Thankful

While this year has been a big lesson in humility and priorities, I find that I am feeling very thankful and blessed for what I do have. 

I know on Thanksgiving, I will be sitting with the best blessings a person can have!

Thursday Thumbs

Thumbs up:  It has been a beautiful sunshiny week

Thumbs up:  Mike spent a day at home already

Thumbs up:  The ex made two support payments this month

Thumbs up:  Truck is fixed

Thumbs down:  The ex is probably going to ask for visitation after almost a year of MIA

Thumbs down:  Bill collectors calling for other people that I don’t know

Thumbs down:  Brother in law, Eric, hurting himself trimming a tree in his yard

Thumbs down:  The car is going today

Patrick Lee Ward

Patrick Lee Ward         1949-1997

This is my birth Father.  He was a soldier during the Vietnam conflict.

Shayne’s Essay

My son, Shayne, had to do an essay for Veteran’s Day this year.  Thought I would share it with y’all!  It had to be between 100 and 200 words.

The History of Veteran’s Day

It is important to understand the history of Veteran’s Day to properly honor those who have served our country. When World War I ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, President Woodrow Wilson declared Armistice Day. Armistice Day became Veteran’s Day in 1954 to honor veterans and soldiers who fight for freedom in all wars.

Most Americans confuse Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day. Veteran’s Day is a day that we are thankful for living veterans who have served our country, whether it was wartime or peacetime, as well as honoring those who died. Memorial Day is a day we honor those who were injured or died in battle.

In Arlington National Cemetery, there is a Tomb of Unknowns, where the United States has a wreath laying ceremony every year. The Tomb of the Unknowns is a monument built to honor those soldiers who died without being identified. The Old Guard are respected Army Infantry Regiments that guard the tombs and escorts Army soldiers who die to their final resting place. It is one of the highest honors to become one of these guards.

Thank you to all Veterans!

Change isn’t always good

My husband is a truck driver.  Has been for a little more than fifteen years.  He has never had an accident…knock on wood…and is a perfectionist who is obsessive about being on time every time.  

When we married, he began working at RJR.  They were a rather small company out of Illinois that he felt he fit in immediately with.  He was there for nine years when they merged with another company and began changing all of their employee policies.  He hated that they were taking away all of the perks, but was willing to see it through…until they began keeping him out on the road and giving him flack when he would ask to come home. 

If you knew my husband, you would know that if he isn’t working, he wants to be home.  He also would rather you be straight with him than outright lie to him.  The last straw was when he was asked to do them a favor the end of the week before Easter weekend.  He was told he would be home for the holiday, they promised.  Instead, he busted his butt to deliver their load on time to be left sitting 1500 miles away from home on that Holiday weekend.  The dispatcher who came on when the company merged showed preference to one of the drivers who came with him and left Mike sitting. 

He tried to let it go.  But this particular dispatcher continued to show preferential treatment to the drivers who came with him.  Mike tried to discuss it with his boss, but the boss blew him off.  This is when he found out that all of the drivers who helped this man build up this small trucking company had also complained about this dispatcher to be told they could always go find another job. 

In October, my husband had enough and began looking for other employment.  He was overjoyed when a recruiter from Marten Transport told him not only would they pay him more, they would get him home more often. 

So he quit RJR, giving up his three weeks of vacation that had renewed and his ten years of seniority.

Unfortunately, the recession hit the trucking industry hard the following month.  Marten changed their employee policies.  Mike discovered that not only was he not going to be paid what he was promised, he was in a worse boat about coming home.  They told him he could ask for two days off after being out on the road for seven days, but no matter when he asked for those two days…beginning, middle, or end of the week, he wouldn’t make a check that week. 

When he would complain about sitting out there on the road, they told him “good luck in finding another job” and “1500 miles a week is the best you can expect from any company”.  

Still, he kept hoping it would get better.  He began applying for other jobs.  A few weeks after his anniversary hire date, he was approached for another job.  But in the year he was at Marten, we literally find ourselves bankrupt. 

I heard him say things like “I never thought I wouldn’t be able to work because I have always worked” and “who knew you had to have recruiters put their offer in writing?” 

Anyhow, he requested his vacation time as he didn’t get any vacation the previous year. While he was home, was hired with another company.  Needless to say, Marten has now refused to pay him for his vacation. 

I am very frustrated and angry that we suffered through a whole year of my husband coming home for approximately one day a month, sometimes one day every two months, which left me to be basically a single parent to our children while taking care of every aspect of having a home, for them to treat him like he is nobody and nothing.    

So far he likes his new job and I hope it doesn’t turn into another nightmare, but I do know that we agree that no matter what happens, he needs to be home more.  That is our number one priority now.  Life is way too short to waste on a company who doesn’t care about their employees, especially when your children are growing up without their father.

Thursday Thumbs

A blogger for one of the papers I read online does a “Rule of Thumb” blog once a week with his thumbs up and thumbs down.  I thought it was a neat-o idea so I came up with my own!

Thumbs up:  Warm daytime temps

Thumbs up: Fall tv

Thumbs up: Mike’s new job

Thumbs up: Illness has left the building

Thumbs down: Cold night time temps

Thumbs down: Ft Hood shooting

Thumbs down: Leaves have all fallen

Thumbs down:  Marten Transportation

Customer Service

Whatever happened to customer service?  I mean really. 

This past week my internet service was lagging in and out to the point it was useless to get on the computer.  I kept getting my modem log in page, much to my irritation.  I tried everything I could think of, but nothing worked.

So…the next day, I called tech service.  The gentleman who answered the phone was polite and nice enough, but would not vary from his checklist for the computer illiterate.  I am no computer/internet guru, but I think I know more than the average beginner. 

I bit my tongue and answered his questions patiently.  After he gets through his list, his simply states that he has pulled up my line and it is showing I don’t have DSL.  And that folks would be why I am calling.

That also prompted a ‘we are not going to fix it together’ when he tells me he will send a repair man out the following day.  Then reminds me that if it is on MY end, I will have to pay for the service call. 

To be fair, I was already irritated when I called him.  But afterwards, I couldn’t help but think that I could probably do his job. 

Later, when I was calm and sat watching my modem, I noticed that the dang thing was resetting itself every couple of minutes.  Like maybe the reset button was stuck, even though I knew it wasn’t.

I was pleasantly surprised when the repair man showed up at 9 am rather than the 5 pm that I was told.  I was also greeted by an elderly man who was not only honest, but charming.  He was frank in telling me that he just repaired my neighbors service two days ago and because of that, he knew what my readings should be…and they weren’t.  He then asked me what I had going on and what I thought. 

I tell him that I am pretty certain my modem is fried.  I tell him what it is doing.  He watches it for a moment to see it reset.  He disconnects it to check it, then tells me he will be right back.  He returns with a new modem.  Hooks it up, and within minutes has DSL returned to my computer. 

I learn a few things while talking to this man about my neighborhood and how well all of these people really know each other.  It was a refreshing conversation with a complete stranger…that I probably won’t ever see again…unless I need further repairs on my DSL.

But I do know that customer service over the phone and in the city is crappy, the customer service out here in the boonies is a reminder of days gone by.

Icky Sicky

My oldest son, Matthew, was down on Sunday and Monday sick. 

Tuesday evening, my youngest son, Shayne, came home from school to go straight to bed. 

On Wednesday, I got out of bed long enough to get Matthew off to school.

This is an odd illness.  Can’t say for certain whether it is a cold or some sort of flu.  It is like a cross between the two. 

Your body aches so badly that you feel like either someone beat you all over, or you were run over by a vehicle…a few times.  You get a massive migraine, then the head cold starts. 

I honestly think I have to be close to whatever the sneezing record is. 

When I cough, I feel like my body is going to come apart.  Not too mention the thumping of your head. 

You run a fever.  You alternate between being cold and hot.  Doesn’t help much with the body pain. 

My ear is stuffed so any noise is amplified to the point of painful.  There is also shooting pains running down my neck and up the side of my head from my ear. 

I am pretty sure that there is no skin left on my nose from all of the blowing. 

The only good thing I can say is that my stomach has not bothered me.  Knock on wood.  Although, Shayne said he was nauseous.  The boys are back to school today and seem to be feeling better.  I am hoping today will be the last of it for me!

MIA

Yep, I have been MIA.  There seems to be quite a bit going on around me these past two weeks and I am merely trying to keep up with it all. 

I am about to swear off the news as I mostly take away from it the state of confusion that the world is in.  Makes me think of the Dodos in Ice Age chanting ”Doom on you, doom on you!”   

The H1N1 news is that public officials want everyone to get vaccinated and have been pushing it so now people are standing in long lines for the vaccine there isn’t enough of.  Not too even mention the media has stopped counting deaths and adding up only the fatality of children.  The new “doom on you, doom on you” news is that there won’t be enough vaccines to go around until sometime in December and they are concerned it will be too late for too many people. 

Schools all around our area are closing down for days or weeks at a time due to illness, sometimes for one case of H1N1 and sometimes for just plain illness.

I have heard so much conflicting information on ObamaCare that I am getting tired of even seeing it on the news.  My only hope is that it actually does make things better rather than worse.  No faith involved at this time.

Then, there is all the media surrounding “the balloon boy” and Jon and Kate.  While I agree that it isn’t right, I don’t think these should necessarily be top news stories. 

Finally, there is family news.  I don’t know if it is the economy, a full moon, or if Mercury is in retrograde….LOL, but these people are losing a slight grip on reality.  So I am sitting back, watching and waiting.  I don’t want to be involved.  Nope.  Not me.  Can’t make me. 

However, I am hopeful all of these things will pass…and something new will be on the agenda soon!

Reality TV

I really, really hate reality television shows. I don’t like the concept of sitting down to watch something entertaining and it be other people living their lives on camera…with sensationalism. Why do I want to watch other people live their lives in the first place?

I have family that already makes me feel like I am in the middle of a soap opera!

I watch television for the entertainment value. I don’t always need that great happy ending because not every situation can have a happy ending, but I think everyone wants to see happy endings once in a while. I think we all want to believe that our hard work and perseverance will pay off. I know I do.

When I see these shows that promote backstabbing, lying, cheating, and all the things that anyone would consider morally wrong, it seems to me that it only adds to the desensitizing of the world. These people hardly seem sorry. And that bothers me.

Television and movies have come a long way, without a doubt. I know that with progress comes a new collection of problems, but I often wonder if we could assess the state of the world by the programming on television.

One final thing, I never watched Jon and Kate, but I am tired of hearing about their divorce every time I turn on the television, or flip through web pages. So Jon and Kate, PLEASE shut up!!!