City Mouse, Country Mouse

How exactly, I can imagine you are asking after my last brief post, did I end up moving from an apartment in Kalamazoo, Michigan to a house in Lake Thunderbird, Putnam, Illinois? Moving from the kind of urban environment I grew up in, with opera and museums and take-out (take-out you can even order online!!) to the smallest county in Illinois, where the nearest gas station is about 10 miles from me, and the nearest bar has a giant Budweiser decal with an image of a buck and the message "Welcome Hunters!" (I'm not joking, i'll take pictures or something.)

How exactly indeed. It has blessed little to do with steins, and even less to do with skeins. I hope to change the former; the latter, however, will continue to be a hobby.

About 2 1/2 months ago, after graduating, moving back in with my mother (the horror!) and resuming my high school job as a hostess in an upscale gay bar and restaurant I got a call from the aforementioned mother who is nothing if not connected.

The conversation went something like this:

Mom- "Catherine, I just got this email. You won't believe it! You're going to be so tickled. You're going to love it!"
Me- "Awesome, but I'm on the train. Can you forward it to me?"
Mom - "No, just let me read it! Okay, 'Hi Sarah...' Oh wait, someone is calling me on the other line. Hold on..."
Me- "Mom, just call me back. This is wasting my cell phone min...Mom? Are you there?"
Mom- "Okay, I'm back. Sorry. 'Hi Sarah..."
Me-"seriously, just email me"
Mom -"No, I'm reading it!"

Needless to say, I lost that battle. Flash forward about 10 minutes, several more times being put on hold, and me transferring from the El to the bus.

Me-" Wait, so Ryan and Josh are opening a restaurant in Princeton [IL]?"
Mom- "Yes"
Me- "Like, for real? For real, 100%, opening a restaurant?"
Mom-"YES"
Me- "AND THEY WANT ME TO RUN IT? THEY WANT ME TO RUN THEIR RESTAURANT AND POSSIBLY BREWERY JUST FULFILLING MY LIFELONG DREAM AT THE AGE OF 23?"
Mom "Yes. I rock."
Me "OH MY GOD I HAVE TO CALL ERIC AND TELL HIM I GET TO RUN A RESTAURANT."

So, the plan was, obviously, that I would run a restaurant. However, I'm not sure if you noticed that we are in a recession. Unfortunately the bank seemed to remember that fact and would not lend us the amount to purchase the building we wanted the restaurant to be in. I go back to Chicago and twiddle my thumbs for a bit until Josh calls in the midst of a nervous breakdown, overstressed, overworked, and understaffed at their online t-shirt company, Babbletees.com.

So, with the restaurant on hold for the moment, I moved to the country and stepped into the role of Customer Service woman extraordinaire, wholesale manager, and t-shirt trainee. I'm learning about business just as much as I'm learning about not hitting deer while driving 80 mph down route IL-29 once the sun goes down. I answer phones, I spearhead sales, I ride horses, and listen to coyotes.

It's a change. A huge fucking change, and I never saw it coming. But the more I settle in, the more I'm enjoying this change. I'm working in the kind of position I wanted to --with a small, vital company, great people, and ample pay. I'm living an adorable A-frame house (more on that to come) with my two dogs and two cats. I'm horseback riding seriously again for the first time in close to eight years, and I even have a knitting/fiber arts studio, and room enough to spin, dye, and design!

Phew, so there's the story. I've even been knitting a little bit through this crazy move, but I'll have to share that later!