Chain Saw Party, yeah!

I am planning on having a chain saw party on May 5th. The highlight of the day will actually be the wood chipper that I am renting for the day, but it does not sound nearly as nice to say Wood Chipper Party. On Sunday, Lucas will filling in for Matt (the pastor) and his focus was on weeds. I am sure the emphasis was on the weeds (sins) in our life, but to be honest, once he started showing pictures of the weeds in his yard, my mind was off and running. I was so agitated and excited to get out of there that I don't think I even greeted my friends before leaving. I called Michael from the road to find out if he could mow while I trimmed the hedge. It really wasn't as simple as that. I had to call Genese to borrow her electric hedger, then I called Sherry to see if I could borrow their loppers, and after I got home I realized that my extension cord was waaaayyyy tooooo short. I then called Tony to see if I could borrow his. I finally got the hedge trimmed and I think for a first timer, it doesn't look too bad. A shout out to Michael for trimming the top of the mess....I would have had to stand on a ladder to trim the top. I was so excited that I began lopping off all the low growing branches on my trees and then I turned to picking up walnuts. I have a very large walnut tree only 25 feet from my house. Last summer it dropped large walnuts on the house at all hours of the day and night and there were times when I would wake up thinking we were under attack while I was being bombed by walnuts. I realize that many people believe walnuts are prized trees, but those people don't have walnuts. Both of my neighbors have walnut trees and I share a second walnut tree with a neighbor, but evidently those are all "male" trees that keeping getting my girl knocked up. My neighbors are not plagued by walnuts. I am. Although $$ is tight, I am seriously thinking of setting aside a portion of my tax refund or work bonus for the removal of this tree. It is gorgeous and I will miss the shade, but I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY LONGER. Back on subject...the wood chipper...I will take before and after pictures of the brush/dead tree pile to show people what I am talking about. It is a danger zone down there and I should see a reduction in mosquitoes and in critters once this nasty mess is cleared out. I think my yard has potential, but it will likely be a few years before I see my efforts pay off. I am planning on spreading Turf Builder on it tomorrow after the rain in the hopes that it will kill my weeds (~75% of my yard).

A special thank you to Denise who kept me smiling this afternoon. Denise works for Spirit 95 Radio station and they had some commercials that needed to be recorded. I was so happy she thought to ask me and even happier that she was so gentle with me when I kept screwing up the same business name over and over and over again. I don't know how she stays so focused and accurate all the time. Denise, it was a lot of fun, thank you.

I spoke to my new boss yesterday about my salary. I recently learned that I am making $10-15K less than other liaisons in the company with less education, less experience, and less responsibilities. He told me today he is going to discuss it with our regional director face-to-face later this week. Considering I am the ONLY liaison right now, it is really in the company's best interest to equal the paying field. I was further embarrassed to learn I was making less than liaisons from nursing homes in my community. Since we are a for-profit hospital, they can pay more competitively. It's no wonder we have had problems with liaison retention within the company, especially on the local level. Hopefully they will clear this up soon and I won't have to worry each penny away. Send prayers this way if you can.