This past year has been a complete roller coaster ride. Almost a year to the day ago, I was "forced" into an early retirement by a corrupt government utility. After being the office manager of this agency for eleven years and stumbling on some wrong doing, they demoted me, cut my pay almost in half and promoted the one I reported. This making me completely doubt my senses and refusing to be a part of what was going on, just decided to retire early while I still had half a brain. I've been making and selling prims on Ebay, Etsy and my online store, and, let's face it, about to starve to death. Now, even with a half a brain, I realize completely that you never get out of crafts all the time you put into 'em. But the peace I got from all the little goodies just seemed to be enough for me. God has been sooooo good in providing. Jackie's band is playing about three times a month, and that has helped so much. Not only financially, but the people we have been able to reach and talk about God with....you just wouldn't believe. Have we made a difference? Well, we don't know. But we're just planting a seed. It's up to God to do the harvest. The DJ gigs are really beginning to pick up. Praise God. But, in my mind, I guess, I'm still comparing the "revenues" to what were coming in before. Do the math. We should be homeless. But, we're four payments away from having our house paid for. We had to look at ourselves......we sure don't LOOK like we're going without food......know what I mean? A couple of weeks ago, I had some tremendous sales on Ebay.........can't explain it...........it just happened. But somehow, I always feel like I'm not contributing anything to the household. I've always been very self-sufficient. Being the oldest of four kids, always worked to get whatever I needed........Momma had three other younger kids to take care of, and I realized that. So I babysat, cut grass, whatever I could to make some extra money 'til I turned 16 and then worked at Kmart (a REAL job). Worked continuously (except when I had the kids and went on a short maternity leave both times). Going through a horrible divorce and THEN working THREE jobs to make ends meet. So, you can see, all this PEACE is really unusual for me! Trying to apply for another job has really been a struggle for me. My self esteem is zero. I can't use my last job as a reference 'cause they'll give me a bad one. I guess I really upset the apple cart when I "blew the whistle" on all that was taking place. Kershaw County is such a small, rural county, that everyone here is either related to one another, or fixin' to be. People try to always turn the boardroom into the bedroom.....go figure. Disgusting. I've tried to get online bookkeeping and other types of REAL online jobs. Which all of these seem to always turn out to be fake. Anyway, for the past few months, I've been in continuous prayer about what in the world God was wanting me to do.
Another thorn in our side. Our new neighbors, a young yuppie couple, coming from two prominent county families, deciding to want to enjoy the "country" life, have decided to put a surviellance camera in a birdhouse, taking pictures of our back yard. We think they're trying to start some kind of case against Patsy, our heeler. The little girl is just protecting what's her's. She only barks when they come over on our side of the pond. And, I must admit, it is an agressive bark. But, apparently it annoys the yuppies. We contacted the local law enforcement (if you can call it that) thinking that this is an invasion of privacy, but they say it's perfectly legal. Go figure. I googled it, and believe it or not, they're right. What is this world coming to??!! Oh well, I guess they'll capture me sittin' on my porch gettin' my peace on. But, the cops also said, the yups would be wasting their time if they are trying to prove a case. We keep her confined on our property. And we're not doing anything wrong. Duh.....
Now, for the GOOD part.
We have a dear, sweet friend, who is the type of, well I won't say shady....well, yeah, I will say shady. He has the biggest heart of anybody I've ever seen. But like somebody once said, "Oh yeah, he'll do anything for ya........but then again.......he'll do anything TO ya". He has bought a small neighborhood club, wants us to DJ once a week. Like maybe a "Eighty's at Eight" or "Beach Blast" theme. Which sounds like fun...and good money. And STEADY money. Wants me to promote the club through My Space, posters, etc. Which sounds like fun. Everything I thoroughly enjoy. But here's the kicker. Yesterday, he comes down our dirt road in his little red sports car convertible. Now, here we are. On the back porch, Jackie just finished cuttin' 5 acres of pasture. Tryin' to cool off with a glass of tea before going back and weedeatin' and "finishing up". When we heard this familiar sound, we were both, like, "OH MANNNNNNNN"! This guy gets out, wide open, Patsy 'bout takes his head off (so we had to round her up and put her in the kennel), and he bounces up and says he just bought an estate sale, and says "Hey Vic, you need to come over to the house and get all this craft suff. The lady that died....that's all she did was craft stuff. I think there's some suff you might can use for your stuff". So, after he left, Jackie and I sorta cleaned up and rode over there. Now, this guy just bought an old house that's been vacant for over five years, and he's renovating it. Actually, it looks real amazing. We're thinking, OK, we'll pick up a couple of boxes of "whatever". We brought back a TRUCKLOAD of silk flowers, baskets, prim easels, rusty wire, wreaths...............you name it. We didn't even make a dent in the stuff. He's got about three more rooms packed with this stuff, and says he's got about another two truckloads to get. How cool is that? I can't even describe all this stuff. Stuff like pipberries that I really wanted to buy for my crafting, but having NO BUDGET, couldn't afford. Boxes and boxes of gingham ribbon.
Now. Another problem. Just where are we gonna put all this stuff. Well, my dear sweet hubby says "Hey, since I'm converting the barn into the Drum Barn, I'll take the rest of the music stuff from the studio, move it down there, and you can have the whole upstairs for your craft room, store, or whatever you wanna call it". Praise God. I mean, I have enough stuff right now, without doing anything else, to open a retail shop. No kiddin'.
So, here's my plan. It'll take me a while to sort through all this stuff and get organized. If any of you need any silk flowers or a particular ribbon, email and let me know so I can keep a list while I'm sorting through. I'll work out a "heck of a deal" on these things before I list 'em on Ebay. The stuff that's in "not so good shape", I'll probably have a huge yard sale or either take to the flea market.
God is good. All the time. Thank you Lord. And bless our "shady" friend. It's not up to us to judge. And......bless our yuppie neighbors. May you let them find something constructive to do and not get so bored
Oh yeah. Thought ya'll might get a kick of my Momma and my nephew. Guess I'll add this to my list of worries. Oh good grief :)
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