Welcome to the wanderings of my mind. This is a brand new blog because this is a brand new chapter in my life. I never thought that I would be recreating myself at the age of 43, but here I go. Recently, I made the decision to quit my job. Some would, and have, say that is absolutely nuts in today's economy. However, I was at the point where I had only three choices: kill my boss and get locked up, have a nervous breakdown and get locked up, or quit my job. As I am rather fond of my freedom, I chose door number three. I am waiting to see if it is the Lady or the Tiger. I didn't know what I expected to happen after having been trapped in a job that kept me working almost every waking hour of every day. But, I know it wasn't what has happened so far.
I filed for unemployment, and I signed up on the job search site as required. I knew that I had to do that, and then I thought that I would have tons of time to get to all of those household projects that I have had to put off. Well, let me tell you about that.
First, the weed whacker broke, so I couldn't take care of the outside. Before you ask why I didn't at least mow the lawn, I will tell you that my mower is also broken. I have a self-propelled mower on which the self-propeller is broken. So, it is like driving a car with no power steering. I have to rely on my 19 year old son to mow the lawn. Needless to say, that is not being done either. I am currently living in that oh so natural habitat which I had envisioned when I thought about the places I could go since I have the time. (By the way, I picked a tick off of my neck yesterday.)
My first weekend "off," I had a few guests coming. I went to the "guest room" (more about that later) to change the bedding. As I picked up one of the pillows, I realized that it was wet. So, I continued lifting up layers of bedding, and each one was as wet as the last. Between the last two feather mattress pads, I found a layer of black mold. I looked up and saw that the entire corner of the ceiling was bubbled and a few shades darker than the walls. I had my son help me, and we threw away everything that was on the bed. The box springs seemed to be okay. A few days later, we had a big storm, and I put a bucket under the leak. Well, my cat decided that he wanted to see what was in the bucket, and knocked it over, full of the nasty water that had leaked through the ceiling. I had already called my father (who bequeathed me this "mansion" in which I live) to tell him about the weed whacker and the leak. The day that the cat knocked over the bucket, my dad and my cousin came down and fixed the leak in the roof. They also threw away the now ruined box springs. In addition, my dad took the weed whacker to fix it. At this point, I have no guest bed and no weed whacker, and it has been weeks. On the bright side, those are two less things that I have to maintain.
In other news, I have attended a graduation party and family reunion. Both of these were enjoyable, in spite of the tropical heat of the grad party and the typhoon that occurred during the reunion. I suppose this is a good time to inform you of my personal rain cloud that seems to follow me whenever I have an outdoor event planned. It has created some incredible (as in unbelievable) situations during my life.
Unfortunately, in addition to trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up - I am considering going on the road in an RV and working my way across the country or freelance writing for a travel magazine - I have also had a lot of time to stare at the vast amount of work necessary to have done to this fixer-upper of a house. I have ten rooms, one working (albeit falling into the cellar) bathroom, and one almost finished bathroom that has been twenty years in the making. Of those rooms, I can use the living room, the kitchen, two of the bedrooms, and the laundry room (sort of). Everything else, including the cellar and the outside shed, is still full of things that my parents left here when they moved into a five room ranch. However, I have it on good authority that their things will be removed and the bathroom will be finished soon. Hey, I've only lived here for a year and a half; these things cannot be rushed.
On the plus side, I have been able to pamper myself a little bit. I have bought a tanning package. You have to understand that I have naturally glow-in-the-dark white skin. I am hoping that this will at least bring my color to that of a real live person. (So far, I have only burned my buns once, and I don't recommend it.) I have also had my hair colored and cut. I asked my friend, who is also my hair stylist, to add pink and purple highlights just because I can. I don't have a boss telling me that it is unprofessional, and I am enjoying it greatly. In addition, I have learned that grocery shopping during the day is much less crowded, and there is a better selection because everything isn't picked over. Making appointments for doctors, stylists, etc. is incredibly easy, and they all love me now because I am a breeze to schedule.
As of this point, I have not really accomplished anything that I thought would have happened by now, and "not working" has been more work than I was doing before. The big question, then, is - do I regret quitting my job? The answer is, no. I don't regret it. I am choosing to view all of this as a part of my journey. Think about the last time you went somewhere. Did everything run smoothly? Probably not, and that is where I am. This is the beginning. I would love to have your company as I continue on my adventure. It is hard to tell where we might go, who or what we might see, or what we might do, but I can guarantee that it will be interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment