How my Monday was spent.

Well, after working till 11:30pm Sunday night and getting home around midnight, I didn't fall asleep till about 12 :30am. Set the alarm for 6a.m. and it went off like it was supposed to. My Mother arrived at 6:50 instead of 7a.m like I told her to so she could take me to work. I had to stop by the garage working on my truck to see what the damage was. Naturally since Mother was early, we had to wait for the shop to open so Mom bought us breakfast at Burger King. We went back to the shop at 7:30 so I could go find out if the truck was done. Well, it turns out they would have had it done on Saturday but they discovered I had another situation other than the water pump. It seems my serpentine belt was full of cracks and small tears. (it was I saw it) Since the belt was over 3 years old and I had driven the truck very many miles since the new belt was put on, I agreed to having them replace the belt. (I have to baby this truck along now...it's practically paid off!!) He says he could probably get the belt cost down to about $50 for me.....but.....that wasn't the main issue. There is a part on your engine that helps hold the tension on said serpentine belt called a tensioner. It's spring loaded and once they get it moved to put the belt on it's suppose to spring back into place and hold the tension just so. Well, not my tensioner, oh no. Mine was not "springing" back into place and wouldn't hold tension correctly which in turn would cause more engine damage after awhile witht the belt not being tight enough as the engine turned. $200 later then the truck would be fixed. What are you gonna do, something like that pretty much is a no brainer...you fix it. He says the truck will be done in about an hour. I told him that was fine but I had to work till 5pm and the soonest I could come back to pick it up was 6p.m. Not a problem he says.

While at work, I was doing my opening manager thing....sanitizing the soft serve ice cream machine and putting it back together and setting up the fudge pump etc. etc..... when the GM comes up to me to remind me that I needed to take lastnights deposit to the bank and bring back the 2 deposit slips so she can finallize the bookwork. I gathered my stuff up to go and nearly walked ou the restaurant only to remember....I didnt have a vehicle. We both laughed about that one then she went for me. I had to call and cancel a food manager meeting I was suposed to have today at 1pm, because I had no way to get there. (it's rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon). I spent a good portion of my day setting up the food prep charts for the entire week. I've been told that I'm now 100% in charge of food cost control. That has it's benefits and draw backs trust me. It's great if you hit the proper percentage each week and period because if you do, you get a bonus. Trying to "maintain" honest non-nibbling employees is not so easy. Yet something I'm very used to dealing with in the past. I spent the other portion of my day trying to "cover" another employees shifts. All because he was being busy making insurance premiums rise again. You may be wondering what the hell I'm talking about here, so allow me to explain this. Around 4pm yesterday, said goof-ball employee (28 yr old self proclaimed pot-head) drove to work in his rickety astro van (he has no license or insurance by the way) and pulled into the back parking lot. Upon his arrival, he sees 2 grill cooks, 1 server and the borrowed GM in training all standing out back inhaling cancer sticks. He decides at that point he's 12 yrs old again and that it's time to "show-off". He nearly hits the server's truck as he accelerates around it and trys to "impress" the guys with his parking manueverabilty....only they all swiftly discovered, (including him) that he has no such thing. He slammed on the brakes while attempting to slide into a parking space. Not just any parking space, but the one right by the dumpster. He never made it to the parking space because the pavement was wet from the rain we had earlier in the day so everything locked up on him and he crashed right into the dumpster gates. He blew out is rear tire and a side rear window busted out spewing glass all over the parking lot. The impact was so hard that the grease dumpster was pushed up against the main trash dumpster and the gates were so bent that they wouldn't close. He fortunately was unharmed. Now that property damage was involved in his stupidity, I was instructed by the GM to call and file a police report. We also sent the employee home. He was certain he was going to jail since he didn't have insurance or a license. Must have been because he was on company property at the time, that he didn't get taken to jail or his van impounded. So getting back to today, this employee had to go to court today over this. He was scheduled 11 to 8 and naturally between the high school and college kids we have, we found zero availability to cover his dumb ass. Thank goodness we were slow and never needed him. He called later in the day to say he had to go back to court in 2 weeks. I then informed him he wasn't allowed back to work until he spoke with our GM.

The owner brought the W-2's today. I was all excited thinking that I could finally file my taxes tonight. Nope...he left the management staff's at the accounting office in Cleveland and promised to bring them tomorrow. Dammit!!! Oh well, what's one more day right??? I got a phone call around 4pm today from the Owner/manager of the garage where my truck is. He says...."your truck has been completed now for about 4 hours". I said cool but when I was in this morning I told the guy there that I had to work till 5pm and the soonest I could pick it up and get it paid for was 6pm this evening. (obviously someone failed to let him know that). Good thing he said that was fine, because there was not way to get it sooner. So after my Daughter came to pick me up, I retrieved my truck (that My Bob graciously took care of) and came home for the evening. I got to talk to my son for the 1st time in a week. We had a nice 15 minute conversation. He just isn't a phone person and never knows what to say when he gets on one...hehehe. I told him I'll call again in another week.

After putting some vacation pictures into some frames I have around here, I have nothing else left to do tonight but to sit here and relax. I enjoy so much having my evenings free and not stuck at work. Now to go spend some good quality time with the dog so he'll stop pouting at my feet beacuse I won't play tug-o-war with his black rubber bone....lol

Addition to sidebar

On my sister's Blog she has posted a very nice tribute "video" about 9-11. I clicked on the link below it and saw how to add it to my blog as well. I'm not sure how she located that, but I think it's a fitting tribute and one that should be dispalyed and never forgotten.

How to have a stress free day........

It's simply....just go back to bed and stay there and let the day pass you by. Otherwise you could end up having a day like I had yesterday. I'm thinking now that it only happened because I was thinking of a positive way to spend my tax return. I discovered a hug puddle of antifreeze under my truck yesterday morning. Since I parked it in a spot I don't normally park in, I didn't think it was from my truck. So I simply moved it to the "normal" spot. Sure enough, I look and there it is........."drip"....."drip"....."drip"......so yeah you get the picture. I immediately get this tension in the back of my neck. I know what it is. I didn't want it to be that. I wanted it to be something simple like a loose clamp or hose. I called Valvoline since they did my last oil change and I knew they have a policy that they "top off" your fluids in between oil changes. I tell them what I see and ask if they can look at it and tell me where the leak is coming from and if it's just a hose, could they replace it for me. I was told that they aren't allowed to do that, but if that's all that is wrong and if I got the hose, they would put it on for me. So off I go. Was told all hoses and clamps are nice and tight and that the drip is coming from the seal around the water pump. Great! Not something I wanted to hear. Back in November when Bob and I were on vacation, my machanic friend that worked on my brakes told me then to keep an eye on that water pump. He said it looked like there was evidence of a past leak and that if it leaked again it would need replaced. Dammit!! Now I'm thinking...."Oh sure..only 2 more payments the it's paid off and now things are going to start falling apart on it!". Well my mecahnic friend gave me a quote on approximately what it would cost for a garage to fix it. I found a garage that was about $30 cheaper than his quote so I felt that was pretty good. Naturally I was stressing over how I was going to pay for it. Then I was stressing because I didn't have my W-2's yet to have my tax return done. Well I got the truck to the shop and my daughter took me to work and picked me back up at midnight lastnight. The shop closed at 4pm yesterday and they never called me and they are closed today, so I won't know if they even got to it yesterday until I get to talk to them on Monday morning. I hate being without a vehicle. I finally calmed down yesterday and ended up having a pretty good night at work. It's being taken care of, so there isn't a reason to stress over it now...is there. I just figured the best way to avoid a stressful day is to simply sleep the day away......wonder if that would really work???

Just me thinking again...............

Well, Friday came and went....no big event happened. Work went surprisingly well. The head honcho never did bring by the W-2's as promised..dammit. Hopefully they drop them off today. I really need to get my taxes done. I'm pretty clueless as to even how much I'll have on my return. It's funny how I sit here and think of ways to spent it without even knowing the exact amount. The biggest thing I want to do is pay off my truck. I only have 2 payments left so if I paid one with my regular paycheck like I have scheduled, then pay the last payment with my tax return, I'll have more on my regular paychecks earlier than waiting till April for that to happen. Trust me...if you scraped it by every 2 weeks like I do...you'd be jumping on the chance to do just what I'm thinking about doing. The entire thought of not having to scrape by on pennies is an awesome thought to me. I survive here and nothing is in threat of not being paid (except for the stuff that's been in collection forever it seems) so I really don't "worry"..I just hate being broke all the time. Things are really looking up for me in the finance department so I'm thrilled!! Bob said we didn't wind the mega millions and that sucks...(means I still have to go to work again today...lol) Which sorta brings up this funny thought about a refridgerator magnet my son bought for me. It says..."This house is owned & operated solely for the comfort & convenience of the DOG!".......lol. Yep...I pay $450 a month rent to live in a glorified dog house...lol. Thank goodness the utilities are included in that. Hey...it's what I work for right..to support the "kid"...lol. He is after all my big baby.

That's about all the thoughts I have this morning. Now I think I'll go take that big baby for a "brisk" walk around the neighborhood. Sorry honey...I know it's not the gym...but it is a form of exercise none the less. (it's a start anyway).

It's Friday.......

I have no real reason to be excited about it being Friday...after all I have to work today from 6:30 to 4:30. However we do get our W-2's today at work so tonight I can work on filing my taxes. I've used Tele-file for the last 3 years and someone at work told me yesterday that you can no longer do that. Doesn't make sense to me since I recieved the forms in the mail just for that purpose. Guess I'll find out when I go to use it whether it still works or not.

I'm not fully awake as it's pretty early. I guess this entry will be a short one. I thought that shower would wake me up. Guess not having the best water pressure makes the difference. The shower at my son's apartment has enough water pressure to make your top layer of skin peel off. I loved it. So yeah, I exaggerated a bit, but it does have great water pressure. Guess I better go get ready for work. Maybe this afternoon I'll have more thoughts worthy of posting.

My trip to Florida (continued)

While David and I were at Fernandina Beach on Sunday he was saying how he would love to see the sunset over the ocean. I reminded him that he'd have to be in California for that since the sun sets in the west. He laughed at that "duh" moment then said.."ok, I'll take work off Monday and we'll go to Jax Beach (Jacksonville Beach) and watch the sunrise". After he assured me that he wouldn't get into trouble by not showing up for work, we did just that. We woke up at 5a.m. and made it to the beach way before sunrise. Here is the gate house to the pier. The flash reflected on the misty air. I should have left it off. Wonder why it didn't do that when I took this Picture of David?...it was just as misty and dark...oh well. I hope you enjoy seeing these sunrise photos as much as I loved seeing the real thing. (be sure to click on "each" underlined word for a different photo) I completely forgot to put the UV lens on my camera so as the sun came up more, the photos came out way too light. I was just in awe of the sunrise and forgot all about it. We went out on the pier after the sun was up more and found this guy begging for a handout. Oh, not the guy fishing, this guy here. I took my camcorder to the beach that morning also. We have not only the sunrise on video, but also the pelican going after David because David found a fish to feed to him. That beak has a huge claw on the end of it and you don't want that to come in contact with you that's for sure. It was a fullfilling morning. After the sun was up, we took another stroll down the beach for a long time and I gathered more seashells and even used a film canister to gather some beach sand to bring home to my grand daughter. If you haven't noticed anything about my photography yet, I'll let you in on a little secret. I enjoy taking photos of "odd things". Here's and example of what I mean. That was a shrimp head I found while looking for seashells. We also found several dead jelly fish, but I refrained from taking a picture of that. However, I couldn't resist these two photos. That little puffer fish was stuff soft. He had to have just died and got washed up on shore with the tide. After a long walk on the beach, we left and went back to David's. While there I decided to finish off the film in the camera on all their "pets". David's bearded dragon "steve". David's white snake. Phil's Boas. Niki's dwarf bunny and other bunny....(no these are not food for the snakes)....but these guys are eventually. They bought the rats to breed them so they save money for everytime they need to feed the snakes. ( I hate snakes by the way...it took alot to sleep there ). This is Phil's red coral snake.

All in all I had a fabulous trip and can't wait to go back again sometime. Hope you've enjoyed my "slide show". Thank you all for stopping by. Now it's off to the shower and get ready for work.

My trip to Florida

I loved my trip. From start to finish it was funfilled all day everyday. My flights were ontime and that's always a blessing. I took some airal veiws. I love being above the clouds and looking down at them. I took one that has the moon in it, but it's hard to see it. I didn't have any trouble getting a rental car this time. It was a very nice ride too. It was a Saturn ION with less than 6,000 miles on it. David and I put about 364 miles on it by the time we were done driving all over the place. We went to St. Augustine my first day there. But not before we went back to David's so I could "freshen up" and get out my hot jeans I wore down there. He had the place all decorated for my birthday and Phil and his girlfriend were setting my cake on fire as we pulled up....lol. Thank goodness it was a small cake, or we would have had to call the fire department. Naturally I had to humor them all and blow out the candles. After that it was on the road to St. Augustine. That's about any hour away from where David and Phil live. (By the way, Phil is my son's room mate and best friend since the 4th grade). St. Augustine is a historic town and has a fort that is pretty cool. It was closed by the time we found it, so all we could do was walk around the grounds on the outside. After spending quite awhile there, we ventured on over to the tourist part of town where the shops are. It's a nice little village with tons of different types of gift shops. We spent alot of time walking around and I had my sandals on. I havent' walked to so long in them, that my feet started to hurt a little, but I stuck it out. We left there around 6 as I was gettting pretty tired by then. (I was up by 4:30 a.m. to be at the airport in time to get my luggage checked in). The day was catching up to me quickly. We stopped at the store near his apartment to get some snacks and some wine coolers for me. (so yeah, I'm a cheap date...lol). David took me out to dinner at this little spot near his house and I just had some roastbeef while he had steak. I really wasn't very hungry. We made our plans to go to the beach on Sunday. We just couldn't decide which beach to go to. Phil suggested we go up to Fernandina Beach. It's up at the farthest tip of Florida nearly to the Georgia border. It didn't seem to take that long getting there. We went through Amelia Island but didn't stop to look around. I hear it's another nice tourist spot. These are some of my photos from Fernandina Beach. Seeing the Ocean was fantastic. David and I got a kick out of the seagulls and little sandpipers that would run away from the waves as they rolled in. David thought it was funny to make our foot prints in the sand so we layed a shell down and he put his right foot by it then I put my right foot by it on the other side. He made fun of me because my foot is nearly as big as his.. I can't help it if I have big feet for a girl...lol We were searching the beach for seashells for me to take home. Sometimes you rarely see any then you'll stumble across a few scattered here and there. Then you hit the jackpot of seashell piles like this one. (That by the way is my favorite photo from my entire trip. I plan on getting it blown up poster size to hang on my wall. I'm very proud of that find and how the photo turned out). On our way up to this beach, we drove by what appears to be some nuclear power plant. It makes me think of 3 mile Island. David had to get a photo of it. David took alot of photos while I was driving.
I guess I got ahead of myself because before we ever went to Fernandina Beach, we went to downtown Jacksonville to Jacksonville Landing. It was a Sunday morning so nearly everything there to see or do was closed. But atleast I got to see it and walk around. Downtown Jacksonville has some pretty cool buildings....like this one that I sat on the sidewalk to take a picture of. David took some photos too for me. Like this one. I'm not very fond of having my picture taken and it probably shows in photos like this one. I thought this was interesting. It's not everyday someone like me gets to see a coast guard patrol boat with machine guns on it...lol
To top the day off, David captured some pretty cool photos of the sun setting on our way home. It's spectacular the way the sun makes the clouds look mysterious. This was the last sunset photo he captured. That is a summary of my 1st 2 days in Jacksonville, Florida. I'll share more tomorrow.

I'm home again

naked jan pics on the beach

HA!!! GOTCHA!!!
do you really think i would post something like that even if they existed??...nah...i value my balls too much
anyways....jan and david got to jacksonville beach before dawn this morning and watched the sunrise on the beach....hmmm.."sunrise on the beach"...sounds like a fruity girlie drink
they had a full day and are relaxing at the moment eatin pizza and watching a movie...obviously she wants the time to last longer but like i told her...these kinda things are only special cuz ya dont do them all the time and the moment doesnt last forever...
i felt real bad today cuz she called me once and i was kinda tied up meeting with a customer, architect and flooring guy all at the same time but alas...she did call again this evening and she understood
and kathi(i think it was you)...i adore jan also...guess im just not as vocal as mebbe i should be but i hope that my actions do show it
at last count jan had 7 rolls of film developed hehe...so be ready for some pics when she's back....
i may continue to post from time to time here but dont let that stop you from enjoying the site

jan paints jacksonville red

jan is gonna have lots of fun things to tell ya about when she gets back so i wont ruin it for her but i will say....they went to st augustine yesterday and had a great time and as of 10am this morning were headed for IHOP then beachhoppin the rest of the day...seems like alotta hoppin goin on but oh well as long as she's happy....our convos on my calls from her are totally 1 sided as i say.."yes dear"..."wow thats awesome"..."that sounds like fun"...and "have fun"...she is still really excited to be there and despite the fact that she always tries to tell me how "shy" she is...or was....she sure is yakkin up a storm on these calls
and be sure to let her know i was a "good boy" bein in charge of her blog while she was away....think she's a lil afraid ill speak my mind or somethin and p*ss someone off
btw i noticed AFTER i posted previously all yer happy bdays to her on saturday....she had already left and wont see them til tuesday
and i guess while im here ill add one lil personal note...my son, bill, is currently in Fuji undergoing some sorta "warrior training" for february deployment to Iraq(he is USMC)....please keep him and all our men and women that protect our rights and our land and values in yer hearts and prayers every single day
bob out

jan in jacksonville

just wanted to let yuns know...my jan has successfully and safely arrived in jacksonville florida...met up with David(son)...hooked up a rental car....and got back to his place...with a stop to get shorts and a tank top cuz "its freakin hot as hell here".......73 and humid.....and yeah i would say she's excited to be there on her bday....i didnt get 2 words in when she called to let me know she's there.....wish i was there with her but its good that her and david get some good time together as they were very close when he was in CAN-TON....

btw check out our next vaca currently in preplanning stages..."going to the sun road".....http://www.phototravel.com/glacier.htm....

have a great day and dont ferget to have a bunch of "happy birthdays" waiting for jan when she gets back tuesday

It's my Birthday

Today is the day!! It's finally here. I get to fly off to Jacksonville, Florida to see my son until Tuesday morning. He has his apartment all decorated and waiting for me. We have plans to go to St. Augustine sometime today. I'm finally excited and really looking forward to this trip. I'm going to have a blast. I am thinking of doing an audiopost some time this weekend. Otherwise, I'll be back on Tuesday late afternoon. Thanks for stopping by and putting up with my moodiness. I'll be back to myself when I return.

Thank you again Bob for the best birthday present ever!!!!!

Why did I dream that!!!!!!!!???????????

Ever have one of those dreams that when the alarm goes off you are truely thankful to be awake??? What on earth makes us dream stupid shit. I have never had one of those dreams about being naked anywhere. I've heard of others having them. Well they say there is a first for everything!! I just want to know why I had this one.

I was driving to a grocery store...one I've never seen before and have no clue where I was. When I parked and got out of the car, I was naked!! There I was, just grabbed a cart and started walking through the aisles shopping like it was no big deal. Then some store employee told me I had to put something on to be in there so I told her to find me a large t-shirt. While she was doing that I put on an adult diaper of all things. She never did bring me the t-shirt. The alarm went off and rescued me!!

People believe you can interpret dreams but I've never been one to really believe much of that stuff. This time I want answers!! Where the hell was my mind while I was sleeping and why did it go there?????

Thank goodness today is my last day of work and I'm getting away for a few days....hell I really need it......lol

What's on my mind.........

Since January 1st I have worked a total of 142 hours. I have had 4 days off (2 of them in the hosptial with Heather, 1 spent babysitting a 3 day old baby, 1 doing laundry and cleaning my apaprtment). I have 2 more working shifts to go adding on 20 more hours. I have more than earned these up coming 4 days off. At this point I'm so tired and my brain hurts from thinking way too much about way too many things, that I hope I can actually enjoy my time off and away from here. This month has been tough on me in many ways. It's been good to me as well. The hardest part is not getting the rest I need to the point that I "feel" rested. I'm sleeping when I go to bed, I'm just as tired when I wake up in the morning and that causes me to drag all day. When I get home and it's nearly midnight and I take the dog out, log on here to let Bob know I got home safely, clean myself up from working and get to bed....it's one in the morning. I don't set an alarm unless I have to get up and I generally wake up around 8 or 8:30. So you'd think I was rested......nope. I have been running and running from the time I get up till the time I drop back in bed. I swear I live in a glorified dog house since the dog is here way more than I am. It's been nice this past week since Heather got her car back and is driving again. I haven't been running her anywhere. I have actually gotten out and taken the dog for a walk a couple times. Winter is hard on me anyway because I hate the cold and hate being out in it. It's dark and dreary most of the time and that effects my mood. I miss Bob terribly bad. We hardly even have time for any real conversation with the way I've been working. We talk a couple times throughout the day, but 8 to 15 minute phone calls are hardly spending time together. With him being so busy working during the day and me working at night and not getting up to talk to him in the morning, cuts out on our time. I hate it. I haven't seen him in nearly a month now and his last visit was so short. Things are coming together faster than I realize it, but at the same time it's just so damn hard being away from him like this. "It's my blog and I'll whine if I want to" (typed to that whinny song......"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to"). I just want things to get back to what was normal and I don't know when that will be.....if ever. Things will go smoother at work I believe once I get back to rotation of shifts again. In restaurant management they want managers to work evenings since that's the "bulk" of the business but I hate working nights. I need out of the food industry....yet it's all I've ever really done. I'm tired of working 50 hours a week. Yet for now I have to. I only have 2 more truck payments then it will be paid off. That alone will ease my mind. I've actually contemplated looking in the classifieds again, but the mere thought of changing jobs stresses me out too. I feel like I'm just one stressed out mess lately. Yet when you really think about my life.....it's not stressful and it's actually pretty damn good. I have alot going for me. I just get this way when I'm exhausted and mildly depressed. Winter does it to me all the damn time. I fight it and that's part of the stress. It's too easy to fall victim to depression and when you know it's lingering and fight it....it wears you out. If anyone has been in a state of depression before, I'm sure you'll know what I'm rambling about. The good thing is my awareness and the willingness to not allow it to consume me. I just need SLEEP and I'm not getting it. I have to end this rant since I have to leave in an hour for my 10 to 8 shift and I'm still in my Pj's.

Color Quiz Results.......

you are deepskyblue #00BFFF

Your dominant hues are cyan and blue. You like people and enjoy making friends. You're conservative and like to make sure things make sense before you step into them, especially in relationships. You are curious but respected for your opinions by people who you sometimes wouldn't even suspect. Your saturation level is very high - you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to show for it, and it keeps you going. You shouldn't be afraid to lead people, because if you're doing it, it'll be done right. Your outlook on life is very bright. You are sunny and optimistic about life and others find it very encouraging, but remember to tone it down if you sense irritation.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

Well....for the most part I'd like to agree with this assesment....however today....I'm in a funk and not in a good mood at all and could care less about being around anyone. I'm extremely burned out from working all these night shifts and to top it off, working with people that are the most rude, selfish and intolerable people I've ever met. I'll stop right there as this could just turn into one giant anry venting post and I haven't the energy for that today. Just 3 more days left then I'll be on a plane to go see my son in Jacksonville. Oh yeah...and to celebrate my 45thBirthday......hopefully by then I'll have the enthusiasm needed for that. Have a good day all.

March of the Penguins

I just watched a rather fascinating documentary on the March of the Penguins. If you haven't seen it or for that matter even heard of it...I highly reccommend it. It's amazing to me how in nature they take nothing for granted. Their lives depend on survival at all costs. The journey alone these penguins make, just so that life reproduces and keeps going is enough to boggle my mind. We humans truely are a spoiled species. We have no real clue what it's like anymore to actually have to struggle to stay alive and keep our species alive. I encourage you all to watch this documentary.

Who'd of thought this....

Found this over on Wendy's blog and it looked interesting. Had to give it a try and see what they came up with for me. So How do you make You??

How to make a bbsgirl

Ingredients: 3 parts friendliness 3 parts ambition 1 part ego

Method: Add to a cocktail shaker and mix vigorously. Add a little cocktail umbrella and a dash of emotion

Username:

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

How to make a Bob

Ingredients: 3 parts competetiveness 5 parts courage 1 part energy

Method: Layer ingredientes in a shot glass. Add a little cocktail umbrella and a dash of sadness

Username:

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

Look at the difference a week makes......

Call me Biased, but I believe these are the most precious photos!!!!!!!!!! I love having such great subjects to photograph.

Just feeling the need to whine a bit

here's a sample of why I'm so tired.

WORK SCHEDULE --- NEXT 7 DAYS

TONIGHT-------- 2 to midnight
SUNDAY--------- 2 to 11:30pm
MONDAY-------- 2 to 11:30pm
TUESDAY-------- 2 to 11:30pm
WEDNESDAY---- 2 to 11:30pm
THURSDAY------ 10 to 8pm
FRIDAY---------- 6:30 to 4pm

These really aren't that bad of hours IF you're the type of person that LIKES working nights. I hate them. Not only has this been a somewhat typical schedule for me lately, I've been busy helping Heather out and running back and forth and still trying to function on little or no sleep. For 18 years I worked days primarily. I was in a position where I could make my own schedule since I was "incharge". I chose to walk away from that for a myrid of different reasons. Sometimes I still kick my own ass for it. (no one else's to kick). I'll admit I was in a rut and walking away was the only resourse for me at the time. I have been so exhausted so far this month with all that has been going on. It was fabulous being there for Heather and being apart of the birth of my grandson. I wasn't prepared for how stressful it was going to be. Watching her go through so much pain and not being able to do anything is tough. Especially when you can relate to that pain. I'm so glad that she's getting stronger everyday. Things are coming together for her now that she's getting her car fixed and we're picking that up today. She got the downstairs apartment that she's been wanting so that makes us both happy. (it's in her building not mine). The babies dad has been helping her move her stuff down since I'm working so much and can't get there to help her.

I stress too much over things and I know it. I let my financial situation upset me. It's a struggle since I'm not making near what I used to but oh well, I get by. For the rest of this month and all of February and March are going to be very tight since I signed up for the insurance and it's now being deducted from my pay. I'll be so happy when my final truck payment is made in March. I can't believe it's been 5 years already. I'm looking forward to not being so strapped. Having money woes drains me. I'm not behind or anything like that...it's just tough stretching it and I hated having to do that. Things are looking up for me and that helps me not slip into depression. I've been there before many times in my life and I have to constantly stay aware of that so I don't slip back into it.

With Heather getting her car back and being able to get around better, I won't have to fret over helping her as much and can get back into my own routine of things. I hate to admit that I've always been the type of person that hates when things get out of sync so to speak. The same old routines can be boring and drag you down and that's not what I want in life either. I just get exhausted to easy when I'm runnning and running and running and not getting good rest. The worst is when you lay down to sleep and your mind has other plans. It starts thinking of every damn little thing and before you know it the alarm is goin off and you haven't gotten any sleep. To have the busy schedule I've had so far this year...it's been draining. Not to mention I had tha best surprise ever planned for My Bob's birthday next month and now I can't go through with it. That's going to be a tough one for me to get over, but I know I will.

Today is slipping by me so I need to stop whinning and get on with it.


*****EDIT*****

I feel I need to clarify the reason this schedule is the way it is due to some comments on this post.....Our weeks go from Monday to Sunday. I need this coming Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off....( the 21st thru the 24th ) to go to Florida. Saturday and Sunday are the last 2 days of this week and Monday and Tuesday being the 1st two days of the next schedule. Thus...those are my days off this week and for the next schedule too. I was scheduled off this past Tuesday and Wednesday but I was called in on Wednesday to cover a call off. (It can be complicated and hard to follow). I usually work 3 nights and one midshift and one day shift with 2 days off a week. It's just been weird and all messed up this month so far because I had to rearrange my schedule to be off with Heather. Since January 1st I have had 4 days off ( 2 of which were spent at the hospital all day and 1/2 the night) and worked a total of 8 nights and 1 day shift and only 1 mid shift. That's alot of working in just 14 days. Now that I think I have confused everyone and it's nearly 1am....( just got off my saturday night close). I'm going to bed!!

My mind is too tired to think

If I have one more thing to think about my head's going to explode! Too much input right now with everything that is going on around me...I need to shut the thought button off but I still can't find it...I've been searching for it now for years!!!!!!

It's HNT time...........

This was taken in the summer of 2002. It's my reminder of how I want to look again and it's hopefully going to help me get back to going to the gym on a regular basis. I'm a good 30 lbs heavier now than I was in this picture. Now that Heather has had the baby I don't need to worry about being away from the phone so I have no more excuses to keep me from the gym.

Happy HNT everyone!!

Interesting little quiz

You are a HUFFLEPUFF!

As a Hufflepuff and as an SFJ, you are loyal, just,
and industrious. You have a strong sense of
duty and always try to do the right thing. As
a result, you are dependable, responsible, and
trustworthy. You have high expectations for
yourself, and you expect a great deal from
those around you as well. You are
down-to-earth, resolute in your decisions, and
sensible. As your friends no doubt recognize,
you are also friendly, sympathetic, and
nurturing.


Hogwarts Sorting Hat: Based on Myers-Briggs Personality Typing
brought to you by Quizilla



I'm not into the Harry Potter books or movies as I've never read one or saw one. I found this quiz while reading Grey Bikers Blog and thought "oh what the heck" I'll take it "just to see" and I like the results.

A day in my life..........

Hopefully soon I'll get "caught up" on my sleep...( if that's possible). Last night at work I was so tired I thought I would fall asleep standing up. I was just glad we had a busier Monday evening that usual or I probably would have. Earlier in the day yesterday I brought Heather & Isaac over here so they could puppy-sit since the City Inspector was finally coming to look over the Landlord's rental property. I just didn't want the man spooked when he walked in to face a pitbull alone. (not that I didn't trust my dog, but it's always better to be safe...you never know when a dog will get defensive over his territory). Heather said that Cerebus was a good puppy all day and was mildly curious about Isaac. Cerebus listens so well that when we tell him "easy" he knows to be gentle. He did his share of sniffing and decided Isaac was fine to be around and went and laid down. My apartment passed the inspector's "inspection" but the landlord was told to replace my kitchen sink. WoooHooo....I hate it anyway. The inspector even told Heather that we have one very well behaved dog....(like I didn't know that..lol). I came home from work at 11:45pm and needed my sleep but Heather & Isaac were up and you know me and my camera just had to get busy. Before I knew it, it was 1am and I was about to collapse. I inflated the air matress so I could sleep on that and Heather could have my bed. Take it from me...never try to inflate an air matress at 1 in the morning. Ten minutes later it was loosing air. Heather came out and fixed it.....we thought. At 3am it was flat. I couldn't sleep at all and the baby had woke and I called out to Heather that it wasn't holding air so she simply told me to come to bed with her. Do you have any idea how hard it is to fall asleep whiile on the extreme edge of the bed so that you can give lots of room to the new mommy and subconsiously tell yourself..."do not roll over"??!! Trust me...it's not much. I woke up at 8am this morning just as tired or if not more tired than I was lastnight. I had some errands I had to get done this morning and Heather tagged along. We had breakfast at IHOP and that was fantastic. My head was pounding and we both were a coulpe of very pale, under rested women that looked as though we went out the night before and "tied one on"....lol We finished our errands and got back here around noon and I fixed the valved on the air matress and fell instantly asleep for a nap until 2:45pm. I'm positive I could have stayed there all night and not thought a thing about it. Heather & Isaac napped too. I went and picked up my grand daughter from my Ex-Mother-in-law and brought her here so Heather & her could spend some quality time together. We all went out for dinner and ate Chinese. I dropped them off at Heather's apartment and I get my sanity back for atleast one evening. I'm giving my Ex-Mother-in-law a break and taking Deydra to school tomorrow and picking her up in the afternoon for them. So my guess is that tomorrow I loose some of my sanity that I'll regain tonight. Only 11 more days till by birthday trip to Florida to see my son. I need the time away, but somehow I just know I won't rest then either...lol. It's such a joy to have the family grow, but oh my goodness it's so draining. I'll be glad when things get back to semi-normal and Heather gets her car back and can start driving again. Pretty soon I'll have another completed roll of film to get developed and share. For now though...it's time to go stretch out and read a book.....and if I fall asleep...that won't be so bad.

Introducing....Isaac Tavias Armstrong

I told you the wait would be worth it!!!..........The CD cleaner did the trick and I'm so happy to now be able to share my Grandson with all of you. Deydra has taken charge of her new little brother...she has been very possesive of him. My Ex Mother inlaw asked her if she likes him and her quote was ...... "LIKE HIM???!!....I LOVE HIM!!!!!!!". She's going to be a huge help to Heather. I hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I do. I'll add more often.

What day is it anyway????

It's been quite the crazy few weeks for me that's for sure. The constant anticipation of "the" phone call everytime the phone rang at work expecting it to be Heather calling to take her to the hospital to the actual hospital and delivery and all that entailed. Working all the night shifts too. I'm drained that's for sure. Heather is doing so much better. I have talked to her several times today and she's very upbeat and sounds so good. She'll be over here today and we will spend the morning together then I have a long night ahead of me. She'll be spending the night with the baby so that should be interesting. I was going to just post an audiopost today, but I sound horrible..lol. Trust me if you heard me right now you'd swear I was the one that gave birth from the exhaustion in my voice. (it could be that it's after midnight and I'm just getting home from work too). My blog will be so not a normal one for awhile until things around here get settled down. I have been talking to some people at work about this CD not loading and they recommend that I just get a CD cleaner and run through it. Hope that works and I can get it done before work today...(I have tons to do in a very short time). Hang in there...the photos are coming soon.

**** This is for Gloria..... I'm sorry...I wasn't thinking to ask you first. I will the next time.****

They are coming home today

Heather and Isaac are doing great.
They get to come home somtime today.
The infant carseat will not fit in the extended cab of my truck...(it has to face backwards).
My ex-Mother-in-law will bring them home for me.
I have been metally exhausted the last few days.
This has been a great experience for Heather and I to go through.
I told her to call me this morning when she wakes up since I'm not going over there today.
I have to go back to work today and want to stay home and rest since I'll be closing the rest of the week now.
The photos will come....there is just a delay....the wait will be worth it.

We Have a Baby!!

I'm only here long enough to let the dog out and feed him and let you all know the news.

Isaac Tavias Armstrong
8:03pm
8 lbs. 12oz.
20.5 inches long

Mother and Baby are doing great.

Gramma got to cut the cord!!!!!!!

Will post more later...now it's back to the hospital.

SOON!!!!!

Okay.......here's the latest update on the baby situation..............

Heather had her doctor's appointment this morning...she is dialated to 3 and a 1/2 centimeters. The doctor is concerned about her blood pressure. I don't know exactly what it is, but Heather told me it's in the 130's and she is normally around 110 just like I am. He told her today that if she doesn't go into labor on her own tonight, that we have to be at the hospital by 7am tomorrow morning. At that time he'll induce her labor. I told Heather I would not go into work tonight so that I could be right here, but she said to go anyway. She doesn't think she'll go into labor tonight. I hope she's right. The good thing is that I'm only 15 minutes away from here if she does start her labor. The hospital is only 3 minutes up the road from me so that's good too.

I'm trying not to have any stress in all this and really I'm not....it's just that I get a little tense everytime the phone rings at work now..lol.

Stay tuned...I'll keep you all updated and will post photos etc....when I can.

Ohio State Rocks!!!!!

We had the game on in the back room at work tonight....(lastnight now since it's after midnight and I am writing this after getting home from work)....and it was awesome to hear. That would have been one great game to be at. I just finished reading the report on ESPN.com. This I believe makes 3 straight bowl games Ohio State has now won with in the last 4 years. I'm just thrilled about that.

Now I'm going to bed so I can try to get some rest since I have to be back up by 7am to gedt ready to take my Daughter to her doctor's appointment. That is if she makes it through the night and doesn't go into labor.

I figured it out...have a listen....

I tried something new

I have been seeing and listening to auidoblogs and signed up to do that on my blog as well. Since it's free and seems easy enough. Just call the number...say what you want posted then it is supposed to appear on your blog. Well, I did just that. Yet it hasn't appeared yet. My Grand daughter helped me with my 1st audio post...it's really cute...so I hope it posts. I will get it down to where I have no troubles without pausing and stumbling over my words like I/we did this morning..lol.

I'll be interested myself in how this came out...lol