“Mother Nature Needs a HOT Flash”.
Dangerous Wind Chills to Continue: The coldest night of the year (so far) in many areas will be tonight. Frostbite can happen in less than 10 minutes with wind chills around -40°. The entire North Dakota it’s in winter adviser, we need a break.
One-Liner Wednesday & JusJoJan 2020 is hosted by Linda G. Hill.
Today, it’s my 35th Wedding Anniversary. My husband surprises me with flowers and my favorite dessert lemon cream pie. We have plans to go out for dinner, however been a typical day in North Dakota we have to cancel. We are getting hit with a severe snowstorm and we already have 6 inches of snow with more to come.
They’re announcing for tomorrow a two-hour delayed for the schools with a chance of cancelling. The snowstorm is going to last at least until tomorrow afternoon. We are expecting at least 8-10 inches if it stays snowing. My husband tries to clean our driveway a couple of times, but the wind and the snow its not helping at all.
In the meantime, I cook his favorite dinner, have a glass of wine, and enjoy my lemon cream pie as a dessert. It’s time to be on my couch, relax, and watch TV next to my husband.
Happy Anniversary to us and I hope we can celebrate it on the weekend.
Daily Post: Typical
When I moved here in North Dakota twenty two years ago the only job I can find it was as a cook. I would never imagine when I was growing up to be a cook since I don’t like to cook at all. My first job as a cook was in the nursing home. I spent four years and I learn to create recipes, diets, ordering, and inventory also I did learn to speak English properly. When I made the decision to leave this job I was getting too attached to the residents and I would get heartbroken when they died. It was tough to concentrate on cooking when you are crying.
Then a new grocery store opens and they offer me a position as a full time deli clerk. My manager was an amazing person and after a year with us, she decides to move to another store and her position became vacant. The store manager offers me the position and I took it. For the next nine years I enjoy my job and the management was amazing. Our store owner- he was a respectable and loving man- passed away and his widow decides it was time to sell.
The new management decides to make a few changes from the name of the store, uniforms, and benefits. The staff wasn’t important to them; we were there to make money. Some of the good people I use to work for a long time got fired or they quit. The store begun to lose business and customers prefer to shop at Wal-Mart.
I also lost my deli employees and I started to work seven days a week, I didn’t have time off, I work every single holiday, and they prefer to pay my vacation instead of me taking the time off. I was miserable, tired, and mentally burned. After three years of working for them, I decided it was time to take my life back. I was overwhelmed and I need a break. I put my two weeks’ notice. They got angry and they didn’t want to wait the two week and they let me go. Also they banned me from the store, I can’t even shop there. I ended unemployed, depress, and confused. I didn’t want to work in another kitchen or Foodservice again.
After a good recovery I want to go back to work. I went to a Houseware store and I ended in the plumbing department. It was weird, but I learned how to stock the department.
One day I was volunteering at my grandkids elementary school and the kitchen manager recognize me from the grocery store and offer me an open position as a cook. She shows me how different the school system works and gave me a week to think about it.
I put my two weeks’ notice in the Houseware store and took the cooks job. For two years I’ve been the head cook and my boss assistant. Last year my boss retired and her job was offered to me and after a few days of thinking I took it. I love this job and I can’t complain. The people that I work with are the best team I ever had. I work close from home, 40 hours a week, weekends off, holiday paid, and no school when the kids are out, also summer offs.
I wake up every morning loving what I’m doing. The team of ladies that I work with loves their jobs and we have so much fun. I would never imagine when I was growing up I would love to be a cook and I would be working at the public school.
If you’re like most of us, you need to earn money by working for a living. Describe your ultimate job. If you’re in your dream job, tell us all about it — what is it that you love? What fulfills you? If you’re not in your dream job, describe for us what your ultimate job would be.
Let me check what’s in the news. I don’t read the paper and I don’t sit and watch the news, however I just like to know what’s going on with the weather. Then again, let me check what’s happening in North Dakota.
“The North Dakota Department of Transportation and the North Dakota Highway Patrol have issued a Travel Alert for eastern North Dakota due to snow and blowing snow creating reduced visibility. Areas included in the Travel Alert are the cities of Fargo, Grand Forks, Devils Lake, Valley City, Jamestown and surrounding areas.”
So right now is cold, snowing and windy also it will get colder by the end of the weekend. My plans would be cuddling on my couch with a cup of coffee, read some of my favorite blogs, start reading a new book, and relax. For now I’m heading to bed, I still have one more day of work.
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/ripped-into-the-headline/
I wake up this morning at 10am after a long day yesterday also with no intention of going shopping on Black Friday. The first person I encounter at my home it was my two granddaughters Jo & Audri who were coming out of the bathroom. They both smile with a Good Morning, grandma. We have breakfast and by noon we went to the Charles Dickens Festival 45 min from our home. We spend a few hours in Garrison walking the streets all decorated. My granddaughters immediately comment we look like we were in the movie Christmas Carol. We saw Scrooge walking the streets. Everyone dressed up in costumes, kiosk selling Gluwein, and activities for all ages.
By 5pm we came back home and went to our town Christmas tree lighting. All the businesses were open with lots of discounts. The stores and streets all decorated and you can hear the Christmas music. We visit the toy shop and the girls have a visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus. My granddaughters have fun and we ended with a cup of hot cocoa with extra marshmallows. Yum!
I am blessed for my grandkids and hubby who made my day! I am the luckiest person. Yes, I am!
Who was the first person you encountered today? Write about him or her.
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/the-luckiest-people/
I’ve moved several times, leaving behind family and friends. My husband and I enjoy traveling to different and beautiful places, however the hard part was saying goodbye to friends. My kids didn’t like leaving their school and starting all over again. Our last stop was North Dakota twenty years ago and it has been a blessed. We got jobs we both loves and my children ended with good friends, a good education, and jobs they enjoy it.
What it’s next for us? We are planning to work for a few more years and then “retire land”. Our plan is to make one last moved. We are thinking going to Colorado or Arizona, buy a small house and enjoy retirement.
North Dakota is a wonderful place to live, raise a family, with lots of job opportunities (the oil is blooming up here). However we can’t handle the cold anymore. Every year the winter shows in early and it stays too long. Brrrr!
Yes, I’m ready to move for the last time. The kids are excited about our plans.
Life is a series of beginnings and endings. We leave one job to start another; we quit cities, countries, or continents for a fresh start; we leave lovers and begin new relationships. What was the last thing you contemplated leaving? What were the pros and cons? Have you made up your mind? What will you choose?
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/if-you-leave/
I moved to a small town in North Dakota 20 years ago. This town has the nicest people. Everyone knew and help each other. You can leave your doors unlocked, go to any place and not being afraid.
The newspaper was a few pages mostly with shopping flyers. They will not have a criminal incident for weeks. The newspaper consists of event at the fair, the school sport games, the honor students, and the weather.
Once a while a bad incident will happen and we will read it for weeks. We will laugh about how boring our town was. For that same reason we decide it was the perfect place to raise our children.
After twenty years we still have the nicest people with a big difference, “progress”. The town has brought retail stores, more restaurants, hotels, and you will see a construction everywhere.
My perfect community has changed over the years. In my neighborhood only three families still living in the same house that is including us. Everyone else is new and we don’t know who lives next door.
My old community is gone, however I hope our new community keep the old values and what make this town a beautiful town.
Daily Post: What does your ideal community look like? How is it organized, and how is community life structured? What values does the community share?
If you were asked to spend a year living in a different location, where would you choose and why?
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/study-abroad/
A few places come to my mind Ireland, Tuscany Italy, or Australia. All three places came from me watching a few romantic movies this past weekend. I fell in love with the historic sites. They all looked peaceful and romantic. This happens all the time when I watch those kinds of movies I just want to pack and move immediately. My husband will smile and said; “Let’s go.”
I have been living in North Dakota for the past 21 years and the winters are looking longer than usual. I live in a small town that is growing too fast. The people here are caring and generous. We have beautiful lakes and historic sites that we visited every year. My favorite is Medora, ND. I love North Dakota and it’s my home, however like everyone else when we retired we’re moving south. My husband will love to move to Colorado close to the border of New Mexico and I will love Arizona.
We moved to North Dakota in 1994 and every time I met a person they ask the same question why we decide to live in North Dakota, where the weather is too cold instead of Puerto Rico that it’s warm?
Every time I give the same answer. My husband was in the military and when he retired we decide this was a nice place to raise our children. Yes after 20 years they still can’t understand why we’re living in North Dakota.
Deciding to raise our kids in North Dakota it has been the smartest choice we have made. Also, our town has the lowest rate of crime and the lowest rate of unemployment. I have friends if they don’t like where they work or they be looking for more paid they select another job.
Second annoying question are you planning to go back home when you retired? Why? This is my home for the last 20 years and maybe when we retired in a few years, we will follow our friends who have moved to Arizona. Who knows at this moment is too soon for any decision.
Please don’t ask me again why I’m here? Yes, I have a peculiar accent; however, I don’t ask you personal questions? Or maybe I should? Thank you.
Written in response to the daily prompt: plead the fifth ‘what question do you hate to be asked? Why?’
I have been working outside in my garden also been waiting patiently for the flowers to bloom. Finally, they start to bloom and I’m lucky since I can enjoy it the beauty of the garden. One of my dreams is to have a huge garden with different kinds of flowers, shrubs, and small trees. However, with the summer being so short here in North Dakota this is all I can have for now. Maybe, one day I will move south or move back home in Puerto Rico, where I can have a garden full of roses, orchids, and amaryllis.
I have been getting complements from my neighbors. It just needs a few touches like some chairs, lights, and turn on the fountain. I took a few pictures, and I hoping this project will finish in a few days. I know is the middle of July and for some people I’m a little too late, but is not until now, that I can say the weather has been nice. I still have another month to enjoy it, before school starts on August 27th when I would be back to work.
For now, I’m grateful for having the chance to enjoy my garden. It’s time for a little reading in my new special place.
To everyone enjoy the week.
Margret's Life Journey 