Just like everyone else in Northeastern Ohio, we got caught up in the storms a few weeks ago. Dave and I and our Beagle Boy Cletus went downstairs and waited out the storm watching DVR because, of course, the cable was out. We kept tabs on the storm’s progress on our phones and when it had pretty well played itself out, we went back to bed.
So I found myself between jobs — I always thought that was a euphemism for unemployed and planning to stay that way. But no, I was literally between jobs. I no longer worked at my former position and had a week off before my new one started. I would rather have had time off in July so Dave and I would have a full 9 nine days at our camper, but hey, time off is time off — even in February.
So I ended up way out of my comfort zone this summer when my friend invited me to go kayaking with her and a few other ladies at the lake where we all have campers. The very thought of me doing that seemed absurd to me. Of course, I had to decline the invitation.
It started out like any other Friday morning. The clock went off, I hit the snooze button until it was time I had to get up and off we went. Sort of. I checked to make sure the alarm was actually off so it didn’t scare the bejeezus out of our Beagle Boy Cletus if it went off and the lights were off on the clock.
I thought when we replaced our little 2007 Jeep Liberty with a 2010 Ford Escape four years ago that we were done buying cars. We paid off the Escape last January. No more car payments, and I thought this should last me as long as I plan on being out in the working world. But a 15-year-old car is bound to start showing its age, especially with almost 185,000 miles on it.
Dave and I ran into a little car trouble lately. We affectionately refer to our 2010 Ford Escape as the “Jitney” because we had a Jeep for about 10 years. It took like eight of those years to get out of the habit of referring to every vehicle in the driveway as the truck, because mostly they were.
I saw the telltale scraps of grass and straw on the back porch, along with a feather. Oh no, not another nest! But then I didn’t see anything else for a few days, so I assumed the birds had found a better location.
I did the best I could to use my time off between jobs wisely; I tried to get to all those things that there just never seems to be enough time to do. Of course, I didn’t get to all of them, but I did knock one big one off the list — I painted the living room.
The mattress on our bed is from the turn of the century — we got it in 2000. A king-size pillow top for our California King waterbed frame. We’d have still been using our full-wave waterbed if it hadn’t been for moving into a house that was built close to the turn of the last century.
It was just a typical Tuesday, or so I thought. I got home from work, put dinner on the table and made out my list of things to do.
We’ve literally had plumbing issues at my house for years. It started gradually with the kitchen sink not draining well. The shower drained, but very slowly and only after allowing the water to get almost to the top of the rim. And eventually, I abandoned the washer altogether after having water pumped out all over the floor for the LAST time.
Finances caused Dave and me to severely limit our yard sale excursions last summer. Not so this year, although we are a bit pickier and not just hitting every single one that pops up. We especially like church/school rummage sales. Many have gone to the bag system — they give you a bag and charge $3-5 for anything you can cram in it.