Not A Loss, But A Privilege

The news of Betty White's death on New Year's Eve has surely not escaped you. Nor has the extraordinary life she led. The brilliant comedienne and actress that she was in life will live forever thanks to all her work on television. She was smart and funny and compassionate. Her animal right activism is an inspiration. Tomorrow would have been her 100th Birthday. Funny how someone could live to such and old age and still not have lived long enough. I really thought she would just live forever.

While I can't say that I mourn her death, as I did not know her personally, I can say that my deepest sympathies go out to those who did. Do know that it was a privilege to live in the time of Betty White. 

The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls are available on Hulu. 

Hot In Cleveland is available on Paramount +. 

The Proposal is available on Amazon Prime Video.

Donations to animal charities in her honor would certainly be welcome. Here are a few ideas.

ASPCA

World Wildlife Fund

The Humane Society Of The United States

For All The Pups I Have Loved Before

I don't know what I would do without my pets. We currently have three dogs and three cats. We also have a turtle. They have been there through good times and bad. I can't remember having a home without a pet. Even when I lived in a place where dogs and cats were not allowed, I had a cage full of parakeets and a tank full of fish.

We have gotten most of our pets from local animal shelters. Over the years we have loved nine cats. With the exception of the two that we got from Chris and Sherri, all of them have come from shelters. We have loved 4 dogs. Two of those dogs were shelter dogs. We got Gibby from a lady who had puppies because she wanted to breed her chihuahuas and so she didn't have them spayed. Too bad there was a pomeranian mix loose in the neighborhood, who also was not fixed. Elvis is a purebred beagle and we got him from a breeder who was a friend of my mom.

I know that right now, in this economy, it is hard to want to spend your money to give to animals. But I just don't know what I would have done without my Gibby to snuggle when I am sad or Betty to chew my fingers or Muffins (IBK) to hop in bed with me at night.

So here is a way to help. The ASPCA is going to give $100K to an animal shelter in the ASPCA $100K Challenge. First thing you have to do is vote. The 50 animal shelters who receive the most votes between now and April 15, will be eligible to win the $100K, possibly up to $300K with other donations and grants associated with this project. So go to the website, votetosavelives.org, and vote for your favorite shelter or rescue. My town, the neighboring town, and the county animal control are all in the running so far. So remember to vote everyday to make sure your town becomes one of the top 50 qualifiers.

Then, the contest is on. Between August 1 and October 31, it is a race to see how many pets can be saved. Winners will be announced November 30.

How cool is that? All you have to do is vote. That is it. A simple few seconds of your day, everyday until April 15. Easy.

Because without animal shelters, I wouldn't have...

Betty and Muffins (IBK- Itty Bitty Kitty)(She isn't so itty bitty any more though, more like giant and fluffy)

Drizella

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And even though we got Two Face here from Chris and Sherri, we had her fixed at the local shelter. And since we take good care of her, she will not end up in one.

Elvis here was fixed at the animal shelter as well, and when he was sick, they treated him there as well.

And of course Gibby... Who proudly wears his license from the animal shelter and he was microchipped there.

Have you seen that much cuteness? You know you want to save the pets. Do it or I will play this commercial over and over again until you cry yourself to death.

Riding The Polar Express

Last night both of the girls had performances at school. Carolynn is in the band and Catherine is in the chorus. David went to Carolynn’s thing and I went to Catherine’s thing. David said it was terrible. It was unorganized, the kids barely got to play, and very few came. He took a camera, but didn’t get any pictures. Next semester Carolynn will not be in the band.

Catherine’s performance was cute. The kids sang for 30 minutes. They sang a variety of holiday songs. Several from The Polar Express. That was their theme for Holiday Fun Night last week too. I had a working camera last night and last week at Holiday Fun Night. So here are a few pictures.

Catherine and her friend Rebe at Holiday Fun Night.

Catherine's Chorus

And here is a video of them singing a song called Hot Chocolate from The Polar Express.



Anyway, we are getting ready for our Holiday Game Night and Ornament Exchange. I have plenty of soda, some finger foods, paper plates and napkins. We have the ornaments wrapped. We are ready for fun.

I have all of my holiday gifts purchased. I still have quite a bit of baking still to do.

David is out bell ringing. Tomorrow is my night to ring. We are not doing it as much as we did last year. We don’t have as much time. I feel bad that we can’t give more, but at least we give something.

Anyway, that is all for tonight. I am watching the finale of So You Think You Can Dance.

For Whom The Bell Tolls

Yesterday we had our Thanksgiving feast. I was so stuffed. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, rolls, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. We had apple pie and pumpkin pie. We had sparkling cider. It was all so good.

Last night I went and did some bell ringing. I gave up 2 hours in front of the K-Mart. I am not a fan of ringing in front of the K-Mart. First of all, when I ring at the Stater Bros., I see people I know. Families come and buy groceries. There is a security guard around. Police eat at the Subway and there are usually a few police cars. At K-Mart, there are hoodlums hanging about. There are old cars, people waiting for the bus, people taking advantage of the layaway plan. There are people on the pay phones. The only people I see I recognize are people who come to my work to visit inmates. It’s not that K-Mart is a ghetto store in and of itself, but this K-Mart is. It is in an old run down shopping center. Most of the shops are vacant and the few left include a cigarette store and a payday loan place. People come in and out in old jammies and slippers.

Of course some of the people who ring those bells are just super special. Who can forget those fabulous people I met last year? Last night I went to relieve a girl at K-Mart. She was expecting David. I told her he wasn’t coming and I was taking his place. She started to complain that if they were handing out extra hours, she wanted them. David doesn’t even get paid. I told her I wasn’t either. She went on a tirade about how stupid that is. Why would David or I give up our time and not get paid? Yep. It got better too. She was mad about having to take the bus to and from and said she had been told the Salvation Army provides rides to and from the sites. Then she mentioned that the “house mom” from the halfway house where she lived might come pick her up. Yep. She was a treat. When they finally came to switch out kettles, she left to catch her bus. I was happy to see her go.

It was cold out there last night. Not too many people either. I collected around $30. And I saved them from having to pay someone for a couple of hours.

Today we are cleaning. I got all the Thanksgiving décor packed up and we are waiting on the girls to get home to start the decorating. I had some pumpkin pie. I am going to bake cookies. Maybe I should take some to Aunt Chris since she isn’t able to do her Christmas decorating yet. Her house is more suitable for Halloween right now. I am making some chocolate spritz cookies, chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies. It will give the house a nice holiday feel. In another week or so I will make a nice gumdrop cake for my grandpa. My mom will top it with rum and it will be good stuff. I will also have to make the snowball cookies. That was a grandma classic.

I don’t suppose anyone is interested in game night tonight? I figured since it was a Wednesday, people would be busy. That is one bad thing about working weekends. Everyone else is off when you have to work. It wasn’t so bad when I worked until 2, but now I work until 5.

I wrapped what presents I had bought already. It is the only way to keep the kids from finding them. So far they each have 6 presents. Plus there is a present for Allison. I have to finish my shopping. First I have to get money.

1000 Wishes

I cannot seem to get into the holiday spirit. At first I thought it was because we were so sick over Thanksgiving and we kind of missed out on the food. But I don’t think that is it. It’s more of a financial issues thing. Now don’t get me wrong, I get paid enough to pay all my bills and eat and put gas in my car. But that is pretty much it. It seems like every time I get a little ahead something happens. Last year put me in quite a hole. Sure, all the bills were being maintained, but nothing else was being taken care of. No clothes or household items. Once I started working we started taking care of that stuff… and if it wasn’t one thing it was another… Car repairs, broken appliances, broken TV’s, more car repairs…

Every time I would get a little ahead so we might enjoy a little money, something else happens. Like this time, the bank issues. In case you hadn’t read before, I had always gotten paid every other Saturday. So two weeks ago, on the Saturday I normally got paid, I had set up several bills to be auto paid and sent David out on some errands for me. He didn’t get far, because there was no money in the bank. The bank then charged us overdraft charges for all those things. Just over $130 in fees! Now, the money got to the account on Monday so I don’t see what the huge deal was, but they refused to reverse the overdraft fees. Anyway, I didn’t realize there were over draft fees until midweek, so those over draft fees caused more over draft fees. So I was short. Now I have to play catch up. At Christmas. When I could have used some of that money to buy presents… or pay for car repairs.

Yep, my car needs new front wheel bearings. Repair shops estimate $300 to $500 to fix it. Woo. Just another added expense right at the holiday season.

Anyway, I love the holidays usually. I love the decorations and the baking and the food. I love Christmas music and shopping for gifts. Thankfully, I had already purchased most of the girls’ presents. I also got a great deal on a huge artificial tree. But I just am not feeling it.

I figured it out… I don’t need a million dollars to be better. Just $1000 dollars. It will fix the car, and make some bills go away. Leaving my next paycheck available to pay more bills, buy groceries and baking goods and have some leftover to buy some gifts. I don’t have piles of debt. I have no credit cards. I just need one extra paycheck or so. Maybe I should play the lottery.

I am going to try to combat this holiday depression. After all, it isn’t about the presents…

Tomorrow I am wearing a Christmas shirt. My mom bought me a whole bunch of Christmas shirts last year. I think she was trying to fight off the Christmas blues I had last year when I was unemployed and miserable. So tomorrow I am wearing one. I made a Christmas playlist on the iTunes and loaded it on David’s computer so I could play it on his speakers. (I love iTunes home sharing!) David put up the tree. I haven’t decorated it yet. The Thanksgiving decorations are still out. I am making a Thanksgiving feast for dinner tomorrow. And I will give two hours to bell ringing at the K-Mart. Maybe that will put me in a Christmas mood.

Wednesday we will do the Christmas decorating and maybe watch A Christmas Story. I always love that one. I even have my own leg lamp. Also, on Wednesday night maybe we will have another game night. That always cheers me up and I remembered to buy a bunch of snacks to keep on hand. I know it is mid-week and all, but I have Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday off this week.

Anyways, if anyone is interested in game night on Wednesday, let me know. You can come check out my leg lamp in person.

And this concludes this year's NaBloPoMo. Thanks for reading!

Black Friday

I was thinking it might have been busy at work today. I am working in visiting and this was an extra visiting day. (We usually only do visiting Saturday, Sunday and Monday plus all federal holidays. Today is not a federal holiday.) But it was quiet. I understand it was quiet yesterday too. I am thinking tomorrow and Sunday are going to b packed. I will be working visiting for the next few weeks, so I am thinking it will be a busy time of year for visiting prisoners. The best part is the three days off every week. The down side is the 10 hour days.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. (Duh.) We had a good Thanksgiving. We went and spent the day with our friends Mary and Tonya. The food was so good. They made a huge turkey and all the proper side dishes. They made rutabagas, which I don’t remember ever having before in my life, but were good and tasted familiar. Carolynn liked them too. The down side to our fabulous feast… The stomach flu.

Monday, Catherine was sent home from school sick. Really early Wednesday (or late Tuesday depending) I came down with it. David didn’t make it through Wednesday before he got it too. We were all feeling pretty much better on Thursday, but I didn’t eat much of anything and neither did David. Thanksgiving is all about the food! And it was so good, but I just couldn’t do it. David felt worse than I did and he feels worse about not eating it. He hates that.

The company for the day was wonderful though. This was the first time we had been to Mary and Tonya’s house. We really haven’t known them very long. But I really liked them right from the start. Usually, I don’t like people. People as a whole are crazy. I get uncomfortable around new people. I am never sure how to act. I am basically anti-social. Weird? Yep, especially for a gal with a degree in communications… yeah that is public speaking. I can speak in public. That is different than making friends. Yeah, I work in a prison and have to interact with people all day… but they are prisoners. I don’t have to like them. In fact, it is discouraged in a big way. (Besides, who wants to befriend a felon? Really.) It’s still not the same and making friends. Mary and Tonya are great people. Their kids are super. We really enjoyed hanging out with them. Heck, we didn’t get home until nearly midnight. It really was a great Thanksgiving. Thanks Mary and Tonya and the kids for sharing your Thanksgiving with us.

Now that I am feeling better, I so want a turkey dinner. So we are going to cook one on Tuesday. It will be fun. With my job, we are going to be flexible with our holiday plans. I may have to work on Christmas. I don’t know yet.

Our volunteering at the Salvation Army isn’t doing so well. David and I each rang one evening and I did the morning count one day. But we have been so sick it has been impossible to keep up. Hopefully next week we will be back on track.

I think there was more I wanted to say, but I can’t remember it. I am tired and going to bed.

Let The Bells Ring

Last night David and I did our first night ringing bells for the Salvation Army. He took the first two hours and I took the last 2. It was nice. I did find a distinct advantage to last year…

Last year, I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t want to know anybody. I was jobless and poor and I didn’t want people to know. So even if I might have known anyone, I pretended I didn’t. This year, I know a lot of people. People I know can’t walk passed me and not give a little change.

Today I worked the first of my four 10 hour days for this week. I work tomorrow too, then on Friday and Saturday. It will be fun to have the whole middle of the week off. Working in visiting is fun. But we have to treat regular people a little like inmates. For example, I did a pat search on a baby today. He couldn’t clear the metal detector. He was only about 8 months or so. He had metal buckles on his pants. But I wouldn’t have been shocked really if his parent had tried to hide something on that baby. Very little surprises me about inmates and the people who visit them. Most of the visitors are fairly normal people. Some have some questionable choices in clothes and make up. One girl particularly had a TON of pink make up on. Women come in teetering on high heels, barely able to walk. It is amazing.

Anyway, that is all for today. This everyday business is getting harder. Only a few more days of NaBloPoMo.

I'd Like To Recant The Previous Statement

I found out today what my schedule for next week will be. After the scheduling issues I had this week, I was expecting the worst. Turns out, it isn’t too bad. I get to work visiting. I like working visiting. First, the schedule is nice. Visiting works 4 ten hour shifts instead of 5 eight hour shifts. So I get three days off next week. The extra good part is I get Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday off, so I get Thanksgiving off. Woo Hoo! That means turkey and all the trimmings. Of course, that means no day after Thanksgiving shopping. Oh well.

I have a terrible cold. I cough and wheeze and am losing my voice. My nose is stuffed and my head hurts. I have pockets full of cough drops. I have been taking Formula 44. It helps. I will be all better soon I hope. It makes life much more pleasant when I am not sick.

I made a big pot of chili for dinner. It was yummy. We ate it with cheese on top, sour cream and tortillas. I bought a bunch of small containers and made a bunch of lunch sized portions. I put some in the freezer for later and some in the fridge for this week. That way I don’t spend a lot of money on frozen dinners and other convenience foods for my lunch. And I froze some so I don’t have to eat the same thing all week. Later this week I will make homemade chicken noodle soup and I will do the same thing.

Catherine has been cleaning out her room. There are bags and bags of toys and clothes in the garage to take to the Salvation Army. We will take them on Thursday when we go there to fill out some more papers for volunteering there. Next week we should start the bell ringing. We are signed up for Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday nights in front of the Stater Bros. They are always short on volunteers and it is a good cause. If you have time, donate it. For every hour a volunteer rings that bell, $8.00 is saved. Without volunteers, the Salvation Army has to pay bell ringers minimum wage. Sure, some people really need that $8.00, especially at the holiday season. But then there are people like these folks, who get to benefit from this. But in the end, it is for a good cause and you get to have experiences like this. (By the way, the BIG interview I mention in that post is at a certain prison I know of.)

I need a haircut. As soon as it gets a little long, it starts looking limp and is hard to manage. Then it starts getting in my face and annoying me.

Carolynn came home with raccoon eyes again. I took her iPod. I give her makeup. I don’t approve of her hooker look. She also tries to go around wearing these little undershirts as shirts. Not happening. I do not work my ass off to raise a white trash hooker. Also not happening. Nope.

Anyway, I guess I did have stuff to say today.

Another One Bites The Dust

Catherine joined the grounded crew this week. Her grades are not the problem, her room was. It was nasty. Dirty dishes, old dirty clothes, nasty old trash. It was awful. The strange part is she is willing to clean everything else. She’ll scrub the toilets, clean the kitchen, and take out the trash. But she just refuses to clean her room. So there went her shot at NaBloPoMo, since her computer has been taken. I had a parent teacher conference with Catherine’s teacher today. She made the honor roll, of course, but she is slacking off on doing her work. Apparently, she thinks she is so smart, she doesn’t need to do more work. She has also been slacking on her reading, so her teacher and I discussed upping her reading time from 30 minutes Monday through Thursday to 90 minutes every day. That way she can finish her larger books. Also, her teacher would like her to expand her selections from just Harry Potter. Overall, she is a good student. Her teacher says her social skills are getting better too. She does need to learn to match her clothes. Maybe if she could find them in that mess of hers. We are getting it cleaned out this weekend.

Carolynn’s grades improved this week. She also did all of her chores and homework. So she is being permitted to go to her friend’s birthday party tomorrow. She is still grounded from internet, her phone and going anywhere else. If her behavior continues to improve, the grades climb, and the chores get done, she could be ungrounded before Christmas.

Speaking of kids in trouble… Tabi and Kathy’s son Ethan is with us tonight. Apparently, he didn’t do some school work and was told he would not be permitted to go on a family outing this evening to his brother’s choir performance if he didn’t get it done. As you can guess, he didn’t get it done. So he spent most of the night sitting at our kitchen table reading. He read all the books he brought with him, and two we had here. He ate some macaroni and cheese and now he is helping Catherine burn old school papers in the fireplace. It’s our first fire of the season.

If you’ll remember, last year at this time I made a deal with the world… If I promised to volunteer, the world would give me a job. (Check it out here.) Anyway, I went then and volunteered at the Salvation Army. Last winter I spent many of my hours ringing a bell and collecting donations. And the world provided me with a job at a prison. All was good. Not too long ago, the prison gave me a special award for my volunteer service. That is when I realized that the world didn’t think one winter of bell ringing was worth the amazing job. So when Gary from the Salvation Army called last week, I knew I had to go. Yesterday David and I went down there to fill out the forms. So starting soon, you will find me ringing a bell in front of the Stater Bros. on Saturday nights. You will find David there on Monday and Tuesday nights. You will also find us down there several days a week, counting out the kettles for deposit. We are doing a good thing.

Our TV is broken. We just got it in March so it is still under warranty. They are very willing to fix it for free, but I have to take it to the nearest repair shop. The nearest repair shop is in Yucaipa. So it’s kind of a pain, but what can you do? I can’t afford to buy a new TV. (This is what my Grandpa would probably do. But I love him.)

Yesterday was Aunt Chris’ 60th birthday. We went over for cake and took her a present, despite the fact that she specifically said no presents. Mary and Tonya (some wonderful friends of theirs, and now of mine too) were there and their friend Connie (who I have met a couple of times). It was fun. I hope she had a nice birthday.

David is sick. I have been pumping him full of medicine and he has been asleep most of the day. I have been making him drink orange juice and take vitamins too. He has no health insurance, so he needs to stay healthy.

If you recall, I am doing a blog swap for NaBloPoMo this year. I did it last year too. (Check it out here.) So for tomorrow, look for a post from Rammi right here on Tropical Fruit. And head over to her blog and look for a post by me. There are four other sets of swappers joining us in the swap for tomorrow so check out these great blogs tomorrow and see the results.

Stacey of Say Something Stacey will be swapping with Brandi Hassouna of The Day After

Bonnie Kaplan of BK's Reviews and Reflections will be swapping with Miranda of Compost Happens: An After School Special

Aurora McBride-Moore of Tales Of A Frumpy Mocha Princess will be swapping with Roxy Adams of ...snippets...

Katie Conrad of Gnomes At Night will be swapping with Johnny Pez

Living

That’s pretty much it. My job is same old… I work in a prison; it is what you expect when you work with criminals. But I still go back every day. I am still working the midnight to 8 am shift. I sleep during the day a lot. But, it pays the bills.

The girls are good. They had some state testing this week. Catherine had some softball games. I didn’t make it to today’s game because I was asleep, but David said she did great and she had to slide three times and scored three runs. Carolynn had a good birthday on Tuesday and is now an official teenager. Catherine had a game Tuesday. My mom came and brought Carolynn a new collector Barbie. After the game, we went to John’s Incredible Pizza with Joe, Nicole, and the kids. They got Carolynn a cool new outfit. I got Carolynn a couple of new collectible Barbie’s. David made it back from Texas in time to join us for pizza and he brought Carolynn some new books that she had wanted. What she had really wanted was some make up and the privilege to wear it. So we made an agreement, she can wear makeup, but I get to pick it. I bought it and I showed her how to put it on. I think she was disappointed. She said she couldn’t even tell it was on. I said that was the point.

Like I said, David made it back from Texas on Tuesday night. He was gone a week. He drove back in his truck. It is a 1986 Jeep pick up. It looks like crap but it seems to run like a champ. He made it all the way from Texas in two days. We took some stuff to the Salvation Army in it early this week and we picked up some fertilizer for the garden. It has no air conditioner, but he likes it. Here is a picture. He went back to work at McDonald’s, but having his new car opens up more opportunity for him. He is more available at McDonald’s and can look for jobs further away and not have to worry about buses or limit his availability.

I have been doing some gardening. There are a lot of weeds to pull, but we are doing it a section at a time. We have some plants in the front and a bunch in the back. We are planting a veggie garden out back. Plus some herbs are growing out there. We put some bird feeders out there. We have a couple of rocking chairs and a fire pit. We are going to try and get a new barbecue soon. We have an old charcoal grill for now. It is going to be a great summer to spend out there. Last summer was pretty craptacular. We didn’t have money to do anything. Now I have a great job and David has a little bit of a job, and he will get something better soon. Plus he is going to school. He is taking a math class and a history class. He spends a lot of time on that. Things are finally looking good.

On a sad note however, Bea Arthur passed away today. I used to love her on The Golden Girls. It came on too late for me to stay up and watch, but I used to sneak down the hall and hide in the entry way of our house and watch it anyway. I watched it on reruns for years too. It is amazing how funny she was. There are no others like her.

For The Love Of A Child

Where To Start...

My job offer was finalized yesterday. It is official. I am an employee of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. They called yesterday afternoon to let me know I should give my current employer notice right away. Okay, Gibby, you will have to hold down the fort by yourself, because I have to work. I begin training on January 5. I will have to go there sometime this week to discuss my recruitment bonus. I understand that it is 15% of my annual salary. I will be purchasing a washer and dryer immediately upon receiving this money. I have the appliance store on speed dial.

After they called, I called people because I was so excited to share my news. Nicole said the message I left on their answering machine was funny. I do not remember what I said. I was too excited. I was crying and yelling all over the house. Catherine thought something bad had happened. She was the only one home at the time. David and Carolynn were off bell ringing.

After my big news, I went to the Best Buy. My mom bought me an iPod for Christmas and I went to get it. It is blue. Once I got it home and figured out how to get songs on it (Thank you Trish), it was late. I did listen to it today. I even downloaded an episode of Friends onto it. (It is The One With The Mac And C.H.E.E.S.E.) I love it. It is so fun. I want to get many fabulous accessories for it, like a dock to listen to it in the house and something to play it in the car. My parents’ Jeep has a built in thing to play it.

Today has been busy. I was up early to take David to work. I found out that he will have to work Monday and Tuesday when I am going to Palm Springs. Luckily, once again, it was super Nicole to the rescue. She is going to take the kids over night while I am away so I can still go and David can still work. She’s a peach.

After I dropped off David, the girls and I had a Egg McMuffin and did some bell ringing. We saw my mom and Grandpa there buying chicken. After we rang the bell, we went to see the folks and Carolynn had some chicken. When I was there my Grandpa told me he wanted me to make him a gumdrop cake. My Grandma made that for him. I made him one last year, but it was not quite right. He gave me some pointers, I got a bundt pan, and hopefully this one will be right. I have it in the oven now. It is very dense. In case you do not know, a gumdrop cake is a fruitcake with gumdrops in it.

After I left my parents house, I went to pick up David, took him to the bank to take care of his check, and went to the Wal-Mart. (To buy a bundt pan.) Then Catherine and I went to do some more bell ringing. Then we went and got the gumdrops. I listened to my iPod while I made my cake.

Well, that is it for now. I am excited about the next two weeks. I can’t wait to start my new job.

Winter Wonderland

I want all of you friends and readers who live in the Midwest or any other place where it is regularly cold and snowy to not laugh.

It snowed here today. Honest to God snowed. It is the most snow that I ever saw in Apple Valley. It looks like about seven or so inches of precipitation today. It was crazy. I got up this morning to discover it was very rainy. My mom called and said the pass was closed so there would be no trip to Palm Springs today. We rescheduled for Monday. That way my parents can go too. Anyway, Apple Valley schools were open so I got the kids off to school. As I said, it was not snowing here. After the kids were at school, I went to the Salvation Army to count the buckets. I was there for a while when my mom called. She said that Carolynn had called her and that school was canceled. Carolynn thought I had gone to Palm Springs. Therefore, my mom went and braved the snow and the crazy parents to pick up Carolynn and I went to pick up Catherine. There was not that much snow, maybe an inch. However, Apple Valley is not prepared for any kind of snow so it was shut down. After we all got home, my dad called looking for my mom. She had stopped at the store to buy the stuff to make a pot of chili. I decided I wanted a pot of chili too. Carolynn and I braved the snow to go to the store. By the time we got there and home, the snow was worse. It just snowed and snowed. I have not seen it snow like that since we left Wisconsin. We have had a fire all day. We ate our big pot of chili. I had some tea. The girls went out to play in it a bit. The dogs are not happy. Elvis runs out only if he has too. Gibby was scared at first, but when the girls went and played in it, he went too.

Here are some pictures of our snowy day.

Here are the girls and their dirt snow man. This was early in the day, when there was only a little snow.

This is a snow ball fight in progress. Once again, this was early in the day.

This is our house toward the end of the day. It was getting dark. But it was still snowing.

This is Carolynn and Gibby late in the day playing in the snow.

Here are the girls and Gibby in the yard. Gibby loved chasing the girls through the snow.

Here is a short video of Gibby and the girls in the snow.



Also, my sister sent us a package yesterday. She called today and said the girls could open them up. Of course they did. So here they are.

Carolynn and her gift from Sarah.

Catherine and her gift from Sarah.

Busy As One Of Santa’s Elves

Today I did a lot. I filled out my background check paperwork for the prison. That took forever. I had to have addresses for every place I had lived going back like a million years. Not really. I did discover that in 10 years, I have lived in 10 houses, in two states and six different cities. I had to give them the names, addresses and phone numbers of my closest friends and family. I had to disclose my whole life history. When I finished, I went to my mom’s and printed it. I would have printed it here, but David’s computer crashed and he has not re-installed the printer stuff yet. It is almost back to normal. That means my mom will have to wait just a little longer for whatever fabulous new blog header David will design. I brought my mom a bottle of Sweet Hot Mustard from Hickory Farms while I was over there. Then I went and took the signed pages to the prison. She said she would be calling my by Friday. Then I rang the bell for the Salvation Army. After that, I did the laundry. There are always scary people in the Laundromat. As soon as I start being paid, I am buying a washer and dryer. One of Carolynn’s friends was there today. They were all giggly. When I got home, I cleaned a little. I packed for my adventure to Palm Spring with Grandpa. We leave tomorrow. I am picking him up at 8:00 am. He has a doctor’s appointment then we are off to Agua Caliente. It is going to be a fun trip. I will relax and Grandpa will have a good time too.

The girls only have a couple of more days at school. Thursday is their last day and it is a half day. Then they get three whole weeks off.

Well, I am off to bed because I have a big day tomorrow. I will be sure and post some pictures from my adventure.

The Big House

Today I went to the prison for a drug test and a physical. I was there for five hours. FIVE! Oh well. It was fine. The health services are in the main building, which houses the maximum-security federal penitentiary. I had to be checked, re-checked and checked again. I had to go through a bunch of big metal doors. There were really prisoners in there. They were cleaning the floor. Oh well, I peed in a cup and was checked out. I was given a letter on conditional employment. As soon as they get my test results and my background check, I can expect my real offer. I would being training on January 5.

Tomorrow I was scheduled to take a test for the county tomorrow, but I think I will skip it. I like the sound of that. I already have a job.

Wednesday I am taking my Grandpa to Palm Springs. I did not realize that Wednesday night was also Carolynn’s band concert. Luckily, my mom is going to fill in for me. She can take the pictures and listen to the Jingle Bells. It is more important right now to take Grandpa. I can hear Carolynn play any time. It will be fine if this one time I sent in a substitute. Once I am working, it is liable to happen more often. When I was working last year, missed several cross-country meets. I try to go to as many things as possible. I always tried to send in a substitute though so at least someone was there.

Today was very cold and rainy. It was snowing in places close by. It might snow here tonight. David rang the bell for the Salvation Army for 6 hours. Good thing he got that new sweatshirt. He was still cold though.

Relaxing

I cannot remember being this happy. I really feel like a whole new me. Now wait, not a new me. I finally feel like the old me. I want to go back to all those sad, pathetic blog posts and stamp them all "Not Anymore" or something. I can not believe just days ago I was worried how I would pay a car payment. Now, not only is the car payment paid, I am employed.

Today, I got up early and went to the Salvation Army to count out the money. I did not do any bell ringing yesterday because I had my interviewing. I counted money from 7:00 this morning until about 12:30 in the afternoon. My fingers were black. Money is so filthy. After I finished counting, I picked up Carolynn and her friends so they could do the bell ringing today. Carolynn’s friends Makayla and Diamond are spending the weekend. David was going to go ring the bell today and Makayla was excited and really wanted to do it, so I said they could. Gary, the person who runs the Salvation Army, gave them all their own aprons and jingle bells. They rang the bell from 1:00 to 5:30. And it was very cold today. They sang songs and got a lot of donations. They were very proud of themselves. Here is a picture of them. I took it with my phone so it is not a super great picture.



David supervised the girls most of the day. I did it for the last hour and a half. While he and the girls were ringing, Catherine and I went over to my mom’s house. I was telling my parents and grandpa about my new job. While I was there, my Grandpa and I planned a trip to Palm Springs. He gets free rooms at some of the casinos he frequents and he has one for Agua Caliente. I have never been to Palm Springs and that is Grandpa’s favorite casino. Therefore, he and I are going to take a trip there. We are going on Wednesday morning after Grandpa’s doctor’s appointment. We will be back on Thursday. He gets to play his favorite slots and I get to hang out and relax with no kids. Woo Hoo! It would be cool if Trisha lived near enough to come hang with me. She could use a day off too.

Well, that is it for now. Carolynn and her friends are watching Titanic. Catherine has a friend over too. She came late this afternoon. They are playing dress up. Earlier they roasted marshmallows in the fireplace. There are five kids in my house for a sleep over, but I do not care… because I have a job!

Seriously?

Today just sucked. Well, not totally, parts of it were pretty okay. However, over all the suckiness of it all out weighs the good parts.

I had a job interview today. The ad looked like this…

Seeking enthusiastic receptionist!

Conducting interviews right away for seasonal tax office.

Please email your resumes to XXXXX@whatever.com
Make sure to have contact information available!
• Location: Victorville
• Compensation: TBD

So I replied and they called me yesterday for an interview today at 11. First, it was not in Victorville, it was in Adelanto. Not that it was a big deal, I would have gone anyway. It is just a lot farther is all. I get there at a quarter to 11 and there was no one there. Therefore, I waited. About 10 after 11, a couple of guys came. They let me in and gave me an application to fill out. I filled it out. They came back and they interviewed me. Everything went fine. They were nice and the office was nice. Then, they inform me that they would like me to work there. WOO HOO! However, they do not need any receptionist. They just put that ad up to attract more people. What they really wanted were people who wanted to be tax preparers. Okay, I am not an accountant. Then they tell me it is okay because I can take a class and the class is free. Okay, I am on board. But, wait, there is more. Then they tell me the job is commission based only. I could get $20 to $50 for each tax return I file. And, here is the kicker, they want me to give them $250 for testing. The class is free but the testing and certification will be $250. This is the part were I say, heck no to that. That is not a job at all.

So I was a bit mad. I wasted gas and time to go all the way out there for no good reason. What a bunch of jerks.

Then I came home to change before I headed out to ring my bell. When I was at home, a delivery man brought a package for David. It was from his dad and in it was a very nice box of candy for me and the girls. Chocolates always make me happier.

Anyway, off I went to ring my bell. That went fine. After that, the girls and I went to my mom’s house. The girls made some ornaments for my mom’s tree. My mom got the tree out of storage but not the ornaments. She bought some silver and gold balls and some candy canes. It still looked bare. Therefore, we put up some ornaments we made and it looked much more festive.

Then we came home. We were making some dinner when I started going through the mail. In the mail was a letter from the financial company that I make payments to for my car. I am not behind in payments. I paid them for November. My payment is due on the 25th of each month, and I already gave them about $125 for this month. Last month, they offered to let me just pay the interest for one month, about $250. Since it is Christmas, I was going to do that. I already did half and planned to pay the other half on the 19th. I managed to get all of my other bills paid for this month and I went out and actually was able to get a few presents. Therefore, when I saw mail from them, I did not think much of it… Until I opened it.

It says that due to the excessive lateness of my payments I am in breach of my contract with them. In order to rectify this unfortunate situation I have the following choices:

1. I can allow them to take out the payments by automatic payment on the 19th of each month allowing time to process and have the payment post by the due date of the 25th. In the event that the payment is rejected, repossession of the vehicle will take place immediately.

2. The payment due date can be adjusted to the 15th of every month, thus allowing the financial company better assurance that they will receive payment at a reasonable time. If payment is not received by midnight, Eastern Time on the 15th of every month, repossession of the vehicle will take place immediately.

3. I can return the car as a voluntary repossession.

Okay, seriously… I have not been excessively late. Therefore, I call them and I get some guy named Aaron on the phone. I ask him hey, what the hell. He told me, very rudely, that they have the right to their money. They have a contract with me and I am breaking it. I asked him to define "excessively late". He said it was because I was late twice in a six-month period. I was late, about 8 days on July’s payment and 3 days on November’s payment. However, I paid August’s payment the same time I paid July’s. I paid September’s payment two weeks later, still in August and I paid October’s payment in September. Therefore, I tell this to good ol' Aaron. He says it does not matter, one day late is late and my contract says I will not be late. I told him this seemed a little excessive to me. He actually said if I did not like it, I could choose to do business elsewhere. WRONG THING TO SAY DUDE! I asked to speak to his supervisor. Jolene was slightly more helpful. She told me the same things, but when I asked why they were so uptight about it all of the sudden, she told me that they are having a lot of trouble with people missing payments and having late payments. She said the repo rate has almost doubled in the last few months. So starting on December 1, they are showing no leniency. I asked her if I could do like they offered last month and pay just the interest this month and she said no. I asked her if she could extend my payment due date and she said no. I asked her if there was anything I could do, she said no. I asked to speak to her supervisor. Steve, her supervisor, said there was nothing I could do either. I told him there was no way I was going to come up with another $350 in 5 days. He asked me if I would like the address to the place where I could give back my car. They are just so helpful.

I hate people. Just when I think, okay, I have this under control, some stupid thing happens. I hade a little savings and then needed an unexpectedly high cost repair on my car in August. There went the savings. Then I get a job at the pet store and think I have it, and bam, no more jobs. Then here I am all good to go, and bam, jerks.

So, does anyone need a kidney? I hear you can live with just one. Better yet, how about someone give me a job? A real job, where I do not pay you… That would be cool. Yes, a job would be awesome.

I do have one glimmer of hope. One tiny little hope I cling to. A job, a good one, which I have interviewed for and I think I have an excellent shot at. However, it does not start until January and I have not heard for sure yet. However, I hold that thought as my hope that there is a light at the end of this tunnel of crappiness.

Of course, if they repossess my car, that kills my light. They will not hire me if that happens.

So there you have it, my day of fun. On Monday, while I was ringing my bell, a woman came up to me and hugged me out of nowhere. Her husband put a bunch of money in my kettle and she said, “Bless your little heart for doing this honey. Good things will come to you.” I try to believe her. On Saturday, while I was emptying the buckets and counting, one bucket contained a fortune that read “Success and good fortune will soon come to you”. I hope so. I also found a ketchup packet, a glass bead and a token from the local fun center while counting the buckets, but I do not know that those are good omens.

Now back to your regularly scheduled Wordless Wednesday.

Sunday Brunch

Today the girls and I went out with my mom. Sunday is football day at her house. My dad and my Grandpa watch football all day. My mom is not a big fan of football, so us girls went out to do some Christmas shopping. Before we headed off to fight the crowds, we stopped for brunch at Marcelino’s. Mexican food is my favorite food, and Marcelino’s is my favorite place to get it. I haven’t been there in a long time though, funds have been low as you know. They have a Sunday brunch buffet. I had beans and rice, enchiladas, chile relleno, huevos rancheros, and pork fajitas. It was all fabulous. I could totally eat there every single day. After we were stuffed full of all the delicious Mexican food we could eat, we headed off to brave the mall. My mom wanted to go to the See’s Candy and look in some other stores. I finished off most of my Christmas shopping. I have to pick up one thing for David and one thing for Taylor. I know what I am getting for both, so it should be easy and I will be done this week. I am going to be making many presents, but I will wait until it gets closer to Christmas.

When we got home, we did some wrapping and made cookies. My mom got me some new baking supplies yesterday; mixing bowl, measuring cups, measuring spoons, and a spoonula. She also gave me a cookie press. We made some cookies with it today. I wanted to try it out now, before I try to make my gifts. They came out pretty tasty. The press came with a recipe for some savory cheesy crackers. I want to try that one too. I have some great ideas for tasty gifts.

Tomorrow I will be ringing the bell at the Stater Bros. in the afternoon. Tomorrow is also Monday, and that means another week with hopes that I get a job. I have faith and hope.

O Christmas Tree

Today was a seriously busy day. I got up early and was at the Salvation Army by 7 AM. I got the buckets from yesterday counted. Then I went and delivered empty buckets to several other sites. After that, Catherine and I did the bell ringing for a couple of hours outside of the Stater Bros. I was there yesterday too. After we finished our bell ringing, we went to lunch at Burger King. This was a huge thing for us. It is a huge treat to eat out anymore. After lunch, we dropped David off at work. He has actually been sick the last few days, but he worked anyway. After we left him at McDonald’s, I dropped the kids at my mom’s house. She took them to do some Christmas shopping. While they were gone, I did some Christmas shopping. Then I came home, cleaned, and looked for jobs.

After the girls got back from their shopping, we headed off to meet Chris and Sherri at the Apple Valley Town Tree Lighting. It was a nice tree. Here are a few pictures from our event.

This is the best picture I could get of the tree. It really is a nice tree.

Catherine eating a bag of popcorn.

This is Taylor and Aunt Chris. This is also what happens when Catherine has the camera.

Aunt Sherri in this one. Another fine Catherine picture.

Carolynn all bundled up.

One last thing, Carolynn has been working really hard on her blog. She has posted four days in a row now. She is doing the Holidailies challenge to post everyday from December 5 to January 6. She REALLY wants people to comment. I told her she would get more comments if she left some for people. I believe she went and left comments on several of your blogs. (All our family blogs, Trisha’s and maybe Ashley too.) If you got Carolynn comments, can you please leave her some comments too? She is very excited about this and it would be nice for her to get some comments.

Tomorrow is Sunday, no bell ringing. I have some more bell stories, but those can wait for another day. Susan hasn’t been back yet.

The Return Of Susan

“Is your name Jennifer?”
Yes “Nope, sorry.”
“Really? So what’s your name?”
Jennifer “Susan”
“Susan What?”
“Bowman” (Not even close)
“Hmm… you look familiar. Where did you go to high school?”
Apple Valley “Eisenhower.” (That is where my mom went.)
“What year did you graduate?”
1995 “1992”
“Oh well, you look like a girl I went to high school with.”
“Oh, well, Merry Christmas.”

Yeah, I knew him all right. He and I went to high school together. We were not really friends; he was more of a boyfriend of a friend of a friend. My junior year of high school, I walked in on him and this friend of a friend getting busy in the girls bathroom at school. Being 16, I laughed my ass off, and then proceeded to tell everyone. Yep, I was an ass. Anyway, he and the girl hunted me down later and she yelled at me. She was crying because, as she said, I ruined their first time. Right there in the girls bathroom… in the science building.

Today was my third day of bell ringing for the Salvation Army. I did it last week on Wednesday, but there was not much to say about it. There were few people and it was raining. The people that did come were running to the store or to their cars to minimize getting wet. No one stayed to chat. David did it on Friday. He gathered a lot of money, but no one chatted him up. They were too busy shopping.

Today was a better day. Besides the fabulous person from high school, plenty of old folks chatted. Everyone seems to be tightening his or her belts. One of the old folks that came by today told me he had seen on the news somewhere that the bell ringers were not allowed to ring bells. They had to replace the inside of the bells with paper clips. Another person told me that he heard that people were faking that they were really with the Salvation Army and collecting the money for themselves.

I did not get too many cranky folks today. One woman from K-Mart was rather cranky. She kept telling me I was in her way. She was trying to pull these big heavy carts and she was having trouble. Twice they got away from her and almost hit folks. I would have been in her way down the street.

The worst part about standing out there all day… Smokers. K-Mart people come out on their breaks and other people smoke out there. They stand and smoke, sometimes within feet of my kettle. I am sorry, but that is a disgusting habit. I do not care if you are a smoker reading this, it is nasty. It gives me a headache. It smells terrible. It makes it hard to breathe.

In addition, since many little kids put money in my kettle, I bought a huge bag of Dum Dum suckers to give them. They empty their tiny wallets to help the needy. I give them a tiny lolly. It is only fair.

That is all today.