Not Quite Yet . . .

New Year’s Eve. I can hear people setting off fireworks, and it’s only 9:00 PM.

I’ve spent a pleasant day so far. I slept in and brunched at Pizza Hut since it was all I could afford. Later I went to the Parent House to see if my credit cards had arrived in the mail, and to pick up a checkbook just in case I could find a place to use it. (I’ve lost my wallet, and only have a temporary driver’s license and no credit cards, which explains why I’m a pauper with several thousand in the bank!)

The Parent’s Internet seduced me. I went on a pretend shopping spree. There are some wonderful bargains out there this week! The Gaiam store has a $5 sale on VHS tapes. There were several I wanted, but I just couldn’t buy them! Hopefully one of my cards will come in this week, and then I can have a little spree.

Dad came home early, and invited me to eat at Red Lobster with Mother. Afterwards I came home and cleaned R. ’s breakfast room. I move out the furniture I don’t want, and brushed the walls with my broom. They really need to be scrubbed, but I just wasn’t feeling that energetic. I still think the best course of action is to wait until R. moves her things out, and then have Merry Maids come clean the entire house from top to bottom. They can dust, scrub the walls, shampoo the carpets, mop the floors, clean the windows, and make everything look perfect. Then, after they are finished, I can start creating new messes.

Anyway, the room is fairly clean. Not perfect by any means, but now I can move in a real table and chair so I have somewhere to eat besides the bathtub.

I’ve worked a little on school calendars today, enough to know that the ColdFusion class is going to eat into my time more than I thought. I already have to re-write several lessons, but I can’t manage that until campus opens and I have a server to play with.

Internet access would also help. I really need to call AT&T and schedule something then clean up the backyard so the technician can actually string up a cable. Maybe I can get Dad to string for the technician. That would make life easier.

Yesterday R. showed me where the fuse box for the house is. Tomorrow I’m going to turn off all the power, and map out where the different rooms are. Then I can turn off the power to the workroom, and see if the outlet boxes are grounded. The outlets themselves aren’t, but there is a chance the boxes are. If they are then I can fix the ground problem myself, which would be incredibly useful. Right now I have an extension cord running down the hallway to the grounded plug in the bathroom. I’ve tripped over it twice.

I also want to go buy some sandpaper, a paintbrush, a drop cloth, and some turquoise paint. The Lane console really wants me to paint it.

The room I’m in now, the workroom, will be my luxury room until the rest of the house is finished. This one room is going to get a thorough cleaning, and plenty of attention. The current plan is to finish cleaning and sealing the tile floors, paint the walls, and then bring more things from home to furnish it. I need at least one space that feels permanent.

Of course the entire house feels better now that I’ve cleaned out the kitchen. All R.’s out-of-date food is gone, and I’m slowly getting the cupboards cleaned so I can place my things in them. Newspaper, I need to buy newspaper! I want to wrap all R.’s dishes up, and bring in my own. It seems a little childish, but I’d like to have dishes that I know the dogs haven’t licked. And silverware that doesn’t have bite marks.

(Later) Just had a horrible thought a few minutes ago about the outlets. What if the four that I think are grounded aren’t actually grounded?? What if it’s just cosmetic? Oh, great.

(Later) I pulled my tester out of the desk drawer and scramble for the bathroom outlet, where the computer is plugged in. Damn it! It is not grounded. The one in the kitchen I could reach easily is, though, which makes me think the other kitchen outlet might be, too.

Currently reading Robin Hobb’s Golden Fool, and so far it’s as wonderful as the first Assassin trilogy. Just a wonderful book, filled with well-written angst. I’m enjoying every page.

Almost New Year's

New Year’s is approaching, and I can’t bring myself to work this evening so I thought I would write instead, maybe start a new journal. So much has happened in the last few months! Sometimes you actually do get what you ask for – I wanted a little change, and now my life is basically inside out. At least it’s not upside down.

The college finally offered me a full-time position, so I start next month as a full-fledged faculty member after seven years of adjunct teaching. I’m relieved – I didn’t really want to move out-of-state, and it looked like I would have to for a while. Now I can stay where I am, and continue to strengthen the web design program I started back in 1997.

I’m thirty-four years old and I feel like I’m verging on adulthood finally, after years and years in a remedial program for wayward twenty-somethings. For the first time in over a decade I’ll have a steady paycheck. My starting salary is nothing to shout about, but it doesn’t include summer teaching or extra service. This year, while working as a visiting scholar at base salary, I made a consierable amount -- and spent almost all of it. I’m trying to do better this year, especially in light of another new opportunity.

R. , one of my mentors at school, has married after thirty years of single life. She is planning to spend this semester living at her lake house with her new husband, and has offered to let me house-sit all semester. At the end of the semester, if I want to, she will finance her house so I can purchase it. I’m stunned. I love this house, and it’s only five minutes from campus. It needs some work, but it’s livable now, excepting the soon-to-be-remedied lack of high-speed Internet.

My grandmother Mary Ethel passed away on December 17th of a heart attack. I miss her. She lived a very full life, and even at the end she managed to wring some enjoyment out of living. She didn’t let all the petty day-to-day stuff keep her from enjoying life. She’s a role model for everyone who knew her.

My other grandmother, who has a far less happy existence, is now living in a nursing home in Kauffman.

I am unexpectedly reaping benefits from so much turmoil, sorrow, and upheaval. Dad has arranged to rent his mother's house to help with nursing home payments, so we had to clean it out. All her furniture and personal belongings were divided among myself, the twins, and Mom and Dad. I have ended up with a fantastic Arts & Crafts library table, a Lane console table from the 50s, a washer and dryer, and two filing cabinets. I also have some paint, some dishes, and other miscellaneous items. My maternal grandmother left several things behind, too, so from her I have a kitchen table and chairs, a clock, a flashlight, and other small things. Nearest to my heart is the nail clipper set I used to clip her finger- and toenails. I was the only one of her visitors who could see well enough to perform this service.

So I have a house (even though it is still largely filled with R.’s things) and a job and a paycheck.

What more could I ask for?