It’s time for change.
I bounced around blue color jobs, had a lovely career as a flight attendant, then retired early to help care for my parents.
Back to odd jobs. Landing at the post office after a generous glass of wine during the pandemic. Wage was okay until you factored in all the unpaid hours delivering copious amounts of Amazon. I held on, finally paying for a new kitchen in our fixer upper.
For the bottom of the barrel, days off at the Post Office are few to nonexistent. Oh, Geez – can’t figure out why they’re always so short-handed. I lasted two years. My busiest week topped eighty six hours – many of those unpaid.
So, I retired.
I’m too young to retire. Dad worked until he was eighty-seven. He stayed busy.
I was always busy. Writing on planes, in hotels and vans, or during airport delays. At home, I rarely sat down. Too many wonderful things to do.
Until I survived the post office. Tired, I turned into a stump. Mind mushy, my body morphed to the shape of a coffee mug. Hey, I like coffee mugs, I just don’t want to resemble one.
I learned to be a better writer, working a now defunct blog, so I’ve decided to use this new one to hone new skills.
So, I commit.
To write. Post blogs. Rewrite two manuscripts with limited potential, and keep the other three well-hidden.
To paint – who knew oil was so difficult and so exhilarating. I won a little oil kit in high school, made mud, never tried again. So the small plein air sketch above is one of my first and full of beginner mistakes. So what? I am a beginner and I’ll post whatever’s on my easel every Wednesday to keep my feet to the fire. Sheesh, I keep descending into cliche!
To try a new recipe each week – Starting with Jeanne’s Bacon Jalapeño Bread. She’s over at www.ajeanneinthekitchen.com . Success, or first draft, I’m posting a pic of that bread on Monday. Who else wants to bake a delicious loaf?
Ok, for once in a great while, I have things to do. See you online!
(And I’ll move – because who wants to look like a coffee mug!)
Kelly Louise Allen 
I think your painting looks really good! If I tried that you would be able to see mistakes from a mile away ☺️
Thank you. It’s fun and I think that’s all that counts – that and about a gazillion how-to’s on YouTube. Have a great evening.
Floundering. Reminds me of the founder fish, known among fishermen as “a doormat” because it’s … well … flat. Sometimes I feel like a flounder; I think I’d rather be a coffee mug!
Perspective! Thanks for the comment, Nancy, and belated congrats on Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women.
Thanks! Much appreciated!
Really so true said dear friend.🤗💕☺
Wonderful post💕😊👍
Thank you, Yaksh.
It’s my pleasure✨😊 dear.
Impressed. Painting looks easy until you try it!
Thank you, Michelle. I enjoyed your post My Prerogative. Opinions are well and good but so much better when you look at all sides. Lately, that doesn’t seem to popular – which is sad.
Unfortunately true. 😞 I look forward to seeing more of your artwork! I’m saving ‘learn to paint’ for my 60s and 70s on my future goals but you never know, I might just change my mind! 😁
Excellent goals!
Love your painting and reflection, Kelly. And the courage and spirit it takes to try something new and uncomfortable, Your painting is so peaceful and reminds me of the blended landscapes I used to see before I discovered I was extremely nearsighted. That turned out to an important lesson about perspective. I learned to see how things blended together rather than as separate and sharply divided.
I also have a great deal of gratitude for mail carriers and try to keep my sidewalk clear of snow and ice in winter. Their hours are so long in my neighborhood, and daylight so fleeting in winter. Last year especially. I could see them delivering mail by flashlight long after their shift should have ended.
Thank you. The wonderful thing about art is there are so many ways to enjoy the view. I’ll keep cracking on.
And mail carriers, oh yes they love a cleared walkway. There’s just no time for wet feet!
Enjoy your Thanksgiving, Carol!
💜
More laughter. You’re writing my story. Who told you?! I didn’t know anyone knew all those things about me, the painting, the retiring early, the writing, the two manuscripts for crying out loud! Who told you? 😉 Seems like there might be a sort of soul sister kind of thing going on…it’s so awesome to meet you. I’m rooting for you over here. I bet those manuscripts are amazing! Keep going sister!
Deb
You were leaving this note while I was over at your site telling you I grew up in the same unusual building – a hyperbolic paraboloid (which I just learned to spell.) Dad wasn’t a pastor – but he did everything else. Mom was the event coordinator. My sister is memorialized under a maple in the yard. The world is a small place!
More tears. Stop that!
It’s possible! There was an old movie – Shirley Temple maybe – where the children were eagerly waiting for birth as they couldn’t wait to meet their parents. I use to tell my folks I spotted them, shoved everyone out of the way and took the plunge.
Okay, that’s it. I just popped over to Amazon for your book only this time the Kindle version won’t cut it. I’m waiting for the real thing 🙂
Oh my gosh, that made me cry. We’re celebrating over here. Thank you Kelly. (But I’m supposed to be funny and here I sit moved to tears again. Ugh.)
Tears, laughter, two sides of a heart.
That caused me to ask my husband just now as we’re eating pizza getting ready to watch a movie and I’m making popcorn, “What is that movie called ‘fumbling toward eternity’or something like that? “Tumbling towards Ecstasy?” He said. “The Sarah McLachlan album we like?”
“Yeah, that’s it.” What would I do without my husband? My version reminds me of all this. (But I may have lost where this started.) 😄♥️
Both titles are fun. 🙂