Life's a Challenge

Life's a Challenge...

and I don't mean that in a bad way, at all.  But I have been thinking about how I haven't done ANY of my Sixty by Sixty challenges in ages.  The List remains incomplete and unused.

BUT.  I have challenged myself a couple of different ways recently.  So maybe my challenges are just going to be more internal for a bit rather than activities or places.

My most significant challenge has been asking for, bargaining for and finally getting a much needed pay increase.  It's taken a few months and means I will have to change employers (although not actual jobs which is confusing but that's the way it is...) but it also means that not only am I getting a pay increase, but so are the two nurses that I work with.

The view out my work window.

A good reason to love my job.

I realized at my yearly review that I better be happy with the standard 3% increase as no one was going to say "Great job! We need to give you 20% more than you are already making."
At least not unless I asked.  
And I was NOT happy with 3%. I work my tail off, I'm a great employee and I have gone above and beyond this past year. So I said, no,  don't think so, I need more and outlined why in an email. A lot of back and forth but finally they came up with an agreeable amount.
Lessons learned?
Know your value.
And the one I always tell the kids: If you don't ask, the answer is always "no".


The other thing that I have had to challenge myself with is driving in the snow. I mentioned in the last post how Colorado was kind to me last year. Not so this year. There have been a few good snows, some ice and tons of cold weather. Over New Year's Eve I drove to Denver to stay with my friend Diana. It snowed all day on New Year's Eve, with about 2 or 3 inches accumulating in Denver.  BUT! At the cabin the inches of snow were piling up. Fifteen of them at least.

Snow from Diana's deck in Denver. 

An inch or so....manageable.

On New Year's Day I had to make the decision... drive home through the passes or through the canyon? Two ways to get from Point A to Point B and I had to weigh the pros and cons of each.  I've had scary drives going both ways. Drives that involved cars going off the road, cars going into the river, cars going into the mountains. Part of me wanted to just say "Eh, I'll wait and drive back to the cabin on Wednesday when the snow has melted." But my time off is limited and I needed to be brave.

Snow at the cabin.

Deep.

The mountain pass won and guess what?  It was a piece of cake. The anticipation of the drive was WAY worse than the reality. Roads were clear, snow packed in a few places, but the most dangerous part of the trip was pulling out of the Stop and Rob after getting gas. By the time I arrived home there were close to 18 inches of snow on the ground but my driveway had been cleared by the neighbor.
Lesson learned?
Like Nike™ says "Just do it."

Food. Salmon and brussel sprouts to be exact. Both über popular and neither my faves. I have tried salmon  many many times in an effort to acquire a taste for it, but nope.
It's ubiquitous.
People like to make it for meals. It's good for you. Ugh. I just couldn't.  But like a good girl, I've kept trying.

Finally, at my favorite restaurant in town, I tasted my companion's maple glazed salmon and then tasted again.  And again. Surprise! It tasted good.  Have my taste buds changed? Not sure. Have not had the opportunity to try salmon again but I'm willing to give it a go.

An acquired taste, I think.

But these were pretty good. 

Same with brussel sprouts. They really DON'T taste that great but I've had them prepared creatively enough that I can tolerate them. I recently had Brussel sprouts with bacon, parmesan, and cashews. YUM. Maybe it was the bacon that elevated them. Isn't everything better with bacon? They were so yummy that I made Brussel sprouts for dinner last night . Mine had balsamic vinegar and honey. Again, they were pretty yummy.
Did my taste buds change? Maybe.
Lesson learned?
Tastes change. For many things. Never quit tasting. Or experimenting.

So. Challenges. Not on a list. But little mountains to climb. And plant my flag on top.

My mountains.

My flag. 

The End, the Beginning...

The End is also the Beginning....

In less than a week I will turn sixty. Wow!

Mentally it doesn't compute. I look in the mirror and still see my 18 year old self...I know,  I know. 100% delusional.   I pretty much feel 18.  Certainly no more than 30.

                        

18.                     almost 60. 

(Carlos looks embarrassed to be in the middle....)

And my list will not be completed. Some might see that as a failure.  I see it as an opportunity to continue learning and doing.

Twelve items on the list weren't done at all. Two have been worked on. One is scheduled. I've done a couple of extras.  When I made the list I could not imagine the turns my life would take in the coming years. I made the list while living outside the fourth largest city in the United States. I'm finishing up the list living in a tiny rural area in Colorado two hours from anything.  Number 20: MOVE!! was put on there as a lark. Mostly I was thinking move houses. Not move cities. Or states.

So those 12 items will be moved to Project 90x90. Maybe. I may rethink a couple of them.

And  until I get that 90x90 website up and running, I thought I would share a few things I've learned in the last three years.
Or maybe the last 60 years.

1) Food is love.
Maybe I've seen too many chef/restaurant movies or maybe I have just finally figured out that food is not just food.  Good food feeds your body. Junk food junks up your body.   I still have my fast food cravings (Chick Fil A anyone? Jack in the Box tacos?) and I am looking forward to Tex Mex but I know that the healthy stuff makes me feel better.
Beyond the actual health benefits of eating real food and healthy food, though, I have learned the joy  in making a meal and sharing it with others. In being the guest at someone else's table. In sharing my banana bread with some grateful young men. In making cookies to give away as thanks.
Food is love.

Food. Feed your body. Feed your soul.

(image from the movie: Burnt)

(And if you want to see a good movie with gorgeous food and gorgeous Bradley Cooper, go see Burnt. )

2) Change is good.
Really.
It can be uncomfortable. Scary. Even unwanted.
But every time you have to face a fear, make a change, deal with the world changing around you, well, you grow. You learn something new. Brain cells connect . Maybe your heart expands a bit. Your eyes widen.   Learning new stuff is cool. And good for you. Even if you think you didn't want to learn anything new, you just wanted to stay in your little shell. Change. It's good.

Make your brain happy.

Embrace change.

(image: here)

3) Friends are the Bomb.Dot.Com.
Honest. My friends are awesome. They have come through for me so many times and in so many ways. I try to be a good friend back. Some days I'm awesome, some days I fall really short. I'm whiney. I complain way too much.  I think it is my way of working through stuff.  But O! My friends have been such great sounding boards. I have some super smart friends. I learn stuff new from them all the time.
Friends are family you get to choose.  Make some. Nourish your relationships.

From this...

to this. 

I'm happy to say I have friendships 

that have almost crossed this time span. 

(I say "almost" because I'm not that old yet.)

4) Money is Power and Freedom      and
5) Work is dignity.
Money. Love it. Hate it. Worship it. Never enough, is there?
But here is what I know. A little money in a secret stash is important.  If you have your own money, no one can tell you what to do with it. That is empowering and freeing. I've been trying to impart this bit of wisdom to my girls. And especially to the boy.
Number Five goes along with Number Four because the most common way to get money is to work for it. And working gives you purpose and structure. A feeling of accomplishment. O! And a paycheck. So Four brings us to Five and Five brings us to Four.
I love a full circle.

Like I said, 

change is good.

Sooo...I'm signing off this website at the end of December.  And what posting I do between now and then will be even more random than it has been, if that is possible. I have a birthday, a friend's son's wedding and a 1000 mile move all scheduled in the next ten days. And then comes Christmas which I am woefully unprepared for.  Belle will be arriving in Colorado from Florida with a friend boy in tow.  They will help get Bunny back to Texas. A quick check last night resulted in a resounding "No" when I asked if there was a Christmas tree awaiting me in Texas.
Basically my life for the rest of the month will be herding kittens through Jell-o. Can't wait.

Join me in the New Year here:   PROJECT 90x90

A Perfectly Acceptable ....

A Perfectly Acceptable Substitute for No. 4: Performance at Red Rocks


While I am not taking No. 4: Performance at Red Rocks completely off the table, I am willing to acknowledge at this point that some of the things on my list just may not happen in the next -EEK!- 4 months.  So Saturday night I did something totally in the spirit of the list and of going to an outdoor concert and of No. 25: See a concert- live music.

Possibly No. 4 will end up being put on the 90 by 90 list.   Yes, that's probably going to be a thing.

But.

Last weekend the tiny little town of Salida (population about 6000 really cool people) hosted the Gentlemen of the Road Stopover.  I've been hearing about this since last January. At the time I thought "Cool. I want to go. But. I will be back in Texas."

Fast forward and my days of not knowing where I will be next continue. Turns out I will be in Colorado. And the preparations for the Stopover are coming together and tickets go on sale. Urk! Tickets are $200 each for the whole weekend, including camping. No one day tickets are being sold. Hard to justify that.
But...but... Mumford and Sons are headlining. I love them. I want to see them. But... but... $200.00.  Just for one ticket.

The last few weeks before the show and instead of the 30,000 tickets that the promoters thought would sell,  only 20,000 have been purchased.  So one day tickets go on sale.  Saturday night will be $125.00.  Still quite a bit but maybe.  But who will go with me? I don't want to go by myself. (Whine.)  I've pretty much burned Bunny out on Mumford just by constantly playing their Babel CD.

Last Friday no tickets have been purchased, no plans have been made. Bunny and I head into town for dinner and to just see how crowded and entertaining it is. The stores are all decked out with signs and British flags are everywhere and there is a party atmosphere. Bunny says "We should go tomorrow night. I have a couple of friends going."

Home again, we go onto Salida Swap, our local buy/sell/trade/find a lost dog FB spot.  "ISO two one day tickets for Saturday night".

By Saturday morning I have two discounted tickets, just have to go pick them up. I feel like I'm doing a drug deal. First stop is a house in town. I hand over $70 cash and get a sole red wrist band. Assured that is all I need, I go on to my second stop: a Shell station in the next town over. There I get an info packet and a black wrist band in exchange for 3 twenties.Wait! What's the difference? Why is one red and one black.  No one seems to be able to tell me. Did I just buy a ticket for Friday? The wrist bands need to be registered online and I get "Success!" after entering each one so ...fingers crossed...they both must be good.

Hmmm. One of these is not like the other.

Turns out one was a weekend wristband, the other was a day wristband.

Bunny and I head into town about 5:30. Mumford and Sons plays at 8:15.  Parking is easy although we have about a mile to walk to get to the stage area. Tents are everywhere. It's all so...organized. Clean.  There's a tiny security check with no wait. And ... no one ever looks at our wristbands. The instructions said they would be scanned but no.

Within ten minutes Bunny has abandoned me. O wait! She let me buy her (and me) a T-shirt first. Then she scampered off to meet up with friends.

No worries. I realized I had a choice.

I could do something I really, really wanted to do and enjoy the entire experience or I could sit at home  and whine about missing something I really wanted to do but didn't because I didn't have anyone to go with.

Guess what? I'm pretty good company for myself.

I grabbed a taco and as it got closer to 8:00 I edged my way up to the stage, picking a spot near the sound booth/VIP area because there was a low fence to lean on which also gave me a pretty good view. Somewhere along the way I realized how short I am. And how many 6 feet tall guys there are out there. With their 5'8" girlfriends.

Jenny Lewis was playing. Never  heard of her but totally enjoyed her music.  A group of exuberant twenty somethings was gathering next to me. A cute thirty something (maybe 40?) couple leaned on the fence next to me. One of the 20s asked me "You here by yourself? That's cool. How in the world did you do concerts when you were a kid without cell phones?"  Half of the couple asked if I was alone and did I want to meet them in Moab to go mountain biking next month.   Um. No. I don't even know your name but thanks for the offer.

And then.... the main course.

Mumford and Sons.  They were great. Awesome. Did I notice one bit that I was alone? No.
Would it have been nice to have someone there to ooh and aaahh over the band with?
Sure.
But better to be alone than to have someone with me that didn't care about the music or the experience.

The best part of the night? The four band members singing together around one microphone with just one guitar. Marcus Mumford asked everyone to be quiet and you know what? Everyone was. Twenty thousand people quit talking/singing/yelling and just listened. I videoed a bit of it but of course, not a very good video. I was too busy listening myself.


                    

(If you can't see this, go here.)

And when it was over I walked alone to my car with 20,000 of my new bestest friends that I had never met before.   And here's the amazing part. Not a care in the world. Not one second thought about walking alone to my car a mile away surrounded by strangers at 11pm on a dark night. Once in my car it took me exactly 4 minutes to get out of the parking lot and on my way. Like I said, everything was very well organized.

So while it wasn't Red Rocks,
which is its own experience, this huge outdoor concert was definitely an acceptable substitute for now. Red Rocks may still get done before December but it may not.
No worries.

Surfacing...

Back...sort of.

Did ya miss me?  

I'm surfacing again after a week or so of being bogged down.  

For one I suddenly started working full time at the coffee shop which, while lovely and fun,  also has been a huge shock to my system.  I haven't worked full time in TWENTY THREE YEARS!!!

Me and the espresso machine. 

Best buds.

I've been exhausted. And poor Carlos is left at home alone so I spend the hours when I come home playing fetch and "drop it" and all those other fun dog games.

"Throw dis for me mama, please."

Carlos is modeling his Thundershirt. 

Amazingly it works. Keeps him from totally panicking when it thunders.

If you were in a car when it was hit by lightning, you might have a fear of thunder and lightning too.

There was high school graduation- no one in our family but certainly plenty of the girly girls' friends. So presents and cards had to be procured, graduation outfits shopped and, of course, attendance at the actual event. It was just as fun as last year.  Congrats to all the 2015 Salida High School graduates.

Hey Ruth! Hi Kelsey!

Good job everyone.

And I am doing nothing, nada, zippo towards completing my challenges.

Hardly even thinking about them.

This weekend I go to Denver.  Seeing a play on Saturday night. Meeting up with Bunny who will be flying home from a week with her sister in Florida. Picking up a car that  has been worked on in Colorado Springs.

I'll get back to the list eventually.

Until then, bear with me.


Happy Summer.

And...

And....

You know how last week I mentioned "I've hated to say it before now, but I think Spring is really here."

I should have known better..

Here is our week's forecast:

Yep. That would be snow forecast for Friday morning.  Saturday night is prom for Bunny. That beautiful gown will be a little bare for 34º temps.  Not that the temperature will stop her from wearing it. Anyway, Friday is a long ways away and forecasts are frequently wrong.


Today I panicked a bit about the rest of my list.  Because, as I have mentioned, I'm at a standstill. 
So I scrolled through and found the time specific ones and put those dates on my calendar. 

I've missed polo season (#55) but it starts again mid-September. There are polo clubs in Houston and also near Belle in Florida. I should be able to fit that in somehow. 

Thanksgiving at the beach. (#13)  Belle has informed me that she loves Florida and is planning on staying there even though she does not love school so much. I am thinking we will just go see Belle for Thanksgiving next year: turkey at the beach.  (And nope, I haven't broken this news to her or anyone else in the family yet, so "shhhhhhh". )

Ice hockey season is also over but I will have a chance next fall. Looks like games start in October.  (#57)

That colonoscopy. (#43) I am so overdue for that. This summer. Waiting until I am in Texas because that is not something I want to do in my little town...and I sure don't want to have to drive two or three hours away for it, either.  

In June I'm meeting up with my friends to plan our 60th trip. (#1) Two of us turn 60 this year, the rest do it in 2016.  The trip most likely will not happen before I turn 60 but if we have it planned, I'm counting it!

Bunny's friend took her out and taught her how to shoot a pistol. I thought she was pretty good until she told me she was only about 20 feet away from the target. 

Anyway, I discussed with her that possibly he could also teach me. (#28) This kid is methodical and safety conscious and has been around guns his whole life. We can go to the shooting range on the other side of town.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre has their summer schedule out. (#4)   Just need to schedule a trip to Denver and con someone into going with me.  Easy.  

And as soon as the vegetable starts come out, I'm grabbing a few. (#39) Last year I was not successful because it is so dry here. Miss one day of watering and Poof! those plants are dead.   
So I'm thinking a potted veggie garden on the patio will work best. Close by, I can see them and, more importantly, water them every morning easily. No shoes required to walk out into the big gardens. (This ground is pretty rocky. Even though I am a total barefoot kid, I need shoes to walk in the yard.) Crossing my fingers for success this year. 

Cozumel, well, that may not happen. (#15) Not many people want to go to Mexico with me. I think I would be totally safe but.....   I can come up with something else.  I've been a million times and it is just one of my favorite places. Not saying it won't happen eventually, just maybe not in the next year.  But maybe I can go to Cuba instead. That has been a lifelong dream and it looks closer and closer to becoming a reality. Cross your fingers. 

Soooo...... there's hope.  And putting things on the calendar makes them more likely to happen.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. 

Thursday on a Friday, Again

Thursday on a Friday, Again
or
What I've Been Doing While I'm NOT Working on My Challenges.


I'm at an impasse.

The rest of the challenges either have time specific, place specific or budget unavailable constraints.
So I'm just sitting on them for a bit.

In the meantime, I am kind of back to No. 8: Make Baby Quilts Again.
(A side note: The babies that I made those original quilts for turn two this week. Wow!)

At work one day a regular was asking whether we carried any baby gifts. We don't.
But I mentioned I make baby blankets and sell them on Etsy. (Ok, they are listed on Etsy. Occasionally they sell. I've been more than lazy about promoting them.)

And he brightened up and said "Perfect! Make me one for my great niece."

So I did.

In pictures it didn't look like much, but in person it was very sweet. White flannel on one side, tiny pink floral print on the other and quilted with large, randomly placed, stylized flowers.   I loved what my buyer said. He wanted one side of the quilt plain white so as to show off the baby. He wanted the baby to be the focus, not the blanket. Isn't that a lovely idea?

 Some randomly drawn on flowers- waiting for the disappearing ink to disappear.

Sweet little blanket-waiting for a baby. 

And while I haven't heard whether the baby loved the blanket, my buyer did. So much so that he had another idea. 

He has some old flannel shirts. Loved and worn. Frayed collars. 

Could I make a quilt for the toddler brother of the newborn great niece, using his old shirts?

Why yes, I could.
And so I am.

It will be simple, squares. Probably four rows by six of  7" squares.   At least that's what it's looking like at this point.  The squares will be made of two triangles.

A couple of the triangles will still have pockets. A toddler should like that- a place to hide things. 

It's a nice little project to keep me busy.

And soon I will be back to my list.

Prerogative

Prerogative- my right to change my mind

"It's a women's prerogative to change her mind."


A little over two years ago when I came up with my  60x60 list, I gave myself the leeway to change my mind on some of the challenges.

As I'm entering the last year of my challenges, some of them just don't appeal like they did when I first came up with them. 

So I am changing one of them. Maybe more, but just one for right now.

So Number 5 and Number 7 are combining to become Number 5.  Sort of. It's an  either/or/and option.  And Number 7 is becoming "Learn calligraphy".

It's an art form in ink. 

magical handwriting!

While my handwriting can be pretty good, it's not consistent, and I want it to be amazing. 

At least amazing on command. 

Actually I would love to have my handwriting analyzed. 
Except. 
My handwriting changes all the time. Sometimes it's upright, sometimes slanted, sometimes huge and loopy, sometimes narrow. I'm not sure which sample of handwriting would be the "correct" one to have analyzed.  

So maybe if I learn calligraphy, I will stabilize my handwriting and therefore my personality. 

Or not. That's probably expecting too much.

But Number 7 is now Calligraphy.

I have a loooonnnnggg ways to go.

Deja Vu all Over Again/Welcome 2015

Deju Vu All Over Again  and Welcome 2015

I'm baaaccckkk!!


Seems like forever since I've written a post. I just know I've been terribly missed.

First a little Christmas holiday recap and then some thoughts for the coming year.

The holidays started out pretty much like last year.

Last year before we left town , we found this on our game camera:

Mountain Lion 2013

And exactly one year later, look who was on the game camera again.

Mountain Lion 2014

This picture isn't as clear, but that is probably the same mountain lion, staring into my yard,  less than 100 feet from my front door.

The more alarming part is that Bunny went outside the morning this was taken to get something out of her car. Out the door, over the raised deck and into her car, then back into the house. She came in shaking her head and said "Something growled at me. Twice."  She wasn't concerned because she thought it was Carlos, UNTIL she saw that Carlos was sitting right next to me. Nowhere near the back door.
I found a paw print under the deck.
Fortunately Bunny was NOT anyone's breakfast.

I also managed to maim myself 24 hours prior to arriving in Texas. Again. Nothing broken this time, just slammed my finger in the door of the Hummer. Hard. Three weeks later it still has a BandAid and it still hurts. Another Christmas on pain killers.

Last year.

There was a hospital visit, just like last year. This year it was my mom in for a test.  Last year it was me for a cast.

There was the flu rearing its ugly head again. Last year Bunny and I BOTH got the flu. This year it was Belle.

No Christmas decorations up at the Texas house but I expected that. At least the house was clean.

But Christmas was lovely and we had a great trip there and back. (Unlike last year.)

We returned to SNOW!!!  And Carlos, who had been in the kennel for TEN days.
Look how happy he is to be sitting in Belle's lap for the ride home from the kennel.

Carlos and Belle

And look at the fun snow we got to drive through for the last two hours of our trip!

 Beautiful snow covered mountain drive. 

And this is what we woke up to the next morning. 

Lots of snow!

So the New Year's portion of our holiday was pretty much spent doing this:

Christmas puzzles.

So... Christmas and New Years. Done.

On to 2015.

That means I have less than a year to finish my 60 by 60 list.  Yikes.

I did get No. 31 done. I'll post about that soon.

And while I don't have any resolutions, I do have some thoughts about the new year.  I'll post about that soon, too.

In the meantime, onward to the new year.