Moving out

I handed over the keys to the old house yesterday. Funny that I have no keys to the new house. Odd that neither one is a home right now. I am homeless.

I think I am done with this blog. Andy will decide where and what and if he wants to blog about the new house but regardless this blog will stay since I no longer recall the password to the main account that controls it. I suppose it's a good thing that it will remain indefinitely.

I'll start another blog maybe or revive a dormant one or not bother with any of it. Right now I am leaning towards not bothering with any of it. We'll see.

Home fires

Tonight is my last night in the Robin Road house. The majority of our things should, by this time tomorrow, be in a home that we purchased a few miles away. We'll still have things to move come Monday, but I will be sleeping and living in our new place beginning tomorrow.

I'm trying to be excited about the new house, but that isn't coming very easily. I've tried to explain to my family why this is, but that seems to come even less easily. That's probably because I don't really know why myself. I can count the number of times that I have moved in my life on one hand and still have enough fingers left to tap along with the radio. Change is hard for me, and that might be part of it, but there's more to it that just that.

Most have told me that it's time that I bought a house. They quote how much money that I have wasted all of these years paying rent. I have made my own way through my life, I have lived on my own terms, and my life has never felt like one with any sort of waste in it. It's not in my nature to move from a place where I am happy just so I may own a house.

And I've never dreamed of owning a house. I never have. My dreams are of owning cool cars or the book that I want to make some day. I still dream of having adventures and of being someone great. But I never dream of owning a house. Yet, now I own one.

Not sure if we need to start a blog about the new house or just dovetail it in on this one. The neat freak in me wants a clean slate, but this has been about so many things that why can't it be about our new house now?

The Jolly Roger

Tad says I am having a midlife crisis. He's wrong though. I am just being me. This is just me being me. I bought this 1989 Jimmy K1500. It's got a six inch lift on it and he is big and loud and big and fun. I was pretty distraught at having to sell my personal car (chrysler 300 touring - really pretty and badassed in a luxurious way) and go into the potato company car. It's a nice car, a Toyota Camry but..........it's a freaking potato. It has no soul and no character. None. And a zillion other people drive cars exactly like it. Does that sound like me? Nope. So I wanted a vehicle that was fun and had a soul and character. And one that could haul around the family and friends without me being the only one allowed to drive as is the case with the company car.

Meet Black Bart Jolly Roger, my pirate ship! Cause I am a Pirate Princess. We just call him Bart or Jr. for short. Isn't he just the coolest thing ever! He needs some work and what not but he is pretty much exactly what I was looking for. I am much happier now.
Amazingly enough when I stood Laddie next to Jr. I discovered my horse still has a bigger lift kit. Heh. Mostly this is just so I can put a picture of Laddie here.



There are of course other things going on in our lives and at the house right now but this is all I have time for right now. I am off to the World Equestrian Games in Lexington in two weeks from today with my best friend, Cheryl. To say we are excited is a massive understatement. I just wish we could take Jr. Too expensive and too rough and too loud though so we will take the company potato. The potato's name is Blackie because he is silver. I know, but it makes sense to me. Although I am considering changing his name to Spud. Heh.

Fight like a girl

Just because I love this song by Bomshel. The lyrics ring so so true for me. It's what I was taught by my mom and my dad while I was growing up. It's what I try to live now. It must have been a lesson well taught because I am almost always confident I can, in fact, take on the world if I need to or want to and nobody defines me except me. I had fabulous parents and role models.

Thanks Mom and Dad.

Little girl alone on the playground

Tired of gettin' teased and gettin' pushed around

Wishin' she was invisible

To them

She ran home cryin'

"Why do they hate me?"

And Mama wiped the tears and said

"Baby, you're brave and you're beautiful.

So, hold your head high.

Don't ever let 'em define

The light in your eyes.

Love yourself, give them Hell.

You can take on this world.

You just stand and be strong

And then fight

Like a girl."

At 31 she was wheelin' and dealin'

Kept on hittin' that same glass ceilin'

She was never gonna be one of the boys, no

She coulda gave up on her ambition

And spent the rest of her life just wishin'

Instead she listened to her mama's voice sayin'

"Hold your head high.

Don't ever let 'em define

The light in your eyes.

Love yourself, give them Hell.

You can take on this world.

You just stand and be strong

And then fight

Like a girl."

Oh, with style and grace

Kick ass and take names

Ten years of climbin' that ladder

Oh, but money and power don't matter

When the doctor said "the cancer spread"

She holds on tight to her husband and babies

And says "this is just another test God gave me.

And I know just how to handle this"

I'll hold my head high

I'll never let this define

The light in my eyes

Love myself, give it Hell

I'll take on this world

If I stand and be strong

No, I'll never give up

I will conquer with love

And I'll fight like

Like a girl

Quick catch up

Windshield time. I've been spending a huge amount of it lately. 9,000 miles in two months. That's a big fat UGH. But at least on this day the sky was pretty. This is somewhere inbetween Buttcrack, OK and Armpit, OK - otherwise known as Anywhere, OK. OK sucks.

Bubba. What is there to say about Bubba? He is furry. He like everybody. He is a helper. He is Andy's dog. His rapper name is Tu Pak Poo Cap. Ask Andy about that one.

Stinky. Aka Mr. Grumpy Pants. Stinky is a grumpalumpus lately. But I still completely heart him. Cause he is Stinky.

I do. As big as my butt. I also heart drawing on the sidewalks, driveway and street in chalk. It's fun!!!

These remind me so much of home in California. We had them all the time. I also miss California weather. Because AR weather sucks a lot sometimes. As big as my butt and that's big according to Andy.

Hah! God this child of mine just drives me nuts in good ways and bad ways but always, always, always and in all ways the boy just makes me heart swell up with laughter and love. He is due home in a couple of days from a 3 and 1/2 week safari to Africa with my mom and dad. Lucky boy. I can't wait for him to be home.

Me and Tad, or at least our shadows. I loved this picture.

Back before our town turned into the Sahara. I don't know that Andy ever saw this because it just kept snowing. I love the snow. Andy hates it but I love it.

Tad just goofing off.

Tad's new truck. It's a 1986 Chevy with a 350 V8 shortblock, 4 barrel holly carberator, aluminum intakes, glass paks, 33" tires and 4" lift and blah blah blah. I have no idea what any of that means. It's loud and looks neato. It has enough power to see him through but no acceleration to kill him. This was before we had it painted.

This is after we had it painted. It still needs some work but it will get there. Tad hasn't seen it yet and boy is he going to lose his mind. My mom will also lose her mind but not in the same way Tad will. We'll cope with both.

I had to stay the night in sucky OK and was trying to send Andy a cellshot the next morning to let him see I was wearing my new favorite t-shirt but it never would send. The shirt is a cupcake (pretty pink one) saying "Muffins are just ugly cupcakes" to a muffin (ugly brown one) and the muffin responding with, "Cupcakes are haters." I freaking heartheartheart this shirt. Plus! Plusplusplusplusplus! OMG it's scratch and sniff! That part just makes me laugh out loud in delight. I may have to go back and buy a duplicate!

Tad and Smelly Cheeto Kitty. Not a good shot but oh well. Smelly Cheeto Kitty is Tad's cat/my cat. He is a total little miniature version of Stinky. Stinky hates Smelly. Smelly loves Stinky. Bubba loves them both. It's a zoo.

I had the big ugly tree in front of tad's window cut down. What a huge difference it makes in how the house looks. I should have had it felled a year ago.

That's it. All I have time for right now. I'm way backed up on reports and estimates because I took a couple of much needed days off after my dad's death a couple of weeks ago. Now it's time to put the nose back to the grindstone.

Love on!

Fireworks

Morgan likes to blow things up, so Independence Day is one of her most favorite holidays. "I wish it were the Fourth of July every day," she said.

The idea of that is frightening, to be honest. We had quite the war zone over the house the past two days.


Laddie, Morgan's horse, is a big old boy. He seems thrilled about his new digs, too. There's grass to eat, for one. He doesn't pay much attention the two mares that are in his pasture with him, but he's all about the grass.


Over my vacation, I hauled two tons of topsoil and another half-ton of compost to nearly finish the beds along our eastern fence in the back yard. We're undecided about what to plant here, but I'm thinking oak-leafed hydrangea with a row of day lilies along the front edge. We'll see. Either way, it's better than the poison ivy that was there before.


I've also been trying to rectify the soil in the garden as the plants become spent. The area where the potatoes were is nearly free of the larger rocks and I've added compost in. Hopefully, after a fall of this, we'll have a better garden next year.

Andy loves me as big as my butt

So the other day Andy and I were walking back to the car after having gotten lunch down on Dickston Street. I asked him how much he loved me. He replied, "I love you as big as your butt." I instantly fell in love with him all over again. Then later that day I decided to try out the video camera on my new phone. And thus a new project was born! I am now taking a one minute video everyday for a year of Andy. It's massively fun (at least as big as my butt!) and what strikes me the most is how in every one of them we are just cracking up like five year olds. I heart Andy. All the time. More news and updates later. Right now I just wanted to get this video up. Because it makes me laugh. The volumn is a little low because Andy is soft spoken but you can hear him if you turn it up and listen closely. Love on!