Welcome Fall

This week fall blew in, brisk and rainy. Usually this would cause me to grumble, but for the first time in my life I'm so ready for the new season to begin. My 27th summer officially sucked. I've been sitting here trying to find a more mature word for it, but sucked is a pretty good fit.

I've started to find my feet again in the last week. I'm excited again about work, my favorite friend in this city is recovering well at home, and my house isn't a wreck. This week I cooked as many meals as I ate out. The fall chill also has me excited about a few new knitting projects. In short I'm intersted in things and have the energy to do them.

The only flaw with fall so far is wardrobe. Logic tells me I wore clothes to work last fall. But looking through my closet laundry baskets I can't for the life of me figure it out. I'm thinking 2-3 light weight sweaters and/or long sleeve shirts, a pair of pants, and tights should round out what I already have. And boots. Cute, flat (or flat-ish) boots. I have 2 pairs of boots with heels that I almost never wear because they aren't much more than cute. I also have a pair of good snow boots. The kind of boots you that are warm and comfy when a part of your job involves standing on playgrounds in the mountains for 30-50 minutes at a time. For my current desk job they're just clunky and ugly.

With the clothes, and everything else, I'm working on balance. I've eased up on some of the money saving efforts and working outside of work. I'm spending more time (or at least trying to) doing the things that make me happy. When it comes to spending money on clothes and/or getting our house decorated I think about our goals, what I need in the long run, and how far off track wants will throw us. Not that we're headed deep into the spending woods. It's more like stopping to smell (and maybe pick) a few flowers just off of the trail.

Possible Pay Cut

I've mentioned before that I work in the nonprofit sector. I (and my office) live and die based on the grants we receive. Our final grant came in last week, and while we were ecstatic about the total amount they cut salary. This was further complicated because our grant manager talked to me about it without looking at our file. She confirmed that we could use some funds for salary and then called to say no, no salary.

So right now 10% of my salary/benefits is hanging out there. A part of my thinks we could live with the cut and I could drop my hours accordingly. Then I remember that many weeks of the year I'm closer to 50 hours that 40 hours, so getting the job done on 36 would be comical. Then I think of an admin person that recently went full time. Though I also know that the difference in her full/part time hours doesn't equal 10% of mine.

Tomorrow, first thing, my boss and I are sitting down to get it figured out. Hopefully it will all go well, but given the choice this is not how I'd start the week.