On the Downhill Side of 2012

It's hard to believe that this year is over half gone.  


I guess the remarkable thing to me about this year (so far) has been the HUGE change that it has been from the last two years.


When I asked to go part time in December, I was immediately switched to part time pay, but not part time responsibility , or even time.   I was left in scrapbooking, still responsible for getting the order done and everything else that had to do with the department with no help.     It actually took several weeks before the transition was made of giving someone else the "head" position.  


Much of this was due to the increase of sales and other work that had to be done in the store because of Christmas.   Also, our new manager some how thought it would be a good idea to NOT hire more cashiers to cover the increase in sales.   She felt it would be a better idea to get the part time cashiers she already had to agree to work more hours.   That may have seemed like a good idea at the time but it was not a satisfactory solution because increasing hours did not cause two people to be present at peak hours.  That meant we had to be called off the sales floor to help at the registers.   And the problem with that was, there were customers who wanted help ON the sales floor and there was still the normal work to be done.   It was very stressful for all of us.


Then came inventory.... which is always a pain because we have to count so much stuff ourselves before the inventory service comes in.  But, this was the first year since I've worked in this place that I did NOT have to be present when Rgis arrived to do the final count.  That was a blessing.


At some point,  I was finally phased out of scrapbooking.    And at some point I was given the responsiblity of keeping up the art/hobbies/wearable/jewelry/crafts/scrapbooking/party clearance wall.    Whenever any of those departments has a reset and removes the clearance merchandise in their areas, that I had to work it into the wall and keep the department stuff pretty much all together.   And that I have to maintain the wall and do the corporate mandated markdowns.   We have three mandated markdowns:  January, June, and October.  Those markdowns MUST be completed by a given date and we must report to higher up managers that it has been completed.   (They actually come in and check the merchandise and make sure it is done so not only do we have to do it, we must be sure our price guns have the correct code date when we're doing the markdowns.)


About the same time my hours got cut bact, my baby sitting got stepped up.   Tim's older kids were involved in playing ball and it was better to not have to take the "littles" out-- first because of the cold weather, then later because it was harder to give undivided attention to the kids that were playing and keep track of a toddler and a baby too.   So, I would stay with them when I could.    Those games ended at about the same time school was out... close to that time anyway.


Then came Bible School.    I no longer got vacation because of being part time but they did work with me and schedule me so that I could be off in the mornings and get the kids to and from Bible School.     I had actually requested to be scheduled just a couple days in the second week, but that didn't happen.  (They had give me a few weeks with just two days so I would have been glad for that to happen for MY sake that week.)   I worked four days that week, got the kids back and forth every day, and on the one day I was off we celebrated Lexi's birthday (a day early).


 After that, Jef wanted me to watch his kids a couple days so he and Jeni could get away.  He hadn't done anything with her for their anniversary, nor had they done anything for his birthday or Father's Day.   It happened that the third week of June I was scheduled with three days off in a row:  Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday so Jef and Jeni week camping Monday and Tuesday nights.  On Tuesday I got sick and spent Wednesday watching kids from the couch.   I had to go back to work on Thursday.    Early Friday morning, I got a call from Tim and the girls daddy had died the night before.    I was still recuperating, still very weak, but not contagious.  I asked for a switch in my schedule for Saturday so that I could stay with the babies while the rest of Tim's family went to the viewing, funeral, and burial on Saturday.  I went into work at four.


That  was a month ago.     After that things kind of settled down.   I actually got the thought last night that life seemed "blah".  But then I realized, this is not blah at all.  This is peace.  It's not rush-rush-rush from here to there.  It's not stress at work.  I've actually been able to get some things done at home that I've wanted to do.... which has not happened since I went part time because some how after I take a little while just to rest up from what's going on and did what others wanted me to do for them, it was always time to go back to work.   But having a few days off and not having them filled up with something else has made it possible for me to be more "productive" in doing some things that have been waiting in the wings for a long, long time.  


One hitch in the works has been Brad.  The doctor switched his  medicine and the new one just was not getting the job done.   Brad turned 17 July 8.  He has been so hyped up and out of sorts that Jef and Jeni had not even decided for sure they'd do anything for his birthday.   She baked a cake and we were just going to "celebrate" with that after church.  He calmed down enough that--after church-- Jef did ask Josh and Tesia to come over.    The calmness didn't last.  The week following was an "exciting"one as far as dealing with Brad.    It was not until this past Friday that Jeni was able to get him back to the doctor to get his medication changed.  Hopefully, he will be better now.   He's been our main source of excitement for awhile.


I talked to Blake this week and found out that his grandparents were taking a few days off to take him and the twins to Florida so they would have at least one memorable spot in their summer vacation.  Blake has been in transition because his Dad sold their home in Hazel Green and is moving to Madison, where they will both be closer to his other grandparents.


As far as Josh and Tesia, my observance of their lives is that they pretty much always have the kind of life that I've experienced for the last week... what I was tempted to call "blah" until I realized that NO, it's not blah.  This is what you call "peaceful".  I'm just not used to having a slow paced, unstressed life where there's no need for an adrenalin flow to keep me going.


Mainly those unstressed, peaceful days are my Sundays.  I go to church twice and take a nap in the afternoons.  Hey!  That's today!  And it's time for me to get ready to go to church.