Author Archives: gmayeaux

There are lots of changes in your life when you semi-retire. Your whole world shifts from work to home. Your focus goes from your waking hours defined by your to-do list to your work learning to coexist with the rest of your life. It’s a glorious thing and for a long time, retiring to fourContinue reading “Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning.”

My friend texted the other day that she could really get into being a housewife. She’s currently off for a few weeks and has settled into the daily routine of life at home. Her text tapped into something my sister and I discuss all of the time: we could definitely be full-time housewives. If IContinue reading “If I were a housewife…”

A colleague just relocated from Texas to New York City and yesterday, she asked about tips and tricks to make winter easier. I was probably the wrong person to ask. However, to prove that I can sometimes exercise self-control, I didn’t enter into a diatribe about how winter just plain sucks and you have toContinue reading “Snow days”

Have you ever felt painfully inadequate in explaining something you’ve “just known” all your life? It happens to me – maybe more often than it does to others – but it happens. Today was one of those times. So, despite being a yuppie homesteader and living an agricultural life, I have allergies. Lots and lotsContinue reading “Immunizations and oral histories…”

Today has been one of those days. You know the type… one of those days when you never sit down. It’s felt like I was busy all day. First, picking up the kitchen so I could go get groceries because I won’t bring groceries into a dirty kitchen. Then, cleaning the bathrooms. From there, strippingContinue reading “A quiet evening…”

When I left my old organization, I tried to explain to people I cared so much about why I was leaving. In the end, I used the lame excuse “it’s not you, it’s me.” While it was lame, it was true. Others could handle the hustle and bustle, the daily demands, the multiple headspaces, theContinue reading “It’s not you, it’s me…”

It’s 5:17 a.m. here. It wasn’t what anyone would call the greatest night of sleep. From time to time, my allergies decide to get restless. When they do, there’s no stopping them. Sometime around 3:30 a.m., my nose started itching. Around 4:45 a.m., I started sneezing and gave up the fight to come downstairs. AsContinue reading “The secret to a good cup of coffee…”

Before I began to work from home permanently, I had a lot of visions about what it would be like. Now, a little over three years later, I can see where I got it wrong, I got it right and, candidly, I was way off-base. Because the discussion strikes at the heart of why IContinue reading “The myths and truths of working from home…”

Yesterday in my yoga class – yes, I am a YUPPIE homesteader – our yoga instructor urged us to say “yes.” Specifically, she urged us to be open to new opportunities and to not immediately reject something. I came home that night and immediately said no. The “no” was to another new proposal that IContinue reading “Winter life on the homestead…”

They happen swiftly and early, these winter blues. No sooner is the Christmas tree down, the boxes of decorations stored and the house picked back up than the winter blues set in. In summer, we experience over 15 hours of daylight. In winter, it goes down to just under 9 hours a day. All fall,Continue reading “The winter blues…”