How to ask for a Raise, or not

So, I have been working crazy hours lately. Since the new General Manager started, my hours have gone from 7/day to about 8-9 (more on days when he is in the office.) Since this has been going on since January. I went in to talk about either ditching some of my work load, or getting paid for the hours I work (that exempt crap isn't all it's cracked up to be.)

I did a little math, looked up the median salary for my position in this area, and asked for a raise. $17,000. Think I'll get it? I wish I could be a fly on the wall when the controller gets a glimpse of that e-mail. =)

I'll keep you posted. Either I'm back to 7 hours a day, or we'll be able to pay for a tank of gas every now and again.

Update on the Ferrari, and the value of insurance

Ken got a call from the claims adjuster dealing with his little mishap with the Ferrari (see below). First he said, you don't need to worry, then the bone chilling "but." It seems that the damage to the little red Ferrari is more than $100,000 which is our property damage maximum on our auto insurance. Here's the good news... When Jake started driving our insurance agent told Ken a story about a family whose son was in a terrible accident that ended up killing someone. The whole family was devastated because the limit on the insurance didn't cover the liability, so they were sued, and lost everything they had. She told Ken, the answer to this dilemma is the "umbrella policy." It basically covers for major problems that exceed regular insurance coverage so that people, like us, don't get sued and lose their savings or their home. Ken always the diligent protector of our family decided this might be a good investment. I thought it was a waste of money. Don't tell him I was wrong.

Moral of the story, if you have kids driving, or live in So. Cal and might hit a Ferrari, look into getting that Umbrella Policy.

Tired of the same old style

Well, I guess I was. I went crazy today and got my hair cut, SHORT. It isn't exactly what I was looking for, but I guess I'll grow into it, or visa versa. I was looking for something like the lady in Law & Order SVU, and got something much shorter, closer to what I used to wear years ago. Megan said (in her best Danny from Idol voice) "Some people aint likin it." So encouraging.

Megan has been working hard all week on the school musical. Performances started on Weds and tonight is the last performance. Ken has been out of town, so we are going tonight. Hopefully get some good shots to add. She is really enjoying the drama thing, go figure.

Jake started working as a temp with me at HemoCue. I doubt it will last long, but will give him a little bit of office experience. He's been very helpful to me. I hate leaving the office with piles of work left undone, but I also hate working 10-12 hours days. Not sure which is worse. I'm hopeful things will slow down. I think I am part of the problem. I just need to take a step back and let other people handle things instead of trying to "do it all." We'll see how that works out. I tried letting someone else handle making the travel arrangements for our General Manager and he showed up here in town late on Tuesday night, no hotel room booked. He ended up staying at the Best Western, it's a bed, but it's not quite up to his standards. Maybe it will get better.

Wish I could say we had some exciting plans for the weekend, but no, nothing. Maybe I can talk Ken into taking me to the Casino for a few hours. I love a good game of blackjack! That should boost my spirits, if I win..... Maybe that's not a good plan either. What are all of you doing for the weekend? Share your fun stories so even though I don't actually have a life, maybe I can experience a little through you.

The temperature is rising

I know a lot of you are envious of the So. Cal lifestyle. Sunny days at the beach & red Ferraris on the highway. Well, it's not all fun and games. No one really has time to go to the beach, and you can read about those little Ferarris.

This weekend was near 100 at our house. It is just plain hot. Ken had the annual Scout-O-Rama (or something like that) in Irvine. Unfortunately, one of his co-workers ended up in the hospital with his electrolytes all out of whack. That means, Ken being the ever dutiful scout, and a team player, left on Sunday to Palm Springs for a Golf Tournament (that this particular hospitalized co-worker was supposed to be working at.) He said it's closer to 105-110 in Palm Springs. He'll get home late tonight, and leave tomorrow for the National Meeting.

I know a lot of people have jobs that take them away from home, but there are times, when this particular job makes me unhappy (to say the least.) He gets to run off and leaves me here all alone, in HELL, waiting to hear from the insurance agent, driving kids all over the county, and trying to keep up with my job at the same time.

Hope you don't mind. Felt like whining a little today......

Ken and the Ferrari

You know how men are about cars. Seems like from the time they can talk, they know the difference between a Chevy and a Toyota, a Malibu and a Camero. I don't know any of that. I know I don't like to have to lay down to drive, I know I'm not a big fan of red cars, I know I want a cup holder that can hold a big gulp. That's what I know.

So I have to tell you about Ken's run in with the little red Ferrari. Every man's dream right....nightmare in this case. I will preface this story with the disclaimer that, yes, I did tell him how stupid he is, and all involved are fine.

So, (my favorite word) Ken was going from work to a scouting event. He was going to get on "the 55" (yes, we're from CA and all freeways start with the.) It was mid day and traffic was un-characteristically light. As he was getting on the freeway on ramp, he discovered he was on the northbound on ramp, and he wanted to go south. So, does he continue, go a block and a half, get off "the 55" and get back on going the right way, NOPE. He decides to BACK UP ON THE ON RAMP! Really. He said he looked around and didn't see anything. By now you've all probably figured what happened next, but give me the pleasure of telling you. He backed right ON TOP of a little red Ferrari, that's right, drove right on top of the hood of the low rider.

For any of you who question the need for insurance, let me tell you we cannot afford a Ferrari. We are actually grateful that we have the extended 100,000 property damage coverage. Hopefully that will be enough.

The kids are having a hey day with this one. I did tell Jake that if he came home and told me he backed ONTO a Ferrari, I'd probably have screamed at him. But, I held my tongue as best I could. I didn't yell, but yes, I did ask him why he didn't just turn around.

Life in the OC, why couldn't we live in Montana. I'm pretty sure his Equinox couldn't run over a pick-up.

Can I handle another teenager???

Do you remember that cute little boy with the green blankie, who was always happy, never much of a problem. I miss him....A LOT!

Michael has definitely entered the stage of "ugly teenage boy" and I'm not sure I can handle another 5 years of this. We fought valiantly for Jake, and I think we have succeeded in turning him into a productive, caring adult. Megan has always been productive and caring, and I totally understand the cyclical mood swings, and know when to give her space. Now, my baby, my love, has turned into a monster, and I'm not sure I'm ready for the battle.

Every sentence starts with "Tsk." I asked him to help me clean up a mess the dogs made in the garage (I'll save that story for another post) and got the "I cleaned the garage last week" reply. Well, I fed him yesterday, I took him to soccer practice three times last week, I paid for a year end trip to the San Diego Zoo.... What is the point of what happened last week, when I'm talking now? Here's the clencher though. So I scold him and explain that his attitude is somewhat self centered, and I would like him to talk to me with some respect and I get the pout. And I'm not talking little lip out pout. I'm talking full sulk, can't sit up straight, body goes limp like a two year old pout!

Some would say he spends too much time in his room playing video games, I say, the more time he spends in there, the better his chances of living to the ripe old age of 15! Pray for me.....

Happy Mother's Day

Car Trouble

I know a lot of you think I make up some of the things I write in this blog. Nope, not even exaggeration, just how my life rolls. For example, car trouble.

We've known for quite some time that the van was on its last legs. The transmission would drop into gear just about every time we would drive it. I had no idea how much gas was in the car because the gauge would go up and down whenever it felt like it, sometimes from full to empty all in the span of a drive up window. Anyway, Jake called last Saturday while he was borrowing the van for some teen activity and said the "Service Engine Soon" light had come on. We told him it was time to come home and get his own car. We took the van over to our neighborhood service station (yes, they still have those, a few anyway.) We really like the mechanic there because he seems to tell you the truth even if he ends up losing the "sale." At first he said it was just the fuel sensor (duh, we knew that) and it was an easy fix and he could do it early Monday. Well, Monday comes and he said they looked a little deeper (why, I don't know.) Yes, the transmission was ready to drop, and something about head gaskets, valves and blah, blah, blah.....$4,500. No thanks, we'll just sell that piece of junk.

So, after some deliberation about new, used, who would drive what....we decided to get a smaller used car for me to drive for a year or so, and then we'd have something for Megan should she ever be prepared to drive alone (which I seriously doubt.) We tried the dealership and they said $1000 scrap metal for the van. He suggested CarMax. We went there and by some miracle when they did the test drive the transmission didn't drop into gear? Apparently they are a little less thorough than our neighborhood service station so they gave us $1,700 and we chose a small Nissan hatchback. Why does it take so long to buy a car? CarMax has no haggle pricing, we have excellent credit, they had already told us what they would pay for the van, and six hours later we drove off the lot with the new car.

Next day, I drive it to work. I make plans with some friends to go to lunch. They say, oh, we'll go drop our car off at the car wash and you can pick us up and take us in the new car. They leave, I get in, the car won't start....REALY.....these are true stories. I try and try, I try to call them, they don't answer, I don't have the number for the friend we were meeting for lunch, the service department at CarMax leaves me on hold for 10 minutes! Finally the friend I was going to meet for lunch, drives into the parking lot, "Where have you been?" I explain and she says she'll drive and pick up the car wash twins and we'll do lunch. Only problem, she has a two door Honda Civic, and we are 3 old broads (the term can be used both ways.) After a comedy of errors we get into the back seat and head to lunch. I'm wearing a long skirt and can't stretch my leg far enough to get out of the back. I try putting both feet out, but I can't budge. It literally takes five minutes for the two "broads" in the back to get out of the car. We sit through lunch laughing, but quietly thinking, "someone still has to get back there to get back to work." I being one of the younger old broads, am elected to repeat my performance in the back seat. We stop at the car wash to pick up the other cars and we all decide someone else should drive us back to work, as this would be humiliating in front of co-workers. But, we had to get out of the car at the car wash. The attendant who vacuums before the car goes into the wash watched in amazement as we tried to get out of the car. I was laughing so hard I nearly peed my pants. He started with just a smirk, but ended up in a full belly laugh before the two of us were hoisted from the backseat. Great fun.

So back to the car....I finally get a hold of the service department and they agree to send a tow truck. Once the tow truck driver gets there he asked what the problem seemed to be. "It won't start" I say. He sits down and immediately starts the car. I'm livid. He tries two or three times and it still starts, then, he looks at my key chain. The dealer had given me two keys when we walked out and I hadn't taken the other off the key chain yet. He tried the other key, and it wouldn't start. Finally I feel a little vindicated. Turns out the copy of the key they made doesn't have the special little chip in it that you need to start the car (cars are really smart these days.)

End of story. Car works fine, just need a new key from the dealership. Megan is excited about the possibility of it being "her car." But for now, she keeps practicing.