Around the blog in 38 days

Hey, wow! Long time-no see! How have you been? What have you been up to?

...If you're answering these questions, you do realize nobody can hear you answers, right?

I found time to read Dave's blog yesterday when I realized... I'm in danger of being just as neglectful to our family and the public as he is! My problem is that he can get away with it as the looker of the family. Speaking of looks: Dave/Dan, have you started receding? I digress... So, it's time to get you all caught up!


When did we post last... back in March? Ok.

April 1st - My boss was bringing back the NEOS from being on display at BYU-I (Caryssa, they might buy one for the Manwarring Center or elsewhere... let's hope!!). He left a message on the phone telling me he was 10 miles outside of Burley where he rolled the truck. This is how bad I am... My first thought was that he was making an April Fools joke. But then I doubted that he'd do that on the company voice mail. Well, I found out later it was true.




Bossman escaped unscathed, which surprised me after I saw these pictures as you would assume. His tone of voice on the phone was quite deceiving in regards to the seriousness of the accident. However, he was extremely sore after that first night of sleep and the insurance guys had him take the rest of the week off. He was able to come back in the following week, but was still very sore. With the owner of the company having bad hip trouble and his Parkinson's never letting up, it gave me a weeks worth of responsibility dropped on my shoulders. I had several large bids to complete in very little time, went on several sales calls to which I had no experience, and of course, had to perform my usual duties as well. But it was no big deal, it was only for a little more than a week.

I write this next part to explain a little more about what transpired during the month, and also to illustrate the busyness of our lives which kept us from calling, blogging, e-mailing, or even reading your blogs. But in no way do I want it sounding like "it's all about me and my woes." I only want to state the facts of recent events as it is still hard for me to imagine and deal with feelings that emerge from this tragedy.

On Thursday of the week my boss returned to work, I received a call at home in the evening. It was my boss explaining that I would have to tell the owner that he would not be coming in to work for the next few weeks. I could tell he was distraught so I asked "...what happened?" It took a few sentences for him to get out that his 16 month old son, Keelan, passed away that afternoon.


I don't feel that this is the place for details. But I will say that the Lord works in miraculous ways. The wreck gave time for my boss to spend a week with his Son as a way to say goodbye. His presence was severely evident in the comforting of my boss and his family, as well as Jessica and I. For example, there is no doubt that my boss, I, and many others know that the truck accident in the previous week was meant to be. I had several personal experiences where the Spirit comforted me when I had difficulty... 'contemplating' the situation.

Well, my boss and his family are doing fine. They are still sorrowed often, particularly my bosses wife, but they have had personal witness that Keelan is already serving his Father in heaven.

Needless to say, this did give me quite a bit of work in the office. The boss didn't return until Monday, April 21st, but even for the next 2 weeks he had limited hours. It was sure good to have him back in the office, however. It gets rather lonely when you have no one to talk to or punish with my eloquent jokes. it was also a good experience. I believe I moved into a new light of reliability and responsibility in regards to this business. My boss always knew I had it, but no matter what responsibility he gave me, the president was never around much to witness it. I know now that Alan trusts me with the business -- sure, he really had no choice, but it was good that I was able to show my worth.

All that lead to the ever growing problem that my current wages were not covering the costs of our families needs. We scrape by each month with no money for new clothes that Jay and myson badly need, as well as doing our best to live from our food storage and low cost recipes (macaroni and tomatoes will never get old!). With my 1 year work anniversary coming up on May 15th and the fact that I was promised 12% commissions of sales I perform last November which never came to fruition, it was time I ask for a raise/additional compensation. I had a hard time asking my boss about it, as I knew it may not have been the best time for him to talk about such things. But I was able to get it across to him that I needed that additional compensation or I would have to look for other employment. He agreed that I deserve better but asked that I talk directly to the CEO instead of him in my behalf. he had talked about it a few times before but they could not figure out how to get me employed by Idaho (I'm only employed by the Utah company) for the additional company commissions from that state. I'd go into details, but I don't want to post company information on such a public forum.

Needless to say I brought it up with AY (the owner) when he came in one morning. He said that it would not be possible for me to be employed by Idaho and the only way to get an increase was out of Utah. I was amazed I didn't just shy away but I boldly said, "Well, I don't see that ever happening. With the way (the Utah sales rep)'s contract is written, he will get all commissions I make in his territory. And I don't believe that (the sales rep) will ever make enough margin for 2% to make a difference for our family." It was then that AY mentioned that he will change that to "ten plus two"...

I really didn't know what that meant and today I still don't. AY said briefly during the same conversation that I may have to get it from his brothers area of Northern Utah. I got an idea that he might want me to travel to N. Utah and be sales rep, but I'm not sure that was what he meant. When he said "ten plus two" he highlighted the 2% on the commissions sheet we use each month. So that should means that I will get 12% of what all of Utah makes. That would boost me from my meager below-20k year salary to about 34k, with upwards potential.

!!!

I so wish that is what he means. Unfortunately, because of the owners condition, we never see him often enough to have him elaborate. The best I can do is wait until the 15th of this month when I do the commissions report and see what he does. My boss (I'm tired of saying my boss. Thus forth, he will be called soiree, for obvious reasons), soiree, isn't sure that is what AY meant. He feels that's a huge boost and I probably shouldn't get my hopes up. Respectfully, I hope he's wrong and I'm not!! :D

Lastly, If you haven't noticed, I've been replying to recent e-mails and posting on your blogs at very early hours of the morning --I began this post at 3:10am today. This is because Jay snores all night and I can't stay asleep.

...All the women reading this may hit me now...

Ok, she doesn't snore .. often. But when she does it's so cute!! I can actually get her to snore by wrapping my arms around her when she's asleep and slowly squeezing. So fun :)

Back to topic: Effective yesterday, I now work a 2nd job at early hours in the morning at AlarmCo. It's an extremely easy job. I sit in front of several monitors and monitor camera and alarm systems and respond if I ever need to (which is 1 or less per night). Sure, the hours suck, but I much prefer this to a night job. I did night jobs before and I just hate, hate, hated how I was never able to see my kids. Now, I wake up at 1am, work from 2am-6am, drive to my day job and sleep in the office for an hour, work 8a-4:30pm, go home and play with the most adorable children ever, and go to bed when they do (hopefully around 8, but so far the children don't agree with us on that time). Jay and I won't get our alone time, which no doubt will probably cause a little bit of stress, but I think as long as we still have family time, it should all work out.

If the good news and a huge raise goes through on my previous job, I probably won't leave this job I just started. It's really evident to me that we need to start "living providently." We're going to make double payments on debt and take care of our family, while preparing for the future with savings, gardening, food storage, etc. I just need to get my bodies clock adjusted. Slacking off and blogging for the half the shift helps me stay awake ... you think the boss will agree? o_O

That's us!! Well, mostly me. Jay has a lot of things to post about as well, but she has to wait about a week-ish before she blogs so we can be sure you don't miss this one.