And Now I Can Breathe

Lord ya'll, it's been a while.

Let's start with The Asylum since that seems to be where most of the tales worth telling are brewing.

First off, Gorilla Head, while sorta smart assy (and who among is not.. on occasion,) has gone out of his way to make sure I have anything I need, been helpful and willing to do most of what I've asked of him. He has a whole new attitude.

Lulu, Kat and I were discussing Gorilla Head and his strange personality change today. The general consensus is that it's because of the new company. It has been repeated by the new management, over and over again, that they want us to be happy.. that they need us and want us to look forward to coming to work every day.

This is a new concept to all of us and we are constantly dumbfounded by the Germans. They look at us, what we've had to work with for the past 20 years and shake their heads. They constantly voice their amazement at what we've accomplished with so little.

There are rumors of brick walls being knocked out and windows being put in. By the first of the year, our archaic DOS based inventory control system will be replaced by the latest version, our effed up phone system will be replaced by VOIP and there will be fiber optic innerwebs.

Beginning October 1st, we'll have new health insurance. The cost will be about the same, but we'll go back to having a copay instead of a redunkulous deductible.

I damned near cried when I heard that little tidbit.

Today I got called back to the conference room for a one on two meeting with the new Business Administrator and Gorilla Head. I was briefed on the general plans for the near future, then she told me they wanted to acknowledge my past experience with the company and apologize for the lack of compensation we'd all experienced over the years.

Remember when I was job hunting and I said I'd consider driving an hour each way to Big City for $30K a year?

Well now I can stay in The Holler for $29K. It comes out to like.. $3 an hour more, effective immediately.

I did cry after that.

Last week, I took my 401K and paid off the house. When I called the tax office to find out what was owed, I discovered that if it had not been settled up before the end of this year, they would have started the process to take the property. I didn't have enough to pay it all off, but I can catch it up to 2012 and they said I can make payments on the rest.

If all this hadn't happened when it did... well.. that's some Divine intervention right there.

A new riding lawn mower is coming soon and I'm finally going to replace my gigantor square television with a sleek new one. I will, of course, still get a refurb bewb tube from the big electronics store.. because it's cheaper and just as good.

But this weekend?

I'M GITTIN' MY NAILS DID!!!! I might even splurge and get my toesies all purtified too.. but maybe not. I don't know.

Let's don't get crazy.

So now, there will be no more trying every farking thing on the innerwebs to make extra money. No more selling Little Bunny Poopoo on Etsy or writing mind numbing articles for .03 a word. No more experimenting with blog ads or trying to sell Amazon stuff on Twitter.

I can go to work every day and come home to some version of an actual life... like a normal feckin' human being.

Ya'll may have to help with that. I'm not sure I'll know what to do with myself.

We'll talk again soon. I gotta go get The Amazon out of bed and send her off to work.

Later Taters!!