Papa on video

I didn't realize I had this until today. As far as I know it is the only video of Pops. It was taken on 4-22-06 when we had the cake for Andrew's and my birthday.

In case anyone noticed...

I've been gone for a while! Hello, hello...(crickets chirping). Well, whether or not anyone reads my little blog, that won't stop me from posting eventually! HA!

3 months+ and still no job

Well, here we are 3 months and 2 weeks since I was laid off from my job. The job market in this area is horrible. I've put in approximately 30 applications and still no luck in landing anything. My unemployment compensation will run out in about 2 1/2 months. I have no idea what we will do then. One of my sons has a part-time job and has been looking for full time, the other is still looking also. Then the news comes today that the BMW plant here will be laying off over 700 contract workers in December. I don't know what will become of us. I just wish I could see some light at the end of the tunnel..that wasn't a train!

One year ago today...

We miss you Papa.

I'm in the poor house now...

Well, it's official. I'm unemployed as of today. It was so hard to leave. I told my boss today, with total honesty, that it was the best job I'd ever had. Did I bitch and moan and groan on occasion...sure I did. But all in all, still the best ever. Most of the people I worked with were top-notch (some of the others, not so much). Same with the boss. He could drive me absolutely batty sometimes but he always went the extra mile for me because he knew that when I walked in that door every morning that I was there to give 110%.

What now? I'm frantically searching for another job but the job market is not so great right now (to put it mildly). I do have an interview on Monday...WISH ME LUCK!

Hannibal and Spooky

Donations

To those of you who have been kind enough to donate to the "heat pump fund" I offer my sincere appreciation. I wasn't able to do everything at once so I got the heating unit in and am working on the air conditioning.

Once again, thanks so much for your generosity!

This is where I work...sigh.

My life just keeps getting better and better...yeah, right.

Cox CustomMedia Inc. to close at the end of April

Nearly 90 people will lose their jobs

Nearly 90 people are losing their jobs with the shutdown of a homegrown custom publications company in Greenville County.

Cox CustomMedia Inc. has notified the state Commerce Department that it will be closing its operation at 122 Smith Hines Road, said Kara Borie, department spokeswoman. The closure will affect 87 employees, with the first round of layoffs scheduled for April 30, Borie said.

The company produces newsletters for apartment complexes, retail chains and assisted-living communities and other printed marketing materials.

It was founded in 1989 as Resident Update Newsletters Inc. by Greenville businessman Todd Taylor. He sold a stake in the business to a private equity firm before selling the entire company in 2000 to Cox Enterprises Inc., the Atlanta-based media conglomerate.

Cox Newspapers, the newspaper division of Cox Enterprises, said in a brief statement that it had sold Cox CustomMedia to a competitor, Uhlig LLC of Overland Park, Kansas. But Cox didn’t mention the lost jobs or say whether the dismissed employees would be getting any severance package.

Cox said the sale was based on its "strategic decision to focus on its news-driven and direct mail advertising properties coupled with Uhlig’s desire to expand its profile."

Uhlig also produces custom publications. Its holdings include a newsletter company called Illustratus.

Mark Uhlig, the Kansas company’s chief executive, said in the statement released by Cox that Cox CustomMedia "has been a pioneer in the development of high-quality custom periodicals, and has contributed greatly to the marketplace we share. We are very pleased that we will be able to combine our respective strengths in the years ahead."

An Uhlig spokeswoman said her company didn’t have anything to add beyond the statement.

Taylor, who left Cox CustomMedia in 2005, said Uhlig apparently figured "it made more sense for them to fold (the Greenville facility) under their operation in Kansas City."

Taylor said he thought the talented employees at Cox CustomMedia would quickly find other jobs.

"I feel very confident those folks are going to land on their feet," he said.

My Papa is gone

"Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"
-William Shakespeare's Hamlet


It is with a heavy heart that I must report that my dear, sweet Papa is gone. He passed away Monday, September 17. He was the kindest, most gentle, genuinely sweet, most big hearted man I've ever had the pleasure to meet in this life. My bright and shining star has gone out. My heart is broken. Goodbye, Papa, I miss you so much.

James Alexander ........, 79, beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend, died September 17, 2007.

He was the son of the late Albert Waverland ........ and Elizabeth Mae Mauney .........

Mr. ........ was a machinist with General Electric for twenty years, and an avid woodworker. He served in the National Guard during World War II, was a state constable, and a member of West Greenville Baptist Church, where he held the positions of deacon and Sunday School secretary.

Surviving are his wife of 59 years, Ruth ........ ........; two daughters, Ruth Anne ........ of Greenville, and Linda J. ........ of Atlanta, Ga.; six grandchildren, Andrew ........, Brian ........, Crystal ........, David ........, James ........, Rick ........; and five great-grandchildren.

He was predeceased by one sister and two brothers.

Memorial Service and visitation will be held Thursday, September 20, 2007, at 2 p.m. at West Greenville Baptist Church.

Memorials may be made in his name to West Greenville Baptist Church, 551 Perry Avenue, Greenville, SC 29611.

I AM PISSED!!!

I mean I am completely, totally, utterly, royally pissed! For the past 15 years or so my 3 sons have been eating Rice Oriental. Now it seems that the corporate meanies at General Mills have decided they're no longer going to manufacture it. Let me tell ya there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth around my house after I spoke with General Mills customer service on Friday and was given this disastrous news. Boo, General Mills. BOO! If you've used and liked this product and would like to express your displeasure at its being discontinued, let General Mills know!

Pops is still holding on

Pops is still hanging in there. He is very weak and getting weaker. His oxygen level has been dropping and his heart is getting weaker every day. The doctors are saying that he will probably not last as long as they had originally anticipated. I love him so much and cannot imagine my life without him in it.

Update on my Pop

Pops came home from the hospital on Monday, July 16. He is, and will continue to be, on oxygen full-time. He went to see his cardiologist on Thursday. The news is not good. If he is lucky and doesn't have any more trouble such as he's had for the past few weeks, he may possibly have 6 - 12 months.

I go to their house every day after work and feed his dogs and cats, do the laundry and anything else that needs to be done around the house. It's tough after working all day but they've done so much for me that I couldn't possibly say no. Unfortunately for them I'm all they have. I do the best I can but I wonder if it's enough.

A rough couple of weeks

Shortly after my last post my dad had to go to the hospital. Pops has not been well for many years. He's had 2 quadruple by-pass surgeries. He also has emphysema, spinal arthritis and osteoporosis. He had been coughing really badly and having trouble breathing for several days. Mom finally convinced him to go to the ER. They admitted him and he was in for 5 days. The day he came home, June 28, he seemed to feel fairly well. He went to the drug store and had his prescriptions filled, ate lunch and fed his dogs. He laid down to rest and woke up a couple of hours later not feeling well. Mom helped him to the bathroom and he began vomiting blood and having diarrhea. Again she had to talk him into going to the hospital the next morning.

After examination in the ER they determined he had a bleeding ulcer. It seems that during the previous hospital confinement someone had given him aspirin...on top of his blood thinners. They began giving him transfusions and went into his stomach and put clamps on the ulcer to try to stop the bleeding. He was moved to ICU.

Friday morning, June 29, Mom called at 6am...the hospital had called and said he was not doing well and that the family needed to get there ASAP. My sons, daughter-in-law and I all took off up there. I called my sister in Atlanta and she got on the road too. We were at the hospital for 12-13 hours. He stabilized and we came home that evening. He was doing so well on Saturday that they were even talking about moving him out of ICU and putting him in a regular room on Sunday.

At about 8:30am Sunday morning Mom called and he was in trouble again and the hospital had advised that the family needed to come quickly. Apparently the strain of losing all that blood and undergoing the procedure to clamp the ulcer had put too much strain on his heart and he had had a heart attack. Since he still had the aspirin in his blood (Dr. told us it takes 7 days for 1 aspirin to clear out of your blood stream) they could do nothing to treat the heart attack.

He did finally stabilize and was moved out of ICU on July 4. We don't know when he will be able to come home. We are hoping it will be soon. There will be a lot of restrictions. He will basically be bed-ridden. He's going to need oxygen and a hospital bed. His room will need to be as dust-free as possible. He will not be allowed to drive and cannot go into his woodworking shop without a mask. It's going to be so hard on him to give up what little freedom of movement he's had.

I am just completely worn down.

The hits just keep on a'comin'

I'm just not sure how much more I can take. On Monday, June 4 there was a company meeting at work. Seems our "illustrious" President (aka the spiky haired, ugly Hawaiian shirt wearing little bastard) has decided the company no longer needs the print department where I work. The only up side is that we have been sold and will still have a job at least for a while. The down side is that we're going from being owned by a multi-billion dollar company with 10,000+ employees worldwide and tremendous benefits to being owned by a small businessman with no benefits except health insurance with premiums so high that I won't be able to pay them. So, I've lost my pension, health insurance, life insurance, short/long-term disability...pretty much everything that gave me some hope for the future. And I STILL don't have heating and air for my mobile home. I'm just not sure how many more hits I can take. Will anything good ever happen in my life again?

It's been a while...

I have so badly neglected my poor little blog. I've been working a TON of overtime trying to save up enough money to replace the heating and a/c unit that was stolen (if any of you kind souls out there could spare a few bucks to help me replace the unit, it would be truly appreciated - PayPal link to the left). So far, I'm still not there. I have been making some progress on cleaning the pig sty though. You can see the difference on the wall where I've been washing it. The whole place looks like that. Every wall in the home is going to have to be washed down. It's really gonna be fun when we get to the cathedral ceilings in the living room! I really get discouraged sometimes. It seems the harder I try, the harder it gets. Hopefully I'll be able to find time to post a little more often. Have a GREAT day!!!

Superman and Wonder Woman

59 years together!

My parents will celebrate their 59th wedding anniversary on March 20. We had a little get-together today since we won't be able to be there on Tuesday. Happy Anniversary Pop and Gm. LOVE YOU!!!

It REALLY sucks to be me!

As I previously posted, some p.o.s. made off with the heating and air conditioning unit of my mobile home. Well, today I got the lovely news that it will cost $4500.00 to replace it and repair the duct work underneath. Whoo!! The hits just keep on a'comin'. I was expecting $3000 - 3500. But this just caught me completely by surprise. I'm pretty much speechless. Think I'll go and curl up into the fetal position in a corner somewhere. I've added a PayPal button on the sidebar. If anyone would care to help a gal out it would be greatly appreciated.

Back again

In spite of my best intentions, I haven't posted in a while. Things have really busy at work and I've just been too pooped. My divorce is final and I am getting ready to start cleaning the mobile home and preparing to move in...as soon as my son gets a job, that is. Can't pay all of the bills on my salary, that's for sure! At any rate, the cleaning is going to take, literally, weeks. This is some of the mess my dear ex left for me:

It Sucks To Be Me

As I have posted previously, I am in the middle of a nasty divorce. Things had been looking up for the past few months. My soon-to-be-ex and I went through mediation and finally reached an agreement on ownership of our former home. I am supposed to take possession and make monthly payments to him until I have paid his share of the value of the mobile home. Our final hearing is scheduled for January 11. Well, yesterday my oldest son and I decided to just walk around the place and look things over. I could not believe my eyes when we walked around the corner of the house and the freakin' heat and a/c unit is GONE!!!!! Some low-life p-o-s came up, cut the wiring and carried the damn thing off. I am just at the end of my rope. I don't have the money to replace it and we can't live in it without heat and air. Does anyone know of a nearby bridge that I can jump off? I CAN'T TAKE ANYMORE!!!!!

The last time I saw it:

Back to the old blog

Well, I tried Blog Charm for a while and things went pretty well. Now, it's decided not to publish my posts. So, I'm back to the old faithful blog.

I know I've sorely neglected my poor little blog. Things have been crazy the last couple of months. My divorce is still pending. The day before the hearing was to be held, my attorney's secretary called and said the hearing was postponed because the judge's mother passed away. So, that's rescheduled for January 11. I will be so glad when this is over. In addition to that, I've been working nearly 60 hours a week at my job, trying to help my son with his job hunt and helping my parents out around their house whenever I can. I guess I'm just tired.

And, I guess I'm a tad depressed too. Even after the divorce goes through my two youngest sons and I won't be able to move back into our house until at least one of them finds a job to help pay the bills. As much as I hate to do it, I'm taking one of them to McDonalds to apply. Not that there's anything wrong with working at Mickey D's, don't get me wrong. It's just that he worked so hard during his 4 years in college to get good grades so he could get a good job. Every where he applies it's the same thing...no experience. Well, how the hell do you get experience if no one will give you the opportunity to work??? It really just pisses me off big time.

Well, enough complaining. I'm gonna try to get back in the swing and keep my blog up-to-date. Wish me luck!

Happy New Year to one and all!!!