Today’s post comes from Minnesota’s 9th District Congressman Loomis Beechly, representing all the water surface area in the state.
Greetings Constituents,
Beechly is Buoyed by his Unseen Supporters.
Once again another election day has passed and I have been returned to office without a single vote cast against me. There is no one else in Congress who can boast of such a record!
I’m proud to represent the wonderful 9th District and I promise to defend it against all who would belittle its residents and squander its resources. And believe me, there are people who look down on us and think they should somehow have more influence just because their districts include so-called “dry land”.
First of all, “dry” is a relative term. If you look at it on a microscopic level, there is no “land” in Minnesota that is completely “dry”. So then it’s simply a matter of degree! Should some people be more privileged because the terrain under their feet is less damp? I say no!
There’s a lot of chatter in the press right now from smug “firmer-than-thou” territorialists who are snickering over a Minneapolis voting district that is entirely within the boundaries of Lake Calhoun.
Ward 10, Precinct 3B
Just because no votes were cast in Ward 10, Precinct 3b, that doesn’t mean the area has no issues. But countless re-postings of the original article have occurred under the same heading – “You’d need a boat to vote in this Lake Calhoun precinct.”
This is voter suppression at it’s worst. Or should I say voter submersion?
You should not need a boat to vote! In fact, it is for all the boatless people in my district that I work so hard at my job, representing all the water surface area in the State of Minnesota! They are the ones who need my help – need OUR help – the moist!
I will always stand up and if necessary, tread water, on behalf of those who have no one to speak, or gurgle, on their behalf. This mockery must stop! We should have more polling places in the blue areas of Minnesota’s map, not fewer! Because the future belongs to those floaters who always rise to the occasion and show the necessary ballast to cast their ballots.
Good morning. I was probably in over my head fairly soon after I was born. The early years were not too bad because I didn’t do too much and wasn’t expected to do much. However, the world seems to be full of so many things that come at you and you really can’t handle them all, even at an early age. They only way to get by is to just push some things aside and hope you will get to them some day. Is there any one who doesn’t do this?
If you have a camera and you use, I bet you have a whole bunch of picture some place that you are planning put in order, but you haven’t done it. Right now I am looking around my house at all the things I should put in order before we move to the cities next year. We say that we are going to get every thing in order before we move. Who are we kidding?
I am in over my head in my dreams. Seriously, my most common kind of dream has me in many situations in which I am in over my head. I hate those dreams.
Two ectopic posts in in 24 hours. Obviously I am in over my head with technology.
Jim, as someone who has moved twice over the age of 60, throw everything you can. And then throw more, but not the pictures. Label the boxes of things you will not open immediately on all four sides and on the top.
Good advice, Clyde. I am getting more aggressive about throwing out things. There is some stuff that has a little value and I think I should find a home for it, but I am beginning to see that this stuff should also be tossed. Stuff like that probably has less value than I think and the work of selling it or giving it away is more than it is worth. Also, you are right about the pictures. I should just keep all of the them.
It seems that people of my mother’s generation (she’s older than you, Jim) have this thing about making sure that the things they don’t need go to a good home, preferably one that they know. My mom spends way too much time sorting through her many possessions and the hallway in her apartment is lined with piles for certain people or charities. It just seems to go against the grain to bring it to a thrift store and to trust that someone who needs it will find it there. Don’t fall into that trap, Jim. It’s way too time-consuming, not to mention messy if you don’t get the stuff given to the correct person or charity promptly.
Much of the odd ball stuff I have been saving should just go in the trash. I hate being a wasteful person who just discards stuff that might be of some use, but I doubt that Salvation Army or any other collector of used stuff wants most of these items.
Ah, yes. The stuff that is just plain Junk. I’m afraid my mom has a lot of that, too (and I doubt that you have as much as she does), but as long as she thinks somebody else can use it, I can’t convince her to toss it.
Jim mt
Y wife is from Chicago and the tradition there is you put it out by the road on trash day separate from e trash and there are always takers for everything. Furniture 2x4s lamps etc. I have a neighborhood tradition here where the people of Eden prairie put a sign on it sys free and it may take a day or two but it always goes away. Maybe if you start wu
Ith a pile of stuff that has recognizable value you will develop a following to come get your stuff
When I was working as a freelance outdoor writer I got a call from the staff of a famous writer who wrote funny books about hunting and fishing. He would be coming to Minneapolis to give a hilarious talk. Would I agree to be the publicity agent in the state of Minnesota to promote this event?
I had never done this kind of work and instinct told me I was not really a publicist at heart, but this fellow had nobody to do this job, and he was desperate. I took it on as a favor to the writer, not because I really wanted the job. At some level I knew I was out of my depth, but the writer’s staff told me he was famous, the show was funny, and that my responsibilities would be limited.
I can’t begin to list all the things that went wrong. I had NO idea of how to do this job, and it was entirely against my shy nature to push hard to get publicity for the talk. I circulated a nicely written press release to virtually every newspaper and radio station in the state. Virtually every one of them ignored the release. I thought I had done my job when, close to the time of the talk, I realized that all the media outlets had thrown my releases in the trash. The famous writer was soon to appear and yet his talk was an extremely well-kept secret. Just when I was about to go into panic mode in a desperate effort to push people into publicizing the talk, Kathe had a hysterectomy and found herself in great post-operative pain. She wanted me at the hospital, although I should have been on the phone fighting with editors about printing my release.
On the night of the talk, we had a thumping big snowstorm that was bad enough that the Highway Department advised against all travel. I went out anyway to see how the talk went. I joined six people sitting in a big auditorium. That night was one of the dozen most painful moments of my life, and I still groan at the memory. Things were actually worse than I’ve described, but this will have to do. I never got a penny for my work or all the expenses I had run up. “Over my head?” Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Well, I think you did the right thing to be with your wife. But the whole experience sounds like a nightmare. (No criticism here – I would have done far worse than you.) On the bright side, I’m sure you didn’t get asked to do that sort of thing again – or, if you did, you would have been swift to decline.
I have experience with sending out news releases. It is fairly quick and easy now that you can send them by email. On the other hand, if editors had a tendency to over look news releases mailed to them, they have an even greater tendency to over look emails. You almost always have to call and often they can’t even find the email you sent. However, if send another email right after talking to them by phone, they often will make use of it.
I take on too much, so feeling over my head happens more than I like. Ick. When I’m feeling really over the edge, I make lists. As I work through a list I highlight things and somehow this makes me feel calmer about everything on my plate. Luckily this is a survival strategy and not an every day occurrence!
Completely OT – Steve, I hold you responsible for my new addition. Just watched the entire first season fo Downton Abbey in a little less than 24 hours!
over my head is a way of life for some of us morons.
if it isnt enough to keep you awake nights its not worth doing.
i saw a blip on sunday morning about the sport of juggling and running at the same time. i thought that would be an appropriate addition to my lifestyle.
my kids get frustrated with me because i try to understand how they can be content not filling their plate to the brink of overflowing. reading a book or watching tv as a filler is ok for some but… i gotta be me.
Greetings! I usually try to avoid being in over my head as I don’t handle stress very well. Unfortunately, being a working mother with 3 kids and a non-working husband in school is over my head. Luckily, I couldn’t have screwed up my kids if I tried — they’re outstanding young men.
I was hoping that Dale would comment on the Lake Calhoun voting district. Life does imitate art. I am usually over my head. In the next two weeks I have to develop and present a 4 hour workshop on play therapy to some graduate students, do my regular job, and spend several days in my home town getting my father eased back into the house. My mom says that whenever anyone, such as doctors or physical therapists, tells my dad he isn’t supposed to drive, he just smirks.
find out for him what the consequences are if he happens to get caught. it isnt a smirking matter. you always hear about those people who drive for 20 years with no licence and then they get pulled over and isnt that cut… well the cops are not that amused if they happen to pull you over for whatever reason and the stories dont match the expectations. he will be in over his head quick
He technically still has his license. I have hopes that the neurologist he sees next week will have some influence here. My mom is starting to think that he could perhaps drive next summer, but not this winter. Oh, my dad is a rascal.
When my dad’s Alzheimers started to get bad, we had trouble w/ my dad still wanting to drive, just leaving the house and not telling my mom where he was going. Unfortunately once he got about an hour+ away before pulling into a motel and then asking the desk clerk to fill up the tank. I had the brainstorm to take my dad’s car key to the hardware store and have them make an “almost” exact copy. Repeatedly until the end of his life he would come in and tell my mom that the car wouldn’t start. Then, of course, within a few minutes he would be onto something else.
For the first few weeks of teaching I, like everyone, was in over my head.
I was in over my head being a boss, primarily because of the person with whom I shared the bossing duties.
Hope I’m not in over my head driving my wife up to Shakopee today. Fun, all.
nice day to be out and about. if you have a long layover while you wait for sandy to get done with pt feel free to come over for coffee. i am 5 minutes from shokopee and will be at home today.
I certainly had a lot to learn when I started doing substitute teaching. I never did become completely comfortable with running a grade school classroom. I think that almost everyone has trouble getting middle school classrooms under control.
I was definitely over my head that last year of teaching, and later on when I tried to be a manager of other people at the vet clinic – only stayed there 5 months. The good thing about getting older is that you recognize more quickly when you are in over your head, and get the heck out.
I sometimes feel in over my head with my mom, as we rely more and more on MY memory instead of hers.
Dale, you must have loved discovering this redistricting snafu. Life imitates art, indeed!
I left the job where I knew I was in over my head, out of my depth and generally a bad fit. I wanted to be good at the job, but knew I was just not the right person for it. I continue to be amazed that I was able to say to my boss, “I am so not the person you want for this – but I’ll stay on until you find that person, and then I’m going to take some time off to figure out next what I should be when I grow up.” There were parts of the job I enjoyed as was good at: working with the colleges that hosted the program on logistics, scheduling the speakers, the “getting the trains there on time” parts. Actually being head honcho during each week-long program with 125-150 kids on campus – so not my thing. Being the face of the program for major funders, presenting to civic groups, calling parents whose kids had broken the rules just wasn’t my bailiwick. Glad the economy then was good enough that I could step away from the job knowing that I would likely have work again within a matter of weeks and not months.
Just the latest examples:
Monday I was in a meeting. Several people were absent and of those of us that were there, several were ‘support personal’ leaving basically, just me to volunteer for jobs. So, when a committee was formed, I really didn’t have much choice. We had already ‘Voluntold’ a few of the absent members.
So I figured at risk of not knowing what I was getting into I volunteered for the committee.
And then, yesterday, offered to build for a local church, 20, 4’x4′ platforms for their kids Christmas program. Due Dec 10th or sooner.
And finish doing my fieldwork. And get by pile of receipts into the computer for my tax planning meeting on Dec 9th. Christmas concerts at the college beginning Dec 5 so related lighting for that.
And that door to install for a friend.
Ben, if only you could combine some of those tasks. I don’t suppose you can work on your bills in your tractor as you go up and down the field to complete field work. Can you hold the committee meeting in your workshop while making the platforms? Probably not. Maybe the committee could help you with the lighting while you hold the committee meeting.
Having kids put me in over my head. Don’t know why I did that…I’m not suited to the craziness that being a mom entails. And I not only did it once, but 3 times. Yes, I have three wonderful girls (oops, I mean young women, they are too old to be called girls), but I’m not sure how they turned out to be such nice people (although one does not have an easy life – always seems to have terrible luck, to put it mildly – she is still a great person) when I’m so messed up.
Combine being a mom and grandma (even with 2/3 of the kids mostly out of the house and one soon to be) with aging parents is no picnic, either. Aging, packrat parents. Now down to one aging, packrat parent since my dad died, but trying to help my mom with stuff when she’s a 2.5 to 3 hour drive away (exact time depends on how much road construction between here and there) gets old real fast. Definitely in over my head. Trying to get a packrat to reform when I can’t even get my own life in order – what a joke.
I know that joke, Edith. I’m done with helping the older generation, but I did plenty of that. Of course, I do miss having them around. I hope to have a few more years when I don’t need help. There’s still plenty to do for children and grandchildren as well as trying get my own act under control.
I was way over my head when I started my job in Waterville in 1997. I didn’t know a thing about fish, had no idea how to manage a $500K budget, couldn’t imagine how to calculate the mess they call a fleet bill and was completely unable to relate to the kind of customers Waterville Fisheries has. It took me a few years to really feel confident in my job and now it feels as natural to me as my best old pair of jeans. I will be way over my head in December but I expect things to settle down by January and February. I think it will be much like riding a bike; I’m feeling nervous about the change it will mean for my life but confident about my ability to do the job.
Not right away, although I’d like to run away from it as fast as I can. The real estate market in Waterville was sluggish at best long before 2008. It’s been inert since then. There would be no point in putting it on the market. If things start looking better next summer, I’ll look into it.
Well, at least I have a bit of good news. Found out why the security clearances at Xcel are taking so long. The clearinghouse is on East coast and the office was closed down during Hurricane Sandy, so they’re working through the backlog. The great news is my contact at temp agency, begged CH Robinson (the job I Ieft) if they had any short term work for me. So I’ll work tomorrow and maybe 1 or 2 days next week in Sartell — because they LOVED me so much. What a relief! It won’t make up for my lost wages, but it’s that opening that gives me hope and helps me stay focused on the positive things that do happen for me.
Once I agreed to watch a friend’s baby while she was working from home and had to be on a conference call for an hour or so. She said if he started crying I should just walk him around, and that would usually quiet him. Of course he started crying, and I walked around and around and around the first floor of the house. Didn’t work – he wanted his mother. She came downstairs after her conference call looking rather frazzled. Thus ended my babysitting career.
I think babysitting career would have taken a dramatically different turn if the Kid would have been old enough to do something. Those fresh ones leave you stymied but the little people love a spirit that is as good at big picture and resourceful as Linda is.
Trail Baboon 
Good morning. I was probably in over my head fairly soon after I was born. The early years were not too bad because I didn’t do too much and wasn’t expected to do much. However, the world seems to be full of so many things that come at you and you really can’t handle them all, even at an early age. They only way to get by is to just push some things aside and hope you will get to them some day. Is there any one who doesn’t do this?
If you have a camera and you use, I bet you have a whole bunch of picture some place that you are planning put in order, but you haven’t done it. Right now I am looking around my house at all the things I should put in order before we move to the cities next year. We say that we are going to get every thing in order before we move. Who are we kidding?
LikeLike
I am in over my head in my dreams. Seriously, my most common kind of dream has me in many situations in which I am in over my head. I hate those dreams.
LikeLike
Two ectopic posts in in 24 hours. Obviously I am in over my head with technology.
Jim, as someone who has moved twice over the age of 60, throw everything you can. And then throw more, but not the pictures. Label the boxes of things you will not open immediately on all four sides and on the top.
LikeLike
Good advice, Clyde. I am getting more aggressive about throwing out things. There is some stuff that has a little value and I think I should find a home for it, but I am beginning to see that this stuff should also be tossed. Stuff like that probably has less value than I think and the work of selling it or giving it away is more than it is worth. Also, you are right about the pictures. I should just keep all of the them.
LikeLike
Yep, take it to the salvation army and let THEM sort it out.
LikeLike
It seems that people of my mother’s generation (she’s older than you, Jim) have this thing about making sure that the things they don’t need go to a good home, preferably one that they know. My mom spends way too much time sorting through her many possessions and the hallway in her apartment is lined with piles for certain people or charities. It just seems to go against the grain to bring it to a thrift store and to trust that someone who needs it will find it there. Don’t fall into that trap, Jim. It’s way too time-consuming, not to mention messy if you don’t get the stuff given to the correct person or charity promptly.
LikeLike
Much of the odd ball stuff I have been saving should just go in the trash. I hate being a wasteful person who just discards stuff that might be of some use, but I doubt that Salvation Army or any other collector of used stuff wants most of these items.
LikeLike
Ah, yes. The stuff that is just plain Junk. I’m afraid my mom has a lot of that, too (and I doubt that you have as much as she does), but as long as she thinks somebody else can use it, I can’t convince her to toss it.
LikeLike
Jim mt
Y wife is from Chicago and the tradition there is you put it out by the road on trash day separate from e trash and there are always takers for everything. Furniture 2x4s lamps etc. I have a neighborhood tradition here where the people of Eden prairie put a sign on it sys free and it may take a day or two but it always goes away. Maybe if you start wu
Ith a pile of stuff that has recognizable value you will develop a following to come get your stuff
LikeLike
Well, I was born in 1944, and then . . .
LikeLike
Yes, and I was born in 1941, and then…….., but where are the others? Are they all even farther in over their heads than we are, Clyde?
LikeLike
seems to work well as a response. lol
LikeLike
This is getting to be a habit.
LikeLike
When I was working as a freelance outdoor writer I got a call from the staff of a famous writer who wrote funny books about hunting and fishing. He would be coming to Minneapolis to give a hilarious talk. Would I agree to be the publicity agent in the state of Minnesota to promote this event?
I had never done this kind of work and instinct told me I was not really a publicist at heart, but this fellow had nobody to do this job, and he was desperate. I took it on as a favor to the writer, not because I really wanted the job. At some level I knew I was out of my depth, but the writer’s staff told me he was famous, the show was funny, and that my responsibilities would be limited.
I can’t begin to list all the things that went wrong. I had NO idea of how to do this job, and it was entirely against my shy nature to push hard to get publicity for the talk. I circulated a nicely written press release to virtually every newspaper and radio station in the state. Virtually every one of them ignored the release. I thought I had done my job when, close to the time of the talk, I realized that all the media outlets had thrown my releases in the trash. The famous writer was soon to appear and yet his talk was an extremely well-kept secret. Just when I was about to go into panic mode in a desperate effort to push people into publicizing the talk, Kathe had a hysterectomy and found herself in great post-operative pain. She wanted me at the hospital, although I should have been on the phone fighting with editors about printing my release.
On the night of the talk, we had a thumping big snowstorm that was bad enough that the Highway Department advised against all travel. I went out anyway to see how the talk went. I joined six people sitting in a big auditorium. That night was one of the dozen most painful moments of my life, and I still groan at the memory. Things were actually worse than I’ve described, but this will have to do. I never got a penny for my work or all the expenses I had run up. “Over my head?” Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
LikeLike
nightmare for sure.
must have been the snow storm…yeah thats the ticket
LikeLike
Well, I think you did the right thing to be with your wife. But the whole experience sounds like a nightmare. (No criticism here – I would have done far worse than you.) On the bright side, I’m sure you didn’t get asked to do that sort of thing again – or, if you did, you would have been swift to decline.
LikeLike
Six paying customers. Six! If I had it to do all over, I could do SO much better. Eight or nine customers at least!
LikeLike
I have experience with sending out news releases. It is fairly quick and easy now that you can send them by email. On the other hand, if editors had a tendency to over look news releases mailed to them, they have an even greater tendency to over look emails. You almost always have to call and often they can’t even find the email you sent. However, if send another email right after talking to them by phone, they often will make use of it.
LikeLike
Heck, if you had known the baboons then, maybe some of us would have come that night.
LikeLike
I take on too much, so feeling over my head happens more than I like. Ick. When I’m feeling really over the edge, I make lists. As I work through a list I highlight things and somehow this makes me feel calmer about everything on my plate. Luckily this is a survival strategy and not an every day occurrence!
Completely OT – Steve, I hold you responsible for my new addition. Just watched the entire first season fo Downton Abbey in a little less than 24 hours!
LikeLike
The second season’s better!
LikeLike
I’m 434 out of 466 on the waitlist from the library, so it will be a few months probably. Maybe the music will be out of my head by then!
LikeLike
If you come to the Blevins meeting at tim’s, I could loan you my copy.
LikeLike
I’ll be there on Sunday. UK edition?
LikeLike
Don’t insult me, VS! Of course it is the full, UK version! But not Blu-Ray.
LikeLike
What I figured – I think you’ve mentioned before the difference between the UK and the USA versions.
LikeLike
Ken burns dust storm starts at 7 Sunday
It will be aired in the basement for anyone who cares to stay after the bbc
LikeLike
over my head is a way of life for some of us morons.
if it isnt enough to keep you awake nights its not worth doing.
i saw a blip on sunday morning about the sport of juggling and running at the same time. i thought that would be an appropriate addition to my lifestyle.
my kids get frustrated with me because i try to understand how they can be content not filling their plate to the brink of overflowing. reading a book or watching tv as a filler is ok for some but… i gotta be me.
LikeLike
And you do it so well, tim!
LikeLike
Greetings! I usually try to avoid being in over my head as I don’t handle stress very well. Unfortunately, being a working mother with 3 kids and a non-working husband in school is over my head. Luckily, I couldn’t have screwed up my kids if I tried — they’re outstanding young men.
LikeLike
sometimes you just have to rely on clean living paying off
LikeLike
Joanne, you’re so over your head that you’re masquerading as James. 🙂
LikeLike
Oops! Right you are … forgot that he posts on occasion as well on his computer. But is definitely me.
LikeLike
I was wondering about that – James is a working mother? Wow.
LikeLike
I was hoping that Dale would comment on the Lake Calhoun voting district. Life does imitate art. I am usually over my head. In the next two weeks I have to develop and present a 4 hour workshop on play therapy to some graduate students, do my regular job, and spend several days in my home town getting my father eased back into the house. My mom says that whenever anyone, such as doctors or physical therapists, tells my dad he isn’t supposed to drive, he just smirks.
LikeLike
find out for him what the consequences are if he happens to get caught. it isnt a smirking matter. you always hear about those people who drive for 20 years with no licence and then they get pulled over and isnt that cut… well the cops are not that amused if they happen to pull you over for whatever reason and the stories dont match the expectations. he will be in over his head quick
LikeLike
He technically still has his license. I have hopes that the neurologist he sees next week will have some influence here. My mom is starting to think that he could perhaps drive next summer, but not this winter. Oh, my dad is a rascal.
LikeLike
When my dad’s Alzheimers started to get bad, we had trouble w/ my dad still wanting to drive, just leaving the house and not telling my mom where he was going. Unfortunately once he got about an hour+ away before pulling into a motel and then asking the desk clerk to fill up the tank. I had the brainstorm to take my dad’s car key to the hardware store and have them make an “almost” exact copy. Repeatedly until the end of his life he would come in and tell my mom that the car wouldn’t start. Then, of course, within a few minutes he would be onto something else.
LikeLike
How clever! I am afraid that my dad is too cognitively intact for such as ruse, but I will keep it in mind.
LikeLike
For the first few weeks of teaching I, like everyone, was in over my head.
I was in over my head being a boss, primarily because of the person with whom I shared the bossing duties.
Hope I’m not in over my head driving my wife up to Shakopee today. Fun, all.
LikeLike
nice day to be out and about. if you have a long layover while you wait for sandy to get done with pt feel free to come over for coffee. i am 5 minutes from shokopee and will be at home today.
LikeLike
I certainly had a lot to learn when I started doing substitute teaching. I never did become completely comfortable with running a grade school classroom. I think that almost everyone has trouble getting middle school classrooms under control.
LikeLike
I was definitely over my head that last year of teaching, and later on when I tried to be a manager of other people at the vet clinic – only stayed there 5 months. The good thing about getting older is that you recognize more quickly when you are in over your head, and get the heck out.
I sometimes feel in over my head with my mom, as we rely more and more on MY memory instead of hers.
Dale, you must have loved discovering this redistricting snafu. Life imitates art, indeed!
LikeLike
I left the job where I knew I was in over my head, out of my depth and generally a bad fit. I wanted to be good at the job, but knew I was just not the right person for it. I continue to be amazed that I was able to say to my boss, “I am so not the person you want for this – but I’ll stay on until you find that person, and then I’m going to take some time off to figure out next what I should be when I grow up.” There were parts of the job I enjoyed as was good at: working with the colleges that hosted the program on logistics, scheduling the speakers, the “getting the trains there on time” parts. Actually being head honcho during each week-long program with 125-150 kids on campus – so not my thing. Being the face of the program for major funders, presenting to civic groups, calling parents whose kids had broken the rules just wasn’t my bailiwick. Glad the economy then was good enough that I could step away from the job knowing that I would likely have work again within a matter of weeks and not months.
LikeLike
sometimes timing is everything. glad the new shoes fit so much better.
LikeLike
Morning–
Just the latest examples:
Monday I was in a meeting. Several people were absent and of those of us that were there, several were ‘support personal’ leaving basically, just me to volunteer for jobs. So, when a committee was formed, I really didn’t have much choice. We had already ‘Voluntold’ a few of the absent members.
So I figured at risk of not knowing what I was getting into I volunteered for the committee.
And then, yesterday, offered to build for a local church, 20, 4’x4′ platforms for their kids Christmas program. Due Dec 10th or sooner.
And finish doing my fieldwork. And get by pile of receipts into the computer for my tax planning meeting on Dec 9th. Christmas concerts at the college beginning Dec 5 so related lighting for that.
And that door to install for a friend.
Hmmm, where’s the Mt Dew and Snickers….?
LikeLike
type faster
LikeLike
Ben, if only you could combine some of those tasks. I don’t suppose you can work on your bills in your tractor as you go up and down the field to complete field work. Can you hold the committee meeting in your workshop while making the platforms? Probably not. Maybe the committee could help you with the lighting while you hold the committee meeting.
LikeLike
Having kids put me in over my head. Don’t know why I did that…I’m not suited to the craziness that being a mom entails. And I not only did it once, but 3 times. Yes, I have three wonderful girls (oops, I mean young women, they are too old to be called girls), but I’m not sure how they turned out to be such nice people (although one does not have an easy life – always seems to have terrible luck, to put it mildly – she is still a great person) when I’m so messed up.
Combine being a mom and grandma (even with 2/3 of the kids mostly out of the house and one soon to be) with aging parents is no picnic, either. Aging, packrat parents. Now down to one aging, packrat parent since my dad died, but trying to help my mom with stuff when she’s a 2.5 to 3 hour drive away (exact time depends on how much road construction between here and there) gets old real fast. Definitely in over my head. Trying to get a packrat to reform when I can’t even get my own life in order – what a joke.
LikeLike
I know that joke, Edith. I’m done with helping the older generation, but I did plenty of that. Of course, I do miss having them around. I hope to have a few more years when I don’t need help. There’s still plenty to do for children and grandchildren as well as trying get my own act under control.
LikeLike
I was way over my head when I started my job in Waterville in 1997. I didn’t know a thing about fish, had no idea how to manage a $500K budget, couldn’t imagine how to calculate the mess they call a fleet bill and was completely unable to relate to the kind of customers Waterville Fisheries has. It took me a few years to really feel confident in my job and now it feels as natural to me as my best old pair of jeans. I will be way over my head in December but I expect things to settle down by January and February. I think it will be much like riding a bike; I’m feeling nervous about the change it will mean for my life but confident about my ability to do the job.
LikeLike
We’re all thrilled for you, Krista. This is definitely a huge step forward for you. You gonna sell the Waterville home now?
LikeLike
Not right away, although I’d like to run away from it as fast as I can. The real estate market in Waterville was sluggish at best long before 2008. It’s been inert since then. There would be no point in putting it on the market. If things start looking better next summer, I’ll look into it.
LikeLike
Well, at least I have a bit of good news. Found out why the security clearances at Xcel are taking so long. The clearinghouse is on East coast and the office was closed down during Hurricane Sandy, so they’re working through the backlog. The great news is my contact at temp agency, begged CH Robinson (the job I Ieft) if they had any short term work for me. So I’ll work tomorrow and maybe 1 or 2 days next week in Sartell — because they LOVED me so much. What a relief! It won’t make up for my lost wages, but it’s that opening that gives me hope and helps me stay focused on the positive things that do happen for me.
LikeLike
Yay! 🙂
LikeLike
Glad there’s something good happening, Joanne. May it continue.
LikeLike
You deserve some good news
Glad you got some
LikeLike
Once I agreed to watch a friend’s baby while she was working from home and had to be on a conference call for an hour or so. She said if he started crying I should just walk him around, and that would usually quiet him. Of course he started crying, and I walked around and around and around the first floor of the house. Didn’t work – he wanted his mother. She came downstairs after her conference call looking rather frazzled. Thus ended my babysitting career.
LikeLike
We just tried that in Georgia with the grand-nephew. Seems like they KNOW if Mom is still in the house, and cannot be deterred.
LikeLike
Those poor babies in Georgia have to listen to all those people talk funny
LikeLike
I have walked around with my own baby for a very long time without being able to stop the crying. This can happen to anyone, even the parents.
LikeLike
I love finding the magic button
Sometimes it even surprises the mom
LikeLike
I think babysitting career would have taken a dramatically different turn if the Kid would have been old enough to do something. Those fresh ones leave you stymied but the little people love a spirit that is as good at big picture and resourceful as Linda is.
LikeLike
LikeLike
Wow!
LikeLike
Incroyable! (I wonder why she sang most of it with her back to the audience)
LikeLike
what a treat for the musicians to be acknowledged as fellow performers
LikeLike