Extremely Thankful...And Then Some

I can't believe it's already November. Where has this year gone? I just hope I'm not aging as quickly as the year has, but pretty sure I am.

It still beats the alternative. If you're not aging, you're dying. I'll take growing older as long as I can.

If there's one thing our move to another state after fifty six years has taught me, it's to be grateful...for the good and the bad.

I was a coward when we first moved here. I readily admit it. I was more worried about what was going on with me instead of noticing what was going on for us.

My setback was a temporary one and should have realized that right off the bat. Instead I threw myself a big fat pity party and made everyone else miserable along with me.

Fast forward one year...

I'm living thirty minutes away from the beach, just where we've always wanted to live. In our retirement years, it will be on the beach.

Unwillingly, had to start over again in my chosen profession of Plate Slinger Extraordinaire.

That actually was one hard pill to swallow!

I beat myself up when starting a new job, always thinking I'm not getting it or catching on fast enough.

I still remember that first day they hired me. They offered me a job after finishing my first interview and asked if I wanted to come back later that afternoon to begin training and knock a day off my two week training period.

Yikes...I wasn't even over my own Pity Party!

I was an absolute nervous wreck when I returned a couple of hours later, wearing the required pair of gray slacks I'd just bought at Kohl's in the little boys' department. They were the only ones small enough fit me. That particular Kohl's didn't have a 'Karen Carpenter' section.

I just recently celebrated my one year anniversary working at Chroma.

I've settled in nicely after being a wreck the first four or five months...obviously it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. I've doubled my salary in the past twelve months and firmly have my tootsie established in the door for hopefully many years to come.

It's nice to be back on top in my place of employment. I'd even venture to say I'm one of the top servers there and have proved myself to be a reliable and dependable asset to the company. I have steady made more money each and every week and look forward to once again making airport money without the hassle of actually working in an airport.

Been there, done that.

Yes I was lucky to have that job for almost three years, especially at a time when we desperately needed the extra money.

I'm now also lucky that we aren't desperate for money and can live comfortably live off Tim's income.

We struggled for almost a decade...and I mean struggled. We never gave up and our friends and family never gave up on us either.

We have always been blessed, sometimes it's just harder to realize it.

 The twenty years we lived just south of Atlanta were some pretty great times, even with the few bad times.

I still miss our old home...it served us well and have very fond memories of raising the kids in it.

 This is from our very last Christmas living on Huntington Court.

Now we are quickly approaching our second Holiday Season in Orlando. We'll once again celebrate Thanksgiving here, at my brothers' house and go back to Georgia for Christmas day at my sisters'.

It's quite nice to feel normal again...well, as normal as it gets for someone like me.

Moving here, away from my home, friends and family after fifty six years was a wake up call. To cope with it, started doing what I (consider to) do best...write. I write and mail about twenty letters or cards a week. Just because I don't live near them anymore doesn't mean we can't stay in touch. Yeah, you can text or message or post on social media, but who doesn't like to open an envelope and see familiar handwriting?

I've written to childhood friends, high school and college friends, former neighbors, co workers, bosses and even mere acquaintances who meant something special to me. A few have even written back and is just as exciting for me to see their familiar handwriting.

Just because you move away from your old life doesn't mean you can't remain connected in your new one.

It never bothers me at all if they don't write back.

I selfishly do it more for me than them anyway, but just think (hope) to maybe put a smile on their face or brighten their day in some small insignificant way.

I still have the very first diary I started when just nine years old. I have about three hard back journals since filled and saved as well.

My Cray Cray life is well documented, along with the thousand or so photos I have stored in albums and boxes.

Call me a 'Life' hoarder.

Life is a road we all have to walk. What you make of your life, is the road you will ultimately follow.

Ours has taken us on detours and been re routed a couple of times but always gotten us there.

Life's a long and winding road, but well worth the journey and ours is getting better all the time.

Our road had some ruts in it along the way but love has gotten us through and over them.

Tramps like us? Baby we were born to run!

Till next time, an extremely grateful COTTON

Mama Told Me There'd be Days Like This

So I've gotten into my groove with this seven day work week. Get a bath  before bed and you  can sleep fifteen more minutes in the morning. Put your makeup on at work, sleep eight more. Eat  breakfast at work, there's another ten minutes easy. It's not like people are lined up outside the door to stampede in wanting to be the first to  buy a mattress. I usually have at least twenty or thirty minutes before someone comes in. I go in, open  the store, check emails and inventory while I eat my breakfast and put on my face. It's not like I wear a lot of makeup but it sure helps.

So first off,  I am sitting at my desk eating my yogurt and dabbing on some mascara when a man comes rushing in the door like someone's chasing him. He started walking toward the back of the store so I put my mascara down , rolled my eyes ate my last spoonful of yogurt and followed him.

I asked if I could help him and he told me he'd  purchased a twin mattress and box spring set from us for his mother and the bed sat too high off the floor for her. He said the other guy had shown him some thinner boards in the back room which fit under twin mattresses.  The first thing that irritated me is he had bought the crappiest mattress in  the store for his MOTHER! I only suggest that mattress for kids bunk beds, day beds or RV's.

He just heads into  the stock room to see if we have one left, I guess the other guy had shown him one. I followed him back and we had one left.  On  the upside I made a sale right off the bat but it kinda got on my nerves he acted like it was a self serve gas station. It only cost fifty bucks but he had her sleeping on a hundred dollar mattress. I rang him up and he toted the board out with him.

I decided I looked good enough and put my makeup bag away.

Not a hour later  a lady walks in with  a young girl. She tells me her mother (here we go again) bought a bed frame from us a while back and she needs another one.  I hate to be judgmental but could tell  right off the bat the elevator didn't go all  the way to the top floor. She wanted a bed frame that didn't stick out for you  to run into it and hurt your leg on. I told her the bed frames hit about six inches from the foot of the bed and that shouldn't be a problem.  She wanted to know what they looked like and I told her to look around, every mattress in  the showroom was on one. Then she asked if we had ones on wheels.  I told her we did at  the other store but all ours had feet. She tilted her head back and puffed out a breath like I had just told her her dog (that she didn't like anyway) died. I asked why she needed wheels on the frame? She looked at me like "I" was crazy and asked how she was supposed to move the bed around?  I decided to play and asked back why she needed to move the queen size bed around? She said "Well you  gotta move it around when you  clean." Yep, she's a freak.

Now I'm no Suzy home maker, but have never MOVED a bed around to clean.  I stick a vacuum hose under it but unless I am moving the bed to another spot or room, it's pretty much gonna stay where it is. It's not like we eat dinner under our bed or  throw food under there. There's not even anything under my beds except  an occasional pup.

She went on and on about how she didn't want to hit her legs on  the frame and I explained again and again that our frames did NOT stick out from the end of the bed. She looked at me and had the nerve to ask "Are you sure?" OMG...shoot me in the head! I once again took her over to one of the twenty mattresses we had on the show room floor and showed her where the frame hit...six inches from  the end of the bed.

She sighed and said "I'll think about it" and thank the good Lord above, left.

I made me a bologna sandwich and read my book. I was tired, stupid people wear me out.

So after a couple of normal people came in to shop, a man walks in talking loudly on his, not blue tooth but full out head set. That got on my nerves at once. Yes I haven't had a day off since mid August and may be a little stressed but I won't even talk on my cell phone when at the cash register at a gas station, it's just rude.

You know me, I walked right up and loudly asked how I could help him? He gave me the hand so I walked away. He walked around the store for (I'm not kidding) thirty minutes talking loudly.  By the end of the thirty minutes I knew he was in the trucking industry and that he called his wife Boo. I knew that his daughter wanted to try out for track but try outs were tomorrow and she needed thirty bucks to try out. I learned that his other daughter (baby  girl) had gotten a bad hair cut and  was upset, he could just hear it in her voice. (his words not mine)

Then my own cell went off from behind the counter. It was a 'boing' so knew it was Massey, that's her ring tone on my cell. I answered and after  finding out she just wanted to chat told her quietly I was proving a point and would call her back.

Then as I approached him after he hung up with baby  girl once again asked if he had any questions? He started to ask about king size mattresses when his phone rang  again...I kid you not.

Now I learned that the dispatcher he uses isn't liked by  anyone else but he's okay with that as long as  the guy is straight up with him and lets him know what is going on. Then I learned that he had to drive out of town again tonight but would be back in Newnan tomorrow.

Then I finally realized he simply wanted to be out of his big rig and stretch his legs and my store looked like a good place to do it.

He did finally talk with me about mattresses for about two minutes when his head set went off again. I got the hand in the face again so I handed him my card and said to come see me when he had some time.

Had a lull after that and  was grateful for it. Called Massey back and text my sister at her thrift shop where she volunteers. I asked her if they had any pants for Zach, a skinny 29x30? She text back they only had fat man pants today and I text back "Tim don't need any."

She text back, "Must be slow there." I text  back that it was so slow I had just shaved my legs in the restroom. I hope she knew I was just being funny!

Here's the thing. Cell phones are great to have but you need to use decorum. Don't walk into a store where a salesperson is waiting to assist you  and talk on your phone for thirty minutes, it's just rude.

Yep it was slow today but you never know in sales, tomorrow could be the day...at least I hope it will.

I've been going to bed earlier and earlier as I get older and older and that helps. Dealing with idiots just makes it harder but makes me grateful that at least I am a normal human being with a head on my shoulders that appears to work.

I'm moving forward and that is all that matters!

Today was a bust but who knows about tomorrow until it gets here? I'm looking forward to it, how about you?

Til next  time...COTTON

Sweating Like a Hoss and Selling Like a Boss

Can I load some furniture or what? Just kidding although I have squeezed some pretty big loads into some pretty small vehicles. It's amazing what you can do when you work on commission. I've strapped things on top of cars and I've wedged things into them. I've had people get in the passenger side seat and made them hold things in their lap.

Today started out slow. Had a few people meander through. One man came in and spent about  thirty minutes looking around. I spent some time with him but never hover over people unless  they act like they want me to. The lunch crowd came and went.

Massey  brought me lunch and after I loaded up three tables for a lady, strategically squeezing all three into her mini van,  we ate and settled on a nice comfy couch directly in front of three fans on high and read our books. She's on book one in the Game of Thrones and I was finishing up book four. She keeps a notebook with her to try and keep everyone straight and had some questions for me. By  now, I'm all about it and answered her questions. It's hard when you  first start reading the books because they skip around a lot. Massey left and I sat on  the couch and finished the fourth book.

Now what am I gonna do?

Not a  problem. I was pouting about not bringing book five with me to work on my stool by  the front door when the guy from this morning walked back in with his wife. BINGO!  I greeted him with "I see you  brought the boss back with you!"

Not even thirty minutes later I had sold them over $2,100.00 of furniture. They wanted to finance and have it delivered tomorrow. I gave them the application and told them what they needed to bring back with them. I was a little worried because I am off  tomorrow and didn't want to lose the sale so I worked them up  quote,  had all their info and pricing done and told them to bring it in tomorrow and the other manager would fax it to the finance company.

I returned to my stool to pout about not having my next book. I sat there about fifteen minutes when  my guy drove back up and got out of his car carrying a lot of paper work. He walked in and I said "Ready to do  this?"

He had all his paper work. Pay stubs, cancelled check, bank statement and form filled out. I faxed it all to the finance company and we sat and chatted (we had lots in common) while we waited. Thirty minutes later he was approved and we had a contract. BAM!

Not thirty minutes later a  woman walked in and in under fifteen minutes picked out $1,700.00 of furniture for her son. I worked her up  quote too and she's coming back tomorrow to purchase it.

Excellent day!

Sweated like a hoss but sold like a boss!

Side note... While it was slow today was cruising through Facebook on my phone. A high school friend of mine has been posting status after status about her goose who has been sick. When I read the first few it struck me that I had never known a person to love a duck so much.  She had been taking it to the vet almost daily. I thought, well "To each their own." Then noticed she posted that her goose had died. THEN I noticed her picture of goose. It was her pup! I messaged her and said I was a little slow, actually I said I was a doofus. I thought she has been talking bout a duck when she was talking about her pup. She has two pups, Goose and Maverick. Then I made the connection...Top Gun fan! I sent her a message apologizing for my stupidity  and telling her I knew from experience how hard it is to lose a pup.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=285495831594492&set=vb.253525244784808&type=2&theater

This is the link I sent her. I hope it works here...it is really touching. Dogs are truly man's (and woman's) best friend. I have three,  two are idiots and one is spectacular but blind. I love all three.

I still have a shift Saturday at  the furniture store to try and sell even more and will keep my fingers crossed.

Tomorrow is Massey's orientation at Georgia State University. It starts at  seven in the morning and ends around five. I wanted to go with her but Tim is out of work and I am scheduled to work at the restaurant. It doesn't make sense for me to take OFF work when Tim is OUT of work and can go. I know I disappointed Massey but am trying to do every thing I can for her to GO to college. I told her I would take her down there on Sunday and we would tool around and see everything.

A Momma's gotta do what a Momma's gotta do.

Massey simply said "You're a lot more fun." Way to go, make me feel even worse.

Tim came downstairs a few minutes ago while I was sitting here blogging , turned around to him and said Massey was disappointed I wasn't going tomorrow and instructed him to be as fun as he possibly could. The look I got wasn't pretty...MEN!

I'll take her down there Sunday and we'll tour every inch of the campus we can. She starts in less than a month and until then need to work every shift and every day that I can. I will be there when we finally take and move her in, will blubber like a baby when we leave her but until then I simply have to work all I can...and will.

She'll forgive me and years later even thank me.

Like my Momma told me when I was about fifteen, "The older you get the smarter I will seem."

Til next  time...COTTON

That Wasn't So Bad

Today was my first day off in almost two weeks. I had grand plans. Sleep til noon, cut grass til four. Cook a nice dinner and clean house. The phone call came in at 11:04 AM. Not the wake up call I  wanted.

I would have flat out said no but another server's mom had been hospitalized with a collapsed lung and was being prepped for surgery. Naturally no one else would work for him so I caved. So instead of jumping out of bed and getting every thing done before I had to go in at five...I just stayed in bed and took it easy. Around two I took my book out back to the hammock and read for two hours. A half day off is better than NO day off!

Work wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. After I complained and whined about working on my day off, I fell into the groove. If you  gotta work, make the best of it. I hadn't eaten all day so I took my jar of crunchy peanut butter and a sleeve of saltines with me and pumped up my protein intake.

I got really lucky on a couple of tables and only one fifteen percent tip. I didn't get out early but I got out with enough to cover my needed bank deposit and part of what I need for the down payment for Massey's chorus trip to New York in the Spring. The check for Massey's down payment will still bounce if they deposit it immediately but being the mom of three kids I have found that schools usually take forever to push a check through. First off, there is always a kid that says "I forgot to bring my check today." That  buys me a day. Then after all checks are collected it usually takes the over worked teacher a couple of days to get  it all sent to the office. Then the over worked secretary has to get it all together and send it to the person who makes the deposits. I am hoping that person is over worked as well and since my kids go to a public school I am pretty sure they are. By  this time I have worked four shifts and the money is in my account. My middle name should be Ponzi. The only difference is that I make good on all my debts, some later than others but I always pay. Let's not discuss late charges...but a mommas gotta do what a mommas gotta do.

I'm not proud of my banking skills but I'm not ashamed of them either. The banks and mortgage giants do the same thing with the money I break my back to earn and give to them.   Sometimes they lose it. Difference is when THEY lose it and go belly up...who bails THEM out? I believe that would be MY tax dollars!

Rat Basts!

So it's Labor Day tomorrow...Guess how I will be spending it?

You  got it, I'll be laboring away while all the banks are closed, chuckling to themselves that they got me again if my deposit on Tuesday morning at 7:01 after the bank opens at 7:00 and decides to wait half a day to process my deposit...which they have done before.

You can't fight Big Brother, but you can swing as hard as you can and never stop swinging. I've been swinging for over three years and I still have some fight left in me.

Headed to bed. Waking up tomorrow and doing it all again. My life seems redundant but at least I am alive to realize it.

Til next time...Ponzi COTTON