Tuesday 4

1.What did/do you do for work and how long did you work in that position? I worked at the postal service for 36 years. It was not what I had planned for. I did not have much job experience before that. 

2. Of the jobs you've had throughout life, which was your favorite? My first job working at Toy City was my favorite because I was a kid. If no favorite, which was the worst? Tell us why you loved/hated your job. I would say there were aspects of my last job I did not like.

I was 14 when I got my first real job at Toy City. It was a small toy store in downtown Santa Ana across from Woolworths. My mom was the company manager under the owner Bill Griffith. There were 9 stores in Orange Country. My mom oversaw the store managers and was a buyer for the store. So one summer I got to work there, and it was both fun and busy work. My mom would drop me off and visit the other stores. I got my training from the store manager named Harriet. There was a lot to learn and I was always busy. My mom went over a lot of the rules beforehand, so I knew what was expected. Keep busy. See what needed to be done. Harriet was nice to me but did not give me special attention. I was a kid in a toy store, so it was a great first job. I helped unpack stock and made sure the invoice matched the product. I put price stickers on the toys/games and books. I made sure everything was in its place. I might have spent a little more time in the book section. I bought several Trixie Beldon books over the summer. I felt so special getting lunch across the street at the grill across the street. The store offered free wrapping, and my mom showed me how to do that. I earned enough money to buy a sting ray bicycle that didn't last the summer. Little brother left it outside and it was gone. I also worked during the Christmas holiday and it sure was busy, but fun! The old cash register was interesting and terrifying because you had to look up the tax and know what keys to hit. Math was always that thorn in my side.

The following summer I had a volunteer at the local community hospital as a candy striper. It was a good experience. I did not work again until the end of my senior year because I was too busy afterschool sports, clubs and homework. I did get some babysitting jobs that helped out.

At the end of my senior year, I got a job and a local pharmacy store. It has a little of everything. It was like a smaller version of Savons, CVS of Walgreens. I worked a lot of weekends. The job at the Toy City prepared me for this job. The cash register was a little easier to work. The manager was nice and so was the owner. I only worked there for a couple of months. My dad let me know the post office was hiring full time students to work for a one year program and it paid much better than the Drugstore. It also had evening hours so I could take classes during the day.  We only had to work part time in the evening and full time in the summer. I started it in July and went through the following July. I got married that August. 

3. What did your job entail? I sorted mail. We sat/stood Infront of a metal case that had about 48 slots.

It has Orange County cities on the left side, California cities in the middle and some major cities on the right. There was also a half case to the right side for more states, Northern California hold out, International and special hold outs for Special Delivery, Political and even Santa at Christmas time. 

 Did it require a special education?  Not for the Postal assistant job. But in 1975 I got a permanent part time clerk job. I had to past the Civil Service test to get hired. I had to pass a scheme test to pass my probation. I was going to school full time, working and studying for the scheme test. I had to learn about 1500 cities in So California. I then got a random 100 that I had to sort in 5 minutes and could only miss 10. I missed 2. There were not a lot of part time jobs. But when they called me, I was at the top of the list because I had a 98 on my Civil Service test. I took part time, M-F 6pm-10pm. I was able to go to school. I would be throwing/casing business size envelopes. I graduated in 1977 but I decided to stay at the post office so I could start my family. That took awhile.

In 1986 I got hurt and I worked in Nixies troubleshooting mail that was rejected for various reasons. Whole doing that I took a college course on the basics of word processing, spreadsheets, power point. One day Ruth from Marketing asked me if I had any computer experience. That is when I started working in marketing department. I was a clerk working in the admin level. They could not change my salary so I made more money than some lower levels employees. A world opened up for me. The girl that didn't take any office classes in high school end up working in an office. Learning how to manipulate graphics and spreadsheets was so interesting. If I needed help with formulas, I went to finance for help. I worked under the Retail Specialist. Like most jobs, there was a hierarchy. The more I learned, the more that was expected from me and I liked the challenge. The only negative thing was they always threatened to move out injured employees even though we had been retrained to do the jobs. It was all because of the change in hierarchy of the post office. A lot of things had changed since I had start working there. Automation was the main cause of change. 

As Vending Coordinator, I over saw 144 machines for all cities in our districts. I worked with the vending clerks and they sent sales/hour reports to me. I had to log the information into a special program. Our district had the top 10 sales revenue locations in the nation. The only location higher than ours was Grand Central Station NY.  I worked with Postmasters and people at Headquarters in DC. I also worked with HQ as we transitioned to the next generation machines that you find in most post offices today. The vending machines were finally phased out in 2010.

This is me in 2009 in front of Postal Vending Machines. 

I would come back from Hawaii and start the removal process of these machines.

Political mail always has priority preference. Vote by mail was separated and taken to hampers that went out several times a day to the voting locations. Taxes were also separated too. I remember working one evening collecting mail outside as lines of cars drove by to drop off their taxes the night before so they could get the correct postmark. The thing I really enjoyed was working on the Santa Mail. Normally first class mail was not allowed to be open. But Santa mail that was only addressed with North Pole was. The marketing department would ask for help opening up the mail and sorting them. Kids who asked for food and clothing were set aside and different organizations would take the letters and see if they could help the families. The other letters did not show a need got a letter from Santa back with Santa letter head. Different sections of our post office would adopt families and give them a complete Christmas. 

The last day I worked, I looked at the robots working and never imagined they would be in a post office. I walked passed the OCR's. 4 operators fed trays of mail into machines that read addresses, sprayed barcodes and sorted the mail. I remembered working in the early 80's testing a new thing-barcodes. We had to test the accuracy of the barcodes. Letter sorting machines led to business mail sorting machines. So many changes! I stayed there until I retired in 2011.

4. List all the jobs/occupations you have had.

Babysitter

Sales clerk Toy City 1969

Candy Striper 1970

Sales Clerk- Wagner's Drug Store 1973

Postal Assistant 73-74

Treasury(Target) 1975 Hardware department. 

Postal Clerk 1975 M-F 6PM-10PM

Department of Social Services 1977(Senior work experience)

Day Camp Counselor Summer 1979 9AM-4PM

Part time Preschool Teacher 1978-79

Retired from Postal Service in 2011

Grandma/Mema 2007-Current 

Friday Faves 5 & Saturday 9

Thankful for another great week ! Joining Susanne for:

Friday, a fun day at Disneyland and a mostly restful day on Saturday. I wanted to go to Daiso so I suggested dinner at Chilis after Daiso. I had not bought any crafts since before Christmas. We each had the 3 for $10.99 at Chilis and we had enough left over for Sunday!

Sunday was a nice day too. We went to church and I was able to talk to a few people about our trip to Israel. We stopped at Aldi for a couple of things end up getting more. Not good to take the hubby with you! But we did need more than I thought. I printed some things for the party my daughter in law had to make vision boards and I shared that on Tuesday at lifegroup. I liked what I did so much, that I also did it in my faith journal that I am keeping this year.  Sure glad Monday was a rest day!

Thankful for our marriage group on Wednesday. We talked about grace and how the enemy does everything to keep us believing that God loved us when we trip up. I shared how I went through a deep period of depression and anxiety. How I needed to get help for it and went through counseling and see a doctor. God used me in spite of it and then I was able to counsel with women going through depression. I had issues I had to deal with and was going through perimenopause too. 

Thankful that my plans for today were canceled on Thursday because I needed the extra sleep. Plus the weather dropped from a sunny 79 on Tuesday to a cool and cloudy 62 with some rain.

Saturday 9: Up the Ladder to the Roof (1970)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Many people are uncomfortable with ladders. Some feel unsteady on the steps, others have a fear of heights. Then there's the superstition that warns against walking under ladders. Are you afraid of ladders? No, and I still use them as safely as possible. Not afraid of heights either.

 

2) In this song, the Supremes advise us to go up the ladder to the roof to be closer to Heaven. While poetic, that's not really why most homeowners climb onto the roof. They're more likely replacing shingles or cleaning the gutters. Have you ever been on the roof of your building? Not this house, but I was at my previous home. Probably before I knew I had osteoporosis.

 

3) The record was the Supremes first and biggest hit without Diana Ross. When Jean Terrell replaced Diana as lead singer, the two ladies appeared together at a press event to launch this new iteration of the Supremes. Have you ever met your replacement at a job, or perhaps the person you replaced? Yes, I had to train the girl to take over my place since I was being moved out. She kept calling me and interrupting my work and the supervisor told the Postmaster and he told them to stop calling me. The marketing manager went above the postmaster and I was brought back. I was the coordinator of the vending machines. Those were the machines you could put money in and choose the stamps you wanted. There were 16 choices. The program was being closed down in 2010. So I was in charge of closing the program down and there were over 400 machines in our district. We were number 1 in the nation for revenue. One of our locations was number 2 in sales and fell under Grand Central station in NY. Unfortunately, I had to leave after the program was closed down. They changed my hours and I could not car pool with my husband so I decided it was time to retire. I used all my vacation and sick time and then submitted my paperwork.

 

Skagway Post office, 2006

4) Mary Wilson was a member of the group when it was formed in 1959 and stayed through 1977, when the Supremes officially disbanded. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American stays at a job 3.9 years. Looking over your job history, how long did you typically stick with an employer? I was with the postal service for 36 years,

 

5) The third Supreme performing on this record was Cindy Birdsong. After the group broke up for good, Cindy finished nursing school and practiced at UCLA Medical Center. When did you last interact with a nurse or nurse practitioner? At my last appointment on Dec. 19th.

 

6) In 1970, when this song was popular, TV shows about doctors like Marcus Welby, MD and Medical Center ranked high in the Nielsen ratings. Medical shows are still popular today, with Grey's Anatomy entering its 22nd season and The Pitt earning critical accolades. Do you have a favorite TV doctor? I love medical shows and watched them all. I have watched Grey's since it started. I don't have HBO, so I don't watch the Pitt. I thought George Clooney was good looking in ER. I like all the doctors, but I have enjoyed watching the Chief of Grey's Anatomy. He has been there since the beginning and now is being treated for prostate cancer on the show and In real life.

 

7) Also in 1970, when this song was popular, audiences were lining up to see the movie  Love Story. Without looking it up, complete the film's most famous line:  "Love means never having to say you are sorry.." I was not much of a crier back then, but that movie made me cry. I ran into the actress Ali MacGraw sunbathing on the beach in Malibu and she was topless. We were visiting a friend that was a few houses down on the beach and my little boys were running her way. I had to grab them. She looked up at me and held her top to her body and smiled. I just told her sorry and left. On a side not, our friend we visited was Maria Florio and her mom Ida. Maria won an Oscar for a documentary called Broken Rainbow. in 1986. My boys were 3 & 5, so they probably don't remember the lady on the beach.

 

8) Slumberchums™ were all the rage among pre-teens in 1970. These sleeping bags had 

attached pillow "heads" that made it look like you slipping into sleep inside a plush bear. 

When did you most recently sleep in a sleeping bag? I can't remember but I know I did not like them!

 

9) Random question: Did you take a multivitamin this morning? If yes, did you swallow it or chew it?

I take a vitamin D3K2 every morning after breakfast. It is a gummy, so I chew it.

Thanks to Susanne and Sam for the meme. Link list is on the left.

Previous post, pictures from 2016

Friday Faves 5 & Saturday 9

Thanking God for another week of life! Thanks to Susanne and Sam for the memes. 

Links are on the left.

1.Church was good, and we went out to eat at Chilis with my son and his family. 

2. Thankful for a day to rest and catch up with my Bible study on Monday.

3. Thankful for another good day at Physical therapy and that I have good insurance.

Now I need to make dental and eye appointments.

4. Thankful that in spite of a sore back, hubby and I were still able to go to the movies to see Chosen, season 5, part 1. We went on senior day, so the theater was not very busy and the price was only $7.00. Also, that the theater has the reclining seats with a table. I took in my seat cushion and a blanket because the theater is always cold. We go back next Wednesday for part 2.

5.Thankful to see how happy my grands were to get a new puppy on Wednesday. We got to meet her on Thursday and have dinner with my son and his family. They lost their sweet Rey last September. Rey was our Minnies mom. Minnie will meet Daisy once she is settled in. Coco was happy to see us too!

 

 Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

 

1) In this week's song, Lainey Wilson longs to hit the open road. What do you yearn for this morning?  

2) She says her heart runs on dreams and gasoline. What fuels you? My hope is in the Lord, I am just passing through and I want to make the most of my time with my family and friends. Physically, I need rest. Spiritually, the Word of God is my fuel.

3) Lainey sings that her heart has been "drug through the mud." The correct past tense of "drag" is "dragged," but in parts of our country, "drug" is sometimes used. Can you think of any other grammatically incorrect song lyrics? This question made me think of my daughter when was young. There was a song that had the words glory, glory, glory to the King of kings. My daughter was saying boring instead of glory. She was young and that is what she heard. We still laugh at that.

4) She tells us her truck could benefit from being dusted off and shined up. Could your vehicle use a little TLC? The outside is not too bad, but the inside needs some care.

5) Before making it big in country music, Lainey supported herself by doing odd jobs, including appearing as a Hannah Montana impersonator for kids' parties. What's the most unusual job you've held? This question brought up a lot of memories. Sorry it is so long.

Each job I had bring back a memory. One summer I worked at a toy store when I was 14. My mom was the head manager of that store and 8 others. I learned so much that summer. I bought a bike at the end of the summer with a banana seat. I was a kid at heart, and it was a dream job. 

When I was 15, I was a candy striper. Another learning experience and thought it to be so interesting until a man decided to show me his scar from his groin to his upper chest. I didn't see any private parts, but that scar is still etched in my mind.

In my senior year of college, I worked under a social worker, and she gave me 4 cases to manage. My eyes were opened to the reality of sad life experiences. It touched a part of me that I kept pushed down-feelings. 

When I was in my early 20's I was a day camp counselor for the summer. It was a federally funded program for underprivileged kids. My sister got hired too for a long 6 weeks. We learned a lot about life that we did not know from these kids. I failed at double Dutch jump rope, but I could skate like a pro and the kids wanted to skate with me. 

I have shared a few things about my job at the post office. I threw mail into cases and got moved to a sit-down job after I got hurt. I was now working in the Nixie section. This is where the troubled mail ended up for many reasons, undeliverable mail, insufficient postage, damaged mail and so on. There were no computers back then, so we had to go to these giant "yellow pages" to look up addresses. For instance, a letter had a name and address and city, but no states. I had to go through lots of books to check for Louisville. There were 13 and I just looked an now there are 14. I had to check the street for every city to determine the state.  Another time we got a lot of wet and fire damaged mail from a plane that had crashed at an airport in a nearby city in 1986. The damaged mail went to several main facilities to be processed because there was a lot of mail. It was a lot of work. We had mail everywhere drying out. We had to separate the readable mail from the mail we could work with. We were not allowed to open any mail. That had to be sent to the dead letter office in San Franciso where they were the only place in California to do that. A lot of mail got sent there. There were other interesting things I saw. People sending nude pictures that ended up torn or the mail did not stay closed because it was not properly sealed or should have been sent in a package and not a thin envelope. Many people tried to send sand from the beach to addresses in the Midwest. Those got messes up in the conveyers belts and made a big mess that showed up processing big time. Same thing with people trying to send coins in letters. There were other things like people sending ashes came through the mail. Where they cremated remains! I could tell you many stories like that, but this is already too long. In 1989 I got moved to the marketing department to work on computers and learned so much more! I retired in 2011.

 

6) In addition to singing, Lainey has acted, appearing in 5 episodes of the series Yellowstone. Are you a fan of the show? I have not seen it. 

 

7) She loves Southern comfort food like mac and cheese and biscuits and gravy. What's on the menu at your place this weekend? I do not know yet. We usually go out to lunch after church on Sundays.

 

8) In 2022, when this song was on the charts, Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Have you ever been to Scotland? No

 

9) Random question – Let's pretend you're back in Kindergarten. Which of these would young you prefer: a toy kitchen set, kid-sized gardening tools, or a mini trampoline? Mini trampoline! in 1960 we had to wear dresses but that did not stop me from being competitive with the boys! At least I had a parachute when I jumped out of the swing!

Friday Fav Five and Saturday 9

1. Thankful for 8 hours of sleep! I have not been sleeping well, but I woke up and was thankful for a good nights sleep! I need to get myself to bed earlier. It is hard because I am a night owl and always have been for as long as I can remember. I also have ADHD and it is hard to wind down. But in spite of the lack of sleep many days, I function well for the most part. 

2. Thankful for being able to go to the December Women's Bible study. I met some new women and had some great Mexican hot chocolate and sugar cookies. They also had Mexican bread. The study has been on the women that walked with Jesus.

3. Thankful that my husband and I started watching The Chosen together. The first episodes speak of Mary Magdalene, and we spoke of at my Bible study on Monday.

4. Thankful for the Advent study I am working on with Illustrated Faith. It is called Come and Carol.

Each day we listen to a song and read a verse. Then we can journal with some of the graphics we got or use some from our craft stash.

5. Thankful that my grandkids are having fun with Shepherd on a Search. I do this instead of Elf on a Shelf. You can read about it here. The older grands got gloves to wear when they were at Disneyland last night. 

Saturday 9: Wildest Dreams (2014)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, a tall, handsome man asks Taylor Swift to drive away with him to escape the crowds. Where were you headed when you most recently got behind the wheel? 

Hobby Lobby.

2) She sings about memories of a romance that just "follow you around." Is anyone special on your mind this morning? (It doesn't have to be a romantic partner.) 

My grandkids.

3) The lyrics reference sunset. Now that it gets dark earlier, do you find yourself watching the sun set more often? 

No, I am usually busy doing something.

4) The video for this song takes place on a movie set. Swift said it was inspired by tales of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton embarking on a love affair while co-starring in Cleopatra. Elizabeth and Richard fell in love in Rome, while this video was filmed outside of Gaborone, Botswana. In your wildest dreams, which of these exotic locales would you rather visit: Rome or Gaborone? 

Rome

 

5) In homage to Elizabeth Taylor, Swift went from blonde to brunette for the video. Do you have an appointment with a stylist between now and year end? 

No, I color my own hair and I bought two boxes yesterday because it was on sale.

6) Both Taylors (Swift and Elizabeth) often wore the color purple. What color dominates your wardrobe? 

Black. It goes with a lot of things.

 

7) In the video, Taylor Swift's leading man is Scott Eastwood, son of Clint. Though not as famous as his dad, Scott works steadily and has more than 30 TV and movie credits. Can you think of another second-generation performer who followed his or her parent into show business? 

Michael Douglas who followed his dad, Kirk Douglas.

8) In 2014, when "Wildest Dreams" topped the charts, Paul McCartney had to reschedule tour dates so he could recover from a bout with the flu. How are you feeling this morning? Any coughs, sneezes, sniffles? 

No, but I did have some a few days ago because of the Santa Ana winds were around.

9) Random question: How many different zip codes have you lived in throughout your life?

5, 92707, 92701, 92703,  92882, 92879. I know lots of 3 digit zips for California and states. I worked for the post office and sorted mail for 12 years. I had to memorize over a 1000 zips for southern CA. I learned many northern zips too. I also learned many states. Most were the zips for main postal centers.

For instance. 931 goes to Santa Barbara CA. But the cities around Santa Barbara have 930 as the first 3 digits. The last two digit key to specific areas in a city, depending on how large a city is. My hometown had 7 and Manhattan NY has 43. Every time I pass a city, I say that first 3 digit code out of habit.

North Pole Alaska is 99705. But just Santa Claus mail will get delivered. He has his own personal holdout at Christmas!

Saturday 9 and week recap.

My friend sent me thing picture she took and edited with the cute snowflake background. On Thursday I taught our Life group Bible journaling with a snow/snowflake theme. The Bible mentions snow 24 times.  I gave each girl a handout on the verses with about 6 of the verses highlighted. I handed out their theme bags full of goodies to work on their pages. I showed them how to use stencils and stamps on their bibles, Next month's theme will be on love and my mind is already thinking about things I want to do. The main facilitator let the Pastor of Counseling and Life groups know what I was doing. I am now an official facilitator for Bible journaling. This Sunday all the facilitators will be prayed over. Today we are going to lunch to celebrate my oldest son's birthday.

On Friday we had the grands over and they enjoyed Mexican hot chocolate and cookies. My cousin had sent cute Christmas cups with marshmallows and gingerbread cookies. Next week I will start decorating for Valentine's. We will be in the 70's for the next week. I am not ready for our winter to be over.

Saturday 9: I'm the Only One (1993)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Melissa Etheridge sings this song as though her heart is breaking. What's your favorite love song? Is it about falling in love, being in love, or losing love? I Love How You Love Me by Peaches and Herb.

You can hear it here. It was one of our love songs when we were dating in 1973/4. Also We have Only Just Begun from the Carpenters that was played at our wedding and Color My World. I also like the way the Lettermen sang it in the 60's. I found their greatest hits here. Many of the songs remind me of my parents. There was always music playing in my home. Funny how I remember the lyrics from so long ago and have such a hard time learning songs now. Music is the language of love. Music is the last sense to go.

2) "I'm the Only One" is a favorite song of American Idol contestants, having been performed four different times. If we were to have a Saturday 9 karaoke night, what song would you do? You've Got a Friend. I would sing it with my cousin Joanie.

3) A rocker at heart, Melissa Etheridge began her career in her teen years, playing with local country groups. Which do you enjoy more: country or rock? Christian and soul oldies like the Temptations, Supremes, Peaches and Herb and songs from Carole King, James Taylor, Seals and Croft, Carly Simon, The Eagles and Bread. Also groups like The Lettermen and Association, and Franki Valli and the Four Seasons. I liked the early Beatles too! My list could go on forever!

4) In 1985, Melissa sent a demo to Olivia Records, hoping for a record deal. She was rejected. Her debut CD was released in 1988 on the Island label and went gold. Tell us about a time you bounced back from professional adversity. I was a postal worker, throwing mail from 1975-86. I hurt my back and got a sit down job going through Nixie mail. That was mail that was damaged or not properly addressed. In 1987 I took a computer course in college and learned the basic of dbase, word processing and spreadsheets. In 1988 the marketing department asked me if I knew how to work on a computer and I said I knew the basics. I started working up in the administrative department to do data entry and prepare packages for mailing. My computer and typing skills were greatly improved.  I stayed there until 2010. I end up being the Vending Coordinator. I talked with my local Postmasters and officials in Headquarters. The funny thing is that I did not plan on making a career with postal service. I had a degree and planned on going into the Social/medical field. I got injured 3 times while there and they were really hard on injured people. But I was blessed to stay there until I basically forced to retire. In spite of how it ended, I am glad I got to retire young and be an active grandparent!

5) In her personal life, Melissa has faced major challenges, including breast cancer and the death of her son. She credits music with helping her heal emotionally. What gives you strength? My faith-prayer, my family and friend's encouragement. Music allows me to relax. 

6) Melissa is a vegetarian, so her diet emphasizes plant-based foods like fruits, grains, nuts and vegetables. What was your most recent meal? Would it qualify as vegetarian? Yogurt with blueberries, bananas and almonds. I am a meat lover but mostly eat chicken, fish and eggs.

7) In 1993, the year this song was popular, a massive storm dropped a record 56" of snow in Mount Le Conte, TN. Have you done much shoveling this winter? No, I live in So. Calif.

8) One of the most popular movies of 1993 was A Few Good Men, starring Tom Cruise, Demi Moore and Jack Nicholson, who famously said, "You can't handle the truth!" What's the most recent movie you watched? Encanto and I hope to see Redeeming Love this week.

9) Random question: Dessert is on us! Describe your perfect ice cream sundae. Vanilla ice cream, hot thick, creamy fudge, sliced bananas, whip cream, nuts and a cherry on top!