Low Tech Girl In A High Tech World

Hey! So I turned 40 back in June. I have to say that it kind of hit me hard. Oh, they say that 30 is hard, right, but I pretty much cruised through that with a smile on my face. For some reason, though, 40 kind of hit me hard. I think that there were a few reasons for it. One was that I no longer felt "young". I had to finally admit that middle age is creeping up on me and that I am no longer the fun young thing I once was and I can't shake the fact that when I act fun like I used to now its just a sad, middle aged woman trying to be all young and stuff. That may not be the case but it sure as hell feels like it from time to time. Also, I have had a few more bumps and bruises than I did when I was 30. When I was 30, I still felt like my life was going exactly as I wanted it. I was married to my ex, I had two of his children and my divorce and my depression hadn't appeared just yet. That was still about three years off. Now, though, I'm a bit damaged but still ...

This was the summer that wasn't. I think that likely most families have had one or two summers like this scattered throughout their history. In the spring, you start making plans. You decide that you are going to do all of these wonderful things once the kids are done school and once vacation time rolls around. And then, it doesn't. Usually, I'm used to dealing with the kids being away. Their father and I have a pretty good visitation system set up. Because he is so far away, he tends to get them for longer chunks of time. While I am glad that they get to see their father, its difficult to plan things with them since he tends to have them most of the time when school is out. But I can work around that. Youngest has cadets. In the summer, that means she is gone for weeks at a time. This year, she was gone three weeks which cut into her time with her dad. But it was still workable, and as soon as the temperature started to stay above -40, my husband and I started tryi...

Happy Easter from my family to yours!!!

So I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a "girly" girl. Not often, anyway. There's no problem with that, really. I'm comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt and hoody. I usually have my hair back in a style that takes me about five seconds to do. And I'm definitely more comfortable wearing my glasses rather than contacts. My husband loves me just as I am and I am comfortable like that. Most of the time. For some reason, recently, I decided to get "gussied up". I thought that doing my hair, putting on clothing that was chosen with some thought and using makeup would give me some sort of professional appearance that would look polished and suitable for the world of retail. Other women do it, I reasoned. Hell, I even used to do it on a regular basis when I was working in sales. And really, when I was using makeup and styling products I even wasn't half bad at it (mainly, I suspect, due to luck and practice). Surely, once I had perfected the knac...

So, there's this saying. "Everything old is new again". Everything, and I mean everything, seems to go in cycles. Fashion, music, all sorts of stuff. I just kind of hoped that flooded basements weren't one of them. I guess I was wrong. Okay, so a little bit of backstory is in order, I guess. Years ago (well, a year and a half but it feels like a whole LIFETIME now) I lived in this wonderful little armpit of an apartment. It wasn't bad, I guess. It had a big bathroom (for an apartment). It only had two bedrooms, which meant my kids got to share just when one was starting that adventure known as the teenage years.The kitchen had been totally remodeled and it looked sharp. If only it wasn't for the random water, things would have been wonderful. Random water you say? Yup. The apartment building was located downhill (water tends to flow downhill by the way) from a car wash. Every so often, at random times, water that I didn't ask for would gush up and fo...

Something very good and very bad happened today. And they were the same thing. How can such a thing be, you ask. Something is either very good or very bad and generally, it is impossible for it to be both at the same thing. It would be like a sloth Hitler or like... like... a charity for orphan immigrants championed by Donald Trump. Generally, when bad and good  try to exist in the same space, it ends in some sort of Star Trek-esque parallel universe implosion scenario. And yet, yet, sitting in the bakery cabinet at Metro today, there was something very bad and very good existing in the same small, tart-shaped package. Have you ever had Portugese custard tarts? No? If not, you have no idea what I am talking about. I insist that you venture down to any store which has these items and immediately purchase one. Then, buy more. Because likely, unless you have no soul, you will want more. If you haven't found a place where you can buy them, you need to find a recipe and make them a...

So, I have a dog. Well two, actually, but the one is going to be the main focus of this post. He's a schnauzer and he's a big one. Giant, actually. If you think I'm being kind because you've seen a schnauzer before and it was a little guy and so you figure I'm overstating his size because he has self esteem issues about being called "standard" you're wrong buddy. He's about 80 lbs of, well, self esteem issues and neuroticness. This is him. That giant black dude staring out the window like a suspicious old man looking at a party house of free-range teenagers. No, the window isn't very low to the ground and no, the proportions haven't been screwed with. And now, after looking at the picture, no he doesn't have an electrical cord coming out of his foot. Quiet you, I'm a blogger, not a professional photographer. He came as damaged goods. Literally. He was a rescue who was surrendered after he ate part of his own foot. Public serv...

There are many things that I am, and that I will be. I am a wife, a kick-ass mother of two and an owner of a mini-zoo of various animals. I AM a writer (and hope I WILL BE one who makes a decent living from writing). I will (hopefully) be one of those grandparents that the grandkids LIKE visiting. Of all the things I can see myself POTENTIALLY being, there is one thing I will not be. Not ever. Not unless I accidentally step through some shimmery doorway into a Star Trek-esque alternate reality scenario. I will never be a professional organizer. Heck, I will never even be a skilled amateur. Who am I kidding. I wake up every morning and consider it a good day if I can find my socks and my car keys. But that doesn't stop me from WANTING to be more organized. I recently bought a book called "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing". It's by a woman called Marie Kondo and I've heard good things about it. I haven't ...

So recently, I started my freelance writing business up again. As I've mentioned before its been a few years since I was writing and there are a few different reasons for this. One was the job I was working at. Shift work in a factory is an incredibly draining experience. So much so that I really only had the energy to sleep when I wasn't working. When that ended, I was consumed with planning a move, dealing with a divorce, completely changing my life and so on and so on. I ended up with my kiddos in a two bedroom postage stamp of an apartment and I discovered that I have a hard time being creative with other people breathing down my neck. For a while, I thought I was done. Like totally done. Like never going to type another word, finito, pack it up kind of thing. My "being a writer" self was tied closely to my "being married to my ex". A lot of what I had written poetry wise was written to him, or about him, or about my life being married to him. I felt...

One of the large life changes I made after my marriage broke up was to move. I ended up moving from my hometown (or nearby it, anyway) about three hours north. My ex-husband had been stationed here for a few years and I had really grown to love the community. We had been posted south (that's military speak for "you get to move now") and had thought that it would be wonderful since the town we got posted to was close to our families. While that part was nice, ultimately things ended and I was without work, sans husband and dealing with two kiddos that needed supporting. Anyone who has been searching for work for the last few years knows that unless you have a mix of good luck, voodoo juju and some insider tips, its hard to find quality work. Ask my friends who are in the journalism biz and its not so easy to find a position either. So, that's how I ended up at the temp agency and how I ended up working as a temp at an auto parts factory. I can tell you, shift work su...

As I mentioned in my return-from-the-dead post, there have been a number of changes in my life. I had a rather hasty multi-year absence from blogging. I got a divorce. I moved. I got a new husband. And there have been a few job changes sprinkled evenly in the middle. I quit freelancing and went back to working a day job. Now, I'm working retail. Full-time retail. I've had plenty of experience in this field. In fact, except for a short stint as a fill-in reporter for a paper and some time in a car-parts factory, every job I have ever had included elements of retail to it. Sure, the titles often sounded more important than that but basically, Art Gallery Administrator was retail in fancy surroundings, and Receptionist at an Animal Hospital was basically an odd retail/triage/medical situation. Yes, there were other elements to it but there was a heck of a lot of retail mixed in there for good measure. I don't mind. I'm good at selling stuff and I like where I am. Unlik...

Wow. It's been a long time. Like a LONG time. Like YEARS long. There have been a lot of changes that have happened over those years and I often thought about giving up this blog. And yet, and yet, I didn't.But now, I've decided to brush off this old blog of mine and start again. I'm still a low tech girl in a high tech world. Some of the tech has changed, mind you. The trusty Tassimo has been replaced by a Keurig (still such yummy, yummy hot beverageness, just in a different form). The lovely blue laptop has been replaced by a bigger, shinier, younger black model. And there's been a change of scenery too. Hopefully you are all still interested in hearing what this technophobe has to say and want to hear all about my new adventures. Welcome back!