..and somehow Toni & I ended up at a strip club...*ahem*....Part 1...

What an awesome night we had, despite everything else going on!

The friends of Possums that came to the dinner were delightful, so funny, so caring and all genuine friends.
There were a few that didn't turn up, but that's fine - you find out who your friends at times like this.
The meal was SO nice!
The young fellahs had been drinking quite a bit by the time we came to order, and the adults were having entrees so I ordered pizza breads for the 'kids' table to tide them over until main course....

Possum handled it all really well, he's not much of a drinker but got through 6 sweet ciders, shared a 'fishbowl' (a huge bowl of cocktails containing 6-8 standard drinks), then a few drinks later in the night.
They were all so lovely, quite a mixture of characters!
Most of them hadn't really seen each other since they left school so it was great for them to catch up.

We finished at the restaurant at around 10.30pm - Small Man went home with my Mum, they dropped off Big A's parents at their hotel on the way.

We (some of Possums friends, Big A, PB, my brother and I) headed to one of the pubs for a few drinks.
There had been talk all night about going to 'The Hub'.
I think the boys were asking me if they could take Possum to see how I'd react, knowing full well it's a strip club!
I was all 'yeah, yeah...whatever...but we're coming too!'
Well they couldn't believe this, and I got the usual 'I wish my parents were that laid back' etc etc.
I couldn't believe it either actually but thought hey, you only live once.

As we were walking around to 'The Hub' Toni called me on my mobile to say she was on her way to town, and where was I so she could meet me!!!
What a relief!
I was getting a bit worried I'd be the only female in the place!! (that wasn't on stage - ha ha!).....

So we arrive at 'The Hub' pay for our entry, the boys all line up with their i.d. we get our wrists stamped and in we go........

More of the story later.....expecting Big A's parents shortly :)

G
xxx

Sadness and Joy

Pop K passed away last night.

He was 99 - not a bad innings eh

We will be heading to Hobart Monday afternoon for his funeral Tuesday morning.

It will be more a celebration of his life than a sad event.

Big A's uncles funeral is on Monday in Melbourne - we won't make it to his unfortunately.

In other news Big A's Mum's first cousin in Hobart has been on life support, and it was switched off this morning, he died soon after.
We may be attending his funeral in Hobart as well, depending on when it is.

3 deaths in the family in one week......

Everyone is trying their best to hold it together for Possums party tonight - a time of joy!
We will certainly never forget his 18th birthday and the lead up to it.

Will fill you in on the party happenings!

Love to you,

Gina

Hmmmm!?

Well I'm still here...

I'll do one of my marathon catch up posts and bore the crap out of you later......

Talk about things running through my mind.

Like having an ADULT child.
How does one handle that.......?

Possum (formerly Z17) had a lovely birthday, starting with a trip to the casino at midnight with Big A and I.....
The party is this weekend.....

Ahem.....we had 2 rsvp's TODAY.......teenage boys!!!
There are still two we haven't heard from....so we'll see!

Big A's Pop is holding in there....barely....
But his uncle (his mothers brother) died very suddenly and unexpectedly on Monday (Possums birthday)......his parents will be going back to Melbourne Sunday afternoon rather than continuing on to Hobart to see Pop.....

Wondering just who my friends are in real life with one not even replying to our invitation, one has a 'work function' supposedly.
One family isn't able to make it for genuine reasons, and they have been to every birthday/christening/wedding/whatever we have had so I understand completely.
But the others....................

Still have the work 'thing' on my mind........spent nearly a week with my boss gee she's awesome.
I owe it to her to give it a go....and Wendy's comment on my last post really struck a chord with me...I have a feeling there may be something more to it later down the track.

Small Man isn't going well at all.
In fact he melted down in a massive way the other night.
I am very worried for him.
At least the weekend will be a distraction.
He is as frustrated as hell at the moment - he wants to get a job, go to school, be a normal weight....and NOTHING IS WORKING.
I don't know what to do.
So decided to see our GP next week and beg him to do something.

I'm in the middle of the usual house cleaning frenzy that you do before visitors come.
Unfortunately that coincides with my order packing/work/seeing ladies.
There is only so much you can do a few days before, the rest has to be done the night before or that morning (especially the bathroom with teenage boys!)...

So anyway I better get back to it,

Love,

G

xx

Have you ever...

Rung up/emailed/sms'd/chased up people that haven't RSVP'd to an invitation?

I haven't had a reply from over half of the people we have invited to Z17's party - and the RSVP date is tomorrow..................

Never had this happen before....ever!

No idea what to do.


Will be back to post an update on 'things' later,
it's been a really long week......

Love to you,

G
xxx

Thank you

Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to comment on my last two posts.

I am so grateful for the support I receive here I can barely put it into words.

Big A and the boys have been wonderful.

The don't seem to mind that I have spent the last two days in my dressing gown playing mindless games on facebook.

I'm trying to pull myself out of this.

I have to.

I feel as close to breaking as I have done in many, many years.



It's my big boys 18th birthday on the 22nd June - we are having a dinner with family on the 26th, and the party on the 27th.
Big A's parents will be here on the Friday, also my Grandma is coming up from Hobart for the family dinner (I think the party may be a bit much for her).

My boss is coming over tomorrow afternoon from Victoria - I will see her Monday, Tuesday night, Wednesday and possibly Thursday morning.

God I hope I'm over crying every time I talk about the work 'thing' by then.

I think it may just be the straw that is threatening the camels back.
Me being the camel.

The last few years have been pretty rough - and this feels like the icing on the cake, even though it's not the end of the world I know how very difficult it's all going to be.
Also, when it comes right down to it - I have be selfish, take from others and look after my own needs for the first time - just so that I have a job.
It's just not how I operate.

So I'm just going to try and focus on the good stuff.

I have decided I am going to give this new structure 6 months from when it officially starts.
if by then it's not worth my while I will look for something else.
I was surprised yesterday - I had a look on one of the job sites and found quite a few I could apply for.
Ten years has given me more skills than I realised.
I'm just not ready yet.
I need the flexibility I have now.
SM needs me here.

Love to you all,

G
xx

..........................

I should add that after all I have been through in this job especially with that woman harassing/abusing/trying to get rid of me for 3 years.

There many changes I have adhered to and supported, working weekends/public holidays/after hours whatever needed to be done.
Winning 3 awards in 6 months.

My position will become obselete.

And I will be the one to deliver some really, really bad news to some very hard working people that they will not 'qualify' and to others that they can either drop down a 'level' or.......

This is the first change the company has introduced that I haven't agreed with or seen the logic in.

My options for other employment are still limited with cirumstances here.

My understanding of the new structure means I would need to work 3 times harder for the same pay.

I have worked and worked and worked to build my managers up to where they are now.
Now I need to knock it all down.

So it does feel like a lose/lose situation for me at the moment.

G
xxx

Defeated

Is how I am feeling at the moment.

Changes to management structure means 10 years of my hard work could be destroyed.

All because a few hopeless idiots can't get their shit together and run their business properly (basically).

I haven't had a good couple of days.

To make things worse I'm not allowed to discuss it with my managers.

The changes won't happen for a few months but I'm just distraught.

I now need to look at it all on paper and decide whether or not it will be worth continuing.

This is a very sad time for me, I have been in tears on and off since hearing the news.

I just can't concentrate.

I had been into an excellent routine and have been on the treadmill for at least 40 minutes per day for the last 10 days.

Now everything feels too bloody hard.

So I may crawl into my shell for a few days and think about it - or try not to whatever works.

G
xxx

Pop over and congratulate....

http://xbox4nappyrash.blogspot.com/

A very exciting announcement over there today :)

G
xx

Very bad day

I'll be glad when today is over.

Actually it all started last night.

First of all I trotted out to pack my order.

The dog from up the back had been into our rubbish AGAIN. Oh what fun picking up rubbish in the dark and pouring with rain......

I noticed I was a box short.

Then I found the courier note with '1 short' written on it.

The guys knuckles must be broken or something, how hard is it to knock on the door and let me know?

This is the second week in a row.

The missing box was 'box 1' which contains all of the paperwork I need to pack the order, along with small items.

So long story short I had to pack the stuff I had the very long, very hard way.

Then hoped to receive the box this morning.

No.

So a million phone calls to the courier, my boss, my ladies to re-arrange them yet AGAIN.

All the courier office had to say was 'If it's not there by 10am it's not coming today'.
What the hell sort of attitude is that????

So everything was screwed work wise, I was waiting around, messaging back and forward and so on....

SM's friend was due to arrive from Hobart on the bus at 1pm.

I asked Z17 if he'd mind taking SM in to pick his friend up.

It was pouring with rain.

He didn't mind.

The next message I got was to say "Z17 hit someone".

I freaked.

The bus terminal can be busy.

I had suggested they park around the corner in Hardly Normal car park, but they tried to park in the waiting zone at the terminal.

A lady facing in the opposite direction moved out of a space, Z17 reversed back a bit to take her space, he didn't see that she was directly behind him at this stage (she reckons she was stationary but that's debatable).
So he has damaged his back bumper - and damaged the middle of one side of her car.

His insurance is only 3rd party, and the excess is $1050 because of his age.

He was so upset.

He bought the car home and we decided to put it in the garage which meant moving mine.
Battery dead flat.
Charge battery and shift car.
I still need to go out and take a 3/4 packed order to one of my ladies who needed some of it today.
Put his car in garage.
Go to start mine to deliver order and get to the bank.
Battery dead flat.

Meanwhile it's pouring with rain.

And my missing box is in Devonport, and will not arrive until tomorrow.
So I will do two lots of deliveries in two days.

God I'm lucky.

I'm trying to look at the positive.

He wasn't hurt.

She didn't get out and abuse him.

I get to see some of my ladies twice in two days.....

Hmm....I'm running out of stuff.....


G
xx