I didn't see this coming

It all began with a phone call from LJ. He’s been very unhappy with his job. This was a job he sought with great enthusiasm a couple of years ago and he was so very happy to get it. But sadly, it didn’t work out as he’d hoped. It began well enough, but once the park was up and going every department’s budget was slashed nearly in half and LJ has struggled to make it work. But he no longer had the funds to hire enough people to make the park run smoothly and safely.  

His supervisor will not take any of LJ suggestion or acknowledge the boys experience in running a raised park. After giving it much thought my boys began a job search, feeling he just couldn’t stay on past this summer if things didn’t change.

 

Last week he and his supervisor got into a verbal argument. The man was saying, “It looks to me like you have plenty of people out here to do the job. 

 

LJ explained that yes he did, but that several would soon be taking their breaks and he would be very short handed.  

 

Supervisor: Why do they have to take breaks?

 

Probably after giving him an incredulous look, LJ answered.

 

LJ: Because they need breaks after standing in the freezing cold, or the hot sun. Because it’s written in our policy handbook and because legally, we are required to give them breaks.

 

They went back and forth a bit, the supervisor saying they didn’t really need breaks and they should be cut out and LJ trying to protect his team and adhere to their policies and the law. Finally, LJ walked away. Later that same day people from LJ's staff came to him to tell him the supervisor was talking to others saying unkind and false thing about LJ.

 

At that point LJ contacted human resources and asked for a meeting for this past Monday. Monday morning came and HR requested that the meeting be moved to Tuesday afternoon. LJ said fine. Tuesday morning, before the scheduled meeting, LJ was called to the supervisor’s office and fired.

WHAT?

 

LJ’s never been fired from any job before. At The High Line he was promoted five times in ten years. He's pretty much in shock. He definitely wanted to leave, but he planned to have a job first. NYC is not a place you can live without a job.

 

Because this all seems a little shady – 

 

·      boss asked you to do something illegal

·      you refuse and ask to speak with HR

·      before you can have that meeting you’re fired

LJ is talking with a lawyer. He’s not interested in suing for millions, but he was given one month’s severance and he feel four months would be fair. We are not the 'suing people' type and lawyers are foreign to us. But I think he will try to get the lawyer to put all of this into a letter to the company showing them how it looks and perhaps they will be fair.

 

LJ told me about all this on Saturday, he said, “Sorry Mom, I would have told you sooner but it happened on the same day at the school shooting and I didn’t want to throw any more on you.”

I will take any good thoughts or prayers that you might have for him to find a good job soon. At least they are not paying rent at the moment. You can read about that here. The owner has done nothing and they are still paying no rent.

The great dryer debate

It appears that our dryer is on its last leg. It runs but doesn’t heat up and dry the clothes. Mollie was here when we noticed the problem and the debate was on. Mollie began pointing out that there were so many new, fancy, efficient washers and dryers these days. I have to agree, some are just beautiful.

 

Nick tends to go for used washers and dryers. Something a little more like this.

Mollie’s main points were the overall aesthetics and the increased efficiency of a new appliance. Nick’s points were the fact that our washer and dryer resides in a basement and that no one ever sees them.  The used dryers he’s gotten over the years are efficient enough to suit him fine and cost a fraction of what a new one would. He pointed out to get them to match and look beautiful, we would have to get a new washer too. Strangely, Mollie hadn’t offered to pay for either.

 

So where was I in this great laundry debate?

 

I was hole up in my writing room trying to ignore them both. This is not my debate. The truth is I probably haven’t done a load of laundry in twenty years. I stopped when LJ was about fourteen. My theory was I bought his clothes, Nick and I paid for the washer and dryer to keep them clean. We also paid for the water and detergent. So why should I run my butt up and down the stairs when I had a fourteen-year-old to do it. Now some would be horrified at a kid doing their laundry, but the truth is my clothes aren’t that fancy and I’m not that picky.

 

LJ held this job until he went to college and them Mollie took over until she left home. By that time my knees were giving me trouble. I could go up and down the stairs, still can. But I go slowly and I never know when a knee could give a severe sharp pain or decide not to hold me up. I like to hang on to the rail and that’s tough carrying a load of laundry. The laundry job then fell to Nick and he never seemed to mind.

 

When he can no longer run up and down the stairs easily, I guess the job will go back to Mollie if she can pop over once a week or so. She is then welcome to purchase any washer and dryer she’d like to use over here. But for now we’ll stick with used. 

Not as good on Sunday

I had had such a good time on Saturday, but then on Sunday it felt a little different. After the book signing and the news article, everyone seemed happy for me - Nick was happy for me, both kids were excited for me as well as my sister. My minister left a lovely comment on FB, many of my friends from church and even former principals I'd worked with had nice things to say. Including the principal I didn't really like. I had comments and likes from blogging friends too. But from my in-laws not a peep. As for the two SIL that were at lunch Sunday – crickets. I asked one if she got the paper. Her reply was, “Yeah, I saw it.” The other quickly said, “I don’t get the paper.” I knew they had discussed it.

 

What is their problem? How much does it take out of a person to say, “That’s nice.” Or “Congratulation.” But there was no way in hell they would say that. Are they just such damn prudes? I’m not asking them to read them… just, I don’t know… something.

 

I want to say I don’t care, but obviously I do, or I wouldn’t be writing about it here. I guess this all still goes back to the day I told them LJ and Collin were getting married and their total response was, “Oh.” I know I need to get over this, I’m just not sure how to do it.

Better than I expected

I really did have the best weekends I’ve had in a long time. The book signing went great. I sold more books than I expected, and I got to talk to so many friendly people. One lady even wanted her picture taken with me – with ME! I was just amazed. All that would have been exciting enough, but on Friday, the day before the signing I got a call from a reporter from our local paper. She wanted to know if I’d be interested in doing an interview about my books. Would I? You bet I would! And this was the results…

 

It was two full columns! I honestly felt famous. So many of my friends commented on FB. I was definitely grinning all day. I enjoy writing so much and when others talk about it too, well, it doesn't get much better.

Exciting Saturday!

I don’t think this will keep anyone else up, but I can’t wait. Our local bookstore has invited me to do a book signing at the store Saturday. I’ve done this once before, years ago, and I loved it! There are few things I enjoy more than talking about my books. 

Promoting books is the very hardest thing about writing. You can write the best book in the world but if people don't know about it, how can they read it? Talking face to face with readers isn't going to get me on The NY Times Best Sellers list, but some people will listen. I can’t wait! It’s a little tricky with my content. Many of the conversations go something like this.

 

Reader: What are your books about?

 

Me: They’re mostly romance. But I got tired of reading about twenty- and thirty-year-olds. My main couple is over sixty. (I now have the attention of the over fifty crowd.) But over the years younger couples have joined the ‘family’ so now all age groups are represented.

 

Reader: looks curiously at the books and maybe picks one up. 

 

Me: Now there is a twist in my writing. The overview is – sweet older couple meets Fifty Shades of Grey. (There’s my hook. Some move on at that point, but most give a chuckle and ask for more detail about the different series. Older people I direct toward the Cassie Space series first, a younger person I might talk more about Cal’s Law or On the River series.)

 

Even if no one buys a thing I’ll still enjoy talking with folks. Often people will try one of the books and there is nothing better than having someone ask me to sign their copy. I wish I could invite you all to come, however I don’t think you would all want to venture to my little town. But maybe you’ll keep your fingers crossed that I make a few sales. I’ll let you know.

The extremely exciting life of PK (not really)

I want to blog; I’d blog every day if I could, but I have very little of interest to tell you. We don’t do TTWD anymore. I have no exciting trips planned. So… let me see what else is going on.

I’m trying the intermediate fasting diet. You know, the one where you fast for sixteen hours and then eat during an eight-hour window. It sounded horrible, but it really hasn’t been. It’s really only changed two things. I don’t eat breakfast. I used to, but never a big breakfast. I cheat a little because I do have my coffee, but that’s all. I begin eating around noon and I can eat until 8:00 PM. Which means I don’t snack all evening like I used to. My blood sugar is fine and the doctor isn’t worried about my trying this.

 

Now the big question – am I losing any? Not really. I am down a few pounds and I know it would be a lot more if I’d get off my butt and exercise. I’m walking a little but I sure could do better. I’ll keep it up a while longer and see what happens.

 

I had something strange happen Sunday. When I got up that morning my hips were hurting – bad! It was like I’d gotten a deliciously, hard spanking, but that hadn’t happened. 

Sitting down was very painful. I finally realized it was my hip joints that were giving me the problem, both of them equally. I hadn’t done anything to make them sore – nothing. And they had never bothered me before. The closest I’d come to exercise was a … I can’t even call it a walk, it was more like a stroll Friday afternoon. So, what had happened?

 

Then on Monday morning I got out of bed – nothing. No pain, no soreness, the problem was just gone. I hadn’t even taken an ibuprofen. This happens with my knees occasionally. Sometime during the night one will start hurting enough to wake me and I can barely walk. The next day the pain can be completely gone. Then I might happen a few weeks later to the other knee. 

 

I’m not complaining as much as I am curious. I’m delighted the pain goes away on its own, but what the heck is it and how can I get it to stay away permanently? 

 

There is something exciting, to me, happening this weekend so I’ll try to post about that soon. If any of you have a thought of something I can post about leave a comment or shoot me an email – I’ll give it a try.  elisspeaks@yahoo.com (if I don’t answer your email within a few days, I didn’t get it.)

Do you remember…

I know a lot of us are thinking about how much the world has changed in the past two years, but the other day I was thinking back past that. Mollie mentioned that she just couldn’t imagine how the world worked before cell phones. Did you have to sit at home just to talk to your friends? 

What if your plans changed after everyone left home? What if you had car trouble in the middle of nowhere? How did we live? Although it was certainly normal enough when I was a kid, I had to admit I’m not sure how we managed.

 

It got me thinking of a couple of other small things that have changed so very much. I remember going to the grocery story with my mom. Getting the groceries was much the same as now, but our kids would never recognize the check-out procedures. Usually, mom would place me on the little conveyor belt and I’d ride a few feet laughing with the check-out lady. 

No one worried about me pinching a finger or worse or about my folks suing the store if I did. As soon as I got down the eager bag boy was taking everything from the cart and placing it onto the counter to be run up. The customer never did that. Then the boy bagged your items in tall, reusable brown paper bags and placed everything back in the cart. Then, smiling at me, the boy would wait until I had the privilege of jumping on the gray mat at the door and watching it magically open by itself. As Mom and I walked hand in hand the young man rolled the groceries to the car and put them in the backseat. It’s a wonder he didn’t come home and unload them for us. The customer service back then was great.

 

 Another place this was more than evident was at the gas station. Now I stop to get gas in the rain, cold or wind and I get out and pump it without a thought, except that I wish it wasn’t raining, cold or windy. The station that my parents went to when I was little was a bit different. 

When we pulled in the young men – usually two, ran, they actually ran to our car. One would say ‘Fill ’er up?’ as the other one began washing our windshield before he popped the hood and checked the oil. One of them then ran to the station and back with our change. 

 

All this now seems like fiction from a 50’s movie, but it all really happened. Do you have memories like this? Some things that your kids or grandkids hear you saying and think you’ve finally lost your mind. Share them if you do.

A visit with Sunny and Ray!

I’ve been to see Sunny and Ray and I made it back in one piece. I had a ball. Although I hate flying, I have to say it went very smoothly. Sunny picked me up and we went to one of her favorite spots – an outdoor restaurant where I could put my toes in the sand as I sipped my peach margarita and watch the water. Every now and then a pretty lizard climbed a palm tree near us or ran across the sand for atmosphere.

The next day Sunny’s brother and SIL took us out on their boat. That was so much fun! We saw some boats – huge boats, expensive boats … ridiculously expensive boats! I have no idea how much, but you could just tell from looking. They were amazing. Sunny’s brother’s boat was smaller, but I don’t think I could have enjoyed the larger one anymore.

We went straight from the boat to another restaurant right on the beach, fantastic view, great food. I did not go hungry on this trip!

 

On Friday we did a little shopping in an interesting antique shop. I love looking through antique stores in the hopes of finding something like Cassie’s ivory brush – but so far, no luck. We went to Sunny’s clubhouse next – they really have a great place to live. Baker mentioned that she wouldn’t feel comfortable in a place with so many alligators or crocodiles. I have to say I didn’t see a single one, but I did sent Baker this sign. I stuck to both rules.

Sunny sent me this picture later, so I know they’re there, but I still didn’t get to see any.

That night, Sunny cooked and WOW! Who knew my friend had so many talents? That roast, cooked as perfectly as any I’ve ever had was done so simply, I think even I can do it. If it turns out as good for me as it did for her, I’ll give you the secret.

I really loved my trip, but as always, I’m happy to be home. Now I need to get back in the groove of writing, both posts and books.

Nearly out the door

I’m flying out to see Sunny in the morning. I have to say packing is a trial. I’m used to traveling by car. Need an extra pair of shoes or two, toss them in. Want to take a coat or heavy sweater, go ahead, there’s plenty of room. I can take my big water cup, my travel blanket, my pillow… but not on the plane. I’m not checking a bag so it’s only what I can carry. It’s a good thing I’m not into fashion. It’s mostly shorts and T-shirts.

Thankfully I believe my cold has run its course. Of course, the cough still lingers, and may for months. It’s so strange. I can go all day without coughing and then it’s like a switch has been thrown and for a short time it sounds, and feels, as though I’m trying to cough up a lung. Then it just stops. If it can do that it should be able to stop all together.

In other news. LJ is looking to change jobs. He’s working nearly sixty-five to seventy hours a week, week after week. But what’s worse for him is that his superiors won’t listen to him about policies and even small changes to be made that would make the place run so much more smoothly. He has feelers out and a good network of people who are feeding him tips and suggestions. All I want is my son to be happy. Hopefully something really good is heading his way.

 

Mollie went to a party last week and has one to go to this coming weekend. She’s still not found anyone to date (not sure she’s really looking) but at least going to parties is better than just staying home or being in her classroom – there are so few eligible men in either of those places. Next week is a Kentucky Derby party - she already has her hat.

Nick and I are plodding along as any sweet little old couple should. Since I’m traveling to see Sunny on my own, I’ve told him to pick a spot he wants to travel to, and I’ll be right by his side. Any traveling is a little hard for me, homebody that I am, but I know it will be good for the both of us.

 

I’m not taking my computer as I fly off to the wild blue yonder, but I’ll be in touch soon after I get back. Hold a good thought for me as I travel, I’m not good at navigating by myself but I can do it!