Happy Saturday! Slept 'til 10:34! and that's after having gone to bed yesterday at 6:45 or so, getting up about 9:45 or so, and going back to bed at midnight! I was exhausted.
Yesterday I had to be up at 6 to get to the FWISD orientation sessions by 8 a.m. Oh my goodness, that was the coldest place I've been in years! And I didn't take a jacket or sweater or lap quilt...needed all three. It was so cold by the time we broke by noon that my brain had just shut off and my nose was like an icicle. When we broke for lunch I went out to the car and just sat in the hot car - with the A/C turned off. I noticed others doing likewise. Since we had a little over an hour for lunch, I went to a nearby thrift store and purchased a used man's wind breaker so I would have something for the afternoon. Thankfully others in the session had approached management and said, "we can't do this for the remainder of the day." Somehow what couldn't be fixed that morning was fixed for the afternoon session. I could hug their necks.
Anyway, the morning session was all about using the ISD system, finding out how jobs are posted and called out, what to do, la la la. Lots of information in the manual. And LOTS of warnings about what NOT to do with and around students, and stories about things that have happened in the past when teachers have innocently done things. And warnings about not taking personal items into the schools with us -- if you expect to be able to take them back home with you!!! Try not to take a purse! Try to carry everything on your person -- in a pocket or something.
In the afternoon session we received information about controlling a classroom, that we cannot focus on the negative behavior of a student but must focus on the positive behaviors of the other students. There is no corporal punishment, and very little punishment of any other kind! Students have rights - teachers don't. Also received information on expected dress, too. Dress code for teachers has tightened up. They want the teachers dressed a couple of levels above the students.
Sessions were from 8-4:30, except we didn't get out until almost 5. I was exhausted - that's my first full day of anything since retirement. Once home I rested for a few minutes, and then we went to Dixie House for dinner. There was no way I had the energy to fix anything. I went to bed as soon as we got back home. Woke up at 9:45, went back to bed at about midnight, and then slept 'til 10:34 this morning.
I've been retaining so much fluid that my legs were still huge when I woke up. So, I took a water pill this morning and have on my good support hose. Gotta get this fluid off of me.
Tackled the utility room this morning. Our utility room is fairly large. It is one of those rooms between the kitchen and garage, with machines and upper cabinets on one side of it (about 1/3 of the room), and then and open room with shelves around. The floor in that room is always a nightmare. Thanks to friend Gwen's suggestion, I bought one of those cordless vacuum cleaners and a shark floor steamer. Ken had cleaned the machines earlier this week and done a first sweep so all I had to do was a quick resweep, run the cordless vac a bit, then run the shark. Didn't take a lot of time at all. There were a couple of spots that did not want to come up so I had to make up some mop water and scrub them and clean the baseboards. I've now got to go back and wash down the two doors, but it looks a lot better in there!
Late yesterday I checked my phone and there was a message from Sharon, The Ladder Alliance, that the classes that were scheduled to start on Monday are not going to start after all. Supposedly they are now scheduled to start on August 6. I'm about ready to tell them to forget it. I've already discovered I can teach at FWISD every day if I choose to - at least that's what the head guy told us! And the pay is about the same for both.
So, gotta go finish the utility room, run the sweeper in the kitchen, finish up some laundry, and stay close to home due to the fluid pill! 'Bye y'all!
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Fun day. Luci made sure we were awake early! We got to have coffee and piddle a bit this morning before heading to Jake's for lunch. Small turn out, but we had a good lunch anyway. Tonight I was contacted by former school mate Toni who wasn't able to make it out today -- she has volunteered to help if we want to set these things up once a month. Yippee! Yes, we do!!! Got some ideas running around in my head and does Toni. I think we can make this happen. We really need to find a place to have a Christmas event - we'll work on it.
After lunch we drove over to FWISD to have my picture made, then drove to the sub courthouse for early voting. Then home to check on the babies, relax a little bit, and then we both went to our neighborhood shop for pedi's. Plus K. got a mani and I had a nail fill. That massage chair feels SO good.
We drove from the shop to Taco Bell, had dinner, came home. K's in bed; I'm headed that direction - it's 9:35 p.m.! But I have to be up at 6 and to the FWISD tomorrow at 8 a.m. for all-day training. I'm sure I'll be exhausted afterward. At least we get a break for lunch.
That's about it -- gotta run. have no idea what I'm wearing tomorrow...I don't do well in the mornings, so hope whatever I put on goes together!
After lunch we drove over to FWISD to have my picture made, then drove to the sub courthouse for early voting. Then home to check on the babies, relax a little bit, and then we both went to our neighborhood shop for pedi's. Plus K. got a mani and I had a nail fill. That massage chair feels SO good.
We drove from the shop to Taco Bell, had dinner, came home. K's in bed; I'm headed that direction - it's 9:35 p.m.! But I have to be up at 6 and to the FWISD tomorrow at 8 a.m. for all-day training. I'm sure I'll be exhausted afterward. At least we get a break for lunch.
That's about it -- gotta run. have no idea what I'm wearing tomorrow...I don't do well in the mornings, so hope whatever I put on goes together!
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Great week thus far! Yesterday I got to have lunch and spend time yacking with long-time friend Marikay. Marikay and I worked together for a long time before the company shafted her and she left for a better situation in Florida. Now retired, she is in town visiting adult children. I'm green with envy because they are all leaving tomorrow for Seattle and then jumping on the cruise ship Friday morning to do the Alaska cruise for the next two weeks. Waa! I wanna go! Hope they have a blast, 'cause I'll get to hear all about it.
What else? Let's see, Ken posted on his high school social page that we had been to Ol' South Pancake House for dinner Monday night and suggested that the gang go there one time as a change from the Mexican place where they go every month. That started a riot, with everybody telling him how bad the place was, how awful the food is, how poor the service is, and not only no, but hell no they won't go. I am SO glad my school buddies do not carry on like his.
Ken and I have posted that we will be at Jake's for lunch tomorrow at 11:30 and everyone is invited to come out to join us. We'll see if anyone show's up. Have heard from one person, and that is a decline. Whether they show up or not, we will have a salad and tea!
Last night we did the unforgiveable and went to Outback Steakhouse. Ken was hungry for blooming onion. We also ordered one of the appetizers that's the avocado topped with crab meat. I ordered a cheeseburger, ate half of it, the other half was brought home for the fur babies. Likewise, Ken had the steak kabob and brought part of it home.
Today I had a meeting at The Ladder Alliance. This is turning into a full-time position with part-time pay. Thankfully this is something I want to do and I'm not in it for the $$ necessarily.
Received a call from FWISD along with email notification that all's well on the homefront - fingerprinting/background check is ok and I attend orientation/seminars/ teacher sessions on Friday. This is going to be exciting. I always wanted to be a teacher!!! I have to swing by the ISD office tomorrow to have another photo made -- the one I thought was for my badge turns out to be for the background check only, so have to have another one made for ID badge. Then on to lunch.
And tonight we drove to Burleson and stopped at Golden Corral for dinner. We won't do that again!
Here we are, fat dumb and happy, and ready to call it a night. We're having fun this week because starting Monday I won't have any more free days for the following 8 weeks or so. After that I plan to slow back down. I haven't spoken about that with The Ladder Alliance folks, but no way am I going to do full days, 5 days a week, continually. My plan is to continue to support them, but with many fewer hours.
'til next time, take care, may God bless you, be safe.
What else? Let's see, Ken posted on his high school social page that we had been to Ol' South Pancake House for dinner Monday night and suggested that the gang go there one time as a change from the Mexican place where they go every month. That started a riot, with everybody telling him how bad the place was, how awful the food is, how poor the service is, and not only no, but hell no they won't go. I am SO glad my school buddies do not carry on like his.
Ken and I have posted that we will be at Jake's for lunch tomorrow at 11:30 and everyone is invited to come out to join us. We'll see if anyone show's up. Have heard from one person, and that is a decline. Whether they show up or not, we will have a salad and tea!
Last night we did the unforgiveable and went to Outback Steakhouse. Ken was hungry for blooming onion. We also ordered one of the appetizers that's the avocado topped with crab meat. I ordered a cheeseburger, ate half of it, the other half was brought home for the fur babies. Likewise, Ken had the steak kabob and brought part of it home.
Today I had a meeting at The Ladder Alliance. This is turning into a full-time position with part-time pay. Thankfully this is something I want to do and I'm not in it for the $$ necessarily.
Received a call from FWISD along with email notification that all's well on the homefront - fingerprinting/background check is ok and I attend orientation/seminars/ teacher sessions on Friday. This is going to be exciting. I always wanted to be a teacher!!! I have to swing by the ISD office tomorrow to have another photo made -- the one I thought was for my badge turns out to be for the background check only, so have to have another one made for ID badge. Then on to lunch.
And tonight we drove to Burleson and stopped at Golden Corral for dinner. We won't do that again!
Here we are, fat dumb and happy, and ready to call it a night. We're having fun this week because starting Monday I won't have any more free days for the following 8 weeks or so. After that I plan to slow back down. I haven't spoken about that with The Ladder Alliance folks, but no way am I going to do full days, 5 days a week, continually. My plan is to continue to support them, but with many fewer hours.
'til next time, take care, may God bless you, be safe.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
Had appointment with FWISD this morning for fingerprinting, picture ID, short meeting with Capital Management. I have been surprised as many people as they interview how well the head of this department knows each and every one of us. She's amazing. I checked in with the receptionist and she sent me to B.G.'s office. She was on the telephone so I stood outside and waited. When she turned around she said, "May I help You," and then, "Dorthy! I didn't recognize you!" when she saw me last week I had my hair pulled back into a "knot" with one of those big clip chignon bows over it, had on pearl earrings and a 2-strand pearl necklace. Today (in response to her encouraging me to come today to get going so she can get me into seminars this week), I showered and shampooed, used moisturizer and a bit of lip gloss, blew my hair dry and left it down, and wore more casual clothing. But she knew me and surprisingly that is after a short, short interview last Friday!
Anyway, haven't had the fingerprinting done since I went back to Lockheed in 1982, so interesting that they no longer use the "ink" method. Instead it is all electronic via computer scanning. Then had my picture taken for ID, and was ready to go. I'm supposed to hear from BG on Wednesday to confirm that I go to the seminars this Friday. Getting into that one will be a relief because it means I will not have to be concerned while I'm teaching the computer classes for TLA that start this next Monday.
When I left FWISD I met up with Ken and "the boys" (Republican candidate Chuck Bradley and campaign manager David) at Benbrook Cafe as long as they promised to buy my lunch. So got a good salad with grilled chicken out of the deal.
When we all went our separate ways I stopped by Omni and did what I should have done years ago -- I closed out our account!!! I've had that account since before my babies started to school!!! Omni used to be the Carswell AFB credit union but it was never much good -- always expensive and never run like a credit union. It finally gave up all pretense of being a credit union and changed to being a bank with branches all over the place. This has always been our "revolving" account - not much money in it - saving up a bit and then taking a trip or making a major purchase, but lately it's been more trouble than it's worth since we have such a great relationship with GTFCU (been with them since 1992) and everything, including deposits, is handled electronically. And the only other thing we did with Omni was cash bonds, and we don't need to do that any more - they are also electronic, so redeeming them is just selecting and clicking a couple of nav buttons.
Then I stopped by the post office and mailed snow cone money to the local grandchildren. Still need to get a check off to my oldest granddaughter out of state so will do that tomorrow.
After getting home Ken and I knew we needed to tackle the horrible nasty kitchen floor. I absolutely hate this part of cleaning our house because it is so hard to do the floors -- we have tile and wood. I usually have to dust mop it, and then sponge mop the whole thing. However, a friend told me she uses two pieces of equipment on her floors (plus broom). She encouraged me to get a Eureka cordless vacuum cleaner and a Shark steam mop. Ken put them together over the weekend and we plugged in the cordless to charge. Oh my gosh, what life savers. The cordless is wonderful. Ken and I worked together. He pushed the cordless while I used the broom to get dust/dirt out of corners for him to vacuum. With the two of us working together it took hardly any time. So, we decided to read instructions and test the steam mop. Oh my! I don't know how we ever lived without this! Within a VERY short time the kitchen floor was CLEAN. We were done, finished, it was over! No sore hips, back, feet, legs, etc.
Because we have the doggies, there will be times we have to clean with a sanitizer such as pinesol or Mr. Clean, but for the most part, those days are few and far between. Tomorrow afternoon I'll tackle the wooden floors. Everyone I've heard from about this machine tells me they love it and it cuts their cleaning time down significantly. Another girlfriend says she buys the Bissel mint water to use in it so it makes the house smell great while steam cleaning! I told Ken while we were doing the kitchen that I think finally I have found the greatest thing since sliced bread!!!
So then what? Well, it didn't take long to do the floor, so after we rested and caught up with emails, we decided to go to Ol' South Pancake House for supper. haven't done that in forever!!! We had German pancakes - I had mine with strawberries and bacon, K. had his with blueberries and link sausage. Afterward we had coffee - I had a divine cup of decaf. I never have coffee, but it was so good.
While we were at Ol' South I returned a phone call to S.C. of TLA to discuss classes that start next week. I've got to do some studying before classes start, but no real big deal. I meet with SC on Wednesday morning so we can go over some game plans for the classes to be held at Tx Workforce. Some of the things normally done with classes held at TLA will have to be different due to the fact that men will be in the TWC classes.
So then home, Ken to watch ball game, and me to piddle. Had some wonderful online conversations with family researchers. I find that even though I have been doing family research for years, I always find a new little nugget of information with each new researcher I meet. With my newly found "cousin," I've learned that my gggrandfather was the sheriff of Jones County, Mississippi.
Also had some online conversation with one of my "children." One of my son's friends from school days. Back then all of his friends called me Mom, and I've been fortunate that some of them have found me on FB and friended me and from time to time send up a shout. They've grown into wonderful fathers and mothers, and are still as wonderful as they were back in the day. I love them all, just as I did and still do my girls' friends, although I don't hear from them. I miss every last one of them.
So now it is time to go to bed. Tomorrow is an exciting day! I get to see, have lunch with, spend the afternoon with, my long-time friend ML! ML lives in Florida, but she USED to live here and we worked together. But she left the company about 20 years ago, I guess, moved to Florida to work for one of our competitors. But she is HERE this week visiting her daughter and family as they ALL get geared up to leave Friday for Seattle and the set sail on the Alaska cruise! I am SO jealous!!! We plan to do that, but not yet. But I don't think we are going to sail from Seattle or Vancouver. I think we are going to fly into Alaska and then take a cruise that way. I've already spoken with a travel agent, so I think we've about got that worked out. But we won't go until next year - after the granddaughter graduates from high school.
That's it for now! Need my beauty sleep -- need lots of it, I think!!! Hugs to all, prayers always.
Anyway, haven't had the fingerprinting done since I went back to Lockheed in 1982, so interesting that they no longer use the "ink" method. Instead it is all electronic via computer scanning. Then had my picture taken for ID, and was ready to go. I'm supposed to hear from BG on Wednesday to confirm that I go to the seminars this Friday. Getting into that one will be a relief because it means I will not have to be concerned while I'm teaching the computer classes for TLA that start this next Monday.
When I left FWISD I met up with Ken and "the boys" (Republican candidate Chuck Bradley and campaign manager David) at Benbrook Cafe as long as they promised to buy my lunch. So got a good salad with grilled chicken out of the deal.
When we all went our separate ways I stopped by Omni and did what I should have done years ago -- I closed out our account!!! I've had that account since before my babies started to school!!! Omni used to be the Carswell AFB credit union but it was never much good -- always expensive and never run like a credit union. It finally gave up all pretense of being a credit union and changed to being a bank with branches all over the place. This has always been our "revolving" account - not much money in it - saving up a bit and then taking a trip or making a major purchase, but lately it's been more trouble than it's worth since we have such a great relationship with GTFCU (been with them since 1992) and everything, including deposits, is handled electronically. And the only other thing we did with Omni was cash bonds, and we don't need to do that any more - they are also electronic, so redeeming them is just selecting and clicking a couple of nav buttons.
Then I stopped by the post office and mailed snow cone money to the local grandchildren. Still need to get a check off to my oldest granddaughter out of state so will do that tomorrow.
After getting home Ken and I knew we needed to tackle the horrible nasty kitchen floor. I absolutely hate this part of cleaning our house because it is so hard to do the floors -- we have tile and wood. I usually have to dust mop it, and then sponge mop the whole thing. However, a friend told me she uses two pieces of equipment on her floors (plus broom). She encouraged me to get a Eureka cordless vacuum cleaner and a Shark steam mop. Ken put them together over the weekend and we plugged in the cordless to charge. Oh my gosh, what life savers. The cordless is wonderful. Ken and I worked together. He pushed the cordless while I used the broom to get dust/dirt out of corners for him to vacuum. With the two of us working together it took hardly any time. So, we decided to read instructions and test the steam mop. Oh my! I don't know how we ever lived without this! Within a VERY short time the kitchen floor was CLEAN. We were done, finished, it was over! No sore hips, back, feet, legs, etc.
Because we have the doggies, there will be times we have to clean with a sanitizer such as pinesol or Mr. Clean, but for the most part, those days are few and far between. Tomorrow afternoon I'll tackle the wooden floors. Everyone I've heard from about this machine tells me they love it and it cuts their cleaning time down significantly. Another girlfriend says she buys the Bissel mint water to use in it so it makes the house smell great while steam cleaning! I told Ken while we were doing the kitchen that I think finally I have found the greatest thing since sliced bread!!!
So then what? Well, it didn't take long to do the floor, so after we rested and caught up with emails, we decided to go to Ol' South Pancake House for supper. haven't done that in forever!!! We had German pancakes - I had mine with strawberries and bacon, K. had his with blueberries and link sausage. Afterward we had coffee - I had a divine cup of decaf. I never have coffee, but it was so good.
While we were at Ol' South I returned a phone call to S.C. of TLA to discuss classes that start next week. I've got to do some studying before classes start, but no real big deal. I meet with SC on Wednesday morning so we can go over some game plans for the classes to be held at Tx Workforce. Some of the things normally done with classes held at TLA will have to be different due to the fact that men will be in the TWC classes.
So then home, Ken to watch ball game, and me to piddle. Had some wonderful online conversations with family researchers. I find that even though I have been doing family research for years, I always find a new little nugget of information with each new researcher I meet. With my newly found "cousin," I've learned that my gggrandfather was the sheriff of Jones County, Mississippi.
Also had some online conversation with one of my "children." One of my son's friends from school days. Back then all of his friends called me Mom, and I've been fortunate that some of them have found me on FB and friended me and from time to time send up a shout. They've grown into wonderful fathers and mothers, and are still as wonderful as they were back in the day. I love them all, just as I did and still do my girls' friends, although I don't hear from them. I miss every last one of them.
So now it is time to go to bed. Tomorrow is an exciting day! I get to see, have lunch with, spend the afternoon with, my long-time friend ML! ML lives in Florida, but she USED to live here and we worked together. But she left the company about 20 years ago, I guess, moved to Florida to work for one of our competitors. But she is HERE this week visiting her daughter and family as they ALL get geared up to leave Friday for Seattle and the set sail on the Alaska cruise! I am SO jealous!!! We plan to do that, but not yet. But I don't think we are going to sail from Seattle or Vancouver. I think we are going to fly into Alaska and then take a cruise that way. I've already spoken with a travel agent, so I think we've about got that worked out. But we won't go until next year - after the granddaughter graduates from high school.
That's it for now! Need my beauty sleep -- need lots of it, I think!!! Hugs to all, prayers always.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Sunday. Woke up at 10:39 this morning! I have to stop that, but it feels really good right now to sleep as much as I want to.
No church today...we have become backsliders and really need to change that. Just wish we could find a church to attend.
Basically a slow day. Made out cards to the grandchildren - sending snow cone money because it's mid summer. I really miss them so much. Oh, God, sometimes it's all I can do not to start bawling in the middle of the day, and I still cry myself to sleep at night.
I did a bit of laundry - not much else. Made a cherry/pineapple cobbler, cooked some chicken breasts in marinade of raspberry vinegrette and plated it on a bed of dirty brown rice (Zattarain's), and steamed some vegetables. That was about it.
I sent an email to the lady at FW ISD yesterday indicating I can't get to the August 3 seminars. She responded today - a Sunday! Told me to make my fingerprinting appointment for tomorrow and she can get me into the July 27 sessions. So, I did it on line tonight and have appointment for tomorrow at 11 a.m. Yea! Maybe this WILL work out.
Still not too sure about teaching the classes for The Ladder Alliance -- they are extremely disorganized. I will go by there on Tuesday some time; I need to get more information than I currently have. Hoping to get the first class behind me so I will feel more comfortable with it. I think in the future my time with TLA will be to volunteer a couple of evenings per week instead of this part-time which is almost full time with too much wear and tear on me and the car.
Ken put the cordless vacuum cleaner together for me today. Takes 16 hours for it to charge! So, had an excuse not to use it today. Hopefully will be able to get busy with it tomorrow. I am anxious to use it and the new steam mop to see if it's easier on me than swinging that mop and bucket. My back is just not going to allow me to do that any more.
Hugs to all, and to all a good night. I'm going to go watch TV without sound (that's how I watch in bed because Ken is asleep). Everybody have a wonderful Monday.
No church today...we have become backsliders and really need to change that. Just wish we could find a church to attend.
Basically a slow day. Made out cards to the grandchildren - sending snow cone money because it's mid summer. I really miss them so much. Oh, God, sometimes it's all I can do not to start bawling in the middle of the day, and I still cry myself to sleep at night.
I did a bit of laundry - not much else. Made a cherry/pineapple cobbler, cooked some chicken breasts in marinade of raspberry vinegrette and plated it on a bed of dirty brown rice (Zattarain's), and steamed some vegetables. That was about it.
I sent an email to the lady at FW ISD yesterday indicating I can't get to the August 3 seminars. She responded today - a Sunday! Told me to make my fingerprinting appointment for tomorrow and she can get me into the July 27 sessions. So, I did it on line tonight and have appointment for tomorrow at 11 a.m. Yea! Maybe this WILL work out.
Still not too sure about teaching the classes for The Ladder Alliance -- they are extremely disorganized. I will go by there on Tuesday some time; I need to get more information than I currently have. Hoping to get the first class behind me so I will feel more comfortable with it. I think in the future my time with TLA will be to volunteer a couple of evenings per week instead of this part-time which is almost full time with too much wear and tear on me and the car.
Ken put the cordless vacuum cleaner together for me today. Takes 16 hours for it to charge! So, had an excuse not to use it today. Hopefully will be able to get busy with it tomorrow. I am anxious to use it and the new steam mop to see if it's easier on me than swinging that mop and bucket. My back is just not going to allow me to do that any more.
Hugs to all, and to all a good night. I'm going to go watch TV without sound (that's how I watch in bed because Ken is asleep). Everybody have a wonderful Monday.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Luci woke everybody up this morning! She was ready for the day to begin at 7 a.m. Gotta do better training with that little angel. But it was nice to piddle today - a great Saturday morning.
Great nephew Blake's second birthday party was this afternoon. Ken didn't go - he was afraid he would miss the ball game, I think. I went by myself and got to see lots of my brother's family. Didn't get to see him, he sleeps a lot. We try to be as positive about things as we can, but my brother does not have a lot longer to be here with us. He has kidney failure, lung failure, and heart failure. The doctor has told my sister-in-law that one day he just won't wake up. In the meantime, he continues to practice his bass guitar and take lessons.
When I first pulled into the driveway, Blake was standing outside with Poppy (my nephew) and Kim (nephew's wife). He came to the car and was laughing and playing and then started "scaring" me with his little 2 year old growls and hands held in claw position. That's because there are tarantula holes in the yard and his mom is afraid of them.
Blake had a great birthday party! Tons of stuff, of course, but he was just a delight about everything. He loved it all. And I loved it because I got to see great niece Lindsey and husband Chuck and their three girls, niece Peggy and her husband Mark, nephew's daughter C., Ryan's husband Joshua, and several others. It was a great way to spend a late Saturday afternoon.
I also got to talk to great niece C. about the gun she recently purchased -- I'm pretty envious, she bought a pink one. She told me there's another one there that's black with pink trim, so I may have to go check it out. Otherwise I'm going to find a Glock that's pink. I know adult ladies talking about guns sounds weird to some, but this is Texas; my family has been around guns always. My kids grew up with a 12 gauge shotgun kept under my bed where I could get to it if needed, so gun talk amounts to nothing in our family. Everybody hunts, and everybody has a license to pack a hand gun. Children are taught from birth to respect guns and how to use them. Mine were not, but that's an exception to most of the family. Before my girls were born, and when my son was young, there was a gun rack over the sofa in the living room, and pistols in the master closet. We didn't think much about it, but folks who came to the house would get a bit spooked (lol).
Other than that, tonight we went to "the corner" (Italian Cafe) for dinner.
It's been a good day.
Great nephew Blake's second birthday party was this afternoon. Ken didn't go - he was afraid he would miss the ball game, I think. I went by myself and got to see lots of my brother's family. Didn't get to see him, he sleeps a lot. We try to be as positive about things as we can, but my brother does not have a lot longer to be here with us. He has kidney failure, lung failure, and heart failure. The doctor has told my sister-in-law that one day he just won't wake up. In the meantime, he continues to practice his bass guitar and take lessons.
When I first pulled into the driveway, Blake was standing outside with Poppy (my nephew) and Kim (nephew's wife). He came to the car and was laughing and playing and then started "scaring" me with his little 2 year old growls and hands held in claw position. That's because there are tarantula holes in the yard and his mom is afraid of them.
Blake had a great birthday party! Tons of stuff, of course, but he was just a delight about everything. He loved it all. And I loved it because I got to see great niece Lindsey and husband Chuck and their three girls, niece Peggy and her husband Mark, nephew's daughter C., Ryan's husband Joshua, and several others. It was a great way to spend a late Saturday afternoon.
I also got to talk to great niece C. about the gun she recently purchased -- I'm pretty envious, she bought a pink one. She told me there's another one there that's black with pink trim, so I may have to go check it out. Otherwise I'm going to find a Glock that's pink. I know adult ladies talking about guns sounds weird to some, but this is Texas; my family has been around guns always. My kids grew up with a 12 gauge shotgun kept under my bed where I could get to it if needed, so gun talk amounts to nothing in our family. Everybody hunts, and everybody has a license to pack a hand gun. Children are taught from birth to respect guns and how to use them. Mine were not, but that's an exception to most of the family. Before my girls were born, and when my son was young, there was a gun rack over the sofa in the living room, and pistols in the master closet. We didn't think much about it, but folks who came to the house would get a bit spooked (lol).
Other than that, tonight we went to "the corner" (Italian Cafe) for dinner.
It's been a good day.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
FRIDAY! Love Fridays.
This morning I went to the hiring event at FW ISD...I had applied for substitute teacher. All went well, I had all the appropriate paperwork and references. I had to write essay responses to two scenarios while there - one was about how I would approach teaching a subject I'm not familiar with; and the other was about how I would maintain discipline in the classroom. Since this is not my first rodeo, I had some responses -- didn't know for sure what they were wanting. Anyway, I completed those, carried my papers/folder to the required next person, and waited. Then I was approached by the fellow who was going to interview me.
He wanted me to tell him about me and my work and/or teaching experience. Since I've had both, that wasn't difficult. He took notes during the process, and when the prescribed exercise was completed he asked me with my background how I felt about teaching math and science classes. He then told me my essays read like a retired school teacher, and I laughed. So did he. I told him that teaching a large class of engineers can sometimes be as difficult as teaching a classroom of younger students.
Anyway, I had to complete some additional paperwork after talking with him - one being a W4 form. Afterward I moved to the final station - actually talking to the employment officer who more or less welcomed me aboard, verified my DL and SS, and gave me paperwork for fingerprinting. All of this is so I can get in the door as a sub so that I can then attend alternate certification to be a full teacher. I'm supposed to go to seminars on Friday, August 3, but have yet to figure out how I'm going to do that since I will be teaching for TLA that day. Hmmm...I think I'll figure it out. Maybe students will get the day off.
SO, what else today? Hmm, came home, piddled, then got my act together to take packages to the post office. That was our big outing of the day. I fell asleep in my office chair late this afternoon, woke up about 5:45 or so (?). We were taking about going out to dinner, but there was lightening and thundering. Suddenly the power went out. Although it kept trying to pop back on, it finally just died. Since our Maggie (spaniel) is afraid of storms, we thought we should wait around at home a bit. And of course the cars were in the garage so we were hoping the power would come back on to make it easier to get in/out of the house/garage. But, it didn't. Ken called Encore and was told "sometime before midnight."
Ken changed the garage door opener to manual so we could back out the car. I was driving so I took us to Razoo's. It was great! I had a cat fish basket - thankfully I ordered the smaller version, because it was huge! Ken had a combination plate of some sort. The place was extremely busy, with a very long waiting line. After we signed in, we stepped inside to see if there were any bar stools open -- these are first come, first served and lots of times we end up eating at the bar instead of waiting for a table. Lucky us! We found two empty stools together! We claimed them. We were right at the end of the bar where the servers come up to pick up drink orders. There were open containers of cherries, lemons, limes, strawberries, pineapple, orange slices, and umbrella toothpicks. Nasty, nasty -- every server at Razoos had their hands in all of those containers as they were putting finishing touches on drinks. Oh, yuck! I will never again order a drink or eat the fruit off one of those toothpicks. No telling what germs are on them! No tongs -- just everybody putting their hands all in every container.
We ate too much as usual, and enjoyed every bite. It was a great way to end the week and to enjoy Friday evening. And the power was on when we got home. So here we are at the close of another very good day.
Take care - God bless...
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Tuesday-Thursday, July 17-19, 2012
Don't you just love Tuesday? It's so nice that it's not Monday!!!
I mentioned yesterday that I contacted the realtor when I noticed that the condo listed on Craigslist for $35K was listed on the realtor's page for $67K. The realtor checked it out on CL and sure enough, the CL listing is a SCAM! I haven't figured out what the scam is. Anyway, we nixed it because the HOA fees per month are $489! It covers water/trash and maintenance (building and lawn care). There is no back yard, no work out room, no club room, etc. Think we'll pass.
Ken was up early this morning, starting over. He went to his MHMR meeting, came home for lunch, and then to Texas Workforce Commission where he spoke with a counselor and then to Eddie about getting into the WIA program. He's not letting what happened yesterday slow him down. He got a couple of referrals at Texas Workforce and already has an interview set up for Friday. After TWC he went by the Social Security Office to let them know about the job situation so they won't count it against his SS and take money away. He's staying positive about this, which is good and somewhat different from what I expected. I thought it would crush him - but I think the fact that he discovered he CAN still do the job overcame his disappointment about the way his employment was handled. That and the fact that he certainly did not need to be in a situation where he was put in the middle of the owner and his wife, and I think was relieved when he left.
So, what else? Not much. I'm a little concerned about The Ladder Alliance taking over my life. Several emails have come out regarding another Saturday meeting. I haven't responded. I'm going to have to figure out a NICE way to let them know I will not be giving up Saturdays. This part-time situation has already taken all 5 days per week and most of my time each day, at least for about 7 weeks. I won't do that again, and in the interim I will not be attending Saturday meetings.
We took advantage of Wednesday by having a "resting" day...didn't do much of anything. I cleaned the kitchen, made sausage, eggs and biscuits for breakfast, and that's about the extent of what got done. We had Sonic burgers for lunch, and then Ken went to Wing Stop to pick up dinner! But it's ok, we had budgeted for meals out for this week. Just means that next week we have to cook most of the week.
My personal exciting event of the week so far has been that I was contacted by a lady in Louisiana who saw family research work I have done that is posted on Ancestry.com. Turns out she is a distant paternal relative and quite connected to our roots in Mississippi. It has been fun to correspond with her because she has lots of information PLUS pictures, and has been sharing same. It's been exciting to be able to put faces with the names I've "known" thru my many years of research (since 1981).
Made final payment on a bill this week -- yippee! We're still on the Dave Ramsey plan, and it has basically worked (we had to make the plan for 5 years). Still have a couple of creditors who would not work with us when I started making financial arrangements in 2009. Everybody else is now paid off; and they could have been, too, if they had agreed to terms. Instead they just keep hounding us about payment. This week I will start trying to make agreements with them again to see if we can't get these off our backs as well. I can't think too much about it because if I do I'll get too upset with K. All of this is still from the mess made when he decided to "check out" in 2009 and left me holding the bag for everything. No way could one income cover what was covered previously by two incomes. Grr...
Life here can be pretty dull -- so getting excited over arrival of Shark floor steamer mop machine counts as a highlight of the day! I ordered a Eureka cordless sweeper (came today - Thursday) and a Shark floor steamer (arrived yesterday) because last week I got so down in my back and hips after once again sponge mopping this entire place. I'm anxious to see if the steamer works - friends have told me they love theirs. I hope I do, because cleaning floors is a constant around this house with all the fur critters.
I made it to Office Depot today and got copies made of all the family documentation I found in Parker County last week. Brought all that home, made three piles of it (one for me), and will get all mailed out tomorrow to Mary P. and Marsha G. Then we'll see if they can get into Daughters of the Republic of Texas with it!
Nothing much else...we topped off the night by going to get a snow cone. Our favorite place was closed already for the night so we had to go to our second choice. We took Luci with us (she begs to go), and we tried sitting at the picnic table at the snow cone place but there were ants on the table and seats and one got on Luci and she was miserable. I held her while we sat out there and then we decided we were all getting eat up by them or possibly mosquitoes so got in the car instead.
I go for FWISD substitute teacher orientation tomorrow, so have to be up early. Don't know exactly how I'm going to work that out, but know that I'm going to -- I say that because orientation is tomorrow and then training is on August 3. I will be teaching for TLA on August 3. Hmmm...now what can I do. I need to find a substitute teacher for my class while I go to substitute teacher training for FWISD.
That's it for now. Going to bed and hope this is a better night than last night. Luci had a really rough time last night, cried from about 12:30 to 2...tummy hurt, I think, and then she was hungry. I fed her in bed, rocking her a bit, then feeding her a bit. She finally settled down and we were ALL glad - even Bennie and Maggie!
Get some sleep - hugs to all. If God's willing we shall rise again tomorrow.
I mentioned yesterday that I contacted the realtor when I noticed that the condo listed on Craigslist for $35K was listed on the realtor's page for $67K. The realtor checked it out on CL and sure enough, the CL listing is a SCAM! I haven't figured out what the scam is. Anyway, we nixed it because the HOA fees per month are $489! It covers water/trash and maintenance (building and lawn care). There is no back yard, no work out room, no club room, etc. Think we'll pass.
Ken was up early this morning, starting over. He went to his MHMR meeting, came home for lunch, and then to Texas Workforce Commission where he spoke with a counselor and then to Eddie about getting into the WIA program. He's not letting what happened yesterday slow him down. He got a couple of referrals at Texas Workforce and already has an interview set up for Friday. After TWC he went by the Social Security Office to let them know about the job situation so they won't count it against his SS and take money away. He's staying positive about this, which is good and somewhat different from what I expected. I thought it would crush him - but I think the fact that he discovered he CAN still do the job overcame his disappointment about the way his employment was handled. That and the fact that he certainly did not need to be in a situation where he was put in the middle of the owner and his wife, and I think was relieved when he left.
So, what else? Not much. I'm a little concerned about The Ladder Alliance taking over my life. Several emails have come out regarding another Saturday meeting. I haven't responded. I'm going to have to figure out a NICE way to let them know I will not be giving up Saturdays. This part-time situation has already taken all 5 days per week and most of my time each day, at least for about 7 weeks. I won't do that again, and in the interim I will not be attending Saturday meetings.
We took advantage of Wednesday by having a "resting" day...didn't do much of anything. I cleaned the kitchen, made sausage, eggs and biscuits for breakfast, and that's about the extent of what got done. We had Sonic burgers for lunch, and then Ken went to Wing Stop to pick up dinner! But it's ok, we had budgeted for meals out for this week. Just means that next week we have to cook most of the week.
My personal exciting event of the week so far has been that I was contacted by a lady in Louisiana who saw family research work I have done that is posted on Ancestry.com. Turns out she is a distant paternal relative and quite connected to our roots in Mississippi. It has been fun to correspond with her because she has lots of information PLUS pictures, and has been sharing same. It's been exciting to be able to put faces with the names I've "known" thru my many years of research (since 1981).
Made final payment on a bill this week -- yippee! We're still on the Dave Ramsey plan, and it has basically worked (we had to make the plan for 5 years). Still have a couple of creditors who would not work with us when I started making financial arrangements in 2009. Everybody else is now paid off; and they could have been, too, if they had agreed to terms. Instead they just keep hounding us about payment. This week I will start trying to make agreements with them again to see if we can't get these off our backs as well. I can't think too much about it because if I do I'll get too upset with K. All of this is still from the mess made when he decided to "check out" in 2009 and left me holding the bag for everything. No way could one income cover what was covered previously by two incomes. Grr...
Life here can be pretty dull -- so getting excited over arrival of Shark floor steamer mop machine counts as a highlight of the day! I ordered a Eureka cordless sweeper (came today - Thursday) and a Shark floor steamer (arrived yesterday) because last week I got so down in my back and hips after once again sponge mopping this entire place. I'm anxious to see if the steamer works - friends have told me they love theirs. I hope I do, because cleaning floors is a constant around this house with all the fur critters.
I made it to Office Depot today and got copies made of all the family documentation I found in Parker County last week. Brought all that home, made three piles of it (one for me), and will get all mailed out tomorrow to Mary P. and Marsha G. Then we'll see if they can get into Daughters of the Republic of Texas with it!
Nothing much else...we topped off the night by going to get a snow cone. Our favorite place was closed already for the night so we had to go to our second choice. We took Luci with us (she begs to go), and we tried sitting at the picnic table at the snow cone place but there were ants on the table and seats and one got on Luci and she was miserable. I held her while we sat out there and then we decided we were all getting eat up by them or possibly mosquitoes so got in the car instead.
I go for FWISD substitute teacher orientation tomorrow, so have to be up early. Don't know exactly how I'm going to work that out, but know that I'm going to -- I say that because orientation is tomorrow and then training is on August 3. I will be teaching for TLA on August 3. Hmmm...now what can I do. I need to find a substitute teacher for my class while I go to substitute teacher training for FWISD.
That's it for now. Going to bed and hope this is a better night than last night. Luci had a really rough time last night, cried from about 12:30 to 2...tummy hurt, I think, and then she was hungry. I fed her in bed, rocking her a bit, then feeding her a bit. She finally settled down and we were ALL glad - even Bennie and Maggie!
Get some sleep - hugs to all. If God's willing we shall rise again tomorrow.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Monday, Monday, by the The Mamas and Papas
Stayed up and read a book, Heart of the Matter, by Emily Griffin. Was after 3 a.m. when I went to bed/sleep! But so what? I'm retired! I slept 'til 10:40 this a.m. -- which bothers no one except Ken, and why it bothers him I have no idea.
Went to do the dishes - discovered "someone" had put dirty dishes into the dishwasher with the clean ones I had already done. So, reran the load, so sink is filling up quickly with dishes to go into the machine.
Went into the master bathroom that I spent time cleaning last Friday only to find that "someone" had done something I directly and nicely asked not be done again and so the tub is dirty again. And this is the one I have to get into to clean. and I see a dirty clothes basket (had been in the garage in floor) had been brought in the bathroom to be placed in the tub to collect dirty towels. So of course tis basket is doing nothing but putting dirty on the side of the tub. I decided it wasn't my day for being domestic! So instead I worked in my office today getting things ready for FW ISD orientation on Friday.
Part of the FWISD package is the reference letters, so late this afternoon I drove out to Lockheed and met up with my former Engineering Chief to pick up a reference letter from him. He is like a brother to me, extremely special, so it was great to see him. But turned out to be "old home week" because as various ones were leaving work they spotted us and I got to say hello to a lot of favorite people!
As I was leaving Lockheed I sent Ken a message to meet me at Furr's. He called instead. He had been released from his job today. He went to work this morning - things have been going fine; Ken has been auditing books, getting software set up, financials in order, working with CPA. In the process he discovered that the boss' wife has been the one doing the "bookkeeping" but there were many mistakes. Ken and the CPA discovered things while getting the books in order and in trying to fix them had to ask the wife questions. But apparently the owner/boss and the wife got into a "discussion" about things and the wife gave an ultimatium - it was either Ken or her, make your choice. Of course it is a family owned business, so when it came time to leave today Ken was told not to come back. The CPA told Ken he had been trying to tell the owner the problem since last December.
Ken didn't need to be in that kind of stressful situation, but he's very down and hurt over it. Fellow said there was nothing he could do. So, here we go again.
Tomorrow's a brand new day.
In some ways I'm upset about Ken's job, in some ways I'm not. We never planned for him to work full time, so this is a blessing in disguise, I suppose. Good thing I didn't do what I was thinking of doing today -- I was thinking about calling The Ladder Alliance and telling the gal that this has become bigger than a bread basket and I don't think I want to do it. I initially applied to volunteer a couple of hours a couple of days a week, but now it is taking over my life. The last straw is the fact that they are setting up another Saturday meeting. I just do not want all my time taken up like that, and my weekends are out of the question.
However, Ken is going to have to find another job - doing something part time at least. He has bills to pay and I do not feel obligated to pay them out of my own life savings and/or my retirement income. I've supported him for 3 years while he's done nothing but stay home, play Farmville, and be "retired." But he knows that, so he'll be back at Texas Workforce tomorrow looking at jobs again. Sometimes life is disappointing.
I guess we'll be thankful for the $$ he was able to earn over the past 3 weeks -- it will help us get through 'til the next bit comes in!
We've been trying to find out about a condo in the Ridgmar area that's showing to be for sale on Craigslist.org. I've sent emails, and Ken has called and left a phone number. No response. Today in looking on Google for condos for sale in Fort Worth, I discovered one that is almost just like it, advertised for $67,000. The ad we looked at on CL says $35,000. The pictures for each are the same. SO, I sent an email to the realtor on the one for $67K asking, "What's up?" She sent an emal in return stating that she was out and about on business, but suspected the one on CL is a scam. She was going to check it out and get back with me, but never did.
Here we are, another Monday shot, our world jolted a little bit. Guess we'll get up and have another go at it tomorrow.
Stayed up and read a book, Heart of the Matter, by Emily Griffin. Was after 3 a.m. when I went to bed/sleep! But so what? I'm retired! I slept 'til 10:40 this a.m. -- which bothers no one except Ken, and why it bothers him I have no idea.
Went to do the dishes - discovered "someone" had put dirty dishes into the dishwasher with the clean ones I had already done. So, reran the load, so sink is filling up quickly with dishes to go into the machine.
Went into the master bathroom that I spent time cleaning last Friday only to find that "someone" had done something I directly and nicely asked not be done again and so the tub is dirty again. And this is the one I have to get into to clean. and I see a dirty clothes basket (had been in the garage in floor) had been brought in the bathroom to be placed in the tub to collect dirty towels. So of course tis basket is doing nothing but putting dirty on the side of the tub. I decided it wasn't my day for being domestic! So instead I worked in my office today getting things ready for FW ISD orientation on Friday.
Part of the FWISD package is the reference letters, so late this afternoon I drove out to Lockheed and met up with my former Engineering Chief to pick up a reference letter from him. He is like a brother to me, extremely special, so it was great to see him. But turned out to be "old home week" because as various ones were leaving work they spotted us and I got to say hello to a lot of favorite people!
As I was leaving Lockheed I sent Ken a message to meet me at Furr's. He called instead. He had been released from his job today. He went to work this morning - things have been going fine; Ken has been auditing books, getting software set up, financials in order, working with CPA. In the process he discovered that the boss' wife has been the one doing the "bookkeeping" but there were many mistakes. Ken and the CPA discovered things while getting the books in order and in trying to fix them had to ask the wife questions. But apparently the owner/boss and the wife got into a "discussion" about things and the wife gave an ultimatium - it was either Ken or her, make your choice. Of course it is a family owned business, so when it came time to leave today Ken was told not to come back. The CPA told Ken he had been trying to tell the owner the problem since last December.
Ken didn't need to be in that kind of stressful situation, but he's very down and hurt over it. Fellow said there was nothing he could do. So, here we go again.
Tomorrow's a brand new day.
In some ways I'm upset about Ken's job, in some ways I'm not. We never planned for him to work full time, so this is a blessing in disguise, I suppose. Good thing I didn't do what I was thinking of doing today -- I was thinking about calling The Ladder Alliance and telling the gal that this has become bigger than a bread basket and I don't think I want to do it. I initially applied to volunteer a couple of hours a couple of days a week, but now it is taking over my life. The last straw is the fact that they are setting up another Saturday meeting. I just do not want all my time taken up like that, and my weekends are out of the question.
However, Ken is going to have to find another job - doing something part time at least. He has bills to pay and I do not feel obligated to pay them out of my own life savings and/or my retirement income. I've supported him for 3 years while he's done nothing but stay home, play Farmville, and be "retired." But he knows that, so he'll be back at Texas Workforce tomorrow looking at jobs again. Sometimes life is disappointing.
I guess we'll be thankful for the $$ he was able to earn over the past 3 weeks -- it will help us get through 'til the next bit comes in!
We've been trying to find out about a condo in the Ridgmar area that's showing to be for sale on Craigslist.org. I've sent emails, and Ken has called and left a phone number. No response. Today in looking on Google for condos for sale in Fort Worth, I discovered one that is almost just like it, advertised for $67,000. The ad we looked at on CL says $35,000. The pictures for each are the same. SO, I sent an email to the realtor on the one for $67K asking, "What's up?" She sent an emal in return stating that she was out and about on business, but suspected the one on CL is a scam. She was going to check it out and get back with me, but never did.
Here we are, another Monday shot, our world jolted a little bit. Guess we'll get up and have another go at it tomorrow.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Saturday!
Loved this song long ago, and loved the movie, too. So here is an old favorite by Liza Minneli, Come Saturday Morning.What's Been Happening
Been a BUSY week! Had meeting at Texas Workforce with founder and executive director of The Ladder Alliance, Sharon Cox, and head of something or 'nother at TWC, Julie _____ to discuss classes to be taught for TWC. I got to Texas Workforce Commission on time, but parking lot was full so parked in big side lot and walked to back of building only to discover I couldn't get in. There was no way I was up for walking all the way around the huge building to the front - so I went back to the car, rested, drove back to the front and still couldn't find a parking spot so parked at the building next door - which was closer than trying to hike from the correct parking lot. But, I knew I was going to be a tad late so called to check in with Sharon to let her know I was there. She wasn't there yet either, but by the time I parked and walked to the office, she was inside. We went to the conference room - Julie did not show up until about 9:20.Anyway, we had the meeting - much to do about nothing; can't say I got much out of it except the expectation is that we are going to teach KEYBOARDING on these little bitty netbook computers. Experience tells me that students are going to be extremely frustrated doing it this way - especially the guys, because some of them have rather large hands anyway. The training room is ok. Computers will be delivered to and picked up from the training room every class. My greatest fear - and forgive me for this but experience tells me what to expect - these computers won't show up and I will have to HUNT someone to find the computers every time. That will take up major class time. I have my fingers crossed that this won't happen.
I went to the sub courthouse this week and got a copy of the marriage record of James Elihugh Pugh and Lucinda (Lou) Welch (October 22, 1878); and a copy of the one for John Wesley Pugh and Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Miller (September 3, 1896). Then I notified Mary Pettyjohn and Marsha Goodwin, descendants of JEP that I have them. Oh, goodness, I'm afraid one of them misunderstood something that was said in one of the emails and now doesn't want to work together - "will just do my own research." That doesn't bode well. I can't worry about it. I think from now on I'll concentrate on getting the documents for my own research and try not to be helpful by going to get documents for others. NOW I know why Weldon Hudson, genealogist (deceased) told me years ago that I would run into issues trying to help people!!
Sent requests for reference letters to colleagues Marty K. and John B. They both said, "of course." Had to have a reference letter from another "professional," so imposed upon friends Bill and Joan L. and Bill worked that up for me before he left town. I have to turn those in to FW ISD next with package next week before attending orientation on Friday. I'm applying to do substitute teaching for FW ISD because the way The Ladder Alliance is working out there's no telling when or if I will actually be teaching and earning $$. If TLA does not work out quickly, I will be saying, "sorry, I can't do it after all" and working for FW ISD instead.
Oh, I dropped off a Criminal Background Check form at FW ISD on Thursday. Also signed one for TLA that morning. While at FWISD I ran into a lady who is also going to be doing substitute teaching. She told me about teaching adult education for FW ISD, so I'm going to check into that as well. They have classes all over the city of Fort Worth and at all times day and evenings. I'm not going to be earning enough from TLA if that goes through so am going to need to back that up with something else that pays money. This TLA thing is turning into something that is going to require a lot more of my time than I intended or want to do. The classes for Texas Workforce are 2.5 hours M-F, and I only get paid $15 per hour. But the classes (if they come to be) will take up more of my day than 5 hours, plus gas, wear and tear on the car, etc.
Today is Saturday -- I attended an "Instructor's Meeting" at TLA this morning - cannot believe someone scheduled a meeting for 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning! It was a very informal meeting to discuss a few things and it was a good session -- a decision was to have more of these for exchange between instructors. I may or may not attend any or most of them...my Saturday mornings are not up for sale or donation. I like to sleep late, wake up to the doggies, move slowly, do our own family thing.
So, now I'm home. I've missed Alyssa's (great great niece) birthday party which was from 11-1, but I'll get her things to her. I hope niece Lindsey understands. For now, I need to get something to drink, eat, and relax a bit before I start in on things that need to be done around here. Ken's been busy while I've been gone. Thank you Ken.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Hmm, can't remember what all's gone on.
Let's see. I received notice from FW ISD that I am to report for orientation on July 20. Have to have all application documents, transcripts, reference letters, etc., submitted by the 17th. I've got most of that done. After orientation have to do the certification training. So, looks like I'll finally be the "official" teacher I've wanted to be. I'm just really sorry it's not going to be at the college level, but maybe I can make that happen after some experience in the public school arena.
I will still be doing instructor work for The Ladder Alliance as well. I have a meeting tomorrow morning at 9 with them, and again on Saturday morning.
Went to dentist yesterday (checkup/cleaning). When asked if I had seen the specialist about an implant, I laughed. Yes, indeedy, I sure did. I went, they explained everything involved, I got excited, and then when we were all thru they showed me the price. I left laughing knowing I would never go back! $3400????? I've bought CARS for less than that!! So, no, we are still planning to get the work done in Mexico, but right now I am not suffering too much so I'll just wait. We can't go right now anyway because we need to work.
I was very weak when I left for the dentist, and thought I would faint when I got out of the car on arrival. I sat down in lobby, told them I felt weak and queasy, but that I had juice with me. I didn't want to drink it because I had already cleaned my teeth and mouth. Of course they told me to drink it anyway, which was the only sane thing to do! I made it thru the cleaning, paid and left. Still felt quite woosy. Had to pull the car off the road, first stopped at gas station. then moved across the street to parking lot at Taco Bueno. Finally managed to go thru drive thru at TB and got a regular taco and an order of pintos and cheese (protein). I sat in the parking lot and ate and stayed conscious. I had to wait a bit before I could try to drive toward home. Finally left, managed to drop letter off at Post Office, went thru drive thru for blue coconut snow cone (thought maybe it would help), then drove home. I was so glad to get home.
Ken is still working and doing great. However, he didn't feel well yesterday. His blood sugar was 400+ and he couldn't get it down. It's going to be difficult for both of us trying to work -- we have those days when we just don't feel well. Fortunately Ken changed his catheter and pump stuff and his glucose started to go down. He had to lie down for a while but when I was finally able to get up and around to fix supper he managed to eat. We kept it pretty simple -- chicken and dumplings with a salad.
Today I went to the Parker County Courthouse to dig up records from the late 1800's ... needed a copy of a Will from 1875, and all the probate records, etc. Spent my time in the dusty records in the clerk's office. Then had to go to the probate clerk's office to get hold of some actual court documents. Spent a good 2 hours at the courthouse, then headed for the Weatherford Library. Found the file I was looking for; not much in it. By the time I reviewed all its contents and made copies of what I needed it was almost 5. I decided to leave the rest of the search for another day and headed home. Ken met me at the Italian Cafe (what we call "The Corner"). So a fairly good day.
And now, I'm going to go to bed early - I always promise myself that. But tonight I'm going to turn it all off and go to bed. I desperately need to get my days and nights straightened out. I've been staying up 'til 3 in the morning and sleeping 'til 10 or 11. Enough of that nonsense. There are just as many hours in the day if I do it the other way!
So 'til next time - God bless.
Let's see. I received notice from FW ISD that I am to report for orientation on July 20. Have to have all application documents, transcripts, reference letters, etc., submitted by the 17th. I've got most of that done. After orientation have to do the certification training. So, looks like I'll finally be the "official" teacher I've wanted to be. I'm just really sorry it's not going to be at the college level, but maybe I can make that happen after some experience in the public school arena.
I will still be doing instructor work for The Ladder Alliance as well. I have a meeting tomorrow morning at 9 with them, and again on Saturday morning.
Went to dentist yesterday (checkup/cleaning). When asked if I had seen the specialist about an implant, I laughed. Yes, indeedy, I sure did. I went, they explained everything involved, I got excited, and then when we were all thru they showed me the price. I left laughing knowing I would never go back! $3400????? I've bought CARS for less than that!! So, no, we are still planning to get the work done in Mexico, but right now I am not suffering too much so I'll just wait. We can't go right now anyway because we need to work.
I was very weak when I left for the dentist, and thought I would faint when I got out of the car on arrival. I sat down in lobby, told them I felt weak and queasy, but that I had juice with me. I didn't want to drink it because I had already cleaned my teeth and mouth. Of course they told me to drink it anyway, which was the only sane thing to do! I made it thru the cleaning, paid and left. Still felt quite woosy. Had to pull the car off the road, first stopped at gas station. then moved across the street to parking lot at Taco Bueno. Finally managed to go thru drive thru at TB and got a regular taco and an order of pintos and cheese (protein). I sat in the parking lot and ate and stayed conscious. I had to wait a bit before I could try to drive toward home. Finally left, managed to drop letter off at Post Office, went thru drive thru for blue coconut snow cone (thought maybe it would help), then drove home. I was so glad to get home.
Ken is still working and doing great. However, he didn't feel well yesterday. His blood sugar was 400+ and he couldn't get it down. It's going to be difficult for both of us trying to work -- we have those days when we just don't feel well. Fortunately Ken changed his catheter and pump stuff and his glucose started to go down. He had to lie down for a while but when I was finally able to get up and around to fix supper he managed to eat. We kept it pretty simple -- chicken and dumplings with a salad.
Today I went to the Parker County Courthouse to dig up records from the late 1800's ... needed a copy of a Will from 1875, and all the probate records, etc. Spent my time in the dusty records in the clerk's office. Then had to go to the probate clerk's office to get hold of some actual court documents. Spent a good 2 hours at the courthouse, then headed for the Weatherford Library. Found the file I was looking for; not much in it. By the time I reviewed all its contents and made copies of what I needed it was almost 5. I decided to leave the rest of the search for another day and headed home. Ken met me at the Italian Cafe (what we call "The Corner"). So a fairly good day.
And now, I'm going to go to bed early - I always promise myself that. But tonight I'm going to turn it all off and go to bed. I desperately need to get my days and nights straightened out. I've been staying up 'til 3 in the morning and sleeping 'til 10 or 11. Enough of that nonsense. There are just as many hours in the day if I do it the other way!
So 'til next time - God bless.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Happy Birthday, Madison
Today is my beautiful granddaughter Madison's 13th birthday. I wasn't invited to share in this very special celebration. In fact, I have no idea if she even got the card and gift we sent, and will never know. I miss her terribly, along with her sister and brother and my other daughter's children. I hope she's had a very special birthday.I slept late again today. Ken woke me up at 10 because Luci had an appointment with the groomer at noon. Showered, dressed, headed for the shop. Ken and I get extremely anxious when we have to take one of the fur children to the vet or groomer...we don't like leaving them at all. Sure enough Luci was scared, and it was hard to leave her. She was supposed to be ready no later than 4 p.m.
After dropping Luci off we had lunch at Panera Bread -- I had wonderful salad with strawberries, chicken, blueberries, mandarin oranges, pecans, etc., and a cup of broccoli cheese soup. Ken had some kind of Italian sandwich. That place is just SO good.
After lunch we headed north to the total opposite side of town from where we live - about 25 minutes away. We are wanting to move away from the area where we live - it has become the ghetto. Shortly after I built this house 11 years ago, the City of Fort Worth decided to tear down the projects downtown and move all those people to our part of town. In the span of a very few months our area went to seed, stores closed, the area became dangerous, gunshots are fired everywhere, the "tied pair of tennis shoes" are thrown over the electrical lines to indicate drug houses and territories, graffiti is everywhere, our neighbor was followed and bullets fired at him, with casings all over our yard, street and driveway, we are subjected to the cars with the loud "boom, boom, boom, base speakers," constantly, parties with all the ghetto music occur all the time all night, with no respect for neighbors, my husband has been approached in our driveway at night by someone he didn't know, and hubby has also caught someone in our back yard trying to break into the barn. It's time to go.
We didn't find anything today - where we went to look is just as inconvenient as where we live now, and if we are going to move, there are a few objectives. One, get out of this ghetto; two, downsize and move into an apartment or condo that has amenities such as a pool, exercise room, club house; three, into a place that is conveniently located close to stores and malls; and four, has easy access to freeways/highways. Where we live now is a "bedroom" community; it takes us longer to get OUT of our area than it does to get somewhere after we finally reach a major highway.
We headed back to the shop thinking Luci would be ready. We got there about 3:30 - they said she would be ready about 4. We were able to sit on a bench in the store outside the grooming department so we could see what was going on. They didn't start on her until 4. We did get to see that she was very good during the ordeal, however. She eventually got tired. Finally about 4:30 or so they indicated she was ready. She was so ready to see Daddy and Mommie, and we to see her. We had run into some neighbors and their children outside the grooming shop so we let the children see Luci, then we headed out. We didn't get far from the place before I had Ken turn around to go back because they didn't get Luci cut quite right. I figured I didn't want to live with it and had paid to have her groomed, so they needed to fix it. She wasn't too happy about it, but we took her back. It took them about 15 minutes to finish the job correctly, but she looks a lot better. Yea! 
She's just a bit tired after her ordeal. In this picture she's in Daddy's office where she spends a lot of her time, and has a couple of her favorite things - Daddy's University of Texas croc, and Mommie's old navy blue house boot. I'll put a t-shirt on her before bedtime so she won't get cold...she doesn't like to be covered with a blanket. So, it's been a depressing Sunday missing granddaughter Madison's birthday, but we did the right thing by getting out of the house so I was out in the sunshine instead of in this house. There were some bad moments when I cried, but it would have been worse if I had stayed home. And, we figured out we don't want to move to the area where we looked today.
BUT, we learned a few things today! Apartment living now days - in a decent place at least - is EXPENSIVE!! Man, for a 1100 sf apartment with garage, the rent is at least $1500 per month and that does not include all the miscellaneous fees, deposits, and added per month costs. We are going to be MUCH better off to find a condo to buy than to rent an apartment. So, guess we'll just keep on looking.
Tonight for supper we had McDonald's of all things. We talked about cooking and neither one of us were up to it. So as much as we and everybody else dislikes Mickey D's, that's what we had. Daddy splurged and got the dogs a burger, too (one to share). No, they're no spoiled!!
That's about it for today. Time to start shutting down for the day and getting ready for Monday. I have dental appointment tomorrow - have to explain WHY I did not get the implant replacement for my front left tooth. I went for the appointment with the specialist, but there was no way I could afford to pay $3300 for an implant! Still haven't made it to Mexico, but it is still on the list. Guess when things get bad enough we'll make the trip.
So long, hope everyone had a wonderful Sunday. Love to my granddaughter - I miss you very much.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
July 7, 2012
I never think of July 7 without thinking of my childhood and my sister-in-law's brother, Bobby Franklin Cagle. Bobby was born on July 7, and we always celebrated on that day. And, then, I always add another memory of one special birthday he had -- we were all gathered in the OB waiting room for the birth of the first grandchild for both the Cage and Kilgore family, Lisa Luann. There were many celebrations after that on July 7. Bobby went on to glory in October of 1999, and Lisa has faced many battles since her wonderful birth in 1960, but she is still one very special lady. So today is Happy Birthday to my niece, Lisa. By golly we have fooled them thus far -- we are STILL here!!!
Today is Saturday, I slept late (as usual - love retirement for that). Ken was up early so when I got up at 10 he was gone. Had the oil in his car changed, the car washed, etc. It's really been neat to watch him change back into the MAN he used to be. Going back to work has done wonders for him! He FEELS more masculine, I suppose. There's just something about being able to earn his keep that makes a change. Unfortunately he seems to be back in the mode of, "When I get paid I'm going to ______." Of course that is NOT why we are going back to work! The idea is to pay off EVERYTHING we owe, downsize the crap in this house, move into an apartment or condo where life is a little easier, and put more money into savings so that with real retirement in a couple of years we can have funds to have fun. Right now we are guarding our nest egg very carefully.
Exciting news for one of the Pugh relatives with whom I'm friends. She has found a connection to the Republic of Texas! That's exciting. To join the Daughters of the Republic of Texas one has to connect to someone who was in Texas prior to 1849. William Welch, her great grandmother's dad, has land grants in the Robertson Colony from 1835! Yea! I'm still looking for a connection for my kiddos as well as for myself. The William Welch that friend Marsha found is not related to my children so I've got to keep digging. The earliest we find our Pugh family in Texas is on the 1860 census. And dadgum it, my Wright family was on the Louisiana side in the Sabine Pass area at the time. Didn't move over to the Texas side until a bit later.
I'm going to be searching through grandmothers to see if I can find a connection. Right now I don't have the maiden names of all the grandmothers so have more work to do. The Kilgore side of the house did not get to Texas until later in the 19th century. My granddad was born in the Waxahachie area, but not until 1889. The Kilgore family was in the Jones County, Mississippi area prior to that (lots of them still are). Likewise the Greens and Youngs were in Mississippi before about that time.
Today is Saturday, I slept late (as usual - love retirement for that). Ken was up early so when I got up at 10 he was gone. Had the oil in his car changed, the car washed, etc. It's really been neat to watch him change back into the MAN he used to be. Going back to work has done wonders for him! He FEELS more masculine, I suppose. There's just something about being able to earn his keep that makes a change. Unfortunately he seems to be back in the mode of, "When I get paid I'm going to ______." Of course that is NOT why we are going back to work! The idea is to pay off EVERYTHING we owe, downsize the crap in this house, move into an apartment or condo where life is a little easier, and put more money into savings so that with real retirement in a couple of years we can have funds to have fun. Right now we are guarding our nest egg very carefully.
Exciting news for one of the Pugh relatives with whom I'm friends. She has found a connection to the Republic of Texas! That's exciting. To join the Daughters of the Republic of Texas one has to connect to someone who was in Texas prior to 1849. William Welch, her great grandmother's dad, has land grants in the Robertson Colony from 1835! Yea! I'm still looking for a connection for my kiddos as well as for myself. The William Welch that friend Marsha found is not related to my children so I've got to keep digging. The earliest we find our Pugh family in Texas is on the 1860 census. And dadgum it, my Wright family was on the Louisiana side in the Sabine Pass area at the time. Didn't move over to the Texas side until a bit later.
I'm going to be searching through grandmothers to see if I can find a connection. Right now I don't have the maiden names of all the grandmothers so have more work to do. The Kilgore side of the house did not get to Texas until later in the 19th century. My granddad was born in the Waxahachie area, but not until 1889. The Kilgore family was in the Jones County, Mississippi area prior to that (lots of them still are). Likewise the Greens and Youngs were in Mississippi before about that time.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Friday, July 6, 2012
Lunch
Had lunch with my fellow Lockheed Blanketeers at Palio's Pizza. had a great lunch with Rachel, Virginia, Chris, Sheila and new blanketeer Beth. Beth brought along a donation baby/child blanket she has finished and had quilted. So cute. Little lamb quilt with square in a square in a square, and actually had little lambs quilted in the center of the middle square. Chris brought along another one of her beautiful knitted afghans in a cobalt blue. Such talented women and so willing to share their abilities with those who have so little and with those who fight for our country. Our quilting group makes quilts for the USO Reading Room at DFW airport. We also hold book drives to collect children's books for the same place. Soldier passing through can choose a book to read and record for their children so they have their parent reading to them. The military personnel can also choose a baby/child quilt (or if more children, more than one) to send to their child/children. We also make and donate baby/child quilts to the Union Gospel Mission for children who have nothing. Sometimes the colorful quilts may be all the child or children have to hold on to...something of their very own.Dinner
Oh, my. We splurged big time. We went to Pappadeaux for dinner. Good seafood. Ken had, of all things, a Bloody Mary to start, and I had a strawberry pina colada. Then Ken had a 1/2 order of oysters (yuck!) and I had a cup of lobster bisque. For his main course, Ken had shrimp ettufee (definitely spelled phonetically, because I do not know how to spell it). I had grilled hallibut with chunk crab meat and lemon topping and potatoes. THANKFULLY they were out of bread pudding or we would have brought some of that home with us. This was our first "date" night in a long time - that Ken got to pay for. It was nice. But it certainly won't happen again for a LONG time...way too expensive.Forgiveness
Today I listened to a Gaither video on Youtube called, "This is My Story". I expected it to be the old time gospel song, but it was so much more than that; and I experienced a revival in my soul that I haven't known in a long time. One of the wonderful singers is Janet Paschal. Janet has gone thru some real trials, with cancer, but she is alive and keeping on keeping on. Needing just a little more uplifting to go along with all the wonderful music, I chose to go to Janet's blog. It is surprising what the Lord will lead us to if we just let him. The following is her writing about forgiveness, and I definitely needed to read this today. I am sharing this here, but this is Janet Paschal, not me, writing this."THE POISON CUP
"It was an ordinary day in February, 1987, when Gary Wright parked his vehicle at his family’s Salt Lake City computer business. Nearby, he noticed what appeared to be a piece of lumber with nails in it. Fearing that it might flatten a tire, he kicked it away from the parking area. That is when he heard a soft click.
"He does not remember the explosion.
"He came to consciousness twenty feet away, as fragments of Ted Kaczynski’s homemade bomb continued to rain down. Shrapnel severed his nerves and arteries, and a nail ripped through his chin and lips, barely missing an eye. Multiple surgeries would follow to reconstruct his face and reconnect his nerves and tendons.
The FBI determined that this was the work of an unidentified serial terrorist they nicknamed the Unabomber. It would be nine more years before Ted’s brother, David, and his wife would read the published manifesto of the Unabomber and recognize the rantings as those of his brilliant but mentally ill brother. David Kaczynski called the FBI and his brother was arrested the following year.
"Gary Wright used counseling and his Christian faith to arrive at his resolve: “I was never going to be the same person I was, but I could still be happy. I had to forgive this guy.”
"Following his brother’s arrest, David felt the need to focus on the victim’s pain and not his own. He called each one to apologize on behalf of the Kaczynski family. Gary’s response was, “But you didn’t do this. It’s not your fault.”
The trial was held in Sacramento. During a break in the proceedings, Dave called Gary and told him he’d like to talk. The two men met and talked for hours. They became best friends and, in a providential turn of events, Gary began to help Dave reconcile what his brother had done and to move past his own pain.
"It was a wizened old landscaper in Nashville, Tennessee who first shared with John and me about pruning the dead branches from our beloved trees. Not only would this help ensure that they would not fall and harm someone, but it also removed risk from the living branches; in the event of a storm, they were more likely to be damaged due to the drag of the dead limbs. He also suggested that we remove dead leaves when possible; as long as they are attached, he explained, they rob nutrients from the healthy parts of a plant.
"Years ago I read a quote that I have always remembered: ‘Not forgiving someone is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.’ Corrie Ten Boom, having lost everything dear to a maniacal regime, resolved, “Forgiveness is to set a prisoner free, and to realize the prisoner was you.”
"I remember a distant relative from childhood. He carried in his heart past offenses from other people and nursed them, rehearsing the events at every opportunity. He spoke as though the infractions had just occurred, even after the offenders were long deceased. What a shame that the drag of past events robbed him of the riches of his life going forward. What a shame that he lived his life trudging through pockets of history that he could never change. What a shame that he never stopped drinking the poison.
"Some scholars feel that Moses’ mountaintop commandments had come full circle when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. Listen to the only section that addresses our involvement: “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors…” In offering a pattern for praying, Jesus emphasized one prerequisite: that we forgive each other. He knew that we would be prisoners, otherwise. He knew there was risk and damage in the unhealthy branches.
"Theodore Kaczynski did not apologize to his victims. When Gary Wright stood to address him in court, he looked him in the eye and said, “I do not hate you. I learned to forgive and heal a long time ago. Without this ability, I would have become kindling for your cause.” What insight from one who could have spewed venom and contempt. What wisdom he demonstrated when he measured the consequences of unforgiveness and found them far more damaging than the schrapnel. Gary Wright took a long look, made a permanent resolve, and lived the Lord’s prayer. And, once again, God’s kingdom came in the heart of man."
End of a Good Day
Great day. Tomorrow have lots to do, but for now I'm going to go to bed with a new book I bought out of the discount bin at Albertson's. Hope it's good enough to hold my attention. Lately few have been. Goodbye to another Friday, and goodnight to everyone out there.Thursday, July 5, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012 - Again!
Opened Facebook this morning, and saw this delightful video. Wanted to share it with everyone, so I'm including it here as well as sharing it on FB. It's called Thru the Decades and is a comedy for all of us old folks who love the old hymns - this one is Leaning On the Everlasting Arms, but it is really cute.
Forgot to mention a dream/nightmare I had a few nights ago. I feel so rejected, alone, and as though I am wondering around lost in this big ol' world with no family. In this dream, I was living in a place that was basement level, my children had been to visit, but they were all leaving. I was crying, very upset, while I walked them to the door and watched them climb the stairs up the terraced wall to the parking lot. They were putting children into the car preparing to leave. A car pulled in beside theirs, and I could tell they knew who it was because I saw them wave and speak to the person and wait until the person got out of the car. Turns out it was my dad, and he got out of the car, and then got someone else out of the car. When he turned around he was carrying my daughter Megan who looked to be slightly less than 2 years old. Makes no sense whatsoever, because it was my grown kids (son and his wife and daughter included) who were leaving! but it was definitely Daddy and Megan - and he was carrying her just like he used to when she was a baby and we lived with them. Daddy was wearing black dress pants, white shirt, tie, and a tan sports jacket, carrying Megan in his left arm and his Bible in the other. It was definitely him.
This is the first time my Daddy has ever appeared to me since he died February 26, 2002. Mother has visited me in dreams many times, especially in scary times and times of stress. But this is the first time Daddy has come. It was neat to see him.
I heard from the lady at The Ladder Alliance. We are getting together next Wednesday morning with the person at Texas Workforce regarding classes at their facility. I'm going to be teaching those. I'm a little apprehensive because they will be using netbooks (?). We have one - ours is small. We use a mouse with ours. I have no idea, yet, what they will be using so am anxious to see the room to be used as well as the equipment. Been my experience it is difficult to learn to "type" (keyboarding) on one of the small netbook or laptop computers. Guess we'll work with what we get.
Today I got a few things done. I got and mailed granddaughter's birthday things, made it to the office supply store to get copies made of our tax return and got that mailed off. Got myself a blue coconut snow cone (yummy) and managed to get that all over me, and made a run by the grocery store. Ken was having a tough day at work. I got him some Shiner Blonde light, and picked up chicken and potato planks from the deli because I wasn't feeling too great. So for dinner we had the chicken and potatoes, pork and beans, and salad. I had been trying to find a few minutes to lie down all afternoon but it never happened, but I passed out immediately after dinner on the sofa. Woke up about 10:30 p.m. So, now I'm off to bed.
That's about it. Hello and goodnight to anyone who may be reading.
Forgot to mention a dream/nightmare I had a few nights ago. I feel so rejected, alone, and as though I am wondering around lost in this big ol' world with no family. In this dream, I was living in a place that was basement level, my children had been to visit, but they were all leaving. I was crying, very upset, while I walked them to the door and watched them climb the stairs up the terraced wall to the parking lot. They were putting children into the car preparing to leave. A car pulled in beside theirs, and I could tell they knew who it was because I saw them wave and speak to the person and wait until the person got out of the car. Turns out it was my dad, and he got out of the car, and then got someone else out of the car. When he turned around he was carrying my daughter Megan who looked to be slightly less than 2 years old. Makes no sense whatsoever, because it was my grown kids (son and his wife and daughter included) who were leaving! but it was definitely Daddy and Megan - and he was carrying her just like he used to when she was a baby and we lived with them. Daddy was wearing black dress pants, white shirt, tie, and a tan sports jacket, carrying Megan in his left arm and his Bible in the other. It was definitely him.
This is the first time my Daddy has ever appeared to me since he died February 26, 2002. Mother has visited me in dreams many times, especially in scary times and times of stress. But this is the first time Daddy has come. It was neat to see him.
I heard from the lady at The Ladder Alliance. We are getting together next Wednesday morning with the person at Texas Workforce regarding classes at their facility. I'm going to be teaching those. I'm a little apprehensive because they will be using netbooks (?). We have one - ours is small. We use a mouse with ours. I have no idea, yet, what they will be using so am anxious to see the room to be used as well as the equipment. Been my experience it is difficult to learn to "type" (keyboarding) on one of the small netbook or laptop computers. Guess we'll work with what we get.
Today I got a few things done. I got and mailed granddaughter's birthday things, made it to the office supply store to get copies made of our tax return and got that mailed off. Got myself a blue coconut snow cone (yummy) and managed to get that all over me, and made a run by the grocery store. Ken was having a tough day at work. I got him some Shiner Blonde light, and picked up chicken and potato planks from the deli because I wasn't feeling too great. So for dinner we had the chicken and potatoes, pork and beans, and salad. I had been trying to find a few minutes to lie down all afternoon but it never happened, but I passed out immediately after dinner on the sofa. Woke up about 10:30 p.m. So, now I'm off to bed.
That's about it. Hello and goodnight to anyone who may be reading.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
It's the wee hours of the night; I'm going to try to go to sleep soon.
We celebrated the 4th of July by doing nothing but going to Walmart to buy groceries. I absolutely hate going to that store, and it is made worse because Ken stresses out in there. But at least that is over with for another week or so.
We had nice surprise today. I went on line to pay bills. I always check funds beforehand. Discovered Ken had way too much money in his account so asked him about it. He knew nothing. But when I told him it appeared to be a deposit from a certain firm, he was a bit surprised...turns out he got his first pay check from his new job! He gets paid the 1st and 15th and apparently they pay up to date. That was really pleasant. While at Walmart he bought himself a new radio alarm clock and I made him pay for his own razors and shaving cream! Cruel, right? But I've been supporting him a LONG time!!!
I am a stickler for making sure that something comes off the top for savings out of all funds that come into the house. So today I tried to teach Ken about TreasuryDirect.gov. Ken has a problem with not giving me undivided attention and not paying attention. He had the ball game on at the same time. So, as it turns out, he put his bank account into TreasuryDirect.gov incorrectly so he can't purchase bonds until that is straightened out. And that has to be straightened out by printing out a legal form, having it certified by a bank officer (NOT a notary), and then sending it to the U.S. Treasury Department. There are days I want to wring his neck!!! I kept asking him if he was sure he had put in the correct account numbers, etc. Sure enough, he didn't. So, papers are printed out, and now he will have to go to some bank and get an officer to certify the corrections he needs made. SCREAM!!
HOWEVER, I still took money off the top - I transferred it to my account and bought the bond off our joint account. I'm just trying to get him into the mode of contributing money to savings and not spending every dime that comes in.
Special granddaughter turns 13 on Sunday, so tomorrow I need to get her birthday "stuff" sent off. I was going to buy a Kindle but don't know if she has one or not, or would even want one. I decided to come up with something else.
Got a call from Tamara today. Bless her heart, she keeps kids for a living. She has 6 of them right now. Something was mentioned about it being one of the kids' birthday, so in front of another parent one parent said, "Oh, I'll pay for Chuck.E.Cheese." And all the parents thought it was a good idea. Problem is, she only gave Tamara $65 for the outing. Can you imagine trying to take 6 kids to Chuck.E.Cheese on $65? So Tamara called and came by to print out coupons. Jason had all the kids in the van outside waiting because they were on their way. I should have given Tamara extra money for that outing, but didn't think about it at the time. We checked on her later, and apparently they worked it out - she said the kids had a blast. She and Jason had fixed a couple of pizzas at home before going so they didn't spend $$ on food, just playing.
Got invitation from great niece Lindsey for her daughter CC's birthday party. Can't believe it, she's going to be 10 already. Lindsey's making it a good one, though. Swim party with splash pad at the local park, with request to bring water for the homeless. So the kids will learn something about collecting and donating for a cause. We'll be going to that, just not sure we'll swim!
Friends invited us over for July 4 grill and chill swim party, but we elected not to go. Now that Ken is working he just wanted to not have to do much on his day off, thankfully. And, we just did not want to spend the afternoon in the sun/heat. Neither one of us handle it very well any more.
Other than that, don't guess we did much. I made and cooked hamburger patties on top of the stove, we made sandwiches, said Happy 236th birthday to America, and let it go. Ken has to work tomorrow and I have a day full of errands including taking Maggie to the vet and finding some grooming tools for Luci. I can't take her hair any more and taking her to the groomer all the time gets expensive.
Hope everyone had a great celebration. Fire crackers are still going off here in our neighborhood. Of course, where we live that could be gun shots.
We celebrated the 4th of July by doing nothing but going to Walmart to buy groceries. I absolutely hate going to that store, and it is made worse because Ken stresses out in there. But at least that is over with for another week or so.
We had nice surprise today. I went on line to pay bills. I always check funds beforehand. Discovered Ken had way too much money in his account so asked him about it. He knew nothing. But when I told him it appeared to be a deposit from a certain firm, he was a bit surprised...turns out he got his first pay check from his new job! He gets paid the 1st and 15th and apparently they pay up to date. That was really pleasant. While at Walmart he bought himself a new radio alarm clock and I made him pay for his own razors and shaving cream! Cruel, right? But I've been supporting him a LONG time!!!
I am a stickler for making sure that something comes off the top for savings out of all funds that come into the house. So today I tried to teach Ken about TreasuryDirect.gov. Ken has a problem with not giving me undivided attention and not paying attention. He had the ball game on at the same time. So, as it turns out, he put his bank account into TreasuryDirect.gov incorrectly so he can't purchase bonds until that is straightened out. And that has to be straightened out by printing out a legal form, having it certified by a bank officer (NOT a notary), and then sending it to the U.S. Treasury Department. There are days I want to wring his neck!!! I kept asking him if he was sure he had put in the correct account numbers, etc. Sure enough, he didn't. So, papers are printed out, and now he will have to go to some bank and get an officer to certify the corrections he needs made. SCREAM!!
HOWEVER, I still took money off the top - I transferred it to my account and bought the bond off our joint account. I'm just trying to get him into the mode of contributing money to savings and not spending every dime that comes in.
Special granddaughter turns 13 on Sunday, so tomorrow I need to get her birthday "stuff" sent off. I was going to buy a Kindle but don't know if she has one or not, or would even want one. I decided to come up with something else.
Got a call from Tamara today. Bless her heart, she keeps kids for a living. She has 6 of them right now. Something was mentioned about it being one of the kids' birthday, so in front of another parent one parent said, "Oh, I'll pay for Chuck.E.Cheese." And all the parents thought it was a good idea. Problem is, she only gave Tamara $65 for the outing. Can you imagine trying to take 6 kids to Chuck.E.Cheese on $65? So Tamara called and came by to print out coupons. Jason had all the kids in the van outside waiting because they were on their way. I should have given Tamara extra money for that outing, but didn't think about it at the time. We checked on her later, and apparently they worked it out - she said the kids had a blast. She and Jason had fixed a couple of pizzas at home before going so they didn't spend $$ on food, just playing.
Got invitation from great niece Lindsey for her daughter CC's birthday party. Can't believe it, she's going to be 10 already. Lindsey's making it a good one, though. Swim party with splash pad at the local park, with request to bring water for the homeless. So the kids will learn something about collecting and donating for a cause. We'll be going to that, just not sure we'll swim!
Friends invited us over for July 4 grill and chill swim party, but we elected not to go. Now that Ken is working he just wanted to not have to do much on his day off, thankfully. And, we just did not want to spend the afternoon in the sun/heat. Neither one of us handle it very well any more.
Other than that, don't guess we did much. I made and cooked hamburger patties on top of the stove, we made sandwiches, said Happy 236th birthday to America, and let it go. Ken has to work tomorrow and I have a day full of errands including taking Maggie to the vet and finding some grooming tools for Luci. I can't take her hair any more and taking her to the groomer all the time gets expensive.
Hope everyone had a great celebration. Fire crackers are still going off here in our neighborhood. Of course, where we live that could be gun shots.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Been working on family history "stuff," trying to get everything put into my huge database. I keep thinking I'm going to get this finished but it will never be finished. At some point I am just going to have to declare it done.
In getting my Wright family lines entered into the database I flopped back and forth between the database and the research materials of some of my older cousins as well as census, birth, marriage, death, etc., records. And I also checked research of other family members. So, in doing all this I went to rootsweb.com to see if any new information had been entered. The discovery I made was painfully sad. Someone of the Mormon religion has done research on the family and has had baptisms of the dead performed! I came unglued. My grandparents, ggrandparents, ggrandparents, were of the Methodist-Episcopal church, and all but a few of the men in the family, including my grandfather, were ME ministers. And there are several men in our current generations who are Methodist, Baptist, and Nazarene ministers. To discover that someone has so totally dishonored our family by associating them in ANY manner with the Mormon religion (we consider them a cult) is offensive.
Unfortunately, from the contact information on the pages it was easy to track down who it is, and I was even more shocked. This person is the daughter-in-law of my cousin who is a Nazarene minister. I contacted the cousin, and he and his wonderful wife are as outraged as my other cousins and I are. This may seem small and insignificant to those who do not hold the same beliefs as our family, but to have anything published that in any way connects our family to the Mormons is a huge slap in the face to everything our family stood and stands for.
My cousin's wife encouraged me to send an email message to their DIL expressing my outrage and how I feel about it; and has suggested that the other family members do the same. They intend to talk with her when they see their son and DIL next week. Today, however, they are more concerned with the fact that their daughter is in the hospital with chest pains.
What else? Well, I have not gone to work. I have spoken with the founder of The Ladder Alliance and it appears that the training she was going to have me doing may be falling through. Not because she wants it that way, but because her contact with Texas Workforce has failed to return her calls or otherwise contact her. The original plan was that classes will start Monday, July 9. I was to be the instructor for The Ladder Alliance for the first classes to be held offsite for men, with classes being held at Texas Workforce. So, still in wait mode for that. In the meantime, I've started the application process to become a substitute teacher for the FWISD. I plan to go to the FWISD on Friday. I submitted paperwork online yesterday (application, resume, cover letter, transcripts), but a fellow job searcher called me yesterday and told me she did the same and then last Friday just went down there in person and was hired on the spot. So I'm going to see if I can do that as well.
Worked on taxes last night (we filed for extension). We've got that all done and signed off. I had planned to go get a copy made and get it mailed off. We'll see.
Granddaughter has a birthday coming up on the 8th. I need to get out and mail her card/check. I keep hoping this rift in the family will heal so that I can see my grandchildren, but apparently it is not going to. Oh, God, I miss them so much. In the meantime, they are still precious to me. This granddaughter will be celebrating special birthday number 13 this year. Growing up so fast.
Took blood sugar this morning first thing - 344!! I took my required 40 units of Levemir, then 12 units of humalog so I could eat breakfast. I was so sick from the high blood sugar - just makes me nauseated, confused, etc. I am about to go back to bed for a while, but will test my blood sugar again first. It has got to come down. This interferes with my plans for today, as I had planned to shower/dress/run errands. For the time being I've ruled that out.
8:30 P.M. Finally managed to shower/shampoo about 5 o'clock. Still very weak, but there was no way I could fix dinner. We went to Logan's Roadhouse instead. I had a great chopped steak topped with mushroom and onion gravy, sweet potato fries, salad. Yummy. Ken had their grilled meatloaf. He usually meatloaf no matter how it's made.
Hmm, news of the day...Anderson Cooper is gay. Well, who didn't know that?! Oh, and Andy Griffith died. That's sad. (Folks my age grew up with Mayberry RFD. Floyd, the barber on the Andy Griffith show, looked exactly like my granddaddy Kilgore. Always wondered if he was related.)
In getting my Wright family lines entered into the database I flopped back and forth between the database and the research materials of some of my older cousins as well as census, birth, marriage, death, etc., records. And I also checked research of other family members. So, in doing all this I went to rootsweb.com to see if any new information had been entered. The discovery I made was painfully sad. Someone of the Mormon religion has done research on the family and has had baptisms of the dead performed! I came unglued. My grandparents, ggrandparents, ggrandparents, were of the Methodist-Episcopal church, and all but a few of the men in the family, including my grandfather, were ME ministers. And there are several men in our current generations who are Methodist, Baptist, and Nazarene ministers. To discover that someone has so totally dishonored our family by associating them in ANY manner with the Mormon religion (we consider them a cult) is offensive.
Unfortunately, from the contact information on the pages it was easy to track down who it is, and I was even more shocked. This person is the daughter-in-law of my cousin who is a Nazarene minister. I contacted the cousin, and he and his wonderful wife are as outraged as my other cousins and I are. This may seem small and insignificant to those who do not hold the same beliefs as our family, but to have anything published that in any way connects our family to the Mormons is a huge slap in the face to everything our family stood and stands for.
My cousin's wife encouraged me to send an email message to their DIL expressing my outrage and how I feel about it; and has suggested that the other family members do the same. They intend to talk with her when they see their son and DIL next week. Today, however, they are more concerned with the fact that their daughter is in the hospital with chest pains.
What else? Well, I have not gone to work. I have spoken with the founder of The Ladder Alliance and it appears that the training she was going to have me doing may be falling through. Not because she wants it that way, but because her contact with Texas Workforce has failed to return her calls or otherwise contact her. The original plan was that classes will start Monday, July 9. I was to be the instructor for The Ladder Alliance for the first classes to be held offsite for men, with classes being held at Texas Workforce. So, still in wait mode for that. In the meantime, I've started the application process to become a substitute teacher for the FWISD. I plan to go to the FWISD on Friday. I submitted paperwork online yesterday (application, resume, cover letter, transcripts), but a fellow job searcher called me yesterday and told me she did the same and then last Friday just went down there in person and was hired on the spot. So I'm going to see if I can do that as well.
Worked on taxes last night (we filed for extension). We've got that all done and signed off. I had planned to go get a copy made and get it mailed off. We'll see.
Granddaughter has a birthday coming up on the 8th. I need to get out and mail her card/check. I keep hoping this rift in the family will heal so that I can see my grandchildren, but apparently it is not going to. Oh, God, I miss them so much. In the meantime, they are still precious to me. This granddaughter will be celebrating special birthday number 13 this year. Growing up so fast.
Took blood sugar this morning first thing - 344!! I took my required 40 units of Levemir, then 12 units of humalog so I could eat breakfast. I was so sick from the high blood sugar - just makes me nauseated, confused, etc. I am about to go back to bed for a while, but will test my blood sugar again first. It has got to come down. This interferes with my plans for today, as I had planned to shower/dress/run errands. For the time being I've ruled that out.
8:30 P.M. Finally managed to shower/shampoo about 5 o'clock. Still very weak, but there was no way I could fix dinner. We went to Logan's Roadhouse instead. I had a great chopped steak topped with mushroom and onion gravy, sweet potato fries, salad. Yummy. Ken had their grilled meatloaf. He usually meatloaf no matter how it's made.
Hmm, news of the day...Anderson Cooper is gay. Well, who didn't know that?! Oh, and Andy Griffith died. That's sad. (Folks my age grew up with Mayberry RFD. Floyd, the barber on the Andy Griffith show, looked exactly like my granddaddy Kilgore. Always wondered if he was related.)
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