Mama’s business, routine, health issues, schedule issues

We had to be at church early last night so Mama could meet with Brittany and Leah Wycoff. The two of them are wanting to sign up in Mama’s Color Street business. They will sign up under Mama and be moved to Victoria so she can expand her business. Not only that but an old friend from Victoria. TX, now living in North Carolina, is signing up as well. Mama and I have been praying for more people to sign up. Not that she would get rich from this business, but that it would keep growing month by month until it becomes a real busines versus another hobby. It is encouraging to Mama and her upline.

I will research today how much money I have put into the business as well as Mama’s other expenses so we can get a true sense of whether or not she is making money – or just spending enough to look like she is making money. Having Mama try to keep track is a less than promising proposition, but I intend to get her started on that so she can really know where her money is going as her Color Street business continues to grow. She ranks now as a Team Leader and her stats within the organization show that she can reach the Director status before the end of August. Pretty impressive. For those of you who know Mama it is VERY impressive.

As I was out helping Mama feed this morning, I thought about growing up in a house in the city, how often we were bored. Those were days in which television was not a 24/7/365 occurrence. Shows were broadcast in the evenings only and all broadcasts shut down at mid-night. There were no video games, no internet, no iTunes, Netflix, etc. Often, we played baseball in the cul-de-sac in front of our house, but that was not a constant activity. As we got older, I set up large aquariums in the garage and eventually started raising snakes and the rodents I fed the snakes. But, more often than not, we had little to do other than play on the playground equipment dad setup in the back yard. I say all that to say that even the “routine” activities Mama and I deal with here at the farm are far more interesting than I had available in my childhood. So, I try not to think of our life here on the farm as boring, but it can get to be routine. Working from home allows me to participate to a greater extent in that routine – which I enjoy thoroughly. I will miss it when we are required to go back to the office. Fortunately, I have another two months to enjoy working mostly from home. I plan to do so as much as possible.

Right now, however, it is difficult to enjoy the routine. It is so hot in the afternoon and evenings that Mama and I are soaked through even with the light duty feeding we do every evening. I have not been working in the shop in the evenings because of the heat – and because there is nothing pressing other than keeping the plants and trees alive through this drought. It is not unexpected. It happens every year and we are set up to deal with it, but it still very uncomfortable to be out in the heat. More so with the health issues I am dealing with. Mama is going to set up an appointment for me with the cardiologist Grandpa is seeing. I need to have a full evaluation of heart function, but I do not like the cardiologist I saw here in Decatur. Nothing personal, we just did not hit it off. She had way too many answers and not enough questions. I got the feeling that she wanted to rush me into the operating room to satisfy her curiosity about my present heart condition. I am not feeling so badly that I need immediate attention, but I can tell something is not right with my health. While I have good insurance, I should do something to get the issue resolved. I jut hate to give up the time and money required to do so.

That evaluation, which requires some time in the hospital, may be difficult for me to arrange with work. They have me on a very packed schedule. As I spoke briefly with my immediate boss yesterday, she alluded to the tight schedule I have going forward and her worries in maintaining that schedule. I am presenting at least one class per week. Many weeks I have two classes scheduled. That does not allow for any vacation or – at the worst – sick time. As long as my boss realizes that, I am okay going forward as planned. But at some point, we will have to get someone else on board to handle the volume of classes we are offering. It is manageable only because it does not require any travel on my part. Once travel is required, it will be a very difficult schedule to maintain.

But, again, we have through the end of September to address that.