A Day in the Life . . .

As fall approaches, I have been taking some time to reflect on where my life is today; how my days go; what I am doing.  I have been consulting now since February and it has been reasonably successful.  I am working part time, making enough to cover my expenses and save some.  But it is also an isolated life.  I am alone, except for Benny and Ruby, the entire day.

A typical day starts at 6 AM, when I get up and feed the dogs before I even start my coffee.  Benny and Ruby dance around and get excited because this is the only time they get fed during the day.  Sometimes I hear Ben's stomach growling as I wake up.  I am not sure if that is a function of hunger, or the horrible, old man dog gas he has perpetually!

Once my coffee is ready, they have finished eating, so out the door they go.  I head for the TV, turn on the NBC station, listen to news until the Today show starts.  It is also the time I review the emails that have come in from my east coast and European clients (yes, I have those!).  Some mornings I will have a conference call in that 7-8 AM time slot.  My earliest conference call was 5:30, which I don't recommend to anyone.  The gentleman I was speaking to was from Geneva, and with his accent and my still not really being awake, the call was challenging for a while.

Somewhere around 8 AM I get showered and dressed, make the bed and turn on the Roomba.  I have to tell you the Roomba is this great little robot vacuum that runs around my house, vacuums up the dirt, dust and hair from the dogs and, after an hour, goes back to the charging station by itself!  Love it!

I sit down and start working on whatever projects/calls are lined up with my clients.  During most weekdays, it is a combination of having project work to complete or getting calls/emails to respond to.  However, the amount of work usually averages about 20 hours a week.  So once I have done what I need to do, I will read, watch TV or work in the yard.  Sometimes Anya and  will work on a house project together or go shopping, but mostly I am tripping over the dogs.  I failed to mention that the dogs literally lay at my feet or follow me room to room throughout the day.  It is very annoying because I am always almost rolling over them with my chair.

Evenings could be anything from TV or reading, to dinner out with friends.  I try to have at least one social engagement a week so I have human contact.  Every Friday I start working out whether I want to head north to the cabin for the weekend (for a little more isolation) or stay home for more of the same week time activities.

The other day I was talking to Anya and she mentioned that I am always busy.  I was surprised by that because I feel like I am not really doing much of anything.  After  awhile I realized that I do have things that keep me busy, but the pace is so much slower than when I was working full time +, that I feel like I am doing nothing.

I still mostly stick to my healthy eating regimen - no grains, no sugar, no preservatives.  I don't exercise which is the one thing that I need to get less lazy about. 

That's pretty much it.  May sound boring to some and wonderfully peaceful to others.  I share both of those opinions.  Just depends on the day or the moment.  I have been giving serious thought to picking up the pace again by going FT with a company.  I worry about getting myself stressed (yes I now understand that I do it to myself), but I think, in the end, working in one company might be more satisfying to me than bouncing from one company to another as a consultant.  Time will tell, and it seems like I have enough of that!

May Meanders

May is chugging along as I get more used to the vagaries of consulting.  No work, then a flurry of activity, then none again.  I have started to pick up the pace, though, and every time I think I am just going to look for a permanent position, I get a sign to stay with what I am doing.

Mike gave me a book by Arianna Huffington (of the Huffington Post) called "Thrive". It is about redefining success by adding wellbeing to the traditional markers of success - money and power.  I have not yet gone far in the book, but it is very interesting.  Generally, these self help books tell us things we already know, and so far this is no different.  However, even if we know these things, we rarely engage in them.  I am hoping that this book spurs me to add some wellbeing into my life.  It was really sweet of Mike to think of me and give me the book.  I guess he doesn't want to see me develop work stress in my life.

I have been socializing a lot more than ever before; I had time with Mike and also three lunches just last week!  This week I have a cocktail party to meet a candidate for State Attorney General.  There will be a few people there that I know and quite a few that I won't.  These events cause initial anxiety, but I generally go and have a good time.  A lunch with a friend or two is usually more up my alley than a cocktail party, but I remain committed towards expanding my social horizons.

Tomorrow I need to go to some government office to get my passport done.  I let it lapse so to get it renewed you have to go in person.  One of my clients wanted to send me to London this week and I had to tell her I had no passport.  I have another client that mentioned China.  Not sure I would really like this travel, but I will get the passport and then see if anything materializes.  The biggest part of stress is worrying about things that never happen, so I am going to avoid worrying for no reason. That reminds me of a quote that I read in the previously mentioned book - "The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another." (William James)

May is a busy month with Mother's Day and many birthdays.  Happy Birthday to all my friends and family that have May birthdays.  Although I am not good with these types of days, you are all in my thoughts . . . Hope everyone has a great May!

Summer is Coming

It has been a few months since I posted an entry.  The days are warming up but I have refused to turn the air on yet.  The warmest the house has been is 83 degrees.  Still tolerable.

I have been building the consulting hours.  It is interesting because the only stress I find myself experiencing is the stress I create myself by worrying about not having a job!  I am working enough to pay the bills and put a little away but I still worry about money.  It is crazy how much pain we live in is self-induced.

I have done a little bit of dating.  Interestingly enough, that causes no real anxiety for me.  Either it happens or it doesn't.  The nicest guy is Mike 2.  Mike 1 wasn't a good fit but Mike 2 is really nice.  The kids tease me because we have to number them!  Anya calls him my boyfriend (teasing) but Ella calls him my man friend.  Either way, he is very nice company and we have many things in common.  We haven't been able to spend too much time together because he has been going north to help out elderly parents with health issues.  But we do email back and forth throughout the week to keep in touch.  We were out to dinner one Friday night and sat in a courtyard and talked until we realized we were the only people left and it was midnight!  I have to say it is nice to be appreciated. (BTW - this detail is for my sisters who will bug me for details anyway!)

I am thinking that I will probably go north for most of the summer and close up the Scottsdale house.  I can always drive down to meet with clients if I need to.  I will be testing internet up there later this month (sometimes sketchy) to see if I can work up there.  It is kind of nice to think that I might have this type of flexibility in my life.

Anya and I helped paint at David and Shaina's new condo downtown.  It is perfect for them - contemporary, hardwood floors and a garage!  Their new dog Penny will be right at home there.

I think that is "all she wrote for now"!

Change may be coming . . .

Well, February ended with some surprises.  I am really hitting the road trying to find work now.  I have sent a number of resumes out and have had one interview.  It looked like I was a good fit for that company, however, they were looking for someone in a different price point so the search continued.

Then I got some consulting from an old acquaintance, which is nice because it means some cash coming in.  Then I got a call from another acquaintance for some more substantial consulting work.  Then the first person asked if I would be interested in more work.  Then a third person called me Friday about some other possible jobs.  Now I am trying to decide whether I should strike out and start my own consulting company or continue the search for employment.  Lots of things to think about.

I have appreciated all of the encouragement and support that I have received from family and friends as I try to figure out what is best for me.  It may take me a while to decide if the universe is really intending for me to take this step into consulting, or whether I am misreading the signs.  But whatever happens, and wherever I land, I feel confident that I will learn from the experience.  Mistake or not, life is a learning experience.

It's Been a Long Time

OK, my sister Martha sent out another request to get going and write some blogs.  I will try to be better at it but it would be nice to get some reinforcement, like comments.  It's great for all of you who read this, but it can be work for me so I need feedback to keep it up!

Last June I found myself unhealthy and depleted.  My jobs (I was filling two) were killing me and so I quit.  Since then I have been focused on two major tasks, home improvements and self improvement.  So here is the list of accomplishments so far:

Home Improvements
   - demolished all tile in main house
   - demolished fourth bathroom in main house
   -  completed full renovation of kitchen in main house
   -  fully landscaped front yard
 
Self Improvements
   -  started and maintained a diet that eliminates all grains, sugar, root vegetables, preservatives from my diet
  -  got liver enzymes back to healthy range
  -  lost 20 pounds
  -  grew my hair to a length that is just below my shoulder
  -  lots of therapy to finally understand what is driving me to work myself  so hard
  -  starting to date

So it has been a very busy time in my life.  Lots of big steps and tiny steps.  I am now working to get back into the workplace.  Not sure where I will wind up.  I have been looking at many types of jobs and have also been considering consulting on my own.   I am working at letting opportunities flow through networking (very new and unfamiliar to me) and research.

I have had a great time with all the Barry's through this hiatus.  The project list around the house is very limited now until I actually start getting money coming in again.  Anya and I were driven to do as much as we could, so we used hammer drills and other power tools, learned to plumb a sink, filled a dumpster with debris, and cleaned dust way more than any two women should.  In spite of that, I have to say that I can not be prouder of the woman Anya is.  She tackles anything with zest and humor.  I loved working by her side.

So there is the nine month update.  Feel free to comment to me why you updates!

Chicken Soup

The compound gets more farm like every day.  Anya's eight chickens came with a surprise - one turned out to be a rooster!  When picking chicks, she chose one breed that was a fancy, gray little chick that looked like it had a little bouffant hairdo.  The family named her Cream Puff, although I continually called her Powder Puff.  She was scrawny, nervous and scrappy.  Turns out she had her reasons for those behaviors - she was a he!

As time passed, she developed the characteristic red wattles and two weeks ago, Cream Puff discovered his voice by crowing.  It is against the law to have roosters in Scottsdale, because their crowing can be so disturbing to neighbors.  So what to do with Cream Puff?

After much agonizing discussion in the Barry household, it was decided that Cream Puff needed to go the way of chickens for centuries - under the ax   So yesterday afternoon, Anya and I held Cream Puff while Adam did ax duty.

Boiling water to release feathers; sharp knives for cleaning, and a meat cleaver for removal of feet.  Then Cream Puff went into the soup pot.  Here he is before breaking up the meat.

He was small, and tough, but he helped nourish the family that fed him for three months.  Ella was very, very sad as she had been Mother Hen from the start.  John was sad but also curious about parts of the process.  Anya and Adam were both serious about the taking of life and respectful about making it worthwhile.

I have to say that if more people actually participated in something like this, they would be less cavalier and wasteful about their food!  So here I sit, writing this blog on Sunday morning and the back yard is just a bit more quiet.

Rest in peace Cream Puff!

Down on the Farm

This is a three-day weekend, so the kids and I figured it was a good time to get lots more done on the Compound (as we call the Paradise homes).  Saturday morning Adam and I picked up a mid-sized bobcat and new chains for the chainsaw.  When we got home, David, Anya and the kids were waiting to go to work.  After the donut break, of course!

We cut down large bushes, dug up stumps, pulled out all the concrete curbing for the front driveway, graded the area around the pool for grass, pulled out more stumps, moved landscape lighting, edged garden beds, moved the wood pile, piled brush for the future wood chipper rental, cut more trees and brush, moved the kiln, pulled out some crumbling concrete and put the boat on blocks.

Did I fail to mention that Anya's family received their six little chicks one day old for the chicken coop?  Earlier in the week, Anya had spread mulch in the future garden, gathered her seeds, and mulched the fruit trees (lemon and orange).  

So what was the cost?  Anya bashed her head on a tree limb, David bashed two knuckles, all adults had some stiff muscles and David, John and Adam all had big smiles from running a bobcat for eight hours!  We broke the cap to my septic tank (will get it replaced this week.)  Altogether it was a very productive weekend!

Hopefully, we plan to get the bobcat and a dumpster again for next weekend to take the debris away (for David and Adam) and a wood chipper to make mulch with the cut branches (Anya and me).

It feels like we work on a farm!!