Actually, I've been back in the grind since last Wednesday, and absence did not make the heart grow fonder for the grind. I wish I could blog about specific grinding things, but I can't. Cupcake Antics are mere mosquitoes buzzing around my ears.
Asheville is falling off the Possible Destinations List. There just ain't no jobs there. It's small, it's hippie-chic and artsy and fun, but there's not much There there, employment-wise. And call me boring and middle class baby boomerish, but I'd like to retire someday and not work three $8 an hour jobs until I die.
Boy is struggling and feeling discouraged - working way below one's education and capabilities is demoralizing, and it's not like he's not out there pitching and willing to take anything to get a foot in the door. There just aren't many doors.
So I'm on a two track path. I'm still hoping that things will shake out with the company I work for now - I mean, company-wise, not Me-personally-wise. And in the meantime, I'm unloading baggage and checking out other semi-familiar places, like Greenville and Columbia, SC. Much lower cost of living than here, and there are jobs.
The housing market has slowed from the madness of the last two years, yes, but it's not DEAD in the South. A house on my street went on the market at nearly $300k about three or four weeks ago. It has a sale pending sign on it right now. For a big 1600 square feet on a postage stamp lot, though in a nice neighborhood and a great school district (not by Florida standards, but by actual national standards). It's a lovely house, well maintained and updated, but...OhMyGAWD. The original owners in this neighborhood (and there are several) must feel like they won the lottery. I do, and I've only been here 10 years.
So I will put my nose back to the grindstone, throw my shoulder to the wheel, insert your favorite cliche of drudgery here, and continue my path of working long, stress-filled, demented hours and getting this house in shape to sell if the working long hours doesn't pay off with job security, not that I have much control over that, and that's something I can't blog about but seriously, I wanted to be challenged and damn, be careful what you wish for.
The Mustard Seed is coming for some of the furniture. Vietnam Vets is coming for the smaller stuff. I have a (different) consignment shop eager to take the computer armoire. They actually quoted me a price and talked business, unlike the first contact in the high rent district. I am lightening the load, emptying the house, I need room to breathe.
6 comments:
and how much do you think you could get for your house, and how much do you owe on it? sounds like a deal to me. you could sell thehouse at what is probably a huge profit, and buy a nicer house for less money in a better area. sounds like a plan to me. i'd be job hunting, myself. and think of it this way. if you move up there, ya might actually get to knit AND WEAR wool for part of the year!
Hidy neighbor! You will have a weekend get-away at Chez Woo!
Catherine - I had intended to warn you about the job market in Asheville (I have two friends who live there) but I was hoping perhaps their job problems in the last few years had more to do with their respective fields rather than the Asheville area...
Both of them now are working for temp agencies because there is no permanent full time positions available that they aren't overqualified for really...
Lovely area though I have to agree - too bad about the job situation there though (too bad for both you and them...)
I suspected it would be that way, it's just too SMALL to be otherwise. I am a city girl, Orlando was the smallest place I'd ever lived until we moved to Raleigh 15 years ago and I thought I'd DIE, ohmygawdtherearenojobshere, and then we moved back to Orlando. My son is scrabbling by on this and that until he gets his real estate license (he was licensed here in FL). But I don't know if he'll be able to make it there. Greenville and Columbia are an hour away from all the prettiness of the Blue Ridge. Columbia is the better prospect. I used to visit both on business when I worked for The Big Builder Which Must Not Be Named, and really liked both cities. Columbia is the larger, so I'm leaning that way. I want to scale back, I will take a pay cut (hell, I'll almost certainly take a whopping pay cut) but the goal is a lower-stress, less expensive lifestyle, not living on the edge.
My scratched on the back of an envelope CMA (and yes I do know how to do this stuff) puts me at around $270,000 conservatively, $285K on a good day. I could buy a comparable house in my target cities in SC for $170,000, and lose the overcrowded Orlando crazy. It does make me think hard.
and who knows, maybe murphy will like the cooler weather. if not, you can always knit him sweaters, too, lol
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