Discover A New World of Romance

I feel like I'm in the wrong season. It's Thanksgiving week and I'm seeing green instead of white on my afternoon hike. This is my first autumn living someplace other than MN, WI or IA and even though it's not exactly warm in Eugene, it's doable.

 It seems to me the leaves in Eugene, OR are much bigger then I remember. If Stella could talk she'd say, "Something tells me we're not in Iowa anymore."

If you are traveling in July without reservations don't worry there is always Makoshika, MT state park. Dry camping in Makoshika MT state park - doesn't mean you can't bring in a beer or two...it means absolutely no water is available at the campsites. The place was beautiful, it looked like we were at the South Dakota Badlands, lots of hiking, rattle snake warnings, very little shade, lots of wind at night and Handicap Pit Toilets, but not necessarily Handicap Accessible Pit Toilets.

We went shopping to Costco on Monday - and for $11.99 you could go back to 2014. 

Or sometimes two words...What? Why?  This is one of those pictures from out trip out west. Have you ever take a photo and later wondered why? Driving down the interstate - going through North Dakota - there wasn't much to catch our attention - "Oh look a hill."  but I zoomed in and on the only hill visible for many, many mile we spotted Salem Sue, the World's Largest Cow...and no we didn't pull off the interstate to go take a look  

I consider myself the Queen of Downsizing... we have gone from combining two households into a two bedroom apartment and from there we eliminated anything that would not fit into the back of a F150 truck - luckily for me I am married to the Master Packer. And then we made our first mistake... we went into Wal Mart - of course we couldn't find what we wanted but ended up purchasing a rechargeable lateen - (and if you're curious - no we didn't use it on our two month   camping journey.) It's hard to believe after giving away so much...we would buy one more thing...

The Journey to Writing:  Downtown Minneapolis For 27 years I worked for a utility company... until the day my boss said, "if you're not happy here, quit." So, I jumped ship and went to work for the City of Golden Valley... until my daughter said, "you'd make a great COTA." So, I moved to La Crosse WI to get an associates degree as an Occupational Therapy Assistant.    I spent almost 1 year working with children on the Autism Spectrum. Before we relocated to Iowa where I spent 1 year working in a skilled nursing facility. Which brings me to now…We are living in someone’s basement in Eugene, OR and I am pursuing my dream of writing.   And we are living our dream....

After spending May giving away our furniture to family, donating to Goodwill and selling items on Craig's list we  squeezed our household into a F150. And left Waukee, Iowa at the end of June.

It has been a long time since I have written or published, but the tide has change. My ship has come in and I plan to sail off... Figuratively. The Perfect Country and Western Story - The title was tongue in cheek. Steve Goodman and John Prine wrote the country song, "You Never Even Called Me by My Name' and David Allan Coe recorded it.  I always love the part of the song where Coe talks about why the song isn't The Perfect Country and Western Song because there was no mention of Mama, Trains, Trucks, Prison or Getting Drunk. When I writing the novel I would tell everyone I was writing The Perfect Country and Western Story - because I had Mama, Trains, Trucks, Prison, and Getting Drunk. And the title stuck... RT Book Reviews states:  Want a fun beach read this summer? Look no further. With a heroine bravely battling back from a tragic loss and a hero you want to bed one minute and smack the next, you’ll be hoping for these two to find their happily ever after. St...

Was coming home after work and enjoying a great dinner and a glass of wine.  

Cynical... sounds like political ads bitterly   or   sneeringly   distrustful,   contemptuous,   or   pessimistic. I certainly grow tired of hearing people trash talk - it's a great message to show our children. The way to get people to like (vote) for you is to make others dislike/distrust the other person... Sounds a lot like bullying to me.

Today is Friday, June 13 and tonight there will be a full moon. I am not the least bit worried about this because I have never experienced any bad luck on a Friday the 13th or on a full moon. The full moon on a Friday the 13th is a rare occurance and it is not expected to occur again until I am 90. Now the thought of turning 90 does scare me a bit.

Fear is always in my way...sometimes if I'm lucky I can rush past my fears, but fear always catches up to me.  I will try and be brave and not be afraid to be the best writer I can possible be... i will not be afraid to travel.

Perfect Friday night has the following ingredients:  margaritas, chips, and salsa.

Coffee is a great way to start the day... one or two cups every morning. There was a time when I also enjoyed an afternoon cup of coffee, sometimes from a vending machine while take an afternoon break with a co-worker. Sometimes the cup of coffee was at my Mom's house, I'd drop off the daily newspaper after I got off work and she'd always have a pot of fresh brewed strong coffee and a desert. Sometimes a large slice of pie or cake - other times it was a cookie or a bismark or long john.  

A good friend is a time traveler...it could be days, months or years since you've last talked to them - and the moment you say, Hello. It's like distance and time never happened. You are both in the same moment and it feels like you last talk only minutes ago.

When it comes to misery, I am my own worse enemy.  I want to write, but I busy myself with distractions. I want to be healthy and I put junk food in my shopping cart. I want to exercise and I pull the covers up over my head. I want to work part-time and accept full-time positions. Now, of course if I turn it around, I could also be my own best friend.

  Today my daughter posted the above... and it only seemed like yesterday when they were babies...

What, Whom, or Where is Perfect? According to the Dictionary -  having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be :           make (something) completely free from faults or defects, or as close to such a condition as possible :      Life is Perfect although I have to say some days I do find it a little difficult to be as good as it is possible to be...

This is the question for July 10th from the 365 Questions book and the answer is a little difficult because both my parents have been dead for quite some time. But I do remember a couple of my last conversations with my mom. I was working full-time, had two preteen children at home and would stop by her house every night on my way home from work to check in with her and to have a cup of coffee - the coffee was a great way to spend sometime with my mom to unwind after work and also as a way to ramp up for an evening filled with driving my children to and from activities. My mom had a number of aliments, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, lung cancer, and emphysema.  She was on oxygen and was finding it harder and harder to breathe and get around. She was unable to back her car out of the garage and unless someone turned her car around she could not drive. Which in my opinion was a good thing, so I conveniently forgot to turn her car around when she asked. She was also ...