Dreams of vacations

**This is for you Mel**

   I can still hear the gulls and other seabirds chattering and cawing by the shore. I can still feel the warm silk of sand between my toes as it slides with each step taken. I can still smell that 'beach' smell of salt mixed with seaweed and suntan lotion. I can still feel the breeze play with my hair as I turn over to get deeper into the book I am reading. I can still feel the pull of the ocean as I step into the waves and the sands pulls back out to sea creating a hole where I stand with the water receding. Sigh...

   It's hard when you hear others talk about going on their vacations or talking about them when they return with a glowing face from the sunshine. I miss those years when vacations were easier to afford and not so very rare. I try not to be jealous since it is such a negative emotion and gets you no where really. But I certainly can and do dream about having one again someday. The lack of money does not kill dreams, it just makes them more precious.

  I do have hope for the future. Despite the odds that face me financially I have not given up.  Who cares if it is considered unrealistic?? My mind is a garden path that wanders where it might and does not care if there is a 'real possibility.' The ground is packed and firm from my frequent steps wandering around the grounds. I pass the flowers and enter the trees searching for a new direction to dream.

That is my foray into dreamland, and I know the way quite well.


K

Hot Weekend

(wondering how many search engines will hit this because of the word "hot? Over sexed people are just so sad. :-( .)

No really, a very hot and steamy weekend for me. The next 3 days are supposed to climb into the 90's, and we have been in the jungle humidity for a while now. Somehow I feel like this is a reverse repeat of the winter months, tucked into the apartment because it's either way too cold, or way too hot to be outside.
 I have to wonder how our grandparents did this without air conditioning, and I melt at the thought.

In other mundane and trifling news, I am patiently waiting for my few tomatoes to start turning red. The plant was designed to be for a container, so it is small and not the monster of previous years. Waiting is not something I excel at, so I might just hit up the local vegetable stand to see if they have any ripe tomatoes for me to salivate over.

I shall have to step forth into the steam bath to get my laundry done...UGH. I swear the next place I settle myself will have a washer and a dryer in the house. No cool basement here..just lugging the basket through purgatory.

The Gilly is stretched out on my side of the bed taking nap number 3. I swear sometimes he pesters me to get up just to get my spot. Happy cat because I am off today, but still a lonely boy during the work week. I keep telling him it won't be forever, but not sure if he believes me anymore. He is a wonderful furry room mate and friend, just wish he knew how to set up the coffee, lol.

That's all for now. Shake ups at work have little to do with me. They are trimming costs, halting hiring, and not filling positions in my department. The salaried supervisor position is only open for Grave shift, and I found out that shift was not conducive to a happy me when I worked it last year. I liked the people but hated the lifestyle it forced me into. I've been waiting a while for the magic move, but it looks like I will be waiting longer. No biggie, over time is not paid to salaried employees, it can be a real drag for them when they have to work on their days off.

Doc appointment tomorrow, hopefully last one so I can forward all this paperwork into the insurance company and wait for their answer.

Have a hot one...lol
K

Back to Normal

Well, maybe back to as normal as my life gets anyway. Between work and class this woman has been running ragged for several months. My hours at work had been cut to save the company a few bucks, so I picked up overtime when I could. Not only were there less hours, but there were also unfortunately timed reasons for pay being sucked out of my checks, which made for some hair pulling moments when I saw just how much had been taken from my check.

Every year at this time we have to "P-A-Y" for the privilege of working at the casino. Yes, you read that right, we have to pay for a  lottery license out of our checks so we can work there,. (there is also a a $20 racing licence once a year.) The license costs $100,(which is equivalent to 2+ days of work before taxes.).  I've never worked anywhere where the employees are responsible for paying for their own licensing. I could see it it we were independently employed,  but we are not, we work for a very large and wealthy corporation.

The next check sucker was a loan I was forced to take on my 401K to pay for last Septembers medical bill to the local hospital. I had no other choice, and preferred to not have my pay garnished again. It is way to hard to keep my chin above the rising tide of bills when something comes along that won't take your tiny payments without taking you to court. At least I am in a sense paying myself back with the money.

And finally, I have reached the required payback to the State of West Virginia after almost 2 years of garnishment. Will they stop sucking the money out of my check now? Despite phone calls I kind of expect them to say "whoops! We are not sending that fax to stop, lets take some more!"  Funny...I just registered my car yesterday for 2014. In order to do that here you have to bring proof that you have paid your Personal Property taxes. When I arrived home, there in my mailbox was a questionnaire from the tax assessors office asking me if I had anything else that I SHOULD be paying on. I have to tell you what my take is on West Virginia tax departments ..."little Ebenizer Scrooges scrunching their numbers and picking up voo-doo dolls and searching their pockets for change." I have never felt as hunted as I do in this state. They tax us to the limit on food, gasoline and cigarettes, then Personal property taxes (which I have to pay for Jefferson county, and again for living in Charles Town) and then State taxes.  Oh..if by some strange stroke of luck you get a Federal refund, they want that too.

And lastly, good new,  I get my Tuesdays back since my class in Aspiring Leaders is over, graduation was held today. It was nice getting to know a few of the folks in other departments that shared the class with me. We painfully graduated with a 1-2 minute  presentation a piece as the entertainment. I did ok, I know I could have done better, but my entire weekend was spent racing around the clock to run the casino and handle the huge 'Price is Right' show that was held Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Everybody in Security had mandatory over time. So I am running pretty dang tired for having no real down time for at least 4 weeks. I'm looking forward to my life returning to as normal as it gets.

I know I am jumping from subject to subject, must be that I am running on fragmented thoughts today, way over tired. Yesterday (yes, I was off..but was I really?) I spent the morning having needles stuck into my body with electrical shocks at the Neurologists office. Officially I have some (normal for my age) degenerative  disc disease in my back. I also have 3 bulging discs likely related to the August 2012 car accident, and compressed nerves in my right arm and left leg. When they say that getting older is not for sissy's they really meant it. After the session of med-evil torture I went for torture of a different sort at the local DMV, followed by an afternoon of trying to catch up on laundry. I was so tired I knocked 3 glasses and a coffee mug into the sink while unloading the dish washer. Dang..I did not have enough ummph to even curse properly at that.

So according to the doctor my future appointments will be with a Physical Therapist and a Pain Management clinic. This is depending on the cost, unless the stupid Claims Adjuster at State Farm ever gets the answers they want for a settlement. If they do then the appointments will be kept without a problem.

 As I hauled the clothes back and forth to the laundry room yesterday I kept thinking that it was so beautiful; warm not hot, soft breezes...I could not stop myself from thinking what a perfect beach day it would have been... Warm sand, the sound of the sea, a good book, and bone melting relaxation. I miss that...vacations...well, what they used to be in my long ago past.

Thus ends the novel for today. I hope that everyone is doing well and feeling happy,
K