I got a raise yesterday. A substantial one. One that slightly exceeds my salary at the Center (and that's only based on a 35-hour work week). And, since it's hourly, it has potential to be even more.
So, yeah, I cried. In gratitude, and relief. I worked out a new budget -- one that will allow me to pay my bills, live comfortably, pay off my various debts within two years, and save.
I feel...settled. Or on the way to being so.
My summer project: Produce picking! My boss's wife is getting rid of her deep freezer, and giving it to me. (She won't take any money for it. I'm trying to figure out how -- or whether -- to sneak in a "loan to the business," since I help work on the books from time to time. I can do stubborn, too. But I don't want them getting mad at me, and I always have massive conflict about taking gifts, especially when they've done so much for me, and I feel like I have nothing to hand them back and I don't EVER want to look or feel or have them feel like I'm mooching or taking advantage, but I want to just accept the gift if that's what they really want.) I'm pretty sure it will fit and be able to plug into the basement. Hello, strawberries, green beans, cherries, peaches, blueberries, rhubarb, applesauce, and corn! Hello, canned tomatoes! Hello, jam and jelly! Hello, grape juice! These are all the things Mom used to can and freeze when I was a tyke, and it helped us save a lot of money. Plus I plan on learning to master the pie this summer, and when I want pie, I don't want canned pie filling, and I don't want to shell out buku bucks on store-frozen fruit. Gimme the real deal, the locally grown, hand-picked, straight-from-the-mouth-of-summer goodness. And I get to play with other things, like dilly beans and pickles.
I find I'm increasingly restless if I don't have an ongoing Susie Homemaker project to keep me occupied, so I think that one's going to do nicely for this summer, now that my apartment is nearly perfected. It also means I get to buy new kitchen toys (which will fit beautifully into my new sparkling budget): a fruit-and-vegetable strainer and grinder attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer, a pressure cooker, a juicer. It'll mean sweltering days laboring over boiling water in the kitchen in August, newspapers spread with peaches all over the basement floor, hot jars of grape juice taking up all my counterspace in the fall. [Lovely sigh of delight.]
But first my landlord needs to get his @$$ in gear and fix the frame of the basement door, which someone attempted to break into a few weeks ago, and which !surprise! hasn't been fixed yet.
Which leads me to my next big project, which will be taking place over the next year, two at the most: buying a house. Yes, folks, I'm ready to put the renter's life down in favor of a mortgage. I'm thinking a small house, with a small upstairs and a small basement, lots of room for Simon to frolic, a yard for light gardening, MY OWN SPACE. No one else's music blasting the soles of my feet through the floor, no one else banging up my stairs at ungodly (or not my) hours, no arguing with or bothering or pestering the landlord to fix in three weeks what can be fixed in three days, no negotiating costs with anyone (I'll have to pay for everything, ulgh, but the responsibility is worth the freedom). MINE. Safer neighborhood. Room to put guests. A couch-sized couch. Dining space. Closet space. Cupboard space. LAUNDRY. My very own piano, waiting for me in my parents' dining room.
So yes, I'm moving up the By-the-Time-I'm-Thirty-One-I-Will-Have Goals considerably (the house was the real biggie; a king-sized bed and a dog will follow naturally), but it's time. Like in Madeleine L'Engle's A Wind in the Door -- it's time to Deepen. I've been whirling around in my young adulthood in a farandolaic frenzy, and it's been fun, and I've learned a lot...but it's time to Deepen, stop running around, be still, root, unfurl my fronds and become a mitochondria.
I'll probably relocate to Michigan. The housing market in Niles, just north of the Bend, is decently reasonable, it will be nice to deal with taxes from only one state, and I won't have to pay what amounts to a property tax on my car every year like I do in Indiana. Plus in my time in the Midwest I've fallen head-over-heels in love with Michigan (not so much with Indiana). Niles is a big enough town to have all the necessary big stores -- Lowe's, Meijer, Wal-Mart, Pizza Hut -- as well as the smaller, quainter shops and markets -- and Niles is close enough to South Bend to merit a trip to the Farmer's Market, visits to friends, etc. But the factors that made South Bend more ideal than Michigan -- namely, proximity to all the "happenin' places" -- don't matter much anymore. I seldom go out; I prefer to visit, or entertain at home, or entertain myself at home and hang out with Simon. I enjoy my quiet life. And if I like it this much, I might as well move to a more scenic location and line a nest that is truly mine, closer to Lake Michigan, fruit picking...and Meg and Phillip. :)
4 comments:
Hi...so I fond your blog on a random blog hopping trip starting with I don't know who from GCC (I'm an '03 grad - music ed.) and I've been pretty much blog-stalking you ever since. I finally decided to comment because I am excited that you love Southwestern Michigan - I grew up in St. Joe (you've probably heard of it, its just north of Niles). I was there from birth until I left for the grove 18 years later, actually, both my parents grew up there too, so I have those roots you are longing for - unfortunately I am far away from them, still in Pennsylvania. But the lake is a place near and dear to my heart, and to hear someone else appreciate it makes me glad :)
Oooo, I love St. Joe! I went up there last summer with Meg and Phillip for the Art Fair and bought the most beautiful mug, which is prominently on display in my kitchen. :)
Random...it's like a Regional Exchange Post-Student Program!
Having grown up practically on the shores of Lake Erie, I've always said I couldn't live without a Great Lake nearby, so I'm beyond thrilled to have one so close by now that I've flown the coop. Meg and Phillip and I are already planning on making tracks for Warren Dunes as soon as the lake is warm enough to wade in.
And the regional differences between Western Pennsylvania and Southwestern Michigan aren't all that great...I almost fainted with delight at the vet's office today when an attendant, speaking to another patient about her dog's teeth, said, "They probably need cleaned."
I hope you get home often enough for that "home fix" we all suffer from!
Congratulations on your raise!
And let me say how much your desire to purchase a house resonates with me. My apartment is okay for what it is, but the notion of space that belongs specifically to me is so enticing. You're obviously much closer to achieving that dream than I am, and for that I'm a little jealous, but also excited for you. I love that you have such a strong vision of the way things will be.
In the meantime, enjoy your fresh produce!
I'm probably a little further from accomplishing my vision than I'd like, when you take into account that even if the mortgage is insanely low, there are ALL the utility bills (water, trash, much higher electric, gas, etc. -- right now the only utility I pay, besides phone/internet, is electricity), taxes, and then all the loans you have to take out when your gutters burst or your refrigerator breaks down or your basement floods; and those extra costs are more feasibly swung by two people, or one person with a much higher income than mine (which is VERY comfortable for my current standard of living, but might be a little squeaky in a house). So it might take some time, a year or more, before I find a place that is a.) small enough, but still with a little upstairs (because I love two stories), b.) NOT in a downtown area, but on the edge of town/semi-rural, c.) built sometime around the 1940s, so that the circuitry and wiring etc. aren't too ancient and the structure fairly sound, and d.) affordable. But I'll definitely be looking, hard and faithfully. I know what I want. :) And I think it's going to be tremendously fun. The problem, I'm sure, is that I'm going to fall in love with half a dozen houses that I can't possibly have, before I come across The Perfect One.
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