the alley before leaving, because I thought I wouldn't be returning until after dark tonight. I had 7-and-a-half hours scheduled for two visitations and only a short half-hour to drive between them. I sped over the interstate "High" bridge and to the Center where the key to the visit rooms was missing (again). The building key was there so I could get into the building and knocked on the visit room doors, thinking someone had used the key and had not put it back. Well, that last part was true!

Called the boss about the missing key and she told me that the visitation had been canceled! I had gotten ready, raced over and stood out in the cold waiting--for nothing. Well, almost nothing, as she said I can get the 1-hour "cancellation" pay and a half hour for doing the paperwork. Friday morning the exact same thing happened, for a different family's visitation, and Friday afternoon the boss called me (BEFORE) I drove over the bridge, this time, to let me know that the afternoon visit had been cancelled too.

Although I'll get 1.5 hours of pay for each, it isn't what I'd planned for or what had been scheduled. So far I still have the 4-hour visitation in a family's home later this afternoon. But even that appears to be iffy because another boss told me just this morning that another worker had been assigned that visit, "to give me a day off"! Some day off when I had to go running over there! But my direct boss told me the visit is still on. We'll see what happens when I get there.

OK, I really do like this new job, but like any job it does have certain things about it that could be improved. When hired they told us that we would need to be flexible--and they really weren't kidding about that! They are also hiring more workers even though most of us are clamoring for more hours. What's up with that? Will the person who shadowed one of my visits be TAKING OVER that visit? Possibly so as I haven't seen her (new person) name on the schedule yet and she will be wanting hours too. I really don't want to donate any of my visitations to her, even though she seems to be a nice person!

Last week my hours did increase so Worker's Comp will (hopefully) be more pleased with this job. The job placement person is coming to meet for the usual two hours next week. I've already filled out the required job-hunting logs for her and the "Returns" matrix of companies who have gotten back to me, with rejection letters or E-mails.

I also finally finished the last folder of scanning for the friends who had this computer fixed. It was a barter deal and I had to fulfill my end of it after they paid for the repair. It was a good deal that worked out well. I couldn't have done my new job very well without computer access. The documents are E-mailed to the main office and there is a deadline about how fast they need to be submitted. Since a lot of my work is during the weekend, that would have been a problem to find a computer to get it done had not this one at home been fixed. I'm grateful. Everything is still turning out well, just not very predictable!

Some interesting thoughts

2008-11-11T07:47:00.003-06:00

Well, at least I think the thoughts are interesting! That makes one of us. Over the past couple of weeks I've been reading (currently while well-bundled up) the Seth/Jane Roberts material. This material was published in the 1970's and some of the "new age-y" philosophies are credited/blamed to the Seth material that came out during that time.

I'd run into this line of thinking many times before, as I'm sure you have: that a person creates their own reality. In the past I've always dismissed that philosophy almost immediately. The "proof" that it doesn't work, to me was that people are starving, suffering, dying--and why would they chose that? It just didn't make sense to me. That was about all the thinking I did about it and then closed the book on that entire subject.

Lately I've re-opened that line of thinking along with opening and reading the Seth books. As it turns out, the philosophy is a lot more complex (and intriguing) than I first had considered. Seth says that we create our own reality, but that it's created from our thoughts and emotions--not necessarily what our conscious "wishes" are. Fear and negative thinking also create reality. Ah-ha! Now that makes more sense to me and I can trace it in my own life.

Now why would I choose to have this Year-From-Hell? Well, I didn't choose it, exactly, but my thoughts and feelings came into play and then thoughts and feelings about things that were happening made OTHER (negative) things happen. Yes, I can see how it might have worked out in this way, even though I wouldn't have chosen it on purpose.

I won't go into re-tracing the entire year for you, but will just give a couple of the more major examples: I WAS feeling very negative about my job early in the year, in fact I was looking for another job. I had just decided to grimly hang on for another year when--I got injured on the job. Five weeks off and I was dreading my return. I wasn't back at work long at all before I got fired from the job. That was one way of leaving that job! Not the way I would have consciously chosen, but it worked.

Because of the injury, although it looked like a penniless summer at first, Worker's Comp came through with some money to support me and a job-finding person to help me find another job! Again, not exactly what I would have chosen to go through, but it worked out!

As for the continual stuff happening to my house (now THERE'S a long list I won't go into right now!) so it can't/isn't getting sold: I fell in love with this house and am still very attached to it. I wouldn't chose to sit here shivering, nor to have the basement flood of last year--but it worked--I still have my house! Funny how things have worked out, once I take a good look at them and an honest look at what my own attitudes have been.

So, have you just written off the "you create your own reality" theory or do you think that it really operates in some strange fashion? Got any good examples of how it worked in your life?

Oh-Brrr and Oh-Brrr Again

2008-11-09T22:00:00.002-06:00

Just finished typing three visitation reports (which took a couple of hours) and my fingers and lips are blue. Yes, the furnace is OUT again, since yesterday. Do suppose that guy was right? I sure hope not! We also got our first snow yesterday. Bad timing for that.

Still got it going on

2008-11-05T21:54:00.009-06:00

Remember my October 7th post about the cold I had? Well, probably you don't remember as it's not all that noteworthy except to me. But here's the thing - I STILL HAVE IT. In fact my throat was so sore I could barely swallow and the coughing thing is annoying. Many times I've coughed so hard that I have vomited. Or perhaps that was from the tea with honey and lemon juice. Oh how I hate that tea now! Used to like it. But it does seem to ease the sore throat a bit. The four days/nights without heat in the house didn't help to get rid of this cold, or whatever it is, I'm sure.

Still, I've gone to work spreading my germs. I had a brand new visitation to observe last night. With a new visitation the Supervised Visitation Observer must go over the paperwork and the rules. I could barely talk, voice was gone and the effort made me cough and cough. I ended up just pointing out things as I couldn't read them out loud. How attractive and professional! Isn't that sad? But I need the money. And also have no health care.
Added later: I've been thinking (just a smidgen) about the 400 hours of sick time I lost at the old job...no paid sick at the new job. There are no benefits at all.

Today I went to the pharmacy and got a generic drug, well two versions: a daytime and a night-time. The dosage is 2 tablets for every four hours but I've never tolerated cold medicine well, so broke a tablet in half and took just the half. I was glad I did, since there was driving to be done and even the half-tablet made me pretty spacey. (Too bad I didn't have a new visitation to go over the rules with--now THAT might have been fun!) It has helped though, there's been fewer spasms of coughing since then.

As to the historic election of yesterday? All I can say is that chant that was heard around the White House, "Nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey, gooooodbye."
Added later: Even if it had gone the other way, the election would have been historic. I thought up another appropriate song: Ding Dong the Witch is Dead!

ps. There are a couple of my favorite blogs that I'm no longer able to get on to read or make comments! If that's you, can you please re-invite me? (if you want to, that is!)

As pitiful as possible--sometimes works

2008-11-03T08:03:00.004-06:00

By late last Thursday the furnace was running. That was exactly when it warmed up outside too! It was a long cold week. I put a 6' cushion on the floor, had a little electric heater running right next to it, and rolled up like a mummy every night in two heavy quilts. Still, I didn't sleep well. It was like camping INside, cold, and once I got internally chilled it was hard to shake it. Typing the reports for work on the computer was a chilly task.

The furnace repair guy came numerous times. He ran diagnostics and couldn't find out why the furnace blower wouldn't come on. By Tuesday night he was saying I needed to buy a new furnace. My reply was, with what? I'd been out of work all summer, taking money from my (meager) retirement account to survive. "Oh just use your credit card." he said. Yeah right, I ran that up too. Normally I pay the balance off each month but couldn't all summer, of course. I was just desperate enough to swallow my pride (along with lots of hot tea to stay warm) and try to be as pitiful as possible. I wanted him to find out what was wrong and to FIX it, not just have me buy a new furnace.

Well, I guess it worked because the repair guy spent hours on the phone to a supplier who had him try this and that. After a long, late night he finally discovered that it was the ignition that was not working. So that was replaced for about $400 total, parts and all the repair time. That was a lot of money but it could have been far worse. A new furnace would have been thousands, plus the installation cost.

Pitiful didn't work in getting my Mom her new identification card, though. I brought her to the Dept of Motor Vehicles with a valid driver's license from the nearby state and her social security card. Nope, they wouldn't take those "because of the terrorists" The guy at the counter said that Mom has to bring her birth certificate and get, this, her MARRIAGE certificate, along with those other documents to get an ID. Yikes, like an 82-year-old woman who can barely walk could be a terrorist, yeah right.

Mom was horribly disappointed and said that she has NEVER missed voting in an election since she was old enough to vote! She was born in the state where she's living now (moved to assisted living situation this summer) And even though the neighboring cities are called "The Twin Ports" and she had a valid Driver's license, proof of her current residency, and me to vouch for her--the man at the counter just shrugged. "Nope, I can't do that. There are rules." Some awfully STUPID rules, in my mind. It made me so angry, not only for my Mom but for other people who are not being allowed to vote.

Well, Mom is very organized and found her marriage certificate, of nearly 60 years ago, faded and yellow. We can stop at the Courthouse and get (I hope) her birth certificate even though she was born in a different county. Today is the last day she can get her ID. I'm devoting today to trying to do that. Wish me luck!

Baby, it's COLD outside. And INside

2008-10-28T09:50:00.003-05:00

No, this isn't another story about a baby, well, maybe about a big baby, me! It's COLD in here! The furnace blower went out again some time yesterday. I didn't get home until 10:00 PM and the house was CHILLY. It's quite one thing to have 50 degree weather outside but inside it's uncomfortable, for sure. I slept wearing gloves, hat and robe. The pajamas I ran in the dryer to warm them up before putting them on. Still, it was like camping outside--in this near-wintery weather. Brrrrrr. Right now the temperature is below 50 degrees inside, like in the 40's. This is not good for my house plants, the ones that survived the drought when I was on crutches and couldn't water them often enough. It's been a bad, and a fatal year for most of them.

Needless to say, I won't be doing much blog reading or commenting today. It's just too chilly to type without gloves and too clumsy with them on. I'm waiting for the repair people to call me back. They said they can't look at it today until after hours, which has an additional $150 fee. I asked them to waive that fee because this is the THIRD time the furnace blower has gone out and the third time (last 2 times were last spring) that I have called them to fix it. The furnace ran all night long but not a whisper of warm air came out of it. Stay warm!

The baby who loved books

2008-10-23T12:10:00.004-05:00

Here's a little job-related story that is true. Well, elements have been changed because job information is confidential.

Imagine a baby girl taken from her parents. She only sees one of them a couple of times each week. The other parent is not permitted to approach anywhere near her. When the one parent who is allowed to see her has that precious time, that parent spends the entire time discussing their own ailments and problems. One comment was, "Watching a baby is so boring. You just gotta give them a toy to make them happy."

Safety is an issue during the visitation. The visiting parent has had many oops moments of nearly dropping, losing, and otherwise jeopardizing the baby's safety. Of course a crawling baby CAN zip away from its caretakers very quickly. Yesterday we had the visitation at a public Storytime event. The baby has attended Storytime before, with a different Observer in attendance. Before the Storytime began, she crawled over to a shelf of books, stood up and smiled. She took one of the books -- AND OPENED IT CAREFULLY to look at the pages. We're talking about a young child, not even a year old. This same child had, during a previous visitation, pulled out a book from the diaperbag and thrust it into the attending parent's face. The baby was ignored, the book returned to the diaperbag and a bottle stuffed in the baby's face instead.

During the Storytime the baby was very animated. Several times she crawled over to the person reading the story aloud and stood up, hanging on to her. She crawled to the table were the books were displayed and tried to take one of them. Parent scooped her up and brought her back, giving her a toy to play with. After a while of this, baby grew fretful and restless, crawling over to other children in the circle and trying to take their toys. Her parent seemed very tired and "out of it" not participating in the fun songs and games we played. Soon the time was up and Foster parents came to take the baby away. I mentioned to them how much the baby seemed to love books. They replied that they read to her and the other children and had a houseful of children's books. I was glad to hear that.

That was just one simple story of the many, many situations I deal with in my new job.

Those Damned Dollies

2008-10-19T20:31:00.005-05:00

Just finished a visitation and now need to write the summary and do a billing document. First, I thought I'd blog a bit.

Have you seen the movie "A Scanner Darkly"? Weird animated movie that takes place "seven years from now" and is about an addictive substance called "D" by the same guy as "Blade Runner." If you haven't seen it, be sure to check it out. I got it from the library.

I want one of these!

Damned Dollies

Hard to pick a favorite, maybe Maude. What a great Christmas gift! But it's too early to be thinking of that, we haven't even had Halloween yet.

What are you dressing up as for Halloween?

"HIgh," "Bong" and "Goosed"

2008-10-16T22:00:00.005-05:00

After a shaky start, the rest of the visitations this week have gone well. Well, the ones that actually happened, that is. There were many time mess-ups, no-shows and cancellations but the visits that occurred were good ones. That's encouraging.

Also I had a job interview this morning. It sounded like such a great job, they cross-train and encourage people to move up in the organization. Except for a couple of things: the office is up two flights of stairs! I arrived very early, climbed up the stairs (with the cane, of course) then had plenty of time to look around in the building's hallways for an elevator. There was none.

Previously I would have not thought much about it, just a "good, now I'll get some more exercise" sort of reaction. But now I'm wondering how they can not have an elevator up to an office that, obviously, workers and clients would be going in to work or to do business. Isn't there some sort of law about accessibility in a public building? Maybe it's not really considered a public building since it's an office building with suites.

And besides the stair-climbing problem, but related to it: the job requires courier work--running in and out of the office to pick up things! What a fun job that would have been, but
A.) I'm NOT going to get a call-back even though the interview went well, and
B.) I don't think I can do that job, sadly. Gee, I really wish I could walk normally again.

I had three visitations scheduled for this afternoon and evening. Every single one of them had the time or something else messed up with them. (No, I do not set the times--the social worker does all the scheduling! They just tell me when and where to show up) But the ONE visitation that actually happened was a great one, really heartwarming. I do like this job quite a lot, and they were not joking when they said they need someone who is very flexible!

Driving over the interstate bridge to those visitations was rather sad today. There was a large, dead goose on the bridge. I wonder what the car that hit a GOOSE looks like?! They are a really big bird and could have done some damage. That interstate bridge is locally called, the "High Bridge" even though it has another, official name. The other interstate is called the "Bong Bridge" named for Major Richard Bong, a pilot of WWII fame. 'Way back when I was a college student the out-of-state students would have a good laugh at the names of our local bridges, "The HIGH bridge and the BONG bridge? What sort of party place IS this?" Actually we are kinda a boring, backwater sort of place, but peaceful.

OK, the conversation question this time is: Do you have any weirdly named (or commonly called) local roads, bridges, etc.?

Not a Super Nanny

2008-10-14T09:09:00.004-05:00

It's been a week already. That certainly went fast. Well, most of it. Thanks for the great cold-cure advice! When I asked that question, it was more of a "tell me about yourself" type of question but I quickly realized that there was some really good advice in the comments. I still have a sore throat and cough but am feeling so much better!

Last week when really ill I drank lots of green tea, opened a can of chicken noodle soup. I normally would make the soup from scratch but was just not up for all of that messing around. There are things like frozen food and canned goods still around for when the kids come to visit. The canned soup came in handy.

As I'd feared, Worker's Comp is not too pleased about the job situation. They're planning to do a job shadow to find out what, exactly I'm required to do. That's good of them to want to protect me but the visitations are confidential and I can't just take a "civilian" in with me! Maybe I could walk the WC agent through and just show and explain what I do without having a real family there?

And there ARE some issues about the visitations that are not ideal: there is a lot more walking and standing than they had told me. I'd asked many questions about it during the interview and the employment intake and was led to believe that the job was mostly sitting (and I could put my foot up) but it's not. Kids are lively and I have to follow them around. Families and foster parents are dealing with carloads of children and don't arrive on time (lots of standing around and waiting for everybody to get there).

I can't tell you very much about the situations, but they all are interesting and every family is unique. The children would break your heart. They are such beautiful children! My non-politically correct Mom would call most of them "half-breed" children, ethnically mixed. But those little angel-looking kids often behave like demons! Have you seen the TV show Super Nanny? Jo would have her hands full with ANY of these families.

In fact I had to speak to my boss last night about a family that has visitation in their home. The youngest child involved is so out-of-control that he actually attacked me (habitually attacked any and all of the family members)during the last visitation. It was in the family's home and everyone is required to remove their shoes so I was sitting in the living room with only a stockinged foot and my cane to get up--actually quite vulnerable to an attack like that. The child did back off but I realized that even a young child can really hurt somebody-the older siblings always bear marks and wounds from the youngest. Yikes! I really hated to bow out from that visitation as the boss has enough problems trying to schedule them all, but missing a few weeks may make me unfamiliar enough once again so that child actually listens to me again like during the first visitation, instead of ignoring what I say and attacking me, the fate of the rest of the family.

Yeah, I have to say that my friends and WC were kind of right about this new job. It's less than ideal, physically I can barely do the walking and standing required. But it's very interesting and at least a bit of money coming in.

So a natural follow-up question to all of this, as I love a dialogue, not a monologue: How has your job been lately?

and then come the germs

2008-10-07T20:50:00.003-05:00

Oh dear, do I ever have a sore throat, can barely swallow and I'm almost never, ever sick. Working with families with babies and little kids brought it on, I'm sure. I remember when my son at daycare used to bring home all the little flu, cold and fever germs currently going around. But even then, everyone else but me would get sick.

Oh well, some nice warm brandy with honey and lemon will help. Make that several of them.... I almost never take cold medicine, that nasty stuff that just makes a person feel even worse. The only time I took some was years ago when we all had walking pneumonia and I had to travel for work, I was sucking down the Nyquill every couple of hours during the day and on the flights to and fro. It worked to get me through but I was just so doggone CHEERFUL and vocal during the day-long staff meetings! By the time I got back home, though, I pretty much wanted to roll up into a little ball and die, except I couldn't breathe when lying down and had to sleep in the recliner. Glad I don't get sick very often. Although those upcoming brandies sound really good.

What do you do when you get sick, how do you pamper yourself?

Running

2008-10-07T10:55:00.004-05:00

Wow, my head is spinning and it's great to be working again! I love my job, so interesting. It entails a lot of running around and last-minute step-ins. I worked pretty much all Friday until after 7:00 PM, and the same on Saturday and Sunday working until after 7 PM. The weekly visit with my Mom got moved to Monday, before a staff meeting late in the afternoon.

It's been hectic. Worker's Comp may not like the schedule since the driving and the waiting parts aren't paid. Any job has some time like that. My former job had a half-hour commute each way and a half-hour unpaid lunch for a total of an hour-and-a-half per day that wasn't "covered" or paid for. I hope WC will see it that way. The new job has a bit more of that sort of time just because the nature of it: waiting for the visiting parent(s) to show up, foster parents, driving to different sites. I had a 4-hour visitation in a family's home on Sunday. I got to watch them eat dinner, among other things (didn't get any dinner, of course). Spent Saturday afternoon on a playground and even got a bit of color on my face again. It was a beautiful day. Nice to get paid for stuff like that!

Unlike the previous schedule, the three shadowings required were completed by Friday already and I was out doing the visitations on my own. I think I've done maybe eight of them already and am scheduled for one this afternoon. SLA and I are going grocery shopping since I'm out of all the food I usually eat. Breakfast has been only apples when normally I have an apple, a banana and assorted other fruit chopped up and tossed with plain yogurt. I still have some reports and billings to write for work so I'd better get to it.

What's on your plate (fruit?!) this week?

I just joined the Army!

2008-10-02T21:25:00.002-05:00

I just joined the Love/Avon Army of Women — and you can, too! The Love/Avon Army of Women offers women the opportunity to partner with the scientists who are conducting research that will end this disease--once and for all.

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Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho

2008-10-01T11:41:00.004-05:00

YES! The three required job shadowings are finally scheduled! One for Friday morning, one for Friday evening and one for Saturday late afternoon. Then there's a 4:00 PM meeting on Monday for me to presumably sign up for shifts on my own. Exciting! A bit scary too. I'll have to watch really closely and see how things are handled, how to act, what to do and say. I like the idea of learning by shadowing, and we'll see just how well it works out.

I just finished a meeting with the Worker's Comp job person. She gave me five new job leads that I must follow up in 48 hours. Tomorrow is that appointment with the bone doctor and another WC person will accompany me to that one.

Watched a horrendous show on public TV last night. I think it was called "Critical Care" or something like that. The show followed several people with medical issues (cancer was one of the issues) through the medical maze when they had no health care insurance coverage. Scary and so so sad. I think all but one of the people died--basically for lack of timely health care. The financial and emotional hardship on those who were ill--with no or little recourse to good medical care--and on their families was so heartbreaking. I've heard some say that total health care would be too expensive but some financial figures were bandied about that NOT covering people turns out to cost taxpayers and health care enrollees even more.

On a lighter note, a couple of days ago I borrowed the 5th season of Buffy from the public library and am eagerly anticipating watching those episodes! Probably late at night.

OK, the question of the day for you is: What are you eagerly anticipating?!

Not falling off the bridge anymore, I'm reading instead

2008-09-30T09:34:00.008-05:00

I'm feeling much better today. Had a bit of what I call the "falling off the bridge" syndrome going on, you know--lots of negativity, worry and angst. But I started practicing, RE-practicing, really, what my counselor had told me and what I've been reading and (sporadically) practicing for years, centering and meditation. It's no big surprise that it really helps! So why do I keep "forgetting" about it? One of those little mysteries of human nature, I guess.

Lately I've read some interesting books and watched some really good movies, too. Last night watched the award-winning winning movie "Tsotsi" and watched the alternate endings (I like the ending they chose the best) how the movie was made, the soundtrack (by Zola--fantastic, I want it!). The movies and books are all from the library where I go almost daily for job-finding and personal reasons. Bet the library has the soundtrack or could do an inter-library lending thing to get it for me.

Over the summer and even since my accident I hadn't read much. You'd think with the extra time that reading would be one of my choice activities, but it wasn't. It was difficult to concentrate enough to read for the first few months and after that just the activities of normal living were taking so long that I really didn't have time to read. But I have had time lately and it's been great to re-visit diving into a good book!

Some of the interesting books I've read lately are:

Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library by Don Borchert

Reviews
'Jack-of-all-trades Borchert shares wholesome, guardedly witty dispatches from the suburban L.A. library system in this charming tell-all. For 12 years the family-man author has held the post of assistant librarian, keeping a wary eye on unruly kids, mollifying mystified parents and repairing sadly manhandled materials. Borchert relays a conversation with an aged librarian who reveals how it was in the good old days (staff lunches used to be served with wine), then contrasts that account with modern-day multicultural crayons and the preponderance of latchkey kids abandoned in the library for long, numbing afternoons. A few of the regular patrons are inspiring Renaissance types, but most are unsettling and unsavory, such as intensely reclusive crossword-puzzler Henry hounding the reference desk; loser Max looking futilely on the Internet for a South American wife; or the drug dealers working the restroom. From patrons who rack up hundreds of dollars in fines to missing pet rats and fist-fighting mothers, Borchert has seen it all, and his account gives a human interest spin to this undervalued profession.' -From Publishers Weekly

“The idea of a librarian memoir sounds really boring, but Borchert’s voice is never boring, and you keep reading because (1) he’s hilarious and (2) it’s uncharted territory” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Free for All aims to do for libraries what Bel Kaufman’s Up the Down Staircase did for urban schools or what Bill Buford’s Heat did for professional cooking” –USA Today

I LOVED this book! A funny, sad, intriguing look at what (and who) goes on in a public library.

Piaf: A Biography by Monique Lange
I had wanted to know more about Edith Piaf, and this book satisfied that curiosity and how she fit into history.

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
Reviews
'Working in his garden one day, Michael Pollan hit pay dirt in the form of an idea: do plants, he wondered, use humans as much as we use them? While the question is not entirely original, the way Pollan examines this complex coevolution by looking at the natural world from the perspective of plants is unique. The result is a fascinating and engaging look at the true nature of domestication.

In making his point, Pollan focuses on the relationship between humans and four specific plants: apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes. He uses the history of John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) to illustrate how both the apple's sweetness and its role in the production of alcoholic cider made it appealing to settlers moving west, thus greatly expanding the plant's range. He also explains how human manipulation of the plant has weakened it, so that "modern apples require more pesticide than any other food crop." The tulipomania of 17th-century Holland is a backdrop for his examination of the role the tulip's beauty played in wildly influencing human behavior to both the benefit and detriment of the plant (the markings that made the tulip so attractive to the Dutch were actually caused by a virus). His excellent discussion of the potato combines a history of the plant with a prime example of how biotechnology is changing our relationship to nature. As part of his research, Pollan visited the Monsanto company headquarters and planted some of their NewLeaf brand potatoes in his garden--seeds that had been genetically engineered to produce their own insecticide. Though they worked as advertised, he made some startling discoveries, primarily that the NewLeaf plants themselves are registered as a pesticide by the EPA and that federal law prohibits anyone from reaping more than one crop per seed packet. And in a interesting aside, he explains how a global desire for consistently perfect French fries contributes to both damaging monoculture and the genetic engineering necessary to support it. Pollan has read widely on the subject and elegantly combines literary, historical, philosophical, and scientific references with engaging anecdotes, giving readers much to ponder while weeding their gardens.' -Amazon.com Review

Erudite, engaging and highly original, journalist Pollan's fascinating account of four everyday plants and their coevolution with human society challenges traditional views about humans and nature. Using the histories of apples, tulips, potatoes and cannabis to illustrate the complex, reciprocal relationship between humans and the natural world, he shows how these species have successfully exploited human desires to flourish. "It makes just as much sense to think of agriculture as something the grasses did to people as a way to conquer the trees," Pollan writes as he seamlessly weaves little-known facts, historical events and even a few amusing personal anecdotes to tell each species' story. For instance, he describes how the apple's sweetness and the appeal of hard cider enticed settlers to plant orchards throughout the American colonies, vastly expanding the plant's range. He evokes the tulip craze of 17th-century Amsterdam, where the flower's beauty led to a frenzy of speculative trading, and explores the intoxicating appeal of marijuana by talking to scientists, perusing literature and even visiting a modern marijuana garden in Amsterdam. Finally, he considers how the potato plant demonstrates man's age-old desire to control nature, leading to modern agribusiness's experiments with biotechnology. Pollan's clear, elegant style enlivens even his most scientific material, and his wide-ranging references and charming manner do much to support his basic contention that man and nature are and will always be "in this boat together." -From Publishers Weekly

Interesting book and thought-provoking (just the type of book I like!)especially for anyone who loves plants and/or gardening. I don't agree with all that Pollan writes but it's something for gardeners and all the rest of us to think about.

Beauty Fades, Dumb Is Forever: The Making of a Happy Woman by Judge Judy Sheindlin.

While I haven't watched JJ for a long time and am not a real fan of hers, the book was quite interesting and revealing--just what I like in a good autobiography!

There may have been a couple more books but they don't come to mind right now. What have you been reading or seeing (movies) lately?

Another week of action? Words CAN hurt you!

2008-09-29T11:34:00.005-05:00

Another week of action coming right up! There's a Worker's Comp appointment, a doctor's appointment and an assessment, so far. I'm still waiting to hear about the training and shadowing for my new job. They said they desperately need a new worker but that it's hard to find the time to actually hire one. That seems to be quite true, as I first interviewed in August and had put in the application three weeks before the interview. But SLA's job (where she recently went back after being gone for more than a year) may have a night opening! I've never done that work before but would LOVE to work nights! The Post Office job I had was a night job, from 8 PM to 4 AM--and then I worked in the office I was just fired from as a temp during the daytime. I don't want to double-up on jobs like that again but the other job is a PT job and so is this one. Maybe the two together might work out?

Something that I found out very recently surprised me, in a bad way. It seems that the commonly held notion that it's illegal for past employers to bad-mouth a dismissed employee is incorrect! Yikes, and I heard it from good authority, two different local attorneys. A past employer is allowed (by the virtue of free speech) to SAY WHATEVER THEY WANT TO ABOUT A PAST EMPLOYEE!!!! Even if it's controversial, even if it's not true.

Now, usually an employer, especially a large one will exercise some restraint and caution about bad-mouthing someone. But they don't have to by law, in fact both of the attorneys said that proving a case like that would be very difficult to do--and the employers know it.

The burden of defense would be on ME (or any wronged former employee) to PROVE that the company,
1. Actually made derogatory statements about me to a potential employer, and
2. That those derogatory statements were the primary reason that a potential employer decided not to hire me.

As the attorneys said, that would be extremely hard to prove and it would be a rare case that the wronged employee would actually win such a case. Especially since the potential employer is not going to be at all interested in getting involved in a civil lawsuit against another employer! Thus they will downplay or totally omit anything damaging the former employer said to them and claim other reasons for not hiring.

Isn't that interesting, but in a bad way? I really need to find out what they're saying about me.

How is your week shaping up for action so far?

Skinny-dipping and stolen vegetables

2008-09-26T09:26:00.003-05:00

OK OK, I take back most of what I've said about my Worker's Comp stalkers! Yesterday I called the Employment Finder one, who called me back and she was wonderful! Very supportive and talked with me well over an hour about the interview issues. It was good to discuss it with someone. Blogging it also helped---a lot! So thanks for your support.

After hearing the huge job description (clerical for five different departments but only 80% time) and the particulars, she seemed to feel that it wouldn't be that great of a job. She thought it might be the combining of several different jobs (maybe due to budget cuts) and probably very stressful. So if I get it it's fine with her but even more so if I don't get it. I was relieved and surprised to hear that. She isn't so bad, helpful even. I usually can get along with most anybody, even BZ and her little evil buddy--before I got injured, anyway.

Another WC person called me at 8:00 PM last night for a different reason, the upcoming Dr. appointment. She won't be able to make it and so will send someone else to accompany me. Disappointing, as she and I had talked quite a bit about a strategy to make the Dr. at least stop and talk to us! Every other appt he has just done sort of a fast circle into and out of the room, waving my X-ray and saying all is fine.

A couple of days ago as I was struggling to my feet, out my window I saw a woman inspecting my garden. Like, REALLY inspecting it, brushing leaves with her hands, looking at my vegetables! She walked right down my mini-driveway to the back door and I was all set to race downstairs, thinking she was going to knock at my door. Nobody walks down that far unless they want to knock, as it is quite private. But she didn't knock. In fact she turned around--and stated TAKING squash, zucchini, corn and tomatoes!

I wanted to lean out the deck door and yell, "Hey, stop stealing my stuff!!" until I really took a close look at her. She was older, had long white hair, was using a walker (with a basket to put the stolen vegetables) and had an oxygen tube-thing up her nose. Her clothes were non-matching, and very worn. She looked poor, very poor. The food she was stealing is good, healthy food. I hope it helps.

However, after that I'm going to keep my vegetables somewhat picked so I at least get a few things. Maybe ungenerous of me but I barely planted a garden this year, had difficulties in keeping it watered so it's not very plentiful, like usual. And I've been using the produce as barter, since I don't have much money either. Brought some to the wonderful neighbor who mows my lawn, gave some to the people who fixed my computer, etc. So while she certainly can have a little, I NEED the rest to barter! Not to mention I ate zucchini all last week and this week too (with varying herbs from the front garden), so I'm sort of living off the meager garden, too. I do miss all the tomatoes she took, had given the last batch away and was waiting for these to ripen. Oh well. There's always worse off people. I'm doing relatively well.

And then last night I dreamed of skinny-dipping! It was a meeting for work (not any real workplace, an imaginary, dream workplace) by the ocean. I could smell it and hear the waves. There were families with naked children, not like one would see in the U.S. At 9:00 PM (in the dream) a horn blew as a curfew and the families all left. The adults on the beach started stripping down to nakedness, and more adults arrived. A (imaginary) co-worker and I were shy about just stripping down in front of everyone so we went to the hotel-like structure on the beach, undressed and RAN down the beach. In the dream I was wondering whether to fold my arms to stop things from, er, jiggling as I ran! Interesting dream. Wish I hadn't awakened right then.

Well, what do you have planned for your weekend? Fun, good things, I hope! Have a good one!

Am I doomed, in yellow suspenders?

2008-09-25T07:41:00.003-05:00

Well, got through the interview yesterday. I was nervous before the interview and kind of a basket case afterward in the car but basically it seemed to go well. I arrived early because like most universities, there's a parking hassle and I wanted to be as close to the building where the interview was being held, as possible. I offered to come back later but the receptionist contacted the two interviewers who were raring to go. Actually the raring to go thing turned out to be not so good as the interview lasted a half hour, at the most. It had easy good communication and they were friendly, which is a good sign since they are the two bosses of the position.

They had a series of questions to ask. Now these were just some normal questions but THREE out of the five questions asked had to do with things I'd rather not talk about, yikes! I've not ever been in a position to have employment skeletons in my closet!

A couple of the five questions I was asked: Why was I let go? What would my former supervisor say my best points are? What would she say my weaknesses are? Loaded questions for me now, all three of them.

I did some evasive action, using what they ONCE would have said of me. And I said that my "termination" was due to budgetary constraints (partially true) and some other reasons. Thank God they did not ask, and what are the "other reasons?" It was really stressful and back in the car I was shaking and upset. What if they call my former supervisor, Bossilla!? Even the HR person there would not give me a favorable account, she would say I was fired because of performance issues.

But I did stay calm during the interview (maybe fortunate that it was so short!) and when they had another woman take me around and introduce me to everyone in the office. I used to think the introductions thing was a good sign but now (having worked in HR in two different companies) I know that companies often do that to get the rest of the office workers' opinion about each of the candidates. They are interviewing ten candidates.

Am I doomed to only be able to get entry level jobs--and be LUCKY to get hired, just because my old cruel boss and her two cohorts have blackballed me? I didn't do anything wrong!

Still haven't heard from the part-time job for which I DID get hired. It's a position that college students often take but sounded fun. The money was kind of low but not as bad as some entry-level jobs. They had to do a background check and check my driver's license and had told me it would be a few days before all of that goes through.

Last night I dreamt of yellow suspenders(!?) Have NO idea what that dream was all about. What kind of dreams have you been having lately?

Intake Took

2008-09-23T12:10:00.004-05:00

I'm still waiting to hear back when my training will occur. As part of it I get to shadow three different people. That will be fun! One of the Worker's Comp people called me today for a long chat. The other one is on vacation so I haven't heard from her yet this week, which is unusual. The university HR person called me twice this morning--each time to reschedule the interview. Right now it's tomorrow afternoon and I need to make sure my suit stills fits me and that I have nylons without runs in them.

Yesterday the employment intake took ("intake took" ha ha, I'm easily amused, which is lucky in the scheme of things!) two hours instead of the stated, half-hour. It was for a good reason though, as the big boss wanted to talk with me. That was a good conversation and I got a pretty good idea of some of the details and expectations of the position. I very nearly was LATE for the counseling appointment, though! Then SLA and I went out for dinner. She paid, since she's newly employed after not working for over a year. I had been picking up the tab for the both of us, but we weren't going out very often and went to the cheapest places (excepting for fast food--that's even cheaper but we don't need to be eating that). SLA had about four pit stops along the way but also threw in money for gas. Gas prices have stayed relatively low, compared to how high they've been. I'm keeping my fingers crossed because I'd like to travel to see the kids again soon, once I find out my job schedule. Last night I had a dream about Grandson walking around!

So, how's Tuesday treating you so far?

Seasoning: A bit of this and a bit of that

2008-09-22T06:56:00.004-05:00

The water in the kitchen sink still isn't working. I did use the sprayer attachment while I was doing the dishes right before the water stopped running. In thinking back, that's what happened the other time, too. Except it started working again after about a half hour. I cleaned everything out from under the sink, have been turning those shut-off knobbys on and off but nothing, no water comes out. Guess I'll have to call a plumber.

This morning I go to my new employer to "sign up" with the Social Security Card and all. Then they will schedule a time to train me and then I can sign up for shifts and actually work. It's been so long that I'm just a bit nervous about it. Plus this is a completely new job, I've never done this type of work before. So it should be interesting and exciting.

Right after the new employer I have a counseling appointment today. I had started going only a week before I got fired (talk about good timing!) because of all the stress. After getting fired I went every week for the rest of that month. That horrible termination letter that I was handed at the final interview said that I would have health coverage until the end of the month. But the counseling appointments were denied by my health insurance even though they happened during the same month. A dentist appointment was also denied by my insurance. I ended up having to pay the dentist myself but the insurance finally did kick in for the counseling appointments. It was several hundred dollars and I had absolutely no source of money at the time. So it was a good motivation for me to convince them to pay out! Now I only go to the counseling appointments every three weeks. Even so, it seems to come up quickly. Seems like I just went to one!

I haven't heard anything about Open House yesterday. The Real Estate agent was going to call me right after but he didn't. I'm assuming (sadly) that maybe nobody came to the Open House again. That R.E. company doesn't advertise very well. Probably barely anyone even knew that there WAS an Open House. I'm still hoping some people walked through it, but am doubting that.

Well, it's Monday and the season's are changing today. What is your favorite season, and why?

Open House today

2008-09-21T11:09:00.003-05:00

The Open House is today, for an hour and a half this afternoon. I've been busy putting finishing touches (and stashing the magazines and paper I tend to accumulate!) to make it look attractive. I want someone to fall in love with it like I did, over two years ago!

Later: Oh bother! The water in the kitchen sink isn't running, neither the hot or the cold. I have no idea why. Every other sink and toilet and bathtub/shower water are all working like usual. The kitchen sink taps did that once before, a long time ago but mysteriously have worked fine ever since--until now. It WOULD happen less than an hour before the Open House! I swear this house just doesn't want to be sold! I wrote a note to the Real Estate Agent who's holding the Open House so he will know about the situation. Geez! Wish me luck!

Answering the call

2008-09-19T08:50:00.004-05:00

Well, I've received the call. The Call--as in receiving a job offer! It's a part-time job but I lobbied heavily to the Worker's Comp agent on Wednesday to let me accept it. It would fill in the blank time (interviewers always were asking me, "so, what have you been doing since June?) plus it would be better to ease into FT employment again, if possible. The WC agent spent two hours at my house that day, giving me more job leads and asking questions about my latest job logs.

After much phone-calling to the main offices and waiting to hear back, I was allowed to accept the job. It was 5:00 PM by the time I returned to call to the new employer and so I had to leave them a message. By mid-Thursday they called me back and I was to call their HR office and set up an employment intake appointment. Which I did, it's for next Monday.

I was (a bit) worried whether I could locate my Social Security Card after six years and two moves but it was right where I remembered storing it, thank goodness! I used to carry the SS card with me but about 12 or so years ago we were cautioned not to do that anymore because of possible identity theft. So I found an alternate good place for it and actually remembered after six years where that was. Too bad I can't remember all those "good places" where I've stored various important documents!

Thursday was a red-letter day for yet another job-related reason: I got a call to interview for a position at the local 4-year university! Now that job I would totally love to obtain! The interview is next week, so we'll see about that.

Things seem to be moving along after being stalled for so long. I also have an Open House this Sunday, so have to get the house back in shape. It wasn't too bad, as I try to keep it ready to show at any time, but could use a few touch-ups.

Also, this week has been a great one for re-connecting with friends, got together with FOUR of them separately, at various times this week and talked to several more on the phone! One of my former clients called me, too. I had been tempted to call them since being fired but figured it might be inappropriate. But how nice that one of them called ME! Have a great super wonderful weekend you all!

Great Expectations

2008-09-17T10:54:00.003-05:00

Lest you think that I'm really on the gravy train since I can (sometimes) sleep in late:

Here are the expectations for the "Rehabilitation Job Placement Plan and Agreement." I had to sign and agree to these in order to receive Worker's Comp payments:

* Full Time job search 6-8 hours per day/5days per week.

* Job search radius is within 50 miles

* 2-3 applications per day

* 2-3 contacts with Job Placement Specialist per week

* Legible daily job logs need to be submitted weekly

* Job Leads followed up within 48 hours

* 2 interviews per week, if possible

* 4-10 cold call job searches daily

My job logs are inspected and questioned. If I don't fulfill the agreement (above) they can cut some or all of my weekly WC payments.

When I mentioned this to friends, they nearly all exclaimed, "But all I had to do was call in every week!" Yes, my dearest pals, but that was for Unemployment Compensation, not Worker's Compensation. The two are different animals. The bright side is that WC pays out higher than EUC. And if my WC ever did disappear, I also managed (in those dark days immed following my firing) to become eligible for UEC.

Something I didn't know, and maybe you don't either is that if you get FIRED from a job, you don't get Unemployment Compensation!!!!!! And I had worked at the job for six years.

I nearly fell over when I received the UEC denial in the mail and wondered what on earth I was going to do--no job, no money and an injury besides. But every week UEC sent me three thick envelopes with essay questions about what had happened, which I completed and returned diligently. In time UEC made a ruling that I was NOT fired for cause, as my ex-employer was declaring and that I was eligible for UEC. Whew! It was a long hard road.

By the time UEC finally was preparing to kick in, the Worker's Comp person at their main office also declared that I was still eligible for WC. She had been appalled that my former employer did not call WC and let them know that I was to be fired. It took a bit of time but she had me reinstated on WC. So guess which one of the Compensations I selected? WC is enough for me to pay the bills while UEC would have been a blessing, for sure, but my housing costs are so high that I would have lost the house. So all is well and I am VERY grateful to the nice woman at WC who fought the battle for me. There are some good people out there who are interested in justice!

Some things are great

2008-09-16T11:38:00.004-05:00

Another day of job hunting looms ahead. But usually I don't start off all that early, since I don't have to. Even if I wake up (or get up) at 6:30, I often don't get showered, dressed and ready until closer to 9:00 AM or even 10:00. (Sorry all you working people. I DO know what it's like to have to get up at 5:00 AM every freakin' weekday morning--and did so my entire adult life, until now.)

Today one of the Worker's Comp people called me shortly after 8 AM. I was awake but still in bed thinking about getting up. When I saw the number on my phone, I quick took a sip of water to avoid the "just woke up" voice. But it didn't work, I had to keep clearing my throat for the first five minutes of conversation. And the conversation went (like WC conversations always do) on and on. Soon I was talking normally but dearly wishing for a cup of coffee and a bathroom pit stop!

The lack of coffee and bathroom break was making me impatient. I actually interrupted the caller twice during our long conversation--not a good thing to do. WC people are the ones holding my fragile purse-strings, it's not wise to tick them off.

Anyway, I was denied a second doctor's opinion and will return to the first, totally uncaring, bone doctor in October. I had wanted a clearance to go to a podiatrist. In the past 3 appointments the bone doctor looked at the X-rays, pronounced the bones all healed and that I should be able to walk around now. He didn't even look at my actual foot, swollen, deformed and purple. I showed him photos of it at one appointment and at each appointment I've come in with crutches and now a cane and was sure to mention the problems I'm still having with it. But the appointments last about a nano-second and they are done. In the past someone had told me that Worker's Comp doctors can only bill a small portion of the actual services, that there is a cap on the fees and so they don't go out of their way at all. At the time I thought that couldn't be true, but now I think it may be a possibility. Oh well. I can't dwell on all of my problems.

Actually, some things are really good, like the sleeping in thing! I get to watch the "Today" show in the morning, which I never got to do. I can stay up really late, if I want to. Finished the 14th Stephanie Plum book, another book by Alexander McCall Smith, "Sex, Lies and Handwriting: A Top Expert Reveals the Secrets Hidden in Your Handwriting." That last book was really good, I've always been really interested in the handwriting = personality thing. And now am working on a basic Philosophy book. I can pretty much pick my own schedule, which is sweet. That schedule does have to include 6-8 hours of job hunting per week day, but now that my computer is repaired I can do a lot of that at home. Like I said--sweet!

Meme Meme Meme Meme

2008-09-14T13:35:00.003-05:00

Two-word meme, shamelessly stolen from another blog while blog-surfing today

1. Where is your cell phone?
In a cloth glasses case, in my small purse in my backpack. Guess I’m not going to hear it ring! But I have a land line too, because of dial-up.

2. Your significant other?
My house, maybe

3. Your hair?
Growing it out

4. Your mother?
Saw her yesterday, just like usual

5. Your brother?
Saw him on Friday. The other brother I saw a week or so ago.

6. Your favorite thing?
I’d have to make a long list.

7. Your dream last night?
Wandering through a strange convoluted building, I often dream different versions of that.

8. Your favorite drink?
Coffee, I’m back on the pot. (now THAT doesn’t sound so good!)

9. Your dream?
Selling this house, buying a smaller one and making it into an Art and Animal House

10. The room you’re in?
Living room, it’s huge plus it has a loft and vaulted ceiling. Smaller would be good.

11. Your ex?
Which one? Vegetable Man I miss, not the others.

12. Your fear?
What if I can’t find a job? And, just as scary, what if I DO get hired?

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years?
Working only PT, doing art, hanging out with people and animals, growing things.

14. Where were you last night?
Out to dinner with my Mom

15. What you’re not?
Mean, cruel or insensitive.

16. Muffins?
Cranberry Nut or Lemon Poppyseed

17. One of your wish list items?
House with a fence, I've actually found just the one--except I need to SELL this one first.

18. Where you grew up?
Isolated in the country

19. The last thing you did?
Read the Sunday paper, looking for jobs in the Classifieds.

20. What are you wearing?
Two-piece dress with a jacket on because it’s cold in here, with shoes and socks. I’m wearing the only shoes I can fit onto my left foot and need them (shoes) to be able to (sort of) walk/hobble around.

21. Your TV?
I’ve been watching a whole lot more of it lately.

22. Your pets?
No pets, not a one right now. I miss having animals around terribly. In fact I’ve been looking in the Classfieds but since my house is for sale, that may not be such a great idea. Waiting to see how this all turns out would be wiser.

23. Your computer?
Just got it fixed (so now it can’t multiply, ha ha!) It was deathly ill since last spring. It had a bad virus that no prescription seemed to knock out. I did a barter deal and a friend had her husband take it in to the computer hospital where it convalesced for over a week before he brought it back home.

24. Your life?
Strange, more solitary than I’d like right now, very up and down.

25. Your mood?
Thoughtful, a bit lonely.

26. Missing someone?
Yep, my friends.

27. Your car?
Needs repair before wintertime, new tires for better traction, too.

28. Something you’re not wearing?
Make-up. Normally I’ve been bedecking myself with jewelry and make-up right after I get dressed in the morning. It works to cheer me up, so maybe that’s why I’m a bit sad today.

29. Favorite Store?
Thrift stores and rummage/garage sales

30. Your summer?
Not long enough, sad to see it go.

31. Like someone?
My friends

32. Your favorite color?
Blue

33. Last time you laughed?
Last night at a movie.

34. Last time you cried?
This morning at a sad news story

35. You are with?
My computer: me ‘n my pal.

35. Who will re-post?
Whoever wants to, I guess. Go for it!

YIKE--Ike

2008-09-13T14:48:00.004-05:00

Heard on the news briefly this morning that Texas is being slammed by Ike. I had so hoped that either the storm would dwindle into nothingness before landfall or divert to an area where no damage would be done. The news said there are a lot of people who were still there when the storm hit, and it's headed up through Arkansas the last I heard.

Can't they find a way to lessen the impact of these horrible (I refuse to call them--acts of god) manifestations of nature? Some time ago I watched a show about weather modification. It was on PBS, I think, and said that weather mod attempts had been going on since the dawn of humankind but that the scientists in Nazi Germany had actually figured out some methods that worked. The show talked about how a pulse of energy could be used as a weapon to turn weather bad and make bad weather worse. This pulse could be directed to a particular area in order to "attack" that location. Well, I wonder, is THAT what's been happening? Or is that just another conspiracy theory? What do you think?

I went early this morning to take a State exam in HR Asst. At first the test seemed quit daunting but I went back over my answers and actually figured out how to work with the formula of how to come up with civil service scores! There was an entire page devoted to questions on that. There were also questions about employment laws, equal opportunity and the like. I was surprised at how much of that stuff I knew. After all, I did work in an HR Dept for a brief time, and then before that as a temp plus all of THIS stuff since I got fired from my job. But the proof will be in what score I get--can't wait to find out!

Starting 'em early

2008-09-11T15:08:00.004-05:00

Needless to say, Grandson is NOT enjoying the same type of beverage that we adults were drinking!

This was taken over a month ago at his christening. It was performed by his maternal grandmother in a park. Buffalo behind a (tall, strong) fence looked on during part of the reception. I don't have any photos of them. I did take some but apparently the pictures didn't turn out. It was hot outside that day and the buffalo were taking turns rolling in the sand near the inside of their fence.

Been a long, long time

2008-09-11T11:06:00.004-05:00

Oh it's been a long, long time since I've been here. I've really missed you all and reading about your lives. I used to wonder why anyone would ever want to leave, to stop blogging. Now I know. Sometimes there just is not any good thing to blog about.

Most people post a mixture of the good and bad things that are happening in their lives and there is a nice balance. In fact in reading your blogs the balance seems to usually tilt to the good side--which is a wonderful thing!

When the journaling (I use blogging as a journal) becomes a repetition of bad thing/worse thing/bad thing/bad thing it just doesn't make very good reading material. Even the most wonderful and sympathetic reader might just run out of things to say and get fatigued while trying to keep up encouragement to the "down" party. I really didn't want to put you through all of that and switched back to keeping a notebook journal. But I've really missed the social contacts and learning about the daily realities of other people's--YOUR--lives.

Hopefully this blog will have a better balance now of blessings as well as struggle. It's been a long, hard road. Everyone has some trials and turmoil in their lives at some point. This year has made me realize that I've lived a pretty charmed life, in the past. Not too much bad had happened to me (except in childhood--long since past) and maybe I just wasn't appreciating my good life enough. Who knows why bad things happen? Being unemployed for so long has given me the gift of a lot of time to think things over, dream a little, and plan for the future.

Thanks to all of you who kept commenting, some even E-mailing me--I really appreciate your care, concern and support!!!!!

Hope your present is going well, no I hope it's been going GREAT! And that this summer (or winter, for some) is wrapping up to be a pleasant and memorable time! I'm going out to visit some blogs, see ya at your place!

the visit

2008-04-19T21:25:00.004-05:00

A wonderful thing happened last night! I was sitting on my chair at home, leg propped up in the air, exhausted after a brutal day (and week) of hostile-environment work. I thought I heard a sound at the front door but had the TV on and the furnace (now working again, it conked out and a repairman has been here 3 times) started blowing so I wasn't sure. Then there was a tap at the side door, right behind my chair. That's the door that goes out to my deck. I don't use it in the wintertime. I got up and hobbled to the door, peeked through the blinds--and it was my son's girlfriend and my grandbaby come to see me!!!!!

It had been two months since I've seen them and I've missed them terribly. Son and girlfriend had invited me to come down to stay with them after I was injured at work. They said they would totally take care of me. But I wasn't able to drive and even riding in a car that far wouldn't have worked unless I could have propped up my leg. So it just didn't work out. But girlfriend had to come up to dogsit for her grandparent's kennel. They have champion dogs and were paying her, otherwise she couldn't have afforded to drive all the way up here. Son is still at home, working but will try to come up next weekend if he can catch a ride.

Grandbaby is much bigger and babbles and plays. What a joy he is! She pretty much had to pry him out of my hands when it was time for them to go. She is planning to come back into town (grandparent's live about an hour's drive north of here) tomorrow and we will go to my Mom's to cook. Mom hasn't met grandbaby yet, her great grandson.

I was pretty low on groceries but girlfriend and I cooked up a good meal together last night. She is such good company, just like my son. They were made for each other! Shhhh, but he had called me about a month or more ago and asked me to have the rings his dad gave me taken apart (wedding band and engagement ring were welded together) so he can propose to girlfriend! I haven't been able to hobble to a jeweler yet but will make a better effort this coming week just in case he's able to come up here. Then I can give him the separated rings, one for their engagement and the other for the wedding ceremony. Isn't that the greatest news?!

Hope you all have good news too. I will, once again, try to read your blogs and leave comments. It hasn't worked too well for the past couple of months. If son does come here, maybe he can fix my computer too!

Later: I have visited a lot of blogs; some I could comment on and many, not. There are a couple of my very favorite blogs that I've not been able to comment on (or even READ other people's comments) for a long time. Sorry...

Not voted off the island

2008-04-12T21:37:00.007-05:00

Again I have only been able to comment on a couple of your blogs. Will try again tomorrow.

OK, bet you knew this was coming: work is hellish. They seem determined to pay me back for all the time I've had off. Don't they realize that being off from work with an injury is not fun? Guess not. I naively thought just because I was kinda happy to be back that things would go well. Not. Not at all. But I've tried to keep up an insanely happy outlook. They probably think I'm overdosed on pain pills (I wish, none of the pain pills have really worked) but I keep smiling. It's had some rewarding moments; like when they look utterly befuddled and confused, but mostly being back to work has been just plain hellish.

Monday was one of the worst days I can ever recall and I really don't want to go into all the nasty details and re-live it all, but let's just say that I was scolded for my emails (BS snooped through all of my stuff, of course) chided and repremanded by my three bosses. Yes, I have three bosses now, not just BZ but two of her cronies are officially my bosses too. And Favorite Co-worker, who is one of my new bosses, isn't speaking to me. She avoids me whenever she can to the point of turning around and darting back to her office when she hears me come hobbling down the hallway to the bathroom or the workroom. It hasn't stopped her from assigning huge chunks of work for me to do in impossibly short amounts of time, and ccing BZ on it all, too so any failure of mine will be noted.

I cannot carry things while hobbling on crutches, yet the little cart that I needed even when able-bodied has disappeared. When I had a large mailing to do, I had to put it into a box and push it all the way from the workroom to my desk using my crutches. It took a long time and I was pretty tired just getting all that stuff over to my desk. Just getting around on that shiny, slippery, polished wood floor is exhausting. The office takes up an entire floor of the building we're in and has a huge amount of floorspace.

Oh, and BZ has taken away my company cell phone. She said it is a budgeting move, but I'm the only one who had it taken away. I was planning to call into work from my car if the parking lot, road and sidewalk were too icy to nagivate in the morning. Now I will have to drive all the way back home, get back up my inside stairs and call from home. That call will be criticized because it will be late by the time I can do that. I'm just hoping it's not slippery in the mornings so that problem doesn't ever come up.

Some of my assignments so far have been to get a count on the books in the publication room. I can't stand for any length of time and certainly can't balance well enough to move boxes around. But BZ took care of that one when I (nicely, politely) pointed that out to her. Then I was assigned to put heavy, bulky files together, which I am still working on. It's tough to do when I don't have good mobility or reach, but sort of possible, I guess, if difficult and tiring.

I had made some fudge to bring to work on Monday, hoping for a good re-start. Normally any sort of sweets, especially chocolately types disappear before noon. Only one piece was taken and that was by a visitor from our main office. I am being boycotted by the rest of the staff. They think I'm a lazy slacker, I guess, despite the obvious struggles I have to get into work, the crutches and the cast up to my knee. That, plus total exhaustion hit me pretty hard on Monday. I was nearly in tears so many times that day but wouldn't give in to it, wouldn't give them the pleasure of knowing how much their cruelty and just plain meanness hurt me, both emotionally and physically. Barely anyone even spoke to me unless it was unavoidable. BZ told me that she and the HR Dept wanted to meet with me on Tuesday.

By Tuesday I had toughened up a bit so went into the scary HR meeting joking and smiling. In reality, I was scared stiff. They could do some pretty mean and awful things to me. Financially I'm on my very last pegs, having received only 2/3 of my salary the entire time I was out on disability, plus the first three days off from work were totally unpaid. I was prepared to hear the worse: which wouldn't be to be laid off, because then they would have to pay unemployment compensation and also pay out all my remaining vacation time. The meeting turned out to be fairly decent despite the scary beginnings of rejecting body language, closing the door and all of that. I don't know if my upbeat attitute helped any but it couldn't have hurt. I did get assigned a whole bunch of brand new duties, despite the fact I have been gone for five weeks and am very behind in my regular duties.

During the day on Tuesday someone put my fudge so close to the hot coffee pot that it melted. It was a hassle to bring it all the way back to the car and then from the car back home, but I did it with pleasure. It was really good fudge and their loss! I brought it home on Tuesday night and today brought my Mom a few pieces and had one for dessert myself.

So I am surviving. But aren't we all in one way or another? I want to THRIVE again and get back some joy and happiness. That's my primary goal right now, after surviving the brutal times at work, of course. Hope your life is going much better!

A Blessing or a Curse?

2008-04-06T20:16:00.005-05:00

Went to several of my favorite blogs today and could not leave a comment at any of them, grrrrrrrr.

It has been raining, snowing or hailing all day. I'm a bit worried about my first day back at work tomorrow. Well not really worried about the first day back at work but how I am to get myself there safely after finding out I cannot park near the building even with the Handicapped Tag. Apparently I still must park in the regular lot and hobble across the parking lot, across a wide street and then across a wide, bricked walkway. We are supposed to get a foot of heavy, wet snow overnight and into the morning.

It's scary and intimidating to think about and I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to do it if it's slippery out. Today it was too slippery for me to venture outside at all. I had to use a crutch to poke at and slide the Sunday paper close enough to grab it. The building managers do not take good care of the parking lot or the walkway. There has been a snowbank piled up there for days several times this winter. Crawling over it wasn't a problem when I was able-bodied but I won't to able to do that now. Later in the day the weather will get warm enough for it to melt off, I think, just not in time for my required 7:30 AM arrival at work. Even the handicapped ramp is left slippery and lacking shoveling or sand/salt. It may end up that I will have to call in to work from the parking lot, if I can't get any further. Hopefully I will be able to get from my house out to the jeep, which is parked as close as I can get it and the only stairs to navigate are the 15 inside stairs. Oh the things I have taken for granted, but no more!

And you wouldn't want to loan me any of your good books. The author has not gotten back to me yet and I'm totally dreading having to confess to infrequent-friend that I have ruined her prized book. She may become even more infrequent-friend or perhaps not a friend at all. That would be sad but my own fault, I knew I should have asked her before I loaned her book to my Mom. But who would have thought! My Mom is very careful with books.

Lorna mentioned "karma" in one of her comments. Friends and others have mentioned, over the years, that I am a "noble" person because I'm (usually) such a stickler for doing the right thing. Yeah, but it's only because I always get caught when I don't, I tell them! And it's true, I can't get away with even the most minor infraction. (remember the recent parking ticket, too?) It's a fear of the upcoming consequences that keeps me (normally) doing the right thing, not that I'm such a wonderful upright person! It's been that way for my entire life. It could be considered either a blessing or a curse, perhaps a bit of both. Are YOU lucky or unlucky in that way? And would you consider it a blessing or a curse?

Fruitful Reading

2008-04-05T16:59:00.004-05:00

Is anyone else having trouble leaving comments on blogs? I visited several of my favorite blogs yesterday and was only able to leave a comment on one of them. And I'm not sure that comment really "took" either. My computer has been freezing so I've been having to re-boot it 6-7 times every time I use it for the past two months. That has a dampening effect on blogging, since I need to sign on to the provider and then back on to Blogger each time. So I'm not sure if yesterday's comment-leaving problem is universal or just another annoying glitch in my computer and system. Oh well, I'm on now! After this note, I'll visit some blogs (until I get tired of re-booting) and try to leave a comment at each of them.

My life could be a sit-com. Well, a sit- anyway, maybe not so much com depending on one's viewpoint:
A friend and former co-worker (from a different company, not my present employer) that I hardly ever see anymore really came through when I called her early in my Worker's Comp vacation. She brought some wonderful old movies and a tote bag of good books. The first book I read was a beautiful autographed hard-bound copy from a local writer. A present co-worker had also loaned me some good books and I had asked her if I could loan one of her books to SLA, and received permission. However--and this is key--I thought about but did not ask Friend #1 if I could lend her autographed book to my Mom. Mom takes such good care of books, that even though I knew it was sort of wrong to do it without permission, I loaned the book to Mom last Saturday at the end of our weeking outing.

(Ah yes, and I bet you can guess the tragic direction this situation is heading!) Friend #1 called me Thursday and we had a brief conversation. Turns out she had loaned me that book before she even had a chance to read it herself, such sacrifice and kindness, and totally undeserved!!! I felt a bit guilty at hearing that but not really that concerned for my Mom is a fast reader and I would have the book safely back by Saturday, before seeing Friend #1 again. I did tell her that I had finished the book and really had enjoyed reading it.

Today I picked up Mom for our outing. At the end I came in to sit and talk with her a bit. She had some newspapers and the book in a plastic book all ready for me to take when I left for home. Mom offered to go with me to grocery shop since I had found out the day before that I cannot hop out of the store with a cart. I had to carry the (luckily only two) bags while hopping on the crutches. I declined Mom's nice offer, but then she gave me two plums and two pears. I dragged everything out to the car, drove home, dragged everything up the stairs (15 stairs, but they're carpeted) and was glad to be back home to rest. Until...

(Yeah, maybe I've been overdoing the suspense-ful ... thing)
I opened the bag and the pears had mushed into and RUINED Friend #1's beautiful autographed hard-bound book--that she hadn't even read yet! And I had just told her that I have finished reading it, so she will be stopping by to get it any day now. Yikes! She isn't a close close friend and is quite particular about her things. But then again, anyone would be particular about a brand new autographed hard-bound book!

I called some bookstores and ordered a copy, but it won't be autographed. Then I hit upon the idea to do an internet search. So I've sent an E-mail to the author (a local, remember) that I am in desperate need to purchase an autographed book from her! So we will see what happens first, Friend #1 stopping by to get her pear-sauted book or the local author. I sure do hope that there ARE some more copies of that book available. Wish me well in that race!

Got a Tag, and Got Tagged

2008-04-04T11:16:00.004-05:00

Yesterday's mail was a happy event. The car insurance check from my son (for his car) finally arrived after some stressing on my part. On Monday I came back from the doctor appointment (with SLA, to help me) and my mailbox was open. There was a brisk wind and the mailbox is shallow. In the past I have opened it up and had mail fly right out of it. So I was a little concerned that my son's check might have arrived then and got blown away. SLA did look for it around the yard a bit, but there is only lots of debris (I normally pick it up each week while putting out the garbage, but haven't been able to do that lately). But my fears were relieved and I'll have to call son and girlfriend to let them know that the check finally arrived. And with it, a nice note.

The second important delivery in the mail yesterday was the handicapped note from my doctor's nurse. Right after I got the mail I drove to the DMV and got a Handicapped Tag. The nurse wrote on the form I could have it for two months, but the guy at the DMV counter stamped it until October, Yippee! Parking closer to wherever I'm trying to get to will be much nicer.

After getting the Handicapped Tag, I drove to the car insurance office. I parked in the regular lot, which is a distance away but closer than any other parking available. The agent opened the doors for me and we had a nice chat while he took care of the two payments (son and mine) for car insurance. It all took about 5-8 minutes. I hopped back out to the car, had taken off my purse (bag slung around my neck to carry it), put both crutches in the front seat, and.....

There was a ticket on the windshield! I had to get the crutches back out, hop around to the other side and reach up to get it. Once I was back inside the car I looked at the ticket. It was not for the $16.00 that I expected but for $30!!!!! Apparently I was parking on private property, which after looking hard, there WAS a tiny little sign, facing the wrong way, in the corner of the lot. I had parked in the middle, where there were no signs or indications that one couldn't park there anymore to go to the insurance office. The lot is now owned by the salon and spa that is nearby and apparently they guard the lot most zealously.

So I was furiously angry at first. The time on the ticket showed that I had been parked there for 3 minutes before getting the ticket. I bet I hadn't even hopped all the way to the insurance office in that amount of time. It seemed unreasonably brutal, I even had the Handicapped Tag on the rear view mirror. I looked around afterwards and there was nowhere to park within hopping distance of the insurance office. It would have been cheaper and easier to have taken a cab to the insurance office.

I was even planning to go the next day (today) to take photos of where I parked and show that it is not properly signed. I called the phone number on the ticket where it said "how to dispute this ticket" and got cut off the first time. The second time a pleasant woman told me that I had to write a letter and then it would go to court.

At first I was totally planning to do all of it: the photo-taking, the letter writing and the going to court. But then, after seriously thinking it over, it's not worth my time and trouble. Yes, it's a lot of money but I'm just going to let it be and pay the ticket out of my next Workers Comp check due on Monday. Guess I won't be parking there again!

Good Cheer

2008-04-02T18:38:00.003-05:00

Oh thanks for the good cheer! I'll be in the aircast for another month with two crutches, and then graduate to one crutch and a walking boot. I can't wait! The accident happened at work when I was moving a heavy box from a tall storage shelf to a cart and the bottom fell out of the box spilling the contents (15 metal plates) onto my left leg and foot. It broke four bones. I was getting boxes ready for shipping, a large part of my job which will be prohibited for awhile when I return to work next week.

Had a fall yesterday. It was my own clumsy fault. I was trying to carry a (covered) cup of coffee--yes, I'm back on that stuff again--and was so concerned with not spilling as I hopped along that one crutch must have caught on something. I lost my balance, couldn't catch myself because of my injured leg, fell and dumped the entire cup of coffee on my pale gray/white living room carpet. Not good. It hurt too. My arm got hung up on the crutch somehow and now I have a sore underarm and left boob. A boob injury. I won't be mentioning that to anyone else, it's privileged info. Don't you feel special?!

Amazing how one injury can generate others, the palms of my hands have blisters too. But any one of you who have been on crutches know all about that stuff. It could have been worse. I could have fallen down the stairs or something. I drove again today and it went much better. Also went to a store and rode around in one of those little mobile cart thingys. Much easier than hopping, although I had to hop all the way from the parking lot into the store and back out again. I've gone shopping before but not alone, had SLA around to help me. It's more of a challenge alone but I'm proud that I could do it!

The nurse will be sending me a handicapped permit (just a temporary one) to bring to the DMV so I will be able to park closer. Hope it arrives before I go back to work on Monday. I hope to get back into reading blogs regularly again, but we'll see. The computer desk and spot aren't really handicapped accessible nor comfortable to put my leg up. Have a very good day!

New Discoveries

2008-04-01T15:38:00.007-05:00

Hi there! I never meant to become one of those bloggers who is never "home" and never goes "visiting" anymore. The leg in the aircast above is my left leg. February 27th I went to Urgent Care at 9:00 in the morning and haven't been back to work since. I've been out on Worker's Comp all this time. It's only 2/3 of one's normal salary, which I didn't know. There are a whole LOT of things I didn't know. Oh, I thought I knew and understood, but not really. Here are just a few of them:

*The value of friends and family
*How wonderful, kind, and helpful most people are
*How very difficult it is to walk and get around on crutches
*One cannot carry things while on crutches (which seems quite evident, but I had not thought about it before)
*Most places, including grocery stores, are really not handicap accessible
*My house is not handicap accessible
*Having time off from work is not necessarily fun, or a good thing
*Patience really is a virtue

I went to the bone doctor today for a check-up and am OK'd to return to work, with many restrictions, next Monday, April 7th. I'm actually looking forward to it--can you believe that? But a little bit scared about the driving. I've just started driving again, starting with short trips. It hurts to have my leg down like that and since it's the left one, there's no place in the jeep to prop it up. If it had been the right leg I could have thrown it over that middle "hump" in the jeep. But I'm really glad to be able to (sort of) drive again.

SLA and I made a deal. She has no car and I had no mobility. For the use of my jeep the past month, SLA took me to doctor appointments, grocery shopping and even took my Mom and me out out Saturday, which was a huge job for her when my Mom doesn't get around very well either. SLA took me into her home for the first few days to feed, entertain and care for me. When I finally went back home she would take me to places or do errands.

The past month has gone both slowly and quickly. Envious friends thought it would be great to get all that time off from work. Not! Just getting to the bathroom and back was an adventure, which you, if you've ever been on crutches, know all too well. Being in pain is distracting and reading or watching TV or sleeping were not good options for the first couple of weeks, although now I am enjoying those things. Two co-workers have visited me a couple of times, bringing food, books, movies and good cheer. Other friends, some of whom I hadn't seen for a long time, came to see me with books, food and movies. I've been cared for, loved and pampered!

Hope life is going well for all of you, too. Happy April Fool's Day! I really missed being at work today and getting to prank co-workers. And no, this isn't an April Fool's joke. I wish.

Party like it's 2008

2008-01-27T09:51:00.001-06:00

Wow, what a day Saturday (yesterday) was! Too many events crammed into too little time. Well, what am I saying? It was just the right number of events but I just couldn't attend them all properly. But I put forth a good effort.

First event on Saturday was the 10th Annual Citizens in Action from 9:00 to 2:00. I didn't make the 9:00 opening because of sleeping in later than I can remember doing for years and years. Nearly until 9:30, in fact, and then I still had to shower, mess around with the bread. It’s probably a natural effect of staying up until 2 or 3 AM for most of this past work week. As always, there were some very good workshops and seminars, all free. The topics this year were: Campaigns & Elections, Environment, Jobs, Discrimination, Health Care, Public Safety, Education and Housing. Hard to select just one from that grouping! Anyway I managed to arrive by 12:30 and the Coffee and Conversation with Elected Officials. I had my first cup of coffee since September 2007 (did have 2 sips in the hospital room when Odin was born) and not only was there coffee, but free food too: fruits and vegetables, chips and salsa, anniversary cake, meat and cheese and crackers. There is such a thing as a free lunch! Went to the Environment discussion group and met some interesting people including a very cool Sierra Club guy and a activist into mining, a zoning expert and many more. Later, at the closing I met an interesting woman who raised chickens in the city. If you’ve been reading my blog in the past, you know that’s an interest of mine. So I signed up for a Raise Chickens in Town group.

Once I got home I needed to finish the bread I was making for the Greens Soup and Bread Fundraiser and also wrap the gifts for the Girl’s Christmas Party. I really didn’t feel like wrapping all of those gifts, for 5 people at 3-5 gifts apiece, so used those pretty little Christmas bags. But only had 3 of them and needed 5 so guess what? You can make a credible gift bag by taking a sturdy (co-op) bag with a handle and covering the bag and the handles with Christmas wrap! It sounds tacky but actually looked pretty nice when I was done. The bread turned out awesome, the best I’ve ever made! In fact, although it sounds quite immodest, it is also the best bread I’ve ever eaten. Ingredients make all the difference: stone-ground whole wheat flour, a bit of cornmeal, yeast, sea salt and olive oil for the kneading. Wow! I don’t eat much bread since mostly eating raw but the bread I do eat is always home-made now.

Barely finished cutting up the bread and putting it on a tray and packing the gifts into the Christmas bags when it was time to go to the Girls Christmas Party. It was fun and I was in a goofy mood by then but it took far too long to open the gifts and it was going on 8 PM before I left, which is why I’d been trying to get them to change it to Sunday, like we had first talked about. But I couldn’t really just grabthe gifts to me and leave earlier, now could I?

The Soup and Bread Funraiser site was DARK by the time I got there. Oh oh, I had promised to meet a friend I hadn’t seen for ages and she was going to network me with a guy who lives at the co-op where I want to live. But she had told me they were going to the Sustainable Farming’s second showing of the film: King Corn so I quickly headed up to the school where it was being shown. I’d been planning to see that film with them after the funraiser anyway. Friend was pretty cool to me after the movie. She had been going to do me a favor and I was a no-show. Plus the funraiser was not well attended so they really could have used more attendees there. Great film! Check it out at:

King Corn

After the film we headed off for the (third annual?) Diorama contest held in the gym of the co-op where I want to live! There were live, great local bands, lots of dioramas, of course and free food and beer!! It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a kegger and I foolishly brought my coat and backpack into the crowded mass of people. Most were young but there were a few gray-hairs here and there, too. All the hip and happening people in town were there, including our new boy-mayor. It was the second time in a day that I’d seen him because he was at the Citizen’s in Action event as the closing speaker, too. The dioramas were so very interesting that I wish I’d brought my camera. Next year my friends and I need to make one for the contest. Friend came a bit later and warmed up to me after a while and a group of us went upstairs to see the guy’s apartment. The co-op is in an old school building and the ceilings are high, windows large, wood floors and wide open space just begging for some decorating creativity. Oh how I want to live there! There are 2 openings right now but my house isn’t even on the market yet and those openings are highly competitive, there is an application and interviews to even be considered. The apartment had a 30-pound Maine Coon Cat, the second one I've seen. What a sweetie, named Chairman Meow.

Below is a link to some photos of the Dioramas that were taken early before the bands started playing and the place filled up.

Diorama Photos!

If the photos in the link above don't open for some reason, try going to his Photo Gallery Index Page and selecting the Dioramarama galley. These photos are worth viewing!

As I was walking back up the hill to my car, a police car was sitting in the intersection, just waiting for the kegger people to leave and get into their cars. SLA and Houseguest both have had a DUI last year and I did not want to join them, so messed around in the car until the cops weren’t looking and quickly left for home!

I can just look at him for hours

2008-01-24T06:39:00.001-06:00

Here is Odin Richard not liking his new carseat. His grandfather and stepgrandmother bought it for him. I can just look at him and everything is all right. All's right with the world when I remember his soft, warm skin and lovely baby scent. I didn't have a clue how I was going to pay the mortgage this month but then an insurance check came a day ago. It's supposed to be used to pay for all those tests last summer and the physical therapy. Oh well, I'm in the moment and all is well! Hope all goes well with you, also. If I stop clogging up my dial-up with uploading photos, maybe I'd actually have time to read your blogs. I miss you!

Here he is!

2008-01-23T05:38:00.001-06:00

And here he is, brand new. Bet he already looks a bit different now, how I want to go to see him again! But it's money, always money. It costs too much to go down there right now as my vehicle doesn't get good gas mileage at all.

Things are getting closer to putting my house on the market again. The carpet is laid in the basement (which my friends made so many jokes about it that I started saying, the carpet has been "put down", or "installed" in the basement.

SLA is upset with me, as of last night, because I may bail out early on "The Girl's Christmas" that she had planned for the past two weeks to occur this upcoming Saturday. I feel like a bad friend but it's on a Saturday, when she told me that we weren't going to do it on a Saturday. Plus (and this is the bad friend part of it) another friend I haven't seen since October called me last night. Her organization is having a soup and bread fundraiser to which I attend every year--and it's on Saturday. And she is going to introduce me to a friend of hers who lives in that cool co-op that I'd really like to live--you know, the one I saw last summer that had a garden and chickens! It's hard to get into that co-op, there are applications, interviews, screenings and such to make sure the new tenant is a good fit. This connection might help me out quite a lot.

And to continue the bad friend part of it, I just saw SLA a day ago when I brought her to the grocery store after work. She has no car anymore, which is hard. But she also hasn't worked since July and doesn't plan to. I don't know how she does it but apparently there is aid and all, plus she's trying to get back on Social Security. Have to admit I'm a bit envious--imagine not having to work! There are so many lovely things to do with a free day, even without any money, as I found out when taking off all those days in December. So I'm not only a bad friend, but a somewhat envious one, too. And I feel a bit used with the car ride bit. She calls up for a ride, we go to the store, shop separately and then I bring her home, help carry in the groceries and that's it, friend time is done. I'm not feeling OK with that but feeling guilty for not feeling OK, if that makes any sense whatsoever!

Well, I've also been a bad (or rather, non-existant) blogger. I DO really enjoy reading your blogs and honestly do plan to do it again very soon. This photo and post was done between a nice warm bath, exercise, lunch-making, dressing and other preparations for work. And now the time is done. Maybe another day? Take care you all and stay warm!

Grandbaby is here!

2008-01-15T05:27:00.001-06:00

He's here, he's here! Yes, I said "he" even though his mother and her family thought he'd be a girl. In fact the first thing her little sister (a teenager) said when arriving at the hospital room was, in a accusing voice "You broke the chain!" It was a chain of girls for (I think) five generations. My family has had mostly all boys. My Mom has seven grandsons. I was the last girl until my oldest brother's oldest son had a girl for his second child seven years ago (she's my Mom's greatgrandchild). I thought he'd was going to be a boy because of our family chain, but kept that info to myself because either would have been fine. Today is my son's birthday, so grandbaby was born five days before his Dad's birthday.

I have photos, of course. What self-respecting Nana would NOT carry around a brag book of pictures? I'll put some here eventually, but don't have time today because the computer is so slow at loading them and then uploading them into the blog. I've just been back in town for a little while and have already shown off my grandbaby brag book to three people! Today will be my first day back at work again. I've been off another batch of days for family leave. The benefits at my job are really good, one of the reasons I'm still there.

The stats: He was born on January 10th, I was in the delivery room for his birth and in fact, was the first non-medical person to see that fuzzy little head emerging. His little hands were waving around before he was all of the way out into the world. He was 8 pounds 12 oz, 22 inches long. And the most adorable, wonderful and cute baby ever, of course!

It was so hard to leave him (and them) and return back home. I can still feel that warm little weight on my chest. I held him and rocked him gently for three hours straight the last morning I was there, so his parents could get some sleep. He'd been waking up all night to nurse because he was hungry and her milk isn't in yet. Poor little guy. I think I would have supplemented the natural milk supply to not starve him so, but I'm finding that while he feels like a child of mine--he's NOT my child. I'm not responsible for him nor do I get to make the important decisions regarding him. It's a learning curve for a nana too. But mostly it's pretty sweet to get all of the joy and excitement of a new baby and none of the pain and labor involved! Grandchildren are truly a reward for having raised your own children!

Happy Holidays to you!

2007-12-29T16:25:00.001-06:00

Good grief, it's been a month since I posted in here! Where has that time gone? I've had many days off playing taxi to my Mom and to a friend with no car. I also had a job interview, then a call back to take a very weird and creative administrative test. Apparently I passed that too and was one of four people called for another interview, this time with the department and boss I would be working with/for if hired. I waited all Friday to hear the yea or nay news, not straying from my phone, but nothing. Saturday morning I called into my phone at work for another reason and the bad news was left there. I wasn't hired. But at least I wasn't left hanging all weekend wondering if I was the one, or not. It was a terrible disappointment because I really wanted the job and wanted to be able to give notice on my current job. That would have been so sweet. But I had to go to work on Monday and go to the office party that Friday, bringing a gift and some food.

That same Saturday while Mom and I were out eating, we ran into some cousins who gave us the sad news that their mother had just died the night before. So another day off was spent going to her funeral and then out with my Mom and older brother. It was good to see him and get some talk time. I expressed my concerns about our mother to him privately, she is not acting like herself lately.

It's a shame that I've gotten out of the habit of blogging because I really did enjoy reading all the various blogs and you my virtual friends! But I've replaced my morning (before work) blogging habit with doing the physical therapy exercises, same with in the evening. The PT and the weight loss have helped somewhat but not as much as I had hoped. Of course, with the shoveling season upon us that is racking up my back and leg too, despite the PT exercises two or three times per day. Eventually I hope to move to a warmer place (maybe NM or Florida) where there isn't all this continual snow to shovel!

My son's girlfriend finally did get some medical care and the new due date for me to become a grandma is December 28th, which was yesterday! Of course this is her first and it looks as if baby will be overdue. I'm eagerly waiting for the big event. My neighbors who were due on December 9th finally had their baby. I saw a family member holding a wrapped little bundle through my window (and their window) as I was closing my blinds a couple of nights ago. Don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet though.

It's been a wonderful Christmas to see my two brothers and their families, have seen lots of my mother, and gone to various friend and work holiday parties. I also made lots of holiday food for all those get-togethers and need to get back on my raw food diet again soon! I like the diet, it's satisfying and fruits and vegetables have always been my favorites, so it won't be a difficult thing. I just need to stop cooking (and tasting) and get back on it. My clothes are still falling off me so the weight hasn't come back on despite my indiscretions. In fact I just weighed myself again yesterday morning (first time in a month, just like posting!) and despite my holiday eating binges--it's the same, minus 52 pounds from when I started!!! I'm SO lucky about that.

This has been a wonderful holiday season except I haven't had enough money to go down to see my kids and I really miss them! I did have a couple of long phone conversations with my son, though. I still have their gifts all wrapped up and ready to go. I did manage to hire a guy to sheetrock and tape my basement as I really really need to put the house back on the real estate market and sell it. I got an estimate for carpeting the basement, too but the first one was horribly expensive so I'll keep looking around. The heat/utility bill has gone up to $300 this month and I'm barely making it. The house is kept at a temperature of 55F, which might be a great outdoor temperature but is pretty darn cold for indoors. In fact the sheetrock guy told me that I must turn up the heat to help the mudding on the sheetrock to dry. So I turned it WAY up to 62F! And also put some fans down in the basement. But the nippy indoor weather makes me want to move and to exercise more, so all is not bad!

Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones and stay warm!

Until the lake freezes over

2007-11-28T05:38:00.000-06:00

This a a photo of the big lake freezing over. A co-worker took it but I have to use it without permission because he doesn't know about my blog. It's cold here and we've had snow the past two days. Snow is pretty but it's not fun to shovel, which it looks like I may have to today in order to get out for work. Driving in snow isn't fun either, so I'm leaving for work early.

I've missed you all and sort of replaced my blogging habit :(
So here's a quick rundown of what's up in my world. I DO really hope to get the time to visit your blog soon and catch up on what's happening in YOUR world, too!

I've lost a total of 52 pounds and even people at work are noticing. The guys were the first to notice, or at least say anything about it! BZ and Favorite Co-worker haven't said a word, of course.

The lovely tax people did an audit on my 2004 tax return and are asking for a whole bunch of money (from all the penalties). I'm appealing but just sent in my last appeal yesterday. If I lose this one, I must either pay all of that money or they will garnish my wages.

Job is the same, in fact I have an annual review coming up that I am dreading. I do have to take ten days off before the end of the year or lose them. Now that would be stupid to lose my days off...

House is the same, still pretty much a demolition site in the basement. The woman helping me had a fire in her own house and needs to get it liveable by the end of the year or lose her homestead tax exemption for property tax. So things haven't been progressing, but that's OK I guess. So far I'm hanging on here and my son is working again down there and it looks like they will stay there.

And some crazy good, sort of, news..I'm going to be a grandma!!!!!
Remember how my son broke up with his girlfriend? Well turns out that in late October she found out that she was pregnant, very pregnant. And they had wondered why she kept gaining weight all those past months! So anyway, they are back together since finding out they are going to be parents. I had a weird mix of emotions over it: excited to be a "nana" at first, then sad for my son who had broken up with her because he liked another girl and wanted to date her.

The kids were in denial over it and she has not even gone to the doctor even yet. So I was worried about them and felt I needed to jump-start their responsibility towards this new life, so I went shopping in thrift stores and got a whole bunch of baby things and clothing. Had a day off the Wednesday before Thanksgiving so I washed up all the baby stuff, cooked a bunch of food. Thursday I spent with my Mom but on Friday I went to see the kids with the jeep loaded down with good stuff. It was fun to look at the little bitty baby things! The tiny little socks really got to me, and the bunting, and the onesies--everything so cute and so tiny. The kids reacted in the same way as I did, with lots of awwwwwws and oooooohs.

Her due date (they think, she just had an ultrasound which cost my son $130 and couldn't even tell if the baby is a boy or a girl, no doctor has examined her yet) is December 11th. Soon, very very soon. And another weird thing about it is that my neighbors are also having their first child and I've watched her grow larger all summer and fall--her due date is December 9th. Little did I know that I would have a grandchild about that time, too! Life is so strange. Especially this year. How has your year been so far?

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T06:03:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween! Sorry that I haven't been on here for so long, it's been a hectic, busy time both at home and at work. My younger brother came to visit last weekend. He brought chicken and noodles, a common dish in Indiana, he said. It was simple and plain and really good. I brought the fixings for sandwiches: fresh bread buns, cream cheese, smoked turkey and wild salmon (which I get at a discount in the building I work and keep around home to feed guests)garden lettuce, tomatoes and green peppers. We all ate well! He and I nearly got into it, though. We've had a rocky relationship but it's been good for the past two years until last weekend. He was just itching for a fight and criticizing my son, my work problems (which Mom had told him), my flooding problems and even how I do Sudoku! I held my tongue, which I'm getting much better at, through practice at work!

Only my friends have noticed that I've lost 34 pounds. Nobody in the family or at work has said a word, even though I'm 3 sizes smaller on the top and 2 sizes smaller on the bottom (wish it were the opposite, but any smaller is good!)

The kids are coming up late on Thursday, to stay until Saturday or Sunday to help on the basement. It's a lot of work. We got the bathroom and the bedroom door hung, flooring laid in the bathroom but there's still the huge job of cutting sheetrock to fit ALL the walls, which were cut up a foot or more.

At work I'm very busy transcribing hour-long pod casts, shipping all sorts of stuff and anything else they throw at me. I survived another near hit. But a higher up woman (but then, everyone there is higher up than I am) was fired. I didn't like her, but they did it in a very cruel manner and even had a pizza party the day after to celebrate her demise. I couldn't eat any...Favorite Co-worker isn't speaking to me again, which doesn't bode well as she has BZ's ear and is her little pet.

Anton, Amanda and I went on the Haunted Ship Tour again this year. It was really fun, I liked Dracula jumping out of his coffin the best, but the kitchen scene with meat cleavers and body parts was good, too. I actually got scared when (in the dark hallway) a masked figure leaned over and spoke low into my ear! For some reason it was more scary than the jumping out or screaming.

What are YOUR Halloween plans? Hope you have fun! I may not be around much for the next few weeks, either. Sorry about that. I do enjoy reading your blogs and miss you all!

My vacation

2007-10-13T08:07:00.001-05:00

The water line on one of my basement walls, before the demolition. The water was full of mud.

I'm still reeling from the latest disaster in The Year From Hell, but things are looking much better now. It's been nearly a week (last Monday morning) since I got up, showered and got ready for work, went downstairs in the dark--and stepped in ankle-deep water! The entire lower floor was submerged and it's (or WAS) a nice, finished, walk-out basement. My son's large studio bedroom is down there, with lots of his things, a full, nice bathroom and a very large living/family room full of furniture, TV, books, and all sorts of personal things. The water line on the walls was 11 1/2 inches, nearly a foot of water, and it came from a city storm sewer failure during a rainstorm we had last Sunday night. My sump pump simply couldn't keep up with the onslaught, it was like a tidal wave, knocking over shelves and bookcases.

One corner of the demolished basement.

I couldn't even bear to write about it, at first. It's such a shocking thing to lose books from my childhood that were given me by my Aunt and Grandmother, both long since passed. My son's high school yearbooks, stuff from college and grade school--books I read to him as a baby--all ruined, as was furniture, computer equipment, movies, games and electronic equipment. I was pretty distraught on Monday evening as the cleanup crew were stripping the ruined (new) carpet and floor tiles. They had to cut out the bottom of each wall because the water soaked upwards, to dry inside the walls. The insulation had to be pulled and thrown away, the frames and baseboards ripped off and discarded. All of the regular doors and my two pocket doors were torn out and thrown on two huge heaps of debris, outside. My once very nice, comfortable basement has been gutted and looks like a demolition site.

Even though I had to go down there constantly all last week, it's only stopped being painful yesterday. I have lots of vacation time accrued so I went in to work each day for only about 1 -2 hours and then came back home to deal with the cleaning and drying out, insurance, adjusters and all. The phone rang constantly, and people were showing up in work vans to check water readings, move fans, etc. for the entire week. My insurance only covers the actual cleaning, not contents or disposal. The cleaning costs were so high that they used up all of the insurance money like lighting a match to paper. And I had to pay the deducible, $500, before the crew even started. That was part of my mortgage money for November.

SLA came over for a few hours that first, horrible night. A friend of VMan came over on Thursday and helped me dig through the wet piles in seach of anything salvagable. We dragged a few things back in and the help and support made me feel a whole lot better (although my leg and back have been killing me since then, that stuff was wet and very heavy). I had been going to call the kids on Tuesday, as they were moving back up here (into the basement!) this coming Monday, but my son called me to tell me that they would be arriving on Sunday or Monday. I told him the sad story about all of his lost items and asked if they could come up any sooner to help. Well, they arrived last night! And I was glad to see them. VMan's friend has a trailer and an available dumpster, so today we are loading up the huge piles of ruined stuff and hauling them away.

Needless to say, I'm NOT having the planned Open House tomorrow. And, ironically, my house was listed in the newspaper for the very first time on Wednesday! Just when it is in no condition to show to anyone. Sigh. My house will be off the market until the basement is put back together, an extensive and expensive job and I certainly have no "extra" money to spend on it. It's really really got to get much better than this. Oh, and work, even though I was only there about 10 or 12 hours this entire week, was very very interesting, in a bad sort of way. But this is enough woe is me for today! Have a great weekend!

Up

2007-10-10T06:09:00.000-05:00

Did you see the TV show "49 Up" last night? I don't watch much TV but had seen one of the "Up" shows and wanted to see the latest one, broadcast on public television--PBS--my namesake, lol.

If you don't know, the premise is that the film maker followed a batch of children in England, filming interviews with them every seven years. The first film interviews were when they were seven years old and it was called "7 Up" and other films/interviews were done at 14, 21, etc. until this last one at 49 years old. It's fascinating to see how their lives unfolded! I'd like to see all of the "Up" shows and will ask about them in the library the next time I go there. Hope you all are well and doing fine!

Ready, set...

2007-10-03T06:07:00.000-05:00

The old realtor lockbox is gone and the new one installed. Today is the first day of my new listing, for three months. Even though the best, prime sales time has come and gone, I'm still hoping for the best. But as Gypsy said, there may be a reason that the house didn't sell:

For one thing I would have lost my garden and the opportunity to harvest from all my work.

Another thing is that the kids are moving back into town, probably on October 15--and they're going to live here in the bottom floor! My son is thinking that maybe I won't have to sell the house then, but that's only if they can pay me a pretty good sum in rent money. And they won't even have jobs, at first, let alone a paycheck or some "spare" money.

So we'll see...the house is still up for sale because I couldn't pay the mortgage all myself this time. The jeep repairs and all the extermination fees for shampoo, spray, powder, etc. took up my "spare" money, which wasn't really spare, of course, but needed for bills. With the utility bill rising in the cold weather, I expect a shortage at the end of this month too. So I still think I need to sell but having the kids living here is going to complicate that. But it sure will be good to see them! I miss them.

One of them could have been mine

2007-10-01T06:29:00.001-05:00

I think I have a talent for complicating situations. Last week the real estate listing ran out on Sept 25 (my brother's and Fizzy's birthday!) but the agent asked if he could bring someone through after that. I let him do it because they were interested and I'm running out of time and money here and really really need to sell the house. The people liked it and were going to the mortgage banker to see if they could finance the sale! However, they couldn't get there, for some reason on Friday so now will go today. The real estate agent wants me to sign on for another two months and I don't want to. He had his chance during the beautiful months of the summertime when my gardens were gorgeous--and never brought me an offer, not even one little low offer--nothing! So he's done listing my house, as far as I'm concerned.

He has been badgering me, using these "interested" people as a reason why I must sign on with him again. I'm telling him, "Well, if they are so interested, then bring me their offer to buy the house!" Of course they haven't been to see the mortgage banker yet, so that's part of it. But it seems like that will only happen if I sign on for another two months and I'm so not doing that! So it's a stalemate. The guy actually came over to my house at 10:00 at Saturday to knock on the doors. I had been up all night with my leg and wasn't even dressed yet, had just taken a bath. So I didn't open the door. He drove around to the back and pounded on that door, which I also ignored. I was aware that he has a lockbox with my key in it and could, actually, get into the house. But I figured he didn't dare. Shortly after that I got dressed and called a few people.

Soon I had another real estate agent willing to come to look at the house. We set an appointment for Sunday. One of the first things he asked was, "What's wrong with the house?" and after some questioning back and forth I found out the my house is listed incorrectly in the MLS (realtor listings) as having been on the market SINCE JANUARY 2006! Yikes, no wonder agents were not interested in my house, they were thinking something was seriously wrong for it to be up for sale for that long.

Not only that, but it showed the house inspection I had done (before buying it) in June 2006 and that the sale fell through after the inspection! Which is as much as saying that the house failed the inspection! I am SO mad at that guy, he's the same guy that I bought the house from. He did not register in the listings when I bought the house, and he's since changed companies. My new realtor said that his old company would get a fine for that if they tried to change it now, so probably would refuse to correct the listing.

I'm hopping mad and my former realtor had better not stalk me to sign on with him again. And I want his lockbox and sign gone by today, too. I had to tell the new realtor that this former agent DOES have someone going to the mortgage banker today (or so he claims) so it's possible I might have an offer from him and his buyer. So then the sale money would still go to him, which is fair.

I did sign with the new guy and his company. They do great advertising! I had called his company before, between the two listings I did with my former realtor, but nobody in the company was interested in trying to sell my house. Now I know why! They thought it was an overpriced, junk house that had failed inspection and been on the market for a year and a half. It really broke my heart when the realtor showed me all the houses in my area and price range that had sold since May of this year. There were a lot of houses that were sold, even in a "slow market" and one of them could have been mine.

Seriously GOOD things!

2007-09-28T05:16:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling much better now. It's great to have had no hitchhikers since Monday actually ON (shudder) me. I'm still keeping up precautions but I think I'll be "clean" to visit my Mom on Saturday. I've been talking to her on the phone to make sure she didn't get them too. And asking pointed questions to make sure she didn't get them when she saw me last!

I still have the bright red little bites from Monday, though. They itch worse than a mosquito bite and having lived in Minnesota I know exactly how itchy mosquitos can be! In fact as a child when we were driving to visit my Mom's relatives (she's from there) my Dad would look out the car windows and say, "Swamp, swamp, there's swamps everywhere!" and make her mad. We've always called it the Land of 10,000 lakes and a million swamps!

Some bonuses to my situation:
Since July and the back and leg pain got so bad, I've not been able to eat or sleep much. I've lost 22 pounds without dieting! How do you like that? I've been on every diet known to man and have lost some, but not nearly as quickly as this. It's only been a little over two months. Of course I need to lose weight, so this is very good.

And now since I have to launder everything the moment I take it off in boiling hot water, my clothes have shrunken a bit. They were just hanging on me and I don't have the money right now to buy more clothes in the (yay!) smaller size. But just try washing jeans in really hot water every day and even with the weight loss they fit me pretty well. They were falling off me before the plague hit. My work pants have shrunken (but not as much as the jeans) too, so fit a little better at least.

So there are some seriously GOOD things happening with this situation. I haven't been a good blog reader even though I love it so. It's been sort of hit (write a post) and run in the mornings. Hope all goes well with you, too!

I am not a filthy slob!

2007-09-27T06:59:00.000-05:00

OK, I hesitated before sharing my plague problem out in public. But now I'm feeling defensive about it. Kind of like the girl with "cooties" in school! The clean-up report is: no new bites since Monday, when I first realized I had the infestation. I first (briefly) tried organic or at least less drastic means of extermination, like Dawn dish-washing liquid and borax, and a couple of other "home-made" concoctions, but it didn't touch these bad boy bugs. So I brought in the big guns of chemical warfare, spraying and dusting everything, house, car, me, and any chair I had sat in at work (secretly--now that was difficult!) I bathed in flea shampoo (and am still doing that every morning) and slept in flea powder. They seem to be licked. But after finding out online that fleas have three stages, egg, pupae and adult, I am going to keep up the chemical warfare for awhile yet, just to be sure.

What an embarrassing problem! The clinic NEVER DID get me a prescription for people medicine like they had promised on Monday. They mailed me a two-page advice article about new pets and keeping dogs free of fleas. So very not helpful. I don't even have any pets, as I had told them during four different telephone calls. And I feel like people may judge me as being a horrible, filthy slob! I'm not. I'm not! I've always been a neat housekeeper and believe me, the house has been pretty near immaculate since I put it on the market last May. You could nearly eat off of the floors--well, now you wouldn't want to with all of the insecticide--but you know what I mean. Any given day the real estate agent could be bring strangers through the house, looking in closets and everywhere else. It's very clean in here.

Maybe I am celebrating victory too soon? I hope not. SLA has had the infestation for three weeks at least. Which means that she had visited my house TWICE while she had the plague and never said a word until the second time and it was too late. She's still battling the bugs and had to get rid of her beautiful living room furniture. I think that's what strengthened my resolve--I am NOT going to get rid of my new (last year) leather couch and loveseat! They are pale beige and getting a few spots from all of the bug spraying but I refuse to just throw them away! And the strategy seems to have worked, I hope.

No longer organic

2007-09-26T04:57:00.000-05:00

Yep, as you might have guessed, SLA gave me the plague. How nice of her to share! Even though we've known each other for nearly 25 years, I may not speak to her again, still deciding about that...

I was supposed to have an Open House this Sunday. Guess not anymore. And I've already spent over $50 of money I don't have buying remedies that haven't worked yet. Ever taken a bath in dog shampoo? Now there is a treat! Or completely stripping and washing everything in hot water, everything I've worn, touched, or slept in (sheets, blankets, comforter) every day goes into the washer. Those are super-mutant bugs! I've never heard of anything like it. Even when I lived in Florida, they were in the carpet and the apartment managers did a monthly bombing, but we never got bites or had them on us. The clinic hasn't ever heard of it either and they still haven't come through with any PEOPLE remedies I could use. They called me back about four times on Monday with additional questions and still no prescription even though I keep telling them that it is urgent.

The saddest part and the part that makes me the angriest is that I don't even take an Excedrin or Aspirin for a headache--I breathe in mint or drink mint tea. I never use cold remedies or any other sort of over-the-counter medication. I don't use any sort of chemicals in the house, yard or garden--and now my house is filled with chemicals. My drawers, shoes, closets, bed everything is full of insecticide. All of my spiders are dead and I'm sure this is not good for my plants or for me. Today I'm getting an exterminator. I hope they take credit cards!