Tag Archives: work

Oh, my aching back. And knees. And shoulders… etc.

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Day two of our working weekend consisted of ripping up carpet…

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Which was the easy part…

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Until my husband hit the closet.

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The padding was a bit harder to get up…

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And it left all those nasty little sharp staples which needed to be pulled by hand.

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The spots?

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That would be blood.

Home renovations are dangerous dontcha know.

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Next was the old baseboard trim, parts of which were damaged and all of which was beat up enough for us to decide we wanted new.

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His Lordship?

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Back in the bedroom sleeping with 3 mice on his scratchy post.

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The day ended with a much needed second coat of ceiling paint and two seriously aching homeowners.

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What a *#%•]\<£¥*!!ing nightmare.

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Time for an update on the beyond ridiculous process that my husband has undertaken to be reinstated in his government job.

If you remember correctly, this was begun in late February . Yes, it was over four months ago that his old boss approved his return to the office after only a year of (apparently unhappy) retirement.

In that time we have sent resumes, met with onboarding teams and FAA representatives, corresponded with human resource officers and filled out more forms than I thought humanly possible. Every time we think we’re done? They send more.

Mind you, this is a man who spent 22 years in the Marine Corps, 6 with defense contractors, 2 with the American Embassy in Tunisia, and 20 with the FAA. In other words, the government knows him inside and out.

And yet….

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The position you have applied for requires a background investigation. You must complete the following tasks within 15 calendar days of receiving this email:

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We just had to jump through hoops for a background check. For the man who’s held Top Secret clearance more than half of his life.

The forms were unbelievable. It took over 2 1/2 hours to fill them out online. Don’t remember your supervisor’s telephone number from 1979? Well buddy, you’d better find it… the gov’t doesn’t like blank spaces.

They wanted a complete history of our parents, all four of whom are dead. They even wanted the exact date my grandparents stepped foot on American soil and became naturalized citizens. Uh… check the Ellis Island records because I have no friggin’ clue.

None of this was required when he started working there in 2001. Back then it was a resume, a handshake, see you Monday morning.

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Obtain two sets of fingerprints. If you are located near an FAA facility that provides fingerprinting services.

  1. You can make an appointment to have your fingerprints taken at no charge. You can also get fingerprinted at a local law enforcement agency. If going to a local law enforcement agency, bring two copies of the attached SF-87 (fingerprint card) to have your prints taken on, or you can be printed on a law enforcement agency provided card (two cards). We accept “ink prints” and “digital/electronic” prints. If your fingerprints are taken digitally, please ensure the agency can print them on card stock paper. Ensure all required identifying information is completed on the card and the finger-printing official signs both cards.
  1. Print, complete, and sign the Disclosure and Authorization Pertaining to Consumer Reports, DOT Form 1631 (attached).
  1. MAIL (FedEx/UPS/USPS) the following original forms to the Security POC listed below:

· DOT Form 1631

· Two fingerprints cards SF87s

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Oh, he really loved that part. Walking into the police station to be fingerprinted like a felon. Good times.

When that was done, sent and approved?

More forms. With oh so helpful instructions like these.

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As part of the hiring process, you will be completing forms online in the **** This email contains your personal web link and must be used to successfully complete the log-in process and begin completing your forms. Before filling out your forms that may contain ‘Personally Identifiable Information’ (PII), ensure you have installed the latest patches for the Internet browser you are using (i.e., Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, etc.).

To access ****, click on the **** web link below to take you directly to the **** log in screen (do not copy/paste). Click the “Sign in with *****” button and follow the instructions with **** to authenticate your identity. It is important to note, that this email address must be used to register in ***** to access the *****. If the registered emails do not match, you will not be able to access the *****. If you need to use a different email address, please notify your Human Resources Contact included at the bottom of this email.

After a successful logon to *****, you will be redirected to the Rules of Behavior and Security Caution screen, and then onto the Common Information screen. Your first step will be to verify and update (as applicable) any information previously collected from you during the selection process. Be sure to review this information carefully, as it is used to pre-populate forms and payroll data. You will not be allowed to continue until you have completed all of the required fields.

Next you will be taken to the Forms List screen, which contains employment forms you are required to complete. Your prompt attention to complete and submit these time-sensitive forms for Human Resources (HR) approval is imperative. Please follow these steps to assist you in completing forms:

To open a form, click the “Open Form” button in the Tools column. As you are completing a form you may save it and return later to finish filling it out. You may also view your form via a “Completed PDF” at any time during this process. Once you have reviewed and completed the form (including any required electronic certifications and/or signatures), click the “Submit for Approval” button (located on both the top and bottom of the screen). You will then be presented with your Completed PDF as a final review prior to form submission. Once you have confirmed the forms submission, HR will be notified.

After a form has been submitted, an option to “Retract” will appear in the Forms List should you determine you need to pull the form submission back to make a form adjustment. NOTE: You may not retract a form that has been approved by HR.

Unless otherwise specified, please submit forms prior to your first day of employment. An HR Representative will review the form and either approve or reject the form. If the form is approved, there is no further action required by you. If a form is rejected it will show as “Rejected” in the form Status column. We recommend you frequently log into the system to check the status of your forms.

If you need assistance signing into the system or completing the online forms, please contact the Human Resources Specialist listed below at the number provided. Welcome on board!!

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Welcome aboard my *ss, we still weren’t done.

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I have sent you an ***** e-mail. Please go into the System and complete, electronically sign and submit the in-processing forms.

The Onboarding Team will give instructions regarding these forms: SF-61 Appointment Affidavit OF-306 Declaration For Federal Employment – Appointee Form

I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form SF-181 Race and Ethnicity SF-256 Handicap ID

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I swear… somewhere in a dark depressing cubicle, buried below ground in a secret government office building, a civil service computer programmer is getting his rocks off on the superfluous and redundant paperwork generated in the hiring process.

He gets paid per form, I just know it.

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Yesterday? Three… count them, three beneficiary forms that had to be filled out, printed, wet signed, witnessed by two people, scanned and sent back.

And after we did that? More forms.

I swear the only thing they don’t know at this point is how often we have sex… but now that I mention it, we may have answered that as well.

When (hopefully) the last form was completed and sent? We received this…

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I asked the husband to let me fill out this survey. He refused.

I begged the husband to let me fill out this survey. He refused again.

I seriously wanted to fill out this survey.

In all honestly, I have never in my entire life wanted to fill out a survey so badly.

But no.

I was forbidden.

😉

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He did it!

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We’ve talked about it for years.

He’s come close a few times but was never able to pull the trigger.

I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen.

But today?

He actually did it.

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My husband finally sent in his retirement papers!

While most people dream of this day, my other half has been strangely dreading it. The man has worked since he was 12 years old and he’s going to have a hard time adjusting.

To be honest, he’s not handling the aging process well. Instead of looking forward to relaxing… he feels old and unproductive. Put out to pasture, next step death.

It’s been a constant struggle for me to lighten the mood and paint a rosy picture of our lives post employment. This shouldn’t be difficult, we’re debt free and financially secure….

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Well, that could be an issue…. but my workaholic spouse needs the challenge and feeling of accomplishment work provides, and keeping him upbeat is becoming a bit of a chore.

Our original plan was retirement in 2020 and then … sayonara baby, we were going to travel! But the global plague had other ideas and it’s kicked his health paranoia into full gear, so that’s out for now.

I have a honey do list that could keep him busy until the next millennia, but he doesn’t seem interested.

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That could work. But come on, how much time can you actually spend peeing?

The husband doesn’t fish, or carve duck decoys. He isn’t one for sitting still long enough to read a good book or enjoy a sunset from a rocking chair.

I know it sounds silly, but I swear he’s depressed at the very thought of retirement.

Any advice you can offer would be appreciated. My Suzy Sunshine routine is starting to wear a little thin.

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Holiday weekends rock.

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But at our house, not in the way you might think.

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This is one of our stone walls. It’s the smallest and has been falling in on itself for years.

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Mainly because when my husband built it 19 years ago, he didn’t listen to me and dug it level to the higher edge of lawn.

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You can’t tell but there’s over a two foot difference in height there.

Anyway… on July 2nd, the start of the holiday weekend, I came home from the grocery store and found this.

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Because the husband decided July 4th was the perfect time to redo the corner of the wall where stones were starting to slip into the ditch. He enlisted a friend, dug a trench and figured this jerry rigged engineering marvel would work.

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A slab of untreated wood, a line of black stakes and yes, God help me… roofing shingles to hold back the dirt. Not what I would call aesthetically pleasing.

There was a discussion. Followed by a heated debate. Which turned into the beginning of an argument. I offered multiple solutions and they did not go over well. Naturally the husband wanted to do as little lifting as possible because, you know… rocks = heavy. But if you’re going to rebuild a wall? You can’t just do one section, and after some (not so) gentle persuading, he finally saw it my way. Since the slipping stones were his main concern I conceded defeat on that point and we eliminated the corner.

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Filling it in with dirt which we will then seed or sod.

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And then the real work began.

If you’ve never built a rock wall? (And I mean a real New England cement free rock wall, with rocks of all different shapes and sizes and weights… not the nice flat ones you buy at a landscapers) Trust me, it’s work!

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Which is undoubtedly why my husband only wanted to do a corner.

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Silly man, he really should have known better.

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Day one? It went something like this:

Move rocks, install barrier, argue with wife, remove barrier, curse wife under your breath, fill hole with dirt, move rocks, curse wife again, start rebuilding entire wall when all you wanted to do was one corner, move rocks, curse wife under breath one more time because you can and she’s too far away to hear you.

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To be continued….

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And then there was a television.

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Next up in the Barn Mahal remodel was the addition of a 50 inch flat screen on a swiveling wall mount .

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Husband laid out all the pieces and parts….

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While I laid out snacks and a beef stew with crusty French bread I’d cooked to bribe a friend for installation assistance.

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The thoughtful friend even brought me a bar christening gift. I love those.

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Installation started well… and then as is wont to happen whenever we work in the man cave… it went straight downhill.

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Nothing lined up as it should, so a little force majeure was needed.

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When they thought it was mounted properly, they carried the television over…

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Only to realize the mount was upside down.

Oops.

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When that error was corrected?

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They dropped two weird sized screws (not sold on planet Earth) which promptly rolled into the floor cracks.

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After I took pity and found them both…. mounting continued. Leveling the tv was easier said than done.

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And though the bracket was perfectly centered between the booze shelves on the left and the WWII propaganda posters on the right…. they didn’t take the swiveling arm into account, so when it’s flush against the wall as it needs to be to allow access to the bar?

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It’s too far to the left… which will drive me crazy for years to come because the husband says he’s not moving it.

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Oh, well. It’s mounted and seems to be secure.

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Now I need to schedule an appointment for Direct TV to come install another what do you mean the barn is too far from the house to run off the same satellite dish. I was really hoping that wouldn’t be necessary but they assure me it is.

Ka Ching!

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I needed a holiday from the holiday.

 

Our last day of the long Memorial Day weekend meant a morning of yard work.

 

 

Tag team mowing with the husband on his new toy and me slogging along with the old push mower.

It was a gorgeous day.

 

 

The pear tree was blooming.

 

 

The mallows I’d planted were thriving.

 

 

And everything had finally turned green.

 

 

Except the baby barn which I decided to start painting that afternoon.

Let me preface this by saying I used to love to paint.

I used to.

Until I had to use an artist’s tiny brush around all the nooks, corners, flashing and crooked angles on that beast.

 

 

 

Did I wear some paint, get covered in dirt, rip my pants, tumble off a ladder and work until almost 8:00 at night?

Yes I did.

 

 

But paint was applied.

 

 

And covered a multitude of sins.

 

 

Three sides done, one to go!

Quarantine fever?

 

I don’t normally blog about my husband’s job.

He is a Fed after all, they might be listening.

 

 

But this morning he received a message from a man who was threatening to shoot drones out of the sky. While that in itself was troubling… the man’s explanation was even more so.

You see the drones were flying over his house and scanning him with infrared rays. He was wrapping himself in tin foil for protection while sleeping, but would soon run out of supplies.

Well, sure.

Who can blame him for being upset? Everyone knows the anal probe comes after the infrared rays….. and that’s enough to ruin anyone’s day.

 

 

The courthouse passed him off to the sheriff… who passed him off to the State Police… who passed him off to the husband’s office…. and now my other half has to deal with him.

Quarantine fever.

It’s driving them out of the woodwork.

 

 

 

Scrambling…

 

 

 

No, not eggs.

Vacations.

You see, for the entire year my husband has been saying he’s going to retire in December. He also forbade me to book any vacations because he works for the Federal Government and can sell back his leave when he goes.

(He gets 5 weeks off every year, so the payout can be substantial.)

 

 

Except now that the day is rapidly approaching, he decided he’s going to work a little longer.

Yes, his reasoning is sound.

 

  1. The old boss he hated has left and been replaced with a laid back, drama free manager.
  2. Starting next year, they’re going to push teleworking from home 2-3 days a week…. and since he already works four 10 hour days, it will probably be a 1 day a week commute.
  3. Good benefits.
  4. Good pay.
  5. The ability to dump more in our TSP (Thrift Savings Plan, the government’s answer to a company matching IRA).

 

I get it.

I do…

But our retirement plan was to travel, and I’d like him to be semi-mobile and breathing without a respirator when we do. (Hauling a corpse in and out of resort elevators is such a drag.)

 

Zombie-nuts

 

But back to the scrambling….

It’s almost the end of the year and I don’t have much time to plan and book 5 weeks worth of vacations before time runs out. It’s not easy with the holidays right around the corner. We have a timeshare on a points system and can go anywhere, but since he’s waited so long to request time off, he can’t get more than a week at a time…. which leaves out long distance trips. I hate spending 2 days flying back and forth for only 4 days on site. With the price of tickets these days, it’s not worth it.

So thanks to WordPress’s magic scheduling ability, as you read this… we are currently returning from a week at a ski resort in the western mountains of Maine.

 

 

That’s right Lionel, I haven’t been here for a week and you didn’t even miss me.

God bless technology.

Did we ski? Hell no, it’s too early for that… even in Maine. But it’s a beautiful area and I’m sure we explored. And drank. And took pictures.

The deluge of photos will begin shortly….

 

not again

 

You’ve been warned.