I've been thinking about this list for a L O N G time (funny obsessiveness is not on my list)- and I think I finally came up with 5 things.
#1. I'm a news junkie. When I was growing up, my parents subscribed to 4 newspapers. 1 Weekly paper, 2 daily papers and 1 Sunday paper. The also took Time Magazine. My dad (had he been living today) would have been obsessed with Headline News. I know this, because I am.
#2. My secret perfect job is to be the voice-over announcer for those old animal documentaries. 'The big cats are asleep on the desert floor . . . . . a Mongoose not far away'. Mongoose? I hope I wouldn't need to actually KNOW about the animals- just read the copy.
#3. I want to be funny, you know, like Heather, and Erma Bombeck. And Roseanne Barr when she first started. I'm not near as funny as I'd like to be. It is a struggle for me. I'm always trying to say funny and clever things to the cashiers I'm in contact with at Kroger or Meijer. Much to the dismay of my children. Maybe that's why they don't shop with me anymore.
#4. My favorite foods are anything a l m o s t burnt. The stuck-to-the-pan roast pieces are my favorite. Same with rice and even soup. It must have come from my upbringing. No, my mom wasn't a bad cook- she was just an OVER cooker. I've inherited this trait. I'll cook something, and then microwave it 'just to be sure'. That's why I don't make brownies.
#5. My favorite snack food are potato chips. BUT they have to be brown (browner than normal-see #4), and thick, and wavy and it is a rare and treasured find - FOLDED! Yes, it's true (and a bit sick). My new treat is to (this has nothing to do with potato chips by-the-way)- toast bread, butter it when it is still hot and immediately add a little brown sugar. Yum! The brown sugar melts in your mouth- yum-yum. Someone suggested I add a little cinnamon to the recipe, but I'm too lazy. That is just one too many ingredients to add.
Well, that's my list, I hope it was worth waiting for.- It was fun.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
I need to write blessings - this is long
I've had a very bad week. In every way, it has been disappointing, challenging, and depressing.
I need to write blessings.
In just a minute- because I still have a little venting to do.
The first disappointment was finding out that one of the other managers earns more than I do. She left the company 5 years ago. I took over the store. She came back to work at Tri-Co. and then, after a year, got her original store back. I moved. This is a big deal because I have been told for 5 years, that the company cannot afford raises. Nada- nothing . For 5 Years. It was a slap in the face to me. Bari said he was surprised that I didn't walk out. I'm a little surprised too. Then again, I'm working on a really (R E A L L Y) cool golf shadowbox.
I can eventually get over it. I probably almost am already.
Then the worst of my suspicions and More- came to my bad week. I visited with Jillian, Joey's so-called girlfriend. I hadn't seen or heard from him since New Years Eve. I already suspected the worst- he was back with his old friends and using and selling drugs. Well, no. I was wrong. It was MUCH worse. Jillian suspects him of using Heroin. I still cry. I can hardly speak when I think of the possibility of this being true. I have no reason to doubt her.
I can't express how angry I am about all of this. I'm angry that I have to go through all the muck of not blaming myself for his bad choices. I have to go through all the stupidity of trusting/not trusting, believing/not believing him. There was a whole day when I was sick to my stomach and cryed in the ladies room.
Update- Joey called today. He sounded bad (tired, mumbling) and wanted to come home on Sunday. I am numb. I was not happy to hear from him. How is that possible? I am still very angry. Talking to him on the phone doesn't stop me from imagining him over dosing somewhere.
When he was in jail, every night I thought about him trying to go to sleep in -what I was sure was- a loud, bright room with other noisy men. Now, I wonder where in the heck he is. Who is he staying with. If something happens, will I even know about it? I'm mad.
I'm not stupid, I knew the chances of him getting out and really staying clean were 2- slim, and none.
That was not the end of my week. Oh, no. My new boss came into the store on Thursday and met with each of us. There are going to be changes, yes, changes goin' on here! Starting with the employees. Yep. If the store makes money, Ken makes money, Ken is happy. If the store makes money, the employees make money. If the employees make money, they are happy. Yep. Whatever.
I was given a $2 an hour decrease in wages. DECREASE. I was also given a commission rate of 5% of anything I sell. Great. This is the slowest time of the year. And I hadn't gotten a raise in 5 years! so, I'm now at an hourly rate that is L O W E R than any starting rate for framers in the city. With the POSSIBILITY of making more- M U C H more than I did before.
Can any one say RECESSION?
So now we get to today. I have a meeting at Children's Hospital to go through all the testing and make a game plan. Ok. Bari can't make it, of course, so I am by my self with the burden of the week hanging off my very being. The Dr tells me that yes, Sam does have a form of Autism.
This was not a surprise. But it came at a very bad time. I didn't cry until I got in the car.
This is a good place to start counting blessings. Sam is challenged with lack of social skills, speech and communication. All of those concerns are teachable/treatable. He is able to learn correct social skills, speech usage and be a better communicator. He is already a smart, funny kid. It will only get better.
Blessings. At work. I will only work from 9am to 3pm most days. If I suggest my regular customers come in at that time, I could (possibly) make more money than the original hourly wage. Blessing-2. I still have a job. Blessing-3. I still get to do awesome framing, like make a golf ball sit in a 'cup' deep in a shadowbox frame. It is cool.
Blessings. At home. I have a caring husband who would do every thing in his power to make this all go away and have his happy peaceful wife back. I love my husband. He bought me ice cream, and (no kidding- I really was happy)-Brussels Sprouts- In Butter!
Blessings. My kids. Overall, my kids are doing quite well. Making good decisions. Happy with their choices. All of Katy's appointments have been exceptional. She is more healthy now than she normally is! Blessing-2. Katy and I went up to Clyde to visit my mom last weekend. We had the best time!
Blessings. My church kids. I only have had them 1 week, but how cute are they! I have a bunch to teach- but I am looking forward to it.
We live, grow and evolve. We are separate but still part of our emotional muck. Thank goodness there is a new day every day, a new week- new year. I am grateful.
I need to write blessings.
In just a minute- because I still have a little venting to do.
The first disappointment was finding out that one of the other managers earns more than I do. She left the company 5 years ago. I took over the store. She came back to work at Tri-Co. and then, after a year, got her original store back. I moved. This is a big deal because I have been told for 5 years, that the company cannot afford raises. Nada- nothing . For 5 Years. It was a slap in the face to me. Bari said he was surprised that I didn't walk out. I'm a little surprised too. Then again, I'm working on a really (R E A L L Y) cool golf shadowbox.
I can eventually get over it. I probably almost am already.
Then the worst of my suspicions and More- came to my bad week. I visited with Jillian, Joey's so-called girlfriend. I hadn't seen or heard from him since New Years Eve. I already suspected the worst- he was back with his old friends and using and selling drugs. Well, no. I was wrong. It was MUCH worse. Jillian suspects him of using Heroin. I still cry. I can hardly speak when I think of the possibility of this being true. I have no reason to doubt her.
I can't express how angry I am about all of this. I'm angry that I have to go through all the muck of not blaming myself for his bad choices. I have to go through all the stupidity of trusting/not trusting, believing/not believing him. There was a whole day when I was sick to my stomach and cryed in the ladies room.
Update- Joey called today. He sounded bad (tired, mumbling) and wanted to come home on Sunday. I am numb. I was not happy to hear from him. How is that possible? I am still very angry. Talking to him on the phone doesn't stop me from imagining him over dosing somewhere.
When he was in jail, every night I thought about him trying to go to sleep in -what I was sure was- a loud, bright room with other noisy men. Now, I wonder where in the heck he is. Who is he staying with. If something happens, will I even know about it? I'm mad.
I'm not stupid, I knew the chances of him getting out and really staying clean were 2- slim, and none.
That was not the end of my week. Oh, no. My new boss came into the store on Thursday and met with each of us. There are going to be changes, yes, changes goin' on here! Starting with the employees. Yep. If the store makes money, Ken makes money, Ken is happy. If the store makes money, the employees make money. If the employees make money, they are happy. Yep. Whatever.
I was given a $2 an hour decrease in wages. DECREASE. I was also given a commission rate of 5% of anything I sell. Great. This is the slowest time of the year. And I hadn't gotten a raise in 5 years! so, I'm now at an hourly rate that is L O W E R than any starting rate for framers in the city. With the POSSIBILITY of making more- M U C H more than I did before.
Can any one say RECESSION?
So now we get to today. I have a meeting at Children's Hospital to go through all the testing and make a game plan. Ok. Bari can't make it, of course, so I am by my self with the burden of the week hanging off my very being. The Dr tells me that yes, Sam does have a form of Autism.
This was not a surprise. But it came at a very bad time. I didn't cry until I got in the car.
This is a good place to start counting blessings. Sam is challenged with lack of social skills, speech and communication. All of those concerns are teachable/treatable. He is able to learn correct social skills, speech usage and be a better communicator. He is already a smart, funny kid. It will only get better.
Blessings. At work. I will only work from 9am to 3pm most days. If I suggest my regular customers come in at that time, I could (possibly) make more money than the original hourly wage. Blessing-2. I still have a job. Blessing-3. I still get to do awesome framing, like make a golf ball sit in a 'cup' deep in a shadowbox frame. It is cool.
Blessings. At home. I have a caring husband who would do every thing in his power to make this all go away and have his happy peaceful wife back. I love my husband. He bought me ice cream, and (no kidding- I really was happy)-Brussels Sprouts- In Butter!
Blessings. My kids. Overall, my kids are doing quite well. Making good decisions. Happy with their choices. All of Katy's appointments have been exceptional. She is more healthy now than she normally is! Blessing-2. Katy and I went up to Clyde to visit my mom last weekend. We had the best time!
Blessings. My church kids. I only have had them 1 week, but how cute are they! I have a bunch to teach- but I am looking forward to it.
We live, grow and evolve. We are separate but still part of our emotional muck. Thank goodness there is a new day every day, a new week- new year. I am grateful.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Happy New Year
I had visions of actually blogging my 'Christmas Tag' and 'unremarkable' tag all at the same time. Wrong- and it isn't really called the 'unremarkable tag' either, I just can't remember at the moment what it is. See, I'm brain dead (again). ---Unspectacular--Blog??
The 2 weeks before Christmas, I worked over 50 hours each. And Christmas week (even with Christmas Eve - half day, and Christmas {which is now an UNPAID holiday}), I still came in with 40+ hours. So, yes, I am grateful I have a job, but had failed to recognize that I now work for Scrooge Mc Duck. Apparently, his employees are supposed to save up their personal days, or vacation days, for Christmas. Unfortunately, we have not worked for the company long enough to support vacation time off, and, (AND) only FULL TIME employees get paid vacation days. FULL time is 43 hours a week. Bah- Humbug.
Enough of that- Christmas was really nice. We went to Mt Healthy on Christmas Eve and visited a live Manger scene. There are life sized, life like models of the Wise Men, Joseph, Mary, the baby and maybe a shepherd. The animals are neat to see. The kids had just watched the Nativity video in primary, so I had the chance to talk with Sammy about how they really had to prepare the 'barn' for Christ's birth. There were lots of people there, but it wasn't too bad. At least this year there weren't any drunk people singing Happy Birthday.
Christmas Day was nice. They slept in until about 9:15. I guess Sam was up earlier, but went back to bed, yea! for older kids! It was a low key Christmas, we have never done a lot with the kids, and this year wasn't any different.
In the early afternoon we went over to Katy's house. Joey and his girlfriend, Katy and Josh, Sam, Madeline, and Bari Ray all exchanged presents. They draw names and try to keep it all a secret from each other. It is cute to watch what they come up with, and how they try to figure out who has whom. Before dinner, we all went to Bari's mom's house in Anderson. Linda and Al had a huge buffet dinner all prepared. Al's niece from Panama, and her 2 children were there. We were told that they didn't speak any English, but that wasn't at all true. They speak very well. Madeline and Marie (who is 10) are now joined at the hip. The boys stayed over Thursday night, but Madeline came home. Friday morning she went with me to Katy's ultrasound and got to see and hear the baby. It was fun. Katy is doing very well.
After I dropped Madeline off at Grandma Linda's I picked up Bari from work and we shot a wedding in Saltair. Yes, we do get all the exotic locations around the Greater Cinci area. The reception was at Pattison Park Lodge, (for those of you who don't know, that is just outside Owensville). It was the ugliest day you could have chosen for a wedding. It was cold (December, remember? Dark, (December). And rainy (snow would have been better). The church was a typical brick type. The inside was decorated for Christmas, and it was really pretty, so that helped quite a lot. We got home from the wedding at 12:30 or 1am. I worked the next morning- actually, we both worked the next morning. Saturday evening, Bari brought both boys home, and left Madeline. She says she isn't coming home until she has learned Spanish.
That brings us to today. It was our last Sunday with this class. Next week we will have a different group of CTR's. I'll miss these chatter-box, excited, expressive kids. They were great.
I promptly fell asleep on the couch after lunch for a little while, then got up and went to the bedroom expecting to 'nap' and ended up sleeping for 2 TWO! hours!
Oh, and I have failed to mention that sometime on Thursday my kitchen sink became clogged. It is Sunday 10 pm and still clogged. We have taken apart the pipes under the sink, and put them back together. Who knows. It is such a pain. I wish I were more handy around the house.
So, I hope your Christmas, and New Years are full of fun and family. Ours certainly are.
The 2 weeks before Christmas, I worked over 50 hours each. And Christmas week (even with Christmas Eve - half day, and Christmas {which is now an UNPAID holiday}), I still came in with 40+ hours. So, yes, I am grateful I have a job, but had failed to recognize that I now work for Scrooge Mc Duck. Apparently, his employees are supposed to save up their personal days, or vacation days, for Christmas. Unfortunately, we have not worked for the company long enough to support vacation time off, and, (AND) only FULL TIME employees get paid vacation days. FULL time is 43 hours a week. Bah- Humbug.
Enough of that- Christmas was really nice. We went to Mt Healthy on Christmas Eve and visited a live Manger scene. There are life sized, life like models of the Wise Men, Joseph, Mary, the baby and maybe a shepherd. The animals are neat to see. The kids had just watched the Nativity video in primary, so I had the chance to talk with Sammy about how they really had to prepare the 'barn' for Christ's birth. There were lots of people there, but it wasn't too bad. At least this year there weren't any drunk people singing Happy Birthday.
Christmas Day was nice. They slept in until about 9:15. I guess Sam was up earlier, but went back to bed, yea! for older kids! It was a low key Christmas, we have never done a lot with the kids, and this year wasn't any different.
In the early afternoon we went over to Katy's house. Joey and his girlfriend, Katy and Josh, Sam, Madeline, and Bari Ray all exchanged presents. They draw names and try to keep it all a secret from each other. It is cute to watch what they come up with, and how they try to figure out who has whom. Before dinner, we all went to Bari's mom's house in Anderson. Linda and Al had a huge buffet dinner all prepared. Al's niece from Panama, and her 2 children were there. We were told that they didn't speak any English, but that wasn't at all true. They speak very well. Madeline and Marie (who is 10) are now joined at the hip. The boys stayed over Thursday night, but Madeline came home. Friday morning she went with me to Katy's ultrasound and got to see and hear the baby. It was fun. Katy is doing very well.
After I dropped Madeline off at Grandma Linda's I picked up Bari from work and we shot a wedding in Saltair. Yes, we do get all the exotic locations around the Greater Cinci area. The reception was at Pattison Park Lodge, (for those of you who don't know, that is just outside Owensville). It was the ugliest day you could have chosen for a wedding. It was cold (December, remember? Dark, (December). And rainy (snow would have been better). The church was a typical brick type. The inside was decorated for Christmas, and it was really pretty, so that helped quite a lot. We got home from the wedding at 12:30 or 1am. I worked the next morning- actually, we both worked the next morning. Saturday evening, Bari brought both boys home, and left Madeline. She says she isn't coming home until she has learned Spanish.
That brings us to today. It was our last Sunday with this class. Next week we will have a different group of CTR's. I'll miss these chatter-box, excited, expressive kids. They were great.
I promptly fell asleep on the couch after lunch for a little while, then got up and went to the bedroom expecting to 'nap' and ended up sleeping for 2 TWO! hours!
Oh, and I have failed to mention that sometime on Thursday my kitchen sink became clogged. It is Sunday 10 pm and still clogged. We have taken apart the pipes under the sink, and put them back together. Who knows. It is such a pain. I wish I were more handy around the house.
So, I hope your Christmas, and New Years are full of fun and family. Ours certainly are.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
News flash- -
Hey Ya'll- just a quick blog of upcoming news and information.
Some of you wanted to be told when we had positive information on Josh's baptism. Katy called tonight with the exact time (I had the date, but not time). The baptism will be in the Clough Pike building, Cherry Grove Ward at 5 pm next Sunday. (It's really on Ferguson Rd if you want to Google it). His Confirmation will be the following Sunday during church (which is also at 9am). Bari and I will be speaking at the baptism (come anyway). I don't know who will perform the baptism or the confirmation. As luck would have it, her dad and step mom will probably be visiting that Sunday, too.
Time for bed- it's Christmas and time for 12 hour days-no day's off (except Sunday- when I'm giving a talk-and teaching the class-and something else, I'm sure).
Some of you wanted to be told when we had positive information on Josh's baptism. Katy called tonight with the exact time (I had the date, but not time). The baptism will be in the Clough Pike building, Cherry Grove Ward at 5 pm next Sunday. (It's really on Ferguson Rd if you want to Google it). His Confirmation will be the following Sunday during church (which is also at 9am). Bari and I will be speaking at the baptism (come anyway). I don't know who will perform the baptism or the confirmation. As luck would have it, her dad and step mom will probably be visiting that Sunday, too.
Time for bed- it's Christmas and time for 12 hour days-no day's off (except Sunday- when I'm giving a talk-and teaching the class-and something else, I'm sure).
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