It's Been 84 Years... No, No, Five. It's Been 5 Years

 Do you quote movie lines at your house? We do it a lot around here. My title is from Titanic, but you probably already knew that. 😊 Can you see 'old' Rose beginning to tell her story?

Anyway, today - May 23 is Beth's fifth anniversary working at Westgate!

She had worked at Little Caesars for 5 years folding pizza boxes, when the new owner got rid of her position. The manager lobbied for Beth, the other employees tried to keep her there, even the DART driver when he heard she was losing her job went in to speak to the manager. Nothing changed her mind. When Beth got home from work that last day she sobbed. It broke my heart.

For the next two years we waited for Beth's job coach to find her a job. She went on a few interviews but then we heard from the coach less and less. It was during this time I got the supervisor position at my job and after about a year I asked my boss if I could hire Beth. He loved the idea and she's worked there ever since. 

This was her very first day, May 23, 2019 

 

She started out cleaning our preschool two days a week: emptying the trash and vacuuming all seven classrooms. She now works one day a week because I changed the days I work, and we've hired an overnight cleaning crew. (We have a huge building and two dozen events every day. It was putting a huge strain on our custodial staff.)

Over the years she's set up chairs, vacuumed carpets, stocked shelves, and disinfected everything from bathrooms to push bars on the Sanctuary doors.

We have a Length of Service award lunch every fall, celebrating those who have worked 5, 10, 15... years. As her supervisor I'll get up and say a few things about her and she'll get a small bonus. I'm looking forward to that! 

Just Day-to-Day Stuff

 Good morning,

 

I'm writing this on my day off so it is actually morning! There's nothing major going on around here just little, normal day to day stuff.

 

Allison made crepes for us on Mother's Day, she did such a great job! She and Sharaya had sliced strawberries, blueberries, nutella, chocolate chips... everything was so good!

 

 

The girls went together and got me a print that reads The Anderson Family and it's got all of our birth flowers. I haven't hung it yet but it's going to go great in the dining room. I love it.

 

After lunch we headed outside for some pictures. Always my favorite part of the day!

Sharaya, her daughter Allison, Me and Beth

 

 

Look at her! She's almost as tall as Sharaya!

Diana's family is on the East coast but she sent me this one. Peter took it of her and Adelaide. So cute!

 

 

After Sharaya and Ally left, Chuck, Beth and I went walking up at Hickman Park again. We drove there and started walking together but then we each ended up walking at our own pace. Separately but together. It worked out really nice. I think we each did 4 laps around the park. 

 

 

I don't know if you can you see Beth in this picture. 

Sort of the middle right, above the bicycle. She's wearing a red shirt.

 

Beth and I did our usual grocery shopping after work on Thursday and when we got to our meeting spot she showed me that she only had two things of junk food: one package of licorice (last week was two) and one share size (not family size) of M&Ms. I told her I was so proud of her and that she had made some great choices. You could tell she was excited.

 

Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, our church is gearing up for our Pentecost Sunday celebration. We have a lot of people born in other nations that will carry their flag in a 'parade' through the Sanctuary. One by one they stand at the microphone and declare that their nation "exalts the name of the Lord!" It's pretty emotional when you realize this is what heaven will be like! Every people, nation, tribe and tongue will spend eternity worshiping the Lord together! (No judgements, no hate.) After service, we're having 10 food trucks in the parking lot serving food from China, Mexico, Thailand, India, Sweden... It's one of the biggest celebrations of the year for us!

 

I don't know how many nations will be represented on Sunday but the flags wrap all the way around the foyer!

 

 

 

That's about it from here. I'm picking Ally up from school today then will head to Penney's to return a pair of jeans, and maybe do a little shopping at Kohls. Have a great weekend!

Mother's Day, Birds, Gardening... All Things Spring

 Hi everyone,

 

It's been a busy week and I've really gotten a lot done. I always feel so good when that happens! With our Disneyland trip coming up in July we're all trying to walk more and build up endurance. Sharaya and I did laps around the path at a park just a couple blocks from our house. We've had gorgeous weather this week - sunny with temps pushing 80. Beth didn't want to come with us (she had gone bowling that day and bowled two games, so she just walked up and down our street.) And I was okay with that. I was glad she was willing to do that!

 

Hickman Park

 

 Just a couple days after I wrote the post about the bird's nest I noticed the eggs were gone. That's the first time that's happened. I don't know what animal got to them - the nest doesn't seem to be disturbed - but all the eggs are gone. Usually we see mom and dad sitting on the nest, they fly past us as we open the door, and they hadn't been doing that. So one day I peeked in. 😔 They haven't been back to tear apart the nest so I plan to just leave it there. Maybe they'll mate again??

 

I bought some geraniums and marigolds at Home Depot and spent Wednesday afternoon planting them all. I do love color in my yard. I don't have a green thumb, but I try hard. 😊 

 

This Monday, May 13 is the anniversary of the day my mom died. I realized the other day it's been 19 years. That just seems crazy that it's been that long. She and my dad got married when she was 16 (it was a way out of her abusive home) so she didn't graduate from high school. After all her kids were in school she went to night school and got her diploma. 

 

Us at Disneyland. I think I was in the 4th-5th grade.

And a few years later, me and my girls at Disneyland. 

Back when I was the tallest. 😁

 

While I've been writing this the washing machine began thumping so I paused it, then re-adjusted all the towels and started it back up again, wrote a little more, then made some iced tea... now it's 11:30 and the outside is calling me! 

 

It's good to be catching up with all of you again. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Mother's Day.

We'll Give This a Try

 I've used The Cutest Blog on the Block for many years and when I went to find a new background, I learned you now have to pay for them. I'm not ready to do that yet, so I'll try some basic blogger themes for now. I may tweak it later but for now, I think I'm headed forward.

For a week our old computer was dead. I couldn't get it working for anything. Finally Friday night it came on with a blue screen telling me it was collecting error data. Then a countdown giving 6 hours, 9 hours, 14 hours, I finally turned it off again when it reached '19 hours' to perform this data check. 

I looked up how to start my computer when that screen appears and it suggested I start and restart my computer three times. The fourth time I'd probably lose a lot of data but there was a chance the computer would be working again. I had nothing to lose at this point so I turned it off. And on. And off. 

And I began to cry. All those photos. I had a folder of my great grandparents. Each of my girls growing up from birth to the present, my parents, (who are both gone now) my sister, who passed away in 2022... I knew it was my own fault for not backing everything up. I kept telling myself I have these photos, they're in the house somewhere, I wasn't losing them forever. But I've organized these right here on the computer, ready when I need them. I asked the Lord to do a miracle and please bring that computer back to life. Just long enough for me to transfer everything.

I turned it back on. And off again. I was sobbing now. I had a knot in my stomach. 

I turned it on... and it came on!!! My desktop was there! I could click on the photos and I began to transfer them folder by folder. And it kept working!! I transferred our documents, things from our desktop... it took me more than two hours but I got it done! I know God did a miracle that night. That computer was DEAD. 

I woke up the next morning with a tension headache. I wonder why. 😌 I now have all of those photos on a flash drive with just a very few here on the computer. I definitely learned my lesson.

So now I'm hoping to be blogging a little more regularly and reading more too. Thank you for your patience and encouragement!