Gainful Employment

Mr. Fixit and I have been working for a little over a week. My younger son is the quality control guy at his company, and they had an emergency with one of their customers. A lot of parts have to be inspected. There are  thousands and thousands of hex nuts with tiny numbers that must be checked and culled. It’s boring but the extra money will be nice-- and the work is temporary.

What’s not so nice is the almost 1 hour drive (each way) to reach the company. It’s been 25 years since I have worked outside our home (I’ve done work at home though) and the organizational skills I had when I worked are sadly lacking. I had forgotten how hard it is to work and to take care of a home. We have been eating out every night.

Part of that is because it’s the end of school here, and we were invited to attend Noah’s graduation from fifth grade, and Owen’s Awards day. There also have been a ball game or two thrown in. We can’t miss those things no matter what. (I was so proud of both the boys. They both were on the A honor roll for the whole year.)

Another minor, but irritating problem cropped up. An advisory was issued saying that our water had to be boiled before ingesting. It  lasted more than a day.

My insomnia has caused me a bit of a problem. I’ve been running on about 3 hours sleep a night with no opportunity to nap in the afternoons. It’s makes me grumpy, but I try to keep control of it. Every two or three nights I get 5 or 6 hours which helps a lot.

I’ve learned a few new things, too. First, it seems that all traffic laws are suspended during both the morning and afternoon rush hours. People are simply nuts!

The second thing I’ve learned is that I could never, NEVER!, work with Mr. Fixit for an extended time. By yesterday afternoon, he had changed from Mr. Fixit to Mr. Management. I was ready to call the union rep but, alas, this is South Carolina and there are no union reps. I called him on his attitude and his response was, “I was just a supervisor too long. I think like management.” Fine, manage someone else, but not me! So There!

The third thing I’ve learned is that working when you’re 65 years old is a helluva lot different than when you’re 35.

Next week I won’t be working much because Noah and Owen’s daycare provider doesn’t begin regular hours until the Monday after school is out. They will stay with me for at least three days. This weekend I’m going to do laundry to get our clothes ready (that means actually ironing more than  one thing at the time like I usually do) and I’m going to do a little cooking and freezing a few dinners ahead. Maybe my organization skills will come back.

Surprisingly, it’s been nice change. I don’t mind the work  at all,  and the harrowing morning drive gets my adrenalin pumping.