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My thoughts released; a mind set free |
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These pages contain my thoughts, from meandering ideas and persuasions to deep cerebrations and serious mentations. Why, for what purpose? To release my mind and set creativity free. Somewhere inside the constraints of my mind dwells a writer, a poet, an artist who paints with words. In here I release those constraints and set the artist free. Perhaps, lost somewhere in the depths of thought, is a story or a poem, waiting to be written. 
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| What a nice day. Well, except it was a bit on the windy side, but other than that, it turned into a very nice day. It started feeling kind of damp and cold, even the the temperature was up around twenty. The wind was blowing hard enough to make it feel more like zero, and with the dampness and clouds, it was just all around gloomy this morning. But, by the time I got done with work, it was brighter out, still kind of cloudy but with some sun. The wind kept up pretty good, and I didn't get out any later this afternoon to see if it had settled down any, but it warmed up into the forties. We may see sixty by the middle of next week, but then again, it could change as soon as tomorrow. In fact, it has been my observation, that until tomorrow, don't trust the weather forecast. They seem to be doing good to predict the weather accurately for the same day. Seriously, I check in the morning before work, about four o'clock in the morning. Then, after being at work for a couple of hours, I'll have someone come in and tell me something different than what I had seen just two or three hours before. It's like the forecast changes by six or seven o'clock. Now, if they can't predict what the weather is going to do in two or three hours, how in the blue hell are they going to have any clue what it's going to be doing in four or five days. Well, that's my thoughts on the situation. Now I'm going to bed. |
| Time to get this written and get to bed. I'm feeling better today, and I seem to be having a bit more energy, but I still have a long way to go to get back to normal. I suppose getting up at three in the morning isn't helping any, and we have been having some difficulty getting to bed early this week. Not real bad, but about a half hour last night and an hour the night before. So, tonight I'm going to go to bed a bit on the early side and see how it goes with a full night sleep. That's if I sleep all night. I did the night before last, but last night I woke up about an hour before the alarm. We had forgotten to turn the heat down, so it was a bit too warm. Also, the temperature has warmed up quite a bit, so it's warmer just on account of that. Put the two together and it was just too warm for sleeping well. To make it even worse, Rhonda wasn't feeling the best last night, and had a bad chill, so she put the quilt on top of the blankets. I'm surprised I slept as well as I did, and most of the night, too. I suppose I'll wake before the alarm again in the morning, only because I've gotten use to sleeping less time, and once I reach my normal quota, I likely will just wake up. But, being tired, sick, and a little behind on sleep, I'm hoping it will be just the opposite and I will sleep sound all the way up to the alarm going off. But, that's not going to happen unless I close this out and get my tired butt to bed. |
| It's getting kind of late, so another short entry. I need to get to bed on time and get my rest so I can get over this nasty bug I have. Speaking of this vile germ, I am feeling better, but still have a long way to go. I actually had enough energy left after work to do a little around the place here. I have my e-report sent off, I've faxed the next schedule, and I even finished the end of month documents and faxed them. Even more impressive, I made a huge dent in my inbox and finished most of it, including the filing. What's even more impressive than that, I cleaned my desk off, and moved it over, switched the file cabinet to the opposite side, and have everything put back where it belongs. Now, I'm exhausted and ready for bed. But, it's a little early yet, so I'll write a little in here, then relax in front of the flat screen boob tube, and enjoy a bit of ice cream. Then it's off to bed, and up early again for work. I was up at three this morning since I worked opening, and I anticipated problems, since they took our scanners and replaced them with tablets. I've been eager for the update, but I also know how much of a pain it is while they set up and work the bugs out. But, they did most of this yesterday, while I was off work. Rhonda had to put up with the switch over, the servers down, the programming, and all the miserable parts. For me today, things worked fine, and it's just a matter of getting used to the new device. It's nicer, in my opinion, and I'm liking the switch. Tomorrow should be a pretty good day, although it may be busier. I almost expect Fridays to be busier, but most of the winter has seen Thursdays twice as busy as Fridays, and some Fridays are actually pretty dead. I don't know why, but I don't mind since we get a lot more freight and deliveries on Fridays. It's also nicer out. We have been seeing below zero temperatures, and barely above zero highs during the day. With the wind, it's been frigid, and miserable to be out in. But, tomorrow we begin our spring warm up. Actually, it started today, and got up into the upper teens for a change, but the wind was blowing pretty hard, and the wind chill value barely broke zero. Tomorrow, however, we should see thawing temperatures, and by Saturday, we may be in the fifties. With those kind of temperatures, the snow is going to melt fast, and we already have a lot of ice built up, so it's going to be kind of messy, but I don't mind. I'm so tired of the cold, and the dryness of the air. I'm ready for warmer temperatures, even if it means more snow, rain, and mud. March can still see us buried in snow, and depending on the temperatures, possible rain and ice storms. I'm ready, just no more below zero. In fact, I wouldn't mind if I don't see any more below freezing temps for a long time. |
| I'm enjoying my one and only day off today. I woke up at five-thirty, and couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up, started coffee and my day. the coffee got done about the same time the alarm was set to go off, so I fixed Rhonda and myself a cup of coffee with honey and creamer, and just as I started up the steps, i heard the alarm sound off. By the time I got to the bedroom, Rhonda was up, and opening the door, so I handed her a cup of coffee and served her with a big smile. She had to pee too bad to enjoy that first cup in bed, but it's the thought, right? We enjoyed a nice morning, and I even made pancakes, from scratch. After breakfast, we did a Bible study and then it was time to Rhonda to get ready for work. It had been a good morning, and I haven't had this much energy and felt this good in over a week. But, even though I was feeling better, I wasn't one hundred percent yet, and by this time, I was wore down and ready to crawl back into bed. I did go back to bed around a quarter to ten, and slept hard until noon. I woke up feeling pretty good the second time, too. I even made dinner, did up the dishes, and swept the kitchen. But, again I'm feeling kind of run down; better, but still not back to my old self. It started with a sore throat, then settled into my upper chest. I told Rhonda if I was not feeling better by tomorrow, I would go see our doctor at the clinic. Yesterday it seemed like it wasn't as bad in my chest, but my throat and sinuses were getting worse. Today, it seems to be mostly in my sinuses, but they are feeling a bit better, too. I'm still coughing, but not as hard and as often as the last few days. It seems like I have been sick more than well this entire winter, and most of the fall. I don't know why, but I hope it's about done and I can get back to feeling better, and not getting sick with every little thing that comes along. I suspect I have just been over doing it with working and everything, and not getting enough sleep or rest. Now, I'm working on the proper rest, getting more sleep, and even taking more time away from work. Like today. It's my only day off since we are now short on help again, and I have work to do, a report to send off, scheduling, and the end of month documents, not to mention a bunch of backed up filing. But, I didn't do anything for work. I figured since I only have the one day off, I'm not going to spend any of it for work. Even when I get over this nasty bug, I'm going ot continue taking my breaks from work, even if it's one day. I'm also hoping we get someone hired and trained soon, so Rhonda and I can have at least one day off together, hopefully two. I'm planning on taking more time to just get away, for both of us. I don't care if it's just a day trip to a local park or something, it's been too long since we took much for time just for us to enjoy and get away. |
| I'm really messed up today. I worked the afternoon shift on what should be my first day off. It was cold, blowing and drifting, and a very long day. On top of working a shift I rarely do, and one that really seems to drag on and on, on what should be a day off, I'm sick. It started out with a sore throat and I've gone downhill from there. I'm very tired, feel like warmed up road-kill, and am just going to bed... |
| This will just be a short entry today, I still am not feeling well and would like to get a little nap in before work tonight. I haven't been sleeping very sound, waking to cough and my throat hurting off and on through the night, so I'm getting mighty tired of this, or from this; actually I'm tired, and it's both. Seems like I have been sick more than well most of the winter. Of course, if I had my days off like I should, I could be resting and getting better. But numb-nuts quit and now I won't have a day off until Wednesday, and then only the one day. I don't mind that he quit, even though it means very little time off. See, it prevented me from having to fire him. But, if he was worth a grain of salt, he would have informed me that he was looking for another job, and given two weeks or more notice. Especially since I should have terminated him last fall. But, I was a nice guy about it, I gave him two more warnings, and every chance I could. Oh well, if I had it to do all over, I reckon I would still give him the same opportunities to correct his problems and work things out. And, I'm sure he would do the same all over again, too. That's just the way some people are. I just wonder if he has a clue what he's getting himself into. See, he found another job before he dumped on us, and he started it today. He's working strictly outside now, six days a week, and ten hour days. Well, maybe not right at the present, but that's normal for this company, so he will be soon. He will have to do hard physical labor, too. Our job isn't so physical, and even though we work outdoors, we get to stay inside between guests, and we do have a pretty good little heater in our shack. I also know he didn't really like picking up any extra hours, and would have preferred to work even less. If I cornered him at work, he would pick them up, but if he was at home, there was no answer and no replies to any messages. He also did things wrong on purpose. For example, we have a dress code we must follow, including shirts tucked in and a belt. He refused, even after getting busted for it and written up for it. I no more than left, and he had his shirt out, and if he had on a belt, he sure didn't have it tight enough to hold his pants up. Yard walks were the same, I talked to him about it, and he turned around and skipped them, again. It seemed, to me anyway, that he just wanted to get in trouble for these little things. Then, there was the big issue of him being late. Not just a few minutes from time to time, but a half hour to an hour each pay cycle, or every couple of weeks. Besides these big tardies, he managed to come in on time maybe one or twice, at the most three times in a two week cycle. Like I said, I wonder how he fared today? I also wonder if he won't show up looking for his job back in a week or two. If he does, I already know he will be disappointed. |
| I slept in this morning, instead of getting up with Rhonda. Normally, she sets the alarm and gets up at five, to get ready for work. I stay in bed for another hour, then she wakes me and I get up and have a cup of coffee with her. We also have a quick breakfast together before she leaves for work. She didn't wake me this morning to get up, but instead told me to go back to sleep. She said she was running a little behind, and was about to leave for work, tucked me in, gave me a kiss and told me to have a good day. So, I did what I was told and was soon sleeping soundly, again. I woke up just a few minutes after nine, feeling well rested. We even went to bed on time last night, so we had eight hours of sleep. We both have been very tired all week, and it's been a challenge to get to bed on schedule. With one person on vacation, we are short on help, so I worked an extra shift on Monday, closing and getting home a little after ten. Rhonda did the same on Wednesday, so both these nights kind of messed up our normal eight o'clock bed time. Of course, on our days off, we can actually stay up until nine, but both these days put us even behind on them. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we get up at three in the morning so I can get to work on time, but then on Sunday we don't have to get up until five. It sounds early, but it's getting to sleep in two hours later. We had also started getting up at five on Monday, one of my days off, and Tuesday and Wednesday, both of our days off. Of course this is work in progress, and as of yet we have not hit the time, but instead have hit the snooze a few time. Even so, we have been getting up by five-thirty, or a few times by six. This last week we have had to adjust our morning wake-up to accommodate some later nights, so it's been six and seven when we have gotten up, except the mornings when I work, when it's still three o'clock. Now, the person on vacation will be back on Tuesday, so this week, our work week starts today, should be back to normal. And, we should be able to get back to our normal routine again. But, I had a guy quit last week, and yesterday was his last day. I'm glad to be rid of him, he was always a problem, but it's left us short and now we have a new routine. Today, Sunday, will be the same, but no day off for me tomorrow. Instead, I will work tomorrow night closing and getting done with work at ten-thirty. Last week it was nine-thirty, so not too long after our normal bed time. But, this week starts summer hours, and the store is now open until ten, meaning I won't get out until ten-thirty. Also, Rhonda and I will not have Tuesday and Wednesday off together. She will be off on Tuesday, when I cover her afternoon shift. Then on Wednesday, she will work so I can get a day off. This will be our normal routine now until we get someone hired and trained in. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, because in April I lose another person, and we will also start providing double coverage four days a week. But, this is not why Rhonda let me sleep in this morning. She let me sleep because I was up in the middle of the night for an hour with a terribly sore throat. I started to feel the discomfort on Saturday evening. I thought it was just irritated from something, and was hoping by Saturday morning it would feel fine. No such luck. Instead, I woke up to a pretty sore throat yesterday morning. It didn't get any better through the day, but it didn't get any worse, either. By last night, however, it was getting more intense, agitated by talking and eating dinner. By the time we went to bed, I was in enough discomfort from it that it made getting to sleep difficult. But, I was tired, and despite it being sore, I fell into a deep sleep rather quickly. I slept hard until midnight, when I woke up with an even more intense pain in my throat. It felt like a hot searing pain right behind my Adam's apple. To swallow was cheer torture, and I cold not get back to sleep. I finally gave up at a quarter after twelve last night and came downstairs. I sipped on some cool water, but that did nothing to stop the intense pain in my throat. Even swallowing water hurt almost too bad to drink. I had to pee, so I took care of that, then began looking for some throat lozenges. By now, Rhonda had gotten up, used the bathroom, and was asking me if I was alright. I couldn't talk and had to whisper to her that I needed something to ease the pain in my throat. I had already taken some pain medication, over the counter stuff, and needed a throat lozenge to suck on to hit the spot directly while I waited for the others to kick in. She found them right away, but I'm not sure where. then she was off for bed, since she had to get up at five, and I sat up and sucked on a Sucrets. I also made myself a cup of hot tea, herbal tea that is, and sweetened it with some honey. the tea was a wellness blend of herbs with a touch of mint to sooth the throat, and the honey would also help to sooth. Along with the throat lozenge, I was quickly relieving my discomfort and by one-thirty this morning I was returning to bed. I managed to sleep the rest of the night, and because of the sore throat and being up in the middle of the night, Rhonda let me sleep in. The extra sleep did wonders, but my throat is still sore. not as bad as it was last night, and not even as sore as it was yesterday, but it's still sore. Other than the pain, however, I feel pretty good. I do not feel like I'm sick, especially with the added sleep. In fact, I would feel pretty good if my throat didn't hurt. I'll have to keep some Sucrets with me all day, and I'll have to sip on some more hot tea. But for now, it's coffee to wake me up and get me started for the day. I have plenty to do before I go in to work. I'll eat dinner before I leave, but I think instead of a thermos of coffee tonight, I'll bring in hot water and some wellness tea, sweetening it with a bit of honey. |
| Rhonda's in the shower, dinners cooking, and I'm waiting to eat. So, with a few minutes to spare, I can log in, write a quick entry, and then go eat. After dinner, it's time to relax a little, then maybe a little ice cream and cake before turning in for the night. We get to sleep in a little tomorrow; Sundays were up at five, not three. Monday we get to sleep even later, and likely wont get up until six, and the same for Tuesday and Wednesday. But for a while, they're not days off for either of us. This is the last night for our problem child, he quit Thursday knowing that he would get fired for coming in late, again. So, instead of coming in late, he called and left me a message that he quit. He's right, he would have gotten fired, but I would have offered the opportunity to resign before terminating him. And, since we have one person on vacation, and another is out of the area for the rest of the week, I would have given him until the end of the week before he would have been out of work. As it turned out, I called him and we talked a bit. He has found a different job and starts it on Monday. He could have given some notice, but he's kind of an inconsiderate brat. He's in his early twenties, but has the mentality of a twelve or fourteen year old kid. He is also not very honest, and he has a problem following procedure. Not that it's difficult, he just refuses to dress according to the dress code, and does little things wrong, just to do them wrong. But, after talking with him, he did agree to finish out the week, and tonight will be his last day of working for us. I'm not sad to see him go, and he would have gone anyway. I'm not even surprised he picked the first day the other person was on vacation, and another guy was out of town for the week to quit on us. It's just his personality. But, we will manage, even though both Rhonda and I will be working six days a week until we get someone hired. On top of that, we cannot get the same day off at all, just because of being so short on help again. But, I'm hopeful that we will find someone who is better suited for the work, and more flexible, too. Now, I hear the shower has stopped, so it's time to finish up dinner, and eat. |
| I'm waiting for Rhonda to call and tell me she's on her way home, so I may as well write in here for a while. She's at work, but needed to do some shopping after. I don't know how long it will take her, and expect her to call any minute now, so I can't really get too involved in anything. I worked this morning, and then drove over to the county seat after work to apply for a pistol permit and to get new license tabs for both vehicles. From work, it was an hour drive to the county seat, since I live in one county and work in another. But, once I got over there, things went pretty fast, and I was soon driving back home. Once I was home, I made myself lunch and then did a short Bible study. I had expected it to take longer at the courthouse, and figured I wouldn't have much time after I got home. It was a pleasant surprise to get in and out so fast. Since I had extra time at home, I managed a pretty good workout, even though I didn't get a lot of sleep last night and was feeling pretty tired. Now that I'm relaxed again, I'm getting real tired. I should be able to sleep well tonight. Being so tired, it's difficult to type, and it's also difficult to think of anything to write in here. I suspect I'm just kind of rambling and I may as well call this the end... |
| Not much time for writing today, and kind of a messed up start to the week. Actually, our work week starts on Sunday, but since Rhonda and I work weekends and have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, it's kind of like having Thursday for the start of the next working week. I know, it gets a bit confusing at times, a work week that starts on Sunday, but a working week that starts on Thursday. Almost as bad as having the weekend in the middle of the week. This week was already messed up, since I have one person on vacation this week. But, it started out with him only needing Thursday through Monday off. He is traveling with a bunch of his family to Florida for a week, and they had a flight plan for Thursday. But, I found out on Sunday, they had upped the date of departure to Wednesday. The flight was still Thursday morning, but they wanted to head out earlier on Wednesday, get rooms and then fly out on Thursday, instead of driving straight over and afrriving an hour or two before the flight. So, at the last minute we had to adjust his time off to include Wednesday. I had already picked up Monday so another person could have a couple days off before picking up this person's hours. That gave me one extra day to work this week, but I still had two off with Rhonda, my wife. Then, with the change, I needed to schedule someone to work Wednesday evening to closing for him. I worked opening, the other guard worked afternoons, so Rhonda had to pick up Wednesday evening. Nothing too serious to adjust, but it messed up our sleeping cycle and we didn't get to bed until midnight. Then, I was up at three, and of course Rhonda was up with me. She went back to bed after I left since she did not have to get ready to go in to work until later in the morning. I was up and off, no problem, but I was pretty tired. So, after Rhonda got to work, I drove straight home, ate a light lunch, and went to bed for a much needed nap. This was expected, and I got up a little after four, logged online to check a few things and do my weekly reports. I also checked my phone and seen I had a voice message. I was left at 4:44 this afternoon, and I didn't hear the phone because the ringer was still turned down form work. (we cannot have phones or other electronics at work, so I turn my cell off while I'm working, but I keep it with since I often need to contact the office or other guards during my shift. I just take a break and do my phone calls then turn it back to mute and return to work) The message was from the guy who was supposed to go in and relieve Rhonda. His shift starts at 4:50 in the afternoon, just six minutes later than his call. It stated that he had found a new job and he quit. Nice notice! Even so, I knew it was a matter of time before he would get fired, since he just could not be responsible enough to follow dress code or get to work on time. But, it did leave me in a bad position. This time of year we have one person on for each shift, so if someone quits, we are short and don't have anyone to cover their shift. Also, I had one person out of state on vacation, and another person is out of the area after his shift on Wednesday. He can make adjustments, but needs to know in advance to change his schedule. That leaves me two people that can fill in, myself and my wife, Rhonda. I had worked my shift and Rhonda was now done with hers. I was about to dress and go back in, but decided to make a few calls before I left. I called the person who quit, to have him turn in his equipment, and biting my tongue, I didn't say anything about how he really screwed things up. I told him I understood, and just needed him to turn in his stuff, and that I would be going back in to close. I also told him it was good timing, because had he notified me sooner, I would have had to cancel the other person vacation. Of course, he didn't want that to happen since the other person was kind of his chum. As it turned out, he appreciated my understanding and agreed to work the rest of the week which will get us out of the worse part of the mess. next week I will have the vacationing person back and we can cover all the bases with one person gone, but it means only one day off, and no days off with my wife. Of course, by the time things got worked out, it was already getting late in the evening and my day was shot. But at least i didn't have to go back in. Tomorrow is going to be another tiring day, I work mornings, then after work I have to drive to the county seat and do some business, and apply for a permit to carry concealed. Then, hopefully I have enough time and energy left to spend a bit of time in here. I also have to start looking through job applicants and doing interviews, and hopefully get someone hired soon, since I will lose another person in April. It seems like I just get into a routine that gives me a bit of time, and then it all goes to crap on me and I'm right back to working six days a week and spending a great deal of my off time looking for help. Now, it's off to bed, two hours late... |
| Wow! The day is just slipping past way to quickly. Today is my second day off, and my last one this week. I'm home alone, since Rhonda is working an extra shift tonight, like I did Monday night. We have a person off on vacation for a week, and we are picking up part of his hours.j I at least had two days off, Rhonda only had one. But, even with two days off, they flew past so quickly, I feel like I haven't really had any down time yet. Of course, both days were pretty full, today even more so than yesterday. Now, it's going on seven o'clock here, and I still have a few things to get done. I should be getting ready for bed, since I will be getting up for work at three tomorrow morning, but there is still quite a mess in the kitchen. We both got up early this morning, enjoyed a cup of coffee, then set up to do a Bible study. After, Rhonda started our breakfast, and I looked at a few things online. Soon enough it was time to eat, then feed the dogs and let them out. After, we enjoyed another cup of coffee, then went upstairs to start our task of moving things around. We have kind of a mess up there, from when we moved our sleeping quarters back up their. We kind of shoved things anyplace there was room, so we could get our bedroom set up. Then, with the start of the new year, we wanted to get back into our eating healthier and taking a few pounds off. This meant we needed to set up our exercise area again. We had most of it in the loft, and a little in the spare room. Rhonda did a great deal of the work to get us set up again, but in doing it, she piled even more stuff into the spare room. The idea was to put that all off until later, and focus on just getting things set up enough that we could use the loft to exercise, use the Gazzelle and the bicycle. She did, and we did. It was going pretty good, but the room wasn't set up the best. We had to move things around depending on what type of exercise we wanted to do. So, We've both been kind of picking at things up there, while the other is at work. We made some progress, but we both knew we would have to take some time to work on it together, to really get it set up. Well, yesterday and today were the days. Of course, at the time we planned this, we didn't know we would have to work these extra shifts. I knew I would be picking up Monday night, but that was it. Even so, we were eager to get it set up, and we started it yesterday, moving enough to make it possible to hit it yard today. That's just what we did, starting at eleven this morning. We moved big things, we re-arranged a lot of furniture and exercise equipment, and we picked through a lot of little things. By three this afternoon, we had the exercise room, in the loft, set up and cleaned out of everything except our exercise items. We also had the spare room about half cleaned out. Enough we could set up another stand, set up the weight bench, and make a lot of room to store items as we pick through the rest. Since Rhonda had to work at five this afternoon, we had intended to only work up their until one, or maybe two this afternoon. But, we wanted to get to a point where everything was usable. We also wanted to finish up any work that required both of us to do. We accomplished that, but it took until three this afternoon. Actually, it was a little after three. So, while Rhonda got her stuff ready for work, I worked on dinner. I had it done just as she finished her make-up, we ate a nice dinner, but a bit rushed, then she headed off to work, and I logged our work and our food for the day. Then, after she called and let me know she was safe at work, I took the dogs out and cleaned the snow and ice off my vehicle, so I won't have to do it in the morning. I also noticed that the snow was piled up pretty deep at the end of the drive, so I decided to shovel that out. Only, when I went to shovel the end of the drive, I decided I may as well clean the whole driveway out. It took about an hour and a half to shovel it all, but it's done. Since it's only a few degrees above zero out, I was pretty chilled, and pretty tired, so I poured a cup of coffee and set down here to check Facebook. That done I logged in here, cleaned up my mailbox, and set about writing my journal. Now, I want to get my butt busy in the kitchen, since we didn't get a chance to clean anything up after eating breakfast or dinner. I have some dishes to wash up and put away, then straighten a few things up and save Rhonda some work tomorrow. She's going to be pretty tired after working tonight and will likely want to take a nap tomorrow after she gets me off to work. Once I finish up in the kitchen, I may just make a sandwich and sit down and doze in front of the TV for a while. |
| The end of the day is quickly approaching, so I better get this written. It was a good day, sunny outside, and pretty mild temperatures. I don't know for sure how warm it reached, but I know it was a bit above thawing out. Also, the wind was mild, making it even more pleasant. Rhonda and I were up late last night since I didn't get done work until about nine-thirty. By the time I drove home, it was after ten, and then it was time to relax and unwind. I was a bit upset by the time I got home, after seeing red and blue flashing lights coming up behind me. I was within the speed limits, but a person never knows if a light went out or something when they see a police vehicle flashing lights behind them. So, I slowed and pulled over, coming close to a stop before the vehicle went past. It was traveling at a high rate of speed, and soon was almost non-visible to me. I had already pulled back onto the highway and was again underway. Soon enough, I was coming up on the flashing lights, as well as a few other vehicles with flashing lights, too. It was on a pretty sharp curve by the lake, and I thought at first maybe somebody had driven out for ice fishing and busted through. As I drew closer, I seen there was a car, on it's side, in the ditch. I of course had slowed down again, and was watching for someone to direct traffic, but seen no one out on the road. Carefully and slowly, I past the emergency vehicles, and as I passed the last one, I seen a covered body beside the vehicle. I could not see well enough to tell if the head was covered or not, so I don't know if it was a severe injury or a fatality. But, just knowing someone was seriously injured was enough to my my heart sink. By the time I was home, inside and out of my work cloths, I had recovered some, but even today, I still sympathize with the person and their family, as well as the emergency responders who had to take care of the accident. I have not heard anything, so I still don't know how severe the accident was, if there were any fatalities or how many were injured. I'm not even sure if it was one vehicle or more than one. As a result of working late, the accident, and just being unable to go to bed right away, I was up until after midnight. So, we did not get up as early as we normally do. Then, it was a relaxing morning with a couple cups of coffee, before even thinking about breakfast. While Rhonda cooked breakfast, we both got on the scale and did our weekly weigh-in. We both were happy with our results, especially after enjoying some wine last night and snacking on cheese. A lot of sodium in the cheese, and we expected to see less in the results today. After breakfast, we did our exercises. Normally we don't get to do them together, since one is at work while the other is at home, until later in the evening. But today we were both off and were able to enjoy each other's company while we did out routines. After, we moved some stuff around in the extra room, then set about repairing a shelf. Well, actually it's a free standing closet, and I set it up yesterday, but the cheap plastic kept cracking as I put the poles into the slots. Rhonda and I made new parts out of wood, cutting and drilling to replace the plastic ones that cracked. We ended up needing one more, but did not have enough wood to make it. But, we were able to use one of the least damaged parts. This allowed us to set the closet up and now we can use it. When I get another 2 X 3, I can replace the broken part easily, since we put it on the very top, on one side. By the time we finished up, it was time to make dinner. Again, Rhonda and I worked together on it, and then sat down and enjoyed a rather big meal. Next on the list for us is to relax and watch a little Netflix, eat some ice cream with some cake, and then it's off to bed. Even with the sweets, and the big meal, we will both still be within our calorie goals. It was a full day, a very busy day, but a good day... |
| I'm find it difficult to adjust today, having to keep an eye on the clock so I get to work on time. I've gotten used to having Monday's off, even though I usually have to run in and take care of one problem or another. In fact, that's why I gave up my hours on Monday. The idea was to get all my off the clock and off site work done on Mondays, as well as having the afternoon free to do some things with my brother. Of course, I can also stop by and do activities with him any other day after work too. I got up with Rhonda this morning, or at least shortly after she did. We try and get up at five on the mornings I don't have to open, but it's been difficult to achieve that. Here the idea was to get up at five, a nice two hour break from my normal three a.m. alarm. That way we can get more done in the day, and get to bed close to the same time every night. Only it seems like since we began this schedule, things have come up to prevent getting to bed on time. Some of it was us just not being used to getting to bed that early every night. But, we soon adjusted and now we can do our early bedtime pretty well. One exception is Sundays. Rhonda opens and I close. We get up at five, she gets ready and goes in, then I come into work that afternoon so she can come home. I work until eight-thirty, then drive home. This puts me in the house a little after nine at night, and just past our normal bed-time. Only I am not ready to just shed my clothing and jump into bed, I need to sit and relax for a bit. We end up going to bed around ten or shortly after. Other things tend to come up, and we find it late on other nights, too. Not often, but enough to keep us from getting deep into this routine. Even so, we keep at it, and in time we will have a routine. This week will be rough, though. I work tonight again, and won't get home until after ten. That's going to mess us up a lot for tomorrow. Then Wednesday, Rhonda works closing and won't get home until after ten, but I have to get up at three. It's going to be interesting, to say the least. Now, dinners ready, and then I have to get ready. |
| Ah, Sunday. It's my day to kind of sleep in and enjoy a leisure morning. Well, that's the idea anyway, and it looks good on paper. So far, it's been a bit of a challenge getting use to things, but it's going well. It seems like each Sunday things move along smoother and I am starting to feel in sync again. It's nothing really, just habit. I've worked Sunday mornings for so long now, that it just seems normal to get up at five and get ready to go in and open, work until noon, one o'clock, then head for home. I also usually work Monday mornings, so it also means getting to bed early so I can be up at three in the morning. But, I switched the schedule around and close on Sunday instead of open. Rhonda goes in and opens, then I come in at four and she comes home. I only work a half-shift and usually get done around eight-thirty, nine at the latest. On rare occasions, like last week, it may get as late as nine-thirty, which is still a pretty short shift. Also, for the time being anyway, I have Mondays off. Tomorrow will be the exception, since I am picking up a shift tomorrow night for a guy who's going on vacation this week. That means I don't have to go to bed quite as early tonight, making closing a lot nicer. It also gives me the morning to relax and get my things done before I go to work. A big change for me, since I normally work opening shifts now and have to do my stuff after work. Rhonda gets up at five to get ready for work. It's the only day she goes in early and opens, and she enjoys the change. I get to sleep in a little longer, because if I get up with her, I tend to mess up her schedule of getting ready. So, she lets me snooze a bit while she gets her routine started. Then, when she comes into the bedroom to put on her make-up, I get woke up by our two dogs who just have to get up on the bed and get some lovins from me. By the time they settle down, Rhonda is ready to go back downstairs and enjoy a cup of coffee with me. We sit and sip a cup of coffee together, then have some hot cereal for breakfast. By the time breakfast is done, she has to finish getting ready and I help her get her things together. We share a long kiss and hug before she goes out the door, then I feed the dogs their breakfast after she is out of the driveway. I really don't have a routine for my day, but I do have a few things I need to get done. I have to get in here and get my journal written, I need to get some dinner cooked so I can eat before I go to work or bring something with. Also, since Rhonda gets home an hour earlier, but still kind of late for fixing much for dinner, I like to try and have something she can just heat up and enjoy. I also have my exercises to do, since I'm trying to lose a few --- quite a few --- pounds and get in better shape. It's always amazing how fast a person goes downhill, and how long it takes to get back into shape. A few years ago, we did some bike riding. Not motorized, just pedal power. We started out with a short ride around town, and since this is a little town, it came out to be about a mile of riding. Then we started riding down one of the roads that goes out of town. A little further and a little further each time, until pretty soon we were doing about five miles, then ten. We eventually started taking other roads and going over to the neighboring towns. Eventually, we decided to extend a bit more, since we were now riding ten to fifteen miles almost daily. We started riding out twenty miles, going to towns further away. We would pack along snacks and extra water, even some sports drinks. Then, we would get to a town fifteen, maybe twenty miles away, go to the cafe and have a nice lunch, then ride back. the longest trip we logged was just over fifty miles, and we had a picnic at the lake, went for a swim and sunned ourselves before riding back. Last year I didn't get a chance to ride at all, and we barely got out camping. So, in an attempt to be ready to ride this summer, I've been putting some time in on an exercise bike. Well, it's not really, it's one of our bikes on a stand that also makes the bike into a stationary exercise bike. I made a half hour yesterday, and my butt couldn't take anymore. My legs were also getting pretty tired, but mostly my butt was hurting from the bike seat. I'm going to have to build my legs up for longer rides, but I also have to toughen my butt up to handle hours in the seat. Of course, I also put on some extra weight and I'm sure that adds to the discomfort I'm feeling. After all, I'm putting a lot more weight on my butt, and the seat isn't all that big. Also, my gut got bigger but my butt stayed pretty close to the same size, so I don't have any extra padding on my rump as a result of the gain in weight. I am happy to say, it's dropping, slow, but it's dropping. If I continue to lose at the current rate, I should be about thirty pounds lighter by the time we take the bikes out in May. Of course, we may get a nice spring, and hopefully an early one, so we could get our bikes out even sooner. It's would not be improbable to think as early as March, depending on the weather. It would still be pretty chilly at night, but it could be warm enough to ride around town and close to home during the day, or at least some days. It's a big maybe, but it's possible. Also, April showers tend to make bike riding a bit difficult, and the last few years we have not had much for spring weather until June, when it jumped right into summer. Even so, I keep my hopes up for some nice days in April that we can also use to make some longer bike rides. If all works out, by June we may be up to riding to some of the little towns around us, again. Now, back to February and my need to ride inside. I should finish this up, check on the chicken I have steaming for dinner, later, and get my butt on that bike for a while. |
| It's kind of late, so another short entry. I worked this morning, opening until eleven thirty, then stopped to get ice cream and off for home. I did things a little different this afternoon, and it seems to have worked better. Even so, I still did not have any time to get online until now. It was a cold day, and we will see the same temperature tonight as last night. Only one big difference. Last night it got down to seventeen degrees, then dropped through the day. Tonight, they say we will see seventeen below zero, but it will warm up during the day. Not a lot, but we should hit about zero. I just hope the wind isn't blowing at fifty miles per hour. It was a full day, and I'm beat, so this will have to be enough. Hopefully, tomorrow I can get in here a little longer. |
| Doing better today, but still so damn tired. At least I feel I can function properly today. Yesterday was terrible, most of the week was terrible for that matter. Monday started out pretty good, but I seem to just run short of energy and still have not gotten it back. I'm not as tired today, but I did get a full night of sleep in, too. I'm getting sick and tired of this being tired and sick all the time. We thought it was the flu, but it's been way too long for that. Also, it comes and goes, although it never seems to go completely away. I also have a rash on both arms. It seems to show up here and there, but my arms are the worst. Rhonda did some research and thinks it may be shingles. I don't know, I haven't looked at anything to try and determine if it is or if it isn't. It doesn't really matter, as long as it just goes away. Only it doesn't seem to be. So, it's looking like I get to go to the clinic next week, and see just what is wrong. |
| It was back to work today, but it didn't feel like I had any time off. I'm tired and already looking forward to a couple of days off. I don't know why, I suppose this crazy weather is a part of it. tomorrow we are back up above freezing, and by tomorrow night, back down to single digits. By Sunday we will have endured another fifty degree temperature fluctuation. And it isn't just the weather. Even the forecasts are bouncing all over. It's already changed, and I just looked at it when Rhonda got home four hours ago. I have never seen anything like this, every time the weather is updated, there's a change to the forecast. It's gotten to the point of not being able to give a single forecast for a twenty-four hour period. And the wording is worse than a four year old. For example, we are suppose to have a chance of light snow tonight, mainly before five tomorrow morning, then for tomorrow, we have a chance of light snow mainly before seven in the morning. Also, we will eventually see clearing skies late tomorrow afternoon, with a chance of more light snow after seven tomorrow night. I don't know, it's like they haven't a clue what's happening, what's going to happen, or even how to try and explain what they guess might happen. |
| I know, not much of an entry yesterday, and even that little bit was after midnight WdC time. It was getting pretty close to midnight SD time, too. that just happens sometimes, and since I've been doing so good this month, I really wanted to write an entry before midnight. Only, I was having a pretty messed up day, and wasn't much up to writing anything at all. I did get a little jotted down, I did make it before midnight, and even though I have two days that are not circled on my calendar to the left, I know they were in before the end of the day. Today was better, but flew by way to fast. I didn't get any of the stuff done I wanted to, but at least I didn't have any problems at work to deal with, and even better, I didn't have to run in to work for anything. It's been quite some time since I have actually got to spend my time off, off. It seems like since the start of the new year, my days off have included at least some work, and the only thing truly off about them was I was doing that work off the clock. Tonight I'm looking at a late dinner, but it's cooking right now and will be done shortly. the day vanished before I had a chance to do much, but considering how sore my back has been this afternoon and tonight, I wouldn't have been up to doing much anyway. tomorrow it's back to work, and another week before I get a day off. since we will have a guy on vacation, it will be one day off for me and my wife to enjoy, and hopefully nothing else comes up to ruin that one day together. Now, it's off to finish dinner, relax a bit and then bed. Hopefully I get in here sooner tomorrow, and have time to do more than just a quick entry. |
| Looks like I missed a day again, but this is actually written before midnight my time. Not that I have much to write about, its been one of those kind of days, and I need to take some time to reflect on things. But, I did get in and write this, and that at least has my journal done for the day... |
| Just a short entry tonight, since it's getting late. It's funny how I have the whole day off, and yet I get in here this late, but on the days I worked, I tended to get in here earlier. Well, most of them. It was a good day. I got up a bit later than normal, but only because I was up late last night. I close on Sunday nights now, and am usually done around eight-thirty, or shortly after. But, last night the store personnel had a meeting, so I didn't get out of there until almost nine-thirty. Then, with a half hour drive home, it was ten. By the time I got relaxed and had a bit of ice cream, it was going on midnight, and much too late to get up at five this morning. We have been trying to get up around five every morning, except those I work, when we are up at three. But, drastic hours at night cause a change in the schedule, so it was seven this morning. We enjoyed coffee, and I made up some hot cereal for breakfast while Rhonda did a little work-out. Then after breakfast she got ready for work. Once she was off to work, I did some work form home, sent some faxes and stuff like that. Then it was time for my work-out, and I did just over an hour. I had to make a few changes to the set up, so it was closer to two hours by the time I finished. Then it was a light lunch and log everything. I got very tired this afternoon, but managed to not take a nap. I spent a little time just relaxing and browsing around online. but, I didn't have too long to waste, I had to start dinner. I made up an Oriental style pork loin, with brown rice and vegetables. the rice and vegetables also had an Oriental flare to them, and it all turned out very good. By the time we finished eating, it was time to relax and watch a movie. We are about half way through, but I wanted to get this written before it got too late. Now, it's time to enjoy a bit of ice cream, and finish the movie. |
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