Sunday, numerous things

update to the saturday list progress..
We did go venture at Home Depot in one of the trips we made there to look at side entry doors.. and today after church and lunch, we headed to Ganahl lumber and looked at what they had, and picked up some brochures.  I might just circle what I want, call "our guy" who does doors and with the dimensions, have him pick it up and install... we also have a new bathroom door for our master bath to find that is SOLID wood in order to buffer the noise of shower/ hair dryer in my early mornings from Greg having to be "in the bathroom with me" kind of noise level.. having it better fit tighter to the carpet will also be needed.

Gregs projects that he worked on and thankfully are resolved are; one master sink has a drain that comes unlatched when shutting the drain and you can't bring it up to drain water... he finally replaced the bent something something,. fixed.  Then, into the boys/guest bathroom where the sink drips incessantly and the drain cover has since rusted.. we ventured to get a new faucet, and drain cover... eventually after an extra trip to the store for an extension piece, fixed..  Yay!

Greg and I went to a place on Saturday that is a yard for roofing supplies, but they also carry some house improvements & basic stuff for landscaping (or can make due).. I think that his amount of stuff we'd need vs. what I envision it needing in bulk might account for his low price.. so the process is still ongoing, as many places are closed on Sunday and are also closed for the holiday... hard for those of us trying to work, get it done..

In this same area and on the way home.. We stopped at a new store locally WINCO for groceries that is now Gregs new favorite store, it's like bigger than a Smart and Final store without membership needed, but they have bulk items in drums that come with a bag and scoop to get how much you desire. There is a recipe card for how to use it, make it, or to hydrate it... but Greg was like a kid in a candy store checking it all out and talking to the older guy who worked there.  I got a few scoops of Blueberry muffin mix, a pie crust mix, and some dehydrated hash brown potatoes.. The muffin mix was good, although it needed more water than it said, easy fix.  Gregs dad is going to love walking this "amusement" park when they visit..

Today we went to church and heard an excellent sermon on prayer from our intern Klarc Korver... the kid can bring it... He asked using the analogy and the prop of a door.. are we praying "doggy door" kind of prayers for safety, as in, our favorite team to win a championship, our kids and the world to be well.. or are we walking through the door expectantly anticipating our prayers for Gods kingdom causes to be advanced.  Yep, I can often be the doggy door pray'er..   We then went to lunch at Super Mex just the two of us.

After church we went to Ganahl Lumber in Los Alamitos which is a larger store than the one closer to our house.  We were looking at door ideas, options, and picked up some catalogs that gave deeper options than what we were seeing on display. I think they have more custom stuff available than the Home Depot type.

Came home and knew there was a "closet" project that could no longer be put off.. Don't you just hate to start something that has all the potential for being a can of worms. Well I had received three large boxes of medical supplies and knew that the shelf in the closet in the entrance of our master bath closet needed to be organized, cleared out of some debri's... after a vacuuming, and laying it all out on the bed.. There was more room on those two top shelves for storage of such items than it appeared. Alot of stuff was tossed out, put into a better place and even was able to reorganize the cabinet above the toilet where some items were mixed up and more of a mess than should have been.. hour later, it was all done.. always so much better afterward than you wish.

Well, back to relaxing and bbq'ing again.

Saturday of prospects

It's only 7:30 am and we've been up for awhile already.. Strange that a Saturday wasn't spent sleeping in, but what do you do if your awake early.. I was also trying to update my iPad software last night nd it didn't work out so took another stab at it this morning, and it worked. Theres a list of things to do;

Which includes finding a new door, contacting the guy that will install it. Our side door is less than secure at the moment due to a latch that is broken down.. The door "pops"out of the frame when shutting it, so several slams are required to secure the lock.. This morning I woke up and walked downstair to the kitchen through the laundry hallway, basically without the deadbolt it just pulls open.. Greg has been saying yes eventually I'll get to it... Today that will end and progress will be made.

We have been clearing the 62' x 7'3" along our driveway of plants, bark that was 3 inches deep in order to put down new weed blocker and some kind of rocky gravel that doesn't degrade or change colors.. We will then decorate in pots with the color rather than planting in ground... Maintenance free! Got a quote from one location, now to find another resource yard to compare. The yard work needs to be done and Shane is gone today after his volunteer shift to a charity 5 or 10 mile mud run in Temecula, so sleep is all he is going to want to do when he gets back. So off I go before I lay down and take a nap.

vacation relaxation...

Monday I started a vacation where I am staying at home, and just relaxing with simple things to do until returning next Tuesday to the office.

I started last Friday by running up north a few hours to Porterville to watch Brook and the Chowchilla High School team compete in the qualifying on Friday and the Championships on Saturday.  When a couple weeks earlier I had found out from Brook when the next meet was, I immediately got out my AAA book and made a reservation.  The girls team qualified for the 200 Medley and the 200 Relay for Saturday. Bryan and Stacy live about 1-1/2 hours north of Porterville and so I was able to save the 3 hour round trip in a short amount of time that they had to make. The Saturday events started at 11am, Don and Albertha brought an umbrella and that saved us from a second day of the sunburns.  I ran into Krystal DeLeeuw whose son Trevor is also a sophomore competing for Tulare HS that was a special treat, as they used to live down by us and attend the same church we did. I headed home after the last event that Brook competed in.

Monday, I did some yard work before the trash truck took the green can, a few hours of yard work with lawn mowing and weeding.. and than just enjoyed a quiet day at home..

Tuesday, got up early, walked some on the treadmill and then I headed to the beach with my chair and a towel.. unfortunately I neglected to spray on the sunscreen and so I did receive quite a "red" coloring especially in the white areas of the body often hidden by shorts and tshirts.. so a couple of days staying out of the sun with a long sleeve shirt as I worked outside should help to simmer down the burn.. Greg put the bike rack on my car this morning, and I'm heading to the beach with the bike on the rack Thursday, a long sleeve shirt will be needed as well.   

Wednesday, I thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in late rolling out of bed at about 9:30.. and ran a couple of errands. We are working on a project alongside of our driveway, where for 30 years we have tended to alot of plantings of flowers, and our fair share of weeds.  In the last decade we have tried to abate the weeds by putting down bark n a thick layer surrounding the plants and pots.. Well, it has been very tough to keep the bottom under the bark from emerging on the top as you tended to the plants. So we decided to get rid of all the bark, and go for some kind of pea gravel. I pulled all of the lillies, birds of paradise plants out of the ground only leaving me undecided about the large sage which attracts hummingbirds as to whether I'll leave it in or pull it out. It expands pretty wide and trimming it would be a pain over the gravel..
      I scheduled a concrete guy to come by at 7:30 Thursday morning to give an estimate on our driveway which is perhaps 150' long and for a patio slab.. We had an estimate when we had our remodel done, but construction was good back then and the price was unreasonably high. Gregs not all on board, but he agreed to get an estimate in order to know.. but our driveway is pretty chewed up with cracks and so I'm pushing it to get done. Before we commit to the gravel in the large bedding area, knowing how wide we'd do the driveway would help if it can be done..  Wish me luck for a good price, or we keep going with the crackpot drive we have.

Well, time for a movie.. good night.

working hard...

I've probably framed 20 pictures in the last couple of weeks and been digging through photos for the ongoing photo wall for months... the project of the bathroom is done, but now Greg says it needs a coat of paint.. well, hey knock yourself out I say!  But the 9 pictures are on the wall. And I'm happy with them, which they all came from the fall trip to MN last fall. As Greg says, airline tickets $325., Hotel rooms/fuel $600, Shopping $250, memories Priceless! haha.. But it's my creation from my hobby....

Now it wasn't just any old hanging of a picture, which Greg is usually pretty anal about "perfection" in, but place 4 on the left and 4 on the right of this clock... and it turned into a geometry equation of major confusion from my point of view... I had a secondary plan but... if I wanted help, I had to compromise the control and really just hand the hammer and a nail when appropiate.. Shane did the marking on the wall as he called out the data.. cuz well, he's taller than I am, NOT because he was into the project! haha

 once the process was completed, this is what it looked like

there you have it, the bathroom has been progressing on the blog with new showerhead, shower curtain instead of closterphobic door enclosure, picture/clock hanging, and eventually a paint job.

Today I decided on the way home while dropping off some contracts at a vendors office that it was time for some spring planting.  So I stopped at Armstrong Nursery and took advantage of their 79 cent Petunia's which I picked up about 15 of them in purple, white, and a few pink and magenta.. I fell in love with this plant that was placed in a pot at the entrance and it only gets about 4 foot tall.. for being in a pot on our back porch it is perfect and the bonus is that it attracts hummingbirds..

Mandevilla plants that bloom year round

this is the space that is under construction.. we had 2 inches of bark before, it changes color and as plants needed to be trimmed back it would mix with the dirt underneath.. so I decided to scrape it all off, which was about 20 trash cans full over months of getting it done. And of course the weeds the bark originally would keep so hot they wouldn't come up, now are populating out of control.. so they have been dug up and or sprayed this past weekend.. and the plan is to lay down thick black paper after it's leveled and then do some kind of nickel size gravel/rock.. Most all of the plants in ground were removed, and it will be all potted plants except for a few we kept in ground.. but less high maintenance for sure.  And as you can see, the driveway is a huge need of demo and re doing, but it is also a bank vault of moola.. so we live with the rustic cracks as Shane calls them..

costco is a family sample fest...

Costco has been a numerous stops location for me this week. Cry-men-ee if the Friday Saturday crowd isn't triple the need to be amount of people, Reason being is that samples are abundant and the entire family structure comes to eat for free.. Now I myself am not a sampler, strange I know, but just not.. and so these family tree groups that walk four wide in the parking lot and two to three wide inside the store with their carts they ditch in the aisle as they mosey over to the sampler line to wait... Holy cow, some of us just want to get their stuff and check out before they celebrate another birthday... and by check out I mean the beautiful express self checkout line at the Lakewood Mall Costco... Yes once and awhile I do meet the $100 club while shopping at Costco and we have been known to buy some big ticket items here.. but usually I am the express line only have a few things.

In terms of my post yesterday, today I found those 9 frames at a specialty frame store, definitely think they are perfect for the space and look good with the large clock they will have between the four frames on the left and four frames on the right...  I have them laying spaced out on my living room floor and made a butcher paper template to test the spacing on the wall before we have to do any measuring.  For now they are laying on the floor as I want to hang them on the wall and that is going to be Sunday's job according to my master easuring man, Greg. So pictures are sure to be posted.   And then I will breathe a sigh of relief that it's done.. I would like to add that today I took along two pictures that are being hung to actually put them into frames of different coloring to test whether it worked or not..One of the employees at Aaron Brothers Art and Framing store walks over and asks if I need any help.. so I hold up the two framed photos and ask if they have a preference for the type of frame color with the pictures... He asks me "did you take those photos", "yes I did, from a fall color vacation", he says, "maam those are great photos", "why thank you".    Yes, I was pleased to hear his comment! 

Two shows that I really like to watch.. I'm not into alot of drama that can come with so many of them, and these two I tape and watch them minus commercials.
TLC: The Little Couple with Jen and Bill Klein. They are both funny, intelligent and adventurous people for living in a big people world. He is an entrepenuer and she is an NICU Pediatric Dr..  I truly love the way they are with each other, and can laugh at just about everything between them and are a perfect fit together as a couple.  He is a true prince looking after his princess.
STYLE: Bill & Guiliana.  He was the first winner on the Apprentice and she is an E! cable host. It's about their life together, some of their job scenario's, moving here and there, infertility, breast cancer. And they are a good fit together, he is the brains of the duo and she is the money spender and big time talker, but they are funny and I'm hooked on it. I am drawn to the kind of man that he is, as a husband in a take charge and yet calm demeanor with a huge sense of humor. She, I am drawn to because she is just a funny intelligent style ditz most of the time, but sincere and loves being Bills wife.  they make each other a huge priority.  He too is a true prince looking after his princess..  See a pattern here with the shows (?)

have a great Mothers Day to all of those moms that read this blog.

this week is productive..

This week was a mellow week of just what seemed like regular speed of days, nothing rushed or stuck in slow motion. You know how sometimes you feel like time is just dragging along and it's always "Monday" and the events aren't very interesting. Work wasn't anything out of the ordinary, even though it had a busy sense in that one of the major computer programs had a looming deadline of Thursday for shutting down for a week for upgrades. The getting ready for this was laid back and well planned out in my somewhat OCD organizing for it. No worries.. It was also a normaly difficulty to sleep much more than 4-5 hours and up feeling wiped out before even starting.

I attended a few baseball / softball games this week of the DeJong kids. Without doing Alpha at church this spring session, it has cleared the calendar for a couple of nights a week of meeting with people and it was just kind of what I needed.

A project I've been working on and am nearly done with is getting pictures printed and framing them of the siblings families. My family had recently been together for the intention of Shanes graduation but made sure that we did what we a complete family picture taken and of each family and then alot of random pictures. Getting the Symens side of the family has been pulling in the help of family and then waiting for the response. I was able to get a couple of the parents and his sister Kim from the reunion in OR last summer. So they are printed as 5x7 pictures in wooden rustic or colored frames in the den on tables.

We've done a makeover in the downstairs "guest" bathroom, also known as the boys bathroom. I'm now finishing it up after the boys did the work. Theres lots of earthy warm colors and one wall that was just blank. So I found a large clock at Target, and looked quite a view places for art work to put up. Home Goods, Target, TJ Maxx, Kirklands and yet nothing struck me as the coloring or type of framed picture I was looking for.  So the thought comes to me that I have alot of pictures from numerous trips of late that would compliment the new colors. I decided on the Fall trip that I took with Marlys last year, and for the whopping cost of $4.20 I have the Art..   And so I just got the (8) 5x7 and one 8x10 photos back and laid them out on the kitchen table, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out in the layout of the type of pictures and the coloring of them all . Now they all need frames and so tomorrow will be the hunt for them. I will wait to post a picture till there hung on the wall.. Not sure how long that will take.

Tonight I made Talapia and homemade mac n cheese,, it smelled yummy and it was.  but Shane gave it a try only to find out that the "eggs" don't get diluted enough in this to bake out and so he had a reaction to it and had no fun after a few bites... poor guy with his egg allergy which has gotten worse as he's gotten older just has such a small diet of options with variety.. His future someday wife will only need to know a few meals and no desserts ever for him.. and keep a good supply of benadryl on hand for his symptoms,   but wow it was good stuff and could only afford a few spoons full... Greg asked why and I told him it would clog his arteries.

Well, it's my bedtime.. goodnight

Sunday comes to an end..

I truly spent a lot of time this weekend motivated by a Costco coupon for 9cent pictures of 4x6, and also making 5x7 photos of Greg and my siblings.. My family has come together twice recently to do this and so I've been working with Greg side of the family to scrounge up a file to send via email. I then also had decided to print our feb Maui and the July family reunion pictures, some online, and others copied onto a flash drive to do at the store.. I ended up with other peoples pictures in my packet, or a missing 5x7, so quite thankful that today I worked 1100 reunion pictures down to printing 256.. Maui was well let's just say a lot more than that, but beautiful shots.. Next project is to book them to enjoy. We were invited to a birthday party today for Aunt Elsie who will soon turn 80 years old. She looks really well. It was good to her and see the women who from Leisure World are involved in each others lives with Aunt Elsie. Many of these women I know from past church, or neighbors of ours. Good to have a few moments to catch up with them... Many widows.. And then there were some family conversations with some catchup on life and kids..brothers Scott, Chad, friend Don Perris, and my cousin Randy.. It was a nice party and then we said our good byes. Well, ambien was taken early and it's kicked in... Another week lies close at hand...good night

Sunday afternoon slouching..

Today was Salsa Sunday at church with several services combined and led by the inspiration choir. Great service and a strong word brought by Pastor Ken.   And then we (Greg, Shane and I) went to a Brazilian BBQ all you can eat buffet. And while it was good, it was definitely NOT as good to the taste buds, or the wallet as the restaurant Salt Lick in Texas, oh man that was good.. The Brazilian BBQ was filling but it was not so spectacular that you'd pay that much again for it. Now don't get me wrong, their was alot of variety in meat, but well, for the price you didn't even get a doggy bag to go from it like at Salt Lick.

I had a few intentions for things to "get done" this wknd, but about all I accomplished was getting my nails done at the corner salon and laundry.. the rest just didn't seem that important. Oh right, I did get some photos ordered online at Costco for framing.. but beyond that... I've just vegged on the couch.

Greg and I went and saw the movie the Hunger Games on Saturday night.. It was a movie that was okay in the sense that it was definitely bizarre plot line and FICTION. But yet it lacked for and didn't give enough "lead info" to make ME understand what was the situation of this nation setup was that had people locked in like Auschwitz town where they are labeled in Districts and they struggle to make ends meet in a dark bleak environment with policemen in stark white uniforms, helmets and mob march in when the people get out of line. The constitution of this empire (my guess it's like an empire) takes a tribute from each district yearly.  They put the names in the hat of all the 12-18 year olds from each district and the more you "request" food, help from the empire puts your name into the hat for each request made (best  I could understand it). The boy / girl from each district selected than is treated like a king and queen for a short two week period in the capital where they are trained to fight for their life in a death match against all of the other tributes til death and one victor..  Okay so that is the gist of it and yet there were in the intellectual part of the brain I have that just couldn't get my head around the concept, the method it is carried out, and or the reason for watching an execution live on tv where they fight for life, anymore that watching 27 people randomly shot down in the street for no reason.  But knowing society who in traffic will stop to "take a look" at the disaster or watch car chases on tv... It's not a far fetched idea I am sure..  I liked the ending, and the lead girl in this movie..

This afternoon with Shane I've been watching the movie Iron Man, all the while he flips the station between two other movies he is watching... argh.. I'm not a big fan of this but, I keep him on track to stay with the commercial break amount of time..

Greg and I put up curtains in Shanes room on Saturday, the long 84" room darkening kind, but I only bought two panels and of course when I went back to get two more, they didn't have them. I wasn't to inclined to search other walmarts to chase them down and so I bought 4 panels of 63" lengths different color (all they had that went with his brown room) and of course the rods we put up are now to high for his long windows, so now we are going to have to lower them a few inches... ugh.. Greg is really excited about that as you can imagine...

so have a good week!

gone awhile..

It's been awhile since I've put "ink to paper" with this blog. Not that I haven't been thinking of things I'd write about but just beyond that I wallow without motivation. The proof hit me square in the face when I had to guess as to what my blog name was and missing a few time, and then when I finally figured it out by googling it (duh) the entire blog is new and reformulated. Which basically means it's a hugely foreign layout I struggled to figure out just to get started

So I get off the treadmill this afternoon, and start to watch my taped show "the good wife" and damned if I just watch all the commercials instead of flipping through them which is the sweet part of taping a show.. It didn't dawn on me until the last commercial break.. and you might ask why I didn't watch the show while I was on the treadmill, and that's because Shane was controlling the remote at that time.. Not worth the wrestling match at first to get it from him, until it was strategically a snatch and grab in the midst of his flipping stations like a madmen... the gig was up..

As I'm lounging watching some taped shows, I decide we will have spaghetti for dinner, and also that Greg had last night mentioned that we were going to need milk. Drats, so off to the store I run needing some fruit as well.  On the way home at 4:50  Shane texts me that he and some friends are now going out for taco Tuesday.. and Greg calls that his manager is in town and as is their custom, he's going out to dinner with him... ugh so I finish the spaghetti sauce out and it will be their dinner Wednesday night. Leftovers for me! Brian just walked in the door, said he was home for dinner but then he invited himself (Gregs taken Shane before) out with the boss for an all expense paid italian dinner.... and quiet for me.

Maybe I'll get some pictures ordered online with Costco for some frames that I bought in Texas for them. That seems to go undone after taking them, so I have some makeup pics to find and print. I also found some western photos in a magazine to frame.  I just recently hung a cross that looks like leather belt and buckles.

This is what I was told was on christianbook.com and it was perfect..

It hangs next to what else the wagon wheel on our long hallway wall that becomes the den.

The item on the left I found at a local OC swap meet, and the horseshoe and lariat I found at the Mesa Marketplace swap meet.. fills that odd space under the stairs pretty well.

Well, it's time to whip up those leftovers at my lonely dining room table.. haha..

a clear head heading into time off...

So today I put in my third long fulltime day (for a parttimer) and then checked out of the work mode. I am off on a vacation week Thursday to Wednesday.  Tuesday was the end of the month invoicing deadline for processing and Wednesday any last invoices can be accrued into the system to count and be paid for the month of March.  I had the week scheduled off but since the change of splitting the week off over two weeks worked for them and it worked out better for me, win win and now I'm done..

I'll be heading up on Saturday to Stacy's for a few days, and then try and hit Yosemite again on the way home. Of course it would have to stop raining TODAY for the roads in the National Park to clear up for me by Wednesday I'd guess. In the meantime I'm trying to find chains to borrow, so I can pay someone to put them on IF I NEED them alongside the road for a price.. but at least to have them to carry in car for my own security as two weeks ago it was required to have them in the car in the park and use at a certain point of required.. I kind of went beyond Park entrance and that of security feeling without having them in the car, was in second gear to keep the speed down and then had to decide it was time to turn around, as the road got slippery on the inclines at 6000 ft level..  When I decided "thats it I need to turn around, a sunshine spot of clear road on the uphill appeared" and I progressed to make an 8 pt turn feeling that at least I wouldn't risk the slide over the edge of the mountain road on the uphill of ice..  No great picture of Yosemite National Park Waterfalls and the park in snow was worth risking bad roads.  I'll see what the week holds of the road trip and time off.

I will then return to work on Thursday / Friday do a little catch up, and then I am off on a full week with two weekends of vacation this time.. I will have a few days of no plans ahead of flying on the 10th to Texas and see Ashley until late on the 15th.. she has a 2-3 day period of time off while I'm there so that will be nice.  She's come home a couple of times each year, and I haven't been out there since she first moved to TX.  So I am looking forward to that trip for sure.  She is talking with her dad right now on the details of a decision she has to make by Friday and so that is his area of expertise.. I will help her decorate, or talk out issues etc......if she asks for input..

The other day I went on a book buying frenzy on Amazon of used and cheap cheap books compared in a book store or at the conference I went to.  Nikon 5100 for Dummies, Digital Photography for Dummies, and something something about "capturing unique photos".. In glancing at the book for "dummies" my first impression was "holy cow, this is a thick book, small print, and lots of details, how am I supposed to remember all of this" and then low and behold 4th page or so, there is a website for a cheat sheet of what is covered and I will be all over that. But since I bought the camera, there is alot to learn and the manual that comes with it is short and vague.. So I want to become a more knowledgeable camera owner and user of the right Fstops, aperatures, and such, so time to get busy.

I also ordered books from Christianbook.com (as a guest) don't need to pay for a $5 membership for something they will provide for free.. didn't understand the why of it, but bypassed that opportunity to find out also.  I ordered a year long devotional by Anne Graham Lotts called In the Word.. half price of the conference price which they sold out of, so worked in my favor.  I also ordered a western belt loop cross that a cousin told me about that she saw on this website.. Perfect look and idea of an addition to my western decor den.. I also purchased the devotional book that Anne mentioned that was written in the 1700's and her grandmother gave it to her daughter (Annes mother) at age 10 and it's been a family tradition of giving to the daughters at age 10 since then.. it's a morning and evening devotional with some notes that Anne has included in her version.  I'll write about Annes conference next.  So it's been and going to be like Christmas with UPS and the Post Office delivering packages this week... and my mail order Pharmacy, sheesh that never ends!

A friend invited me to a Harvest Church sponsored womens MORE Conference which was carried live in Riverside but sold out and they also had several locations that were simulcasting it along with the singing group "the Gettys".   We attended the simulcast. It was an excellent Friday evening and all day Saturday of inspiration.  Anne is the daughter of Billy Graham and shares his same passion for Christ and for sharing the gospel of the love of Jesus Christ for each of us. She shared her own stories of struggling with what the average woman struggles with, husbands illness, ministry pushbacks... and she just kept bringing it back to the simplicity that in the midst of all trials MORE of Jesus is what we need and that is the longing of our heart.  She did a workshop on how to study the bible, three basic questions to ask of any scripture you read breaking down each verse. Working 3-7 verses at a time.  What are the facts?  What are the lessons? How does it impact my life? Writing the verses out in the left column spacing each one in it's own workspace, write your answers to each verse to the right under a column for each question, and then working through each one, reflect and take it in prayerfully and listen for the voice of God to lead your perspective and understanding.   We went through a set of scriptures to practice this, breaking off into groups, and then interacting with her after each question.. great learning process for making it stick to memory.. (the questions had explanations of them but I'm to lazy to go upstairs and get my notes) so if your interested in the depth of the workshop, let me know and I'll share... Went away realizing that I have gone flat in my walk with Christ and need MORE of him daily in order to do his will and purpose for my life. Pour it in from scripture in order for it to pour out.

Well, while it's past my bedtime, I just made arrangements with my old walking buddy to walk tomorrow and Friday at 6:15.. I'll be lucky to make it far without breathing deeply but the company will make up for the sweat and hard work it will take,

so goodnight..

thoughts in my head spilling out..

I truly spent a lot of time this weekend motivated by a Costco coupon for 9cent pictures of 4x6, and also making 5x7 photos of Greg and my siblings.. My family has come together twice recently to do this and so I've been working with Greg side of the family to scrounge up a file to send via email. I then also had decided to print our feb Maui and the July family reunion pictures, some online, and others copied onto a flash drive to do at the store.. I ended up with other peoples pictures in my packet, or a missing 5x7, so quite thankful that today I worked 1100 reunion pictures down to printing 256.. Maui was well let's just say a lot more than that, but beautiful shots.. Next project is to book them to enjoy. We were invited to a birthday party today for Aunt Elsie who will soon turn 80 years old. She looks really well. It was good to her and see the women who from Leisure World are involved in each others lives with Aunt Elsie. Many of these women I know from past church, or neighbors of ours. Good to have a few moments to catch up with them... Many widows.. And then there were some family conversations with some catchup on life and kids..brothers Scott, Chad, friend Don Perris, and my cousin Randy.. It was a nice party and then we said our good byes. Well, ambien was taken early and it's kicked in... Another week lies close at hand...good night

A Sunday ....

After church this morning Greg and I headed to Islands for lunch, Shane had said no, but then he and Lexie joined us there as well. We've been eating at home for the last few weeks with only a time or two eating out. It's just as nice to eat at home, have what we wanted done the way we like it for so less $$ and without also the coming and going of more hectic running after a long day.. a nice treat.

Sunday update on my Saturday Knob purchase: I had about 20 minutes this morning before church, and thought I'd start to replace all of the handles with the knobs. Only to realize that the screws that came in the knob plastic wrap aren't long enough (of course).  So after we had lunch with Shane and Lexie at Islands in the Long Beach Towne Center, we headed over to the Lowe's to pick up the new screws. Plus Greg had measured the windows in our room which we already have "room darkening" shades up on all of them.. but we didn't measure them quite right and so they were a tad to narrow for keeping them blocking the sun out around the bull nose corners of the windows.  So today we were correcting this. We had to special order the large window, but came home with the two side windows, and also the darkening shades for the boys rooms as much for the heat control as the darkening should they sleep past sunrise..

here are some pics of the "handles" before on our Tommy Bahama bedroom furniture and the knobs that are on there now.

Old Handles

New Knobs to replace the weak handles for the heavyness of the drawer

I like the knobs as the bench that is at the end of our bed that I recently purchased also has the rivets on the leather seat and these knobs have the rivet look on them as well.  The dark color at first Greg wasn't so sure of but with the dark bookcase, the dark streaks in the furniture I thought it was a good touch to them.

Greg is currently putting up our new room darkening shades on the west side of the house in our upstairs bedroom.  Bedtime is nearly upon me and time to wrap up the day. 

Have a good week..

The Saturday..

Well, I did manage to catch up on a few hours of sleep getting up at 10:30. A quick breakfast and then a trip to Home Depot. I had a list in my head, & picked up a 20' extension pole, new wash pad & attached squeegee. Also needed 21 new knobs for our bedroom furniture as the current knobs have a pull semi circle and a couple come out repetitively. I think Greg thught I'd get one knob and check it out first.. Ha, I was sure and wanted too be done with it. I then also got a new mop, because the mop that I now have the replacement parts of the scrub pad aren't available anymore at the store or stores like it, of course. So this time I also bought a couple replacement scrubbers now... Beat them at there own game..

I then came home and got started with the window screens removed, and washed.. Started on the shady side of the house.. Amounts to 12 of the 24 windows in total. By the time I got done with them. I was more than glad to let those remaining on the sunny side wait til the next open moment in the week (???) the tendinitis in the left elbow was burning and throbbing enough that I even gave up.

So the plan for the gardening didn't happen but I watered them and they will live another day to be planted.. I've been sitting on the couch since then monitoring the laundry progression.

Once I get too the shower, will see if Lois Borton is home and willing to have a visitor.yy So today was a good day with some things accomplished.. The closet purge can wait too!

Wacky week finally ends..

The amount of time from last Friday to this Friday seems to have been double and just so complicatedly packed with so much emotion, sickness,work, emotion... It's been exhausting..

Lisa's granddaughter Jayden was declared brain dead on Sunday, several days of testing her organs and then the transplant was done on Wednesday evening. It's been just difficult to focus as I tried to work on Monday and Tuesday after the days that I visited Jayden in the hospital and i just saw her body morph and change. Thank you for praying for their family, they appreciated it so very much. Lisa and Koryne saw a grief counselor today which is a good thing and have been staying at the home of Lisa's parents rather than go home.

A midweek migraine that made my stomach up chuck was not a fun morning and the first sick day of 2012. A long morning in bed with the shades drawn helped a little. A casual day, a couple of easy errands.. But a movie and a curl up day on the couch. Next day, back at the office. Full steam ahead, saddled with a new program that gives you a stomach ache, and makes the part time status I was working back into, seem impossible.. Ugh.. But now the daily headache will have a reason as well.

The weekend has rolled around at last, and it is a clean slate of nothing on the calendar.. Plan is to revel in this, do a little more gardening, maybe go thrugh that master closet and do a serious purge of perhaps a hundred things either on a hangar or a shelf or a belt rack... That ahould be easy... Hard to imagine a lack of clutter...

Thursday night was a great gathering at Alpha but a late late night and after 4.5 hours of sleep, 3am wakeup call has expired my energy.. Good night.

A burst of energy...

Today I had a burst of energy unlike what seems like, well, forever. Now don't go thinking that I accomplished anything big like clean a closet, heavens that would take more energy than what I'm talking about.. I worked a full eight, had an appt, and then what I did do was....... I washed my own car, okay a Ford Explorer that the roof is just impossible unless I haul out a ladder.. Didn't do that.. And I watered all the flowers in my yard (have you seen the size of my yard?)and then I pruned a good vining plant by clipping off the south end of my Mandevilla it which was intertwined around branches of an oldER Mandevilla that had been pulled out last spring after its death was prounounced. The stakes were leaning, it was a mess.. But I have boughten another Mandevilla and will plant it a little farther away and stake it more straight up than intertwined at first.. But the remaining one is bright red blooms, the new one is such a beautiful color red and white striped blooms.. Yummy.. I also bought 4 little geraniums to start out in my garden border area that are all hot pink... Geraniums much hardier than having last years mass of flowers bordering the garden.... Which it won't be long and it will be time to plant.. We already have two volunteer tomato plants that have come up.. The weeds in the garden need to be attacked, I'll get the boys on that.... Not my kind of work, kills my back..

Which speaking of the back, I need to get out that zumba DVD and get moving... Hit the treadmill routine again to strengthen that back with some walking, yoga and running.. I feel the need for a Yosemite hike this spring..

Well goodnight, feel the sleepiness from 3am breakfast wakeup and watching an HBO show about Magic and Bird documentary.. Then remembered I have a DVR for this and headed to the shower at 4am.. So that is why the burst of energy this afternoon was wild considering I have been more prone to a nap everyday vs activity beyond work.. And I'm still awake at 9:15pm... Past bedtime, goodnight.

tragedy...

I have a friend Lisa Turner who I have worked with at UPS for as long as she has been there, about 25 yrs. I've known her to be very devoted as a single mom, raising her two daughters Kat & Koryne, supporting them in their interest of being in the HS marching band and all that goes along with it for traveling, fundraising.  Her daughters are the same ages as my boys.  Lisa's ex husband had run out on the family when the girls were very young, and there in lies the problem where having a team work of values ran into push back for Lisa with the girls dad on nearly every issue.  He didn't pay child support but "treated" the girls with gifts which won their favor and made Lisa the bad guy always.  Lisa deserved better for sure, but she perservered and held her ground. 

About 17 mo ago her youngest daughter a college student in nursing at UCLA, gave birth to a little girl Jayden. Koryne had been seeing a boy whom she naturally was "in love" with, got pregnant and lover boy hit the road quickly wanting nothing to do with being a dad or even now the boyfriend.  Now Koryne may be a sweet girl, intelligent in the ability to go to school to become a neonatal ICU nurse, but her common sense on men is tweaked.  Koryne insisted she could have the child, raise her & finish her schooling.  While Lisa had Koryne move back into her home from the dorms so as to help out, they setup the nursery, and life took off as it does for most in this situation.  Lisa did most of the mothering, commitment and nuturing of the precious little girl. Jayden was the apple of Lisa's life, and while she worked part time, it made for a strain I'm sure with no financial support from the newest deadbeat dad in a little girls life. Koryne meanwhile studied hard, attending school with a frantic schedule and a commute from La Mirada to UCLA making overnight stays much easier on campus at her friends. And she dated more of the same type of men.

On Friday Jan 20th, she had school, she decided to save the daycare money by just having her boyfriend Rick watch the child. Now Jayden's reaction to Rick was in hindsight terror and crying when he was going to watch her, instances of "oops she had fallen off the bed". Lisa's complete distaste for him meant nothing to Koryne.  On this particular day her sister Kat offered to watch her, but Koryne said no that Rick could do it, basically because he had nothing to do... no job, no school, no goals for getting a job, so he's free babysitting and she "loves" him.

My side of what I heard of the details of the story last night as I sat with Lisa at the hospital;  there was a roomful of supporters of family, friends of Lisa or Koryne's UCLA classmates, band mates from HS, and the boyfriend Rick and his mother.  Approximately 10am Rick called 911 as a half hour of Jaydens crying had stopped and she was not breathing. Rick says Jayden fell off the chair, a recliner. The call went out to police first and then to the Fire Dept. who when they received it, Lisa's brother was on duty and he knew the address as his sisters home.  Her brother came on scene with no heartbeat or breathing from Jaydens body, and he performed CPR for the entire ambulance ride to the nearest trauma unit in Irvine at UCI. When they got to the hospital approx 45 minutes had elapsed since Ricks call, which is actually 1 hr 15 minutes after she fell. They got a heartbeat, but she is not breathing on her own, life support was begun, tests for brain activity all came up negative. She has extensive bleeding in the lower base of her brain and they gave no hope for any kind of a turn around. Lisa got the call while at work and just ran out as fast as she could and headed home, she had to follow the ambulance and her home was invaded by detectives who detained Rick for nearly the entire day questioning him. He was released and headed to the hospital just prior to my arriving at 8pm.

I received the call from Jeannie at around 6pm, another coworker who was now at the hospital and was just leaving.  I headed there about 8pm, and another coworker Maggie was there, we were both able to go in and see Jayden at about 10pm. She has the most beautiful curly long blond hair after having just received her first haircut. She looked peaceful as though just asleep as any toddler taking a nap. But you could notice the swelling of her head that was starting, and the neck brace, and all the tubes all over her tiny body were the only indication that she was doing anything other than just napping.. Her heart rate was 175 which is higher than normal but what is expected for a body fighting against the imminent death that is going on after the injury.. We talked to Jayden, as they assured us that she could hear us.. And then we left her room in tears... not a  Koryne had made the decision that they would donate her organs but the when the life support would be ended is not done within that first 24 hours while the investigation goes on. Detectives talked to Lisa for quite awhile as Rick has a history of "roughing" up Koryne and hopefully she made that clear.

Koryne I'm sure had her moments of breakdown when she arrived, but she was smiling, interacting and laughing somewhat with her college friends while I was there as thoughshe was in line to visit a rock star.. meanwhile her friends were subdued, looked stunned, quiet and teary& distraught... When I watch detective shows and they say "well they just didn't act like they were devastated" this is the picture that came to mind.. Koryne's time as a mom was quickly coming to an end, you couldn't have drug me out of little Jaydens room, I'd be taking in every moment that I had left.  My opinion, but this was just as bizarre as I could imagine, and it wasn't just mine.  Her mom said that Koryne was in denial, the instructor from her class said that it was time for her to switch out of nurse mode and into mommy mode.. so they were going to have the friends begin to leave so that Koryne was going to have to step into reality as difficult as it was going to be, she would regret it later if she didn't.

I haven't checked back with Lisa today, but this will be a difficult week as the saying final goodbyes to this lively little girl, and the things that will go with a memorial service etc... pray for them please.

update on projects

update on project #1 ~ plugs and cords in the wall...is that it is completed... yay!

and it looks so clean and professionally done. of course he wouldn't have paid a professional to get it done, but his grumbling about how it took his whole vacation to get this and project #2 completed doesn't outweigh what he saved... I don't get it, but whatever.

the finished product - Sweet!

The process

Gregs homemade bracket which is hanging off of the wall bracket before the final tweak

the unfinished stair tread

this is one coat of verithane

The shelf is drying after each coat (took days)

the previous condition of the setup ~ and the coffee table is now back to being a coffee table in front of the couches..

Project #2

Garage Door opener replaced (twice) - Greg and his Shane

yes, there are other house projects that are on an invisible list.... but, for now... no talk on them.. (I'm drafting up the PO # and the conditions for the scope of work.. (my job now creeps into home in order to get things on the table and completed)

hostile work environment at hand....

What I have always suspected, has actually now become a reality... When I moved to my new work position in the Los Angeles area, the type of people I work with has a different way of looking at life than I do.  I've blogged about this work location and the first comment from those where I came from to me being "watch your back" and how I didn't even know what that could mean.  The first supervisor I worked under here "B", he was basically a "get along" kind of guy who in order to have a happy workforce, let them run the show. He gave in to some ridiculous practices that allowed using more days off than you had coming in your benefits package, and the theory of "you just tell me what you need"... Well he was moved out of our building 2 months after I got there, I was glad. A new supervisor "K" was promoted was once a mechanic in this building, and he struggled with being management and no longer an hourly kind of friend/supervisor, at the beginning.  But since he transitioned he has now got a bullseye on him. What Bob left in the wake was a work force that "liked things the way they were done before" and so it has been a somewhat difficult period of time for change to be brought into play, and then to get them to understand that "the old way no longer exists" because it was wrong and "you either get on board or you will encounter discipline and/or lose your job"..  There behavior is very much like an honery child who doesn't fear the discipline or just waits till you hand it out and then they whine trying to get out of it.. ugh..

With consistent discipline foreighn to there sensibilities, they have become hopping mad, pointing fingers, trying to get away with the same practices and absolutely livid when they are disciplined.  Over and over again, the shop steward uses the phrase "we liked the way we used to do it" or "if you would just wipe every ones slate clean before you start the new way of doing things."  Huh, well that's not going to happen, just come to work unless you are absolutely vomiting, or bleeding severely.  One employee has 8 sick days a year, and this employee record has probably been off sick 50 times, it's almost uncountable.. it was along time before we finally convinced him to get F.M.L.A.  (family medical leave act) as he claims his diabetes pain in his feet are the reason he takes off so much. FMLA gives him two days a month to call in for two days (total of 4 days).. and trust me he uses them.  But for the entire year of 2011 when there was a holiday on a weekend, he would take one or two days prior and one to two days following the holiday.. Except for this past Friday before New Years. And why might that be, because he was written up for a 3 day suspension for just that reason early in the week, and his next occasion would be a written warning and than firing... So he as usual promised he'd do better, I'm trying, blah blah blah..   I met him in the hallway on Friday and shook his hand and thanked him for making the improvement so quickly and being a valuable part of the team.  He laughed and said, what is it Friday and I forgot what day it was... He's actually a funny guy who jokes around that he's the hardest working employee we have and so on and so on... Keeps him going I guess..

So anyway, there are 17 porters/housekeeping employees, and their are perhaps 4 that do not play these games listed above. (surprising huh?)  There are 8 mechanics and 1 of them lives with one of the porters, they share his hers and ours kids. They make progress, a disciplinary occasion will expire and then they add another one.  The two of them together are each our worst offenders always at the point of "suspension just before losing their jobs" for violations and considered the worst in the district.. Quite a dubious honor if that's what your after in life.  It's a frustrating part of the job that increases paperwork, and the constant difficulty in keeping the building clean  and operating for our dept without enough employees to cover the workload. 

So anyway, before Christmas we had a potluck where one of the mechanics smoked tri tip and we all contributed a dish, and we were invited and participated...
                                       

This week, they planned their own potluck on Friday for New Years perhaps or another excuse to not work, and didn't invite us, so we weren't aware they were having one.  The mechanics supervisor "K" called over the intercom for a specific mechanic "J" to come to the office, he needed him to do a specific job of posting a parking Circle of Honor sign in the employee parking lot.  The mechanic "J" comes into the office and as it's being explained what he needs to take care of, this mechanic asks the supervisor  "K" if he can talk to him in the managers office... Later after "J" had left the office, the supervisor "K" tells me that this mechanic "J" had gone to the potluck, and noticed neither the supervisor "K" or I were there.  And he asked them if we were coming, and a few of the porters  replied "pff, they aren't invited to our potlucks, they are the enemy and we don't like them".... so this mechanic "J" told them "well if you can't invite everyone who is a part of this dept team of porters and mechanics, than you don't have to invite me to anymore of these potlucks either", and he walked out..

Now I want to just say that this is not an easy thing to do in the midst of this rough crowd that he will work with, and it will most likely have some backlash for him.. When I heard this I got teary as it was hard to hear, but that I was very proud of him "J" for taking that stand on our behalf.  I also would hope that I too would take that stand when there is an exclusion of others who are part of a team on purpose.  This picture below has been on an elementary school marquis for months and I took it one day.. it certainly applies here for some adults..

I've done blogs on this work group before and the difficulty of working with them and around them can be.  They are back biters amongst each other, rumor starters of bizarre tales, and just alot of lack of character and bad decision making is evident. My interaction with them is that I input there payroll, schedule vacations and order there supplies and I deal with the backlash of there wrath on many levels, where they are antagonistic between each other, and "authority". I'm a pretty easy person to get along with and really have tried to be sympathetic, understanding, and helpful to them with computer searches when they have asked.. But if you attack me on baseless comments or try to hurt me with "so and so said this about you" yes I will stop you from continuing to talk, because I am no longer in high school and will not stoop to you acting like you are and dragging me into it... so some of these employees don't have my respect and I have withdrawn from much beyond coming in doing my job and laying low in contact.  But boy when they need something they come in and turn on the sweet talk.. ha and I just listen, take a note and tell them I will get back to them with an answer.. and smile pretty.. Apparantly they would like a hug as well and a pat on the back each and every time, and a cookie... whoops, that's not really necessary!

So now they have made the hostile atmosphere of a line in the sand and watch your back... and I will have NO PROBLEM with it.. they on the other hand have policy they need to adhere to in order to keep there job.. period.. I follow it, the supervisors follow it, and they have to follow it.. fair is fair.. no one gets preferential treatment in spite of there desire to receive it..

Today I saw "J" for the first time since Friday and I made sure he understood how much I appreciated his comment and gesture on our behalf.. No lengthy conversation, but just that I knew.  2012 at the office I work in will be an interesting place in light of how 2011 ended, but I will not compromise right decency for being run over to get along..

have to do my part

Project #1

Greg and Shane this afternoon hooked up the tv back onto the wall, all the cables are now plugged into the box inside the wall that has two (4) electrical plugs & the Dish Satellite cable going into the tv. It will be so "clean" looking when it's all done.  Now the part that I forgot is that I said I would go and look for the shelf that will be hung below the tv for the satellite box, Xbox etc.. and I didn't do it.. But Greg found that the homemade (pretty cool) steel bracket he crafted still needs a little tweaking tomorrow at his shop so as to not hit the back of the tv..  So I have another day to produce the mantle like lightweight shelf that I want..  and then the coffee table will again be a coffee table.  There is an unfinished oak wood store close by... or.....

We actually ended up running over to Lowes after dinner to see what they had.. and came across a stair tread with a rounded front edge, and with side pieces that match the front edge that must be glued on to the sides to match.. sweet look and it's the right size.. a coat of verithane over the oak piece and it's ready to go up and complete the look.

 

This is the existing bracket the tv was already mounted on, but just envision the Dish cable going down and then to the wall socket 5 ft to the left, and the electric cord going down and 5 ft to the right to the power plug... not a pretty sight and then the other random cords for DVD and/or XBOX game console down to the table.  Now it will all be up behind the tv recessed and strapped up unseen.

New black hole for all connections, the old satellite connection is visible to bottom left.. Greg groaned when I told him that needed to come out & be patched now that it's not needed.  :)

 hole now covered with a recessed box with 4 electric outlets, and the Dish Satellite cable

Shane & Greg adjusted the box which was cockeyed and even though only we'd know it... it's now straight

"You see son, I did this & connected it to that, welded this clip to the top, and with these bolts it's adjustable".. and so on...

Greg created the brackets that will hang from the tv bracket & the shelf will rest on the "L" part of it without having to bolt it to the wall with the supports that level it off the backside... quite ingenious & the kind of stuff he likes to do

And then it will hang like so..

and walaa the tv is back up on the wall & functioning like it should, only thing missing is the shelf for the stuff that adds to the enjoyment of the tv

Our trip to Lowes found this stair tread that we are converting to a shelf (rather than a flat plank we have to dress up with a router) and the side has trim that will make it look so much better than a flat edge.

like so for the side edge

One tv room down, one more to go... go team go..

progress being made..

There has been progress being made on project #1 and with one more coat of paint, the tv goes back up on the wall. Tomorrow I will go and look for a mantle like piece of "more than a plank" to hang below the tv to have all the "boxes" of Dish DVR, xbox, up higher to read the remote from the kitchen table...

Greg has had more than a few trips to Home Depot in this process and been doing some huffing and puffing when asked those annoying questions like "what will that be for?"  So I have been for two days just laying low and letting the boys get into the line of fire as they offer aid........... I know you know what I'm speaking of. Standing clear, bringing him only what he asked needs from across the room when it's requested..

Today as he's wrapping it up, much lighter demeanor :)

Thankful for a "forced" vacation by his company between Christmas / New Years to give him space to work on the house.  yay!

he took me seriously...

A couple of days before Christmas I asked Greg this question "was he done with his shopping?" and his response was that I hadn't given him any ideas.... hmm, I don't recall his asking.  So I just repeated what I had told him several weeks earlier that I would like him to "just" finish some projects that were started, or take on the projects that needed to be done around the house/yard... There are three that come to mind without having to speak them (unfinished) or that I would like a tripod of good quality and lightweight for a backpack while on a bike or a hike with my camera....

He seemed more inclined towards the latter idea, and away he went after having asked questions on what kind of tripod, looked them up online, asked some more questions.. So I was pretty darn sure that I was getting a tripod (if he could find one still on the shelf where he looked), but was really hoping he'd go for idea #1..

Yep, I got the tripod and it is perfect for biking or hiking....

You might be wondering what immediate projects would I like done:

Project #1 & 2 on my list of wants was to get the tv, dish box, etc cables into the wall behind the 2 tv's from hanging down the wall to the sockets.  They are now draped across the room from behind the tv where they are in plain view. He's off this week and Monday already he starts taking the living room tv off the wall, using his sensor to find the "studs" and then starts cutting a hole(s) in the wall.. today he and Shane (who showed up after dark) crawled in the attic, and then under the house in search of where the "dish network" cables are located, cutting holes and the rest of whatever you need to find or add in order to put all the wires for electricity and cables into a box inside the wall out of sight behind the tv mounted on the wall...  Yay, almost done, hopefully he'll have better luck doing it to tv #2 in the den as that's next on the list....

#3 The incompleted garage door opener put up 2 weeks ago (new one). Which is so sophisticated the chinese instructions have hampered it's completion of installation or the plan to dismantle it and returning it to downsize to something less "sophisticated" for the old garage wooden garage doors we have.  If the new garage is ever built, then he will upgrade.. (if being the key word)

#4 and then the previously blogged about vibrating walking LOUD washing machine on the tile in one of the hallways to be perfected after first attempt failed .. it's still an issue that he knows is an issue without having to say it is an issue. Just running the machine, reminds ya quickly the issue is LOUD.

Oh and then there are lots of "little" items we've discussed that aren't expensive just take his time.. so he could be busy all year as time is not a commodity he likes to give to such things...

Well time for bed, the work alarm will come early.  I might need to hire someone for one of the above..
 heehee..

 

tis the season fa lalala..

After 29 years at UPS, I am actually enjoying this particular Christmas season as the most relaxed one EVER... why you might be asking?  I changed job positions back in early March & to a new location..

I have absolutely no longer anything to do with zipcode assignments for Ground & Air service for the large & small packages, the Time in Transit for Peak Season is not my responsibility for charts / training employees. This is what can dictate success or failure in what the employees know, when they know it and if they didn't WHO was responsible for it.. proofreading 100% accuracy which meant I brought work home everynight.  Whew, from Thanksgiving to New Years was always a feverish daily change, every sort, every building doing something different & specific to them.. 7 buildings was a juggling act.

What I do now is ONE building in Vernon, payroll input daily, employee entitlement tracking & adjustments according to contracts for pay.  I order supplies for everything from toilet paper, cleaning supplies (brooms,mops,hand soap, paper towels) to mechanics needs of screws, nuts, belting, iron, most everything related to keepig the motors to run machinery and everything in between. I write up contracts with vendors and process them for signatures, make sure every vendor has Insurance to be on property or work on property.  I call vendors to come in to do repairs for things that are related to plumbing, electrical, floor scrubbers or getting water out of an Automotive sump pump from rain water, or picking up Bio Hazard materials that are "damaged" in transit (like pig fetus's or dead kittens, stuff happens!).. And then I call to get these particular things invoiced sooner rather than later if they are an item in our current month of budgeting.. If it's something that we would prefer to be invoiced next month, I make sure I issue a PO # first to slow down the process forcing them to wait a little while..  But in the month of Dec we only play a little catch up, reconciling some buildings being so far over budget that the rest of us have to tighten the reigns to make up for it..  But it's every day the same, no peak season RUSH that makes you have crazy busy rushed days and sleepless nights.. Never did I imagine you could or would multi task as much as this job requires.. It's like playing "minute to win it" during the time I'm there and then come back the next day and do it again but nothing life and death like package failure that EVERYBODY in the country knows about immediately. get my point..

Okay so the sleepless nights was a phase I went through recently, but absolutely not work related for sure. 

But honestly, the new hours I work are just NOT intense for the busy peak season for me as they "always" were before.. It's like a night and day difference being out of that loop. The new loop has some stress now and then, but  I start way early enough in the day that I can get some things done in the afternoons after I'm off. The old job position was flexible but rigid tense.

So as Ashley comes home to CA on Tuesday through the next Tuesday..  It will be a good Christmas...  :)