More Pottstown... Starting anew?

The first night there didn't make me feel any better. I felt so very exposed with those huge windows in the livingroom. It felt as though the whole world was watching me. I can hear it now... "wait, I thought you were a Leo... most Leos LOVE the attention!!" Well, as I said, I'm very atypical of the sign. Although I hate being ignored and neglected, I don't exactly like to be in the spotlight either. Well, a spotlight within a group where I can blend in, yeah.... but alone with only one or two others? Nope. The next day we had to go to WalMart and attempt to replace some of the dire necessities (cleaning supplies, food, curtains, etc). While there we called the landlord and ended up speaking to the secretary and explaining that we had the truck fall thru and had to replace some of the stuff and we were going to be short already. I know, not a really good start. That truck would have been so helpful.... but what's done is done. I know why it happened and I certainly don't blame this person for deciding the way they did because Idjut wouldn't have paid it back and we both knew this. So an arrangement was made where we paid every other week in an attempt to keep up with the rent and in this way managed to keep a roof over our heads.

Thanks to a Salvation Army/ secondhand store, we managed to get a few of the essentials. A couple pots and pans, a couple cups for tea/coffee, flatware and a place setting for each of us. There was no way we could have company for more than a cuppa tea, but it was better than nothing.

In time we managed to get a couple cheap rocking chairs from the flea market in town and a desk for my computer. I had to set up in the livingroom because he threw a fit when I suggested the little room with the big window. He absolutely wanted me out where I could keep him company. Never mind that he spent the whole time reading/watching documentaries and ignoring me totally. If he wasn't doing that then he was in HIS room running war simulations with toys or playing his guitar for hours on end. I finally had enough of the nonsense and pulled my computer into the small room and set it up to be my own little hideaway. Oh he didn't like that one bit. Threw a fit about it. So I tried to make a deal with him. I'd stay out in the livingroom to eat and socialize until 8 or 9pm, but then he couldn't fuss if I went to my room for a little bit. This worked fine for a week, until he started slinking off to his room at 630 or 7pm. So I said fine.... what's good for the goose is good for the gander. I'd wait 10 minutes and then go to my room.  Hey, if he wasn't going to be available to talk to, then I wasn't either. Seemed fair to me. Right? Oh no... he had a fit when he came out of his room around 730pm and I wasn't in the livingroom watching tv. So naturally he waltzed into my room (didn't even bother knocking like he INSISTED I do before entering his room) and started giving me fits about it. I told him that if I had to play by those rules, he did too. That I came up with that idea because HE was "lonely" and wanted to spend time with me. That if he was going to go to his room for alone time then I was too. It was only fair. PERIOD.  So the 8 or 9pm rule went into effect again, but it only lasted another week before he was back to his old ways again.

Now that I look back on it, this was a rather scary confrontation considering the layout of the room. The room was only about 3'x8' at the most. The outer wall had a big display window, like you see in the clothing stores in malls. There was a smaller, ventilation sized window on either side of it.  On the wall opposite was the door to the room. On the short wall, furthest from the door, is where I had my computer. The wall was just long enough to put a small computer desk and a decorative piece on the floor next to it. At the time I didn't have an office chair, I was using my rocker while at the computer. So there was no way to turn and get out of it quickly. The door was about 3' away from the back of my chair. So when he'd come in, he was at the left side of my chair before I could react and I was forced to look up at him. Yeah... I was arguing from that position. If he'd had a knife or any kind of weapon....

Anyhow, once he went back to his ways... I decided what the hell. I started heading off to my room earlier and earlier. Even before he went to his room. Like I said, what was good for the goose... It was about that time I was letting my online friends know, if I don't arrive by a certain point of the night or I don't at least drop an email , something might be wrong.

I hated everything about my life. I hated where I was, who I was married to, my job, everything. By the time I'd been in Pottstown for 2-3 months, I was at the point of "No one will miss me if I (insert method of suicide)". I had friends online, but none that took me seriously. Fairly certain they all saw me as some drama queen trying to get attention. Well, I was trying to get attention. I felt like I was going insane and I knew for sure something was wrong. However, since he never hit me... it couldn't be abuse, could it? However, I got the feeling then (and I still have it now) that those friends thought I was just telling stories.

I wasn't.

Hiatus Apology

I know it's been a long time since I last wrote in here and I know that story isn't quite completed yet as I haven't brought it to the fight to get the divorce completed (what a saga THAT was). My biggest problem was that every time I tried to write (and I feel it niggling right now), a migraine would take over. Between the eyestrain and the stress, it's no real surprise. However, I have been keeping up with the side bars somewhat and every time I find something that would be of interest here, I get it added. You'll see a new graphic on the left today as well as 2 Facebook pages that could be of interest to those that are now going through what I did back then. Got to love the internet these days and all the information you can get in a split second.  I actually am starting to get the itch to work in here again. Maybe it'll be a doorway to get me into my other blogs here ^_~. I am noticing that all the info in here is making it a tad junky though, so it's highly likely that I may take this particular blog to another site or just start a new Blogger account for just this kinda stuff. Who knows. The ideas are just bouncing around right now and not really coming to fruition... yet.

Intermission, final thoughts

Ok, yes, on one hand I found it to be a creepy little place. At least at that point in my life. However, now that I'm removed from the situation, I can look back and see that the place itself wasn't really all that bad. How so?

For one thing, that neighbor who made me get the "We've come full circle" feeling turned out to be a doll and a half. I wouldn't trade her for the world. That man she was with turned out to be a creep and a half but he seemed to be fine to me. Then again, manipulative assholes are like that towards others. They show the world what they WANT them to see, not how they truly are. I know that now, but back then the lesser of the two evils I was facing was living with the neighbor-lady.

For another, yeah the place was a bit cramped and all, but it wouldn't have been so bad  if there'd been some money to work with for the basics. Things like a decent set of drapes for all the rooms... some furniture, hell screw that, a BED would have been nice.... and a refrigerator, yeah that would have been awesome. A lot fewer in the Pussycat posse would have been nice too. Other than that, there was plenty of closet space and the room size was reasonable for the most part.

The town was smallish and reminded me a bit of Main Street, East Syracuse. There was a very comfy feel to it and I wasn't really afraid to leave the house on my own. I loved the walk to the bus stop. Ok, so it was a couple blocks away... but I got to pass some nice small shops on the way and check out the displays in the windows. There was also a great little pizza place just around the corner. There are a couple really nice diners in town and the laundromat was just down the road. If it wasn't for the fact that I'd had a terrible time of it there, I'd go back. Unfortunately, my last trip back made me so very sick and it wasn't from anything I ate (stress will do that to you).

If there was just one thing I could have changed..... it would have made all the difference in the world.

Intermission

We're going to take a little break and take a slight tangent. This seems to be the right place for one.

I'm a Leo, albeit a very atypical one. I seem to have more Cancer qualities to me and it's more than likely because I was born in the earlier half of the Lion's reign. The confidence and ambitiousness strengths of the Leo never seemed to take hold with me and thankfully the only weaknesses I did manage to get were being melodramatic and stubborn. However, I managed to get every strength and every friggin weakness of a Cancer. Thanks to the lack of confidence, I was already halfway being dominated  even without a strong person in my life which really sucked. The jerk... well he was a Virgo. Let me rephrase that, he was a Virgo/Leo in all the weaknesses and very little of the positive strengths. Definitely NOT a good match.

Growing up, I certainly didn't act my age.  I much preferred to stay home and study than go out with my friends. Not that I had many in school and those I did have didn't live close enough to hang out with.  As I go through some of their pictures on Facebook, I see how much I truly missed out. It saddens me to know how very invisible I was to everyone. On the plus side, I never got beat up or exposed to any of the nasty pranks that many of the others got. The only time I was visible was when someone needed something. Now that I think back, maybe that's why I was so invisible... maybe it was just that some of the higher echelon had deemed that I was to be left alone and in the process made me invisible to those that would normally give me problems. I guess I should be grateful. To be honest, I think it would have been better if they hadn't as then I would have been prepared to handle the fkndickweed when he showed up. I would have known what was acceptable and what wasn't and not just sat back and been thankful for just any kind of attention. I wouldn't have been desperate. When I did go out, it was to the community theatre with my folks to help out.  Most of my truest friends were there and were a good 10-15 years or more older than me. The theatre was a second home to me and I felt comfortable around most of them. Maybe this was part of my problem in school, that I didn't consider them mature enough and I projected an aloofness?

Home was nice, at best. I know now that we didn't have much, otherwise we would have been living somewhere much nicer. Thinking back, I doubt a nicer place would have changed anything. As much as I didn't mind being invited to others' homes, I just never felt comfortable around other people and all I wanted to do was hide in a corner. The more people invited over (like in a party situation), the less comfortable I was. I never ever invited anyone to our home for much the same reason. Oh, yeah, my friends had nicer homes, but somehow I doubt that I would have invited anyone over even if we lived in a big beautiful home.  I'm going to own up to that right now. There's always been something a little off about me and I've yet to be able to put a finger on it. I wanted to be accepted and loved, yet I was either too shy to interact with people or simply too awkward. In either case, I already had this anxiety working against me.

Although we didn't have much, home was at least comfortable with all the necessities covered. Food on the table, a roof over our heads, clean clothes on our backs and transportation to where we need to be are usually the standard things people think of when they think of the needs. There are other things that we take for granted that really are needed in this day and age. When these items become a luxury, the quality of life takes a turn for the worst. I was used to at least the needs and these items being met. I was used to being comfortable.

Now back to our creepy little place.

The livingroom, used to be a store front. So it had this huge window taking up almost the entire wall along the street. If we were to cut the glass out and step through it, we'd drop neatly on the sidewalk. Yeah, it was that close to the apartment. We had to settle for these cheap cafe sized curtains because we didn't have enough money for the heavy duty rods that "real" curtains would have required, nevermind the curtains themselves. The curtains afforded a little privacy from the street, but nothing from those in the second floor or on the roof of the buildings across the street. Do you think that this would be enough sunlight for natureboy? Nope. every chance he got, he opened those damned things up. We have 8 cats, remember. Thankfully not all would get in the window at the same time, only 2 or 3. However, with dickweed constantly opening the curtains wide, everything was visible. Every cat, every pile of books, every last mess that he refused to keep cleaned up. Now, mind you, as a Leo... well we don't much like cleaning to begin with. We don't mind a comfortable mess, so long as it's not on display for the whole damned world to see. Besides, it's no one's business what size tv we have or the fact we have a computer. That's just asking to be robbed! Do you think he cared? You can bet your sweet bippy he would if that computer was no longer available for making work sheets and stuff. Oh wait, he wasn't a teacher at this point and didn't need that stuff. So why care? He at least had his books, the tv and the vcr, so who gives a damned?

The bedroom, I'm pretty sure, was an add-on. That wall certainly didn't look original. Thank goodness there was a closet in there, not that we had much to put in it. Since we had to leave almost everything behind, all we had to sleep on was an egg crate foam mat. Sleeping on that mat was extremely uncomfortable for a gal my size. I woke up achy and sore most days. He wondered why I was waking up in such a foul mood all the time. I had such a hard time getting up and do you think for just once he'd get up, turn off the alarm and gently wake me up? Yea... you guessed it. Storage for our "unmentionables" was a cheap shelving unit that was mostly falling apart (thank God for flea markets in walking distance). Of course, the top shelf held a bunch of his crap.... and his diary. Yeah, he kept a diary.... for years. Every last little detail of his life was written in there. Oh... and several months worth of it was written by me because he thought it would be "fun" to get it written together. Until I started adding stuff he didn't agree with. Then suddenly he was all fine writing it by himself. Well that and I complained the whole way through because he was unbelievably long winded and didn't seem to care that it bothered my hand to write for several pages a day. Yet if it was him writing, it was a half to three-quarters of a page. Go figure. Anyhow, the diary was front and center on the top of that shelving unit.

There was a basement for storage for both apartments. My first thought was to allow the "kids" access to it down there so they had room to run when I didn't have to worry about things. The litter would have been put down there too. Until we went down and took a look. That place creeped me out more than the apartment did. Too many places the "kids" could hide or get stuck. That and the other lady's stuff was down there too (yeah, this means she'd need occasional access to our place if she had a need to get something from storage) and I simply couldn't have anything happening to her stuff. I knew that idjut didn't like doing his one chore and just knew they'd potty all over her possessions. We ended up keeping the litter in the bathroom under the sink (ew) because it was the only other place for it. We also ended up keeping the large cage set up in front of the basement door for a couple of the kittens because they weren't spayed or neutered and we certainly couldn't handle more cats.

The place was listed as a 2 bedroom with a spare room. This spare room, I'm guessing started out as one of those display cases the old shops had for their mannequins. It, too, had a huge window taking up most of the one wall. Again, we opted for cafe curtains and rods just for the quick fix of privacy. Although... I think we used old towels because we didnt have anymore funding for real curtains.... and a rope for the rod for the same reason. I'm starting to forget some details. I apologize. Maybe this is a good thing? This room started as a minor catch all for mostly my stuff as the computer was set up in the livingroom (God forbid he has to sit alone in there, ya know). There was a set of built in shelves in the wall across from the window where I placed my "girls" (the dolls I managed to weed into the car during our move). It got really warm in there when the sun was travelling that side of the building. We had no air conditioning at first and even when we did, it didn't cool that room at all.

The room across the hall was "HIS" room. All his stuff was in there and I was never allowed to set foot in there if at all possible. I'm guessing they started out as dressing rooms because there was a partial divider or two in there. If you think that I complained about the mess in the livingroom, this room was worse.

Then there was the kitchen. A nice set of built in shelves for a pantry. Some cupboards over the sink for dishes and pans (none of which we had, remember). A stove............ You remember what I was saying earlier about necessities that are taken for granted? Yep, you guessed it. No refrigerator. Absolutely NOTHING to put fresh foods in or left overs. Wintertime wasn't too bad because the back porch kept most things cold enough, but during the summer? This means that half of what we normally would eat (when it could be afforded) was no longer available for our diets. No milk. No fresh meat. Couldn't store left overs and try to get another meal out of them. Nothing. From the time we moved in to the time I left his ass, it was nothing but boxed and canned foods. The only time we had fresh meat was on the day we went shopping or if we got invited to the neighbor's for supper. Any other day it was Dinty Moore stew, Hamburgerless Hamburger Helper, Ramen noodles.... well you get the idea. On weeks where finds were tight (rent, bills, gas and bus fare came first), we were lucky to have peanut butter sandwiches for 2 meals and a slice of dry toast for breakfast. Oh.... and I'm on a random schedule while he works a set schedule at a school (thanks to the neighbor gal who helped him get the job). Do you think he could be bothered to try and find another job? Granted everything in town proper would shut down around 6pm or so, but there was WalMart which wasn't too far from the apartment. Yeah, I could have switched jobs and gotten one at WalMart. Gotten a job closer to home. The problem is, it would have meant a wage cut. I was making $12/hour and although a good portion was going to bus fare (which would have been reduced if I changed jobs), after doing some figuring.... we would have been in as bad shape and still in the same boat. He'd still need a second job and was refusing to get one even though HE was the one with the set schedule. Nope. Told me if I thought someone needed a second job that maybe I should look for one.

This was the state of things for us. A neighbor who was the spit and image of a ghost from the past and hardly any of our needs covered.

The move to Pottstown

So we returned back to N'Awlins from Pa. I had a new job in hand, assuming I could find us a place to live. We'd checked the papers when we were up in the area and the prices were a tad much for us, considering only one of us would have a job when we got there. Stupid, yeah I know, but to us it looked like an improvement. I wanted to stay another day in the area and try to find a place to live, but he had this terrible urge to get back down south. Seems that urge was right on the money.

When we got back to the duplex, we found a note on our door. It was from the landlady saying she was going to be in the area inspecting the properties. When? That very day. Did I mention that we had 12 cats and 8 of them she had no clue we had? We'd been away for 3-4 days and ... well let's just say it was a HORRID mess. Not that it wasn't normally a mess because the jerk wouldn't do that one friggin chore as often as he was supposed to (2-3 times a day for that number of animals and I was lucky if he did it ONCE)... but this was 10 times as bad. Why did we have so many cats? Because nature boy had allowed not just one stray access to the house (the idea was to adopt the ONE cat off the street) but 4 of them. We didn't have the money to fix the one, nevermind all 4 (plus the male kitten we'd adopted) so when the 2 stray females went into heat I tried my best to keep them separated from the rest. But ding-bat... thought the one female was "too old" to conceive and allowed her free roaming when I wasn't home. He learned quickly that there isn't usually a too old for cats. Top things all off, one of the stray males got ahold of the other stray female. *sigh* Both litters came within days of each other. Only 2 kittens survived in each litter. So you can imagine the mess we came back to and how we spazzed trying to get things cleaned up before inspection. He headed out the door with a rent check and managed to convince her that we'd just gotten home from a long trip and that I wasn't feeling well but things were working great in the house. Thankfully, that was enough to get her to not show up on the doorstep.

Not sure where I found it, but I got a listing of the rental properties close to the area we needed to target and found one that "would do". The landlord's secretary was very nice and sent us some photos so we could see the place and decide if we liked it. She said it was similar to a single wide trailer in width with a basement access. We figured, we'd been in a single-wide before and it wasn't so bad so we sent in the app with a first month's rent with the condition we could send in the next part of the deposit when we got there as we had other expenses to deal with as well (moving being the biggest). An agreement was come to and we were all set on that end. Now to just get our stuff there.

Originally, a friend of ours was going to pay for a moving van so we could get our stuff to Pa. It was being done this way because we didn't have a credit card to put the truck on and they wouldn't take cash (especially for a cross country move). The object was to get moved and then pay the friend back as we could. At least that was MY intention, I can't say if it was his but my bet would go to that he wouldn't. Somehow, the deal fell through. Not sure if it was there wasn't enough credit on that card or if it was that the friend thought about it and decided that they knew better than that.... all I know is that there suddenly was no truck for us to utilize. What to do? Ok... so we take the little extra we have and ship at least some of the stuff and pack the car with the rest. I packed up everything, weighed it all and then went to the UPS site to calculate about how much it would cost to ship. *SHOCK* Omigoodness that wasn't going to be an option. Time to pare things down. So I started the process of weeding out, reboxing, reweighing, entering the totals, *sigh* rinse and repeat. This went on for two days. Everytime I said that it was still too much, he'd fuss and scream how he couldn't possibly weed anymore out. The biggest problem? His books that he just HAD to have. In his defense, many were limited editions and a number of them were first editions... so he DID have a point. However, when you have to choose between books or NECESSITIES for the home, I'm all for the necessities. He kept saying to put some of the stuff in the car. I told him it wasn't going to work as the "kids" had to ride somewhere. The whole back seat was going to be taken up with their travel cages as it was. Of the 12 boxes we shipped, we ended up with 8 of them being his damned books. Very little went in the line of household items, in fact I had to replace nearly everything that was in the kitchen. Thank goodness for Salvation Army stores, I'm tellin ya. I would guess that about 95% of the household goods and personal stuff got left behind.

The hardest part of finding any kind of home is when you have fur-children to contend with. Many landlords prefer no pets but if you must have pets, then keep it to one or two and the smaller the better. Dogs seem to be better accepted than cats because they're "less destructive". A well trained cat, however, is not destructive in the slightest and if the box is cleaned properly they don't leave all that much of an odor (some, not much though). So basically, it's the owner's fault the house stinks. This same problem can be said regarding dog owners if they allow the pooch to potty inside. The smell tends to amplify with the number of critters the household has. Needless to say, most places are fine with one.. ok with two but anymore 4 legged critters than that, they draw the line. You can imagine what I was going through knowing I had 12 in this house. I finally drew the line and said that we needed to reduce the number of felines travelling with us. We'd keep the original 3 that we'd had since NY and the one kitten (who was a HUGE yearling at this point) we'd adopted from a family that was at the first school. Beyond that, I said ONE of the kittens each but the adults have to go. I chose the yearling's son (he was a long coated yellow tiger) and waited for a decision from dippy. He wanted the one stray male's son, which was fine (he was a cute little porker). Then it was ... "well we cant leave this one because he's ill and all they'll do is put him down"... which I relented to simply because although I hated the cat, the last thing I wanted was him put down because his "sick" was simply old age. We bundled the rest up in carriers and called Animal Control. While waiting, dippy decided that he couldn't live without just one more of the kittens... a faded calico female. We argued over that one for near on the hour while waiting for the AC to show up. I still don't know how I lost that fight. We turned over the other 4 to the AC when they showed up. God help me the lie we spun regarding the cats we handed over. Although it's fewer cats than I planned to send off, it's a miracle I got him to agree to at least 4. If he'd had his way, we would have had all 12 in that car. I do believe the lack of space was the only reason he relented.

We packed up the car the next day and headed out, leaving the keys with a neighbor and telling them to help themselves to everything we left. Clothes, stuff for the kitchen, everything was fair game except the appliances. There were 4 pet taxis in the back of the car (the oldest 2 cats each in their own carrier and the other 6 divided up into the remaining two) and odds and ends stashed around them. The clothes and the computer, which I insisted must go because I'd paid for it out of my own money and if he could have all those books then I could have this, were all stashed in the trunk. It took us 3 days to get there. The gas mileage was worse than the previous trip, but that was to be expected considering how loaded down the car was. It didn't stop him from bitching about it though. We won't go into the fact that a couple times the hotel we ended up at only had 2 doubles in the room (instead of a king or queen) and I opted to sleep alone. Hey, he was a thrasher and I wanted to be able to sleep. I mean, what the hell, he never wanted to touch me anyhow! Why should it bother him if Im in another bed, it's not as though I was sleeping with someone else.

It was late when we arrived at the new place. We checked it out and the place gave me the creeps. Not sure what it was about it. The livingroom was the worst with that huge window facing the street. You see, the place we'd rented was converted from one of those old timey stores. The ones that little boutiques are in in the small towns. You know the ones, with the big store front windows you can look into without stepping back from the sidewalk and the other big window around the side where their window displays always were. Yeah. One of those. No curtains available to put up right now and 8 cats that the whole town was going to be able to see. I freaked. We went to a hotel and signed in. I called the landlord's secretary to see if we could get out of the lease. The plan was to call the neighbor in the morning and tell them to hold up, we're coming back. Technically we still had that place available (*sigh* yeah, we'd jumped lease and until the 1st the landlady wouldn't have known anything, we still had time). Well, of course we couldn't get out of this for at least a year so we were stuck with this creepy little place.

Thankfully, we were able to get our money back on the hotel.... well most of it. We hadn't messed it up, just used the phone. Dippy took us back to that rental and we were met by the upstairs neighbor. She was such a sweet lady, but I had this cold chill go up my back. For you see, this lady was nearly the spit and image of that one girl dingy had a crush on years and years ago. Accounting for the passing of time, this is about what I would guess she'd look like. Short blonde hair, blue eyes that twinkled when she laughed. Time had come full circle and I knew the end was near.

Moving on up or slipping downhill fast?

As I was saying, the girls really didn't like having a "n00b" in the department because they thought they were going to have to keep an eye on me. Yeah, right. Little did they know, I did have some selling experience and started out selling them on the items that really mattered, the big ticket products. So what if I was clueless on the little stuff like the nipples and teething rings? I could sell the hell out of a car seat, stroller, cribs etc. Worse yet was that I was able to sell the more expensive car seats, strollers, cribs etc... *laffs* and not the cheap stuff. How? I found that one thing that was the most beneficial on the item and made it my selling point. If a consumer brought up another point of the product, I relayed the info to the next customer in my sales pitch. How long were they planning on using the item(good to ask when selling mattresses as 5 in 1 cribs are used longer than a regular one)? Who was most likely to be using it (was it going to be mom as primary caregiver or dad... or grandma... they gotta be able to work the item easily) ? What kind of vehicle were they driving (this one was a good one to ask if I was selling a stroller) ? I quickly became a favorite back there with the customers because I would take the time necessary to go over things (especially the baby registries as those could be the dickens to read) and this didn't sit well with the staff already in place back there. Top things all off, it got out that I would be the one in charge when the other girl went on maternity leave. This didn't sit well at all because each of the others felt that THEY should be left in charge as they had seniority. One girl quit... another asked for a transfer to the front of the store (check-outs)... one by one they left.

If this wasn't bad enough, I was getting the outside pressure from dim-watt. Constant complaints that I didn't have those set hours anymore and the whining that he *OMG* had to fend for himself some nights. Dinner, which was around 630pm every night before now, got to be later and later. Personally, I wasn't hungry by the time I got home as I'd eaten around 430 or 5pm. Do you think the jerk coulda made himself a sandwich or something? Maybe open a can of soup and heat it up to eat. Oh hell to the no. He'd sit there all night just waiting on me to call for a ride home and then start in on me as soon as I got in the car.

"What's for supper?"

"You didn't eat?"

"No. I was waiting on you."

"Well I aint hungry, did you get something out of the freezer for me to cook?"
"No.."

And then it'd be up to me to figure out a decent meal when we got home... and he'd wonder why it was alot of noodles or canned meals. Not that we could really afford anything more than those kinds of meals anyhow.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it yet (time's starting to get mixed up in my brain, I really need to get this story done!!) but sometime during the time I spent at this store (during the time I was in receiving), there was a change of administration at the school I'd been working at and dingbat was going to end up in a reduced position the next school year. This didn't sit well, so he (read that as I) found himself another job in a different school. You see this coming? The school he ended up at was back across town where we'd been living in that apartment that was broken into. So now, there was a long drive to contend with again and a vehicle that wasn't exactly the most trustworthy. Of course, we didn't really have the money to get another *sigh*

By October (?) of that year, I was truly stressed. There was no help in the baby department and I was consistently running late getting out of work. Why? Well because the business back there would pick up after 4pm because everyone was starting to get out of work and coming in to shop. I couldn't exactly just leave with a line at the registry desk or people needing help. Who do you think got in trouble for my overtime? Yep, me. Not the managers who couldn't be bothered to hire more help for the back or at least send someone to cover for me. ME. The person who should have been responsible enough to leave on time.... even if there was no coverage (yet they always told us we had to help every customer that asked for it and acknowledge them all regardless of us being needed or not). I'm the one that got the write up put in her file... just for doing what was right. I was put on probation and absolutely HAD to leave on time for the next 3 months. This put the store in a tight spot because, as the manager said, they were going to need me for the holiday season and I wasn't going to be available. Oh well. Do you think they would have thought to just cut my hours and that way if I ran over, I would still be on time? Nope. Do you think the creep would have been grateful I was getting out in time to feed his lazy ass? Nope. He'd gotten used to a few extra dollars and had been spending instead of allowing me to save the extra.

I don't know how I managed it. Heh. Actually I don't think I did manage it. I ended up having to leave late many nights thanks to the fact there wasn't anyone for the evening shift. Management would come around the corner, an hour after I was supposed to be gone and find me at the baby registry desk ...still... handling customers. Why wasn't I gone? Well everytime I tried to walk away to sign out, another customer would show up and ask me a question, or want a registry or want something or other back there and I was the only person they'd see. *shakes head* After several weeks of ending up with overtime (which was frowned on at the time), I ended up getting written up. Why? Because of the constant unapproved overtime. I was put on probation and told how disappointed they were in me that I couldn't manage my time better. Excuse me? How about the fact they never scheduled anyone back there to relieve me??? Didn't matter to them. All they saw is that because I was on probation, I had to be out ON TIME...and that during the time they needed me most to be able to stay late ocassionally, I wouldn't be able to. I was on probation all the way through Christmas. Heh. You should have seen their faces when I'd start calling for back up a good hour before I was due to leave. Well y'all...ya shoulda put some extra staff back there to replace the girls that left (who were all dead wood in my opinion anyhow). I remember one night I called for back up and called and called and no one came back. So I called the boss back. I gotta give him credit, he came straight back when he thought there was a problem....then I handed the scanner unit and paperwork over to him...turned to the customer I'd been working with and said "Mr J, will be helping you get finished up on this registry tonight". I patted his arm and told him to have a nice night. *snickerz* Show you to give me a hassle getting help back there. Ya know...he never gave me a hassle getting peeps back there again.

Some time after that (I'm really kind of foggy as to how much longer it was... a bit after the write-up and not to soon before he quit), he called me to the back storeroom and asked me how I felt about becoming a "World Leader" (that was their term for a department manager back then) in one of the other departments. You can bet that I gave him an earful about taking me away from a similar job just to turn around and offer me one in another area. I do believe one of the exact sentences was "You didn't think I was good enough before, what the hell changed your mind??" Yeah, Mr J and I had that kind of relationship... so long as we were out of earshot of the other employees and away from the sales floor, I could pretty much freely state my mind in any way I felt and if it meant skewing up my face and getting ugly...so be it. Don't doubt that I pointed out all the "problems" that he'd mentioned while getting me removed from the position in the first place and that none of those "problems" had been fixed, I was still the same person. It just felt like "no you aint good enough....of wait a minute, maybe you are...". Whatta way to mess with a gal's confidence! That...on top of the crap I had at home with a spouse who whined because I didn't have "regular hours like before".

Of course, when I told idiot-boy, the first words out of his mouth were "Does it mean more money?"....... o.O Excuse me.... money's tight, you know it is and YOU'RE the one with the regular hours. Don't ya think you could get a second small job on the weekends or something to help out some?? Oh... and I'm still expected to type up all his papers and keep his gradebook in order for him because the fucker can't do it on his own.

Oh... and that vehicle went on its last wheels so we HAD to get a car, like it or not. The object was to go in, check a couple out and sleep on it. Run the figures at home and see if it was do-able. We certainly were tired of buying everyone else's problem vehicles so we opted for new. Go in, scope, get out. Sounds easy, right? Oh no. Dingbat had them run my credit as well as his to see if there'd be a better option for us and look.... we can make this work! I told him, we were supposed to go home and sleep on this decision. He said nope, we can do this. *sigh* And I made the next biggest mistake of my life... I signed that paper (and regretted it for the next 7+ years) thereby chaining myself to something that I wouldn't even be using on my own (I don't drive, remember) and most definitely would NOT be enjoying (who would with the chauffeur I had?).

About this time... I'd had enough. Not to say I hadn't had enough for years before this but this time was that last nerve tromped on. I pretty much decided that the only way this was gonna get better is if we moved back closer to home. For the life of me, I don't know why I thought that. Maybe the thought of having SOME family close by, no matter which family it was, was much better than this isolation we had. At the time my thought was that it would be nice to have blood family around. Our "family" was wonderful and treated us fairly well, but they just weren't blood. These days, I'd take that "family" any day. I so wish I hadn't waited to do what I ultimately ended up doing. I so should have done it when I had my "momma"'s support and contacts. For sure her boys would have been there and had my back. It makes me cry that I chose my marriage over what I could have had with them because now only my "momma" talks to me and the rest want nothing to do with me. If I'd just been stronger and not waited until I was backed into a corner that I had to fight my way out of. But no, I had to be stubborn.....

So I planned our move back north. Every other time we'd moved, we'd made sure that it was so he had a job to go to and I'd just make due when we got there. This time, we did it the other way because I really wanted to stay within the company and although they are rather large, their stores are not as abundant as the WalMarts are. I did research and targeted the ones in the New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey areas. I had only 3 hits on my resume and only one sounded excited to have me come on up. I set up an interview and got some time off from work. The boss (we'd had a change here right at the New Year... *sigh* a new one to break in) was fully aware of the fact we were looking to move back closer to family and although she hated the fact she was going to be losing me (I mean who wouldn't? I was willing to work overnight schedules on short notice!), she gave me the time off. I think she was banking that I wouldn't take the position. Heh. Yeah right.

I went to the interview and pretty much aced it. I walked out of the interview with a new job and what amounted to a $3/hr raise. Do I have to say how happy the jackass was? If I only knew how much harder it was going to become just on the store level, I may have rethought my decision. Why? Because I was going from a D volume store (low sales) to a AA volume store (talking high octane here, folks) and the stress was going to be through the roof. We're talking about turning the heat up under the pan to full. Things were about to go downhill extremely fast from here.

From Carrollwood to Mt Whitney

As I was saying in my previous entry, we'd had a really rough month or more at the apartment and for once it wasn't ijit's fault. We'd *just* renewed our lease and I was damned if I was sticking around for another break-in...especially since we suspected the next door neighbor of being the one doing it. It just seemed really weird that it was seemingly only our building AND theirs was the only one that wasn't burgled. After the last incident with the armed intruder across the hall, the complex *FINALLY* installed burglar alarms in every unit. It didn't matter to me. It was too little, too late and besides the apartment was really too small for our needs. So I looked and asked around.

We got word from a friend that said a friend of a friend had a unit to rent that was only a few streets away from where we'd started out. So we went and looked. We made sure to visit in the evening hours so we had a good idea what the neighborhood felt like. You never want to visit during the day if you can help it because most people are out working and the kids are in school so the area's quiet. If you go in the evening, you can hear how loud some of the neighbors are and see if you feel safe there. It was a nice half of a duplex. There was a fenced in yard and a big shade tree in the back. Our part of the unit was set back from the road so we had plenty of warning before someone came up to the door. The floors were...well a bit weird but looked easy enough to keep clean. I didn't need to worry about vacuuming (no rugs), didn't have to wax (no linolium nor hardwoods)....just a quick mop; plus it came with a washer and dryer (hallelujah, no more hand washing the clothes!). There were 3 bedrooms, plenty enough for each of us to have our own space....or so one would think.

Things started off nicely here. It was close to both jobs so there was no longer the complaint of having to drive any extra. We had our room and he had his space...I had mine. Or so I thought. After a couple weeks of getting a taste of his own medicine (me going into my room and not coming back out for hours and hours), he started with the "I just wanna say hi" and the "I'm lonely" visits every 10-15 minutes. Yet....if I stayed off the computer and watched tv in the livingroom, he'd be in his room all damn night. Excuse?? He really did NOT like getting a taste of his own medicine. I remember once telling him that if he'd just friggin leave me alone for 20 minutes that I just *might* be able to finish this conversation with my friend (a nice gal in Cali who lived near my folks) and then I'd be out to watch tv. Do you think this worked? Nope. I even went as far as to restart the clock back to 20 minutes when he kept interrupting. I swear the man has no common sense. I finally asked him, what would it take to get him to leave me alone so I could talk to my friends (I mean jeeez he didn't allow me to have any real, honest to goodness, in the flesh ones that I could have face to face time with for goodness sakes!) and the answer? Move the computer out to the kitchen so he's not sitting "all alone" (oh boo-hoo) in the livingroom. *forehead-desk-repeat* Ya know, the minute the computer got moved to the kitchen.... he started spending more time in his room again. EXCUSE???

The only thing I didn't like about this place, other than the roommate, was the fact that the neighbor in the adjoining unit had 4 very rowdy young children. It wasn't so bad during the daytime hours when I was out at work. However, if I was pulling a night shift and had to sleep during the day? *sigh* You could forget it because two of the bedrooms faced the backyard, where they played a great deal of the time, and the last room was right next to the kids' room (where they were when it got nasty or too hot out, which was every other day or so). In any case, you couldn't sleep if you needed to.

I'd say about 2-3 months into this new place, I got removed from receiving position at TRU. I simply wasn't doing as good a job as the boss had been hoping for. Well gee, what do you think? I'm improperly trained, had to learn most of the stuff on my own and I have a whiney-jackass at home making me miserable. I had a huge mess that I inherited and companies that didn't want to play nice regarding getting the problems taken care of. I did do the job to the best of my ability. I do know how to multitask however, when 3 things need doing and they're in 3 different areas of the store? It's down right impossible especially if I have no one to delegate to. So I got removed from my 8am-5pm "cushy" job to a mixed schedule in the baby department. Me, the one with no kids and absolutely no friggin clue what anything is back there. Why? Because the department manager was pregnant and they needed someone to take over when she went on leave. This did not sit well with the girls that had been in that department since the beginning.....

Tour of Duty TRU- intermission

Sometime during the first half of a year at Toys R Us, we had a couple incidents at home that prompted us to move from that apartment complex we were living in. The first one happened around September or October. I hadn't been at the store that long at this point and I get a call from Monsignour Idiot. He asked me if I was sitting down and this usually means the news aint good no matter WHO asks you this. He told me that he'd gotten a call from the apartment complex and they told him he had to get right home immediately so he did. The door to our apartment had gotten kicked in and we'd been robbed. Oh great. It's not as though we had alot of really good things to begin with so what the hell could they want of ours? He wasnt sure what all was missing at that point but knew for sure that they took the television and the computer. Wonderful....$400-$500 right out the door. I asked him if I needed to leave work and for once in his miserable life, he was nice and told me that I should stay and he'd pick me up later. Didnt matter...I was a wreck the rest of the day.

After work, he picked me up and brought me home. From what he was saying, the cops stayed until the door was repaired. The door was a MESS...the frame had been shattered. My first thought was to the cats which must have gotten out and I was really upset about that. As I sat down to assess the damage and find out what was missing, I heard a soft 'prrrrr-rwow?' and realized at least one of my cats was still in the apartment. Oh JOY!! All of the cats, the minute the door was kicked in I suspect, took to hiding while there was so much business in the apartment. No one even knew they were in there and they never left the safety (such as it was) of the apartment. *WHEW*. Once I realized my "kids" were safe, I looked around with new eyes and noticed what all was gone. They stole the tv and the remotes but left the VCR player (thank goodness for cats that get sick on things...I know...ew). Ok, the tv wasnt a great loss because we didnt spend the money on it AND the tube was starting to go on it anyhow. They took the computer and printer but left all the software alone. My mom said it's because I had it all sandwiched in between Christian music cds and that God's Hand may have covered it all in protection. All I know is that there was at least $300 worth of software on that desk that was still there when I got home. They left all my dolls too....not that they were worth much anyhow. I think what upset me the most about the whole thing was that they were even petty enough to rip the phone cord (I was on dial-up at the time) out of the wall and ruin the phone jack that it was plugged into which was located in the bedroom. Yeah...that really made me feel violated there.

Sometime in the spring, we had another scare....and this time I was home. I had the day off and had been cleaning up the apartment some. About 330pm or so, I get a call from Idjit wanting to know what's going on. At this point Im very much confused at why he's asking this and so I ask why. He informs me that the whole parking lot near us is blocked off and crammed full of police and that our building was surrounded!!! WTF!!!???????? I asked him how he knew and he told me that he was up near the rental office borrowing a neighbor's phone so he saw them all there and was I ok? Well yeah, I had been but now I was scared. He told me that the neighbor across the hall had come home to check on his pregnant girlfriend, not knowing she'd gone in to work, and had come face to face with his own gun in a robber's hand! Oh dear Lord I was frightened. I guess the neighbor took off running and went to the rental office to call the cops. They werent sure if the guy was still in the apartment or not so I needed to get away from the door....go into the bathroom and shut every door between me and the front door (not that there were many). Before I could get there though, I saw shadows on my vertical blinds. The cat, who'd been sitting in the window, got scared and ran from the window and as she did, the blind moved a bit and I saw the flash of a gun along with a uniformed pantleg and shoes of the person just outside my window. Then a gentle rap on the glass... As terrified as I was, something told me that it was ok. I peeked out and the guy standing there was in full SWAT gear and had his badge and id handy for me to check. He asked if I was alone in the apartment to which I replied yes....and then he asked why I was crying. I told him that I had gotten a call telling me what all was going on across the hall and WTF did he THINK I was crying and upset!!??!! He told me to walk quietly towards the rental office (which was about 2 full buildings toward the front of the complex). Walk, yeah right, the minute I was one patio away I took off to a full out run (and I do move alot faster than I look). When I got there...to safety...I looked at the clerk from the office who was standing with dimwatt and told them under no uncertain terms we WOULD BE MOVING as soon as I could find a new place and I didnt give a damn about the lease we'd just renewed (we'd been there about 3 years at this point) AND there would be NO penalties applied because we certainly DID NOT sign up to be in a place that was being robbed once a month or had the SWAT team showing up.

The Tour of Duty at TRU pt1

Sorry it's been so long in writing. Between getting the migraines everytime I attempted to write in here and the fact things got ultra-busy at home (ya know...the job and the move and the new job hunt) I felt it was just wiser to stick this on the back burner for a bit. However, a quote in a Coffee News paper and a comment on one of my pix on the **starshine** MySpace made me think that it was time to freshen the page a bit and while Im at it maybe I'd have the drive necessary to do another entry. With any luck I'll have enough drive to do more than just this one. My luck, I'll get a call for a job and have to place it on the back burner again. Ah well.

When we left back in October, I'd just gotten a job at TRU. The assistant that I thought was a grouch and a half was simply having a bad time of it the day I'd come in with my resume. When I came in for my first day, he certainly remembered me from that day though. Yes indeed, it pays to have a good first impression. I was trained by the gal who had the position I was heading into. Needless to say, she wasnt too happy about training me and had made the crack of "Im probably training my replacement". *sigh* So no, I didnt get trained as good as I should have been. There was alot I was responsible for that I ended up having to train myself on. It really kinda ticked me off but it's prepared me for other jobs because now I can say....as long as there's a manual showing me how to do something I can pretty much learn how to do anything in a store.

I started off with 40 hours a week. By the time we got into September I was put on 45 hours a week. I was responsible for returns, receiving, emails, repairs, auditing the electronics department, and several loss prevention issues. I'd get home and I'd be beat from the 6am-5pm shifts but then would still be expected to type all idiot's shit and cook and clean. Now excuse me?? He worked 7am-3pm and was home by 330pm at the absolute latest unless he went out with southernmomma. You mean to say he couldnt type some of his worksheets or quizzes himself while I was at work?? Or how about learn how to cook something for supper?? By the time October came around, I was on 50 hr weeks. The shipments were really piling up and I fought hard to get everything checked in on the day it came in. The hardest ones to get done were the ones for the electronics department. They were all software games and some of those boxes would have near 100 or more pieces in them. The gal that trained me had said to just check piece counts and get it over to the department so that's what I had been doing for a month or so. The gal in the department had other ideas though. She sat down with me while I was checking the order in one day and told me that the way I was trained wasnt helping her department out any because there were shortages bigtime when she went to do her audits. She said the best way to do it (albeit a slower way) was to check it line by line and make sure the right stuff came in. Well duh...that's how I thought it should be done, but not how I was trained. The very next box we did together had a problem....and it would have been a $75 loss for the store. She said they'd been taking losses for a year because the freight wasnt checked in correctly in the first place. I started doing it her way and found scads of errors....some in our favor and some not. Everyday I was filing reports on the errors I found...what we should have gotten according to the invoice and what we actually got. Everyday those error reports got sent to the LP and the LP started cracking down on the warehouse that was shipping the orders. Sounds like Im doing some good for the store right? Ok...so why is it I get pulled into the office and hollared at for "all the errors, we never had so many errors when so n so was doing the job"?? I told them that so n so wasnt doing it right in the first place and pointed out that although I had more error reports the inventory was more accurate because of it. *sheesh* Last thing I need is them busting my chops for doing the job right and then to go home and get my chops busted because I dont have time to do what I "should be" doing there.

By November, I was running a 6am-8pm shift 5 days a week. Oh, dont get me wrong...the money was really good...I was out earning my darling idiot at home (yeah...that sat ~really~ well with him). When we hit December, I was there from 6am-9pm (sometimes later) 6 days a week. Do you think anything changed at home? Nope. He'd pick me up at whenever and immediately get to bitching how late it was. Then when we got home he'd bitch that he was hungry and hadnt eaten all day. Excuse me...ummm whos fault is that? At this point I'd had exactly 2 meals all damn day, did a live unload on one of the warehouse trucks (it's where you're given exactly 2 hrs to get your freight off the truck while the driver waits impatiently so he can get the next shipment that's on the truck with yours to the next store), unloaded a second truck, checked in the days worth of directs shipments (direct from vendor...shipped by UPS and FEDEX) and took care of all the day's worth of damages. I'm hot, sweaty and the last thing I feel like doing is cooking or eating. All I want is a nice shower and straight to bed BUT in order to keep peace in the house I have to start dinner, get my shower in, handwash out my uniform shirt and type up that last minute pop quiz he decided the classes just HAD to have. Many times I wouldnt get to bed until after midnight and I'd be lucky if I got a couple hours in before I'd have to be up at 5am to be ready to go so he could drop me off at 5:45am. Thank God for uniforms...at least I didnt have to plan on what to wear...just make sure they were clean. Fk being wrinkled....they'd look worse by the time I got to lunch anyhow.

*small back-up* In November, it must have been just before Thanksgiving or possibly just afterwards (when the PS2s were being released), I had an accident at work. I saw my boss at the end of the hallway in the stockroom and had some info he needed like....well right then. So I hollared down the hall at him to give him the info when the pallet of PS2s (about 50 cases worth with 2 selling units in each one) I was dragging behind me knocked the back of my right leg. I had completely blanked that I had the pallet with me. Chalk it up to having a boss that it was hard to keep up with or being excessively tired or distracted with homelife or something like that. In any case, I completely blanked and forgot to turn the handle to make it stop and the momentum took it right into my leg....right into the same spot I had hurt earlier in the year at the school. *sigh* Did I mention I had been unloading a truck and inside the trailor had been roughly around 90 degrees or more? Yeah...I think you got the visual. I got the pallet pulled to the front of the store and into the electronics department. Man I thought I was going to fall over I was so tired. I took myself over to the service desk, grabbed some supplies to patch myself up with and headed to the bathroom for a quick patch job. The gal at the service desk asked if I wanted to fill out an accident report but I told her that it was more than likely no more than a little scrape, no big deal. I knew better though because I knew EXACTLY where it had hit me and I KNEW what was going to happen. I really should have filled one of the reports out but that meant a trip to the drs office again. She'd simply tell me how to care for it and put me on bedrest for 2 weeks. We were in season at TRU and I'd *JUST* gotten this job. There was noway in hell I could afford 2 weeks bedrest for something this stupid. When I got to the bathroom and got a good look at it , I knew for sure it was going to a problem again. It was already weeping, swollen and hot to the touch. I cleaned it up as best as I could and got back to work. When I got home....yeah ya see it coming already dontcha? He was fit to be tied and angrier still I didnt report it. I told him that if I reported it and went to the drs, I'd be out of work for 2 weeks and we couldnt afford that....why should I go when we both knew how to care for it anyhow. this time, instead of 2 weeks of recoup...it took 10 weeks. *sigh* It got bad enough where I was limping at work but for the most part I hid it well. The only person that noticed was the gal in charge of the night crew....she fussed me bigtime over it. I told her about the spring incident and how long I was out of work. Then I asked her what MrJ would do if his head receiver had to be sidelined for all of Christmas while the injury healed. I then followed it with a "I cant afford to lose this job". Although we couldnt afford to lose the job....the real story was that I didnt wanna be stuck home with MrWhinyBaby 24/7 during the Christmas holidays.

All through Christmas and into January I ran those hours. There was just so much to do at work. When Christmas was done we went straight into inventory phase. We had until February to get things ready. All the damages needed to be gone, all overheads cleaned out (the little storage spaces on the floor for the departments), all shelves in the stockroom precounted....not to mention all the paperwork in order. Top things all off...idiotboy at home.?? Well he was headed into the next semester for the school and needed all his syllabi typed up for the remainder of the year. He also needed the first half of the semester's worth of tests and quizzes typed and ready. Geeez thanks !! As if I didnt have enough on my plate already. By some miracle, I managed to get it all done anyhow.....I was exhausted but got it all done (and the cooking and cleaning too).

Still at Carrollwood...from the school to TRU

That night when we got home, I fired up my computer and started looking for another job. Of course idiotboy couldnt be bothered to cook or do anything to help out while I was trying to find a job. All he could do is whine that I lost my job and that we wouldnt have our summers off together anymore. So I started supper and scanned positions when I could sit down for a couple minutes or so. Nothing. I spruced up my resume and did a coverletter so we could go out and fill out apps.

One of my stops while we were out was at Toys R Us. I dropped off a coverletter and resume packet at the service desk. It was a Sunday afternoon and they were kind of busy but the clerk at the desk called the manager on duty so I could hand it over to him. I remember thinking he was a grouch and a half and figured my chances werent good if that was the manager of the store (thankfully it was an assistant manager). The next evening I started looking online to see if I could narrow my job hunt down some and lo and behold I found an ad on Monster for Toys R Us. The store I was targeting was hiring bigtime...all department manager positions. I took the time to fill out an app and emailed the coverletter and resume to the store. Within 30 minutes I got a call...from Toys R Us. It was the store manager wanting to talk to me....could I possibly come in for an interview tomorrow? Hell yeah. The next day I go in and meet with this 6'3" black guy in a clown wig. My first words? "Wow, umm, I feel completely underdressed now... I knew I should have worn my big red nose and floppy shoes..." It was so good to have my prospective boss laughing already. We hit it off famously and I was invited back for a second interview with the district manager the following week. I was told, however, that if it was his choice I'd be hired now. *WHOOT*

The next week I walk in for my interview and end up in a room of 8 other prospective associates. Hmmm. Needless to say Im worried and beginning to think Im not going to get a job here. I didnt realize they were hiring for so many positions. Nearly everyone that was in that room got hired on that day. Anyhow, I get called in the office to meet the DM and the store manager. Yet again I hit it off with them. I had to laugh because the DM looked at me strange when I opened my mouth the first time. I asked him what was wrong and he said.. "you aint from around these parts are you?" LOL I told him nope...I'd only been in state since 1996. He goes "I thought so...you sound like a Yankee....New England maybe?" *laffs*I said yes. Once I said yes he fine tuned it to New York, central New York. I just looked at him and figured he got it from the resume but Mr J (the store manager) looked just as baffled because the DM hadnt seen any of the paperwork, it had been locked away until the meetings. The DM smiled and explained he was from Syracuse, NY (infact he still had the NY accent from that area) and said I sounded like home to him. aww *tear* After another lengthy conversation, I was informed I was hired for the receiving area. Cool. Plus I was making a good $3/hr more than I was at the school....even better.

This new job meant things lightened up on me at home for a couple weeks. When school started back up though, it was a different matter. I was still expected to type all his crap up for him and cook and clean as though nothing had changed. It didnt matter that I was pulling 40 hours a week. Things got rougher still when Mr J started giving me a few more hours during the week. It got to 45 hours then 50 hours and idiotboy was still wanting stuff done around home. I told him he needed to pick up the slack some because obviously I cant do it all. This comment fell on deaf ears. It didnt matter that I was going in every day at 6am and then not getting out until 7 or 8pm.

More Memories of Carrollwood Village Drive continued

You can imagine how unhappy my bosses were that I was going to be laid up that long. Thankfully that year almost everything closed down during the week of Mardi Gras so I was only going to be missing 1 week of work. I spent most of the time either in bed or at the computer with my leg propped up on a couple milk crates. Needless to say I spent ALOT of time at the computer (when my hip and knee werent bothering me from being in an unnatural position while seated). Thank goodness we were on the ground floor as Im sure my moving around would have bothered any neighbor that was living downstairs. I tried my best to just roll around as much as I could in the office chair but plush carpets arent really conducive to easy rolling around (well really no carpet is except the cheap shit the school used).

During the week when igmo went back to work, I was on the computer all day. Mostly for the company but also mostly because it was easier to get out of the chair and hop to the bathroom or kitchen if I needed something (thanks to the post at the corner of the kitchen being close to the refrig, sink and bathroom doors). I remember as igmo was going out the door the first day tossing him the keys to my office so that whomever that was filling in for me could get in to do the work. By midweek, around 10am or so I got a call from my supervisor (southern momma) to ask how bad I needed to stay home. I asked why and she said that they were very short staffed to start the day but then another teacher went home sick. Is it possible I could come in and sub if she provided students to help move the books and stuff I'd need? *ugh* As it wasnt a day that the nurse was due in (if she'd shown up and I was out and about the insurance wouldnt cover the expenses becuase I was *supposed* to be homebound) I told her ok but I HAD to stay seated. She said she'd send her D-I-L (who was covering me) to come pick me up. Great...I had 30 minutes to get ready. About 5 minutes later I remembered that I'd sent the keys off with igmo and the house key was on the same chain as the office key. SHIT! So I called back to tell her to send the ride with the keys so I could lock up. The girl had already left and was on her way so I had to think fast. There was no real lock to the frontdoorhandle and a deadbolt that you needed a key for to lock it (gotta love the hotel rooms with those automatic locks....). When the gal showed up the only thing we could think to do was have me climb out the window because that DID lock automatically (go figure). So here I am, with an injured leg....in a DRESS (I didnt have any pants that were "legal" work pants) climbing out the window which was about 5-6 feet off the ground. I ended up bumping my leg on the way out and of course it started to run again (thank goodness I had presence of mind to pack extra bandages and saline). *sigh*

We got to the school and I had to butt scoot my way up the staircase (aint no way I coulda hopped it). It took me 15 minutes to get up that staircase. I got to my boss's office and immediately asked for a bucket. The boss lady got a real good look at what I had when I unwrapped and rebandaged myself. Once I was set, I hopped to the classroom that I was covering and relieved the staff member who was sitting in. Thank goodness it was a upperclassmen class and not a jr high one. At least these ones wouldnt give me any lip and all I had to do was shoot "that look" to shut em up. Of course, that didnt happen because alot had been worried when I didnt show up for two days and had questions as to my leg (it had been hard to miss it getting worse and worse up to Mardi Gras). So we sat and discussed that (nothing better to do than for them to work their homework and most were done already anyhow). They had the usual questions...what happened...how long was it going to take to heal etc etc. About 5 minutes to the end of class, I sent one of the more responsible ones with the teachers books to my next classroom. I stayed in that first class while the kids were changing classes and kept watch while the next teacher was on her way. While I was there the teacher in the class next door to the one I was going to watched both her class and mine. When the bell rang I quick hopped to the next room. *ugh* A jr high class *bleah*. Ok this group was the 6th graders and for the most part werent too bad. They were used to the one teacher (who was very strict) and didnt give me much hassle. Most classes usually didnt. I expected they follow the rules, but was more lenient than most staffers. Why? Because although I love paperwork...I dont really like to generate it unless the kid is truly out of hand and I'd seen some really petty shit come through the office.

The day was a breeze the rest of the day as I had the same classroom and students for the remainder of the day (it helped that there were several in there that had known me for a few years and I knew some of their quirks and could head off trouble before it could begin). It also helped that a couple of the senior kids had periods free and were sent to check on me off and on.

The rest of the week and all the following week went the same way, if the nurse wasnt due...I went in and things were made as easy as possible. I healed up nicely....well if you can call a huge scar measuring nearly an inch- inch and a half in diameter nicely. To this day I still dont wear shorts or certain skirts in public.

That was my last year at the school. Stupid putzes kept me in limbo the entire summer before telling me I wouldnt be working for the same lady. A real shame because I was really liking working for my southern momma. The excuse was that I wasnt "professional enough". Yeah great. Wait until the end of summer and worse yet the only way I found out is because I confronted the headmaster himself. I was told that they could put me in the kitchen staff...gee thanks. Four years of hauling my ass up and down the stairs covering everyone else's asses and Im only good enough for kitchen staff? No thanks. I can make more in the retail industry. When I left the building that day I heard a door slam in my mind and my last thoughts leaving the property were, well that's ok because this place aint lasting much longer anyhow. On the way home to the apartment, we passed a Toys R Us and I pointed to it and said that that's where my next job was. Turns out I was very correct.

More Memories of Carrollwood Village Drive

There for awhile, after that one hurricane hit and our eldest cat pissed on my computer, all Jim's tests had to be handwritten as there was simply no other way of getting them ready for the kids. He attempted ONCE to handwrite a quiz for his classes and so many complaints came in because of his handwriting that the head secretary called me in and said she understood why the tests and quizzes had to be handwritten but if they were going to be done like that, it had to be in my writing. *insert huge eyeroll here...and here and.......here* It would have been a whole lot nicer if she'd found an old not in use computer at the school for me to take home and use for said projects. Unfortunately, no one thought of that and I spent a few months writing everything out (and people wonder why I always type everything out...I dont think I've actually handwritten much of anything since then...except that diary...)

After 3-4 months went by, Jim and I saw a cute little computer at WalMart. It was going to run us about $400-$500 for the whole works. Thankfully, it was back when they still had layaway. It took 10 weeks but I finally had my first computer. There was only one problem with it. The discs that I had saved all the previous works on....wouldnt work on the computer. This meant everything that I previously had typed couldnt be salvaged for any of the fututre classes. *sigh* Yeah, it meant I was back at zero for the test and quizzes....AGAIN. Ah well.

Shortly after we got the computer I discovered this thing they called online and email. Oh was I ever thrilled that I'd be able to contact my friends and family without having to handwrite a letter and snail mail it. So long as I kept up with the tests, quizzes and worksheets for his classes AND so long as I wasnt bothering him during his tv/reading/alone time, Jim didnt seem to care. I was much like I am in chat now, talk to anyone that wants to talk and cut up really good when Im with friends. I made several friends in no time flat. Sad that my only true friends existed in my online world. They were always wondering why I was online all the time if I was married.

~smiles~ There was a group of us that always managed to gravitate together no matter what nick I was chatting under. They always said that I radiated this certain something and they could find me a mile off with the way I talked. There was a core of about 6 guys that managed to stay in the same room I was in and would make sure the scums and players werent harrassing me and my female friends. There was the Brit that was living in Saudi (who was old enough to be the granpa of most of us), the guy from Indiana (he was married, 2 kids and I was on speaking terms with his wife), the guy from Florida who was a single parent, a guy from Boston and a few others I dont remember. This was back while I was in CheetaChat. I remember a voice chat of sorts going on there...Indiana dude sounded like he was from Bama and the Boston guy...holy cow what an accent. My best times then were in chat with my friends. The Brit was in the process of teaching me some Arabic and was helping me brush up my french somewhat. It was funny watching us talk because we'd end up in Franglais (french and english) or Frarabic (french and arabic). Our damn sentences never were the same language all the way through. He had 2 sons all grown up and living far from him and he rarely got to talk with them. In a way I became a daughter that he'd never had and it made him happy. There was a several hour difference between us though so he got so he'd get up a little earlier in the morning on days he knew I'd be online and I'd stay a little later at my nighttime just so we could talk. I miss him. Last I knew he'd had to relocated to Taiwain due to the hostilities in the Middle East. I havent heard from him since.

During the time I knew him as a friend, I managed to get hurt at the school. It started out as a silly little wound but turned into something extremely serious. One day while decending the metal staircase outback of the school and heading for the multipurpose building (it was built to be used as a gymnasium/ cafeteria/ after school holding tank for the elementary/ summer camp rec hall) to get my then supervisor's lunch (southern momma) so she could keep working. Well I was talking to a friend and my then husband and misjudged a step. Damn I'd been down this set of stairs a hundred or more times and never once an accident. Of course the other hundred or so times I had been alone and not trying to hold a conversation at the same time (ok, so, I cant walk and chew gum at the same time...*sigh*). This time I caught the heel part of my sneaker on the edge of the metal stair and slipped. No I didnt go down completely, but I did manage to nick the back of my right leg. It didnt look serious so I figured I'd get it looked at in a bit when I got back in. Mind you a good 75% of the year down there is unbearably hot and you can break a sweat just thinking about breathing. It was one of those days where even standing in the shade made you sweat. Needless to say the 30 second walk to the air conditioned multipurpose building had us all drenched in sweat. Sweat which trickled its merry way down my back and over the wound and into my shoes. It burned like hell but sweat has alot of salt in it and I thought nothing of it. I got my boss's lunch and something for myself, then headed back to the main building (more sweat into the wound). When I got to her office, I cleaned up the nick with warm water and applied a bandaid with neosporin to it. The rest of the day went without major events. I got home and the wound was hot pink all around but this is normal for me and I thought nothing of it so I cleaned up the wound again...more neosporin and a bandaid. The next morning was about the same. Over the course, of the week it seemed to get worse though so I tried hydrogen peroxide to bubble the infection out. I figured it had worked before and it should work now. Several days of this and nothing worked so I tried Benadine solution to clean it up. Nothing. It got hotter, larger and more weepy with each day. Southern momma's friend got worried that I could be diabetic so she used one of her lancets and tested my blood on her glucometer. Even after 2 sodas that day I still was reading normal in the blood count. The wound got so bad I was using large gauzes and wrapping the leg with an Ace bandage to keep them from slipping. Nothing worked and the wound got worse and my leg went hot and pink all the way around from the knee down to my ankle making walking extremely uncomfortable). Southern momma finally had it and told me to call a doctor and get an appointment or she was going to toss me down the stairs and get me sent to the emergency room. *sigh* The only reason why I hadnt gone up to this point is because I didnt have a dr because the one I had been going to quit his practice and the office he was working out of no longer took our insurance. I hadnt been overly ill and no doctors that I knew of in the area were taking new patients at the time. Thankfully southern momma had connections and told me to call her dr. *whew* Her dr told me to come in right away. I was really lucky she took me so soon as it was the Friday before Mardi Gras and not much was open at the time (most locals played smart and would leave town during that time because of the crowds that come from out of state). Good thing I went. Turns out it was a nasty case of cellulitis. The dr ended up telling me I needed to do a wet/dry bandaging twice a day and take antibiotics. I also needed to cut out the salt from my diet (to this day my salt intake needs to be watched because even the slightest extra salt can bloat my feet). She put me on bedrest for 2 weeks and assigned a home health nurse to come by every other day to take my vitals and check on the wound. Wet/ dry bandaging is no fun and hurts like hell. What it entails is rinsing the wound with a saline solution, placing a gauze on the wound, soaking the gauze with more saline and then placing another dry gauze on top. You wait for it to dry and you pull it all off. The saline draws the infection to the surface and it gets removed (along with any dead skin) when you pull the gauze off. *ouch* Having this type of bandaging also means no getting the wound wet by other methods (ie baths or showers) so showering got to be a pain in the ass as I'd have to dangle my leg outside the tub to get cleaned up. Bed rest meant I could either be in bed (which was still in the livingroom at this point) OR at the computer with my leg propped up. Trips to the bathroom were a chore as I couldnt walk on the leg for the first week and spent the time hopping to the toilet (thank goodness for small apartments). During one of the nurse's visits she told me it was a good thing I went to the doctor when I did because I could have lost my leg because of this and worse yet if I'd waited too much longer it would have spread and become fatal.

More memories of Carrollwood Village Drive

I remember one here was particularly bad. Im thinking it was during the third year at the school. I was still doing alot of typing because of new classes but some of the work wasnt so bad because I still had some stuff from the first year that we could use. This was the year we were driving the Pontiac Grand Am and the year we had to run from a hurricane. We'd gotten used to hurricane season...alotta wind and alotta rain most times. Some flooding at best but that was par for the course because New Orleans is below sealevel so any good soaking rain will flood the roads. Most that had hit up to this point had been Cat 2 or lower...mostly lower. You got used to going to the store and just stocking up on the off chance you lost power (and most times you did for about a day). No big whoop. This one, however, spent a bit more time in the Gulf and built itself up bigtime. Southern momma said she was packing and leaving town. She'd already talked to a friend (who'd worked at the school the first couple years I was there so I knew her too) and Jim and I were welcome to come as well. This was good because I didnt want to sit through anything stronger than what we'd already been through. Besides if we were with others, he was less likely to be obnoxious and find a way to blame me for something (you can bet he would have...somehow). We packed up a bag and nailed down what we could in the apartment. I stripped the bed (which was still in the livingroom at this point) because it wouldnt be needed, unplugged the word processor and put it up on the counter, put the cat food and water pans on a board on top of the bed so the cats could get up incase there was flooding in the apartment (we were on first floor). All books and such put up on tables and the electronics unplugged. Unfortunately, we werent going to be able to bring the cats but there was space on top of the cupboards for them to get up and out of the way if it did flood. It would need to be ALOT of water to do that though. It was going to be bad, but wasnt supposed to be anything like Katrina was recently.


We left and headed to southern momma's as we were all going to leave together. It was the day before it was scheduled to make landfall. I remember everyone in town having the same idea as the traffic was horrendous. It took our little caravan of 3 cars 3 hours to make it what would have normally taken only 30 minutes to drive. So southern momma got us to pull over. We all got out and discussed it. While we were trying to decide what would be best, we watched the traffic crawl by slower than a snail. The traffic was so slow that the back of a van opened up on the road and a kid got out, grabbed his bike from the back of said van and pedalled off....he was going faster than the vehicles and was out of sight in seconds flat. This pretty much made our decision for us. We loaded our cars and turned around headed back for southern momma's place. We werent going to get out of there that night and at least her place was shelter. If we'd stayed out, it was possible we'd be caught in the mess. We got back to her place and settled in for the night. Her daughter in law and the dil's son were in the downstairs bedroom, Jim and I in the livingroom and southern mom n daddy upstairs.


Southern momma couldnt sleep all night and spent most of the time napping and praying. She awoke with a start around 2am or so with the distinct impression we had to leave NOW. I heard her come down the stairs and turned over....I heard her at the dil's bedroom saying "Im taking the baby and leaving in 10 minutes...if you want to go get up right now." I rolled over and asked as she went back upstairs what was up. She said it got worse and that she'd seen that now was the time to go.... our path would be clear sailing. I shook Jim and told him we had to get up and go now. He looked at me like I was nuts....so I told him that either he gets up or I was taking the bag and going with them period. We were all ready to go by the time "momma" came down the stairs...in exactly 10 minutes. I'd like to say it was clear sailing...well it was but we had some problems. The Grand Am was leaking oil like a sieve and we kept having to stop. "Momma" finally said...talk to the people in that shope...see if we can leave it and lets go". So we abandoned the car in a small store's lot and went. Made great time after that.

We arrived at the mutual friend's in time for breakfast. The friend's husband was a pastor in his own church and they were living in the large apartment over the church. The livingroom was huge and plenty of room for the 7 of us refugees to spread out bedding to sleep. We ended up there for 2 nights. It was rather strange watching the storm on the news. I'd never seen such flooding and was really glad we werent there. The lot of us were going to stay another night but when "momma" called our boss (who was hunkered down with his family in Houston) he said no, school would be open the next day as the roads were clear in the area of the school. *grumble* So we all packed and left. We stopped off at that one little store to pick up our car which was leaking worse than before. Every mile and a half we had to stop and add oil. It got to be a pain in the ass. "Momma" ended up sending her DIL on home so she could get her kid to bed and "momma" n "poppa" followed us home. We got back to her townhouse and got settled in. I started up the washing machine and got several loads done that evening before bed (I didnt get to sleep until 2am). While I was doing that Coach G called and asked how we all were and if anything was damaged when the tree across the street came down. HUH?? "Momma" went out and noticed that yes indeed the tree on the corner across the street had been cut down. According to Coach G, it fell right in "momma's" driveway and if it had been another 2-3 foot taller it would have landed right in her bedroom windows (right where the head of the bed was located...). As it was it landed in her driveway where all three cars had been parked. "Momma" said if she'd been smart we would have left our lemon because her insurance would have paid for a new one if it had gotten smashed as she was insured to the hilt. Damn.

We ended up staying several weeks with her until we could get the car fixed as it was truly undrivable the way it was. She'd bring us home Friday nights after school with enough groceries to get us through the weekend so we could care for the cats and clean up the place some. Everytime we went back to the apartment, it was a wreck. Misti (the oldest female) had gotten so ticked off at us that she climbed up on the counters and did her business on my word processor so pretty much it was shot. I didnt even bother cleaning it up, just pitched it in the garbage. We'd have to vacuum, and wipe up. One of the cats was severely sick during this time but we couldnt figure out who. We'd come home to blood splatter everywhere...on the walls, the bed, the rug....but when we stayed there Friday and Saturday nights....no one showed any signs of being ill. We originally thought that there had been a fight but none of the cats showed signs of wounds. We had no money to take them all to a vet and no way to get them all there.... *sigh*

Memories from Cross Creek to Carrollwood Villiage Drive #395

Do you have any idea how hard it was to find a place that would take us and accept all the cats? No place, really. Most would accept 2 at best. To be honest the place we ended up looking at and renting only allowed 3. Thankfully, although we had 5 cats, there were only 4 that liked the sun coming through the sliding glass door and 2 of them looked enough alike that it all could be fudged. Oh I hated having to do that but we were desparate to get out of the townhouse. The apartment was too small for us and all his junk nevermind 5 furbabies. We ended up staying, as this was the best we could afford on what we made, from 10/97-04/01. During our stay here we ended up back at southern momma's a couple different times for upwards to a month (more in one case) due to transportation trouble as we never could afford a new car and ended up always buying someone else's problems.

Not to say the apartment was small, but with all his junk the bedroom area became relegated to storage and "HIS" room. The actual sleeping area was in the livingroom. So basically we were in an efficiency with a small storage shed hooked. I dont remember when we managed to begin using the bedroom as it was meant to be used there. I know it was after one hurricane because we'd gotten our first computer shortly before the bed was relocated. Im thinking maybe 1999 or 2000. Probably the former because the first computer we owned ended up as someone's "5 finger discount" and I ended up on a Rent A Center model after the break in.

I remember always being overly stressed in this place. We had a big sliding glass door that led out to our patio. Unfortunately, we were on the first floor and other tenanent and visitors were continually crossing our patio putting them less than a foot from the glass. Of course, while crossing the patio they had to talk at their loudest and look in the window. I dont know what it is about humans that have to look in every window they pass. I dont know if it's reflex or what. Top things off...we do remember Jim was claustrophobic right? Needless to say there were constant tiffs about whether the blinds should be open or not. He liked them wide open so lots of light came in. Personally, I hate people that close to my windows and dammit we were still sleeping in the livingroom. The whole world DIDNT need to see that! I felt like I was in a fkn zoo (and 5 cats did NOT help this feeling any). I personally always liked the blinds mostly closed. Open enough for a bit of light but closed so not everyone could see our business. Besides open blinds make it impossible to walk around in comfort. Being a bit on the heavy side, clothes can be somewhat uncomfy for me so I pretty much run around in night clothes when I can and not much else. Plus, with the proper drapery, if you keep the drapes closed the house stays cooler because the sunlight is being reflected out and as such the energy bill isnt so bad because the A/C aint on all the damn time. Even with the matter of it being cost efficient, do you think he'd leave those damn drapes alone? Hellll no...had to have them whipped open nice and wide.

You'd think with such a small place it'd be easier to keep clean. Notta chance. Everytime I got things looking just so within 2-3 days there would be a minimum of 15 books in various piles everywhere in the livingroom and then he'd wonder why he was tripping over everything. *DUH* He couldnt just read one book at a time, he always was reading at least 5 at any given time. Did I mention he'd "watch" tv at the same time or tape things so I couldnt watch what I wanted while he was reading? Oh..I did?

*Quick flashback to the first year* I remember a day that southern momma noticed how frazzled I seemed and asked after me. I told her that I was really tired because I'd been up all night typing something for Jim and that day was hectic downstairs in the offices. She replied that some of that was my fault because I ALLOWED Jim to use me as a slave and that I needed to put my foot down. Then I wouldnt be so frazzled. Thing is everytime I tried to do so things got ugly so I basically had stopped standing up for myself.

*Return to the time we were on* That first summer in the apartment was weird. The days would start out so horribly muggy, by 11am the temps would spike and by 1pm at the latest it would rain, then it would be muggier than it was in the morning. You could just about set your watches by the weather. When working, you'd come in around 7 or 8 am and leave by noon to be home before the rain started. Jim actually took a summer job at the school this year. Was I surprised to say the least. After 3 days of going to work and with me being home, he started insisting that I come with him. Work at the school entailled patching up the sheetrock walls and slapping fresh paint on them after. This particular year they'd decided to do new carpeting upstairs. This meant hauling all the books downstairs to be cataloged and reviewed to see if we needed any new ones, moving ALL the desks and chairs down stairs as well. After that all the carpeting had to be stripped out, rolled up and hauled down to the dumpster. The headmaster obviously had no clue as to how the carpeting had to be dealt with to be honest as he'd told Jim to rip up the carpet and leave the padding down because "he could save money" that way. Im all for saving money but honey you cant reuse the padding when you rip up carpet, you have to get fresh padding. Not that I'd call what they had down padding...it was just some mesh shit. Anyhow, Jim's first day had been removing all the books, desks and chairs. What he didnt finish the first day he completed on the second day then he was told to strip up all the carpeting. He stripped out about a 1/3 of a room on his own. The third day he finished the first room and started the second. He was doing it alone, they sent him no help the whole day (he had help to get the books n stuff out the first two days). A whole day in the summer is about 4-6 hours because the school wont run the A/C upstairs in the summer. Why? Because there arent any students and there isnt any sense in cooling the entire upstairs for just the one or two people to work up there. So day 4 shows up and my ass is hauled in because he wanted me there, not because they asked him to bring me in. We managed to strip that whole room and get a good start on the next room when the headmaster came through with the dude that was going to install the carpeting. He brought this guy to the room we were stripping out and they were discussing what was going to go in when the dude asked why the padding was being left down. So of course I answer that we were TOLD that it was going to be reused and I said I thought that stuff like that had to be replaced each time new carpet was put down. The guy said I was right....Oh if looks could kill the headmaster would have keeled over with the look I gave him. This meant we had to go through the other rooms again and rip the padding up as well. I should have given him the look I gave that Rottie...maybe I would have been successful. The rest of that room we were working on went quickly once we didnt have to be careful. It wasnt bad enough that my work was volunteer and that it was 100+ upstairs, but stupidity that really fkn irks me. I was mad enough that we ripped up that last room and managed to get the other 3 rooms that were being done completed before I'd go downstairs again... 2 hours later.

Memories of Crosscreek Dr

It was a bit of a tight squeeze in that 2 bedroom townhouse. Im not even going to try and sort this stop out as there were so many comings and goings with this family. There always seemed to be some drama going on. I ~think~ this first time in her house (yeah later we were there a couple other times again for a different reasons) it was just the 5 of us, her & her hubby, me & my hemorrhoid and her pregnant daughter. I dont remember why the daughter's husband wasnt there. I do know he was a loser and a half. It could be that they were in a rough patch and he was off living with his mother. It was a good idea he wasnt under that roof as I wasnt overly fond of him. Kind of hard to be fond of someone when he's done dirt to you personally. What did he do you ask? Well, while we were packing and cleaning up at the Randolph location the daughter, her hubby (the one that gave my then spouse run for the Idiot of the Year award) and a friend of her hubby's were hired to clean up the back yard. There was mowing, weeding and several other things that needed doing that we didnt have equipment to do and they were hired to take care of that. What a mistake that was. Yeah granted I didnt have nothing nice to say about the landlord at the time, but that doesnt give you the right for you and your buddy to come in and trash the house that Im desparately trying to clean. We'd gotten a call while packing and needed to leave the house for a bit. With the gal being pregnant and trusting her, we'd left the house unlocked incase she needed the bathroom or they needed something to drink. I gather that she'd had to leave for a bit, leaving the guys to work and while unattended the friend (possibly the husband too) came into the house and took catshit and wiped it all down the wall coming down the staircase. When my then hubby and I came home, everyone was gone. The house was completely unattended at all. Granted the yard was done, but still. They knew where we were headed so there was no real excuse...unless her water broke and that wasnt the case. I get in the house and damn it stunk! The house didnt smell this bad when we left. That's when I noticed the shitmarks on the wall. Jim called southern mamma at the school (she worked summers there too in the offices) and talked to her while I was crying. I had worked so hard and it was just awful. Top things off, they wrecked the door to the shed out back. I was hysterical. Well our friend sent the son-in-law and his bud over to make things right and you can be sure I ripped in real good when they arrived. The shed was explained that the wood was old and it came apart as they cleaned up (BS...it only gets that way when you put a foot through the door). The catshit was explained as "maybe the cat did it". That one I ripped into....and told them that was fkn BS because it would have meant the cat started at the top of the stair case, jumped up 3' in the air, put her ass on the wall and magically slid down the wall at a 45 degree angle somehow managing to keep ass-wall contact the whole way down. Needless to say a physical impossibility. They had been instructed by southern momma to call when they got there and she could hear me ripping into them over the phone. She told them that I was right and they needed to clean it up and not to expect payment after that (although I did at least pay the daughter half for her work). Anyhow...it's a good thing he wasnt under that roof at that point as it wouldnt have been pleasant AT ALL.

I remember little of this stay at southern mamma's house as we were under her roof a couple other times as well due to vehicle or weather problems and all the stays are pretty much running together in my mind. I do remember the fights werent as frequent here and when they did happen they were done quietly after all were in bed. The daughter gave birth during this visit too. The child was a little boy and had the misfortune of looking alot like his dad.... right down to the wrinkle on his forehead.

I remember having to put my babies into a cage in the backyard because southern mamma ended up allergic to Fizzi and not only were the allergies bad, but it turned into asthma as well. I remember trying to fix things by cutting Fizzi's fur down some but she wouldnt sit still and that's why we ended up opting for the cages. It was so damn hot out there too. I felt so bad but there wasnt much else we could do at the time short of making sure there was alot of water and put tarps up to shade them. I remember hearing the dogs (she had 2 chihuahuas out there in their own cage) acting up and someone yelling something about a Rotty heading for the backyard. I was on my feet and out the sliding door to the backyard but fast. As the Rotty took the corner and came into the backyard I had gotten between it and my cats armed with a heavy shovel. It slid to a halt when it realized there was a very angry human back there. Not only did I look enraged but I was actually growling...showing my teeth and all. There was no way in hell I was allowing that thing near my babies. The dog's owner followed in close pursuit and I could hear my southern mamma saying something about "we'd better go rescue your dog". When he made the corner he saw what she meant and got his dog on a leash FAST. Imagine chasing your dog around the corner and coming face to face with a woman who looked (and sounded) meaner than your dog...yeah you get the picture. It took my southern mamma to get that shovel out of my hands.

I remember spending alot of time typing at her house. Same as I had been in the house on Randolph. I had different classes to type up this time so little of what I typed the year before could be reused for the second year there. While we stayed I typed not only Jim's stuff but the occassional thing for southern mamma. I did it so she had some free time and since she was cooking for us I figured it was an even trade. After a few weeks we got tired of being cramped in there and damn I was tired of my poor babies suffering in the heat so we decided to move. It was bad enough seeing my southern mamma suffer from the allergies and the cats suffering the heat, but the daughter relished in reminding us that that's precisely why mom was sick. Yeah the daughter was a real bitch at times. I dont know what it was, but I hear she treated most gals who got close to her mother the same way. I think it stems from her being the only girl in the family for a long time and maybe a fear that she was going to lose her mom's love. That wasnt the case, but who knows.