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California Wildfires
In case any of my friends outside of where I live are interested, there are a lot of fires going on in California right now. A lot of them were sparked by a lightening storm that we had recently and I am really frightened about how many will be sparked after 4th of July.
They’ve pretty much banned fireworks around here because of the fires and I am glad of that.
Right now there is a fire raging fairly near my house…not alarmingly near but we can see and feel the smoke in the air and there has been ashes raining from the sky on a couple of days.
It’s disturbing to me because of a couple of factors.
The first is that I quit smoking in August and in the past week I have felt the like I was still smoking given the air quality since the fires. My lungs have felt crappy and there has been that nasty dry hacking cough in the back of my throat in the morning. There is literally a haze on the horizon and it is all smoke from the fire. Today was the first day I saw blue sky before leaving my house this morning.
The second is that locations within 15 miles of my house are now on voluntary evacuation right now. Rob said it is only because of the back fires they lit to help stop the fire and I’m sure that is true, but it doesn’t make me feel any less safe.
Everyone is reassuring me that there is nothing wrong and it will be stopped before it reaches the point of evacuation…and this is exactly what I will tell my mother if she calls and asks about it, but I’m really scared.
Mostly I’m scared to leave the dogs here during the day. I know in the sane part of my mind that we will be notified well enough in advance to bring the dogs to my inlaws, but the panic part of my brain says, well, to panic!
I know that I’m being totally irrational but I can feel the anxiety building(it is what I do, after all) and I just want to make it stop.
Okay, that is all. I know I’m safe and that I will be okay but it helps to vent sometimes.
Thanks for listening Internet.
Things to do and NOT to do before your birthday
Okay I am turning 34 tomorrow and heading to Vegas for the weekend so I thought I would put together a list of things you should do and not do right before your vacation birthday.
1) DO: enjoy a fabulous lunch with your girls! Enjoy every bit of their time and thank goodness you have them in your life.
2) DO: Talk to the friend you are traveling with and plan your fabulous weekend. It is half as exciting as the actual vacation.
3) DO: Pack and get everything squared away for the trip.
4) DO: Shave your legs and pits for a weekend trip. Can’t pack your razor if you aren’t checking a bag!
5) DO NOT: decide to give yourself a makeshift pedicure the night before your flight. Especially when you “shave” off too much skin and can’t stop bleeding
6) DO NOT: pretend like you can stop the bleeding and you didn’t do anything wrong from your husband that is VERY worried.
7) DO: sit and wait until you both figure something out and put pressure on your big toe bleeder.
8) DO: thank goodness that the bleeding has finally stopped and you can just chalk it up to stupidity.
9) DO: finish packing and eat dinner.
10) DO: Try really hard to sleep, knowing that you get to fly out to Vegas the next day!
I hope this has helped all of you.
Not exactly what I had in mind
It is Wednesday night. For me that means it is Avon night. This is the night I get my Avon boxes in. So I plan on watching TV while doling out the goodies and then playing with all the new toys I ordered for myself.
Tonight? Not so much, the dogs had other things in mind for me.
Last night we baked some chicken in the oven on a rack on top of a cookie sheet. You know, so all the grease drips onto the cookie sheet and you don’t have to eat it. We left said cookie sheet on the counter this morning because neither of us had time to clean it up. We pushed it far back on the kitchen counter and figured it was out of the big dogs reach and therefore safe.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Yeah, that’s funny.
We got home and the house reeked of old chicken grease and dog piss and poop. The cookie sheet was overturned on the kitchen floor and the floor was all sticky. There were two big piss puddles on the living room carpet along with two piles of poop and two piles of vomit.
Fun!!
Rob picked up the solid waste and I swept and mopped the kitchen floor. The piss puddle by the TV was quite substantial so I told Rob I’d get out our little carpet cleaner and suck it up. Rob said okay and moved the big screen TV so I could have better access.
Well, what do we have here? Apparently Pappy has been having a good old fashion Piss Party every day while we are at work. I mean, we knew he peed in the house and are trying to figure out how to get him to stop, but had no idea the magnitude of the peeing that was taking place.
The corner of the carpet that was revealed when he moved the TV was just dark orange with pee stains and saturated. I’m not sure it ever had a change to dry with the little pisser doing his business there so much.
I hauled out the portable carpet cleaner and sucked up the pee. I was hit with such an overwhelming ammonia smell when I turned on the machine that I almost gagged. I pulled off all the pieces and found Pappy Piss in every single part of the machine. I know he had peed around the machine once or twice but this fucker was FILLED with dog piss.
I rinsed everything out and put it back together. It was so foul, I couldn’t believe it. I’ve just sprayed the area by the TV and scrubbed it. I’m letting it soak in and I will suck it all up after I do my Avon.
Yeah, not my ideal night kids!
Okay, now I’m off to do my Avon and watch TV.
Guess who is staying in his crate tomorrow while we are at work??
1st Ever Salinas Valley Pride Parade!
I got fried shrimp and fried chicken because I just wasn’t in the mood for Mexican food but it was good. Rob fell in love with the salsa and the nice waitress gave us a small vat of it to go. On the way back from lunch we saw a sign for an estate sale and stopped. It was pretty cool and I got some silver and gold candles for my altar-in-the-making and a candle snuffer for them. We also got some bowls and I got this speech to text thing that pretty much doesn’t work right but it was only a couple of bucks. Heh.
At that estate sale they told us of another one down the street so we stopped there after. It was a HUGE house but everything was overpriced in my opinion. It was the perfect sale for a collector. They had a lot of vintage and fun stuff like an old coin operated scale and a cash register. Just not for us.
We dropped off the parents and did some shopping at Nob Hill before returning home where I tried for hours to get the speech software to work properly and finally gave up. I had an email from the Salinas Valley Pride organizer to call him so I did. He was calling all the volunteers to let them know that there were going to be protesters and just to remind us that at no time are we to let them instigate us. We are just to ignore them.
After talking to him I called my mom because she left a guilt ridden message on our answering machine while we were at the Poison show that she didn’t have Southwests number and she needed me to call her with it. Heh. Nothing like dialing information right? Anyway, we talked for about a half an hour and then I took a bath.
This morning we woke up and headed into Salinas again. This time for the first ever Salinas Valley Pride Parade. When I got there, I signed in as a volunteer and got a T shirt, read the security information and then waited to be told what to do. Rob had headed off to the grocery store to do the rest of the shopping for Vegas.
I volunteered to head off the south end of the parade where it started along with a couple other people to block it off and allow ppl through as necessary. We were armed with wristbands and fliers to hand out. The wristbands were important because the parade was insured. If you were wearing a wristband and god forbid something happened, you were taken care of financially under the parade insurance. I thought that was a good call. I also thought that it was sad that we had to do such a thing, but it was smart.
So we all stood around after blockading the road and eventually started banding people as they came in. Some people wanted nothing to do with us as they were just passing through but the majority were there for the parade and happy to be there. We were supposed to have police there helping direct traffic but they arrived about an hour late. Luckily there wasn’t much of a problem. People saw the barricades and changed direction.
We did experience the protesters. They came in, most refusing wristbands and they were trying to hand out the these small pieces of paper stating some religious stuff. They were very polite and gathered at the end of the parade with signs. It was a peaceful protest as we were told and they had every right to be there as did anyone else so it was cool.
The parade itself was bigger than I thought it was going to be. Not to mention the people that came to see it. It was larger and I’m glad for it. We got thanked a lot as volunteers by the people coming in to watch. They understood how huge this was for Salinas and I was very happy to be a small part of it. It’s a tinystep but I can see this becoming something big in the years to come. The turn out showed us that there was a definite need for it despite the naysayers.
Here we go again…
So into the meeting we go and the head honchos are in there, very grim faced. I told Rose that it reeked of the situation I was in with my old company, right before they laid everyone off.
To make a long story short, they told us that they were “restructuring” our department. In other words they need to cut our group from 79 billers to 30 or so and we will either post out to be an O/C, a meter associate, stay in billing or if all the positions fill up before we can post out, get laid off.
Here we go again. The good news is that our team won’t transition out until next August. The bad news about being the last team to transition is that those of us that want to stay in billing won’t have much of a chance to post out to anything when they make the cut in billing because they will probably already be filled up.
So, it’s Arch all over again.
I told Rob and he said to dust off the old resume and update it tonight. He had already asked me if I wanted him to check with his contact at ASU to see if there are any office jobs available because he knows I am extremely unhappy here due to the stress factor. I told him to go ahead so he did that today but he hasn’t heard back from her yet.
It doesn’t matter. I’ll roll with whatever comes my way, I always do. Just, once again may I state for the record that I reeeeallly need to be indepentantly wealthy? Okay, thanks.
It’s laughable that they expect us to work today after the announcement. What’s even worse is our boss told us that they were going to announce it to us in a meeting right before our team outing next week to Golfland. He said he convinced them not to. Can you imagine? “Hey guys, we’re facing lay offs. Now go play and have fun!!”
Hubs Update
Rob is still in the hospital as I type this. I am hoping by the time I get home tonight to paste this into the actual entry, that he will be home with me but I don’t know. They started him on food on Tuesday. Yesterday was his first full day of solid food that wasn’t pureed.
He is doing better but no one will give him a definite answer on when he can come home. I understand this and I am fine with it. As long as there is the slightest chance something isn’t normal in his levels than I would rather he be at a place that knows how to take care of it. My husband is a very stubborn man and doesn’t like to let on when he is in pain. I don’t trust that if he came home and it started to flair up again that he would tell me until it was really bad again. As long as he is in the hospital they are testing his levels every few hours so they know for sure how it is going. So I’m cool with him being there as long as he needs to be. He however, is not. He is a very frustrated little camper right now because he says he only sees the doctor once a day and it’s only for like five seconds. And of course the doctor is the only one that can release him.
I can’t blame him. Today marks a week since the poor boy has had a shower. He’s been stuck in a bed for five days now and all he wants to do is go home. The day before yesterday he said the pain was still there it was just a whole lot less. Yesterday he said the pain was “pretty much gone”. I’m glad for that. His poor body however is just exhausted. I haven’t been spending a whole lot of time with him at night because all he does is sleep basically.
Last night I got there at feeding time so I got to share his oh so tasty dinner with him. It was nice to see him up and alert for a little bit, but as soon as he was done he was back to sleeping. He hardly ate any of his dinner. He said that he had only eaten lunch four hours previously and he was still full. His tummy must have really shrunk while he was without food. I swear he only had a couple bites of his chicken and mashed potatoes and he was stuffed.
So I’ve obviously been frazzled this week. Monday he was still in pretty bad shape and the last place I wanted to be was at work. I messed up a lot on the training exercises and we were learning something I learned two months ago and already know how to do. This week has been really kind of rough for me. I’m not strong. I used to think I was but I’m not. I’ve never had to go through anything quite like this. The fear that ***
***NEWSFLASH***
I just got off the phone with Rob and he has been told he is getting discharged today!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!! Of course they haven’t told him what time (it’s only 10:46AM as I type this) but I am very happy!
***okay yeah back to me being a weak person. Just the fear that he could have died…I don’t think I could handle that. Seriously. I would completely shut down. I still don’t even want to think of those first days when he was in the hospital. When I do I get freaky emotional.
Ug. He is my whole life. I couldn’t live without him.
6:00 PM
He’s home he’s home he’s home!!!!!! I am so happy!!!!
So he is home. He just got out of the shower and is eating his chef boyarde in bed right now. Oh my god, brushing his hair out was a nightmare!! For those of you that don’t know, Rob has very long very curly hair. It hadn’t been brushed in a week and all he was doing was tossing and turning on his pillow. It was like dreadlocks! I’m sure he feels so much better now that he has showered. A week is a loooonnnggg time.
Not anything else to report really, just wanted to update and let everyone know Rob is finally home and I am very happy and thankful for that.
Drive By Number Two
So last night we had another fucking drive by shooting. Yes. Kelly is pleased by this, can you tell?? I would have never put it together and it may have nothing to do with it, but Rob pointed out today that the last time this happened it was raining a lot just like last night.
At any rate, Rob didn’t have to fill out a report this time and the cops didn’t seem to concerned with him other than to ask if he lived here and what he saw. When he told him that he was in the house and heard the shots and that was it the cop kind of turned away and didn’t care anymore. The only info he got was that they found shell casings and that one bullet struck one of the Monte Carlo cars in the driveway.
I had a major freak out and the bottom line in the end was that Rob said he would move if I REALLY wanted to but that we really can’t afford it. I know this, I really do, but DAMN! For four years we lived on this street with no problems. Sure this house would play their music loud on the weekends when they had their parties but that never bugged us. We’ve been known to crank our stereo while cleaning the house or what have you…but still two shootings in two months.
Fuck!
wow, just, wow
Okay so this morning Brian got an email from his girlfriend Stephanie saying that someone she works with heard that they are going to close our call center down. I know that sounds very he said/she said but The person she heard this from just happens to be the live in boyfriend of the woman that works under our operations manager.
To cease any more doubts that I am just being a drama queen, about an hour ago a mass email was sent out stating that we are having an “All team meeting” at three today.
Dum de dum dum. The last time we had an all team meeting it was to tell us that they were laying off the logistic and accounts payable departments.
So needless to say this place is a SuperRumorMill right now. Everyone is freaking out. At this point I am trying not to lose my mind. I mean, I don’t want to lose my job, but I’m not going to sweat over it until I absolutely have to. I have to admit though that it doesn’t really make me want to run out and do all my work right now. The desire to do my job has been zapped from my body(and let’s face it there was never much desire to work *in* my body)
This company is going under anyway. They are all about finding new little ways to bill the customers for false fees. *sigh*
On a lighter note. Peanut Butter Shakes from Sonic are the best! Hey I have to find joy where I can right??
Later…
Sixty days.
They gathered us all up in the former A/P department and told us that they were consolidating the call center. Time frame: 60 days.
They told us we would find papers with our managers that would give a date on it. That date is our last day. Some people’s last days will be as soon as Friday but they will be paid for the 60 days.
After the meeting our manager pulled us all into her office and let us know that we don’t have papers. Mainly because corporate doesn’t know what to do with us. We will be on for longer than sixty days but they don’t know how much longer. Corporate thinks that we do a better job than the other offices but they don’t know if they can keep us in the Western division.
So, while I am going to keep my job longer than most in this call center, it doesn’t matter to me. Either way, they are going to break up our little family.
Random Rolls of Film=Reflection
Rob wants to go to a movie tonight but I am going to try and convince him not to go. I am too tired. The thought of sitting through a two and a half hour movie about killing people really doesn’t appeal to me right now.
The other day Rob found two random rolls of film on the table and dropped them off to be developed. He surprised me with them on Friday night. The first roll was half of work people(How old were these pictures? Well Renee and Mike still worked here!) and the other half was Maine in July of 99 when we went out for Mags’ wedding. The other roll was Maine in November of 2000 when took our annual trip and most of that was when we went to the Oakland Legion to see Jeremy’s band play. Some of them are quite funny.
It got me thinking how much vacations have changed now that we have the digital camera. Before we took pictures miserly, afraid to use all the film on bad pictures and you never knew how the picture turned out until you went to your local photo place and got them developed. Now with the digital camera we get instant gratification not only with making sure the picture came out okay but just being able to view and post your vacation shots on the internet for your friends to see. It is truly amazing to me how far technology has taken us. Not to mention the fact that our digital camera has already paid for itself in film and developing costs!
I so love living in the “gadget” era.
Quick update on a busy day in Vegas
Oh, what a day, what a day!
We woke up this morning and Rob announced that he was going to take me to dinner at the Top of the World restaurant at the Stratosphere. He had wanted to keep it a secret so I would be surprised but he remembered my intense fear of heights and had to make sure I was okay with it.
Let me just tell you, it was wonderful!
There was a bit of a wait for the elevator and then they can only fit so many on it. The elevator freaked me out a little because there were so many ppl crammed together on it and it rises at an extremely rapid pace. Your ears pop instantly once it gets going but I guess it would take forever to get to the top at a regular elevator speed. At any rate, it was totally worth it!
The restaurant itself revolves 360 degrees an hour and is completely encased in glass. Just Vegas scenery as far as the eye can see. It was also very elegant compared to what I am used to. Rob and I don’t usually dine anywhere that actually has cloth napkins so I was impressed. I ordered a turkey club on a croissant with fries and Rob ordered a half a chicken cashew sandwich on a croissant with the lobster bisque. Everything was wonderful. The wait staff was attentive without being overbearing and the deserts looked fabulous. Too bad we were too full from the meal to get one.
Once lunch was done we played a little at the Strat and found it pleasant. Not too fancy for us, a bit of a downtown feel. From there we headed to the Venetian for a very anticipated trip to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. I had been wanting to go here for the last two years but we have never had the time/motivation in the past trips to do it. It was very much worth the wait. I have so many pictures! It was really creepy at first because you can’t tell what is real and what isn’t until the person moves, but it was so great!
We joined the Venetian slot club and then played some nickel Yahtzee machines. I bought in for twenty and left with seventy-five dollars and a new feeling about the tightness of slots on The Strip. Maybe they aren’t so bad after all. Currently we are back at the Four Queens and Rob has won us some money on our new favorite Regis machines. We will soon be heading back down to see our favorite bartender Dan and play some more slots.
I just thought I would update really quickly.
It has been a wonderful day so far!
I am a 50 something married woman living in California.
I enjoy music and traveling, watching crap movies, snuggling with my two adorable dogs and trying to be a good person.
