I'm still here
Much to tell you. Hope you're comfortable, because this is going to be the longest post yet. I had Thursday and Friday night off this week, Jim worked the overnights in my place. While I was gone, all hell broke loose. The building Jim and I work in used to be a hotel. Our office is the old ballroom. The hotel rooms have been converted into low-income housing. One of our employees, "Candy", lives in one of these apartments, just down the hall from the office. Her spouse-type person , "Earl" (they aren't married), used to come in and sit with her while she was working. Well, for a while it was cute, but then he started getting on everyone's nerves. Things started going downhill when this guy got arrested and spent some time locked up. We were told he was in Omaha, but now we aren't so sure he wasn't in Madison the whole time. We also don't know whether he was in jail or a mental health facility of some sort. Anyway, the problem is, Earl would call here collect, and want to talk to Candy. When we stopped accepting the charges after the first call, he found another way to call. He called 80 times in one day. I talked to him one night, told him I couldn't go and get her because I was the only one there, and I was expecting calls. The situation was rapidly getting out of hand. Earl had called the night before and got Jim, and threatened him when he wouldn't go get Candy. Well, we filed a police report, and Candy got a restraining order against Earl for domestic abuse. We weren't sure exactly when he was going to be out of jail, so we were keeping the doors locked and bolted and all that jazz. Which is a HUGE pain in the butt, because the building is supposedly "secure". (translation: wait at the front door for someone to go out, and anyone can get in) That means that whenever someone gets here, they have to knock on the front door so we know to go down and let them in. Hard to hear them knocking with the doors closed and the huge a/c fans going. To make matters worse, Earl had managed to get himself locked up with our spare key to the front door. The management changed the locks, but in the end, it didn't matter. Candy let the moron in herself. She got a couple of fists in the face as a thank you. The good news is, she got the (now useless) key back from him, which we traded in on a new one. That key has now been assigned to Jim and I. We are allowed to loan it out to people going on break, but are responsible for getting it back right away. Besides our key, the manager has one, and all of the tenants in the building have at least one. I guess Earl is back in jail again, this time we know he's in Madison. He called several times today, and talked to different people. When he talked to Jim at 7am, he mentioned that he knows several people's addresses, including ours, and he knows that some of those houses have kids in them. He said something along the lines of "why make all these people pay for something you did", and threats less vague that that. Guess he didn't know his calls were being recorded. Jim was really late getting home from work this morning, he had to stay and file another police report. Jim is filing a personal terroristic threats charge against Earl. Our manager talked to the prosecuting attorney today, and they will be asking Earl if he was in the building at any point in the past week. The guy's dumb enough that he'll admit it, probably proud of himself. Well, that will put him in violation of the restraining order, and will lose Candy her job and her apartment. Can't say I'm sorry to see her go, she's been one of our troublesome employees. I'm not happy about throwing her out on the streets, but I can't be responsible for other people's choices. I refuse to go on working in an environment that requires me to keep my little can of tear gas/pepper spray in easy reach. If she was only endangering herself, I might be more sympathetic. But, by letting her abuser into the building, she is endangering me, and everyone else that works here. None of us are happy about it. Jim was so mad we had to go blow some lead to cool him off. (Take THAT, ya stupid box!) More on the subject of target shooting another day.

That's not the only thing that happened at work while I was off. I guess one of our other employees decided she'd had enough, and quit with no notice. She didn't even bother to tell us that she'd quit, we found out when she didn't show up for her shift on Friday. The supervisor on that shift finally got in touch with her, and she's in Ohio! Hope she's not planning on having a job if/when she comes back. If she was, she's out of luck. The manager just about blew a gasket when she heard that one. Kind of leaves me thinking...sheesh, what's next?

and...
Mood:  celebratory
After much discussion and deliberation, Jim and I have decided to get a mobile phone from Cellular One rather than a land line. He's still of the opinion that it stays at the house most of the time. We'll see. Extenuating circumstances may prevail. He also said we can get one for each of us, but I'm not sure we can afford that right now. Anyway, thought you all would like to know. We can also be reached (more or less) at the Norfolk house number, for the time being. Like I said before, we're going to be pretty busy, so if we don't answer, leave a message. :)

Good news and Bad news
Mood:  chatty
Topic: House Hunting
We have signed the lease and paid the deposit on our new house in Plainview. Due to the lack of consistent, consecutive days off together, we aren't sure when we'll be actually living there. We've taken one load up, and measured all of the rooms, but we haven't really started packing yet. We went and picked up some empty boxes from my sister today. Gonna fill em up and hopefully take a couple more loads up later this week. We also got my set of dishes out of storage (and some other things I haven't seen in about a year). Jim and I have Thurs and Fri day off this week, and Saturday morning too, so we're going to try to get some things done. The bad news is we're losing the internet here at work because some of my coworkers refuse to stop downloading programs onto these computers. So, to put a curb on it, we won't have internet for a while. And, more bad news, Jim's dad is keeping the computer, so until Jim and I buy our own, we won't have the internet at our house either. I'll post as often as it's practical, but I'm not making any promises. The good news is, Jim's dad will be out of town for the next few weeks, so we can use his computer for now. And the washer, and the cable, and.... :) We'll slowly transition into our house, but we have to move and housesit at the same time. With days off less than abundant, we're going to be pretty busy the next few weeks. We're going to try to plan a housewarming party, Jim thinks we should have a luau and roast a whole hog. We'll see...

Rewriting songs to keep myself awake...
Mood:  lyrical
1:30am - to the tune of "I'm Sorry" by Brenda Lee

I'm sorry, so sorry
That I came to work tonight.
I didn't know
I'd be in this plight.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, uh-oh, (yawn).

You tell me being sleepy
Is part of working late.
But, that don't make it easy
For me to stay awake.

(I'm sorry) I'm tired,
(So sorry) So tired.
Please, just let me go to bed.
It's time for lunch now,
And I can sleep, so it's said.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, uh-oh, oh yes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(ok, I know it's not very good, but I'm not doing this to get admiration. So, if you don't like it, STOP READING NOW, IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER!!)
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3:45am - "Walkin after Midnight"

I got out workin' after midnight
Here in the dim light,
Just waitin' for the dawn.
I'm always workin' after midnight
Time's draggin on.

I work for hours during the night time
Well, that's the right time
For a normal girl to doze.
I'm always workin' after midnight
Time must be froze.

I stop to take a little nappy,
Feeling pretty crappy,
People won't leave me alone.
And then I start to wonder,
Perhaps I've made a blunder.
Why didn't I stay at home?

But I'm here workin' after midnight
Still in the dim light
Just hopin' that maybe
Tomorrow you'll work after midnight
I'll be asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm rather fond of that one particularly the bridge. But, I think I'd better let my creative juices regenerate before I attempt any more.
Wish me luck. I have four hours left of my shift, but from 6-8am, I'm the only one here...zzzzz. :)

Fighting the sandman
I had planned to blog all about how we signed the lease on our new house today, and went to the multi-cultural festival, but I'm so tired I can't think coherently. I'll do it later today, maybe. I have less than 3 hours left of a 9 hour shift. In order to make sure my underlings get their allotted breaks in, I have had to forfeit my lunch hour and take several 5 minute breaks instead of two 15s. This does not make me very happy. I am literally falling asleep as I type. More on that to come later also. I plan to sleep most of the day today. I think 10 hours sounds about right. We'll see what happens...eyes.....droopy....mind....absent.....zzzzzzz (by the time anyone reads this, I should be fairly well rested)

The case of the missing panel
Mood:  quizzical
I don't know what the deal is with this stupid blogger. Where the heck is my panel?!?!?

North, to Plainview, go North, the move is on
Mood:  lucky
Topic: House Hunting
At last, after much personal turmoil, we have found a new home. Got the call yesterday afternoon. Our new address is...yeah right, like I'm going to give that out over the internet. It's on South Maple, in Plainview. If you want the whole thing, email me. As soon as I have our new phone number, I'll let you know. It's two bedrooms, one bathroom, a nice sized living room, a good kitchen, another little room (I think it looks like a good reading room), and enclosed porches in the front and back. It has a basement. More of a storm cellar, really, but the access door to it is in the floor of the back porch. It has central air, and comes with a stove and refrigerator. We can have my cat, but I have to find a new home for my chinchilla. I'm not happy about that, but I really don't spend enough time with him anyway. He deserves better. Maybe I can pawn him off on my brother... Anyway, ahem (cheesy announcer voice) all this at the low, low price of $250 per month!! So basically, it fulfills all of my requirements: two bedrooms, basement, central air, allows pet(s), less than $400. Yay! Just goes to show that patience really is a virtue. We called about this house about a month ago. The lady that owns it isn't very good at returning phone calls. In fact, the only time she's called us (instead of the other way around) is when she called to say we could have it. Jim and I have left countless messages for her to call us. She never called back. Anyway, I digress. WE'RE MOVING!! That means all of the people that we've helped move over the past couple of years get to help US now.

Trivia
Did you know that there are lyrics to the Andy Griffith Show theme song?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Fishin' Hole (The Andy Griffith Show theme)

Well, now, take down your fishin' pole
and meet me at The Fishin' Hole,
We may not get a bite all day,
but don't you rush away.

What a great place to rest your bones
and mighty fine for skippin' stones,
You'll feel fresh as a lemonade,
a-settin' in the shade.

Whether it's hot,
whether it's cool,
oh what a spot
for whistlin' like a fool.

What a fine day to take a stroll
and wander by The Fishin' Hole,
I can't think of a better way
to pass the time o' day.

We'll have no need to call the roll
when we get to The Fishin' Hole,
There'll be you, me, and Old Dog Trey,
to doodle time away.

If we don't hook a perch or bass,
we'll cool our toes in dewy grass,
Or else pull up a weed to chaw,
and maybe set and jaw.

Hangin' around,
takin' our ease,
watchin' that hound
a-scratchin' at his fleas.

Come on, take down your fishin' pole
and meet me at The Fishin' Hole,
I can't think of a better way
to pass the time o' day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And now you know....the rest...of the....well, I guess it's not really a story, it's more of a song, but anyway.... :) Trivia buffs the world over, rejoice!

And now, page...what page are we on again?
Topic: House Hunting
We will (hopefully) be driving over to Winside to look at a house today. We don't get to go inside, but Jim's pretty good at judging a house "by its cover." This would be an ideal location as it is halfway between Norfolk (work) and Wayne (where Robert lives). It's also not too far from Stanton, and Wood Duck WMA. So, basically, it's 20 miles or less from everywhere we go on a regular basis. It's a 3 bedroom house, it has central air and a fairly new gas furnace and water heater. That's good. No garage or appliances, though. It's $380, possibly $390 if the landlord decides to charge extra for my cat. He's not wild about allowing pets, but my "she's 17 yrs old, she just lays around" line seems to work well. And there's a 2 bedroom apartment in the basement. That's not so good. But, we're very quickly running out of time. No, strike that. We have already run out of time. Each day that passes without us finding somewhere else to live grates more on Jim's dad's nerves. I don't think he understands what we're going through. He hasn't looked for a house or a job for over 30 years. His ideas about how it should be done are a little outdated to say the least. We are trying, but it's hard. Jim works in the evening, I work overnight. That means I'm making the phone calls, and we go see things when we can. There aren't that many places that allow pets, and there are far more that are too expensive for our budget than "reasonably priced." Realistically, $400 is about our limit. And we need at least two bedrooms so that Robert has somewhere to sleep when he stays with us. Finding a decent two or three bedroom house in a non-threatening neighborhood that allows pets and is under $400 seems nearly impossible. If it isn't one thing, it's another. We found that house in Plainview, but can't get anywhere with the landlord. We looked at a house in Meadow Grove, but $350 for two tiny bedrooms, no air conditioning and no basement? We found the house by Neligh, and it was sold instead of rented. There's a house for sale in Plainview for $5000 with a payment plan of $250 per month, but I'm a little worried about what they mean by "it needs a little work". I don't know. Between my job and this house hunting, it's a wonder I get out of bed at all.

Ok, that's new...
Now Playing: zzz...do be do be do....zzzz
Apparently, I sing in my sleep. At least this is what I've been told by more than one person. I just woke up from a lunch hour nap. Asked my single solitary coworker (slow night) if I snored, he said no. But, he says, I think you were singing. He couldn't make out exactly WHAT I was singing, but he definitely heard something resembling music coming from my direction. Iiiinteresting. So instead of singing myself TO sleep, I sing to myself WHILE asleep. Wonder what I was singing. If I had a dream, I don't remember what it was about, so no help there. I only slept for 45 minutes, so I doubt I got to REM. Anyway.....huh. Talk about your multi-tasker.

Tonight has been soooo sloooooow. We haven't had a call since 2:45, and it's 5:20 now. It was nice not to have to worry about calls getting dropped while we were each on lunch, but if we don't start getting calls again soon, I don't know how I'm going to stay awake. (As soon as I typed that last period, I got a call!)