Wordy Wednesday, Again

Good morning!  It seems like it's been an age since I've had a chance to post!

As I write, Dosie and the new kitten, Jinx, are racing around the upstairs and playing with each other.  This is a HUGE step!  Matter of fact, the really huge thing is that Jinx will stop here in the library to look up at me . . . letting me see her and be this close!  After being in the house just over 2 weeks now (hard to believe!), I have yet to lay a finger on him/her, but it's SO rewarding to see that s/he's finally feeling comfortable and realizing that this is her HOME!  :)  Can't wait until I can finally scratch her ears and pet her (him, it)!  Speak of the devil, here s/he is!  It looks like she wants to jump up onto the couch, but s/he can't quiiiiiite get the gumption.  Oh!  S/he's close enough to sniff my housecoat!  Annnd, now fat cat Bonzi jumped down, and Jinx is . . . zoooooom!?

I suppose I might have made this progress with the kitten sooner if I'd been home much in these past several days . . . because, yes, it's morning, and I am HOME!  That's the good part.  The bad part is that yesterday was the last of the roe season.  My gigs as Roe Ho and Roe Queen are done for the year.  :(  Oddly enough, I really enjoyed working there.  Horribly stinky, yes, but, otherwise, it wasn't bad at all!  Oooh, kitty's back . . . wanting to jump up . . . wanting to play with Fat Cat who alternates between playing with and growling at / scaring Jinx away.  Growing pains, I suppose.

Back to the fishy story, though:  it was an unusual year with the run beginning later and ending earlier.  (Blame it on Mother Nature's whims.)  The normal, promised fat paychecks that would be a result of "40 hours a week plus all the overtime you can handle" simply didn't pan out.  Matter of fact, my fullest week was only 39.17 hours.  Unfortunately.  Really unfortunately.  As a result, I am in nearly constant contact with the loan lady at the credit union regarding my mortgage.  So far (fingers crossed that it continues!), she's been very understanding regarding my payments being tardy.  It helps that I keep her updated regarding every penny that comes in.  I just made the last of my past-due October payment last night.  Now I'll get a start on my November amount due.  I try not to think about it too much.  If I did, I'd worry myself to an ulcer.  Instead, I take it a day at a time, a paycheck at a time.  And spend as little money on gasoline and living expenses as possible.

And, in the spirit of reducing expenses, I have made the decision to give up my gallery/office space in town.  (But I need more coffee before I tell you about that.  Be right back.)

I'd hoped that my space in town would be "okay" as a gallery.  I knew the location wasn't ideal because it was one block up from the highway and 2 blocks up from the main drag, but I'd hoped I'd get SOME business there.  'Course, if I could have had normal business hours (and advertised those hours), that might have made a huge difference.  (Remember the two social service offices asking me to NOT have 9-5 hours . . . AFTER I'd moved in?)

And, I'd hoped the gallery business I did have would pay for the space.  But, the fact is that there was NO gallery business, and so I was paying for just a really nice web/graphic design office . . . which actually requires no office since the majority of the work is done electronically.  And, that's something I can do from home.  So, no more in-town presence.  I REALLY want to have a gallery in town (or, at the least, gallery space), but I'll wait until I can get one that's got a good location.  And, in the meantime, I'm going to focus on getting Chicken Mama Originals (the photography) fully online.  As in, selling online.  That, after all, was one of my original goals.


So, Mama and Papa Pea helped me move the majority of my office on Sunday.  While Papa Pea and I loaded the big stuff into the 1-ton, Mama Pea packed up boxes and dismantled shelves.

Why is Mama Pea wearing her jacket?  'Course, she did have to pop outside from time to time to take the following snapshots.

Notice how I'm just standing there while Papa Pea finishes the pushing?  ;)

I've loaded up the Yaris, leaving just enough space for the dogs, with as much as it will hold these past two nights (of the incidentals remaining).  Today I'll go in for the final load and to clean and patch up the holes I made in the walls (darn plaster over brick!).

Then, I'm scheduling out these upcoming "free" days to encompass as much move-ahead to bring-in-income progress as possible on the photography website and eBaying while I follow up on the "real" jobs I've been chasing.  It's awfully scary, though, not having any guaranteed paycheck in the foreseeable future!

Anybody got extra money floating around?  Wanna make me a no-interest loan?  ;)