Today, I am about to embark on a new chapter in my life. If all goes well, I will be on the brink of starting something that is all about me, designed by me, and the next step to fill this new niche of my new journey.
In my ever changing moods, I feel like the person inside of me is stepping out and looking at me from outside of my body. I have spent years as a full time, stay at home mom with hobbies but now I am being given an opportunity to begin something that is totally on my own. J and the cheerleader are very excited and I hope that when I next blog, it will be all good news with my new plans.
Have a great day, keep love in your heart and a song in your head...and never stop looking at the person within!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
I Am Woman
I have decided that at no other time in my life have I been more excited to be a woman. I know this sounds weird because I have been a woman for all of my life. I have loved every minute of every single day of being a girl and a woman. But, for some reason, I have hit a time in my life when I actually just beam with pride at being a woman and at the women surrounding me.
In my ever changing moods, I feel stronger and more confident, now, than in any other time of my life. And, I am surrounded by so many strong and fearless women that it only fuels me to want to continue to move full steam ahead.
In my world of women, I have come to respect, so many. One group that I am very impressed with is a group that I joined after I started to blog. They are a group called, SITS, and we are women bloggers helping women bloggers. I have never witnessed such a large group of women all in support of helping women. All for the same goal....to write really great blogs. Yesterday, one of the daily topics was about things that make a great blog. The majority answered, writing a blog that is in your own voice, true to your own thoughts and writing for yourself. Write about your passion or write about your life. Well, if you have been following me, you know that my rambling thoughts and searching for my new chapter in life is my passion. I smiled that I have covered those bases.
You also know that I am embarking on a presidency position for my women's group. I have been busy, this week, meeting with the committee chairs of each committee. I am getting to know these women on a whole new level. I love how we are connecting senior members of the group with deep roots in the past and newer members who have new visions and everyone is on board with the new journey. There has been nothing but an embracing of new and different and what I hope are successful paths.
As a group of women, we reach out and help women in our community. I have put a community service project in motion with another organization based on helping women and the response was so excited and overjoyed that we were reaching out to them.
I belong to a private message board of women. These women are another example of women coming together in support, friendship and love. It is amazing to see such interaction, on a daily basis, and have that interaction be filled with love, support, kindness and encouragement.
In my community, in this very uncertain economy, we have so many new businesses opening in the small downtown area. All backed by women! Not to mention the already established businesses that are backed by women.
It gives me chills and such pride to know that women, as a whole, are all out there, in all kinds of different aspects, helping women succeed. And, with all of this support, it is making it easier for me to find the courage to start down my own path of carving out my next step in life. I am not exactly sure which road I will follow but so far, word of mouth and support are driving me forward.
So, in a sense, this truly has seemed like the year of the woman. I do believe that we can do anything that we want. And, it makes it so much easier to work in circles that support you...I know that not all groups of women work well, together, but in my circles, I can proudly say that women are making their mark!
In my ever changing moods, I feel stronger and more confident, now, than in any other time of my life. And, I am surrounded by so many strong and fearless women that it only fuels me to want to continue to move full steam ahead.
In my world of women, I have come to respect, so many. One group that I am very impressed with is a group that I joined after I started to blog. They are a group called, SITS, and we are women bloggers helping women bloggers. I have never witnessed such a large group of women all in support of helping women. All for the same goal....to write really great blogs. Yesterday, one of the daily topics was about things that make a great blog. The majority answered, writing a blog that is in your own voice, true to your own thoughts and writing for yourself. Write about your passion or write about your life. Well, if you have been following me, you know that my rambling thoughts and searching for my new chapter in life is my passion. I smiled that I have covered those bases.
You also know that I am embarking on a presidency position for my women's group. I have been busy, this week, meeting with the committee chairs of each committee. I am getting to know these women on a whole new level. I love how we are connecting senior members of the group with deep roots in the past and newer members who have new visions and everyone is on board with the new journey. There has been nothing but an embracing of new and different and what I hope are successful paths.
As a group of women, we reach out and help women in our community. I have put a community service project in motion with another organization based on helping women and the response was so excited and overjoyed that we were reaching out to them.
I belong to a private message board of women. These women are another example of women coming together in support, friendship and love. It is amazing to see such interaction, on a daily basis, and have that interaction be filled with love, support, kindness and encouragement.
In my community, in this very uncertain economy, we have so many new businesses opening in the small downtown area. All backed by women! Not to mention the already established businesses that are backed by women.
It gives me chills and such pride to know that women, as a whole, are all out there, in all kinds of different aspects, helping women succeed. And, with all of this support, it is making it easier for me to find the courage to start down my own path of carving out my next step in life. I am not exactly sure which road I will follow but so far, word of mouth and support are driving me forward.
So, in a sense, this truly has seemed like the year of the woman. I do believe that we can do anything that we want. And, it makes it so much easier to work in circles that support you...I know that not all groups of women work well, together, but in my circles, I can proudly say that women are making their mark!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Camel Walk
It's Saturday, yes, you already know this because I am blogging my socks off about it...but, since it IS Saturday, you know I like to share what I have been reading, listening to, watching over the week...
I continue on my BEE marathon of re-visits. I am now getting ready to begin, The Informers, by Bret Easton Ellis. It is one that didn't hold my attention the first time around but then, I tend not to enjoy the form of short stories all interacting. It's just me and the way my brain works. Anyway, I think that I may enjoy it, more, this second time.
There was a movie and a rockumentary that I watched with J, this week. The movie is so hysterically funny. Well, it may not be humor for everyone's liking but we found it extremely funny. It's a great ensemble cast, some of the best lines, and fun music. It's on older movie but so fun!
The rockumentary was, The Festival Express. Great documentary about a rock tour that took place in Canada. The great music icons of the day, in 1970, all boarded a train as they toured Canada and stopped and played concerts in various cities. To watch it, now, brings chills. The youthful musicians all together, jamming, partying, tuning into each other's music and jam sessions. You see a young Janis, just months before her death. You see a young Jerry and to watch him and hear him, brings a tear to your eye. It was a time when their youthful ideals were still in play along with their music but it was also a time that was on the cusp of change. These musicians were some of the greatest, still are, always will be.
And, watching the movie, Flirting With Disaster, brought back my love for the band, Southern Culture On The Skids. Camel Walk was featured in the movie and it made me dig out our cd and I want to download it to my Ipod. We used to listen to them back in the mid-late 90s. It brings back memories of a couple of our good friends, our good times and a really bizarre road trip we took for a weekend down in Key West.
I continue on my BEE marathon of re-visits. I am now getting ready to begin, The Informers, by Bret Easton Ellis. It is one that didn't hold my attention the first time around but then, I tend not to enjoy the form of short stories all interacting. It's just me and the way my brain works. Anyway, I think that I may enjoy it, more, this second time.
There was a movie and a rockumentary that I watched with J, this week. The movie is so hysterically funny. Well, it may not be humor for everyone's liking but we found it extremely funny. It's a great ensemble cast, some of the best lines, and fun music. It's on older movie but so fun!
The rockumentary was, The Festival Express. Great documentary about a rock tour that took place in Canada. The great music icons of the day, in 1970, all boarded a train as they toured Canada and stopped and played concerts in various cities. To watch it, now, brings chills. The youthful musicians all together, jamming, partying, tuning into each other's music and jam sessions. You see a young Janis, just months before her death. You see a young Jerry and to watch him and hear him, brings a tear to your eye. It was a time when their youthful ideals were still in play along with their music but it was also a time that was on the cusp of change. These musicians were some of the greatest, still are, always will be.
And, watching the movie, Flirting With Disaster, brought back my love for the band, Southern Culture On The Skids. Camel Walk was featured in the movie and it made me dig out our cd and I want to download it to my Ipod. We used to listen to them back in the mid-late 90s. It brings back memories of a couple of our good friends, our good times and a really bizarre road trip we took for a weekend down in Key West.
Crazy
It is Saturday and the week just sort of went by so quickly in a haze of heat and humidity!! The beginning of the week had me on a roll and I was organized and on top of my game. Wednesday seemed to hit and it was hot and my brain seemed to wilt in the heat. By Thursday, I had forgotten most everything I needed to remember, it felt like everything I was doing was in slow motion and the part of me that should have cared about the state of my mind, just didn't.
In my ever changing moods, I ended up just writing Wednesday and Thursday off as my mindless days. Nothing went right, things were forgotten, my thought processes were in a fog and I just stood around not able to control any of it. So, I just let it all fall. I just shrugged my shoulders and let the fog stick around and then it seemed to lift. The really odd part is that a lot of my friends were saying the same thing about those same two days. I think the planets were out to get some of us and we all decided to just do the same thing. Nothing. It came, it went, we survived.
While I was in my fog, on Wednesday, I also had a ton of errands to run. It was hot, the crazy people were all over the roads, there were screaming kids and screaming moms at the grocery, I forgot a large portion of items I should have been picking up, I had a pounding headache and decided the best thing for me to do would be to just end it, make my purchases, go home and regroup.
On the drive out to Maggie's Farm, I pass a house that I pass, everyday. It sits right on the main road and I always glance over at their farm. While I was driving, I spotted a lemonade stand. One of those great, old fashioned kind of constructed lemonade stands. It had a big sign advertising the drink and it's price. I haven't seen a make-shift, kid run lemonade stand in ages. Maybe because I live in the sticks and the only customers, out here, would be cows and horses.
Just as I was ready to go through the intersection by that house, a big truck of farm equipment pulled out in front of the traffic, causing all of us to slam on our brakes and then wait for him as he couldn't quite make the turn. I was immediately annoyed but then I caught another glimpse of the lemonade stand. As I sat in traffic, I noticed the little girl who was running the lemonade stand. She was jumping in the air, doing cartwheels, doing somersaults and some sort of dance moves. As I watched her do crazy cartwheels, my mood lifted. She was so carefree and nothing was on her mind except enjoying the day and selling some lemonade. Her hair was blowing, she was barefoot and just happy to do her cartwheels.
As the traffic was able to move, again, and we all continued our drives, my spirit had been lifted, immensely, by this young girl and her crazy, carefree cartwheels. As I made my way home, I wondered at what point we all stopped doing cartwheels? Life would be so much more fun if we all just stopped and did something crazy like a cartwheel. I wanted to go back to the lemonade stand and tell the girl that I admired her carefree spirit. But, the next day when I drove past, the stand and the girl were no longer there. In a way, it was like she was just there, on that given time of day, to make me smile.
In my ever changing moods, I ended up just writing Wednesday and Thursday off as my mindless days. Nothing went right, things were forgotten, my thought processes were in a fog and I just stood around not able to control any of it. So, I just let it all fall. I just shrugged my shoulders and let the fog stick around and then it seemed to lift. The really odd part is that a lot of my friends were saying the same thing about those same two days. I think the planets were out to get some of us and we all decided to just do the same thing. Nothing. It came, it went, we survived.
While I was in my fog, on Wednesday, I also had a ton of errands to run. It was hot, the crazy people were all over the roads, there were screaming kids and screaming moms at the grocery, I forgot a large portion of items I should have been picking up, I had a pounding headache and decided the best thing for me to do would be to just end it, make my purchases, go home and regroup.
On the drive out to Maggie's Farm, I pass a house that I pass, everyday. It sits right on the main road and I always glance over at their farm. While I was driving, I spotted a lemonade stand. One of those great, old fashioned kind of constructed lemonade stands. It had a big sign advertising the drink and it's price. I haven't seen a make-shift, kid run lemonade stand in ages. Maybe because I live in the sticks and the only customers, out here, would be cows and horses.
Just as I was ready to go through the intersection by that house, a big truck of farm equipment pulled out in front of the traffic, causing all of us to slam on our brakes and then wait for him as he couldn't quite make the turn. I was immediately annoyed but then I caught another glimpse of the lemonade stand. As I sat in traffic, I noticed the little girl who was running the lemonade stand. She was jumping in the air, doing cartwheels, doing somersaults and some sort of dance moves. As I watched her do crazy cartwheels, my mood lifted. She was so carefree and nothing was on her mind except enjoying the day and selling some lemonade. Her hair was blowing, she was barefoot and just happy to do her cartwheels.
As the traffic was able to move, again, and we all continued our drives, my spirit had been lifted, immensely, by this young girl and her crazy, carefree cartwheels. As I made my way home, I wondered at what point we all stopped doing cartwheels? Life would be so much more fun if we all just stopped and did something crazy like a cartwheel. I wanted to go back to the lemonade stand and tell the girl that I admired her carefree spirit. But, the next day when I drove past, the stand and the girl were no longer there. In a way, it was like she was just there, on that given time of day, to make me smile.
Friday On My Mind
My week continued out of my fog related state and I found my way to Friday. As you all know, I love Friday. It is my favorite day of the week. I think it goes back to when I was young and it brought the end of the school week and the anticipation of a weekend of nothing but fun. I always think of Friday as being the day that brings the promise of fun.
In my ever changing moods, Fridays seem to evolve with each of my stages of life. When I was in high school, it still meant the end of the school week but it also meant Friday night games, it meant marching at Friday football games, anticipating weekend parties, plans with friends, hopeful for a date or the elusive phone call you hoped for from a crush. All good fun.
In college, once again, Friday brought the total freedom from a week of classes, tests, projects, lectures. My sorority sisters and I would practically sprint back to our rooms, change clothes and race down the hill to our little college town where the evening awaited us. Back then, it was a town of little college bars and restaurants. Most of us had cash in hand from our weekly mail from our parents and were ready to have fun. Errr, we were ready to spend our money, wisely, yes, on the necessary things. Shhhhhh, just in case this gets back to my mother. Anyway, what fun we had on Friday nights. I still remember, in order, the little bars that were our destinations. We always hit them in the same order and always ended up back where we started. We would then make that trip, back up the hill, either to our rooms or to a house party. Then, on Saturday mornings, we would all pile on each other's bed and talk about our Friday night adventures.
My years as a flight attendant, out of college, were a hit or miss on Fridays because as a junior flight attendant, I usually held weekend schedules. If I worked it right, though, I tried to grab the LAX-JFK all night flights. We got to the city at 6am and had a day and a half in the city. Good times on weekends when those trips happened.
When J and I were married and in the years before the cheerleader, our house became party central on Friday nights. It would just continue to fill up with friends. Before you knew it, the music was blaring, people would be dancing all over the living room, the entire patio would be opened up with more dancing, one of our friends would always be hard at work in our kitchen, cooking food. We would end up with stragglers spending the night in both guest rooms. Fun times!
When the cheerleader hit toddler years and we had moved to a beach community. We were in a neighborhood of all kids and frazzled moms. So, what is a girl to do but start a neighborhood Friday Happy Hour. The kids would all run and play and have snacks while the moms would all partake in one of my yummy blender drink creations.
When we moved to Maggie's Farm, I friended, L, who is still my good friend. Back then, our kids were just in first grade and Fridays meant a bunch of us and our kids would either gather at her pool for an all day pool party or go out on a boat loaded with kids, water toys and crazy moms cranking, The Babys, up as our soundtrack and stashing our lipgloss so it wouldn't get wet. No matter where we spent the Friday, the kids all had fun, we all brought snacks and drinks for the kids and the moms all enjoyed our now classic summer drink of choice, Pink Lemonades.
Yesterday, after years of not having these Friday kind of days, L re-instated the Friday pool party. It was quiet since the kids are all either grown or are too old to want to hang with us. As the years have gone by, lives have changed and our friendship cirlces have changed but then, sitting by the pool, yesterday, enjoying my Pink Lemonade cocktail, it as like the old saying...the more things change, the more they stay the same (I think that is how it goes) and it couldn't have been more true. We are at different stages in life, different paths are being taken and we have different friends but the constant that remains is my friendship with L and the Friday Pool Day...the Friday saga continues!
In my ever changing moods, Fridays seem to evolve with each of my stages of life. When I was in high school, it still meant the end of the school week but it also meant Friday night games, it meant marching at Friday football games, anticipating weekend parties, plans with friends, hopeful for a date or the elusive phone call you hoped for from a crush. All good fun.
In college, once again, Friday brought the total freedom from a week of classes, tests, projects, lectures. My sorority sisters and I would practically sprint back to our rooms, change clothes and race down the hill to our little college town where the evening awaited us. Back then, it was a town of little college bars and restaurants. Most of us had cash in hand from our weekly mail from our parents and were ready to have fun. Errr, we were ready to spend our money, wisely, yes, on the necessary things. Shhhhhh, just in case this gets back to my mother. Anyway, what fun we had on Friday nights. I still remember, in order, the little bars that were our destinations. We always hit them in the same order and always ended up back where we started. We would then make that trip, back up the hill, either to our rooms or to a house party. Then, on Saturday mornings, we would all pile on each other's bed and talk about our Friday night adventures.
My years as a flight attendant, out of college, were a hit or miss on Fridays because as a junior flight attendant, I usually held weekend schedules. If I worked it right, though, I tried to grab the LAX-JFK all night flights. We got to the city at 6am and had a day and a half in the city. Good times on weekends when those trips happened.
When J and I were married and in the years before the cheerleader, our house became party central on Friday nights. It would just continue to fill up with friends. Before you knew it, the music was blaring, people would be dancing all over the living room, the entire patio would be opened up with more dancing, one of our friends would always be hard at work in our kitchen, cooking food. We would end up with stragglers spending the night in both guest rooms. Fun times!
When the cheerleader hit toddler years and we had moved to a beach community. We were in a neighborhood of all kids and frazzled moms. So, what is a girl to do but start a neighborhood Friday Happy Hour. The kids would all run and play and have snacks while the moms would all partake in one of my yummy blender drink creations.
When we moved to Maggie's Farm, I friended, L, who is still my good friend. Back then, our kids were just in first grade and Fridays meant a bunch of us and our kids would either gather at her pool for an all day pool party or go out on a boat loaded with kids, water toys and crazy moms cranking, The Babys, up as our soundtrack and stashing our lipgloss so it wouldn't get wet. No matter where we spent the Friday, the kids all had fun, we all brought snacks and drinks for the kids and the moms all enjoyed our now classic summer drink of choice, Pink Lemonades.
Yesterday, after years of not having these Friday kind of days, L re-instated the Friday pool party. It was quiet since the kids are all either grown or are too old to want to hang with us. As the years have gone by, lives have changed and our friendship cirlces have changed but then, sitting by the pool, yesterday, enjoying my Pink Lemonade cocktail, it as like the old saying...the more things change, the more they stay the same (I think that is how it goes) and it couldn't have been more true. We are at different stages in life, different paths are being taken and we have different friends but the constant that remains is my friendship with L and the Friday Pool Day...the Friday saga continues!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Mama Tried
Today has been a very good day in the lives of the cheerleader and moi. Today is when I finally saw that my words and guidance and wisdom may really be sinking in, after all!!! Today was the day that the cheerleader actually admitted, in front of her friends, that I just may know what I am talking about from time to time.
In my ever changing moods, no words have ever sounded sweeter! It has been my goal, since the day of her birth, to guide, mold, shape her. Things were going swell until we hit the 13 year milestone. It's been a rollercoaster of hit and miss since then. As most teens, she tends to think that J and I are from another planet or that our wisdom comes from the land of the lame. She makes comments that make me think she doesn't even know my age since she refers to my teen years as the 1950s. I usually tell her what I think she should do or try to guide her to see what I am trying to get her to see but she fights it the whole time. She is a strong willed girl. And, lately, I have decided to start standing in silence. Bite my tongue and let her figure things out on her own. It is hard for this controlling mama but it's better than driving myself insane.
I don't even know what started today's conversation. I had fixed breakfast for her and her best friends and they were all sitting around the table talking. The topic may have been about hair. I think. Anyway, I heard the cheerleader address me and command me that from now on, when she is about to make a big decision, I am to stand in her face and make her reconsider. Luckily, this decision was about something trivial like to highlight or not to highlight. She said that even if she gets an attitude, I am to refuse all money or other perk that she is about to receive and make her change her mind. She actually ASKED me why I quit voicing my opinion!!?? I told her that I was tired of going round and round over things that were not that monumental. I told her I was trying to make her make her own decisions, make choices and live with them. She said, well, I want you to TELL me when I am about to make a stupid move!!!! I have never felt so proud.
My cheerleader is growing up and the more she grows, the more she realizes how much I have tried to get her to see the happy medium, the good balance in life. I hope she continues to want me to interject my opinions and I hope that in one side of her brain, she continues to process my knowledge. It's been a good day at Maggie's Farm, a good day, indeed....
In my ever changing moods, no words have ever sounded sweeter! It has been my goal, since the day of her birth, to guide, mold, shape her. Things were going swell until we hit the 13 year milestone. It's been a rollercoaster of hit and miss since then. As most teens, she tends to think that J and I are from another planet or that our wisdom comes from the land of the lame. She makes comments that make me think she doesn't even know my age since she refers to my teen years as the 1950s. I usually tell her what I think she should do or try to guide her to see what I am trying to get her to see but she fights it the whole time. She is a strong willed girl. And, lately, I have decided to start standing in silence. Bite my tongue and let her figure things out on her own. It is hard for this controlling mama but it's better than driving myself insane.
I don't even know what started today's conversation. I had fixed breakfast for her and her best friends and they were all sitting around the table talking. The topic may have been about hair. I think. Anyway, I heard the cheerleader address me and command me that from now on, when she is about to make a big decision, I am to stand in her face and make her reconsider. Luckily, this decision was about something trivial like to highlight or not to highlight. She said that even if she gets an attitude, I am to refuse all money or other perk that she is about to receive and make her change her mind. She actually ASKED me why I quit voicing my opinion!!?? I told her that I was tired of going round and round over things that were not that monumental. I told her I was trying to make her make her own decisions, make choices and live with them. She said, well, I want you to TELL me when I am about to make a stupid move!!!! I have never felt so proud.
My cheerleader is growing up and the more she grows, the more she realizes how much I have tried to get her to see the happy medium, the good balance in life. I hope she continues to want me to interject my opinions and I hope that in one side of her brain, she continues to process my knowledge. It's been a good day at Maggie's Farm, a good day, indeed....
Monday, July 19, 2010
And She Was
Once upon a time, a girl lived in a tropical paradise and had a cleaning girl, a lawn service, a handy man and animal control at her fingertips. Then she crash landed on Maggie's Farm. And she was without any of them.
In my ever changing moods, moving to Maggie's Farm taught me the ways of country living and it didn't involve a lot of outside help. Actually, when I tried to call around for a lawn service, leaf removal service and animal control, I got the same reply...Don't you live in the country? You don't need a service if you live in the country. You have fields. Ummmm...okay? I am still not sure what that means but what it meant for my new life as Hostess With The Mostess was that my life had changed. I was no longer just mixing cocktails. I needed to get with the country life program.
Before any of you ask about J and his role in country living. He does a lot of work, here. But, his business has long hours and he sometimes is not here until dusk and out of here at the crack of dawn. I am not a woman who sits and waits for her husband to get the jobs done. I do the jobs!! I am the job master! Somedays, I even amaze, myself. I challenge any of you to find a dead animal in your yard, grab a shovel and head off for the nearest field. It's not as glam as it sounds.
I find that the older I get, the stronger I seem to become. And I know no fear. I am up on ladders while I operate hedge trimmers on very high bushes and trees. I hang from ladders and spoutings to determine why they are not draining. This usually finds me grabbing a million nuts and acorns out due to the squirrel population that lives in our yard. I paint, I stain, I dig halfway to China just to remove old bushes, roots and trees. I mow, I weed eat, I weed by hand. I am in constant motion, outside. The cheerleader now finds herself with yard jobs. She has not yet embraced the love for all of it but I am hoping that someday, she will be able to pick up a rake and know what it's for when she is on her own.
I fix things, inside, too. If I don't know exactly what to do, I sit and figure it all out. It may take me a few days but after I obsess, I get the job done.
I like to think of myself as a do-it-all kind of girl. Who else can go through the bread baking process and it's different rises all the while being outside running lawn equipment? Who can Facebook while she stains? Who can plan a soiree while mowing and singing to her Ipod?
Over the years, we have found outside help to do some of these jobs but they usually don't live up to my controlling eye. So, when I think about paying these people for a so-so job, I would rather take on the job and know it's getting done, right. Perfection? Yes. I am a controlling perfectionist but I tweak the meaning a bit. J would totally disagree. He would say that I am a whirling, chaotic cyclone. My way of doing things may drive a sane person bonkers, but it's my way. And, I always get my job done to my liking.
In my ever changing moods, I find that the more jobs I take on, the happier I am. Who knows what's next for me but I plan on finding my next frontier to conquer. I just need a bit of time to formulate my plan. After all, I am not just a cocktail drinking, texting, Facebooking, goat caretaking, fashion fiend of a girl. Although, I do like my work clothes to match my flipflops and garden gloves..
In my ever changing moods, moving to Maggie's Farm taught me the ways of country living and it didn't involve a lot of outside help. Actually, when I tried to call around for a lawn service, leaf removal service and animal control, I got the same reply...Don't you live in the country? You don't need a service if you live in the country. You have fields. Ummmm...okay? I am still not sure what that means but what it meant for my new life as Hostess With The Mostess was that my life had changed. I was no longer just mixing cocktails. I needed to get with the country life program.
Before any of you ask about J and his role in country living. He does a lot of work, here. But, his business has long hours and he sometimes is not here until dusk and out of here at the crack of dawn. I am not a woman who sits and waits for her husband to get the jobs done. I do the jobs!! I am the job master! Somedays, I even amaze, myself. I challenge any of you to find a dead animal in your yard, grab a shovel and head off for the nearest field. It's not as glam as it sounds.
I find that the older I get, the stronger I seem to become. And I know no fear. I am up on ladders while I operate hedge trimmers on very high bushes and trees. I hang from ladders and spoutings to determine why they are not draining. This usually finds me grabbing a million nuts and acorns out due to the squirrel population that lives in our yard. I paint, I stain, I dig halfway to China just to remove old bushes, roots and trees. I mow, I weed eat, I weed by hand. I am in constant motion, outside. The cheerleader now finds herself with yard jobs. She has not yet embraced the love for all of it but I am hoping that someday, she will be able to pick up a rake and know what it's for when she is on her own.
I fix things, inside, too. If I don't know exactly what to do, I sit and figure it all out. It may take me a few days but after I obsess, I get the job done.
I like to think of myself as a do-it-all kind of girl. Who else can go through the bread baking process and it's different rises all the while being outside running lawn equipment? Who can Facebook while she stains? Who can plan a soiree while mowing and singing to her Ipod?
Over the years, we have found outside help to do some of these jobs but they usually don't live up to my controlling eye. So, when I think about paying these people for a so-so job, I would rather take on the job and know it's getting done, right. Perfection? Yes. I am a controlling perfectionist but I tweak the meaning a bit. J would totally disagree. He would say that I am a whirling, chaotic cyclone. My way of doing things may drive a sane person bonkers, but it's my way. And, I always get my job done to my liking.
In my ever changing moods, I find that the more jobs I take on, the happier I am. Who knows what's next for me but I plan on finding my next frontier to conquer. I just need a bit of time to formulate my plan. After all, I am not just a cocktail drinking, texting, Facebooking, goat caretaking, fashion fiend of a girl. Although, I do like my work clothes to match my flipflops and garden gloves..
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