I’ve noticed there are antique people and people who appreciate a more modern living space.  Every now and then I see a modern, minimalist house and think  to myself maybe I should try it. *laughs out loud.

There is something about antiques and the life they have lived before they were mine.  For me, they take on a life of their own and if I don’t know the specifics about an antique piece, my imagination can fill in the story lines.

I worked the front office tonight at the Icehouse auction.  My partner at the counter was this huge, absolutely gorgeous antique cash register.

  
  
  
  
I was totally overwhelmed with the intricate detail and the massive size.  It is just beautiful!  An honor to share the space with this massive piece of American history.

Throwing in a picture of this 8 week old ferret who also attended tonight’s auction.  His name is Sebastian…. too exhausted to bid on anything.
  
Until next time…..

  
Hanging on to those little rips of humor makes all of the political BS a little easier to swallow…..and I like to hear it from people I like and respect.  It helps in putting this totally hateful political season into perspective.  I feel like all of us normal people are rolling our eyes and feeling disgust and disrespect for these idiots and the process they are forcing on us…and this just underscores my rubber necking at a car wreck mentality…Bravo Tvs Housewives of any city could just as well be running for president and spouting similar outrageous rhetoric….and I watch that crap too.  The bottom line is one of these egotistical nut jobs is going to have an influence on my life in the near future.  But, what are we gonna do…no real choices in sight!

Canada…..throw us a rope.

Until next time…

that my life is an open book…and for the most part, it is.  There are some joys and pain that I don’t put out there for public consumption.  During these struggles, I usually refrain from posting much as I try to work through them.  I guess I can’t control everything and as one of my daughters helped me understand…you just have to realize that dark clouds that I can’t see through are there to help me grow and to realize that perhaps this isn’t my circus or my monkeys…its just something to observe and realize this is not my deal and really has nothing to do with me….I must continue my daily survival with love, peace and kindness and everything will either work out…or it won’t.  I’ve had difficulty with this thinking in the past, I’ve always felt that if there was a problem, my role was to be the peace keeper or people pleaser or in plain words…mine to solve.  Sometimes it is not my problem and something I can’t solve.  This is a new lesson to learn and may be quite freeing!

I spent the morning, before picking up Jaxon, buying tickets for a couple of concerts this summer.  When I mentioned to my daughter that these bands were the soundtrack for our lives, she said I sounded like a teenager.  Well that’s exactly how I feel!  Heart and Joan Jett in August at Starlight and Journey with the Doobie Brothers at the Sprint Center.  Rock out, peace and love.

Until next time….

I’ve been contemplating the fact that the FBI wants Apple to add a backdoor code to it’s digital program to allow them (and whoever else can break the code) to be able to monitor our “business”.  While I totally get the “reason” behind the request….to be a step ahead of terrorists plots….I say, Hell NO.  If this were a perfect world and the only thing I had to worry about was terrorism, I would say HELL YES.  The opinion for me is quite easy because I watch political debates.  The people running this country or wanting to run this country cannot be trusted with a free pass to my rights…namely legal search and seizure.  I hope Apple is able to continue to protect my privacy!

Meanwhile….here’s hoping everyone’s day can be this relaxing.

Until I have another thought aka until next time….

  
It is 70 degrees in Kansas City today but the wind gusts are horrendous…. The local news has been focused on a 50 plus acre grassfire NW KC…hundreds of fire personnel called into fight it.  Thankfully it is in a remote area without houses and habitation.  It made me thankful that I’m a lump in the recliner and reading a book.  The memories of fire season as a 911 dispatcher, trying to coordinate 7 fire departments in the county during a Saturday afternoon just makes my gut hurt.  All the while, not giving a moments thought when I heard the refrigerator stop, lost my wifi signal and then not being able to get out of the recliner because it is electronically controlled.

There are worse things than losing power for awhile but right now, I’m thinking about a cyber attack where we could all lose power for a long time….it’s scary.  I really hope the suits and dresses in DC are thinking about it.  How refreshing it would be to know our government has a handle on our security rather than taking issue with our religious beliefs, the color of our skin, passing law after law trying to regulate our lives in places they have no business….in our bedrooms, for example.

Until next time….

In less than a month, my birthday cake will hold up the weight of 60 candles.  In my experience, women more than men seems to cringe when the zero is added to a number representing years since their birth.  For me, I’ve always paused to contemplate and then moved on because deep down inside it didn’t really matter…..until 60.

I’m probably normal.  Running for exercise is not something I even contemplate doing now, my body seems to scream very loudly the day after I lift something heavy, I don’t bounce back quite as fast after painting or climbing 203 steps to the top of a lighthouse. I’m actually tired at night and frequently fall asleep while reading in bed, I crave quiet and relaxation after chasing a 2 year old around all day.  These things I accept….with a little sadness….but I accept it.

What I have difficulty overcoming is moving on from the past.  While the past has shaped me into who I am today…today is what I have now.  I spend way too much energy shutting down a thought that pops into my head during the day.  I wish I had done this or that differently.  Why was my mother my mother?  Why did I not make life changes years before I made them?  Why did I develop kidney cancer?  What could I have done differently?  Why didn’t I do things differently?  By reviewing the past, I’m actually missing out on what is happening right now.  I know this.  I believe this.  I work very hard to clear my mind when these thoughts surface.  Maybe right now I’m perfectly normal.  Maybe lots of other people continue to regurgitate the past.  Maybe learning to let it be and love right now is my new lesson to be learned because once I quit learning, there will be no more candles on the cake?

Until next time….

This half week has been a whirlwind of good decisions and bad decisions and highlighted my impulsiveness….that part of me I really try to control.

It all started last weekend when Kim told me that some mutual friends are selling their pickup and travel trailer because they are through camping. We have been talking about trading in our sweet little hybrid camper for a 5th wheel and this made all of my dreams come true.

   
   
  
To sweeten the deal, they are selling their f250 pickup set up with a 5th wheel hitch.  He has been wanting to dump his Nissan Titan pickup since we bought it in 2011….especially after I ran it into a concrete flower planter a year ago.

So…..we took the Nissan to Carmax to see what they would give us for it.  Much better than expected…great.  Money for the new combo…this is when my impulsiveness kicked in.  A nice Toyota Camry with low mileage and now we will sell the Juke.

   
 
Driving off the lot, I realized it was a mistake.  Nice, nice car but now we had to sell the juke and I don’t want to sell the Juke! CArmax has a no questions asked 5 day return policy…so we got up yesterday morning and returned it.  We had used equity from the truck and some extra money on the debit card which made the transaction extremely easy and we left Carmax very happy.

I keep looking at pictures of the trailer and imagining myself coming to visit you and you and you.  I’m thinking it is going to be a great summer!

Until next time…..

I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for a couple of months and now it is Saturday night and the weekend is almost over.  Mike and Kim and he and I Have been friends for many years.  Actually He and Mike graduated together.  Kim and I worked together for nearly 30 years.  We have shared a lot of laughter and tears and their family was our family…it was very difficult leaving them when we moved to Kansas City.

Here we are….

  
Getting together with our adult children….minus Katy…it’s hard to believe how old we are and how old our daughters are.

  
We are soooo lucky!  Missed you, Kate!

BTW today is my second retirement anniversary and it still feels good!

Until next time….

Sitting in Jax’s room playing with Legos yesterday, I looked up at the wall

  
and realized how much I love color.  I think there are color people and people who don’t give it a moments thoughts.  I’m very sensitive to color and it can change my mood or make me feel safe.  I have a particular preference for bright and bold colors over light and pastels.  Pastels actually bore me…I also love contrast colors explaining why I like black.  Black with white, black with yellow, black with pink………….

I love this little corner of my kitchen…the metal wall hanging matching the pitchers

  
A couple pictures hanging in my house

  
  
The corner of this shelf in my dish cupboard

  
It’s hard for me to feel I need to apologize for my collections because most of them burst with color….except my elephants…although I do have some happy colored elephants!

And I love my cats…all of them…not just these two…but this picture is just too cute.

  
Until next time….

Judging from the last month, one would never know that we have a lot of experience heating with wood.  Every place we have lived has been equipped with either a fireplace or sealed wood burning stove…in one of our houses, the Windows would have to be open in the bedroom upstairs because the heat from the wood burner in the basement would track up the clothes shoot to the bedrooms on the second floor.  It was very uncomfortable.  We lived in a timber area for nearly 30 years so wood was plentiful.  Watching him outside splitting the wood was  quite attractive but we will save that for a different blog.

Keeping this in mind…twice in the last month, we have filled the house with smoke.  The first time, I opened up the fireplace and opened the flue while he was out getting the wood …. Apparently he didn’t hear me say I have it all opened up (no hearing aids at all) so he thought he was opening it up…filled it with wood, used the gas igniter and realized right away that smoke was billowing…quick action saved the day.  Last night…it happened again…I asked which way the handle is supposed to be..he’s distracted and says he’s sure it is closed because he had just cleaned it out…so I opened it…he stacked the wood….set it off but noticed it wasn’t drawing and we had a little smell of smoke, he reached in with a hot pan holder and  hit the lever to “open” it….then…..

Smoke started rolling out…I was reading a book and seriously didn’t notice it until he came in from the kitchen brought my attention to the heavy smoke in the house and reversed the lever action yet again.  Smoke detectors were going off, windows were opened, attic fan was activated and the house still smells like smoke.

Now I sit here contemplating a nice fire…supposed to be chilly…I think flue lever in front means closed and back means open…but who really knows….I really don’t want to develop a friendship with the Pleasant Hill firemen like I had with the Kellogg volunteer fire department in Iowa.  There are stories!

Until next time…