Spinning

Where in the world did my days off go? I certainly don’t know.

The first one was spent moving into my apartment - made two trips to WL and one trip to IC to pick up items.  My gas tank is on empty - something that hasn’t happened in quite awhile as I’ve been keeping it up around half a tank.

When I arrived at the unit there was no refrigerator but that came later while I was picking up the TV from my son.  It is nice and new - can’t ask for much more then that.  I almost bought ice cube trays but when I found out I was getting a brand new refrigerator, I decided not to as a new refrigerator almost always comes with ice cube trays.  Well, wrong.  Yes, my new refrigerator in FL did come with two ice cube trays but this one had nada so I will have to grab some sometime.  Not a big deal, mind you, just a little irritated when I got home as I didn’t have anything cold to drink then but such is life.

Got the TV and DVD player hooked up so have been putting on my movies when I need background noise.  I almost got speakers for my computer, having left mine in FL, but I couldn’t remember if my computer had a built in speaker or not.  It doesn’t.  Just means I can’t listen to my music until I get computer speakers which I will do on the 1st.

The maintenance man came over on Wednesday because the toilet water hose was leaking.  He thought he had it fixed but it still leaks a little every time I flush.  I put a rag under it so that takes care of that problem.

Baxter and I have gone for walks twice a day since being there.  He loves going and I love that it gets me out exercising.  We haven’t gone far - though today we did go farther then previously.  Part of it is not knowing my way around town that well but the biggest reason has been the heat.  We didn’t get a walk in tonight before work due to the rainstorm.

Yesterday my nephew and I moved the loveseat and entertainment center my sister gave me.  It is so great to have some furniture in the apartment! The loveseat is almost comfortable enough to sleep on - something I might have to do because my air mattress keeps losing air.  Another sister has a bed in her basement that I might see about using if they can bring it to NL for me as I don’t have a way to transport it.  I’m not in any rush, I can sleep on the floor if I need to for awhile.

Several of the ceramic and glass pieces I sent up from FL were broken.  I was disappointed because I packed them in bubble wrap and everything.  A couple of other pieces were chipped or broken but not so badly that I can’t glue them back together.  Ah the joys of shipping things.

My beautiful skirt that I was looking forward to wearing to my nephew’s wedding next month was left down in FL too.  I was upset to find that out.  But I left a bag in my closet there that I meant to grab - it had all my favorite clothes in it so I should have guess the skirt would be in it too.  Oh well, I will have to find something else to wear.  I’m going to plead with my neighbor down there to send me the bag - she can take the whole bag to the UPS store and they will do all the boxing and shipping. She hates to be put out but I’m hoping she will take pity on me and do it.

I have been asked by work to switch my hours this coming Monday and Tuesday from 7pm-3am to 3pm-11pm because the trainer on that shift needs a hand with the trainee.  I agreed to do so though it means getting off at 7am on Monday morning and having to be back at 3pm the same day.  I will also have to do it the following week.  On Wednesday they are putting out OT requests for the other days as well, I may sign up but changing shifts like that makes sleeping so much harder again.

It continues to rain outside which is good, it means we won’t be doing many traffic stops and, hopefully, the guards will be staying longer at each building.  I really could use a quiet night.

No Service

I get no bars on my wonderful AT&T cell phone here at work.  It can be frustrating when I am waiting for a call to come in because I have to remember to go outside during break to see if any calls came through.  My phone doesn’t even beep or give me any indication at all that a call was received until I go out.

Well, tonight I went out just to see if I had any messages.  I actually did too.  It was my new landlord telling me I could start moving in on Wednesday - possibly Tuesday.  I am suppose to set up a time tomorrow to go to his office to sign my lease and pay whatever rent I will need to pay for the rest of this month.

Because I didn’t get the call last night at 7:30, when he actually called, I can’t get the electric put in my name until Wednesday now.  Had I been able to do it last night, I might have been able to have it on Tuesday.  But that is OK, Wednesday is fine.  I doubt they’ll let me stay there overnight Tuesday night though if electric isn’t in my name.

I have already put in a change of address as well and changed my address with the University.  I am very excited and hope it is a good thing.  Putting down the deposit was such a rushed thing that I still need a few questions answered like - do they pay water/sewer or do I; where are the mailboxes; where is the laundry room; etc.

I am sure I will find out a lot more tomorrow - including what kind of a deposit I have to put down for electric service, etc.  Still, it is nice to know that I will soon have my own space and can finally unpack.

I still won’t have cable till next month so that is kind of a bummer with the new season of Closer starting tonight but oh well.  Can’t have everything.  Guess I can buy those dishes by the end of the week…or the first of the month anyway. 

It will be so good to get Baxter and I back into a routine.  I miss sleeping with the little bugger but couldn’t sleep during the day with him in there because he likes to bark when he hears Kato bark.  He will have to be broken of that barking habit - he rarely ever barked at all in Florida.  I sure do love the little guy.

Feeling Better

I started out this night not feeling well at all.  Twice at work that exceptionally gross process of throw-up coming up into a person’s mouth happened to me and I wondered why I had dared to come into work.

When I got here, several other people were also complaining about not feeling well and vomiting - guess I know where I got it from huh? I kept wondering why I was sick when I hadn’t eaten anything or taken any medication combinations that are prone to making my stomach upset.  I woke up at 1:30pm vomiting and it seemed I was going downhilll from there.  About 8:30 pm, I swore I had a temperature but tried to ignore it.

I don’t know who brought the stuff to work but for several of us from the same shift to come down with the same thing is too big of a coincidence.  One of the evening people last night must have started it somehow before they left at 11pm - I think this because a couple of the evening people also became ill.

Whatever it was, I’m glad I’m starting to feel better though I’m still looking forward to getting off work and going to bed.

At Work

I have been at work for 2 1/2 hours now.  I have 1 1/2 hours to go before I can go back to my sister’s house.  They did not need me to be here from 3am-7am so I don’t know what the scheduler was thinking.  I know she thought I needed to get an additional 4 hours in somewhere but really…3- 7 am? How crazy is that???

I spent the first hour reading other people’s blogs - something I don’t seem to have time for these days.  I always read my family’s blogs but often don’t get to check out the blogs of those people I have links to on my blogroll.  So tonight I checked out everyone’s and made a few comments.

Then, having read those, I decided to write a note to my friends down in Florida.  Took me pretty much of the next hour to write them a two page letter.  This last half hour I spent reading my junk mail.  Such an exciting time.

I am going to have to be more inventive to come up with something for the remainder of the time.  I did get my uniforms when I came in to work today - they are too long in the legs.  I told her a 32″ length but they must be 34″ as I keep falling over them.  The rest of the stuff fits fine.  It was good to get the jacket because I had forgotten to bring one and it is chilly in here tonight.

It is starting to get light outside - it is my favorite time at work, watching the city awaken.  Hope to be in bed here shortly. 

I did check out fares to Florida earlier.  It would cost $560 or so to fly two people there.  I don’t have the money to buy tickets now so am hoping the price doesn’t skyrocket between now and when I do.  I might just have to go down by myself.

As I was going to St Ives

Yeah, I really didn’t have a title for this blog so rather then keep struggling with it, this riddle popped in my head so I used it.  Strange, I agree.

Today is my last day “off” work for the next six days.  I actually work 3am-7am tomorrow morning - don’t ask me how that came about because I have no idea.  I will go to bed tonight but have to be up at 2 am to get to work on time.  Ugh.  Then I start working 11pm-7am Wednesday thru Friday, then 7pm to 7am on Saturday and Sunday.  My regular schedule that I hopefully will start on the end of July is 7pm-7am Sat & Sun and then 7pm-3am on Mondays and Tuesdays.  I suppose I should get on work’s email system to see if anything has changed in my absence.

Right now I’m getting ready to go into Iowa City to get a present for my nephew’s new baby girl.  I don’t really know what they need so will get them some cute stuff and hope they like it. 

I really wish I could get my life into more of a routine.  I know it won’t happen this month but hopefully next month - especially if work lets me stick to my schedule so I could plan out my month.  I’d like to get a second job for awhile - probably working mornings since I work for the University in the evenings.  I just have so many bills that I’m behind on - I hate it.  Before I moved I had every bill paid up on time but now it is more of a struggle.  There I could fill my gas tank up once every three or more weeks - here I’m filling it each week.  Even when I move to NL, I will still be spending a lot more in gas then I did.  Still, I’m not sorry I moved up here but I do miss some of my friends down South and I miss my condo.

According to the doctor’s scale, I’ve lost 18 lbs since moving up here.  I can tell my clothes are a bit baggier but think that 18 lbs is such a drop in the bucket to what I need to lose.  Of course, it is a start and I expect I’ll continue to lose as I go along.  I am not as down as I was in Florida so am not eating as much since a lot of my eating then was due to being down. 

So there you have it.  I guess I best get my butt in gear if I want to run to town quickly.  I don’t want to be gone long because I need to do laundry and want to hang the clothes out if I can find the clothes pins.  I love the smell of clothes that have been hung out versus the dryer. 

End of the Holiday

Today has been a fun day here at my sisters - watching her four kids, now all grown up, interact and joke around really made me smile - they turned out to be amazing adults. It seems like they were little not so long ago but here they are, getting married and all. I hadn’t been around all of them together since being back in Iowa so it was fun. They played volleyball and really made us laugh a lot. It seems I’ve laughed a lot yesterday and today - it is good for the soul.

 

I think I got too much sun today as I’m getting a headache and my head feels hot. Probably sunburnt. It was, of course, worth it but decided to come in for awhile to cool down - plus the bugs were bad.

People are breaking out the food again for supper. I ate a ton of potato salad and baked beans. My sister went all out, as she usually does, and had several different kinds of pie as well. I was looking for the hotdogs but couldn’t find them so will have to try again. My sister’s husband grilled them just the way I like them - extra crispy. I drank one beer and a lot of lemonade…not together of course. LOL

The kids talk about going off to do things this evening - watch fireworks and what not. I told my sister she should go to a movie with her husband but they are babysitting so will probably have to wait until Sunday to go. My son said him and his girlfriend would try to come down to Wall-e on Sunday too so that would be nice.

LeMars

Got back tonight from visiting my eldest sister at her home in LeMars.  That part of the state is so beautiful with it’s cliffs and rolling hills.  I hadn’t been to the northwest corner before.

The trip was uneventful with the exception of the constant road construction.  You’d get free of it, finally, and see a sign that in two more miles you’d be down to one lane again.  Everyone would speed up and try to volley for the “best” spot before the construction began again.  A semi was in the lane trying to get around another one and wasn’t going to make it so I slowed down to let him in front of me.  I couldn’t help wondering what that driver was thinking, trying to speed up so much to get around a vehicle as big and cumbersome as he, himself, was.  Did he really think he’d make it?

At one point we were stopped, bumper to bumper, which I hate because it is usually about that time that I suddenly have to go to the bathroom.  The next rest stop was one with “parking only”…no toilet facilities.  I’m sorry but who wants to rest somewhere that is just for parking? I know, your thinking of the semi’s but really, don’t you think they’d like to stop to rest and go to the bathroom so they don’t have to stop later? I would think so but guess the state of Iowa disagrees.  There was, in all the parking only rest stops I saw, one RV parked there which I thought made sense since it has it’s own toilet facilities.

For me, I would alternate.  I’d stop at a regular rest stop to go the bathroom and then not stop again until I needed gas.  Even getting 30.8 miles to the gallon, I used a lot of gas.  I don’t see how anyone can afford to travel for leisure anymore.

I didn’t get lost at all, the way was well signed so it was very simple.  I did get pulled over by a State Trooper though.  He said he pulled me over because I didn’t have a front license plate and because my tinting was too dark on my windows.  Well, the tinting is blown into the glass at the factory so the only way to change that is to get different windows which, of course, I’m not about to do.  The front license plate is just my own little protest over having to drill holes into my bumper just because Iowa is one of the few states left who insists on front license plates.  Irritates me.  I didn’t get any tickets - I wasn’t speeding when he stopped me so I just got warnings for the other things.

I had a good visit with my sister and enjoyed myself but was anxious to get back to Iowa City too.  I tried to spend the driving time reviewing my life and what changes I would like to make but then got trapped in construction so much that I had to focus on staying between the pylons.  When I was finally free of construction for a fifty mile stretch, my brain was too tired to consider anything other then being able to close my eyes soon.  Even considered pulling over to rest for a half hour or so because my eyes hurt but I didn’t.  I didn’t really sleep well and then was up at 6:30am so think part of the problem with my eyes was simply that I was tired.

Internet’s Back

Both Internet and cable were down for a couple hours today making it impossible to be passively entertained.  I wrote in my journal and put a movie in called “Shattered” which I had seen before but not for many years - it was alright.

Right now I have “Jurassic Park” in and it is at the scene where the T-Rex is attacking the kid’s car.  At 7pm I will turn it back to cable as the movie “Supergator” is suppose to be on Sci-Fi then.  You know how I love those corny “B” movies.  I think the actors work harder in the B movies because they aren’t famous - each movie they do they are hoping someone will recognize them and they’ll make it to the big time.  Once actors are stars, a lot start thinking their shit doesn’t stink and their fans will put up with anything.  Usually the B movies have one star that was an extra in a few big name movies so as to lend some sort of authenticity to the show.

Rick, my brother-in-law, decided to go to the races tonight instead of watching his granddaughter here.  I don’t know if the child is going along or if they found someone else to watch her.  I would have watched her had they wanted me to but no one asked.  It is good he is spending bonding time with his oldest son but it makes me feel like I’m a fifth wheel in that he probably would have stayed home to enjoy a night on his own if I hadn’t been here.  I hate feeling like I’m in the way.

However, hopefully, that will change this next week and I can get moved into my own place.  I won’t have much of anything to start with but I guess that is alright.  I can buy cheap plastic plates and what not at the Dollar Store.  I have my pots and pans so at least that is something.  My younger sister gave me a glider that use to be our Mom’s so I will have something to sit in to watch TV if I can still borrow a TV from someone.  I will have to buy a DVD player because I can’t go without TV and I won’t be able to afford cable for awhile.  Don’t know what I will do about the Internet - guess I’ll have it at work or have to go to the library.

I hope I get a two bedroom apartment so I can make the second one a den.  Course, I don’t have many books anymore…it makes me very sad.  I left some books in the condo that I definitely want so hope I can get back there to get them.  My sister said she’d go down with me when I’m ready if I wanted.  I’m thinking between her, Wayne and myself, we could get a lot done.  I’m not so sure I want to sell it now and have been trying to dream up ways that I can keep it awhile longer - short of winning the lottery or getting a big raise, I’m not sure it will be possible.  Man I miss my condo.  I don’t miss Florida but I do wish I could transport my condo up here.

Oh well, such is life.  I’ve been working, as I said I would in a previous post, on how I’m going to change my life.  So far I haven’t come up with much but I do think I’m on the right track.  I promised myself when I was in Florida that living back in Iowa would be different this time.  I would explore my home state and do more fun things in it and the surrounding states.  That is still one of my goals.  I wish I had all the answers but I don’t. 

 

More Bee’s Please

I’ve been reading about this phenomenon about the honey bees disappearing. It sounds like a little thing, why bees are pests and who cares if they are declining in extremely large numbers? It was even brought up in the movie “The Happening” as something that scientists can’t explain…and they can’t.  In the past few years, 36% of the honey bee population has died.

Who knows why the bees are dying in record numbers? No one does - “possible explanations include pesticides; a new parasite or pathogen; and the combination of immune-suppressing stresses such as poor nutrition, limited or contaminated water supplies and the need to move bees long distances for pollination” says the article I read. The loss of bees is becoming a major crisis for the United States.

How does that effect your life, you may ask. You might not know that bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion in crop revenue annually. That means food prices will begin to soar because there aren’t enough bees to pollinate entire crops of things such as almonds, berries of most every kind, cucumbers, pears, etc. One out of every three bites of food a person puts in their mouth can be traced back to honey bee pollination of crops. Think about bread, ice cream, salads, cereal, fruit juices, just to name a few items off the top of my head.

It is amazes me how one little upset in nature can have such a wide ripple effect. It doesn’t surprise me - I know nature is delicately balanced and that human interference has always done more harm then good - but it always amazes me. When are we humans going to wake up and see how much we impact our planet?

So what things can you do to help the bees? You can plant bee friendly plants in your yard such as: lavender, glory bushes, jasmine, rosemary, thyme, blue bells and sunflowers to name a few. You can also use more honey which helps support bee keepers and honey bee research.

Let’s work together on saving our planet because, ultimately, we are saving ourselves as well.

One Down, Four to Go

Today was a disaster.  I can only hope that it was so crazy because it was a Monday and that tomorrow will be a lot quieter.  Doubtful but one can hope.

I think I feel a migraine coming on.  My eyeballs hurt due to an enormous pressure building behind them.  Light hurts my eyes and I have a headache that doesn’t seem intimidated by Tylenol…spells migraine to me.  I’m hoping it will just go away on it’s own.

I’m trying to keep my head down and just make it through this week because then I have a week off.  Hopefully I will then go to evenings/nights.  I’m still hoping to change jobs in the near future but will have to see.  Need to update my application.

Saturday I start my week of vacation.  Even though Wyoming is canceled, I still plan on taking it so that I can get moved in to an apartment and what not.  I know I’ve said all this before.

I really have nothing more to share right now as it is my bedtime.  Part of keeping my head down is not spending time thinking about anything much - kind of burying my head in the sand that filters through the hourglass of time hoping I’ll poke my head out soon and it will be Saturday.  My sister says the weeks go by so fast but I disagree…today drug by so painfully that pulling all my teeth out seemed more appealing then spending one more moment in dispatch.  I hope tomorrow is better - doubt having a toothless grin would improve my looks any.