I wrote the following blog for my new website, which will be unveiled soon. I know, brace yourselves. My main goal for my new website is to have a launch pad for all of the ways I express myself, including a resume and purchase-able services. That said, a goal for my new website and blog is to have lower expectations and less filter. Maybe that's a bad combination, but it feels right. (Feedback, as always, is appreciated).
Chasing Free
My hands are clean, but every one of my fingers is peeling, and parts of them are stained with a rich purple color.
My hands started the day in my house, uncovering the chickens, petting the dogs, putting the seedlings in the sun. This was my second day in my efforts to establish routine, and of course it was an atypical day of driving into the big city.
Nevertheless, I did some stretching on the porch in the morning sun, followed by a "meh" jump rope workout by 12 minute athlete. Then it was a quick shower, change, and pouring my coffee drink so I could be on my way in time. I love rural life but there are many things that you can't find unless you drive into the city. On this day, my goal was chasing free. I had one last free oil change with the purchase of my new car, and only 899 miles until my warranty expired. It somehow seemed worth-while to make a 5 hour drive to save $45. I made good time, but realized 2/3 of the way that I had left my wallet at home. This would seriously hinder my other goal of thrift-shopping and craigslist cruising for cheap furniture.
Unfortunately my $20 taco-money stash had be used up, replaced by a useless receipt. Fortunately, I had the foresight to stash my new debit card in the car with $50 on it. I highly recommend this.
In the city, my hands wrapped around a burrito and a free coffee beverage, and I dove into some feedback that will help me submit the final stage of my Environmental Education Certification. From there, my hands passed off my keys to the Kia dealer for my final free oil change, and then tapped away at the keys of my computer on their free wi-fi, getting some work done. 1.5 hours later, I figured I would take advantage of the Wal-Mart auto center and get the tire replaced that we shredded last week. Without going into the details-- I got kicked out of one Walmart after waiting an hour for using the F-word after being told they couldn't honor my warranty because the car wasn't there (It's 2.5 hours away, without a tire, because Walmart took the spare during the last tire rotation). I tried a second Walmart and also had no luck. I shouldn't even call this part 'chasing free'. I wasn't really trying to get a free tire. I was wasting hours of my day hauling a rim in and out of an auto center to be denied a warranty we had already spent $10 on. In case you haven't figured out the moral of this memo-- DON'T use Walmart's Auto Service for anything.
As a final attempt to salvage my dull day, I swung by to see a friend on my way out of town. Before I know it, I'm in the giant commercial kitchen of El Pinto, washing mulberries that had been shaken from a tree hours earlier by the guy on the Salsa jars and catching up with said friend. There's nothing quite as satisfying as working with your hands, even if they're just pulling little bits of stick and seed off pounds of wet mulberries. But equally satisfying is wearing a sundress and sandals and a hairnet in a commercial kitchen and catching up with a friend you haven't seen in a year, just an hour after being trapped in a yelling match with an unempathetic manager at Walmart.
After an hour and a half, we finished cleaning the batch, and I snuck out of there, being rewarded 5 Free Salsa coupons for my labor. My hands, stained purple, got gas and drove home, weaving my steering wheel through the canyons under the dark sky of the new moon. Here my hands pet three happy dogs and five pecking chickens as I calculated my losses and gains of the day. -$20 gas; +$25 in salsa; +$40 oil change and inspection, -$10 warranty waste, +one new unique experience.
