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

Less than two months

Less than Two Months!

Yikes! I have less than two months until I turn sixty. And I'm supposed to have this list finished. 

Not gonna happen.

O well. 

When I made this list, I lived in a different world. Seriously. Right outside the fourth largest  city in the United States with every imaginable opportunity/product/event at my fingertips. An airport within an hour's drive. The beach an hour away in the opposite direction. Traffic, stores, MALLS!! and lots of people.

About one third of the way through the list I ended up in a tiny rural town of maybe 1200 people. When I go to "town", that means about 7000 people, a Wal Mart, a grocery store (Safeway) and  a Murdoch's Ranch Supply. The closest airport is two hours away but the one that we usually have to fly out of/into is a good 4 hours away. Mountains are everywhere but no beach.

Me on the beach in Florida.

Where I won't be at Thanksgiving.

Which is why No.13: Thanksgiving at the beach won't happen. I had hoped to spend Thanksgiving with Belle in Florida. But Bunny and I were in Florida back in September. Last week Belle was here. I just put Belle on the plane back to Florida from Colorado (twice- TSA lines at the airport took over an hour, she missed her first flight because of it) so it seems silly to go visit her again so soon. Besides, Bunny has a severe case of Senioritis and since she has already missed 5 days of school and she graduates in December, I cannot condone her missing any more school. The hubs and the Big Guy are staying in Texas for Thanksgiving, Belle will be in Florida and Bunny and I will stay here. Or somewhere near here. I'm open to suggestions.

No. 11: Get something published....well, I guess I can say I have self published my own blog. Some things I have no control over but it doesn't hurt to put them out there. For now I will consider it accomplished. Multiple times. 

No. 27: Refresh those silver soldering lessons doesn't seem feasible. I've asked around and no one teaches silver working classes. I'll have to wait for civilization to take a class. I could probably pick it up from YouTube but the supplies are expensive enough that I prefer not to make a lot of mistakes trying. And I want to be able to repair the jump rings on my bracelets, so I don't want to ruin my favorite jewelry with inexperience. 

As an alternate I've decided to refresh my leather working skills. More on that later this week.

A little leather pocket on an inspiration bag.

The next one will be all leather. 

No. 19: Go up in a hot air balloon could be done here. But hot air balloons require very early morning departures and the hot air balloon rides nearest me are still 2 hours away or more. So I thought maybe a helicopter ride over the Royal Gorge. That's only an hour away and doesn't require me to pop out of bed at 4am. Or earlier. Except. I just checked.  Helicopter season was over October 15. Oops. O well. I've got some ideas for that hot air balloon in the future. 

No. 55:See a polo match.  Wrong season. Wrong place. I was hoping when Bunny and I went to Florida to visit Belle in September we might have been able to catch a polo match, but no. Wrong season there, also. If I had stayed in Texas, it would have been done by now. Never occurred to me that possibly there was polo in Colorado, but I just checked. There is. I just missed the season. Again, it will happen. Just not in the next two months.

Nos. 57 and 58 should get done. Ice hockey game and fly fishing. Seriously. I live less than 3 miles from one of the best fly fishing spots in the U.S.  And ice hockey is in Denver, 4 hours away.  Colorado Springs has ice hockey but not professional. We shall see....

No. 28: Learn to shoot a gun. I could do that here. But it may take more effort than I am willing to expend in the next 7 weeks. The weather has changed and do I really want to spend a few hours outside in the cold? No.  It could be done easily in Houston. That can wait.

No.7: Learn calligraphy is another one that would benefit from a larger locale.  I tried teaching myself but I was not successful. Someone that reads handwriting would have a heyday with my script. It can be bold, cursive, block letters, leaning left or right. Depends on my mood. So to tame my propensity to be all over the page- literally- I need professional help. 

No. 24: Organize all those photos.  Well, I have made a dent in the digital photos that I have here with me on my computer. But a gazillion photo albums lurk in the cabinets back in Texas. 

No. 5: Go the opera or ballet.   I hope to accomplish this one once I am back in Texas. Not before my birthday but before the end of the year. I always love The Nutcracker. Time to go again. 

And No. 1:Big 60th Birthday Trip.  That one is planned. There will actually be two little trips. One in February to S. Padre Island (a place I have never been) and the second to Lake City, Colorado in June.  That's a place I have been to many times and will be thrilled to go back. 

But seriously? With this group of women I could go to the La Quinta in Podunk and have fun. 

Fifty out of Sixty. That doesn't sound so good. BUT. The whole point was to get me out of my routine, to reunite me with some aspects of myself that I had let fall by the wayside. I have certainly accomplished that. 

And the ones that don't get done? Ninety by Ninety!!!
(I've already got the blog name reserved...)

Back again

Back..again!

Back from two weeks in Texas.

It was a whirlwind trip. I managed to complete two challenges on my list which was a huge plus. Nice to get moving on that again. 

Let's break the stay down by numbers. 

ONE Main sewer line back up, inconveniently the night before we drove back. (Although, when is a sewer line backing up into the house EVER convenient?). Our departure was delayed a few hours while I hunted down the  city contractors who had been cleaning sewer lines on our street the day before. Somehow I figured the two things were related and fortunately, they agreed. Line was cleared at no cost to us and we were on the road by 9am.

The shower drain- happy again.

Never think about those babies until they back up.

TWO Emergency room visits with my dad. Unfortunately being 92 and in pain is not considered an emergency. I promise, this getting older is not for sissies. 

THREE scheduled meals with good friends. I miss so many of my Texas friends and any time I get to see one, that's a good day. Thanks Martha, Libby, Dee, Diane and Lucy for making/taking time to meet me. I also managed to run into a few people randomly which is always fun.

And no, I did not get any pics. 

Boo hoo.

FOUR vet visits for the assorted animals. One of the cats bit Bunny while aiming for the vet. Carlos had to be drugged and muzzled just to get shots. And the poor horse, well. That's another post. A very sad post.

 Me and Carlos headed to the vet.

One of us is heavily sedated.

This is the nice cat, Minah. 

She did not bite anyone. 

The bad cat doesn't get his picture on the internet. 

FIVE medical tests including Yay! No.43: Get that Colonoscopy. I am happy to report that my bones are strong, I am basically healthy and I have the colon of a 30 year old. 

The nice doctor gave me pictures of my insides. 

I won't share them with you.

SIX bags off to Goodwill. My side of the closet is pretty much empty. All those "maybe" clothes are gone. If I don't wear it now, then I probably won't next year. The exceptions are denim. Old worn out jeans go but the vests and denim jackets and shirts stay. The hubs did come in and say "Are you moving out?" Um, hon, don't know if you noticed but I did that 2 years ago. Gone also are kids clothes, some books, stuff, stuff and more stuff. The old towels went to the vets office. The overflow of pet bowls and dog Elizabethan collars went to the Humane Society.  I feel 100 pounds lighter.

A car load of stuff we no longer need. 

I love cleaning out closets.

There was a lot more packed into that two weeks. Bunny and her friend boy found him an apartment for his year long stay/school in Texas. His mama  bravely stayed at our house those first few nights even though I could not vouch for the condition of the room she was to stay in or the condition of the house in general. Kudos to the hubs for pulling things together and getting the place presentable. 

There were lots of visits with the parents and a brief chat with my brother out in the front yard one morning. He was in town for 24 hours and staying at the peep's house so I got to see him before work. 

Also there was heat. And humidity. And snakes. Texas did not necessarily put her best foot forward for me this trip. Lots of highs and lows. Not much sleep.

One of the three snakes I pulled out of the pool one morning 

before I gave up and decided to not swim.

They were all small, but still. 

It's a pool. Not a pond. I don't swim in their creek. 

They shouldn't swim in my pool.

Happy to be back in the cool. Happy to be back at work with my crazies. Happy to be back. 

Yep. 101º

So much fun.

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.

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.

No. 39: Grow a Vegetable

No. 39: Grow a Vegetable.

Ok. This one sounds easy enough.

I was looking through the list trying to find a challenge I could get started on.

Some are seasonal, some are specific to different locales, some require the opportunity to present itself.

But growing a vegetable just requires a window sill. At least for now.

Yep, this is what I'm going to grow.

At the local Wal Mart today I made the mistake of asking a nice gentleman when was a good time to plant things in this area.

Note to self: Next time you think about speaking to strangers, do a sniff test to see if you can discern the alcohol on their breath before you jump in with questions.

My adviser's lunch apparently.

I did manage to find someone knowledgable who did explain quite a bit about planting.
More than I really wanted to know, in fact.
I learned about Soil Block Makers and specifically how many of these delightful items this gentleman owned. And I learned about the 4" press that is coming in the mail next month to his house.  And I met his wife. And I learned what he was going to be planting. And that I should plant by the moon. (Moon phases, not moon light.)
And I deduced that he had maybe 2 or 12 beers for lunch before heading out to Wal Mart.

A soil blocker for seedlings. 

I do not have one.

Nor do I plan to get one.

But I have been schooled on what to do with one. 

Once I managed to escape his clutches informative monologue I skedaddled down to the seed aisle and buried my head deep into the seed packets.

Growing some of these, too.

On the next aisle over I heard the nice man giving an unsuspecting couple a long winded oration over Diatomaceous earth. Lucky them.

Anyway, I picked up some seed packets for tomatoes and peppers. Certainly these are veggies I can handle.

Cross your fingers.

They need to be started indoors for six to eight weeks before they can go outside.

Rather than make my own soil blocks I went with Wal Mart's Seed Starter kit and some starting soil.
Sorry, sir, your speech was inspiring but I'm just not that into this project yet.
Baby steps.

Let's see how I do….

………….and………...

If you read last week's post, then you know we have baby chicks.

I am happy to report they are all four still alive and growing. 

Carlos is still afraid of them.

Proof:

Franklin, Juan, Pablo, and Steve.

I did not name them.

And they are supposed to be all girls. 

This really is turning into Green Acres.
(Some of our other Green Acres moments here and here.)

NOT ON THE LIST.

Nope, this one was NOT on the list.

I double checked twice.
There is absolutely no mention of  No. 62: Raise baby chicks.
None.
(Click here for the real list.)

Peep peep peep.

There is a mention of entering something into the county fair.  That's No. 41.  But I really had jalapeño jelly in mind. Or maybe a quilt. Not laying hens. 

A quilt with Baby Clara wrapped inside: Yes.

Chickens: No.

And No. 39 is Grow a vegetable from scratch.
Not Grow a chicken from scratch.

But yesterday Bunny came home late from school with a big bucket, a waterer, a warming lamp, feed, fluff and not one but FOUR baby chicks.
Four of them.

Adorable. Peep.

Peep peep peep.

They are adorable.
They are upstairs in Bunny's room.
They are not my responsibility.
I keep repeating that to myself.

Adorable. Peep peep.

Peep peep peep.

There is some precedent for chicks in the house, I hate to say.
When I was little my brothers and I got baby chicks at Easter.
One of the chicks got eaten by the dog next door.
One followed my mother into the garage and she shut the door, not realizing he was behind her.
But mine….mine grew up!
And he was a rooster.
A rooster that crowed every morning on the backyard fence.
This was in Alamo Heights in San Antonio.
Not out in the country.
After the neighbors complained my father found "Chickie" a new home at the "chicken farm".
For a solid year after that ( maybe longer) my brothers delighted in exclaiming "O! It's Chickie" every time we had chicken for dinner.
Talk about traumatic.

Peep peep peep.

Anyway, there are chicks in the house.
Bunny assures me that she has some friends that will take them when they get to be teenagers.
She just wanted to enjoy the baby stage.
(Isn't that how everyone ends up with babies???)

Adorable.

And I'm trying to keep a sense of humor.
While I traumatize her.

Peep peep peep.

First Time for Everything...

There's a first time for everything...


Part of my decision to do this Sixty by Sixty list was that I had gotten in a rut and wasn't doing new stuff. I wasn't doing fun stuff. I was just doing the same ol', same ol' stuff.

So while this wasn't on my list, I have to admit my trip to the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs Resort probably should have been.

My friend Liddy came into town to see me. She has a house a couple of hours away from me in Colorado. We grew up together, first meeting at church in Houston. My parents helped cement the friendship by suggesting that Liddy come with us to San Miguel de Allende for a few weeks when we were just out of 6th grade. Liddy's aunt and uncle lived there while my parents had recently discovered the charm of that little mountain town. That was the beginning of my love affair with San Miguel and the beginning of one of my best friendships.

San Miguel de Allende at dusk.

Forty five years later we are still playing together.

Me and Liddy doing what we do best:

Traveling and ...ummm...Drinking? 

Two years ago, but some things never change. 

While Liddy was here we decided to try the natural hot springs outside of Salida.  My kids have been there before but I never had.

I will be back!

A lovely funky old entrance leads to two large traditional pools, one at a temp of 96 degrees, one at 103 degrees.

You walk into some boring traditional pools.

Not for us!

 We sashayed past those boring cement ponds and headed down the steps to Chalk Creek. There we found shallow pools of varying temperatures fed by the natural hot springs. Depending on where you stepped it was either VERY hot, warm, VERY cold, or Goldilocks Just Right.

Just like a natural hot tub.

Our only mistake was not taking (adult) beverages with us. There is no food or beverage service available, only a water bottle vending machine.

We almost had the river to ourselves. It was DIVINE.

A few hours of soaking and we could barely climb the stairs back to the car. Our legs were jelly and our stomachs were rumbling. Tension and stress were no longer our companions.

We weren't out of the parking lot before we were plotting a return. Maybe in the winter?  With a snow flurry or two floating gently down into the steaming river? Or in a few weeks while there is still a chance to get a little tan?

Soon.

The Benefits of Friends

No. Eight: Make baby quilts again

No. 51: Learn to knit or crochet

No. 22:Surprise a friend in another city for lunch

I have never been very goal oriented. An aptitude test done in college had the counselor declaring me a hedonist. If it was fun, I would do it. Otherwise, maybe not.  Possibly he wasn’t the greatest career counselor but also possibly he was onto something.  I like fun.

I’ve always said my oldest brother got all the ambition ( that would be the lawyer brother, Steve) and the other two of us were just happy to "go along to get along".

 Paul, Me, Steve. 

See? Steve is wearing the Chief's hat.  (O wait. So am I.)

And Paul - always the renegade.

So it is odd that I am writing a blog on setting some goals and accomplishing them. Maybe I am just getting my ambition late in life.

But in a chat with my dear friend Cherrilla, my roommate from school in Mexico, we were discussing  kids, goals and the concept of writing down your list.

 Cherrilla on our San Miguel trip last May.

The glass is half full? Or half empty?

Or just really good fresh squeezed OJ?

We both decided our young adult children could really benefit from a list.

She also had the fabulous idea of having some friends over for wine and snackies and having everyone write their own list of  Sixty by Sixty things they want to do. Or Fifteen by Fifty or Nine by Ninety or you get the idea. And then sharing lists.

The other thing she said was “I can help you with Numbers 8 and 51.” 

She’s a quilter, she makes and sells magical baby quilts. (She also makes and sells this magical stuff.) I used to be a quilter; she could get me motivated again.  

Some of our quilts- her two on the left, my three on the right and foreground.

We do like ourselves a little color.

I have knitting needles and crochet hooks and have in my past at least learned the very basic rules of knitting. You cast on, knit two, purl one or something along those lines. She crochets. She said she would teach me. Number 51 could be history.

 Aren't these beauties? Definitely a story behind this set.

(The minor detail that she lives on the East Coast and I live in Texas will not be a problem. Maybe I will have to surprise her for lunch. Number 22.)

Then she mentioned a friend that speaks to the elderly where she lives and how it might be something for those in the Senior Center. Which got me to thinking: In your eighties or nineties, do you quit making goals or plans? Once getting around seems insurmountable, do you just stop trying?  

But what if you make your list and share it? 

And someone says “I can help you with that.”

So the surprise bonus to putting myself out here and declaring that there are things I want to do and learn is that people have responded.  People want to help or share their list or at least get in on the fun. 

“I can help you with that.” 

"This is what is on my list."

“Do you want to come with me to this?”  

“Put that on your list! I want to learn that, too. Let’s do it together.”

 I had no idea that this list would be a way to connect.

And that is so much fun. And I love fun.

What is on your list?