So Much To Talk Abaout.....

So why haven't I done it? I really do not have a real good excuse but my life has gotten a bit crazy especially the last three or four weeks. After arriving in NM I had a lot of things to get in order. My hubby and I accomplished finding a place to live. We got our fridge and pantry stocked appropriately. We began acquiring some cleaning appliances for the house that we did not have. We basically set up house without most of out household goods since they were still stored in Greensboro NC until we could get them transported. I found my needed support group to hang with a couple of times a month. I found somewhat gainful employment working as an extra in film. And found a part time position as a personal assistant.
So what is so crazy now? Our household goods arrived just before Labor Day Weekend. We emptied our PODS and sent them back. Now we can only fit one car in the garage instead of two. I am still unpacking boxes a couple at a time in the house and almost have them done. I can tackle the garage stuff next I think.
I spent a four day extended weekend in New Orleans with a wacky bunch of gals I know both personally and online. That was all kinds of fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I even tasted oysters for the first time. They were baked (I don't eat sushi either) and I was surprised that I actually liked them. I also found out that I can have a shot of whiskey and handle it okay. I even drank a mixed Southern Comfort drink and survived that New Orleans style LOL! The craziest thing I did was to sing karaoke very badly. I never could sing but I had to make a fool out of myself somehow. I wanted to ride the mechanical bull but I chickened out on that one. I hope I get another chance though because I think it could be fun to try it.
I arrived home from my much enjoyed mini vacation on Monday morning. My generous boss picked me up from the airport and dropped me off at home. I did not have to work that day and was glad for a little recovery time. But I did attend my acting class Monday night. I turn my cell phone off for the class and forgot to turn it back on. That was not a good thing because I missed an important text from the hubby. He had been taken to emergency at the hospital downtown. This was the beginning of a tough week for me though it was really tougher for him so I should not at all complain. He had a mild heart attack and he was kept at the hospital for five days. I finally got to bring him home on Friday afternoon. He was not released for work until last night. I worried too much about him and did not sleep well knowing he might have another heart attack if his stress level goes up. But he trooped through his first night back and said he did fine except for occasional twinges from time to time? He says he continues to have them. This sucks for him and I am on worry watch now. I only hope his cardio and PCP figure out how to help him and get him back to what he considers normal. So until that happens I guess I don't get to have normal either.
Was that a complaint? I suppose it was. I really don't want to be a whiner. But I did hope for a normal life for a while longer now that I have my health back. It seems so unfair to be healthy and feel good when my husband of nearly 32 years is feeling so bad. I want better for him than this. i hope we can find it for him.
Through all of this I am continuing to lose weight and am down today to 144.5 pounds. This puts me only ten pounds away from a normal BMI. I am continuing to get my protein first and take all of my vitamins. And I have stepped up my H2O intake. I am doing everything I can to keep my health since without it I can't help my ole man. Thanks for listening.

Predators in My Back Yard?

I guess that is what the wild west is all about. A couple of days ago as I was taking out the recyclables and watching my little Loki sniffing around, I saw she was sniffing at something....DEAD.  Ewww! Terry was leaving for work and he commented it was a furry little animal. He had to go so it was up to me to 'clean' up the carnage. Turns out it was a poor little bunny. All that was left of it was its hind legs and its ears and face. I think a cat or a coyote got it. I had to clean up the yard of doggy waste and so i picked the poor little thing up with the pooper scooper. No I don't particularly like the idea of touching dead things directly. The dry heat did its thing and the little body was dried out even though it looked like fresh kill. In fact it could not have been there more than a day since I have a little practise of cleaning up the doggy droppings daily.
What bothers me though is that my little chihuahuas are no bigger than that little bunny was. Now I feel i have to double check the door is locked and the blinds are pulled so that whatever it was that got the bunny doesn't 'see' my little guys through the glass at night. I realize I am living in a natural setting but it does not not make the incident any less traumatic. Here's hoping the coyotes are afraid of people and will not come up when they see me or my husband around. But even my 12 pound Loki is no match for a coyote. I am not even sure she could fend off a large domestic cat. This sure does make for an argument to have a large breed dog but honestly I have already come to the conclusion I will stick with these little guys to the end but not take on any more dogs, cats, birds or any other pets. Someday I want to travel more. But I definitely don't want a predator to take my babies away before their time. Would you?

Yes I have been AWOL but with good reason????

It has been a very busy last few weeks and aside from reading several books between the crazy go go go times I haven't really done much of anything else. I got our PODS loaded and stored and I got myself and my dogs driven to New Mexico with a stop for a full day in Broken Arrow to visit my daughter and her family there. Now I am again in a short limbo waiting for the folks I need to talk to about housing to get back to their normal routine. I really want to get into a place as soon as possible so I can set up my office space and get back to writing and blogging. I also need to have a real address to give folks and to do all of the other things necessary for day to day living.
Tomorrow I am taking my beloved chihuahuas to a doggy daycare so I can drive around in the heat looking at potential homes for us to settle into. Wish me luck because I really want to get this part done. I have to settle in and then get over to the campus of the local Community College and get signed up for classes this fall. I feel I will lose all the momentum I have built up with studies in the last year if I don't get that done quickly.
Do I like New Mexico? I really don't know yet. I have not explored much because its too hot for the dogs to be out for long and they need to be walked every two hours which doesn't leave me much exploration time. Once we are in a house then I will get to see what this state can show me. I did like seeing the Southwestern designed overpasses as I drove into the state. They are truly unique and pretty. Right now because of all the fires around the state the air quality is bad. I understand that this is not the norm so once the fires are out and the air clears I will get a better concept of the environment. Wish me well and lots of luck. house hunting has proven a challenge so far.

Turning Point

Today Terry (the hubby) is headed out to New Mexico in his car with the bird. I hope he takes the time to rest on the way because he has plenty of time to get there. Its just under 1700 miles and he is supposed to only do about 600 miles a day max so that he can arrive in three days. We have his temporary quarters set up for him and I will join him in about three weeks or so.
I have the job of packing the POD and finishing up the goodbyes before I can leave. Fortunately when I get there I will have so much to do I should get plenty of exercise. I will need to begin right away home hunting. We might buy but most likely will rent for a year first. It depends on what is available. I prefer to rent and get to know the area first then after a year buy something knowing better where we would want to live. At our age I envision a retirement community of active seniors for us. But who knows what is out there. I understand Santa Fe is actually close enough for the job and a real nice area. But I bet there are plenty of other nice areas as well. The adventure of discovering them will soon begin.....Stay tuned.

Plans and Reality

Now that I am aware of how this move from North Carolina to New Mexico is going to go I at least can breathe a little easier and get on with it. It’s not perfect how we have to do it, but it will work. Seems I am to stay behind a month (approximately two pay periods) to take care of the moving details. Terry will go ahead and report for work on his scheduled day of June 13. He will have to make the drive alone but he will have ample time to get there leaving June 8^th or 9^th.  He will have to tough it out in temporary housing.

I will be renting a PODS unit and loading it up on this end myself. The PODS people will pick the POD up, transport it to NM, and store it until we have picked out and acquired housing. I will have a garage sale on June 4^th and hope to rid myself of a lot of clutter not needed. Then after that I will give anything I did not want to keep to Goodwill or Salvation Army. I am excited about having an opportunity (excuse) to purge. Even though the unit is a pretty good size (16’ by 8’ by 8’) It would not hold everything and I do not want to double the cost. In the past we have made moves where the company has arranged for and paid the movers for us. This was not a great thing to do because we dragged way too much stuff around the country. Now we have to budget and many things are just no longer needed. Of course I want to keep things like photos that are not yet scanned into digital format (a project that is worth taking on but will have to wait for after I get there). Now that we get to officially consider ourselves empty nesters (again) we do not need two thirds of what we have for our kitchen. We don’t need extra beds and furniture and I do hope to move into a smaller and easier to take care of place. More importantly I want a place that comfortably on fits two. Our children are all adults and though I adore each and every one of them I don’t really want to live with them anymore. Plus, they don’t need to live with parents and have parents disturbing there lifestyles. It isn’t right.

I am excited about the changes in our life. I get to explore a whole new part of the country and in doing so I will have much more to write about. I can’t complain about having income again either.

Anticipation

Anticipation is a feeling that can be fun to have or it can be dreadful to experience. Sometimes it can be a little bit of both. Knowing of our impending move across country fills me with anticipation.

First, there is the fact that I have less than two weeks to get everything ready for the move. I am still waiting for the relocation specialists to give us appointments. I expect that to happen today but one never knows what new delay can happen. I had expected to have that schedule two days ago.

Next, there is money of course. We do have the luxury of the company paying the moving bills so there is that at least. We still have to cover gas and at least one overnight but most likely two overnight stays in hotels to remain sane. I think it is wise to feed the vehicle we drive as well. Have you noticed gas prices lately? We have to feed ourselves and the pets traveling with us and adhere to a healthy diet. That will be fun. We are however, down to the wire in our bank account. We have enough to get there and to survive on but we will be very tight for about two months. It has been a long financial drought for us and all of our resources are tapped out. This job could not have come at a better time.

We have too much stuff. I want to rid myself of most of it. I feel it ties me down. To help address the money issue I will be taking advantage of a storage facility yard sale where we have much of our extraneous stuff stored. Granted much of this is stored because we have not lived in our own place for nearly two years now. Right after my husband was laid off from his job we moved in with our adult daughter. She had just purchased a house and made room for us in it. We stored about 70% of our things thinking it would just be a few months before finding another job. This turned into two years. Now I get to go through it all. Much of it we can sell and if I end the day with a few more dollars for the trip and a lot less stuff to ship I will be a happy woman. I just am not looking forward to being in the heat all day selling but it may be worth it.

Then, there is the eating healthy thing on the road. Can it be done? I am beginning to realize I have very odd eating habits. I may even have a borderline eating disorder. I would rather just have a protein drink that I have measured out and know exactly how many grams of protein and how many calories are in it, than to eat something at a restaurant.  I am picky about that protein drink too. It may be difficult to do this on the road. For three days I have agreed to try to eat real food. This scares the crap out of me. I will be stuck in a car all day long with 15 minute breaks every two hours to walk the Chihuahuas. Will this give me enough exercise to prevent gaining ten pounds? Yikes. I won’t have access to my scale either. Oh well I do know it will not kill me but again YIKES!!!!!!

I know this is going to happen; I just am not sure how it is going to happen. I can plan furiously but nothing ever quite sticks to the plan. I have books to listen to on the road. I even downloaded a couple of audiobooks my husband will enjoy. So we should be able to enjoy the trip even when we run out of things to discuss or are out of radio range. I will be relieved to get to the other side of this anticipation experience. Who wouldn't?

To Keep or not to Keep….That’s the Real Question

By the end of today I will have a move schedule for packing  and loading and then leaving. I get to think about prep right now and I have already taken a few small steps to prepare. I began of all places in the bathroom. It is time to toss all of those less than half full bottles of this and that. I am trying to use stuff up before the packers get here so I can toss the empties. I sorted through all of the hair stuff and am surprised at how much I have in the way of bands, elastics, brushes, and combs. I think most of that has to go. I experiment a lot with combs and brushes and end up with many I never use more than once or twice.

Next stop is the kitchen. The things I use the most in the kitchen are keepers of course.  I have a ton of things I haven’t nor has my husband used the whole time we have been in this home. Part of that is that this is our daughter’s house and we have been more or less extended stay guests for just shy of two years. She bought this house two years ago and we moved in using our things because our daughter is a single professional and has no kitchen items of her own at all. I will be spending this afternoon listening to an audio book and sorting through all of this stuff. There is more in storage too. Sigh!

We have living room furniture that has to go to the dump. I refuse to haul it nearly all the way across country in the state it is in. The couch and love seat has broken springs and could not support a feather much less this hardy body of mine much longer. It is definitely time to replace them and the city collectors are hauling them away on Friday. Yay!  Again, there is more unneeded furniture in storage to be addressed as well. I just don’t want to haul it over land from NC to NM. I will rid these things later this week when the DH and I go start sorting through the storage space. The things located in the rented storage space have not seen the light of day in the two years since we put them there. I barely remember what is actually there. I suspect we can divest of most of it with little pain. At least I can. There are some pictures and things I know I want to keep and some kitchen stuff I stored to keep out of harm’s way (my adult children are hard on my things). I am hoping this will be the lightest load we have ever had to move.

So wish me luck as I try to pare down what is a long life of accumulation. I hope I can let it go or be allowed to let it go since it is not all mine. The hubby is rather attached to a lot of things and we have always hauled it around. Don’t ask what these things are but there is a lot of it. LOL!