Random thoughts and vents

It's been awhile...two weeks already--how time flies. :(

News on the homefront is good. No fights, more communication, and things are running rather smoothly. :)

Work's been busy, so that's good, too. :) There's the usual stupidity of some co-workers, but it's just something I have to put up with because no one has the balls enough to change things. :p I thought I was on a roll last week, when E called S to bump my wages. Got my paycheck today, and it was a lousy $.25/hr increase! So, even though I am equally qualified and experienced as another co-worker--who I might add, has been there 8 months shorter than I have--I'm still making $1.00 less than her! Needless to say, I'm am beyond pissed off! It's not my boss's fault--he does what he can. It's the owner of the company that doesn't have a clue, and frankly, I don't think he really cares, either. It's just baffling to me (and others) what his logic is, in how he pays his employees. :( No matter how you look at it, it just doesn't make sense.

M's school nurse called me today. M in the beginning throes of a cold and is miserable. Apparently, he was spending more time in the nurse's office than in the classroom, so being that I was fed up with work, I decided to leave early and take him home. And, even though he's had 2 extra hours to do any homework, we're still sitting here at 7:30, finishing that up. ~~rolling eyes~~ I don't really blame him though, it's language arts--in the process of learning how to form sentences and putting them into paragraphs and stories--and learning to spell and define the terminology of said process. For me, it's not only boring, but difficult (as I sit here and ramble endlessly in my blog LOL). He's great at spelling the words, it's just the matter of putting them into sentences, where he has a problem. I mean, really, who uses the word prewriting"?!? And, is there a real difference between the meaning of edit and revise?! Blech!

Then, I get a wild hair and call that annuity company again, that I've been having problems with. Guess what? Now, they say we CAN do a cash surrender (first we could, then we couldn't, and now we can, again)! It's no wonder my hair is turning gray. :p They're supposed to be sending me paperwork to fill out to, cash it in. Once I get that, I'm going to fill it out immediately, and they better damn well do it! This is really getting to be ridiculous already. :(

MJ's doing okay. :) She's comfortably at home, and at least still eating. She'll never get any better, of course, but for now, it's all we can ask for. :)

The kitten has been my comic relief. She's also been my pain in the butt! LOL She sure is cute, but what a little stinker. We still have the screens on the storm doors--and, she still has her claws. She's taken to climbing the screen to the top, then launching onto the inside door, and hanging out on top of that. LOL Dumb cat...she'll be in for a big surprise when I change the screens to the storm window. Not only that, there will come a day in the near future, when she's too big to sit on a one and a half inch wide door! LOL Of course, she may learn that after she rips the shit out of my screens because she's too heavy for them to handle it. :( Eek.

She and Katrina are STILL not getting along, unfortunately. Layla just wants a friend and a playmate. Katrina, the old bag, doesn't want a THING to do with her. She's constantly hissing and growling at Layla. And again--dumb kitten--Layla thinks it's all in fun, and that if she persists, Katrina will eventually change her thinking. So far, Katrina's not buying it. LOL

So, it's been week...

Sorry about that. :p D finally came home Saturday afternoon, with his tail between his legs, so to speak. Trying to make a long story short, we had dinner, and a good discussion afterwards. Some stuff I couldn't bring myself to talk about, for fear of another upheaval, so I wrote him a letter (that took a couple of days to write), and I believe he finally read it on Thursday a.m.

But, I think it finally got through to him that family is not just a financial investment, but an emotional one as well. :) It's been very calm and...what?...productive--for lack of a better word--around here all week! :) He's been discussing his days with me, I've been discussing my days with him, and we've been getting along very well, even in the bedroom. :o (did I just "say" that out loud?! LOL) We've even touched on his fears and the situation with his father--which is a whole other story and blog to write about, but I won't...for now.

Today, was shopping day. Thank goodness for those Alltell rebate cards I got in the mail the other day, or my checkbook would look worse than it already does! :o M and I went to Target, and we got him a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, a long-sleeved shirt, a pair of tennis shoes, and an insulated vest. For me, I got a can of hairspray and ream of copy paper (whoohoo :p). Then, we hit McD's for lunch, and off to the grocery store, which I should probably own half of it by now....SHEESH! :o

Another little tidbit of semi-good news....I've been bugging my manager about bugging HIS boss about giving me a raise. Well, he FINALLY spoke to him about it yesterday morning. :) It was a quick "hey, bump Shari up to $XX an hour now" type conversation, and he told me the "big boss" said "okay". Now, we wait and see if really does it, and I told E to keep reminding S about it, before they cut the new checks in a week and a half. :p We'll see....

Then, there's the not so good news. :( I talked with two aunts this morning, and neither of them had good news regarding their baby sister. The cancer's just gone too far throughout her body, and poor MJ is suffering. :( The only thing left to do now, is just pray she goes peacefully. My one aunt even said she's been praying to my mom to help MJ go quickly. :( God, this is just so much for one family to handle all at once!! It's bad enough that my best friend and my mom went so quickly and so close together, but for my aunts and uncles to have two siblings to lose (or about to lose) to that damn disease in a short period of time...it's just too damn much! :( It doesn't sound like any of them are handling it very well at all. The two brothers that are the closest to MJ in age, are a wreck...first, their oldest sister, and now the youngest sister. They've already lost two other siblings to cancer, previously. But, the losses were spaced years apart, so I imagine it was a little easier to take. More than one person has said to me that it makes you wonder what's in the water up there. :(

Stuff on the estate is going well. The rent thing is settled--thank goodness! And, now, it's just a matter of waiting for probate to finalize. There is one little snafu we've run into, but I'm going to see if that can be remedied quickly, instead of dragging out for years. But, it's really no skin off my back if the stupid company wants to waste their money on paperwork, I suppose. :p

After working for the past two weekends, it's weird having two whole days off in a row! LOL I've got most of the laundry done today, so tomorrow is kind of a 'freebie'. :) M's supposed to take a picture of a bird for art class (huh?), so we may go for a walk tomorrow, to see if we can find a dumb bird...like we don't have any in our own back yard. LOL