Riding The Karma Train

I mean, I like hot weather but this is one hot summer. Even the locals are saying so. Sometimes I go outside and the heat literally takes your breath away. It doesn't help we have three fur covered JawJa dogs already trying to get used to all the flamingos (Egrets) over our back fence and the millions of tiny dragons (lizards) scurrying every which a way every single time you open a door. Heck, you don't even have to open a door. They creep across the window screens, the side of the house, the walkway and driveway, plants, bushes and street. It's like they are taking over the planet...beginning in Orlando.

I have four ice trays I keep in the freezer (I don't drink the water here, and buy bagged ice)  dump it into the dogs water bowl out back, changing it three times a day. Luckily we have all ceramic tile floors and they love to chill on that.

Problem #1 solved.

Next problem is, once they get cooled off, immediately want to be on the couch or love seat.


I went to my favorite (sketchy strip mall) Big Lots and caught sofa and love seat covers on sale. Fifteen bucks. I covered my couch and love seat, throw them in the wash twice a week and works like a charm.

Problem #2 solved.


I was freaking out about having to get my Florida tag for my car, my Georgia one expires on Monday. I tried every available way to somehow renew my Georgia tag for twenty bucks as opposed to the almost $400 it was going to cost here in Florida. A couple of weeks ago I decided to just renew on line with Georgia and hope the decal got here in time. I was reading the tag receipt Georgia had mailed to me in Newnan, which got forwarded to us here in Florida through our address change with the post office. It read the Georgia DOR indicated this vehicle was no longer insured. When I moved down here, Tim added me to his insurance here in Fla.

Strike one.

Looks like I'd have to bite the $400 bullet after all, which sucked because my car note was due on the same day. I made every single shift my own, going above and beyond and then some with each and every table. Worked out pretty nicely for me, made more money in one week than I have since starting there. Problem was I was still almost a hundred bucks short.

Strike two.

I stopped at the gas station the other day, the day before my tag appointment. I had four quarters in the cup holder. I took them in and bought a dollar scratch off ticket. I won two dollars so asked for two more tickets. I stuck them in the cup holder and went home. I was filling out all the paperwork for the Florida car tag, getting Tim to sign a Power of Attorney since his name was on the title too. Got everything all filled out, insurance cards and license copies and set them to the side. When I moved the papers on the table I noticed the lottery tickets. Scratched the first one...a big fat nothing.

Scratched the second and yelled "I think I won the forty bucks prize!"  Massey came into the living room, looked at the ticket and read the rules in the tiny microscopic print.


"No Mom, you won every prize on the ticket!"

Bottom of the ninth, two outs, full count, bases loaded and I knocked it out of the park!

Problem #3 solved!

I am a huge believer in Karma. I am far from perfect, actually no where close to it but try my best to be a decent person and always think of others.  I was all worried about not having enough for the car tag but was even more worried because I had also offered to cook dinner for a friend's family here in Orlando who are going through a lot right now and knew I was going to have to cancel. Now I had enough for my car tag and enough to buy the groceries to cook dinner for their family.

My appointment was for two o'clock the next day. I got to the tag office right on time, sat down and waited for my number to come up on the screen, telling which window to go to. At five after two, my number appeared and said "Estimated wait time one hour forty nine minutes."

Shut the front door!

The only thing that made me feel better were all the numbers which had "Six hours" in the estimated wait time. Granted they called me back a little after three but still didn't get out of there until four o'clock. I got almost done with the paper work when the woman helping me asked me to move down to another window. It was time for her break.

The (next) woman asked me if I was paying cash. I told her I didn't know if they took cash so had gone by the bank and deposited the money into my account. They charged me ten more dollars to use my debit card...go figure. They sure made it hard for me to give them $387.00 but at least it's done. She asked me if I wanted to get my Florida driver's license as well, for only $55 more. My Georgia license doesn't expire until next year and I still own a home in Georgia so declined her generous offer. I bet there were over two hundred people in that tag office and there are still six more tag offices in Orange County. Government work at its best!

I called Massey on my way home from the grocery store and told her to preheat the oven and peel what potatoes I had there. By six fifteen I had dinner cooked and packed up for my friend's family and was dropping it off at their house, in a torrential downpour with lightning cracking every ten seconds, cloud to ground. I was drenched the minute I opened the car door.

By six forty five, the sun was out again and I was out on my brother's boat with him, his neighbor, Massey and Tim.

I had life extremely easy for twenty years with Tim. The last ten have been the hardest but ultimately the best. It's brought out the best in us and the best in all our family and friends.

You simply have to keep on keeping on, take the bad with the good and hope it eventually gets better. If it doesn't, try again.

One thing I've learned these past ten months is change is hard the older you get, but is much more rewarding once you give it your all.

I'm a smart aleck by nature (just ask Tim) and usually find humor in most every situation. I enjoy laughing a lot more than crying, besides, crying seldom helps. Who wants to look at a puffy faced cry baby with a full snot locker?

We are making the last mortgage payment on our home in Georgia in two weeks. That will give us $1500 extra a month, not to mention the money from renting it out.

As my grandmother used to say (Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise) we are not only turning the page but starting a new chapter. This was a wonderful place to live for over twenty years and will always have fond memories but is time to make new ones, in Florida.

I think I'm so much about Karma because any sane person (I barely resemble those last two words) should realize, nothing great is going to happen to you until you do something great for someone else.

Case in point.

I have a great female manager at my new place. All my managers are great but of course I bond more with the female (I'm too old to sleep with male managers anymore)...totally kidding.

I was in the back of the restaurant putting my things into my locker before clocking in. She and I talk quite a bit, especially when closing together late at night so she pretty much knows all about me...I like to talk. The cook who's family I take dinner to was in the back doing prep work and told me how much they had enjoyed dinner the night before when my female manager came into the kitchen. My manager looked at me and said "I seriously think you are the nicest person I've ever met."

That made my day. It really did.

It also made me realize I was on the right path of life, which lucky for me was thirty minutes away from the beach...my favorite place.

I care nothing about being the richest, prettiest, most popular or (never gonna happen) smartest; but being called the nicest is the best compliment a person could ever receive, in my opinion.

Ellen De(generous) sums it up perfectly:

This Blog has helped me sort my life out quite a bit over the past several years. I hope it has helped others do that as well.

To date my Blog's had 195,585 hits on it... including people from the USA, France, Ukraine, Kenya, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Australia, Canada and Czechia.

You keep reading and I'll keep writing.

I'll keep trying and so should you.

Till next time, COTTON

PS not even gonna check for typos tonight, you'll get the drift. Can alays edit later.