Karin's Adventures

I know, we are in a world-wide recession, everybody is affected. Individuals, families, groups, small businesses, large businesses, nobody is truly safe. You see the signs all over town *space available*, where you remember seing some store just last week. 

Until now (knock on wood) I have been very lucky, as far as my personal finances are concerned. But I get a feeling, things are going downhill fast all around me. The number of really big companies going completely out of business, or closing many unprofitable stores, is scary!

In the recent case of World-Market announcing the imminent closure of their Fort Wayne location, it also hurts me personally.  I will have to drive to Carmel now for some of my basic necessities, like Katjes Lakritz, Nürnberger Lebkuchen, Marzipan, Christstollen, Adventskalender or just some ordinary household items that aren't made in China.

Frankly, I have no clue how to deal with this child and her new appendage. At least I am now allowed to set some rules, which makes me feel less like a helpless victim. Maybe I need this challenge to grow, stay focused and flexible, appreciate my own daughter even more, and strengthen the relationship with my husband.

Germany is famous for highly sophisticated products, which solve every-day problems utilizing limited resources and space. One of the most ingenious German inventions, in my opinion, is the Überraschungsei. It grants three wishes at once and has been nourishing the bodies, minds and souls of children (and adults) all around the globe since 1974.

These chocolate eggs containing a small, in most cases yellow, capsule with a tiny toy or puzzle, have been exported to the world for decades. The USA and Africa are the only places, where the combination of food (the chocolate) and non-food (the toy inside) items in one product is against the law.

Which is why it has always been hard to find Kinder Surprise Eggs in the USA, but nobody seemed to really enforce the law regarding them. I used to buy mine at a small Croatian grocery store. Recently there have been incidents in Europe where somebody abused the eggs to smuggle drugs, and elevated levels of mercury have been found in some of the plastic toys inside a few capsules.

So now authorities in the USA are really tightening security against the Ü-Ei threats. Not a single egg will make it thru customs anymore. Good thing I'll be travelling to Munich again in September, to enjoy chocolate eggs and other things.

When I came home from work today Tom's daughter was already gone. Tom had taken her and big part of her stuff to a trailer park in Auburn where her half-sister is living with the younger one of her two kids. Within the next couple of weeks Mollie's mom is going to move in with them too.

That way everybody is hoping to be able to provide 24/7 surveillance and alternative schooling, which might be my stepdaughter's last chance at a decent life in the future. Since neither Mollie's mother nor her sister have jobs, they hopefully can take turns at taking care of the girl and the constant stream of small, medium size and huge problems she creates for herself.

It's still very frustrating to see her go back to that unhealthy environment after just two years. I guess we'll just have to take this a day at a time, hoping for a miracle. 

One of the big differences between Germany and the USA is the way houses are built. Almost all German houses have a basement, but none of the many basements I have seen (and lived in) in Germany needed a sump pump. The whole concept of that machine was beyond me when I first saw one, looking at houses to buy in Fort Wayne.

Just think about it! Instead of sealing your basement against ground water from the outside when building it, you let water leak into the basement on purpose, by means of drain tiles in your yard, and then pump it back out into the sewer. Now, what if that sump pump ever quits working? Oh, that's when the secondary pump will kick in, right? Aha, but what if the secondary pump quit working months ago, without you even noticing? 

Well, that's what happened in our basement today. Tom was at work, I had slept in late and was going to go swimming at the YMCA. While I got my coat I heard a strange beep coming from the basement. At least the leak alarm worked.

I spent the rest of my day carrying buckets full of icecold, muddy water from the basement to the kitchen. Tom went to the hardware store as soon as he came home from work. It took us ten hours to get everything fixed.

His five children, four of his 7 grandchildren, his stepchildren and friends and family all came to Ted's funeral. We drove there from Fort Wayne, an 11 hour trip. It was the first time for me to participate in an open casket ceremony. That is definitely not the way I want to be burried, when my time comes. I can't think of anything more horrifying than having to sit there, facing the dead body of a person you loved, and listening to a preacher's speach.

When I came home from work today, I knew something was terribly wrong. *Bad news* was written all across Tom's face. Then he told me that his father had died somewhere around 4 p.m. It wasn't a big surprise, after watching him deteriorate over the past year in this nursing home in Kansas City.

We had been trying hard to pursuade him to move in with us, and lately it seemed like Ted would finally do it. Tom was preparing to drive out there and pick him up. Now we'll all drive there for the funeral on Thursday. My father-in-law was the only person in this part of my family who honestly accepted me, while everybody else showed something between indifference and hostility.

OK, this was a *temporary* assignment from the very start - but until about 10 days ago I had been hoping for something *permanent* to open up here. That didn't happen. I was informed that, effective December 22nd, my services will no longer be needed.

We don't have the head-count, we don't have the budget, our sales have been going down, we are trying to reduce the number of contractors , ...... you pick whatever reason you like. The result is still that I will be out of a job two days before Christmas.

But then, there is always a bright side to look at. My assignment at Lincoln was supposed to last 6 to 8 weeks, and turned out to be almost 9 months. I gathered valuable insight into the inner workings of *Corporate America*. I made over a dozen new friends, and only one new enemy (who wouldn't admit that, when asked directly). I aquired new skills and practiced old ones. And I had a lot of fun! 

Facing forward instead of looking back, I think this is a chance for me to free up my mind and re-focus on moving my career back on track. Of course I could do just about *anything*, but why waste my knowledge, expertise, talent, vision, dedication and time - on a job that barely pays enough to survive, much less what I am worth?

The loss for Lincoln Foodservice Products is much greater than the loss for me. They lost an $80,000 p.a. employee (whom they could have bought at half price) while I only lost a $24,000 p.a. job (which shouldn't be too hard to replace).

Seven weeks after the accident Dimension Ford told us our van was fixed, and we should come pick it up. We had hoped for the insurance company to total it and just give us the money. But, no, they wanted to fix it. Their first estimate was $5,000 - the Ford shop estimated $6,000 - the bill was at $7,000 today.

And the car is still not ready to go. The headlight is loose, the sliding door is rattling, the horn doesn't honk, and worst: the car pulls to the right - probably because of two different tires on the front axle.

So, after driving a Nissan Sentra rental car for a month, and our old van for a day, I now got a Pontiac Vibe from the Ford shop. Will be interesting to see if they make it before we leave on our vacation trip to Munich this Friday.

Just when I was really getting the hang of Lincoln and feeling at home there, bad news came my way.

My boss, the General Manager of Merco/Savory, was fired today. And he left so quickly, that I didn't even get to say good-bye.

Thinking back, I had watched him make several costly mistakes - which he feverishly tried to cover up or fix lately. He also never bothered to follow any of the company's rules for standard procedures. And instead of giving his people (including me) directives, he was micro-managing way too much.

On the other hand - who am I to judge? My (ex)boss also was really moving Merco/Savory forward visibly, selling above plan and always full of new great ideas. He just got a little bit ahead of himself there, I guess.

But what will this mean for me? Still a temporary administrative assistant, now without an executive to assist. I had a very nice talk with Lincoln's CEO. He promised to let me know on Monday, the 11th.

I really hope I won't have to start searching again in October, after we come back from our trip to Munich.