Where is Barbara Eden when you need her?

Holy cow…life has taken be for quite a ride these last two weeks. The end of the school year, combined with everything else that’s going on has left me with my head spinning and my house is a complete disaster. Here it is, Friday already this week, and I have company coming this weekend. Uff da.

I woke up today thinking how lovely it would be if I could have mad skills like Barbara Eden’s Jeannie. I would love it if I could clean my whole house with just a sharp bob of my head.  In my youth, when I spouted off about how I wished something could be different, my Dad would ask me if I had a pile of wish in one and a cow patty in another, what do you get when you rub your hands together? Better to get your hands dirty with work than to rub them together wishing things were different. Well, I’m unhappy to report that Dad was right. Wishing doesn’t quite fix the problem, so I guess I’ll stay up a little later tonight and get everything in order.

In other news, we’ve had a few gloriously sunshiny days. We deserved this nice weather, and I even got a little bit of a sunburn at the garage sale last weekend. Today we have 100% chance of rain, but I’m hoping that things will dry out enough this coming week that we’ll be able to put the garden in.

In North Dakota, we have a LOT of different Seasons, all of which overlap each other. For example, right now it is Spring, but it is also the beginning of Road Construction and Home Improvement Seasons. We have a lot of pot holes in the streets after a long hard Winter…axle-busting pot holes…and it could very well take most of the Spring and Summer for them all to get repaired. Home Improvement Season will be long too. There’s just no end to the work of art in progress that is my home. Thank goodness for my Dad, who has a handle on all things that have to do with home improvement.

Last year I had the roof replaced, the bathroom gutted and redone, and all of my windows were changed out. This will be the Summer of Small Projects. Lots of paint, lots of organizing and much getting rid of stuff that I don’t need anymore. I’m looking at doing some different things with my garden this year too, but more on that later.

Today it will rain and wash away the dust and dirt that covers everything, and make the air smell good. I have lunch with my Sister by Choice today, and work should be light….at least at the Cube Farm. It’s going to be a good day.

The Best Birthday Ever: Part 1 – The Good

Today is my birthday. Usually I don’t say anything about my birthday, but this year it was the best one ever. It’s also been a bit bad, but I’ll elaborate on that in my next post. First, the  good.

I worked at The Big Box Story this morning from 8-Noon, and then went to lunch with Mom & Dad and the boys. When I met up with them, Older Son let me know that one of my oldest best friends called to let me know that she was coming to town, just for my birthday. Mind you, she lives four hours away. She just decided to get up and make the trip with her three boys. We’ll call her Kay. I had a super big amount of stuff to do today, and so I kind of dropped everything to make sure I could spend some time with her since she made the trip. At 2:30, we met at a local bar owned by another friend. We’ll call her Dee. We were sitting here having a nice chat, when ANOTHER old friend came in. We’ll call him Jay.

Kay apparently texted Jay to let him know she was in town and why, and invited him along for the afternoon. We all sat together, reminiscing about old stuff, and talking about new stuff. Topics discussed were all over the map and ranged from alternative views on the Bible to what’s up with our kids. We sat there from 2:30 to about 6:45, and it was a fabulous afternoon.

What struck me was no matter how much time had gone by, and how much things had changed, things still stay the same. I was always the odd duck of the group, and I never could figure out why they would ever hang out with me, but they did, and I’m glad. Jay was always the bawdy one…quick with a naughty joke, but then always had something deep to say later on. Kay was always the one who knew everyone in a tri-state area. She can’t go anywhere without running into several people she knows. Dee, who owns the bar, was her usual sweet self and was a joy to hang around. People really don’t change at their core…not really. Habits can come and go, but people have a kernel of their true selves that never changes. This can be good, and bad. I’ll get to the bad in the next post. And the scary.

For now, since I blew off all the work around the house I needed to do today, I need to get going on that. I have company coming tomorrow for a few hours, and haven’t had the time to get the house “company ready”. Uff-da…too much to do before I go to bed tonight, but it was worth it. I’d definitely do it again. Spending time with these people for four hours was definitely worth it.  There were a few people missing who I’d have liked to visit with, but still – It was truly the Best Birthday Ever! I am reminded again, that work and home is not all there to life.

How old am I, you wonder? I’m 42, and not shy about admitting it. I’ll revel in it, and think I’ll do like my Granny does. She’s officially 87, but insists that she’s 79 and holding.

A close call at The Cube Farm

I am one of those American’s with two jobs. I have a regular day job, and then I work at The Big Box Store on evenings and weekends. Where do I work during the day? Let’s call it The Cube Farm. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a Cube Farm is a really big building with a crap load of people working in an endless field of cubicles.

It just so happens that I work at a Multinational Cube Farm Operation, which is going through a phase of restructuring. We got an announcement this morning that a part of the restructuring would cause 400 people in the US to lose their jobs, and another 200 open positions would be eliminated…everyone who was affected would be notified by the end of the day.

It just so happens that my position, and that of my partner, were some of those that were done away with. We got lucky, though. There were open positions that needed filling, so they just moved us to those jobs. She and I won’t work together anymore after the 1st of the year, and that makes me sad. We only got to work together for five months, but it has been grand. I sure will miss my new boss too. Where I’m going, they are hiring for a new supervisor, so I don’t know who I’m working for just yet. Keep your fingers crossed for me that it is someone as great as my last two supervisors have been.

As much as I hate that I have been shuffled around and stuck in a job that I never wanted, there is a lot of good news here:

1. My kids will continue to get fed.

2. I didn’t have to take a pay cut, like some people I know at The Cube Farm who did.

3. I still have my benefits.

4. If I really hate my new job, I can start looking around The Cube Farm for something more interesting after a year.

5. I can take my time and look outside of The Cube Farm if I choose to, and I’m giving that some thought. I’m seriously giving it some thought.

The people I feel bad for tonight are those 400 people who got let go. Yes, they got a severance, but they still have to try to find a job.  In this economic climate that’s not easy, especially this time of year.

It’s time for me to hit the rack, and I’m going to go to sleep tonight thanking my lucky stars that I will wake up tomorrow employed. One more reason to feel blessed.

 

High Strangeness at The Big Box Store

I worked all day at my second job, which will henceforth be known here as Big Box Store.

As Big Box Store is big and full of everything you’d ever need, I expected it to be a hectic place to work. I didn’t expect it to be quite so disorganized, but I’ll get into that in a later post.  What I also didn’t expect was the violent behavior of the customers. I know it takes all kinds to make this world go ’round, but I think some need a shot of Thorazine to help keep the crazy down.

I was working along, organizing and answering questions, when I hear shouting and whapping. Yeah…that’s right…whapping. This father and daughter team were hitting each other with some Nerf swords that had been on display. Our standing operating orders are to do nothing, as long as nobody’s getting hurt. As it happens, this kid took an umbrella after her dad and connected with him. When he took it away from her, she grabbed a bike tire pump and hit him, hard…laughing the whole time. She couldn’t have been any more than 12-14 or so, age-wise. It all happened so fast that there wasn’t much I could do about it, and I was just getting ready to call for Security when they quit and left my department.

It makes me wonder what kind of strange relationship between father and child allows for that kind of behavior, especially in public.  They were gleefully destroying the department until she took after him with the hard stuff, and he still never said much to her in the way of corrective parenting. High strangeness to be sure. The scary thing is that this guy frequents my department. I’m hoping after today he’ll give it a rest for a while.

On the upside, I’m getting a fabulous workout! Working at Big Box Store has given me access to lots of walking, and very much lifting and bending. My butt feels like I’ve been running a marathon. I wish it had shrunk accordingly, but it’s only been two weeks, so I guess I should be patient. This curvaceous body wasn’t built in a day, and whittling it down to a less curvaceous form won’t take any less time.

And now, supper is almost ready. I have a movie from Netflix ready to watch called Ondine, and I’ll be sure to post a review all about it. Night all!

I’m doubly gainfully employed!

So yesterday the final appointment was made. They called me to come in for orientation. I’ll be working my first day at my new 2nd job on Saturday. That’s right…I’m now doubly employed, and it’s about time.

I’ve been meaning to get another job for quite a while, and just never mustered the guts to get up and do it. Why? I suppose I was afraid that I wouldn’t be viewed as employable, which is dumb. I’m a pretty plain-Jane, vanilla, stable kind of girl…just right for a big box store that’s desperately hiring people as fast as possible.  I suppose it’s just a matter of facing change. This is something I’ve never done before, and it will surely be an adventure.

So where will I be working? I’ll not actually say the name, but it’s a giant store chain that is well-known all over the country, and after a while it won’t take you long to figure out what it is. They hired me to work in the toy department, which will be just perfect. I’m told that it’s a lot of picking up after little kids. Wow…nobody’s paid me to pick up after little kids before!  I’m hoping to get in about 20 hours a week, which will be just right. The money will go toward buying a car for my kids to use, and for fixing up the house some more so I can get it refinanced. I’m hoping that by spring I’ll have all the little stuff taken care of.

Well, that’s all the news that’s fit to print here today. Gotta get the kids prodded along in their morning routines so we can get the heck out of the house and on with our day. More soon!

Digging deep…this morning’s blessings

With Autumn approaching, I find that I’m feeling hum drum, and just down in general. Don’t get me wrong, I love this time of year with the beauty of the changing trees, the Autumn smells in the air, and just the fresh crisp feel of the season. It’s a beautiful time of year, and yet I find the specter of the coming Winter overshadows it to the point of making me feel some dread. I’ve been told that we should expect 2 1/2 degrees colder temps on average, as well as 4 more total inches of snow this winter. We had a hard time finding places to put it all last year, and I can’t imagine trying to store more of the stuff. Uff-da….

Anyway, in the effort to drag my attitude out of the basement and into the light, I’m digging deep, with my trusty snow shovel,  for whatever blessings come to mind this morning, and they are as follows:

1. When the ground freezes and the snow falls, there will be no chance that I will get leakage in my basement from a severe thunderstorm.

2. I am fortunate enough to have two strong sons to help me shovel out. I also have some extra cash I’m going to pay my neighbor with the Bobcat to clear my driveway when the snow is so deep it would take us hours to clear by hand.

3. I have a have a nice warm winter jacket, which I affectionately call the Big Brown Bear suit. It’s never failed me, except that the pockets have holes that need sewing up. After 12 years, if that’s the only malfunction that happens, no big deal. I have a needle and thread.

4. Snow really is pretty. There’s nothing more peaceful than when the land has a fresh coat of snow on it. Not only is it peaceful to see, but it lends an extra measure of quiet to everything that is like nothing else.

5. While Christmas, in all its commercial glory, is not my favorite holiday, I love how everything is covered with lights at Christmas time. When everything is so dark that we hardly get to see the sunshine, it’s nice to have those little lights twinkling in the darkness. Sometimes I take the long way to where I’m going just so I can take in some more of the holiday decorations.

6. I like holiday food. Some of the best traditional holiday food is only made in the Winter. Lefse is a good example. I learned how to make lefse last year, and I  plan on making homemade lefse for Thanksgiving and Christmas. No promises about Easter, it’s just too darned busy that time of year.

7. Speaking of holiday food, Thanksgiving is coming up. Thanksgiving is absolutely my favorite holiday. I live for roasting turkey, and making the whole dinner with all the trimmings. I love to have people over and make a big day of it. I can’t wait!

Well, I supposed that will have to be enough for now. It’s time to get the boys off to school, and me to work. I hope you all have a blessing-filled day.

A Very Sultry Day

Grandma and I used to sit on her front porch watching the traffic go by, chatting about stuff. I remember one particular evening, we were eating New York Vanilla ice cream and cantaloupe (yum!). It was one of those July days when the air is so thick with humidity, that it makes you want to grow gills. Grandma turned to me and said, “It sure is has been a sultry day today”.

At the time I was about 13 and didn’t know exactly what sultry was, but I’ve come to associate it with hot, sticky, July days. Today is one of those days. When I walked out of the house this morning at 7:20am, it was already starting to heat up. When I walked out of work at 5:00pm,  the humidity was so thick, I felt like I was swimming across the parking lot.  I only had about 100 feet to walk from work to the car, but poor Oldest Son walked almost two miles home from work this afternoon. Poor kid!

So, with the hot, humid weather comes the storms, and we’re currently under a severe thunderstorm warning. Holy cow… the Emergency Broadcast System just announced that the Minot Air Force Base is expecting a tornado as we speak. Not a tornado warning, but an actual tornado. I hope it misses them.

Time to batten down the hatches!  [UPDATE: No tornado actually touched down, but a friend of mine that lives at MAFB said they saw lots of swirling in the clouds!]

Family Reunion!

I’ve posted a lot lately about my Favorite Nephews, as they’ve been staying with my parents for the month of July. This weekend, my brother and his wife came to go to the State Fair and then take the boys home. I got to see them a little bit last night, and we’ll be going to have supper with them this evening, and then maybe all go to the Fair together so the kids can have some time riding The Rides. I don’t know that I will actually go for that part, but it will be nice to see them for a little bit.

It used to be that all the family got together during the State Fair, especially on Parade Day, but most of our family is deceased, or live so far away that we never got to know them. So, it’s just my parents, my brother’s family and the three of us.  It’s a little family, but it’ll do. I feel a little bad that they seem to do most of the traveling (they live 5 hours away) and I would like to get over there and visit more often. It would be nice if the boys and I could take a trip and spend some time with them at their farm. More on that later.

Older Son is home from work…time to go!

Work tip: Clean your desk before you leave it!

Some time ago, I posted that I had accepted a new position at work. Where I work, these kinds of transitions are slow. Generally the supervisor of the department you are leaving needs to you to stay as long as possible to help train your replacement, or tie up loose ends if you aren’t being replaced, and the new supervisor needs you to be there as soon as possible because there’s a gap that needs filling yesterday. So, the compromise is half days at both departments, which is what I am experiencing now.

Yesterday I discovered that the last person to use my new desk had finally cleared away her crap, so I thought I would clean it up and get some of my stuff moved down. This is where the rant starts. I’ve been at my place of work for almost 11 years, and in that time I have had numerous different desks. What is true in all cases is that of all of the desk moves I’ve done (close to 20, not necessarily for getting a different job), with the exception of a very few, the new desk is always filthy.  In some cases, people leave a complete pig sty for your to clean up after. Ugh…

In this case, it wasn’t too bad, but there was food crumbs in drawers and makeup all over the desk surface. It wouldn’t have taken much time for this person to just have cleaned up her mess before moving on, but apparently she was in a hurry. Truly, you don’t make friends at work by leaving a dirty desk behind you.

It’s all cleaned up now, and I’m partially moved in. (Yay!) I can’t wait to finally get moved into my new desk completely. I’m so done with where I’m at.

Oh a tangled web they weave when the plumber doesn’t show up

So I get home today and sign on to my work laptop, and while I’m doing that, I call the plumber to let him know that I’m ready. The boys and I were up late here painting last night to make sure we were good to go with the plumbing being finished today. He said he would be back to put the sink, toilet and shower head in on Thursday morning.

When I called in to their office today, the answer I got was not what I was expecting or desiring. Apparently they’ve had a few people call in sick and are short-handed, so they’ve had to push finishing my bathroom back until Friday.  Argh. You just never fully appreciate a bathroom until you are stuck in a house all day without one!

Seriously, though. With the building boom that is taking place in Minot and the surrounding area now, I should thank my lucky stars that I didn’t get pushed back until next week. So, it’s not as bad as it could be. Still…I’m bummed. I’ve got my bath salts ready for a nice hot soak. It appears that I’m pouting because it will have to wait. I guess I need to put on my big girl panties and suck it up for another day.

The good news is that the drywall guy came today, after not showing up at noon yesterday, and fixed the dings in the wall that happened when the flooring guy was here, and one I put in by accident yesterday -oops!  He’s supposed to be coming back after 12:30 to do a final sanding, so we’ll see if he makes it.

So, since I’m going back to the office tomorrow, Older Son will come and be here to let them in. Thank goodness for Older Son…I know I can count on him to hold the fort down.