my new friend cammy

hey check out her blog, (camilles maximum rewards)it's listed on the side of my post. she's new to the blog scene.
today we're starting to wind down, should be back to a somewhat normal life soon....
i'm missin my babies and the great outdoors, i think spring finally sprung. got thru my
tired spell this morning, was ready to drop about 7:45 am. and i had only been at work since
6 am. pretty sad when you can be exhausted after only being outta bed for 2 hours and 45 minutes. gotta run don't forget to check out cammies blog. i think she'd enjoy a little hello from someone besides me! :)
she's been working with me for the past month. quite new to the construction field!!! great personality and funny!

this is what i do...this is who i am....

i am a timekeeper for a construction company. i have been in the union trades for almost 20 years now. back in the time, i started out as a bus driver, bringing in the workers, delivering water, posting permits, etc, etc. the fun kind of things. now i have worked my way up to be called an office manager. i take care of hiring our employees, which at times may exceed 200 plus people, i submit time into our payroll system and generate cost reports on a daily basis to the mill. our last job we did was slightly over 3 million dollars with labor alone, and that was in a 7 week time. lots and lots of overtime. this job so far is topping out at over 2 million right now and will probably be closer to 5 when we are entirely done including everything. in my career i have met thousands of people. i have seen many places and i have missed my family so much i have shed many tears. usually our jobs last anywhere from 3 to 5 weeks from start to finish. so if you think about it, it's almost like we start a new company do the work and then the company shuts down. then we start all over again. it's incredible. it really is. we work long hours for days and days at a time. i've gotton so tired that sometimes i don't even feel like my mind is attached to my body, if you can imagine that. we eat alot of microwave food, i have found that stofers has the best meals in a box, lean cuisine is great.
in my life as a laborer (by trade) i have also worked with boilermakers, pipefitters, millwrights, operators, it has been an interesting life. i have been a block tender, hole watch, flagger, i helped rebuild a target store, i worked building a prison, i worked on a pipeline which was by far the most interesting of all my jobs. we were the tie in crew who would lay pipe (36 inch in diameter) across roads and thru streams and would have to work up to 18 hours a days 7 days a week, one night we put in thru a trout stream and had a 24 hour window, we worked all night long i went home showered and went right back to work and worked 10 more hours. so in 2 days i worked 34 hours. wow! i don't think i could do that anymore. it's been a good life but the last couple years i am feeling the pain literally, i have lower back issues, my shoulders hurt, my fingers hurt, my wrists bother me, i have aches and pains on a regular basis, from pushing myself to the limits to do my job. when i was a block tender i use to stack 93 pound blocks, they're like the ones you build basement walls out of only king size. for the first 2 weeks of that job i thought i was gona die, i hurt soooo bad, then i just got muscly and was in great shape for awhile. now i do alot of sitting behind a desk. i hate that part about my job. i especially love the outdoors and enjoy working outside on my own time and do quite abit of that when i can. i've had a pretty interesting life. i do like my job, i enjoy meeting new people and making new friends. i have met people from coast to coast. i have learned to understand the southern drawl quite well. i will write more later in a different post about my life and how i've been livin it. all in all i have a wonderful life and have been blessed with a family who has put up with me over the years. my children have been understanding and have uplifted me many times when i have needed them. i love them so much it hurts.
i hope i haven't bored you too much. just thought i'd do a little sharing.
what do you do for a living and how has it affected your family over the years?
if i don't get on to post before the Memorial Weekend, i hope you all enjoy it and not to forget to remember all of those we have loved but lost on this coming up Memorial Monday.
drive safe........

guess who i am in the photo?

it's Ground Hog Day

work.......... i always thought that we should be able to retire first and then after our bodies are worn out from having fun, then we should go to work. that makes sense to me and i'm sure many of you would agree. i have found out that by the age of 45 my body has started feelin the pain of what i've been putting it thru all these years. i hurt here, i hurt there, hell i hurt everywhere. lately i've been working for 14 hours a day, just long enough to go home, eat, sleep, and get up to do it all over again. around here we call everyday "Ground Hog Day" if you haven't seen the movie you are missin out. go rent it today!! it is too funny. it is one of my favorite movies!
i haven't seen the news for almost 3 weeks. i don't even know what is going on in the world. it is a weird life i live sometimes. it will come to an end next week, one more week to go. i can't wait....for ground hog day to finally be over................................

my job, my family, my stress

to my daughter whom takes my crap all the time i want to tell you i love you and that i can't wait to be around long enough to have a nice quality visit with you,(not to mention a nice visit with my son also) which i need right now.
for all of you out there. i work extra long hours for weeks at a time, i unfortunately give it my all and it reflects on missing out on alot of special events in my life. the most important one that i missed so far was the birth of my littlest grandson whom came into this world 7 weeks pre mature. i was suppose to be around on his due date. i didn't get to meet him until he was 3 weeks old. all because of my work. granted if things didn't go as well as they did for him in icu i would have been there in a heart beat, give or take a few flights. i can't just get there like i'd like to alot of the times.
in the 18 years i have been working in the construction field i have missed graduations, proms, births, weddings, birthday's volleyball games, hockey games, funerals, and a ton of other events in my life that can never be replaced. all for a buck. but with that said i was also able to give to my children help financially growing up and helped them with what i could while they went to collage. which i am proud to say they both were able to go to.what i missed was time. i will never get that back all in all i have a real nice relationship with my kids, i never once in my life have complained about them to anyone, there was no reason to. in my eyes my kids grew up just fine. they are 2 great kids that i am very proud of and i sometimes get a little stressed and do a little venting mostly to my daughter. i want her to know i appreciate her being there for me as i am also for her. she knows that. i love you with all of my heart and want you to know in the future i hope to have alot more time....it will one day be quality time. in which i can then be happy all the time without medication. love and miss all my kids and grandbabies and grand dog. can't wait to see you all!!

Happy Mother's Day....

i'm working and haven't had a chance to drop in on my blog for awhile, but today i am taking the time to wish you all a very Happy Mother's Day. i am helping to babysit 160 boys ( about 10 women) this go round. i can't wait to be done and am looking soooo forward to some time off. i've only seen my littlest grandson twice in about 2 months. he went fishing this weekend with his mom and dad for a day, then his other gram's and gramp's spent some time with him while mom and dad did a little R & R with their friends. i need a little R & R. this morning i about fell asleep at my desk. we are working 13 plus hours a day and it is beginning to get the best of me. i swear to God if i took a nap right now i think i'd sleep the entire day.
anyways, for my mother's day it is going to be like almost all of my other mothers days. i am working and spending time away from my kids. someday i hope to spend the day with them. it will be my special day with my special people, (my kids) (love you guys and miss you all tons!)
well my break from work has to end, so happy day to all you mom's out there and to all you Gramma's also!
special mother's day wishes to one of my favorite bloggies "smiles4u" have a wonderful day!


Having a child and being a Mom is life's way of saying....."PURE LOVE"

books, music, and dogs

so where are my friends out there? have a question for you all.....if anyone is out there. what is your favorite song and what is your favorite book? i love music so i have many favorite songs and i like books from writers like luann rice and nicholas sparks is a big favorite also. have read most all of their books.
what are some of your favorite children's books also??
for future use to buy for my grandson, who loves being read to. he loves books and will actually sit and listen to the entire book. cool hua?
do you have a dog and if so what kind. i use to have a toy poodle, she was the smartest dog in the world, she rang a bell to go outside....he, he,he, true tho

a cold, wet, but all around nice day!

relaxing to listening to jackson browne, having a beer and thinking of the way we spent our day. it was a cold and snowy, yes snowy day. we took a ride up to our paradise. it is so beautiful there. it is such a pretty place. it's a place where i will grow old. i planted a tree there last November 17th.we had dug it up the day my dad died. it's weird to think tho, that when we dug it up he was still alive, he died later that afternoon. anyway,the next day i planted that little white pine in memory of my dad. i checked on it today after the cold and snowy winter and it has survived. i was so happy to see it. my dad loved trees and planted many around our home where i grew up. right in the front yard there stands a beautiful white pine he planted a few years back. it has grown to over 25 feet high i swear, and it is gorgeous. i plan to make a little park like setting around this little tree i planted and i want to get a bench and just go there and think of my dad and maybe share some words with him there. i miss him so much. he is in my thoughts every day.
while up in paradise we walked around in the woods, we watched as 7, yes i said 7 deer walked thru the woods not far from where we were. i looked for deer sheds today also but didn't find any. i played in the little creek that flows in the spring and after a heavy rain fall. picked up some sticks and dead falls. i enjoy walking in the woods. it's so peaceful. i even started another rock wall. i only did about 4 feet of it but it felt good after such a long winter to be able to build with rocks again....no frozen ground, i love it. yes it was an enjoyable day off. now tomorrow will be a new day, i have to get ready to go to work on monday, have laundry to finish tonight. ish. my washing machine is broke, you have to go reset it in between cycles so it takes quite awhile to do a load, depending on how fast you remember to go reset the damn cycle. the machine was a free replacement to our last broken one so i can't complain, but seeing husband has been helping me check on the machine today he seen just how sickening it is to have to run and fix it about 6 times per wash. i think we will be getting a new one soon :) he seen what a pain in the a-- it is.
well i am going to finish my beer and go one more time to fix the da-- machine and soon call it a night.
it was a good day today...
how was your day today and what are some of your favorite things to do outside?