Green

That's right... we painted the living room green. And not just any green, but bright, pea pod, grass, happy spring, summer green. It's pretty great. Bold. So bold it kind of shocks me that I picked it, but awesome.

Still haven't put everything back, things are in disarray from an insanely busy weekend of family partying, painting, and new homie moving in. And did I mention getting rid of the piano? My handyman brother disassembled it Wednesday and hauled away the wood parts to burn and then Saturday Leslie and I helped the metal collection guy haul the very heavy innards out to his truck. Yeah, it's been busy. Some day I will catch up, right?

More of the sign...

I really need to get that sign removed from my forehead...

Certainly in my life I've developed cordial relationships with the delivery people-- there was that brown clad delivery man with the handlebar mustache from the days on Main St. (many moons ago). There's the nice orange / blue guy from my last job, who finally remembered my last name after months of trying, just before I quit. There's the postal service lady at my house who I only see on Saturdays. You say hi, have a nice day, thanks for the delivery, right? Isn't that normal?

Today, at my new job (the job I've had for 3 whole days)... and, in fact, hadn't met any of our mail or delivery people yet. Yeah, so the mail lady comes in today to get something signed for and then, on her way out the door, mentions that she's having knee replacement surgery on the 6th so the post will be less prompt while they've got subs for awhile. I smile and say something like "I hope it goes well, have a good thanksgiving!"

She must have turned for a second look and saw the sign on my forehead: "Please tell me your problems." It turned into a 15 minute stop, she came in and let the door close behind her and told all about her knee, the history of it, the drug addict who hit her, the pre-surgery surgery last year, that her doc was out for awhile and his partner was trying to cover all his patients, how glad she is to have the surgery now, even though it is a long recovery... oh yeah, we got details. She was very friendly, but I was trying to head out to have lunch with a friend. Finally I cut off the story by putting on my own coat, she follows me out and continues to tell me about her retirement, the shame these awful taxes are, and just keeps going... She was very sweet. And I was late for lunch.

Take down the sign already Reenie.

The New Job

Day 1 on the new job went fairly well. It started with a staff meeting, I didn't have to say or do anything, just observe. Then I met with L, who is the general manager's mom. She mostly works out of her home and does a lot for the business. She's thrilled to have someone there at the office taking care of things and hopefully putting things in order. So she showed me some of the programs and did some explaining. Then decided I would go to this project meeting with her in Ferndale (over an hour away). It would give us more talking time and I may eventually end up taking this project over. Then somewhere in there it was decided we'd grab lunch before going. And "grabbing" lunch meant a sit down at a nearby cafe.

So I got the skinny on things... the other two top candidates who were qualified for the position were both really disturbed by the office dog (and if they are bothered by a calm dog, how will they deal with the chaos) and that L thought I was the right one from the start. Heard about J and his wife just leaving him (breaks my heart). How long L has been working with her son C. How great her grandkids are. How much they need me in the office, how happy she is to have me. That her dog isn't potty trained. Blah blah blah. Then we got in the car to head to our meeting, and next thing I know L is telling me about her divorce a year ago, how her husband of many years found a younger model, how heartbreaking it is... I really thought I left my "Please tell me your troubles" sign at home ... but apparently not. (Seriously, can everyone see that sign???)

Other than the deep personal sharing, we also talked about this project, the meeting, some struggles in the program, etc. It's intergovernmental stuff-- L was really excited to learn I understand how these types of things go and said I had some fantastic questions and could I please talk during the meeting. Uh okay. The meeting was fine and L tells me at the end that if I didn't understand every single thing that was said, she'd never know. I guess that's a good sign. We spend the next hour in the car again, more work talk, more personal sharing, some discussions of coffee preferences (we like the same coffee... how great is that?). By the end of the ride, we are pretty much BFF. We get back to the office and most of the guys are gone, so we go over the meeting with the two guys B and R who also work that project. It was good. I could tell that they were impressed at my understanding of a project I just got thrown in to.

It feels really great to be using my brain again. Not just my brain, but my thinking, problem solving, team working skillz. I love that. And the rest of the job will continue to unfold and I think I will be working a lot of hours to help them catch up and get things in good working order. It's good. I'm exhausted, but happy to have a good challenge in front of me, and apparently plenty of life coaching to do as well. God is good.

The Week Ahead

Monday: Start new job with a 7.45 am staff meeting. Woo hoo! Book club (and I actually finished the book!) Pick up the Buckster (visiting dog) for the week. Finalize bulletin and send to publisher (old job).

Tuesday: More new job. Return stuff at Lowes, buy paint. Grocery shop for thanksgiving stuff. Take apart and move bed (moving bedrooms).

Wednesday: More new job.

Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving. Mass. Photo shoot with little sis? Dinner with the fam (small crowd, maybe)? Unwind?

Friday: Day off work (I think). Early morning shopping trip? Afternoon Thanksgiving dinner with the extended Cous clan. Go home and move furniture out of the living room. Prep living room for painting.

Saturday: Paint the living room.

Sunday: Finish painting / touching up. Move furniture back into living room, rearrange the room.

I've been wanting to repaint the living room for awhile, but only today did I let one of my housemates convince me that we want to do it this weekend. It would be nice to have it done before Christmas, right? On the other hand, it might be totally nuts to try to do it the same week as starting a new job and probably having the third housemate move in (meaning I'm moving bedrooms too)... hmmm. Yeah, I agree, I'm certifiably nuts. We'll see how much of this actually happens...

One step at a time

Today was my last day in the office at my current job. Somehow I volunteered to help out during the transition... so I'm still handling part of my job until after Christmas. But at least it was my last day in the office... it's been a grueling week, too much to do, trying to weed out my files, purge everything, and finish up a lot of stuff. Exhausting. But done. And after all that, I grabbed my calendar, my emergency chocolate, my food from the fridge, the office sweater... and somehow left my purse. Oops. It is a little surreal being done there, or at least mostly done there. God is good.

Project Sanity Marches On...

Well, right now this part of Project Sanity feels more like Project Insanity. The big transition is underway... one more long day at my current job (plus some religious ed related stuff I will continue doing until Jan 5th-- yeah, still don't know why I offered that...). Anyway, today I threw away a lot of stuff-- went through files that meant something to me but wouldn't mean anything to the next guy (whoever that may be). I did some handing off (ish) training. And have a huge stack of stuff and a very long to do list for Friday. So... unofficially, tomorrow, Friday is my last day. Officially it's sometime mid-December and for real I am handing off ALL responsibility after January 5th. Go figure.

Tonight most of the staff took me out for a good bye dinner which was nice. For as rough as the job has been, I have worked with some great people. I will miss working with some of them, and will miss working with a lot of great parishioners. And yet, no regrets. I haven't reconsidered my decision once. It is time. I am ready. Well, I'm ready for the switch to be done- I'm not sure I'm actually ready for tomorrow...

And then I get a weekend... and then Monday I start the new job with a 7:45 am staff meeting (on Monday!). Onward!!

A boy and his dog... well, my dog

This is a boy who absolutely loves my dog. I've mentioned it before, the affection between the two of them, the full body tackle when Suzie goes flying off the porch to greet him (which he loves somehow), and that he considers Suzie part his dog (and reminds me of that on a regular basis).

Anyway, this particular day the kids were over for a haircut and some crafting. Good times. At the end, we decided to take a walk to the park. Of course we took Suzie and Geno wanted to "walk" her. Now, I should say I work on training my dogs, but Suze definitely pulls. And frankly she probably weighs as much as he does, so I think it is unwise to just hand over the leash, knowing it could end in a skinned knee for the boy or the dog running loose down the street.

Once we got to the park, the boy was disappointed no one else wanted to run up and down the hills with him. Since it was grass and Suze needed a good run, I handed her over, reminding Geno that she will pull when she's running. It was hilarious. He'd run down the hill with her, and at one tug, he'd throw himself on the ground, football tackle style. Then grinning, pick himself back up, and run again till the next tug, when he'd throw himself back on the ground, laughing and then Suzie would run over to lick his face with delight.

Clearly they were enjoying it! And I'm not sure about the boy, but the dog arrived home nicely worn out.

This week I feel:

Sometimes like this...

And mostly like this...

God is good!

The Three "T"s

Sometimes I feel like the past couple years has been a progression of one step forward, two steps back. Constantly. And I cannot seem to catch up, because let's face it, the last two years have been full of the big "T"... Transition.

This week's transition is brought to you by (drum roll please) ... A NEW JOB! That's right folks. Since it's been almost exactly a year since my last job transition, I thought we should do it again. Well, not really. But my current job, though I am working for an organization very near and dear to my heart, has been rough. Just not a good fit for me. Feels like it is sucking the life out of me. For 11.5 months now. I think I have served the parish well, done some important work, and am happy to be handing it on to the next person. It is Time (another great T word). Time for Transition.

I started job hunting seriously a couple months again, deciding it was time to expand my search beyond my home state. Certainly not hoping to have to leave... but feeling like it was just Time and if that meant moving out of state, so be it. So the last couple months have been me going back to the job search front in the evenings. Writing cover letters. Lots of online applications that seem to go out into the great big void. And then in one week two local opportunities, both referred by friends. Then the inevitable waiting... One call. Could I come in that Tuesday. YES!! I'll be honest, the friend that referred me said he was working with them and that they needed ME. Not just someone, Me. Well, the job description was vague, so I wasn't terribly hopeful but thought it was worth a shot. I told Jesus on my way in that it was all His. Make the way clear.

And then I interviewed... and it has never been so clear to me that they needed ME. Not just some generic office manager, but me!! Woah. Afraid to be too hopeful, and knowing they were interviewing 8 of us that day, I just prayed and held my breath and honestly, got pretty excited. And the next day I got the call asking me back for round 2 (with only 1 or 2 others). Eeeeek. I interviewed again Thursday afternoon, and again, connected soooo well, loved the guys I interviewed with, and felt like this was the job made for me.

I told Jesus on my way out of that interview, "Lord, if they offer me this job, I am taking it. So if you have another plan, this is your moment." Another long day of waiting, and then I got the message. They would love to have me join the team!! Woo hoo!! And here it comes, the third "T"... THANKFUL.

I am a little overwhelmed looking at the amount of transition looming in front of me... trying to wrap up and hand off my current job, starting the new job, not to mention the holidays, already being behind on life, etc. But I am overwhelmed with a sense of profound gratitude at God's provision for me. I have felt really stuck and kind of abandoned where I'm at, and sometimes I have prayed for specific things and the answer has been "No." Which can be really hard to hear and accept. But I am reminded that all of it is part of God's plan for me. Plans for good and not for evil, plans to give me hope and a future. I am thankful for the time I had here, for the struggles that made me grow in ways I certainly wasn't planning for, and for the opportunity to work with a lot of amazing people.

And I am THANKFUL to be moving forward. To be starting a job that seems like a great fit. To continue to grow and learn and serve. I am grateful for a Father that loves me and provides so perfectly for me. And did I mention how thankful I am to be remaining in southeast Michigan? That I don't have to sell my house and move across the country? That I get to stay in my home, drive 20 minutes to work, stay part of a parish I love, stay near many family and friends... Woo hoo!! God is so good!

PS. If I drop off the planet for the next 6 weeks, at least now you know why. But don't worry, once I'm through the exhausting transition period, I'll be back and ready to re-enter society, hopefully more functional than before even :D

Homesteadiversary

Happy Anniversary to the Nichols Homestead.

There's this country song on the radio a lot lately with this woman talking about her childhood home being the "house that built me." The Nichols Homestead is definitely the house that built me. I've learned an incredible amount through this lovely house... how to fix things, how to prioritize, how important an appliance motor can be, how to regrout a tub, how to wire a new plug... endless lessons. Thanks for eight great years, for the moments, the projects, for being my haven. It really is true, there's no place like home...

More perspective from my desk...

An older man I don't know walked in and greeted me with a kind smile. "When they have a funeral here, is there a place to have a luncheon?"

I told him that we have a gym at the far end of this building where we hold funeral lunches, there's a warming kitchen, tables, blah blah blah. Pretty short and sweet. Since we had a funeral there Monday and another one scheduled for Thursday, I thought maybe he was connected with the Thursday funeral. So I asked if he was planning a funeral, and he said very peacefully and sort of matter of factly. "Yeah, mine."

I'm sure my eyebrows shot up involuntarily. He continued, "This cancer I've got, they've only given me a month or so to live. I want to make sure there's a place for the family to have a nice luncheon once I'm gone." He smiled and told me to have a great day and headed toward the door. I said I would be praying for him. He smiled and thanked me and walked out the door.

Perspective.

Proud to be an American!

In the last big election, I remember watching the results coming in with dismal disappointment. Nothing and no one I voted for passed / won. Argh. One race after another went down in flames. Tonight is just the opposite. Final calls haven't been made yet but it is a relief to see some of my races, some local, some national, looking positive in my view.

And no matter how it turns out, there's something I really love about voting. It makes me proud to be an American. Proud to stand for those who can't stand for themselves. Proud to be part of the system, even if I am just a small part of it. It matters. Democracy matters. Participating matters. Hooray for the red, white, and blue!!