Baby Its Cold Out There

Posted on January 8, 2015January 8, 2015 by Dusty Roads

The latest update in my Facebook feed on Beau is that he is still alive and still in captivity. More sharing and social media rabble-rousing is planned. I think the authorities in Tennessee could take a tip from the movie Frozen and “Let it go, Let it go, Let it go”. A terrible abuse of power.

But on another note, what does everyone think of this cold weather. Friends in Florida tell me it’s cold there too. Is anyone warm?

Last night the winds were howling and making a real racket when I went to bed. I lower the heat at bedtime down to around 60. I can’t sleep if its too warm and since I’m in a condo with units above, below and on each side, throw in the heated common areas and I’m usually pretty toasty warm. I knew it was cold when I woke up this morning and heard the furnace running.

I remember growing up in the Adirondacks and hearing my folks comment on the cold. I remember plenty of below zero days back then but as a kid stuffed in a bulky snow suit I didn’t really care.

If the cold froze the tops of the snow to ice we’d just take cardboard boxes and use them as sleds. Sometimes we had to crawl back up the hill because the ice crust was so slippery. Of course wiping out on that kind of snow was guaranteed to leave a blood trail! That crust could cut like glass!

I don’t know how cold it got last night but there were lots of reports of frozen gas lines and dead batteries in cars and school buses. I did not even put my nose out there! I can work from home so I was not about to brave the cold even if I do have a snugly warm snowsuit just like when I was a kid. I’ll be trying that out for the first time this weekend.

FedEx was working in the cold. At about 10 am I had a knock on my door. The man standing there looked like Nanook of the North. He had a mustache and a hooded jacket with fur around it.

I think I just stared. I don’t know who let him inside the building but that poor man looked frozen. He didn’t say a word, just handed me my package and left. I think he just wanted to get the day over with so he could get out of the cold. His brief stop at my door probably didn’t give him much time to get warm before he had to go right back outside.

So, how’s the cold where you are and how are you coping? Am I just a wimp?

Even my Horoscope Gives Me a hard Time

Posted on January 6, 2015January 6, 2015 by Dusty Roads

I feel bad enough that I can’t manage to post more often any more but today’s horoscope even chimed in with a guilt trip!

Aquarius

Your Daily Horoscope

You may not have the time to write the next great epic novel, but you could have a few minutes each day to write a blog post, or to share some ideas in social media. You may find that people are drawn to what you have to say right now.

2014 a Year in Review

Posted on January 2, 2015January 2, 2015 by Dusty Roads

I’m not going to talk about missing airplanes, radical insurgents or riots that are a throw-back to the 60’s. Nope this is just going to be a nice easy summary of my year. Simple and mundane.

The theme for my 2014 should have been “Be Careful What you Wish For”. I spent almost half the year being bored and restless. Then around April several co-workers and friends started wooing me to a new position. I admit I was resistant. I had my eye on a non-existent position on the “buy” side. I was being teased and pushed toward the “listing” side of the business, sometimes referred to as the “dark side” by the “buy side” folks.

Taking a shaking breathe and questioning my sanity I accepted the new challenge on May 18.

I’d just come back from my vacation in Tennessee and my mind was clear and relaxed. Good thing too because I found myself thrown in at the deep end of the pool. It was time to Swim like mad or sink. I am happy to say that I did not sink, maybe floundered a few times but eventually I helped my team close over 50 deals between May 18 and December 31! Several were over $1,000,000.00!

I expect to do even more in 2015 because I’ll have the whole year and we have added another team member.

I like the fast pace and the bonuses I can earn. I love feeling like a part of a team rather than being spread over many agents and areas. Here’s to a rocking 2015.

Because of the activity in the job that pays the bills, my blog and my photography definitely took a back seat last year. My “photo a day” goal died a rapid death once I was thrown into my new job and regular blog posts followed closely behind. I don’t like to write about work. It either sounds like complaining or bragging and there’s always a chance of giving away something that I shouldn’t so with long hours during the busy season my topics really were limited. I don’t see that changing this year either but I’ll do the best I can. Better to post less often and be interesting than just to post drivel in order to have a post…at least that’s my feeling.

I am finally feeling better. 2014 was a really rough year for health issues.

I’m not 100% but certainly much , much better than I was for most of 2014. Maybe I’ll be able to make a dent on the 2014 goal of losing some weight. Start small. Lets see if I can lose 25 lbs and then go from there.

And that about sums it up. I hope you reach all of your goals for 2015!

All I want for Christmas

Posted on December 12, 2014December 12, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Sigh! I’m beginning to understand a bit about the aging process.

All I want right now is to get my home back in order and cleaned up. It seems like forever that I’ve been living in boxes. First the kitchen and now the furniture that I need moved.

And it’s mainly because I can’t do this by myself. I used to be able to move this furniture alone but now I can’t get it to budge! So I am at the mercy of other people’s schedules.

I can see how someone, particularly the elderly, could become hoarders! No strength or energy to throw stuff out!

The kitchen still isn’t finished.

I’m still waiting for the electrician to install the microwave range hood. That would get one big box out of the way. Then I’m waiting for my neighbor to help me move the sideboard and hutch.

I emptied that out to make it easier and lighter to move but I haven’t connected with him since he said he’d help. So that means I have all those boxes sitting here.

There’s an armoire on it’s way. It’s a Saunders so I know that means it will have to be put together. I hate putting together furniture. My knees and back hurt so much it makes it very hard but the ones that were already assembled were terribly expensive. To make room for the armoire I need to clean out the book case and move it to another corner. I used to be able to move this book case by myself. Now I don’t know if I still can or not. I sure hope so!

Then there’s an old rickety book case in that corner that needs to be cleaned off and thrown out. It’s sitting where I want to put the book case that’s where the armoire is going to go.

It’s like a puzzle.

It makes me tired just thinking about it but everything is at a standstill until either my electrician gets here or my neighbor. Until one of them makes me some room I am stuck and I hate being dependent on someone else. I hope one of them gets here before the armoire otherwise I have no idea where that box will go!

In the meantime I am living surrounded by boxes, dust and cat hair. I may not be the best housekeeper but I’ve never lived this long surrounded by such chaos, not even when I’ve just moved.

I mean it when I say all I want for Christmas is a clean and organized home.

Let The Long Weekend Begin

Posted on November 26, 2014November 26, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Good evening folks! I don’t have new tile in my kitchen but I do have a new electrical panel…in my living room. It’s the law. You can no longer put that ugly box out of sight in a closet and because of where the old panel is located there was only one place they could legally put the new one. I haven’t quite figured out how to hide it yet. I’m thinking on it.

My own electrician came in and got me all set up for the Microwave range hood. The new hood will arrive sometime next Thursday, December 4.

Rocky has finally begun to get used to all the door bell ringing and men coming and going. He isn’t cowering behind the furniture. In fact this afternoon he was snoozing under his heat lamp when the Electrician came back with the bill for the panel. I don’t think Rocky even opened an eye. Tim (that’s the electrician) laughed and laughed over him. I explained how the heat lamp had come about and he thought that was interesting but the thing that really got him was the way Rocky was sprawled under it and paid no attention to a stranger in the house.

All of the people who have worked on the kitchen have asked about the heat lamp. Most thought I was nuts or that I was taking spoiling over the top. Once I explained I got the lamp in hope of correcting Rocky’s habit of over grooming and how it worked, they all changed their tune.

This evening I was channel surfing (I should have been putting more stuff away but…) and they had something called “Ballroom Blitz” on. I’d never heard of it before so I checked it out. OMG I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It captured that world so perfectly from the expense of lessons and costumes and travel to the addictive nature of the sport. It made me miss it. As much as I wanted to turn it off because of the emotions it was pulling out of me, I was glued to the set. If I ever win the lottery I know I’d be right back at it. Its been long enough that I could be an amateur again. I could dance for exercise and the fun of it.