Kym's Adventures at the Fair

Things are changing quickly around here. I've been getting used to the new work schedule (5 AM - 1:30 PM), with its afternoon naps (sometimes) and early bedtimes. Actually I've been getting quite a bit more done around the house with the "extra" time. And it still feels like I'm getting out of work early all the time. But this morning I was informed that I was being recalled to my former area, which means I'll be going back to the regular 7 AM - 3:30 PM (and I doubt that I'll get up at 3:45 AM to do the stuff I've been doing between 1:30 and 3:30 PM). I'm happy to go back except for having to work for Skeeter again. I had the option of staying on my current job, but I want to be back up the ladder, another level away from being laid off "out the door". I'm not sure when this will be effective, but since it's a shift change for me they are supposed to give me a week's notice. It will most likely be Monday. So, it was a short term on the paint chain, but I got some overtime out of it! The other big change is that Kym is moving home. She intends to find an apartment, but for now she'll be living at home. Several things have happened leading up to this. She was working for a restaurant whose owner also has a concession trailer that goes to fairs. She worked at the Heart of Illinois fair in Peoria a few weeks ago, and during that time there were a series of incidents with her boss that completely creeped her out. It's a very long story that I don't even want to get into, but in essence he was trying to separate her from everyone, not allowing her to chat with other concessionaires, giving her a curfew to be back in the camper (they stay onsite while they are at fairs), not allowing her to go to first aid when she was burned....and ultimately starting rumors about her to keep other guys away from her. Oh yeah, and introducing her to people as his "fiance" and "future wife". Iccckkkkk!! Thank God he never touched her or anything -- or I'd be in jail now. After the rumor incident, she called me crying at 1 AM (just after the fair closed for the night), wanting to leave. She knew if she did she'd lose her job, and I told her to come home. We had to get the police to help her leave because her boss came back to the trailer, drunk and yelling. They got her out quickly and calmed him down, I guess, but no charges were filed because there was actually no crime committed. The next day we went back to talk to the police in Peoria to see what we should do. They basically lectured her about what a rough place fairs are, and that she got off lucky, and should have left sooner. And they gave her some good advice about collecting her last paycheck. After that weekend, with no job and no real prospects, she decided she wanted to get serious about finishing school (YAY!!!!). She has been trying to move away from her roommate for awhile, and her other close friend in the town where she lives has gotten back into drugs in a big way, so there's really nothing there for her. She says it's too hard to try to go to school around people who aren't going to school, and there are no jobs other than food jobs. So she will be enrolling in ISU in the spring (the deadline is past for the fall), and for now she'll be going to Heartland Community College. She already has a job lined up here, too. It's going to be kind of fun and kind of strange to have her living here again. And somehow we have to fit an apartment of furniture into her room for the time being. I am thrilled, though, that she made this decision. She was registered for SIUE for fall, but will cancel that. And I have her books ordered on Half.com again -- I got spoiled when she was at SIUE because they rent books there. Oh, and her final paycheck? Payday was last Thursday, but they told her to come back today. They agreed that they owed her for three weeks, and they'd have a check for her this morning. Nope. This morning they told her it might be two more weeks, they aren't sure. So, on the advice of the Peoria police she has contacted the state Department of Labor to file papers with them to collect. The place has 13 days after the payday to get her money to her or she can file. Still, the delay is a problem, given her upcoming move. School starts Aug 16 (she came up yesterday to get registered), so she'll be here within the next couple of weeks. She and I spent the weekend in St Louis last weekend going to Union Station and eating at Hard Rock Cafe, attending "The Lion King" at the Fox Theatre, staying over at a Sheraton (thanks to Lynda, for use of her points), and spending Sunday at the St Louis Zoo. Kym claims she had never been to the zoo, but she most certainly has. Her first trip there was at age 5 weeks (for some reason she doesn't seem to remember it), on the hottest day of all time. She was also there when she was about 7 and Chad was 12. She does remember that trip, but thought it was at another place. Anyway, we had a great time -- it was a nice little getaway and a good chance to talk things over regarding the pending move. I'm getting new living room carpet, and the guy will be coming to measure later this week, so I need to get busy cleaning, and pitching stuff, painting the living room, and pulling up carpet to paint the floor with Kilz before the installation date (2-4 weeks from now, I guess). How I'm going to accomplish this while also moving Kym, I'm not sure right now. She spent a good portion of yesterday moving things around in her room to make room for the furniture, but she didn't get done. I can foresee some late nights and busy weekends ahead. But for now, even though things are crazy, it's good crazy and I can deal with it.

Sugar Creek

This is my favorite weekend of the summer, the Sugar Creeks Arts Festival in downtown (not "uptown", I will never say "uptown") Normal. It's a juried art fair (not cheap stuff). This year is a special one, too. It's the 150th birthday of Illinois State University. In past years the festival has covered two downtown streets, but a lot is torn up down there because of massive construction and renewal projects going on. A lot of the former parking is gone now, so it was necessary to rearrange the festival a bit to accomodate visitors. Because ISU wanted to draw attention to its birthday, too, much of the expanded festival this year is on the In Exchange sculpture garden and on the quad, and ISU opened several of its parking lots free for the festival. There are 60 new vendors (210 all together), two music stages, lots of food. Normally, this weekend features one blistery hot day and one day where it pours down rain. This year, though, both days promise to be sticky hot -- in the 90's. The quad portion of the festival was absolute heaven under the trees, and the Shakespeare Festival performed a Green Show on the steps of Hovey Hall. (The Green Show is a brief, funny version of whatever the current night's play is.) I managed to buy some things for upcoming birthdays and other events, and I bought myself a beautiful Pegasus made out of woven rope (hard to describe).

Tonight is my second Illinois Shakespeare performance, "Much Ado About Nothing". Last week, for "Henry V", it was perfect weather. Tonight it's supposed to cool off after dark, but I'm afraid it will still be humid so I'm debating about how to dress. Dad will be my date this time.

I have been off work since Wednesday, and I'm amazed at how quickly my little mini-vacation has gone by. Since I still don't know if my September week of vacation will be approved, I have nothing to look forward to now as far as time off. I think I need to plan a long weekend or something.

Summer Stuff

Kym's and my birthday celebration was nice tonight.  We got nice loot, and had "steak with red junk" and chocolate cake with glaze -- and homemade macaroni and cheese for Kym.  Normally we don't share a birthday dinner, but Mom and Dad were in Scotland last week.  It was still a little weird, though, because Lynda, Courtney, and Caleigh are in Israel right now.  We could have waited (Courtney will miss her own birthday on the 8th) but it will be the 21st or something before Courtney is back (the others come back earlier).  That's almost a month past Kym's real birthday and three weeks past mine, so it was just easier to do it now.

Shakespeare Festival season has started.  On Saturday night Chad and I attended the first of the performances, "Henry V".  It was really good, though the histories aren't usually my favorite.  It helped that it was one of those perfect summer nights -- it cooled off to near 65 by the time it was over, with low humidity and no bugs or rain (it's an outdoor theatre, so that matters a lot).  Next week is "Much Ado About Nothing".  I think Dad will be going because Chad is working.  The grounds of the manor are torn up because they are still working on the big garden project.  They were bequeathed something like $5 million to develop gardens around the manor by a man in honor of his wife, who loved both the festival and gardens.  ISU wanted to name the gardens in honor of both the husband and wife, but his instructions insisted it be named after only her.  It will be stunning when it is done, but right now it's a winding brick path surrounding a lot of dirt.  One bonus this year is that I got my favorite seats for all three plays!

My new job starts at 5 AM, so I need to get to bed -- 3:45 will be here before I know it.

Work Drama

It's been quite awhile since I have posted here, partly because my Spain trip. Nothing much of any importance has gone on since then until recently. Tomorrow will be my last day in the job I have had for over eleven years. I received a lack-of-work notice at the beginning of the month, effective tomorrow, which bumps me back down to a lower level position that I held before, years ago. It's weird and sad to be leaving "my" job, though I know it will go away altogether soon enough, when they take the line out. My bump could still be canceled (some have been), but I'm not expecting it. I'll only be working across the aisle from where I am now, but I still have to move my personal belongings (fan, clock, CD player, etc) as though I was leaving the building completely. My shift will change slightly. I'll be going in two hours earlier, but also getting off two hours earlier. If I really hate that part, I might be able to switch with another woman who is getting bumped with me. She got the regular shift, but would like the earlier one. I want to at least try it for a bit -- I like the idea of getting out of work in the early afternoon, but I don't know how much the early bedtime required will work with everything else in my life. On the plus side, Skeeter will no longer be my boss! Yay!! We have a new contract, too, which is good. It's a four year deal with some nice improvements. My health insurance and drug costs will go up, but I expected that. We have been royally spoiled in that area for a long, long time. It's interesting to think, too, that by the time this contract expires, I will be within days of being eligible for early retirement. If the plant is still here by then, I would seriously consider taking it if it were offered. Of course it's easy to say that now, since I have four years to go before I could really do it. I might not be that brave when the time comes. :)

Spring Cleaning

The weather has been glorious this weekend. Yesterday was sunny but windy, but today was absolutely perfect. It got up into the mid 80's with a perfect breeze. I really felt like a road trip to visit the Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, which I have never seen. I messaged Kym to see if she wanted to meet me there, but she had to work, so we'll go another time. Instead, I got a number of projects done. 

Actually, I got several things done yesterday, too. I took the cans to recycle in the morning before going out to Caleigh's soccer game at 11:00. I got laundry started and did some cleaning around the house, did my hair, then went to Steak n Shake before going over to Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts to work at the Cherryholmes concert (which was excellent, by the way). After the concert I went and did my grocery shopping. Even though it was nearly 11:00 I wasn't tired yet, and the store was basically empty of shoppers, so it was quick.

Today I got up and got busy cleaning the bathroom and kitchen, then started on the front bay window. I washed the window inside and out, then scrubbed the screens before installing them for the summer. Late in the morning Don and Chad came over to look at my battery-backup sump pump project to see what needed to be done and if I had everything I needed. They then went to Kappa to do some work and fetch the tools for the project. I finished up the laundry, helped with the sump pump project (OK, I was more of a consultant except for assembling the float mechanism and the control panel), changed the battery in one of my smoke detectors, and returned some unneeded materials to Lowe's before dinner. Oh yeah, and Chad mowed the front yard. Yay me!

End of Season

I did it! I passed my goal for number of tax returns for the season! I needed to do 135, and I now have 136. For doing that I get a special business card holder for my desk. Oh, and bragging rights. :) Just two more nights to work and then the season is over. Saturday there is a ladies-only lunch at a tearoom at 1:00, then a wine and cheese party at the boss's house at 6:30. And the annual awards luncheon is on May 5. I should get a 3-yr pin, but I'm not expecting anything else in the way of awards. It looks like my bonus will more than pay for the Spain trip, too, which is nice.

Thoughtful

Something reminded me today of this song, and I found this version online.  It gives me chills and makes me cry every time I see it. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BI6SlqIUG4s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Prayer of the Children Lyric and Music by Kurt Bestor Can you hear the prayer of the children on bended knee, in the shadow of an unknown room? Empty eyes with no more tears to cry, turning heavenward toward the light. Crying Jesus help me to see the morning light of one more day, but if I should die before I wake, I pray my soul to take. Can you feel the hearts of the children aching for home, for something of their very own? Reaching hands with nothing to hold on to, but hope for a better day, a better day. Crying Jesus help me to feel the love again in my own land, but if unknown roads lead away from home, give me loving arms, away from harm. Can you hear the voice of the children softly pleading for silence in their shattered world? Angry guns preach a gospel full of hate, blood of the innocent on their hands. Crying Jesus help me to feel the sun again upon my face, For when darkness clears, I know you're near, bringing peace again. Da-li cu-je te sve dje-cje mol-it-ve? (Dol-ly chew-ye tay sfay dyay-chyay mo-leet-vay?) Can you hear the prayer of the children? Note: this is the original version, but not the original video to this song.  Who could have known, in 2007, that such a thing as Sandy Hook could ever happen?