Week 31 Day 6 - Five Reasons Why Working In Retail Sucks

7:17pm



I'm 26 years old, and I'm ready to retire. Is that bad? I would imagine everyone is ready to retire, probably even earlier than me. If you don't already know, I work for a supermarket, as an apprentice meat cutter, or a butcher basically. It's a very stressful job. I don't just stand back there and cut meat. There's a lot more to it. Every day I wear a pedometer, to measure the amount of steps I take. On a normal day, not working, I will take on average, 2,000 to 4,000 steps. On a day that I work, which is always 8 hours, I almost never take less than 10,000 steps, sometimes up to 15,000 steps. I am usually exhausted when I get home. Between waiting on customers, ordering supplies, cutting meat, filling the cases, cleaning, and taking our two mandatory 15 minute breaks, and one hour lunch, there's no time to lose. We don't have enough help either. Tomorrow for example, there are only 3 of us there until 2pm. On a Sunday, the busiest day of the week. How can 3 people keep up with a couple thousand customers? It's what's expected. Here's a few reasons why working in retail sucks.

1. My hours are all over the place. I never have a set schedule. One day 2pm-10pm, the next 7am-4pm, the next 12pm-8pm. Crazy. Not good for having a family, especially newborns.
2. Customers are A-holes. I hear everything from "Thanks, you are the nicest person!" to "Why the F don't you have any chicken gizzards?" I just work here. I don't own the place. 
3. High employment turnover. Most of the employees are kids. Just working to make a couple bucks while they are still in school. They don't care about the job, or the next person. 
4. You won't get rich. Wages are generally pretty low. Unless you are high up on the totem pole, you probably aren't going to get very far. Luckily for me, my job is Union, and it's the highest paid department in the store. Though, I could still use more money. But who couldn't?
5. Daily changes. Sales change weekly. Standards change daily. You have to relearn your job every week. That's stress. Emotionally, and physically.

Week 31 Day 5 - Your baby is the size of a... WHAT?

1:17pm



Little baby is 31 weeks old! (and a few days). But not technically, she is nothing until she is born. How does that work? She is alive in there, and growing, yet she has no age. She is not considered "alive" until she exits the body. I guess I never really thought about that before, but that's really strange to me. You should be considered nine months old when you are born. Don't you think?


Maybe it's because they can't determine the actual date of conception? But they go by last missed period. Why couldn't that be the day of how old he/she is?


Whatever.



So she is about the size of a Pineapple, at 31 weeks old. I wouldn't like for a pineapple to be inside me, so pregnant woman, more power to ya. I couldn't handle that.

She is around 16-17 inches long, and weighs anywhere from 2.5 to 4 pounds. By the looks of her chubby cheeks on the ultrasound, I'm guessing she's closer to 4.

Her five senses are also fully developed, and she is getting smarter and smarter everyday as more brain cells develop, along with her nerves.

Week 31 Day 4 - Too Soon Rolling Stone

4:43pm



We had a doctor's appointment yesterday, but I wasn't able to go. I had to work the late shift. She said everything is going great, but she had a sore throat, so the doc prescribed some antibiotics. She was a little afraid to take them last night, but I think she finally did today. I doubt he would offer them if they are harmful to the baby. From now on, she has to see her OB/GYN every week. No more ultrasounds, except for our 3rd attempt at the 3d/4d on Tuesday, the 23rd. After that, we won't see her until she's here. It's getting so close, it's scary!

One of my childhood friends had a baby a couple days ago. His first. So it was a little relieving for me to see that go over well. Of course I only really saw pictures on Facebook. It sure seems exciting. I don't know how I am going to do in the hospital room. Hopefully I will be ok!


I wanted to address another hot news topic that is trending right now. The Rolling Stone Magazine cover, this month, features a picture of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. This is very controversial amongst the public because why would you want to classify a murderer with "rock star" status?

 

Rolling Stone defends their article because they say they are NOT glorifying a killer. As you can see by the title of the article, it appears to be about how someone so normal, could become such a "monster". That, to me, doesn't seem to be "glorifying" in any way. However, I think by choosing a picture like they did, they are portraying the wrong message. He should be in a jumpsuit or behind bars. 

Many stores are already promising not to carry this issue on their shelves. I believe the issue will be released on Friday, so it is not currently out yet. The controversy has certainly given Rolling Stone a lot of publicity though, which usually is what the cover is designed to do. Draw attention. They certainly got it. So that part, they did a fantastic job of.

My thoughts? 

Too Soon Rolling Stone. 

I want your input! 

Do you think this was a bad choice on Rolling Stone's part? Why or why not? I would love to hear what you think! Leave a comment below, or on my Facebook page. 

Week 31 Day 3 - Angels for @TaliaJoy18

9:47am



Time is really flying by now. Everyday she is getting a little bit bigger and bigger. In the beginning you couldn't even tell she was growing, but now, like they say, the baby grows rapidly. I think I read that it's something like a half a pound per week now, until the end. That's pretty rapid if you ask me.

We are still pretty bummed out that we couldn't get good pictures of her, she is being a little pain! We need her to get up and out of a little "nook" that she found, and likes to stay in. She has a few things going against her, the placenta is close to her face, her face is right up against my wife's skin, and her head is back in that nook. Those three things make it hard to get a good face picture with the ultrasound. Maybe she is shy?

Talia Joy Castellano

I would like to introduce you to this special 13 year old girl. She lost her battle with cancer yesterday morning, but not before touching the lives of millions of people. Her YouTube channel has over 20 million views. She had an interest in make-up so she would review products and demo them for her subscribers. 

Maybe it is the "parent" in me that makes this story so touching, because I can't even imagine how this must be for her family. Especially to see such a bright, young girl, who has inspired so many, and who was always so positive and happy to be alive, have to end her life so early.

Rest In Peace Talia - July 6, 2013

Please watch her appearance on Ellen. This was from last September. I remember seeing her on TV and thinking "Wow, what an inspiration. I hope she beats cancer, because she clearly deserves to."

Her Facebook page - Warning: Extremely SAD! Angels For Talia

Her Twitter page - @TaliaJoy18

Week 31 Day 2 - Crib Is Up

8:42am



Crib is finally up. It was really easy to build, actually. A few screws and that was it. I was thinking that it would be an all-day project. My wife and I had it up in about an hour.

We still need the mattress and bedding though. We registered for the mattress and the bedding is already picked out. We just don't have it yet. The baby's room is really coming along though. Almost ready now!


I put up a picture of our baby shower invitation on Instagram a few days ago. This is the response I received from TinyPrints, where we ordered the cards from!

@PregoForMenBlog What a beautiful card! Check out blog on Friday, we will feature your card!
— Tiny Prints (@TinyPrints) July 15, 2013

I thought that was pretty cool!


We are going back again next week for another try at the 3d Ultrasound pictures. Her little face is so smashed in there up against my wife's skin that it's hard to get a good look at her. We have pictures but they are pretty distorted. Either her nose is cut off, because of the ultrasound "wand" having to be pushed too hard against the skin, or their is placenta in the way. The pictures are almost scary looking so I will wait until we can get some clear ones. If the next attempt doesn't work, then I think we will just give up on them. Three attempts is enough.

Week 31 Day 1 - Sorry, You're Going To Have To Wait

10:27pm



I promised pictures of the crib. I lied. It's late and we just got home from my parent's house. Sorry, but you're going to have to wait until tomorrow. I am off and will write up a good post with lots of pictures! We had another "re-do" for our original 3d ultrasound today, because the first time she was hiding her little face. This time wasn't much better, unfortunately. She is very stubborn, like her mother. (Shhh....)  Tomorrow I will put up some pictures.


Our crib turned out awesome! I love it. We both love it. She will love it. If she even remembers it. I was thinking about that earlier. I don't remember my crib from when I was little. Does anyone?


Here's a little preview!

Setting up the crib

Week 30 Day 7 - WhirlyBall

8:17pm



So yesterday we finished the baby's room. Or at least got it painted and all of the "storage" stuff out of there. Today I worked all day, and my wife met me at the grocery store when I got off. We picked up a bunch of groceries (not like we don't already have a freezer full). But most of our snack foods were depleted. That's what we eat the most of. Oh, and milk and eggs.

We are probably going to eat a quick dinner and then start setting up her crib tonight. I was planning on doing it Tuesday, my day off, but some circumstances changed at work, and I might have to go in Tuesday night. It would all be overtime so it's hard to pass that opportunity up. Hopefully we can get it done tonight, it says one hour on the box, but I know it's probably going to take just a little longer than that.

Last night we went out for my wife's sister's birthday. She had a party at a "WhirlyBall" place. I'm not too sure if these are worldwide, or how well known this "sport" is, but it was pretty neat. It was our first time there, and their are a few locations around Chicago. Some of my friends have gone there before, and always talked about how much fun it is. It's basically like a large basketball court, but you are in bumper cars, and hold scoops and a ball. You can pass the ball to others, using your "scoop". It reminded me of LaCrosse but on a basketball court, in bumper cars. You can see their website - http://www.whirlyball.com

Stock photo http://www.newhco.com

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