The life of a homeowner!

I have been busy working on the new house! Painting, plumbing, unpacking, tossing the junk that my Mother insists is ours and it isn't.

My newest project this weekend is putting a wrought iron railing around the back deck so that the insurance company doesn't decide to cancel our policy. She was awfully picky on one other issue...if you could see me I am rolling my eyes....we have two boards on the front porch that she considers "warped". They started off saying we have to replace the entire porch and now we are down to the two boards. The really picky thing is that where they are popping up higher than the rest of the boards is directly under the railing on the front porch!!

There is NO chance anyone would walk on this warped board unless they were falling breaking a leg, and sliding under the railing on the way to the ground below!

A few funny things

The economy isn't the best right now so this sign was seen posted in the break room at work.

On one hand I am glad it isn't as easy as a drive thru divorce but man some people can be just reduced to their lowest points during this process.

Moving day is fast approaching and we are getting more and more excited.
I am ready to put some space between us and the Ex's.

Where was I?

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I am not dead but if I was it would be nice to know that my car would be paid off.

So I have been very very busy with the things of life and did I mention I am buying a house? It is cute. Very Cute. Lots of character.... It has a tree house in the back for the squirrel and we will all have our own bedrooms! That hasn't been the case since September...needless to say we are all a little excited. Yes it needs a little work, painting the rooms, laying a kitchen floor, putting up handrails on the steps, but this is all stuff we can do with minimal amounts of help...unless you are volunteering :o)

I mentioned in the last post that Big Red has gotten married. I am not really upset about it but it isn't like I am going to invite them over for coffee. I do not want to see them together. I just want him to go away. Now that my name is FINALLY off everything we owned jointly I do not have any reason to ever see him again.

HOORAY!!!!

Things are looking up and I am excited!

Still alive and kicking!

I am still alive contrary to the rumors of the death of my blog. I have just been very busy trying to keep up with the Squirrel, deal with Big Red finishing up the odds and ends of name/title changes of the divorce, suffering through Mother's Day, the not-so-new job and the trials of life in general.

Maybe I just need a new layout to get interested in this again...new colors...new information.

Oh wait I have stuff to blog about...just lack the time to do it...And the squirrel thinks my keyboard is too loud so he "shushes" me when I type...

Did I mention Big Red got married a couple of weeks ago? Yeah maybe there will be more on that later...

So I resisted the urge to choke him today....

So after dropping the squirrel off at school today I had to stop and get gas. And what is up with $3.45/ gallon?! That just cements my idea of finally buying the motorcycle this summer. Well that and I don't have to park a 1/2 mile away from my desk...it will be just 50 feet or so. I filled the tank up and it cost almost $50.00!! This is where I make myself sound old by saying, "I remember when..." gas was only $0.59/gallon.

How did I get so off track?

Any way... I ran into Big Red at the gas station and he had enough nerve to tell me that he was taking his girlfriend's son to the orthodontist. The man who did not want to be bogged down with a kid...didn't want the responsibility of a child...is now playing "Mr. Dad".

He hasn't had time to follow through on the rest of his obligations from the divorce decree but he can take time to criticize me for missing church last night, ask me about new car deals available right now and a host of other things while I was waiting for the gas to finish pumping...

Anyway I am just mad...I'll get over it....must get ready for work.

Ouch

I know this may sound really odd but my tongue really hurts! When I look in the mirror it looks like I have several taste buds swollen, irritated and inflamed.

I thought maybe I was doing that crazy sucking thing when I sleep again. I know that sounds odd but apparently I suck on my own tongue when I sleep at times...

Given that I have worked with children and seen almost every ailment known to mankind I have ruled those out. I am not currently working with children so it would make it highly unlikely at best.

Oh Well just another oddity of my life...

Whew....

The events of late in my humble abode have left me exhausted to say the least. Dealing with our little squirrel with issues of medication switches, shake ups of homes etc has taken a toll on us all.

The slightly odd note here is that Squirrel has begun refering to me as one of his parents. I find this odd. I have made no secret of my misfortune in the child producing area of my life.

However this past weekend it dawned on me that I am old enough to be the parent of every young girl sitting at my table on Sunday mornings. Most of them were born the year I graduated from High School.

WOW.

I do still have every intention of Adopting someday. God's timing ...not mine...

The new job...

There is someone who was hired at the same time as myself for the same position only Part time.

The problem I have is that she sleeps....yes at work. She is only in her 20's!

She even plans this into her day! "I will just do XY&Z and then sneak in a nap before lunch..." Our supervisor is aware of this but has been SO BUSY he hasn't had time to address this issue with her. I am not implying that this is an excuse for him...we literally have had people walk out and quit, pass away and other issues like flooding at his home etc. All major issues.

I hope this is taken care of soon or at least addressed...the rest of us are tired of picking up the slack. We are only picking up things that reflect on us as a group, her indivdual responsibities are hers to screw up. Which will become abundantly clear in the next several days.

I am tired and will be curling up in my nice warm bed away from the evil wind outside soon so I bid you farewell.

2 years ago....

Two years ago I posted this on Valentine's day.

Two years ago my divorce papers where actually filed at the court house. About a year ago the divorce was actually final.

I could really care less if it Valentine's Day this year. I am not saying I am thrilled with being single but I am OK with it.

I am getting on with new parts of my life and enjoying how I have been stretched by God in the process.

I know I have been scarce around here but I have other interests now and don't feel the need to vent as often as before.

I am amazed at the progress I have made...

Fun with neighbors....

Well the snow hit with a resounding THUD outside in the yard! I measured around 5 inches I think but it was difficult to tell because it had blown around the yard quite a bit before I made it out with the snowblower.

The snowblower we have is a MONSTER! It is a 7.5 HP red beast that weighs at least 1000lbs! I am just happy that it has all the bells and whistles like the electric starter, self propelled with huge wheels to tear right through any mound ahead of me however...

My arms and legs are killing me today!

After a neighbor helped me with the electric starter (I didn't have a cord long enough) and had a good laugh at why we needed one this big I was on my way. It only took about 45 minutes to snow blow the driveway, sidewalks and a spot in the yard for my sis to park so the snowplows could go through without burying her car. I was exhausted!! I have to be careful in colder weather because it becomes more difficult for me to breathe and coldness ups my risk of blood clots for some reason. Sometimes I don't realize how limited I am by the APS until I go to do something everyone else can do and almost kill myself in the effort. It doesn't stop me from trying but I have to be very aware of my limits.

Are you ready for the funny part?

The garage is not attached to the house so therefore I took my keys out with me to unlock the garage to have access to the Monster.

No Problem!

When I was ready to come back in the house I went toward the door and out of habit reached in my pocket for my keys. Exhausted and out of breath I can't find them...hmmmm.

The house is unlocked but I know that the keys are outside somewhere. I go get the spare key to the garage and look but don't find them inside. I got the spare car key to check inside where I grabbed my gloves.

Nope.

I begin to walk around where I have used the snowblower. Nope.

I begin to fear that they have fallen out and I have run over them sending them flying into the piles of snow I have made.

This is one of those times I am very thankful that I have BIG bright key chains on it!

Well they apparently they did go through the Monster of a snowblower as I eventually found them in the middle of the yard where I had not walked.

Another. 45. minutes. later.

I was afraid to pick them up and see what mangled mess would be left...

Amazingly there are only a few small scratches on the remote for the car and so far all of the keys I have tried work well.

Now today I need to tackle the car and getting that cleaned off....

I am tired....

Have you ever had one of those conversations that lasts literally for days?

The Squirrel has literally told me every fact in his brain about planets, volcanoes and a certain foreign country that his Father is in right now.

For the last 4 days......nonstop......several times....over and over and over and.....

well you get the picture...

You can't tune him out either. If you do not respond in the right time frames he will say the same thing over and over raising his volume slightly each time. Followed with a harsh little comment of, "Geezs would it kill you to offer a simple OK? so I know you are listening???"

The speech that follows about respect isn't worth it because he will just start over the entire conversation about the planets etc because he is "not sure which parts you heard".

One way or another you will hear what he has to say...

So I might as well listen half heartedly the first time and throw in a "uh huh" and a "really" every couple of minutes.

In fact I am surprised this post turned out this organized because I have a tendency to type what I hear and he has talked nonstop since I picked him up from school...

Of course I am not as tired as a fellow employee is as she sleeps half of the day every day at work . The boss is aware and I am sure plans are in the works to fix this problem....but more on that a different day....

Wisdom and a word to the wise

IF you date a married man and then he leaves his wife to date you.......

You are then dating a man who thinks it is OK to date other people while in a committed relationship.

Don't act surprised when it comes back to bite you in the end. You reap what you sow...

So if you want a relationship that works don't date the married man to begin with.

Just my thoughts...

Job Description?

So I have a varied job description thus far...

• I have learned phone etiquette for this particular business.
• I have learned phone scripts and the most positive ways to phrase things
• I have made phone calls
• Practiced phone calls until my mouth was so dry I could barely speak
  
• OK maybe that was a little bit of an exaggeration but I have made literally thousands of calls to the other employees I am training with
  
• Today we figured out our new headsets and the little quirks they have.
• We also put together one of the three desks we will be using as well as all three chairs. The other two desks will be in next Wednesday.

One of the really odd things is that I am now working at this new job with a girl I haven't seen since I was 8 or 9 years old. She lived next to me for a year or so when I was a kid. The last time she saw me she was 5 or 6. Really odd after all these years.

She has been asking me a lot of questions about God. She has been to church a few times but not anything that she would classify as a commitment. Seems to me that God really wanted me to have this job for more than one reason.