Dementia for 2

I am sure there are not that many people out there that are unaware of the devastating weather that hit the south these past few days.

Since Memphis is situated on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi, this is of great concern to all of us that live near there. They are predicting that the river will crest somewhere around the 10th of May. All around us, rivers and creeks are filled to capacity. I cannot remember seeing flooding like this around here.

Since I work in a casino that is on the river, we have all been concerned about our jobs. The gaming commission has decided that all of the casinos in the area must be closed by 2p.m. on Monday. They are estimating that we will be closed for about 3-6 weeks. Fortunately for us, they are going to pay us. We do not know exactly how much as of yet, but I am just grateful it will be more than the 200 I would collect from unemployment.

I am also grateful for the short vacation! My son immediately said to me, "Now maybe you can get some rest mom." I am looking forward to having a few weekends off and helping some of my family with their yard work.

God has been so gracious to me to put other means of employment in my path and this extra money will truly be needed during this time.

Hopefully I can get some photos of all this for y'all to see in the not too distant future.

The only concern I have is when we go back to work. The last time they closed a casino due to flooding, there was a serious problem with Water Moccasins also known as Cottonmouth Snake, in the building and hiding in the slot machines. Hopefully, they will secure the buildings enough so that won't be a problem.

Please remember all of us in your prayers. So many have already lost their homes in the area and I fear more will lose theirs within the next few weeks.

Well I am almost done with this project that has been consuming most of my time over the past few months. the good news is that I have been able to pay off 2 credit cards and possibly buy some stuff to fix my house a little. It has been very exhausting for me but worth it in the long run.

I am hoping to have a few months off before the next project picks up so I can rest and get caught up on the rest of my life.

I look forward to catching up on all of my reading so that I will know what all of you have been up to and spending more time with my grandmother.

Thanks to all of you for understanding and sticking with me through all this.

I would like to thank all of my followers that left me such kind and encouraging comments on my last post. You were all so loving and and kind. I really needed that!

I have been filling my days with very little spiritual nourishment these last few weeks. Since my mother hurt her back, I have been going to the nursing home as much as possible to take care of Granny. I have also been working my regular job, and I have been throwing papers for this guy for about 2 months straight! When I am not working or sleeping, I am getting ready to work or sleep it seems. When I am awake, I don't seem to have the gumption to open the Word or my studies. That is my goal this week. To get back in the groove.

My mother just recently lost her job. She has been out of work on FMLA for about 3 weeks now. They called her at home to tell her they were laying her off due to lack of business. This has been quite a blow to her. I have been trying to remain positive for her, but that takes its toll after a while. She also finally found out what was wrong with her back. She has a mild form of Spina Bifida. Imagine that! She did not even know. So now she is weighing her options to see what she can to ease the pain and live a more normal life.

I on the other hand, have a dirty house, mounds of laundry, and a bed that seems to constantly be calling my name:) Mom did offer to come and help me get the house in order which was really sweet of her. But.....I would be ashamed for her to see my house in such disarray! I still may take her up on the offer if she is physically able. She has to take a lot of breaks during the day because she cannot stand or sit for any length of time.

Oh well, life goes on. I am thankful for all of you, my Internet friends. I am also thankful that I have a job, a home, and my health. My grandmother is doing well and so are the kids. God is gracious even in my semi-rebellious state.

Need to go and round up dinner. I do appreciate all of you and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

Last night at work I did something I have only done 4 times in 15 years of working in the gaming industry. I asked to be taken off the game I was dealing. There aren't too many things that happen that I can't handle hearing or seeing.

Don't get me wrong, there are things that gross me out, things that I wish I never heard/saw, but overall, I can usually just gaff it off. Not so last night. These 2 men come up to the blackjack game. They are obviously father and son. The son buys in for 100.00 and splits it with his dad. The cards aren't going that great and there are 2 inexperienced players on the game. This makes it really difficult to win or get a run going if you know how to play. So the dad loses his 50 and asks the son for more money. The son starts questioning his father about the 200 he gave him earlier. Apparently he borrowed the money and paid his dad back. So the dad tells him he doesn't have it. The son starts going off. I mean really profane language and pointing fingers the works. He proceeds to pull another fifty out of his pocket and split that with his dad. Now he gets two 7's and I have a bust card up. So the kid looks at his dad and he tells him to split. This is a proper move. So the kid splits and draws another 7. He splits again and draws to 17 on the first hand, 12 on the 2nd hand and draws a 3 on the 3rd hand. He looks at dad again who tells him to double down; another proper move. He draws a 10 which gives him 20. Dad draws a 16 I think. I draw out to 20. So dad loses, son pushes on 1 hand and loses on the other 2. The kid looks at his dad and starts going off again. Things like,"That was the dumbest thing I ever saw. I can't believe you told me to f####ing split" and on and on he goes. At this point I have had enough, so I asked to be taken off the game.

Don't get me wrong. I am a Christian but I fall EVERYDAY. My character is in constant turmoil over my thoughts, things I say, my countenance, etc. But....I do know that you are to honor your parents. This is a commandment given to us by God. There are no conditions attached to this. You don't honor them if they deserve it, or if they act like you want them to you honor them period. I realize if this father had done what he should have when this boy/man was younger, he probably would not have spoken to him in such a manner. However, there comes a point in everyone's life when they realize what is right and what is wrong. So regardless of what this boy/man was/was not taught, he is accountable for his actions and words now. None of us get to choose our parents. By the same token, parents don't get to choose their kids. Needless to say, I had to get away from this before I lost my job with the crappy prescription drug plan.

The company I work for bases the amount I pay for my health insurance on my annual salary. Since I work for a casino, and this has been a mob operation in the past, they automatically add my tips into my paycheck. Which means that as a dealer, I cannot fudge the numbers to benefit me on my taxes. I would not do this but, until recently, the cocktail waitresses, bartenders, and poker dealers were able to. So in essence, they were paying much less for the same insurance as I have.

I am not going to make this post about the health care program our government is trying to get all of us to buy into. I have not read enough of the bill to be able to give a thorough post and an intelligent argument to support my opinion.

The issue I have is this: since they base the amount I pay on how much I work, my insurance rate fluctuates. They cover less each year and I pay more. Now they have changed our prescription drug plan to a mail order drug company. So if I cannot get my medications in 3 month scrips, I have to pay more to get them filled locally. This amount is not applied to my out-or-pocket expenses or my deductible. There are several employees that are going to be paying over one thousand a month for their meds. Something is just wrong about this. The CEO of my company was the highest paid CEO in the gaming industry last year. He made over 90 MILLION dollars. They have cut our benefits, cut our lunches, and made most of the employees part-time so they no longer have any benefits.

I only have one medication that I have to take and this drug company doesn't cover it. My hubs takes 2 meds for chronic pain and since they are narcotics, they cannot legally ship them. He can't even get a 3 month supply for them because of federal government laws concerning the prescribing of narcotics.

So now instead of using my company's insurance, I am looking for private insurance that my hubs and I can afford that will cover our meds. My company offers insurance. I should not be having to make this decision. I am really distraught over this and I know many others are also. If this is the way the future is going to be, it is a dim future for all of us indeed.

Hubs has not had a "regular" job since January. I know there are a lot of people out there with this same crisis or worse in their own homes. He has been picking up odd jobs here and there but without steady pay, it has been rough around here. Tensions are running high if you get my drift.

When he got out of the gaming industry, he was really happy. This is a well paying industry, but the drawbacks are huge. You work EVERY holiday, with the exception of a select few, you work every weekend. While going to a casino can be fun, working there will make you very cynical towards the human race if you don't watch it.

Last week he auditioned at another casino for a part time dealing job. If he gets hired, this will be about 2000.00 a month before taxes added to the household income. This is only a part time position, and since dealers get minimum wage plus tips, the pay will vary. I really hope he gets the job. He could work on the weekends, and still do his odd job gig that he likes so much.

We are hoping to hear something this week so keep your fingers and toes crossed:)

I am so far behind in my whole life right now! I have way too many things going on and I am starting to feel like I will never get it all together.

I have my regular job, then I have been throwing papers for 2 weeks and I still have 1 more week to go. I have managed to get a temp job working for a medical outsourcing company that I have been doing since the middle of February and that will last until the middle of June.

Add to that, keeping the house in order, trying to remember to pay the bills in between jobs, and helping out with my grandmother. I am starting to get very tired!

Fortunately, my friend will be back in town after the 15th, so I won't be throwing papers for a little while and the other temp job is on my days off from my regular job so they aren't overlapping.

So I am behind on my postings of the commandments. I am going to try and post something before the end of the week, however, it may not be until next week.

My grandmother has pneumonia in her lower left lung so I am very worried about her. She contracted this last year and was hospitalized for a week. We are hoping that we caught it early enough to prevent this form happening again.

The stress from all of this has caused my mother to become ill. I spent most of yesterday at the Dr.'s office with her. Fortunately, they were able to give her some medicine that I hope will help her physical ailments that are stress related. Since she doesn't handle stress well, I am praying that she will find a way to alleviate some of it from her life. I have given her some tips that I hope she will implement to give her some peace in her day to day life.

As you can see, I have a very full plate at the moment. I am still doing my study in the book of Job and I have learned a great deal about myself from doing this study. I must confess that I have not relished looking at myself in this way. The good thing is that by seeing myself in this way I can change the way I perceive others and the way I talk with them.

I know this post is haphazard and for that I apologize. My thoughts are not very organized at the moment. I am going to sleep and maybe within the next 3-4 days I can get it together enough to catch up on my postings and on the posting of all my friends.

Good night all:)

I have 6 hours of class tomorrow. Well, technically, today. I woke up at 1:30 am and now I can't go back to sleep. I just know something is going to dreadfully wrong tomorrow. This is a web based training class for a part-time job I have just been hired for. It is only temporary (ends mid-June), but I am still apprehensive.

My husband usually is around for stuff like this because something ALWAYS goes wrong when I am doing this type of thing. But he will be working tomorrow and I will be here to figure all this out for myself. This is never good.

I have all of my instructions and he and I went over most of it last night. But, I was reading it again earlier, and there are some things I neglected to ask him. So, I will be going over that with him when he gets up.

I am really excited about this new venture. It will give me an opportunity to network and hopefully find employment outside of my current job. Plus, we really need the extra money right now. Most of us do.

I will also be throwing papers for my friend for 3 weeks straight during this. So I will be working 3 jobs. I have not that in a very long time. Since I can do the new one on my days off, and the paper route before I go to work, they will not conflict with each other, but I am going to be very, very tired! There are several good things about all of this, so I am trying to look on the bright side.
1. We will have some much needed extra income.
2. I will be able to pay some more on my unsecured debt.
3. I can give a day away at my full time job to a part time employee that really needs the day.
4. I can network and hopefully find different employment out of the entertainment industry.

There are some downsides to all of this that I am trying not to dwell on.
1. I won't be able to spend much time with my family.
2. I will be spending more time traveling. The upside is that I should not have to stay overnight anywhere.
3. My house will become somewhat neglected during this time. Everyone picks up after themselves somewhat, but, no one does the heavy cleaning except me.
4. I will be doing a lot of "crock pot" type cooking so we can all eat when we are home. This will mean not many family dinners for a while.

But, I will only be doing this for 12 weeks so I figure I can hang for that long.
Wish me luck!!

I don't normally do the New Year's Resolution thing. I have enough chaos in my life without trying to reach what is apparently some unattainable goal for myself.

But this year I am trying something new. I work full time and I also am a substitute newspaper carrier. Since this second job allows me to set my own rate, I do pretty good when the jobs are rolling in. Last week I got a call and this guy needs me the for 9 days over the next 2 weeks. This is about 550.00. Not to shabby for throwing papers. So I have decided this year that all the money I make throwing papers goes into paying off my debt instead of using it for other things. Right now my hubs has a job and it pays okay so we are not stressing like we were 1 month ago.

This guy told me he will probably need me every week for the next 2 months. At an average of 240.00 per week, that is about 1920.00 give or take. Since I have about 1500.00 in unsecured debt, I can pay that off and put the rest towards my asset debt ( car, house,etc). Now in theory this sounds pretty good. But, with my life and the way things happen, I am sure that a plethora of things will come up that will prevent me from keeping this goal no matter how noble it sounds.

I am however, still going to try. I will be able to pay off 2 credit cards and have about 120.00 left to apply towards the rest with the first 2 weeks pay from him. I am really excited about this and hope to achieve it. I keep reminding myself that God desires that I be a good steward with what He blesses me with and that will be what helps me to keep my resolve.

Before any of you start thinking about how easy a paper route in your area would be, let me tell some things I found out the hard way. I did have my own route for 5 years before I gave it up to just be a "sub".

1. You have to throw EVERY DAY. Christmas, New Year's Thanksgiving, your birthday, no matter the weather. Remember there is news everyday even if it did snow 3 inches last night after the ice storm.

2. There is a time limit. Here in my area, you have to pick up your papers no later than 4 am and have them on the ground no later than 6 am Mon-Fri-. Sat. is 6:30 and Sun. is 7:00 because these are bigger papers.

3. If you want a day off, you have to find someone to throw your route yourself. You will pay them more because they are doing you the favor by getting up in your place. When I had my own route it cost me 400.00 for 7 days and that was cheap.

4. In my area you are a sub-contractor. This means that you get a 1099 form at the end of the year. Since no taxes are withheld, this can be a real pain. In some area you have to collect your own fees. This is a bigger pain.

5. And last but not least, the pay varies from route to route. Here they base it on how long your route is and by how many papers you throw. So the bigger or longer the route, the more money you make.

If you are looking for a part time job, this is not a bad gig just know what you are getting into first. You can check in the classified section of your paper for listings of available zip codes for routes. They usually put a pretty big ad in there or just call your local paper and ask them.

Before I forget, a reliable car with current insurance is a must. Sunday papers are big and you have to fit them all in your car so keep that in mind.