Saturday, March 28, 2009

AN UPDATE

It has been quite awhile since I posted here. A lot has been going on. But mostly the reason I have been MIA is I haven’t had a wifi connection. It seems that the only time there is a wifi connection is during the daytime hours Monday through Friday, usually 10 am till around 5 pm. And guess what? I am at work during those times. I am currently typing this in Word and since I am off work tomorrow (Thursday), I hope to post this.


Work has been pretty much the same………DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA. We hired a new girl, whom I will call KG. It appears she has problems at home (like the rest of us don’t) so the fact that she has been late 3 of the 5 days she has been there, and she called out on her first full day of employment, doesn’t seem to be a problem with the boss and other employees. I guess it is because she is 23 and has children. Sigh…………


I got the most beautiful doll at work today. Her hair was a mess and her dress was dirty, but she is a porcelain beauty. Dark brown curls surround her face and the nape of her neck, and she has long pigtails tied up in golden ribbons with white flowers atop each tail. Her dress is mint green. I have such a weakness for beautiful porcelain dolls.


I recently had the pleasure of meeting one of the many people I have met online. He is a regular on the poetry site of which we are both members. He is a truck driver who covers the entire United States. He just happened to be in a nearby town and contacted me to see if I wanted to meet him. He is a Christian and a really nice gentleman. I thought it was really a wonderful experience to meet someone I had known from online. Most of the people I have met from online have been really nice, but a few have been real nut cases. You just never know who you will meet, but it is always nice to have friends from all over the world.


I will probably find it almost impossible to catch up on everyone’s blogs when (or if) I ever get back online. So be patient. I will do the best I can on getting back up to speed.


I hope everyone is doing well and is ready for a wonderful spring. I have been pollinated. Everything is yellow, including my lungs.


I am going to close for now and hopefully I can post this on Thursday.


Well, it is now Friday, and I just got a wifi signal, so am posting this now.


NEVER LEAVE A PAGE UNTURNED…………

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

UPDATE AND PRAYER REQUEST

i have been fighting a bout of depression the last week. i think some of it has to do with being sick. i mentioned i had the flu about a month and a half ago. well, i had forgotten that before the flu, i had walking pneumonia. the flu hurts so badly, and the fever i had of 102.9 for a couple of days, i became delirious.......and forgot all about the pneumonia. it wasn't until one of my co-workers said yesterday that my breathing didn't sound right. i remembered hearing my own labored breathing the day i took the snow videos. you could hear it on the video.

it was then i realized, i still have pneumonia. i have been taking mucinex expectorant, and i think i am beginning to mend now. thank goodness.

i recently got an email from a dear online friend telling me she was giving up her blog and possibly her computer. due to our friendship, and wanting to keep her anonymity, i won't mention specifics. actually, i don't really know specifics. but i do know someone hurt her badly, as well as angered her. so i would like to just say something here. i am usually tough skinned, and often dish out hard truths. but usually only when asked. if you have to comment on someone's blog and feel the need to "set someone straight", first, make sure it is something you wouldn't mind hearing directed at you, and if it isn't necessary, don't say it (or type it). writing on the internet is difficult, for one cannot see facial expressions, body language or hear voice inflections. you might be totally missunderstanding the other person. so be kind to one another. most people can take constructive criticism, but if you offer it up, make sure you do it with a spoonful of sugar. makes it go down so much smoother.

work has been pretty much the same.......the divas running the show. i did something i didn't want to do today, but felt it necessary. i don't like tattling, but when it might eventually affect me or my boss, or even the company, i feel something should be said.

there is a volunteer who has a very dominant personality. i can't say i don't like her, i just don't like the way she takes over. she acts more like the boss than our boss does. i found out today she is a wrestler, lol, so i was admonished to watch my step (by another employee), lol. she seems to think that i think she is stupid, or not bright enough to know how to help out around the store. that isn't it at all. i just don't like her "changing prices" or "making deals" or even "making promises". even i cannot do most of that, and i get paid to work there. anyway, today i had to go and get me something to drink. i knew i wasn't going to get an afternoon break, so i told RC and RE, who were standing next to the counter, that i was going to leave them in charge and i was going to get some more ice water. while i was in the kitchen, the phone kept ringing and ringing. no one picked it up. when i got back to the register, the volunteer was standing up at the register, talking on the phone. yesterday one of the CS boys was getting some twine and scissors from behind the counter, with me standing right there, and he and i both were jumped about him being there. and this volunteer was on the phone, asking RC questions. i realized she had ANSWERED THE PHONE, which is a very very big mistake around there. if you are not a paid employee, or don't have permission from DD to answer the phone, YOU DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE. i mentioned it later to RC and she didn't seem too upset over it. she even commented that RE sometimes answered the phone. and he does, and he is just a volunteer.

well later i mentioned the incident to DD. he was NOT happy at all. but since i asked him not to mention it to RC or the volunteer, he said there wasn't much else he could do about it, but that if the big bosses called and she answered, he could lose his job. he did say that RE sometimes answers the phone, but has his permission. sigh......so i didn't mention the fact that AD had given the same volunteer permission to sit in DD's chair at his desk and use his computer. but i still think he needs to mention something to her, or she will keep overstepping her boundaries.

i know i don't have but a few stragglers left here in blogland, but for those of you who are praying people, i would like to ask for your prayers for a couple of volunteers at work. it is a husband and wife, and they have volunteered for about 8 years there. he recently was diagnosed with colon cancer, which they went in and removed all of, but while testing him, they found that 18 of his 20 lymph nodes were also infected with cancer. they are going to try chemotherapy. we have been taking up money at work because they have become so far behind on their bills while being in the hospital and home recuperating. their water bill alone is over $200. he usually plays santa claus every Christmas at different functions, and for a local photographer.

so please, if you would, keep them in mind. his wife cannot do much without him. she has no skills other than grandmotherly love, and she doesn't drive.

i am going to close this novelette.

NEVER LEAVE A PAGE UNTURNED..................

Friday, March 6, 2009

A NEW LINK AND A POEM

first, i would like to announce that i added another link to my last post about the breast cancer award badge. guido at Atlantic Lines sent me the link to Lahoma's journal. she passed Christmas of 2007, but she lives on in her journal, and in our hearts. to be inspired by a woman with a lot of grit, go to that entry and check out her journal.

now, the following is a poem written by Sharon Frye, a new acquaintance from the new poetry club i joined. i have read hundreds of poems on the new site, and many have touched me in many ways. but, though short, this little poem packs a wallop. so much said in so few words. this is exactly how i have felt the last few days, and i don't see any let up. i have Sharon's permission to share this with those who still read my journal.

Depression

God only knows why I’m down here

In this darkened and horrible place,

Swallowed by the whale of depression

And longing for light on my face

I’m down in this pit of a belly-

Of a monster so giant and vast,

If I can crawl up thru the bile

I’ll hang onto something that lasts.

I’m tossed thru the waves by this monster

And spit out in the sea for a spell

Then swallowed and gulped like a rag doll

Back into the caverns of hell.

(by Sharon Frye)

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Thursday, March 5, 2009

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS AWARD BADGE

Thank you to Cindi, over at "Wishing For My Turn" (http://wishingformyturn.blogspot.com/) for promoting breast cancer awareness by having an Award Contest. Being the winner of the contest, I am to now to send out to five deserving people my winning Award Badge.

My choices for this award are:

1) JEANNETTE

(http://outsidelookingin-jeannette.blogspot.com/)

2) TRISH

http://my-breast-cancer-story.blogspot.com/

3) SHERI

http://trustmeitsnothing.blogspot.com/

4) CHRISTINA

http://uniboobclub.blogspot.com/

5) LAHOMA

(Lahoma is no longer with us, but her wonderful spirit and "never give up" attitude exhibited true strength in her fight. Though no longer with us here on earth she is ever with those who knew her)

(after posting this entry, guido, over at ATLANTIC LINES, sent me the link to Lahoma's journal. though she has been gone since Christmas of 2007, her journal life lives on. visit her journal and see how she lived, laughed and loved. this is the link:
http://lahomas-laments.blogspot.com/)




Please read these four (five) ladies' stories. Their strength and attitude will amaze you.

NEVER LEAVE A PAGE UNTURNED........

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR....

first, some pics of my house in the snowstorm........








those who have been with me for awhile will recall my crazy downstairs neighbor. she is an alcoholic, smoker, and toker. she stole from me a year or so ago, and though i have forgiven her, i haven't forgotten it. i have often wondered if she would stick around much longer. ok, i even wished she would move.

over the last few months she has spoken to me more often. she even asked for my phone number so that she could call me when something bad was happening. a man was breaking into houses in our area, and the police posted pictures of the man all over town, so she was afraid he would come after us.

yesterday she asked me some questions. walked all the way up my steps and knocked on my bedroom door. i was in the bed, um, unclothed, and sleeping. i awoke with a start and told her to hold on. i dressed and went out into the hallway to talk to her.

she asked me how far i had ever gotten behind on my rent. i couldn't remember, but told her i thought it was one whole month behind. she then told me that she had lost her job with the realty company (which wasn't much anyway, but still a job) and she was behind on half her rent. the landlord had told her that she had till friday of this week to come up with the full amount of the arrears, and then the full month's rent for this month was due a week later. we talked about what her options were, and they are pretty much like mine were when i was having trouble paying my rent on time. she says she can move in with her daughter, but her daughter is quite moody and currently lives with her boyfriend and her 2 children. my neighbor is a lot like me in that she cannot get a place that requires a credit check because of bad credit. that is one of the main reasons i have been putting up with the bully of a landlord and the heat and cold in winter and summer. i could never get a place with my credit for as cheap as i live here. so i just deal with the mayor/landlord.

my neighbor later said that she had gotten her gas bill for this month and even though she freezes most of the time downstairs, her bill was $180. she said the landlord had put the bill on her door 2 weeks ago and she never paid it. mmmmm, that means it was the first bill we both got, mine was for $98 for 2 months. hers was almost double............geeze. i told her that that wasn't this month's bill, it was the first bill. which means.......she has to come up with $250 by this friday, as well as $180 for the first 2 month's gas bill, plus a week later, $500 for her rent for this month. yep, i would say she is in trouble. she said she was going to take a couple of days to think about what she wanted to do, and not act in haste. yet, when i went out today i noticed there were 3 boxes on the front porch with a stack of small newspapers. so i guess she is going to move. i really cannot see that she has any choice, but hey, i went through the exact same thing and by the grace of God, i am still here.

i actually feel very sorry for her. i even offered to ask my assistant director at work if they could help with her rent. but that was before i found out she still owed last month's gas and the 2 months before. there is no way we could pay that much out to her. the average is $100-$200 per person per month.

so, though we have had some words and have fallen out a few times with each other, i will be sad to see her go. after all, we were starting to bond again. i wish her the best and hope she finds somewhere to live that makes her happy.

i went to work on monday. i even called my boss on his cell phone at 7 am to ask if we were going to be open, and he said yes. but when the YO and i were the only ones besides DD to show up, and the big boss called and wanted to know why we were open, DD came around and told us we were closing. we had a store full of customers, and DD asked them to go ahead and finish up shopping, but that we were fixing to close. i worked from 9 am till 10:35 am and DD said since i came in and was working even on a bad snow day, he would sign me off at noon. so i will get paid for 3 hours work, when i actually only worked 1.5 hours. good boss. i was already scheduled off on tuesday.

i guess i should close for now. i am tired, my neck hurts, my head hurts, i am coughing, and i have to work tomorrow.

NEVER LEAVE A PAGE UNTURNED.........