His Own Business The Monkey on Darryl's Back

Today we found a used a coupon I got as a mailer to go out to eat. It was for $10 from Buffalos. I tried their hamburger basket which is three min-burgers and some fries. Our total bill was $3.60. I had a $5 and some change so we were able to tip the waitress.

I was pretty bummed because I had planned to get my hair cut. You see I had a coupon for $125 from the Hair Cuttery and a $45 gift card. I won those last year and had put it aside to use this holiday season. Well silly me. I didn’t realize that they closed all their stores here so I have all these cards and nothing to show for it. I thought I was saving some big money. I’d only used the darn thing once and I’d had my hair cut, dyed, and had highlights put in it. I’d never had my hair dyed professionally. Guess I won’t ever have that done again.

Oh and while I’m on the subject of things expiring or not being able to use something we lost 50,000 American Air miles. We won them about a year ago. Darryl checked on them and low and behold they are gone. They were supposed to never expire. Nope. Not anymore. Good-bye airfare.

Darryl and I chatted about what was going to happen as far as his unemployment and business. He is still obsessed with the idea of starting his own business. So this time I wanted to make sure that I understood what was going to happen. Here is the plan as he laid it out for me.

1. Get three phase power what ever that means.
2. He needs to clear the barn out.
3. Get the breaker box installed in barn and put lights up in barn.
4. He has to secure the barn. He has to build the plasma table and get a compressor.
5. He needs to order a small motor for the gantry.
6. He has to buy racks.
7. He has to buy a plasma cutter.
8. He will need an industrial heavy duty flat bed truck.
9. He says that the cost for all that will be $10,000 and that doesn’t include the truck and this money will come from selling things listed below. The money for the truck will come from selling the car.
10. Darryl needs to sell the tort converters that has on e-bay. He is also going to sell wheels and tires.
11. Darryl hopes to have his business up and running by July 18, 2009
12. December 2, 2008 Darryl will go to Unemployment office and file.
13. Darryl should be contacted by the out placement service people within a week of that. He plans to show them his resume and see if they will help him find a job. After they review his resume he will begin sending his resume off.
14. We will have 8 ½ months of unemployment. If he can find a job before that it would be optimum. If you can’t find a job within 8 ½ months he says he would take a job at McDonalds if necessary. He believes that they will extend unemployment by then.

I wrote all these things down because in the past Darryl gets very far ahead of himself, drags us down into this never ending rabbit hole. I’m continuously admonished that I just don’t understand or long lectures about how I could possibly teach entrepreneurship when I have no entrepreneurial spirit.

Well he’s right there. My head says get a job. That resume should already be going out. We don’t have time to sit here and wait. This whole “I want a business crap” needs to stop.

I’m giving up my house. In 2009 I will turn fifty. I’d like to do something special. Right now all I see is me sitting at the card table at the house in Cartersville with a cupcake and a candle. I feel so sad.

I try to focus, what would I do if Darryl died or was hurt in an accident. Well that would devastate me. So I need to focus on what I do have. I do have my health. I do have a husband I love. I do have two sons that I love. So in that respect I’m plenty blessed.

I just want my life back. Darryl’s still on the sour grapes kick. I’ve told him that what he’d doing is like if my dog was dying and because I felt sad about it he decided to take me to look at other dogs. I could see him saying “Come on Cathy, I know he’s dying and you feel about it but look we’ll get a better dog one that runs around. Hey Cathy, really I mean big dog doesn’t even run around and play with you anymore. Let’s just get a new dog OK?” He just doesn’t understand.