Rock Painting

This is another “hobby” I got into.  Compliments to my daughter who sent me a painted rock and then to my friend Miko who insisted we try to paint some ourselves.  Miko was much more of an artist, and sadly the first attempt was quickly scrapped! We kept the second attempt!

Somewhere during the COVID lockdown I got back into it.  I find it relaxing but not something I have a talent for.  Every time I sit down with good intentions I find myself wishing I had an ounce of talent or inspiration.  But…..it hasn’t stopped me from trying.  I found that if I traced an object I could transfer it to a rock with carbon paper or cut the tracing paper and Mod Podge it right to the rock.  Once painted I only needed to seal it with an outdoor sealant. 

Like everything it’s become an obsession once I get started.  Last Spring and Sumer I put rocks all around the complex I live in.  It was fun to see them moved around and most just disappeared completely.  I found out that some young girls were collecting them.  Their Mother said – oh – you're the Rock Lady.  She said I was the reason she had to buy rocks and paints for the girls.  (HA – I felt like a Rock Star!). 

After that I dug everything back out and did a bunch of Halloween Rocks.   I planned to dig everything back out again for Thanksgiving and Christmas but that didn't happen.   Once I put everything away to get ready for the Holidays, I never wanted to drag it all out again and make a mess.  

I did join a rock painting site on Facebook just so I can see what others are doing and possibly -  hopefully improve.  Like sending cards to friends, I've enjoyed leaving rock greetings around.  Unlike my Instagram sarcastic, anti-inspirational mesages, I can be positive sometimes.  

Unfortunately though I found some of my rocks reappearing and actually scribbled over with paint.  Obviously the hand of a young child or an adult with less talent than myself!   

So I put out some new rocks and I found neighbors complimenting me and admitted to collecting them.  I guess it's time to drag everything back out and see if anyone else wants to join in.   Maybe it's time to plan a rock-painting party.  Get some friends together with some wine and paint and see what we can come up with.    

 

So Many Questions - So Little Time

So recently I got myself into Ancestry.com, and it has turned into a mild obsession for me.  It’s amazing how much information you can find out about your family on there and how far back you can trace people.  Without much fuss I've managed to get194 people on the tree already.  And what a treat to have an old picture of a family member pop up.  I sit back and look at the size of the tree and look at how far the tree stretches and imagine how much farther it will go.   If I only had more answers.  So I have to rely on contacting family to see what they know (and what I can’t find out for myself on Facebook). 

But in this day and age of social media (and social distancing), It’s not all that simple. There’s a lot on Social Media sites, but not everything.  So I have to actually interact with someone to get my answers.  Since people very rarely pick up a phone to just catch up and chat, it’s hard to nail someone down (and you’re lucky if they text).    Families no longer get together as much as they did in the past.  Or should I say extended families.  It used to be you got together for all sorts of picnics, showers, birthdays and holidays.  Then it changed to showers, weddings, christenings or funerals.  Now it’s just updates on Facebook and Instagram or funerals. 

I’m glad I take after my Mother – she loved to send cards and remember friends and family and so do I.  I still send Birthday & Christmas Cards to family & friends with notes inside. 

Anyway I digress– looking through all the old photos to upload to Ancestry it got me reminiscing about all sorts of things.   I realize now so much time was wasted not asking more questions.  Or maybe I just wasn’t as inquisitive as I should have been?  There are SO many questions I would ask my Parents and Grandparents now.  They’re all gone.  I’d love to know who their grandparents were.  Where they came from. (Since it appears most of my family came over on boats from Europe). 

So I'll take this to social media and see if my family can help add to the tree.

So many questions…..so little time. 

CVS - RITE AID - CUSTOMER SERVICE

 

I’ve watched a thread On my Nexdoor app about CVS poor customer service and people complaining about it and felt the need to speak up. I am a tech at Rite Aid so I can sympathize with the incredible stress that they are experiencing. Since COVID has entered our lives the pharmacy has not been the same. And since the vaccines are now being given by the Pharmacy all hell has broken loose. Our pharmacists work from 8 AM to 9 PM week days and 9 to 6 on weekends. They NEVER get a lunch break – Corporate says you have to take one – but just TRY. Customers don't care if you are eating lunch and they come in!    We are lucky they get to use the rest room once a shift.  I’m sure this is the same at CVS as well as other pharmacies. 

People pour in constantly for shots – flu – Shringrix– COVID – boosters – from the time we open till the close of business. How does ONE pharmacist fill 200 prescriptions and vaccinate 50 to 60 people in ONE shift. One recent weekend our pharmacist had to give shots to some very young children who screamed and cried like they were being beaten. What should have taken only a few minutes tied the pharmacist up for ½ hour. Children that young should be given shots by their pediatrician NOT a pharmacist. So of course the 5 people waiting for their shots were less than pleased and they take it out on the pharmacist and tech. 

When I posted on Nexdoor I did not elaborate - I understand why children are being brought to the pharmacy for their shots.  Pediatricians have other issues to deal with and there are co-pays involved to visit - I do understand that.  But there are some instances with very young children that parents need to consider that the pharmacy may not be the best option.

HINT - People who don’t get to eat, drink, use rest room facilities are bound to be EDGY. Customers who walk in want instant service – if they have to wait 5 minutes they get edgy and irate but that’s ok for them – we have inconvenienced them by not having their script ready. Everyone needs to cut their pharmacy a break – try to see what they have to deal with. Sorry to have rattled on but everyone is short-handed and looking for help – where IS everyone?

It's not just Pharmacies - it's everywhere - people complaining about work but no one applying for the jobs.  I know that the Pharmacies have raised their pay, as did some other retail stores.  I say again - WHERE IS EVERYONE?

I Remember Miko

 

I haven’t been able to process this before now, but when I looked at the calendar today it said "mail Miko's birthday card". 

Miko and Tessie moved in next door to me 5 years ago August.  She was so enamored with my dog she requested the apartment next door rather than the one they had ready for her across the way.   I remember the first evening I actually spoke to her – it was my birthday 2016.  We were both just getting home from work.  We stood outside our apartments chatting in the August heat for about 45 minutes when she decided she needed to drive me to Dairy Queen since it happened to be my birthday.  No time for dinner – just birthday ice cream.  This was the first time I experienced being kidnapped by Miko, but it was not the last. 

I soon learned that anytime you went shopping with Miko, you needed to block out the entire afternoon/evening – it was never an easy in and out.  Shopping with Miko was a gold-medal Olympic event.   She looked at and analyzed everything.   

I especially remember the first Christmas tho – we had been at the Big Lots and found these stuffed showmen that spoke to you when you pinched their hand.  She turned them all on and kept speaking to them and of course a couple dozen snow men started speaking – and speaking – and speaking, until a clerk , who almost peed herself laughing – came over to turn them all off.   BUT it didn't end there……the next evening I went back to purchase another of the snowmen for a co-worker, and who did I find with a cart-full of snowmen?  Miko.  She decided she needed to buy one for every one of her relatives in Okinawa.  She left zero on the shelf.  I managed to convince her not everyone back home needed a snowman. Still, I think she purchased 10 of them.  But I wasn’t always there to restrain her – she once came home with 15 African violet plants because they were only $1 each.   The Dollar Store was especially dangerous for her.  I don't think she ever left without buying at least 10 pair of reader glasses. (Which she was constantly misplacing)

She was always trying to feed me and I'd come home from work and she's call and say come to dinner. She introduced me to Asian cuisine but could keep her seaweed to herself!    She could not believe I had NEVER had Raman noodles so that first Christmas she wrapped up a CASE of them for me. She amazed me at how much she actually could eat – I watched her polish off a double burger at 5Guys (with everything on it).   And outside of a rabbit I’ve never met anyone who could eat as much spinach as Miko.  

If you said you liked something – she got it for you. I learned to be careful around her.  I once mentioned an apple bar I liked from Trader Joes.  The next thing I know she came back from Trader Joes one day with 5 boxes of apple bars!   If you asked her to pick up ONE of something you would have to expect at least two.  Always a backup.  I often thought she thought she was still buying for 5 children!  That was just Miko.  She was generous to a fault. 

She moved in with me in 2017 and that’s when I found out she had more clothes then any one person I ever met.  She had a coat for every day- any weather – any color and boots & shoes to match.  Scarves – she had a million of them and the only person I knew that could actually pull it off year round.   I don’t think I ever saw her in the same outfit twice!  It helped that she worked at QVC – she never missed their employee sales.  Once she moved in with me I was always finding new clothes she would happen to pick up for me as well– I think she was trying to tell me something....Next to clothes, I never saw anyone with more supplements  - she had them for everything you could think of and now has me taking more of them as well!

Living with Miko was never dull.  There was the time she ate the dogs kibble thinking it was a new cereal (that didn't taste that good). Or the time during a snow storm we had to go out to get Pringles.  Or the countless mornings I had to call her phone because she couldn't find hers.

Shortly after she moved in with me, she was in a car accident.  She called me and I sat at Paoli hospital while they did scan to be sure she was ok.  Even lying in that hospital bed she was worried about the man who hit her.  That was Miko.    It was then – September of 2017 that they detected “something”. That something turned out to be pancreatic cancer.    I suppose it was luck to have found it out, had she not had the accident it may have been a much shorter time to have spent with her.  As it was, we had almost 4 years more.

Thru everything – the operation – the countless chemo’s – the trials – the hair & weight loss – she never stopped being optimistic, and she never stopped thinking about everyone else first.  Up until a few months before she passed, she was still driving around seeing people - going to them when she should have been letting them come to her.  

She certainly made an indelible mark on my life.  She definitely got me feeling closer to God.  She helped me to be more patient and giving.  I can’t think of Big Lots, Hobby Lobby, the Dollar Store or 5Guys without thinking of Miko. And I will forever hear her saying whatchamacallit?  

We said our final good-byes to Miko on August 15^th.  It was a beautiful ceremony scripted by Miko.  It was a full house.  So many similar stories.  So many lives touched.  So many hearts broken.

 Miss you fiercely - Rest in Peace.  Happy Birthday!

Anniversary of my Emancipation

 Today, October 20th, 2010 is the 10 year anniversary of my emancipation from Hell.  That being a job of 16 years.  At the time I thought it the end of the world.  My daughter on the other hand cheered.   I had been working 5 days a week, 9 to 10 hours a day and coming in as well on a Sunday to clean up email and get ready for the week - about a 60 hour week.  (not getting paid for that Sunday tho).    

But I'm not going to rehash that story - it's in a previous blog if interested.  What I will reiterate is the advice I gave back then that bears repeating.  

“How many people out there are working in jobs that they like but with people/for people that don't appreciate what you do?  How many people are working 50-60 hours a week and not getting so much as a thank you?  Do you work someplace where if you don't eat lunch in the lunchroom you are the topic at lunch?  Do you work with someone whose head is so far up the manager’s ass they see thru one set of eyes?  Are you part of the "in" crowd?   How many of you have heard how Lucky you are to have a job? 

Well listen up.....if that's the kind of job you have you are not so lucky.  Lucky is getting the hell out!

You've heard the old cliché - when one door closes another one opens - and even if it doesn't open right away, it does open.  And I can honestly say the air on this side of the door is so much fresher!

Yep - 10 years later and I hardly ever need Tylenol and I know who my friends are.

Dog Adoption

I thought I would be blogging earlier this year since I adopted a new dog on February 8^th.   It had been 3 years since Gaston passed so it was time.   I happened upon a rescue site called “Day Before The Rainbow Rescue” after I saw a photo online of Bandit.  I filled out a very thorough adoption application and figured I wouldn’t hear anything again (since that’s what happened over the prior months with local rescues).  I applied on 1/31, was accepted on 2/2 and had a new dog in my lap 2/8.

First I’d like to say that “Day Before The Rainbow Rescue” was a joy to deal with.  I was especially pleased that in addition to his neutering, shots and micro-chipping, the adoption fee covered his transportation up to Delaware where I picked him up. (When I had checked with local shelters about adoption I was informed that the fee only covered the neutering, shots and micro chipping and that I would have to come pick up the animal with a crate.)     

The ladies from Day Before The Rainbow Rescue were also eager to answer all my questions and kept In touch to make sure we both were settled!  And the driver who transported the pets was professional and friendly as well.

I guess I’m just saying if you’re looking to adopt, please add Day Before The Rainbow Rescue to your list to check out!

Meet Bandit!

Loss

                                             
I recently was informed of the death of someone very dear to me.  I didn't realize until I heard the news,  just how dear she was.    It's unfortunate now days that when someone has been ill for some time and they pass you are grieved, but not surprised.  In some cases you are relieved that their suffering is over.    It's not ever easy to accept a death, but it's harder when it is unexpected.  When there is no warning.  When there is no chance to say goodbye.

Our friendship started back when my daughter was about 13 and wrote to a number of pen pals in England.  One particular young man wrote back,  and the rest is history.   I only met her once, but over the years she and her family became my family.   My daughter spent time with them when she was on an Exchange,  and after my husband died a few years later,  we took a trip to the UK and I finally got a chance to meet the family.

In the early days there were lots and lots of hand-written letters.  Pages and pages of news!  And then....there was Facebook -  and well - then came postings and messenger.  I rather missed the letters and still wrote in cards, but for the most part we kept in touch by messenger.   Of course the time difference played a big part in not catching up as much since we hardly got to be on at the same time anymore.  But I did look forward to the posts, pictures, and messages.

Over the past two weeks I have gone back over the posts, and messenger  - delighting again in our conversations and wishing there had been more.     I still laugh at her admonishing me for watching an English Soap-opera (Eastenders) as the "most depressing soap-opera on the telly",  and I think of her every time I watch "Somewhere in Time" or see a picture of George Clooney. 

We've talked books, politics, movies and family.  I watched her family grow into fine, talented men and women.  I did envy the time she had to spend with her children, since my own daughter and son-in-law are stationed across the country and I only get to see them once a year if I'm lucky.  I loved to hear about her trips to Paris (she's the one who told me I would love it there), and was very happy that she had a chance to (hopefully) cuddle her latest grandchild. 

I was fortunate to have crossed paths with her.  I can only imagine what more she could have added to my own life if there wasn't an ocean between us.   

Don't put off telling someone you care.   Take the time.  Tell them.  Show them.  Life is short - there is no guarantee for tomorrow.