Time...Life's Most Precious Commodity

Its been a minute...or a couple of months, since I blogged last. There's been a lot going on. Good and bad.

This year I decided to make my New Years resolution a totally doable one.

I decided to live every single day by this quote:

We've lost some really good friends this past year.

It wasn't fun.

We've had friends receive devastating news.

Not fun either.

For us, and especially for them.

Then we lost our sweet Ham...

and my brother lost his sweet Dobe, Damon...to cancer.

But (and) on top of that...

we're also settling into our forever home, and loving it more each and every day.

Our ten year journey through the (seemingly) endless financial abyss finally ended.

And we all survived.

None of us any worse for the wear.

Our home isn't fancy, but is oh so homey.

I turn sixty this year.

I tend to go to a lot more funerals than parties.

Sad, but true fact.

Moving to Orlando was a huge step out of the box for this Georgia Cracker.

My sister, my best friend for over half a decade  (always fifteen minutes away) was now a seven hour car ride away.

It has been a hard transistion, for us both...

but blood is thicker than water.

Just this past weekend, one of my sisters' former classmates from high school died suddenly from a heart attack. The same weekend, a dear friend of mine from high school lost her husband the same way, just as suddenly.

Life doesn't come with any guarantees,

that's for sure.

I also think about how hateful and judgemental people tend be, in these most tumultuous times, yet claim themselves to be stalwart Christians.

I'm not really sure they read the rule book 

(aka)

The Book.

MY God, loves every single person...unconditionally.

He may not always give you the answer you want, but He always gives you the answer you need.

And by the way, 

Don't overthink life. Don't categorize it...we could have all easily been born into a totally different category. Why should people  judge you, for where you got plopped down into life, without being asked?

It's not like you get to make a reservation from the uterus.

 If religion isn't your bag, that's okay too...it's your call.

Just be a good person.

We're all the same on the inside.

Regardless of color, orientation, religion or belief.

If you feel differently, that's okay...

I can still love you, and  should.

What 2020 holds is beyond any of our comprehension.

You simply have to roll with life, one day at a time...

and feel grateful if you wake up to another day.

Till next time...COTTON

Back From The Brink

           Every year or two I do the same thing, knowing full well it isn't going to end well for me.

(pun intended)

I work hard and I play hard.

I always have.

We finally moved into our forever home  here in Orlando about nine months ago.

I simply love it.

It screams 'Me'

I hit the ground(s) running and haven't stopped. I do all the yard work and wouldn't have it any other way. I appreciate the offer of help but am so meticulous when it comes to yard work, I get on their nerves.

Even more....

If you can believe that!!

I always dress to work in the yard just like I am dressed in the first picture of me above, in the lime green top and blue shorts.

Trust me, I also had on flip flops.

I don't mind working in the heat, but I gotta be as comfy and cool as possible...I still suffer from hot flashes.

I don't wear gloves, I just rip the weeds out or toss away the clippings by hand to be raked up later.

I've tried wearing work boots, hats and gardening gloves.

It's a miserably hot outfit to me.

I already wear one of those when I'm on the clock at work.

I want to be comfy at home.

Call me crazy, you won't be the first... or last.

It has been raining like crazy and my yards are blooming and booming like they're on herbal growth hormone.

I usually work four days a week, sometimes five.

On my three days off, I spend two of them doing the front back and both side yards.

On the days I work

I go to work around ten AM, get home around four.

I putz around in the house, feed and water the dogs and head straight out to our wonderful screened in  porch, or as they call it here, lanai.

(still not used to that word)

It has a pergola off the porch, and is an awesome place to chill as well.

How can you not  have a cocktail or two after a hard days' work?

I sit out there and write friends and family or blog on my iPad until eleven or so. Then I go to bed, get up...shower, rinse and repeat.

It's the yard days that got me.

I started feeling puny last Thursday after getting home from work and by Saturday after work felt pretty much like do-do.

By Sunday morning I knew I wasn't getting out of bed any time soon. Thank goodness I was off until Wednesday.

I'd be fine and dandy by then!

Then like an idiot, while scrolling through my phone while resting in bed, I see a Monday lunch shift up for grabs on our employee site.

My daughter told me to  not pick the shift up and stay in bed.

But an opening shift?!  I'd go in at ten thirty, be cut by one and back home in bed before two.

I took it!

By the time Monday morning rolled around, I felt like the dude in a black shroud with a sickle was close by, just waiting for me to try and get out of bed.

I got up and went in anyway...Mondays were always slow.

When am I going to learn?

I got to work, the bartender wasn't there yet, and our manager was setting the bar up. The first table walked in right before we opened. I had five tables going before the next server got there at 11:15. Then a ten top walked in. Then a six top. Then another six top. Then lucky for us, just a five top.

Oops, then another five top followed by two tables of four.

It was insanity and the insanity didn't stop until well after three o'clock. I was sweating like Trump at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem.

My sinuses were killing me, I had a fever, It sounded like a blender was going off in my chest when I inhaled and exhaled and my both ears were stopped up. My equilibrium was off and so was my timing.

I was a wreck but plowed ahead.

I apologized a lot and tried to stand as far away from the tables as possible so they couldn't see when the (luckily) clear snot began to trickle out of my nostrils.

I knew I wasn't contagious but really didn't think I should even bring up the fact that I didn't feel well.

I felt like collapsing.

But I didn't.

When my manager finally told me I was cut, I told them if they needed me I'd be on the floor in the dish pit.

(trust me, it's not a place to lay down)

Guess what time I clocked out from my little  Monday opening shift?

5:35 PM.

You usually sell around $300 on a Monday opening shift. 

I sold almost $1100.00 and by the Grace of God made almost $250.00 in tips.

I fell into bed around six on Monday night and didn't get out of it until Wednesday morning.

Massey brought me home day time and night time medicine when she got home from work and I gobbled it up. I've been taking it every four hours since then.

Tim let me vegetate and slept in the spare bedroom Monday and Tuesday.

Ziggy went with him...

that's how bad I looked, felt and sounded.

We had a bad storm blow across the lake on Tuesday morning, knocking out the cable, Internet and Wifi before noon.  I just stayed in bed, slept and stared at the wall while I was awake, then flipped and stared at the other wall after I woke up again.

The cable, Wifi and Internet stayed off until Wednesday evening.

It was kinda nice being so quiet inside the house that I could hear the crickets and frogs outside the house.

I went into work today feeling a little shaky but 99.9% better.

I'm not sure why I refuse to take better care of myself, but think I'm finally catching on at the tender age of almost sixty.

I got on the scale this morning after getting out of the shower and found that I'm back down to a ninety eight pound weakling.

I'll be back to  triple digits in no time!

You learn from mistakes. You'd better, especially at my age.

I took a licking but that clock's still ticking.

I wanna enjoy the home stretch as long as I can.

Everyone was so nice to me while I was feeling poorly. My family was, my neighbors were and all checked in to see if I needed anything. My managers and coworkers were super supportive as I bumbled my way through that horrifically long (controlled chaos of a) lunch shift.

Even when I'm sick, I'm blessed!

Till next time...COTTON

Random Things Are The Best

I was dropping off a load at the local Goodwill Emporium today. When we moved here from Georgia I bet we lugged about twenty comforters, blankets, quilts and bedspreads along with us. I'm tired of seeing them stuffed everywhere and having to wash them when someone uses one for some random reason.
I also got rid of a lot of clothes, boots and jackets we'll never wear again in Forida weather. I also tossed out the little cabinet I'd been using on the back porch for plants and grill accessories. I looked around Goodwill since that's where I picked up the little cabinet about seven years ago. I didn't find anything but started smiling to myself the minute I walked in the door.

You could kidnap me, blindfold me , put me on a plane or in the trunk of a car and take me around for hours then walk me into a randon store in a random town in a random state, and I'd know exactly what store we were in before removing the blindfold if you happened to choose a Thrift Store.

How come all our old junk combined has that one distinct funky smell when all displayed in one big room together?

It's not that it's a bad smell, just a distinct smell and not often confused with another smell.

Go figure.

So after the Goodwill Scentporium I went to one of my next often visited haunts, Aldi.

It's like Whole Foods and Walmart had a baby together on a no frills budget.

Once you get over fixating on name brands and realize how good the brands are which they do stock, you can relax and enjoy the pleasantries of an Aldi check out line.

They don't play. You gotta be ready and have your cards on the table (conveyour belt) the minute the cashier removes that bar separating your order from the one in front of you. Aldi products have bar codes on almost every side of a package or item for easier scanning. They can zing through an order in no time, not stopping to bag but rather simply toss into another shopping cart, leaving you to the task once you've cleared the line and paid.

I love it!

They also charge a quarter for a shopping cart and get your quarter back when you return it to the corral by the front of the store.

Love that even more!!

It's not like your gonna run into a Kardashian in Aldi or even people who speak the same language as you but is an even playing field where every person, no matter what, is welcomed.

I always keep my reusable Aldi shopping bags in the back of my car, they don't provide plastic or paper bags either.

Maybe my favorite thing!!!

So today I only picked up three or four items but always take my bags in anyway. You never know what they'll have at a great price. I've picked up large, washable dog beds for twelve dollars and they hold up extremely well.

There were only two cashiers open, which is fine, the way they whisk you through the process.

Then it happened. I heard someone mumbling on a cell phone in front of me, loud enough to understand the nonsense of the conversation whoever ahead of me was having...in a checkout line, at the cash register on a busy Friday afternoon with about ten people behind them.

Then I spotted her. 

She had her cell crooked between her cheek and shoulder and was getting her change purse out of her front pocket as she told everyone what time she'd be "Gettin' there" for dinner...she only had two more stops to make and the rain just let up.

Shut.The.Front.Door.

So we're all standing there waiting on this tiny older (about my age) woman who has never heard of the phrase "Lemme call ya right back" and the cashier is patiently staring at her as well. The old woman finally covered the microphone of her cell and said "I wanted to pay cash, what do you want me to do?"

The cashier (a younger girl) politely said "I'm sorry, I thought you heard me say that would be forty two fifty."

The old broad, skinnier than me with a long gray ponytail, separated by four different scrunchees down her back, making Crystal Gayle look like Sinead O'Conner said "Naw, I didn't" and slowly counted out her bills, all the while still chatting about her day to who ever was (or wasn't) listening on the other end.

Next up was the Asian lady in front of me...nice, efficient and ready to speed up everyones' progress. The Latino lady behind me had her three items in one hand and money in the other.

I started to get tickled just thinking about it all. When I get my own self tickled, it gets worse before it gets better. The more I think about it, the more Iwant to laugh about it.


So it quickly became my own turn.

Old Chick was still accross the way trying to get situated to carry her things to her vehicle, finally making a slow exit.


As the old chick slowly pushed her cart out the front door, with the cell still crooked in her neck and still yacking away about absolutely nothing.  I looked at the young cashier who breifly glanced at the older woman leaving and very seriously said "Well in her defense , it did seem like a pretty important phone call"

The sweet young girl kept scanning my items, shrugged her shoulders and said "Guess it coulda been".

By the time she started to get the words out I was already slowly shaking my head, smiling and told her I was totally kidding and that had most certainly not been an important conversation she was having.

Just stop, observe and listen to people every once in a while.

Sometimes you witness something hilarious or sweet. Sometimes you witness something pretty upsetting or disappointing. Sometimes you meet random really great people and try your best to stay away from random idiots along the way. Every person has a story, some are really worth hearing, some need to be heard and some seem to never be heard.

I may not have life all down pat, but have lived a pretty good story, so far.

Till Next Time, COTTON