Vyxxan's Virtual Venture

Archive for the ‘Everyday stuff’ Category

My husband Ron had an appointment with his (new) Neurosurgeon this week. New because his previous doctor no longer works at that clinic. He wanted another doctor anyhow, but didn’t have any luck finding another one… no one else would see him. He was lucky that another doctor at the same clinic would even see him. Sheesh.

The news wasn’t good. His neck is healing, but not fast enough to get the cervical collar off just yet. The collar is going to stay on until August now.

He had faxed the clinic new forms for FMLA last week so that those could be mostly filled out and ready to go after his appointment. Well, the clinic gave him the papers back and the most important bits were NOT filled out at all, thankfully we saw that and had it done before we left.

We drove from that appointment to his workplace. Human Resources guy wasn’t there, Ron had to go find a supervisor to take the forms and put them in the office. The few people I saw were wondering when Ron would be back… they really miss him, he’s a good worker. Quality and production are not the same without Ron working there.

Well, Ron got his answer about when he’ll be back the next day. He is no longer employed at EPC. You get 12 weeks of FMLA and that’s it, after that you will point out on attendance points and be fired. It’s not like he’s malingering… he WANTS to go back to work. They evidently can’t give him a medical leave of absence for any reason. You know he didn’t break his neck on purpose, it’s something beyond his control. But they are treating him like he’s staying home on purpose. Not like the good employee he’s been for 19 years in July. (he’s actually worked there for 20 years, but they have an anniversary date on July 1. If you start working there July 2, you have to work for nearly two years before you have an 1 year anniversary. Insane, eh?)

I’m ticked off. What a freaking lousy way to treat someone. Oh, sure, they’ll hire him back when he’s better, but as a new employee with no status and not even the same wages. But they let someone ELSE have medical leave for 2 years… right up to a retirement party for the guy. But for Ron it’s the sh** covered parachute.

There are no published policies for =anything= at that company any longer. They used to have an employee handbook that explained stuff like attendance points, vacations, bereavement leave, etc., etc. You know, like a normal company has. Heck, the previous HR person even tried to change the vacation stuff on Ron, and there was a notice that had been posted on their bulletin board for years with evidence to back him up. “With 16 years service you get 4 weeks paid vacation.” She tried to change it to 18 years. The Plant Manager was worried about that, as he was up for the 4 weeks, but Ron was the only person who spoke up and had it clarified by headquarters in Indiana. Can you imagine? The plant manager won’t even ask or get it fixed?

So I’m thinking that Ron ought to call or write to the headquarters in Indiana about this. That oughta be fun. Locally, the company is non-union. At headquarters they are union. If there was ever a time to have a union, this is probably one of them. Ron always wanted one here, but most of the other people where he works are too wimpy. They let some new HR person change vacation rules and never speak up. That ain’t Ron.

Of course it might not do any good, him calling. He’s now a Former employee. I’m so mad at EPC that I could spit. This is how you treat your employees? Hell, they aren’t even an American company any more… they are owned by some outfit out of Europe… and European companies tend to treat their employees better, or so I’ve heard. The plant here must be the red headed step child or something. Sheesh.

Today we went there and he turned in his key fob (opens the door), got his lock off his locker and cleaned that out. His key fob had already been deactivated. He’s got hundreds of dollars worth of tools in his two toolboxes, but we can’t get those yet. Would take a forklift to get em into the truck, and I’d get them home and not be able to get them back out of the truck. They did promise to watch over the toolboxes (which are locked) until we could come get them. We will see if that actually happens.

Shame on you EPC, for not having some kind of leave of absence policy, hell, for not having any policies at all except those you make up on a case to case basis. You really think Ron is coming back? Hell no! He only stayed with you as long as he did because of the vacation benefits. If he has to start over, he’s going to take a better paying job. Forklift drivers make more money than Ron was making. Ron has been a lead man at EPC, not just a machine operator… he knows machines, and if he doesn’t know them he learns them better than anyone else. Proof… he was running new machines. He could out produce anyone on any other shift, even if they worked more hours and had more experience than he did. Quality? Best. Other operators would keep running even if the machine was running junk. Ron wouldn’t… he’d get it fixed. Even with down time, he’d still out produce everyone else. Week after week after week… Running 3 shifts? Ron would produce more on his shift than the other 2 shifts combined. But he is temporarily disabled… so you fire him. Great idea. Idiots.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that. For now.

hugs,
Vyx

I walk the dogs around the pond every day… it’s part of the dog walking path that has evolved. Some days I feed the fish… stale bread and a handful or two of dry dog or cat food. We have LOTS of bluegills… and some bass, too. The bluegills eat the bread… it’s crazy to watch… they are almost swimming over each other and out of the water to get to it. Then, while they are busy having a feeding frenzy… the bass charge in and go after the bluegills.

Well, we of course also have frogs in the pond. Smaller ones that yelp when they get startled and leap into the pond. And then… the bullfrogs. Bullfrogs won’t do the kerplunk into the pond unless someone gets too close… and too close is pretty close indeed. The dogs practically trip over them before the frogs get out of the way.

All this week I’ve seen 3 big huge bullfrogs lined up OUT of the water and on the bank. All within a foot or so of each other, too, which is pretty unusual. They were on the side where I can actually get pretty close without being in danger of falling into the water. Hard to see, even for my human eyes looking for them… they’ve got good camouflage!

(sorry about the blurry… same camera, still acting up now and then)

I was sure the camera had focused better on that, sheesh. But then I saw the other one…

The third frog was a bit further away, and the dogs startled him into the pond before I could get a photo.

Then we continued on…. and the wild roses are in full bloom right now. This bush used to be a lovely giant mound, but it got blown over sideways by a storm last year. It’s filled back out… it’s a sort of rambler, but growing more like a bush. They smell very lovely, tiny little single white flowers and gazillions of them!

We of course have more of the bushes… mostly in the fence row. I’ve noticed more of them along the roads this year than I have before. Must be a good blooming year for them, although the ones here usually are pretty lovely. These aren’t as invasive as the wild pink ramblers, nor as thorny.

Anyhow… spring has sprung here, and I’m in the midst of the hummingbird migration. 30 to 50 birds at my 4 feeders in the evening (probably the morning, too, but I’m mostly not here) It’ll calm down in a few weeks and I won’t be going through so much sugar keeping them fed. Good timing for them, as the red clover has been blooming in the field.

Speaking of feeders… I know I need to fill at least one tonight….

hugs,
Vyx

LOL, sounds kind of crazy doesn’t it? I don’t wear make up. I barely remember to put moisturizer on my face. I’ve always been lazy about my hair… I keep it short so that it’s easy to care for and I use cheap shampoo. I just have never been too interested in looking like everyone else.

But I saw something advertised recently that sort of interested me. I have an eyebrow problem, always have had. If I don’t do something I basically have a big brown caterpillar across my face. For most of my life I did nothing most of the time. Shave off the middle, maybe, if I even bothered to do that.

Then a friend told me that getting my eyebrows waxed would probably work really well AND it wouldn’t hurt nearly as bad as I thought. I knew tweezing was never gonna be my thing. So, I went and had it done. I was amazed… it really =didn’t= hurt that bad, and I finally had shapely eyebrows! This was 10 years ago or so. Since then I’ve gone to salons to have it done, tried various products at home to do it myself, but I was never really happy with the results. The best eyebrows were that first time. Then it all went down hill. Got one of the best haircuts once, but the stylist who cut my hair so well almost gave me two black eyes doing my brows. It’s sort of a hit or miss thing… even with the same stylist. I’ve come home far too often with mismatched brows. Doing it myself is almost as bad… sometimes wax strips would work, sometimes they wouldn’t, and I tried quite a few products. Cold liquid wax, strips, goo, glorified tape.

So, when I saw this new heated wax system being advertised I thought… hmm, maybe. It’s the Sally Hansen Simple Spa Wax Warmer kit. Not too expensive to try, at about $20. I got one. No cloth strips, which I was skeptical about. Can they really make a wax that doesn’t need a way to get it off?

Yes, they can. It works beautifully. It works better than any hot salon wax I’ve ever had done. Much better than the cold wax stuff at home in any variation. No cloth strips to either wash or throw away depending on the type of goo used.

The applicators are just craft sticks… popsicle sticks and tongue depressors, and that is a mistake. Need a thinner stick for eyebrows, really. Not a problem, I can find the size stick I need for next time. The wax heats up in about 20 min. or so, and you test the heat on your inner wrist before using. Don’t want it too hot. Apply it… and this is the tricky part if you are doing your own eyebrows, lol! I managed to drip some right into my eyelashes… that small craft stick is too big even for my bushy eyebrows. But it comes off with a bit of baby oil, so I didn’t have to yank out my puny eyelashes. Let it cool a bit, then rip it off. It takes all the hair and not the skin. Most of the home products always take some of my skin, too. This one didn’t. Not only that, but the redness went away faster.

So, and I know this is a weird place and time for me to be posting a beauty product review… but I love this new kit. It works better than anything else out there for home use, and I rate it better than salon wax, too. Hey, if I mess up I have only myself to blame… I’m sort of tired of paying someone ELSE to give me mismatched eyebrows. Five stars for the Sally Hansen Simple Spa Wax kit!

Hugs,
Vyx

Aiden Reilly Campbell. Born March 10, 2011 at 7:30 pm. 8 lbs 5 oz and 20.5 inches long.

My first grandbaby! I got to hold him today, and I cried. He’s really precious.

I’ve been having trouble with my camera… so these aren’t the best pictures. Oh well!

Here is one with his momma, my stepdaughter Candice.

Awesome!

hugs,
Vyx

This past week has been wonderful with spring-like weather. Nearly all the snow is melted… the few bits that are left are in deep all day shade. Even the giant piles in parking lots are melted away.

It’s been great dog walking weather, although a bit mushy in places. Today it’s not so mushy, and the little temporary creek in the hay field is down to just a bit of mushy…. rather than a creek I’d have to jump! I wore normal shoes today, instead of my boots. Only needed my jacket for the pockets… gotta have treats for when we are done walking, the dogs expect it and will sit in this nice row for me, waiting for the hand out. :)

Earlier today I was out and about in the yard, with a week of mild weather things start thinking it’s spring already. I can see the cause of my latest allergy attack… the maple is blooming. I’m sure other trees are, too. Ugh.

All of the pink amaryllis are coming up… the ones that I moved and divided up last year. It will be interesting to see if they bloom, but they did poorly where they were before, mostly just did a lot of leaves in spring. Not surprising, they were planted in a few inches of dirt on top of the concrete footing that surrounds the house! They should do much better out in full sun and dirt to actually put roots down into. I just hope they grow faster than the grass, so they can build up energy to bloom. Otherwise they are in danger of being mowed.

Also showing leaves are my hyacinths. I love spring blooming bulbs, I really should plant a gazillion daffodils and tulips and crocus and such. I have plenty of stuff at my house… but no tulips any more. Tons of daffodils I could dig up a few and move em here. Some little bulbs that I forget what they are called… get bright blue flowers. (something with snow in the name, they bloom real early, too) Tulips do wonderfully here in Arkansas, the only reason I don’t have any at my house any more is because my pet pig Opal dug them all up and ate them. I tried to keep Opal out of that flower bed, but she’d just knock down my “fence” and dig more of em up. Pet pigs and flower beds don’t mix. Pet pigs and where you want a NEW flower bed works pretty well, though… just pen up the pig where you want it to dig. They’ll root up all the rocks, eat everything that is edible, and you can end up with an area that will need smoothing out, but will also be fertilized already. :) Opal passed over the rainbow bridge a while back, and I was lucky to have known her, even if she did eat all my tulips. :)

So, with the lovely weather today I got a little flat “mini greenhouse” at the store. Peat pellets and the plastic stuff to hold em in, keep em moist. I bought some artichoke seeds late last year, and managed to kill the few that I got to sprout. Time to try again, when I can actually set them out sooner rather than later. I won’t bother growing my tomatoes from seed, don’t have a lot of room to be starting a bunch of plants like that. I am going to put a few wildflower seeds in, though, and hope they sprout. With 16 spots, I need to have something else to sprout than just artichokes. I don’t need that many artichoke plants, just a few that I’ll have to baby through our hot summer.

Forgot to look at seeds, so on my way home later I stopped at a dollar store to find turnip seeds. I got the ONLY pack they had. I mixed bunching onion, radish and turnip seeds all together with some seed starting mix in a jar. Then I went out and used a cultivator and made one long row in our garden. Sprinkled the seeds and dirt mix out, pressed it down, and raked over. It might be a little early for all that, but you never know around here. Those are all things that like cooler weather. I love turnips and radishes in the spring, and it’s been a few years since I got any decent radishes to eat. I keep trying to grow them in pots, and that doesn’t work well at all. They need the cool and damp ground to grow in. Hopefully this year I’ll get some to eat.

Of course we can and probably will get freezing weather again. But radishes and turnips can survive that. I don’t know that I will… I hope this isn’t just a teaser of spring and we go to super cold and more snow again. It =could= be spring now, I’ve seen it start this early here. Keeping my fingers crossed!

hugs,
Vyx