Our 17th Anniversary

Our 17th anniversary was yesterday October 11th, 2011. It is hard to believe it has been 17 years already! Although there have been times it felt like 17 million years, for the most part it seems like it has been a really short time. I sometimes have to stop and think "how long has it been?" Then I am always surprised.

When we first met, we were just "two lost souls, swimming in a fish bowl". Jim had been divorced for a few years and had moved to Cleveland from Omaha. He was living with his grandmother and helping to care for her. I had been divorced nearly 3 years and was living in a one bedroom efficiency apartment. Jim's children lived in Omaha with their mom and mine lived across town with their dad.

Jim was the assistant manager of the Checker's restaurant and I was assistant manager of the Backyard Burgers restaurant. We met on June 6th when Jim came through my drive-in. We had had a run on fries, so he was having to wait. I chatted with him while he was waiting. A few days later my manager found a better job and when he left, I was let go since they wanted to make someone else manager and not promote me.

I had a new job less than 2 hours after being let go from Backyard. I had stopped in the local Rocky Top gas station en route to the tanning bed. Brenda, the manager, had a sign up advertising that she needed help. I said, "You're hiring? I'm looking!" Brenda replied, "Are you serious?" I said, "Yes" So she had me go into her office, we talked, I filled out an application, and was put on the schedule for the following week.

Because I changed jobs, Jim had no idea what had happened to me. He was going to the old job and not seeing me. Finally he asked. When he was told I no longer worked there, he was a little sad, but had figured that if it was meant to be, it would have worked out. Shortly thereafter, Jim stopped in the Rocky Top for gas and a Snapple on the way home from work. To his surprise, I was there, on the register, working. When he noticed it was me, he said, "There you are!" I replied, "Yep, here I am!" We were quite busy, so he left.

Over the next few weeks, Jim stalked me at work. He would stop in on on the way to and from work everyday, just to see if I was working. When I was there, he always chatted me up. He was a little discouraged because there was always a guy or two hanging out, also trying to chat me up.

Finally, I gave him my number since he never seemed like he was going to ask for it.
About an hour later, the phone at work rings. When I answer it, it is Jim. He asks me out and I agree to meet him the next evening at the Waffle House for coffee.

I was being very careful. I refused to let him know where I lived and I met him in a very public place where I was known. The place wasn't expensive and I arrived early, had a bite to ea,t and paid my tab before he arrived.

Anyway, this was our first date. It was September 5, 1994. The significance of this I didn't find out until later. My husband is a HUGE football fan. This was the opening night of Monday Night Football. Jim gave up seeing the San Francisco 49ers beat the LA Raiders 44 to 14. It must be love!

Anyway, a few dates later, Jim asks me to marry him. I say yes and we set the date for Friday, November 11, 2011. Things started getting in the way of that date, so we moved it up a month. We settled on Tuesday, October 11, 1994. And the rest is history!

Mother's Day, Pas Deux

So, Mother's day was 3 weeks ago. I am finally composed enought to write about it.

I called my Mom on Sunday. We talked about an hour. About nothing, really.
Shortly before hanging up, she remembered that Tuesday was my birthday. SHe apologized for not posting my card yet. But, she would do it on Monday.

I got her a cell phone for Mom's day. It is her first. I sent it early, so she would have it. It is bright red. I wanted her to be able to find it easy. It is also one of those slider phones with a qwerty keyboard for texting. She is73. She took it with her to my sister's house for Mom's day dinner. My neice ,Val, tried to help her learn how to text.

Let's just say I don't expect a text anytime soon. The whole idea behind the phone is so we can contact her when she is out running around. My sister, Debi, takes her to Walmart for groceries and gets tired of waiting on her, so they separate to grocery shop. Having the phone will make it much easier for them to find each other.

Back to my Mother's Day.

My Hubs first words to me were "Happy Mother's Day! I Love You!" There was no card or gift, but he got me an extra candy bar from church. That's what our church does. We receive candy bars on Mother's Day. A few years ago, the ladies decided not to waste church money on cut flowers. For a few years we received flowers to plant in our gardens. Well, you can't make everyone happy with the selection and some people just don't want to have to plant them! We decided we would rather just have candy... chocolate candy. So, we get a choice of candy bars. There are always a few extra, so Hubs snagged one for me! It is the thought that counts.

My ex-husband, father of children, sent me a text. It was a picture of a gorgeous bouquet of red roses and wishes for a Happy Mother's Day. It cost him nothing except a few moments to hunt up a picture and type a few words. It truely is the thought that counts.

My sisters, neices, and a few cousins, and I all wished each other Happy Mother's Day on Facebook. There is no way we could have each reached everyone the same day any other way. It is the thought that counts.

Mother's Day

So, on Facebook everyone is changing their profile pictures to pics of their Mom. i changed mine to a picture of my mom from when she was visiting last year.
My youngest daughter changed hers to a picture of Cindy, her step-mom.

I am crestfallen.

I am a mother of 3 children and yet I have none.

My oldest, Anna, has 3 children of her own now. The last time I saw the boys, the youngest was about 3 1/2 months old. I met the girl when she was 1 day old. I've not seen her since. This was also the last time I saw her mother. I last spoke to her on May 27, 2010. I do not have her phone number and I do not know her address. I'm not using the grandchildren's names on purpose. It's not my place to publish them without the permission of their parents. In other words, I'm not allowed. I've few pictures of the children. Again, I'm not allowed.

My son, Raymond, lives across town at his father's. I last saw him on May 31, 2010. He came over for my Memorial Day cookout. I do not have his cell phone number and I cannot visit him at his father's house. I can occasionally call him on the house phone. If he is not home, he won't get the message I called.

My youngest daughter, Jaime, also lives her father's. She occasionally calls and asks if I will give her a awake up call in the morning. I occasionally call her to say hi. We comment on each other's Facebook sometimes. I'll text her sometimes to check on her, since texting is less invasive than a phone call. She can reply when / if she wants. After the tornadoes, I checked on her by text. I also was able to find out her brother and sister were ok by texting her. I've not seen her since last Memorial Day.

I specifically invited the kid's over for New Year's Day dinner. I've given up on Thanksgiving and Christmas, because they want to be with their dad's family then. New Year's is supposed to be my day. I thought this was a more than fair compromise. This is the day I would have my Christmas with the kids. They were too busy. I cooked a huge dinner. I waited all day long and no one showed up.

I call them on their birthdays. I have every year if I've had a phone number to call them at. They don't always answer, since they are not always at home. And I leave a message, but somehow they don't get it. It disappears from the answering machine...

Anyhow, it is coming on Mother's Day on Sunday the 8th and my birthday on Tuesday the 9th.

I'll call my mom, but no one will call me. Not even on my birthday...

The Mouth, part 1

So, I had this tooth break off several months ago. Along about Thursday, I found this tiny little sore spot on the roof of my mouth. I had been enjoying Salt & Vinegar potato Chips and thought it was because of this. Those chips sure are good, but they make one's mouth sore if you eat very many!

Late Friday afternoon, I wake up from my nap and this tiny little spot is the size of a small pea. And it hurts. Not the spot, my whole mouth! It's too late to get into a dentist and not bad enough to go to the ER. I call a friend, she has a few Cipro. I go get them, maybe they will be enough to get me to Monday when I can see a dentist. I check in our medicine drawer, I have a few Hydro and a few Darvos. The Darvocets have been recalled because they "could cause serious and potentially fatal heart rhythm abnormalities." I think I'll pass on the Darvos! I pop a Hydro and a Cipro and go lay down. The Hydro DOES NOT HELP!

So I start looking online for some home remedies. I discovered that many people swear by vanilla, peppermint, and various other extracts. It makes sense, they all contain alcohol. I have lemon extract. I have Q-Tips. I swab my mouth with the lemon extract. It burns like Hades for about 20 seconds, then suddenly, there is NO PAIN! Yay. I get some sleep and go to work Friday night.

1 night down, 2 to go!

Valentines

This year Valentines was not so bad. We got our tax refund just a few days before, so we had money.
Jim bought me a PINK! snuggie. I always said I wanted a black one so I could wear it backwards and play Harry Potter. lol When he asked beforehand if I would be disappointed if he bought me a snuggie and it wasn't black, I told him, "not if it is pink!" I did not expect he would get me pink! I truely do like it. But, don't tell him! I use it, but when he asks, I say, "It is warm, but it is pink!" I tell him I am not a pink! girl. But, I am.
He also got me a large heart shaped box of chocolates. I asked him if he was trying to put me in a coma. I mean, I am diabetic and all. I just do this to poke him. I like my chocolates. I just have one piece, maybe two, a day.
I got him Madden 11 for the Wii. He is having problems learning how to play it. It is good that it isn't an easy game to learn. It makes it interesting.
We went out to Monterrey's for dinner. We both had the "Special Seven". We had to get 'togo' boxes because we never can eat everything they serve.
Jim for got his card, so I ended up paying for it. To make up for it, he is taking me out to the Olive Garden tonight. It is probably my favorite chain restaurant. I love their salad and breadsticks.

Things look up

Things are looking up.
Whereas I don't think I am always believed, I do think I am appreciated.
My boss just can't believe someone would be so vindictive as to try to make me clock in late and risk my job. She is naive.
But, she is always surprised when she comes into work after me and I have so much work done. She has been led to believe that I don't do anything.
I get so tired of others taking credit for the work I do.

But, I don't give a fig. Things are good.
I've only been late 3 times in the last 4 weeks. 1 minute, 4 minutes, and 2 minutes. I've also worked over a few minutes nearly everyday because my relief cannot seem to arrive on time.
I even worked over a full 3 HOURS and 15 minutes one day.
And I didn't complain about it.

I need to write here more.

Snow Daze

The last few days have been better. Maybe it was because I haven't had to go to work. :)
Out of the last 7 days, I worked Thursday night. I was supposed to work on Monday night, but it snowed Sunday night.

The GSM called Monday morning wanting to know if I was planning to work that night. I told her I was. She said well T is here and has to stay any way, couldn't I just trade with her?
I was like "of course!" She tried to make it sound like I wasn't planning on coming in. Then she tried to make it sound like I wasn't willing to trade my night off to make it up to T. I told her, if they needed me, I would walk in. She is such a goose! lol

I haven't got anything accomplished while I've been off. I cut out a dinosaur quilt. I cleaned out one kitchen cabinet and rearranged it. My Christmas tree is still up. I've been meaning to take it down, just haven't gotten around to it.

We had the bishop's family over for dinner Sunday evening. The kids don't really eat. I had to make mac n cheese for them. As long as they eat something, I'm happy. The youngest wanted to come to my house right after church, but didn't want to come over that evening. We had roast beef, potatoes, green beans, gravy, and pumpernickel bread. After dinner, the kids played Battleship. We played a few games of Uno, also. Since school was canceled, they didn't leave until 9 pm. The kids didn't want to leave.

Shortly after midnight the snow started. At 8am, we had 8 inches. After spending 2 days in the house, I am so ready to go back to work.