Name three things - 2017

[Primula]

When I was in the business world before I retired, like Pam I would avoid OT at any cost. To me it was totally unnecessary to work extra hours when I'd already been there 8 hours. If I absolutely had to do OT I would come in early in the morning to do it. But don't make me stay late in the evening.

1. Just had a little cry at one of the threads, now closed, where a tiny newborn kitten died. So stinkin' sad.
2. One of the other threads is very depressing from Egypt. Guy rescues a lovely orange cat. Cat scratched him, he got mad and cat jumped/fell off 4th story balcony. Cat now disappeared. Some of the threads here are hard to take.
3. Annual dermatologist checkup at UConn Medical Center. Uneventful. No issues & will return next year.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

today i've gotten much of the things i'd planned done already, and just two or three more things still to do.

i did the usual early day chores -- washed the dishes, scooped the litter boxes, took out the trash. i also made a loaf of bread machine bread, and did a few things that needed doing online.

baking the white coconut cake had been delayed until tomorrow, because i needed to finish off the banana bread first.

 

[Winchester]

When I was in the business world before I retired, like Pam I would avoid OT at any cost. To me it was totally unnecessary to work extra hours when I'd already been there 8 hours. If I absolutely had to do OT I would come in early in the morning to do it. But don't make me stay late in the evening.
 

1. Just had a little cry at one of the threads, now closed, where a tiny newborn kitten died. So stinkin' sad.
2. One of the other threads is very depressing from Egypt. Guy rescues a lovely orange cat. Cat scratched him, he got mad and cat jumped/fell off 4th story balcony. Cat now disappeared. Some of the threads here are hard to take.
3. Annual dermatologist checkup at UConn Medical Center. Uneventful. No issues & will return next year.

I just don't believe in OT. I won't work it, if I don't have to. 40 hours is more than enough. When I worked a swing-shift at the paper plant, my minimum work week was 48 hours. Third shift was 56 hours. That was without OT. When I first started in the Planning Dept, I had a ton of night meetings. No OT pay; instead I was comped. Fortunately I'm down to 2-3 meetings now a month and I don't mind them so much as I like the people who also attend the meetings; they're Planning Commission meetings, so they're not too bad. Nonetheless, OT sucks. I feel so badly for Rick because this isn't something that's only going to go for a week or two; it's going to continue for a while. Even all-day Saturdays, in addition to the ten-hour days through the week. And it's mandatory. Yeah, I suppose the money will come in handy. But we simply don't need the money that damn bad. It's ridiculous.

I'm sorry, @Primula. Some of the threads do bring tears.

• Breakfast for the kids, washed the dishes, scooped the boxes, made the bed, general straightening-up in the kitchen, grabbed a shower
• I'm going to the store over lunch for Swiffer dusters (just getting outside over lunch will be good; I've been cooped up in here now for two weeks!)
• If Rick is up to it, we're going down for him to get his hair trimmed. He's been talking about it....we'll see
• A quick vacuum about the house

 

[Winchester]

Happy Hump Day.....seems like it should be Thursday, anyway. Rick got the memo this morning about Saturday OT being mandatory; he's bowling this weekend, leaving early Saturday morning and coming home Sunday night, so he's going to take the points and be done with it. People do have personal lives.

• Breakfast for the kids, washed the dishes, scooped the boxes, made the bed, general straightening-up in the kitchen, separated laundry on the hallway floor, grabbed a shower (Rick said he kind of likes that I'm not able to use the treadmill right now because the house looks neater than it normally does and it takes some chores off him -- the dishes, for example. He said that, then he headed off to the bathroom before I could throw a pillow at him! Hhmpf)
• Didn't make it for Rick's hair cut last night, maybe tonight 
• Laundry (three smallish loads)
• Trash night (I'm going to try to get it done before he gets home from his OT, so he doesn't have to deal with it)

 

[Primula]

1. Rosary Prayer in a.m. Coffee afterwards. There is a young lady at Dunkin on my street who has started giving me an occasional free coffee. No idea why, but I like it.
2. Pleasant walk outside today. Jacket not needed, but hat & scarf were.
3. At my other favorite Dunkin the young lady there gives me a medium coffee for the price of a small one. No idea why, but I like it also. [emoji]128526[/emoji]

 

[jennifurr]

Saw my therapist

Ate lunch with Mom

Went to library

 

[Primula]

Saw my therapist
Ate lunch with Mom
Went to library

I hate to be flippant, but these could be chapter headings of a New York bestseller. [emoji]128526[/emoji]

 

[jennifurr]

I hate to be flippant, but these could be chapter headings of a New York bestseller. [emoji]128526[/emoji]

Wow, that's really awesome of you to say. Thanks!

 

[artiemom]

 

1. Rosary Prayer in a.m. Coffee afterwards. There is a young lady at Dunkin on my street who has started giving me an occasional free coffee. No idea why, but I like it.
2. Pleasant walk outside today. Jacket not needed, but hat & scarf were.
3. At my other favorite Dunkin the young lady there gives me a medium coffee for the price of a small one. No idea why, but I like it also. [emoji]128526[/emoji]

Senior Citizens, get a free Dunkin small Dunkin coffee...or is it a discount??? either way, take it!! and enjoy! 

Some coffee places are really good to their regulars. I used to get a lot of things from the Starbucks, when I was working.

 

[Primula]

Senior Citizens, get a free Dunkin small Dunkin coffee...or is it a discount??? either way, take it!! and enjoy! 
Some coffee places are really good to their regulars. I used to get a lot of things from the Starbucks, when I was working.

I wish we seniors got free coffee at Dunkin. We do get a tiny discount though, which is more than most places give. I dislike
Starbucks with a passion!

 

[AbbysMom]

I'm coming down with a cold, so will be taking it easy today,

- empty the dishwasher
- a little laundry
- some general sraightening

 

[artiemom]

Today is:

*Regular morning stuff

*Medicating Artie

*brushing him

*make salad for supper

*going to Noontime Mass

*Pick up some yogurt at TJ's--- I am hooked on their  Greek yogurt. It is made my Stoneyfields and is only 99 Cents each  

  and some tomatoes from them-- mini plum tomatoes, very sweet, and some cashews

*fold and put Artie's Clean towels away

 

[Winchester]

I took a vacation day today....must get my days used or I'll lose them (and I lose NO vacation days!

). After three nights of not sleeping much at all, I went back to bed this morning and am now back up and drinking my morning coffee. Rick did get his hair trimmed last night, I did the trash and the laundry. We were both in bed by 9:30, but all I did was toss n turn the entire night. I don't think I slept longer than 5-10 minutes at a time. The cats seemed anxious last night, too; maybe they were picking up on my mood, I don't know. They seemed to be moving around a lot. Pepe started yelling this morning around 3:30 and Amber's muttering started soon after that. At 4:15, even Rick complained about the girls.

• Breakfast for the kids, washed the dishes, scooped the boxes, made the bed (then got back into the bed, so made it again), took a large chicken breast from the freezer to split between Rick and me for dinner tonight
• A quick vacuum and swiffer 
• Run to Target to pick up meds for both of us
• Electrician is coming tonight to replace the fried junction box to the dishwasher. I'm 
  
   that it's enough to get it running again. If not, then I start the Great Dishwasher Hunt all over again. 
  

 

[foxxycat]

well it's been a busy week for me. I had to get my drivers license done because it expired on the 28th. LOL. Then  I had to get my truck inspected and some parts replaced.

After work:

Register the truck

Pick up Pumpkins pred at the vets

And if I still feel like it 30 min of cardio at the gym.

And eat the yummy General Taos chicken I bought last night.

It's an interesting discussion about overtime. I LOVE overtime. I love the money I make. It sure beats working at the mall or other side job. When I first came here I used to avoid it at all costs. I used to set up at the flea market and I prefer to be my own boss...but then gas prices shot up sky high so an 80 min ride wasn't worth it anymore so I signed on for overtime. And then the financial troubles started for us after 2009 so after that I just started working tons of OT since 2012. Here it is 5 years later and with the word about bankruptcy and uncertainy in the work place I decided it would be wise to work as much as I possibly can incase we loose our jobs. This week is a big deal. Tomorrow is the end of the fiscal year and there may be layoffs down at the Cranberry PA site. So this weekend I notice the overtime list is STILL full. Evidently I heard someone say they left 14 people off the list but the union said if they don't get added then they will be awarded couch pay next Monday..looks like they added the 14 people to the list..next weekend will be the big one. We had contractors on site who recently left Monday. So technically the contract states as long as contractors are on site in a particular classification then they can't deny anyone overtime. So we won this week. Next week will be the big deal. Either way we have plenty of work for people the problem is our management has never fabricated anything and has no clue how this works. So they can't tell when someone is handing them a line of BS and it's sad really. A Decades old company that Jon worked for 46 years is now going belly up due to incompetent people's decisions. I will keep you posted of anything but they keep saying it's just restructuring..well usually that means code for layoff and making more work for one person.

The funny part is we have lost most of our good engineers in the past 3 years as they have retired OR found employment elsewhere due to 48 hour work week with no OT paid which I think is illegal. So I hope the office people try to unionize themselves. to somehow keep the company from stripping any benefits they have. As of April the pension is frozen. Which I think is BS. Our pension is a totally different one. Ours is with the Boilermakers Union so they can't touch it. Those people running this company should be ashamed of themselves. The CEO had a grin on his face yesterday when he was telling us to be careful with cash...probably so he can steal all of the 800 Million someone fronted us. It's disgusting. The reviews on Glassdoor are hilarious. The same people who got us into this mess are the same people who claim to get us out of this mess. Well I hope the new buyers fire every single management position and start fresh. We need an overhaul of our policies and procedures. We don't use any century 20 technology. Everything is paper and pen. Hopefully we can get the papers into the computer as electronic records. Would make life SO much easier!!!

Ok rant over. Hope you ladies have a good day!

 

[Winchester]

A bit of OT every so often is one thing. Telling people "You WILL work OT or you WILL get points for being absent and the OT could go on indefinitely. And, oh yeah, that includes all day Saturdays, too, BTW," is something else. Rick is getting his first point in well over 20 years on Saturday because he made plans last year to bowl this weekend. And that's BS. Voluntary OT is one thing; there are always people willing to make an extra buck and that's fine; there's nothing wrong with that.  And if you've some financial issues and the OT helps, there's nothing wrong with that either. (Making people work OT without paying the OT is wrong. And you know how I feel about unions; IMO, unions rock. Way back when, I was with the Paperworkers.) I really hope you guys can get everything straightened-out. I agree, get rid of all management and start fresh; it's the hourly workers who really make the money for any company, but they're usually the ones who get the shaft.

• Breakfast for the kids, scooped the boxes, made the bed, hung out on the computer for a few minutes, then grabbed my shower for work (I put the dishes in the dishwasher! 
  
   )
• Rick is taking The Beast to the kennel tonight since he's going away for the weekend (He offered me $150 to take care of her while he was gone and I told him to take a hike and to take the blasted dog with him. No amount of money is worth me having to take that dog out at 5:00 in the morning. Off to the kennel. Besides, telling me he'd give me $150 and actually giving me the $150 are two completely different things, not that it matters as I'm not going there anyway.)

And that's pretty much it. I was off yesterday, so I ran through the housework and got stuff done. 

 

[foxxycat]

Here we have Mandatory OT and you sign a contract that states you will work 50% of the posted overtime otherwise they will MO you. So some guys get called "MO" because of them never signing up and getting MO'ed. Where we have a contract to work by and every 3 years the union has tried to bargain to get rid of MO but the company has to since people won't step up and do their part. we don't have MO during the week. it's sat and sun. We do overtime by a list of charges. Every week you work or don't put in to work you get charged 1 point. If you put in to work and they don't pick you=you still meet the 50% as you were "available" and you don't get charged. but they didn't select you for whatever reason. If you don't put in your number goes up. This was done because people played games with the numbers. in the winter they would work every weekend and by the summer their number was 10 to 30 points higher than those who never put in so then the junior guys complained that the senior guys get their numbers so high that they don't get made to work...is how they explained it to us. I still think it should be the other way around because now we have mistakes EVERY FREAKING WEEK!!

  They did it to me this past weekend. Charged me. And weren't going to bring me in so I sent an email to let them know I didn't work last weekend and therefore shouldn't get charged.

Basicly the overtime is selected by most senior eligible. The list starts with the most senior people getting picked-the lowest number people get picked then once the lowest number people are picked-if they need more people- it goes to the next number. say the 8 and 9s. If you get MOd supposedly you can't get MOd the next weekend but I don't see it written like this in the contract. And they want people's charges to be within 2 of each other so people can't work the first 6 months and rack up points so the lower guys are forced to work the following weekends in the summer/fall etc. (we had some people with 20 points difference=that means they made a junior guy work 20 times before they forced the senior guys-back then your number didn't automatically rise each week if you DIDNT put in-this was considered unfair by the junior people-but we tried to tell them how to play the system)

so now we can try to play the numbers and only put in when you don't want to work and KNOW your coworker is putting in-but people play games. my coworker in this department lied to me so many times. I put in to just keep my number from going up and he didn't. guess who was made to work?! ))  So after he burned me 3 times=I put in every since week and get it every single week. Oftentime he forgets to put in so his number raises along with mine but I am more senior to him so the senior most elgible gets picked..which used to make him so mad. I told him you want to work=put a slip in. you don't want to work-don't put a slip in...so now I just work it all. No way am I giving up ot so he can come in here and do NOTHING. The night shift complained that he didn't put anything away, sweep the floor or grind tungsten or anything else I left for them to do. So I rather work every day than let a lazy whiner in here mucking up everything. Things disappeared..and my customers complain to me on Monday that so and so wouldn't give them x y and z for whatever reason...I am telling you this place is full of drama!

So overtime is a slip you fill out-both weekends and holidays=cut off time wed at 8 am. list posted 3pm Wednesday. it used to be Thursday but 3rd shift said that doesn't give them enough time to plan...we liked it because if the forecast thurs morning said showers etc everyone put in to work...but alas it's now Wednesdays.

We tried to get a simplier way of doing it but too many crybabies. I have never seen so many men turn into girly whiny brats. They make us look awesome. Lots of smile at you then behind your back say mean garbage...so after 14 years here I have come to the conclusion that both men and women are babies and I prefer my cats over people

Ok three things:

Got truck Registered,

Got pumps meds,

Gym

Laundry

Today:

feed cats

meds for both

shower

Vacuumed up catlitter in the hall that I have put off for a week.

Work!

Got tons of orders to work on=they released some money to our suppliers so I have a months worth of orders to do this weekend

tonight

Gym

Grocery shop for lunches/dinner

cook something?

 

[AbbysMom]

Still under the weather a bit, so not much. I'm not awful, but I don't want to do a lot and make it worse.

- laundry
- little bit of straightening
- goof off on here.

 

[Primula]

Pam, I have offered husband up to $100 a pop to fix things around the house. Nope, no dice. Me, I'd do anything for a Benjy. [emoji]128526[/emoji]

Reading foxxycat's post re OT, in the business world what I resented the most was folks who couldn't get their crap together during the 8 hours we were at work (!)
& then expected other people to work after 5.30 p.m. to do the work that could have & should have been done easily during the prior 8 hours. This burned me like mad. Many people liked OT, many people sat on their work during the day so they could get OT in the evening. Not me.

1. Cold & rainy day. Weather forecasters creaming themselves with dire weather news. Hey, it's only rain folks.
2. Went to Dunkin for coffee. The girls there know I prefer that location as opposed to the one on my street because it's quiet & nobody knows me there.
3. Decided to learn some basic Spanish via the Internet. This will help me with Spanish folks who sign up for the Food Pantry.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

today i got the wood stove going, moved two containers of turkey enchiladas (that i baked yesterday, with another batch that i'll have for the next 6 days) to the freezer, scooped the litter boxes, moved my nice extra roomy cedar rocking chair downstairs near the wood stove, and then came the lengthy part......i rearranged some furniture.

i may very well make a batch of coconut cream pudding later this afternoon/evening, and i'll wash the dishes this evening.

@Winchester, i made the white coconut cake on tuesday -- really a very pretty cake, and tastes wonderful!!! thank you for sharing the recipe! 

 

[artiemom]

kind of lazy day.

Artie meds

Morning stuff

phone calls. got a few down. have more to do, but I hate to leave a message with one and then be on the phone with         another when they return my call.

quick dusting, 

quick swiffering

quick vacuum

Wrote out some bills

lazy

kind of a dark, day outside. It is a mix of snow/rain. Snow is not accumulating at all--melting. 

Updated Artie's log

spoke with N Vet