The Little Things

You know you're turning the financial corner when you stop at Publix for groceries.

When the kids were all younger and our life was hunky dory, always shopped at Publix. Their smooth rolling shopping carts reel you in from the jump. Nine times out of ten when at Walmart, I get a cart with that one wacky front wheel going all crazy. Drives me (even more) nuts. There's usually trash or fliers in them and occasionally a wadded up napkin with God knows what in it.

Gross.

Guess saving money comes with a price...talk about irony!

I was all excited when my $7.99 coupon from Great Clips came in the mail...right on time. I love my short hair but always know when it starts looking perfect means in three more days it won't.

Maybe need to start putting on make up for these selfies I keep using. (not gonna happen)

Anyhoo...

Got really lucky on my third try here in Orlando at a Great Clips. Found two women who cut it just the way I like it. One woman works at the one off Alafaya, which is a road with traffic from hell. The other works at the one right up the road from us in the Publix shopping center. Checked in online and got seated immediately, another bonus. Gave her a 100% tip and walked out spending under sixteen dollars for muh new hurr do.

I got in the car to leave and decided "what the hey" let's go see what Publix has that I want.

The minute I pulled that cart out, they had me. Clean, empty and rolled smooth as silk. Every shelf stocked, wide aisles and friendly employees. I headed straight for the cereal aisle. Publix is the only store which sells my favorite cereal, Blueberry Morning. I bought two boxes. Every employee I passed spoke to me. I picked up some yummy looking artichoke, spinach, tomato and pepper quiche in the deli and took home two turkey subs for us to have for lunch.

I was truly living large!

I do miss Kroger (none in Florida) where prices were pretty good and could also gas up my car with my points.

Since we've moved here, have been shopping at Walmart. I'll have to give it to them, they have these smaller versions called "Neighborhood Market" which only sell grocery items and bonus points have gas stations too.

But nine out of ten people always leave their cart beside their car or shove it up onto the curb. That drives me nuts.

Yes is convenient to our tiny temp home and quite a bit cheaper but the selection of items pale in comparison.

I'm thinking it's time to move on up and switch back.

I'll still shop at the Neighborhood Market for the quick pick up item and gas, but here's my thing.

Over the almost past ten years, feel like I have paid my dues, (wo)manned up and kept on going even when feeling like hiding under a rock. I've pushed myself and luckily been encouraged to push with an amazing outpouring of love and support from family and friends.

I'm finally "Club Pub" worthy again.

It'll certainly make my hot flashes easier to take.

Baby steps.

Til next time...Hotton Cotton

Bon Voyage!

My next door husband's oldest daughter left for Germany today with her husband who is in the Air Force. They just finished four years in Hawaii and are now off to Germany for another four.

When my neighbors moved in next door to us, Megan was still in elementary school. Now she's a married young woman traveling the world!

Her father was in the Air force as well ...the legacy continues. I knew they were flying out today and sent her a text when I got to work inviting them to come by the restaurant and see me before they left if they had time.

I was in the back when the hostess told me there was a young lady asking to see me out front.  I had already told my manager about them leaving for their new assignment in Germany and asked if it was okay I bought them a couple of appetizers and a drink?  My manager  immediately said that would be fine, just split off their tab and he would take care of it later.

How cool is that?

I was terrified about taking this job, felt (and was) out of my league and comfort zone but absolutely HAD to take the chance and has hands down been a saving grace to my family. I still have a lot to learn... and learn it I will but already knew how to work hard, show up every shift and work from the time I clock in until the time I clock out and they seem to like that about me and have done a lot better job than I thought I would be able to do.

I also partly owe my wonderful next door husband for having this job. I asked to borrow his little spare truck back in June for two  weeks until my own car was ready and am still driving it in October.

I'm guessing the crock pot they are using to fix my car in was mistakenly set on low instead of high or something like that, but finally just bought the truck from my neighbors a few weeks ago. I made the final payment this last week and put it on our insurance. (along with the car that I still haven't even sat in or cranked up)

There aren't enough good thing I can say about my next door husband. He has helped out every single person in our family time and time again, always refuses any payment and acts like he enjoys helping. I'm pretty sure he probably rolls his eyes and shakes his head slowly walking back next door after a "Fix It" visit to our house but never refuses when we ask him for help or advice.

We Clampetts learned early on... just go over and ask for his advice about a problem we need help with and he'll stop what he's doing, come over with his tools and "Get er Done!"

This is a short list of what he's helped do:

Install two dishwashers
Fix my electrical outlets
Fix my oven
Fix my dryer (three times)
Fix my washer
Install ceiling fans
Fix my car
Fix my car again
Fix Tim's car
Fix Tim's car again
Fix my Johnny Dear
Fix my Johnny Dear again...and again...and again and again
Fix TJ's car
Fix TJ's car again
Fix Zach's car
Fix Massey's car
Fix our dryer vent
Fix out privacy fence
Bring an escaped dog of ours back
Bring an escaped dog of ours back again
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
(our dogs used to get out a lot)
Loan us dog food when broke as jokes (too many times to count and wasn't a loan but charity)


I'm serious that I could go on and on, but you get the drift. He's a good neighbor.

He always answers his phone or calls us back when we call and can't tell me he has EVER thought even one time we were calling to just say hello.

What a guy, and what a neighbor!

It's not like we're rolling Phat now but at least we're rolling along and in the right direction. I wanted to simply pay a little forward.

He works for  an airline and the whole family could come through security to see them off so ended up being seven of them. I'm sure that's why they didn't come into the restaurant and just sent the two sisters to say hey to me.

I told them all to come in and had to practically beg. First my next door husband said they weren't dressed nice enough, which they were. Most people fly casually dressed these days and besides that they let ME work there don't they? Then he said they had Megan's dog with them. Big whoop, peeps bring in dogs all the time I told him.

I had to once again force them to order something other than water and finally got my next door husband to order a beer, then got three more cocktails out of the rest of them after insisting. I went ahead and ordered two orders of fried goat cheese for them. It's our signature appetizer and absolutely decadent. Six balls of goat cheese tempura style battered, quickly fried, drizzled with clover honey and fresh cracked black pepper.

Then the husband of my next door neighbor's daughter who was leaving for a four year assignment in Germany asked me how the lamb pistachio meatballs were and insisted once again they try some.

 I cannot tell you how wonderful it felt to do something for this family which has been absolutely wonderful to us over the years and never once asked or expected anything in return.

I personally forced a hundred dollars worth of  stuff on them as my next door husband commented they had to leave soon.

I told them when they had to leave, just leave. It was all taken care of. My next door husband said no but told him if he tried to pay I'd never let him fix anything at our house again. His ex wife who was with the entourage and knew how much he has done for us over the years said "Yeah, right."

Touche'!

My manager had left to go to a meeting earlier but came back just as they were leaving and met Megan and her husband as they left.

After they all left I told him it had gotten to be a little bigger party than had originally thought but the family meant a lot to me and have helped us out tremendously through the years.

He walked over to a computer and swiped his card after asking at what table they had been sitting ?

I didn't look at the check until well after they were gone but knew whatever it cost me was well worth and beyond what  this family has done for us over the years ten fold.

He had taken care of everything but the bare minimum and my next door husband had thrown a twenty on the table as a tip so for ten bucks I got to do something nice for someone who has done nice things for us for over thirteen years.

Life is good.

Life can be and IS hard, but if you are good and determined, will always get easier.  You have to  keep on trying your best. May take a while and at some low point feel like "Whadda I have to lose by trying any way" but right to feel that way.

Nothing ventured...nothing gained.

I was at a low point. I ventured and I gained.

Once again, am an incredibly lucky person...sometimes God just makes you wait to realize it.

Good luck to Megan and her cute hubby on their new adventure together!

Til next time..COTTON

Feels Good to Wear Street Clothes!

I fell into bed around a little after two AM last night, early considering I didn't get home from work til after midnight. Scheduled off at my local restaurant on Thursday had volunteered to work at the airport.

By force of habit, woke up before seven this morning, struggled to remember what day it was and where and when I needed to be at work? Satisfied that it was indeed Thursday,  rolled back over and slept soundly for another six hours. I got up and sent a text to my manager at the airport asking if he needed me and chilled for another hour, horizontally. The dogs love it when I lay around like they do and hover right by me the entire time, not moving either.

Feeling somewhat normal I got up and left the house by two to run errands in case they called me into work. Sitting at the bank drive through got a text from the airport saying they didn't need me. Last night I was all psyched about working again and padding the kitty. Today I just wanted to lay around and pet my dogs.

The thing is you don't realize how tired you are until work suddenly comes to a stop and temporarily have your life back. Today is the first time in forty days I haven't been in a work uniform and felt good to be in shorts, flip flops and a tank top. Bad news is my toenails look horrible, desperately need painting and the corn on my left pinkie toe seems to have tripled in size.

I was gone for over three hours running errands and paying bills. By the time I got home felt exhausted again as I pulled into the subdivision. My spirits immediately lifted when I saw Tim had cut the front yard while I was gone, borrowing our neighbor's push mower. Johnny Dear broke a bolt on his decking last time I cut the front of the subdivision and is in the hospital (aka my next door husband's garage) while Dr.'s Zach and Kevin try to mend him.

We missed our garbage pick up last week so we're overflowing, mostly with flies. I stopped by Mama Lucia's while out and got a couple of the huge thick bags they use. I stuffed three bucks in Len's chef coat pocket before I left. Bless his heart, it's probably more cash than he's had in his pocket since last time I bought bags from him. Barb runs a tight financial ship.

I had to stop for gas on the way home from work last night and broke my last pair of cute peepers I wear at work to be able to read, write and use the computers. I stopped by Michael's and picked up three more pair. They were on sale and three pair for eight bucks!

I went by Home Depot to try and get a car key made for Tim. His is bound together by more duct tape than prom dresses those chicks are making and going viral with wearing. I was waiting for any guy in an orange vest to walk by the abandoned key making booth on aisle fifteen when suddenly felt so light headed I simply sat down on the concrete floor. Good news is I felt better after sitting down. Bad news is we'll need a locksmith for a new key.

Bought a Milky Way on the way out and made me feel a lot better. Junk always does.

Tim bagged up all the excess garbage when I got home and is grilling out burgers as I type.

I don't have to be at Mama Lucia's til five tomorrow so guess I can officially call this a vacation, certainly feels like one.

I'm gonna do my toe nails and finger nails. I'm gonna match socks (the mis matched sock basket is ridiculous) and live with all men. They'll put on two of ANYTHING which keeps the mis matched thing going...sheesh!

I'm gonna go all crazy and take a bubble bath, shave my European looking arm pits and legs and drink a cold one.

I'm still in disbelief that we're finally digging out of this hole we've been in for five years but refuse to deny it any longer.

Karma, Pay it Forward, Omens and simply being blessed have finally paid off. I won't say it hasn't been hard because it has, but has taught me more about life than any woman sitting on a beach in the south of France could ever read about in an issue of Cosmo.

Tomorrow I'll suit back up but today I'm just a momma. Talked with Massey as I was driving from place to place today. TJ poked his head in and chatted with me briefly while waking up from my twelve hour slumber. Zach came home after surgery on my Johnny Dear in the neighbor's garage and thanked me for sewing up a pair of his butt ripped work jeans. Tim's got the burgers ready and I'm gonna stuff two down.

You know what? Seems I've been a winner all along.

Til next time...COTTON

Vacuuming Sucks...If You're Lucky

Yes, I wore a dress while vacuuming today with my apparently not so trusty vacuum cleaner! Actually it was my work uniform which happens to be a skirt. Hot flashes make it way too warm for long pants so I work in a skirt.

Worked the day shift today and got off early, around three thirty. Tim came to pick me up in our clown car.

Tim was driving, TJ was in the front seat and Zach in the back. I jumped in the back too and off we went! We had to drop both of them off at work then Tim dropped me off at home before he headed  to work. When we dropped the boys off, three doors opened. They both got out and I moved to shotgun position for the rest of  my ride home.

Since I've dropped to working six days a week have been able to keep the house much cleaner and don't regret it one minute. It's not like that seventh day would get us out of debt much quicker and gives me some semblance of "Peace of mind."

Since my sweet sister and one of my besties gave us a kitchen makeover I keep the kitchen pretty much spic and span, except for the floor. It's hard when most everyone comes in the kitchen door from the garage and three pups come in the back kitchen door from the yard. I live with three men who have no more concept of wiping their feet than the dogs do their paws when they all charge in the door.

It was early so I got all busy!

My vacuum cleaner has been giving me fits. My old one went Kaput about a year ago when Tim had no job at all. I went to WalMart and bought the cheapest Hoover they sold. If a vacuum cleaner could run away from home mine would. Three men and three big dogs make a job tough for a cheapo vacuum cleaner. My new kitchen now looks so amazing  that you are immediately drawn to gaze at the wonder of it all and the floor often goes unnoticed...except (hopefully) by me.

I recently learned that at least once a week I have to take every filter out of the vacuum and wash them. They take forever to dry and you can't use the stupid thing til they do. I've never been one to wait so usually use my hair dryer to dry them.

 I did just that last week so today just emptied it and washed the little tank that sucks up all the dog hair. I started vacuuming and the thing was spewing more crap out the back than it was sucking up.

I, of course got immediately frustrated so took all the filters out and beat the crap out of them on the pavement in the driveway.

Started again and was like vacuuming with a Suzy Homemaker toy. I dragged it out to the garage and decided to see if the belt was broken. Been there, done that...many times.

It took me ten minutes to find a Phillips head screwdriver. I noticed a lot of the screws weren't tight on the face plate covering the bottom and decided THAT was the problem!

All screws tight and back into the house I went.

It worked even worse. I dragged it out to the garage again and took OFF the face plate.

I felt like throwing up.

There was so much junk and dog hair clogged up around the roller which DID have a good belt on it that it totally disgusted me. I'm definitely not a clean freak, who is that works six days a week, lives with three grown men and three huge dogs?

I took it to the kitchen sink and scrubbed off enough junk and dog hair to make a complete toupee for a bald Irish Wolfhound. I had to take a Zyrtec just to finish the job.

So two hours later, I REALLY got busy and ole Hoover worked like a champ, granted a cheap one.

I dragged my little cheap buddy back out to the garage to dump his tank one more time so if anyone else in the house suddenly got all crazy and wanted to actually USE the vacuum would be clean and ready to go.

There sitting on my makeshift workbench was one filter I had forgotten to put back in.

How stupid can I be? At least the vacuum had been cleaned really well. Imagine how good a job it would have done if it had ALL the filters in?

I'll tell you how stupid I am.

I do my own exterminating. I go to Walmart and buy the big jug of Great Value "Home Protection" pesticide. Three times a year I come in the kitchen door and start spraying the baseboards. I follow them from room to room completing the entire circumference of the house then go outside and do the same with the outside of our home foundation.

I went in the garage the other night, grabbed my jug and got "Busy with it."

 Unfortunately I didn't bother to put on my glasses. Heck, who needs glasses to pump a handle of pesticide and am pretty sure I know the floor plan of the house we've lived in for almost eighteen years.

We live in a tri level house. The first floor is kitchen, dining room, laundry room, bathroom and Massey's bedroom. Oh I made sure to douse it good, the pups were out back!

I got upstairs to the second floor, our huge great room when the phone rang. I found my peepers and put them on to see caller ID and answered the phone. After hanging up the phone I noticed the jug in my hand said "Weed Killer."

I went back downstairs to put the jug back out in the garage and the  kitchen smelled like it had just been fertilized.

And to think I complain about how dense the men I live with can be?

I opened all the windows and left the dogs out back til the obviously not so dense men all got home.

Am I an idiot or what?

Here's the thing...

Yes I rule the house and do most of the work but am always using it to point out what they DON'T do. Yet they never criticize me for going weeks without making them a home cooked meal. Granted they don't do things the way I want but all love me, even when I am an idiot.

They never massage my back long enough when it's killing me but always give an attempt. They DO notice when I cut the grass and compliment on how good it looks.

They overlook my "Breaking Bad" addiction... am currently re watching the entire series when all aren't home or get home and go to bed. They brag on me when I DO cook and have never complained about anything I make them to eat.

Yep, we own one car for the five of us but at least we HAVE a car. Yes the house smelled like the Uni Bomber lived here for two days but none of them complained.

Tim's really frustrated trying to land a full time job and obviously feeling bummed out.

Here's my TAKE:

We'll be just fine. It will happen. We'll be alright.

God's got this.

Happy to say nobody  died from me poisoning the entire inside of the downstairs and have full confidence everything will be okay.

I bet nobody has made God laugh as much as us! No worries, He's Got This.

Til next time...COTTON