Two Days In A Row

My off days are usually never in a row but somehow ended up that way this week. A girl could get used to this.

I think my manager who does the schedule felt sorry for me this past week. He scheduled me for seven shifts and two of them were doubles. To add insult to injury both double shifts were after I was scheduled to close the night before. The first double wasn't so hard although both shifts turned out to be complete duds.

I closed on Wednesday night and didn't get off until well after midnight. I had to be back the next morning and went in at eleven. I got off after midnight and while I made more money than I ever have, was totally exhausted and my feet were screaming. They still hurt when they touched the floor the next morning.

On Friday night I (nicely) told my manager I was simply too old to work double shifts anymore and certainly not two in one week. He apologized for having to do it, just needed extra servers that one week.

The USTA opened a huge facility here in Orlando (five minutes from Chroma) recently and has made for great business at the restaurant, located directly next door (literally steps away) to the Marriott where most of the players stay.

People come from all over the world to play in tournaments here. I've waited on people from literally everywhere; from all across the United States, New Zealand, Germany, England, Italy and even Australia.

They also held the ground breaking ceremony on Monday for the shopping and retail district being built directly in front of our restaurant. There will also be a movie theater, bowling alley and a few more restaurants and specialty shops.

In a couple of years it's going to be one huge Cash Cow for everyone involved, which luckily includes me.

I've already doubled my income in less than a years' time and look forward to making "Airport" money again, without the hassle of working at an airport.





Once again, am glad I listened to my brother, who told me to apply for the job with Chroma after my job transfer fell through last year when we moved to Orlando.

He's a pretty sharp guy with an even sharper wit. He makes me seem dull.

And look how much he loves me!!!

Totally kidding.

He does  give me quite a bit of grief and always makes fun of my horrible southern drawl. Especially the way I pronounce my husbands' name with two syllables. "Tea-um."

This journey Tea-um and I have been through has turned out to be quite the blessing, mostly and mainly because of these two.

They always had my back when I was a little kid and they've always had my back as a (still little) adult.

When life overwhelms you, sometimes it helps to take a step back and look around. You'll discover blessings you never thought about having before and learn to be more grateful for them.

My problems this past week were two hard double shifts which as we say in the south, wore me slap out.

My blessings were the redunkulous amount of money I made, with my only problem being sore feet.

 For the first time in over a year, am finally paying all my bills early again and socking money away into savings. Granted Tim pays most all the bills, I only pay the Verizon bill (which ain't cheap) and my car note. I buy most of the groceries and staples but Tim also buys some groceries too. We're a work in progress but is a total 'Team Cotton' effort.

I'm slowly gaining weight again and feels good to be tipping the scales at three digits without having to have rocks in both pockets.

I still miss our old home, but feel better knowing that my nephew and his wife are taking excellent care of and hopefully enjoying it.


We are twenty weeks away from moving out of our tiny rental and into our new permanent home.

It's served us well and have a pretty great landlord. Still seems crazy to me how much more rent is than mortgage. We had a fifteen year loan on our pretty big house in Newnan for $1500. We're paying $1235 to rent a tiny cracker box here in Orlando.

On a side note, hung another one of my mother in laws' paintings today on the wall in our tiny living room.

She always said this was her vision of what God would look like. Now He's watching over us as well.



So life has turned out pretty good for us after all. We're making strides and moving ahead. Our previous problems are behind us, and while we'll certainly have problems in front of us in the future, at least know we can make it...through any thing, and will.

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

And I will.

I will crush life, just watch me.

So we moved to the Sunshine State.

Here comes the sun!

That's alright.

Till next time...COTTON

You Dirty Dog

This video is from about seven or eight years ago. Ham (the boxer) could still see and Charlie (the bulldog) still had a little pep in his step.

This is Charlie now...most of the time.

Of course he's twelve years old now, which is extremely old for an English Bulldog. He's goes out in the morning after he eats and is good to go until before we go to sleep at night. When you have three big dogs in a tiny temp rental house, you gotta appreciate that low maintenance one.

 It's been raining here a lot lately and haven't had a chance to bathe the dogs outside but Charlie started stinking so bad it was hard to be in a room with him. Then again, put him outside and this is the first thing he does...NOT helping with his smell.

 It was a dry winter here in central Florida. It wasn't cold but never rained so all the grass dried up and left us with a backyard full of black sand and dog poop. I try to do poop patrol at least once a week considering we have three big dogs in a backyard this size now...

instead of the one they had in Georgia...

Huge difference when all three are taking a couple of dumps a day. Back in Georgia they all went into the woods at the back to do their bidness.

We 've got really great neighbors on one side of us, and have become good friends with them. A young couple, mid twenties and also have three (smaller) dogs. I told Ashley (our neighbor) I was tired of picking up poop with my hand stuck in a plastic grocery and dropping it into another as I patrolled. It's disgusting carrying a eight pound bag of dooky out to the garbage can on the front of the house. She said she just picks hers up with a pooper scooper and tosses it over the back fence.

Guess who bought a pooper scooper yesterday at Big Lots?

I mean, guess if those fifty squawking flamingos (yes I know they aren't really flamingos) are pooping in the retention pond...what's a little (lot) more?

Problem solved!

I decided to break down today, hoist and shove Charlie into my bath tub for a scrub down. It was no easy feat...but that was no easy smell he had either. I pulled and Massey pushed him from behind. We looked like Lucy and Ethel. He did not want to get in that tub and was of no help at all, but amazingly enough had no problem hopping out on his own when we got through.

Two problems solved!

I knew when we made this move to Florida it would be hard for our pups making a huge transisiton, especially with Ham being totally blind.

Ham has probably adapted as well if not better than the two sighted pups. He walks with caution and that nose a twiching. It took him about one day to learn the layout of the new house and yard.

Little Houdini has done great as well...not one escape or even one attempt, and that's saying something considering the back fence is only about four feet high. He's even been to the beach with us!

Charlie wouldn't care where we moved unless it didn't have a couch.

I read a book recently and had a chapter on her dog. There was a quote that nailed how I feel about my pups on their three big heads.


"People seem to love their dogs with an unabashed acceptance that they rarely demonstrate with family or friends. The dogs do not disappoint them, or if they do, the owners manage to forget about it quickly. I want to learn to love people like this, the way I love my dog, with pride and enthusiasm and a complete amnesia for faults. In short, to love others the way my dog loves me."

                                                                                               Ann Patchett




I think dogs actually make us better people. I know I'm happier when I own one (or three).

We only have twelve weeks left on our rental lease and will moving the pups one more time. Every house we look at has the stipulation of having to have a nice big fenced in yard for Larry, Curly and Moe to live out their remaining years with us in style. We're even getting one with a cement pond for them to swim in. I'm not even worried about Ham. The pool will be screened in with an outer yard fenced in but do look forward to easing him in at some point. Fat as Charlie is, he'll float like a buoy and pretty sure Ziggy will at least be extremely curious.

I am so not looking forward to packing up again but at least will be a thirty minute drive and the last move of our lifetime.

I've also discovered that being brave enough to say goodbye to Georgia has indeed rewarded me with a pretty nice hello and life Florida. Tim's doing great with his job and Massey's making friends. It took me a minute to get my new job down (always does when you're a perfectionist) but am consistently making more money each and every week. I've got my confidence back, once again am a selling machine and have a handful of new friends. It's gonna be just fine.

Til next time...COTTON

Oh Spring, I've Missed You

I remember this picture of Massey and Alyssa. It was beautiful and exciting to wake up to outside of the house and was a total blast until the first one of the kids came back inside, usually dragging one of the dogs in too.

That's why I live in the south.

Somehow it's almost the last week in March. Not quite sure how that happened but doubt the calendar is wrong.

I've decided to cut the front of our subdivision one more year, then I'm done. I don't need the sixty bucks as much although it's nice to count on. We got several years behind on our HOA dues and applied cutting last summer to the debt. If I cut one more summer we'll be caught up.

I really like cutting grass but the front of our subdivision is a nightmare on your mower. I've broken three blades up there and gone through two weed eaters.

Let somebody else do it next year.

I'll still stop and pick up trash when I see it, but Johnny's the most reliable gasoline motorized vehicle I own. I wish he was a bigger tractor, I'd drive him to work.

I filled up an entire tall kitchen garbage bag full of trash from the side of the road and both culverts.

Who randomly throws an empty can of Vienna sausages out their car window anyway?

Dang we're red necks... that's almost embarrassing. Don't ask me how many empty Skoal cans I pick up, that is embarrassing.

I honestly can't remember the last time I threw trash out a car window but pretty sure it wasn't an empty food can from the cabinet in the kitchen.

I spent three hours doing the front of the sub and the front yard of my house. Before that I took Charlie to get his stitches removed at the Vet-in-a-Van, stopped by Auto Zone to buy a fix-a-flat for Johnny and went by my shady tree mechanic to get the last of my receipts (have an appointment with Perry Mason next Thursday) and stopped by the credit union to get some cash.

One of the Lost Boys (the Amish one) drives a huge truck, I paid him with gas money and the promise of a home cooked meal if he would take a load of junk to the dump for me. We filled his truck up with things which have been sitting in the way for months (years) and off he went, just like a Clampett with Jethro (Zach) beside him.

If he hadn't been available would have loaded up my newest old car and done something like this.

I pulled out my bank envelope from my visit to the drive through. I had taken out fifty dollars but my envelope contained two tens and three fives. I looked at my receipt, it said I withdrew fifty.

Is the entire universe against me or are you just trying to ruin my mental comeback?

Spent thirty minutes on the phone with them and had to download a form to email back.

Then I went out, cranked ole Johnny Dear up and cut grass for three hours.

I didn't think about my car debacle one time, didn't think about the fifteen dollar shortage at the credit union and actually thought of nothing except how good it felt to be back on my Johnny Dear and was making not only our entrance to the subdivision but my own house a much nicer place to see.

On the flip side, I'm pretty tired now.

Baking a potato in my newly repaired oven and soaking in the garden tub with smelly-good bubbles.

Then I'm cranking up the chain saw and shaving my legs.

"Spring" as defined by Webster :

To move upward or forward in a single quick motion or a series of such motions; leap.

That my friends is me in a nut shell (pun intended).

I'm not looking back anymore, it's not the way I'm headed.

Til next time....COTTON

Guess With This Ten Pound Weight Lifted I'm Down to 85 Pounds But Sure Feels Good!

Let's talk about the "Elephant in the room." For five years we've been tip toeing and stepping around him.

Guess what? I think he's gone!

I was terrified to take a new job even if it was a second one, keeping my current comfortable job. It was twenty five miles from home, not on a bus route and didn't even own a car. I think our mortgage company urged me on the most, us being two months behind and getting five calls a day from the greedy rat bast after never being late one time in fourteen years until all the turmoil started, then spiraled.

Boy, Michael hit this nail on the head!

With much prayer and conferring with people most important to me, decided to take a leap of faith. We were close to losing our house four years from pay off and Hells Fargo wanted it. No upside down mortgage but a house they could sell for 100% profit. Not going to happen if I could help it.

I'll never know why God chose me to travel this path but right about now wish I knew Heaven's address to send Him a Thank You note.

The two weeks of training for my new job almost killed me or at least felt that way. I was overwhelmed, stressed out and on top of that borrowing a vehicle from my next door husband every time I had to be there.

My first day on the floor made almost two hundred dollars in tips and had faked it the entire shift. On top of that got "Secret Shopped" by Fifth Group, the parent company. I got a 78, a terrible score but the home office contacted the managers and said considering it was my first shift could have been a lot worse and gave me credit for  doing a LOT better than they would have expected from a first day server.

Then eight days later I get shopped again. What are the odds of THAT? I got a 95 though. Suddenly I was doing not just okay but doing GREAT.

By this time it was the end of June and my last day off had been May 24th. I was running on fumes and out of gas quick. I would wake up in the mornings confused until Tim told me what day it was and where I needed to go, by what time.

Working at the airport has been another job all in itself. I have to navigate parking at the MARTA lot, allowing myself time to stalk someone back to their car and snag their spot and also time getting there  to coincide with the next available train to the airport, forty seconds away.  Then have to sweet talk my way onto the Sardine Shuttle because employees take second priority. Then going through security is always a hit or miss with the TSA. They either act like you're trying to blow up the airport with the empty water bottle in your bag or could care less and ask why you are still standing there?

I've gotten everything down to a science except the job itself but working on that too. I usually just ask the more senior servers what I need to do when have done everything I know to do.

In the two weeks I've been on the floor have managed to bring home enough to make a mortgage payment, buy gas for my borrowed vehicle, staples for the house and even food for the pups.

The answer was simple. I had to step out of my comfort zone and into a world which not only scared but intimidated me.

I'm not making many friends at the new place but have made a few. Not sure if they intimidate me or if I intimidate them but my bosses seem to like me and isn't that the bottom line? I have a lot to learn but learn it I will.

Worked forty days in a row and thought I would collapse but my boss at the local job gave me a day off yesterday. I slept twelve hours and woke up still tired.

I checked in on my blog, my baby and saw a comment from a reader in Ireland. She had traveled through the Atlanta airport the day before and mentioned she wished she had known I was at work and would have stopped by to say hello.

How fantastic is that? Someone from Ireland who reads my blog was actually in the concourse where I work and could have stopped by to meet me? Shout out to "Enie Dub".

I went into my local job today, thinking they would be all hating on me for abandoning them four days a week.

Quite the opposite. They seemed happy I was making financial progress and although know will hate losing me those four days a week, support me in my new venture.

I am a blessed, beyond blessed woman, wife and mother.

Headed back to the chaos of the airport tomorrow but making such significant strides it even impresses me!

No longer afraid of failure but excited for our future and  feels really good. It's a pleasant change and WAY overdue.

Til next time...COTTON

Here Comes 2013

I have almost made it through the insanity of another year during the holiday season in a restaurant. Tonight was no exception. Had a wonderful surprise visit though from a dear friend, Elizabeth and her son. I wish I had had more time to talk with her but it was flat out chaos for two hours. She was my late Diddy's girlfriend and is simply a delight to know and love.

Sometimes I wonder how I am still doing this after well over three decades of being a plate carrier? The dishes seem heavier and the walk to the tables longer.

I've been doing this for so long and crazy as it may sound am finally thinking about hanging up my tray...at least full time. I have a chance to try something new, something not so physically demanding and comes with a 401 K . Tim and I had a pretty nice 401 K  we drained when he was out of work for two years, but at least we had it. This job also offers insurance...another definite plus, not to mention  is a four day work week. I can still carry  plates for two days a week for a while and have one day off. I am more than a little nervous about it but at  this stage in my life have to explore my options.

I like waiting on tables but it  is extremely demanding (when you do a good job.) My legs ache constantly, I have carpal tunnel in my right hand (self diagnosed) and gross as it sounds to me and  am sure even more so to you, I have corns on my pinkie toes sometimes that hurt so bad the sheets on my bed make them excruciatingly painful.  Think how it feels when someone accidentally knocks into my tired ole tootsie! My back goes out about once a year and almost paralyzes me sometimes making it even hard to breathe. I get cricks in my neck and have  to walk around like Frankenstein for days. Add in the limp because of my bad knee and I look like Festus from Gunsmoke with an order pad and tray.

Most of the servers I work with are young kids who don't have a clue or college kids who think the job is a joke that will simply get them by until they graduate. I don't tell  them most of them will still be serving when they graduate. "It's the economy, stupid."

I've raised three kids with a server's salary and am grateful I have been able to do so. Now it's time to think about myself. If I continue to beat myself up physically, I'll never be able to dance at my kid's weddings. I'll be on a walker at best, in a wheel chair worst case or maybe just a basket case.

It's not like starting a 401 K at the age of almost 53 is gonna get us that condo in Jamaica but will help my  chances of getting a room with a view one day...or at least a room. I don't want my kids to have to take care of me. I don't want to be a burden to them...even though they have sometimes been a burden to me.

You know what? They may have caused me grief but have given me more pleasure than anything in life. Given the chance for a "Do-Over" I'd do it all again.

I may not have perfect kids but I am perfectly happy with the kids I have.

My decision to change jobs is simply to help save myself so I can enjoy whatever time I have left with my family, to be able to provide us with insurance and have some savings for the future.

I'm scared. I'm apprehensive. I feel like I am letting my current bosses down. But if a chance comes this late in life to better not only myself but my family, I'd be dumber than Jethro not to try. If it doesn't work out I can always be a double naught spy or a brain surgeon. Or a server again.

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year...us included.

I also want to thank every one who has helped us help my pup, Ham. He is the most awesome dog I have ever  owned or rescued. He is alive today because of other people. I wanted to help him but simply couldn't. Because of other dog lovers, he is still with us. Because of dog lovers he is (hopefully) heart worm free. Because of dog lovers he is headed to the specialist after the first of the year to get his sight back. Because of you all he is still wagging that nub of a tail and feeling stronger every day.

I almost feel like God blessed my family by knocking us to our knees. It has shown me how being a good person (I think I am) during good times comes back to help you  through the bad times.

It amazes me how many people just don't get. When times are good...pay it forward . When times are bad, accept help... be humble and grateful others love you. I am a firm believer in Karma...heck I am just a believer.

Live your life as a good person.  No one expects you to be perfect, no person is. Remember the Golden Rule and remember how to pay it forward.

I have so much to pay forward it should be a full time job but it can't. I have one child off to see  the world and couldn't be happier for him. I have two still at home and can't wait to see how far they will go.

I simply want to be around to witness their flight as well. People have loved our family and even loved our pups.

I am a lucky woman. I am a lucky person. I am a blessed person and hope everyone who has helped us reach  this point in our lives knows how grateful I am to have been shown love, support and encouragement.

It's what has gotten us through and will never be dismissed or forgotten. I have a good feeling about the year  2013.

I think thirteen is my new lucky number!

Much love and thanks to you all and hope to pay it forward in "Thirteen."

Til next time...COTTON