Cat Fight!

Yowza!  That's a great way to get your adrenaline pumping in the wee hours of the morning.

Klink has been wandering outside for about 30 minutes.  Chloe has been very 'concerned' about Klink's wandering and keeps running into the study to get me.  I get up, we walk outside, I wave my arms frantically to get the outdoor lights to come on (motion sensors are slow to sense so I make it obvious there's something out there requiring light).  Klink lingers around and won't come in.  He's meowing but he won't come in.  The dog and cat go around to the side yard - and it's too dark so I don't.  And then there's a huge ruckus - howling, snarling, barking....I hear Chloe yelp and then Klink comes running - his tail all bushy.  Clearly, there was an altercation of some kind.

They don't call it the wild outdoors for nothing.

I've closed the back door up tight.  Klink is upstairs recuperating and poor J. was awakened to 'help' me.  Not much he could do at that point - just as I asked for his help, Klink bolted up the stairs.  J. will assess any injuries when he gets up - in two hours.  Poor man.  Sorry, honey -

News....news?  Let's see.  Happening around here lately:  B. told us he would likely be deployed in two weeks.  He's in a class to prepare him for deployment and 'combat'.  He calls it 'death by Powerpoint'.  He'd much rather get to the shooting range or drive something huge with weapons attached.  They call him and another guy into an office - and (literally) flip a coin - B. 'lost'.  So it's less likely he will be deployed next week.  [I think he won the toss but I don't torture him with that observation].  They still aren't allowing him to plan for vacation in July, so I think deployment is still pretty likely.

At least he gets another few weeks (months?) to drive his new truck.  There might be nothing worse than having purchased your first car 'on your own' only to have to leave it in a parking lot.

H. will move home this weekend!  I mentioned to J. that the County Fair is happening this week - and enticed him with thoughts of really bad food and watching the pig races (so, so, hysterically fun!) - and he reminded me that we have someone to move home.  Now I'm trying really, really hard to get my board prep wrapped up in time to leave at noon on Friday so we could go that day....we'll see.

We are working through the refinancing process having switched lenders.  Capital One wasn't so great and in the end, I was considering calling the underwriter an 'idiot' and their policies insanely stupid.  They wouldn't allow us to owe ANYONE more than 80% of the value of the house - and even with an appraisal better than we ever imagined, they wanted us to come up with $50K-ish to make the loan happen.  We passed.  Not that we couldn't if we had to - but we don't have to and we're not going to.  The last thing we need in this last calendar year of J.'s bank salary is to withdraw money that is pre-tax and increase our tax bill any more than it already is.  So we passed.  Then we called our current lender and they seem to be more reasonable.  So we're in the process with them.  It's a long and winding road.

They asked us to detail specific checks that are out of our account frequently.  The checks for our cleaning lady and our pool guy...as well as confirming what the $300 checks every other week are for. It's called 'savings' - moving money to our credit union which is why we do it - the account there isn't 'tied' or linked to our regular bank so withdrawing $ from there takes effort.  Wow - they really are getting into the fine details of our finances.

We comply 'cuz we want to refinance our mortgage....but holy crap - what a crock of stuff to respond to.  They also asked 'why do you have an alias'?  Um....'cuz I have a maiden name that I haven't used in over 23 years.

OK - it's after 5AM and it's time to get showered and dress.  Very, hugely grateful to my husband who took time last night to iron my outfit for today - I'm wearing crop pants, a billowy, light weight top (with a cotton tank underneath) and tennis shoes 'cuz we are doing site walks for facilities today.  Grateful it's not 107 like it was on Saturday - but still guarded 'cuz it will be long walks all over the place - me frantically keeping notes on a clipboard while my soon-to-be-former boss rattles off the list of things he wants done over the summer.

The summer of his leaving us.  We start our 10 hour days next week.  Fridays off hardly seems worth it....but we will survive.

Nothing in This World

....will ever break my heart again.

Third post to open with a song - only this one is one you probably don't know.  The show "Nashville" is becoming a favorite and the songs just hook me.  Not a country fan usually but I like the music.

J. went to pick up sushi for dinner.  Bless his heart.  

I just put my head in my hands briefly and let out the sob or two that have been building up all day.

Saying goodbye to our boss is the hardest thing....still 12 days to go but we had a fun lunch for him today and showed him the video we crafted for him.  

I was very emotional in that dark room as the video rolled - and when one of the shots was of his empty chair, I felt myself losing it.  Grateful it was very dark....and I used the napkin to wipe my tears.

The napkins were movie themed - black and red - and they bled all over my face.  I looked like a clown.  Others did too.

I know we will be OK 'cuz frankly, we have to be.  No choice about it.  Be OK or leave.  Those are the options.  I've already said that I want to go with him and told him that if there is any job I'm even remotely qualified for, will he let me know...and he assures me he will.  I said 'I could be custodian or a clerk or anything'.  He said 'I think you might have a hard time convincing an interview panel that you really want to go from Chief Business Officer to custodian - but I guess you could try'.

I came home at 4.  It's sushi and a Friday night cold beer to unwind - and then early to bed and early to rise.  Budget is almost done and winding down.  Massive MASSIVE board prep looms...

I cried a lot when I left the college to move to my current job.  I thought that was the hardest thing I would ever do - it wasn't.  

I can't imagine ever having a boss I love so much - ever.  He works us hard and he's demanding - but oh my gosh - he is so, so much fun and such a truly, deeply stellar person.  He truly loves to lead and he brings out the best in the people around him.  

I just keep listening to bad break up songs over and over and over....poor J. .  He deserves a medal for putting up with me the past few weeks.

Oh What a Week!

Late December back in '63.......

Oh.  Wrong song....

It'll be in your head all day now.  You're welcome.

It's officially Friday - not my Friday but Friday for everyone else.  No, for me, I'm heading into what I hope will be the last weekend of putting together the 2013-14 budget.  So close - and yet so far.  My week was jammed with meetings and activities - year-end things that are so fun to participate in yet make time fly by.

Yesterday, we did our (now annual, we hope - albeit led by someone else next year) Office Olympics...it was so much fun.  We played 'Infectious Disease Jeopardy' (given a list of symptoms and then you have to select the disease out of multiple choice options) - both teams scored perfectly in that 'cuz we all know our illnesses.  Lots of other fun things like Minute to Win It contests - blowing a deck of cards off a milk bottle - just leaving one card on it; shooting rubber bands into bins off the ceiling (team with the most wins).  And the finale was a chair race relay - hysterically funny - and thankfully, everyone survived in one piece.  We all laughed so hard, we were sore after.

Today we have our final Cabinet of the year followed by a surprise luncheon for our Superintendent...and the grand finale will be the video we all made for him.  Sneaking around like thieves in the night - he shrugs his shoulders as he's told 'no, sorry - can't make that meeting - have another commitment - might take awhile'.....

It's going to be a fun (and sad) day - as we prepare to lose him.

I hope to be home 'early' today (4ish is considered early at the moment) and then will plow back into it all first thing tomorrow - much to do for board prep and wrapping up budget....

Celebrate Good Times! Come On!

Can you name the song?  Now you'll be thinking of it in your head for hours!

I had a wonderfully fun-filled day!  Balloons, flowers, cookies, chocolate covered strawberries, presents, a rousing round of Happy Birthday sung at a community meeting when a co-worker announced to everyone today was my birthday.  I wanted to hurt her - but it was sweet and fun.  Crazy busy all day - my team wanted to take me to lunch but settled for bringing me a Subway sandwich and Starbucks iced tea!  Perfect!  Full and hydrated and plowed through a ton of budget stuff...getting sooo much closer.  I will need to remind myself that there's always a total and complete panic point (that was this past weekend) followed by it starting to come together - and then viola!  The next thing you know, you actually have a budget!  Yeah!  Still much to do but felt confident enough to come home at 5 today.  Tomorrow is meeting free and I will get much more done! 

I will work this weekend but hopefully will just be pre-preparing for board prep vs. panicking about how much there is to do (still).

Both boys reached out with many birthday greetings (texts and calls).  It was a fun day!  Another year older and celebrating felt great!

It also helped that a bunch of us spent a couple hours learning, rehearsing and recording a good-bye video for our boss.  It was hysterically funny and fun and I can't wait for him to see it this Friday. 

We were planning our last Cabinet meeting of the year this morning - and he said 'and then we'll do lunch as a group'.  And we said 'yes, we will - in the board room - be there'.  He seemed surprised and said 'we usually go out'.  'Um, not this year'.  So he knows we're having a gathering in his honor.  He just has no idea...

J. is at church rehearsal.  I'm considering firing up the hot tub 'cuz I could use a hot soak - all the dancing and stuff has my hips sort of sore.  Really, I probably just want an excuse to be in the hot tub.

 H. got a shot - and the temp agency is placing him at another warehouse where he can drive a forklift!  He did an excellent job of handling yesterday's drama and the agency complimented him on coming to talk to them and explain what the issues were vs. just picking up and leaving.  They said that's what typically happens - people leave and don't return.  H. had gone back in to the warehouse to talk to them about his options - and they seemed pleased he did that.  I sure hope they mean it and that he will be placed soon. 

Storage Wars is on - and sweet H. went to RiteAid and brought me my favorite ice cream!  Ice cream milk float is on my dessert menu tonight.

Challenges

H. is working on choosing a different path.  Warehouse work is not going all that well these days.  Temp agencies hire people; the company they are assigned to works them to death - complete with their 'regular' employees berating and verbally abusing the temps all day long.  The work is physically hard and H.'s most recent company made issues of even needing bathroom breaks!  Needed because he is sweating profusely for hours on end and needs to hydrate himself.  Water breaks they will provide.  But bathroom breaks?  No.  That's an issue.

Yesterday, he stepped on a nail in the warehouse - went through his work boots and into his foot!  They told him to 'shake it off'.  He pulled the nail out of his foot (leaving a hole that is very sore) and kept working.  But he's not shaking it off - he's going to the doctor this morning to get a tetanus shot.  That's on his mother's orders - not his boss.  They couldn't care less that he hasn't had a tetanus shot since God knows when....nor that the nail left some 'particles' of something in his foot.

Needless to say, it's doubtful he will be returning to that warehouse company.  A Google search revealed things like 'it's a sweatshop'; 'management is horrible to employees', etc. .

I think the only good thing about him being unemployed again is that it is clarifying for him that education and a marketable skill is critical.  Anyone can unload trucks by hand.  Anyone.  And if you are working via a temp agency doing manual labor, you are going to be treated badly.  Even illegally.

So we are helping him look into vocational programs - and/or certificate programs for skills like welding.  He brought up welding...something I had wondered if he might be interested in.  The kid is no slacker - he works very hard.  He really does.  He has no issue with long hours and manual work - he just wants to be paid a fair, good wage and not be treated badly.

We are hoping that when he moves back home in a couple weeks, he will decide to go back to school and spend the next year or two working on an actual skill he can use to find work.  He even mentioned 'I will get a job at SaveMart or Raley's to have some money coming in while I go to school'.  Hmmm - that's quite a switch from the kid who insists he'd rather die than work in a job where he has to deal with 'the public'.

Temp jobs aren't a long term solution to becoming self supporting.  They never will be - and I think he sees that now.  I hope so.

As for son #1, he told J. yesterday that his request for vacation in July was met with a 'don't plan for any time off in July 'cuz by the way, you are heading into a three week class that will prepare you to be deployed.  We need replacements'.

Alrighty then.

Either Afghanistan or Jordan.  We are praying for Jordan.

My computer at work was acting up most of the weekend and yesterday, the county sent out staff to assist.  They also spent most of the afternoon running various scans which weren't complete as I left at 4PM - didn't want to leave but couldn't do anything without my laptop so headed home.  I'm hoping all will be resolved today 'cuz the budget is presented to the board in two weeks (from today!) and I still have quite a bit to get done on that 'project'.  Oh, and today is meetings for most of the morning into the afternoon.

And I will undoubtedly be taken to lunch as the day of my birth is celebrated.  Yep - it's my birthday and I have to say that awakening to Facebook greetings from friends and family far and wide is so fun!  It's like a once a year party of 'hey, you were born!  Way to go!'.

I commence my 54th year on the planet tomorrow - turning 53 is just a number.

Cuatro Semanas

Four weeks from this morning, we will be awakening at the beach....our first morning there so no coffee in the house.  We'll put on our walking clothes and head to Starbucks then trek on foot to the Super Mercado for a 'big shop'.  We will do a big shop probably twice this trip since we're staying for 11 nights.  We'll load up on breakfast and lunch supplies; coffee; treats; beverages of all kinds.  We'll take a cab home 'cuz it's way too much to carry on foot.  We'll unload, fix breakfast and start our first day in Playa del Carmen.

J. and I will sit together at the dining table and plot out our plans while we enjoy strong Mexican coffee and pastries from the bakery.  Mine:  read, sleep, eat too much, drink too much (not too often).  His:  pretty much the same but with some action packed days wedged in.  We've agreed to plan our day trips spread out so there's plenty of 'just vegging' time in between.

Only four weeks.....

I can almost feel the sand between my toes.....

For now, I trek off to work - I worked 29 of 31 days in May and have worked every day in June so far and likely won't be off until close to when we leave the country.

That's the kind of job I have - I have to leave the country to feel like I'm taking a break.

And I'll return to a new boss and God knows what else.

2013-14 is going to be a very interesting year.

But for now, I hold onto the beauty of four weeks from now.  I will get there.  The beach will happen. All that happens from now to then will be survivable and all that happens after will too.

Foretelling

J. has been working hard on scanning photos onto his computer - often with captions.  His project not only keeps him very busy - and nostalgic - it's also cleaning out boxes from the garage!  Win-win!

Here are a couple of son #1 that seem very apropos given his career aspirations:

And here's one that should have better prepared me for his teen years:

We are at this very moment attempting to get him out of bed - his planned departure for the airport is in 15 minutes and he is not even remotely close to vertical.

Like yesterday, the more things change, the more they stay the same.  Missing him already - and also a teeny bit OK with him heading out.  It's hard having adult children at home.

Though I will undoubtedly cry a bit after they pull out of the driveway.