Hey.
Ok. I'm here. I'm terribly behind on absolutely everything online. That includes my game, answering emails from friends and family, and of course, posting to LJ. So with out further ado ...
Work finished up for the year this past Tuesday. Why Tuesday and not Thursday as usual? (shrug) No one knows. No, not even management. So unemployment for the summer could be tricky, but we'll know more about that next Tuesday after the holiday. This year at work sucked a load of crap, chewed on it for a bit, then spat it out and ground it into the dirt with the heel of a shoe. We still do not have a ratified union contract. This has been taking up huge amounts of my time as I have become the "go to guy". The union wants member representation at the negotiations, but management wants negotiations to occur during "normal business hours". Hello!?! We're working during those hours, remember?! *sigh* But to be fair, our current union rep is far more motivated and willing to work with us than the others have been. He is going to bat for us about the negotiating times, although he's being met with some resistance as well. Anyway, the rest of my co-workers want union representation, but are not willing to publicly support it. Ok enough about work.
Well, enough about my work. My wife still loves her job! :-) But, there may be a dark tarnish on that silver lining. Come October, Michigan State University plans to cut back on funding to outlying services which would mean, of course,that my wife's position, in all likelihood, would be eliminated. However, her boss feels that it's nothing to worry about and this kind of thing is announced every year. But we will keep our fingers crossed and continue to pray until it's time to panic.
The kids. Our daughter is finishing up second grade. We had a couple of weeks of poor grades that concerned us, but we turned it around with encouragement and buckling down. A couple of threats thrown in for good measure also helped. (Heh, heh.) She has just started T-ball this past week and is having a great time. I have been asked to help coach the team ... I can't say no. The coach has experience with little league but nothing else, I have experience with T-ball as I helped coach two of my three sisters teams and I actually coached the third. Though that was many years ago. So, I will be tied up with that for a while.
Our son has graduated from preschool and will start all day kindergarten in the fall! He's looking forward to spending a lot of time at Grandma & Grandpa's house this summer.
The cats. Yes, we still have both of them. Junior will be one year old soon. We recently introduced them to the harness and lead. They've done very well.
The housing situation. We've looked at several rentals, there are a couple that are just about perfect, but ... for the amount of rent we would be shelling out, we could just as easily be making a house payment. So, we've hired a mortgage consultant. The company is called Highland Mortgage Banc and they are rather progressive. Here's how it works, we met with the consultant, got to know each other a bit and filled out the application. We got to list our needs and our wants and she explained the process and a couple of our options. The cost? Initially, $25 to run all of the credit scores. In the end, 1% of the loan which can even possibly be negotiated into the closing costs and covered by the seller! :-) But I'm getting ahead of myself. Right now, we are in the waiting phase. Waiting for the reports to come back. She figures we should be in touch again by Thursday.
And finaly, my health. Not too good. Back in December I had lost close to fifteen pounds. Then the weight loss stalled and reversed. I've gained it all back and then some. My back is giving me trouble again. I can't walk or stand for more than 5 to 10 minutes before the burning begins. And bending over is out of the question. Thankfully, so far, I can sit. But the good news, my sugar has been, and continues to be, under control as well as my blood pressure and cholesterol!
Well I believe I've spewed enough here for now. If you have any questions, let me know.
Work finished up for the year this past Tuesday. Why Tuesday and not Thursday as usual? (shrug) No one knows. No, not even management. So unemployment for the summer could be tricky, but we'll know more about that next Tuesday after the holiday. This year at work sucked a load of crap, chewed on it for a bit, then spat it out and ground it into the dirt with the heel of a shoe. We still do not have a ratified union contract. This has been taking up huge amounts of my time as I have become the "go to guy". The union wants member representation at the negotiations, but management wants negotiations to occur during "normal business hours". Hello!?! We're working during those hours, remember?! *sigh* But to be fair, our current union rep is far more motivated and willing to work with us than the others have been. He is going to bat for us about the negotiating times, although he's being met with some resistance as well. Anyway, the rest of my co-workers want union representation, but are not willing to publicly support it. Ok enough about work.
Well, enough about my work. My wife still loves her job! :-) But, there may be a dark tarnish on that silver lining. Come October, Michigan State University plans to cut back on funding to outlying services which would mean, of course,that my wife's position, in all likelihood, would be eliminated. However, her boss feels that it's nothing to worry about and this kind of thing is announced every year. But we will keep our fingers crossed and continue to pray until it's time to panic.
The kids. Our daughter is finishing up second grade. We had a couple of weeks of poor grades that concerned us, but we turned it around with encouragement and buckling down. A couple of threats thrown in for good measure also helped. (Heh, heh.) She has just started T-ball this past week and is having a great time. I have been asked to help coach the team ... I can't say no. The coach has experience with little league but nothing else, I have experience with T-ball as I helped coach two of my three sisters teams and I actually coached the third. Though that was many years ago. So, I will be tied up with that for a while.
Our son has graduated from preschool and will start all day kindergarten in the fall! He's looking forward to spending a lot of time at Grandma & Grandpa's house this summer.
The cats. Yes, we still have both of them. Junior will be one year old soon. We recently introduced them to the harness and lead. They've done very well.
The housing situation. We've looked at several rentals, there are a couple that are just about perfect, but ... for the amount of rent we would be shelling out, we could just as easily be making a house payment. So, we've hired a mortgage consultant. The company is called Highland Mortgage Banc and they are rather progressive. Here's how it works, we met with the consultant, got to know each other a bit and filled out the application. We got to list our needs and our wants and she explained the process and a couple of our options. The cost? Initially, $25 to run all of the credit scores. In the end, 1% of the loan which can even possibly be negotiated into the closing costs and covered by the seller! :-) But I'm getting ahead of myself. Right now, we are in the waiting phase. Waiting for the reports to come back. She figures we should be in touch again by Thursday.
And finaly, my health. Not too good. Back in December I had lost close to fifteen pounds. Then the weight loss stalled and reversed. I've gained it all back and then some. My back is giving me trouble again. I can't walk or stand for more than 5 to 10 minutes before the burning begins. And bending over is out of the question. Thankfully, so far, I can sit. But the good news, my sugar has been, and continues to be, under control as well as my blood pressure and cholesterol!
Well I believe I've spewed enough here for now. If you have any questions, let me know.