The Economy Strikes Again

Well, I experienced the joys of the current economic situation today. All of the temp help was called into an office one by one and informed that we will be taking a five percent pay cut starting next week. My response, while not happy, was reasonable -- 95% is better than no percent. I was kidding with a couple of co-workers by saying that I should wait until next week to call in sick so it won't cost me so much -- of course, I'm not sick and I won't be calling in. I also reasoned that an across the board five percent pay cut was better than a five percent staff reduction. So, the little bit extra that Ben has started getting from the church counterbalances part of what I am losing -- the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Ah well, life goes on .....

Life Moves Forward

Well, it was a long and time consuming move, but we turned in the keys to the old place last night and brought the last load of stuff back -- Ben called those boxes the "Miscellaneous Boxes". They will get opened in the next couple of days and all will be well within a week or so. Another casualty -- besides the table leg, a chipped glass, and a couple other small oops's -- was the laptop display screen. I was sitting here the other night typing away (or playing a game or something equally exciting) when all at once Ben let out a howl. Before he could explain it, the entire rack of dvd's and cd's came toppling over toward me and the computer. It smacked the lid of the laptop and the display went all whacky and useless. Well, I worried and stewed about it for a while, and we decided to find a monitor to hook to the laptop. I posted my need on freecycle.org and within hours yesterday I had a couple of emails offering monitors. I went this afternoon and picked one up, brought it home, hooked it up, and --voila!!-- I'm back up and running. All things seem to work out somehow.

Hello all; miss me?

When I looked at how long it's been since I last posted, I was almost embarrassed to come back. Between a serious facebook addiction, moving, job, and church, things have been a bit hectic. I've missed you all. Our move is nearly completed -- we have about one and a half more carloads and then final clean up to finish up. Then, of course, there's the joy of unpacking it and finding places for everything. It amazes me how quickly the space fills up. We are settling in nicely, however, and look forward to staying here for a while. I am so sick of moving. This is my fifth move since moving back to Michigan in 2004. Doing the math, that works out to about one a year. TOO MUCH. I am so sick of seeing cardboard boxes!!!. My time at the church is winding down -- two more months and I'm done. The turnaround in the congregation's involvement and attitude over the past six months is amazing -- almost makes me want to stay to see where it leads. But I won't and I cannot according to contract. They will now need to step up and move forward into the next chapter of their life as I do so in mine. I did have the opportunity to go to Ben's church with him today and meet a bunch of his folks. At work I am back in training for a desk that will be doing the work that I did when I was there nearly two years ago--the work that went to Malaysia is now coming back to the good old USA -now if only our primary client (a large US automaker) stays in business! Spring seems to be coming finally. We've had some hot weather already and oh the spring rainstorms!! I think I saw a big boat full of animals go past the window last night. All in all, things are good. We are happy and looking forward to making this place into a home we can enjoy together for a good long time. We shall see.