I've been very busy.

We've had a pretty busy few months:
Weekend visits with friends because we were having way too much fun to drive 20 minutes to get home.











Birthday parties.

A one week bike trip along the shore line of Lake Superior from Whitefish Bay MI to Copper Harbor in WI...post to come!

A get together at Rich's ex and her husband's house, with his daughter's in-laws while his daughter was in town for work. She was able to bring the baby with since there is so much family here ready to take turns sitting while Jennifer works.








A long girls weekend with my niece, love that girl soo much!...post to come!












Rich got to baby sit at the hotel his daughter was staying at during yet another one of his daughter's business trips to Chicago while his daughter was doing a seminar. Little Emma is becoming quit the frequent flyer.








We helped a friend move a trailer to WI...a story of it's own. Always is when we get together...never a dull moment

Met up with the owner of this bike for breakfast...anyone know this bike? As a courtesy to our friend, I will wait to post on this visit till the owner of this bike has had a chance to post.








I've been working a lot of overtime and we finally moved into the main building. They are still working on the upstairs addition so it is really loud with all the banging and drilling. Another post of its own. These are the crates of packed files ready to be moved to the new building.

I met my great nephew yesterday for the first time since he was in diapers. He is 26 and drives OTR. He picked up a load in Chicago and headed to Oregon with it. we had a nice visit. When we said our goodbyes, I told him, "It's good to see you got out of those diapers!" He said, "Hopefully I won't end up back in them." He has a point, we start out in them and some of us end up back in them.

 

I am coming into my busiest week of the month...month end closing! Uhgg!!! Good thing about that is the overtime.

 

Till next time...ride safe.

Long weekends and travel plans

Two weeks ago I spent the weekend with my niece in Indiana. I took off at noon on Friday and traveled six hours to meet her for dinner. Then she followed me back to the motel I checked us into earlier. We stayed up late catching up and reminiscing.

The next day we had a nice breakfast and set out to do some sight seeing. We saw some covered bridges, a tractor show, and stopped for a strawberry short cake at a strawberry festival. When we got back to the town we were staying in, they had a car show going on. Then after some dinner, back to the motel.

Sunday morning we had breakfast and did some shopping then after lunch, we both headed in the opposite direction for home.

Last Sunday Rich and I  did a 5 hour bike ride.

Tomorrow we will be getting ready for our up coming vacation. We were planning to do a bike trip but Rich is hesitant about taking the bikes. He's become very pessimistic lately. What if...what if...?? He will be doing maintenance on the bikes, the truck, the trailer and the car.

He's tired a lot lately and ready for bed by 8:30. I don't know if something is going on with his health or what it is. I can't get him to make a decision on anything anymore. We have talked about allot of places for vacation and he just can't make a decision and it's just a week away. He said he's tired of always riding in the rain on every bike trip and he really doesn't want to have to buy a pickup truck again to get a disabled bike home. He also has said that he has thought about trailering or just taking the car. It's not like him to be so worried. I think he is way over thinking things. I got him to agree to sit down tomorrow and pick three areas of interest then decide on one of those the day before the trip based on weather forecasts.

A week before vacation and still no destination. I don't think he has even talked to his son about house sitting yet. Not that we need that here. It's such a small town, everyone knows everyone and there is always someone around.

I would really like to go southeast this time. Maybe the coastline up the Carolinas and into VA. It's the only part of the country we've never traveled by bike. I guess we'll see when the time comes. I hope he's not getting tired of the bike trips. I sure would miss them. We did one every summer. The last trip was either 2009 or 2010. I thought it was because of his back and arm. He's had no pain since he healed from his surgery so that's not the case now.

Remembering our veterans.

Thank you to all who served and are still serving...You have my complete respect and gratitude for your service and bravery.

 

Memorial services at Lincoln Memorial Park, Aurora, IL.

 

We attended the services were my parents are laid to rest. The taps and the riffle salute still gives me goose bumps.

 

My father served in WWI and received the Purple Heart for his injuries. He was shot in the hip and arm, leaving him with a limp and a plate in his arm. I didn't know he had a plate in his arm until just a year ago through a conversation with my older sister. I didn't even know they did that back then.

 

My mother told me that someone he served with attended his funeral and told her that even after he was wounded, he kept on fighting. 

 

He was 63 when I was born and died when I was 4; unfortunately I have very few memories of him and I really didn't know him.

 



Three seasons in one week and planning a girls weekend!

We've had temps ranging from the high 30's to the low 80's. We were able to get a five hour bike ride in last Sunday. It was a full leather with chaps day, but it was still good.

I have a nice girl’s weekend planned for June 7-9 with my niece half way between us. Well...almost half way. My drive will be 3-1/2 hours and hers will be 2-1/2 hours. I planned it that way because I found a really nice area we can hike out to some waterfalls and drive around the area checking out a bunch of covered bridges and scenic drives. I know it sounds boring to some, but it's not so much what we do, it's spending time together doing something we can both enjoy. She is not a biker or in any way a drinker...not that I'm a party animal. She will probably insist on finding a nearby church, which will be fine with me. It's been too long for me anyway.

The following story will give you an idea how close we are, plus I sometimes need to get things out. There are allot of things I don't talk to many people about. Here I can say anything and it's pretty close to being anonymous. Only one person knows I have this blog and that's my best friend of all time, who is the only person I can tell everything. I love you Gina!

This is my late sister's daughter; we spent a great deal of our younger years together. She was only nine years younger, but I spent most of my summers babysitting her and her brother at my sister’s apartment while my sister worked as a bartender. During the school year, my mom took care of them. When I started taking care of them, she was about three and her brother was about one. He was still in diapers. That would have made me about 12. Since my sister worked late evenings, I got my niece and nephew breakfast and took care of them while my sister slept in. Then when my sister went to work, I took care of dinner and the kids till about 2-3 am or whenever she dragged herself in. I lived with them about three of my summers doing this. It helped both of us along with my mother, who was raising me and my brother on SS. My mother was unable to work because of an old injury to her back and at that time there was no such thing as disability or welfare or if there was, she wouldn’t take it. The most she got was holiday dinners at Salvation Army. She was also taking care of my bed ridden grandmother who was senile with dementia. My sister gave me a small allowance, "pay" and bought my school cloths, giving her the freedom of having a live-in sitter.

My sister ended up marrying a bouncer at the club she was a bartending at and she had a little girl from that marriage. I watched all three kids for a short while till they moved back to his home town in MO. I never did like him, he gave me a bad feeling that I couldn't explain. Things get a little hard to remember the exact order things happened once they moved to MO. I spent a couple of weeks of each of my summer vacations there. We did allot of traveling back and forth which makes it hard to remember what order things happened. As best as I can figure, the following is how it all came together.

From the time my niece was about 8 till she was 12, her step father molested her. He told her he would kill her and her brother if she ever told. Being a child and a victim, she believed him. My sister eventually found out, left him, brought charges against him, and came to stay with us till it went to court. She then got "advice" from a minister. He told her she needed to learn to forgive her husband. (I would have forgiven him only after he was dead and in the ground, and I have my doubts about forgiving him even then). My sister ended up going back to him taking her son and youngest daughter (his daughter) and left my niece with me and my ex for the remainder of the school year. This was to give my sister and her husband time to get counseling so he could overcome his "demons". I can only imagine how betrayed my niece felt because of her mother going back to him. (A thought I never mentioned to my niece). Somehow the charges were dropped, I think at that time it was up to the parents whether charges were brought and my understanding was that she didn't want to put my niece through a trial. My niece would talk to me a little about it but not much and I never pressured her to talk about it. I have to give my ex credit, he was really good about it and was real good to her.

My sister came to get her at the end of the school year. Tensions were high and things got complicated. From what I understand, accusations were made by her husband that it was all my nieces fault for seducing him...she was only about 8 when it all began! I completely believe her for two reasons. One her age, she could not make those things up, and because a few years earlier while I was there on one of my summer vacations, he touched my breast with his finger as if he was pointing to something on my top while asking what was on my shirt. I was about 13 or 14. I gave him a dirty look and pulled away. I never talked about it because I didn't know what to make of it and it embarrassed me. He must have thought I would be too much of a challenge because he never tried anything again. I sometimes thought later that if I had said something then, maybe my niece would not have suffered for so long, but at the time it never occurred to me that she was in any danger.

After things didn't work out as a family unit, my understanding is that my sister left my niece with a neighbor saying she would be back in a couple hours, taking her youngest two with her and came back here and stayed with us. When we asked about my niece, she said she was staying with her best friend across the street till she could get settled. After causing all kinds of drama here, she headed back to MO again, or so we thought. Somehow the two oldest kids ended up in foster care. Our family didn't know what had happened to them. Next thing we knew my sister was living in TX with just her youngest daughter and had been remarried. I only saw her one time after that and that was at my mother’s funeral. She went back to TX, the next time we heard from her was a short time later when she called my brother at work asking for money to leave her new husband. He told her he didn't have any to spare and she never contacted any of us again.

My niece's real father was in prison while all this was going on. When he got out, he found them through the courts and he was told that if he was able to put together a life for them he would be given custody after his parole was up. He got remarried and when he got custody he brought the kids up from MO for a visit and moved to IN. He never kept in touch after that. His wife left him a while later and my niece pretty much ran the house after his wife left. He was a hard man, but he loved them and tried his best.

When my niece was older and married, she started checking the internet and found her mother in TX and they reunited. My niece and her husband moved my sister along with her younger half-sister from her stepfather, and her sister's two kids into their home until my sister could get a place.

My sister died about six years ago and my niece started looking for us through the internet. She finally found us about five years ago. My youngest niece told her she should just forget us because of the way their mother felt about us. I guess when my brother didn't help her and she knew she couldn't ask me again, she decided we were no good to her.

My niece said that one of her foster parents got her back into church and it was her faith that got her through it and helped her forgive her mother. She has a very strong faith in God and I admire her for it.

Now we're just as close as ever. Sometimes I'll be at work and I'll get a text from her that says, "Just wanted to say I love you and I'm so blessed to have you in my life" or "Thinking about you. Love you soooo much" or sometimes just one word..."Lovins!"

She sent me a private message on FB last night, "I'm getting so excited about our weekend" I'm looking forward to it too. I know it will be a good weekend together and it will be filled with long talks, tears, hugs, and laughter...or as my niece would sum it all up…“Lovins!”.

My life at work.

This is my slow week at work, my month-end close is done, all my reports are finished, files have been uploaded to both GM and Chrysler, accruals sent off to accounting, and numbers reconciled. Just waiting for my April audit list and I will be officially closing April. I get a list of 30 random jobs plus any job over $25,000 every month. Then I have to prove everything was done according to the contract by making copies of contracts and any Po's, invoices, postal receipts, and digital media records along with screen shots of any inventory posted to the jobs. I'm not getting much overtime anymore. I’ve had very little OT, as a matter of fact. I used to be able to count on my last two weeks of the month having at least 10-20 hours of overtime, not anymore. Apparently I'm getting better at my job. I guess it's a good sign but I really liked that OT.

My promotion is pushed till probably Jan, 2014 because of the software not being ready yet. While I was in Dallas, I found too many discrepancies in the software that just won't work for us. It will be about that long before they can work the bugs out.

Our branch is currently spread out over two buildings in an office complex about 3 city blocks wide. They have been building an addition on the main building to get us all together. It should be ready for us to move into by the end of June. They have bought another marketing agency since the planning of the new building so it will be interesting to see how they fit us all in.

Before you read the next part of my post, keep in mind that I am truely greatful for my job; but like all jobs, there's always something that just drives you nuts.

I will be very happy when the move comes because the girls I room with; one in particular, are very load and inconsiderate of my need to concentrate. They are busy the first two weeks and slower at end of month. My busy time is the opposite. When I am not busy, they can be very amusing, but when I'm buried in work, they can be very distracting. I am so tired of hearing, "OHH MY GOD!" and all about how tired they are; one because of a two year old and one because she is a party animal and is usually hung over. The constant loud yawning followed by a really load, "OHH BOY, OHH BOY, OHH BOY!" I have said stuff like, "Really...it can't be that bad, I should be the one doing all the yawning since I'm OLD and stay up too late for my own good." I have said, "SARAH, can you possibly be any more distracting?" She usually answers with, "Well I can certainly try!" She is totally oblivious that I am serious. I find myself using ear buds with my iPhone music to drown her out. She is constantly making tapping noises with her fingers, hands and feet. She plays music on her computer constantly singing along and a very high pitched, out of tune voice. Then there is the constant whining about how bruised they are from their kettle bell workouts. Not to mention the detailed stories of skinned tail bones from the workouts because of bad floor mats. TMI! Not that I couldn't use some exercise myself, but I think I would go for a different form of exercise if it were that damaging to my body. Then the constant conversations about one of them is a maid of honor for her cousin and all the family drama to go with it and the drama of the other one's step kids. I will be so glad when this wedding is finally over. I just hope I was not as dramatic in my 30's as they are. It's like being back in high school.

I was in the cafeteria the other day and had a conversation with someone from a different department and she asked how I liked individual auto. I just said, "I like my job and the company is definitely a good company to work for." She grinned and mentioned that they hear quite a bit of noise coming from our area. It turns out that others have complained, but our department brings in so much revenue that it is pretty much overlooked. I just said, "Sometimes it can be entertaining, but the people are all nice people." It's true...if it weren't for the fact that they make it hard to concentrate by being so distracting and dramatic, I think I could really like them. I just keep telling myself that we will be moving soon and we will all be in cubes alongside accounting and they will have to tame it down. I will have to be situated between accounting and them because I am technically a part of accounting but we all need access to the contracts and job jackets at the same time.

In my new position, "Production Administrator for Finance" I will be busier in the beginning of the month which will coincide with their busy time. That should help cut down the distractions. Once the sales staff has a contract, I will be creating new customer numbers and creating projects for the financial aspect of the job by pricing out everything, then it will go back to the sales staff for approval and then onto the support team, "the drama department" to be put together and sent off to the print shop and to the digital media department. It will then be entered as an invoice by the billing department and sent back to me for approval. I will have to verify that all the job steps have been fulfilled and that all the audit points are verified before being sent out. Unfortunately the Enron scandal has hurt allot of people, but because of it we have allot of "SOX regulations" that have to be followed and I have a job because of it. With all the checks and balances involved with being a publicly traded company, new jobs needed to be created to become SOX compliant. We have to have everything documented and records showing self-audit practices. No one person is allowed to do anything financial without approval from someone else, lowering the risk of fraud in financial statements.

Probably uninteresting to most of you, but this is a description of SOX.
The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002, also known as the 'Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act' and 'Corporate and Auditing Accountability and Responsibility Act' and more commonly called Sarbanes–Oxley, Sarbox or SOX, is a US federal law that set new standards for all U.S. public company boards, management and public accounting firms. As a result of SOX, top management must now individually certify the accuracy of financial information. The bill was enacted as a reaction to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals including those affecting Enron, Tyco Int'l, WorldCom and a few more. These scandals cost investors billions of dollars when the share prices of affected companies collapsed.

Very sad trial.

I was excused from jury duty today for a variety of reasons. Now that I will not be serving, I can talk about it. A baby was born premature and the parents were suing the Dr and hospital for wrongful death. His lungs were underdeveloped, they mentioned brain bleeds, lung disease and feeding tubes. He was in the neo icu for 45 days when he died. It was hinted at that the baby didn't have a strong chance of living and that the hospital staff didn't have much hope for him so they neglected him.

Some of the questions that played a part in me being released was:
Q. Did I have anyone close to me who had a complicated pregnancy or a baby that had been on a feeding tube?
A. My granddaughter was on a feeding tube for about a month after she was born because her lungs were not fully developed and she had a whole in one lung and in her heart.
Q. Do you know any nurses?
A. Yes...8.
Q. Do you know any police officers? (The father of the baby is a cop.)
A. Yes...2 still on the force and 2 retired, one of them my brother.
Q. Were you ever a part of a lawsuit?
A. Yes...I had to give a deposition and testify in a wrongful death case for my brother-in-law's death...a heart attack at the age of 34. I worked with him at the time. Since he had the heart attack at work, I went to the hospital with him. He was misdiagnosed and later died.

After the lawyer for the plaintiff questioned me, she said she approved of me as a juror. I was surprised at that after hearing that I know so many nurses. When it was time for the lawyer for the Dr to question me, he stood and asked that I be released as a witness. Probably because of the combination of the first and last 2 questions. They probably thought I would be too simpathetic and side with the family.

I was really on the fence with this. I felt like I was obliged to do it but at the same time, I worried it might be too emotional and touch too close to home. I also was worried about work. They expected the trial to last at least 2 weeks and very likely into the third week. That would put me in a very bad situation at work. I'm glad I will not have to serve. I can't imagine I would ever have to serve in a criminal case since I have been a victim in one way or another of so many crimes.

Jury Duty

Today was a long day. We have two courthouses in our county. After an hour, they discovered that there was a glitch in the call in phone system and that there were not enough jurors at the old courthouse so they called 11 names to go to the courthouse in the next town. A half hour later they called 11 more to go to the other courthouse...I was one of them. After asking us questions as a group, they took each one of us into a room and we were interviewed by the judge and both sides. At about four o'clock they brought everyone back into the courtroom and started questioning four at a time. At about five o'clock they had only got through five of the 62 and decided to keep 10 jurors and sent the rest of us home and asked us to come back at 7:45 tomorrow. This trial could last 2-3 weeks. I hope I am not chosen. I would have trouble getting my end of month done. My boss was turned off of all billing software so she only has read only privileges. I am the only one at this point that has access to billing for our department. I will have to work after court and on weekends. That doesn't sound like fun. Guess I'll find out tomorrow.