My Weblog

at the old ball game

One thing I've learned--when you have Atticus at a ballgame, give up on paying attention to the ballgame.  It's just not going to happen.  This is the photographic record of Wednesday's ballgame.

First, you have to search out your big brother and say hello.

 

Then, if you wiggle around a lot and sweat a little, Grandma will take you for a Strawberry Icee.

 

If you can borrow Grandma's sunglasses, you can do your "Little Stevie Wonder" impressions to entertain the crowd.

 

If that's not enough to get 'em smiling, you can try a hat.  A hat always gets 'em.

 

Then, just before the game ends, it might be interesting to watch it. 

 

Jennifer and Jason made a big score.  Some folks donated a heavy duty swing & slide set to the day care where Atticus hangs out and where Will spends some time after school.  But, because of some sort of zoning problem, the day care was unable to use it.  So, Jennifer wangled a way to take it off their hands as they were going to throw it out.  It was disassembled into a zillion pieces.  Jason brought it home in his truck and two week ends ago, a friend of theirs came over to help him put it together.  I guess the whole day, the conversation sounded a bit like this:

Where do you think this goes?

I dunno.  Where do YOU think it goes?

I dunno.  Maybe we could put it over there?

Well, maybe, but we could probably stick it over here too.

They had the manual, but had they gone through that, they would have had to identify each piece by measuring it, etc.  Though that might have made the actual assembly easier, it would have been very time consuming up front.  Well, for doing it the way they did, it looks darned good.  I kept the boys for a few hours this morning because Jason is out of town and Jennifer had to meet with some students.  This was my first opportunity to see it.  Wow!  Jennifer said the people who donated it to the day care said they paid something like $6000 for it 5 years ago.  I can't imagine what it would cost today.  The boys are not allowed to use anything but the swing for now.  According to Jennifer, there are still some areas they are afraid are not safe for Atticus so they have to figure out how to deal with that.  And, some of the bolts still need to be tightened down and the slides attached.  Then, Jason wants to take the awnings off and wash them (??????) and stain it so it will stand up to the elements better.  In the process, the guy who helped Jason with this donated a sandbox for Atticus.  So, the back yard over there has taken on a kid friendly look.  They really have the perfect backyard for this stuff, very well shaded.  I am sure it was well into the mid-90's when I left there this morning, but sitting out there while Atticus played in the sandbox, it was so well-shaded that it wasn't the least uncomfortable.  So here are a coupla photos of the new "decor" in their backyard.

 

 

Also, I don't know if I've mentioned it, but they have a puppy.  She's a cute little thing.  Originally, Jennifer had told me she thought the put would grow up into a "big" dog.  Well, one look at her says "no, not quite".  In fact, though she's a Heinz-57-variety dog, it's pretty evident one of her parents was probably a Pomeranian and those dogs are pretty small.  She loves the boys and the boys are happy to have her around.  Bea, Jason's dog, is becoming quite elderly, so having another dog is probably a good idea.  I grabbed this shot of the boys and the dog watching a movie today.

        

 

Her name is Dakota and she wants NOTHING to do with me!

Things are still all messed up on the work front.  It all started over a personal matter.  When Matt and Patty sent out the invitations to their wedding, Matt handed one to me for Joe and I.  He stated that they were asking everyone for cash rather than gifts but since we are pooooooor these days, perhaps I could make a scrapbook for them of the wedding photos.  Well, I would have scrapped their wedding photos anyway, so all that was really needed was to be able to consult with them along the way.  She had already bought a 12 x 12 album which pretty well meant she wanted 12 x 12 pages.  I can't print those here (I print my own at 8 x 8) because the carriage on my printer is not wide enough.  I explained we'd have to send them off to get them printed so it would take a little longer but we'd get lovely prints and that would be wonderful.  Since it was to be our gift, I started trying to save as much money as I could toward the printing cost and has saved more than enough.  Two weeks ago, on Wednesday, we had scheduled lunch together, Patty and I, to discuss a bit more about what she wanted.  All I knew was that she worked "half a day" and that her office was somewhere in about a 6 block area along one of our major streets which is lined with office buildings of various sizes and shapes.  I received an e-mail early in the morning from her, asking whether we were still on for lunch and asking if I would pick her up.  I responded (in 28 seconds) saying, of course we're still on for lunch and that I'd be happy to pick her up.  I asked her to tell me when and where she should be picked up.

Well, the last time I gave it any thought, a "half day" of work ends about 4 hours after you start, unless you drive a taxi for a living or are a nurse, in which case that would be about 6 hours after you start.  If I don't know when you start, I don't know when your half day is over.  Noon rolled around and I hadn't had any response to my e-mail.  Joe wanted me to call her, but I was concerned that maybe wherever she works, they don't like personal phone calls, so I waited.  At 12:30, as I was reaching for my phone to call her when it rang.  She said that she and Matthew had decided to go looking for another vehicle and we should postpone our lunch.  Okay, no problem.  Later I found out that she was just livid with me because I "stood her up for lunch".  And, she was even telling folks that she had told me in her e-mail that she needed to be picked up at noon.  No, no she didn't say anything about "noon" in her e-mail.  I immediately e-mailed her back, forwarding her own e-mail to me back to her to show her what she had REALLY said (not commenting at all) and apologizing for our miscommunication. 

Well, by the following week, she asked me to return the album to her saying it was too expensive and she was just going to put pictures in it and do her own scrapbook, one for Matthew's mother, one for her mother and one for her aunt.  No mention of a scrapbook for Matthew's dad, my husband Joe.  Matthew, in the meantime, called Joe and was very angry that I had made Patty mad.  I, of course, was really hurt that she no longer wanted me to do the scrapbook, and really hurt that she did not intend to do a scrapbook for Joe though she planned on doing one for all of her relatives and Joe's ex-wife.  And, of course, I was hurt that I was being blamed entirely for not communicating with her about our lunch when I DID communicate and I couldn't pick her up without the appropriate information.

So, last Friday, 2 days after our cancelled second lunch date, I took the album into the office and left it on Matt's desk.  He came in briefly and in the process, mentioned something about Monday being a holiday (Memorial Day).  I have a very flexible work schedule.  I more or less show up at whatever time fits into my schedule and work as long as I can or until I run out of things to do.  No one has ever informed me of any holiday though I've been there 10 months now.  I simply did not go into work on Thanksgiving or Christmas or New Years.  Did the company have a holiday for Martin Luther King's birthday or President's Day?  You've got me.  I have no idea.  As he was leaving, Matthew said something about seeing me on Monday, then corrected himself to say he would see me on Tuesday, saying Monday was a holiday.  I had actually planned on working Monday, so I was surprised.  I said, "Is it a holiday?"  It was an honest question, originating from my surprise at his comment.  He accused me of making a snide remark.  No, I responded, that was an honest question.  I did not know it was a holiday for our office, even though it was Memorial Day.  He insisted, over and over, that I was making a snide remark.  Over and over, I denied it.  Finally it hit me that his insistence meant that he thought I was lying.  That made me angry and I said, rather loudly, that I was going home.  His final comment to me was that he would be talking to Greg and then I could see if I wanted to come back to work there.

Well, no doubt it was wrong for me to raise my voice.  But, now I am in the midst of a "kitchen sink fight" except that I am married to his Dad, not him.  He has complained to Greg that I am defragging the computer at work.  Well, yes, it was lagging terribly so I began defragging it daily, more or less.  The first few times I defragged it, I did it so that it ran while everyone was gone from the office.  But, now that I am defragging it regularly, it defrags in somewhere between 1 and 4 minutes (yes, indeed, I DID time it!!!!!).  He has told Greg that it takes up to 5-6 hours to defrag a computer and implied that I am sitting there, doing nothing but staring into space during this hours long process.  No, not quite.  Good Lord, it's only a 40 GB hard drive--how long could it take?????

He has complained that I whistle.  I don't know if I whistle or not.  If I do, it is totally unconscious.  But, he claims I do it all the time and it interrupts his concentration.

He has complained because I cleaned the desk.  There are three of us who work at that desk on occasion, Matthew and I much more often than Greg.  All three of us smoke and the desk sits right under the air conditioner.  Little bits of ashes go everywhere.  Then, Matthew tends to bring in drinks in plastic or paper cups which sweat and make crusty dirty circles on the desk top.  No one cleans the office, no one dusts.  So, it was so grody that I moved everything off the desk or out of the way, sprayed the desk down with antibacterial cleaning solution and scrubbed it down.  I dusted the adding machine, the monitor, the modem, the keyboard, etc.  I am guessing but I think it probably took, at most, somewhere between 5-10 minutes to do.  And I've done it once in 10 months.  Isn't that a shameful waste of company time? 

And, I am so wasteful of company time.......  When I went into the office Friday, Matthew was using the computer.  So, I waited, as I always do, for him to be finished.  FInally, I got up and went out into the shop and cleaned the bathroom.  I cleaned the mirror, scrubbed the sink, wiped down the walls around the sink, cleaned the toilet, wiped down the door, the light switch and gave the door know a good spray with antibacterial stuff.  I would have done the floor which is more disgusting than you can imagine unless you've ever worked somewhere where no one cleans and the entire rest of the staff is male except that my mop has disappeared.  When I finished, he was just about done on the computer.  I was there for 50 minutes total.  He fished around in the desk until he found my timecard and zeroed it out for that hour. 

So, doesn't all this sound like fun?  Joe and I are convinced all of this originates from the day Patty and I mis-communicated about lunch.  I don't know what to do about it other than to continue doing my best.  In the meantime, I have a check on my desk that should have been issued on 5/15.  It was actually issued on 5/21/09 and as of this past Friday, the bank balance is -$1762.00.  Doesn't seem like I'll be cashing that one any time soon.  And, of course, there are two more due now, but not paid.  For this, I get abused.......  But, unemployment in this state is 12% so some kind of job is better than none, I guess. 

I have one scrapbook page to "show off" today.  Actually, it's not all that great, but it's about something that needed to be scrapped, so here it is.

Take me out to the ball game.....

So, tonight was the night I went to William's ballgame.  I picked him and Atticus up at Day Care.  I was running a bit late and Will changed in the car.  I made it to the ball park to find it deserted!  I called Jennifer and discovered she'd forgotten to tell me it was at a different ball park this time.  I drove over there as fast as I could and kind of dumped William out of the car and sent him to find his team.  I don't know how he did it as there are a bunch of fields, all occupied, and we didn't know which field they were playing on.  I had hoped Jennifer would be bringing the drinks and snacks in her car, but, alas, she left them for me to bring.  So I carried the drinks and snacks and Atticus toddled along behind me, carrying my water bottle.  We stopped and rested several times--it was a LONG walk for someone with such short legs.  Finally I had to call Jen to find out what field they were on.....Field #2.  Well, we were coming to that one......but Atticus was kinda tired after all that walking.  Before I left home, I filled the water bottle over half full with ice.  Then I drove to the day care center and collected the boys.  Just 45 minutes after I'd left home, riding in an air conditioned vehicle, all the ice had melted and the water was back to lukewarm!

William played right field.  He was only at bat once and struck out.  And the team lost.  There's another game Saturday at 2PM.  I can't begin to imagine how hot it will be.  I picked the boys up at 4:15 and the thermometer on my van said it was 99 degrees outside.  It stays light here til somewhere past 7:30PM these days, but the sun goes behind the western mountains before that and there were some clouds in the west as well as a bit of shade so it wasn't too unbearable.  But at 2PM in a sports area where there is almost no shade......that sounds pretty awful.  I don't think I could take it.

My blood pressure has been pretty stubbornly elevated the past few days.  There is a LOT of stress at my job and I think that is effecting it.  In any case between yesterday and today I took 4-12 hour pills in a 24-hour period and I still couldn't get it as low as I would have liked.  So, I think sitting in the sun for a couple of hours on Saturday is not a good idea for me though I'll do it if I have to to help Jennifer out.

We had an Icee at the ball park, Atticus and I.  We did pretty well with that til he decided he needed to handle the cup and spoon himself.  He started out wearing a green outfit, but, by the time he'd finished the Icee, it was a green and pink outfit, neatly embellished with streams and drips of strawberry flavored syrup.  But, it kept him occupied for the longest time which was good.  I got some cute pics of him and "his" Icee but I haven't had time to upload them to the computer yet. 

I have been busy the last couple of days eliminating duplicate stuff from my hard drive.  Photos, specifically.  I started out with over 1500 duplicate sets and am down to under 30 sets now.  That ought to free up some hard drive space!  And my new External Hard Drive arrived today.  It's a 1.5 Terrabyte!  I'd wanted a 2 Terrabyte EHD, but they were out of my price range.  I am so grateful to have the 1.5 as I have not been able to get Mozy to function correctly for the last two-three weeks and I am so concerned about a hard drive crash with no current backup.  Tomorrow is Joe's day off and I am going to ask him to hook up the EHD for me.  I will start backing up immediately when I arrive home from work. 

I spent the morning and early afternoon today updating my resume and completing an application for a job at Will's school.  There is a position open for a Finance Manager there and I am applying for it.  It would be wonderful to have a position with paid holidays, paid vacations, and medical insurance.  I only hope, if I'm hired, that my health can take it.  I guess I'll pray my way through it day by day if that's what's necessary.  I can only assume that if the Lord gives me the job, He'll give me the ability and strength to do it.  It will probably be an awful commute though.....most likely in excess of 20 miles one way on very heavily traveled freeways.  Well, I'll just have to work through it if it happens.  Besides, I know from experience that commuting time is excellent praise & worship time and excellent prayer time as well.  Our unemployment rate here is pushing 12%, so I'm sure there will be many qualified applicants for the position. 

One of the few benefits of the place where I currently work is that I can set my own schedule.  I am thinking of making a new "plan" where that is concerned.  As things have been going, I hardly see Joe except on Sundays.  It seems he is either at work or sleeping when I am home.  So, I want to either go in VERY early or late in the afternoon.  If I go in early enough, I can come home about the time he gets up.  That would give us a few hours together before he has to leave for work.  Or, I can go in to work when he does.  The early morning schedule would probably work better, but I don't do mornings all that well.  But, I don't particularly like dragging my butt into the house at 7 or 8 PM either.  I've tried the late afternoon approach and that worked out well.  I accomplished a lot because I had the office to myself most of the time I was there so it was quiet.  I am thinking I will try to talk myself out of here in the morning by 6 or 6:30 tomorrow and see how things work out if I go in early. 

Well, that's it for tonight.  I am going to go to bed early so I can get up early and try that wee-hours-of-the-morning work schedule.  I could really use your prayers both about my current job and about the application I will be submitting in the next day or so.  Good night, all. 

Tuesday, Tuesday........

It was my firm intention to be up early and on my way to work.  However, I have awakened with a headache and am not going anywhere til the ibuprofen kicks in!  I have been having a lot of headaches lately and they are a curse!  They seem to be blood pressure related most of the time.  I hate 'em.  They're the type that wrap the back of the head from ear to ear.  And, of course, the more one moves about, the more they hurt.  So, I guess I'll blog since it doesn't involve moving anything but my fingers.

To catch you up on the ticket situation:  Jennifer had a friend who kindly offered to help us for free.  She did some negotiating with the attorneys for the city and got the amount of the ticket reduced to $570.  We are sincerely grateful for that, though, I think, we'd hoped for better than that.  Perhaps the city really needs money with the economy being what it is.  She did get everything fixed up as parking violations which means Joe won't get "points" on his drivers license and our personal auto insurance cost should not be impacted which is a real blessing.  And we have until July to find the money and pay it, so that should help.  It was a bad situation, now less bad, but still a challenge for us. 

Not a whole lot else happening around here.  I am designing and designing and designing.  I have worked so hard at it that my shoulder is pretty achy from it all.  I'm sure that is a postural thing as I have to look over my right shoulder to see the screen, given the way my desk is set up.  And I sit for hours and hours, practically "sniffing the screen", trying to make sure every little detail is just right.  Anyway, in the last few weeks, I have designed a kit, part of which will be part of our store's collaborative kit.  I actually put together a mini-kit, a full kit, and a freebie with that.  Then, the store is doing a blog train in which I am participating.  Again, I did a full kit, a mini kit, and a freebie for that.  Then, there is another blog train for which I put together a mini kit which I am now expanding into a full kit.  The papers are all done for that one and the mini kit is all uploaded, I'm just still working on elements for the full kit.  I finally took a few hours off from designing last night and sorted through and eliminated about 500 duplicate photos from my hard drive.  I was getting pretty tired of the designing work though I'll have to start it all over again tonight.  I want this kit finished.  It's a "guy" kit and I find those difficult to do.  It seems to me that women have much more varied interests and are just easier to design for. 

We spent Sunday afternoon and early evening with a client.  It was not necessarily how we would have chosen to spend our day, but we are both convinced it was a service to the Lord.  This lady is a recent widow, her husband having died in November after being ill for 8 years.  She is not in good health--a two time breast cancer survivor, blood pressure problems, cataracts, a heart problem which needs surgery she is not strong enough to withstand, arthritis, and a collection of other problems, including severe weight loss, most likely due to depression.  And, needless to say, she takes a regular garden variety of medications--in fact, I think she is WAY overmedicated, resulting in mental confusion, and all of that complicated by the stress of years of tending a sick husband and then losing him.  Anyway, Sunday was her birthday and she pulled herself together and we went out to lunch.  We didn't go far, but the food was good and it was a pleasant atmosphere.  We minimized the walking as much as we could for her, but she still had to walk a good bit (by her standards), but she did fine.  I have spent parts of three days with her this month and it seems to be doing her a lot of good.  She has been very isolated in her home.  She was married for 48 years and her children live far away.  She doesn't seem to have a good relationship with at least one of her daughters.  Since she needs cataract surgery, she drives only in her own little neighborhood.  She had attended a church on the other side of town, but with her vision being impaired, doesn't need to be driving over there!  There is a church that is closer to her, but she says they don't have sufficient handicapped parking and it is just too difficult to park out in the main parking and try to walk all the way into the church.  So, getting her involved again in church groups won't work until the cataract surgery.  In the meantime, she'd never paid a bill nor had she been responsible for home maintenance issues during her husband's lifetime.  Now she has all these responsibilities and is just overwhelmed.  So, I pay her bills for her and help out however I can.  The bill-paying is on the clock; I get paid for that.  The rest is just time donated to try to help her through a bad time.  We were a bit late to pick her up because Joe had a Gideon function that ran overtime.  But, after lunch, we went back to her house, had some coffee and birthday cake with her, and just spent several hours just talking with her.  She has been so depressed, she hasn't even done her laundry since her husband's death--6 months ago!  I threatened to go over there and do it, which she didn't want, so she's planning on doing that between now and the next time I see her, probably about two weeks.  So, between my efforts and my prayers, she seems to be taking hold of life again, which is a good thing.  The times I've gone to her house to work on her bills, she has been scarily unkempt.  But, Sunday she did a good job of pulling herself together and I was proud to be seen with her, both because she had a reasonable appearance and because I knew the effort she'd gone to to achieve it.

I was feeling very bad that I didn't manage to stay for a whole game during William's baseball season.  However, I get to make up for that this week as his team has made the playoffs and he needs transportation to a game Wednesday evening.  So, I plan on staying to watch the whole game, hoping to make up a bit for my absences during the regular season.  Most of his games have been in the evening and Joe has been at work.  He had one Saturday game, but Joe worked Friday night and slept most of the day Saturday, so this is something I'll have to do on my own.

Joe worked Friday night and had a good night.  But the first part of the week was pretty awful.  And, since he worked Friday night, he didn't get to work Saturday night.  Sometimes he gets both Weekend nights, but not this time.  He got paid yesterday and his check was about $300 less than usual and "usual" doesn't really cover our bills.  So, the next few weeks will be exciting......waiting for the Lord to meet that promise about meeting our needs. 

I have done one scrapbook page this week.  Bella Gypsy Designs does so many great kits for "kid" pages.  Everything in their kits is a bit more childlike and less sophisticated and fun.  Perfect for pages about the boys.  And, come late fall, perfect for pages about our anxiously awaited granddaughter (who, by the way, Joe has already declared will be "the perfect child".  Don't worry, Jen, I'll rip his tongue out if he calls her that, I promise.)  So, here's my latest:

 

The kit I used is a new kit called "Scram!"  It is available at Elemental Scraps and at ACOT.  The cardboard flowers are by Amanda Rockwell and the string is from my personal commercial use stash.

I understand that when Jennifer showed this page to William, his comment was "See, Mom.  She even managed to do something with THAT picture".  Too cute.

I think I mentioned here that on May 17, Joe graduated from Bible School.  Well, he asked me to fix up one of the photos (I couldn't get many because the camera was being uncooperative--again).  So, how would you like a look at the graduate?

 

That's him with the cheesy grin looking into the calendar.  The lighting in the church was pretty awful for picture-taking, but I messed with this a lot and at least succeeded in making it some better.  I still need to run a filter over it to see if I can do any better with the pixelation, but at least now you can distinguish him for everyone else. 

Funny story about the graduation and then I have to sign off.  Jennifer and Will went shopping for a present for Grandpa for his graduation.  They ended up buying a lovely picture frame with the word "Graduate" on it.  Jennifer remarked that they didn't have a picture of Grandpa to put in it.  William responded:  "Don't worry, Mom.  Grandma will take one!"  I think that kid knows me.....

Night now, much to do.

Designing

Well, in the middle of the scrapping I've been doing, I've also been designing.  I am continually amazed at just how time-intensive designing is.  Whew!  I work and work and my progress is measured in megabytes, which sounds big, right?  mega?  No.......  I wish.  It takes a LONG time to put a full kit together.  I think, finally, the kit I am working on is nearing completion.  The papers are done and those are usually a breeze for me, but not this time.  I sweated and reworked and re-thought every printed page and there are more than a dozen of them.  The solid papers went smoothly.  Then I started on the elements and I THINK I finally completed those last evening.  I've got the previews of the solid papers and of the printed papers done for the full kit.  I still need to do the preview of the elements for the full kit.  Then, as it happens, I need to pull some papers and elements from the kit to create a mini kit and do a preview of that.  Finally, I need to pull some papers and elements from the kit to do a freebie and do a preview of that.  Then, it's a matter of packaging it all up, adding in my Terms of Use, the piracy warning, and getting the bits and pieces uploaded to several places.  Gee, I'm tired just thinking about it!

I have managed to put together two LARGE full kits this month.  But, I can't show them off or sell them til next month.  If I can get the design work finished, I DO have some kits in reserve and I just need to double check them and get them loaded into the store, but the checking and uploading to the store is about the least fun thing I can think of.  I really have to discipline myself to do it--the fun part is the designing!

I did something that was pretty wild and crazy for me last week.  I spent $40 on designing stuff in one store.  For that $40, I got over $1000 worth of stuff, so it was a good investment, but now I've got to unzip and organize it all.  I'll be at it til kingdom come!  Primarily I got overlays to create papers, though I also managed to acquire some beautiful hand drawn doodles and some elements.  I was exhausted at the end of the day--I actually sat at the computer all day and all evening downloading files.  My butt was SO sore!

I had the opportunity this week to buy a tablet which would have been very useful in designing.  I had to turn it down.  Joe and I discussed it and decided we had to acquire a second EHD before we did anything else.  You may remember my mentioning that my EHD with all my stuff on it crashed.  I did have a decent backup of everything I'd done or acquired as of the first of the month.  I crashed about the 20th of the month, but was able to redownload most everything I purchased and restore what I'd created from Mozy.  But, now, I have no second EHD to which to back up.  And, I tried to reconfigure Mozy, my online backup service, so that it would backup what used to be the backup EHD and is now the ONLY EHD and it has gone into a tizzy.  I'm not sure if it's even functioning.  It has been "reticulating splines" (no, I DON'T have any idea what that means) for days.  All I know is that that is some sort of action it has to perform before it starts backing up.  I think I will spend part of today searching for a bargain on an EHD......  I'm feeling VERY nervous about not having a current backup.

So, we have had a "tragedy" befall us.  It seems there is a spot downtown where cabbies line up to pick up rides as the electric light show ends.  But downtown is fairly crowded so there isn't much space provided for cab lines.  One such cab lines runs from about the middle of the block to the end, about enough space for 5 cabs.  Cabbies will "stretch" that line to extend around the corner and that is illegal.  They are allowed to stop for one cycle of the traffic light and then they must move on.  Well, Joe, being his own little rebellious soul, chose to sit through two cycles of the traffic light, and, surprise, a cop was waiting for him, just as he turned the corner into the "legal" line.  He got hit with a ticket.   Yesterday he called to find out how much the ticket was and we both about fell out of our chairs.  The ticket is for $760.  In our world that is a LOT of money!  It is made even worse by the fact that he made very little money last week because business was so slow.  I mentioned it to Jennifer and she thinks MAYBE she can get the ticket taken care of.  That would be such a blessing to us!  I sincerely hope Joe has learned his lesson........

Well, that's way more than I have time for and I'm signing off for now. 

I did it again

It's Monday morning and eventually I have to go to work.  I already know what I'm wearing so that problem is solved and I took a bath last night so getting ready should be fairly quick, leaving me a bit of time for a blog post.

Well, Joe returned home Friday from the funeral, thoroughly disgusted.  Seems, much as I suspected, he ended up doing door duty.  I don't think he would have minded that so much except he was told very emphatically "NO ONE goes in or out this door."  Then, the head usher or whomever kept making exceptions.  Well, that made the "No one" part of Joe's orders pretty hard to enforce.  I think he also felt as though he just wasn't needed, but he was giving up sleeping time to be there.  And, that 7AM reporting time?  Well, according to him, they didn't actually DO anything til 9, just stand around.  Again, a loss of sleeping time for Joe without him being able to see any benefits from it.

Sunday morning Pastor Paul explained how the funeral came to be at our church.  Apparently, 8 or 9 years ago, one of the pastors from New Antioch Christian Fellowship came to Paul and asked if he would be a mentor to him.  Paul explained that, at that time, we didn't really have any kind of mentorship program, so the two men arranged just to meet up at Starbucks or wherever on a regular basis.  Last week, the pastor from New Antioch called Paul and told him his nephew had been killed in the line of duty.  He explained that they were expecting a much larger attendance than their church could handle and asked if they could use our building.  Paul said "of course".  Later he was trying to figure what would be an appropriate amount to charge.  Staff put in extra time, there was air conditioning, lights, other expenses to take into account.  Finally, he decided that we would charge nothing.  Further, when the funeral service was over, he told the Chief of Police that as long as he is pastor of the church, the facilities will be available for free for any funeral for a fallen Police Officer.  As it turns out, I guess the building was "monopolized" for much of the week as the bagpipes practiced there, as did the buglers, as did many other people involved in the service.  I think this offer on the part of our pastor is excellent and I'm proud of him for making it.

Joe got a very encouraging call from the church last week.  For years before Joe moved here, the Gideons have been trying to get into ICLV.  It has never happened.  Joe, himself, has tried.  He has visited with various pastors with regard to this request and has sent numerous e-mails to the pastoral staff.  To no avail.  The church, of course, already has a missions program and allocates a substantial amount of money to that, and the Gideons are not a part of the missions program at this time.  However, we received a call from one of the staff, requesting the address to which a contribution should be sent.  No, the Gideons are still not being given an opportunity to speak in the church, but this is an encouraging step for Joe. 

Well, the graduation ceremony was last night, and Joe is now in possession of a document stating he has completed the requirements of the Bible School program.  We were so happy that Jennifer and Jason and the boys were able to be there.  I was impressed with how well both boys behaved.  Jennifer did have to take Atty out once--he had some toys which he was supposed to share with Will.  Primarily, Will read a book, but when he wanted one of the toys with which Atty was playing, Atty had a two year old moment.  One of those "MINE" moments.  Other than that, the kids held up really well to what was a long service.  I was even more impressed when we found out they hadn't had dinner, just some granola bars, before the service.  Jennifer and the boys and Joe and I hit Applebee's after the service for some dinner, which Jennifer was kind enough to pay for in honor of Joe's graduation.  Matt and Patty arrived very late in the service.  They had gone to California over the weekend, and did not get back in time for the whole service.  But, they got to see Joe in his cap and gown and even take a couple of pictures!  It was definitely a night when Joe was honored and that was a good thing.  Before the service ended, Joe already had an invitation to preach at a local church!  We'll see how that goes.

Joe had a rough week at work.  The town has been pretty empty of tourists this week and he has definitely felt the impact of that in his earnings.  To make matters worse, the guy who usually makes sure Joe gets a cab on Saturdays wasn't there this week and Joe didn't get the chance to work Saturday night which is usually a good night.  So, our earnings for the week are pretty darn small.  My mother sent Joe a check for his graduation gift and he was happy to see that.  We can now pay the water bill!  He was pretty disappointed about being sent home Saturday night, but he had a couple of "divine appointments" at church on Sunday morning and, if he had worked Saturday night, he would have had to sleep Sunday morning, and missed those "appointments".  God sent a man to pray for Joe for a specific problem with which Joe is dealing!  And God sent a woman to Joe for prayer with regard to a problem she is having which is the same as a problem with which we are dealing. 

Jennifer had an ultrasound this past week.  We don't have an "official" ruling yet.  But, the ultrasound tech is 100% sure we are going to have a girl this time.  She says she is right about 90% of the time.  Of course, we won't know for sure for two more months, but I was thrilled with this news.  It appears that all the other signs are very positive for this pregnancy.  Jennifer allowed me to scan the ultra sound pics and they are SO clear.  I remember the ultra sounds pics that were taken when Will was in utero.  Jennifer would point to some part of the pics and say "See, Mom, there's the baby's arm".  I would look at it face on, upside down, squinting, whatever variations I could think of and never did really see an arm.  Technology has advanced significantly since then and even I could point out the baby's head, arm, leg, etc on these photos.

Speaking of "photos", here's a funny Will-ism.  Jennifer bought a picture frame as a gift for Joe for his graduation.  The frame is labeled "Graduate" and Will picked it out.  Jennifer pointed out to him that they didn't have a photo for in the frame.  Will's response?  "Don't worry, Mom.  Grandma will take one."  Guess that boy knows about me and my camera.  Lord knows I've taken enough photos of him!

Well, I started this off with "I did it again".  By now you have spent long enough trying to figure out just what the heck that means.  Well, it means I scrapped, silly!  Here's my latest creation, done with a kit called "Soccer Mom" by Bella Gypsy Designs.  So far, I've only posted it in one gallery, but I'll be making the rounds this afternoon.

 

Well, that's it from me for now.  I have to get ready for work.  Later, all.

About the funeral

Well, indeed it is being broadcast.  And, it's been reinforced to me why I avoid funerals because, just watching folks file in to be seated, I am crying.  No, I've never met Officer Manor.  But, according to the TV, he was 28 years old, the same age as my daughter.  He died in a traffic accident, responding to a domestic dispute 911 call, which, believe it or not, was a fake call made by a teenager.  He was just days short of his 2nd anniversary as a Metro Officer.

All of the police forces from southern Nevada are there--North Las Vegas, City of Henderson, Boulder City, Mesquite.  I saw some officers who appear to be from the Nevada Highway Patrol.  And, there are rumors that many police forces from cities around the country are also represented.  My numbers as to estimated seating have been wrong.  The main sanctuary is able to seat 2700 with the chapel seating 600.  MANY many people are still outside, including many Metro Police Officers who line the driveway, standing at attention.  It has been unseasonably hot here, with temperatures in the high 90's for a good week; I can only imagine how uncomfortable it must be to stand in that same position for hours in such high temperatures.  There is also a riderless horse being escorted up and down that driveway.  Many members of Officer Manor's home church are also in attendance.  And, darn it all, they are also playing the bagpipes which always makes me want to cry even more...........

I wonder how Joe is holding up to all this?  He can get emotional at times like this.  So far, police officers have been in charge of seating inside the sanctuary.  I'm guessing that our own ushers have been used more for "crowd control"--go here, stand there, don't go here, park here, don't park there.  For example, the telecast is by a "pool" news crew and other newsmen have been excluded from the church.  Perhaps our ushers are doing that, taking care of keeping people out of the many entrances that are not to be used today. 

The pastor of his church is now explaining that there will be some "pentecostal" worship.  She is calling it a "cultural experience" which I am sure it will be for many who are in attendance.  Of course for me and members of ICLV, it will just be church as usual.  But for many, since Officer Manor's church is primarily black, (New Antioch Christian Fellowship), I am sure for some, "experience" will be the word of the day.  But, they explain that they are celebrating his life with worship.  Amen! 

We rarely turn the TV on these days.  Joe doesn't have time and I don't have the interest.  Much of the local TV news has apparently featured stories about Officer Manor all week.  He is lauded as an example to the community.  As a quiet leader who commanded respect.  A man with an easy attitude and an easy manner accompanied by an easy smile.  Excelling in school as both a student and athlete. 

 So sad to lose such an honorable young man--a loss to his family, his church and our city.

Strange goings on around here

Joe is acting as usher this morning at a funeral!!!  That seems odd to me, but I avoid funerals in general so maybe more funerals have ushers than I ever suspected.......  A local Police Officer was killed here over the weekend.  They are holding the funeral at our church.  I have no idea whether he attended there or if it is simply being held at our church because we have one of the largest church buildings in the city.  In any case the service starts at 10:00AM but Joe had to be there at 7:00AM.  He thought that was awfully early 'til he arrived there.  Then he borrowed a cell phone to call and tell me that there were already two news trucks and a group of Police Officers from Reno, NV at the church at 7:00!  Rumor has it they are expecting 8,000 people and I have NO IDEA where they're going to put them all.  I'm guessing here, but I sincerely doubt you can squeeze more than 4,000 into our main facility.  With effort, you can probably squeeze another 1,000 into the chapel with the service being broadcast on big screens at the front of the chapel.  Where in the world will they put the rest?????  And, of course, many "dignitaries" will be there, either because it is something they really care about, or it's a duty, or it's a photo op.......  But if you're into spotting "dignitaries" so you can tell all your friends about it, apparently International Church of Las Vegas is the place to be today.

International Church of Las Vegas is also the place to be Sunday night.  Sunday night Joe graduates from Bible School.  He's been working on this part time for years and it's finally coming to fruition.  He has been joking for several weeks now that he is going to change his name to Ron so he can be "The Reverend Righteous Right On Ron".  That was pretty funny the first 2 or 3 times I heard it.......  Now I just roll my eyes!

So, I did something totally different last night.  I scrapped.  Yessiree, I did, I really did.  Scrap pages have been few and far between around here since I started designing.  But, last night I scrapped.  It came out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.  I used a kit called "Augie" by Bella Gypsy Designs for the page and a much altered template from Bella Gypsy Designs from their template pack called "Something Like Tabatha".  You can find Bella Gypsy products at Elemental Scraps and at A Cherry on Top.  Guess I should post the page here, right???

 

In case you can't read it, this was taken at Disney World.  Short Legs Atty needed a boost to make it through the crowds.  So, he got a ride on Daddy's shoulders.

I haven't posted the page around the 'net yet, but will this afternoon.  Right now I am intent on getting this done so I can be in front of the TV at 10:00 to see whether Mr. Joe makes it into the broadcast of the service.  Then it's off to work for me.  I've worked from home several days this week with a quickie trip into the office yesterday afternoon.  But, I need to go in today to see whether we're in need of a payroll run.  There was actually a bit of money in the company account yesterday, but the payroll tax deposit is due today (the reason for my quick trip yesterday) and I don't know what else is expected to be done with the money that's in the account.  I'm still waiting for a check from several weeks ago for $472.  That would certainly help pay my bills!

Joe has been disappointed in his results for Mon, Tues, and Wed this week.  The town is apparently EMPTY and there has been little demand for cabs.  So, his tips have suffered and it will impact his paycheck as well.  There is pretty much no additional way in which we can cut expenses around here so....the Lord is going to have to provide someway, somehow. 

I am picking up bits and pieces of income.  Not enough to really be felt in the bank accounts, but it is all welcome.  I have a client whose husband died in November.  Her children live at least 9 hours away.  She never took care of any of their financial affairs.  AND, she has many physical problems which require many different kinds of meds.  So, between grieving, aches and pains, many drugs, inexperience, and children who can't help, she is willing to pay someone.  I actually spent about 4 hours with her a couple of weeks ago, mostly listening to her long list of problems and trying to encourage her.  But about an hour was spent on "business" so I'll bill her for one hour.  She wants this on a continuing basis, so.......I won't make much, but I'll be doing a service to the Lord. 

I was also contacted about a week ago by another client.  He has started a new business and has decided he needs accounting work done.  At this point, I doubt I can justify an hour a week, but there is good potential for amazing growth for this company.  So, it's a good place to be starting out on the ground floor.  Also, he needs some advice (which he's not willing to take now) on sales and I'd like to slot Joe in there.......  The time will come when he figures out that what he thinks will work won't work and then he'll need help.

I resigned my CT position at ACOT.  But, I am back on the CT for Bella Gypsy Designs which makes me very happy.  Bella Gypsy is two sisters, Tabatha and Lena who design and sell together.  I started on Tabatha's CT when she first started designing.  That was more than 4 years ago.  Eventually Lena joined her and they started putting out kits like mad.  After a while, Tabatha dropped out and then I CT'd for a short time for Lena until she developed a health condition that caused her problems and forced her to take a sabbatical from designing.  Now I'm back with them and it feels like coming home.  So, I have 3 CTs and I think that's my limit.  With Amanda Rockwell, she has been doing a lot of Commercial Use stuff for designers.  That doesn't require any help from her CT.  But, every now and then she dumps a load of stuff on us that is enough to just blow me away.  She recently hit us with a collection of 12 paper packs, followed by 7 more paper packs!!!!!  Holey moley!  LaWanna is still turning out BEAUTIFUL kits, but not as often as before.  I owe both Amanda and LaWanna CT contributions so I've got to get busy on that. 

I have recently changed my approach to certain parts of my designing and that seems, for the moment, to be slowing me down.  But, I think, in the long run, it will actually be a help.  I am forever designing mini-kits for one purpose or another.  For example, Natural Designs in Scrapbooking (NDISB, my store) puts out a huge collaborative kit monthly.  So far, I've participated in all but two of those.  And, in April, we did a blog train.  We've got another blog train coming up soon!  And, I've participated in one other blog train as well.  Well, in theory, I can turn those mini-kits into full sized kits and sell them.  But, it seems whenever the time comes that I am able to do that, based on my contract, I am always knee-deep in something else.  So, I've decided that I will design a full kit, pull enough from the full kit to make a mini kit, and design some extra items for a Freebie.  I'll contribute the mini-kit for the collaborative kit at the store.  One month later, I can sell the full kit and I'll have a freebie ready to go to help with advertising.  But it will all be done up front, not later in bits and pieces.  I think this will result in a more cohesive group of designs as well.  So, I did this process for my contribution for the June collaborative kit.  And, I'm working on doing the same thing for the next blog train.  I am not as fast at this designing stuff as a lot of people (for example, Lena and Tabatha turn out 8 kits a month plus add-ons or freebies).  So, I think it will be good to get ahead of the game a bit.  Interestingly enough, the collaborative for June at NDISB is on a theme I had already started designing a kit for.  So, I could just borrow from there for part of the kit.  And the blog train is also on a theme I've already designed a kit for.  Unfortunately, I don't think I can use what I've already got designed to help meet this goal, so I guess, eventually, I will have two kits with a similar theme in the store.

I've been watching my life tick by in seconds lately.  There has been a lot of free stuff on the 'net for scrapping.  It's not like I need it, but it's all so PRETTY!  For example, a fairly new site is sponsoring a contest called "So You Think You Can Design".  For week 1, the folks running the contest selected 4 color schemes and all the contest participants (all experienced designers) created kits using those color schemes.  By downloading those kits, I ended up with 4 mega kits, all designed on the same color scheme.  For week 2, the same theme was used by all the participants but they got to select their own color scheme.  I've been having a ball downloading all these beautiful products.  However, there's a catch.  There are about 3 site folks use for downloads, Media Fire, Box.net, and 4Shared.  MediaFire has a lot of popup advertising which is very annoying.  Box.net has a limit on the size of files that can be uploaded/downloaded from their site.  And 4Shared makes me crazy.  For every file you want to download, you have to wait...  39 seconds, 14 seconds, 25 seconds, 35 seconds, 9 seconds, etc.  I have no real information on why one has to wait 39 seconds for some files versus 9 seconds for others.  I think it is their way to control traffic.  But, there just isn't much you can accomplish in 39 seconds while waiting to download your stuff.  I think I've accumulated at least 8 hours of waiting time the last couple of weeks, just watching that counter on 4Shared tick by.  And, I am doing everything possible to speed up the process.  So aggravating, but I'm grateful they exist or I couldn't collect all this PRETTY stuff!

Well, that's it for today.  Have a blessed day.

Safe and sound

We are back.  Or, more correctly, we returned yesterday around 3PM.  We had hoped to be here much earlier, but it didn't happen.  Joe napped a bit in the van, but stubborn man that he is, he refused to go lay down in the back.  So, he slept upright in the passenger seat which I don't find to be a restful way to sleep.  He got somewhere between 3-4 hours of sleep.  He took the first leg of the drive, from home to Searchlight, NV.  I took us into Yuma from there.

We stopped a few times, just moments, really, to take a few desert related photos.  Other than that, we just kept plugging along.  Traditionally, we make a pottie and snack stop at a little place called Vidal Junction.  This little place boasts some sort of agricultural inspection station, a gasoline station, and a diner.  That's all.  I think it may have been a bigger deal years ago when Route 66 was a bigger deal.  We were sad to note that the diner is now closed.  Possibly with fewer folks traveling because of the economy, they had less business.  I don't know.  But we missed the opportunity to sit over a cup of coffee and maybe a piece of pie for a few minutes--different scenery than the inside of the van, you know.

I was also disappointed to note there was not a single fruit/vegetable stand open.  I know as it gets later in the year, they will not be open--way too hot and the growing season will have ended.  I had desperately hoped to land some home grown tomatoes, and maybe a few other things but nada!

On one of our first trips to Yuma, I read some sort of pamphlet about things to do there.  It seems there's not much, or perhaps it's just that there's not much that appeals to us.  Anywhere, somewhere in those pamphlets, I read about "date shakes".  No, those aren't shakes you have on dates and it's not something you do TO your date.  They're milkshakes that are date flavored.  Well, we had our first date shakes this trip, mostly because I insisted on tracking down the place where they were sold.  There is actually a farm in Yuma that grows and sells dates.  They make shakes flavored with dates.  They're quite tasty, but VERY sweet.  You can imagine--the sweetness of the ice cream PLUS the sweetness of dates.  I'm glad I ordered a small.  I couldn't have plowed my way through a large!

Usually, we drive down one day, then the next day, we go across the border and come home.  We changed our routine a bit this trip, going across the border on Thursday and driving home Friday.  We expected to see a lot of people in face masks, masked against the possibility of the swine flu.  I saw one person; Joe said he saw several.  But there didn't seem to be much concern that far away from Mexico City.  We stopped at the group of pharmacies that are closest to the border.  Reportedly, they have the best prices.  I don't know if that's true, but if you can't find what you need there, chances are you won't find it..... 

We were fortunate to find all but one item, something we were picking up for one of Joe's Gideon buddies.  In addition, we found some Mexican makeup that Patty has turned me onto.  Cheap and it works well.  I happened to ask the sales person for a business card.  And that's when things got even better.  If you e-mail them with your order, they will price out the items and send you back an invoice.  Then, you send them either a personal check or a money order plus $20 cash and they will ship your order to you.  This would mean we could go to Mexico only when I need to see the doctor!  We're pretty excited about that!  We're even more excited to give a business card to Joe's friend and tell him to order on his own from now on. 

It is not that we mind doing a friend a favor.  But, they never make the trip but always have an order when we're going.  We, of course, have to pay for a couple of tanks of gasoline and the hotel plus our medication while they simply reimburse us for their meds.  And, each time we've brought back meds for them, we've been hasseled by the Border Patrol.  This time it was my turn to be hasseled.  Officer Labortini.  Not the most decent or reasonable of men.  I had Joe's friend's meds and Joe had ours.  One of the items they needed was Prednisone.  Apparently the guy's wife takes a 20 mg dose.  They wanted three bottles.  We could only find it in 5 mg, so we bought 8 bottles, the equivalent of two of the three bottles they wanted.  The officer deemed it to be an "unreasonable" amount.  He refused to let me complete a sentence or explain.  And, insisted that I had to have a prescription to bring "that much" across the border.  Jerk!  Then he searched my purse which has NEVER happened before.  In my purse I had an old prescription bottle with some Ibuprofen and a half empty bottle of Mexican blood pressure meds.  He made a big deal about those too.  Wanted to know how he was to know that I hadn't bought them just that day in Mexico.  Well, maybe because the prescription bottle was from a local doctor here and in English?  Maybe because the blood pressure med bottle was more than half empty?  I truly don't mind doing a favor for a friend, but it would be nice if they'd share the burden once or twice in more than two years.  And I find that the Border Patrol are pretty disagreeable.  Last time they wanted us to have our birth certificates, though we'd researched on the 'net and found no such requirement.  This time we brought our birth certificates and the guy Joe was dealing with didn't even look at his!  So, I am very happy to be able to make fewer trips, and to pass on a business card to his friend so we no longer have to be responsible for bringing their stuff home.

We had dinner in Mexico and then returned to our hotel room where Joe fell asleep by 7:30.  Nothing more was heard from him til about 6:30AM.  Then we got up, packed up and headed home.

Today is (i)NSD.  That's "(international)National Scrapping Day".  There are sales everywhere.  My own store is on sale 40% off (you can get there by clicking the button in the sidebar).  I've bought some things, probably more than I should.  It's been a long time since I bought a kit or two or three just because they were something I wanted.  It's hard to resist when they're marked down to $2 or when the store seems hardly ever to have a sale and everything is marked down 30%, 40%, or more.  Part of what I bought was for use in my own designing, though a lot of stores specifically excluded "commercial use" stuff, darn them.

I resigned from two more CT teams.  I'm now working only for Amanda Rockwell and LaWanna Desjardin.  I am hoping that will leave me more time for designing.  It will cut down on the amount of free scrapping stuff I get, but that's okay since I'll be exchanging it for more free time.  AND, I have a huge stash of stuff anyway.......

Okay, gotta get busy around here.  Have a good evening!