Finally Friday

The older I get, the more I live for the weekends. 

I worked from home for a lot of years. Actually, for the better part of 1998 to 2024. That is a long time. Enough time to enjoy the luxury of not having to leave the house at a specified time, if at all.

I've been working out of my home pretty steadily for the past ten months. It's exhausting.

I get up at 5:00 am to ensure I still have "my time" before I start giving it all away outside the house. Time to write, do my puzzles, banking, puttering around and basically just tending to what fuels me. Then I have to leave.

The best part of my days off, is savoring the time before I have to leave the house. Given a choice, I stay home. Even going for a walk separates me from the house I call home. 

I've said many times, the best part of a vacation is coming home. I love coming home, whether I've been gone for a day or even a few hours. Coming home is the highlight of my day. Every day.

I am pretty fortunate to be able to say that and mean it. 

I love my home. I love being home. I love staying home. 

I'm so glad it's finally Friday.

Wishes are Coming True

My hopes and dreams list is being attended to very nicely. Wishes are coming true:

Complete!

Unfortunately the shed package was not an ideal building solution. Frustrations and challenges galore. My son persevered, despite it all. And it is done.

The next item on my wish list? A new bedroom window:

Perfect!

Some finishing touches left to tend but it's well on its way. It is bigger than the previous window and it has a screen (I broke the screen on the previous window) so I will be able to open my window to let the cool evening air in. Wonderful!!

The best part of this reno-so-far, is I had to sleep in my favorite-room-in-the-house last night:

I adore this cozy little room.

It felt like coming home again.

Good things are happening here!!

Dare I hope for more? Time will tell ...

One Step at a Time

My long-awaited, ready-to-build cabinet was delivered yesterday. Lucky for me, it was my day off so I was home to receive it and build it. All in one day. No procrastination, no time to feel overwhelmed. I just did it.

The first thing working in my cabinet's favor was it was too heavy for me to get it upstairs. I tried. It had to go upstairs in pieces. As I emptied the box, I checked to ensure all 37 pieces plus hardware were all there. They were. 

I looked at the daunting 15-step-process to build the cabinet, with the parts and pieces all accounted for, organized on the bedroom floor. No words. Simply diagrams. I thought "one step at a time", I will take it one step at a time and I will be further along than I am at this moment.

I hit a snag when I couldn't figure out how to separate the drawer rails by the pictures alone. I searched the Internet for assistance. All I found was an online version of the instruction manual I already had. I enlarged the diagram to look for more clues. Then I took a break.

After my break, I broke the code. The pieces came apart in my hands and I had no idea exactly what I had done. Eventually I got a few more apart. Thankfully I had 10 opportunities to figure out what I was doing and how I was doing it. I thought this could be important information when it came time to reuniting these pieces.

I carried on. One more step at a time. I was nearing the end when I couldn't get the bottom piece on properly. I was this close:

Time for another break.

Eventually I got the bottom piece securely fastened and closed the gaps that had been present before.

 

Ta da!!!

Mission accomplished. Nothing else of value was accomplished with the day but I did it. One step at a time.

As it is with the challenges we meet in life, ONE step at a time is a good direction to take. One forward step takes you one step further than you were before.

I'm Not Losing It (I'm just finding it later)

I have been somewhat frustrated at myself lately. I have a clear memory of where I put something, yet when I go to retrieve it? It's not there.

Case #1 - The Missing Umbrella

I remember where the umbrella was all last summer. It was in an out in the open space on the shoe rack. I remember winter's onset required a changing-of-the-footwear transition. I put the umbrella in a basket on the top shelf of the closet. That's the last thing I remember.

Baskets on the top shelf in the closet
(Can anyone else envision a black cat's eyes peeking out of the handle on the far left basket?)

Rain was in the forecast a few weeks ago. I thought I should be prepared and take my umbrella to work.

I looked in the baskets on the top shelf of the closet. Nothing. I checked any and all places I would put the umbrella in the car. Nothing. I checked behind the baskets and in the baskets. Again. I checked the basement shelves, in and around where I would have placed summer footwear. Not there either. I checked my desk drawer at work. Maybe I had left it at work. I re-checked the car. I looked in, under and around the shoe shelf. Nothing. I tried another day. Dumped the contents of the baskets, thinking the umbrella could be disguised in a "black-on-black" kind of way. 

My very wise co-worker told me, "It's exactly where you left it." Correct.

Life went on until:

Case #2 - The Missing Body Lotion Butter

I ordered it with my grocery order. Again - a few weeks ago. I could visually see myself put it away under something. I remember lifting something up and putting it underneath. I can feel the muscle memory in my bones. I remember.

What did I lift up? And where did I put it? I looked in all the logical places. Once. Twice. Once again, just in case I was seeing it but not registering it.

My brain is doing funny things lately. I ran into a neighbor who asked what we were working on in the yard. I confidently and assuredly said, "A deck." She was wise enough to question what my mouth said, when my brain undoubtedly said "Shed". My mouth betrayed me and said, "Deck". 

What?? It's no wonder I'm losing things. My brain is malfunctioning. I think I've got a few loose connections.

This morning, I thought I would look for the umbrella. One final time. And I found it. IN a basket - yes. But in a basket on a shelf in the basement. Not in a basket on the top shelf in the closet. I'll forgive myself for that.

Baskets on a shelf in the basement

Yes, I did look in the gray basket once but didn't see the umbrella.

Encouraged by this success, I thought I'd try my hand at finding my missing body lotion butter. I looked in all the logical places again. Then the illogical places. Finally I decided to look at the grocery receipt for additional clues. I must have put it with something else I was putting away. That was the only logical explanation left.

That's when I discovered I hadn't even bought it in the first place. What the heck? What in the world did I put away under something else (supposedly) in the cupboard under the bathroom sink? The only thing I can decipher is I bought body lotion and it was exactly where I "remembered" putting the body butter.

Body butter verses body lotion

A vast difference, despite the similar name

I have a small house. I endeavor to keep the excess to a minimum and mindful of where everything resides. 

Obviously, I need either a smaller house or less belongings. Or perhaps a bit of brain rewiring. It's shorting out on me just a little too often.

On a more positive note, I'm not losing it. I'm just finding it later.

Zero Day

This is one of my favorite days of the month. The day when I check all my credit card balances, after my month-end budget requirement of paying off every last penny spent during the month, and seeing $0.00 across the board.

I've had a low-key fall and winter. Very little extra spending. The necessities of life were all I needed while I hibernated (as much as I could) and spent the winter looking ahead and planning out my hopes and dreams list.

It could be the 15th of the month before I had spent a penny. Those credit cards would sit at zero, often until their next statement date, before I started creating my next pay-to-zero-at-the-end-of-the-month total.

Spring has sprung and so has the spending. I'm ready. I have never had money left at the end of the month before EVER before in the history of my memory of budgeting. I've been squirreling away the excess, waiting for this day. The day the hopes and dreams list begin to take on a life of their own.

April was a fruitful month - getting paid for the bookkeeping job that stole a small part of my peace of mind PLUS an income tax refund entirely covered the cost of my shed-so-far. Lovely. 

It feels a little bit heavenly to spend within one's means. Balancing to zero. Squirreling away those "acorns" for future spending projects.

Zero is my favorite number. In the accounting world, balancing to zero is the ultimate goal. All of the time. Remitting a payment for one of the many quarterly or annual payments that were due and receiving the receipt with the number $0.00 in the amount owing box. Checking my credit card balances and seeing $0.00; $0.00; $0.00; $0.00 (yes! I have far too many credit cards - I blame the credit card rewards) across the board.

Paying off a debt and finally seeing the magic number $0.00 as an account balance. There is nothing quite like it.

I'm reminded of a comedian my son once quoted to me. The context of their bit was they worked so hard to pay off their debts and all they have to show for it is "zero".  Zero is good. It is all positive after that point. Or it could be. If we weren't human and already had our eye on the next item on our wish list.

Dad once told me that a person will never be satisfied. You'll think "If I could just get one [next thing] and I'll be set ... but then you'll want the next thing. And the next." It is human nature.

I'm sitting at zero today but that will change in a New York Minute. For this brief moment in the sun, I shall revel in my Zero Day.

One of the Lucky Ones

I was talking with someone who was freshly on the other side of resigning from "the most toxic workplace" they had ever encountered. Ever.

They described the situation and I didn't sit deep into what they were saying until I had time to be alone and reflect. They were describing a situation I have lived, experienced and felt deeply. For years after the fact. Years.

It was a toxic workplace situation that far exceeded what I had experienced in an abusive marriage. At least in my marriage, I could identify my part of the equation. I was a partner to the situation that unraveled. The workplace abuse was by far harder to manage because I had done everything in my power to rectify the situation and nothing helped. Nothing.

I have had the good fortune to have had a lifetime of healthy work situations. There were a handful of experiences I needed to leave. But that one. The toxic one shook my foundation in a way nothing had before. 

I'm juggling two casual job positions at the moment. A conversation I had this week was very complimentary to one of my workplaces. My immediate response was, "This is the best place I've ever worked. Ever." 

The positivity starts at the top and trickles downhill. Lightheartedness, laughter, support and a team effort is the name of the game at this workplace. 

Unfortunately, the same can be said of a situation where negativity starts at the top and trickles down. There is little one can do when one becomes a victim where nothing they do changes the situation. The situation become toxic. Fast.

I am so very fortunate I am in a spot where I am not feeling persecuted, unsupported, ill-equipped and unheard. Thus, I can take my little spot in a big environment and simply focus on who is in front of me, who I work with and have an attitude that "everyone is doing the best they can do". 

The upsides of being a casual employee are plentiful. "Casual" is my favorite word to describe my work situation. I have control over my situation. I can work one day a week (or less) at my second job. I'm not dependent on the income. One day a week? I can walk in and out of the day and not become personally involved in the dramas unfolding within.

I am one of the lucky ones.

Thoughtful Thursday

The grackles are grackling, 

the mourning doves are mourning, 

the crows are crowing 

and the robins must be resting their voices. 

Listen to the sounds of my morning:

The only thing that's missing is the sound of a train in the distance.

Life feels pretty good

(and progress on the shed is coming right along).

Th-th-that's all, folks.

[Insert Porky Pig's voice here}