Tuesday, September 28, 2010

A little RANT

Ok, just as a warning, I'm going to rant in this blog post, just F.Y.I. :) And NO, I'm not talking about my husband, this is not a rant about him or anything that he says or does. Just so we're clear on that....

There has been a lot of complaining by some people that I don't do anything, and my husband does all the work and support of us. And that I'm greedy, lazy, and the largest pain in the a$$ that they have ever met. Now, I've tried to be nice, I really, really, really have, but seriously, enough already. I thought I might use my blog as a chance to straighten the facts, or at least rant a little and feel better. I don't say any of this to take away from anything that my husband does, and I have put off talking about this for a long time because I don't want anyone to misunderstand what I am trying to say.

Firstly, I have a full time, paid job. I work 40+ hours a week, and am on call 24/7. Sometimes I work until 2 in the morning, frequently I work until midnight. I make good money at what I do, in fact I make the most amount of money that you can make in this job. I've had the same job for 7 years. I pay all my own bills, and all of our bills, except Justin's truck payment which frankly I don't make enough to pay because its freakishly expensive (19% interest rate - holy crap) (thankfully though I had enough saved that I was able to pay it most of last winter). So I work, and I get paid, I pay the bills, and do my very absolute best to provide for my family. Justin works very, very hard. He puts everything he has into running our business in the summer, and works himself into the ground every summer, and in everything that he does. I appreciate and love him for everything that he does, and for the person he is. I also work in our business in the summer as much as I am able, as well as doing my other job, which is 7 days a week, 365 days a year, every day of every month.

Secondly, no, I don't get up at 4, 5, or 6 AM, because I often work until at least midnight, and often later. I appreciate that other people's lives allow them to go to bed and get up early. My life doesn't. My work doesn't. My health doesn't. After I work until the late night/early morning, I still need to take care of my home and husband. I do laundry, dishes, straighten up, take care of the pets, keep the wood stove going so the house stays warm all night, etc., all after I get done working at night. So no, I'm not going to get up 3 hours after I go to bed just to make you feel better. Maybe you don't see what I do because you don't live here, but that doesn't mean I'm not up working while other people are sleeping.

Third, of course you are free to think I'm a pain in the "behind", all you want, you will anyway no matter what I say. I don't agree, naturally, but hey, whatever. I know the truth, and I know what I did and how I behaved, and if that's considered being a pain in the behind, well then that's just weird.

Like I said, this rant is mostly so that maybe I can get this monkey off my back, and out of my head, and move on. If someone who thinks these things about me reads this, then great. You should have asked me, rather than trashed me, but you didn't. So I'm writing about it here, because its my blog and I can do that. I hate writing about this online, and sharing this with people, because our finances and our working schedules are OUR business, not anyone else's, but I'm so incredibly tired of being accused of runing Justin into the ground, and doing nothing to help. I'm tired of feeling angry, and frustrated, and like I've somehow done something wrong to be treated this way. But I haven't. Its the issue of the person or people who have made the accusations. So I will say again: I work....for pay....every day....I sleep when I can.....Get off my back.

And very lastly, I am VERY thankful for everyone who supports me and believes in me, and loves and trusts me. I love my husband, family and friends!

Still Alive

Well, we are still alive, in case anyone wondered. We have been trying to un-wind after our long boat launch season, but have only been marginally successful. We have been trying to get all the fall/summer projects completed that there wasn't time for this summer, and trying to recuperate, and trying not to go nuts, so we've still been pretty busy. :)

Its been so long since I wrote last, I'm not sure what to write, or even if anyone checks the blog anymore!

Its working up to winter here, after a pretty crappy summer (second coldest/wettest summer since they started keeping track in 1929). Had a lovely warm September, with sun almost every day, and the warmest temps we've had all summer. But 2 days ago someone flipped the switch and we're heading down the fast track into winter, which is okay by me and Justin. We're tired. We're ready to get some firewood done, and hibernate.

I bought a new sewing machine, something I've been saving up for for a very long time. Thank you Alaska Permanent fund for giving me the extra push! I bought a Bernina 1008 (or is it 1080? I can never remember, but I'm pretty sure its 1008). I'm very excited, its the hardcore, non computerized machine, the current version of mom's old machine basically. I got no electronics (other than basic power) on purpose, because I don't want to fight a computer when I sew. I have to do enough computer battles when I scrapbook. When I sew, I just want to do my thing! I had a quilt cut out this spring, that I have been saving to sew with my new machine, so hopefully I will get to feeling better and do that, maybe the end of the week??? We'll see. But I'm excited. I'll post pictures soon (I hope).

Our other fun purchase this fall was a compound bow, for playing with here in the yard. I took archery in college as one of my P.E. classes (I know, cool huh?), and really enjoyed it, and have been wanting ever since then to get a set up of my own. Now we have one, and that's exciting. I've never used a compound bow before this week, in class we used a recurve, but the compound is cool. Now we just need to get is sighted. We've been sharing it, since its adjustable to both of us, but its not really fun to share, since the other guy just has to stand there and watch the other one have fun. So I'm seeing another bow in our future, his and hers models. :) I'm looking forward to having an outdoor activity that I enjoy, that we can do in any weather, and any time we want, plus its basically silent, so no worries about bothering anyone.

We had a pretty good boat launch season, with 80+ more launches than last year. Unfortunately we "lost" one of our machines, doing a vessel salvage, so we had to buy another one in the middle of the season. That pretty much screwed up our profits, which was really really really lame. But looking at the more positive side, we have a better machine now. We were really hoping to travel this fall, but unless we have a much more frugal winter than I think we will, I don't think we will be able to. We really wanted to go visit, and get refreshed, but we'll figure out something to do at home I guess.

Oh, we got a car, it gets 31 mpg, which is great, it only cost $1250, and only has 116,000 miles on it. Its awesome! Plus its a BMW, which is pretty neat too. :) Its supposed to be my car - but in the thousand plus miles we've had it, I've driven about 60 of them, if that tells you anything. But at least Justin likes it I guess, looking at the positive side, or trying to anyway. Now we can travel around, and do errands a little more affordably. Last week we took a drive that would have cost $300 plus in gas for the truck, but only cost about $55 in the car. That's a huge savings! A couple trips like that and we've paid for it in saved gas alone, so that's pretty cool.

Other than that, this Sunday was our first day to go back to church. We were in too much pain to sit past more than the first hour, but we hit the most important part, so that's good. It was really nice to sit and enjoy the music, fellowship, and such.

UM, I guess I don't have a lot more to put in this post. I've been looking for a picture from this summer to put up, but I haven't even had time to take them off the camera yet, so I guess I will post sans picture. Sorry, I'll try to post something more interesting next time! :)