Christmas Shopping

There's several people I know who were all balls out to go battle the Black Friday crowds at 2am, 3am, 4am and so on... screw that, I cherish the days where I actually get to sleep in with Eric, lol. I heard on the news about someone actually getting trampled to death while trying to get into a store for the "amazing" sales. Seriously? Is that possibly $40 savings worth your life? I understand that some people really save a ton of money by doing that type of stuff, but damn.. I've heard some gnarly stories about people getting SERIOUSLY injured, attacked, STABBED and mugged... STUPID! Stuuuuuuuuuuupid.

So anyway...

Yesterday, Aunty Loo, my Dad, Eric, cousin Kendall and myself decided we were going to hit up Borders in Monterey. I was anticipating the worst considering it was Black Friday, right? No parking spots, long lines, jerky people getting super pissy due to long lines... you know..the whole "essence" of the Christmas shopping cheer. WEEEEELLLLL.... We got there and found a parking spot right off the bat. SCORE! Walk into Borders and honestly.. if I didn't KNOW it was a "massive" sale day, I would've assumed it was like any other normal day. No huge crowds, no long lines, no shoving and elbowing to get your desired merchandise. None of that. Totally calm and mellow. I remember last year being a complete nightmare, so to see the complete opposite this time around was a major relief. It wasn't like that just at Borders... same deal with Game Stop as well as Best Buy, which TOTALLY shocked me.

Even today when Eric and I migrated to Del Monte in Monterey...sure, the parking lot was full..that's to be expected there since the parking layout isn't the most convenient thing on the planet. I got a parking spot without any hassle right behind Macys, walked over to Mervyns and picked up some goodies since they're currently 50% off where we were the only ones in line, then headed over to Game Stop & I managed to pick up some UMD movies for my PSP at the grand price of $4 a piece (they're usually $20 a piece), went over to Chipotle for some burritos without having to wait in line forever (normally they're super slammed)... I mean, it was unreal to me. When I lived in the area, I worked for Macys at Del Monte and I DREADED Black Friday and the following weekend since it was always a mad house. So, to see just "average" foot traffic rather than the crazed stampeding crowds I'm used to.. it's just... humm... how can I put it...

It solidified every ones financial woes regarding our economy. No one is wanting to spend the extra money & everyone is cutting back... it SHOWED. It really showed. I'm sure retailers are going to have disappointing sale numbers for the month of December dispite the fact they're offering deep discounts and what not. Although, I must admit... figuring how I've been in retail for a good 10 years now, it makes me a little biased when I walk into a store and see something for $100 with a 30% discount. I know what that merchandise really cost and how large the mark up really is... half the time when I go out to buy stuff, it's really a challenge for me to spend my money, lol.

Ok, time for me to get back to the family :)

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Happy Post Glutton Day!

My bad, I forgot to post a Happy Thankgiving bloggy.. oppsy!


Eric, John and I hit the road for Salinas on Wednesday around 12:30p... and what normally takes us three hours to get from once place to another, actually took us five. In addition to that, it was raining so freakin' hard, I could barely see the road for the majority of the trip. It finally cleared up once we hit Paso Robles, but at that point.. it was a straight shot to Salinas without too much traffic to deal with, ya know, other than the stupid asses who liked to tailgate at 80mph. Once we made it into Salinas, we unloaded our new age Grapes of Wrath vechicle and got right to work on prepping the food for Thanksgiving. While I was prepping the food / turkey, Eric was workin' away on the internet set up so we could get all of the Xbox's in the house enabled for Xbox Live. With a house full of gamers, you HAVE to get the 360's up in running or there WILL be blood at someones expense!

Yesterday went VERY well & I was so relieved that I didn't screw it up, lol. This was the forth or fifth turkey I've done, but I've never tackled a twenty eight pounder... the prior turkeys were around sixteen to twenty pounds. Major difference!

In addition to the turkey, I made a Green Bean Casserole, Cheddar Bacon Potatoes, Stuffing (but that was cooked in the turkey so I forgot about it half the time), picked up some cranberry/orange mix that tasted fabulous, dinner rolls, turkey gravy...man, just talking about all of it is making me gain weight!

Look how juicy it is!!

Luckily, my Aunty, Uncle and two cousins were able to come from Washington for the festivities! I was really wanting them here since obviously it's a family get-together holiday, but this is my last Thanksgiving in the states for a few years, so I definetely wanted to have a great holiday with the majority of the family from the West Coast, lol.

Grandma brought Pumpkin Pie & Pecan Pie while Eric made his classic White Coconut Cake... it was a diabetics nightmare but SO tastey!

Everything went swimmingly! VERY happy with the outcome, no food poisoning so that's a plus right there. Loads of entertainment between family members talking fun shit to one another, cousins picking on everyone, killing zombies on a flat screen tv, family putting each other into headlocks and beating the crap out of kids....ahhhhhh... good ol' family fun :)

More pictures to come! Especially since everyone is in town till Sunday...therefor...more insanity will insue!

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*SIGH*

I guess you can say I'm a little grumpy today... my headache won't go away and it's starting to really piss me off. I'm not sure weither I'm getting them because of the bi-polar weather, or just everything that's been thrown at me regarding this PCS and it's little loose ends.

Since I've taken up my new career as a SAHW, I've been constantly cleaing my house. CONSTANTLY! It's super clean (as it should be), everything is organized, you can tell I've been busting my ass on it! When I was working, I'd do my 8-5 shift, come home.. cook dinner & try to clean then eventually go to bed. Since I'm home all day now, I can focus all my energy into cleaning / sorting / prepping / packing things for the move. Although, I can say I'm getting a little miffed. I'm not a personal maid. I do laundry all day long, put things away...yet when eveyone gets home, everything gets tossed and lands on the hallway floor. COME ON! Put it in the friggin' hamper!! Don't giggle and think it's funny... it's actually really irritating to constantly clean up after everyone! The kitchen was perfectly clean when I went to bed last night, so WHY does it look like the cereal box barfed all over the counter? If you have a soda and you're done with it, don't leave the empty can on the counter! Put it in the friggin' recycling bag....

GAH!!!!!

I know this sounds so stupid to get pissed about, but there are days where I don't feel appreciated. There's cultures where the woman is EXPECTED to wait on the guys hand & foot, have the house always looking perfect, be the perfect cook.. just agh. Eric doesn't think along those lines, but it's just irritating when I have the house all vacuumed up, he comes home from work and tosses his clothes all over the floor. Come on now! COME ON! Are you serious? I do Johns laundry because he can't comprehende the entire notion of "folding" rather than stuffing his clothes in his dresser. When I put his FOLDED clothes on his bed for him to put in his dresser.. I tend to find them scattered all over the floor which ends up migrating back in the "dirty" clothes pile for laundry because he's too lazy to put it away. GRR!!!

I left the house yesterday for about an hour to run into town & pick up some medications. Honestly, I should've known better than to leave 3 dachshunds in the house unsupervised, but I figured they'd be on their best behavior since they've been REALLY good....ha... I swear, if there's ANYTHING they can get their teeth on, it's fair game. When I came back, my house looked like the inside of a snowglobe. Fuuuuucckkk... they got ahold of some styrofoam insulation for our glass shelves (they were in the hallway closet). Not only did the living room looked like it snowed, they tore apart the cardboard that was holding it.. knocked over the trash can in the laundry room and dragged it throughout the house...*whimper* I think they knew they were in deep shit because the second I walked into the house and they saw me, they all BOLTED out of the doggy door and hid out till I got the house all cleaned up again. WHHHHYYY!! WHYYYY ME??

Random blog.. I know.. I'm just starting to get a little pissy about stuff, especially when I have a headache that won't stop thumping.

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Small Victory!

HA!!

I finally got my medical clearance!! YAAAAAY!!!

The Family Practice Doc gave Eric my EFMP ( Exceptional Family Member Program )paperwork & signed off on everything. I guess since I don't have any mental problems (ha) or any physical issues that they can see from what little reports they COULD find on me, they don't have enough NOT to give me clearance. So,the Doc scribbled in all the right spots and gave me the green light.

*WOOT WOOT*

Another good note, my No Fee Passport was submitted today, so, I should be gettin' that back in a few weeks. Hopefully Johns mom will get off her fuckin' ass and send us the paperwork we need! I'm just REALLY hopin' that gets sent to us REALLY soon. Eric has to get Johns No Fee stuff turned in, go shoot some guns (Dec. 4th) then we OFFICIALLY have orders in hand so we can FINALLY get our freakin' flights scheduled, TMO scheduled..ya know..the stuff that needs to be done NOW. lol

*Crossin' my fingers!*

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Revolving Door

Man.. I'm so tired right now... I'm debating on crawling into bed.

So this morning I had an appointment with Family Practice to get my Exceptional Family Member bullshit done... ya know, for clearance. I get there and they're basically interrogating me as to why I don't have a medical record there. Say what? I've seen them multiple times for the past 2 years... how do they not have anything on me? Then they're asking about my "last" base... I don't have a "last" base considering this is my FIRST base. So, they don't know what to do with me.... literally. They're going to let me know what to do since they have no medical records to send to Kleine Brogel... they don't know what to put on my EFMP paperwork... I even offered to have a physical done so they can SEE that I don't have any health problems that will cause any problems overseas. John has clearance as of now.. I dont. Fuck.

After having fun at Family Practice, I headed into town to have my filling replaced in one of my teeth. I had the old silver filling and it was actually starting to crack...caused ALOT of pain. After getting shot 3 times in the mouth for novacaine, they switched out the silver filling to a "natural" ivory to match my tooth. My mouth is so swollen on the right side and everything hurts.. I don't wanna even eat dinner even though I'm starving. My head is thumping and I've been dealing with this all day... blah..

Once I got back on base, Eric gave Ginna a call to see if she's changed her mind about the paperwork. She still stuck to the fact that she's not signing anything till the Child Support is done. In which, Eric replied with ,"Are you sure you want to go that route?"...she got really quiet and said , "What do you plan to do about it?". Eric basically said, "We've already contacted Legal about this. You should be hearing from an attorney later today". She got quiet again and said, "Look... we're adults. We can handle this without the courts getting involved". It just went on and on from there.. but she got the gist that this is going to court if she doesn't get off her high horse...so she sounded a little more open to signing papers... we'll see...

Then, Eric and I head over to the Legal Office to address the situation with Ginna. Nomally they get you in and out in 15 minutes (the revolving door policy)... they spent an hour and a half with us. The Captain that helped was SO nice & was lookin up everything under the sun to relate to Nevada child custody law s (that's where Eric and Gina got divorced). The wording for Nevada's child custody doesn't match California's wording for child custody...even though it means the same exact thing. It's irritating how one word.. LITERALLY...one word can fuck an entire situation up. The Captain called Child Support Services and discussed the situation at hand... they said that at this point, Ginna doesn't owe us any money so where shouldn't be a reason NOT to sign the paperwork. Hunh? She owes $19k...where'd it all go? Apparently Child Support reset itself to zero since Eric's divorce paperwork contradicts itself. The odd part is... they had Eric resend his claime and we're doing this whole process all over again. BUT, in the mean time, we have a printed document STATING that she doesn't owe money........for now. So, I'm going to scan it and email it off to her to show that she doesn't have a balance anymore. Funny part is... she'll owe money yet again in 2-3 months. Ha!

I still hadn't heard from Family Practice about my EFMP papers, so we swung back to the clinic since we had to go there anyway. Johns EFMP paperwork was ready though, yay! Picked his papework up.. they kinda blew me off like it wasn't important. HELLO! It's important! Fuckers! UGH! I might get a call within the next WEEK as to what they're going to do about my medical records.. or lack there of.. grrr... We heade to the pharmacy to pick up my BC ..but alas... they don't have it. My re-fill order was dropped because the system crashed YESTERDAY and they didn't reboot the system till today. Whee!! Now I got to wait till Friday to go off base and get my re-fill else where since the base pharmacy won't have it till NEXT friday. FUUUUUCK...
Got back to the house, picked John up since he just got out of school... then rolled over to Out Bound Assignments. These monkeys have been giving Eric nothing but a hard time due to Ginna not signing the conscent forms. The Captain at the Legal Office printed out legal forms that stated that Eric has the right to get Johns passport without Ginna. The guy at Out Bound said "No". He didn't want to acknowledge what the Captain (ATTOURNEY) had issued for him.. he wants a signature from Ginna. He basically told Eric "We need her signature. There's no way around it. If we don't, you have a few options: Your orders get canceled, you go without your son, or you go TDY there for 2 years". Uh. No. We're ALL going weither it kills us. My paperwork was submitted without any hidden snags, so my No Fee Passport should be on the way in few weeks.

Just SOOO much bullshit to deal with and it's really wearing me out... and the hectic part hasn't even started yet! It's irritating that John has Medical Clearance, yet I dont. BUT, I have clearance for a No Fee Passport but John doesn't.

BLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!

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Oh! For Fucks Sake!

To be blunt... Johns "mother" aka Womb for Rent... is a REAL piece of work. It takes a lot to get me pretty fired up, but this woman has managed to piss me off in more ways than I'd ever imagine.

Throughout the time I've been with Eric and John, I've noticed that Johns mother has managed to alienate him and make it a point to be a void in his life. Given, she's not physically present since she walked out on both Eric & John when John was at the ripe age of 3. She remarried to a guy who in all honesty, sounds like a nice guy... popped out 2 more kids...then BAM, divorcing husband #2 and is now living in Indianapolis with a guy who is 6 years older than JOHN that she met off of the internet. Stand up individual. She offers nothing as far as emotional love towards John. I LOVE John like he's MINE. What absolutely infuriates me is that she always tells John that she's "too busy" and she'll call him when she can... which is extremely rare. She'll text rather than call. HELLO! He's your SON. He wants to hear your VOICE, not a fucking text you stupid bitch!

Eric filed for Child Support last November since she had finally pissed us off enough to where we're holding her financially liable. Out of all the years she's been gone, not once has she taken it upon herself to actually assist with anything to do with John (finanically)..hell.. anything to that matter. Never buys him clothes, nothing for school.. hell, when she actually sent him something for his 10th birthday, it was something that was meant for a 3 year old, not 10 year old. John will call, call, call, and call, but she'll never pick up, BUT, she'll text him back. It's to the point where he doesn't even bother attempting to call her because he knows it's a waste of time. He'll try, but it's not as often as it used to be. How sad is it to know that your 12 year old kid actually BET that his mom wouldn't call for his BIRTHDAY? Hummm?? The brutal truth is that you, as a mother, have failed this kid in so many ways.. he's starting to see you for what you really are.

Worthless.

In the midst of dealing with Child Support, as I had mentioned earlier, Johns mother is now living in Indianaopolis with her new boy toy. She texts Eric these little sob stories about how Child Support is garnishing her wages and wants him to "call them off" since she needs the money. She's "trying to survive on her own with two babies". Lady. Hate to break it to you.. but you're a big girl now. It was your choice to pop out two more kids. It was your choice to walk away from your husband not once, but twice. You tell us that you can't afford the Child Support payments, yet you moved across the country for an internet love interest, got enrolled in Culinary School.. dump money into World of Warcraft... YET.. you can't pay what you OWE to John? Are you fuckin' kiddin' me? Seriously? Your two younger kids aren't even with you. They're staying at your Mothers in Georgia, or did you not notice that? Oh that's right.. real mothers take care of their kids, not dump and run.

*** VENT VENT VENT VENT VENT ***

I'm so irritated right now because this wonderful specimen of TRASH has found yet another way to slow down our process of moving. We needed her "conscent" for us to take John overseas, otherwise, we can't taken John without BOTH paternal parents acknowledging that he'll be out of the country. She actually filled out that paperwork and notarized it, sent it back. Got Johns TOURIST Passport all taken care of which is actually sitting on the desk next to me. The pisser is that we need an additional passport for him called a "No Fee Passport". That passport allows John and myself to live in Belgium because we're there on government orders rather than being there just as tourists. In all honesty, I wish to hell that the Outbound Office pulled their heads out of their asses and informed us of that at the SAME TIME they informed us about our orders to Beligum. But no, that'd be something that requires common sense.

So now here we sit "needing" Johns mother to sign yet another release form for a passport. This time, she's not doing it. Why? Because she doesn't want to pay Child Support. Hah. Nice. Eric contacted Child Support about the situation, and they even send her a registered packet containing the passport information because it's NEEDED. She never responded. I personally sent her the passport forms in addition to some pictures of John she was wanting. Yet, no response. I see how this is gonna be.

Eric contacts her today and she made it loud and clear... she's not signing anything till Child Support stops garnishing her checks. We're not stopping the garnishing. Every penny we get from her is getting locked into a Savings Account for John. WE'RE not touching it. Everything that he receives from her goes to him and him only. This woman doesn't comprehend the concept of responsibility. She has the nerve to give us an ultimatum like that? Sorry Hunny. You have no idea what you just started.

Is it me or did I just hear the fight bell ring?

Bring it.

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Work it, Baby

It's weird for me to just "relax". I mean, when I was working..I'd come home, lounge for a little bit after I made dinner.. but I still managed to do stuff around the house. I guess I don't know the real meaning of relaxing, lol

Now that I'm completely jobless, Eric has flat out told me,"I want you to RELAX today. NO housework". Say what? Given, my job wore me out entirely and now I'm sick (yippy)..Eric was getting concerned since I developed some serious insomnia,headaches/migraines, severe back pains and overall anxiety problems stemming from my employer. The dark circles under my eyes are starting to go away, my muscles aren't so tight and tense around my neck..I actually feel like I used to. When it comes to "relaxing", I don't want to be a growth on the couch! There's times thoughout the day where I veg out to my favorite TV show or check my emails, but other than that, I'm busy with organizing the house, doing laundry, working on the yard, hittin' the gym or walking the dogs. If I'm not doing all of that, I'm out running errands out and around town. I can't seem to sit still! I guess I just like being productive? Somedays it just doesn't feel like enough though...once it's clean, it's dirty again.

Random rant, I know...

As I've been cleaning out stuff from the house.. things are starting to become bare & minimal. Less junk (thank gawd), figuring out what to keep and what to get rid of. This weekend is going to be REAL interesting since we're finally able to bulldoze through our garage & pull out everything to take stock of what we're dealing with. Lots of stuff to toss, donate, demolish.. just lots of shit to do and the clock is ticking down.

SOOOOOOOO much to do.. gah!

Well. On that note, I think I'm going to bust out some "Gears Of War 2" and blow some people up. WOOT!

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My, What Cute Roots You Have

I've been to the dentist a grand total of maybe 5 times in my life.. I HATE going to the Dentist. The whole part of someone sticking their fingers in my mouth.. then poking my teeth with sharp tools is a little unsettling for me.


The last time I went to the Dentist, it was when I was 19 years old. The ONLY reason why I went was because my goddam Wisdom teeth were making me absolutely miserable and they needed to be yanked out. Well,the Dentist I went to.. who just happened to be named Dr. Slaughter.. did my X-rays and didnt see anything that could cause a problem prior to my extraction. When I woke up from my procedure, all I could smell was burned flesh since he cauderized the hell out of my gums... apparently I have dry sockets and wouldnt stop bleeding. Was given MINIMAL pain meds and I had to change out my gauze literally every 30 minutes for a day because it wouldn't STOP bleeding. When I called and complained about the pain (after day 3 and no more meds since he only perscribed enough for 2 days), I was told I was pretty much out of luck. AGHHH!! Great Dentist!


Turns out for us to go overseas, I have to get checked out by a Dentist or else I can't go with Eric. BLAH! Eric kept telling me, "He's a great great guy. John loves him to death otherwise I wouldn't take him there". I've heard all this before so I'm still really hesitant.


When we stepped into the receptionist office, the office staff was very friendly *shocked me to say the least*. Apparently the majority of the staff there are Military dependants so they understand what it's like to get papers filled out for PCSing and anything else under the sun. I was first up to get checked out (John was also there for his paperwork). The whole xray process was pretty cool since it was all digital.. SO, I could instantly see how my teeth looked on this massive computer monitor that was set up infront of me. The dental tech that was taking all the xrays was really sweet & kept remarking on my teeth. Apparently I hav "cute roots", lol. Even the dentist made a comment on 'em saying that they're "unique" and lucky. Say what??

The xray below is NOT mine, but this was a perfect example of what they were talking about. See the circled tooth? That's how ALL of my roots look. WEIRD!

After the dentist did an exam , he informed me that he's impressed with my teeth. They're in great shape and there's nothing wrong with them, even with curved roots. All I need is to have my teeth cleaned, which is happening next Tuesday :) He was actually a pretty funny guy, which definetely made me mellow out. The only thing I need to worry about is Gum Disease. Apparently my teeth are in such good shape, that I don't "need" to go to the dentist all the time.. but he reccomends I just keep an eye on my gums because if I dont.. I could potentially end up toothless by the time I'm in my 40's, no bueno!

All in all, this experience with the dentist was THE best I've ever had. The staff was excellent and very very caring. The Dentist had a great sense of humor and was also very sweet.. it was all about helping the patient for them.Not the dollar signs.

Ok.. it's time for bed! I only got 3 hours of sleep last night!

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*POOF* My Work Here Is Done

Ahhhhhhh... being unemployed feels ....euphoric...

Yesterday was my last official day with my employer. I finished out my accounts and pretty much loafed around for the remainder of the day. My supervisor pretty much knew I couldn't start any of my usual projects considering they're normally 2 day deals, so, I just putzed around and got paid for 8 hours. Wheee!!

Today was just weird for me. I haven't been able to sleep in.. like REALLY sleep in for God knows how long. Keep in mind, I normally wake up at 5:30a everyday, so for me to sleep in till 7am is a friggin' miracle! I was pretty worthless for the most part, but I managed to clean up the house a little bit, straightened up the kitchen, basically did the usual cleaning routine for the house.

MAAAAAAAAAAAAN, I'm so glad to be done with my job! SO glad! I don't regret my decision to leave that place early. I was totally miserable there, the work environment was unbearable and was completely unappreciated and taken advantage of. When I signed off on my termination papers & turned over my keys, it literally felt like the weight of the world was taken off my shoulders. I'm totally fine with being unemployed till we move...it allows me to catch up on things with my house, focus on my support board, work on my artwork and get back into my normal workout routine.

I'm just RELIEVED to be done with them! Can you tell? :D

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Catchin' Up

I haven't posted on a few days (obvious statement), but that's because alot has been going on. It's time to play catch up.

*1* The owner for the company I work for is a total asshole (nothing new there)
*2* Celebrated my 26th birthday
*3* Obama is now our President
*4* Submitted my resignation letter with my place of employment
*5* Soccer season is officially over for John

*1*

Well, on Friday... a shipment arrived while I was taking care of some new merchandise. When new merchandise comes in, I have to prep it, enter it into the system, price it out for store codes, invoice stuff... it's alot of work. So, basically imagine my office buried in 300 different pieces of lingerie (corsets, petty coats, chemises, body stockings). Nice hunh? UPS arrived with the shipment, unloaded it and came over for my signature. In the midst of being buried, I made it out of my office.. I stopped about 20 feet from the shipment since I could count the amount of boxes from where I was,verified it on the signature pad for the total and signed. Wished the driver a nice day and got back to work. *Sigh*When I left my office to make copies of all the receiving reports and invoices, I walked past the stack of boxes that were delivered..I walked to the other side of it and *bam*. MASSIVE hole ripped open on the side of it. Inside is a machine that we sent off for repairs and there it was.. scratched and bent. Fuck. I called my co-worker out and she looked at it, said she'd get the claime started on it and it'd be good to go. Sweet. Asshole also known as Steve (the owner) comes in and INSTANTLY yells "WHAT THE FUCK!?!? You better have filed a claim for this shit!!". Mind you, I'm still literally buried in additional new product..it's an ALL day thing to do.. I said "Honestly Steve, I didn't see the gouge before. I was....." and he cut me off to say. "Are you fucking blind!? How do you not see that?! DO I look that stupid?? HUNH?? You just didn't get off your fucking ass to look!!". That's when I kinda lost it and replied with, "What do you want from me, STEVE. I bust my ass, I do beyond my job requirements... I was in the middle of getting new stuff ready.. WHAT do you want me to do!?". He stormed off & called my supervisor to tattle tail even though I had already given her a heads up. Then he comes back out with his camera phone, takes pictures of the whole shipment and sends it off to her. Fine..just go away and leave me alone. Fast forward to today...Julie (my supervisor) tells me she needs to talk to me. Turns out Steve and his wife (she's an evil bitch) both harrassed Julie over the weekend as to how I didn't "follow company policy" by inspecting all the boxes before signing for them. THERE IS NO WRITTEN POLICY STATING THAT!! I even looked through the company handbook and it's not in there! Steve's wife told Julie that I need to be an "example" when it comes to following the rules.. so..issue me a formal write up. Make me an EXAMPLE??? What. The. Fuck. WHAT THE FUCK! I've NEVER gotten a write up out of all the years I've worked...NEVER! Yet they have th gall to make an "example" out of me?? Julie was really resisting giving the write up..they basically told her to issue it or find another job. So, I got the write up. I wrote "Refused to sign" considering this is a railroad thing that's going on.. the entire office knows it's bullshit. Julie even logged into the video system and SAW the entire thing.. she SAW how slammed I was and saw nothing wrong with what I did.THEN... Steve has the nerve to come in later in the day and ask me "SO, having a good day?".. I just smiled and said."It'll get better once I'm done with my paperwork". He thought I was talking about my company orders.. I was talking about the claim I'm filing with the Labor Board.This is THE final straw. I've been verbally abused / harrassed non-stop. The work environment is hostile all the time and it's time to throw the battle flag up. All his dirty laundry is getting thrown out..everything. The lack of compensation for employees vehicles being used for his personal errands...the insulting manner he treats us... gawd, the list goes on and on. My official notice of seperation has been submitted. My last day of employment is November 11th, but I'm debating on even hanging out that long.

*2*

Not only was it a historical day, but November 4th was also my birthday...WOO HOO!! That's all that really mattered, my birthday, not Republican / Democrat mudslinging bullshit. Just me turning 26! Wheee!!

*3*

It's official. Obama is now our President. I'm actually still in shock considering I really didn't want him in any sort of postion along the lines of PRESIDENT, but, it is what it is. There's nothing that can be done other than hold on for our lives and see how this all goes. Honestly, I'm just glad all the political ads, radio ads, mudslinging, bickering and anything else you can think of revolving the election is OVER! Talk about beating a dead horse.. it was never ending between McCain and Obama.. NO MORE ads!

*4*

Here's my official notice of my job:

Mr. Diamond,
I am notifying you that my employment with Diamond Video World will end
November 11th, 2008.

I find the work environment of your company to be extremely hostile due to your conduct as observed and noted over the previous 11 months. I have experienced and observed your incessant disrespectful, belittling and unprofessional public behavior to other employees, including my supervisor. This has caused me great distress both personally and professionally despite my attempts to ignore it. Your sexual discrimination has also been of concern to me.

I have come to this most difficult decision as I enjoy my work as evidenced by my efforts to provide better inventory controls and accounting that I have initiated since my employ began. This has resulted in better customer service and faster order processing as well as
improved inventory control and better relations with various vendors. I have performed my duties and then some despite the stress of having to prepare my family for relocation due to my husband’s impending deployment as well as the issues listed.

As stated in my opening, my last day of employment will be November 11th, during which time I will conduct my duties as per my job description as outlined upon my
hiring.

Respectfully,
Erika Vandegrift-Hall

Since he was notifyed about me leaving, he's been hiding out and avoiding me as well as the other employee's in the building. When my supervisor gave him the heads up, he pretty much said, "Oh shit." considering there's no one to take my spot. Not only that, but he realizes he screwed up and not only pissed me off, but a handful of other people because of the way he treats us. Since I'm leaving, they're trying to shift / pile additional work onto the other people in the office WITHOUT a pay raise. Management feels as long as you're on payroll, you'll do WHATEVER is required of us. Needless to say, there will be some additional people following my lead..

*5*

Johns official last soccer game was this evening. By FAR the best game we've seen all season. The real pisser though is that they lost the game due to an inexperienced ref calling a bad play..and he KNEW he called a bad play once he was done talking to the other ref. The ref closest to the "foul" didn't call it, yet this particular ref was further away and could barely see the foul from where he was standing. Even all the parents were screaming because of how lame the call was.. it cost us the game. Our team coach even lost his cool and he NEVER does that! I mean, all that really matters is that the kids had a great time.. they were the #1 team all season (till now), but it's just irritating to know that thieir season ended a week early because a ref wasnt using his head. UGH! At the end of the game, the coach held a team meeting, gave a very motivating speech for the kids and handed out the team metals. All in all, John loved playing soccer and can't wait to play some more once we're overseas. Except once we're overseas, he'll be playing with kids that're more advanced in the sport.. so it'll definetely be a challenge for him! :D

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Bubby On The Bounce

Since we're moving overseas in ...hmmm.. 100ish days, Eric and I realized we need to get special carriers for the weenies considering they're going to be our "carry on" pieces.

Cole aka "Bubby" is the largest out of the 3 doxies... he tips the scales with 23 pounds of solid CHUNK. When we first got him, we were told that he was a "mini" dachshund (he was only 8 weeks old at the time)...well..time has shown that he's not mini by any means when in actuality, he's a typical standard sized dachshund.

Eric and I did our research as far as airline requirements for carry on pets...so..we hit he road in search for a carry on piece that'd be able to contain "The Chunk". After a little bit of footwork and digging in PetSmart, we ended up finding The Sherpa "Original Bag". Here are some specs from the companys web site:

• Durable quilted nylon construction
• Mesh panels for ventilation
• Front and top entry
• Washable faux lambskin liner
• Seat belt safety strap fits conveniently over upright luggage handle
• Two convenient zippered pockets
• Adjustable shoulder strap
• Washable faux lambskin liner
• Fits comfortably under cabin seat

I must say, Bubby was very well behaved while we were going through all the bags. He was sittin in the PetSmart shopping cart the whole time watching us like a hawk...as if we were gonna abandon him or something, lol. While he sat there, he had little reindeer horns on and when people passed by him, they kept wanting to play with him cause of how cute he looked :) We ended up getting the horns because it's just so silly and it's a good cheap laugh when you need one:

Once we found a bag that look like it could handle "The Chunk" in all his glory, we made our purchase and headed on home. Here's some pictures of the Sherpa :)

My Sherpa! Mine!



Look how cute he is!


Me modeling the size of the Sherpa bag :)

Eric simulating rushing through the airport to catch our flight with Bubby in the bag

All done!

The most important thing is that Bubby was able to stand in the Sherpa, turn around and still had a little room to spare. SO, we're feeling pretty good about the purchase since he'll be comfortable for the flight...ya know..with the assistance of a veterinary issued tranquilizer :)

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