Fall is here

Summer came and went. Michigan has a short summer season, that’s why we try to cram a lot of activites into 3 months. The rest of the time is spent stocking up on supplies for the 6 months of winter.  Thinking my animals are too, they are eating non-stop and I see squirrels just a digging and burying their treasures already.  The early morning quacking of geese and ducks heading south. Signs of a hard winter?

But we have a love affair with fall here also. The colors that explode during 2 months are just spectacular here. We love cool Friday nights high school football, early trips to the farmer markets on Saturday for pumpkins,squash and all things cider. And the trips north to see a abundance of fall colors.

I am thinking this will be a short fall season, and old man winter will be knocking on our doors before we know it. So enjoy it while it lasts. I know I will.

Best intentions

Every day I think about writing a post for this blog. But the best laid intentions to do it seem to be interrupted by other events, circumstances or as in my case, uninteresting.

I’m in the car and something comes to mind and I think “Oh I should write about that” ” Naw, boring”. Or I see something that evokes a good or bad emotion from me and I go ” Ohhh got to make a post about that”. And then I seem to forget about it, or get over it, and 2 days later it comes back to mind and I say “Nevermind”. So I call it uninteresting.

Some people write with ease, they have a thousand things and thoughts to put down, I on the other hand contemplate of what I should write about. As I am writing this, I have already re-read everything written and changed 3 sentences. Yeah that’s me.

Does one have to have a eventful life and so many interesting subjects to write about to make a few posts a week? Probably not. But I always make it harder then it has to be. Just a single thought, idea, remark is needed and viola there is a post. So get a grip dear, it’s not a memoir you are writing, just a simple post to a blog.

 

 

What now?

That is the question that I have been asked over the last 3 months from lots of people. What will I do now, that soon I will experience the empty nest with my daughter going off to College and with me having a lot more free time and I mean a lot more on my hands.

I don’t know. Yup, there I said it. I just don’t know. I can already hear the gears grinding in some peoples heads in trying to rope me into doing something else. But you will not succeed!..I will resist!

I am thinking of making up a list, of things that I would like to do or see. Some say it’s a midlife crisis list or a bucket list. But I am not in a midlife crisis, nor do I plan on kicking the bucket any time soon. I rather make a game out of it, like “Where is Waldo”..yeah that’s what I will do. I will post pictures of various new things or places that I am doing or am, and people have to guess what it is.  So we all stay entertained I suppose.

But nonetheless, it will be quiet around here. Am I ready for it? Yes and No. I mean this is my baby that is going off to College and even though we have our share of fights and there are times that we probably can’t stand the sight of each other ( typical teenage stuff you know), we have our good times, the laughter and the craziness. And those are the times that I will miss. So I suppose it is time to be crazy on my own…watch out now!

Winding down

Well it is finally winding down. The last month has just been crazy. My moms visit was very enjoyable, but also emotionally draining. Why is it when parents get older they get more stubborn? Or is it just my mother?
My daughters open house went well without any problems. Had lots of help from my great friends, without them it would have been twice the work.
Now all of my attention is geared towards my upcoming re-certification audit at work in July. New auditor, so that adds to the pressure. Not knowing what kind of person he is. I did find him on facebook, and found out he is living in a rival school district. So I made it clear to my Bosses they cannot be Bucs fans and I won’t mention anything about the Big Reds. Unless he makes me mad.
Anyway the next big event here is my daughter moving to East Lansing. But we still have time left until then to drive each other crazy.

Wise up Michigan

Last week I had to renew my drivers license and renew my tags on my plate. So I went to the secretary of state office during my lunch break,to get it all done. Plus the wait time at that office is shorter compared to the one at home.
So I get all the paperwork done and ready to pay with my debit card which is a Visa, and the Lady says ” oh we don’t take visa, only mastercard and discovery or a check. But we have a ATM that you can use your Visa on right there” and points towards the wall. Now since I don’t have neither accepted card and have no personal checks currently, I was forced to use the ATM machine and pay a $2.00 fee to withdraw money to finish the transaction.
Okay so I got to thinking, that the State of Michigan has found another way to raise revenue or as I like to call it rip us off some more, because I am pretty sure they are making at least 50 cents per transaction to have one of these ATM’s in their office. And to make it even more profitable not accepting Visa, because if you look at all your debit cards what logo is on them? Yuppers you are right it is Visa, unless you are fortunate enough to have both and a discovery card.
I went on the State of Secretary’s website later and there they do accept Visa, I wonder why.
Guess what? I won’t be renewing anything at any local office anymore just online.
So people of Michigan beware, the State has found another way to get into our pockets.

Another year older and wiser?

Another Birthday is coming up, and needless to say I’m doing a lot of pondering about the past year and what the new age has in store for me.
So the question is, will I also be getting a bit wiser? Granted the “Senior moments” have been present, but will they continue at the same pace or increase? Will a mid-life crisis hit me and have me make not so wise decisions and buy a sports car or an antique – no wait I’m already driving one of those, and drive off into the sunset? Will I be more cautious with my daily actions, and become a granny behind the wheel and drive 30 mph on the highway? Or will I just take it one day at a time and try to learn from my actions and get wiser? I guess I won’t know till my next Birthday shows up and I will once again reflect on a year gone by. But until then I do know that I will try to enjoy my Life a bit more and make the best out of what is given to me.

Feeling the pressure

So many things to do, yet so little time to do it. Besides trying to get things in order at work for our upcoming audit in July, my private life just keeps me busy as can be.

I’m not sure, but I don’t think life was this chaotic when my son graduated from high school, as it is now with my daughter. I guess thinking back, it was easier because he agreed to everything that was done and didn’t make demands on everything. My daughter on the other hand, has something new every day. Which I actually just roll my eyes at and say no.

My Mom will be here in a month. She is still recovering from surgery and bronchitis that she caught while in the hospital. So that was heavy on my mind. I just felt helpless not being able to be there and take care of her while she is recovering. But she seems to be on the mend now and hopefully when it is time to travel, she will be full of energy and ready to go.

So yes I am feeling the pressure, but I have some awesome friends who are helping out and taking some of the worry of my shoulders. Let’s just hope by the time it is all said and done, I haven’t lost my mind.

Test post from my Blackberry

Well I decided to download the wordpress app for Blackberry and give it a try. It might come in handy for when I want to blog about something, but I am not close to my laptop.
Anyone else out there using the mobile wordpress app? And if you do,what do you like and not like about it? Let me know.

Living in fear?

My heart goes out to all the people in Japan that were affected by the enormous Earthquake and Tsunami that followed.  I can not imagine the fear, pain and helplessness these people are going through.

But then I read reports of people in the US going nuts and buying iodine tablets and sensors to detect radiation because of fears that they will be exposed to radiation because of the threat of a nuclear meltdown in Japan.  How scared do you have to be to do that? How much of your Life do you spend living in fear that you actually take these kind of steps to protect yourself?

A big part of this fear mongering is the media. Fear sells news, always has and always will. When reading some of these articles I have to shake my head because they never seem to fail in injecting a paragraph that promotes fear. Yes there will always will be the “What if”, but if we let the “What if” take over our lives,  our lives would be very empty.

I remember Chernobyl. I remember that we weren’t allowed to eat our homegrown veggies and fruit, that live stock wasn’t allowed to be out on the pastures, playgrounds were off limits and any outdoor activity was restricted until a complete assessment of the radioactive cloud was made as a precaution. But we didn’t stop living, we didn’t let fear take a hold of us and sealed ourselves in bunkers because of it. Life is to short, don’t live it in fear.

My own Oscar night review

So I decided to tune in to the Oscar celebrations last night on TV.  I have watched the Oscars on and off for the past few years, depending who the host of show was.  And I was thinking Ann Hathaway would make it interesting, with her co-host James Franco. Well I should never assume or think anymore, because it was a big let down.

First of, the red carpet. What is going on with Hollywood actresses? For years you couldn’t get them out of the tanning both/spray on tan and they looked like agent orange victims. Now they look like the death walking, by being so white, you wonder if they have any blood circulating through their body. From what I saw there were 2 people that looked naturally beautiful.  Halle Berry and Robin Roberts.  The rest forget it. And the gowns that some of them wearing, downright scary.

On to the show. What a boring beginning. I expected more zing,zang,whoom,bang. But nothing. The Oscars script writers must have been sleeping, because I was, right after Tom Hanks was done awarding 2 Oscars. There was absolutely nothing that kept my attention, kept me entertained,kept me wanting more. The hosts lacked chemistry. Ann Hathaway was gabby susie, and James Franco was stiffer then a pencil. Even his Marilyn Monroe get-up didn’t generate the laughs that they thought it would. Epic fail.

Anyway since I fell asleep I can’t write anything more about the remainder of the show. But from what is being said this morning about the show, which isn’t a whole lot, I am assuming the critics are trying to be kind.  Billy Crystal, will you come back and show them how it’s done? Please?