For the last few weeks I've been working a temp, seasonal visual gig in a department store (for my former employer). It's been pretty bizarro- it's weird to be "back" (although I'm really only visiting) and WOW are things different now (in a mostly sad sort of way). I've had a small number of fleeting icky thoughts, but for the most part I've managed to stay pretty positive. (Getting up every morning is usually my biggest challenge each day: I'm older, less energetic and don't bounce back as quickly as I did when I stumbled into this profession 16 years ago!)
Some recent good stuff bullets, because I have a huge love of lists:
I'm WORKING. I'm out of the house, I'm making more $$$ than the AZ unemployment pittance (for which I was grateful, even- anything >$0, you know), I'm seeing people and being seen, I'm being useful (even if it's just for the evil retail empire- I like it just fine there).
It's been nice to brush up on some mad presentation skillz that got a little rusty while I specialized in furniture: bow tying (for a thousand, Alec), dress shirt forms (oy, my fingers hurt and my guys aren't nearly as tight and perfect as they once were... but they're getting better), Tie tying (hello again, full windsor), OMG @ fashion! I fell WAY off the fashionable truck in AZ (the land of capris, tank tops and sandals). Next week I expect to dive into kids and soft home- the departments I had when I was just a wee baby visual stylist.
Although Xmas trim was practically complete before Halloween, I didn't once hear "OMG! Already?!" for the first time EVER. On two separate occasions I did field a couple of odd, snarky questions from women mentioning the insignificance of whatever it was I happened to be doing at the time/how unfun such a repetitive job must be (on both occasions, I was tying big red bows). I smiled and replied "Honestly? There are worse things I could have to do and I'm happy to be working. I lost my job several months ago and there just aren't many jobs out there. This has been quite a lesson in thankfulness for me." Next thing I knew, the bitchy tones turned to cooing and smiling and nodding and "that's right"ing. *sigh* But the cool thing? After they walked away, I realized that a mere few years ago I'd have mirrored that tone right back at them without even realizing it. It's nice to be aware that I'm able to manipulate that into something more positive.
Budgeting doesn't have to be a bad word, mean doing without, having less than or inferior quality. I've never been a fan of mall food, but I've existed on it for almost two decades. I never batted an eye at the cost of the garbage I didn't even enjoy- it was just fuel to get me through the day. I am amazed that I feel so much better with a little effort, that I can spend considerably less money and eat much healthier food. Additionally, I make laundry detergent and cleaning products for a fraction of the cost of the stuff I used to buy while getting better results and being kinder to the environment.
Progress with house stuff projects has paused for a while, but things are holding up well. I recently caught myself saying out loud to someone that I needed to spend some time catching up on house work this weekend (which I do, but compared to the previous me? The house would be ready for guests.) The house is a bit messy- I need to do some cleaning, put some things away, take out the recycling, yadda yadda. I think I'll get right on that... after a nap. :)
In addition to feeling good about the result of my efforts, the positive feedback and different type of attention I'm receiving from friends is a most wondermousful icing on my cake sorta thing.
I'm so surprised at myself for managing to stay this positive through this scary, ego bruising adventure. Such a huge contrast to the Eeyoreish pessimist I used to be... apparently I needed a Really Big Shakeup in order to be able to see things differently.
Earlier today hopped over to Dekalb Farmers Market for restocking my pantry with the usual diverse internationalish items... and saw this stone ground buckwheat pancake mix (which costs less at YDFM). I had to have it. I had to have it for dinner tonight! I had bacon in the fridge from last night's London Broil adventure (which was teh_yum) and maple syrup in the cabinet for... just in case.
There are no craptasticalcam photos, as they weren't pretty. I'm readjusting to my Calphalon (boxed up for 3 years) and cooking with gas (something I haven't done in this century) AND multitasking in the kitchen isn't something I've ever managed well. Not to mention, cooking isn't one of my natural skills.
But they were DELICIOUS! I will have them again, and I'll visit their other products next time I'm in.
I'm back on the "everything's gonna be okay" bus. How could I not be, when I've got fortune cookies and laundromat change machines to remind me?
I still don't know HOW this will come to be, but I'll sort that out eventually.
Yesterday I found Eve, my former and now current again hairdresser. It was so nice to just relax in her chair while we caught up on three years worth of stuff. Instead of watching like a hawk and having a stylist go back in to tweak stuff at least once before unassing the chair, I only glanced at the mirror to watch her work a couple of times.
When she was finished, I got misty and *squee*d over how thrilled I was to have found her. I'm starting to recognize myself again. Hello, me! It's been a while...
*don't try to adjust your set- the BlackBerry cam has gone fuzzy...
Slow start today BECAUSE I CAN. I have no appointments @ the house and my most recent host is expecting package from UPS requiring a signature, so I'm being teh_lazy 'til it arrives. Then I'm off to the bank to deposit the severance check! LeW00t!
I'm still pretty bonkers/feeling overwhelmed/disorganized, but things are slowly coming together. I still have to resolve security, the floors, and call the gas company. A/c was rescheduled 'til Wednesday. That rain I loved so much? High h2o content and mud are not helpful when installing things requiring electricity and freon...
My goals this week:
acquire climate control goodness
chose an alarm company
schedule some natural gas action
make a decision about the floors
complete closet organization project
prep kitchen to accept appliances - complete cabinets/painting
prepare beds for impending parental return
I dunno what I'd do without bullet points. Or my blackberry. This is the first time I've touched an actual keyboard in >week!
On Tuesday, July 7th I hit the road in The Really Big Truck with Lola and my best pal at 5:00 something in the morning. It was going to be a Really Long Day- first stop: San Antonio. (Yeah, one thousand miles- half of the total trip! There's nothing between Phoenix and San Antonio.)
Not especially impressed with the Sheraton Baton Rouge, but it's good to be out of the truck and have 3/4 of the trip behind me.
Also, YAY for friends in Houston giving us a place to stop, relax, be fed and let Lola stretch in a real yard! It would've been nice to also see a college pal who now resides in LA, but there are limited hours in a day...
I forgot how much water there is in LA: swamps, lakes, rivers for miles... And then there's the Mississippi!
Much construction on 10, so I'm considering rerouting through BHM to avoid it. I saw enough of that already.
Truck is loaded. Copilot delayed @ ATL, but will arrive before dinner time. Drove loaded truck to pick up car carrier with no casualties. After airport pickup, we'll load the Honda.
So far so good for tomorrow's ohdarkthirty departure.
I reserved a 22' truck (and have been freaking out about it ever since). Today I pick up the truck as scheduled. Upon approaching The Really Big Truck, my stomach did a few 180s. "It's SO BIG!"
I've scrutinized every moving and delivery truck I've seen on the road since deciding to move. I'd almost reached the point of acceptance with 22' of truck, even.
Lo and behold, my moving truck is 26' because they didn't have a 22' truck. Now I've got a whole new round of truck anxiety going on!
Upside: The Really Big Truck's only got 50k miles, a cd player and outta this world a/c. Of course, it's a truck so it's bouncy. And I keep trying to tilt the steering wheel down...
I drove it from the rental place to the house and Bob followed in my car. The route was entirely surface streets, but here in the PHX 'burbs they're blessedly nice and wide and 3 lanes in each direction. He told me I did really well, to which I replied "Mah white knuckles, let me show you dem". I told him I know I need to improve on staying between the lines (I rode the line on the right) and be a bit more careful at stops (I cut it a little close at one or two). Of course, he noticed those things too, but it was nice to know I'm aware.
We got the hard-to-deal-with stuff loaded onto the truck immediately and stopped at 1:00 to wait out the worst heat of the day... up and at 'em again this evening.
Well, I've updated my to-do lists so many times I've lost count. I've contacted utility companies (except gas, and I need to re-poke alarm company), truck places, hotels, Paul of the HVAC (and by the way, "do you know someone who'll do my floors?" 'Cuz yeah, I pretty much researched myself right outta that one).
My attention span is exactly this long: _. All manner of randomness is jumbled up inna my head. Such as: Note to self: add Palm Desert's expansion on a dime before & after shots to my powerpoint portfolioesque presentation.
There's not much left to pack. This seems to be the calm before the load the 22' truck storm.
I got an OMG I don't want to deal with all this haircut yesterday. Yeah, I know it's essentially just a bob, but I feel so much better (approximately 7" of hay-hair hit the floor) I'll probably get more whacked off soon (so it's not a bob and because I can). And yeah, no way I was going to slap on some makeup just to take a craptastical phone cam pic. At least I sorta smiled. :)
Today I stopped by to visit THE TRUCK. Truck Rental Guy was super accommodating; he answered all my dumb girl questions, let me climb around in the truck and touch things and as a result I am a bit less tensepanicky about driving THE TRUCK. I'm still tense, oh yes I am and secretly hope I'm lucky enough to manage 2K miles in the right lane.
Tomorrow is my last day of employment with The Big M. I have a morning date at the office with Divisional Security Dude to hand over the company phone and secure remote log in key fob thingey. It's going to be a very strange and anticlimactic end to this chapter of my career.
Afterward, I'm going to visit Penzeys while I still live in a city with an actual brick and mortar store. I still can't believe there is no Penzeys in ATL (there is in BHM and of course, the dot comso I won't have to suffer too terribly much) . Perhaps I should write a letter...
Oddly enough, I discovered both of them via facebook. Perhaps it isn't so evil afterall...
I don't know how I didn't know about NPR's Exclusive First Listen, but I'm glad I found it today. So far I like Moby's newest album- it suits my recent "stuck in chill out music" mode. I haven't explored anything new to me in a long time and this can help get me outta that rut.
And Worm Poop & other products from TerraCycle (via this place, which I've also added to my following list).
And some bonus Chaka Khan + bling just for the funk of it:
Oh, and I got hard facts concerning severance. It was good news. Until I learned AZ + Teh_FED are taking 41% of it. I'm not smiling 'bout that.
Last night I booked J's flight and reserved the truck + car carrier. Things are clicking into place.
Next on the packing agenda: I start wrapping furniture since I've boxed everything I can thus far.
I've tweaked the trip a bit; here's the most current time line:
Sunday July 5: pick up truck and car carrier, start loading
Monday July 6: continue loading truck, collect J @ PHX, load car
Tuesday July 7: hit the road stupid early, drive to San Antonio, check into hotel
Wednesday July 8: drive to Houston, stop for lunch, drive to Baton Rouge, check into hotel
Thursday July 9: drive to Atlanta, return car carrier and park the truck somewhere (DO NOT WANT to drive truck in the city nonononononono), fall down @ friend's hotel room in Buckhead
Friday July 10: REST (unless there's some delay on the road- this may be the day we arrive in ATL)
Saturday July 11: unload truck, return if complete
Sunday July 12: truck is due @ truck rental place, plan/prep refinish hardwood floor project
I'm sure I'll freak out about the fact that I'm 40, single and unemployed at some point, but there's no time in the schedule for that.
Steven Blk Peep toe, hidden platform, contrast stitch, wooden cone heel
Aigner Blk + Taupe spectator
BCBG Blk + Brn spectators, open sides
Steve Madden Brn (need love)
Suit separates- wear now- on hangers
And this:
32
Bedroom
20"x20"x20" box
18" Disco Ball (3) Small Disco Ball Ornaments (See #33, #34 for other disco balls)
Padded with: (2) DKNY Euro Shams + Pillows
(2) bath sheets + (1) bath towel
I'm going to go a little bonkers when it's time to make the beds in Atlanta. I used textiles to pad boxes on an "as needed" basis rather than boxing them as complete bedding ensembles. My OCD is twitching a little, but I'm content with the knowledge that my disco balls are cuddley and safe.
The boxes are piling up (and threatening to spill out of the dining room). Last night we had a discussion that went something like this:
"You're going to need the 22' truck." "But I'm scared of the 16' truck, which is essentially a van with a box. The 22' truck IS A TRUCK."
Oddly enough, the 16' truck has the same square footage as the dining room here. While the boxes could be stacked more tightly to save space, there are still several tables (including one that's 3' x 6'), a few chairs, a wardrobe, a sizable shelving unit, 2 queen beds and two nightstands to accommodate. (Why do I have so many tables?!)
I'm great at figuring stuff out and making a lot of stuff fit in a tiny space (as seen during my "hauling lumber in a Pontiac Fiero" college days)... but this is just beginning to look unpossible.
Meh. At least the diesel (22') vs gas (16') gas situation will help offset the additional cost of the bigger (*insert anxiety fit here*) truck...
SIX MORE LINEAR FEET OF TRUCK (plus a car carrier bearing the Honda, remember). Gah.
Oh! In a month, I'll be in Atlanta and almost free of the TRUCK.
I'm probably gonna leave the testy posts up, too. Cuz I like research and documentation (and if I didn't, I might forget the many advantages of posting via email from the Shiny Baby Blackberry VS posting via SMS).
Just be glad I haven't posted the Moving Box Inventory spreadsheet.
In a month I'm going to hit the road with my little dog and a good friend, in a truck filled with my stuff and a trailer full o' my car.
Those days on the road are going to be hectic, but I anticipate I'll still need my interwebz fix via laptop or BlackBerry and friends and family will want to know my whereabouts and such.
So, in the interest of efficiency, I maded you a blogger.
