Update... August 3, 2007

Ok, I said I wasn’t going to write an “update…” for a couple of weeks, and at the time when I said that, I meant it. But when something significant happens in my life, something that has changed the landscape of my day-to-day living, as well as my overall outlook on the world itself, I think that deserves an “update…”, demands an “update…”, even harkens for an “update…”!

Now, you are probably wondered what happened in my life that would do this. The mind reels doesn’t it. Before I tell you want DID happen, let me tell you what DIDN’T happen.

Quick story… I get into work early, and when I say early… I mean early. The reason for this is so that I can leave early. It is all just a mental thing really. I feel like I get in early, I don’t have to see my boss for the first 2+ hours and I get to go home before anyone else. You sort of feel like you are beating the system, like everyone else is stuck in homeroom and your Mom just busted you out for no reason! It is great. So, this illustrious morning I got to the office around 6:45am. I check my email, and do my normal routine… of grabbing my oatmeal and heading to the break room to make the first pot of coffee and get my breakfast. Well, I had actually contemplated stopping at the donut store and getting donuts for all of my co-workers, it is sort of a “Friday” thing to do. I have done this in the past and I really enjoy watching the feeding frenzy. I work with mostly Indian men (from India not Native-Americans) and Chinese men. These guys are pretty funny about free donuts, I think it is the free part that really gets them cranked up. Seriously, these guys see free donuts in the break room and they are like a pack of lions on a zebra! You cant even see the box if you are passing by, you just see all the bodies swarmed around the table. The donut box isn’t even struggling to get free! It, like the zebra, has succumb and is merely being consumed. Anyway, I didn’t get the donuts this morning because I was afraid I would eat one, and I do NOT need a donut, so I am sitting there eating, trying to wake up when a co-worker comes in. We chat and talk about work, family, etc and he brings up his parents, and how his mother and father were both deceased. The conversation keeps going and he tells of how they were married for thirty years before his father finally passed, and I say… “That is really great, you don’t see that too much these days. People getting married only once and staying together.” And he says, “Oh, no that was my dad’s third marriage!” What?!?!? And it lasted thirty years?!?!

So here is the skinny… his dad was married for twenty-seven years, and then got divorced. Apparently, he took it pretty hard, and started to drink, heavily. So heavily in fact that he started drinking in Oklahoma one day, and woke up the next day in Vegas… married… again… to someone he just met. It took him six months to get divorced, back in the olden days it took longer to get divorced, and then he married for the last time. But you know that does make for some great leverage when you are a kid. I made a lot of mistakes growing up, heck I am still making them, and my parents would say… “Now didn’t we tell you that was a bad idea?” It would have been great, one time, just one time to be able to say… “You know it was a bad idea, but I never woke up in Vegas married!”

So that is what hasn’t happened to me… I am not in Vegas, I am not married… but I am officially an adult.

As many of you know, I have been diligently improving my home since I moved in three years ago. It has been a long hard road. When I bought they house it looked like meth lab. The kitchen was painted black with a black ceiling, the upstairs game room was purple with a black ceiling, there was red paint here and there… no carpet anywhere, just bare wood, and then there was concrete that was stained orange! There were no base boards, window sills, and it was, what I would call, a diamond in the pit. It was bad. You had to have vision to see the potential. Lots and lots of vision. But I have persevered. I have painted, polished and gotten furniture here and there. Most of my furniture came from my older sister who happened to be moving as well, and I became the beneficiary of that move. I have hung wood blinds, ok my brother has, and it has been a real family effort to get this house to where it sits today.

This week… I did something that I have never done in my life! I did something that has altered not only my house, but my life. I have bought brand new furniture!!!

In my thirty-three years of life I have never owned furniture that has not been previously owned by somebody else. I have never shopped for furniture for myself. I have done it for others, even seen it done on TV but never done it for myself. So, I ordered a new leather sofa, chair, ottoman, and tables for my formal living room down stairs. I place my order on Monday, and my furniture was supposed to arrive at 3:30pm yesterday. At 5:30pm I was sitting on the floor of my living room excitedly waiting for my new bundles of joy to arrive. I am sure this is what first-time fathers to-be feel. They are sitting there thinking “When is this thing gonna get here”, they are excited for it to get here, and they want to know what it looks like… does it “go”. I am sure that they first-time mothers to-be are thinking… “ouch!” The anticipation was thick, and I was so excited. Finally, a knock at that door. Could it be? Is it the delivery people? Ed McMahon? I opened the door and it was the delivery people!!! My furniture was here.

These two men came inside, Santa and his elf! They set up the furniture and even took the trash with them! I still have my tables coming… they were not available for delivery. That is like having twins four days apart, no new mother should have to go through that! I am so excited to get the tables in and have the room feel completed. The furniture is soft to the touch, yet firm underneath you. I was so happy yesterday I was literally bouncing up and down with joy. I woke up this morning and the furniture was still there!!! I am going to go home today, and I fully expect it to be there when I get home as well.

So far I am getting used to my new life, a life that is forever changed… in a house that is fully furnished.

Peace, love, and Vegas baby!
Martha