All Work And No Play

Shane, who is an ironworker, has been working 10-hour days, six days a week, for months now. Except for a few rain-out days, the only break he gets is on Sundays. They've even talked about having his crew work Sundays, but so far, he's been lucky and it hasn't happened.

All the overtime has been great in helping us catch up from a lot of missed work this past spring. (In case some of you don't know, he was bitten on the forearm by a dog, seriously enough that he missed more than a week of work, and it was an especially wet spring with a lot of rain-out days.) But all the work doesn't leave him much time or energy for play.

For example, we've been invited to Sheila's benefit party for her boyfriend Tom. They are having beer and live music as a way to raise enough money to buy Tom a special shower chair. Sheila and Tom live just a few miles away from us, and I was looking forward to finally meeting fellow bloggers in our area, but we've decided not to go. By the time Shane gets home tonight around 6:45, showers and eats dinner, he'll not want to do anything but kick back in the recliner and relax. I can't blame him for that.

With Daylight Savings Time ending this weekend and the weather turning cooler, I'm hoping that the overtime ends soon. Or at least falls back to just eight hours on Saturday and nothing extra during the week. I know a lot of the guys Shane works with are hoping for the same thing. The overtime has become too much of a good thing.

BTW, if you're in the mood to perform a random act of kindness today, head on over to Sheila's Seriously Sheila blog and make a small (or large) PayPal donation for a good cause. (It's in the sidebar on the left, near the bottom). They'll be a step closer to their goal, and you'll feel all warm and fuzzy for doing it. Everybody wins!