I have to tell you this ole grandma has missed being on here visiting with you. Where did this week go? It seems like the last few weeks have been a blurr since they have flew past me.
Gretchen and I have been together a lot this week. It has been good for my soul to have her walk over after she gets off work and we cook dinner together. Nothing better than spending time with someone that makes you laugh. Since she is moving by the lst it is nice that she has time for me.
My high school reunion is this Saturday and I had to try on everything in my closet for Gretchen so she could help me decide what to wear. She begged me to let her dye my hair pink and I wear leather pants. OMG I told her the three life time friends I am going with would leave me in the hotel room. hahaha
One day next week I hope to share a good time story with you. I am praying it will be a good time.
It will be strange seeing the kids I went to school with as old men and women.
I was excited this morning when Cathy sent me an email this morning with her Blogazine story. She had previously sent it a few weeks ago and for some reason I did not get it. Thank goodness she wrote me and ask if I had received it because we would of missed out on getting to know Cathy better.
After reading her story tonight I realized how much I enjoy doing these post. I love learning things about you that I don't know. It just seems to bring us all closer which is the whole purpose of my blog. Friends connecting with friends.
Be sure and welcome Cathy and don't forget to hop over to her site. While your there you will see why I ask Cathy to be my guest. Also please think about sending me your story too. I truly enjoy getting to know you better. Now heres Cathy.......
Hi all,
My name is Cathy Bendzunas and I have about 40+ sites but my main site is at http://thefrazzledhomemaker.com/
I'm a big fan of Maggie's as I'm sure you all are too. A few months ago Maggie stopped by my blog and asked if I'd be interested in writing a post on her blog. I was interested but had no idea what to write about.
Then I saw she had started up the Blogazine Guest posts again so decided I'd tell you my story of how I came to be "happily unemployed."
I was always the black sheep of the family. I felt like I never quite fit in and I also felt like no matter what I did, I disappointed my parents. That's a whole another story though.
Being that I was the offspring of 2 college educated professionals, it was assumed that I would go to college too and become a professional. There was one problem with that. Professional what? I really wasn't interested in any one profession.
I loved drawing and art and wanted to be a fashion illustrator but even with an art school degree, those jobs were few and far between.
I kind of enjoyed writing and my English college professor told me I had a knack for it but what could I do with that? I didn't have the drive to be a reporter.
I guess I could always have gotten my teaching degree in Art or English and taught that but I knew without a doubt I was not teacher material. I would have hated it. And so would the students.
So, as I seemed to do with so much in my life, I disappointed my parents and dropped out of college. I got a job as an accounting clerk. The official title was "Reconciliation Analyst". Fancy title, huh? Really what I did was play detective and figure out what the trouble was when clients had problems with their account. I actually liked that job because you really did have to be a sleuth. But the company did away with that job and I was moved into processing incoming mail. Very boring.
I had other jobs over the years too such as payroll clerk, computer operator, dog groomer and kennel attendant. I liked some things about each of those jobs but none of them were "my Calling". Although I excelled at every job I had, and was a very hard worker, I really hated working. It was so hard to keep my mouth shut when I would see some of the idiotic things managers would do. And even though a tiny part of me liked the structure of a job, most of me hated it with a passion. I would wake up depressed knowing I had to go to work AGAIN. Can I get a witness?
I figured everyone felt that way and jobs were just something we as humans have to endure. There was something in my spirit that just cried out for freedom and just screamed in my head that this was wrong. I was not meant for to work a typical job. Of course my parents thought I was nuts for feeling this way. And I was afraid they were right.
Altogether I worked for over 30 years. There were times when I would just work part time when my children were young, but I never stopped working altogether.
Until 2008. It was a tough time in my life. My oldest daughter got into some legal trouble. My husband also got several DUI's and ended up in jail for a few months. I found out he was cheating on me. That destroyed my marriage although it was never a good marriage to begin with. Both of my parents became ill and disabled and my father died in the summer of 2008, leaving the care of my mother solely to me. Yep, it was a tough year.
The one good thing that happened was that I was laid off from my job in the Spring of that year. When it happened, I felt a mixture of fear, hurt and apprehension for the future. But mostly I felt relief. I was so grateful that I was out of there. I felt like my spirit had been set free.
It's been 3 years since then and I still have not found another job. That's because I haven't looked for another job. I educated myself and learned how to build websites, do affiliate marketing and search engine optimization. I'm doing what I love. I absolutely love the internet and computers. I get to write and I get to design. What could be better?
I am hardly rich, but I'm making it on my own and I could not be happier. Sometimes I'm asked if I feel scared about the insecurity of not knowing what I'm going to make every month. But the way the economy is, I think I would be more afraid to have a job that could end at any moment.
Would I suggest to others to quit their job and work for themselves? Not necessarily. I don't think I would have ever done it if the decision hadn't been made for me. But if you do feel you should be working for yourself, make some plans now while you still have a job.
Save as much as you can. Learn to live on less. Pay off as much debt as you can. And start your business part time now, while you still have a job. Build it up so that it can sustain you if you ever do quit, or like me, lose your job.
Cathy Bendzunas
http://thefrazzledhomemaker.com/
http://www.cathyscreations.com/
Great story honey. I appreciate you sharing this with us. I am curious who will be next.
Remember Love Well, Laugh Often and Love Much!
Love to all
Maggie
Gretchen and I have been together a lot this week. It has been good for my soul to have her walk over after she gets off work and we cook dinner together. Nothing better than spending time with someone that makes you laugh. Since she is moving by the lst it is nice that she has time for me.
My high school reunion is this Saturday and I had to try on everything in my closet for Gretchen so she could help me decide what to wear. She begged me to let her dye my hair pink and I wear leather pants. OMG I told her the three life time friends I am going with would leave me in the hotel room. hahaha
One day next week I hope to share a good time story with you. I am praying it will be a good time.
It will be strange seeing the kids I went to school with as old men and women.
I was excited this morning when Cathy sent me an email this morning with her Blogazine story. She had previously sent it a few weeks ago and for some reason I did not get it. Thank goodness she wrote me and ask if I had received it because we would of missed out on getting to know Cathy better.
After reading her story tonight I realized how much I enjoy doing these post. I love learning things about you that I don't know. It just seems to bring us all closer which is the whole purpose of my blog. Friends connecting with friends.
Be sure and welcome Cathy and don't forget to hop over to her site. While your there you will see why I ask Cathy to be my guest. Also please think about sending me your story too. I truly enjoy getting to know you better. Now heres Cathy.......
Hi all,
My name is Cathy Bendzunas and I have about 40+ sites but my main site is at http://thefrazzledhomemaker.com/
Then I saw she had started up the Blogazine Guest posts again so decided I'd tell you my story of how I came to be "happily unemployed."
I was always the black sheep of the family. I felt like I never quite fit in and I also felt like no matter what I did, I disappointed my parents. That's a whole another story though.
Being that I was the offspring of 2 college educated professionals, it was assumed that I would go to college too and become a professional. There was one problem with that. Professional what? I really wasn't interested in any one profession.
I loved drawing and art and wanted to be a fashion illustrator but even with an art school degree, those jobs were few and far between.
I kind of enjoyed writing and my English college professor told me I had a knack for it but what could I do with that? I didn't have the drive to be a reporter.
I guess I could always have gotten my teaching degree in Art or English and taught that but I knew without a doubt I was not teacher material. I would have hated it. And so would the students.
So, as I seemed to do with so much in my life, I disappointed my parents and dropped out of college. I got a job as an accounting clerk. The official title was "Reconciliation Analyst". Fancy title, huh? Really what I did was play detective and figure out what the trouble was when clients had problems with their account. I actually liked that job because you really did have to be a sleuth. But the company did away with that job and I was moved into processing incoming mail. Very boring.
I had other jobs over the years too such as payroll clerk, computer operator, dog groomer and kennel attendant. I liked some things about each of those jobs but none of them were "my Calling". Although I excelled at every job I had, and was a very hard worker, I really hated working. It was so hard to keep my mouth shut when I would see some of the idiotic things managers would do. And even though a tiny part of me liked the structure of a job, most of me hated it with a passion. I would wake up depressed knowing I had to go to work AGAIN. Can I get a witness?
I figured everyone felt that way and jobs were just something we as humans have to endure. There was something in my spirit that just cried out for freedom and just screamed in my head that this was wrong. I was not meant for to work a typical job. Of course my parents thought I was nuts for feeling this way. And I was afraid they were right.
Altogether I worked for over 30 years. There were times when I would just work part time when my children were young, but I never stopped working altogether.
Until 2008. It was a tough time in my life. My oldest daughter got into some legal trouble. My husband also got several DUI's and ended up in jail for a few months. I found out he was cheating on me. That destroyed my marriage although it was never a good marriage to begin with. Both of my parents became ill and disabled and my father died in the summer of 2008, leaving the care of my mother solely to me. Yep, it was a tough year.
The one good thing that happened was that I was laid off from my job in the Spring of that year. When it happened, I felt a mixture of fear, hurt and apprehension for the future. But mostly I felt relief. I was so grateful that I was out of there. I felt like my spirit had been set free.
It's been 3 years since then and I still have not found another job. That's because I haven't looked for another job. I educated myself and learned how to build websites, do affiliate marketing and search engine optimization. I'm doing what I love. I absolutely love the internet and computers. I get to write and I get to design. What could be better?
I am hardly rich, but I'm making it on my own and I could not be happier. Sometimes I'm asked if I feel scared about the insecurity of not knowing what I'm going to make every month. But the way the economy is, I think I would be more afraid to have a job that could end at any moment.
Would I suggest to others to quit their job and work for themselves? Not necessarily. I don't think I would have ever done it if the decision hadn't been made for me. But if you do feel you should be working for yourself, make some plans now while you still have a job.
Save as much as you can. Learn to live on less. Pay off as much debt as you can. And start your business part time now, while you still have a job. Build it up so that it can sustain you if you ever do quit, or like me, lose your job.
Cathy Bendzunas
http://thefrazzledhomemaker.com/
http://www.cathyscreations.com/
Great story honey. I appreciate you sharing this with us. I am curious who will be next.
Remember Love Well, Laugh Often and Love Much!
Love to all
Maggie
Posts
13 comments:
Have fun at your reunion!
You'll knock them all dead.
Great guest poster! Loved it.
First I am so glad our problems have cured themselves.
Really enjoyed Cathy's entry. I can relate to many parts of it.
Knock'em dead at your reunion. Maybe an old beau who is now rich and has aged well will resurface?
Hi Maggie, I just love reading Cathy's story and congratulate her on making her own choices and working in a job that she loves.
Being the live wire that you are you are I'm sure that you will have a great time at the High School Reunion with your school friends.
It's a great time to remember the old days and to talk about where you are now.
Have fun my friend.
I still haven't had much time to think about posting on your Blogazine, but I will soon. Love, JB
love this post, love the Blogazine..love love love meeting new people.. and WOW over 40 site.. what an overachiever you are Cathy! so nice to meet you
So happy sweet Maggie that you are getting to spend so much time with Gretchen.
I really enjoyed ready Cathy's story.
Have a fantastic time at the reunion! Hugs
I'm sure you'll have fun at your reunion. They seem to get better as the years by.
And I enjoyed meeting Cathy, too!
=)
You will be the Belle of the ball. Have a great time. Maybe your Prince will be there.
I enjoyed Cathy's entry. So glad that she is doing what she wants to.
I spent a few hours with a friend with somewhat of a similar sotry today. I admire her courage.....my firned and Cathy.
Okay, I may take the leap and be your guest.
Have a great time. Take pictures and tell us all about it.
I liked Cathy's story and have already been to visit her. Her post is about green cleaning which is something I've been wanting to do for a while.
Have fun at the reunion. Best wishes, Tammy
Enjoyed Cathy's story.....thanks for the wonderful share!
And know that I'm pulling for you:)
Laugh till your belly's sore
at that reunion...hope it's
a million joyful laughs.
-Jennifer
Reunion time--bet you'll have a few stories to share with us after that!
Have fun!
Nice to meet you, Cathy!
Nice to meet Cathy. Glad you are doing your blogazine stories again Maggie.
I enjoyed reading this and now I am off to her site.
Tam
Glad to meet all of yall! And thanks so much Maggie for running my story!
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