It’s past midnight and I’ve got to get up for work in another three hours.
So why am I on the computer? Raging insomnia-Я-us, it seems. I took a couple of Tylenol PM last night around 6pm and it kept me groggy for a very typical 24 hours, following which I’m just awake enough to be unable to sleep, but still tired. That’s why I seldom take the stuff at all. Only reason I caved was that I’d been waking several times throughout the night and needed at least one good solid night’s sleep. That extra uninterrupted period of sleep reduces my pain levels substantially, which in turn lets me get back to normal sleep patterns again. Of course “normal sleep patterns” at the moment are still dictated by ungodly work hours followed by babysitting duties. Daughter’s got another 2-3 weeks of school, if I remember right. After that she gets to be a full-time mommy again for a while. When she goes back to school next fall it will be with a different sitter because Grandma’s retiring from that job.
Fortunately our little guy is pretty easy overall; he’s very sweet-natured, just wants to walk and run like a normal 2-year-old. Much as I adore the little guy, my body is beyond cooperating on that front.
We met this weekend with the owner of the recent add-on job. It was a bit of a juggling act to catch up with one another because we’re roughly 80-90 miles apart, so we split the difference, landing in territory with which none of us was terribly familiar. G and I both went, all things considered. We ended up scotching the initial meeting spot and reconvened about three miles away, still downtown Phoenix but a bit further north in much more appropriate territory. I’m hoping to take over and go full time with this asap so I can put an end to my commute, a challenge that’s increasing exponentially every week. The original plan there has been modified more than a little too, but in a good way. We discussed some aspects of things that weren’t originally planned but which could well work out to provide work for me and possibly other family members too. Plus G picked the man’s brain clean – it was understood all around that we eventually hope to follow the business model, just not in the same product line. Fortunately the new boss was perfectly fine with that. We’re not going to compete with them, obviously, but we’d be stupid not to put the principles to work for ourselves.
Then again, between us we can offer a lot of other skills and knowledge that are slim on their end of things, so it already looks like it may evolve into more than just a typical freelance employee situation. We shall see where things go from here. I’m being more than a little nebulous here because obviously, G and I don’t own the business and I never go into any work-related details on a personal blog – aside from everything else, there would be entirely too much opportunity for the wrong people to get hold of it. For example, if I inadvertently mentioned something here that was a bit of proprietary information and the competition found it, took it and ran with it, I’d be liable (and justifiably so.)
The real saving grace with the new situation is the ability to work from home.
Unfortunately the difficult part is also working from home, thanks to all the insanity at our house at the moment.
Between the daughter unit and the cousin unit… let’s just say the living arrangements right now aren’t going to work for much longer. There’s simply no way three families can live under one roof without being at each other’s throats sooner or later. There’s a lot more to it than that but it’s not for a public blog and it’s too late (and I’m too lazy) to go on a rant-fest.
Truthfully I’m very encouraged by the trajectory with G, the new job, etc. We’re talking more hours now and a much broader process that, if all works out, will ultimately give me exactly what I’ve asked for: the ability to work from home and make a comfortable living wage. G’s going back on the road sooner or later, which was also the plan. We’ll have to have two vehicles and have to address some other details before we can make that happen – such as transitioning health insurance, etc. Realistically we need G to be driving again long enough to have insurance before I quit my current job. With only one vehicle and a few other roadblocks, that’s still a while off; but I know things will work out. Even G has begun to see it now, thank goodness, and while he’s justifiably frustrated with the current chaotic living conditions, he reminds me when I am coming out of my skin that yes, we will survive and that we are making huge strides in the right direction.
Now if I can just convince my body to cooperate for a few more months. This definitely isn’t enough money to pay all the bills as of this minute. Everything together means I don’t have the luxury of waiting before I jump into the deep end of the pool, but it also means at least now there’s water in the pool when I jump in.
That’s a good thing.