Exhausted

That's how I feel!

I've picked up a few shifts at the local feed store to make up for the fact that I wasn't getting many hours at the market. Of course as soon as I did that my hours at the market picked up. I'm thankful for the money but life at home is seriously suffering.

I've always maintained that when you work outside the home something suffers whether it's your work or your family. For me it's always my family because I want to do my best and I want to keep my job. You wouldn't think that working at a small market would be exhausting but it is. The work itself isn't bad but the environment is exhausting. For a small market there is enough drama going on behind the scene to fill 2 daytime soap operas with story lines forever. It's impossible to just go to work and do your job since all of the drama is brought into the workplace. People complain, gossip, and are just generally difficult to work with. Unlike a big market where you are tied to your register, we are expected to keep busy but stay in the front of the store. The summer season is winding down so business is slow making it difficult to keep busy. There are only so many times you can wipe down the same set of shelves during a shift. There is also a lot of interaction between the employees because we are so slow, this exacerbates problems that are brewing under the surface...

Lorna had a breakdown this past week, telling me that she feels like she has too much on her plate. When we talked about what was going on I found that it isn't her activities that are the problem but that she has too many responsibilities at home. She has picked up 95% of the jobs I can no longer do because I'm gone. She also tearfully told me that she misses me so much and just wants me to be home! How many mothers of teenagers hear that? After the pleasure of hearing that she wants me to be around I feel guilty because I have to work!

We are looking at solutions and I think we may have something worked out. If everything comes together in 2-3 weeks things will slow down for all of us.

Due to my busy schedule we haven't been able to work on our new property. We had planned to be moved out there by now but we still have some work to do before that can happen. Hopefully we can get things moving this week so that we can actually set a move date.