August 30, 2024

Season of Transition

 Whether we have children in school or not, I think for most of us, the onset of September equals a season where we transition - from summer to fall (and the ensuing holiday madness).

This year, as we are on the cusp of September - this will be a really big season of transition for me.  After twenty-three (TWENTY-THREE) years with the same company, I've been let go.

I won't go into all the details - some of which were totally unfair - but suffice it to say I'm still a bit salty at the whole thing.  Not at my boss, as none of this was his idea.  But at the way it all transpired.

But it did.

And honestly, despite being salty, I'm not really surprised as I knew they have been trying to remove as many "legacy employees" (those of us left over from the previous company) as they could - just last month I watched as a loyal employee of over thirty years (this employee actually made the move when the previous company moved to North Carolina; talk about dedication) was unceremoniously let go.

So after grieving for a few days (and honestly, being sick to my stomach all day every day); I'm ready to move forward and see what the future holds for us.  

Cross your fingers for us as we navigate into uncharted waters for the first time in a LONG time.  

August 19, 2024

Ode to a Light Fixture

 It's things like this that tell you that you are, in fact, an adult now...

We have a new light fixture in our dining area - and I love it beyond reason.

Our old fixture was ugly and had me giving it the side eye from the day we moved in (what...seven years now?) as it would flicker every time the air conditioning kicked on.

The Husband never noticed it and thought I was crazy for claiming that this light fixture would be the reason this house burned to the ground.

So for the past seven years, whenever I was anywhere where light fixtures were for sale, I'd be looking for a replacement.  Yes, I had an idea of what I wanted but I never found it.

Then, the light fixture issue became more urgent when The Husband informed me that out of nowhere the cursed fixture was just turning itself off randomly.  So there were two possibilities.  The fixture was haunted or there was a real situation (a short).  My bet was on the short.

So about two weeks ago I found myself at my favorite consignment store (which, by the way, isn't actually a consignment store - they just threw that in to the name for some random reason) and stumbled upon a fixture that I instantly fell in love with so I bought it.

Once I got home, I presented the fixture to The Husband and requested that he hang it immediately.

And, of course, we ran into a snag.  Because, of course.  We could not for the life of us figure out how to dismantle this fixture enough to even begin to figure out how to hang it.  The Husband asked me to return it.  And this is where this store begins to irritate me just a bit - they are only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday - WHY????.  And this, of course, happened late in the day on Saturday. *sigh*

Eventually, I was able to return the stupid fixture and the hunt began in earnest.  I knew this was the kind of fixture I wanted.  I uploaded a picture of the fixture and ran a Google search - only to discover that this particular light had been discontinued BUT I found a very similar fixture that I immediately ordered.

When it arrived, I presented it to The Husband requesting that he hang it immediately.  Which he attempted to do - but when it came to removing the old fixture, he discovered that he old light was very, very heavy and he didn't want to attempt at removing it himself while on a ladder.  So he called in reinforcements.  Between the two of them they were successful at removing the fixture.  But when they went to hang the new one; discovered that the wrong bolt(?) was included in the box.  Because, of course.

The friend said that he would source the right size bolt(?) and come by the next day to help get this fixture up.  Which he did.

And I was pleased.  Until I started looking around the dining area and realized when we moved in that's exactly what we did.  We never "finished" the dining area.  So that led me to buying curtains - which, of course, I had to then hem.  Keep in mind I am NOT a seamstress by any stretch of the imagination so that was an undertaking in and of itself.  But once that was done - and I was pleased; The Husband piped up with "All we need now is "art" for the walls."  Which caused me to groan because in the entire history of our marriage we have never - not once - agreed on what we like in the area of "art."

So we found ourselves at a store that sells "art" (it should be noted the term art here is used very loosely) and we found a piece that we could both agree on at a reasonable price.  We snatched it up and returned home where The Husband found himself in charge of hanging it with my supervision.

All that to say, our dining area is finally finished and we now have a fixture that doesn't terrify me.  Seven years later.

August 8, 2024

Hurricane Debby

 Apparently, Hurricane Debby has reached North Carolina.

Thankfully, we are inland enough that we don't have to worry too much about devastation (sending prayers to those that do though).  It has rained non-stop all day and, at times, the wind was wicked.

Which leads me to look at those damn trees.  And praying that they all stay standing because between you and me - I have spent more money on removing downed trees than any one person should have to spend on trees in a life time.

Who knew that at this stage of my life, I'd be worried about the state of some pine trees?  And yet, here we are.

The weather forecast is predicting rain, more rain and even more rain.  Which will hopefully break on Saturday (God willing).

And we all know how I feel about rain (it's fine as long as it happens while I am asleep; when I'm awake I want it to be all sunshine and rainbows); so I expect I will not be the happiest camper until it lets up (say a prayer for The Husband; he's a saint for putting up with me).

Unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately - isn't it a curse when you receive a fortune cookie that says May you love in interesting times?) that's all I have to talk about today is the weather.

And that's the weather report from Somewhere in North Carolina; hopefully it's sunny wherever you are.