After my first day back at Amazon, I was feeling pretty good, thankfully.  I did sleep in Friday, which was very nice.  Don’t think we got dressed until after noon!

I did laundry and Bill finished up the last 2 rig wheels.  All our wheels have clean brakes, and freshly hand-packed bearings!  Good to go for another year!

We had a fairly early dinner at the college.  We only have one “meal” each left on our 10 meal plan card.  It really isn’t a bad deal, although we have heard that the choices during the week (Mon-Thurs) are much better, we can’t get there those days.  We were about to sit down and then were invited to sit with another couple.  They were a local couple and just asked us if we would like to join them.  How nice!  They were familiar with the Amazon Camperforce program and had met some of us temporary Amazonians (that is seriously what they call themselves) in the past.  They said they were fascinated by the whole living on the road thing, as they had lived their entire lives in the same small town, never living more than 5 miles from where they were born!  They have lived their entire married lives in the same house – for 45 years!  I know that used to be the norm, and maybe it still is for a lot of people, but I personally cannot imagine it!  I didn’t move out of my hometown until I was grown and married, but we moved a few times within the same town, however,  Bill did live in the same house his whole life until we moved in together, as did many of my friends.  Anyway, they were very nice and we appreciated their welcoming us!

Friday evening, we spent time visiting with Nancy and Neil, having a toast to celebrate our new job for next summer!   Bill enjoyed playing with their dog, Tatum.  She is a cutie pie!

Saturday, we had another lazy morning but had been invited to an afternoon campfire at the State Park.  We were a bit late, but that’s ok, everyone knows weekend schedules are pretty casual.  The fire was roaring by the time we got there, which was nice b/c it was a damp yucky day, and we needed the fire to warm us up!  We got a rig tour from the hosts of the fire, Karen and Al.  They have a Solitude by Grand Design and it is a very nice rig!  Sadly, I didn’t get any pics – next time, I promise!

We didn’t stay very long b/c we had a pot-luck to get ready for!  I made sausage stuffed mushrooms, which were YUMMY!  Recipe here: Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms  Thankfully – the pot-luck was held inside the common room here at Heartland, or we would have been getting rained on!  UGH!  Enough with the rain already!  There was a ton of delicious foods at the pot-luck, and we enjoyed the company!

Sunday, my wacky crazy man hubby decided to take advantage of VOLUNTARY overtime!  I joked on FB that I think he might need an intervention!  Seriously?  Mandatory overtime is coming soon enough and that will be plenty for me!  Plus, I don’t want to over-do the knees, even though I am doing better.  I want to keep it that way!

So, while he was at work, I took care of making us up new wills.  The old ones are OLD – over 10 years old!  I used LegalZoom online, which was recommended by a few friends.  No sense paying a ton of money for a lawyer to do it, right?  We are back to a very simple situation, no minor children (so no need for guardians and trust accounts), no house to deal with, none of that complicated stuff!  The process was painless.  They are currently being reviewed and they should be ready to print and take to be notarized in a few days.

Well, today is Friday Nov 13 – didn’t realize it was Fri the 13th til just now.  Working a 40 hour week followed by a 50 hour week will make a person forget what day it is!

I am happy to report that packing has been going pretty well.  My knees are doing much better!  I am very glad, as now the paychecks will be rolling in!  I have had my knees taped with kinesiology tape.  I believe that has been helping more than the Advil or Aleve or the RX the doc prescribed.  I have been released from the doc fully, based on Amazon telling me I will be permanently in packing, not returning to picking.  I find that packing isn’t as mindless or boring as picking.  It’s true I am in one place most of the day, but it feels more active, making boxes, etc.  Now, don’t get me wrong, it isn’t rocket science but time does seem to pass more quickly and I am still pretty active.  It is a different kind of active from picking, but I am not standing still.  My upper body is more active, and I find myself stretching out my shoulders throughout the day, but so far so good.  I still see weird, interesting and sometimes crazy stuff.  The adult toys, after being picked, have to be packed for shipping out.  I have packed tons (at least 5 to 10 a day) of corsets!  Yes, corsets!  I have packed toilet paper – seriously – only I found it to be offensive actually.  It had pic’s of Obama on it.  Now, without starting a political conversation, I just want to say, while I am not a huge fan of Obama for the most part, I do try to respect the office and I find toilet paper with the President of the United States’ picture on it to be offensive and disrespectful.  I can only imagine peoples reactions if Middle Eastern countries were selling that instead of Amazon.  On a lighter note – I packed a mouse pad that had a stick pic and it said “I pooped today!”  Really?  No words for that one!

I mentioned above a 40 hour week followed by a 50 hour week.  I do believe we will be working 50 hour weeks between now and when we leave.  I feel somewhat misled, as we were told there would be 3 or 4 50 hour week around “peak”.  Guess peak has come early to Amazon, and it looks like we will have a total of 7 50 hour weeks in a row, which isn’t good for anything except the bank account.  I am just really hoping we get out of here earlier than the 23rd.  We were told that lots of times Camperforce people are let go as early as the 21st, or sometimes the 22nd.  That would be good.  I’d really like to be in FL and set up by the 23rd, or 24th the latest.  Time will tell.

So, what else has been happening?  Let me see…

Nancy and Neil had another campfire one evening – it was a beautiful night!  That is when I took the pic above being used as the featured pic!

We also drove down to TN to see friends, Cori and Greg!  Cori just celebrated a BIG birthday and we brought a store bought cake.  I felt a bit bad we didn’t make a cake, but just didn’t have the energy or time!

 

It was a great day, relaxing and beautiful surroundings.  Thanks guys for a great dinner and day!

We also had visitors, Christine, Michael and Rebekah!  Sadly, Mike Sr had to work, but it was great to show off our home on wheels to one of my BFF’s!

We also finally made it out to dinner to the BBQ place everyone raves about – Brothers.  This was some of the best pulled pork and brisket I’ve ever had.  Bill and I got each got the 2 different sandwiches and split them, so we each got half of each.  YUMMY!  Neil and Nancy actually decided to go and invited us along, and it was a great time!

The only other thing I can think of to tell you about is our plans for Thanksgiving.  For those of you unaware, Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday.  I mean, Christmas is awesome also, especially when the kids are young and get so excited to see and open all the gifts, but I love the lack of commercialism with Thanksgiving, it’s just about family and spending time together with loved ones, and usually involves my birthday (a lot of times falling that weekend)!  Ok – so maybe my bday isn’t as exciting a prospect as it used to be, but when I was a kid, I usually got an extra large cake to share with the extra large Thanksgiving Day crowd!  So, we are planning a Camperforce Thanksgiving Day dinner out at a local fav restaurant.  I haven’t been there, but other workampers have been there other years and locals also recommend it.  I initially made a reservation for 20, hoping to fill all those spots, but now I have to call and upgrade the reservation to 30!  I figure since none of us can be with our families, we might as well be together as a group and make the best of it, right?  It was weird to learn we would be off that day.  Our schedule will be Sun-Wed, off Thurs, work Fri.  I did consider the idea of organizing a pot-luck, but to be honest I don’t feel like cooking!

So, while this isn’t a very exciting update, it is just life as it is right now in Campbellsville KY.  I am keeping my eye on the prize – getting to FL and warmer weather!