The good kind of crazy

It has been over 2 weeks and a few of you have commented about that. I have to admit that I was surprised that is has been that long. Time has been flying.

It has been an unusually busy time in every aspect of my life. And I have found myself in the very odd position of adding to my "doing" time instead of adding to my talking/blogging time. Since this is so strange for me, I'm sure that it means something, but I have no idea what that might be! I'm working on working more and thinking about it less, I guess!

So, here is what I've been doing in my spare time.

See that space on either side of the microwave? I've always intended to find spice racks or utensil storage - preferably both - to put there. But nobody makes what I want. So, I'm making something myself.



This is my current work bench - with test subjects. To be honest, this has been a very interesting experience. This is, at best, a prototype that will last a short period of time since it is a bit of a hack job.I already have a redesign - including better materials that just happen to be here at the house! But that redesign requires SERIOUS woodworking skills that I don't yet have. So, I'll learn bit by bit. Once I get these up (they are basically just drawers , but the drawer pull hardware will go on the top, so they'll hang suspended), I'll make some decisions on what goes next.




In other news, the business is once again outgrowing it's previous borders. As you can see below, all of that storage space that we built has now spilled out from behind the gate to in front of the gate. This is not a good thing. Today, the door that you see on the right, along with the ingenuity of HTH and his dad, will help create a new wall/entry way to the back. Almost everything that you see here will be enclosed.




AND The Box is no longer big enough for the contract work on decks and several install jobs that are in the works. So, we've added this big guy. I don't know his name yet (I only drove him 1/2 mile to get him registered, etc.), so feel free to chip in on that one.

So, between my corporate job (which I'm REALLY not thinking about), our baby business job, my mom/wife/house manager job, my CAVU job (shows every weekend this month except the one post Thanksgiving), and my "for reasons I can't explain, I have to take care of these things that have been bugging me" jobs, I have been a touch crazy - but it is all feeling very positive and exciting, so I'm calling it the good kind of crazy. As long as it continues to feel that way, I figure it ain't broke...

Week in Review

Hey! Miss me? Yes, I have become one of those bloggers. So, just a quick update on how the HTR work is going in my life.

Last week, HTH and I took 3 days off. We went to Vegas to see Circque de Soleil. We ate at a lot of restaurants and wandered around to see the sights a bit. Mostly we slept until we woke up and didn't think about work too often. Most people go to Vegas to enjoy the hectic pace. We did just the opposite. I think it is the most relaxed we've been since St Thomas.

The good news is that the HTR work I've been doing meant that we could come back to catch up on work tasks - not household tasks. Summer is a very busy time of year for HTH, so he runs hard 6 days a week. It is really good that he has a helper now. D2 is out of school and planning to work 3 days a week all summer. He has already been a big help - particularly on the new equipment install which took all day Friday and Monday. And after only 2 days at a construction site, D2 has decided that he never wants to do that work. This is Arizona, after all. Construction is horifically hot work.

For me, work tasks have all been focused on preparations for my business trip. At the moment, I am trying to fit everything into 2 weeks because I still don't know if the Switzerland leg of the trip will happen. In the minds of the people involved in the Swiss project, there really is no hurry. The meeting is, after all 3 weeks away. I, on the other hand, am ON THE PLANE ON SATURDAY!!!! Do I pack for 3 weeks including a customer visit or do I pack for 2 weeks with no customer visit? I don't know. It looks like I'll just play it by ear until Friday and then pack based on my mood that day.

So, between small business work and corporate calendars, the next few weeks will be very busy. There are some possibilities for exciting changes in the near future, particularly on the small business side. And I will enjoy my time in the UK - despite being there without the family - in part because I will accomplish some work tasks and in part because it will be nice to be overseas for a few days. But I will be happy to see the end of this time!

So tomorrow, I will talk a little more about the next stages of HTR for me. I have some ideas...