Greetings from the Northwoods....

Well, the last couple of weeks have been trying at the Waage's house as Big Joe has lost his unemployment. He has been applying all over the place, but unfortunately his prior workman's comp law suit seems to be stopping him flat in his tracks.

11 years ago he worked for Bix Produce. He was delivering produce to a restuarant on Grand Avenue where their refrigerator was in the basement. So as he lowered his 2-wheeler down the narrow steps, he fell to the bottom and landed on top of the produce. Well, it wasn't enough to break his fall and he sustained a back injury. After about 9 months, he won his lawsuit and took the proceeds to re-educate himself. In addition we also received life time medical benefits on his injuried back. He has restriction of no lifting over 40 lbs, no constant bending, no twisting, no standing for long periods of time and no sitting for long periods of time. Once we put himself through CAD drafting school, he found the perfect job at Dunham & Associates. He was able to sit & also move around........until they laid him off due to the recession in Feb 2009 after 10 years of service.

Now, as he applies for jobs as soon as he checks "yes" in the box "do you have any restrictions" ....he is done for. With today's unemployment rate as high as it is, the employers have their choice of employees and they surely don't want him with his back issues. If he were to lie on his application, re-injure his back, file a claim on the old lawsuit, they would do an investigation on his current job, find out he was not living under his current restriction....they would deny his claim. He is dammed if he does & dammed if he doesn't!

Joel & I count on his rent and his contribution to the household since I started my own business. A new business in this recession.....sucks, but it is do-able. So in order to keep everyone above water, I went out a got a new job!! Woo Hoo!! Last Friday I received the news, so starting December 6th I will be a customer Service Representative at X Cel Energy!!! With the option of picking my hours, I will be able to continue my dream of working on my business.

Saturday, Joel & I met a high school friend of mine, Susan at Turtle Lake Casino for Breakfast cocktails, conversation and a little gambling. Had a blast and even took $5.00 and turned it into $60.00. Mama needs a new pair of shoes!! After that we went to Rice Lake for some shopping. Once we closed the stores, we headed back to the house where dinner had been in the crockpot and Jim & Pam come over for dinner, domino's & beers! It was a lovely evening.

Sunday Joel & I headed back to Minnesota to fix the siding on the SSP house that had been ripped off during that last big wind storm we had. We had coordinated that along with Rita & John's birthday's all in one trip. So after a couple hours of clothes shopping for my new job, we picked up Rita & John and headed to meet Grandma Waage, John, Joanne and Courtney for a family dinner. We all had a very nice time and we were very excited to see Courtney whom we hadn't seen in quite some time. After we dropped everyone off at their homes, we headed out to do one more shopping stop. Once we purchased our heated mattress, it was time to go back to the northwoods.......

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