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YAPPERS, LEAKS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

ok, i have been in a position in the past, when i was divorced and had a small child, that i had to take my daughter to work with me on occasion. i think most people have had to do that at one point in their lives. some workplaces work with the parent/s on this matter. but i think i have to draw the line on this one.................one of my co-workers has brought her dog to work on several occasions. i don't know for what reason. but the dog is extremely annoying and it isn't the poor doggy's fault. it is a tiny pomeranian female, and due to a flea infestation, all the hair was shaved off awhile back and the hair is just now growing back out. she looks like a chocolate chihuahua instead of a pom. she yaps and shakes, yaps some more, shakes, trembles, and did i mention yaps? the co-worker (who no one gets along with anyway) put the poor dog (named Baby) in a plastic storage tub tall enough she couldn't jump out. her toys, food, water and sleeping mat were all in the tub with her. i think i was the only person who paid any attention to the poor thing all day. every time i went to the back for something, i would stop and caress the little turd, i mean cute little doggy. then she would yap for 30 minutes wanting me to come back and pet her again. i asked the big boss why she was allowed to bring her, and all he said was that the owner called him and asked him if it would be ok to bring her to work with her and he said ok. sigh..................i should have brought my kitty to work.........she would have eaten the little yapper.

we were really busy at work today. i have been working there since november 8 of 2007 and i have never seen cars and trucks lined up out to the road trying to drop off donations. today is the last day that you can donate your crap, i mean used treasures, and get a receipt for your taxes. i think everyone in town and beyond delivered SOMETHING to our little store. we need a bigger building and a bigger parking lot. we had so much stuff that the salvation army headquarters had to send another huge trailer to house it (the kind of trailer like a truck pulls on the highway, a "big rig"). that makes 3 we have now, all filled with stuff. thank goodness i am off on thursday and friday. but i will catch it on saturday.............

when it was finally time to go to lunch, i had to have one of the community service guys hold back traffic so that i could get out. another employee had parked her car so close to mine, i had to clean out the passenger side seat and scoot over to the driver's seat. when i got back from lunch, i couldn't even get to the back parking lot, so parked on the side of the building. geeeze louise.

i ate at mcdonalds because i had a coupon that expired today for a free hamburger. 2 of my customers were sitting and eating when i walked in. then while in line, another customer came up behind me in line. he was one of the ones i ran into at walmart when my daughter and i were grocery shopping on sunday. when he walked up behind me, he said we were going to have to stop meeting like this, people were going to talk, lol. he is a really nice older man, but he smokes. yuck.

we were ready to go when it was 5:00. i was going to go by one of the elder volunteers apartment and take her the scarf and hat i made with the yarn she gave me. but i was so tired. we made over $300 more than we usually do on SATURDAY! that is a lot of small dollar items. we didn't sell many big priced items, so that meant a continuous stream of customers all day. but one of the other co-workers was really nice about covering for me on breaks and lunch. it was really a pretty good day.

in case my last entry was missed, my kitty, Coatie, has started her own blog. i won't let her have the computer right now, so she only has one entry. but keep an eye out for her writings. susie, paula's kitty (over at paulinescountrytales), has already commented on and started following coatie's blog. we'll see how it goes.

i think i am going to sleep in tomorrow. i have several things to pick up from FREECYCLERS on friday, so tomorrow is my only sleep-in day.

when i was leaving for work this morning, i saw a note on the front door from my downstairs neighbor. it said she needed to talk to me about the leak coming from my bathroom, it was getting worse. i was running late, so didn't knock, but she came to the door and called out to me as i was getting into the car. i told her i would talk to her tonight since i was running late for work. when i got home tonight, the note was gone, she wasn't home and the landlord had left my monthly statement on the stairpost. so i guess i will have to talk to the housemate another day. i don't know what could possibly be causing the leak. since it doesn't appear to be happening but occasionally, i figure it might be the shower/tub. if it were the toilet, it would leak every day, several times a day. i don't need plumbers running in and out of here. i had a flood in my kitchen floor yesterday and discovered it was the drain under the sink in the kitchen. so i guess someone will have to fix that so that i can continue washing dishes.

i have prattled on long enough. i hope everyone has a very happy and safe new year. i was going to buy some beer and sit and watch the peach drop and get fuzzy myself, but changed my mind. my daughter is having an "ugly sweater" party. hope it is successful.

i might be back later.

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SHE WENT AND DID IT!!!!!!!!!

against my wishes, my feline has started a blog. i must say she has a good start, but not sure if you should believe everything she says. one should never trust a female, or a cat, but especially a female cat, lol.

i am hoping that she does well in blogland. please visit my little kitty's blog at:

http://coatiescorner2.blogspot.com/

thank you.

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ONE OF THE BEST DAYS EVER

Post from Sunday, December 28, 2008

I have to admit, today was one of the best days I have had lately…..heck, it WAS the best day I have had lately, or possibly even ever.

I had planned on getting up early and going grocery shopping. But when my alarm went off, I looked out the window and it was dark, drizzly, foggy, yucky. I hit the one hour snooze alarm and went back to sleep.

An hour later, I hit the one hour snooze alarm again. I finally got up at noon. After making sure I was fully awake, but not out of bed yet, I called my daughter to see if we were still on for lunch today at Cracker Barrel. She was already up and awake, which is strange for my child, lol. She said she wanted to go with me to eat, so we made a date for 2:30 pm.

After showering and dressing, I drove over to the restaurant and went on in to put our names on the list because there was such a huge crowd. My daughter arrived about 5 minutes later, and then about 5 minutes after that they called our name.

I usually love the store part of the restaurant, but today I didn’t see anything I wanted. So I figured we would spend the whole gift card on food and tip. And we did, lol. We both had a scrumptious meal, great conversation, and no arguments. I didn’t want the time together to end.

I gave her some jewelry I had gotten from work, like a pair of Georgia Bulldog earrings, a necklace, and a pink-stoned butterfly belly-button ring. My daughter’s belly-button isn’t pierced currently, but she has said she wants to have it redone when she loses some weight. (It brought back memories of when she had it pierced the first time………when she was 16 and still at home. I went into the bathroom to get something and she was in the bathtub. She has always been modest about people seeing her naked, but usually didn’t freak out when I went into the bathroom while she was in the tub. She screamed at me and bent over, like she was hiding herself from my sight. I found out much later that she was hiding her belly-button ring she had had done the day before without my knowledge or permission. Back then I was furious, but now I realize that it wasn’t one of those battles I should have fought so fiercely. But hey, hindsight is 20/20.

She gave me my Christmas present, which I told her wasn’t necessary. It was a nice card with 2 Wal-Mart gift cards inside, each worth $25. It was a really nice gift. I have the $55 gift card from my boss still unused, so figured I could do some damage at Wallyworld.

After we finished eating and taking some time to just sit and talk, we went to Wal-Mart, which is right next to the restaurant. She had said she had to get groceries while over that way, and I needed to get some things as well. So we both drove over to Wal-Mart and went in together. I followed her through the food section and picked up a few things here and there. It was sorta cool watching my baby girl buy groceries. Out on her own, alone, for the first time in her life. Atta girl……….

She ran into a few people she knew and talked briefly to them, and a couple of my customers from the SA were there as well and we talked briefly. A woman my daughter and I both knew called out to me and came to hug me. She is part of my depressing history from a few years back. It wasn't really great that we ran into her.

My daughter had wanted to purchase a new vacuum cleaner but they were out of stock on the one she wanted. I told her to check it out online to see if it is on sale there, and if so, they have to ship it to the nearest Wal-Mart for free.

After completing our shopping spree, we went to 2 different cashiers because she had much more stuff than I did, so I was done before she was and was able to help her put her items in the buggy (yes, buggy, a southernism, lol). We went out to our cars, unloaded, hugged, kissed, and said our goodbyes. She was headed home to put up her groceries and take a nap, while I was headed to another store to pick up a couple of things and then home. I was still full when I got home, so didn’t fix anything to eat until later. I fixed a banana sandwich for supper.

It was a truly amazing day for me. I am sure that my daughter didn’t enjoy it as much as I did, but she didn’t seem too anxious to run away from me the whole time, which, in my book, is a real plus. We have had some rocky times over the last 8 years. Just being together without fighting or getting upset is a real blessing. I think we both have matured.

Well, I am going to try to post this while I have a wifi connection. I have to work the next 3 days. My mindset is to not let anyone over the next 3 days steal the joy I have felt today. I know they are going to try, but it just ain’t gonna happen………..

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SHOULD I GO OR STAY, OR START ANOTHER BLOG?????

the drama continued at work today. i was angry at first, then realized that they have to answer to God for the wrongs they do, as do i, and why should i allow them to cause me to lower myself to their level?

i got another Christmas present from one of my customers. he is a musician, producer, etc. and made his own cd of Christmas music. i cannot wait to hear it. i thought it was a truly wonderful gift.

i found a large picture of a magnolia in the store, so called my daughter to tell her that she might like it for her office at work. i knew she had gone out last night partying, so figured she was still asleep when i called her and left a message. she came in later in the day, sunglasses on (and it was cloudy, drizzly and foggy outside, lol), looked at the picture and decided she wanted it for her apartment instead. so she gave me five dollars for it, even though i told her that it would be $1.99 plus tax. she took the picture and went home.

i am still sniffling, sneezing, and whining. the weather here is so stupid. for several days it will be highs in the 60's and lows in the 50's, then the next few days will be highs 40's and lows 20's. no wonder i am sick. i wish it would either get cold or stay mild.

my downstairs housemate has been smoking heavily lately. i can smell it upstairs, as well as the incense she burns to hide the odor of whatever she smokes (which includes the mary jo wanner ciggies she smokes).

i haven't been grocery shopping in over a month, so i am going to get up really early and do so. that is when you get the best deals. then i have a lunch date with my daughter. i hope her hangover is better by then, lol.

being sick, i haven't really felt much like writing lately. i feel my creativity is all dried up. i only have a couple of readers left that comment, so i wonder if maybe i should take the same route that jeannette is contemplating.........giving up public journalling. i love reading the numerous blogs i follow, but my wifi connection doesn't let me make comments sometimes, and i feel badly that i read the blogs, but cannot comment. i guess i am just in the dumps because i am sick.

i was going through my old journal, seduction of life, and found several short stories and mini novels that i had started and never finished. maybe i will post some here to see if anyone can help me finish them. i had a thought recently, while perusing the old journal, that maybe we could have a short story contest. or maybe let each person who would like to participate add a chapter to a short story, and then we would have a very interesting story. but it is just a thought. if anyone out there thinks maybe it would be a good idea, just let me know via blog comment or by email.

i have also tossed around the idea of letting my cat do a blog. possum got me thinking about that one. i could post pictures of my cat doing her fun things throughout the day and night.

well, once again, i am at a loss of words. so i better sign off and try to post.

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GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

i got up out of bed today.........my first mistake. sigh.....................

when i asked the Lord to give me a good day today at work, He must have thought i needed some trials to make me meeker...................i KNOW He doesn't make mistakes, so it must be that it wasn't in His plan for me today to have a good day.

we sell used furniture at our store, as well as tons of other things. the furniture had been rearranged so that a really comfy looking chair was sitting right in front of my register, staring at me, beckoning to me to come try it out. i am almost leery about sitting on any of the furniture since the incident a couple of weeks ago where i sat on a chair that was covered in cat pee. but since i was talking to a couple of my elder customers and no one was at the register waiting to check out, i answered the chair's call and went over and sat in it. i was still talking to the 2 customers when one of my co-workers came up front and saw a child's leather jacket lying on the arm of another piece of furniture and asked out loud, to no one in particular, "what is this? is it somebody's or just lying here?" i didn't have a clue, but knew that a customer had put a stack of clothing on that same sofa earlier, so i figured it could possibly be that customer's. she had asked the question rather hateful, but since she wasn't actually directing the question to me by name, i didn't respond. this same co-worker went outside and checked something out front, then came back in and glanced at me, but walked on by. when i finished talking to my 2 customers, i got up from the very comfy chair (where i had been sitting for maybe 5 minutes tops) and i walked over to the register. the head cashier, a younger girl who i really like and treat like a daughter, got really serious and lowered her voice and said that the other co-worker had told her to come tell me to get up out of the chair and get to work. oh my g..........................!!!
no she didn't!! this very same "mean" co-worker has on several occasions that i, myself, have witnessed, sat down on one of the chairs or sofas with another customer, and talked for way over an hour..........i timed her. this same co-worker claims to not take breaks and gets upset with me when i want to take one, but yet she takes a dozen or so "smoke breaks" a day, at 5-10 minutes each, takes her lunch break, and then sits and talks to customers for an hour. i was furious. i shouldn't let it bother me, since she isn't my boss, nor even my supervisor. the head cashier got really wide eyed and i asked her where the b*tch was, and she said she was right behind me. i went over to her, and lowering my voice, told her that i would stop sitting and talking with the customers for 5 minutes when she stopped sitting and talking with them for over an hour. she retorted that she works her a$$ off there. and of course, my mouth took over and not being able to control it, i told her "of course, you are the only one who works around here". i stomped off, asked the head cashier to take over for me for a little while, and i went outside and sat down in the damp weather with the community service guys, and blew off some steam internally. they knew not to ask me anything, lol. they just stood around and smiled at me, lol.

after i cooled off, i went back in and one of the volunteers that i am friends with asked me who pissed in my cornflakes. i told him what happened and he told me that what i should have done was told her that first of all, she wasn't my boss, and that if she would keep her nose in her own business and out of mine, she wouldn't be getting upset at me. i wanted to kick something, lol.

i ignored the b*tch the rest of the day. then..............yes, there is more, lol................the head cashier came up to give me an afternoon break around 4 pm and i went into the cash office where the "resident Christian" and the male volunteer i mentioned earlier were counting the till from the first part of the day. my going in there was my second big mistake of the day. at first we were joking around. something was said jokingly and then i made my third mistake of the day............a really big one. the "resident Christian" thinks she is miss goody 2-shoes. she doesn't make mistakes, she never lies, and she doesn't talk behind people's backs. WATCH OUT FOR THAT LIGHTNING BOLT!!! i mentioned that at least i didn't say what she said about the male volunteer once, in front of children. they both asked me what that was. well, she had actually said "well, he is sleeping with her", meaning that the male volunteer was sleeping with his best friend, whom we both know. i was shocked the day she actually said it, and even called her on it, saying not to say that in front of the 2 kids that were standing right next to her. then she even said "well he is sleeping with her". when i said that today, in the cash office, she got furious with me, telling me she never said that, ever, and she was very angry at me for saying that she did. she called me a liar, and her eyes were black and flashing fire at me. dammit, she DID say those words..............but where i went wrong was actually bringing up the incident at all. i had to dig deep to let go of it because i knew i was right. i am not saying she is lying, but maybe she doesn't remember saying it. but i swear before God and all that is Holy, SHE DID SAY IT.

i guess i should have learned a long time ago that when you are dealing with a bunch of women, some of which think their sh*t doesn't stink, you have to just suck it up and let it go. i really do wish i could learn to keep my mouth shut more often though. there wouldn't have been a problem if i hadn't brought it up. of course, she doesn't talk behind people's backs either, but she just couldn't wait to get the head cashier in the office and tell her the story, after telling me to drop the whole thing. sigh....................i just shouldn't have gotten up this morning.....................

most of my customers were good today. i have noticed that when my customers are good, my co-workers act like butts. and vice versa. i guess that is what makes the world go around.

ok, got that off my chest........................

i have really been surprised that i have had a fairly decent wifi connection for the last 3 days. i will get used to it and BOOM, it will disappear again, lol.

i have a date with my daughter again on sunday. she is taking me up on my offer of going to cracker barrel and eating. i have some things i got at work that i want to give to her as well, like a pair of "uga" earrings (for non georgians, that is university of georgia's bulldog), 2 pillows that match the ones i bought for her for her birthday, and some bracelets and a watch or 2. no, i am not trying to BUY her love, lol, after all, the items were free, lol.

i almost bit the tip of my tongue off today at lunch. but it is amazing how quickly it heals. it is still sore, but already grown back together. God knew we couldn't put a bandaid on our tongues, lol.

guess i better post while i have a wifi signal.

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TISSUES IN HAND.......SIGH

no, i am not crying. just spending Christmas day with a box of tissues and a cold, and whining to my loved ones.......not that they are listening, lol.

i worked half a day on wednesday, as we closed for Christmas eve at 1 pm. but before we closed, i had a couple of my good customers bring me a nice little gift bag of Christmas goodies. there were oranges, soft peppermints (my faves), a box of diet peach tea that you put in your water bottles to flavor your water, a bear candle and homemade fruitcake cookies. mmmmmmmm.

another customer brought a big tin of assorted popcorn for everyone to share. then, one of my friends, a guy who volunteers at my salvation army store, came up to the counter and was holding something in his hand. he said that everyone in the back had agreed that this was my Christmas present from all of them. i figured it was a joke of some sort, but when he opened his hands there was a beautiful opalescent glass kitty with a peridot necklace. she was so beautiful. then he told me that it was a collectible, since it was Fenton glass. i had never heard of it, so when i got home i looked it up online. and yes, they are collectibles, and though there is no set value on any one item, they are worth a lot of money. i found several on ebay, 2 just like mine. one seller had a starting bid of $10.99 and another at $35.99. i guess the value depends on how many were made and how rare they are, as well as how much a collector is willing to pay. but either way, i love my kitty. i am enclosing a very bad picture off eBay of one like the one i have. if there are any other Fenton cat figurine collectors out there in blogland, let me know. it would be interesting to see what you collect.





ok, i am going to go blow my nose again, and whine some more............MERRY CHRISTMAS.

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OVERFLOW

i know what you were thinking.........i had a toilet problem, right?? wrong. no plumbing problems. actually, no problems at all...........just a head full of thoughts and stories, and no access to the internet. i thought i was going to overflow..............

first, let me tell you about something that happened several days ago. i was off work and had numerous errands to run. filling my car gas tank was one of my errands. i pulled into the shopping center parking lot, almost being smacked in the passenger side by a man in a truck who seemed quite impatient to get somewhere. i rounded the gas pumps to be aligned with the right side of the car to pump my gas. the same truck that had almost hit me pulled in front of me at the pump (i was almost up to the pump) and he pulled up to my front end, tapped my car and pushed me back just a little for him to access his gas tank. I WAS LIVID!! my first thought was to pull a "FRIED GREEN TOMATOES" maneuver. but i didn't want to damage my car. then i thought about getting out and walking right up to the man (who, by the way, was about 6'5" and 300 lbs.) and kick him in the shins while i pulled out the gas nozzle and sprayed gas all over his truck and him. but then all of a sudden, a calm came over me and i backed up, pulled around to the other side of the pay island, and right up to another pump that was actually closer to the island. i watched as the man pumped his gas and paid at the pump with a card and sped off. after i pumped my gas, i went to the pay island and asked the girl inside if she had seen what happened. she said she hadn't, but said i should have come and told her to call the police. i told her i had made a choice that i wasn't going to let that man steal my joy nor force me to lower myself to his level.

after paying i got into my car, thanked God for not letting the man hurt me or my car, and for not letting me do something stupid. then i asked God to please speak to the man's heart so that he would change and not do that to anyone else. it felt good.

on the days that i have worked, some of my customers have been mean and hateful, but most have been kind and wish me a good holiday season. then monday i answered the phone and a woman said "who is this?". i told her my name and she asked me how to spell it. then she started joking around and i thought i knew which of my customers it was, but was still wondering why she asked my name and how to spell it. about 10 minutes later she called back and said "this isn't the woman who called a little while ago and asked you how to spell your name, but would you tell me how to spell your name???". i had to laugh at her. i still wasn't sure what was going on.

about an hour later one of my customers tapped me on the shoulder and handed me an envelope. inside was a cute Christmas card with a funny note written in it, and a gift card for $25 from Cracker Barrel. she was the one who had called me twice, asking how to spell my name. she wanted to get it right on the card, lol. i was truly ecstatic over the card and the gift. she and my boss had had a big falling out awhile back due to some furniture i had sold her being sold to someone else by mistake. when she came to pick it up, it was gone. she cussed, fumed, fussed, and really lost it with my boss and a couple of CS workers. but she has never said a harsh word to me about anything. after handing me the card, she told me i was the only one there she liked, and she figured maybe my daughter and i could go out to eat. wasn't that sweet??

speaking of my daughter.........her birthday was dec. 1, but it was this past sunday before i was able to pin her down long enough to take her out to eat. she had the choice of anywhere but chose a mexican restaurant. it was good, but ooooh my tummy, lol. we had a good time together. i had found a beautiful sterling silver/cubic zirconia heart pendant at work and took it to the pawn shop to see if it was real. when i found it wasn't diamonds and white gold, and wasn't worth selling to get cash, i decided to add a sterling chain and give it to my daughter for Christmas. i bought a chain at my old craft store and added the hook and eye and wrapped the necklace. after my daughter and i ate lunch, we went back to her apartment and i gave her the gifts i had for her birthday and Christmas. i bought her 2 pillows she had picked out at the thrift store and they matched her sofa perfectly. i made her a couple of crocheted dish cloths and a stove mitt. then i gave her the necklace. she was wearing a cute little heart made with small diamonds that her ex-boyfriend had given her and she said she liked mine better, so took off the other one and put mine on. it was beautiful on her. she liked it alot. that made me happy, since little i have done in the past has made her happy.

my daughter broke up with her boyfriend of 3.5 years and started dating another guy. after 2 weeks she is already sick of the new guy. sigh..........i guess i will never see any grandkids, lol. but i am glad she is being picky. nothing worse than marrying then finding out he isn't the right one...........after all, i did that twice.

even though there are a lot of people who are bah humbugging this season, i had one customer that made my day. she came up with a few pennies for a customer ahead of her. i thought she was with the customer, but she was just being nice. then this one very annoying customer, who has lots of money but is always trying to make you come down on the prices of already cheap items, was complaining that she didn't have enough money to pay for a purchase of $2.12. the same lady came up with the money for her, and then the annoying woman said she didn't want to write a check for that little amount. so when the nice lady made her purchase, she didn't have any more cash on her and had to write a check for her own stuff. i discounted her total by $2.50, which is what she more or less gave to the other customers. she seemed shocked that her total was less than she thought. i told her jokingly to shut up and write her check, lol. she realized then what i had done and reached over the counter and hugged me and then kissed me on the cheek, then told me "God bless you, and merry Christmas". it made me smile.

ok, now to something that is rather, um, delicate. i am sure that lisa over at "life on a bison farm" will get it, as well as possum over at "possum's journal". when i visited my daughter on sunday, i was introduced to her newest family member, "spaz". he is a short haired rag doll kitten that she found in the parking lot at work. he is a tom cat and is apparently entering puberty. he isn't scheduled to be neutered until january. she already had 2 other cats, "peaches", who is a tuxedo cat, and is female and spayed, and about 4 years old and "wendell", a garfield cat, male, about 10 months old, neutered and very small boned. spaz has very very very large gonads and likes showing them to you........in your face showing them. he also has made wendell his "b*tch". my daughter tries to watch them when she is home, but worries when she isn't home. she can't seperate them in different rooms due to them crying and alerting the neighbors that there are cats in there (she isn't supposed to have a cat, lol). after january i am sure wendell will go back to breathing easier when around spaz.

i have been married twice before, but never to an abusive man. my heart goes out to women (and some men) who are abused by their spouses. but i guess since i never knew anyone who was in that type situation, it was never in the forefront of my mind. i read one of my regular journal reads tonight and the entry really touched me deeply. this woman has been through hell and back and still, some of her past haunts her from time to time. she has become one of my heroes. in case you don't already have her on YOUR list of must reads, here is her link: The Ghost of Christmas Past . it will be worth your time.

i don't know if my wifi connection will let me post this, so i better go and try. i have to work half a day tomorrow, and hope i still have my wifi connection when i get home. i have missed being here online.

just in case i don't get back online between now and Christmas, i want to wish everyone out there a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

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I TYPE 266 WPM.......WOW!!!!!!

266 words

Typingtest

1124 points, so you achieved position 849 of 1513159 on the ranking list.

You type 1424 characters per minute.

You have 266 correct words and you have 1 wrong word.

thanks to guido for showing me this site. i realize there were few cap'd letters used. i am sure i would have slowed down a lot if there were more. but i think i did well on my first try, don't you??? THIS WAS FUN!!

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POSSIBLE CLOSURE, BUT SAD

i am terribly saddened by the news of the possible locating of Caylee's remains. i was so hoping that possibly her mother had sold her to someone and she would show up one day, safe and unharmed. if the mother did have something to do with her disappearance and/or death, i cannot fathom how she could possibly do something like that. instead of pointing the finger at Caylee's mother, i offer up fervent prayers for her, hoping her soul will be touched, and she will be saved from eternal death.

work went fairly well today. we were not extremely busy, but busy enough for the day to go rather quickly. yesterday i had stopped by a local dollar general store and one of my new customers who works there called out my name. i went over to her and she told me she had taken me some "gifts" over to my job, but i wasn't there. when i checked out, she told me what she had taken me. all of their halloween items were marked down to one cent each and she bought the rest of the stuff for me. so when i got to work today i looked for the items and found them. she brought me all kinds of really cool stuff. skulls, clings with rats and skeletons and monsters and ghouls, lol. latex dripping blood, eye balls, spiderwebs, lots and lots of cool stuff. she wouldn't let me pay her for them, but i figure even though there were gobs of items, at one cent each it would still be less than a quarter, lol. it was really sweet of her, especially since we have just recently met.

when i was going on break, my boss called me into his office. i knew i hadn't done anything wrong, but it was still like being called into the principal's office, lol. he gave me a bonus check from the SA, which, AFTER taxes, was $53. then he gave me a wal-mart gift card from him personally worth $55. so, i did get my $100 i was hoping for, just in two different ways. i was very appreciative. that means i can do a little something special for my daughter for christmas.

while i was off work yesterday i stopped by my daughter's workplace and she said she was quite busy and couldn't spend much time with me. i told her i had a bad stomach-ache and was headed home, but had some kandy korn left over from halloween i wanted to bring her since i know she loves it so much. then she asked if i had anything for a sinus headache. i had just purchased some antihistamines from the dollar general, so went to the car and got her some. i ended up sitting there in her office talking to her for some time, mostly due to her boss leaving for the day and she relaxed a little and said she could talk then.

she broke some news to me that really surprised me. she and her boyfriend have been together over 3 years and 7 months ago they got an apartment together. i have always liked this bf, but my daughter seemed to be trying to "make him what she wanted him to be". and i knew that wasn't going to work. i found out that her old bf's mother paid for everything for him, and gave him money to live on during the week. he had a job, but it was never enough to support a wife if that is where they were going. i also found out that he couldn't father children, and my daughter would love to have at least 2. they were fighting alot, and not speaking alot. she met someone new a couple of weeks ago and has been "seeing" him while still living with her bf. she finally told the bf that he had till the 15th to move out, that they were over and done. my daughter says he has done nothing but cry and call her begging her to change her mind. i told my daughter to just make sure that this is what she wants to do before she burns any bridges. i will be taking her out on sunday for her birthday dinner and hopefully we will talk more about this. she seems really smitten by the new guy, but they have only been seeing each other for 2 weeks. the old bf doesn't know about him..............sigh.

well, i am going to try to post this entry before i lose my wifi signal. if i think of anything else, i will repost.

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THE SMOKE ALARM

don't ya hate it when one of your smoke alarms' batteries is going dead? the incessant beeping right outside your door until you get up on the alarmingly (no pun intended) tall ladder to put in a new battery, almost falling several times before the job is successfully completed? i think i will ask the caretaker to come over and put in a new battery. i am not into falling over from an 8 foot ladder. the ceilings are 10-12 foot. if a certain someone would stay home long enough, it could already be replaced............hint hint.

i worked today (wednesday) and the day went very well. it was stormy and rainy all day, so there was little activity in the store. the head cashier asked me to get her something to eat when i went out for lunch, so i went to sonic and got us both something in the pouring rain. it was good to get out of the store for awhile though.

another of my co-workers spent the day talking to others and not really doing much work. when i overheard bits of the conversation, she was always talking about someone and how the day was going so smoothly since she wasn't there. heck, that only leaves 2 people it could be. gossip gossip gossip.

2 of the community service girls that are really good at doing what they are told and getting work done in a timely manner worked with me today. one is vietnamese and the other is hispanic. the vietnamese girl speaks very plainly in english. but the poor hispanic girl tries hard to communicate but has a lot of problems. they both like working with me and "fought" over helping me all day. not really a fight, but like both would come over to help and another co-worker would grab the other and drag her to the back to work.

the boss went to wal-mart today and bought our gift cards for christmas. but of course he didn't let on how much we each were getting. i am hoping for at least $100. i could do a lot of damage at wal-mart for that amount.

i want to take my daughter out tomorrow night for her birthday dinner which i didn't get to do on her birthday on dec. 1. i haven't asked her yet, though, lol. i am so proud of what she has become and is becoming. i guess something i did along the way was right.

it is still pouring rain outside. i want to buy groceries around 9 am and hope the rain has subsided by then.

i guess i failed at passing out the marie antoinette awards. i only awarded 3 and none of them have responded to me. i still think they deserve the awards, and hope they find out soon that they have received them.

nothing much to report today other than odds and ends. i can't get into the christmas spirit. i need something to motivate me. guido's tree helped some, as well as lisa's huge lighted stars. but i just don't have the energy to do any decorating this year. maybe i will buy an energy drink or 2 tomorrow, lol.

i have recently joined a local group called freecycle.com where you post offerings of free stuff you have, as well as request things you need for free. i haven't been very successful in acquiring anything, but have been able to give some things away. it is a great concept, but of course has a few flaws.

one of the moderators has been asking for donations of stuff for needy families here at christmas. of course, he ran into some problems. upon taking items to a couple of the families, it was noticed that they had a very expensive vehicle in the driveway, and one woman even asked if they could come back later to deliver the items due to her having a nail appointment. not sure what was done about the first family, but the second woman wasn't given anything for christmas. the moderator felt if this person could afford a $30 nail appointment, she didn't really NEED help for her family at christmas. i must agree with that one.

but is it for us to judge who gets the help? anything we do in the name of the Lord and to help others will be rewarded in Heaven, whether or not the recipients were on the up and up. but i guess where we have to be careful is when we help one of these non-deserving families, a truly deserving family goes without. but that is how this old world has become. every day at work i get at least 100 calls asking for help. some are repeat requesters. out of those 100 calls, i am sure that only 10 families truly need the help. how do you weed out the "bad seeds"? i have asked for help in the past on several occasions and sometimes been turned down when i truly needed it, and other times got it without anyone questioning my need. of course, i would not have asked had there not been a dire need for something that i could not provide for myself or my daughter.

i remember when my daughter was 4 and 5 and her father, my husband, had abandoned us, i had no idea what i was going to do for christmas. a lady at our church (the benevolence director) put our names in the pot and a mother and daughter "adopted" us for christmas. they showed up at our door with all kinds of things for both of us. the same thing happened the next year as well. though i was truly thankful and appreciative, it made it hard when the people stopped helping. i was slowly getting on my feet again the 3rd year and since the 2 previous years my daughter had gotten a living room full of toys from "santa", the living room looked rather empty that year. but we were together and we had a roof over our heads, food in the pantry and fridge, clothes on our backs and working utilities. we made it through the next 2 years and i landed a really good job and we were able to get back on our feet and i even bought a house. of course, after losing that job, we were once again in dire straits, but God got us through it. i am not on the top of the world right now, but i am happy and have what i need.

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RAMBLINGS OF A SICK WOMAN

i haven't felt well over the last few days. i think it might be a sinus infection, but alas, without insurance, i will never really know..........

speaking of health..........i went to the free medical clinic of which i am a member today to reapply for my free meds from the manufacturer. the clinic has always applied for my meds for me so i have never had to be too concerned with them. one of the directors left the clinic awhile back and nothing has run smoothly since. you may remember that a few months ago i did without my meds for 2 months because they screwed up my paperwork. then when the meds did finally come in, they pulled up a dufunct telephone number from who knows where to call me and notify me that the meds were in. i personally had them change all my old numbers to my new numbers back at the first of the year. all i get is abusive excuses as to why things aren't run the way "i want them to be run". i don't need excuses. i need help. i need my meds and in a timely manner. i am constantly told that the clinic is mostly run by "volunteers" and they are not the same ones every day. so things will get confused from time to time. my point is that even if they are volunteers, the job should be closely supervised and done right. someone could die from wrong information. the woman in charge of the office has it in for me ever since i read her the riot act the first time they got my meds all wrong. now when i go in, the whole office automatically treats me like a criminal. you can see them tense up and prepare for battle. all i wanted to know today was how to keep receiving my meds free from the manufacturer. an hour later, covered in battle scars, i left the office almost as confused as when i walked in. no one wants to take any blame, and God forbid that anyone say that the office manager makes mistakes. i think i am going to try to get my meds directly from the manufacturers by myself. i don't want to have to depend on them for them and have to go through this every single time i need a refill.

after i left the clinic, i felt like a whipped puppy. i tucked my tail between my legs and went home, feeling like i not only lost the battle, but the whole war. i haven't recovered yet. i guess being sick doesn't help me any.

i was rather surprised to see i had a wifi signal tonight. i have had one through the local church for a couple of days, but it wouldn't allow me to open mail or do much of anything else. so here i sit, feeling crappy, but having a wifi signal and a lot to say. it is getting late and i need to get into bed so that i might be able to work tomorrow. i left work on monday an hour early because i was sick. i cannot afford to be out of work tomorrow.

one of the men who has been doing community service at the SA told me that he would come do some work around the house for me for free since i had been so nice to him while he was doing his CS. i told him it wasn't necessary, but he insisted. we had set up a time of 9 am this morning (tuesday) to call me and make arrangements to come over. i woke up at 8:30 am to await his call and at 10 am, i hadn't heard a word from him, so i went back to sleep. i thought i heard the landlord come in the downstairs door once, but since i was in bed, i didn't get up to see what was going on. when i did finally get up at 11 am, i went to the kitchen to fix something to eat and looked out my back window and noticed all the boxes that i had stacked on the back porch had disappeared. i guess the man had lost my phone number and decided to come on over. he probably knocked on the door and rang the bell, but you cannot hear anything in my upstairs apartment, so when he saw the trash on the back porch, he must have hauled it off for me. that wasn't all of the job i needed done, but at least some of it was done.

christmas is around the corner and i haven't really prepared myself for it. i have made a few christmas presents, but since i don't have the money to make purchases of nicer items, i haven't been shopping. i assume that our boss will give us gift cards again this year, but not only have we not gotten them yet, we don't know how much they will be for. it depends on how long you have been there and how much you make per hour. i would like to do something really nice for my daughter and her boyfriend. i haven't even done anything for her birthday, which was dec. 1. she is so picky about what she wears i don't know what to get her. and i have already made for her everything possible, most of which she no longer wears (necklaces, scarves, etc).

my kitty has really kept me entertained the last couple of days. when i am feeling my worst, she does something truly inane and i have to laugh. i have a fur hat i gave her to play with and she attacks it like it is another animal, then "bathes" it like it is a kitten. strange furbaby of mine.

well, i am not feeling well, so better go and try to read a few blogs while i can.

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THE WOODEN BOWL

I guarantee you will remember the tale of the Wooden Bowl tomorrow, a week from now, a month from now, a year from now.

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year-old grandson.
The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered.

The family ate together at the table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and
failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth. The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess "We must do something about father," said the son. "I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor."

So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner. Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl. When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone.

Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food. The four-year-old watched it all in silence.

One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with pieces of wood on the floor.
He asked the child sweetly, "What are you making?" Just as sweetly, the boy responded,
"Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when I grow up. " The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.

The words so struck the parents so that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done.

That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table.

For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.

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MARIE ANTOINETTE AWARD RECIPIENTS (congratulations to each of you)

due to most of my favorite blogs/journals already being recipients of the award, my list is much shorter than 7. but the following blogs/journals are very worthy examples of "real blogs, real people".

my selections for the MARIE ANTOINETTE AWARD are as follows:

jodi: http://dornbrau-dustbunnyclubofnorthamerica.blogspot.com/

jodi gives us a very human view of her life and family, not mincing words or sidestepping issues. she isn't afraid to be real and say it like it is.

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indigo: http://deafscreams.blogspot.com/

i am not sure if indigo has received this award before or not. i didn't see the logo on her journal, but feel she deserves this award. indigo opens herself up and spills out her pain of being deaf in a world of hearing. you can see her soul in her writing. when she has a joy, she shares it as well.

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mary louise: http://watchingmysisterdisappear.blogspot.com/

mary louise's sister, peggy, has a disease that affects many, but isn't talked about much. it is devastating to family and friends. mary louise remembers her sister as she was before the disease kidnapped peggy from her family. you feel the love, and the pain, in every entry.

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The Rules:

1. Please put the logo in your blog

2. Place a link from the person, from whom you received the award

3. Nominate at least 7 or more

4. Put the links of those on your blog

5. Leave a message on their blog to let them know

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ROUGH DAY? NEED A GOOD LAUGH??

this entry is from monday, dec. 1. i lost my wifi signal shortly after i started typing this, so am having to add it to my journal tonight, dec. 2.

Ok, everyone needs a good laugh. So go ahead and have one at MY expense.

After being off work for 2 days, I dreaded going in today. After all, it IS Monday, lol. Things went fairly well most of the morning and into the early afternoon. I was supposed to go on lunch at 2 pm, but my co-worker wasn’t back from her lunch to relieve me. At around 1:55 pm, a customer came in and was talking to me while she looked at a coffee table. I went over to where she was sitting in one of the chairs that were for sale and noticed a glider rocker that had just been brought in and put on the sales floor. I started to sit down in the rocker, but noticed a couple of stains on the seat cushion, so turned the cushion over and sat down and proceeded to “rock” while talking to the customer. Suddenly I got a whiff of something that I knew oh too well. CAT PEE!! I got up and sniffed the seat cushion and there was no odor. Then I smelled my arm and whew, cat pee. Anyone who has ever smelled that odor knows that there is almost nothing on this earth short of a skunk’s odor, that is worse. And almost impossible to get rid of. I knew I had to change clothes, so I went to the bathroom and washed my arm, then ran to the breakroom and proceeded to tell all who were having lunch, including the girl who was supposed to relieve me, that I was going home to change clothes, and that someone needed to cover for me.

I grabbed my purse and ran for the door. I rushed home and as soon as I opened the door my own cat was all over me……..so it wasn’t just me thinking I smelled cat pee. I stripped everything off, sniffed it, and stuck everything in the sink with hot water, soapsuds and some “urine away”. I showered quickly, redressed, fixed some lunch, ate, went to pay my rent and made it back to work in 45 minutes. I surprised myself!

I hope the odor comes out of my clothes, as that outfit was one of my favorites. I have soaked them for 4.5 hours so far. So go ahead, have a great laugh on me..........

Yesterday there was some mail on my stair post that I assume my downstairs neighbor found in the mailbox and left out for me. It was from the government converter box program. Now get a load of this………..I have applied 3 times for 2 of the converter box coupons to save myself $40 on converter boxes to make my older model TV(s) digital capable. My first attempt at getting the coupon mailed to me was sometime in February of this year. I never got the coupons. The second time I went online to acquire the 2 coupons, I never got them. When I emailed them about it, someone emailed me back telling me that they couldn’t be responsible for lost, misdirected or stolen coupons, and they cannot accept more than one request per address. She suggested that I use another address and try again. Now, we don’t usually get mail at the house, but at the P. O. Box. The application for the coupons requires both the residence address and mailing address, if they are different. Since twice giving the P. O. Box address for the coupon and receiving nothing, I used the residence address. That is when I got THE LETTER. I never got the COUPONS, but I got THE LETTER telling me they would not accept any future requests from the same or similar households. SIGH………………

I need those coupons. I am going to attempt to secure them through the FREECYCLE group I am a member of, but am not holding my breath. If that doesn’t work, I hope to bribe my daughter to let me use her address and her boyfriend’s name to send them to. I just hope he doesn’t throw them away if they send them. I hate paying $49 for a converter box when I could get it for $9.

Speaking of my daughter, she turned 23 today. Man am I getting old. Sigh…………. She came by the store today and looked really good. She was sporting a new pair of really rad glasses (do they still use that word? Lol). She said she paid $300 for them. So much for the $99.00 3-year plan at America’s Best Eyeglasses for doctor’s visits and cheaply priced contacts. She told me how she had spent all over her birthday money and more shopping after Thanksgiving. She and her friend shopped from midnight Thursday night till 7 or 8 the next morning. Now that is some shopping. Wish I had had some money……..I would have been with her and her friend.

I had a wifi signal when I started typing this, but as usual, it has flown the coop. Hopefully I will be able to get online soon and post this entry. After all, everyone needs to laugh at me and the pee incident………

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MARIE ANTOINETTE AWARD NOMINEE

AWARD WINNER (thank you Cindi)

thanks once again to cindi at WISHING FOR MY TURN for nominating me along with 6 other candidates. and thanks, cindi, for sending me instructions on what i am supposed to do, IF I WIN THE AWARD. but since i am only a nominee, i will not be able to nominate 7 others at this point. how do i know who won the award?? this is all Greek to me, lol. cindi's nomination list is at the following link.

http://wishingformyturn.blogspot.com/2008/11/marie-antoinette-award.html

i was shocked to see that i have a wifi signal. usually on the days i am off work, i don't have one. it has poured down rain for the last 36 hours and doesn't appear to be letting up anytime soon. i wouldn't mind the rain usually, but i need to go out and run some errands, and when it is raining, all i want to do is sleep. ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz..........oops, sorry, drifted off.

i have noticed that my entries that are filled mostly with gripes about work don't get comments as quickly as those of a happier nature. i am sorry if those other entries are disturbing or boring, but apparently, so is my work life. i will try very hard to do better. if i ever get a constant wifi signal and can post daily, i will have more "normal" things to post. i appreciate all of you who have stuck with me through it all.

i am going to post this entry, if the wifi powers will let me, and hopefully get back to read and comment on some blogs a little later on.

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GOOD IN THE MIDST OF BAD

I would like to thank Cindi for nominating me for a Marie Antoinette award, but I have no idea what that is or what I need to do, if anything. If anyone has any idea what I am supposed to do other than thank Cindi, please email me or leave me a comment on this entry. I have never gotten any nomination or award in journal-land or blog-land before, so I don’t know how to act, lol.

There is always something good happening within a bad situation. One only need look for it.

Because I am always relating the “bad” things that happen at work, I feel I must relate the good as well. There is often nothing exceptionally good to relate, but last Saturday revived my faith in humanity. It has only gotten better since.

Saturday started out as any other Saturday at the Salvation Army. But during the day something rather miraculous happened. A female customer was shopping with her 2 children. The kids were about 3 and 5. She was a middle class looking woman, well dressed, well mannered and articulate. Her total bill was $39.02. Behind them was a couple and they looked average middle class as well, with the woman being about 8 months pregnant. The man of the couple took his 3 shirts and laid them on the counter and said to add them to the total of the woman with the 2 children and he would pay for it all. Of course, the woman looked at him and laughed, as did I. He reiterated his statement and said he was serious. Had he not been with a pregnant wife/girlfriend, I would have said maybe he was trying to put a move on the mother of the 2 kids. But he convinced the woman he was on the up and up and she allowed him to pay for hers. His total was only around $8, but he paid the whole bill. Since he had done a good deed, I sold him the shirts for 99 cents each instead of the regular price of $2.49 each. That started something in the line. All of the rest of the line helped out the ones in front of them with change they needed to complete their purchase. It was just so wonderful to watch people paying it forward.

There was tension once again amongst the other employees, but after the paying-it-forward incident, nothing was going to steal my joy.

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, it happened again. An older gentleman came up to make a purchase and all he did was hand me a $20 bill and told me to pay for the purchase of a teen boy and his grandmother who were still shopping. He said he didn’t know the pair, but wanted to pay for their purchases anonymously. Tears sprang to my eyes, as they did for the older man. He patted my hand and I took it and held it and told him he was a very special person and may God richly bless him. When the 2 came up to the register, they each had one clothing item. I started to put both in the same bag and the woman quickly shouted no, she was only paying for hers. I took both items and continued to put them in the same bag, and once again, she grabbed the boy’s pants and said she wasn’t paying for them. I told her that someone had anonymously paid for their items, and proceeded to put them in the bag. The boy looked truly surprised and he thanked me, then the woman did. It really felt good. I used the rest of the money to help others in line that needed an extra dollar or two to make their purchase until the whole $20 was gone. A truly wonderful feeling.

And now on to the usual drama.

On Tuesday all the employees had to be at work at 8:15 am for a staff meeting. I had planned on keeping my mouth shut and was able to do so throughout most of the meeting. The newest girl said something that upset me, and I denied it. But that didn’t bother as badly as what the “resident Christian” said. She made a snide comment that proved she harbors resentment toward me that she hasn’t been verbalizing. It just furthered my suspicions of what has been going on behind my back. Oh well, her problem, not mine.

One of the items brought up at the meeting was an incident that occurred on Saturday between a customer and the “resident Christian”. The man is truly obnoxious, but I have learned how to handle him and have no trouble at all with him when he comes in. In fact, he will often hug me when he comes in if I am not behind the counter. He has an openly known dislike for the “resident Christian”. So while I was at lunch on Saturday, he came in with his wife to shop. The “RC” was at the register covering for me, and as I was coming back from lunch, I noticed the man standing at the other side of the register looking through someone’s items that had been put on the counter for safe keeping while they shopped. He isn’t the only one that does that. I pretended to slap his hand and told him that those were someone’s items and he said he knew that, he was just looking. The “RC” turned around and snapped at him that he was nosey. I thought she was kidding, so when he looked up and said, “Who is nosey?” I said “you are” and I laughed. Then the “RC” told him that maybe the person the items belonged to didn’t want him touching them. Well, that is when it started. Not liking her anyway, he said something like “you are not the boss here, so don’t tell me what to do”. She retorted with “I am in charge and we don’t need your kind in the store”. He yelled something back at her and she said something back, asked him to just leave and I left the front and went to the back and got one of the men who volunteers and asked him to come to the front to diffuse the situation. Well, he took the “RC’s” side and told the man to leave the store and he wasn’t welcome back. Sheesh. The “RC” was rude to the man. But later, when she related the story to the boss, she said she wasn’t rude at all, that she was very calm and cool and told him nicely that he didn’t need to be handling other peoples’ items. Then she said he took the Plexiglas cover to the jewelry counter off and almost hit another customer. I have been removing the cover myself to help the customer better access the jewelry and it hasn’t been a problem till the “RC” made it one. So the boss had the cover glued down. Sigh…………I give up.

The man came in on Monday or Tuesday and asked to see the director. When I went to get him, he asked who wanted to see him. I made the mistake of telling him it was the man who the “RC” had had the incident with. The director said he would be up there in a minute, but instead he went to get the “RC” and talked privately with her for about 10 minutes, then left out the side door and went to the bank, leaving the man waiting for him to come out to talk to him. When the man came back up and asked me if the director was coming out, the man hugged me and asked what I thought about it all. I declined comment and told him that the director had left. The director had told the “RC” to go out and talk to the man and she didn’t even do that, just went out into the store and ignored him. Very badly handled. I was furious, but since it wasn’t any of my business, I tried not to get involved. I hope that the man figures out how to go over my director’s head and reports the whole thing to a higher up. The whole thing was so wrongly handled.

Ever since the meeting on Tuesday, the 3 women in the back have been acting rather mean toward the 2 younger girls and myself. They make snide remarks and do whatever they want to do without regard to the other employees. On Wednesday, the yank ogre said she was craving a waffle from Waffle House. The “RC” and her other cohort said they wanted to get something from the dollar store. Then they were overhead saying they would like to all go to Waffle House. So, at 10:15 am, all 3 left the store without clocking out and were gone for over an hour. They told the new girl she had to stay and watch the back and me and the other cashier had to stay as well. OMG!!!! When the new girl told me what happened, I thought “oh no they didn’t!!! When they came back, the “RC” had the audacity to come into the break room and show me something that one of the other women gave her and was bragging about the biscuits and gravy they had. So, the other 2 young girls and I told the director that we were going out as well and when I asked the “other yank” to cover for me, she asked why and I told her that the 3 of us were going out to eat as well, and she rolled her eyes and headed straight for the director’s office and told him. To keep peace, he came up and relieved me so that I could go with the other 2. We went to the Sonic drive in and scraped up enough money between the 3 of us to have a halfway decent meal. We stayed just as long as the other 3 had and didn’t clock out. I went back in and thanked the director, hugged him and told him how nice it was for him to do that. He said that Thanksgiving only came once a year and he was happy to let us do that.

Today at work the “other yank” ran straight to the boss when a customer went off on me for asking her to fill out some paperwork for us to hold a piece of furniture. She told the boss I was running my mouth again (a community service worker came told me what she overheard, lol). The boss came to me and started telling me to not let the customers get to me and to be nice to them. I began to tell him my side of the story and he didn’t want to hear it. I told him that was so unfair, not to be able to tell my side, and he let me tell him. I told him that the customer actually apologized to me, saying it was her that was at fault since she was in a hurry and didn’t want to take the time to fill out the paperwork. I was cleaning out some boxes the other day and I found my gonads. I am not going to let anyone run over me anymore. One of my readers said that if I just keep my mouth shut I won’t get into trouble. That is good advice, but I have discovered that it doesn’t matter if you keep your mouth shut or not, they will manufacture something to tattle on you. For a bunch of “old” women, they sure do act childish.

I sincerely hope that my weak wifi signal will let me enter this. I have tried to read and comment on several journals, but not sure how many comments actually went through. There is a setting on the blogger site that lets you get alerts in your email like did. Every time someone comments on your blog, an email is sent letting you know.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. There was a lot of chicken cooked and eaten at my house. And there will be lots of chicken that will be frozen for future meals……. Sigh……………

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LIVID........BUT NOW ELATED

i was able to get a wifi signal tonight and was elated to find guido has done it again!! those of you who came to my journals by way of guido or guido's journal......thanks for stopping by. after the week i have had, it was really nice to come see i had comments on my journals/blogs. thanks again, guido.

this week started out on monday as a nice, quiet, uneventful day. then tuesday hit like a hailstorm. customers in ill moods, co-workers sick and in ill moods. but tuesday afternoon, all hell broke loose. we usually turn the lights off at 15 minutes till closing. that "warns" the customers that we are getting ready to close. i was at the register waiting on customers when suddenly the lights went out. i assumed it must be 4:45 pm, but when i looked over at the clock, it was only 4:35 pm. the newest girl has turned the lights out this early before when i closed with her, so figured she must have done it since she was in the back room. then the lights came back on. i called to the back on the intercom that someone had turned them back on. the head cashier called me back and said that the yank ogre told them to turn them back on, it was too early. ok, that was fine.

after we finally closed and locked the doors for the day, the head cashier came up and i brought up about the lights again, and she told me that the new girl turned them off, and when the yank ogre told her to cut them back on, the new girl told her "I" told her to cut them off. then, a community service woman spoke up and said that yes, I had told her to cut them off.

when the head cashier told me this, i went ballistic. at first the cashier didn't think i was serious, so she was laughing at me yelling. then she suddenly realized i was seriously angry. i was cursing up a storm and screaming at the top of my lungs. don't ever accuse me of something i truly didn't do, and most definitely, NEVER LIE ON ME TO SAVE YOUR OWN ARSE!! i was screaming and cursing so loudly, the head cashier backed away from me and the assistant director and her daughter and the daughter's boyfriend, all came running out to see what was happening. i was about to stroke out. after i started calming down, we all laughed about it and the others were doing impressions of me, lol. the assistant director has been kidding me about it ever since.

then, on wednesday, i had a meltdown over a community service worker...a different one. last week he was caught drinking at lunch time and was drunk while in the store around the customers. to explain, the community service workers are there either working off fines or they are serving community service time. most offenses are dui or weed charges. mostly we don't have any trouble with the cs workers. but this guy, who is young, kids around a lot, acting like he is bad stuff, pimpin'. he also has a thing for the new girl and hangs around her all the time. well after he came back from lunch that day, he was hanging all over me and the new girl and whoever else was up at the register. i smelled alcohol on his breath, so mentioned it to the woman in charge of the cs workers and she said something to him about it. he admitted he had gone to a local bar for lunch and had some beer and even had some stashed on the property to drink. he wasn't sent home, nor was he disciplined in any way.

well, on wednesday, i passed by him and smelled alcohol on his breath again. but i didn't say anything to anyone. later in the day he started mouthing off to me. i realized it was mostly in jest, but it was louder and louder and meaner and meaner, and it was in front of my customers. when he smarted off the last time, i told him i was going to send him home if he didn't stop. he mouthed off again and said i couldn't do anything to him, and that is when i said i was over him and could send him home. he yelled at me that i wasn't going to do nothing to him (his words, not mine) and i went straight to the director and sat down to tell him what happened. he called the new girl in to ask her what happened, and she sorta tried to make it all sound like he didn't do anything wrong. well of course not. she likes the way he follows her around like a puppy. then the director called in the boy and then called me in, and the boy apologized to me and i told him i didn't appreciate the way he was acting toward me, and that i did smell alcohol on his breath, at which point he swore up and down he didn't drink at lunch (even though i did see him go back to the same bar). i accepted his apology and asked that he not be allowed back up front.

when the director told me that i could go home early wednesday (only an hour early), i jumped at it.

i was off today (thursday) and before i could even leave the house at 10 am to pick up my check and pay bills, a message had been left on my phone from the director. i didn't call back, just went on to the store. the director wanted me to come in to work around 2 or 3 pm since the new girl had to go to the doctor. i told him i couldn't. after all, it would have made me go over 40 hours for this week, and i wouldn't have gotten paid for the amount of time over 40 hours until next payday.

after cashing my check and paying bills, i only have $5 left over. but at least i have left over money..........when i worked at the other store, i never had enough money, let alone left over money. but i did take a $20 bill to the gas station, filled up, and got $10 back. wooo hooo.

i am going to try to enter this entry.

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A HEAVY HEART

My heart is heavy tonight. As I pulled into my driveway coming from work, I noticed a black fluffy tail sticking out from behind the large bush at the end of my driveway. I figured Gray's kitten, Fluffy, was waiting for me to come home to feed him. I got out of the car and walked around to the other side of the bush and there lay Fluffy. I didn't need to touch him, I knew he was gone. I haven't even had the chance to take his picture from the back porch while he is eating. He is (was) more skittish than his mother, Gray, who lets me pick her up and rub her back, head and belly. It really broke my heart to see him there, even though he looked very peaceful. I hope he found his way to the Rainbow Bridge.

I had a pretty good day at work today. I kept saying to myself that today was going to be a good day. Everyone I worked with seemed to be in a fairly good mood, except the yankee ogre, who came in late due to taking her husband to the doctor. She had a few moments that she had to have her say about something. But all in all, it was a good day.

I felt sorry for my assistant director. She was trying so hard to do the payroll and other important paperwork and no one would leave her alone. She even went out and got into her car and drove to another spot on the lot to try to be by herself to do the work. The director, who was having a really bad day, even went out to the parking lot to find her when I asked him a question about something that HE could have answered. He didn't make any major decisions today nor answer any questions with any conviction. His wife is having some problems with her health. He was asking a couple of us if we knew anything about vertigo. We both answered his questions, but I was telling him I have vertigo, but only when I am going down stairs that have openwork railings on at least one side. He seemed quite concerned about her, and she won't go to a doctor. I actually felt sorry for him today. He hung around work much longer than he usually does, which makes me wonder if he wanted to go home at all. He and his wife had had an argument about going to the doctor last night. He should know how stubborn women are! Lol.

I noticed that though I have 2 followers on my poetry journal, I have no comments on any of the poetry. Not sure if it is because no one is reading my new journal, or if my poetry is too sombre and no one wants to comment. I don't know how to let others know about my journals. I used to go on the journal board and post but that is now gone. I thought once about dressing up in something spectacular and going out into cyberspace and advertise with a big sign.......LOL.

I have had intermittent wifi for several days and have added comments to others' journals when my wifi service would allow. I am trying very hard to keep up. I found out from a reader that there is a way to keep up with comments and new entries........kinda like alerts. But tonight I don't even remember how I found them. One sends an email to you when someone comments on your journal/blog. But since no one has commented on any of my 3 public journals/blogs, I don't know if it works.

It has been really cold here, low 30's at night, 50's during the day. I guess winter has finally decided to visit and stay a spell.

One of my readers asked if I were going to reinstate my KITTYCAPTIONS. I have attempted to add pictures from time to time and my wifi signal won't let me. So I will try one again tonight to see if it works.

Of course, it didn't work. I will keep trying till I figure it out.

Hope everyone is fine and life is treating you well.

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HAPPINESS

An entry from Seduction of Life Journal (Tuesday, December 6, 2005)


SHE LAY SILENT, LISTENING TO THE THOUGHTS RUNNING THROUGH HER HEAD. HER HAND REACHED OVER TO TOUCH THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BED.... IT WAS COLD. SHE SIGHED. WHEN HE WASN'T THERE BESIDE HER AT NIGHT, SHE FELT SO ALONE........

SHE HATED HERSELF FOR DEPENDING SO MUCH ON HIM FOR HER HAPPINESS, BUT SHE DID.

THE HOURS TICKED ON.

SHE HEARD THE CAT GETTING INTO MISCHIEF SOMEWHERE IN THE ROOM. SHE DIDN'T BOTHER TO GET UP AND CHECK IT OUT.

THE QUIET DARKNESS SOON BECAME TOO MUCH FOR HER. SHE GOT UP, PUT ON HER ROBE, AND WENT OUTSIDE, SITTING ON THE PORCH. IT WAS A BIT WARM FOR A DECEMBER NIGHT, AND THERE WERE A FEW STRAY CRICKETS CHIRPING ALONG THE SIDEWALK. SOON, THERE WOULD BE NO CRICKETS. THE AIR WOULD BE TOO COLD FOR THEM TO SURVIVE. JUST LIKE THE COLD DARK NIGHTS OF YESTERDAY WERE TOO COLD FOR HER TO SURVIVE.

NOW THAT HE WAS IN HER LIFE, SHE DIDN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT LONG SPANS OF THOSE DARK NIGHTS. SOON, HE WOULD BE THERE, BESIDE HER, HOLDING HER, WHISPERING TO HER, TELLING HER THAT ALL IS WELL WITH THE WORLD............AND SHE BELIEVED IT...........AT LEAST ALL WOULD BE RIGHT IN "HER" WORLD....................

SHE GOT UP FROM HER CHAIR, WALKED BACK TO THE BEDROOM, AND TRIED ONCE MORE TO DRIFT OFF TO SLEEP. SOON, SHE DID.........AND DREAMS OF WARM MEMORIES FLOODED HER SUBCONSCIOUS.

WHEN SHE AWAKENED, HER BELOVED LAY THERE BESIDE HER, BREATHING PEACEFULLY. HE HAD MANAGED TO SNEAK IN SILENTLY SOMETIME DURING THE NIGHT SO AS NOT TO WAKE HER..............

SHE LAY THERE FOR SOME TIME, WATCHING HIS CHEST RISE AND FALL FROM HIS BREATHING..........WATCHED HIS LONG TRESSES FALL ACROSS HIS FACE, WANTING TO BRUSH THEM ASIDE, SO AS TO SEE HIS BEAUTIFUL FACE, BUT NOT WANTING TO DISTURB HIM.

SHE WAS ONCE AGAIN HAPPY...............HAPPY BECAUSE THE SOURCE OF HER HAPPINESS WAS THERE, SAFE, SECURE, BESIDE HER.

never go to bed angry with someone, and

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POTPOURRI

wanted to once again mention that i have started a poetry journal. i am currently adding already copyrighted poems, but will add newly written ones as the muse allows. i am going to try to send out email to those who are listed as my followers to let them know i have posted. if you don't wish to receive an email, please drop me an email, or post a comment here.

poetry journal: http://regina-aoljournalsblog.blogspot.com/

i had to work today and i must say, i am getting really tired of all the drama there. i thought the internet was full of drama, but it has nothing on my workplace. if everyone would just mind their own business and quit gossiping about others. the newest employee was verbally attacked as soon as she got to work this am by the yank ogre. i also found out that the "resident Christian" made the statement that she wished she and her 2 cohorts could have a break room all to themselves. now how does that make everyone else feel, huh??? i am so done with the drama. i am going to try very hard to stay out of the drama and keep my mouth shut and ears open, which is the best piece of advice my ex-mother-in-law ever gave me.

it is extremely foggy tonight and will be till possibly noon tomorrow. good thing i only have to drive a little over a mile to work.

i have been getting some clothing from work and was noticing tonight when i was hanging them up that my closet rod is very bowed in the middle. i guess i either need to pack away the items that don't fit at the moment or get a brace for the middle. it is a walk-in closet and am thinking of adding another rod to the other side. at the moment i have my scrapbooking carts on that side, but can move them out of there.

i am going to find a story from my seduction of life journal to put in here. i hope i will still have a wifi signal when i get ready to post.

the following is from november 2005. please read it very carefully. the ending will surprise you, and most definitely amuse you.

THANKSGIVING EXCITEMENT

Once upon a time there was this lady, who thought having a nice oven roasted chicken with homemade mashed potatoes and fresh English peas would make for a tasty and simple thanksgiving dinner. a nice treat for two without all the hassle.

she began her meal by putting the chicken in the oven (which, by the way, is a gas appliance, this being important in this story) with lots of nice seasonings, and covering it with foil.

after about an hour, she decided it was time to check on the chicken and start the rest of the meal. she pulled the bird out of the oven, removed the foil, and voila, a beautifully roasted chicken.

but since she liked her chicken more golden brown, she decided to put it back into the oven for a few more minutes, uncovered.

as she started the descent from the stove top to the oven rack, the bird chose to slide sideways, causing her to lose control of the pan, and suddenly all the succulent juices sloshed out onto the oven floor.........................

of course, one's first impulse is to grab the bird.........which she did......but just as she leaned into the oven to do so, there was a loud whoosh and a huge fireball erupted from the oven......

the smell of singed hair is not pleasant............

after insuring the fire was out, and there was no immediate danger, the woman went to the bathroom to check the status of her face and hair...........the skin was fine, but there wasn't a single bit of facial fuzz on her face.........the hair on her forehead at the hairline, and the temples was gone and/or singed. she also got a singed trim on the length of the sides. her eyelashes were fused and there was a distinct singed odor coming from her nasal hairs. but upon closer scrutiny in the mirror, the lady noticed her eyebrows were perfectly shaped....... something she had been unable to do on her own...........miracles never cease!!!!!!!!!!!!

she stuck her now rancid singed head into the shower and tried to wash away the stench. it didn't work...............so she returned to the kitchen to assess the damage.............and was greeted by a house full of smoke, at which she opened every door and window and turned on every fan in the house. the smoke started swirling about her like misty fog from a horror movie. the air was full of the smell of horribly burned chicken grease...........she noticed she had not turned off the oven, but that the flame was out. she tried to turn on the stove top burners, but they refused to light. she grabbed the grill lighter and attempted to light the pilot light............nothing............

suddenly, panic struck.............there had to be gas leaking from the unlit pilots, and she had to do something quickly..............so she grabbed a flashlight and began her search for the main pilot. nothing...............she tried to regroup her thoughts, but she couldn't, and panicked again, calling the only person she knew of that could stabilize her right now......... who just happened to not be with her at that moment.........fortunately, he answered his cell phone............

he told her to first, calm down, then make sure the oven and stove were turned off, check for the smell of gas, and then call the gas company.................

well, no one answers a phone at any company on thanksgiving day...........not even the gas leak emergency hotline.............they are too busy stuffing their face with a stuffed turkey. but she finally reached them and they told her she would have to call a licensed plumber.........

ok, this poor lady is already beside herself with panic, is singed and hairless, and is about to run out the door screaming..............and they tell her to call a plumber..........well, she lost it, becoming hysterical, laughing so hard she couldn't see for the tears...............

after composing herself, she calls her beloved back and tells him the story...........he laughs too, but is more concerned that his lady may still be in danger...........so he starts offering suggestions on what to do about the pilot light.............

after much discussion and no real solution, the lady decides to try turning on the stove again,and voila...........it lights............it was only wet with the chicken grease and juices and wouldn't light.............and, it has an electronic ignition, meaning it was safe all along..............

i can only surmise that this poor lady would offer only one bit of advice after experiencing this unforgettable thanksgiving..................

"I" SUGGEST HAVING YOUR HUSBAND TAKE YOU OUT FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER! ! ! ! !

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THE DIARIES OF CATS AND DOGS

are men and women really much different than this?

The Dog's Diary:

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!

9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!

9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!

10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!

12:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!

1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!

3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!

5:00 pm - Dinner! My favorite thing!

7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!

8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!

11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!
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The Cat's Diary:

Day 983 of my captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.

The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates my capabilities. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am.

Jerks!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow, but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released, and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird must be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now.