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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