I had two winning days in a row.

Unheard of these past few weeks.

I told Mark as we sat on our porch and had our decompression time once I got home about 8:45 last night, that it felt good to sit and be happy and not feel defeated. It felt really good.

I had the most successful recruitment event in little old Ninnekah Oklahoma, that I’ve ever had. The leaders are in place, and THIS CLOSE to finishing the training required before they get their troop number and can begin meeting. The girls were pouring in, membership forms and money filled out and handed in, excited mothers filling out volunteer apps and offering their land for activities, offering their help with the troop. Everyone. Was. Happy.

I left the leaders there talking, at 8:00 about their troop and how they wanted to work it and what they wanted to do. It was so inspiring!

I had some pretty honest communications about some touchy subjects with my CST officers in one of my CSTs and got back some really great responses. Forward motion. It felt really really good.

I have two big big things I’m juggling but by Tuesday evening they will be behind me. Taryn and the Boys are coming in this weekend and hopefully the weather will cooperate for family photos on Saturday.

Here’s hoping you get a win today. Or that you are a camel.

HumpDAAAAAAAAAY!

Over at Minivan Momma they’re starting the celebration early by giving thanks on Thursdays. I thought I’d join in.

I’m thankful today, for Mark.

I know I know you’re rolling your eyes and grumbling about how sappy I am and about how of course you’d be thankful for a boyfriend bla bla bla fishcakes.

Well, sure. I don’t deny any of that.

But during these past few months, as his job ramped up to MockFourCrazy and mine began to slowly eat my lunch one bite at a time, he has been steady and solid. He never yells when we are completely out of clean whites. He will go to the CVS at 7am to get catfood when I haven’t gotten to the store for the week. Last night, as I crashed dead before 10pm he stayed up and did laundry.

The first words out of his mouth this morning were, “you have allstaff in oklahomacity and you have to wear black pants and they are in the dryer”

Because ya know, zero things clean in this house as of yesterday.

I am thankful to have a partner in this crazy, even though Sammy has decided that he loves Mark more than Little Friskies, I am thankful that—while I know I can navigate this alone—I don’t have to.

I don’t ever want to take him for granted yet I know that will happen as is human nature. Today however…I place it here.

Thankful Thursday indeed.

In clean black pants.

Yesterday was rough. Not right at first. When we woke up yesterday, there had been rest, the temps in the house were cool and the covers and cat were easily keeping us tucked in bed. The coffee was delicious and while the talking heads were telling us about this shut down in Washington was looming, I was actually looking forward to going into my office with a clear head, a plan of attack and knowing that it would be a long day, two pairs of shoes.

60 minutes in that whole feeling of resolve fell apart.

I’ve got a woman who just decided to set fires all over the state. I spent the whole day putting them out. She’s flat out lying at this point. She lied straight to my voice when I called her. In fact, yesterday, I was in pretty much constant contact with her via email and phone yet I kept getting messages from other women in the organization, “I just got off the phone with Schmickie Schmeck, she’s really upset because you told her there would be a troop for her daughter and she’s already paid all of this money…”

Now folks, we all know that managing expectations is the best way to circumvent conflict. And from the beginning I was honest with this woman. We do NOT have a troop at Wilson. I DO have someone in place to start one which is usually the most difficult part. I did a recruitment night there and ONE girl and her mom showed up. ONE. There is blame to place, and I take 99% of it. This is a learning curve. I will do things differently next year for sure. But I never once promised that woman a troop.

What I said was “it’s my GOAL, and I am DETERMINED to put one there. I want to offer the girls of Wilson this experience. NO you are not required to purchase the full uniform at this event. We are still a month and a half out before the GS year begins, I haven’t made a troop yet, so it’s YOUR CHOICE to pay for the uniform and things.”

What she heard, and what she’s spreading all over town is, “Misti Pryor PROMISED that there would be a troop at Wilson. NO one will call me back. She won’t answer my questions. I’ve paid 75 dollars for all of this stuff and I want my money back. NO one at Girl Scouts will let my daughter be in a troop. She’s missing out. My neighbors kid has already had three meetings. I told her I would consider other troops in the town where we live. ”

She got connected to my CEO yesterday. AFTER I had emailed with her three times. She lied to me when I called her and said that conversation was last week so my phone must have just been messing up, or my email or something.

At the recruitment event, the mother who has Twin Daisyaged girls who was turned away from a meeting last week with the words, “we don’t have room for you, you can’t stay here” and left with two crying children, found a troop. Thank God.

We formed a new Daisy troop as well, even though the mothers arrived pissed off because they had phone calls that had not been returned by the troop organizer for a month, and my intern told them the wrong address of the event so by the time they got to ours it was the second stop for them.

The Treasurer of the CST stomped in, handed over all of the financial paperwork and left. She quit with a passive aggressive email flounce a few weeks ago because she didn’t like the way a vote was going. Hateful mean-girl. She’s part of the troop that rejected the twin Daisy girls.

The CEO was at the event last night, and I found out that my whole intern/supervisor thing I’ve been doing has just gone to crap. She’s been at the office in OKC. I’ve sent her tasks and work and talk to her daily, and knowing she’s in the office with Shannon and others that she was asking and collaborating with them on these tasks.

Not so. Yesterday I had a phone call from Product Sales … “Who exactly is supervising this girl?” . . . ummm I am allegedly. Then last night I found out that a big project had NOT in fact, been OK’d by the CEO. It’s a disaster. I’m pulling the reigns and she’s going to have to come to office in Norman, or we’re going to have to re-evaluate what to do with her. I don’t actually have a need for her until the Spring, and we don’t want to pay her to check email. She’s right out of high school. So her skill set in the professional world is nil. I honestly don’t want to fail the test that this clearly is, but I don’t have any damn time to deal with someone else trying to work, I’m doing well just to keep my own office from going down in flames.

Needless to say, that when I left the event last night, I cried all the way to my office. I dropped off the car, sent a few emails and did some troop organizing and got ready for today. By the time I got home sometime after 9:30pm, I was met with a hug at the door, and a little jelly jar of wine.

Today however, I wake up and it is October. One of my most favorite months. Audra has a birthday, Talaura does too. Delbert and Vernon have their first anniversary this weekend. I see family again this month, and some awesome live music starting this week with The Lumineers.

Tuesday is already better.

Simply because it isn’t Monday.

 

Apparently, I only write on Friday’s these days.

This week brought more recruitment events. Both flops.

I took my comprehensive exam for my degree on Tuesday. I’ll know the results sometime next week. That’s all I want to say about that right now.

12-14 hour days this week, none of it spent on Julie’s house as we are working around her floor guys/cabinet guy (kind of a blessing if you ask me) and that meant lots of falling asleep on the couch, but a few things got crossed off our list here. Mark got to the lawn and while the hedge and trees aren’t trimmed yet the yard isn’t the ugliest one on the street anymore. He feels better. He and I both got moved in to our offices. Boxes gone. My couch/cork lamp are in place. I just need to hang a few things on the wall and then I can have the ribbon cutting with the Chamber. I have photos to post. The window treatements that Trisha made me are STUNNING. Just stunning. In fact the tax guys that office down the hall keep stopping by and jealously comment how it’s not fair that my space looks so good.

I’ve been asked to serve on the board of the non-profit that runs the building. Community Service Building is in fact run by a non-profit and requires two agencies to be represented on the board. So as of January, I’ll be sitting on the board.

I spent a day at USAO meeting with the president, lunching in the cafeteria, spending money in the bookshop, visiting the alumni house. I have plans to become more active with the alumni. There are plans to partner GS with USAO and at the end of the day, “whatever you need Misti, you just come ask. We’re here for you.”

So many stresses, volunteers bitching, parents questioning, timelines looming. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.

I’m running away from it all this afternoon and going to Arkansas. I haven’t seen my mom since we all gathered to bury my dad’s wife in June. It’s been way too long. I miss my family so so much. I miss my nephews and I can’t wait to see their new puppy Anna Banana. I’m going to do everyone’s hair and I’m going to show my mom how to make homemade apple butter and I’m going to just chill out.

Mark isn’t coming with me. He’s staying here to finish work on Julie’s house. *lord please let that get crossed off of our list* We both decided it was better for me to go home this weekend and him stay here It’s not ideal. At all. But it’s fine. I’ll be home Sunday in time to settle in with Michael and finish this roller coaster of a tv show that he and I love so much. Breaking Bad forever finale airs that night and that will just be the topping on this weekend of soaking in some family time.

Right now, I’ve typed so long that Mark jumped the shower line. I’ll go clean the cat box, unload the dishwasher and start throwing some things in a suitcase. So much work awaits me in my office, but I’m looking beyond that.

Family. Home. Refill.

Hope your weekend holds all three.

I decided to do a Thankful Friday post today for the simple fact that we in this house have survived the week.

This week has been every single night driving to the Village and working on Julie’s house. This week has been every single day each of us dealing with stress and deadlines and demands at our jobs.

This week has been me with no sleep due to some sort of janky nerve/neck/back issue compounded by all of the stress I’ve internalized. I’ve seen McCracken several times for relief and yesterday finally allowed myself a massage.

This week has been me dreading finding all of the tax stuff (my extension ends on Oct 15 and I still haven’t done 2013 and turned them in yet)

This week has been me knowing that on Tuesday of the upcoming week I have to take my comprehensive exam (again) to finish my Masters degree.

This week saw us with no coffee in the house on the day that I had to be up at 5, at the office at 6 in Shawnee at 7 and have an event table set up by 8 then a recruitment event at 5pm that night.

I am thankful it is Friday.

I am thankful that we have survived this week.

I am thankful that I live with a man who will wake up at 6:30 laughing about how neither of us bought coffee, puts on his pants and goes to get some beans before I’m out of bed today.

I am thankful that even though we thought we would be finished with Julie’s house, the floor guy didn’t take into account OUR work schedule and stained the floors yesterday. We can’t walk on them until Saturday. BUT we CAN walk on them Saturday! So hopefully we can get this little repair project behind us and get on with the things that are banging at our door here.

I am thankful for this dork who is sitting next to me singing lines from Oklahoma with the dork who is typing. He makes me laugh even when I want to stab.

I am thankful that Our Cindy finally has a diagnosis on her Pop. I hate the diagnosis, but forward motion of any kind is some sort of relief.

I am thankful for volunteers who don’t yell at me, who remember their intention behind participating in this program.

I am thankful for the temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s and the mums I’m going to buy this weekend and plant.

I am thankful for the friends I will see and celebrate this weekend.

But really?

I’m just so thankful that it’s friday.

Me: My CEO just sent an email asking if anyone has a metal detector?

Mark: why?

Me: she ended the email by saying, Don’t Ask.

Mark: hahaha

Me: do you have a metal detector?

Mark: nobutIused to when I was little. Me and my dad would go treasure hunting. We found all kinds of old things, old treasures. One time we found this gold and ruby ring that my sister Lori wore for a real long time until she lost it.

Me: but you don’t have an old one now.

Mark: maybe it wasn’t gold. maybe it was bronze or something.

Me: do you know anyone that has one now that we could borrow from?

Mark: and we used to find a whole bunch of poptops. remember those? the kind with the ring and the tongue? you could cut yourself on’em? Jimmy Buffet knows what I’m talking about.

Me: . . . blink

Mark. . . can we get a metal detector?

 

 

aaaaand scene.

 

It’s a beautiful Fall morning. I got some house straightening done yesterday. So much more to do today. Much more work at Brokedown Palace but I think we can knock it all out or 90% of it out today. I want it to be over.

I need to re-do the bed and the bedroom. I’m not sleeping. Maybe I need some new sheets. There might be a trip to Ross or TJ Maxx in our Saturday.

It’s gameday here in Norman. at 8:30 am I’ve already got cars parked on the street and people walking towards campus corner. It’s an 11:00 game, so I expect it to pick up quite a bit. Today, it FEELS like football.

What a perfect day to be in Norman. Or with my pseudofamily in Stillwater. Or right here on my porch with my newly charged laptop (amazing what a new powercord can do) and a piping hot cuppa joe.

Cheers ya’ll!

 

I slept for shit last night. The last two nights actually. I have had horrible dreams, night sweats, it’s too hot, then I get the temp turned too cold in the house.

Where’s that damned Goldilocks and her JUST RIGHT when you need it?

I woke up in the guest room this morning about 5am and heard Mark get up and start gathering his tools and supplies. Today is the day that the HVAC gets replaced at Brokedown Palace aka Julie’s House. There was an AC leak for godknowshowlong, so there is some repair work that must be done in the subfloor and under the house. This must be coordinated with the ripping out of the old system by the HVAC crew.

So after days of trying to coordinate and some bad moods and insurmountable globs of stress coming from all of the sides to deal with…this is happening today. I forsee our part of the repairs on this house being finished and starting off on Monday with zero responsibilities and zero keys to that house.

I feel discontent this morning.

Maybe it’s the finality (even though the sale was final last week) maybe it’s the lack of sleep, maybe it’s the condition of our house and the sheets that need changing and the laundry that needs doing and the floors that need sweeping. Or maybe it’s the job stresses and commitments and whatever.

Likely, a little of all the above. I’m betting that it’s the shift in the weather. The change of seasons is upon us, I can feel it in the air.

This time of year brings all kinds of powerful emotions and memories and feelings, it never fails. Every. Single. Year.

I was on campus at USAO yesterday. I had to go to Chickasha for some GS business and stopped to say hi to faculty who are still to this day some of my best friends. I was enveloped in memory, as I always am when I walk Davis Hall. I can see Roger and Ann and Marcia and Jan and JC. John and Patsy and Kathy. Kirk and Chris and Cindy and Talaura and Neil and his crazy ass hair. Carsten and Jack and Sarah and Dr. Webb and the writing lab and Carol in the office. I miss Greg and Jen and Hucks and Joe who were part of an entire other group of friends I met via my exhusband. Maybe I’m sad a little because while we are all still connected via social media, each of these relationships have gone their own way, as they do naturally, and that is okay.

But I miss them.

I miss being that “family” that we all were. All incarnations of that group, that family…they were precious.

And we saw Wicked last night. I can’t remember if this was my 2nd or 3rd viewing, but it was Mark’s first. I enjoy that show. I really really do. I’m humming the music in my head and probably will be all day long.

So this morning as I’m shuffling around getting ready, sipping coffee, and perusing yoga classes that I want to begin taking here in my new community, I’m also thinking about my past community.

Who can say if I’ve been
Changed for the better?
I do believe I have been
Changed for the better

And because I knew you…

Because I knew you…

Because I knew you…
I have been changed for good.

I told Mark last night that I was actually grateful for a full five day work week. The deadlines and needs and must do’s were about to strangle me. CST meetings for the month began last night, I was there until after 9pm. There are a lot of needs and questions and we are still recruiting and it seems like there isn’t enough of ME to go around. That’s a lesson to learn. I’m a fixer. I think a lot of women are. It’s a need that goes beyond any kind of control issue, and really it’s not a people pleasing issue either, not fully. I just want for those around me to be able to go about the business of life, or Girl Scouts, or whatever they’re going about, with some ease. If I have the ability to lend a hand or a thought or do a thing that facilitates that ease? Then that’s what I should do. It is what I WANT to do.

The lesson comes when I realize that I’ve done what I can do. It’s up to the other person to make choices that will alleviate the stress and the vitriol and the ick from their lives. It’s up to the other person to ask for help, or assert themselves at the correct moment, or to know what’s happening within their lives that will bring the ease. My job dictates that I am a liaison between two parties, that I facilitate and guide. It is rare that I have to take over and DO. It’s not out of the realm of possibility though. I have caught myself many times this past month just sitting back and letting them do it. Relationships are trickier.  I’m wholly invested, and because of that the hurt can come quickly. BUT…I’m learning. Some people are just complicated. Some are dealing with demons that have nothing to do with me, that I can do nothing about. Some are the easiest in the world. Nonetheless, learning to step back, to keep quiet, to let things naturally cycle and work out, that’s a lesson. It’s been easier to see, easier to step back, easier to bless and let go because I’ve got Mark to volley these ideas off of.

Relief.

It’s a relief to have someone to talk to about these work and life situations.

It’s a relief to know and feel that it isn’t my responsibility to fix ALL OF THE THINGS.

It’s a relief to know that I can, should, and will begin to step away and let things work themselves out.

We survived GOTR festival. I know that the infrastructure had some weak spots. But it was a great time, so much fun seeing friends, hanging with Talaura and Cindy and Michael and everyone else I saw there amongst the sea of humanity. The music was amazing. Mumford brought a show that would’ve convinced, I’m sure, even the most skeptical and self righteous of hearts. The musicianship was just mind boggling.

It was hot, and sweaty and dirty. There was in fact an element of survival. It was a real festival in Oklahoma! So awesome! I’m still glad we didn’t camp, though I had twinges of wishing we had.

Today begins the rest of the calendar year that includes zero festivals. It also includes about one more day of work at Julie’s house and then that gets crossed way off the list. Work which let’s face it, has been a blur and totally stuffed away while I was on vacation, is now front, center and crystal clear. I have to really find a way to make some magic happen here.

This house needs unpacking. The laundry needs doing and groceries need buying. There are still many things that need to happen but it seems that we have survived the summer of crazy crazy crazy change. The always looming deadlines seem to have eased up a bit and it looks and feels like we can start to ease into our #quietlife. 

The one that includes time with friends and family, celebrating and laughing and enjoying it all together. I can’t wait.

I was supposed to be off work today. Mark and I both were supposed to be off work today so that we can join the mass migration to Guthrie Oklahoma for the Gentlemen of the Road stopover mini-festival.

That isn’t happening.

Mark is swamped at work. To the point that there is no way he can leave today.

I’ve set my auto-reply on the email for the day, but I will be in the office and working and cleaning and organizing the space in preparation of next week and the deluge of volunteers that will be in my office. I lost a volunteer leader yesterday from a troop. I’m still determined that we will make troops and find space for girls. I’m just so behind. Working every single night in August left no time to follow up. As soon as I got through one piece, seven more arrived. It’s been like swimming without arms and now school has begun and troops are meeting and we have Fall Product sales happening this month…I’ve got to have some time to work and get back on track.

There isn’t one single piece of clothing clean in this house. There are maybe a few things to eat and drink.

Today however, my house will officially be NOT my house anymore. From here on out it’s Julie’s house. My house is the one I live in. As it should be. When I signed all of my papers yesterday Kathy commented that I was significantly less emotional about this change than she expected.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve had my moments of mourning, knee deep in nostalgia. But it’s time to move on. I’ve had enough change in my life to know you get to keep what you want to keep. We are making so many repairs to the house that I sleep well knowing that the new owner will buy a solid place to live. I didn’t get that going in. I’m leaving it better than I bought it. That’s pretty much what we should all be doing in every aspect right?

Leave it better than we found it?

In that vein, I’ll leave this post in a better frame than I started.

I’m going to get some laundry done today. I’m going to get the camping gear moved and find a path to the furniture in the garage that is going into my office. I’ve got errands to run, banking to do, phone calls to make to cut off all the utilities. I’ve got emails to write and answer in the office, and a few things yet to buy to make things complete there. I will see friends and loved ones this weekend.

All of those things, I am thankful for.