Perceptions

I think it's funny that people think I am well off. Perceptions are a bitch, aren't they?

Yes, I earn a good wage. I won't lie about that. I have a house, and a car, and a pool, and two dogs. I take trips. From the outside looking in, I suppose it looks pretty good, doesn't it?

Let me ask you an honest question - do you think I actually get to enjoy the fruits of my labor? Do you think I actually enjoy owning a home? Or having a pool?

Let's talk about that pool. That albatross. That pool has cost me, since I bought the house, about $6000 in maintenance and repair. I have gone swimming in that pool about...six times. That means on average each swim costs $1,000. It is not that I do not enjoy swimming; it is that the pool represents yet another chore that needs to be done before anything can be enjoyed.

The house is much the same way. It was a bad investment, although I did not know it when I purchased it. Something is always broken. Thank you for your concern, but I spend several thousand dollars each year repairing something that breaks, be it a blown bus (whatever that is) or a leaking pipe or an air conditioning unit (not something one can live without in Dixie). I do not discuss it with the family at large, and unlike other people in this family I have the luxury of a having a decent job (for now) so I do not have to ask other people to pay for my mistakes.

Do I need to underline the last part of that sentence for you?

Right.

Now, you will have to forgive me. The day is long. After we have put in a full day at work, and arrived home at six thirty or seven, and weather permitting I have walked the girls...and then it's time to work on school work, and then make dinner, and then do laundry, and perhaps watch some television, and clean a bit, and then off to bed. If I am lucky, this is eleven. It is usually twelve thirty, and back up at six thirty. This means that when I have free time, or entertain, I like people to come to me because my time I so limited, I like to make the most of it. Is that selfish? You bet your sweet bippy it is! All of you in blogland know about the disasterous family/work weekend a few weeks ago - unfortunately, that is not as rare as one might think. That is what a normal work DAY (even at night) can be like.

Trips...let's see. Mr. Manners and I have taken two trips this year that were not work related. We went to New Orleans, and we went to Charlotte for Kim's wedding. Orlando, Daytona and Destin were all trips where we worked. Yes, I do manage to work remotely when we travel, and I do help Mr. Manners some when he works (a very little). Those are not trips for pleasure (please note that for the Destin trip the bathing suit was not even needed). We are going to go on a road trip soon, a ROAD TRIP, requiring me to be in the car, driving, the two activities I despise the most, because we cannot afford to do anything different.

My EXTREME apologies if I don't fit into the image of what a you think I ought to be. Why don't you walk in my shoes? Come walk in my life? Get up every day, go to work, pay my bills, have my debt, my mortgage, my obligations, and my required level of normalcy?

Now, you've really pissed me off. You can all knock it off, or there is going to be so serious radio silence. I mean it.

Love and Kisses,

Eliza