My Facebook Status Today... The Day the Government Really Failed

"Our government needs more middle class moms who can fully provide for a family of 4+ on under $50k a year (pre tax), own a home, a car and not be in debt up to their eyeballs; so say credit score of 770+ cause I can guarantee not one of the people in our government right now would qualify! If they can't live my life & balance my budget there is no way in hell they can balance the national budget."


For future reference today would be the day the government shut down because Senate, Congress, President, whoever...couldn't get their acts together to come to an agreement and put a budget together. So service members are not being paid, they are still fighting, their families are still sacrificing and I would hope the utility companies and creditors are compassionate to their plight. Hundreds of thousands of workers are furloughed and not being paid, they will get paid eventually, when these overpaid asses in the Senate, Congress or whatever stop falling over their narcissistic selves and put someone else first and come to an agreement. Oh they'll still take their fully paid spring break of course, and yes they are still being paid their full pay. Gas prices keep rising. The economy keeps slipping. But the rich asses on the hill don't care, they don't care because it really doesn't affect them. It never has. But all the while, taxes are still being taken out of every American's paycheck a lot of it being sent overseas for God knows what...can we please keep it here and fix this country first? Take a look at that line item in the not yet passed budget and see how many billions they are wanting to send out of this country....how much good could we do right here, or save right here? Let's fix US...U.S. 1st.

We're Staying in Oklahoma

Jerry didn't get the transfer to Denver so we'll be staying in Oklahoma...forever it seems....

I'm a huge believer in everything happens for a reason and truth be told I really didn't think this was all going to work out anyway. I am disappointed because I really, really wanted it but I'm not surprised. I would have been shocked had Jerry gotten the transfer actually.

I'm more upset with the way his boss has been treating him and that he has to continue to work for the man. He does nothing less then embezzlement on a daily basis. They are going to promote Jerry to a salaried position so he won't get about $15,000 in overtime each year now and the raise won't cover that plus he'll have more area to cover, more hours to work and less help...and well, still have to put up with this same supervisor who doesn't do his job, takes credit for things he doesn't come close to participating in completing/assisting in, blames his subordinates for his mistakes and wouldn't even help Jerry prepare for the interview in Denver; the other 2 guys interviewing for the position had supervisors who helped them prepare.

I'm not really disappointed to be staying in Oklahoma, I'm comfortable here. The money will go further here. But now we'll just wait and see why it worked out this way.

Some Pictures :)

Since it's been a while I decided I would post some pictures from the past few weeks and also mention that we went to the OKC Zoo's return of the Elephants grand opening. It was FREEZING the evening we went! But the new exhibit is nice, they have a huge area for the elephants, they must be enjoying it, it's the biggest in the country. I do like it when they make the exhibits more like the natural habitat for the animals which is what they did for the elephants and other asia animals that I'm guessing they will move over to the area when the exhibit is finished. A couple of years ago it is what they did with the Oklahoma Trails area, which is still one of my favorite area's of the zoo. But on to the pictures:

Jerry studying

New OKC Zoo Elephant Exhibit

Kaleb and Zachary on the tram at the OKC Zoo

Chimps near the Elephants at the OKC Zoo

Kaleb and Jerry during one of the snow days in Feburary

Kaleb and Zachary deciding it's too cold to go out in the snow

Zachary and Kaleb playing in the snow in the back yard

Still Waiting...

No call on Wednesday.

No call on Thursday.

No call on Friday.

So we get to wait the weekend.

Jerry has the Oklahoma City interview on Wednesday.

We're hoping we get a phone call and find out a yeah or nay about Denver before that.

And now we wait...

Jerry had his interview in Denver yesterday.

Two other people were also there to interview.

One of them put in for several positions in several different states.  That should go against him.  I mean that should look like he's just wanting to get out of Chicago (where he is currently working) and wanting to go anywhere.

Jerry has been expressing interest in Denver since he started with the railroad 2 years ago.

Jerry only put in for Denver.  Well, and Oklahoma City but he didn't have a choice with that one.

Jerry didn't know anything about the other person who interviewed for the position.

His current supervisor is being an ass so we'd really like to just get the heck out of here.

We now have to wait for them to make their decision.

Supposedly we'll hear something by the end of the week.

It's Wednesday...

So up to 2 more days...

Sickies!

I got to visit Urgent care AND the Emergency Room all in one day!

Last week Jerry went to Missouri to teach some class, he left Monday and I had such plans for the 3 days he was to be gone, it was Valentines Day. The boys and I had things to do and we were going to be busy! Monday Zachary wasn't feeling his best but he was doing ok, we went to swim lessons and Jerry called and all of a sudden I felt something coming on...oh great, whatever, I'll be fine. We went home and I made the boys soup and that was as far as I got, I laid down on the couch and was out for the count. I barely made it to 7 o'clock (thank god the boys can't tell time yet!) I sent the boys to bed and crawled into bed myself. The next morning my alarm went off and there was no way I could get up and take Zachary to school and then pick him back up and hour later, just no way. So I waited 45 minutes, drifting in and out of sleep and called the school. I told the lady who answered that Zachary would not be at school because he was sick, she said "you don't sound to good yourself", talk about an understatement!

I really thought I had the flu. The last time Jerry went out of town about 3 weeks earlier I got sick but was fine about 24 hours later so I figured this would be the same, at least this time Jerry didn't take the Tylenol with him. I took some Tylenol and sudafed left over from the last time I was sick. I noticed I could not swallow, not even my own saliva! That's never good. My throat wasn't especially soar, I just couldn't swallow, I'd try to take a drink and a small amount of water would trickle down my throat but that was it, I'd have to spit the rest out of feel like I was drowning.

The boys were mostly on their own for the day. Jerry called and said I sounded horrible, yeah well, I felt worse. The boys made themselves peanut butter roll-ups, grabbed an apple and cheese stick for lunch then snacked on fruit snacks and rice crispy treats. When Jerry called I told him I needed someone to come feed the boys dinner because I couldn't stand for very long and would not be able to do it. He was able to get Susan to come by when she finished work. She brought over pizza, fed the boys and got them to bed for me.

I really thought I would be feeling at least a little better on Wednesday. Boy was I wrong. First of all, I couldn't sleep because of the not being able to swallow thing. I hadn't eaten since early Monday, I had barely drank anything since Monday either, that was all taking a toll on top of just being sick. When my alarm went off on Wednesday I felt even worse. The thought did cross my mind to call an ambulance to take me to the emergency room but I had no one to watch the boys. I tried to call the school but was totally incoherent on the phone. I got 2 phone calls from the school advising me that Zachary was absent and I would need to send a note to allow him back into school. Wonderful. It was also class picture day, which I already paid for because it was supposed to be several weeks ago but school was cancelled on the original day for snow, so now I've paid for a picture Zachary won't even be in. So Wednesday I'm feeling even worse. I started throwing up flecks of blood. Wonderful. I can't drive myself to the doctor, I can't even stand, I can barely walk to the bathroom.

Jerry knows how sick I am, he's supposed to be back today, surely he left early, it's a 4-5 hour drive. He called at 9am, surely he's almost home....NOPE. He hasn't even left yet! I told him I needed to go to the doctor as soon as possible. I haven't been able to eat or drink in 3 days. He says he'll be home in a few hours. Surely he'll hurry back and not stop for lunch, right? Nope. He stops for a nice lunch at a nice restaurant with his boss, easily adding an additional hour to his drive back. The boys were on their own again. Granted they did get a little overzealous this day and attempted to cook corndogs in the toaster oven but geeze, had someone left early and not stopped for a long leisurely lunch on the way home they could have been here and had me at the doctor BEFORE lunch time and the boys would not have had to make themselves lunch. Jerry got home and was pissed, like I had been out partying or something. I could literally barely stand and he's mad because there is a small mess because I have no one to help me when I'm sick.

Then when Jerry got home, he took a 2 HOUR NAP because he didn't think Urgent Care was open yet. I called my doctor, I could barely talk at this point, the doctors office had a very hard time understanding me over the phone but the earliest they could see me was 2pm the next day, no way I could wait. I told Jerry to take me to Urgent Care now, he said they don't open until 4 or 5, it was only 2, so he took a nap! At 4 he called Urgent Care and found they opened at 8AM! So he finally took me. Found I had the worst case of strep they'd seen, my tonsils were so swollen they were touching which is why I could not swallow. And since I'm on blood thinners there was very little they could do for me. They prescribed me antibiotic (the biggest pills I've ever seen in my life, of course, I have problems swallowing, prescribe me the biggest pills on the planet!) and magic mouthwash, it's a numbing mouthwash, not that I was in pain but whatever. We went home and within an hour I was throwing up blood, a lot of blood. That is never good but for someone on blood thinners that's really, really bad. I was very surprised that Urgent Care didn't send me straight to the ER when they found out I hadn't had anything to drink in nearly 3 days. When Jerry called to tell them I threw up blood they said to go to the ER. Justin came over to watch the boys.

We went to the ER. We waited 2 hours just to get to triage. I felt horrible.  It was like someone could have walk in with a hole in their head and everyone would have still been watching me to see when I was going to fall over.  The doctor in the ER was wonderful. I grossed him out, and you've got to admit, that takes a lot to gross out an ER doctor.  My tonsils/strep was just that bad.  Even though it took an additional 2 hours after triage to get back to the ER in a room, it was nearly midnight before I got back there. They checked my INR and it was 4.8! They figured when I got sick (threw up) it ruptured my tonsils and that's where the blood came from and since my INR was already so high they were just going to treat me the way they would treat anyone else because they had to get my tonsils back down so I could eat and drink. They gave me IV fluids because I was so dehydrated, gave me steroids to shrink my tonsils, gave me antibiotics to start fighting the strep. By the time I left about an hour and a half later I felt much better and could already swallow.

The whole next day Jerry stayed in bed aside from taking Zachary to school and picking him up. I had to go to the store, make all the meals etc. Even though I was still pretty sick. Needless to say I'm still a bit bitter about all of this. I'm never this sick, I always work through being sick, this is the one time I literally could not do it and I had no help whatsoever.

My INR is now back in range so that's good.

I took Kaleb to the doctor the next day and he has strep, Zachary was also put on antibiotics because he was sick too. Now on Sunday the next week the boys are not done with their antibiotics yet and Zachary is coughing and hoarse and sick sounding again....Winter needs to just DIE!

To Elaborate on My Run-On Sentence About Denver From Yesterday...

Yeah, Holy run-on sentences Batman! The last sentence from this post is quite the run-on!  In my half hearted defense, I was in a hurry and just posted without proofing the post.  So sorry it makes no sense to anyone who doesn't know the players in the situation.  I'll try to elaborate today.

Side Note: Getting used to this slightly new keyboard on the Asus laptop is slightly weird!

Ok, back to the Denver thing.  Let me start by saying Jerry and I are having quite a time coming to a final decision on all of this and pressure from outside is not helping.  I'd love to talk to people who don't have a vested interest in what we do because then it might clear some things up in our mind.

Maybe I'll do this in a list, it might be easier to follow....but first some reminders...Jerry works as a police officer for the railroad, he is one of four officers in the entire state of Oklahoma one of whom is the supervisor and isn't technically assigned an area of responsibility but is out of Tulsa along with another officer.  There is one officer out of Enid who is retiring at the end of February and then Jerry in OKC.  The officers in Oklahoma are on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week, they pretty much make their own hours but loosely work 8-4 M-F, Jerry doesn't have any direct/daily supervision as his 'boss' is in Tulsa.  When the Enid guy leaves they are not filling that position, ever, it will be moved to Wellington Kansas (which also falls under the realm of the boss man in Tulsa) this would increase Jerry's area of responsibility.  Jerry already does the job of at least 2 officers (both by call volume and sheer miles he covers), they will NOT hire a 2nd officer for OKC even though it is needed.  The supervisor in Tulsa is probably going to retire in the next year or so, he is eligible at any time and everyone expected it (because he said he was going to) last December.

1.  Supposedly the OKC position is being promoted so Jerry would be salaried and would no longer received overtime, he'd still have to work 60 or more hours a week but would not get paid for it, just straight 40 hours per week pay, the promotion would NOT come with some huge pay raise, a small one yes, but it would NOT offset the loss of overtime AND we'd loose AWESOME health insurance and have to go to the regular health insurance.  There are some benefits in the long run but up front, not so much.

2.  Jerry and I have wanted to move to Colorado for years now.  We've discussed it and said that if the opportunity ever came up we'd take it especially if it came with a moving package and this transfer/promotion DOES include a moving package...and a very very generous one.

3.  If Jerry stays in Oklahoma he'd be doing the same thing at work forever, it would likely never change.  In Denver he would likely have the chance to do different things.  He'd likely have the chance to move up in the company.  In Oklahoma, even if his position is promoted, he'll be stuck in OKC, never be a supervisor, never move up, just be a line officer, responsible for more then 1/2 of the state, probably never getting his due credit.

4.  In Denver Jerry would work shift work, he would work 4 10 hour days with 3 days off.  He would rotate shifts every 4 months.  Once his shift was over he would be off duty and his phone would be turned off, he would not be responsible for calls until he went back to work again.  Very unlike Oklahoma where he would always be on call...

5.  We are very comfortable in Oklahoma, I've been here for 13 years and Jerry grew up here, he did live in Colorado for about 10 years but he's been back in Oklahoma for 15 years.  Moving to Colorado would mean learning a new town, meeting new people...I like that idea...even though it's scary, that's exciting.

6.  We're of course worried about finances, the pay would be the same in Oklahoma as it would be in Colorado so of course the money would go much further here.  We've done the research and know we can buy a house in our price range in Colorado, a nice house because of the number of foreclosures on the market there.  The moving package the railroad gives guarantees the sale of our house within 30 days or they buy us out.  If Jerry doesn't take this transfer and takes the promotion in OKC then we decide in a year or 5 years we want to go to Colorado anyway, we have to pay for the move and selling our house is up to us....obviously it's in our best interest financially to move now.

7.  Jerry has family in Oklahoma, in fact his whole family is in Oklahoma.  We don't see them often.  We see them for the boys' birthday parties and on Christmas for the OU/OSU bedlam football game.  That's it.  Four times a year and they live within an hour drive of us.  My brother lives near Denver so I'd live near someone in my family for the first time in 6 years.  And we'd only be about an 8-10 hour drive from Jerry's family, it's not that far...not like the 30 hour drive to get to my family we are now (to California).

8.  We've been looking for a new house in Oklahoma (before the Denver position came open we had already planned to sell our house and move into the next town North for the schools).  I don't know why even when I find a house I like I cannot get excited about it.  It's like it's not meant to be.  I found a house I really like today but it's just not right.  It's in an awesome neighborhood, in the schools I want for the boys, it's perfect, the kitchen is perfect.  This is THE house.  But something is not right and I've had this feeling the whole time we've been looking.


So a little on the people with a vested interest pressuring us...Jerry's boss is begging him to stay.  I know he is freaking out because he'd have to train someone new to take over the OKC spot but we need to do what is best for us.  He would not hesitate to take a job somewhere else to further his career regardless of who had to take on more work.  Granted he'd also be losing the Enid officer as well but sometimes life just happens that way.

Of course Jerry's family doesn't want us to leave Oklahoma but again, they moved when they wanted for their family.  That's just what you do when you have to.  They moved Jerry all over the place when he was growing up, even out to the country which he hated.  He almost ran away he hated it so much.  It's not like we'd never see them again.  Jerry said they used to visit a couple times a year when he lived there before but because they have the chickens and the cat now that they probably won't venture far from home...well...I don't know what to tell them, visit or don't, those are the choices.

Our friends don't want us to go but again, they've moved away when it was right for their family.  I've got friends all over the state of Oklahoma now because they moved away from the OKC area, I'd love it if they were all right here still but they aren't.  We've got computers for e-mail and facebook and phones and again, it's only an 8 hour drive to Denver, we'd still come back to visit family so it would just have to do I guess.

I actually never moved to Oklahoma intending to stay here for the rest of my life, so moving on 13 years after moving here actually seems a bit late to me...