First of all, thank you all for the positive thoughts, prayers, etc.  It was greatly appreciated!

I got the job.  Drove over some pretty nasty roads this morning to get to my job interview.  Wasn’t even much of an interview.  We talked for about 5 minutes or less and he gave me a job, with PERFECT hours and is going to start me at $9 and hour which isn’t as much as I was making before, but more than I expected for working in a warehouse.

The clinic even had time to get me in for the mandatory drug test right after my interview, so that’s out of the way.  Now they just have to wait for the results of that and then they’ll be in touch and I’ll get to start work.  

Monday-Wednesday 8-5.  Can’t ask for better than that!  That gives me Thurs-Sat for odd jobs and resting up. I’ve gotten so fat and out of shape this winter that I assume the first few weeks will be killer for me, but I’m just so glad to have a job that does not involve cooking! I didn’t realize till this week how much I didn’t want to cook anymore.

Some of you may remember my tirade last week about my teenage daughter smoking.  I was so angry I couldn’t focus or even deal with it.

Well, I’ve calmed down now, but I’m still not going to put up with this new developement.

If that kid is going to smoke, it’s going to cost her dearly and she’s going to learn some lessons along the way.

The day I found the cigs in her purse, I took them.  It was almost a full pack. This morning her sister took the ones she found and ran them over with her car.

When I went over there to feed my chickens, I saw two packs of camels on the front seat of Gracie’s car.  I took those.  

 And no, she didn’t have her car locked.  That’s another thing, she buys a $20,000 sports car, that I co-signed for, and she doesn’t even lock it???  We are a small town with about a zero crime rate, but still.....

Anyway, my plan is to just keep stealing her cigarettes until she decides it’s too expensive to smoke.  Might not be the best plan in the world, but at the moment, that and the silent treatment are all I’ve got.  

Anyone got any suggestions?

Yes, we got rid of her.  We burned her.

Sounds pretty horrible, doesn’t it.  Well, it was an emotional day and it wasn’t even my granny.

I went to clean house for a friend today.  I’ve known this guy since we were twelve and so I know his family and some of its history too.  It’s a rather large family with roots that go back to homesteading in this area.  Grandma lived on the family farm, with her bachelor son, right beside the house her other son (my friends father)and his family lived in.

Grandma died in 1980something.  Before we were out of high school.  Uncle Richard, an old bachelor, continued living in the house until ten years ago when he died.  

Three years ago the heirs ransacked the house.  Took anything of value and put it on an auction sale.  And believe me when say, there wasn’t much that was worth anything but they sold it anyway.  I know, because I went to the auction.  Anything that wasn’t worth anything, such as family photos and old magazines were dumped in piles and left for the mice.

I’ve taken on the task of making this house habitable again.  I’m being very well paid to do it.  My friend set me the task and told me he was leaving for the day.  But he couldn’t bear to leave.   His grandma could be a right nasty old rip at times, but never-the-less, she was still grandma, and he couldn’t quite leave while I was throwing her away.  And of course I’m throwing away Uncle Richard too, and that was even harder.  And to make matters worse, they were kind of hoarders.  

I found amazing things today, like small cardboard boxes filled entirely with empty cartidges from razor blades.  I found unused calendars from 1946.  I found unused greeting cards dating back to maybe the 50’s, and an old container made especially for storing Green Stamps, complete with two empty books.

I’ve helped my mother go thru my grandmother’s things, and I’ve helped two mothers in law go thru their mother’s things.  I’m no stranger to getting rid of Grandma, but I have to say, it doesn’t get any easier no matter whose Grandma it was.