Friday Morning

Oh, my - so many have problems with sleep.  I am SO fortunate with that.  Maybe twice a YEAR I have a night where I have trouble.  Usually I fall asleep quickly and only get up once to use the bathroom - then right back to sleep until the alarm goes off.  The alarm is MY problem!  I could sleep way past it but have to get up for work or to take Michael.  Oh, well.  My time will come some day.

Others of you have such worries.
  Connie - I hope the grandkids bring lots of joy.  I'm sure they'll wear you out, too.  Take care of yourself and have lots of fun.  Those will be memories to treasure.

Susan - the weather sounds trecherous!  Glad you can stay in - in fact, I'm a bit envious of that.  Enjoy the down time.

I'm looking forward to the weekend.  There isn't a whole lot going on, but enough to be interesting - coffee with WLS group, lunch with Michael's sister and husband, and various projects around the house.  We may check out some music on Sunday, We'll have to see.  Otherwise, I have laundry, housework, and bills to occupy my time!  LOL

Have fun everyone, and take care.

Good Morning Jan and All the rest of you wonderful OFFr's,

Insomnia is not fun, luckily I have not had much dealings with it in the last couple of years. . . 

So many things going on in our little world, people with serious illnesses, or having close familyl members who are dealing with them, then there is the economy and how it has deeply affected so many of us, either through unemployment, fear of job loss or just struggling do to the ever deepening expense of living. . .  I have no solutions and I, too, have been affected financially over the last year and if I don't find a solution soon, I may just have to give up my American Dream and go back to being an apartment dweller, but if that becomes my reality, so be it, I just can't let life get me down and keep me there.  I have a good life as a result of a fair amount of exertion on my part and to say that it does not get me down at times would be a lie, but I just keep on moving, as they say depression can't hit a moving target. 

The latest situation in my world, is my sweet Angela who is trying to find a nursing job and not having much luck yet, she is applying for jobs, working as much as possible at her old job as a medical biller while studying for her boards, and last night called to ask me if she could borrow money for her car payment, as she was two months behind. . .  I gave her my credit card number, as I don't even have enough savings to help her make her payment, but they won't take a credit card, so she paid them what she had and hopes to pay the rest when she gets her tax return, luckily, she only has about 2 more payments to go and hopefully, by then she will have passed her boards and gotten a job, well they won't take a credit card payment, so she gave them what she could and found a job.  They say we have a nursing shortage, but now everyone is becoming so picky, that many of the hospitals won't take a nurse without a bachelors degree.  What is going on in this great country of ours?  I just don't get how we are going to fix what is so broken without totally revamping things, the tax burdens are killing the middle class and those who have money seem to have all the opportunities to get relief or just not feel what the average "Joe" is going through. . .  I have worked hard all my life to get where I am, only to find that I have essentially gotten no where and have very limited vision as to what to look forward to, retirement is a dream that I sadly think will never be realized and my American Dream is sinking fast, but at least I can say I had it, though for now, I still do. . .

Thanks for letting me sound off. . .  I fear for my children's children and just wish I could do more, as it seems no matter who we vote for, the mess sure seems too great to fix. . .

Wishing all of us the strength to carry on, life and aging is not for sissies. . .

Hugs, Laureen

Hi Jan and everyone who follows,

Wow, it's Friday already!

Jan, I'm sorry to hear about the virus in your computer.  :P  We finally put a firewall on our computers in addition to McAfee and that's cut out problems nearly 100%.  Of course, there's still hardware failure which is what happened to my computer.  Oh well.

About what to do when I can't sleep:  I try surfing on the computer or reading my book.  If my DH is up, I'll turn on music.  If he's sleeping, I listen to Beethoven or other classical music on my mp3 player.  I just sort of tough it out until I get sleepy again.  Insomnia.  Bah.

ETA:  I also take temazepam and that helps *a lot*.  I haven't had too many bouts of insomnia since.  I take 100 mg a night.

i like questions like the FFF you do on your other forum.  When I get those "getting to know you" posts in my email I always answer them and forward them on.

The week's been up and down and I've been busy with other things.  Hope to be back again soon!

Have a wonderful start to the weekend, everyone!
Cassie

Hi Jan and my OFF family:

I too couldn't sleep last night, and I take something to help me sleep, in fact several somethings: I take Elavil (an antidepressant that's supposed to help sleep and Neurontin to help my pain). Well, last night, nothing helped, plus I was in pain, plus my mind was on overdrive. I was tired and went to bed at 11 and watched the news and then Nightline, then read for awhile and thought I was sleepy enough; dozed off and got up after 45 minutes and couldn't get back to sleep. So I got up and read for awhile, tried to sleep again, couldn't get back to sleep, finally got up and had a glass of milk and watched some TV (something on my DVR, just like George). That, obviously, relaxed me enough to get me to sleep. I was sleeping peacefully when the phone rang at 10 a.m. ... it was the outplacement service calling about helping me with my resume. I was planning on sleeping longer! So now I was up after only six hours of sleep and me still having to work tonight. Damn!

I had a wonderful day yesterday, going to see "Avatar" in 3D ... loved it! Then I did my shopping and came home to relax, but of course I couldn't because the damn condo association sent me a bill for filing in small claims court for past due condo fees, even thought I just talked to the woman two weeks ago and told her I would pay for those when I got my income tax refund. I told her I was going to be unemployed, that I was putting my condo on the market. So I guess that's what had me all riled up and kept me awake last night. Anyway, I talked to her this morning and she said the reason they filed was because she thought I said it was going to go into foreclosure ... I told her the condo was paid off until October and I already put it on the market and was trying to sell on a short sale. "Oh ... well, I'll stop the small claims," she said. Why don't people listen? I'm trying to communicate with them and get my bills paid before I'm unemployed, and she doesn't listen to me. In two weeks, I'll have this paid off.

I talked this morning with my cleaning lady and told her about my high mortgage and condo fees, and she said she knew of some cheaper apartments ... she's going to check around for me and see what would be available. She has some rentals but also knows of others who have rentals, even subsidized housing (which I'd be eligible for on unemployment). I feel fortunate to have so many people looking out for me.

Anyway, I need to get my butt in gear and make this cake for work tonight. I promised a coworker a cake for his birthday ... it was Wednesday but he was off, so I said I'd make one for Friday evening. We'll probably go out for drinks after work too ... I hope so!

Have a good day.

hey gang!!!! TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i'm checking in quickly-with the way my job is continually evolving; i may be forced to come to mc d's 6 days a week for the next month-oh darn!!!!maybe someday i'll get caught up!!

jani-i take 3 valarian root everynite to get to sleep-an herb-availabale walmart or.....

so much to share but heading home-i need a nap and my michael has almost forgotten who i am!!!!!!
hugs and prayers for all....

Hi Jan and all my OFF friends,
Well, we had an impromptu employee meeting yesterday to find out that all salaried employees are being cut 10% of their pay.  There have been lay-offs too.  People that I think were valuable to the company.  Scary and sad.  I'm hourly so I was not affected . . . yet.  The company is in "survival" mode and cutting everything to the bone.  I'm emotional saying goodbye to people I've worked with for eleven years.  Many are engineers and the job market for them is flat right now.  I don't know how they will do.
Tomorrow Hubs and I go to Worcester, MA to see Martina McBride and Trace Atkins in concert.  We are going to leave early and stop for supper before.  It's a two hour and fifteen minute drive for us.
I started the afghan last night for the boy scout raffle.  I had to go get more yarn on my lunch hour today.
I got my W-2 yesterday so we can start doing our taxes.  I think we will do it right away so we can get our refund quicker.  We need a new tub and surround.  You almost can't see the tiles for all the caulk we've put on them to keep it from leaking into the basement.  I'm thinking of lowering my 401K contribution since my employer no longer matches.
I'm thinking of all of you with money problems.  I wish you good fortune and things improve this year. 
Bev