I want my life back

Stations of the Cross by J. Binford-Bell

Since January came to a close my life has not been my own. It seems to be over scheduled with all manner of things to do and people to meet. Way, way busier than I am used to by a long shot. And not with a schedule of my making really. I have had to bend to the scheduling requirements of others.

I am a morning person. I prefer to get the majority of my major tasks out of the way before noon. Leaving my afternoons to work quietly on the computer or with sketch books or veg out watching streaming video. And by 6 p.m. I want to roll up my sidewalks, ignore the phone and wind down for bed. I will admit to sometimes hitting the bed at 7:30 with my kindle and the fur kids. As a self-employed artist this works for me.

But as a landlord trying to get my duplex rented it hasn't worked. I find myself sitting up and waiting for someone to show between 5 and 6 to see the place. And to make sure they don't miss the place I have all the lights on. The green me is upset about that. But tonight the new renter is to drop by the deposit to hold the unit. Money is a good motivator, but I thought they would be here an hour ago. Did they forget this was Super Bowl Sunday? They don't seem like the type that would have over-scheduled that.

I am really tied tonight as I worked all day moving things out of the duplex and either packing them up or stationing them by the door to drop at the thrift store tomorrow before I pick up a key to a house I am doing some caulking and minor repairs on. Monday and Tuesday look like full days on that project and then back to getting my duplex in shape.

Meanwhile my home is chaos. Reorganized my tool bags this evening to be sure I have everything I need besides what I have to pick up at the hardware back from the thrift shop. And the appliance repairman is to call about the estimate on the part for the broken washer. Transmission went out because of constant overloading he said. So in addition to my time not being my own neither is my budget. Which is why I am still up waiting for the check.

Next week looks oh so much better - well after Wednesday, or maybe Friday. But then I have to come up with 5 images to enter in a show with a deadline of the 15th. I am behind on that because of everything mentioned above. And three social engagements loom. Three in a week. I consider myself a social butterfly if there are three events in a quarter.

I am so busy I wake up afraid that something is falling between the cracks. Like my calendar. Just dug it out from under my stack of notes about repairs to duplex, and the other house, and the new renters, and the shows I am considering entering, and receptions for same. So my theory was if I wrote this blog tonight with all the crazy hamster wheel thinking when I do go to bed I will feel I have it all handled.

Well, it is a theory.

Comments

Post a Comment

I write for me but I care what my readers think. Please be polite and no scamming.

Popular posts from this blog

Polyethylene Packaging - a Dark Times Journal entry

Image
I was in the fourth grade when our family moved from El Paso, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We moved because I could not breathe the air there. I want to say they cracked petroleum there. But what did I know beyond the sky was sometimes yellow and I could not breathe. Mom was pregnant with Debbie, and Gary and I rode in the backseat separated by a round tank full of Dad's tropical fish. Dad had a job with Sealright, Inc which made paper milk cartons. Sealright was a polyethylene packing subsidiary of Phillips 66. The petroleum company. I was rather proud of myself for learning to say that, and to not laugh when adults would stare at me not knowing what to ask about that. Albuquerque smelled better. Then. Before all the freeways were built and the shape of the valley trapped the exhaust down near the ground in the winter months. We lived in the foothills. I could breathe. I learned that if I could see the air I could not. Still it was better than El Paso though I missed our trip...
Read more

Swimming

Image
For much of my college career my fitness workout was swimming on the B squad of the swim team. I remember it as the days before heated pools and women coaches. I also remember being so exhausted and cold I could only lean against the shower wall and throw up. Not exactly warm fuzzy images but I was in awesome shape. Needless to say it did not leave me with a overpowering desire to swim laps. Point of fact for years my swimming became really informal: Swimming to shore after the canoe tipped over, challenging my sister once a summer to across the lake and back, seeing how long I could back float without moving a muscle, and a scuba course. I also played around with other ways of staying fit: aerobics, bicycling, jogging, skiing and dance classes. All of which seem to be bad for the knees, back or feet. After my ski accident my physical therapist steered me back to the pool. Damn if I was going to swim laps! However, aqua fit was just getting rather seriously taken so I took it. It r...
Read more

The Pruning the Crown of Thorns

Image
Crown of Thorns Before I am a lover of Euphorbias . They are from the deserts of Southern Africa and Madagascar. They have evolved physical characteristics and forms similar to cacti of North and South America and are often incorrectly referred to as cacti. My big Crown of Thorns was one of my first of a growing collection of these succulents from the spurge family of Euphorbiaceae. I picked it up as a 6 inch plant in a New Iberia nursery when my sister and I were touring the northern gulf coast. I believe that was 15 years ago. I made an attempt at limiting its height a few years back to allow it to devote more energy to the new branches and make it a denser plant. That failed. And the height of the plant continued to challenge the window space and soon the long branches were leaning over and leaning against the window. I googled and found the proper way to prune this treasured plant. Still it was very difficult to cut off the four longer branches. Even with a plan. The f...
Read more