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I am having a hard time finding the time to read blogs and make my own so today I decided to make mine first. I can read blogs at work tomorrow. It is easier for me to read at work than it is to actually write. I get interrupted way too much to be able to stay on track with my thoughts.

Saturday...
We got up for work like normal. Saturday is the only day we work together. I definitely do not get any special treatment at work. I have asked him why he is so hard on me at work. He says, "I expect more from you because you are not an idiot like the rest." I am thinking stupid people must have an easier life. LOL

Sunday...
I got up for work and James was already on his way out the door. He had to work on the computers in Milwaukee. Sundays are fast easy days. The oil bay is closed on Sunday. We just have the car wash open for 5 hours. I just work Sundays to do pay roll and so someone is there.

James and the owners do not work on Sundays it is just me and Juan the head of the car wash guys. I had already done payroll early so I just sat reading the paper and drinking coffee.
I got home to find out that the power in the house kept going off. We had this problem about 2 weeks ago and we thought it was a bubble lamp that got a leak from the move. When it happened Sunday they thought a puppy bit a cord and it only sometimes kills the power. After they unplugged the surge protector for the entertainment center in Nicole and Neona's room the power stopped shutting off so they figured it must be something on that and just left it unplugged. Whatever it is that is doing it kills the power to the entire house not just one circuit.

Monday...
We stayed up late watching TV so we slept in. One of James' employees came and picked up another puppy so we are down to 3. We are keeping one and a girl that used to work their wanted one. She had told me that she wanted to get fully moved into her house before she picked up her puppy but that was over a week ago so I think I better email her. I want these puppies out of here. Once the last one finds a home she needs to come get hers or I will find a new home for it. I am sick and tired of all these puppies chewing up all of my stuff.

We had a ton of laundry and cleaning to catch up on because of the holiday and then working Thursday. About a half an hour after I started laundry the power went out. I started to think that the house just can not handle all of the power we use. It seems to happen when the laundry and the A/C are going at the same time. So I decided to start unplugging some things to test out if it is a cord, an outlet of just the house. I went all day yesterday with no computer. I do not know how I ever got by without one in the past. I go to the computer for everything.

I had to turn the power back on twice just so I could finish shampooing the carpet in the living room. I am starting to find this to be very annoying. The power went off 4 times yesterday. At least it goes right back on when I go down and turn it on again.

Tuesday...
Well, all I have planned for today is more laundry and some papers for work tomorrow. If I can get the girls to do their chores early enough in the day I think we may start a craft. They have a whole Rubbermaid of craft things that they never get to do because they take forever to do chores. They always want to have breaks between chores and the next thing I know it is dinner time. James got them each a hemp bracelet kit. I don't know if anyone but Noelle will be old enough to do all the knots but we have friendship bracelet stuff also.

This summer is going by so fast and we have not gotten anything done that we planned. We make beaded bracelets too so we talked about trying to make some dangle ankle bracelets for summer but we still have not.

Oh well, back to laundry.

James came home early and is laying down watching TV so we stopped chores early. He does not like all the running around the house that doing chores creates and it gets me out of doing any more. So the girls are going to play outside and I can relax.

I have been keeping very busy updating all of my old files and paperwork. Thank goodness I still have all of my old files because they have not had anyone doing the stuff I used to do so they just have hand written papers with scribbles and white out. They have a new weekday cashier that started a couple weeks before I did. She is kind of trashy and rude. I know it sounds like I don't like her and that is because I don't. LOL

James has had many problems with her. She is lazy, dishonest, and stupid. I never work with her but I see her on Wednesdays when she gets her check. The biggest problem has been that the owner is not very good at standing up to people so she gets away with a lot of it.

Now since she has seen how much I do she feels she has some right to do some of it since she started two weeks before me. The reality is she does not know how to do any of the spreadsheets, sales sheets, or accounts... so she wants to do the work schedule, payroll, inventory, and ordering of all the lobby store items.

All of which she also does not know how to do but she thinks she can figure it out. She believes that I stole these jobs from her and she always starts a fight when she asks me for her check on Wednesdays. The owner who can not handle standing up to people has asked me to just let her do some of it if she wants since I am still getting paid to do it even if she does it.

She threw the biggest fit about ordering. She wanted to do all of the ordering for the store so he told her to go ahead and do just that. James was furious. She is new, there is no way she should do orders. That is what is pissing James off the most. He keeps telling the employees something and they cry to the owner. The owner can not stand up to people so James is having a hard time getting people to listen to him.

I cashier while I do all of my work because the desk I work on is right there and we don't need 2 people there. So I am a over paid cashier. All she knows is that she works full time and I don't so she decided in her head that she is above me.

Well, since we were closed for the fourth I lost a day of work. James informed her that she would lose her Thursday because I would be working it. She threw a fit. He tried to explain to her that otherwise I would only work 15 hrs and she would work 40hrs. I work 25hrs a week because that's what it takes for me to get it all done.

She went on and on about how she is full time and she should not lose hours. James reminded her that she was only promised 30-35 hours a week swapping every other week with me. She got 40 because I don't want it. She then came in the next Wednesday screaming at me about how she wanted her hours. I told her the same thing I tell her every time she screams at me, " I guess you will have to go complain to James or the owner because I only do what I am told to". I piss a lot of people off because I refuse to argue. It is entertaining to watch.

So yesterday I went to work (on her day to work) and started working on my laptop. She had to come in with the puppy she got from us so James could give it one of its shots. She didn't say much to me but I have been told by some of the employees that she talks bad about me all the time so I usually just say hi and go back to what I am doing.

I was very busy yesterday and then about half way through the day James told me to make an order. I reminded him that she will throw a fit if I do it and the owner will probably freak out if she puts him in the middle. He then tells me that she has never made an order and now the store is running out of things.

He said he told her Tuesday that we were running low on a lot of things and she never made an order. I reminded him that she was going to come screaming at me again on Wednesday. I also reminded him that I have informed him and the owner that I am only nice for so long and they will soon see what can happen when some one yells at me.

He then reminded me that he was still my boss and I should go do the order. The other owner that is seldom there was there all day and he found this to be very amusing. He and James are good friends. So I did the order. I don't know when she will notice I did it. Knowing the owner that is usually around will just hope she is not working when the order comes in.

Well I suppose I should finish laundry so I can get to sleep at a decent hour. I have to wake up at 5:30am to get ready for work.

James has now gotten up and made dinner himself while mumbling. Oops

Have you ever noticed how long my blogs are?

Ok, back to more updating.
James had me start working right away. We got into the house on a Saturday at 5pm and he had me going in to work the next day. There is an old guy named Bob that used to be a manager there and is now retired so he runs errands and helps out once in awhile. So James had set it up for me to go in to meet with him and get shown what had changed in the 5 years since I left. The big problem was that we had just got here and still had stuff in the moving truck.

The thermostat was disconnected over night so I was sweaty and the shower had to stay dry because it just had tiles replaced. So I had to wash my hair and clean up in the sink while James went to the store to buy me clothes, a new blow drier and curling iron since all my stuff was packed who knows where.

I went in for about 2 hours Sunday and then started my first full day Wednesday. I was very nervous about going back to work there. I really did not want to have to see everyone again. When I left I was anorexic and I definitely am not any more. LOL

Finally, the day came for me to start back. I stayed very quiet and really didn't talk to anyone because I was so uncomfortable. I felt very uncomfortable around the owner. I didn't know what to say or what he was thinking. The first 2 days I worked I completely stayed away from him. It was probably very obvious how uncomfortable I was. I have gotten a little more comfortable but I still avoid talking to him for very long if no one is around. Also when I am in his office I try to stay away from his desk.

Some one always has to stay behind with me while I count money and get the deposit ready at the end of the night. It can be James, the owner, or a man named Juan that is in charge of the guys that work in the car wash. Usually they pawn it off on Juan because after 10 hours of work everyone wants to leave right away. Well the other day the owner came back to work at the end and said he would wait around for me. I am sure it was no big deal but I was all of a sudden so uncomfortable I rushed to get done. I quick locked the safe, grabbed my purse and laptop; and tried to race out the door. The owner started talking away so I tried to talk about work things that would stress him out and make him want to leave. I don't know what he would end up talking about but I for sure did not want him to bring up the problems that happened in the past.

Then Bob came in and started talking so I hurried out the door. He has been perfectly normal with me and we both talk to each other as if nothing happened in the past. I don't feel like it is too uncomfortable to work there. I guess I am just being silly. I am just worried that some day he is going to bring it up and it will be very uncomfortable.

Well the weekday cashier just called to say she wants to come pick up her puppy so I have to go straighten up the house. I can't stand this woman but that is for the next blog with more work updates.

The morning after we got to Racine James had to go into work for awhile. That gave me and the girls time to try to look half way normal given what we had available. James came back from work and we headed off to his dad's house to visit with him. Then off to his grandparents house to pick up the moving truck again. The older woman that owns the house we are renting had started to say that she didn't think the house would be ready right away. She still wanted full rent though. We had called her before we left Arizona and told her that we had to be there and if that meant we had to stay in a hotel if it was not ready then we would be deducting everyday that we could not be in it. When we got to Wisconsin she told us that it would be ready the next day (Saturday) at 5pm.

James' brother-like person (Steve) met us and we headed over to the house. When we got there the owners' son and his wife were still there working. We sat outside for an hour and then James got sick of waiting and started to bring things in the house. They cleaned up what they were doing and got ready to leave. The son then told me that the woman that lived there before just left Friday so they only had Saturday to work on it.

It was a disaster. I was so upset. It was filthy and only half of the rooms got painted. Carpets are stained there were still things left behind in drawers and cupboards. Then he tells me that she will be coming back Sunday to get more stuff that she left in the garage and in the basement. He then said he would continue to work on the house after we move in so that he is not in our way.

As James and Steve started unloading the truck the neighbors came outside. At first I was relieved, they are a middle aged couple with 3 kids and a dog. James recognized the husband as a past bartender from the bar he used to play darts for and he used to work at a car dealership he would buy parts from once in awhile.

They said they just lost their house and had to move here 3 months ago. They then said the youngest is a 12 yr old boy, they have a teen aged girl, and the oldest is a 17 yr old boy. First I saw the youngest. He does not look 12 but I guess they say he is because he is home alone all the time. Then I saw the oldest boy. He is a chain smoker and talks like he is living in the ghetto doing drive by shootings when he isn't rapping. Only problem is that he is a short and scrawny 17 yr old white boy.

Then the mother starts telling me that the house she lives in is owned b y the same woman as the owner of the house we are renting. She then tells me that the woman is racist and said that her son can't listen to rap music. I have come to REALLY hate rap music now after having to hear his for 2 weeks. He plays rap music very loud and all day long. He dropped out of school and does not have a job so he just sits at home blasting rap music.

I helped unload some more stuff but the humidity was killing me. I have been having a hard time breathing outside. I am used to no humidity and elevation over 4,200 feet. So I stopped to have a beer. The neighbors this whole time had been leaning on one of their cars that is all banged up and has no license plate. They just stood there drinking beer watching us. So when I stopped to have a beer they started talking to me again.

I was still trying to be nice. I had been hoping to get along with the neighbors. I made small talk for awhile before they got weird again. The mother tells me that the car is all banged up because the son got mad and stole it. The father then tells me that if you go behind everyone's garages a couple of houses down there is an opening in the fence and it goes to a bar. He continues to add in that at 8pm they smoke pot in the back and then at 10pm the kids go to bed and it is time for the bar. I have come to find out that he smokes pot with the 17 yr old.

At that I decided to go back to unloading the truck. LOL

James thinks it is funny to shock people, so he gives Ally his old pellet gun he still has from when he was a kid, it looks like a little rifle. I always worry someone will think we are bad parents so I reassure them that it is not really a rifle. The father then says that he has 3 felonies so he does not mess around with that stuff. OMG Who are these people that will be my neighbors?

Then the woman that used to live here shows up. She packs stuff up and does a few trips before she comes over to talk to me. She tells me that she is done getting things and to tell the owner that since she did not get her deposit back she is not going to bother to get rid of her stuff. She then says to be careful with the neighbors. She said they just moved in 3 months ago and they had come to her door and asked her if she wanted to do drugs with them. I really am not looking forward to living here.

We are still unpacking and cleaning the house but it is looking better with all of our things in it. The neighbors have started to hide from us now. The owner's son comes by from time to time fixing things and noticed they had a puppy so he made them get rid of it. He knows we have puppies that will be leaving when they are done nursing and is fine with us.

Then the neighbors started screaming at him about some note on their door over a week ago. All he said to us was that is what happens when you don't pay rent on time and your kid is a piece of crap. We had already heard that they were not going to let the kid stay after he turned 18 in a couple months because the lease says 2 adults and 3 kids. So we assume that is what the note said. I hoped it said they are all evicted but they are all still here so no such luck.

The owner has come by a few times knocking at their door but they don't ever answer. They are just weird. I went to the store the other day and left Noelle at home. She said that the father came running out the door after the wife kicking her car and screaming at her. I think they are all smacking each other around. I can hear the kids beating the crap out of each other and screaming from my house. When I look the mom's car is here. Well at least they hide from us. I just have to turn the TV up so I don't have to hear them.

Well, the kids are starting to wake up so I better make tea and breakfast.

Well, I guess I have a lot of updating to do so maybe some time in the future I will get to present day stuff. It took forever for the cable company to get out here to install everything and then I was busy doing papers for work.

We had gotten everything ready to go the day before so all James and my dad had to do was fill the truck. It still took James and my dad 6 hours to fill it up. We almost did not get it all in. We had to stuff it full to the top stacking everything. We got the 26 ft diesel truck thinking we would have extra room but we did not want to get one that would be too small. I had no idea we had so much stuff and that was after the yard sale.

Then the car filled up and we had no room for the suitcases we had set aside for the trip so I only got to change clothes once during the trip and I ended up wearing a baseball hat and no makeup. Yes, that is a big deal to me. LOL

Well after showering, getting dressed and taking off it was already 3pm. James was in a big hurry to get going since we were behind schedule so we still left that day. We drove an hour and then stopped to eat. Then drove another hour and a half and he was too tired so we had to get a hotel room already.

We were wide awake at 2am so we headed out early. Between the dogs, kids, and me drinking caffeine to keep going we stopped about every 2 hours to pee. We got on a weird schedule of stopping at hotels early and going to bed at 8pm and then driving at 2am. We were trying to make up for time we lost the first day but we kept getting too tired to keep driving past 6pm.

Driving at 2am helped with traffic though. The third day I started feeling sick and run down. We started to get stressed and annoyed with each other on top of it. James thought I was just stressed and having panic attacks all day because I kept calling him telling him I needed to make stops because I felt like I could not breath and needed to puke.

By the fourth day James was sick too and realized I really was sick. We spent most of the fourth day rotating driving for 2 hours and then sleeping at rest stops. We were both too tired and sick to drive very long. On top of it all we kept having to dodge storms. There were a lot of trucks flipped over along the way in Iowa. When we got to Illinois the storms were right behind us so we had to keep in front of them.

Finally we hit Wisconsin and just about 1 hour from the end of the trip the storm caught up with us. The interstate was only going 40 mph and it ended up getting so bad I could not see enough to feel safe so I pulled off at a rest stop and sat for 30 minutes until it passed. The windshield on the truck was straight up and down so James could see and continue on. He met me at the hotel.

The trip was finally over at 8pm the 4th day. According to Mapquest it was a 28 hour drive.
We left Tuesday 3pm and got there Friday 8pm. Well, Children are now calling me so I will do more updates later.

Oh yeah, and just my luck the 1st and 2nd hotels internet didn't work. The 3rd I was too sick and just slept, and then the 4th did not have any.

I am always back tracking so why should today be any different.

Friday and Saturday the girls and I packed like crazy. Well I should say I packed like crazy and had to yell at the girls a lot for sitting down every time I left the room. Sunday James flew into Tucson. His friends in Tucson wanted to have a last cook out so they offered to pick him up at the airport and drive him here after it. That helped me out because that way I could get more packing and cleaning done. I stopped to shower and get ready for him to come but he came too early so I still looked horrible. I had really wanted to look nice since I had not seen him in a month. I was in the bath tub shaving when he text me that he was on his way and they wanted to come in the house to see the puppies. So I had to clean some of the packing mess instead of getting ready so I could look nice.

Monday my parents called and said they were going to come and help finish the packing and take apart furniture. They even went and picked us up some lunch. My dad retired in January so he said he would come today to help pack the truck. That made me very happy. I am not much help with that. I am too weak to carry the huge furniture and then James and I argue when he needs help with things. Between my height or lack there of and my less than long arms I can't be of much help.

So today we pick up the truck, fill it, shower, and start driving. Plus I have to go to the MVD to get a new title for my Jeep while they start loading. If I am not too tired at night and the hotels have internet I might be able to blog. Otherwise who knows when I will get to next. I don't think James has made any calls to get anything hooked up at the house yet. I don't even think he decided what we will get yet. I think we have a satellite dish there unless he ended up giving it to his dad.

Well, I need to get going and get some stuff done. She you when I get to the new house.

Today was the last day of School !!! I am excited but the girls took it very hard. I am liking not having to wake up early and having them home to help me with all of this.

Back to catching up on everything else now that we have the puppies. James finished looking at all the houses and we made a decision. I am not too excited any more but I want the move over with so we can all be together again. We picked the only thing available in the time we need it and the better of the neighborhoods. It is the one that James said he does not think will fit all my furniture. James keeps trying to make me feel better by pointing out that it will only be for a year.

At any rate, we will be in Sturtevant which is a village in Racine County. It is just outside of town and where the rural area begins. We decided to stay outside of Milwaukee.

We have not gotten much more done for the move. We have been busy with the puppies and Noelle and Nicole are both depressed about leaving friends. They usually do the same stages. First we ask them what they think and they say they want to move and they are all excited about it. Then the last week they get depressed. As we are moving they like the adventure of moving. A week after the move they get depressed again and then they meet friends and are happy again.

This time we are moving during the summer so it might be harder to find friends. Plus Noelle has an actual best friend now that she talks to nonstop. We do have friends there from before and a few of them have kids so I hope they will be able to keep busy. Noelle is doing her last sleep over with her best friend tonight. Her friend goes on vacation the next day so this will be the last time she sees her.

Noelle spent all last night searching the house for things she could give her friend as gifts to remember her by. She is taking this very hard now and cried most the night.

Hopefully we can get our butts in gear tomorrow so we can catch up on things. We have set back our moving day so that helps. The house we picked has the earliest move in date, but it is still not early enough. The owner said she does not think she could possibly have it ready before next Saturday or Sunday.

I am assuming that means she has to paint it and does not want to until Saturday. So I am figuring on Sunday to move in. Problem being we made these plans awhile ago. So, James has a flight to Tucson this Sunday morning and he has to be at work in Wisconsin Saturday morning.

Since we can't get into the house right away we are delaying leaving until we have to so this way we will most likely avoid extra day charges for the truck. The truck rental gives us 6 days so if we can't unload it until Sunday we do not want to go over the days allowed. We are already paying $1700 for the darn thing.

So I changed pick up of the truck to Tuesday. That way James comes back Sunday and we will have more time to get things ready and cleaned. We will pick up the truck Tuesday to fill it and rest over night before heading out Wednesday morning. That should get us to Wisconsin some time Friday so James can work the next morning. However that means we won't have a house yet and we will have to stay in a hotel with the dogs and puppies 2 more nights. That would bring us to a total of 4 nights in hotels. I hope they never notice we have the puppies.

The 2 dogs are no problem (other than $20 more a night). I don't know what we are going to do with ourselves Saturday. After sitting in a car for 3 days everyone is going to be stir crazy and not want to just sit in a hotel, but we can not leave the dogs alone.

I wish this was all over with. I need to just worry about one thing at a time. So right now I am going to try to just worry about getting all this packed and cleaned.


Countdown ...
3 Days Until James Is Back
5 Days Until We Have To Pack The Truck
6 Days Until We Start The Drive
8 Days Until We Arrive In Wisconsin
10 Days Until We Move Into The House.