A blog about anything or sometimes about nothing. A place for me to write and post my feelings or opinions on things ranging from parenting to waiting tables to living in America to daily observations and my personal experiences. Sometimes I just want to give people a humorous read and make them laugh at the end of a trying day.
The very instant you come into this world, begin your journey to death...no way around it. Beginning life and ending your life are the only two things guaranteed.
The rest is filler.
It's the "Filler" which counts in life and is up to you to make it count. Trust me, I've had more than my share of filler and grateful for every single moment of it.
My life has run the course and I have pretty much seen it all.
We started out "maintaining" but pretty quickly began to prosper.
For twenty years life was easy peasy. Then just as suddenly it wasn't. Then it stalled, and even more quickly, collapsed.
It was like starting over.
Starting over took us well over three years and living thousands of miles apart.
We've been living in Orlando for five months now. Tim is doing great, I faltered but recovered.
Zach moved down here with us but turned tail and went back home to Georgia after less than a week.
Lucky for me, Massey stayed and helped me survive our change...and my change in life... aka menopause.
I was nervous about going back home to Georgia this past week. It's taken me five months to just get used to living here.
The minute Tim and I turned into our old subdivision, he asked me how it felt to be home?
My eyes welled up with tears. I simply couldn't stop them from falling.
I told him it made me feel homesick.
It was our home for over twenty years. All three of our kids were raised there. Two decades of our lives and memories were inside those four walls.
Sometimes you have to turn the page and move on with your story. Actually you have to move on.
I felt completion after this last visit back home.
I saw my Lost Boy and visited one of our favorite spots together.
Mother's Kitchen.
It's called Soul food for a reason.
I cleaned out our old garage and went through box and box after box.
I packed up so many memories to bring back to our new home.
I have every single thing our own parents saved from when I was young.
My brother and sister know the "Busch Box" all too well.
It's been in our family since the early to mid fifties and hold every memory ever caught on camera. Our parents never drank...it was a sin back then but we also had an Uncle Ernie who thought it was a sin not to drink. Hence, the (his) Busch Box.
I also brought back every Sunday School lesson or talk my Diddy ever gave at church or the Nursing Home where volunteered his amazing self once a week. He had saved every single one, handwritten.
Memories will never be better than these, or better than him.
I'm a simple girl from a simple upbringing.
I was raised and taught to simply be a good person and run with the rest of life like there is no tomorrow.
Lucky for me, my yesterday came from two awesome peeps.
So the above list is a summary of where hits on my blog come from. It shows up on my stats page when I open my blog account.
Naturally the United States is number one but looks like Asians seem to really like me too.
Go figure.
Guess "Crazy"is pretty popular in Hong Kong, South Korea, Cambodia and Vietnam.
I started the long part of my work week tonight.
Friday through Monday. I like having split days off. I work four days, then have Tuesday off...have to work on Wednesday but then have Thursday off again and don't have to back to work until Friday evening.
Ideal for an old woman like me. Five days in a row wears me out.
Working the same schedule this upcoming week but after next Saturday will be off for six straight days.
Tim has vacation so we're going back to Georgia to have our taxes done and clear out a few things from our old house that we left in our hasty departure to the sunshine state. I'm sure the couple renting our old house will be thrilled!
Bonus points, can help our younger son (still living in Newnan in a sparsely furnished house) out by giving him our old washer, dryer, small couch and stove if he wants them to clear the space they are taking up in the garage. I can clean out the attic...literally a hot mess and bring back so many of the things I missed when exiting stage left.
We're renting the house out for now and they had new appliances they wanted to use which was fine but if they decide not to buy the house, needed to have our old ones to re-install.
That will probably take a day or two, taxes will take another one but will have two days to visit with as many people as I can.
It'll be hard to fit over fifty people into two days time but gonna give it my best shot.
I never, in a million years thought I'd miss this house so much. It's no mansion and far from it but is our three kid's childhood home and where us Clampetts started our journey.
My biggest regret is our three big dogs no longer have this awesome back yard to enjoy.
Bless their heart, we now have them living in a yard almost the size of our cracker box temp rental house. Not to mention doing the bowel math.
Three huge dogs who poop at least twice a day. That's six piles of dog crap a day, close enough to smell from the porch. I have to pick up do-do three times a week. Back in Georgia they all went to the very back of the yard and in the woods to poop.
Also doesn't help that ole Ham is blind as a bat and tromps through it if I don't pick it up.
Even worse, look what lives on the other side of the four foot high fence.
Trust me, it took them a good four months to learn how to ignore them and only busted out once to meet and greet with them.
My new friend here in Orlando (who happens to be born and bred here) makes fun of me for calling them all flamingos and pelicans but is what they look like to me.
They are literally everywhere.
Even at the gas stations!
...and even in the handicapped spot.
My dogs are okay until the birds start to sqawk, then I have to bring them inside. I've never heard birds make such a ruckus. We have hawks eveywhere as well and even bald eagles (who are spectacular to see in flight).
All in all, I like being a Florida girl now.
It's only a forty minute drive to the beach and have nice parks with restrooms, dog parks, hot dog stands and free parking.
I'll also have to admit was nice going to Cocoa Beach the week before Christmas and getting a tan while "The weather outside is frightful..." was playing on the radio.
It doesn't really feel like home yet, but will...sooner than later.
It is nice being ten minutes away from my brother and his two new pups again. For years and years only saw him twice a year, now he's just two exits down the toll road.
Flip Side...
My sister is now seven hours away. For forty years she's been no more than thirty minutes away.
We've been here in Orlando since last October but have only seen her twice. At least we captured a perfect moment.
That instant frame in time. This is one of my favorite pictures ever... Me, Cin and my grand daughter.
Cin is a woman who isn't just a sister.
She's a best friend.
She's my "Go To" person.
She is my champion.
There is nothing better than having excellent siblings.
We were three little kids in the early sixties, sitting on a bought used station wagon.
We were three kids in the late seventies...
We are three kids , now ranging from late fifties to early sixties.
How we all got here, to this point in life is still a mystery to me... but at least we did it together.
You know what I've discovered?
Both our parents left this life way too early, but left us three in excellent hands...the hands of each other.
Yes have had some bad times in my life, but if you don't have bad times, how will you know when you have good times?
Going out on a limb here but think I am one lucky person.
