mid week

photographer unknown

Well, the truck went back to the dealership Monday night, with a minimum amount of drama. Not that I wasn't edgy and easily hurt that day, but it went okay. Bill drives an older pickup and he's been giving me rides to work.

The car we were looking at didn't have a/c, so we're back to square one but still hope to pick something up on Friday. That'll go a long way to making me feel more independent, even though my credit rating is in the toilet right now.

Onward and upward.

Since my family has decided they don't want to have Christmas, I've been a little down about it. My Mom turns eighty-one this Sunday and I just don't know how to have Christmas without her! I might have been okay had my sister wanted to do something with us, but they want to do their own thing as well. *sigh* For now, our plan is to volunteer at at least one place, do Christmas Mass at St. Mary's on Christmas Eve, and have Christmas dinner here at home the next day. I think we'll all go to a movie on Christmas night.

Jamie wants to start planning and saving for a trip next year - she wants to do Christmas in New York! That would mean no family vacation again next summer so I'm not sure how I feel about that. I love the idea of a holiday like that, but our financial situation would really have to improve!

I hope you're all having a good week, so far.

vacation plans go awry

Kate, Bill & Emily; Vancouver 2007

This is the first year in several years that we haven't been able to plan a family vacation, and it's depressing me a little. In 2007 we went to Vancouver BC, last year we went to Victoria BC and to be honest, I'd be happy with a weekend trip to Kelowna! (Kelowna is peach country, and only a five hour trip from where we live)

You never know - it could happen, even in light of our work situations.

Bill left his oilfield job on Monday, even though he meant to work his proper notice, because his back went out. Unfortunately when we went to our medical clinic the wait was almost three hours long, (he was in a lot of pain) so he didn't get the medical note into his office until Tuesday, and his payday was yesterday.

They wouldn't give him his paycheque.

Apparently it's legal - they have ten days from his last payday to get his last cheque ready and they're going to use every minute of it, even knowing that Bill has a family to feed. *sigh*

I hate it when things get ugly.

On the other hand, I'm kind of looking forward to things after this rough patch is over. We haven't booked any gutter cleaning jobs yet but we do expect to make up what he lost in pay through this venture.

Also, Bill is planning on going ahead with the lawsuit against his former company, citing Constructive Dismissal. In laymen's terms, they made his job so difficult that they forced him to find a new, lower paying position.

It was just terrible - if you knew Bill personally, you'd know how crazy the whole situation was. They accused him of so many things, and he is just this hardworking guy that is friendly to everyone. He never complained when he had to work on my birthday, on Valentine's Day, and on Mother's Day, he didn't insist on overtime pay when they wouldn't give him time off in lieu. He even went above and beyond his own job duties and no one ever said "thanks" or "good job". It was so disappointing.

With any kind of luck, we'll win the suit and be able to catch a breath.

summer camp

oil on canvas and mixed media art by roy cicin

I just finished a book by Susan Wiggs called Summer at Willow Lake. The whole story took place nine years after a group of kids spent the summer together at camp, and that brought back a lot of memories for me! The excitement of meeting new kids, the communal meals, the archery lessons, the cabins, and the campfires.

I think summer camp is a little different today. The arts & crafts have been replaced by a zipline, there are more trampolines and fewer canoes, and kids are a little less naive than we were, but I think the premise is still valid today. We send Emily every single summer, if only to get a bit of time to ourselves!

My experience with summer camp comes courtesy of our public school system. Our family couldn't afford regular summer camps, but it didn't matter. Every year when June arrived we spent a week in the mountains, or at the nearby lake, doing all the things that regular kids did.

I loved the cabins! And I loved how the food was so different than what we ate at home. The only thing I didn't like, especially as we grew older, was the competition between the girls to garner all the attention from the boys of other schools. As a brunette, I just couldn't compete against the blonde girls, even though they were still flat chested. (You know, that feeling of being second followed me right into adulthood, which makes no sense to me now!)

Anyway, this coming summer, I'm hoping to spend some time at a camp. I think the whole family would enjoy it. The other vacations involving flights and hotels and renting cars are going to have to wait until I get a salaried position, but I'm sure no one will mind.