Well, I had to work last Saturday which was a bummer because it meant I didn't have time to go to the bbq. We thought we could be done with the product we were running by 10 or 11am at the latest (oh, and we had to come in at 6am). We didn't actually clock out until about 12:30. I won't try to explain exactly what happened but I'll try to sum it up. It took us four hours to finish 160 king-sized pads because the machine kept acting up. It took us two and a half hours to finish the rest of the pads (200 queen, 200 full, and 100 twin). Needless to say, it was frustrating. Thankfully, I didn't stay frustrated for too long.

A few hours after I got home, my mom, boyfriend, and I went to South Bend to pick up my two new cats! The lady who owned them is a sister of one of my mom's co-workers. She became really allergic to them so needed to give them up. They were free and came with a lot of their necessities (like some food, litter, toys, carrying cases, etc). It was perfect! I would post pictures but I'm a little lazy so I will just tell you about them. The girl is black with a few white hairs on her chest. The boy is a dark gray tuxedo (which means he's dark gray with a white stomach and paws). They are brother and sister and both have huge green eyes. Their given names are/were Lilly and Ollie or Oliver but my roommate and I decided to rename them Tobias and Catalina.

The name Tobias was taken off of the tv show "Arrested Development." If you haven't seen it, you need to watch it! Tobias, the cat, is extremely cautious and is slow to feel comfortable around new people and situations. He has recently decided that I am "ok" and has become very affectionate if it is quiet. The first time I saw him, he stared into my soul. I'm not totally sure what it is about him but his eyes are absolutely piercing and he watches everything that goes on. His sister is not quite like that...

Catalina was originally going to be named "Maeby" (again from "Arrested Development), but when I met her I knew the name wouldn't stick. We didn't name Catalina after anyone in particular but I thought of it because I thought it would be funny to call her "Cat" for short. Cheesy, I know. She, like her brother, is shy at first but she will meet anyone that walks in the door within 10 seconds. She absolutely loves being scratched and can seem almost frantic at times. So far she seems quite pushy when it comes to attention. When I was first talking to their previous owner about the cats, she explained that "Lilly" takes out anything wrong with the work on "Oliver". I quickly saw how. Tobias stays in hiding much longer than Catalina does but I can always tell when he emerges because Catalina will hiss at him. He simply ignores it and continues on with his business; it seems like a typical brother-sister relationship!

They are staying in Elkhart with me until I am ready to officially move back to Fort Wayne. I am excited about having them there but NOT about the car ride. Catalina absolutely hates the car. She was fine in her carrier but as soon as she was in the car she started growling or moaning or whatever that noise was. She did that the entire way home. I thought it was kind of funny but an hour and a half of that will get old fast.

On non-cat news, I have another week full of 12-hour days at work. It's so exhausting! It's easy to stay positive though because I am looking forward to an amazing weekend and then only one more week of work!

I think that's about it!

Posted by Kim Yoder at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Work this past week has worn me out. We received a ton of orders all at once with their shipping dates quickly approaching. Because of this, all shifts are working 12hrs/day "until further notice." Most shifts stay four hours after the normal shift but one of the supervisors is having my friends and I come in four hours early (so our days are 10-10) to run a line while some of the maintenance guys are available. That means that in our 5-day working week, we will have put in 60 hours and I think there's a good chance we will work another 8 on Saturday (though we haven't heard the supervisors talking about it), and we've already heard we're probably on 12hr days next week too.

Monday and Tuesday were horrible. The work itself really isn't that bad but I get so tired! We are in a hurry to get the products done so they can be sent out and we hopefully won't need to work on Saturday/s. Wednesday was much better because my body was finally getting used to the hours and toughening up a little more. It's really tempting to complain and be miserable at work but I'm trying really hard not to be negative...I'm still happy I have a job! (And I only have two weeks left after this one!) It also motivates me to work hard in school because it really does feel good to accomplish things.

If I don't work Saturday, I should have a very exciting day...

A lady from work is having a barbecue for "the girls" (my friends and I) because we're all leaving within the next month. I've never been to one of hers but apparently they are tons of fun. Also, I will (hopefully) be picking up two kittens which will be new additions to our apartment in Fort Wayne!

Crossing my fingers!

Posted by Kim Yoder at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am anxious to see how things play out in the next few years. Educationally speaking, I will be spending most of my time learning what I am actually interested in (by finishing up my gen. ed.'s and core music classes). I also will be preparing myself for my internship and grad school. After those, I feel as though my life will be officially starting. I'm extremely anxious to see who I will be working with, where I will be, and exactly what I will be doing. I know I should be enjoying the time I have now but I'm so excited about my potential future that it's difficult to live in the present sometimes. I am patient and will not rush things but I am certainly not completely happy about it!

Thankfully, there are things in the near future to be excited about. First of all, my brother and sister-in-law are in town from New York. Because they live so far away, I do not get to see them often. On Sunday, we will all be heading to Fort Wayne so they can see my new apartment and the school. I am not sure what else we will do but I am just happy to be with the whole family again.

The next bit of excitement is that I only work for three more weeks. Don't get me wrong, I am very thankful I have a job, I am just anxious to really be "home" in my apartment and start getting ready for classes. I know most people don't like going back to school but I am actually excited about it. I am not looking forward to all of the work necessarily but I am excited to be one step closer to graduating and actually be learning what I am passionate about.

Well, I should probably get some sleep!
Keep enjoying your summers!

Posted by Kim Yoder at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This past week has been pretty crazy for me. First of all, my fourth of July was mighty fine. I went to Fort Wayne and hung out with my roommate for most of the time. I came back to Elkhart on Saturday and watched fireworks in the area and watched more Sunday night after a game a frisbee golf at the park. Monday was the start of a busy week.

We had four hours of overtime Mon-Wed (which means we worked from 2pm to 2am). Thursday night we just stayed an hour extra, and Friday we actually got to go home early. The supervisor had made a deal with us that if we filled the order early, we could go home early. Needless to say, we worked our tails off and packed out over 1200 pads in 6 1/2 hours instead of 10 hours. We were all pretty impressed with ourselves! We don't have to work Saturday which is nice but we will probably be working 12 hours a day every day next week. We'll see.

Posted by Kim Yoder at 8:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)