Hogan's Hero
Hey, everyone, please go visit
Stick and give her a little love and comfort. Her kittygirl Hogan passed away last weekend and she's taking the loss a bit hard.
R.I.P. Hogan (1992-2008)
In other news, there has been progress on the house fire front, some good news, and some nice developments that I'll share once it all cements in.
More later. I have a herd of cats that need some serious squooshin' on.
Labels: breaking news, cats, friends
Natal Day and Empty!
Sunday was my birthday. If I live to be 90, I've lived half my days. It was spent quietly, doing absolutely nothing.
Today was Empty The Storage Unit Day. WE DID IT!!!! All out. There was surprisingly less stuff in there than I thought, but it still took three trips. There were several tubs of parental stuff. Yes, it must be dealt with. But it went in the nice shed for now. There was much less of the to-be-sorted/might-keep stuff than I thought! YAY! That feels better.
My friend C and I successfully loaded, then unloaded, a cherry table inherited from Mom, my old stove, my rolltop, the box spring I forgot was in there, the canopy bed frame, a smaller desk, a computer chair, a—well, you get the idea. Everything except the cherry table is going in the garage sale.
IT IS DONE. All of my worldly goods are now under one roof—mine—and no longer subject to fees. Yay. Phase One is complete.
Onto a shower, some vegetation and food, and then begins Phase Two—what the heckuma gonna do with all this stuff? Also known as, I guess I'm having my first-ever garage sale in a week or so!
OH—and there is positive news on the land sales front! More when it's locked in. Today... she was a good day.
Labels: boring household crap, friends, gratefulness
Animal/Wollmeise Lovers, Listen Up
My friend Karen (Knoobie Knitter) adopted an adorable doggie named Vinnie.
He wasn't home long before he underwent a big health crisis. He's OK, thankfully—
story is here—but despite help from the pet agency from which he was adopted, the vet bills are huge. Karen is having a raffle to help raise money—prizes include Wollmeise, Yarntini, and Yarn Pirate Yarn!
GO DONATE NOW!
Brief update on the Lot Sales: Lot #2 is sold (that was the first one). Lot #1 is pending. We countered. They countered. We... negotiated an option. It's not really a counter to their counter. Their contract asked for an additional 3% (on top of 6% agent commissions). Our lawyer had asked me why we hadn't negotiated that out? Well, uh... because when I asked the realtor about it they said sometimes the banks won't lend the money without it.
Um, OK. So we left it in the first time. This time, I asked if we could leave it out. So the options are, if we leave the 3% in, then we need to ask a slightly higher final price to cover it. If we can eliminate it, then we'll accept their counter as is.
The odd thing is, when I did the math, we actually stand to make more money if we take out the 3% and accept their counter. It's weird.
The best news is that because two of the three lots are for all intents and purposes sold and because it gives us enough financial leeway to satisfy the terms of the Will and "equalize" distribution against the house I received, we can CLOSE the estate upon completing the second sale! The lawyer agreed—AGREED—with me that the third lot is a bonus lot and we can just deed it out to the two of us since we seem to be able to agree on property sales and since it's a 50-50 split.
I'm so glad it's about over.
In final news, I'm taking my horse to his very first PNH clinic next month. It's my first in four years, and my first with a different horse. SO excited!
Labels: breaking news, estate nonsense, friends, gratefulness, horses
Just Call Me Clint
OMG!
This has been travelling around the internets for awhile now. I'm honored to have been included—thank you,
Knitasha!
The rules state:
Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware; you may get the award several times.Of course, I am a regular reader of
the Harlot,
Crazy Aunt Purl,
Franklin,
Rabbitch, and many other all-time faves. I feel that this award should highlight blogs that may not have that level of visibility but are, IMHO, just as interesting to read. It was a challenging decision. As I have well over 200 feeds in my Bloglines that I truly love to read (thank the Good Lord they don't all post daily!), I had to narrow it down to a Top 12. Two-thirds of them are fellow knitbloggers—they are all wonderful people and no further explanation is needed! :-) The last third is comprised of non-knitters and the reason they've been chosen appears in parentheses.
Dr. Joe Vitale (the guru of the Law of Attraction, Mr. Fire himself)
Knitasha Von Stashenskeins Knoobie Knitter Mows (if you love cats, you'll love this comic!)
Sheepish Annie Shim and Sons (her artistic aesthetic is astounding)
Skeins & Beans Stick's Adventures Stumbling Over Chaos T-Town Knitiot Tiennie Turtlegirl Unclutter (my personal clutter "support group")
It's good to feel loved. ;-)
Labels: breaking news, friends, gratefulness
Camera Ready!
FINALLY! My camera is being friendly again. I replaced the rechargeable alkaline batteries the manual swears I can use with a set of lithium batteries, and all appears to be well now. (Must be the lithium—good for moody machinery.)
And so I bring you—
knitblogger goodness! Look what
Stick surprised me with! YES! My very own set of Bad Word Stitch Markers! I couldn't believe it. How cool is that? I feel special. Thank you, Stick! :-) There are a couple of close-ups on Flickr.
I'm happy to report that more progress has been made on the org front. Oooh, is that a new couch? Why, no—it's a slip cover! Who knew a slip cover could make such a difference?
AFTER
BEFORE
The lone set of curtains from my old living room got tossed in the dryer (no heat) with a dryer sheet to remove the cat hair (it worked!) and are rehung. I swapped the white wicker table for the rolling cart, putting the serger that was on the cart elsewhere and putting the little TV and DVD burner on the cart. Easier to roll out of the way, takes up less room. I'm not fond of the wicker thing anyway. Maybe it can go in the deck room when it is restored to being a useable room again.
Now this room, the Den, is all cozy and warm with rich reds and dark browns. Happy. Still stuff to sort through, but it's moving along.
Oh, I think my pot pie is done...
Labels: 30-Day Org, boring household crap, friends, gratefulness
Update on the Org
I don't yet have any "finished" rooms, but I do have areas that are beginning to show real hope. I can see my dining room table now. I'm clearing spots. I'm generating a large pile of empty boxes. I can walk through the living room again. I can actually get to my yarn closet. Books are back on shelves. Stuff is finding a home.
My method is a bit unorthodox compared to Mr. Walsh's because he would have me sort and trash first, organize/put away later. Instead, I've decided what my "zones" are (as he suggests) then moving all associated stuff into the zones (this is the unorthodox part). Then, as I figure out where everything associated with that area needs to go, I'm sorting. It makes sense to me. If I have X amount of space for this stuff, and Y amount of stuff, I know I either am blessed because I have more space than stuff (which has happened, surprisingly) or I know I need to examine my stuff and analyze if there is anything that really can just go.
I think it's working for me because now I have all of my stuff in one place/one house (storage unit not withstanding, but that's stuff that doesn't get factored in at this point). I can group the bulk of related things together and really see WHAT I have. I think that's better (for me). Rather than trying to decide what to keep or toss in one category when this portion is in one room and that portion is in another, I just categorize, relocate, THEN sort. Plus it's easier for me to deal with one category at a time, rather than trying to sort a ROOM containing many categories.
I kind of need to have it all in front of me in one big pile so I know what I have. That way, I can deal with it all at once. Better for my focus (I really do think I'm ADD). In order to organize all the kitchen utensils, for example, I need to have every utensil visible so I can group according to type then see how many of each I have and isolate the ones I really want and/or would seriously need.
Example: Today I opened a box and found two more can openers (one manual, one electric), bringing the total to five. Five seems to be my magic number. Five cats. Five TVs. Five computer monitors—two are in use. I know there's another "five" in there that I just mentioned in another post, but you get the idea. The point is, I seem to not realize I already have something (on some occasions) or I wind up with extras via inheritance, and I need to see ALL of them at once to choose what to keep.
It's working.
I do a little bit every day. Some days I do more. Some days I do less. But I still do something. There were a couple of days this past week where it occupied the majority of my day. Today, however, I lightened up. It's Sunday! Day of rest, right? I emptied the box of kitchen stuff that had been sitting on the dining table in this photo (white box with "Relay" in blue):
The majority of that stuff on the table is GONE. Relocated to its associated area, thrown out, and put away.
I also cleared off the coffee table in the living room in this next photo. The lamp stayed. The blankets were put in the clear plastic zippered sheet storage thingie (sitting next to them on the table) and moved to the hall closet (they are "car blankets", they go in the car in case I get stranded in a blizzard), the ratty ripped slippers (black and green) were thrown out (derrr), the plastic garment bags were moved, and Dad's shirt was added to the Parental Storage Tubs (it still smells like him).
Small efforts, but efforts nonetheless. I'll take more photos this week to show the progress.
It seems that I look at this as sort of like my "day job" right now. I report to it daily and spend several hours at it. I never thought it would get done, but... it's getting done. The more I do, the easier it gets to continue doing it.
Also coming up this week, I got a surprise in the mail this week (a good one) from a fellow knitblogger that deserves some attention! I couldn't believe it. It's so fun! More on that in an upcoming post (need light for good photos).
Labels: 30-Day Org, boring household crap, breaking news, friends, gratefulness
Nyum Nyum NYUM!!! and KUI
OMG.
Biaggi's.
Butternut Squash RavioliRoasted butternut squash filled ravioli tossed in a brown-butter-sage sauce with toasted walnuts, diced butternut squash and parmesan cheese.I met my friends D and C for lunch this afternoon. Haven't seen D in a year (time flies). Never been there before. Definitely going there again. I had the Butternut Squash Ravioli and it is
To. Die. For. So is the onion bread with the oil/parmesan/pepper dip.
My only complaint: beverages. Now, if you're going to order wine or something, great selection. But for non-alcoholic bevs:
- they aren't printed anywhere on a menu
- P products, not C products*
- no ordinary iced tea—just black currant herbal**
*Though the myth that Pepsi™ contains pepsin, a chemical which contains pig blood, is in fact a myth, I've been sufficiently turned off enough to avoid the P products at all costs and besides, I prefer the taste of the Real Thing™ anyway.
**Kudos for being fresh-brewed and it was tasty, but it wasn't the caffeinated regular tea I needed, it being still rather morning-ish for me at that point. Rocker Boy would have been sorely disappointed, being the fresh-brewed iced tea aficionado that he is.
But OMG the Butternut Squash Ravioli! OMG! What a flavor! Slightly sweet, buttery, and nutty. OMG. Walnuts. Crunchy. YUMMMM. I've never had anything like it.
The conversation was good. But I realized how much my thinking has changed this past year due to my exploration of the LoA. While listening to the verbal tennis-match between D and C concerning D's daughter's college plans, I started counting the amount of limiting beliefs emerging from both of them. They seemed to feed off of each other's beliefs. It was frightening. They were nodding, stabbing at their food, just chatting easily like you do, and I'm not even certain they really
heard what they were saying or stopped to think about what they were telling themselves. They were confirming the impossibility of the daughter's dreams (even though her career choice in comparison to most is relatively common and possible) and how difficult it would be for her. I lost count of the limiting beliefs.
When they reached a point where they both agreed wholeheartedly that D's DD should rethink her major (she hasn't even graduated high school yet) and the chatter drew to a halt, I was shaking my head and I guess chuckling a bit—which drew their attention upward from their meals to me. I said "Oh, nothing—I'm just listening to the barrage of limiting beliefs being tossed out here." Perplexed stares. I said apologetically, "Well, I've been reading a lot about the Law of Attraction and about how beliefs can stall us out, and I've become more aware of the things I tell myself and the things other people tell themselves... stuff that limits the possibilities." I shrugged.
Momentary pause. Dee continued. She and her DH are trying to encourage DD to go into dental work.
I said point blank, "Does she like teeth?"
From her startled expression, I knew she hadn't been expecting me to say THAT. Dee said "No, but..."
blah blah blah money
blah blah blah good future.
I said "If she isn't passionate about teeth, she'll hate it, and she won't do well. Whatever she does, if it is something she
is passionate about, she is
guaranteed to succeed, because she will
want to".
They were both shocked into silence, staring at me.
I continued, "Take it from me. Don't let her do what I did. Don't go to college and study something you don't like, because no matter how much earning potential it has, if you hate it, it won't work out like that for you." I could have elaborated with comments about how you can be wealthy but a failure because you are miserable and hate what you're doing, or how if you don't want it you may not work hard enough to make it and then you'd fail for sure, but by their expressions, I knew it would be lost in translation.
There was blinking. Forks were poised in mid-stab. Then the spell broke, and they changed the subject to dogs.
I love them both, but as they were talking, I thought "OMG, listen to them. No wonder they are only as far as they are and haven't manifested their dreams (most of them)." Then I heard my brain say "maybe you need new friends. Ones that have
expanding beliefs rather than limiting, because you aren't going to change
them." Interesting what you can learn in an hour's lunch.
I'm beginning to think I'm on another plane of reality from a lot of my friends lately. I mean, they don't get it. Take the Rocker Boy thing, for example. I mentioned something about him and D said "You mean you still talk to him?" as if that was the craziest thing she'd ever heard. I said "Of course, why wouldn't I?"
Because he "left" me? Er... he didn't leave
me. He just moved. We didn't "break up" because we weren't going out. We were just roommates. Like in college. Except at my house. Uh... why is this so difficult to understand?
I'm also beginning to believe in a new concept I call Positive Gossip. Rather than "did you hear about so and so isn't it awful", I'd like to hear/say "did you hear about so and so isn't it WONDERFUL". Wouldn't that be nice? Maybe people think that it's boring to be happy. I don't.
The kicker was the conversation I walked in on when came back from the bathroom. D and C said they were just talking about me and D was worrying
again about me becoming homeless in the future. Geez Louise! That was followed up by "when
are you gonna get a job?" I deflected with "when the money runs out" then changed the subject to selling my house. (No, despite actually
having a plan for the future, I decided to withhold all talk of running away to Nashville to join the circus—er, the music industry—"again" for obvious reasons.)
Here's what I realized on the way home:
- I won't ever be homeless because I always have this house
- they are both stuck in the limiting mindset that a job is THE LONE conduit for money
- they both believe that not having a job = being homeless
- (that the strangers who read my blog know far more about my life and inner thoughts than friends I've known for 20 years)
This is why I won't ever be homeless: because this house is
paid for.
No mortgage. They can't take it from me (same with the car). It might ONE DAY be uninsured, with back taxes on it, get run down, have no utilities, and I might not have food, water, heat, electricity or cable TV, but I will ALWAYS have these four walls, roof and a floor regardless (and it does have a fireplace and there are big trees around here and I have a saw).
So unless I sell it—which I hope I would do before it got quite that desperate; and spend all the profits—which considering how frugally I live (dinners out aside) and that I am and have always been addiction-free it's unlikely I'd do that (spend it all) right away; or some horrible tragedy befalls me (God forbid)... the likelihood of my not having
A home is very,
very slim. It is a long,
long way from here to homelessness for me, despite not having a job
today.
But tomorrow, I may have a job. Or next month. Or next year. As for
today, right now, this minute, no I don't have a job, but I DO have other conduits for money (all legal, moral and ethical), and I have an adequate (by my standards) surplus of money stashed, and I'm paying my bills, and I have heat, water, food, electricity, cable TV
and internet, as well as insurance and up-to-date taxes, so...
Can everybody
please quit with the "OMG she doesn't have a job she's gonna be homeless!!!" ridiculousness now? Please? Let's stop putting that out into the Universe. Instead, let's focus on the fact that as stated above, I'm basically OK
today, and will still very likely be that way
tomorrow, and that a
LOT of wonderful amazing things can happen between now and the point where I'd be living under a newspaper in the park, and that I'm smart enough and talented enough to hop on the appropriate gravy train when it comes along to keep myself OK.
OK?
OK.
Oh, how funny. Last night I went out to dinner (aren't I the butterfly this week) with B. So that's friends B, C, and D. Do I have a friend A? Hmm. Not off the top of my head. Not locally, anyway. Last night was Mexican at a new restaurant in town (Reverend Chico's). Love the ambiance. Felt like I was miles away from my hometown, maybe in a hip urban eatery tucked away in a city like Austin or Nashville. Definitely cool. Music was a tad louder than I like (had to scream to talk, hate that.) Slightly different menu from standard Mexican fare: in the Build-Your Own, choices include pickled or fresh jalapenos, cucumbers, tomatoes, jicama. No onions or green pepper which I found odd. But I tried jicama in mine. It's a root veggie not unlike water chestnuts.
I will say this. The first two Tecate's with lime went down far too easily (and quickly). The third lasted a bit longer. But when did beer cost $4 a bottle? My dinner would have been El Cheapo had I forgone the beer. And the guac. But ya gotta have the guac.
I also learned about the dangers of knitting under the influence (KUI). See?
Actual Knitting Content. (It was also SnB night for us and this time we actually made it to the coffeeshop which had live music—another cool factor.) I've decided that instead of making you touch your nose with your fingers, a better sobriety test for coordination would be to have you knit from a chart such as the Embossed Leaves Socks for a few rows and see if you get it right. It's only three rows. I can rip it out. While the coordination was there, obviously the ability to be able to see straight enough to read the chart needs to be in place, too.
So that's been my weekend. Great food. Good friends (despite it all). Good times. But now it's Me Time. The guitar is calling. Off am I. Have fun, y'all!
Labels: breaking news, friends, Law of Attraction
