October 11, 2017.  WHAT????  *sigh*

My beautiful dog, Boonie.  This guy has become my protector, his choice. Isn't he stunning? 

His photo is first up on this new venture.  But wait.... it's not new at all, is it.  This blog of mine has been an off and on and off love affair, (and sometimes a LoveFromAfarAffair).  Maintainence is required, the planet has changed, (pssst.....its Switzerland's fault, I'll tell ya later), and hopefully this time this beas...bitc... this blog will return to the entertaining, learning, and living view of my little corner of Paradise.  Stay tuned! 

The spring barbeque

Friday night I had one of those "Oh!" moments, ya know? Things just got a little bit clearer around the edges about some stuff. It was kinda cool actually. I spent the afternoon with my bestest gf on a long range golf cart tour, drinking wine and creek cruisin'. It was time to head for the ponderosa, so off I went to make dinner for my dear hubby that works like a crazy man to keep us alive.

Drive home. . . uneventful.

Lo and behold?? What is this? I have MORE wine at home waiting for me?? omg life is sweet. Now, what to fix that man of mine. Ah ha. I got it. I just found brats hiding in the fridge, so off I go to light the grill.

Now, keep in mind. It is FINALLY 75 degrees outside and people are emerging from their little gopher holes to see what all the fuss is about, so I wasn't surprised to hear people in the neighborhood rousting about.

So I am puttering about, pouring my wine, head to the garage to get the charcoal, and what's that? Do I hear music? And decent music at that? hhmmmmm....

Yes, my new neighbor has moved into the senior citizen housing across the street from me. He is a Cuban fellow, most likely in his late 70's...and apparently loves old blues. SO... I am lighting my grill, sippin' my wine and I hear a lusty old man voice holler out... "lighting the grill... nice... very nice..."

LOL... WHAT???? There he sits with his white Havana undershirt on, with his ankle-biter dog on a chain, playin music louder than the neighborhood teenagers, and running commentary on my barbecue demonstration.

Gotta love my life....

Oh well... I figure if he wants to watch me cook and will play music for me its a good trade.

p.s.

meanwhile during all of this, my lovely dog had every so nicely helped herself to all my brats but three while I was enjoying the music outside. shit. needless to say she spent the next day being VERY well behaved after the scolding she got.

shake what your momma gave you

We took a couple of days for ourselves and went to a North Mississippi Allstars show in Lawrence, KS. It was a super experience and we made it a road trip with well seasoned music friends. They got a hotel within walking distance to the venue, which turned out to be a great idea.

We all practically ran to the venue and then stumbled/wobbled back when it was done. It might have been from the volume of tequila consumed, or from the three hour workout dancing non-stop. I'm not saying which, but, do you think that two bottles of premade margs, a flask for the venue, two more well drinks from the bar, and a fifth of Patron is too much for the pushing 50 crowd? And that' just what Tammy and I drank. The boys were on their own. Oh well. Worth every second of it.

Oh, and the band was pretty good too. If you get a chance you should definitely so see them. Watch out for the gezzers dancing in front though. We don't want to hurt anyone. Actually, it was all about teaching the youngin's in the crowd how to get ready for getting up there. We did ourselves proud. :)

Unpleasant surprises

Really. I am an unsuccessful blogger. As I cruise through past posts the pattern gets all to obvious. Once every six months? *slapping my hand* *bad blogger... Bad blogger!*

Oh well. It's mine and that's what happens.

Our little family has been through hell since the last post. My hubby and I each lost a sister, almost a month apart in fact. Both were fine, then both weren't. No drama, just gone. It still takes my breath away.

We lost Connie first. It was on the heels of the best weekend we had spent with friends in years. In fact, our friends live where there is zero cell service. We had no idea until we got back "on the grid" so to speak. Then the phone messages started. And continued. And killed a little place that you hold sacred in your space. You know the one I am talking about... the big sister pedestal. Husband is a middle child and I am a first born, so this was not something we had prepared for. She was his mom-figure and the only big sister I will ever get.

Note to self. life doesn't give a shit if you are prepared or not.

My sister and I were not close. We had a rocky relationship in the past few years. Rocky? Wrong word. Boulder-y would be a better description. But missing her is as real as it gets. I found her number in my phone the other day and it reduced me to mush on the couch for the entire day. Try as I might I just could not get it together. Her birthday was just as bad. I had planned to spend the day with my daughter and granddaughter ... just hanging out... you know the drill. When I realized it was Jane's birthday it was all over. I couldn't even get dressed. Then I got pissed because I couldn't get dressed. Then I got really pissed because it snuck up on me like a thief in the night.

Typical of our relationship though. I hope eventually I will get over being surprised at the mountain of misery this has presented me. Not that I am in a hurry, but ... I'm just sayin'.

So my blog still works. Pretty amazing since it seems I get here one a year or so. There has been so much happening and only the ethers know why.

Update: living up country.

We moved back. We've been here for two years now. I still miss my people and my job at the spa. Honestly I thought life would slow down when we got back but it insists on careening along at the breakneck pace as usual. There are many people that still have no idea I am here. Question like, "Are you back on vacation?", or "Really? You live HERE?". Son #2 is amazed I can slide in and stay off the grid completely.

It's ok. I like it.

But alas, I find myself unemployed, worried (again) about not enough funds, crunched financially, and really wanting to find a way to make some real cash from home.

Anybody got any ideas? I am looking at Affiliate Marketing, but damn it I am tired of getting scammed.

We have met some new friends here. That's pretty amazing when you consider all our new friends are former Coloradoans and choose to live here. We haven't known each other for very long at this point (just 6 short weeks!) but it seems we have all been friends for a lifetime. I am relatively sure Sister Tam and I have shared more than one lifetime. Thanks to all of our lucky stars, we are on another trip through history.

Well, at least I know I can still get here to vent/prattle/play.

Always remember, good fences build good neighbors..

Peace.

New Year, New Outlook

Here it is, another year swiftly past in my life. 2009 had some remarkably psychotic head snapping events.
It marked the year I moved back to my old home town. (scary).
It marked the year out guitar business went into a serious tailspin, thanks to a the corporate giant sending out the attack dogs.
It ticked off another year of living the goodlife thinking we were broke on our ass. Actually we had no idea we were NOT broke, but we are now. After our guitar build got shut down and the economy tanked, tanked, and then really tanked.... we have had to reevaluate every single thing in our lives.

Our cable is gone..

Tomorrow I am shutting off our home phone..

I have been living with a coat on in my own house for a month because heat is just too expensive..

My son's coat has a broken zipper, so instead of just getting a new one (which I would have done a year ago) he wears a hoodie under his coat.

And to top off the lovely list of crap that sits on my head, I know my paycheck will fall short each and every month by $600.

Life is just a bitch right now. But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I really believe that.

We have signed up to take a financial course, both of us, as a couple. It is the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University. We have gone through the first lesson about saving saving saving. All ya gotta come up with is a thousand bucks.

That's all?? Should be easy right?? If my grocery bill didn't cost more than my house payment, and if my luck holds out hiding from the credit card people, I might be able to get it done. We dug up $45 today.

I will be using this for my online diary about the next chapter of learning to become debt-free.

Stay turned for class #2! It starts tomorrow.

Jody at http://wacondasprings.com/blog/ passed along an award to me called Honest Scrap. Thanks Jody! You have jump-started me ..... again....



The award rules are simple – pass the award to seven worthy bloggers who post from the heart, and list ten honest things about yourself.



Here's my ten.



1. I stress too much.



2. I am ready for the country to wake up and remember where we came from... for real.



3. I love to get my hair colored.



4. I write, which keeps me sane, which explains a LOT why I stress too much since I convince myself I am too busy to "write".



5. I love having every weekend off. Now if I could only figure out what "off" meant.



6. My grand-daughter is the most amazing thing I have ever seen, and she is only a month old!



7. I cry when things really should not have bothered me at all.



8. I'm leaving on my first vaca in 10 years and I am scared shitless to go.



9. I would run over broken glass in flip flops to get away from a spider.



10. I'm happier than I have been in years. .... who knew?



Now here's my seven:



Guy K at http://charmingjustcharming.blogspot.com/



George at http://www.decrepitoldfool.com/



Pammy at http://lollygaggin.blogspot.com/

The Beatles, The Wizard, and me.

Long since silent, I feel it is time to shake off some dust and clear away the remnents of spider webs. My longing to write has reared it's possessive head. Are we ready for this?

Time will tell.

Life tends to deal each of us a hand of cards, but forgets to give us the rules to the game. Only a lucky few find the short cut while most of us simply wander around in the ultraviolet mist stubbing toes and scraping knees. I have my fair share of stubbed (or broken) toes and knees with battle scars the size of oranges. ... and so on I trudge.

I have spent the last two years working and living as a massage therapist in a spa setting. It has been the most demanding, draining, grueling, ... rewarding, fulfilling, amazing journey ever. But my body is breaking. My hands are not going to last two more years, let alone long enough to ever hold my grandchild pain free if I don't stop. Every joint in my back shifts at random, and my feet have declared themselves their own country and sued the rest of me for secession from the Union. It's a hard one, Uncle Albert.

I have made the decision to move back to my hometown. Just the thought of it makes me break out in a clammy sweat. My head tells me to panic, but my heart hears my children wishing me back. I worry about leaving my career. I love it. Undoubtedly. I hope there will be the occasional soul looking for bodywork with a purpose and not just fluff. but my family calls.

For them I will go. They need me worse than I need this. So now I am clicking my ruby slippers and whispering ever so softly....

~There's no place like home... there's no place like home...~

Guess who's still here?

It seems I have not updated for quite a while. Should be easy enough to have topics eh? Between the (my) economy going straight to hell, and politics, and still working in hel... in a place I'm not crazy about... yes, there's enough to talk about.

Economy. As I imagine everyone is, I have never worked so hard for so long and been so broke. It's amazing. I have always had to watch my money, but never have I worked for a paycheck and my paycheck won't even cover necessities. Luxury things like cable and cell phones are no longer in the equation, however cell phones are on the necessity list since my home phone is not connected. So does that make groceries a necessity or a luxury? I spend $129 at the store last week, bought the cheapest of cheap groceries, no meat at all and still came home and wondered what the heck to do with this stuff? Eggs and Top Ramen? Pretty sucky meal. Maybe if you could throw some chicken and peas with it, but who gets that kind of stuff? Must be millionaires.

Politics. I'm pretty firm with my choice. My republican parents will probably melt in their chairs to know I plan to enjoy watching change happen with the next administration. My candidate has been the only one I have ever seen that actually knows (or shows genuine understanding for) what we are going through personally and what we are heading into as a society/planet. My children are going to inherit this disaster. The LEAST we can do is provide them with leadership showing enough drive to enact honest change.

Just as a business cannot do transactions using simply a cash register now, we as a society cannot continue to condone "politics as usual" in our capital and right on down the list. The days of politicians and smoke filled rooms have gone the wayside. We all got drug kicking and screaming into the information age, thus leaving "cash registers" behind. Now we must launch ourselves into activism in the political realm with a commitment unlike before and leave old school politics in the dust.

Gone are the days of waiting for "Washington" to act. We must act. In my humble opinion, Barack Obama is prepared to lead us into action.

Happy Holi-daze!

The holi-daze have officially begun. We drove out west to see the family for a couple of days and ended up leaving less than 12 hours after we arrived. I shouldn't really be suprised at that, however, the notion of the picture perfect family holiday still exists in my heart.

Shhh... stop laughing. I know it's not real. In fact, I have never even seen one.

But I still want it.

Ahhh yes... it's hard to live a PollyAnna lifestyle with my rose colored lenses so irreversably scratched.