Friday, November 28, 2008

This lady appears on The Tonite Show. Please be aware that the content and language of this video is not appropriate for children. Play it at your own risk.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Pioneer Woman Contest!

Go here to leave a comment and get registered to win a $250 gift cert. over at Pioneer Woman.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Today I got some new toys to use in PhotoShop. Below are some before and after shots of Tielyr.

Can you see the difference?

Friday, November 21, 2008

My Husband is a lucky man!

He's married to me! Ha, Ha, Ha.

Seriously, Bruce went trucking this evening (he drives an eighteen wheeler) and he took H2 along. (H1 is at a friends house overnight.) I used my time alone productively, I cranked my I-tunes loud and started cleaning the house. A half hour later Bruce called and said, "I've got a real problem here, you need to come right away. We are fine, just bring the pickup and a log chain, we are 5 miles east of town."

I could see red and blue flashing lights about 2 miles before I reached them. There were other vehicles stopped along the highway with their hazard lights flashing. It seems his trailer had come unhitched from the tractor while they were traveling at full speed down the road! The trailer brakes automatically locked up so it didn't travel too far. It had veered into the oncoming lane and came to rest on the opposite shoulder with the front part of the trailer leaning into the ditch. Thankfully no one had been driving in the oncoming lane. Gives me chills, thinking about the damage that trailer could have done to another vehicle. This incident could have ended so horribly.

The trailer was still upright, it took a little maneuvering to get it fully back onto the shoulder where Bruce was able to hook it onto the tractor. The only damage was a small air leak where an air hose coupler was loose! I taped it up, and he drove away! No damage! No citation from the nice police officers. Is that lucky or what? I'm really surprised he wasn't given some kind of ticket, I would have given him one if I were an officer.

Now I am the proud owner of the perfect burn if Bruce should ever talk about how awful women drivers are. "At least we don't lose our trailers while speeding down the highway!" I can't wait to use that one. He he he. Bring it on bad boy!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Erica's Card

Made a card for my niece Erica. Hope she likes it.





If you send out photo cards, do you make them yourself? Where do you get them printed?

Jobs I've held.

In high school a teacher told us that we would have an average of 8 career changes. I thought he was crazy. I thought I would do one thing and do it to the best of my abilities until I retired. I was the crazy one. Read on about the many diverse jobs I have held so far.

Baby sitter to many nieces and nephews.

Right out of high school I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. So, I got a job at a candy import company. I was the switchboard operator. I directed eleven incoming telephone lines. I try to keep things positive around here, but to be honest I must tell you my boss was a total jerk parading as an upright 'christian'. He would send girls aged 18 to 22 to do candy shows, getting them the cheapest rooms available in the seediest most dangerous parts of the city. He was not a nice man, he actually hit one lady. I left after nine months, I had a lot of fun with the other employees at that company though, nothing like a jerky boss to unite workers. Another good thing about that nasty first job was that it made every one after it seem lovely in comparison.

My next job was at a baseball cap factory. I applied the little button to the top of baseball caps, but that's not all I did, no siree. I also put those little round eyelets in the cap panels. We all know how important those eyelets are! That factory closed after I was there a little over a year and I decided it was time to get back to school.

I still was not 100% clear on what career I wanted to pursue. I had always been a timid sort and had little confidence in myself. I made a conscious decision to try the thing that frightened me most. (Face your fears head-on to eliminate them and become a stronger person is what I was thinking here.) I took a weekend class on computer programming. I had never touched a computer before so this was a huge scary step for me. Guess what, I liked it. I enrolled full time and got a degree in computer programming.

While attending college I worked at a bank and did their nightly processing work. A fun aspect of this job was watching the ATM monitor. I would see people doing the oddest things when they thought no one was watching. ATM users made rude gestures, mooned the camera, kissed the camera and kissed each other. Fun times.

After graduating I went to work for a company that developed, sold and maintained software for about 90 banks throughout the Midwest. My job was to customize programs when a bank wanted to do things a little differently than the norm. I also helped people when they ran into problems and needed help working their way out. It was fun to guide them through their rough spots. They were always very thankful and thought I was the bomb! This company was eventually bought by a larger company and they closed our office. I was offered a job by the new company but I couldn't leave my family and move to their office in Missouri. I can't be without my family!

Payroll specialist was my next title. I did the payrolls for many of the businesses in my small town. The bakery, factory, restaurant, veterinary office and many others. I also did bookkeeping work for a few businesses. Have I mentioned that I prefer to be creative and don't enjoy numbers much? I stuck it out for a couple of years before training a niece to take over.

I went back to school to become a massage therapist just like my older sister. It was a good fit. I had had my first child by then and could set my own hours, staying home with him most of the day. A bad car accident that did some damage to my neck and jaw made giving massages too painful for me to continue.

I helped my carpenter brother Rick part-time building spec houses.

My nephew Justin is profoundly mentally and physically handicapped. I was a licenced respite care provider for him until he turned 18.

My husband Bruce and I started a trucking company. We haul a liquid by-product from ethanol production plants. We deliver the liquid to cattle feeders. Cattle love to eat the stuff, its very nutritious and it's cheaper to feed than corn. I am the one who contacts the plants to procure the syrup we haul in our tanker trucks.

We quickly became too busy for my husband to continue feeding the cattle we had on our farm. I took over the cattle chores, while he drove one of our trucks 16 to 18 hours a day. I drove tractors, mixed and fed cattle feed, worked cattle(sorting, treating, loading, unloading), hauled manure, fixed machinery, basically did everything required to take care of cattle. I think this was my favorite job.

I have always done the bookkeeping for our farm and trucking business.

I was geared up (Get it? Trucks have lots of gears? Just ignore me and read on.) to start driving one of our 18 wheelers full time when I was diagnosed with cancer. I was driving the trucks with my husband in the passenger seat. Fun fact: People who want to practice driving a semi tractor trailer before taking their driving test need to have a learners permit. I had already taken and passed all the written tests required. However, the cancer treatments left me too tired to do much of anything, hence the name Slug-A-Bed. We sold the farm, I continue to do the bookwork for our growing trucking company and I stay at home with our two boys.

Last year I was a substitute teachers helper at my boys' elementary school. I worked in the special education room with mostly downs syndrome boys. I loved it but I became too fatigued and I ended up contracting every virus that thrives in the perfect conditions an elementary school provides, a side effect of my leukemia. Only when I get a normal childhood illness it sometimes morphs into a nastier version and I can suffer for months. Had to give up being a teachers helper.

So these are the jobs I have held. Wow, that is a long and diverse list.
  1. Baby Sitter
  2. Switchboard Operator
  3. Factory Worker
  4. Bank Employee
  5. Computer Programmer
  6. Payroll Processor
  7. Bookkeeper
  8. Massage Therapist
  9. Respite Care Provider
  10. Carpenters Helper
  11. Cattle Feeder
  12. Entrepreneur
  13. Teachers Helper
  14. Most importantly, I am a Circus Trainer/Mom to two wild boys!

What jobs have you had, what jobs are you training for?