I was not planning to start many new chapters in my life, at my age but life has ways of changing things for a person. And since Cargill sold the entire pork division to JBS, many people are starting new chapters in their lives, at least if they wish to keep working in the same location.
I did pick up and fill out and turn in the paperwork to start 401K plans with the new employer, who also uses Vanguard so hopefully I will not go many paychecks before I am putting money into 2 401K plans, 1 pretax and the other is after.. And I have called Vanguard about rolling my Cargill accounts over into the new ones, once those are set up so that is all lined up, at least as much as I can line it up.
I went on line and did the stuff I could do for my Cargill pension, I can cash that out and since the pension from Con-Agra is locked and I will have it to draw once I reach 65, I did not want to have another locked when using the funds to pay down debt is a smarter choice at this time. That paperwork is on it's way back to wherever it has to go, hopefully filled out correctly with everything needed so it can be processed and the certified check sent to me asap. I might have that by the first week in December.
Plans do include buying a reasonable sized utility building for a wood shop and setting it up to be a working wood shop and a place for the scooter and Rebel to live in the winter. I need to have the maple tree cut down, it is slowly dying and needs removed anyway, and then decide on which building, mark out the location and make plans to put in gravel and 6x6 lumber for it to sit on and I think I will need to do 3 'foundation beams' but it will depend on which way the floor joices are laid out in the building. I do know the door needs to face the house, and I need to remember the very small redbud tree that is already planted so the building is not on top of that and will allow it some growing room.
We worked today, first Saturday in a very long time and we are hearing there will be production every Saturday and we might work 10 hour days every other week, with night shift working 10's on the alternate weeks. The money will be good but the hours will beat many of us to pieces.
I do have some vacation time coming up and will be attending the BJD convention down in St. Louis next weekend, my first time to go but am joining doll friends down there who will make sure I don't get lost. I am looking forward to the time away and the fun.
We are still battling bed bugs some here, we/Ben thinks 1 hitched a ride on his clothing when he was doing some minor carpentry work for a friend, it had been several weeks since either of us had been bitten but we are spraying chairs, beds, floors and starting the war once again. This has not been a fun battle, the damn bugs are so tiny I can't usually see them and have yet to see a hatchling or baby but sure have been bitten a few times by what Ben says is newly hatched.
Our weather is staying mild for this time of year, I am glad as need to do some work under the west side of the house to deal with some air gaps before we have a lot of cold winds and manage to keep putting that job off. But the old house is making a bit of progress and I hope to have funds for more drywall for the attic area, would like to get all the drywall done in my sewing area, I know that would make it easier to keep clean and also more comfortable, I do have drafts on the north east corner that remind me I need to get the work done.
So, most of the time I am content and like my little life, and I know it works for me. It is not the life I thought I would have when I was much younger but it is what I do have and what I have made for myself. And I just cannot see a reason to get involved with a dating relationship at this time, or any time soon, if ever. I can daydream such silly things while I am working those very boring jobs in a meat packing plant but sure do not want to start dating any one.
So, I hope those people in my past have good lives and are happy and so forth and I will be content to live here and do my own thing. That reaching back into the past to touch base with someone did not work out so well 6 years ago. Not the fault of my car accident but that accident and the possibility of a settlement that might be in the reach of someone, who had money problems he was not honest about, ya, I can see where I looked like a nice, ripe plum just ready for plucking.
I don't think most of the people I knew when I was in my early 20's would even pick me out of a crowd, and they sure would not think to find me here, in a small river town, working labor in a meat processing plant or living the solitary life I am living. I have changed, found my way, built my own security and self belief, become a strong and independent person, a far change and a very long way from the young and really naïve woman child I was when I was 20 or even 26.
But I think about that man from the Jessie L Brown, and the way he smiled and made me laugh, and wish his world has been a good one and he is doing well with his life. And life does move on, and we have gone such different directions, I have gone so far, and it took me so long to find who I really am and to become strong enough to stand my ground and live by my choices and not by the orders and direction or to suit other people.
But it is getting time for me to turn in, my days start very early even when I am off work, my internal clock seems to not be able to tell it is a 'sleep in' day.
