It is amazing how you get so wrapped up in some things and tend to forget about others. For someone that had been so faithful with a blog for a few years, once I moved to his blog, I posted a few entries and then completely fell off the wagon. I got so caught up in what we have going on in our lives that I just forgot all about this! It is hard to believe how long it has been since I posted in here. I guess I will try again and see how it goes.
First, to get everyone caught up on what has been happening with us. After coming off the semi, I went to work and then J started at the same company as me. I did delivery until July of 2012 and at that time I moved into the office to Customer Service. In November of 2012, J moved from delivery driver to a Field Service Technician with the same company. They provide him with a company truck, it was a brand new 2012 Dodge Ram 1500 and he gets to set his own schedule. That works out really nice for us. Now, here it is, August 31, 2013 and J is still a Field Service Technician and I have moved over to Sales. I have a very official title of Territory Sales Manager. :) LOL! I cover a territory that consists of Snyder, San Angelo, Midland, Odessa and Pecos and a few towns in between. All in Texas if you aren't familiar with where we are. We live in Lubbock,TX. But I am really proud of J and I and what we have accompolished with this company. It is a really good company and they are very supportive and like to promote from within. In case anyone is interested, we work for Empire Paper and you can find out more about the company at www.EmpirePaper.com . And if you happen to live in any of these areas and need any supplies that we offer, be sure to let me know! :o)
I did finish Massage Therapy school, which is what I started when I came off the semi, but I never got my state certification. Initially, working at Empire was a means to an end. It was a job until I could finish school. But it turns out, I really loved working for this company and decided to stay on and see where it led me. It looks like it was the right decision. They have been very good to us.
We are still working on projects around the house. It is never ending. We were initially going to extend the back of the house to make the kitchen larger. We have now decided that we are going to enclose the garage and make that the kitchen and dining room. The current kitchen, which is very small, will become part of the living room and give us more space. We will put a carport out front and down the road we will add a garage instead of the carport. Right now this makes the most sense and we don't have to worry about structural changes, load bearing walls and roof lines. Lots of times you hear that enclosing a garage is not good for resale. I am not too worried about that since we don't plan on selling. We plan on retiring in this house so we are going to make the changes that we want and not what someone else may want down the line.
I suppose that is all for now. J just got home and I better get to figuring out what is for dinner. It feels good to be blogging again. We shall see if I can keep it up!
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Monday, December 26, 2011
Tis The Season
Boy, have things been crazy around here! However, even with all of the hustle and bustle, we have managed to have a wonderful Christmas. I hope everyone out there has enjoyed their time with family and friends and hopefully enjoyed a day or two off from the daily grind of work.
As far as presents go, this was not a stellar year for them. I managed to get Joe something that he really wanted, and needed, for the remodeling that we are doing on the house. But it is important for us to remember that this season is not about gifts. I think people get too caught up in feeling like they have to go overboard on gifts for family and friends. We decided that we just weren't going to do that this year. Of course we got gifts for our immediate family, the kids and my parents, but that is about as far as we went. We have really had to scale back on things this year since we came off of the road. The money isn't flowing in like it was when we were driving OTR. But that is ok, because the trade off was worth it. We have never been a materialistic couple. Thank God for that. Money is nice, but it is not everything.
On Facebook, I noticed this season that there are a lot of people posting about wanting to say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays. What do you think? Here is my take on it. I have no problem saying both. Think about it. Happy Holidays was meant to include Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve as a group. I don't think there is anything wrong with that. And let's not forget Hanukkah for my Jewish friends. I think you can say both and there is nothing politically incorrect about either. What I do have a problem with is when people want to take Christmas completely out of the equation. When they have a Holiday Tree for instance. A tree is a symbol of Christmas. So why would some people, say the White House, opt to have a Holiday Tree. As a nation, we are mainly Christians. The President and his family are Christians. We celebrate Christmas. Therefore, we have a Christmas Tree. I don't know. I just hate that politics has to interfer with religion and customs. It takes away from the meaning of the season to me.
On a brighter note, we did wake up to a white Christmas! Being in Texas, that doesn't happen very often! It was very cool! I guess I will post more in a few days. I better get back to doing laundry and studying!
As far as presents go, this was not a stellar year for them. I managed to get Joe something that he really wanted, and needed, for the remodeling that we are doing on the house. But it is important for us to remember that this season is not about gifts. I think people get too caught up in feeling like they have to go overboard on gifts for family and friends. We decided that we just weren't going to do that this year. Of course we got gifts for our immediate family, the kids and my parents, but that is about as far as we went. We have really had to scale back on things this year since we came off of the road. The money isn't flowing in like it was when we were driving OTR. But that is ok, because the trade off was worth it. We have never been a materialistic couple. Thank God for that. Money is nice, but it is not everything.
On Facebook, I noticed this season that there are a lot of people posting about wanting to say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays. What do you think? Here is my take on it. I have no problem saying both. Think about it. Happy Holidays was meant to include Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve as a group. I don't think there is anything wrong with that. And let's not forget Hanukkah for my Jewish friends. I think you can say both and there is nothing politically incorrect about either. What I do have a problem with is when people want to take Christmas completely out of the equation. When they have a Holiday Tree for instance. A tree is a symbol of Christmas. So why would some people, say the White House, opt to have a Holiday Tree. As a nation, we are mainly Christians. The President and his family are Christians. We celebrate Christmas. Therefore, we have a Christmas Tree. I don't know. I just hate that politics has to interfer with religion and customs. It takes away from the meaning of the season to me.
On a brighter note, we did wake up to a white Christmas! Being in Texas, that doesn't happen very often! It was very cool! I guess I will post more in a few days. I better get back to doing laundry and studying!
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Interesting article on Welfare and it's abuse
Click the below.
Thought you may enjoy this.
Interesting read on a Walmart Associates view on the welfare system and her first hand experience with it.
Thought you may enjoy this.
Interesting read on a Walmart Associates view on the welfare system and her first hand experience with it.
Work and Doctor's Visits
Today was a pretty busy day. Even though it is 1545 hours, I have been up since 0330 hours and at work since 0500.
Today I had to take the semi truck up to Amarillo and deliver 27 pallets at Hastings. It is one of our major accounts. Normally we just take our straight trucks up there. However, since it is the Christmas season, we have been taking full semi trailers up there. I had the 27 pallets and one of our straight trucks had another 5 pallets on it for them. Thankfully this is the last week that we will be taking the semi up there. Now, I love driving the semi, but in all the time that I have been driving a semi, this place has the tightest dock of about any place I have had to put a trailer into. I'm definitely NOT going to miss that part of the deliveries there! We will still be there every day, but at least until next Christmas season, we will just have to back the straight trucks into that tiny dock!
I do miss being on the road at times. My company currently has two overnight runs and I have one of them. It is like a mini vacation every other week. When I first started with this company about a year ago, Joe was still on the road and they were looking for someone to learn the Albuquerque/Santa Fe run. This run goes every other Monday and comes back on Tuesday. At the time I was taking night classes on Tuesday and Thursday so I volunteered since it wouldn't interfere with my school. Well, I went one time and before it was time to make the run again two weeks later, they had fired the guy that normally does that run. Soooo....That left me doing that run. January will be a year that I have been doing this run. I actually really like it. I like that I know all my customers and I know a little about their families and we can have a little conversation when I make my deliveries. I usually have any where from 13-20 stops and can usually get them done on Monday. I finish up in Albuquerque but I don't have the time to legally drive back to Lubbock so I spend the night and drive back on Tuesday.
Joe (my husband for anyone that is new to my blogs) finished up the lease on our truck last May and came off the road. I have a wonderful boss who wasn't worried about hiring family members so Joe walked right into a job. That was a wonderful blessing for us! I didn't train him at all and he runs a different route than I do. Once in a while we will be in the same town but will have different stops. For instance, Amarillo is divided into East and West. So I may have the east side where he may have the west. That has only happened maybe twice. And we have only actually worked together twice. Once when my truck broke down and he was the closest so he came to help me finish my stops and the other time when he hurt his back. I was coming back from Albuquerque and went the long way through Amarillo to help him finish his stops.
Now, our boss has been trying to get Joe to learn the other overnight run into Kansas, but he has told him no. See, it goes on Tuesday/Wednesday of every week. Joe has said that he doesn't mind an overnight as long as it is the same night that I am out of town. That way we will only be apart one night a week. Joe told our boss that if he wanted to spend nights away from me that he would have stayed out on the road! So, fast forward the the present and it looks like we will be adding an additional two overnight runs into the schedule. Since Joe and I are about the only ones willing to go out of town overnight, other than the guy who currently does the Kansas run, our boss is really sweetening the pot to get us to both take an overnight run. So, here is what he has planned.
We are picking up El Paso every other Wednesday/Thursday and Carlsbad,NM the other Wednesday/Thursday. So he needs someone to be gone one night a week, every week, alternating between El Paso and Carlsbad. Here is what he came up with. I said I wouldn't mind learning El Paso, but only as a fill in. And until we get a route pretty well lined out down there with customers, I don't want to have to go by myself. Mainly because I am a girl in a town that is largely Spanish speaking and currently having lots of problems at the border with crime. He agreed that even if it was a guy he would send, that he would rather have two drivers go at first until both drivers know the area well enough and feel comfortable. That also means that if I go, then someone will have to learn my Albuquerque/Santa Fe run. What he has decided to do is to let Joe go with me once or twice and learn my Albuquerque route and then Joe and I can both go together and learn El Paso, because it falls on my off weeks for the first few deliveries. After that they will be scheduled to fall on the same week with the Carlsbad run on my off week. That way, when we both know each route, it doesn't matter which one of us does it, because it will be covered and we will both be out of town the SAME night.
Now, I know I mentioned that I go to Albuquerque on Monday/Tuesdays, right? Our boss has even agreed to move my Albuquerque run to Wednesday/Thursday the same as the El Paso run so that they will coincide with each other and keep us happy by it being on the same night. Now Joe will still learn the Carlsbad route and do that on the weeks that I am not out of town. So each week, he will be gone one night and I will be gone one night every other week. But as long as it is just one night, we are cool with that. So, is that all clear as mud??
Enough work talk for today! On to other fun stuff....not. I decided about two months ago that I was getting to that age where I have to start having regular yearly check-ups. You know, complete physicals, get my blood work done and have the dreaded mammogram. I went in on December 2nd for my mammogram and got the results back the next week. Everything look OK, but they want me back in six months for a follow-up. She said she wasn't overly concerned about anything, but it looked like I had some calcium nodules (excessive calcium buildup) and she wants to check again sooner than waiting a whole year. Also, since it was my first one, they have nothing to compare it to so she said another in six months will give them a better baseline, so to speak, to go off of.
Then today she sent me to have a pelvic ultrasound. They found two small cysts, very small, about 1.7 cm by 1.4 cm each, but I won't have the official results back until the beginning of next week. That is all the ultrasound tech could tell me. I guess they have other people that read all the pictures and interpret them and send the results to the doctor and then the doctor will get back with me. I'm not overly concerned about these either, yet, because I know a lot of women, my mother included, that have had benign cysts removed. I will just wait and see what the official results are but I am not going to stress myself over it.
Overall, I feel like I am in pretty good health. Blood work came back fine, not diabetic (even thought it runs in the family on my mom's side) cholesterol is good and I get plenty of exercise with my job. I do smoke, which I know is a nasty habit, but no shortness of breath, no asthma or anything so I am good there. I know I need to quit, so you don't have to tell me. :-)
Oh! I did drop by and see my Dad today. His health isn't good but he isn't on his death bed by any means. However his health played a major role in us coming off the road. I felt that I needed to be closer to him. He was doing OK today but he is having to go back in for another MRI on his chest I believe in about a month. We will see what they have to say on that when they get the results back. I know his doctor consulted with another doctor about his condition. They aren't really sure what is going on with him and it is frustrating, for him and the doctors. Hopefully they can figure something out.
I guess that is it for today. I think I have rambled on enough.
Today I had to take the semi truck up to Amarillo and deliver 27 pallets at Hastings. It is one of our major accounts. Normally we just take our straight trucks up there. However, since it is the Christmas season, we have been taking full semi trailers up there. I had the 27 pallets and one of our straight trucks had another 5 pallets on it for them. Thankfully this is the last week that we will be taking the semi up there. Now, I love driving the semi, but in all the time that I have been driving a semi, this place has the tightest dock of about any place I have had to put a trailer into. I'm definitely NOT going to miss that part of the deliveries there! We will still be there every day, but at least until next Christmas season, we will just have to back the straight trucks into that tiny dock!
I do miss being on the road at times. My company currently has two overnight runs and I have one of them. It is like a mini vacation every other week. When I first started with this company about a year ago, Joe was still on the road and they were looking for someone to learn the Albuquerque/Santa Fe run. This run goes every other Monday and comes back on Tuesday. At the time I was taking night classes on Tuesday and Thursday so I volunteered since it wouldn't interfere with my school. Well, I went one time and before it was time to make the run again two weeks later, they had fired the guy that normally does that run. Soooo....That left me doing that run. January will be a year that I have been doing this run. I actually really like it. I like that I know all my customers and I know a little about their families and we can have a little conversation when I make my deliveries. I usually have any where from 13-20 stops and can usually get them done on Monday. I finish up in Albuquerque but I don't have the time to legally drive back to Lubbock so I spend the night and drive back on Tuesday.
Joe (my husband for anyone that is new to my blogs) finished up the lease on our truck last May and came off the road. I have a wonderful boss who wasn't worried about hiring family members so Joe walked right into a job. That was a wonderful blessing for us! I didn't train him at all and he runs a different route than I do. Once in a while we will be in the same town but will have different stops. For instance, Amarillo is divided into East and West. So I may have the east side where he may have the west. That has only happened maybe twice. And we have only actually worked together twice. Once when my truck broke down and he was the closest so he came to help me finish my stops and the other time when he hurt his back. I was coming back from Albuquerque and went the long way through Amarillo to help him finish his stops.
Now, our boss has been trying to get Joe to learn the other overnight run into Kansas, but he has told him no. See, it goes on Tuesday/Wednesday of every week. Joe has said that he doesn't mind an overnight as long as it is the same night that I am out of town. That way we will only be apart one night a week. Joe told our boss that if he wanted to spend nights away from me that he would have stayed out on the road! So, fast forward the the present and it looks like we will be adding an additional two overnight runs into the schedule. Since Joe and I are about the only ones willing to go out of town overnight, other than the guy who currently does the Kansas run, our boss is really sweetening the pot to get us to both take an overnight run. So, here is what he has planned.
We are picking up El Paso every other Wednesday/Thursday and Carlsbad,NM the other Wednesday/Thursday. So he needs someone to be gone one night a week, every week, alternating between El Paso and Carlsbad. Here is what he came up with. I said I wouldn't mind learning El Paso, but only as a fill in. And until we get a route pretty well lined out down there with customers, I don't want to have to go by myself. Mainly because I am a girl in a town that is largely Spanish speaking and currently having lots of problems at the border with crime. He agreed that even if it was a guy he would send, that he would rather have two drivers go at first until both drivers know the area well enough and feel comfortable. That also means that if I go, then someone will have to learn my Albuquerque/Santa Fe run. What he has decided to do is to let Joe go with me once or twice and learn my Albuquerque route and then Joe and I can both go together and learn El Paso, because it falls on my off weeks for the first few deliveries. After that they will be scheduled to fall on the same week with the Carlsbad run on my off week. That way, when we both know each route, it doesn't matter which one of us does it, because it will be covered and we will both be out of town the SAME night.
Now, I know I mentioned that I go to Albuquerque on Monday/Tuesdays, right? Our boss has even agreed to move my Albuquerque run to Wednesday/Thursday the same as the El Paso run so that they will coincide with each other and keep us happy by it being on the same night. Now Joe will still learn the Carlsbad route and do that on the weeks that I am not out of town. So each week, he will be gone one night and I will be gone one night every other week. But as long as it is just one night, we are cool with that. So, is that all clear as mud??
Enough work talk for today! On to other fun stuff....not. I decided about two months ago that I was getting to that age where I have to start having regular yearly check-ups. You know, complete physicals, get my blood work done and have the dreaded mammogram. I went in on December 2nd for my mammogram and got the results back the next week. Everything look OK, but they want me back in six months for a follow-up. She said she wasn't overly concerned about anything, but it looked like I had some calcium nodules (excessive calcium buildup) and she wants to check again sooner than waiting a whole year. Also, since it was my first one, they have nothing to compare it to so she said another in six months will give them a better baseline, so to speak, to go off of.
Then today she sent me to have a pelvic ultrasound. They found two small cysts, very small, about 1.7 cm by 1.4 cm each, but I won't have the official results back until the beginning of next week. That is all the ultrasound tech could tell me. I guess they have other people that read all the pictures and interpret them and send the results to the doctor and then the doctor will get back with me. I'm not overly concerned about these either, yet, because I know a lot of women, my mother included, that have had benign cysts removed. I will just wait and see what the official results are but I am not going to stress myself over it.
Overall, I feel like I am in pretty good health. Blood work came back fine, not diabetic (even thought it runs in the family on my mom's side) cholesterol is good and I get plenty of exercise with my job. I do smoke, which I know is a nasty habit, but no shortness of breath, no asthma or anything so I am good there. I know I need to quit, so you don't have to tell me. :-)
Oh! I did drop by and see my Dad today. His health isn't good but he isn't on his death bed by any means. However his health played a major role in us coming off the road. I felt that I needed to be closer to him. He was doing OK today but he is having to go back in for another MRI on his chest I believe in about a month. We will see what they have to say on that when they get the results back. I know his doctor consulted with another doctor about his condition. They aren't really sure what is going on with him and it is frustrating, for him and the doctors. Hopefully they can figure something out.
I guess that is it for today. I think I have rambled on enough.
Friday, December 9, 2011
New Blog, New Thoughts
Hello everyone! Well, since I just started this blog, there isn't anyone currently reading this, but eventually someome will.
For several years I had another blog that followed my life as an OTR truck driver. You can find that blog at www.mylifeinatruck.blogspot.com if you want to catch up. Last year I came off the road, and to be honest, I had started really slacking on that blog, but there wasn't much to blog about since I wasn't over the road anymore. I figured I didn't have anything really interesting to say. Maybe I just got burned out. Regardless of why, I had stopped and now I am back. This time I am going to blog about anything and everything. Not just what happened during the day. Who knows? This blog really could go anywhere.
Currently I work for a company doing delivery of office and janitorial supplies. When I came off the road I started Massage Therapy school at night so I needed a job that would work around that schedule. I lucked into this job and have found that I really enjoy it and I am good at it. I like dealing with people, so that part of my job is rewarding. The bad part of the job is the fact that it is VERY physical. I usually work 12 hours a day and drive a minimum of 300 miles. I can have anywhere from 8-30 stops in a day, but usually around 20. I drive a big box truck and everything is hand unload.
I am actually the first female driver the company has ever hired. I am sure the reason they haven't before is because of the physical nature of the job. And let's face it, delivery drivers and truck drivers are mainly men. It is a male dominated profession. I know that my boss had reservations when he decided to give me a shot, and I know the only reason the hired me was because of my experience. I have over a million miles under my belt. So I know how to drive. I just had to prove to him that I could handle the physical aspect of this job as well.
The first month was the roughest. I'm not going to lie about that. I got home and practically couldn't move because I was so sore! But I am not the type to give up. Partly I think I couldn't bring myself to quit because he had given me a chance. I don't like to let people down. But I am also the type of person that is willing to prove someone wrong. If you think I can't do something because I am a woman, then I will most certainly prove you wrong. I am not a big woman. I am the exact opposite. I am 5'2" and weigh 117 (according to the scales this morning) so that tells you I am not a big brute man looking woman. I am petite. That made it even worse for me when I first started because the other drivers would look at me and I could just hear them thinking, "Ha! She won't last a week!" Well, I have now been here for a little over a year, about 13 months, and I have made a believer out of all of them! I am very proud of myself and what I have accomplished so far.
As I mentioned above, I came off the road to go to Massage Therapy School. I have completed that but I still have to complete my internship. Once I get that done I can get my state license. I am not worried about the licensing proceedure, I am trying to figure out how I am going to get the internship done while I am working full time. I guess I am just going to have to put my nose to the grindstone and get it done. I am not looking forward to the hours that it will require, but I know that it has to be done.
I have a lot more to say, but I guess I will save some for the days to come. Until next time....
For several years I had another blog that followed my life as an OTR truck driver. You can find that blog at www.mylifeinatruck.blogspot.com if you want to catch up. Last year I came off the road, and to be honest, I had started really slacking on that blog, but there wasn't much to blog about since I wasn't over the road anymore. I figured I didn't have anything really interesting to say. Maybe I just got burned out. Regardless of why, I had stopped and now I am back. This time I am going to blog about anything and everything. Not just what happened during the day. Who knows? This blog really could go anywhere.
Currently I work for a company doing delivery of office and janitorial supplies. When I came off the road I started Massage Therapy school at night so I needed a job that would work around that schedule. I lucked into this job and have found that I really enjoy it and I am good at it. I like dealing with people, so that part of my job is rewarding. The bad part of the job is the fact that it is VERY physical. I usually work 12 hours a day and drive a minimum of 300 miles. I can have anywhere from 8-30 stops in a day, but usually around 20. I drive a big box truck and everything is hand unload.
I am actually the first female driver the company has ever hired. I am sure the reason they haven't before is because of the physical nature of the job. And let's face it, delivery drivers and truck drivers are mainly men. It is a male dominated profession. I know that my boss had reservations when he decided to give me a shot, and I know the only reason the hired me was because of my experience. I have over a million miles under my belt. So I know how to drive. I just had to prove to him that I could handle the physical aspect of this job as well.
The first month was the roughest. I'm not going to lie about that. I got home and practically couldn't move because I was so sore! But I am not the type to give up. Partly I think I couldn't bring myself to quit because he had given me a chance. I don't like to let people down. But I am also the type of person that is willing to prove someone wrong. If you think I can't do something because I am a woman, then I will most certainly prove you wrong. I am not a big woman. I am the exact opposite. I am 5'2" and weigh 117 (according to the scales this morning) so that tells you I am not a big brute man looking woman. I am petite. That made it even worse for me when I first started because the other drivers would look at me and I could just hear them thinking, "Ha! She won't last a week!" Well, I have now been here for a little over a year, about 13 months, and I have made a believer out of all of them! I am very proud of myself and what I have accomplished so far.
As I mentioned above, I came off the road to go to Massage Therapy School. I have completed that but I still have to complete my internship. Once I get that done I can get my state license. I am not worried about the licensing proceedure, I am trying to figure out how I am going to get the internship done while I am working full time. I guess I am just going to have to put my nose to the grindstone and get it done. I am not looking forward to the hours that it will require, but I know that it has to be done.
I have a lot more to say, but I guess I will save some for the days to come. Until next time....
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