Not a lot of chores to do on the homestead today, thank goodness. I'd like to work on the shops and relax for a bit before I have to go back to work tomorrow at the Just Over Broke! What do I have to do?
Trash needs to be pulled together and gotten out so it can be burnt.
Cat box needs cleaning.
Sweep the floor.
Laundry sorted out and put up.
Dishes done.
Have to pull out something for dinner later.
and I have to fix the left cuff on my sweater because the seam end is coming apart.
All in all, a relaxing day mostly. Thank goodness.
His big chore this week is finally getting the plastic up on the inside of the roof to prevent any drips from where a few screws went through the plywood when they put the roof on. No biggie, but something for him to do while I am at work and out from underfoot and he is still on sick leave.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Monday, November 21, 2016
Thrilled, scared, tired, cold, BLEAH
I should be thrilled. To some extent, I am. To another, I'm scared spitless. And I'm tired, cold, and so miserable over finances right now that it's not funny.
Starting to get the notices from Blue Cross about what they covered and how much we have to pay, though none of the actual bills have started rolling in yet. So far, ER doctor almost $560, we are stuck for $225, and the chest x-ray and cat scan, almost $400 and we are stuck for a bit over $150. I'm almost afraid to see what the ER itself and the overnight stay are going to cost.
As for the thrilled/not thrilled ... well ... one of the younger guys at work over in FP is leaving soon and his manifester job is going up for bid. (Further Processing is where my plant makes cooked products for the clients per their instructions, then packs them up and ships them to the clients.) Anyhow, he is a friend at work, kind of an adopted son, even calls me Mom all the time, which is funny as heck, because we have similar type of humor, so we get each other laughing frequently.
Anyhow 2 - he apparently talked me up to his supervisors about the situation with Quentin being off work and how I could use more money and he thought I would be interested, which I kind of am. It's only 15 cents more an hour than I'm getting now, but considering I have no CLUE when they will finally get around to reversing the attendance points and making them FMLA non-points, and putting me back to the line, So essentially, I'd be giving up a chance to go back to the line for six months if I got it, and nobody else really seems to want it anyhow.
I'm seriously thinking about it. More hours, but also a lot of weekends. The upsides are that I wouldn't have to worry about doing wing off any more, which was really killing my hands (thank goodness the rotation is only an hour for the line for each job), they'd give me a freezer suit because I'd be having to go into the freezer every so often and it's DARN COLD IN THERE, and I'd be certain to at LEAST get my 40 hours every week no matter what, unlike where they pulled me to when I had to take time off and points for taking care of him. (It's a silly way to do things, but hey, whatever ...) Also, I wouldn't be hunched over a conveyor belt all day again any longer. That really sucks on my back.
It's kind of odd, because I had to work yesterday, and the one supervisor my friend had talked to, and had me talk to a bit, actually came over to where I was working yesterday, specifically looking for me, and asked if I still could use some overtime. I was thinking, ok, yeah, he's probably going to offer to let me come work in FP any weekend they're running that my current spot isn't ... but he didn't. He just said, ok, then, that manifester job is getting posted this week and I'll be looking for your name. I think if I put in for it, I would have it sewed up in a heartbeat.
It's just ... I've ALWAYS worked in debone while in poultry proessing. I've volunteered or been sent to help in other departments, but I've never worked steady, day after day, in any department other than debone, and it's a bit freaky to think about leaving it. It's a little daunting, because pretty much everybody I know is over on THAT side of the building, and the thought of leaving for the other side is a bit scary. Change and I don't generally get along well. So I'm thrilled to be considered for it, and scared that I would really screw it up royally.
Tired and cold because it's blah weather and there's so much to do and so little time to do it in and the cabin's not insulated all the way so it's staying warm but it's still chilly in here ... and I'm not looking forward to another frozen winter. NOW he wishes he'd listened to me all summer when he kept telling me not to nag him about working on the cabin before cold weather hit, especially because he's recuperating from that blasted pneumonia!
In keeping with homesteading and not just blecky Just Over Broke talk, I had a chance to get myself some free chickens the other day. A local poultry farm which had 50,000!!! Red Sex Link laying hens in nine barns got bought out and the new people didn't want the Red Sex Links. They wanted these folks to run a totally different hen, and said to get rid of them however they could. The farmer put up a Facebook post on a local group offering them all up for free, and folks were going nuts for them.
A work friend who I call my "little brother" is another off-grid homesteader, carving his little place out of the woods. I had the cage to bring hens home in (a large wire dog crate which we use to take the cats in groups to the vet as needed instead of a bunch of small carriers), he had the truck and gas to get there, and we worked out a deal where he would keep the hens for now until I got a pen and shelter for my 5 or 6 set up, and I would help pay for the feed. He was going to go to his Mom's and get the t-posts and fencing she had sitting in the garage ... only problem was, unbeknownst to him, she'd gotten rid of the stuff, so no pen or shelter for the hens now, and neither of us was fond of the idea of letting them free range in the woods. So we had to pass on free hens, which is a pity, but I'm sure there will be others out there free or cheap down the road, when I can better house and care for them.
Starting to get the notices from Blue Cross about what they covered and how much we have to pay, though none of the actual bills have started rolling in yet. So far, ER doctor almost $560, we are stuck for $225, and the chest x-ray and cat scan, almost $400 and we are stuck for a bit over $150. I'm almost afraid to see what the ER itself and the overnight stay are going to cost.
As for the thrilled/not thrilled ... well ... one of the younger guys at work over in FP is leaving soon and his manifester job is going up for bid. (Further Processing is where my plant makes cooked products for the clients per their instructions, then packs them up and ships them to the clients.) Anyhow, he is a friend at work, kind of an adopted son, even calls me Mom all the time, which is funny as heck, because we have similar type of humor, so we get each other laughing frequently.
Anyhow 2 - he apparently talked me up to his supervisors about the situation with Quentin being off work and how I could use more money and he thought I would be interested, which I kind of am. It's only 15 cents more an hour than I'm getting now, but considering I have no CLUE when they will finally get around to reversing the attendance points and making them FMLA non-points, and putting me back to the line, So essentially, I'd be giving up a chance to go back to the line for six months if I got it, and nobody else really seems to want it anyhow.
I'm seriously thinking about it. More hours, but also a lot of weekends. The upsides are that I wouldn't have to worry about doing wing off any more, which was really killing my hands (thank goodness the rotation is only an hour for the line for each job), they'd give me a freezer suit because I'd be having to go into the freezer every so often and it's DARN COLD IN THERE, and I'd be certain to at LEAST get my 40 hours every week no matter what, unlike where they pulled me to when I had to take time off and points for taking care of him. (It's a silly way to do things, but hey, whatever ...) Also, I wouldn't be hunched over a conveyor belt all day again any longer. That really sucks on my back.
It's kind of odd, because I had to work yesterday, and the one supervisor my friend had talked to, and had me talk to a bit, actually came over to where I was working yesterday, specifically looking for me, and asked if I still could use some overtime. I was thinking, ok, yeah, he's probably going to offer to let me come work in FP any weekend they're running that my current spot isn't ... but he didn't. He just said, ok, then, that manifester job is getting posted this week and I'll be looking for your name. I think if I put in for it, I would have it sewed up in a heartbeat.
It's just ... I've ALWAYS worked in debone while in poultry proessing. I've volunteered or been sent to help in other departments, but I've never worked steady, day after day, in any department other than debone, and it's a bit freaky to think about leaving it. It's a little daunting, because pretty much everybody I know is over on THAT side of the building, and the thought of leaving for the other side is a bit scary. Change and I don't generally get along well. So I'm thrilled to be considered for it, and scared that I would really screw it up royally.
Tired and cold because it's blah weather and there's so much to do and so little time to do it in and the cabin's not insulated all the way so it's staying warm but it's still chilly in here ... and I'm not looking forward to another frozen winter. NOW he wishes he'd listened to me all summer when he kept telling me not to nag him about working on the cabin before cold weather hit, especially because he's recuperating from that blasted pneumonia!
In keeping with homesteading and not just blecky Just Over Broke talk, I had a chance to get myself some free chickens the other day. A local poultry farm which had 50,000!!! Red Sex Link laying hens in nine barns got bought out and the new people didn't want the Red Sex Links. They wanted these folks to run a totally different hen, and said to get rid of them however they could. The farmer put up a Facebook post on a local group offering them all up for free, and folks were going nuts for them.
A work friend who I call my "little brother" is another off-grid homesteader, carving his little place out of the woods. I had the cage to bring hens home in (a large wire dog crate which we use to take the cats in groups to the vet as needed instead of a bunch of small carriers), he had the truck and gas to get there, and we worked out a deal where he would keep the hens for now until I got a pen and shelter for my 5 or 6 set up, and I would help pay for the feed. He was going to go to his Mom's and get the t-posts and fencing she had sitting in the garage ... only problem was, unbeknownst to him, she'd gotten rid of the stuff, so no pen or shelter for the hens now, and neither of us was fond of the idea of letting them free range in the woods. So we had to pass on free hens, which is a pity, but I'm sure there will be others out there free or cheap down the road, when I can better house and care for them.
Sunday, November 6, 2016
I am beat
The last couple of weeks have been sheer h-e-double-hockeysticks.
The guy we're buying the land from had the neighboring, unsold, lots brush-hogged, and the tractor guy offered to do ours as well while he was at it. That was fine with me, though the field looks weird now with all the tall stuff gone.
The webstore is going well, with almost 50 products in it and the migration from Etsy and Bonanza is doing fine, just slow going. It looks nice, though, and if I want a different template than the standard default white background and all, there are a number of free ones. It also has a built-in affiliate program so I can hopefully get some people to sign up as affiliates and promote the site and products. I'm more than happy to give folks a 10% commission if they'll help me sell stuff and save ME some promoting work.
What has me pretty well exhausted, though, is HIM. He's been out of work the last two weeks for sick leave. At first, it presented as gastroenteritis. In simple terms, severe stomach/intestinal flu. On his return to the clinic for follow-up and getting FMLA paperwork filled out, he was still fevered (101!), not moving well, not keeping much of anything down, dehydrated, and worst, every time he stood up or sat up, his blood pressure would plummet. Kid y'all not, when they triaged him at the clinic that morning, he stood up for his weigh-in, then sat down for the BP/pulse/temp time, and his BP was a mere 88/76. Definitely not good.
So the PA there did some more checking and said, "Dude, there's something going on and it's NOT gastro. It's pretty serious. I'd say your septic with something. I hate to say this, but I'm going to shoot you across the street to the ER (the clinic is an urgent care clinic offshoot of the local hospital) and have them do some more comprehensive tests that we can't do here."
So I drove him over to the ER, got him in there, and they were so worried about his BP, they wouldn't let him go up to radiology for a standing chest x-ray. They brought in the portable unit instead. He was so dehydrated that they couldn't get much blood out of him through natural flow into the tubes. They had to rehydrate him with a full IV bag before they could draw enough the old fashioned way to get all his blood work done. After that, the orderly came in and started unlocking the gurney wheels. Tells us that he has to have a CAT scan.
After results from that came back, the ER doctor tells us that HE is being admitted at least overnight, because he has pneumonia! Instead of filling his lungs with fluid, it became encapsulated abscesses, so he had to have more fluids and loads of antibiotics. He was released the next day, but is on huge doses of antibiotics for six weeks and has his first after-hospital follow-up with the doctor tomorrow morning. Short sleep for us both. If six weeks of antibiotics don't cure this, he has to have surgery to remove all the abscesses. (A big one and lots of little ones on each lung.)
So I have to work the plant, which because I had to take time off to care for him, has bumped me to a lower-paying, less hours job, and look for a part-time weekend job, AND work on the shop, AND take care of the house, AND everything else. So I'm beat to heck. Need more sleep but gotta get shop work done so I can hopefully generate some income that way. UGH. I wish some of this would END.
The guy we're buying the land from had the neighboring, unsold, lots brush-hogged, and the tractor guy offered to do ours as well while he was at it. That was fine with me, though the field looks weird now with all the tall stuff gone.
The webstore is going well, with almost 50 products in it and the migration from Etsy and Bonanza is doing fine, just slow going. It looks nice, though, and if I want a different template than the standard default white background and all, there are a number of free ones. It also has a built-in affiliate program so I can hopefully get some people to sign up as affiliates and promote the site and products. I'm more than happy to give folks a 10% commission if they'll help me sell stuff and save ME some promoting work.
What has me pretty well exhausted, though, is HIM. He's been out of work the last two weeks for sick leave. At first, it presented as gastroenteritis. In simple terms, severe stomach/intestinal flu. On his return to the clinic for follow-up and getting FMLA paperwork filled out, he was still fevered (101!), not moving well, not keeping much of anything down, dehydrated, and worst, every time he stood up or sat up, his blood pressure would plummet. Kid y'all not, when they triaged him at the clinic that morning, he stood up for his weigh-in, then sat down for the BP/pulse/temp time, and his BP was a mere 88/76. Definitely not good.
So the PA there did some more checking and said, "Dude, there's something going on and it's NOT gastro. It's pretty serious. I'd say your septic with something. I hate to say this, but I'm going to shoot you across the street to the ER (the clinic is an urgent care clinic offshoot of the local hospital) and have them do some more comprehensive tests that we can't do here."
So I drove him over to the ER, got him in there, and they were so worried about his BP, they wouldn't let him go up to radiology for a standing chest x-ray. They brought in the portable unit instead. He was so dehydrated that they couldn't get much blood out of him through natural flow into the tubes. They had to rehydrate him with a full IV bag before they could draw enough the old fashioned way to get all his blood work done. After that, the orderly came in and started unlocking the gurney wheels. Tells us that he has to have a CAT scan.
After results from that came back, the ER doctor tells us that HE is being admitted at least overnight, because he has pneumonia! Instead of filling his lungs with fluid, it became encapsulated abscesses, so he had to have more fluids and loads of antibiotics. He was released the next day, but is on huge doses of antibiotics for six weeks and has his first after-hospital follow-up with the doctor tomorrow morning. Short sleep for us both. If six weeks of antibiotics don't cure this, he has to have surgery to remove all the abscesses. (A big one and lots of little ones on each lung.)
So I have to work the plant, which because I had to take time off to care for him, has bumped me to a lower-paying, less hours job, and look for a part-time weekend job, AND work on the shop, AND take care of the house, AND everything else. So I'm beat to heck. Need more sleep but gotta get shop work done so I can hopefully generate some income that way. UGH. I wish some of this would END.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)