I Don't Wanna......

I have a list of I don't wannas.

And the reasons to go with them.

On the upside-........I have a job. I have food. I have a roof over my head. I am reasonably content.

Good Nuff.....for now.

(to be continued...............)

Just a TINY Rant..........

Don't get me wrong.....I'm VERY happy to have a job, but today the company I work for put into action a new Payroll system.
My workers and I are a team of 4 members......sometimes 5.

Well, every two weeks our schedule ran as follows....
We work 12 hour shifts each ....A Shift and B Shift.
One week we got 36 hours....the next we got 44 hours. That is IF the 5th person works.
Well, This week we have to go to a new system that now gives us two hours on the 36 hour week....but takes away two hours of our OT from the 44 Hour week. This affects ONLY me and the other Night shift guy on the other shift....the day guys still get ALL their overtime pay and nothing is taken away from them.
Doesn't that seem a bit screwed up to you?
Well, it does to us. we don't even get a Night shift differential in our pay as it is, and now we are getting paid LESS because we work this night shift.

This kinda blows.
Okay Rant over. That wasn't too bad was it?
:-)

Still At It

Well, I slept for a grand 6 hours and then got up and started back cleaning again. Basically all I have left is to just the vacuuming and finding a spot for a few odd things. It feels good to have one room in the house back to normal.

About halfway thru my morning cleaning, I have stopped and made Paul and I some lunch. He offered to make it, but I had a hankering for something dfferent. I wanted Shrimp Po'Boys with home-made shoestring fries. So I made them. I'll let him make us supper later tonight if he likes.

I got thinking about our food. I like trying to come up with something out of the ordinary for dinner at least once a week Stuff like....
Coq au Vin
Shrimp & Sauce with Pasta
Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken Caesar Salad
Chicken and Cheese wrapped with Bacon
Chili with Cheese and Corn Chips
Beef or Pork Roast with Roast Potatoes



The rest of the week we have our standards.......
Teriaki Chicken with fries
Burgers and fries or chips
Beef Stroganoff
Grilled Chicken with Seasoned Rice
Grilled Fish and something or the other
BBQ ribs with baked fries
Soup and crackers
Ham or Chicken with Biscuits, Pinto Beans or Black-eyed Peas and Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Slow Cooker Stew with Stew Beef, Potaoes, Onions, and carrots
........

Sometimes we even do scrambled eggs and toast or Pancakes for Supper!


Today is a beautiful day out.....the sun is shining, it's not too hot- nor too cold, I'm fed and rested, the geese are flying overhead going south for the winter, and my family is (for the moment) all happy and safe.
Life doesn't get much better than this.

Settling In.........

I decided to clean the Living room tonight after Paul went to bed...Really deep clean...Moving all the furniture, vacuuming, wiping down the walls, dusting the picture frames, polishing all the furniture and wiping down all the leather. I even cleared away most of the bric-a-brac from the shelves. Well, a lot of that was because the holidays are coming up and I figured why have to do that in a couple/three weeks when I can just go ahead and do it now while I'm in the mood.
Holy cow.......I had no idea how bad my house had gotten this past few months while I was in this depression.

I think my new meds may be working now tho.

I actually wanted to go for a ride this afternoon when I got home from work and the grocery shopping. Paul and I went out to Zaxbys and got a bite and had an Al Fresco lunch .....and then we headed out of town to Flat Rock, about fifty miles away....just to get out and DO something. We stopped at the Blue Ridge Mall and went window shopping. They already had some of their Christmas decorations up, and it was great walking around and NOT be working while I was doing it. Seeing what Paul was most interested in just made my day. We walked around and held hands and laughed and pointed out things we would love to be able to get for various people we know.
It was a lovely, carefree, autumn afternoon and I couldn't have asked for anything sweeter than spending some quiet, quality time with the love of my life.

:-)

I love my job.

I work with the coolest people EVER and we have the most INTERESTING conversations!!!!

I wish everyone had a job they loved as much as I love mine at this moment!!!!

Ups...and Downs

You decide which are the Ups and which are the Downs....or maybe a bit of BOTH!
*********************************************
*The holidays are approaching and as such I can now start singing the occasional Christmas song without too much of an uproar.
*The Autumn colors are at full peak now in our neck of the woods. I haven't seen such vivid colors in years!! Absolutely beautiful!!
*I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving Day Dinner. I'm starting to get a bit concerned, tho. I told the kids THEY were responsible for Thanksgiving Day Dinner this year and so far I have yet to hear a peep from them about any plans having been made. Maybe I should get a chicken just in case they dont actually HAVE the dinner this year. At least Paul and I will have a Plan B for OUR dinner.
*I think I am going to have the kids over for Christmas Eve from now on too. We can have Finger foods and dessert and open gifts then. Then Paul and I will have a nice quiet Christmas day to ourselves. This year I have to work on Christmas Day evening too, so I won't be so frazzled doing it that way.
*I was riding past my old neighborhood today and popped by my old house. It made me sad to see other people living there. I got to customize it........big bay window in the living room with a big beautiful maple tree in the front yard just outside it, Custom built-in bookshelves in the entrance, a big brick fireplace with a huge mantle just made for hanging stockings Christmas Eve, A big wide archway linking the Living room and Dining-room. It sat at the top of a hill and was a modest size, but it was my dream home. That's okay tho. ...By this time next year I'll be in my own home again. I've made a promise to myself that no matter WHAT I have to do- By August I will be in a position to put a down-payment on a house of my own. I don't care how much overtime I have to put in, or if I have to get a second or third job....I WILL DO IT. I will NOT be in this falling apart "guesthouse" another year. I was only supposed to be here for three years tops.......I've now been here seven. As my Papa Coyle used to say...."SweetPea, it's time to either Poop- or get off the pot!" Only he was much more colorful about it. I miss my Papa too. Crusty old man. :-)
I need to go sleep a couple hours before work...........Later all!!!

Growing Up Sucks..................

There comes a defining moment in every ones life when their innocence is shattered.
This is a story about one of those times......


I found this story by Shaz @ STORG.com...
************************

It began in the first grade, a warm spring day. We were growing closer to the end of the school year and everyone was anticipating the summer that was just around the corner. I was playing in the play yard after lunch, sitting under my favorite tree, poking a stick into the dirt. This was my favorite part of the day. My stomach was full of cafeteria pizza and I was ready to draw pictures in the dirt.........

As I sat there in my plaid uniform jumper, caking dirt on my hands, I noticed something bright in the dirt. It was pink, slightly smaller than a grain of rice. I picked it up, and looked it over. Then I looked at the ground again, to find that the base of my favorite tree held many of these tiny sprinkles. I began picking them up, one by one. This one was green. This one was blue. Glitter-flecked, orange, purple, brown, white! I gathered as many as I could before the bell rang, and pocketed them.

The next day, I anxiously waited for lunch to finish. Finally, the bell rang and I dashed to my tree in hopes of finding the last of them. To my surprise, there were MORE! I spent the break carefully picking up each piece, and I sat admiring them.

I glanced up at the tree. Suddenly, I knew! I knew the cause of this! It made perfect sense! Fairies must be living inside this tree, and they put their magic sprinkles there as a gift for me. Obviously, they appreciated my artistic doodling in the dirt. I smiled at the tree and whispered, "I won't tell anyone you're here, it's okay!"
For the next week, I found my fairy sprinkles waiting for me. I'd carefully gather them, and then I'd thank the tree for such lovely gifts.

The next week, the only sprinkles that I could find were the ones I had overlooked the week before. I was sad, but I reasoned that fairies must be migratory. They can't stay in one place for long or else they'll be discovered. I took great care to thank the tree for sharing the fairies with me.
A year passed. I was in second grade now. I still had the small jar of fairy sprinkles hidden in my room. Again, it was spring time. Again, I was sitting under my favorite tree. It caught me off guard to see the return of the sprinkles. I gathered them with great care, thanked the tree, and took them home to be added to my collection. It was the same as the year before. The sprinkles lasted a week while the fairies lived in their temporary home in my favorite tree. Every day, I'd talk to them as I gathered my treasure. I'd tell them about my classes, about boys, about my family. I figured that they shared their gift with me, they should at least know me better. So I shared my life with that tree, and thanked it every day. And then the fairies would leave, and I would move on to another grade, and other year, a life away from the last.

The fairies came every year. My third and fourth grade were filled with the same anticipation of springtime, and my chance to talk to the fairies again. They were so generous with their gifts, and I left them little gifts with stick art in the dirt.

But that play yard was only for students between 1st and 4th grade. After the fourth grade, I stayed in the same building, but the older kids occupied a different play yard, which had a big field, but no trees in it. So on the Friday of the week of the fairy gifts, I explained this to the tree. I told the fairies that I wouldn't be able to return the next year. I thanked them profusely, and told them I hoped with all my heart that they might pass the legacy to another child, that they could give him or her the gifts that they had shared with me over the course of four years. "My jar is nearly full, anyway," I explained. The bell rang, and with tears in my eyes, I thanked the tree one last time.
A few years passed, and life had changed many times over. I never forgot about the tree, and the secret of the fairies. I kept my jar of fairy sprinkles in my closet, on the shelf. But I had grown up and had a more adult view on the world. My life was busier, more involved.

It was seventh grade now. Girls were getting boyfriends and boobs and makeup. We were in Mrs. Pryor's class. It was a warm, spring day, our grades were already tallied, and the teachers were just passing time before summer break began. Mrs. Pryor was explaining a project to us. First you draw your picture, then you will lay a layer of glue, and then you will sprinkle these tiny plastic grains to the page, as needed, and- tadaa, you have art.

These grains looked oddly familiar, as I created my masterpiece. But it wasn't until the class, I, together with the rest, carried our papers outside and dumped the excess, loose sprinkles around my favorite tree, that I realized that the fairies never were.

*****************************