Woohoo!

It's been a while since I've posted here I see. Been a lot longer since I've posted on the blog on my website.

I started blogging on here again after my wordpress blog updated and needed a newer version of the mysql database. I'm sure I mentioned all this a while ago. Well, tonight I thought I'd give it a go to try and log into it. This time I got the option again of updating my database and it worked.

So, I'm here now to say that, at least for now, I'm back to blogging on my blog on my website. If you care to see it, just click here. I'm hoping this weekend I can blog about all the things that has happened the past few months.

Bed time now. Have a great night, happy blog readers!

The weekend is over

The weekend is over and I don't get the luxury of knowing that I still have tomorrow to finish what I didn't get done. Training for general labor, with driving a forktruck, starts tomorrow at 6am sharp! Well, actually maybe a tad earlier because of catching up with updates from the general labor person tonight.

Morning is going to come very early! So, what did I do? I laid down for a little while this afternoon and dozed. Couldn't help it, I couldn't hold my eyes open. I can't help it I'm on night schedule. Then I'll just get used to the day hours and then finish my training and go back to my night shift.

The good thing is that tomorrow is A shift's last day of the work weekend so I'll work tomorrow and then be off until Thursday and work it and Friday and then be off for the weekend again. Tomorrow is the start of the new pay period so mixing up the weekends off won't bother my check.

The other day I bought my mother, and myself, the book Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes. Somehow I have the feeling that I'll have to hound her to get her to read it and that she'll definitely put the book down when she reads that the program calls for a vegan diet. I can be really sure that her idea of a balanced meal includes some type of meat, even if it's in small amounts.

I hate to say it but I wonder sometimes if she really wants to get rid of her diabetes. She says she hates having it and wishes she didn't but she also uses it as a topic of discussion with everyone she talks to, no matter who it is. Even the stock boys at the grocery store. It is a way for her to get attention and I am just not sure she'd want to get rid of it, especially if it means going against every bit of nutritional knowledge she has, even if it's wrong.

And she doesn't cook anymore, doesn't even have the gas turned on to the stove and oven anymore. Everything is either eaten cold or microwaved. And Dad gets those little dinners-in-a-package things, I think by Hormel, that sit on a shelf and just get microwaved. And since he's been eating those types of things his blood pressure is a little on the high side. Mom takes medicine for high blood pressure, though I'm not sure how high hers is. They also eat out a lot! Like Applebees, though that's more of a once-a-month treat or so, and a couple of the restaurants in town and the next town over, which is at least home-cooked stuff, and Subway. Occasionally a pizza.

I can't see her going vegan but I do see her fighting even a vegetarian diet. I'm hoping to be able to help her along as I've been thinking of becoming vegetarian for years, for the most part. I don't eat that much meat but just wasn't totally sure what all to fix as a meal in order to make sure all the needed nutrition was there. I've been studying up some and getting some healthy cookbooks, especially Italian which I love. It seems as though beans is the good way to go, I just have to get used to making them. I do now have a pressure cooker so I won't have to soak and cook them for hours.

I wish I'd grown up seeing good cooking. By the time I really remember watching and helping Mom cook she was working so pretty much all meals started coming out of boxes and cans. And I also have worked nearly all my adult life so I didn't take much of an interest in cooking. I'm still trying to find the love of cooking. I do love to bake though.

Graduation is coming very quickly. Just a couple months away and I still haven't gotten Chris' senior pictures printed out or the announcements done. I will definitely have to take some of my days off and just concentrate on that! And I haven't found out any final details about the graduation party, as it is pretty well set that about 5 of the grads are going together for a combined graduation party. Another thing I need to get at. Graduation is on my shift's weekend to work and I would imagine I'll be back on the shift by then. There was talk of everyone just bringing one or two dishes, or roasters full, and it would be enough. I hope so because Chris already put his order in wanting my 3-bean salad. And I'd have to make a big roaster full.

Arrgg, it'll be here before I get it all done, I just know it!!!!

Ok, it's now after 9 and, of course, I'm not the least bit drowsy. Maybe if I get off the comp and watch tv or read maybe it'll hit. Otherwise....I wonder if I'll be excused if late. Probably be taken off from personal time.

Wish me luck with the first stage of my training! Please!

Have a great night, happy blog readers. I may pop in tomorrow night and let you know how Day 1 went. Thankfully, as I said earlier, after tomorrow I get two days off!

Late night...

I'm watching Under The Tuscan Sun, again. I LOVE this movie more and more every time I see it. Maybe it's because, and it is a good part, I would love to move some place like Tuscany to start over and perhaps get to concentrate on writing and crafts again. Or at least on life again. Tuscany in the movies at least is gorgeous! And a villa to fix up and make homey, heaven! Of course, to look like Diane Lane and have her money would be quite an asset as well.

I got the bathroom sink put in today finally. There may be a slight leak on the hot water. Hopefully it will plug as I think I've tightened it as tight as I can get it. It actually turned out to be a faster job than changing the kitchen faucet was.

I finally got told today when I will start training for my position of back-up team-lead. Back-up general labor is what I start with. So, starting Monday the 22nd I will be on A shift. It'll sure take some time to get used to getting up early enough to be to work by 6am. I just hope I don't mess up at all, like dumping a pallet or something. I wish I'd had more than just an hour's training on a forklift.

Today I have had such a hard time wanting to control food portions. Maybe nerves? Probably. If I keep up like this I'll never lose weight.

My apartment needs color, lots of different colors. It's mainly red and black, the living room, tan carpeting, and woodtone furniture and shelves. It gets a bit tiring and depressive without lots of color to liven it up. Not sure how or what all to do to add mroe color, which is why it isn't colorful now, without buying all new furniture or at least a new couch. Maybe next year on that. My red couch is only a couple years old but the four pillows it has for the back are driving me crazy trying to get them looking nice. I thought it would be great when I bought it with the removable pillows, and it was for a while, but it's a pain with the pillows now.

Housework and work tomorrow. I need a vacation!

What to do today?

Besides the fact that I have to work tonight.

Ever have one of those days when you just want to get away and not think about anything having to do with home? Ok, I have those days a lot! And today is one of them.

I have to work all night tonight and tomorrow night so I don't feel like spending the day doing housework. Mainly because what I have to look forward to is putting away or storing away things that I've pulled out of storage lately in order to sort through them. It's stuff that's been packed away for years. It's just the fact of getting it done and out of the living areas so I have my floor space back from containers. You wouldn't think it would be that hard to just get it done. I wouldn't think so either but housework just seems like a neverending thing. I do it, it's immediately undone and I have to do it all again and again. Argg!

I also have a bunch of filing that's been piled instead of put away, another neverending thing it seems. And my checkbook is behind again and seems to take forever to get caught up. Why I don't just keep them done at the time I don't know. Another argg! Call it cabin fever, although it seems like I'm usually on the go, or just plain depressive at the thought.

Sometimes I think the thing to do is to just chuck it all and start over but that isn't going to happen. It's a lifetime of things.

Ok, enough of that! Every day I could write the same thing about housework and feeling trapped by the unfun of it.

A couple of my muses have been taking little skips through history in my mind trying to build up their histories for me. One of the bad things is that some of the best stops happens when I'm at work and not able to be written down. I guess it does all add together and one day I'll just sit and write and it'll all come flowing out. Ok, I can hope that will happen. I have to start allowing my mind to just relax and flow again. That hasn't been very easy for quite some time now.

In about 2 1/2 months I will be smoke-free for 2 years! A great milestone! And I'm proud of myself. Even now I still have no desire to start smoking again. But there are some things that I hate since I quit. Number 1, of course, is the weight I've put on. I would say probably a good 40 pounds. Instead of smoking I eat, but I have noticed that that aspect is starting to wind down a bit, thankfully. I still overeat but am working on it and I don't seem to be adding any on, though I'm not taking any off yet either. But I have to up my activity level a lot!

Which brings us to number 2: the lack of concentration and therefore ambition. This has a lot to do with my inability to write. Or get anything else truly done. This is the worse part of it! When I smoked I could concentrate on everything, without problem. After quitting it's gone. No matter what I try I just can't get that back. Any suggestions??? Please?? I try forcing myself and it'll work for a little while but then it's gone again. This leads to sitting a lot watching way too much tv. I've been wanting to write, sew, quilt, cross stitch, learn guitar and stuff. And then I wonder what's wrong with me. Then add in the fact that I'm 46 and into perimenopause, which they say will affect those things as well. Maybe I'm just doomed! Maybe I need a vacation to some quiet, peaceful place where I can just think and work through my mental blockages.

I think that's a good reason why I'm on the go a lot. I've always been a homebody but the past few years, even throughout winters, I take off and go to the city and spend money I shouldn't. But I don't have to concentrate and it gives instant gratification and a feeling of at least doing something. And I keep hoping that something will bootkick me into wanting to do things again. (Yes I know that shutting the tv off and getting used to it being off would help. Maybe when it warms up outside.)

Has anyone else suffered this afliction after quitting smoking? Is it an age thing more than anything? Is there any hope for me? Ok, I hate to say it but maybe I just need to get laid, but that's another blog for another time. :)

Ok, now that I've again bored you to tears I will go ahead and leave you for now. Not sure what I'll do yet before work but hopefully it'll be something constructive.

Have a great day, happy blog readers! I'll probably catch you this weekend when I have off. Friday night might be busy as Bernie promised me to either take me out for dinner or order in at his place. We'll see. Especially since it looks that he'll be moving out of state to get a job. Man, I do with the job markets would go back to the way they used to be.

Decision made on my quandary of the day

Howdy happy blog readers. Hope you're doing well. Me? I'm still suffering from this stupid cold. Coughing some, blowing some, but I think the throat is on the mend. Lord knows I've gone through plenty enough kleenexes and cough drops. But I've developed that nasty tickle in my throat, which usually is the worst part but tends to be a sign of improvement. I hope it's on the mend because tomorrow night is back to work for two nights. I took off very early on Sunday night because of my cold. But I can't keep doing that until the cold passes.

Speaking of work, that's where my quandary comes in. I think I've mentioned putting in for day shift different times as well as backup team-lead for the shift I'm on, one of the night shifts. I think I also mentioned that the latest postings for both were on last Tuesday and I hadn't gotten a definite answer as to which I should have gotten when the postings came down on Friday. Well, I got called from Kathy tonight. She's our ex-HR person, recently she took a different position in the plant and a new HR person was hired but is still being trained by Kathy. Anyways, she called and said I was the top seniority poster for both postings so it is up to me which position I want. She said I could think about it overnight and let her know in the morning.

I thought about it, a lot. I talked to Sara, who is always kind enough to listen to my ventings and help me keep sane. I've decided I'm going to stay on my night shift, which has a lot of people that I like working with, and take on backup team-lead. That will open up for one guy on the shift to move to days, which would be good because few people like working with him. Back-up team-lead includes being a back-up person when the general labor person is gone. This entails moving pallets of product, keeping pallets supplied to the presses, making sure that the material keeps going to each press, and paperwork galore. It also includes being the backup supervisor when he's not there. Much more paperwork and computer work.

This means at least 30 days of training. Hopefully I'll learn fast and not end up wishing I hadn't taken on the workload. But, this position means more money. That always comes in handy. Now I'll have to call Kathy in the morning and let her know. I'm not one of my supervisor's favorite people so that will be interesting. :D

Tomorrow I also need to remember that Dad goes to the Vets hospital tomorrow afternoon to get his eyes checked out. They say he's got macular degeneration, something his mother had, and his usual eye doctor can't get his eye to correct in his exam. The Vets is going to dialate his eyes and since it's a good hour drive one way, I'm going with him to drive him home. His appointment is at 2 and I hope we don't end up having to wait a long time because I have to be to work by 6. I'm just hoping they can get a good prescription for him and that it's not as bad as what we imagine.

It's not easy when you're parents get elderly. My dad is 72 and mom is 68. Dad's developing higher blood pressure, actually it fluxuates now more than it should, and Mom has diabetes. I have to admit that I am afraid of losing them. I'm not ready for that. Can't we go back to a good ten or twenty years ago? Can't we just stop aging at a certain point and never have to die? :(

I have so much I should be getting done tonight but I think I'll work some more on seeing what all I have in another container and maybe moving some things around on the walls in my bedroom. Or maybe a movie...

Good night good readers. And Sara, enjoy your time with Flizzy home!

Achoo

Bless you. Thank you.

Took off from work at midnight last night. Half night of vacation. I did it because by the time I was asked if I wanted it, after 11pm, I had gone through about 4 1/2 hours of feeling myself coming down with a nasty cold. Funny because I felt good when I went to a wake and then work. I thankfully had some leftover meds from the last nasty sinus infection I got. I took one before going to bed about 1:30 and then another this morning and will take another before work. Then I think I will have only one or two left. My throat hasn't kicked into a full-blown sore throat but bad enough and I'm really drowsy. Non-drowsy over-the-counter meds, Tylenol cold to be exact, always make me drowsy. The drowsy kind really zonks out my brain but doesn't make me sleep. Oh well.

There is work tonight, double-time. That makes it hard to miss but I'm tempted if offered lack of work. We'll see.

I was told by Kathy at work last night that I was in line for the B shift position. She asked if I wanted it and I told her yes. Then she said that she'd let me know. Let me know? Does she not understand that I'd really like to know? I thought maybe that there had been one other person with more seniority that signed the posting but why would she ask me before asking them? And it wasn't someone on my shift. But day shifters tend to move back and forth between the two day shifts, throwing kaos into it all as each time they switch shifts, they have to post that new opening. I just want to know if I'm going to days or not! Is that too much to ask?!

Anyways, I hope you are all well, good blog readers. You could do a nice telepathic well wishing to me so this cold has a very short duration.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Spain anyone?

Sounds like a dream and it is. Chris' dream. Today I took him to the courthouse to turn in his application for a passport. Pretty snazzy except it's $100 to do it. Good thing I just got my tax return back. But I have to say that I had no idea it cost so much just for the passport. There goes getting mine for a while for that long awaited vacation to Europe or the Mediterrainian. Probably best, though, because if I ever went over I probably wouldn't come back.

Why is Chris planning a trip to Spain? His dream is to become a spanish teacher. He was strongly considering two years at Hawkeye Community College and then to transfer to UNI for the last two. Then he discovered Suffolk University in Boston which has an undergraduate program in Madrid and was accepted. Now it all depends on if he can get all the financial aide he needs to go. He said they want $600 by sometime in May to guarantee that he'll go there. Eek! That's over half of my two week check. I'm hoping financial aide can help with that as well. Wow! Madrid! It's still hard to believe that he is 18 and graduating.

Work has been interesting. :) Only in the aspect of winning the posting of backup teamlead for my shift. Then the one that had been teamlead, who had been told she'd gotten a dayshift posting lost it because someone on days with a lot of seniority filed a grievance with the union because of that specific position hadn't been posted. So, Stacey was bumped back to her old position on my shift, then about a week later won the next dayshift posting. That meant the teamlead position needed to be reposted. Here's where I'm again in limbo. They posted the teamlead position, which I again signed, along with a position on days. I also signed that one, putting that I would prefer the dayshift first. Matt, who has more seniority, signed the teamlead posting, figuring it had been reposted because I had already gotten the earlier dayshift posting. So, now I'm waiting, probably until next week, to hear if I did get this dayshift posting or if I'm still stuck on nights and if that is the case, whether Matt will turn down the teamlead position so I can have it. Argg, the dilemna. I really choose dayshift, though I like the people on my shift better. I'd like to be home every evening/night, I sleep so much better at night and I'm so tired of only seeing the programs I like every other week. Confusing? Oh well.

I watched The Time Traveller's Wife today. It's not like I imagined it would be; much more dramatic but in a good way. I liked it, even though it was sad. After that I watched Enchanted to liven myself back up.

For being busy most of the day, it looks like I haven't done much. Cleaning I mean. I took some containers out of my bedroom that I'd brought out of storage. There's things in there that I've forgotten I had. But I'm also sorting through things for a garage sale sometime this year. That's what tends to take time: deciding what to keep and what to get rid of when a good share of the stuff has so much sentimental value. You spend years getting things or receiving gifts and it's hard to just give them up. Now I'm ready for bed and there's still things that need done. And I work all weekend so won't feel like doing any of it. I guess sooner or later it'll all get done.

Sooner or later the stress will end. "If not for stress I'd have no energy at all."

Night all, good blog readers. Have a great night or whatever time of day it is. Think spring!