This sucks.

So yeah, the shit literally hit the fan today.  Sorry if my language isn't G-rated but it's been a bad couple days.  

I got a call from work yesterday saying I was basically "non-essential" for *at least* the next 2 weeks and to not come in.  But apparently the coworker who has less seniority and "retired" for a couple months while she went & worked for a competitor IS essential???? 

WTF.  

And they're using our vacation days for this BS. 

The Spouse has been working from home for the last week.  He got a call Thursday afternoon from his manager telling him about a very nice bonus he's going to be getting.   We had some hope for a while.  Then Friday they sent out a company email about they'll be letting employees know early this week about who they consider essential, who will get cut hours, who will be laid off, etc.  

And since he does support work for field inventory operations - which are currently not happening.....we wait to see what they decide.  So possibly instead paying down the credit card and saving a nice amount, we may be using his bonus to live on for a while. 

Then today there was also major drama with the Spawn - too much drama.  

I can't even put it into words right now. 

This would be funnier if I didn't have to explain Non-Judicial Punishment!

Woke up to this crap this morning. 

My Lenten Rose decided to start growing under the mulch - then I cleaned out the flowerbeds and now it's freezer-burnt.   Bastard. 

EXCEPT THEY'RE CLOSED DOWN, TOO!!!!!

@^!*$#%!$&#

OK, whew.  Now that I got that out, maybe I can breathe.  It just seems like when it rained, it poured and I like to think of myself as a calm, rational person (usually).  But I had reached my limit!

I'm trying to think about the positive side.  We have a solid roof over our heads.  We're warm.  We're fed.  We're healthy.  We have enough $ where we can get necessities, if we can find them.  We have clean running water.  We "together" well without getting on each other's nerves.   

We'll be OK.    

Sometimes you just need to nap in a box. 

So it looks like the plan for the foreseeable future is getting some much-needed cleaning & purging done in this house.   And working on the Blogging A-Z Challenge that I totally have NO motivation to do.   I have no idea for a theme, let along any posts pre-written.   Maybe I'll go explore some cemeteries, because where else can you find such peace?  

OH!!   Speaking of...

(random oddness ahead)

I am the chair-lady of a scholarship we offer at my VFW.  

Backstory, A WWII Veteran passed away in 1994 and left $62,000+ to the post.  We used $12K to build a monument out in front of the building, and the other $50K was put in the bank as a scholarship in his name.  (We're still awarding 3 kids $1000 of that each year!!)  Well I got to thinking, where was this comrade buried?  Nobody at the post knew and I couldn't find an obituary for him.  So I did some searching and came across one of the local libraries' genealogy department, so I emailed them.  Of course all of the libraries had already shut down, but the lady told me she had the records on her home computer and thought he was at a different cemetery than where I'd already looked.  So I called and not only did they confirm he was buried there, they told me the exact location!  So I went and found his headstone!  AND I got to talk to this man's niece on the phone who said she would be happy to share some personal photos of him!!  

I'm pretty excited to let people at the post know. 

Our township had a "Chalk your Walk" even this weekend where they wanted people to go out & draw / write positive & uplifting things on their sidewalks & driveways.  And then go out for a walk and see what others had done.  I took the grandson for a walk while Spawn was at work and didn't see any driveways done, but found this at the park.  

Plenty of pumpkin pie liqueur at the grocery store!  If I didn't have a bottle of Captain Morgan Pumpkin Spice Rum sitting in the kitchen at this very moment, I would have gotten a bottle. 

This SnapChat filter was perfect for Adam in his construction barrel outfit!

I guess it's time for this day to be over with.  

Yay!

March Goals & Mantras

I thought I'd give this prompt a try!  Since I have been sucking lately on the blogging front.  Being a Grandma is hard work!  

Just kidding - Spawn is a good mommy and even tho they live with us, she takes care of him 98% of the time.   She just started back to work Tuesday, so I'll be babysitting more often. 

Seriously - look how freakin' adorable!

Rusty loves his new tiny person!

Let's see (clicking back and looking at everyone else's posts on the linkup so far). 

Goals.  

Hmm. 

Email all 6 of the schools in the district about the scholarship my VFW post offers.   This is my second year doing this, and I had taken a half day off of work last week with the intent of delivering info packets in person.... then snow days happened!  So I just mailed the packets instead. 

Work on / submit my review & application to become an amateur radio Volunteer Examiner.  This is because each member of my search & rescue team is required to get their ham radio license - and it's a whole lot easier for them if we can do our own exams.

Declutter, declutter, DECLUTTER!  My house is a disaster.  Let's shoot for 15-20 minutes per day.  

Figure out a theme for the April A to Z blogging challenge.  Then start getting posts pre-written.  I've participated ever year since 2012, so I have to keep going!

********************************

Since March 1 was the meteorological spring.....

 

Um, I think that's enough for now.  Don't want to get too crazy, ya know!  

Here's some more squee-ness for the road.  

Apparently Adam is going to love "Melmo" as much as his mommy did!

Happy February!

Well, I had every intention of posting here Saturday on the actual 1st, but the fates were conspiring against me.   Our WiFi decided to go wonky and was super slow and all I was getting was squares with red Xs for my photos.  Grrr.  Then Sunday I wasn't on my desktop at all. 

Really, not much has been going on.  At least not post-worthy.  Work & grocery shopping & laundry don't make for exciting reads. 

On January 24, my sister had hernia surgery and will be laid low for a while.  I took off work to keep Mom company while she waited at the hospital, with every intention of going home as soon as Laurie was released.  Then before she went back, Laurie commented about having to feed the horses at like 4am since she had to be at the hospital at 5:30, and our niece had to work until 7pm so they would be fed super late.  And Mom (who stayed with Laurie for a couple days) made a comment about she didn't think she'd be able to drive Laurie's truck to take her home since she hadn't driven one in years, etc.  That got me thinking.  Mom's not steady on the stairs, how is she going to help Laurie up into the house if she needs it?  So I asked Mom if she thought she could drive the truck the 2 miles to my house.  Then we'd pick up Angel & Angel could follow us in my car while I drove the truck.  Then I could take care of the horses while I was there.  And Mom could spend some time with baby Adam, too!  It was a win all around.

 I love this picture.  

Mom doesn't usually do a *real* smile for pictures. 

Rusty is being very good around the new addition.  He did have an accident where he reached out a paw towards Adam's flailing little feet and accidentally scratched him across the bottom of his foot.  Ooops!  His claws have since been trimmed and Adam's little tootsie is already healed. 

Random graffiti on an overpass that I thought was funny. 

The weekend before Laurie's surgery, I helped her pick up a couple loads of hay and stack in her barn.  On the way back with the last load, we were treated to seeing this spectacular sun pillar.  

I should probably think about taking the snowman blowmolds in for the season.  But it's been so drab & cloudy that some extra light in front of the house has been welcome. 

Smiles!

4 way conversation. 

I love these feets!

So while the WiFi was down-ish on Saturday, I paid some much-needed attention to my plants, taking out some old soil & replacing with fresh.  Cleaning them up & repotting a couple. And other than going to the store, that was the extent of the productivity that happened.  

Yesterday I volunteered to help out the SAR team with K9 training.  Since it was SuperBowl Sunday, there were only 3 people there with dogs and they were happy to see someone else there to help out.    

 It ended up being a nice day to sit on a stool "lost" in the woods, while the puppies looked for me. 

Gunnar here is about a year old.  He's learning to be a scent-specific tracking dog.  He was given my scent article (some gauze that I'd rubbed on my neck & sealed in a Ziploc bag) and he had to find where I went.  Since he's still learning, he got tripped up a little bit by finding where I had walked earlier and followed that trail for a while before he found the fresher scent.   He's such a cutie! 

I got home in plenty of time for me & Angel to go for a walk around the park with Adam in his carrier thingy, before getting ready for the Big Game. 

Quite honestly - we don't care about football.  But we get caught up in the fun & food & excitement & commericals & halftime, etc.    And yes - I enjoyed halftime even tho I only knew one of the songs that JLo did.  I was in awe of her getting on that pole with tights on!  I've taken a pole dance class before & it requires some serious muscles - and tights are slippery!  

My only issue.  There were the 4-100 year old Veterans presented right before the coin toss.  None of the players acknowledged them.  I would have been in awe of meeting them & being able to shake their hands!   But I guess that's just me. 

 

I laughed way too hard at this!  

So that's about it.  I'm done with physical therapy on my arthritic knees.  My therapist told me that ideally they'd be as close to 100% as possible, but I honestly don't remember when the last time was my knees felt 100%!  They feel a lot better, but I still feel something, not really pain, when I climb stairs or get up from a low chair, etc.  And I felt pretty good out in the woods yesterday - and at one point even ran after one of the dogs!  I thought I was going to hyperventilate & die from lack of oxygen but my knees felt good.  I had a check up with my orthopedic doctor today and he noted they still felt crunchy and it hurt like a mofo (again / still!) when he dug his fingers in under my left kneecap.  But he said to keep doing the exercises the therapist gave me & I was too healthy to be there!  Hooray!

Hopefully you're getting some of the sunshine that I got today!