and, I did it!

Not quite by the end of October, and not the extremely high paying job I had a shot at. But one of the other 5 opportunities I was contacted about/interviewed for came through for me, and I got to leave the lunatic asylum. I start the new, much better paying than I was making job next week. Such a relief! 

In the meantime, I took this week off to detox, and so I'd have time for Thanksgiving prep. This year's pretty low-key since I'm now officially an empty-nester. Older son lives out of state and younger son just moved out with his girlfriend so he's now juggling the holidays between me and the maybe-will-be-in-laws. For now it's all about being flexible, and I got the dinner/dessert slot. Which works for me because now I have all day to finish cooking. 

So next week I can start earning that much higher paycheck, and I can switch my attention from the job search back to all my home repair/remodel projects. That was more good news I got in November. The supplemental claim we had submitted for additional damage from the February freeze/pipes breaking had kind of gotten lost in the system. And I didn't have the mental energy to figure it out while I was trying to escape from a lunatic asylum and job hunting. But I finally started making calls, and the adjuster I had been dealing with apparently no longer works there, and the new adjuster was so apologetic that they hadn't completed this claim that she expediated it, got it approved, and I got a huge check to cover the rest of the damage the original check didn't. So, yay me! I'm finally starting to feel like some good things are happening. 

finally moving in the right direction?

Still too soon to be definite, but there's a chance that I might escape the lunatic asylum where I work by the end of this month. Trying to not get my hopes and expectations up too high, but still be positive at the same time. Right now I'm just thrilled that there are opportunities out there for jobs, because the past couple of years have been pretty bleak for that. 

I'm trying not to jump the gun, but I've already started on my mental list of things I want to do, especially if I get the higher paying position. Because if that happens, there will be a lovely new vehicle under my Solstice tree this year. 

musings from the "hot tub"

Last night I soaked for well over an hour in my backyard inflatable spa "hot tub." I had a Sevilla Orange G&T (make it a double) and got to enjoy the not-quite full moon coming up over the house. 

Not sure if it was the G&T, or the moon, or me, or whatever, but I had a serious dialogue going on in my head about legally changing back to my original last name. I had my reasons for not doing that when I got my divorce, but most of those reasons aren't relevant any more. Okay, I'm still amused by one of them, but it's not important enough to not change my name over. The big kicker is how many places I'd need to go and how much time and effort it'd take to actually change my name. It might be worth it, though. We'll see. 

gave in to the pumpkin spice

Other than using the spices in a pumpkin pie or pumpkin cheesecake, I've never bought into the PSL or pumpkin spice anything craze. But I saw some Chobani pumpkin spice creamer at HEB last weekend so I bought it. Tried it yesterday. I have nothing to compare it to, and Chobani creamer is really good so it's not like it was bad. It just wasn't me. At least not in my coffee. So I brought it into work and I'm gonna let them have at it. And since I'm a good office mom...er, manager, I also got them pumpkin spice coffee and chai tea. Because, ya know, why not? 

As for me and my coffee, I'm just going to wait for peppermint mocha season to hit. Oh wait, HEB had the Chobani peppermint mocha creamer right next to the pumpkin spice one. Guess what's already in my fridge? Yep, the 1st of numerous containers of peppermint mocha creamer. 

Just gotta wait for the apple cider to show up now so I can enjoy some fall baking before I jump into winter coffee drinks.