Adult Catch Up - part one

G-man and I are both okey dokey.  We both got the cold that the kids had in November, and G-man is struggling to get over another head cold (which seems to be starting in me as of last night!).  I told him I have no interest in the cold, and he can keep it to himself, but I guess he felt compelled to share.  Woo.  Hoo.

G-man

G-man's mom came to visit over Christmas, and I think she had a good time.  I know G-man enjoyed having her here.  Since his dad passed away in 2009, we haven't seen her alot.  So it was good to catch up and see that she is doing well.  She has a "boyfriend" of sorts...as she said, someone to hang out with on the weekend for dances (at the Elks Club?  Moose??).  She doesn't really seem to LIKE him romantically, but I guess he feels different.  He wants to marry her, and she has NO interest in that.

And in a nice change of events...I was not the Devil Incarnate for her.  I guess my brother-in-law and his wife are being pretty rotten, so she was happy to be here and not dealing with them.  From what she has said....they have treated her quite poorly.  This could be its own novel....but case in point.....Christmas.  She wanted to go over to their house to bring the kids their Christmas gifts.  They couldn't "fit her in" so BIL offered to just pick the gifts up.  She said no, I want to see my grandkids...so they managed to find one evening for "family night".  The kids pouted that they had to stay in that night and no friends could come over.  They are 12, 10, and 7. 

Office work is standard fare.  The overtime budget, which was almost non-existent in the past year, was cut in half again.  If you take out the Boston Marathon incident....he only worked about 8 hrs of overtime for the year (everything was comp time).  So unless something BIG happens, there won't be any overtime this year.  We never counted on overtime as part of the budget, but it definitely helped with some larger things. 

His second job, all of a sudden, is giving him some problems.  He has been there 10 years....and the current schedule he works as been like this for 3 years, without a problem.  All of a sudden, there is a new store manager, and he doesn't like the schedule.  G-man talked to him and told him he has a full-time job (which the guy claimed he didn't know), and this is his availability.  Well, the manager is "threatening" to move him to a different department (a demotion of sorts).  G-man talked to the Union Rep (in 10 years, we have probably paid close to $4000 in union dues, so let them do something!), who said to talk to the manager and see what happens.  If they do want to move him, then call HR and talk to them (with rep present) and fall back on the fact that the schedule has not been a problem until all of a sudden.  But ultimately, management CAN move him.

We think it is a ploy to get him to quit.  There are no grounds to fire him, and he has union protection.  But as a 10 year employee....his hourly rate is higher than the other people.  We think that they are trying to get him to leave so they can bring in someone cheaper.

Other Stuff

We purchased a "new to us" car at the end of October.  It is a '01 Toyota Camry, with 113k miles.  Out the door is was about $5600....amazing that a 12 year old car was that much.  We looked at several, but cars in the $3000 range had either mechanical issues, or higher mileage.  We had no trouble getting the loan, the problem was the interest rate.  To get the "car" rate, the car couldn't be older than 2007.  So we had to get a higher rate.  The loan is a 5 year loan, but once other things are paid off in 2016, this loan will disappear fairly quickly.  We don't love this car....it is a stop gap car.  It runs well and holds its value.  G-man freaked me out and said "Maybe we can keep it and let Sassy drive it in a few years."  EEEEEKKKK.  I am not ready to think about her driving.

And in another installment of the "Really?" category....our neighbor BROKE our fence.  He works on cars, and apparently someone backed through part of it.  It is plain jane standard tall privacy fence.  It is old (at least it was here when we bought the house 12 years ago) so the wood isn't as strong as it used to be.  But this one panel is destroyed.

The owner of the house was out of town when it happened, but he came over when he got home and said he would pay for a new panel and install it.  G-man said fine, and it can wait until the weather is a little warmer....probably closer to March/April.  We wouldn't be able to paint/stain it until then anyway (not that it will match, since the rest of the fence has several more years wear on it).  We inspected the rest of the fence, and we aren't going to be able to keep patching it for long.  We have already repaired several panels over the years.  Parts of it look like they are bowed or leaning.  The bottom line is that the fence WILL need to be replaced in the nearer future (with the deck, and the front porch....).  2016 is the magic year when stuff is paid off and our cash flow will drastically change.  So unless something changes (more about this in another post), we will keep patching the spots and hope to address all of this in 2-ish years.

Our coffee pot died in December....I really liked that one.  Not loving the new one as much. 

The microwave is being funky as well.  The handle broke on it YEARS ago, but the cost to fix the handle was half the cost of the entire unit, so we just lived with it.  Now the door latch sensor thingy is going.  I had one day that I opened the microwave mid cooking....and it kept going with the door open!!!  That freaked me out.  We are being very gentle with it and hoping to not replace it for awhile.  It is about 7 or 8 years old.





 Never a dull moment.....