Young Women Secretary

I have a calling!!! I am so excited! I was beginning to feel like the red-headed step-daughter: unwanted, unloved and useless.
It's my own fault I've been without for so long. Sweet C and I had a calling together, and when they called him to something else I panicked. I complained and somebody listened and passed my complaints on to the bishopric. I always panic at something new or different, and I complain until I get used to something. I fussed to the person who formerly had the calling, because I was afraid I couldn't do it as well as she had, worried to a mom,and complained to a friend. I think it was the friend, but she is the one I depend on to tell me to suck it up when I complain too much!
The bishop seemed to think I didn't want any calling. I'm not sure where he got that idea. I've only turned down a calling once. I still think I was right about that one, (long story - essentially I felt the spirit was telling me something else) but I have felt so guilty over it for years that I wouldn't say no again. I just felt scared that I would be too hard on the little boys without C to temper my strictness. We all know how I ruin little boys.
Anyway, I have had this calling before, for 2 weeks some 25 years ago. Then they called me back to the nursery. I have actually had a small number of other callings, but most of them I only held for a week, or two, or a month, not long enough to actually get into it, before I was called back to the nursery (19 times, through all the years my children were little and I was babysitting to earn extra money and I never saw another adult for more than two minutes at a time! I so needed to be with adults.) I loved the nursery, I just would have liked to do something else sometimes. Now would be a good time to put me in the nursery, I miss having babies.
I thought bishops had lists of who was allowed to do what, since the primary president would get released only to become the relief society president and the young women president would become the primary president and I would be called to the nursery in every ward we moved to and the only difference was whether I was ward nursery leader or stake, or both.
I was so terribly excited to be called to the library! But I was librarian, ward, building and stake for 15 years. When we moved to Reno I had no calling for 8 months then was called to be librarian! Actually, while I was librarian I got to teach sunday school too, and that is what I really loved. I taught the end of the New Testament and then the Book of Mormon - course 17. I so wanted to do the rest of the scriptures before I had to give it up. That would only have been 4 years, nothing like 15. Doesn't seem too much to ask. But it wasn't to be. I was called to teach Gospel Doctrine in Las Vegas just before we were to come home. And then because of the foreclosure had to leave that even earlier than I thought. I only taught 3 weeks, but I sure loved it. Sigh.
Anyway, enough of the old.
I get to be with the young women!!! I was already going on trek. Now I get to go to class with them! I get to get to know them! I get to have a calling that isn't nursery or library. I really want to do something new. Yeah!

Whoa, baby!

It is something like 2am, there is a full moon out, shining on new snow, and I can't sleep. Some nights I just wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep. If I get up and do things my body gets used to the idea and I will wake every night for night after night and go around with a major sleep deficit all the time. Also I wake sweet C if I clean house or do laundry.
I have reached my recruiting goal for the Census Bureau for the first operation. We get all worked up at the beginning with concern that we aren't getting enough applicants and "how do we get more people interested in doing the census?"; and then as our advertising begins to work, and word gets out that we will be hiring, and people start coming, there is no way to stop the onslaught. We simply have to schedule fewer testing sessions with the idea that they will get discouraged if they have to wait for weeks for an appointment. Then a year from now we go through it all again. The two biggest operations are the first, beginning immediately, and the last, beginning about this time next year. In between all the operations use far fewer people so we are able to hire those we have already used.
So, my job is winding down but I couldn't take the next thing offered because I had made other plans for the summer that would interrupt the last week of the job. (More on that later) Therefore the responsible thing was not to take the job. I feel a little jealous, though, of the person who did take on responsibility for "my" people. Also, address listing is probably my favorite operation with the Census Bureau. I like maps and love to see the houses and imagine what they are like inside. I won't get to do even an enumerator job with that operation as I will be recruiting the management staff for the new office that will open in my county in the fall. That is another slightly sore point with me. Since I did this job ten years ago I have wanted to be on the management staff this time around. I really want the census to be accurate. However, as I am to be testing 100 applicants for each management position there is very little chance I will be chosen. Not enough experience. Sigh.
Well, whatever job I do, I will be doing my best to see that we have an accurate count. It means so much to our state, and to each city within our state, to have accurate data. And that is the civic reason to do the census. The personal, or maybe I should say the religious reason is that census data is one of the more important ways we find out about our ancestors, people who have lived here before us. That is why I care about the census. That is why I got involved in the first place and why I will continue to be as involved as I can be.

Police State

I am a law abiding citizen. I believe in the rule of law. I believe no one is, or should be, above the law. I do everything in my power to know what is legal and to follow the law. I believe most laws are good, and necessary. I believe that if a law is bad, we should still obey the law until we can get it changed.
Having said that, I still think some policeman are bully's. I think some of them take up that profession because they like to push people around.
One of my sons was walking home from Junior High when a policeman going the opposite direction down the road made an illegal u-turn and came careening around to pull up next to my son and his friends. He demanded to know what my son did with the cigarette. My son was confused, as he doesn't smoke. The policeman was yelling at him, "I saw you smoking, I saw the cigarette in your mouth, what did you do with it!" apparently rather out of control. My son finally figured out that he had had a pen in his mouth while he reached in his pocket for something, but by the time the policeman pulled around he had put the pen in the pocket. I would never have known about the incident except that one of the friends reported it to her father, who reported it to the chief of police. They called me to say the officer was under investigation for the incident.
One night another son was driving home with a group of friends when a policeman pulled them over and made them all get out of the car. The driver wanted to know what they had been pulled over for and was told there were deer out that night and the policeman wanted to warn them to drive carefully. Okay. The policeman then made them stick out their tongues and proceeded to tell them that their tongues were green so he knew they had been smoking marijuana. He kept talking to them, harassing them about all sorts of things they had not done until one of them said that they were going to be late for curfew (their family, curfew, not the town curfew). The policeman asked what their curfew was and said he was going to keep them until they were late. At that point, one of the boys whose parents are political activists asked the man's name and badge number. He finally let them go then, without giving his name or badge number.
One evening we (sweet C and I) were sitting on the front porch listening to his ham radio when we heard about a riot at a youth dance at the next town. The police were asking for backup from the closest towns. Our three youngest boys were all at that dance so we went up to get them. When we got there young people were streaming down to the closest store to try and call home, wandering everywhere while they waited for their parents to pick them up. We walked into the crowd to try to find our boys. We found one, and he was steps behind us when a policeman started yelling at him to get out of there, go home, he'd been told to disperse, why was he still there?!!! He replied that he was looking for his little brother, which got more yelling, and then said he was with his parents, and pointed to us. The policeman calmed right down but we had already heard him, all of them, screaming at these kids as if they were criminals. We later heard what had started the riot. Someone in a house nearby had set out a chair for the parade the next day, and one of the kids had picked it up and brought it to the dance to sit on. The woman called the police and they came to find a young man sitting in it. They immediately started bullying him about taking the chair, only, this young man hadn't brought the chair over, he was just sitting in it. He also happened to be a young man with mental problems, he is rather slow, though probably not retarded. When the policeman got into his face and was yelling at him, another boy stepped in and tried to protect the first boy. The policeman yelled at and shoved the second boy, so the kid shoved back. The policeman was twisted around at that point and he went down, twisting his ankle. He came up spraying mace everywhere, and all the kids who got hit started yelling, which made the other two police at the scene jump in and start with the night sticks, as well as call for backup. This was an outdoor dance held in the parking lot of a church. No seating provided, no access to restrooms, or phones. Kids had been dropped of by their parents with instructions that they would be picked up at a certain hour, and after the first few kids came to the only store nearby , the store owners wouldn't let anyone else borrow their telephone. The kids had no way to reach their parents (cell phones were just coming in to fashion, only one or two kids had them) and no way to get home.
One day we got a call from the school. Our son was with the police. He was suspected of stealing a stereo out of a car in the auto shop. When we got down there we found that the police had been questioning him for hours, telling him that the other kids all said he had done it, and that they, (the police) knew he had, as they had proof. They showed us the tape from the shop camera, and sure enough, you can see my son get into the car. And you can see him get right back out again. He was in there all of 3 seconds, not time enough to steal anything. I pointed that out to the police, as well as the fact that he had not left the shop before they arrived, where would he have the stereo? Turns out the kid who fingered my son was the one who took the stereo.
One of my sons got a ticket for obstruction of vision. Since there was nothing obstructing his vision except a little tree shaped piece of cardboard hanging from the mirror, he went to court to talk to the judge. Turned out the policeman was driving past and saw my son flip him the bird. Now, I am ashamed that my son did that, but it isn't against the law. The judge told him so and let him off.
My boys don't think much of policemen.
Yesterday one of my sons came out to find his car had been booted. This car is new, only four months old. Right after he bought the car he got two tickets for parking in front of his house, (no off street parking at his place of residence so he has to park on the street) without a permit. Only, you can't get the permit without proof of registration and it hadn't come yet. When the license came he went to get a permit, but needed the paperwork. They hadn't sent paperwork, only a license. He went to the DMV to get paperwork, but they had suspended his license since they didn't get proof of insurance. When he called the insurance company it turned out that they had sent paperwork, but one number or letter on the VIN didn't match what the DMV had so it was ignored. He got that straightened out, but before the paperwork came he had received two more tickets. Revenue is down so the city has doubled the price of tickets. This young man has been out of work for three months and doesn't have the money to pay the tickets so hadn't done so. Now he has had to pay the last of his savings to pay 4 tickets he never should have gotten and the boot removal fee. $530, but you can't find a job if you don't have a car. Besides, they would have towed the car if he didn't pay it, they have done it before, and then he would have owed even more.
Ever think the government is just out to get you?

My word is my bond!

I have gone back to work full time. I'm very torn between wanting to stay home and do all the work that I need to do around here, (I still have move in stuff to do, cleaning stuff to do, and renovating stuff to do) and wanting to work and get out of debt. Renovating was my idea, but my timing was awful. Now I worry every time I hear a new message about preparedness. We had a member of the stake presidency speak to us again last Sunday. I owe money and I want not to!
So, I am back working for the US Census Bureau. I'm recruiting for individuals to work on the 16 operations we will have leading up to and taking the decennial census. Anyone who is interested in temporary work, (some part time, some full time) please call 1-866-861-2010. They will tell you where to apply in your area.

Another reason that I am feeling especially the need to get out of debt is that I have just heard a story of the latest loss of integrity in the world. The newest thing is to buy a new house while you are still in the old one. Prices have fallen so you might find a bargain. Then, after having obtained the new house, you stop making payments on the old one. It is foreclosed upon, your credit is ruined, but you have a house already so you don't care. This is fraud! It is stealing! It is conspiracy to commit fraud! It is totally illegal and completely immoral, yet people are getting away with it. There are too many of these crimes for them to be prosecuted.
Guess who will end up paying for this crime? All of us who want to buy houses in the future. All of us whose hard earned money is going to bail out companies who borrowed their entire working capital. All of us who want to use a bank that used poor business sense and lent to people without checking to see if they would pay back.
Lack of integrity in the world affects all of us. Stealing effects us all. (Obviously I don't know which of those words is correct.) However, I, for one, will pay everything that I have contracted to pay! My integrity is more important to me than any loss of value. (Hey, if I thought it was worth what I paid for it why should what is going on in the market effect my belief?)

Some basic respect, please, for other people and their things.

Spent the day at my husband's place of working doing lunch for them. I saw a lovely rusty orange microfiber sofa that I would love to have, or give to one of my children. It was contemporary, very pretty and warm feeling.
Just happened to notice while I was there that one of the customers had taken off her children's shoes and was letting them jump on the mattresses! These are mattresses that belong to the retail establishment in which she is shopping. Same customer had earlier been letting her children push strollers around into furniture and appliances.
I read an article years ago called "Those Poor People and Their Poor Ways". I'm sure I have bored people to death with discussing parts of that article, but really, how can a person treat anyones property that way? How would you like to be the person who bought a mattress that someone else's children had been playing on? How can you justify treating your own property so poorly that you break it down as soon as you have it?
My church used to have a maxim: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." In spite of some recent evidence to the contrary, I do agree with that maxim. We have too many products that cannot be repaired if they break down. We have too many poorly made things. And we treat our property with such casual disregard that things have to be replaced much too often.
I love the clearance store because I love a bargain and can't help but love the idea of buying a leather couch that is brand new for 1/2 off because someone didn't like a little scratch in it. It was going to get a scratch within minutes of being in the house anyway.
However, it wasn't going to get the scratch from the way I treat it. I take care of my things. (and I vow here and now to take better care of my things in the future.)

Bailout stupidity

Ok, so I haven't actually spoken to anyone who thinks the bailout was/is a good idea. One of my sons says he has. (spoken to someone who thinks it is, he doesn't!) I am NOT good at explaining myself so I suggest you go read Kip's blog, because he is.

Between a rock and a hard place

I spent the day yesterday trying to bail my son out of one of those terrible positions society sometimes puts young people into. His car had been impounded for expired registration. He was pulled over literally around the corner from his house, and even though he actually begged the police officer not to impound, just to ticket and let him go home and fix it, the officer swore at him, called him names and took the car. He had committed no moving violations, wasn't guilty of any other crime, and certainly wasn't DUI, so he called the officer's superior, and was told that he was correct, it shouldn't have been impounded but he still had to pay the fees etc.
The problem was never that he wouldn't register it, he would have been happy to, the problem was that he couldn''t, because he couldn't get the rotor off to replace the brake pad, it was rusted on. Therefore the car wouldn't pass safety even though the brakes were working fine. He had spent a full day off here at my house trying to remove the rotor, and just ended up with a broken bolt for his trouble - you know, the ones that hold the wheel on. Now he needed the bolt drilled out and replaced too. He had called a brake shop but was told that he could never bring it in after work, even though he is sometimes off as early as 3pm, he needed to bring it in early in the day and leave it all day. But he couldn't do that, he needs it to work and he can't afford to miss a day. And he really couldn't afford to pay to have the work done.
He has searched, this boy, and been unable to find any place he can rent for less than $600 a month. (and that gets him a tiny, crumby little apartment he can barely move around in with no off street parking.) At barely over minimum wage he cannot live without a roommate, and even with, food has nearly doubled in the last few months and gas, well we all know about gas. He uses his car to work (cleans carpets for a living but the employer doesn't provide transportation) so he has to have a car, and regardless he would have to get to work.
I've seen it before. They need to register a car, but can't afford to, or can't afford to do the work on the car needed to register. So they are driving, or parking with an expired registration. They don't want to break the law, they just can't afford to comply. So the state, in it's infinate wisdom, tickets them, and if they don't pay the ticket in a certain amount of time, because they simply can't afford to, the fine doubles, then triples and keeps going up from there. They can never get out from under without help!
So, I helped. We paid the registration fee, and a late fee, and an impound fee and a towing fee, and a storage fee and then the necessary repairs to make it pass inspection. All this on a little old car that ran pretty well before. Registration alone would have cost $86. Altogether it cost over $1000 to make a car worth not more than $500 "road worthy" in the eyes of the state. Yet we couldn't let it just sit there, the fees will still keep piling up. Even if you give the car to the state you have to pay the towing and storage and impound fees. (And then you don't have any car!)
My son will be working for me for every day off for months trying to pay me back. Don't you just love government?