Kretta's Kritters and Other Things

It's been over 3 months since I moved to my new house.  Where has the time gone? I feel like I just moved in but I also feel like I have lived in this house forever. I have finally sold my old house and am waiting for the closing date to get here.So much has happened in the 3 months I have been here and some of it has not been good. Take for instance, the water line to the house had a leak and was costly to repair.  The city house sold quickly but the buyer broke his neck in a car accident 1 week before we were to close and I had to put the house back on the market. Then it sold again real quick but the vent stack for the sewer developed a leak around it and has ruined my bathroom ceiling and will need painting along with stopping the leak before we can close the deal. It has been much more expensive having 2 house than I imagined and budgeted for. Of course having to replace a water line wasn't in the planning either.  I want to so some landscaping at the new house but have to wait until I have the money from the city house.Maybe that time will slip on by real fast too.

As I sit here on what will most likely be the last night in my home of the last 22 years, I am flooded by a plethora of emotions. I am moving to a new home, to a new subdivision, to another town, in a different state. This is not easy for me, I don't like change.  I am both sad and excited about the move.  My new house is beautiful, the yard is landscaped and I have a privacy fence.  I am going to miss my neighbors though.  They are my friends. I wish I could move them with me.

I grew up in a small rural town where my father, uncles, and grandfather owned and operated the Ford dealership.  My grandfather came to Woodbury sometime in the early 1920's and soon thereafter opened Jennings Motors in 1922.  My father and uncles operated this company after my grandfather became too ill to continue and when they retired, my cousins Douglas and Bill bought and ran the company.  They announced today they were having to close the company because of the economy.  I knew it was coming, my uncle Bob had told us times were very tough several months ago. The "garage" as the business has been so affectionately called played a major role in my life.  While most girls played with their dolls, I played on stacks of tires, rode up and down on the hydraulic lift, rode mechanics' scoot boards down the ramp, and learned to change oil, tune up a car and fix a flat tire. I washed, waxed, buffed and polished cars until my hands were shriveled like prunes and my fingernails were gone. I got to drive more brands and types of cars in my teen yeas than most people get to drive in a lifetime. I don't even remembering learning to drive, it was something we just did as soon as we were able to reach the pedals and almost see over the steering wheel. I never knew how long I would get to keep a car, many a time I would come home for lunch and Dad would want the keys to whatever I happened to be driving not because I did something wrong ,but because he sold the car. September was an exciting time at the garage, new models were soon to be introduced and everyone couldn't wait to see the new models that year.  When the mustang was introduced, we kept it hidden away, under wraps until the show date.  It was always like a carnival on the day of the new car showing. My friends were the mechanics and they played a part in my upbringing.  They taught me how to do things and never treated me like a "girl".I spent everyday at the garage while growing up, it was where I wanted to be. If I wasn't at the garage, I was at the used car lot. The garage has been the subject matter of many stories I have shared with co-workers about growing up in smalltown USA.
The garage has endured many hardships and survived.  It survived the Great Depression, it survived a fire that destroyed everything, it even survived a natural gas explosion that flattened the building and blew out every store window in downtown Woodbury. But it couldn't survive this current downturn. We have become a society of instant gratification, where people don't want to wait for their custom ordered car to arrive, where service after the sale became just another slogan because qualified service technicians were going to the bigger cities to work for higher wages, where mom and pop businesses cannot compete with the larger bankrolls of corporations.
And this is where all the stories end.  This is where I say-"good-bye Jennings Motors, thanks for all the memories.I will miss you."

Well here we go again.  The job security merry-go-round at work has started and I happen to again be riding the wrong pony.  Or maybe its the right pony, I don't know at this time.  Seems the economic woes are hitting HealthSouth.  We have in the past offered van transportation to patients who wanted to come to HS for therapy but had no way to get to their appt. Part of my job involved coordination this service. As of Sept 1 we are no longer offering van service.  So my other duties will also be lightened because patient volume will drop, therefore in a nut shell I am no longer needed in OP.  But all is not lost.  As it was put so eloquently to me while smoke was being blown up my ass and the CEO was trying his best to put a "spin" on this situation, I am a valued employee of HS and they want to keep me in the system so I am being reassigned to becoming- are you ready- "Utilization Review Coordinator".  This is just a fancy way of saying my day is going be spent in front of a computer or on the phone dealing with insurance companies trying to convince them that Mr. or Mrs. So and So need to be allowed to come to HealthSouth for inpatient rehabilitation  Not a whole lot different from some of my duties in the OP department but a new supervisor, new office (no windows), new everything and I don't like change.  I am accustomed to being able to leave my desk when I need to, taking my lunch break at home if I want to, leaving early if I have an appointment, getting time off when I ask (which is not often enough I have decided) now I don't know about these things and this is causing discomfort to me. I should stop whining and be thankful for my "job security" status.  There are people who are losing their job because of these changes. I am thankful I'm not part of that portion of the change. And this time I won't even say "give me less security and more money" I'm just gonna say "thank you and I'll do my best in my new job."

I must be having some sort of mid-life crisis.  In the past month, I have bought a scooter and now today I sold my Mustang and my truck and bought a new Escape.  I went from completely debt-free with 2 paid-off cars to 1 half paid for car and another loan. I am also still planning on selling my paid-for house and buying something bigger and of course more expensive.  Hopefully though, I won't have to take out a mortgage for this purchase.  I'd better sit down before I spend again. I'm starting to like it too much.

"Alright", I thought," clean up the kitchen and then I'll be done with the housework" as I picked up a plastic container and headed to the garage. " Wait a minute, what is that sound?  It sounds like the washing machine filling with water but louder",  I think, as I looked around to see where it was coming from.  "Oh shit" I said, as I saw a fountain of water coming from the vacinity of the washer, spewing 6 feet in the air drenching the walls, the electric panel and everything in the area of the washer.  "What has broken, where is the water coming from, is it the washer or the water heater, how do I get it to stop? Do I need to call a plumber or an electrician?"  Thoughts running rampant through my mind in the brief seconds after seeing the flood that was taking place in my garage.  "Quick, grab the church key and shut off the water at the main, no that will take too long, find the shut off valve for the water heater, turn the water off there.  Won't budge, shit fire save on matches, try another valve. " Finally the geyser stops.  Water is dripping off the electrical panels, running down the walls, flowing out from under the washer, water heater and the dryer, soaking into the old green shag carpet piece I had put down in the garage many years ago. I start grabbing things and throwing them out the door onto the deck, soggy carpet pieces, wet towels, clothes that were hanging above the dryer.  It was about then when I stopped and took a deep breath and assessed the damage.  My biggest concern, after getting the water stopped, was the wet electrical panel and the possibility of shorting out the electrical system of my whole house.  After a few minutes, I decided it might be ok and went about the task of removing the water from my garage. I needed to pull the dryer away from the wall so I could get to the water under and behind it.  I realized the dryer plug (all 220 volts) was still plugged in, there was water on the plug, and I was standing in a rather large puddle.  I had on my rubber clogs and figured if I pulled real fast, I wouldn't get shocked too bad. Thankfully I got the dryer unplugged without permanently curling my hair. I still didn't know for sure where exactly the water had come from but was pretty certain it wasn't from the water heater and was most likely from the filler hose on the washing machine. About 30 minutes later, I had gotten the majority of the water mopped up and had a fan going to dry out the walls.  I then turned my attention to the washer.  Just as I thought, the filler hose on the hot water inlet had burst.  I decided while I was letting the area continue to dry, I would scoot over to Sears Essentials to pick up new hoses. So I hopped on my new scooter and off I went to Sears, wearing my new fluorescent green safety vest secure in the thought that Sears would have what I needed. NOT.  That Sears Essentials store is about as useless as teats on a bull.  They don't carry any parts, said the parts had been sent to the service center on Amnicola Hwy. Now isn't that just handy as it can be.  Got back on the scooter and headed home to trade vehicles.  I was going to have to go to Ace Hardware, and I'm not quite ready to ride that far yet on the scooter.
Got the truck and headed to Ace, still cussing about Sears Unessential not carrying parts.  About 3 blocks from the house I remembered I had left my wallet in the scooter trunk so I turned around and headed back home.  So much for conserving gas.  Found what I needed at Ace and headed back home to finish fixing the washer. Finally after 3 hours of mopping, cleaning, drying out, and replacing, I was ready to get back to what I was getting ready to do when the flood struck-mopping the kitchen floor.

I am a habitual obituary reader.  There, I have taken the first step to admitting my obsession with obituaries. Not really an obsession, but I started reading through the obit page every day to see if there was anyone I knew listed.  I tell people I read the obits daily to see if my name is there, if it isn't, I figure it is going to be a good day  Here lately though, I have been reading the obits to see how many different and creative ways the obits can convey the persons death without saying they are dead.  So far I have come across :

• Died (most often used)
• Passed away (second most often used)
• Departed this life
  
• Ended his/her journey of life
  
• Went home to be with the Lord
  
• Went to be with the Lord
  
• Entered into rest
  
• Was called to Heaven
  

And my all time favorite:

• Has gone to be with her Lord and Savior and ran through the beautiful gates of Heaven.

 
As for myself when the time comes, I don't care how it is said.  Dead is dead.  But please don't have me departing, ending, entering, going home, being called and certainly not running through any gates to anywhere.  Just say "She lived, she learned, she died, that's life.  Live and learn or die stupid.  Here lies a very smart woman."

After 3 weeks, 2 threats, and 4 trips upstairs, I finally have gotten part of the money owed to me.  Part of me was hoping she would not have the money so I could get the HR director involved and get this bitches' ass fired.  She still hasn't returned the so-called defective merchandise so I can get credit for it.  Supposedly it is in transit from her daughter in Washington.  We'll see.

For going on 12 years, I have dabbled in selling Avon.  I don't make a big deal of handing out books or going door to door selling.  If someone knows I sell and asks for a book, I will give them one and take their order.  I seldom make any money, usually barely enough to cover the cost of the catalogues.  I didn't get into selling to make money, I just like their products and decided I might as well get the discount and maybe just maybe make a dollar or two on occasion. In all these years,until today, I have only had one problem customer, a housekeeper at GPS.  She liked to order jewelry, wear it a while and then want me to refund her money and send the jewelry back. Or she would order clothing in 2 sizes, keep the one that fit and want me to send the other size back.  Not only did I have to pay for the products ahead of time, I had to pay the postage on all returns. If the product broke, I gladly would return the product, but to order something in September, keep it until January and then want me to send it back because she received a necklace for Christmas, was just too much.  I cut her off from ordering.  I also was getting flack from Avon for all the returns I was sending back.  LIke I said, this was the only problem customer I have had, until today. 
Let's just say, that from now on, if you work in housekeeping, have not ordered from me before and want to place an order, the answer is no.  If you want to pay in advance, fine, cash only. I will get my money ms. housekeeper.  I will file thief charges against you since you took your order out of my desk without my permission. You lied to my supervisor and told her I said you could get your order and pay later. You will not win and you will not cheat me out of my money.  If you want me to return a defective product, fine.  Bring it back but you still owe me for the other products. You could have at least told me why you have not paid me the money you have owed me for 2 weeks now instead of me having to hunt you down and ask for my money.  Pay up bitch.  You have made the wrong person mad.

Just call me a techno wantabe.  I hear of all these neat things that people are doing through the internet and I think that is sooo cool.  Then I try and I don't know what I am doing most of the time.  I opened a Twitter account last night. Its kinda fun and I love following my nephew and Brittney.  It lets me keep in touch without really keeping in touch, if you know what I mean.