Sweet Freedom at Long Last!

Hey everyone!

It has been a crazy few days! Let me see if I can recap on most of what has happened.

As I've mentioned before, we were having a garage sale this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We had so much stuff to get rid of. My mom even contributed quite a few things to this sale as well. She helped a ton, organizing and helping me with last minute set up. I was pretty stressed out, needless to say, as I only had two tables to borrow from a friend, and was desperate in finding more. I was able to get a few more, which helped a ton!

Friday morning came, both Mike and I woke up at 5am to get ready for work, and for my getting ready for the garage sale. As I ran around the area to set up the signs, Mike was helping me by pulling some of the heavy stuff outside to attract the people. He left, and I began the long wait for shoppers to start showing up. Now, all of my signs stated that I would open at 8am, but I was having people walk in around 7am. It was pretty slow, but around 830, I started to get a consistent flow of people walking in. We did really well on the first day. We sold a ton of things, and I was happy. There were a few things that sold that I couldn't believe that someone would even want it, but hey, one person's trash is another's treasure, or so they say.

After day one was over, we were also in charge of hosting a games night at my best friend's house. We got there, and had to wait a few minutes before someone got home, but it was fun. We had a really good time with our group of friends, and I invited someone and was happy that she came. We left early, as I was exhausted from the garage sale, and Mike was still in a lot of pain from his surgery.

The next day, Mike headed to work, as I sat in the garage for round two. Mike had been up since 2am with extreme amounts of pain and I told him that if he doesn't get better than he should just come home. It was his last day at Memorial too. He did end up coming home early, as he was ready to throw up in the break room. He came home and crashed. I felt really bad that he was still in this much pain, but as you get older, it becomes so much harder to recover from these kinds of surgeries.

Day two of the sale went well. I felt like there wasn't much moving, but we made more on this day than the first. I also learned that people with thick Hispanic accents say fifteen and fifty very similarly. A woman had offered to buy my 3 CD stereo that I marked at twenty, for fifteen, but I kept hearing fifty. It took her husband who had an accent, but not as bad to explain to me what had just transpired. I laughed internally. A few hours later, I had some not so nice people come and complain and curse the entire time they were there, most of it was directed at me, but I just bit my tongue. They did end up buying some things, though they tried to low ball me so badly, that I was firm in telling them that I would take a dollar off their total. I didn't care if they ended up leaving without buying anything, because of how they were behaving. They ended up agreeing to pay $3...ha. When they finally left, I just shook my head, wondering why there are people out there like this...then I think that I have met so many people who are just that way. Some are good at hiding it, but eventually, it comes out.

Yesterday was the final day of the sale, and we didn't have many people show up, but we still made out well. Turns out that one of our key signs had blown away from the strong winds. Either way, we still did quite well. Mike had slept in a bit, but when he got himself around, he sat with me most of the day. He was still in a lot of pain, and was wondering if he had a dry socket. I told him that it's normal to be in this much pain, but if he wanted to call the office tomorrow morning, that he could and maybe I was wrong. He has been really good at taking pain medications and napping to keep ahead of the pain.

We still have a ton of things leftover from the sale, and will post the big items that are left on Craiglist, and then take the movies and cds to Entertainmart for purchase, and donate the rest. My mom made a good amount of money on her items, and was surprised by the total that she is getting.

I made a joking comment to Mike about how funny it would be if we posted our old computers on Craigslist and my brother sees them and wants to come and look at them. We laughed as we pictured him emailing us to see when a good time would be and were to go to look at them. I told Mike that I would simply reply with, "You know where I live."  That could be rather creepy, but so funny!

Mike was still in a lot of pain this morning, so he called the office to find out what was going on, or what he needed to do. They explained that it was not a surprise on their end to hear that he was still in pain. They asked if he was eating, not smoking etc. They told him to keep taking round the clock meds and to use a heating pad to keep it relaxed. Both of us were not doing well this morning, so I mentioned to Mike that we just needed a day to relax. I told him that we've got a couple of days before we really need to push it. With two of us, we'll be able to get things accomplished quicker than if it was just me.

Several people that used to work for Memorial, and current ones, had come to the sale and said how much they were sad to see Mike leaving, but completely understood why. I told Mike that I'm glad that there are people who have said some nice things. What I didn't tell Mike, and I think that it goes without saying, that I'm a little jealous that the same people that we worked with, are sad to see him go, but didn't care if I was gone. I know that I'm exaggerating a little, but that is still what it feels like. The management at Memorial did the same thing that they did to me...they didn't acknowledge that he was leaving. They never made an announcement that he was leaving, nor did they talk to him on his last day. I think that is very poor management and it goes to show how they appreciate their employees. Mike is having a good-bye party this Saturday, and I told him that I'm very happy that he's getting some acknowledgement from those that really do care. I laughed and said that it could be a secret party for me that I never got, but I just laughed and reassured Mike that it didn't bother me. It kind of does, as it's the same people, the same organization, and it does bring up some sad memories of how I was treated, and how no one cared whether I was gone or not. I remember telling Mike that the reason I even got some hugs from people we worked with was because he was standing there. We think that is partly true, but there is no way to prove it. Truthfully, it doesn't matter. Memorial is like Hell on Earth. They want people who have no problems killing their patients, they want the people who are not paying attention to what they are doing, and it's all obvious as they have had another pharmacist who screwed up two different chemotherapy drugs, which was given to the patients. Instead of firing him, or writing him up, they are just going to talk to him and make sure that he pays attention from here on out. This is the same guy who works his shift in the clean room, reading the whole time, instead of working. These are the people they keep, and Mike is the kind they get rid of. I've been saying this since I left, not only to those who have left Memorial as well, but those either thinking of leaving, or preparing to leave, that once they are gone, life is going to seem so much brighter and happier, more stress-free and you're going to enjoy what you do for a living again. I know that Mike feels weird that it's over, but I know that he is going to be going to a place that will appreciate him for all that he is, and all the knowledge that he has, and the experience he has to give. He's an amazing worker, and pharmacist, and I know that he will shine in this new place and I can't wait to see him come home happy and enjoying life, which he hasn't done in years with Memorial.

Our house is finished with being painted, and now we are just waiting for the landscapers to show up to work on the yard. Wednesday, I believe, the house goes into the MLS system. I'm praying for a fast sale, so that we can just get something in Craig and get back into the swing of life.

A friend came over on Saturday, during the sale, to take a look at Mike's and my bikes. He fixed them up, by replacing three tire tubes, and tuned up the bikes. I asked him how much he'd like me to pay him, but he told me not to worry about it. His wife, and my friend asked if she could have a key chain, and I told her to just take it. I figured that was the least that I could do for a $60-80 repair that was free. Now that our bikes are fixed, I can join in on the bike rides that the girls do on Saturday mornings. I'm looking forward to it! I told Mike that my plan is once we get to Craig, to ride my bike around the town, with my camera in tow, (which I payed my best friend's boyfriend $55 for a new camera backpack) and take pictures of the area, and the river. Sounds like a plan, he tells me.

Friday is my best friend's sister's (who is also a friend of mine) bachelorette party. I'm going to head to their house and carpool to the location, as I can't remember where it is. I'm really looking forward to going.

The weather has been so bipolar that it's insane. We had a massive storm hit a couple days ago, with flooding in the streets, and four feet of hail burying people in their cars. I was worried that the weather was going to suck for the sale, but we were in the high 70s and low 80s with sunny skies.

Well, I think that I need to get myself off the computer to help get Mike fed and get some pain meds for both of us.

Tomorrow will be busy as I will be packing up the garage sale things to disperse to the locations that I mentioned before. We also will need to move our packed items into the garage.

So until next time!