They Keep Moving My Cheese!!

I attended a class at work today,  Who Moved My Cheese?  It was very good!  I got to meet four little characters named Hem, Haw, Sniff and Scurry.  I watched them in their maze, going to their cheese every day and then having to deal with the loss when someone moved their cheese.  I learned about their different ways of dealing with it; what they did right and what they did wrong.  I learned that I was most like Haw (and that's a good thing!) last June when we got our re-structuring news.

It really was a good seminar and I got a lot out of it that I can use.

In other news, let see.  I'm not as tired and depressed so far this week as I was last week.  Today is the fifth anniversary of signing the papers on our house!  Thomas' dad is in the hospital.  He is getting close to 90 years old and is not in good health at all.  Up until two years ago he still lived in Alabama, but the brother who was his main caregiver just couldn't do it anymore.  Thomas' sisters wanted him up here, so his brother brought him up and he lived with one of the sisters for awhile.  But he needed such constant care that she just couldn't do it, and they made the decision to put him in a nursing home nearby.  They (the girls) go to see him daily to make sure he is eating right.  Friday he was almost non-responsive and they called an ambulance to take him to the hospital.  He was dehydrated and they think he had a small stroke.  We went to see him Sunday.  I'm not sure he knew who we were.

Thomas, my wonderful, loving husband, who is a great father to our kids, just isn't close to his dad at all.  There were times when he was a child that they shared good times and there are some good memories, but most of his early childhood was not happy.  He has very little respect for the man and he has good reasons.  He tries to think of the good things and to give him the respect he deserves as his father and as an old man who doesn't have long to live, but he really can't seem to feel more for him than that.  It's sad, but it's the way it really is.  He has always said that he cared for and respected my dad more than his own.  And since my Dad loved Thomas, too, I'm glad he had my Dad for as long as he did.

Well, it's late.  I'd better be off to bed.  I may find that they've moved my cheese again when I get to work tomorrow!

My Daddy Would Be 84...........

Today my Dad would have been 84 years old if he were still living.  I've written before about Dad and about dealing with his death.  I'd like to share a funny story about him right now.

Right after he and my Mother were married he worked for a short time as a driver for the Yellow Cab Company in Louisville, KY.  One night, late, right before the end of his shift he picked up a fare consisting of two men and two women.  They gave Dad an address that was pretty far away and that would have been a good fare.  But as he was driving Dad could hear them whispering in the back seat, and whenever he glanced in the rear-view mirror it looked as if they were being very secretive, whispering behind their hands and glancing toward the front seat.  He thought he overheard certain whispered words like "get away", "cash" and "car", along with others.  He had quite a bit of cash on him and was understandably a little nervous.

Daddy, quite a good driver, decided the fare wasn't worth it and started speeding up.  He made sharp turns, ran red lights and broke the speed limit, trying to get stopped by a patrol car.  Where were the police when you needed them?  He stepped up his efforts, all the while heading for one certain destination that was definitely not the address they had given him.

He roared up and down the streets of downtown Louisville, running red lights, whipping around other drivers, turning in one street and out another, until finally, tires screeching, he came to a stop directly in front of the Louisville Police Station.

"This is where you said you wanted to go, right?!" he barked out at his passengers.

All four of them, white-faced, hands tightly gripping whatever was close to hand, merely nodded and jumped out of the cab.  They never said a word and Dad didn't ask for any money.

In later years he wondered if he'd made something out of nothing or if they really had planned on robbing him.  And he never got over the fact that there wasn't a cop to be found! 

I always wonder if somewhere out there is a person or four people who tell the story of the crazy Yellow Cab Driver who delivered them to the police station in Louisville KY.

Monday Morning Question

Okay, I'm doing it a day late, but at least I'm doing it this week:

 Monday Morning Question

Question: Are you still living in the town you were born in? If not how many moves to other towns have you made?

No, I was born in Hardinsburg, KY.  I lived there until I was 21 when I married and moved to Louisville, KY for a short time.  Then we moved back to Hardinsburg, then to Jeffersonville, IN, which is where we live now (only about 70 miles away from my hometown).

Meet my Siblings.......

My Sunny Saturday morning turned into a very brisk, cold, windy Saturday afternoon.  Brrrr!

I enjoyed going down to my Mom's last weekend.   Mom only lives about 70 miles away, but I don't get down there as often as I should, and they don't get up here very often either.  We call and email each other a lot, though.

It was good to see my sister who was visiting from Florida.  Maxine is my second oldest sister, third from the oldest and is about 54 now, I guess.  She was widowed 10 years ago from her husband of 28 years.  Then about 7 years ago she remarried a man from Germany who has lived in the US for about 20 years.  He's quite a bit older than she is.  He didn't come up this time; this was just a quick trip for her.  She looked good.  She teaches second grade in St. Augustine.

My oldest sister who just turned 58 in January also just found out in January that she has diabetes.  It hasn't progressed very far and they are going to try to control it with diet and hold off on the medication as long as they can.  Dennice lives right next door to my Mom on Mom and Dad's property.  She was widowed about 13 years ago and has not remarried.  She is a speech and language pathologist who works with their local school system and also takes private clients.  She's a nut!

I know discovering the diabetes and having to change her diet has got to be horrible for her.  She loves food.  She had a hard life while her husband was living but has always been the most upbeat, happy, fun person I know.  She will swear she has never been depressed a day in her life, but I don't see how.  I think food became her antidepressant and although not obese she has been overweight for years.  She started a diet last year, though, and lost 24 pounds.  Now that she's on this dietetic diet she'll be losing a lot more I'm sure.  She looked good, too.  I hate that she has diabetes, though.  I hope she sticks to the diet and takes care of herself.  She's a bit of a workaholic and has been known to neglect herself!

I might as well talk about my other siblings, too!  My brother, Alton,  who is 56 used to be an over-the-road driver.  He had a stroke about 8 years ago (and also had to have an aneurism in his brain clipped) that left him debilitated enough to not be able to live on his own.  He can take care of his own personal needs, but sometimes his memory isn't good, and he's on a lot of meds.  He has had a couple of seizures over the years. So when this happened we built an apartment onto our Mom and Dad's house so he could be there with them.  

My sister, P.J., 52, works for H & R Block.  She remarried three years ago to a wonderful man who fits into our family like a glove.  They live about 30 miles away from our Mom.

Lois, who turns the big 5-0 next month, lives with my Mom and brother now.  When Dad died Lois moved in and gave her house to Dennice because we wanted someone in the house with Mom and Alton.  She works for a local resort,  Mountain Laurel Lake.  She does a lot for Mom and Alton, too.  She and Dennice are potters, too.  They are getting quite good with their creations!

Barbara, next to me in age, will be 46 this year.  She is an artist and has a house on my parents' property, also.  She is also one of Alton's main caregivers.  Actually Mom and Dad put her and Lois' names on the deed to their property a few years ago, so that when they are both gone the property will already be theirs -- no inheritance taxes.  We figure since they are both unmarried and don't plan on going anywhere they should get the property.  They'll be there to continue taking care of Alton too.  Barbara  has lost 17 pounds over the winter!  I had her write down the diet she's been on.  Maybe I'll try it.

I enjoyed our visit, but for the first time in a long time I kept thinking someone was missing.  I guess I was expecting to see Daddy.  I felt that way for several months after he died, but this was the first time since thatfirst year.  Left me feeling kind of incomplete and restless while I was there.  Their 55th anniversary would have been Feb. 1, and his birthday is on Feb. 28.  He would have been 83.  Maybe that's why it felt strange -- it's the month.

On a lighter note...........

Okay, I need to get goofy so I'm going to do some of the blog quizzes I've been meaning to do.  Here's the first:

 Blogthings - What Pattern Is Your Brain? 

Your Brain's Pattern

      Your brain is always looking for the connections in life.

You always amaze your friends by figuring out things first.

You're also good at connecting people - and often play match maker.

You see the world in fluid, flexible terms. Nothing is black or white.     

Well, that sounds right except the part about match making.  I try very hard not to do that. 

And to go along with that one is this one:  

 Blogthings - Are You Right or Left Brained?  

You Are 45% Left Brained, 55% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning.

Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others.

If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic.
Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet.

The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility.
Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way.

If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art.

Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

That sounds about right, too.  There is sometimes a war between my very logical, detailed, organization-loving left side with my very creative, messy, dreamy right side.  And yes, the right side does quite often win out!   More later!

Just a stress-releasing vent on a Sunny Saturday.........

Work is starting to get on my nerves.  I said I'd wait it out until the end and get my severance pay, but good grief they're really starting to get on my nerves!

I still love our department and what I do there.  I love the people I work with, but it's getting harder and harder to let things just pass over me.  I've always been able to pretty much ignore the negative, letting it just sail over the top of my head, but I'm beginning to be stressed!

My mantra right now is "Just four more months........Just four more months........Just four more months........"

I wrote back in June about what's happening at my company.  I'm now ready to move on.  When we first got the news a lot of our Document Management people left right away to find jobs outside of the company.  Others, little by little, have been taking other jobs within the company and leaving doc. man.  Some of our associates, including four from my team, will be staying with the company to perform the duties that are staying with our company instead of being given to the ourtsource company.  Our four will be leaving next month.  So our current doc. man. duties are being handled by pretty much a skeleton crew of full-time, experienced associates and an ever-changing crew of temporary associates.  Therefore we are swamped, buried, sucked down into quicksand, with work!!!  And there is absolutely no solution.  We can only do so much in a week's time.  The new people who aren't quite up to making production yet can only do so much.  But still I feel an obligation to get the work out!  Do as much as I can to serve the customer!  Focus on the Customer!  Personal Accountability for Excellence!  Integrity!

Well I did not work one bit of overtime this week.  I still came home yesterday, went to bed at 6:00 and slept for 13 hours straight!!!  Stress, I'm telling you.

I will work overtime next week.  Might as well get the extra money while it's there.  Monday we had a meeting called for all the associates, not the temps.  This hadn't been scheduled so we all were a little antsy about the topic.  Someone near me said, as we were sitting down, "Maybe they're going to tell us that "L" (the outsourcing company) is all set up to take our work and they're sending it out now instead of the end of June, and we can all go home."  And I found myself thinking, "Oh I hope so!  Give me my severance, my vacation pay and my bonus and send me on out the door!"  But it wasn't that.  They were just letting us know that because our inventories were high if we applied for and accepted another job within the company, instead of keeping us in doc. man. for 30 days they could concievably keep us for 60 days before releasing us to the other department. 

Okay.  Whatever. 

I could still go to another department within the company.  And they may still try to send me to one of the other doc. man. teams that's struggling as bad as ours to fill out my time until the end of June, but I will still fight them on that, and so will my manager.  If they're taking my job away anyway, the job that I really love with the people and on the team that I love, the least they can do is let me stay with that team until the end.  If they make me go over I'll probably just give my two weeks' notice and say to heck with the severance pay.  I probably shouldn't do that, though, should I?  Money's money.

Oh well, just needed to vent.  It's a gorgeous Saturday here in Southern Indiana.  Guess I'll try to get some relaxation out of it.  More later.

Poking my head out into J-land................

Well, I'm still among the living!  Last week was hectic again.  I had an orientation to do last week with five more temps, and I still worked some overtime, but not as much.  I'm slowing down on it for this week, too.  My sister, Maxine, flew in for the weekend, so we've been at my Mom's visiting.  It was nice to have all seven of us kids together.  But also, taking up quite a bit of my time since Thursday night was........................

Setting up my new laptop!!!  Thomas bought me a laptop!  I had mentioned maybe getting one when I got my incentive bonus this year, which is next month.  But he wanted to get it for me.  Now I don't have to fight with the kids for computer time.  My kids are so jealous!!  We keep our desktop out in the living room because I don't want the kids on the internet without being where I can see them.  But that makes it hard for me to have quiet time on the computer with everyone moving and talking around me.  I can go off to my bedroom now for "me" time. 

Thank you, Thomas!!        

Meet Glacier, the Tiger Cub (and, yes, I should be in bed right now)

I should be in bed, and I will be soon.  I took a nice nap this afernoon that has left me sleepless at bed time.  But I'm finally starting to get drowsy.

Busy week last week, and now they've extended the overtime bonus offer through this week as well.  I'm not sure how much I'll work, but I'll do my share, I'm sure.  The money will be nice.

I made sure to spend some quality time with Eler Beth yesterday.  We went to our local Bass Pro Shop and got our picture made with a tiger cub!!  Eler Beth was so excited!!  They did this about a month ago and are back by popular demand.  Wildlife In Need is a non-profit rehabilitation organization located in nearby Charlestown, IN.  For a $20.00 donation you got to get your picture (up to three people) with one of their three 4-month-old Tiger Cubs.  Two of them are orange and one is white.  We were hoping for the white one, and they switched to him just before it was our turn.  You can't tell from the picture, but Eler Beth was so excited she couldn't be still while we were in the line.  When it came time for the picture she wouldn't do it unless I did too!!  Great!!  I wasn't planning on being in the picture, had no make up on, hadn't dressed for it and hadn't done anything to my hair except brush it and slide my sun glasses up onto my head!  I couldn't give you the full effect of the size of this cub without leaving myself in the picture, though, so, oh well!  Can you tell that he's got his tongue stuck out?  Looks like he's licking his nose.  After the picture we were allowed to pet him a little.  That was great!

After we got our picture we went up to the third floor to the restaurant that they just opened, The Islamarada Fish Company.  The food, service and portions were really good.  It was a little pricey, but I expected it to be.  They were actually still training andwere a little shorthanded.  There were lots of trainers and managers all over the place.  It was nice, though, and we had the nicest, most pleasant server.  It is on the third floor and wherever you are sitting you can see out over the railing to the second floor below.

We had an appetizer of crab cake (huge and delicious!), then Eler Beth had the kids' shrimp (huge shrimp, tasted great!) with fries and I had a buffalo burger.  It was very good and came with fries, home made cole slaw (that even Eler Beth tried and said was good --  it was the best I've ever had in a restaurant), lettuce, tomato, fried onions, some kind of ketchup-y sauce that wasn't ketchup and a pickle on the side.  Their sweet tea was perfect, and I always judge a restaurant well that has good sweet tea!

After that we shopped a little and came home.  I did get some rest and I've managed to get caught up on about half of my emails.  It seems like there were some other things I had thought about writing, but I can't remember them right now, and I really should try to sleep, anyway, so more later.

Checking In

I had over 300 email alerts today!!  I'm down to 246.

I won't get them all done today, but I'll skim through them on my breaks at work tomorrow.  I figured out today that if I work all the overtime I plan to work I'll make over $600 in overtime and bonus money.  That's if I can stand the hours this week.  I'm up right now when I shouldn't be because I napped this afternoon.  I really shouldn't have.

We actually watched the Super Bowl tonight.  We usually don't.  I enjoy the commercials, but I just don't keep up with football anymore.  I was kind of hoping Seattle would win, but oh well!  They played really well, I thought, but then what do I know?

  OOPS!! Wrong game!!

It is very cold here.  It isn't supposed to get out of the 30's all week, and there was a horrible wind blowing all day today.  It snowed some yesterday, but there wasn't any accumulation.  There was black ice on the road, though, last night.  Glad I wasn't out in it. 

 Even though it was cold and windy Thomas and I spent a little time outside with the dogs this afternoon.  They hadn't had much attention this past week.  We needed to clean out their kennels a little (a very little -- it was just too cold to do much) and put some fresh straw in their houses.  They love it when we do that!!  They jump up on the straw bales and dig down into them, then when Thomas is putting the straw in their  houses they get in and start burrowing down in it and tossing it around with their noses.  And always after we've done that and put them back inside the first thing they do is go into their houses, burrow down, stick their heads out the doors of their houses and let out little contented sighs.   I guess they see it as an act of love!

I need to make sure the kids dress very warmly in the morning for the bus stops.  Guess I'll go now and hope to visit some journals throughout the week.  Maybe next week I'll have something interesting to journal about.  I still need to do that entry I've mentioned before about the camping trip we took back in 1996.  That's quite a story and one I'll enjoy telling.  Bye for now.

Taking time out..........

Well, I don't go in to work until 10:00 today, so I'm taking a few minutes to play on the computer.  I'm going to be working a lot of overtime this week and next week, starting today.  They were having trouble getting us to work as much overtime as is needed right now, because everyone did so much at the end of the year; we're all burnt out!  But Monday they announced that for every 8 hours of overtime we work we'll get a $65 bonus, in addition to overtime pay.  Hey, that's free money, so I can't turn that down.

Eler Beth hasn't had as much homework as she did on Monday.  But Tuesday she was doing her Science homework and I made a comment about how she must be enjoying it because it was dealing with things she's interested in.  And she said, solemnly, with one eyebrow quirked, "Mom.  Science isn't as fun as you might think."  I guess even when the subject might be of interest to you, homework is still homework.

Hope everyone is having a good week.  I'll try to find some time to visit some other journals soon.  It may not be before Saturday, though.