Things shake loose

It’s been a crazy busy time.

4 days a week on the new job I’m working at, 1 day a week in the Cloverpoint offices, plus all additional work shifted to mornings, evenings, and weekends.  Even still, I could use a bit more paying work I think.

Yesterday was a lot of fun.

I finally brought my car in for it’s regular servicing, only about 6 months late .  Seriously though, I hadn’t even reached the 18000 KM they say the car should be serviced at (it was just below 16000 km).  It checked out pretty well, with no obvious problems, and I have another 6 months before I should bring it in again.  With luck, I may even remember to .

Christina and I made it to the cash and carry, I came away with a survival kit for my car, she ended up with a nice side table for her office.  I’m definitely going to have to go there every week, they change out their sale items rapidly, and I keep seeing things I want.

We also made it to a used book store while we were downtown, and we loaded up a backpack with books… enough that I’ll have a solid week of reading I think, and she has a few items to keep her busy too.

I picked up one of the new apple mice for her.. wow, I’ll admit it. I have envy.  I wonder if all the cool functions would work on a windows box?  Mind you, I’d need bluetooth on the desktop machines, which i don’t have… nah, it’ll keep.. Something to read about later.

After a huge meal (we were starving by this point) we stopped into the local Sleep Country.  I’d bought my last bed from them, but it’s getting older and starting to creak a bit, so we went looking for a nice memory foam bed.  Just browsing, honest!

An hour later, we’d bought a king sized memory foam bed, with all the goodies.  I’ll admit, the salesman was amazing.  The product was too, and since Christina also wanted it, that sealed the deal.  Maybe not the ideal time to buy, but on their payment plan it’s not unmanageable.

This also means that we can offer my mom a nice place to sleep, vs on a futon or air mattress (we didn’t have a bed in either of the two unused bedrooms).  The new bed gets delivered tomorrow, so we’ll be sleeping on the futon tonight, but that’s no real punishment.  Tonight at 6 we head for the airport to pick my mom up, she’ll be here for about a week.

Not a lot else to say at the moment, today’s all about moving furniture around, cleaning up the house a bit, and generally enjoying a weekend off.

I need to remember to do this more often, I get so busy living life I don’t bother writing it down.  I do like reading about these times later though, my memory clears up nicely with a little prompting.

Off to play now.

ambition [æmˈbɪʃən]n

2. something so desired; goal; aim

I have it.  When the hell did that happen?

I wouldn’t have called myself an ambitious man growing up.  I had some ideas about what I wanted, but I wasn’t driven to accomplish them.  Mostly I just waited patiently for the things I wanted to come to pass, and rationalized if they didn’t.  Surely, since it didn’t happen, it obviously wasn’t meant to be right?

During my first marriage I found my drive, my determination.  Somewhat stumbling and hesitant true, but it raised me from where I’d been crouching down waiting, and put my feet on the right path.  It goaded me onward, to take a chance, to try something new, to make something of myself.  In a few short years I turned around to discover I’d exceeded all of my own expectations.  My future was bright, and my present was pretty good too.  Almost instinctively I put on the brakes and tried my hardest to maintain this state.

You see, any improvements come as a result of change.  The word improvement itself means “change something to make it better”.  That’s the rub really.  Change implies risk.  There’s no guarantee that reaching for the higher rung doesn’t result in slipping and smashing your nose on the ground.  Looking around you see people experiencing exactly that – they try, they fail, and they end up in a worse position.  But how much weight should that hold with you?  I mean seriously.  You’re not them.  They’re not you.  Your situation is unique, and your life choices are your own.  Just because someone else can’t ride a bike, doesn’t mean that no bike can be ridden.

It took being on my own again, where the risks were near par with the rewards to make a change, to leave my comfortable nest and strike out in a new city.  Had I learned anything?  Well, not a lot really.  I’d done something new finally, but more because I had less to lose, than because I had more to gain.

Fast forward now a few years.  Suddenly I’m making the decisions, instead of reacting to them.  I’ve found new things to do, and to learn.  I’m reaching for the next rung, even though there’s a chance I might slip.  I’m determined, and I have thrown myself into the struggle to make life better.

I’m no longer satisfied to stay in my comfort zone.  It’s warm and safe, true enough – but it doesn’t make me feel like I’m accomplishing things.  I can’t wait any longer for things to come my way.  Now I am searching for them, and I’m prepared to claim them as mine.

Ambition? Yeah, I’ve got it.  Watch out, here I come.

And business seems to be slowly picking up. At this point my own impatience is my greatest enemy.

Renovation projects are still on hold, but since it’s getting cold outside and dark early, that’s no problem. I do wish I’d managed to get a load of topsoil in to put on our front yard, but it would’ve been a commitment to completing that task by now (since there’s nowhere to put that much dirt except in our driveway, which prevents us from using our turnaround). Regardless, there will be time in the spring.

I can see the light at the end of the drywall tunnel, and frankly, it needs a good dusting.

We’ve finished putting up walls and ceilings, and other than a bit of painting still to do, we’re done with the structural work for the two offices. We still need to frame in a door for christina’s office, as well as finish enclosing one closet, but those are non-critical items that can take some time if they need to.

I have a few items I’d like to do over the next year, but as with all things they are money dependent. I’d love to re-do our downstairs bathroom (including moving a wall, rerouting plumbing, electrical, and adding a new doorway). I’d like to put in new floors downstairs, move the outside faucet, move the laundry room around, re-insulate the back corner of the house, rebuild the workshop, close in under the deck, replace our existing electrical panel and get a secondary electrical panel in place for the workshop.

Lots of ideas, though they’re going to have to wait until business picks up.

Ty headed to the states to go live with his dad.. it’s going to be an interesting time for him, but it’s what he wanted, and we could not dissuade him, so *fingers crossed* it all works out.

It’s been strange not having him around, but not bad at all. We’ve been busy nearly non-stop since he left. Something about not having to worry about being too loud, or too silly, means we’re working into the nights more often, and damn if it isn’t fun.

I need to remember to write more here.

TTFN.

It’s february, and we’ve just finished re-drywalling the lower offices.  Christina now has an office of her own downstairs, and I’m moved into the back office, which suits me fine.

Drywall’s hard on you as it turns out, all of my knuckles started splitting, what a pain.

This is probably going to be *it* for major renovations until I put a bit more money away.. believe me, i can live with that!

Good god.  I’m not so good at getting this stuff out it seems.  I’ve been busy though, in my own defense, and I’ve been spending more time doing than talking about.

Downstairs is .. well, it’s pretty bare.  We’ve pulled most of the drywall down, and cleaned up .. soon it’ll be time to start putting up new walls and running electrical, but we’re not there yet.

I had to say goodbye to a friend recently, and it was neither easy nor fun.  These things aren’t supposed to be though, and I’m not yet so cavalier that I don’t feel it when i hurt people.

I’ll come back later, and post more.

Maybe.

Man, I’m going to grow up to be a curmudgeon.  I guess it’s good to have a goal though.

It’s not like most people notice though, without a facebook status change.  Yay for the mild, postal-service style reactions (minus shotgun of course), which keeps people guessing… except for my lady, who knows me better than i do.

Money is slow coming now, and I’ve gotta say that now it is starting to bug me.  More than anything I hate it when people don’t pay on time!  I mean seriously, I get the work done as required, and on time, and then it’s somehow cool for them to ignore their obligations until it suits them?  I don’t think so!

Thankfully, i’ve got this mild-mannered exterior, which doesn’t really show how bloody pissed off I get when my invoice goes overdue, and my bills mount because I’m counting on someone else.  It’s a good thing too, ’cause I likely wouldn’t get repeat business.

I’m hoping this dry spell passes soon though, I was getting used to kicking ass and taking names.

I’m in pause on my renovations, partly ’cause i’m tired, more because I’ve run out of cash i’m willing to spend on house parts.  I can see this is going to be one of those things you just end up pouring cash into, and indeed, we’ve wishlisted probably 35k worth of improvements.  I of course would love to just pull that out of my hat, and get contractors doing all the work, but it’s going to take a bit of patience on my part, and likely a few years to get it all done.

I’m also apparently not one to suffer fools anymore.  I’ve gone off on a few so far, and have poured gas on some bridges, and burned others down to the waterline.  Not the actions of a younger me, but hey, i’m NOT the younger me anymore

I’m going to drop off now, and come back to this another month.  Bah!

So i’ve finally taken the time to install a blogging tool.

Hopefully this will mean more posts soon.

My back is on the mend, and today’s the first day in a week that I can sit without an icepack firmly pressed against it.  I’ve had a nice drink, and it’s relaxed me, without resulting in a collapse onto the floor.

My other jobs are paying again, which is a real relief, going from three paychecks to one was a really scary thought.  I’ve been kicking ass pretty much wherever I go, and I’m happy to say life sure isn’t boring!

I’m sure I could go on, but I really don’t need to.  I’m re-reading some Simon Green, and I’m off to read book 2 before i sleep.

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I’ve collected this nasty cold.  I woke up about a half an hour ago to an amazingly painful sinus headache.  I haven’t had one of these in years, and I’m thankful for that!!

Lying back down turned into a total fail, as it turns out you have to be sitting up for everything to start moving, so up I got, and here I am.

Christmas was wonderful.  We opened up presents early (of course), and Ty seemed pretty happy with the stuff he got.  Christina got a LOT of chocolate, I hadn’t realized how much I’d bought for her, but at least she’s got lots of options when it comes to sweets.

She made an amazing meal, which we sat and ate together, and there was much hugging to be had.

It was one of the best christmas days I’ve had.

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