Thursday, November 24, 2016

Got a minute? :-)

PFFFFFF! Turkey is cooking, coffee is made, snacks are within reach........ Time for a chat!

Life has been a whirlwind of learning, adjusting, adapting, more learning, adjusting and adapting for a while now. We're not done yet, but I have high hopes that the light at the end of the tunnel is indeed a light, and not a freighttrain. LOL.

As most of you know, I don't like change, and I don't adapt very well, but learning I LOVE, so I guess the last little while hasn't been a total downer :-) After chemo and the culture shock of moving back to Holland, I just don't do the changes in course like I used to. Don't know what it is, whether it is everything put together, ages inflexibility kicking in, or just being tired of having to shift gear whenever somebody thinks it's that time, but I wish I could hit a nice tranquil stream, do my thing and just float for just a little while. BUT we all know there is no such thing, so I'm going to have to be OK with life as it hits me! LOL.

After finalizing my schooling in July, I started on the hard part of being a webdesigner... The business side. I'm not bad at it, I just don't have a clue LOL. So, I'm learning. Babysteps all the way, with lots of detours, because my silly mind is never happy with the information given, it always wants "more input". The upswing to that is that I get a way better understanding of what's waiting for me, mainly better reading glasses and lots of paperwork :-) The downside is that there is so much stuff in my brain right now, that I'm sometimes wondering if I'm not heading for total harddrive failure. Usually that happens right before our fuzzy roommate lays on the keyboard and demands attention though, so it's all good.

I went to the powers that be, after the chamber of commerce scared the bejeebies out of me, by telling me I couldn't, not with the approval of the Gemeente, get the permit to register my businessname, so I could build my website and "get going". I had my interview and was told that it could take up to 10 days before I heard back..... not quite. I barely made it home when I got a call from the company that would evaluate my plan and person as to wether it was ok to do. They made an appointment for Monday. Mind you, this is Thursday late afternoon, and at this point, my office is still squarely positioned on the kitchen table, because my desk is buried under boxes and whatnots that didn't have a place in the house, or missed the oneway trip to the dump/thriftstore.... We kicked butt that weekend, and got my office all done! Mike was great! He was soooo tired at night, that we had 4 days of sandwiches for lunch and dinner, because neither one of us had the energy to make anything that involved more than slamming a slice of bread on a plate, spread some speculoos or nutella on it, pour  a glass of milk and chow.  BUT we got it done, all went well, and within 3 weeks I had my "You're good to go" letter in the mail, followed by my first coaching session a week later. So I'm now officially official :-)

So far, it's been so cool, but I haven't had much time to code or anything, and it's beginning to worry me a little. I'm afraid I'll have to start over, but I'll start sneaking a little fun in here and there. Still have to be able to show a website before too long, so I best get started on it. I've decided fro the beginning it's NOT going to be a WP site, and I'm going to code it from scratch. I will also follow all the steps I should take when I'm building a site for a customer, so I know how long things will take (I'm sure that will help in the part of my training where I'll have to explain what I want to charge and why....) and what snag I might need to try and untangle at different points in the process.

I'm really chomping at the bit to get going on the "doing" business, but I am learning that I can't get away with not "learning" and "setting up" business.  It's fun, but a different kind of hard work than I expected. Not complaining though I'm just in that "I want to BE there......" whiny fase of the project. LOL!

We're watching Giants Football right now, followed by the Bills football, followed by Pumpkin-pie with hot chocolate. Dinner a little after that, and meeting at the castle around 6...... Mike has to go to work at 5 for Black Friday, and I give a senior computer-class at 9 so we won't make it late... but it's nice to have a "forced" down day. No books, no school, no webinars for me today, just fun. I may do a little scrapping, or website prep, but no "have to get it done today"-things.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope your Thanksgivings day is what you want it to be. As for me, I'm thankful to have my best friend next to me no matter what happens, be alive and be able to try and make a difference in our lives, by working my tail off :-)

Don't forget to hug a loved one, twice when they're off the fuzzy variety and enjoy the day.

Love and hugs,
Pauli