Happenings....

Life is insane.

Still don't have an apartment. We're waiting on the background check from my nephew's job. Once we have that, we should be able to get in. I hope. If not, I've made back up plans. (Thanks Julie! You're the best!)

I'm planning on doing a big blog about my recent trip to Colorado. I'd do it now, but I packed the notebook I made notes in, and I'm not sure what box it's in.

For now I'll say that I had a wonderful time. I had lots of fun. I LOVED the train ride and want to travel by train again.

That's all for now. Just wanted to let everybody know I'm still not dead. Heh.

Been a While....

Life's been kind of crazy lately. I recently had a 47-hour work week, which is good for the paycheck. And I've been busy hunting for apartments and starting to pack and everything.

It's a good busy, but busy nonetheless.

Anyway, I recently worked on a project where I scanned in slides of my mother and her two brothers when they were kids. It can be fun, and kind of a shock, to see your parents as children.

Anyway, I wanted to share a couple of my favorite slides that I scanned.

This one is of my mom, Mignon, and her brother Mark. It's a great moment captured perfectly on film. It reminds me of something that Norman Rockwell would paint. Yeah, my grandpa was apparently a prodigy at photography.


This next one is Mignon kicking water at Mark. Great, great picture, and hilarious to boot.



Finally, we get this image of Mignon and Mark holding their mother's hands while walking among autumn leaves. I particularly like the fuzziness of the picture, as, to me, it makes the picture seem more like a cherished memory than a photograph.


So there you go, that's my most recent project. Now time to get back to packing!

Interesting Times...

I had two new experiences this week. One was bad, the other was, well, interesting.

First the interesting. I delivered a pizza to a man today who rode his horse up to my car. I gave him his order. I think I was making his horse a little nervous, though. Or it might have been my car's running engine. Interesting experience.

Also, my last paycheck bounced. Not sure how to react to that one. Well, anger is a given, but what else? Shock. Fear. I just got another paycheck. Is this one going to bounce, too?

Who knows.

Good Things/Bad Things...

I really would be okay with the good things happening by themselves sometimes. You know?

Oh well.

I came to Kanab for the weekend to celebrate my birthday. Along the way I stopped and visited a couple friends. I also went and visited my sister in law and stayed the night. And it's been fun visiting with my parents.

In the last couple days I've heard a strange knocking sound when I hit bumps in my car. So I took it in to see what it was and how much it would cost.

It's a strut. And it's going to be about $200 to fix it. And really, that's not bad, but I wanted to use that $200 for other things, so it's disappointing.

Oh well.

Mystery Gift Game...

Ehhh, why not?
My friend, Julie, posted this on her blog, and I thought it was a fun idea. Plus, I like getting mystery gifts. Well...I've never been given a mystery gift, but the premise sounds fun. AND, this year, my goal is to give all home-made gifts for Christmas, so this will give me some practice. Here are the rules:

The first three people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be.
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog.The first 3 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!
Who's in?

Come on, give it a shot. I'm fairly creative....right?

It's Okay to Dream...

This is a reaction to my friend Julie's recent post. I was thinking of putting this in the comments, but it was just too long once I started thinking it through.

So here's the thing. In my first visit with the therapist I just saw recently, we discovered that I was afraid to dream, because I was convinced I only got one shot at happiness and I didn't want to waste that one chance, so I never took it. It makes sense, in a weird way, but it's certainly not healthy.

Even if it's a dream you know isn't exactly fulfillable, like, say, walking on the moon, it's good for you to imagine the experience. Dream it.

If you don't, you just get depressed and withdrawn and unhappy. And of course you're not going to be happy, you can't dream. Can't hope for a better tomorrow.

Dream big. Dream lots. Dream small, too. Maybe keep lots of folders filled with different dreams of differing magnitudes. Keep one for the dreams that you know you can accomplish. Check them off one by one. Accomplishing goals and dreams is a good feeling. Almost as good as the initial rush of "I really, really want to do that someday."

Got a dream?

Fascinations...

"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be slain." G.K. Chesterton, as quoted in the prescript to Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

I love that quote. When I first read it, it resonated with me in an almost audible fashion. That is part of the reason why I love reading fantasy novels so much; you know that the hero will find a way to win. It's part of what makes reading books so safe and wonderful.

I'm doing well today. I've got three days off in a row. I got my federal and Arizona state returns already. I'm getting my car fixed tomorrow. Going to a book exchange today. Good things are happening.

I feel like my life might actually be moving in some sort of direction, rather than hanging around in a hold pattern.

I have some decisions to make and things to prepare for, but I feel like I can do it now.

And that's a good feeling to have. You know?