My Week

I was reading Neicy's post about Dante's writing about the various levels of hell....and I think I've lived in one or two of them this week. Boy, am I glad it's Friday.

To say it's been a long week is like saying water is a bit on the wet side. ~Weary sigh.~

Right now the kids are all at a football game. First, they went to Ashley's 16th birthday party. Happy Birthday, Ashley! Ashley is Deb's daughter, and not only is Deb my friend, but my kids are friends with her kids. After the party, they all went to the game.

Deb played chauffer today. She's picked up, dropped off and then all over again. I am so blessed by that! I thank God for her every day. And today more than once! I have been so exhausted I don't know which way is up.

Next week Bipsy will be on vacation in Las Vegas. After she comes back and gets caught up a bit, I plan on making a serious effort to find a newer, better job. Keep praying!

I don't remember if I mentioned that one of the sales reps for one of our largest freight companies (the one we use the most) offered to take me to the human resource department where he is employed and say, "find a job for this lady." He's a good Christian man who I've had the privelage of working with on freight issues for about 4 years.

Next week, he's physically bringing an application to me because he knows it's been hard for me to get away with my new responsibilities. He loves his job, and it shows. I've heard great things about this company, and to top it off, its largest location is 4 miles from my house. (Yep, smack dab in the middle of a cornfield. NOTHING is four miles from my house!) :) I'm not sure if this is the place for me, but it is great location, and the company is a strong one whose employees (all that I've met) speak highly of. Who knows?

Meanwhile, today at work I kinda stood up for myself in my non-confrontational way.

My head boss was saying, "Kris, I need you to do this and that, and I could use your help with this and that. This went on all day. Has all week. It was like four o'clock. He said "You know, we can always take a look at this next week. It's getting late."

Finally, I said, "You know, if it's something urgent that really needs to be addressed right away, maybe I should take a look at it now. Next week Bispsy is going to be out, and it's going to be all I can do to keep up with everything." He said, "Oh, that's right. I forgot about that. Okay, let's address it the following week."

Later, he was getting some paperwork ready to be faxed, and he said to Bipsy, "If you wonder what I'm doing, I'm just getting a couple of huge projects together for Kris to work on next week." then he smiled, to see if I took him seriously.

Really, the truth is, he really isn't a bad guy. He is really nice, in fact. I know he's just trying to keep the business in the family. Heck, if anyone, I know what it feels like to want to keep a part of the family together by holding on to something...like this house. It's old, it's got some quirks, but this is where I was raised. This is the handiwork of my grandpa. Losing it would have been like losing him in my mind.

I know my boss will do anything to keep his family's business running. Too bad our goals are counterproductive. He has to pay me (and others) less to do more to make his family business run. I have to keep my house payments both paid, and making less doesn't fit into that equation. I can't even be a good Mom or wife if I come home exhausted every night, trying to keep up.

There's got to be something else out there for me.

My friend, Tracy, graciously had me email my resume to her, so she could look at it. She says she will be keeping her eyes and ears open for any job leads. What a blessing! I am surrounded by such sweet and caring people.

Including Rob. Two days this week he had hot baths waiting for me...and dinner...when I got home. The one night we didn't have hot water (turned out to be something minor with our (new) hot water tank, and my friend, Terry, fixed it without incident). However, that night, Rob boiled water and filled up the bathtub so I could take a hot bath. He knows when I'm stressed, a hot bath relaxes me. He gave the kids, "No arguing or fighting tonight; Everyone on their best behavior tonight, because Mom is stressed out" speech.

Tonight he made me a pina coloda shake with dinner, and we watched "Must Love Dogs." He gave me a stack of dvds and said, "Pick what you want to watch out of these." He buys me dvds all the time. Every time I mention, "I've heard such and such movie was good," he goes out and buys it previously viewed. I have a lot of movies that I've never watched because I never have time. I'm glad I was able to destress by watching a chick flick. :) Sometimes I fuss because he spends too much money on dvds, I think, but tonight was not one of those times. I just enjoyed the movie and some alone time...and rare cuddle time.

Off the subject, though, our friends tease us that we should open a video/dvd store in our little village. We'd have a monopoly out here! Every time one of them says, "I'd like to see this movie or that movie," I say, "We have that one." Since there are no stores and nothing to do for miles, maybe we should open a movie rental shop! If we did that, we'd be rich in no time! ;) Ha!

Anyway, I digress. My point is, he really looked out for me this week, and I appreciate it. Leaving somewhere after 8 years is hard...especially a job that I've always liked. I am so blessed to have his support.

Okay, it's almost eleven and I'm tired. I have to work our shop tomorrow while Rob works overtime, so I'd better get to bed. After the shop, I plan to come home and play catch up. I have a bunch of scrapbook stuff to organize, and I need to work on my mother-in-law's scrapbook. Only 6 days until her birthday! Ugh!

Hope you have a great weekend! I miss all you guys, my blogger friends! I miss some of my non blogger friends, too! Geez! I feel like a recluse!

Before I go: I just want to give a shout out to Sheila, and thank her for her help this week. She knows how she blessed me, and I hope she is blessed a hundredfold. Also, she's been having some stomach issues, so I'd like to request prayer for her on that. She may have to have a colonoscopy. It may be Crohn's(SP?)disease.

Further, my Uncle Ron and Aunt Pat both need some prayers for their health. Uncle Ron has a sinus infection and Aunt Pat is to have some experimental treatments done to her knees. It is also next week that my Aunt Marlene has her sugery on her nose to remove the cancer. I am praying that God comforts and sustains them through these difficulties.

Again, all my love to my blogger peeps: Neicy, Ellie, J.F., P.J., Pat, and my dual action friends Holli and Deb...who are both real life and bloggerville peeps. I love you all! :) Blessings for a great weekend!