Stealing? Really?

  I guess it's because I don't understand why anyone would do this, it really knocked me out!
   Last night someone opened my garage and stole a large window air conditioner!  I live alone (with my dog) in a neighborhood with lots of families. I closed my garage last night and didn't lock the padlock.  After living here for a year, this happened!  So from now my garage will remain locked day and night! I have other things of value in the garage, like my car which is always locked.  I know who did this but can't prove it!

Really?!

   I've been living in this house for one year now and I'm ready to sell it and move.  If I could afford the risk of having it vacant, I would rent it out.  I have too many financial obligations to pay for 2 mortgages so I'm selling it.  I bought this house because it was the only house I could afford.  The other places I checked were townhouses, condos and while I was approved for the purchase, I wasn't approved when the HOA was added to the loan approval.  Well, I could back track and tell you that originally, I had dreams of having a house that had space for a small workshop. (I wanted to try my hand at woodworking.) That didn't pan out and although I had a small shelter for a workshop, it was unsafe.  When I moved away from RC, I moved away from my customers and didn't have sales to help pay for any home improvements and/or hobbies.  I also moved away from my friends and my youngest son so needles to say, I was lonely.  My granddaughter lived with me for a little while and that turned out very badly. (She moved out to live with her father and that didn't work either she moved out.)  The renter I had moved out when she sneaked her husband in, I asked for more rent and she moved out with very short notice.  The monthly payment was too much so I hope I can sell this house and go somewhere that is less expensive.

Does it sound like

   Sometimes the days just seem to melt one right into another.  It's already Friday and I feel like the week slipped away.  This morning was difficult to start my day, it's so limited when I can't go out to the patio and sweep the dried flowers because of the rain.  I go for a week or more without talking to anyone.  I feel like my kids are too busy to say Hi mom.  They give me a 'like' on Facebook and it's nice to let them know that I'm still alive and breathing.  If I stopped my account on Facebook, would they know anything about me? Does it sounds like I'm sad and disappointed?   I can't go visit my grandkids because I don't have money for gas to go see them.  My granddaughter recently came to visit me and I bought her some makeup and it cost $75 and gave her $30 in her birthday card. Ellen reminded me that I owed her money for the furniture. It really hurt me that on top of giving her money and buying her expensive make up that I never spent on myself she still wanted more from me. I had her over twice in one week and it meant buying extra food. The only outing I've had was walking the dog to the park, driving to the Post Office and the grocery store. Now, the gasoline gauge is on empty.  I haven't repaired the oil leak in my car because I can't afford the repair.

Retired? Maybe too early

   A funny thing happened on the way to retirement.   Some people plan for many years before they retire and some people are stuck with an early retirement. Due to a series of unpredictable circumstances, I retired at 55 years of age. Oh by the way, it was not enough money but I'm grateful for the full medical and dental insurance.

  It was fun to remember all the jobs I had through the years before I came to work for the State.  I set an important goal when I was hired by the State.  When I attended my first Training class, I set a personal goal of becoming a Trainer.  In three years, after becoming a permanent employee, I met my goal. I loved the assignment of teaching new and seasoned employees the work we did in the Unemployment Insurance office.  There were times in the training classes when one of the employees was determined to derail the training that their office had set up.

 My first job was at a large chain discount store which is now gone.  Of course unlike some folks, I was a homebody before getting married and having kids.  Wow, I was doing things backwards!

 Right after my high school graduation, I  got pregnant. My mother was very old school and she said (yelled), you love him, you marry him! Six months later, my first son was born and 18 months later, my only daughter.  By the way, that marriage lasted a whole four and a half years.  I was too young and inexperienced to know what to do about an alcoholic husband. 

 I got married a second time, 11 years later to someone who was nothing like my first husband but after a year that marriage broke up. It was because he refused to be a part of both my children lives.  He favored my daughter and we took her to softball practices and games. But my son he would totally ignore and didn't even say Hi. My son was well liked by other adults and he was a teacher assistant in junior high.  I was 3 months pregnant when we split up.  The good part was that he was very interested in our son and went to all of the prenatal check ups. To this date, he is still close to our son who is now 28 years old and has a family of his own.  Ironically, my son has a stepson and a daughter and he has been a great dad to both kids.

  When my daughter was 6 years old, I worked and attended a Community College and entered a Work Study program which helped me in so many ways.  After I received my AA degree in 1979, I was hired by the State of California and stayed for 27.7 years. I had some fun jobs before that one.  Not that I didn't have enjoy my State job.

  I once worked where they printed checks, receipts, journals, this was before companies used computers. We actually had an Artist, Typist, Proof Reader, Cameraman, Pressmen to print the final products. I was a Paste up artist, which was a simple and necessary position.

 During that time I met a very sexy, handsome man. He was originally from New York and after he graduated from the University in Texas, he worked in logistics.  He said that he was ready for a career change and he made it happen. He actually was hired by the federal government agency that controls firearms, etc.  The relationship didn't last long and he broke up with me when I got caught going dancing with someone else. (He looked similar to the comedian Rich Little, who was popular back then but he was more handsome than Rich Little.)

 One of my favorite memories was working for a Circus! I helped prepare the flyers, bundle tickets, count out the posters for each location that sold the tickets. I was assigned ticket sales in a large mall in Cerritos, California. It was fun and people were in a  great mood because they were out shopping and would stop to buy their tickets for the circus. The clowns that worked for the circus would sometimes come and encourage people to attend the circus. One of the clowns ask me out on a date.  I said No thanks, I don't want to clown around with you.  He just laughed and gave up asking.

  One of my short lived jobs was a trophy company.  This company actually supplied the Oscar for Hollywood. My job was selling trophies and trophy parts over the phone.  I had a great relationship with the customers, they were mostly established customers and very few new customers. One of the employees, unknown to me, was related to the owner/manager of the company.  This employee overheard me say that I had applied for work with the Post Office and the State for full time work.  So of course, this person told him what I said.  He called me into his office and questioned my loyalty to his company. He said you are no longer employed here, you can either stay and finish the day or leave right now.  It was about 1 p.m., and I told him I would finish the day. It turns out, that I made the right choice because he fired me for a perceived harm. I had to report him for not paying my commissions.  Later, I received a check for $2000, I had no idea, that I earned so much money in commissions. Back then in those days, that was a lot of money.

  I'm sure that if things had been better in my last assigned job with the State, I would have continued to work a few more years.  I was working under a new Supervisor who was one of the Investigators.  He was a young man that needed to prove to everyone that he was in charge.  I was new to their office, it was all new for me.  So although I worked for the State for 25 years, it was a completely different assignment.  The employee who was asked to teach me the job left for a 2 week vacation after I was there 10 days.  The supervisor I had still held me to the same standards and did evaluations on the job duties that I didn't know how to do. Slowly my confidence and self-esteem started to drop as my weight increased, this man wrote poor evaluations on my work.  Even after repeated explanations of the lack of guidance and training, he felt the evaluations were justified.  Before the third and final evaluation which would've dropped my earnings and position to the lowest entry level, I became very ill.  When my personal medical doctor examined me and asked me questions, she placed me on medical leave. The report given to the office, was the information forwarded to Sacramento and the Central office started my Workers' compensation case. The office didn't offer me another job, to stay employed.  I chose to retire instead of returning to the same assignment and the same situation.

  I did take a class so that I could sell mobile homes and that was fun and I was good at it.  I recently renewed my license but things are slow right now so I haven't sold a home this year (2015).

  Some of my friends felt it was important to encourage me to start dating again.  But the thing is they're still married with the same man for 30 years or more.  They don't know what its like out there.  Some men want a nurse and some want your purse and some want both.  But I realize that the same goes for men out there who are single at this time in their lives.  Some of the women I've met that are over 55 and available are settling for staying alone without a man in their lives.  They are actively traveling or crafting and some babysit every weekday or as needed. I still dream of being held in my man's arms and being kissed with passion.