On a high note, I'm back from Chicago, and had a FAB time with my little girl, who was sworn in by the Ill Supreme Ct!! I finally got to meet her friends and classmates (who were AWESOME) and some of their parents!

My heart does break a little, for this young woman, as she tries to balance love, life, and a new career in a foreign city. She is flying home from D.C. for Thanksgiving, and I hope to fatten her up a bit, and let her rest with no worries.

Mama's house=No Worries. It's usually messy, but filled with laughter, and warmth, and the best place in the world, to take an all day nap induced by a huge meal.

On the sad side of things, we are just recovering from Double Funerals 2 weeks ago, of friends and daddies of two little girls that go to school with my molly. Today, I join our entire school district, to bury one of the daddy's wife.

Miss Vicky went into the hospital, the day after we buried her husband. She never came home. A frail woman, she could not recover from the grief. It seem to engulf and eventually kill her.

Miss Vicky taught my oldest three children, in the first grade. We have known each other a long time. Since both of us found the 'love of our lives' late in life.....AND chose to have a child in this new love, we became friends again. We shared the disgust of having people gossip, and THEN have the gaul to ask us about our 'grandbabies'....we shared the kinship of the miracle of love, that only us two understood.

Today will be difficult for me, more tragic than the Wall of Shock that hit with the boat accident. She was only 45.

And a little 6 year old girl, has to try and understand death, being orphaned, and moving in with papa and mama.

Big week, and if anyone out there has an extra prayer or two for this family....please do what you can to ease their grief.

*sigh*

and another month flies by...the big, light-up pumpkin has been moved indoors, and into storage, and my thoughts are toying with the ideas of the upcoming holiday season....Do these seasons pass as fast for you?

I got a little vacation, and flew to Texas to lounge in my girlfriend's pool, sleep deep, eat too well, laugh hard, cry harder, and bask in the conversation of good friends. My thanks to all of you for coming, and especially to brandi, who hosted all the gabby women...I miss you all terribly, and can't wait till the next time we can all be together. My prayers and much gratitude to your families, for letting you all slip away for a bit just to entertain me. Loves will come and go, but girlfriends are forever.....(sistahhhhhhhhhs)

And back i flew to the rat-race and my job....which prior to this "flight' thing, was my career. *sigh*

Everyone has been SO worked up by wal~marts latest moves, that i can barely think straight! I live day to day in fear of losing my job, they are watching every move anyone makes, and people are leaving by the droves. Long term assoc's are leaving...my work family...people that loved their jobs are taking pay cuts, to get while the gittin's good.

They continue to spin to the press, making everyone think the assoc's are fat and lazy and whiners....nothing could be further from the truth.They have instituted policies, that are making the long term assoc quit...or stay and work AWFUL hours, (stay till midnight, be back in at 8am) one of the many ways they have to force you to quit. We are no longer wanted or needed, as ms chambers has decided that the 19 yr old college student, working part=time, can do everything that i can do, at a fraction of the cost....she thinks that they will save the company in the long run, as i am sure to develope diabetes and/or have a heart attack....but what she doesnt understand, that in 20 years, i've never had an accident....The young ones? oh man, it's constant with them...the constant jacking around that kids do, is just one reason why.

And the incident with the blow-jobs in the hay trailor???? well, lets just say that there were no adults out there....

The only way we can save ourselves (and the company) is to bring in a union...something i never thought i EVER would say....but what other options do we have??? we just can't stand up to Bentonville alone....something i never thought we would HAVE to do! And when Bentonville screams about the onset of the union....i hope they direct the screaming at the exec's that caused it.



Ive never been a union man....but since the H.O. quit caring about the workers that enabled them to have that second home, and jag in the driveway....i am about ready to side with ANYONE that can stop this mess! It is so totally not fair. And not a word from the Walton's....

To top things off, last nights communication was laced with what is yet to come. They will cut my vacation, my sick pay, and my profit sharing....Sam gave me the profit sharing, as a reward for the 20 past years....and all of us that got this company up and off the ground. The untold late hours, the unpaid lunch breaks, the 4am warehouse 'parties' We felt obligated to do whatever necessary to make it happen......and now??? now they are taking away my retirement. *sigh*

It seems, that AFTER the holidays (when they've squeezed every last bit of blood we have to offer) they will offer the 15 yr plus assoc a "severence pkg". If we choose not to accept it, and stay with our job (which many have to due to the insurance factor) then they will force us out, and we lose the profit sharing anyway. I hope the severence pay, is as nice as the one they let the embezzler at Headquarters leave with....they paid him about 6 million. THEY PAID HIM 6 MILLION AFTER HE GOT CAUGHT RIPPING US OFF!! wow....and my annual poverty wage seems to be what is going to drag them all down in the future??? amazing, isnt it???

I live between rumors, lies, innuendos and stress. The company is lying, the union is lying, and people are FEARING for the future. This is not the work environment that Mr. Sam had in mind. This is Susan *f/u-in-da CHAMBERS, and Eduweirdo Castro WRONG....I know that one day, when they are writing the eulogy of the company....they will know that those two led in the demise.
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On the home front, and probably causing an "unexused absence" was the loss of two of our young men, in this small ozark area. Loved by all, their lives we're lost doing what they loved.....fishing a bass tourney. They left behind classmates of my kindergartner, and the mommies that now have to go on and raise these beautiful children alone.

Halloween was a brighter day, and i saw one of the children smile and laugh again....My missy was picked as "prettiest costume" in her little class, and while momma beamed....i watched her walk from the place where the finalist were seated....back to her classmates. She wasnt too impressed with the whole deal....i mean...she was happy to be in the parade, but at the end of the day she would rather just be with her buds. I like the way she thinks.

Uncle Jack has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and Little Bill made it home with his wonderful girlfriend, and a new baby shitzu....to visit with him, and take his old mom, and his little sister...on a hike through the ozarks woods. It had been raining for a week, and he came home, the sun came out, and the temp rose to 80! That boy just does it that way for me.!!

I fly to chicago this week, to see my eldest sworn in by the Ill Supreme Court. She makes my world bright also. I havent seen her for awhile, and all my mommy cells are anxious to hug her!

Pray for all the above families, if you have the time....Make sure you take a second to kiss your spouse and your children tonight, and PLEASE keep in mind, that words like "retard" used as an adjective....do nothing but show ignorance, intolerance, and make you less than a desireable collegue, by one in four of anyone within earshot.

We need to continue to strive to make this world a little better, than it was when we got it.

Peace,

e