Here's a page from a new book I'm working on called, Janitor.

Beach Bound

  By the time anyone reads this entry I'll be on my way to the beach. I'm not sure of what form of transportation we will be taking but, on our way regardless. All this month, Vicki and I have been planning on riding our motorcycle to the beach for a three day weekend. It's 400 miles from where we live to South Carolina. It's something I've always wanted to do. Anyway, after checking the forecast for the weekend in South Carolina, they are calling for rain both days! Bummer! As bad as I want to ride I don't want to be stuck there with a bike and a rainy day. We still haven't made up our mind because the forecast keeps changing.
  There are a few pros to driving the car though. One is we can sleep in the Wal-Mart parking lot the first night for free. Wal-Mart is known for letting people stay one night in their parking lots, be it mostly RVs.  The second thing about driving is if we do we can leave Friday right after work and drive until dark. If we ride the bike we were going to wait until Saturday morning and leave so we could ride in the daytime. The third thing that's better by driving is that we can take our own beach chairs and umbrella. It cost's like $30 a day to rent them at the beach.

 

Easy Going Janitor

  Fall weather is already making itself known around here in Tennessee. It was pretty cool this morning when I rolled the mower out of the little building and set my sights on the day ahead. There was a thick fog that lingered all morning as I started mowing the big hill where the empty trailers are parked. The grass was still fairly wet from the morning dew and it didn't look like it was going to dry anytime soon.
  At first break Johnny M. put me on the spot in front of everyone sitting there. You see, last week the rumor got started that one of the supervisor's was in jail for pulling a gun on his wife. While I didn't start the rumor, I heard it. Two people came up to me and asked me what I had heard about the situation and I told them that I had heard he pulled a gun on his wife. Well, the supervisor came to work this morning and apparently it was all a lie. He had been on vacation. I didn't start the lie. I only told the two people what I had heard when they asked me. Johnny M. asked me in front of everyone if I was the one that started the lie about Roper (The supervisor). I said no but I'm sure they thought I was lying about it.
  When I went back to mowing I couldn't stop thinking about it. I was mad that word would get out that I had started the lie. The more I thought about it the madder I got. I decided that I wasn't going to say anything bad about anyone else no matter what. If someone comes up to me and starts talking crap about someone else I'm just going to listen and not say a thing. If someone else says that I've said something bad about someone, everyone will know it's a lie because, I'm going to tell everyone, I'm not talking shit about anybody.
  In less than an hour I was tested. At lunch Bobby H. asked me if Steve (the bathroom janitor) was giving me orders. I told him no. He said, "He likes to boss everyone around, don't he?" I just said, "Aww, he's alright." He looked at me funny and went on, ha ha.
  I don't like Steve. He's a pushy bully. Even though, I didn't go along with Bobby H. This is a social experiment I guess. How will people react to someone that won't join in on the putting down of someone else? I've been around a long time and I know it's human nature to pile on other people. People talk about other people, even their friends. I'm going to try and see what happens when I don't.
  

Tightwad or Frugal Genious?

  I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how I can save money. Being a Janitor is the lowest paying position where I work. My wife only makes minimum wage. So yes, I'm all about saving money. I looked at all the money I paid out each month versus the money we bring in. It wasn't a good day. Vicki and I decided to write down everything we owe and every dime we were spending on a weekly basis. We put all our extra money towards the smallest bills first and paid them off in that order. In less than a year we had paid off everything except our house. After that we started putting everything we could into savings each week. Amazingly it began to grow into a nice sum of cash.
  I started looking at ways to save money on my utilities and other house hold costs. I looked at things like my cable bill. We were paying $200 for cable, Internet, and phone. I went to a home improvement store and paid $70 for an HD antenna. I spent an entire Saturday putting it up outside. When I plugged it in I was getting 16 free HD channels! I called the cable company and told them to come and get their stuff out of my house. I went to Radio Shack and got Magic Jack for around $80. So now all I pay for is Internet. It comes to $55 a month.
  Now all we have is one $55 bill a month. Magic Jack is only $30 year. I'm saving $145 a month! Last month we used that savings to pay for a cruise.
  It gets better. There are several free TV sites on the Internet. You can watch free live television anytime you want. I watch all the same Television shows my friends do but I don't pay for them.
  Last winter I became focused on my heating bill which is always high. I usually pay close to $300 during the really cold months. I put clear plastic on all my windows and caulked around them outside. I started using the wood stove I have downstairs in the den. I began using the net to search for heating alternatives. I made a solar heater out of soda cans that didn't work like I thought it would. Then I came across something very simple, cheap to build, and easy. It's called a candle heater and you can find out how to build one on You tube. I made one and began to use it every night in the living room where we watch free TV. It really works. All it is is a couple of clay flower pots and some tea cup candles and it heats up the room for less than a quarter a night. We set it right in front of us on our coffee table and warm our hands like it's a camp fire. As far as lowering my heating bill, I think the highest one I had last year was around $200 and it was a cold winter.
  So that's just a few things we have done to save money. I'll share some more stuff with you in the future.

Sunday Funday!

  Today is Sunday and it is also my youngest son's birthday. His name is Ryan and he is 20 today. Vicki and I went to wake him up for Church and he grumbled when we sang Happy Birthday to him. I held Ringo to his head and let him lick his ear.
  He told Vicki that he didn't want to go to Church and wanted to sleep in but she wasn't having it. He usually works of Sunday mornings and doesn't go very often. After much prodding she managed to get him up and into the shower. Yeah, he's 20 today and an adult but if he's going to live here he's going to answer to us.
  Our older son, Thorin, still lives at home also. He's 23 and comes and goes as he pleases. For some reason we have a tighter grip on the doings of Ryan. I guess it's because Ryan's the baby.
  They are both good boys that have always worked and have never given us any real trouble. I wonder to myself when they are going to want to move out. Kid's are staying home longer these days than where I was coming up. I left home when I was 17 but I moved in with my Grandmother. I lived with her for 2 years and then moved in with my cousin Bobby. Bobby had just gotten a divorce and needed roommates to help him pay his house payment. Besides me, another guy named Jeff moved in too.
  Yeah, I'm not sure why kids aren't motivated to leave home like I was. I guess it's because they have so much in their rooms these days they don't need their own space. My boys have Internet, Television, smart phones, and video games in their rooms. They eat the food we buy and use the power and water we pay for. I guess I have answered my own question about why they don't leave home.
  At any rate, today is Ryan's birthday and we are taking him out for lunch after Church. He wants to go to Outback Steakhouse. His girlfriend is going to. I expect it will cost me over $100. By the way, I am a tightwad. I'll get deep into that in another blog. Vicki said that she was going to eat a cheap hamburger and when I told her I was too, she threatened to kick me under the table if I did. She knows I love steak and rarely get to have it.
  After Church we stopped at the grocery store to get bread and a couple of other things. I got mad trying to find tomato sauce. It wasn't in the soup isle or the sauce isle. I even looked in the chili isle. Vicki finally found it in the canned vegetables isle.
  When Ryan's girlfriend, Mattea got off from work we rode down to the Outback Steakhouse. It's a 40 minute ride from our house. I ate a big 9 ounce steak of my own and a big hunk of Vicki's. I love steak and like I've said in another blog, I don't eat a lot of meat. When I do get the chance to eat a steak I make ever bite count! I was stuffed when we left.

Saturday Work

  I had to work yesterday. It was Saturday. The regular bathroom janitor, Steve, didn't want to work so I covered for him. There were only a few production jobs running so it was a fairly easy day for me. I started the day by sweeping all the toilet paper and discarded newspapers out of the men's room floor. Then I checked all the toilet paper roll containers and filled the empty ones. Then I cleaned the 8 toilets with a brush and bowl cleaner. I then cleaned the 4 urinals with the same brush. I pushed the mop bucket to the boiler room and emptied the old dirty water out and refilled it with fresh soapy water. We have a big plastic tote in the boiler room where we dump dirty mop water. It's an environmental thing and the water has to be hauled off and disposed of. Then I mopped the men's room.
  After I had the men's room looking good I went to the women's rest room. Since the janitors are all men we have a gate at the entrance of the ladies room that we have to shut when we are inside. I stood at the door and hollered inside, "Hey...is anyone in here?" When I didn't hear anyone answer I went inside. I went to empty the trash can and happened to look over towards the stalls and saw a blue pair of tennis shoes sticking out of one. I hurried and got back outside. I don't know if it was someone asleep or if she had answered me and I didn't hear her. Anyway, I went back into the men's room to avoid an embarrassing confrontation when she came out.
  Later after I finished cleaning the ladies room, I went upstairs and cleaned the cafeteria. I like cleaning it because there is a television up there and I can listen to the news as I'm working. The channel was on Fox News which I quickly turned. If I leave it on that channel I just end up getting mad and wanting to pick an argument with the Republicans I set with at break.
  I checked all the vending machines for change in the coin returns. I usually find a dime or a nickel. Sometimes when I look under the machines I find quarters. I check them everyday.
  There are times when the graveyard shift will leave uneaten foods on the tables and I have eaten some of it if it looks clean. Better that than the trash. Sometimes I will see where someone has tried to purchase something from one of the machines and it hasn't gotten hung up inside. I have a secret way of getting the stuff out when no one is around and have gotten a lot of free food like that.
  I start cleaning the cafeteria by throwing away all the trash off of the tables. Then I wipe them down. I then sweep out from under all the tables. I mop the floor and empty the three big trash bags and I'm done. It takes me around an hour a day because it's a huge room. I guess it would seat around 100 people.
  At break I learned that a woman who had quit there about a year ago had killed herself. Mike said that she had parked her car beside the Interstate and walked into the woods and hung herself. I was appalled at the effort she had made and wondered what had went through her mind.
  I spent the rest of the day pushing the trash buggy through the building emptying trash cans. There is a big compactor outside and once you have a buggy full you have to dump it into a big hole and turn the compactor on. It crushes the trash with a big rusty roar.
  I had pretty much done all I was going to do by 1 o'clock and ducked out a back door and snuck to my truck. I leaned the passenger seat way back and set there enjoying the cool breeze that was blowing through the windows. I fell asleep and woke up scared. I hate to do that because I don't know who will walk up on me. I could get fired if a supervisor caught me asleep. I would get in trouble just for being in my truck during working hours.
  At home later we had my father in law and my mother and her boyfriend, Joe, over for dinner. Ryan's girlfriend, Mattea, came over after she got off from work. It was kind of a celebration for Ryan's birthday. It's not until Sunday but since we are taking him out to eat tomorrow, we had the grandparents over tonight.

Healthy Eating

  That's our dog Ringo. I don't really have a story about him I just wanted to put a picture of him on my blog.
   What I really wanted to talk about today is how I changed my diet last year and how I have been feeling a 100% better ever since. In 2013 I weighted 174 pounds. That is the most I have ever weighed. I'm 5'8 and while that's not obese, I did have a big gut that made me feel miserable and bloated. I had low energy and just didn't feel good. I ate like a stray dog. Five or six sodas a day. A lot of ground beef and sweet cakes. I ate tons of cheese and bacon and just what ever got in my way.
  I had a physical around that time and my cholesterol was high. My blood pressure was borderline high. I even had the first signs of developing a fatty liver. It shook me. I knew I needed to change my diet but I didn't really know how.
  I started by giving up sodas. That was the first thing I did and it turns out that it was the hardest thing. I struggle with it to this day. I went cold turkey only drinking water and black coffee. Next I avoided snack cakes and candy bars. I replaced junk food with fruit. I ate so much fruit that another blood test showed that I had high glucose levels. I backed down on the fruit and ate nuts instead of bananas and oranges.
  I made a lot of changes over the following month's. I also started losing weight. I lost about 10 pounds the first month. I tried to stop eating meat all together but I got very weak. I went back to eating lean meats like turkey and baked chicken.
  An unexpected side benefit of my diet change was that my bones stopped aching. I'm 51 years old and have had shoulder problems for a few years now. My knees ached some as well. That all went away. I felt good, better than I had in my thirties! I know that sounds crazy but it's really true.
  Over the year I researched healthy foods on the Internet. I made it a game to replace unhealthy stuff with healthy foods.
  I read a lot of information on the net. I put together a healthy cereal for breakfast and a meal to eat for lunch everyday. Yes, I eat the same thing everyday. Here's everything I eat up until 3 pm.
  As soon as I wake up I drink half a bottle of water. Then I take a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (with the Mother). Once I stop gagging, I mix a bowl of cereal containing, shredded wheat, berry flakes, grape-nuts, flax seeds and flax seed mill, raw oats, almonds, walnuts, blueberries, and almond milk. I drink a small glass of unsweetened grapefruit juice as well.  That sounds like a lot but I only use a small amount of each ingredient. It fills me up all morning until my break at 9. At 9 I eat a bowl of raw oats, local honey, sprinkle of cinnamon, and walnuts mixed with water and microwaved for 30 seconds. You shouldn't heat honey too hot it can make it toxic.
  For lunch I have a small bowl of pinto beans, raw spinach and kale, a small sweet potato and water.
  Like I said before, this works for me. I figure if I eat two healthy meals during the day I can have whatever I want for supper. That's not to say that I go nuts and overeat.I now weigh 158.
  So that's pretty much how I got my energy back. It took me over a year to get to the point where I feel as good as I do now because of trial and error. I guess I'm one of those folks that has to have some meat. I don't eat a lot, maybe three servings a week. I do have the occasional cookie and I have drank a soda here and there but I maintain my diet everyday. 
  The difference from a year ago to now is I have tons of energy. I don't ache in my joints anymore. Because I drink lot's of water all day I stay hydrated and my skin looks healthier and taunt. I work out in the sun all day and I have a very physical job. I get over injuries faster than I used to. I walk a lot on my job. Once I had one of those odometer things and it said I walked 8 miles a day. So exercise is a part of this thing too.
  I take my breaks with a bunch of other guys. They all make fun of my diet. I don't say much to them but I watch what they eat on a daily basis. Most of them eat some form of a biscuit for breakfast, be it ham, sausage and cheese, or jelly. They drink sodas and eat cakes as well. Then they all eat meat dishes for lunch. They have sodas then as well. One guy named Brad goes to the gym everyday and he does have big muscles. He eats a lot of junk though and has bad skin and says he feels bad all the time. He made the comment once, referring to my health nut like diet, that he "Hopes he lives longer than me so he can stand on my grave and laugh at how I tried to eat good and he outlived me". I said that he may outlive me but that's not the only thing it's about, it's about quality of life. I would rather feel good all the time than just feel good when I'm eating a plate of BBQ ribs.