Work was tough on me the first day on the floor…I am definitely not in the shape I was before my recent surgery, and subsequently all the laying around and being lazy that came after it. I have got to build up my muscle structure once again, and yesterday unloading freight, lifting and carrying some heavy stuff reminded me that muscles need to be worked regularly! I woke up this morning pretty sore in my lower back, glutes, legs and biceps. I will adjust, and I will grow stronger with the regular exercise just from this job, I am sure. When I left the HD job I was in pretty darned good shape from all the work-ercise I got there!
I want one of those Fit-Bit things. I must have walked a couple of miles yesterday in combination with the lifting of a boatload of freight we put out on the floor…tools and hardware are heavy items, albeit more compact and easier to deal with than loose lumber like I was moving around at the previous job. I can see that I am also going to need a back belt to support my lower back and the damaged disks that I have there. So this morning I had to load up on some pain medication and Excedrin migraine…but I’m all good now. 🙂
I had the funniest conversation this morning. It was about Nola and her affection for her “stuffies” (stuffed animals). It’s funny how we can twist up things sometimes and make them hilarious. I was relating Nola as being a “stuffie slut”..where she has so many of them and seems to love each one. She has a harem of stuffies! She’s got a whole big basket full of the things, everything from stuffed bunnies, to a stuffed black and white cat – which is one of her favorites as it resembles my mother’s cat, Silly. yes her cat is called “Silly” which is short for Sylvester. Anyway, I was cracking up at this conversation and it made my morning that much brighter.
Today Nola shall get another bath. She’s seems to be itchy lately, so I am thinking the change in weather may be affecting her skin. Although I also did change her back to her Beneful dog food recently…she had been on a more expensive veterinarian recommended food for a good long while…hmmm…maybe it’s the combination. Whatever it is I need to bathe her and hopefully help her feel less itchy before she develops a skin condition – which she hasn’t as of yet! Nola pretends to not like the bath, but once she is in there she gives up and seems to actually enjoy it. The part she enjoys most is the drying with the towel. She LOVES to be scrubbed with the towel, and gets all fluffy. Her mother was a long haired Daschund (wiener dog) and her daddy was a Chihuahua….so Nola has a combination of short hair, layered over with longer hair. It gets very fluffy when she’s had a bath, and looks unruly for a day or two after until it calms back down and smooths out. She doesn’t like to be brushed – which confounds me! I thought that EVERY dog liked to be brushed, but not the Nola. She abhors it and tries to run from me when she sees the brush or the nail clippers appear. Today she’s not only being bathes, but she’s being fully groomed, nails, teeth, eyes, brushing – and combing! She’s going to gleam with cleanliness when she’s done…although may not be too pleased with me! She gets over it, and loves me regardless.
It’s raining again..prediction is up to 5 inches of rain (yes, ButchCountry67, I am stuck in the old world of inches, no metrics here, I don’t even GET how they work!) And possibly a Nor’ Easter type of storm is coming our way. I have stocked up on bottled and jugged water just in case we lose power. Here if we lose power we also lose water pressure as it’s all run by pumps that are fed by electricity. It’s one thing I hate about this place, the water situation….grrrrrr….don’t even want to think about it!
I’m working on Thursday and then have a 3 day weekend. I am hoping to do a bunch more of the renovations in my bedroom. I picked out a different flooring than I was originally going to put down, the one I chose now is called Tavern Oak, and it’s a little darker brown, but not a deep brown by any means. I like it way better than my original choice. I’m hoping like hell to get the carpet up this weekend at least, then prep the floor for the new flooring. I’m also gutting the closet and putting in an all new closet system to maximize the space. At one time I designed, sold and installed closet systems with my Dad and a company we owned called Closet Masters, so I have a wee bit of experience and can really do that closet some justice space wise.
Yeah, Dad and I had a few businesses that we dabbled in over the years, all having to do with home renovation and design. We also did drinking water systems for a while, which is why the water here drives me nuts and why I have installed a treatment system in my own place instead of depending upon the community system. I don’t trust the source supply at all. Especially with my immune system issues, all I need is to get nailed by some foreign crap in the water. The system I have installed takes care and makes it nice and clean.
I learned a lot from my father over the decades of working along side of him. He taught me about all kinds of home improvement and renovation stuff. Hell, I even put the skills to use building a beautiful horse barn once upon a time, from design to finished product I had my hands right on every aspect. Of course I hired some help to do the actual job, but I worked right along with the crew daily until it was done. Actually the day the world changed, 9/11/01, I was on the 2nd floor of that barn putting up beams for the roof…I remember we stopped work and didn’t do anything for the next few days on it, while we were all riveted to the television and 24 hour news coverage of the tragic attacks.
So today I am sort of a Butch of all trades. I can do a little bit of everything in construction. I know the meaning of hard work, and I know the meaning of pride in it. I love building things. I used to think of the swimming pools we would build as “footprints” in the earth that said “we were here” to us as proud builders. I sort of fell into working with my father after I got out of the Army back in the mid-eighties. While we didn’t always get along, we did make a helluva team in business.
What he didn’t teach me some of my other business mentors, like RJI did. I basically got a street-cred college education in business, economics, and accounting from some of the best teachers ever. I value what I learned even still today, it all helps me in my daily interactions with the world. My construction experience for example really gives me some advantage in the new job I am at with the home improvement industry. Plus I always make work fun. I figure if it’s not some kind of fun, plus you aren’t proud of the work you do, then you may as well not be doing it. I was and am always proud of the work I do. I may not be getting rich from it, but I am rich in knowledge that can keep me employed and pretty much happy. Plus, people will always need one of the many skills that I have to offer, so I don’t ever worry about being able to find a job when needed.
Ok, I am off to prepare for my day ahead. Shower, dress and do a video or two before I need to leave the house to get some errands in the outside world done! I do hope that YOU are having a great day too!!!!
MainelyButch and stuffie slut Nola….wishing you a terrific day!
MainelyButch: Private Label 
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