I Have A Confession To Make

But...

First, we got hit with a random snow/ice storm. It is supposed to continue like this for a few days. I got home from work this evening and knew ok, it's now or never when it comes to getting this house unpacked. Only there was a problem. I was totally sleepy and unmotivated.

I tried to play my motivational rock out music.

Nothing.

And then the lightbulb came on.

So here's my confession. I know it's too early, but I'm jamming out to Christmas music. :-D

It makes me so happy. I am moving and grooving. Getting furniture where I want it and I am stacking up empty boxes!! And I am also belting out Christmas songs at the top of my lungs. (One of the benefits of living alone.) well, I do have critters but they don't seem to have any complaints.

So to my friends and family, I know you might not be ready, but I am!! And the holiday festivities are upon us. Let's embrace it!!

- Scarlett

P.S. Which one are you?

Man, I Feel Like A Woman!

I really don't know how guys think about these sorts of things, but as a woman, I know there are certain clothes that make me look cute, certain close that make me look good and certain clothes that make me look GREAT!

And of course that all depends on the season.

If you can't tell, I take my clothes pretty seriously.  As in closet size is a real deciding factor when I'm looking for a place to live.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a shopaholic or anything.  I rarely go shopping for clothes, but when I do, I make sure I get something I like and then boy you better believe I wear it.  Every season or so I go through my closet and if there are things I haven't worn, I donate them.  Otherwise, I pretty much wear everything I own.

Consequently I can go a few months without doing laundry (sorry Mom).  I really tested this when I was having to go to a laundromat to wash my clothes but I've gotten a lot better about it and now that I have my own washer and dryer in the house, I do laundry as I go. Makes life much easier.

But back to my clothes.  My daily prompt asks me to write about an outfit that makes me feel good.

There are so many.  Apparently I get bonus points for posting a picture, so I'll only post one or two.  I'm not a huge fan of putting my face out there, never mind the fact that I have a Facebook account, but still I think I can manage this.  Apparently I only have 7 consistent readers and you probably all know what I look like anyways!!

For every day wear, especially now that it is fall, I LOVE wearing skinny jeans, with tall boots and long sweaters with a wide belt around the waist.  I just love it.  It keeps me warm, it allows me to move around and function with out the draft of a skirt, and it compliments my figure.  I had to dig way back through some of my pictures but I found this.  It should tell you how much I like this outfit, this picture was taken roughly 5 years ago and I still wear it!

That's for every day in the fall, but what about every day in the summer??

I LOVE dresses.  I think dresses are the greatest thing since sliced bread because it's easy.  You just say, I want to wear that one, and ta-da, you're done getting dressed.  As opposed to, ok I want to wear this shirt, but that only looks good with these two pairs of pants, but one of those are dirty, so I can only wear this pair and only those shoes look good with that.  It's just easier to wear a dress and I have one that makes me feel just amazing.  I always get compliments on it everywhere I go no matter how little time the rest of me took to get ready.  It makes me feel very, just....happy!!

I have lots of other outfits that I absolutely love, I just don't have pictures readily available of them.  For example, there is nothing better than my favorite pair of boot jeans, my boots (of course), and just a simple white v neck T-shirt.

Now the following two outfits just make me feel like a goddess but I don't have much occasion to wear them. Which is ok.

When I was in college, I was a favorite date for some of my friends for their formal parties because I cleaned up very nice, we all enjoyed each others company in general and I was socially independent, meaning they could take me, get us seats and then they could wander around and talk to whomever they wanted because I didn't require their presence to have fun and interact socially with other guests.  Of course they would hang out with me, it's not like we showed up and then I got ditched.  Most of these events were a lot of standing around and chatting (sounds super fun right??)  There wasn't a lot of dancing or moving around so this was when all the girls would break out the swanky little cocktail dresses.

Now this next dress can be....very revealing.  So I always pair it with a very nice black sort of cardigan. At these types of events there were usually more than enough girls willing to show off everything they had, so I felt no need to show mine off as well.  This picture was already blurry, so I didn't bother to edit it at all.  

Again, not many opportunities to wear this one, but still.  It's fun, it's pink-ish and I can make it look very classy with a cardigan.  And it shows off my legs.  (I think I have short stumpy legs because that's what it looks like from up here, so I like anything that makes them look a little longer).

Last, but certainly not least.  Everyone knows that every girl needs to have that little black dress, right??  But I firmly believe that every girl should also have a red dress.   And I have such a dress.  It was actually a gift sort of that I got from one of my girlfriends in college.  Again, hardly any occasion to wear such a dress.  One of the major benefits in getting into modeling on an amateur level is having a reason to wear really fun clothes! :-)  I live way out in the country.  I don't go clubbing.  I don't live somewhere, nor do I know people who are rich enough, to attend ritzy formal events.  But I still like to look pretty and feel like a woman!!  And this is dress makes me want to strike a pose and shout "Man, I I Feel Like A Woman!"

Ok so I totally just had a vain little moment with this post, but oh well.  Every woman deserves not only to feel like she is beautiful, but to know that she is beautiful.  Some women absolutely hate clothes because they hate how they look in them.  

First, if you don't like something, don't settle for it!!  Change it!!  If you don't like how you look in clothes you have a couple options.  1. Buy different clothes and/or 2. Change how your body looks.  Don't hear me saying that you should go out and get lypo or develop an eating disorder.  That's a negative on those.  You hear me talk about my mom a lot on here and I'm about to do it again.  My mom was always petite but at some point her body shape started changing in a way she wasn't particularly fond if.  So you know what, she changed it!  She changed how and what she ate, she started working out.  My mom runs now.  I'm terrified that when I go home for Thanksgiving she's going to want me to run with her because let me be the first to admit that I am NOT a runner.  But she made REAL changes and saw those reflected in her body just like she wanted to.  

So feel beautiful ladies!! You deserve it!!

 - Scarlett

Bathing In A Coffee Pot

I'm still not sure what I think about today's blog prompt so I'll start off skipping it and catching you up on my life.

So I just moved, and I love my new place.  It's still under a little construction, but it's all coming along.  I love the space, I love not having any carpet, I love the location.  I should be able to move my bed into the bedroom this weekend and I should have a sink and vanity in the bathroom this weekend too.

The other night I got my kitchen unpacked and that alone was a HUGE help to my sanity.

But up until this morning I have not had gas...so I have not had hot water or heat.  Now the heat thing is no big deal, I just turned all the burners on my electric stove on high and wow did that heat up the house just fine.

But not having a way to have hot water is a whole other story.  I know there are some people on this planet who like to take cold showers, I am NOT one of them.

I am a very happy person.  There are plenty of things that annoy me or bother me but it take a lot to make me truly angry.  Even things that might bother me a whole lot typically only bother me for a few minutes.  I just don't let things interfere with my general level of happiness through out the day.

One of the things that makes me angry is being cold.  Especially cold and wet.  I can handle it if there's work to be done, but as soon as whatever necessary goal is accomplished my number one purpose in life is to get warm again.  So just the idea of taking a cold shower puts a cloud over my brow.

But, a girl can't just walk around this world dirty now can she?  So I went survival skills on it.

Do any of you remember or have one of those blue coffee percolators? I use mine when I go camping.  It looks like this...

Well this is actually the only water vessel that I can seem to find at the moment (pots are apparently still at the old house).  So I've been filling it up (12 cups) and heating it up on the stove.  Then I just go stand in the bathtub and dip my bar of soap with my wash rag in the water and I give myself a bath.  It's kind of nice because I still come out the other end clean, and I get to shave my legs, which is necessary.  It's not quite the level of hair washing I'm accustomed to, but it will do for now.  I also know that I am using very little water, which is a plus.

As of last night at about 11 my hot water heater was fixed and the gas tank was filled up but there wasn't hot water enough to really run a bath till this morning.  I'd love to take a shower, but I need some tools to make my shower curtain rod bigger, which are also still at the old house, and I also need rings to hold up my shower curtain.  These are projects I will work on today after work.

For now all you need to know is that I am clean, I love my new house and things are really coming together on this.

 - Scarlett

Electrocuted to Unplugged

First, I would like to say that my quality of life is made infinitely easier since my whole kitchen is unpacked and I know where everything is.  Even though I still have no heat, I do have a rocking electric stove that heats the house quite nicely and I will be getting a refrigerator today.  Also the gas guys are coming today so I will officially be able to take a shower tonight and I am pretty stinking excited about that.

I know soldiers live off of baby wipes, but I'm not a soldier and the sooner I can stand under some hot water the better!

Now for my challenge.  My blogging challenge asks how much time a day I stay "plugged in" and if I consciously set aside time to be unplugged or if it just happens whenever.

Up until this weekend I was pretty much plugged in 24 hours a day.  I always have my phone with me.  I am always listening to Pandora.  I'm always connected to Facebook.  Every night I watched a movie or stand up comedy on Netflix.  Usually I even went to sleep to the sound of Netflix.

But as of this weekend, I have moved WAY out into the country and it is just wonderful.

For one, they don't have an internet service that goes out that far that is fast enough to stream Netflix.  So that's gone.  I don't even own a TV.  I don't like using all of my data to stream Pandora at work AND at home, so for the most part I've just had my phone hooked up to the speakers to listen to music I already own.

I got a phone call from my internet provider at my old house yesterday.  They were calling to try to sell me on a cable package.  If you didn't know, sales people like that read off of scripts.  For whatever answer you may have, they always have a scripted answer provided by their employer to answer your every question and objection.  I was very pleased to hear the uncertainty and dumbfounded-ness in the lady's voice when she tried to sell me on a cable package and I told her that I had just moved and was about to have my internet cut off and that I didn't even own a TV so I am not interested in getting cable.  I could hear it in her voice that there was not a script for that.  She tried to ask me if I was going to at least have my internet service reconnected at my new house and I said no because I lived so far out that there was no internet out here.  (Not completely true, but so far out that they don't provide internet out there, so it got my point across.)  Again, obviously there was no script for that.  So she just said if I had any questions about the call to call some number she spouted off and then hung up.

Apparently I am a psycho for living in modern day America and not owning a TV.

I suppose I'm still connected to Facebook and email and such with my phone, but I don't really keep my phone with me as much now.  Frankly, I am so far out in the boonies that I don't really worry about missing a call from anyone who might want to hang out or need my help because I'm too far away for any of that.

So I guess I'm still pretty connected, but not nearly as much as I was and I see that connection getting smaller and smaller with each day, which is pretty exciting.

I've spent more time walking around my new property with my dogs admiring the absolutely GORGEOUS sunsets that happen every day at my new home and leaving my phone in the house.

Life out here is far slower than life "in town," even though the city I moved from isn't exactly some teeming metropolis.  I can slowly see myself slowing down to mach the pace out here and I have to say, it's wonderful. I was still up till about midnight last night unpacking and getting things more organized, but still I passed out and slept soundly with no movie, no music, no sound.  Just the soft and gentle snoring of my dogs.

So raise your glass (with whatever it might contain at this hour) to beautiful sunsets, no internet, no TV,  peaceful silence, and a sky as big and clear as the State of Texas.

 - Scarlett

Laundry and Hiccups

The blog challenge I'm participating in has prompts for the days of the week.  Today it asks me to discuss a blog post I never published.

Doesn't exist.  I can see how that might be something to talk about for some people but for me it's pointless.  So I'm skipping it.

My shining accomplishments for the day are as follows: All of the clothes I have on are clean.  I am clean. I brushed my teeth and my hair this morning.  The End.

It is also time for my yearly round of hiccups.  Seriously, this sucks.  I only get the hiccups once every year or so, but I get them bad.  I'll have them on and off all day for two days.  So here's to the next two days of not being able to breath normally, chest pains, and being the source of comedy for everyone who works around me.

I thought I published a post from my phone late Saturday night but apparently it didn't go through.  Oh well.  As exhausted as I was I'm not surprised.

So here's an update on my move.  Pretty much all of my stuff is out of the old house and into the new house.  The only things that are left at the old pace are my coats, and silverware and some very random pots and pans.  And trash.  It's hard for me to really care, but I do like to leave a place nicer than I found it.  Not really setting the standards high on that part but it is what it is.

For the past couple days I've been playing a game called "Where is my______?"  It's not  a very fun game.

Also my house is still under some construction.  When I pulled up with the Uhaul on Saturday, my toilet was sitting in the bathtub.  My land lord was redoing the floors in the bathroom and had rebuilt one wall that he was dissatisfied with.  But he promised to fix it for me before the night was over.  They were at my house until 4 am, but when they left I had a toilet that was fully functional.

I spent most of that evening just trying to find basic things...like my toothbrush.

When I finally got to bed I was OUT.  It was probably 4:30 am when I got in bed, maybe closer to 5.  I woke up at 9 am to let the dogs out.  I scrounged around in some boxes, thinking maybe I had the motivation to get back at it.  I found a couple cliff bars that I munched on.  But the facts were that I didn't have my coffee pot and with out coffee or tea, it just wasn't going to happen.  So I just went and got back in bed!

At around noon, my land lord sent me a text to ask if I was awake and then knocked on the door with a wonderful plate of food and a Dr. Pepper.  The small town I live next to had their Turkey Festival this past weekend.  It's a huge event that supports the high school band.  He had brought me a plate with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, a roll, green beans, yams, and a piece of cake.  It was delicious and so awesome because I was getting tired of eating cliff bars.

After that the guys all came over and started working again.  In addition to the work in the bathroom, they were also working on the bedroom.  They had hung new sheet rock last weekend and had started applying mud to the seams.  This weekend they put a few more layers of mud on and then blew on the texture.  So technically it is all done.  I just have to wait for it to all dry and then clean the floor and then I can move my bed and stuff into the bedroom.

I also did a few loads of laundry last night.  Now that might not sound terribly epic, but that is the first time I have done laundry in my own home for over two years now.  I've been going to the laundry mat, which I despise.  I also discovered fabric softener and I have to say I am in LOVE.  I was pulling my jeans out of the dryer and couldn't help but notice how wonderfully soft they were!

This is the highlight of my life at the moment.  Sad??

I did finally find the box where I had packed up all my make up, which was absolutely necessary for me to go to work today.  I guess I hadn't really looked in a mirror all weekend.  I had been showering at various friends houses and of course had no make up on and didn't even really brush my hair.  Just after the shower I ran my fingers through my hair and let it air dry.

I sat down on the floor in front of a mirror today (yes on the floor because the mirror has not been hung yet) and man oh man....there is not enough concealer in the world to hide the circles under my eyes right now.  It's pretty terrible.  I found my dryer and hair brushes.  I managed to make my bangs look somewhat acceptable and threw the rest of my hair into a pony tail.  I applied as much concealer as I could to my eyes as possible and got dressed.

So my accomplishments might not seem like much to some people but I am proud that I have made it even this far.  Here's to unpacking the rest of my stuff this week!!

 - Scarlett 

Moving

Computer is dead and charger is packed....somewhere. I'm writing this on from my phone.

People were at my house at 8am. I've never seen a 10 foot truck so tightly packed. Still more stuff to go, just waiting on a friend to get off work and come with a trailer.

I'm sooooo tired but now that everyone's gone I can't even take a nap because the bed and everything is in the truck.

Maybe I could take one in the car...oh the possibilities.

Still have a few more small things to pack up. I really don't want to though. Considering just leaving it lol


- Scarlett

What Would Life Be Like...?

What would my life be like if I didn't procrastinate?

My daily blogging challenge asks if I could change one thing about myself instantly, what would it be?

Hands down, didn't even have to think about it, I would change the fact that I am a procrastinator.  It's not always in an extreme way, but I do procrastinate in varying degrees in most areas of my life.

I procrastinate on laundry.  I procrastinate on studying.  I procrastinate on cooking ( a little less on this one because I can't function if I have not eaten).  I procrastinate on writing my blog if it's something I don't want to write about.  I procrastinate on all kinds of stuff.  Pretty much the only thing I don't procrastinate on is my car maintenance and that's because I need that ole' bird in tip top shape for my job.

Current example.  I have procrastinated on packing.  I've been getting a little done here and there but now we are in the final crunch time.  I am moving tomorrow.  People are showing up at my house at 8 am.  I'd say a good 50% of my stuff isn't pack.  I'm not 100% sure on that number though, I'll have to count boxes tomorrow and let you know.

So now, instead of getting any sleep at all tonight like I want, I'll probably be pulling an all nighter just so I can have everything ready to rock and roll in the AM.

If I had been more diligent about packing all week instead of procrastinating, This would not be a problem.   All I'd have to pack up tonight would be animal stuff and the few toiletries that I needed to use today and that would be it.

But Noooooooo, why on earth would I want to make my own life that easy.... :-(

So here's to happy packing and a purging spirit, that I may throw away more things than I will pack.

 - Scarlett

Tired of Time

I'm kind of tired writing about time.  The prompt yesterday was about time and the prompt today asks if I'm a morning person or a night owl.

I am both. I hit the ground running almost every morning and I'm super productive in the late night hours.  I am just a really sucky middle of the day person.

But I talked about that yesterday so feel free to go back and read that post.

I'm kind of in my own mental vortex right now.  As you might know if you've been following along, I love my mom.  She is awesome, she is strong and I've said on more than one occasion that I want to be just like her.  To do all the cool things she does.  And she also terrifies me.  Not in, I guess, a truly fearful sort of way.  It's sort of hard to explain.  You know how no one can get to you like your mom can?  It's not even like my mom says anything mean or harsh.  I guess I'm just sort of high strung maybe?

All I know is that I can face the whole world and while they challenge me I can hit back with full force and they will never see me cry.  But I can talk to my mom for less than 5 minutes and start crying.

Anyone else know what I'm talking about here?

ITS SUPER FRUSTRATING!!!  Because I hate crying.  I don't know if I just save it all up for her or what but that's just how it goes.  I call my mom, we talk, I cry, life goes on.

Anyways I had a big conversation with her today that ultimately turned out to be about my long term planning skills (or lack thereof).  I'd really like to tell you more, but I'm still wrestling with this and my brain is all muddled and I hesitate to write until I've had more time to get a grip on my thoughts.

The point is that I talked to my mom, I cried, she had lots of solid things to say and now I have to move forward from here.  Part of why I started writing this blog was so you could come on this adventure with me.  So as I am ready to write about these things, you'll be the first to know.

For now I leave you with this thought:

If you have a mom to talk to, you should talk to her.  If you have someone that fills that spot, talk to them.  I make up all these reasons in my head all the time about why I should or shouldn't talk to my mom.  Usually if I choose to not talk to her it's because I don't want to disappoint her.  But after today's conversation, I'm finally starting to believe her when she says she just wants me to be open with her.  And I'm trying.  

It's Nap-O'clock!!

So this challenge thingy asks what is my favorite hour of the day?

What kind of question is that?

Since I am, who I am, there is no simple answer to this question.

The first thing that come to mind is the twilight hour and the answer because it is simply beautiful where I live.  (Cheating I know because that is actually two hours out of the day.)  Sunset and sun rise are beautiful here, especially around harvest season when all the dust in the hair reflects the sunlight.

No matter what I'm doing at sunset and, if I'm awake, at sunrise I usually take a moment to stop and appreciate it.  So to answer the question in terms of my favorite hour of the day that actually happens every day, the twilight hour is my favorite.

But let's talk about the hours of the day I don't like.

I'm a GREAT morning person.  Ask my mom.  I spent over 18 years being the first and probably the most annoying thing she heard every morning, first thing.  I lived at home for most of my undergraduate career and I was often up way before the rest of the family on the weekends.  I used that time to do my reading for my classes for the next week.  Well this gave me a couple hours to think about all of these wonderful things that I couldn't wait to talk to my mom about.  The only problem is that she wasn't ready to talk about them until she'd had some coffee.

What we really should have done is put the coffee pot in her bedroom so that way she could wake up and make her coffee with out me intercepting her while she was en route.

I'm also a GREAT night owl.  Most of my domestic duties happen late at night.  Only in the late night hours do I actually get the Urge to clean and do laundry and cook and be SUPER productive.  I can be a complete bum until 9 or 10 at night and then all of a sudden I'm up and working and getting stuff done.  It's really weird.

But I am a TERRIBLE middle-of-the-day person.  I mean I am absolutely worthless from like 2:30-4pm.  It's all I can do to keep my eyes open and with out exercising some extreme self discipline I won't get a single thing done.  So obviously it takes a lot of self discipline to get things done at work, which requires that I work during that terrible time of the day.  But it is not fun.  I firmly believe that those hours of the day should be set aside, publicly, for nap time.  Like everything should close.  The courthouses should close during those hours and then stay open till say 7.  I could make that work for sure.  That's actually my dream, to be able to schedule my work around a nap every day.

So my real favorite hour of the day is the one in which I'm napping, that just doesn't happen every day.  Actually it rarely happens at all.  It's kind of depressing because every Friday I get very very excited.  I think to myself "Yes!! Tomorrow morning I'm going to get up early and get a bunch of stuff done in the morning and then I'm going to take a nap!!"  Yeah, that NEVER happens.  I get up early, get really productive and then I just can't stop!! Next thing I know it's dinner time and I'm feeling productive to do house work.

Woe is me that I can't even fit in a nap on the weekends. :-(

Hope your attempts at napping are better than mine!

 - Scarlett

So About The Fridge...

Now that I'm all caught up, my challenge for today asks me to name 5 things in my fridge and how I feel about them.

This is not fun.

Item Number 1: Bottled Water and Propel.

I feel pretty good about these, I actually drink them with some regularity and they take up quite a bit of space in my fridge, which leaves me less room to cram other stuff in there that I will then forget about.

Item Number 2:  Mixed Nuts

I feel pretty good about these as well.  Every morning I put yogurt, berries and nuts in a cup and eat it on my way to work.  This is probably the healthiest I've been eating in YEARS.  And I love it.  It's very filling and it makes my body feel really good, which I'm personally a fan of. 

Item Number 3: Yogurt.  

Big surprise after item number 2.  I eat the Fage full fat yogurt.  Thanks mom!!  Stuff is great. Super filling and it "makes my tummy have a happy."  It is awesome.

Item Number 4: Blackberries

I usually use blueberries in my yogurt, but they were out at the store and so I switched to black berries and rasberries.  Thought a little more tart than I'm used to, I'm developing a liking to them!

Item Number 5: Deviled Eggs.

I definitely bought those at the store well over a month ago because I was shopping and hungry at the same time and that never goes well.  I thought I'd eat them with dinner that night, which I did.  I just never finished them and certainly never will now.  They are sitting under something else. Can't quite recall what at the moment, so I'm not sure what they look like but very very soon they will be thrown out and I'm sure I'll gag a little.  Despite my best efforts at trying to be a real grown up, I'm still doing some science projects in my fridge.   

 Sorry you had to read that Mom, but I'm just being honest here. 

 - Scarlett

Catching Up!! If I Could....

My challenge asks me today...well yesterday actually, if I could live in a movie for 5 days, which one would it be?

That is a SUPER tough decision and I feel like it leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

For example, I'd love to live in Snow White for 5 days, as long as it's part of the 5 days she's living happily with the dwarfs and not 5 days that include the hagetha witch killing her.  For one thing, I think I would look cute as a button animated.  And for another, I really want to sing and whistle with animals.

I think I might also like to live 5 days in the movie National Velvet, but it would need to be those 5 days that included the epic and fateful day she actually raced her own horse in the great Steeplechase and won.  I feel like that would be on a whole new level of awesome.

I'd also like to live for 5 days on the ranch in the Horse Whisperer.  I mean seriously, I shouldn't even have to explain why.  But I would not want to be there for the 5 days when the girl and her horse got turned into hamburger meat by a semi.

But if I had to just pick ONE movie above all others, then I have to say I would want to live for 5 days in Marry Poppins!!  I really can't think of a single part of that movie that I wouldn't want to be apart of.  I want to sing and dance on roof tops and I wouldn't mind sliding down a chimney once in my life.  And who wouldn't want to just jump into a sidewalk chalk drawing.  And medicine that always tastes good!!  And considering my upcoming move, how about being able to move all of your perfectly stylish and matching possessions right out of a single carpet bag.

Supacalifradulisticexpialidocious!!!!!

I would happily spend any 5 days in Mary Poppins.  No question about it.

Oh and getting to hang out with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke at the same time....come on.

Where would you spend your 5 days??

 - Scarlett

Ok So I've Been A Little Busy...

Sorry for my absence.  This has been a whirlwind weekend and beginning of the week for me.

First let me catch you up on my weekend.  I sanded and sanded and sanded some more until my hands were vibrating all on their own this weekend.  I got the living room floors of my new house almost completely done.

And then I stepped back for a second and got a reality check on my situation.  I have to be out of my old house by December 1.  Thanksgiving is the weened before that and I'll be out of town.  Bar prep starts pretty much right after that.  So I have to get moved in and settle ASAP.

The current status of the house is, pretty much everything works, but new sheet rock was hung in the bedroom and I have to wait for them to finish mudding that, and then sand it and then put texture on it, and then for all of that to dry before I can even THINK about staining and sealing the floors.  And I just don't have time for that.

So we are altering the game plan just a bit here.

I am moving in this weekend.  My bedroom won't be done quite that fast, but I can put my bed in a back room for now until that is ready.  I went to big lots and got a couple big carpet rugs.  I threw those down on the living room floors after I cleaned them last night to protect them until I can get around to staining them.  Got the couch moved back in the living room where it belongs as well.  The dresser and book shelf that I was going to put in the bedroom can just hang out in the living room until I can move it into the bedroom.  It's not like I have living room furniture anyways.  I don't even own a TV.

So now I am packing like a mad person.  I am picking up a Uhaul truck on Friday night.  Just have to get the few heavy things I own loaded up in it and then boxes and I'm off!!  This is going to be a one trip kinda deal.  If it can't make it on the first trip and it's too big for me to move by myself, then I guess it's just not going!

At any rate.  Sorry for just disappearing on you.  But I have calves like a catcher now from all the floor work.  And I am very very very sore....

 - Scarlett.  

Learning Curve

What a week!!! I couldn't be happier that it is FRIDAY!!!

Anyways, this has been a really long week if for no other reason than I am just simply an idiot.  

BUT I have accomplished quite a bit.  As you might know, I did not pass my SUPER DUPER Exam.  Sucks but moving on.  Called the test prep people, got everything squared away so that I can retake the test prep course.  (If you don't pass, they let you take it again if you do all the required assignments.)  I did not do all of the required assignments, BUT I was in a major car wreck.  They asked for proof, so I sent the a copy of the police report as well as a few of the pictures of my car after the accident.  

That was a SUPER fun experience.  I actually walked away from it with nothing more than some wicked bruises and a bloody nose.  Please don't freak out, this was back in June.  But I guess the pictures were good enough to convince them to let me take the course again for free. 

So I got that figured out.  I also figured out how I can get sufficient internet out to my new house, which is out in the middle of NO where :-).  Very productive.  Oh and I also did a whole bunch of real work.  

So it's been a good ending to a long long long week.  

My challenge asks me what I have learned from daily blogging.  Well, it has taught me to just sit my ass down and focus on one thing at a time every day, no matter how scatter brained I am.  It has been an exercise in discipline.  It has taught me a lot about the blogging world, of which I was ignorant.  It has also taught me a lot about my mom who also blogs (crossroadfarm.blogspot.com).  Or maybe it has given me a better way to communicate with her. 

If you know my mom, you know that she can be really intimidating.  And that's saying a lot coming from me because there are really only two people that I am afraid of on this planet, and that's my mom and my dad.  And not so much that I'm afraid of them like they are going to beat me or anything, but afraid of completely and utterly disappointing them.  Which is difficult in my mind because I am kind of the smartest idiot I know.  So that makes it hard to talk to them in person or over the phone sometimes because I don't want to see the big FAIL that I fear will be present on their faces.  Because of this "feeling" I have, justified or not, I often filter what I say to them.  I try to filter out stuff I think they won't want to hear or stuff that I think might disappoint them, or things they might think are stupid about my day to day idiocy because I don't want them to be upset or worry or be frustrated with me, etc.  I just want them to know that regardless of how I'm doing it, which isn't always the most efficient way, I am actually making it in life and I'm not doing a horrible job.  That I am applying a lot of the lessons they have taught me (again not always efficiently) but applying them nonetheless.

As my mom and I discussed yesterday, I pretty much just have to learn things the hard way because I'm just like her.  I am a true Leo, a late bloomer and boy oh boy is there a learning curve here.  Some days I feel like wow, it's clicking...and then other days I'm just like...um where did those adult tendencies I was forming go?  How did I digress?  

Now to their credit, they are rarely as harsh on me as I fear they will be.  Sometimes when I feel like I've disappointed them the most, they laugh at me and tell me "shit happens."  This car wreck for example.  I was so depressed over this and exhausted and freaked out that after I got off the phone with the insurance company, I didn't have the heart to immediately call my folks.  I just took a hot shower, got some food and went to sleep.  And when I called them the next day they were pissed I hadn't called sooner.  But after it was established that I was ok, I actually spent more time than I ever had before talking to my mom and and my dad and they were both completely supportive and full of kindly worded wisdom.  

So if anything I like this whole blogging thing because it is teaching me, slowly but surely, because there is a learning curve here, that I can talk to my parents.  It's teaching me to have a more open dialogue with them because if I can get past that fear of being a disappointment, regardless if I am disappointing them or not, the discourse that arises from those situations really is bringing us closer.  And that is what I want. 

 - Scarlett

What's In A Name??

My little blogger challenge thingy today asks if I could change my first name, what would I change it to?

This got me thinking about my own name and frankly I have no complaints.  The only thing I've ever hated about my name is the way my mom said it when I was in trouble, which has happened a LOT.

I was pretty severely made fun of in elementary and junior high, but I'm pretty sure that was unavoidable.  I have a pretty normal name.  FYI my first name is not Scarlett.  My name isn't Jessica or Allison either, but it's still pretty common.  There is nothing remarkable about it.  I wan't made fun of because of my name, I was made fun of because I wore glasses.  I was made fun of because my teeth were jacked up.  I was made fun of because I loved horses with a passion that burned hotter than the sun haha.

But my name has not really had any impact on my life, not that I know of anyways.

I guess if I had to change it to something, I'd like to change it to something foreign and exotic.  Something fun and memorable.  My name is so generic that people often forget it and think it's some other generic name.  I get Ashley a lot.

I think it would be cool if my name were something like Francesca or Lilliana!  Something exciting and feminine.

Oh and my real name is also a unisex name.  I know more guys with my name than I know girls.  Maybe if I had a more feminine name I would be more graceful or soft.  Not quite so....aggressive.  To some of you readers that might not make sense.  If you don't know me, here's a snap shot.

I am very strong willed, very aggressive in achieving whatever it is that I decide I want, very NOT afraid or bothered by confrontation, very Type A personality.  I am very opinionated, though I have gotten better about keeping at least some of those to myself sometimes.  And I've always been more interested in what society would deem are more masculine sports.

For example, all through out my childhood I was always WAY more interested in playing tackle football with other kids in the apartment complex than I was playing dolls with my sister.  When I lived in the country I was always climbing trees and digging in the dirt.  Even to this day my extra circulars are not what society would label "feminine" activities.  I was, am, and will always be a GRADE A TOMBOY.

My sister has a very feminine name.  She played tennis.  She has long pretty blonde hair and big bright blue eyes.  She is quiet-er.  Softer spoken.  Generally considered very sweet unless you've pissed her off.

So I don't know what I would change it to if I had the choice, but perhaps something softer and sweeter.  Maybe it would help, maybe it wouldn't.

While I have lots of edges I'd like to sand down, I'm generally pretty pleased with how I turned out so I'm just fine with the name I have.

 - Scarlett

Darwin Award

Sometimes I wonder how I am still alive.  I mean seriously, it's a wonder I have made it this far.

If you've been following along, you might have read my post "Have You Ever Been Glad The Weekend Was Over?"  Now that was an utterly ridiculous series of events.  We all have those days, but I feel like maybe I have more of those days than most.

Really, I have a LOT of those days.

For example, this morning I actually get out of the house early.  I'm thinking Wow, I'm going to get to work early, which means I can leave early.  Which is always a bonus.

Nope.

Following my routine, I go fill up on gas and as I remove the pump from my tank and try to get back in my car, I realize that my car door is indeed locked and guess where the keys are.

Yes, in the cup holder.

This moment is made all the more special by the fact that when you click the lock button on my car, it will go ding ding twice and you have to press the button again to make it lock.  It's my car's very nice way of saying hey, don't forget your keys.

But I am an airhead so I have somehow managed to lock my keys in my car twice now.

Luckily for me my phone was in my back pocket and not also in the car.  Here comes the IPhone to the rescue.  I pulled up a $20 auto-unlock service, called them and they come within 15 minutes to unlock my car.

So ultimately I was on the road headed to work at about the normal time as usual but still out $19 and more than a little irritated with myself.  So I was quite delighted when I saw the prompt for my blogging challenge today, which was if I could change one thing about myself what would it be?  I would change the fact that I am a complete and total airhead in the hopes that ridiculousness like this would no longer be a part of my personal story.

TA-DA, The end, now I'm going to work where I hopefully will be able to pull my head out of my rear end.

 - Scarlett

DBC 3: Writing Space? What's That?

My daily blogging challenge today asks me what my writing space is like and where do I write my blog posts.

The answer is that my life is not nearly organized or neat enough to have a designated writing space.

I write all over the place.  Sometimes I write when I'm at home before I go to sleep and in that instance, I'm laying in bed with my laptop on my legs.

Sometimes I write while I'm sitting outside in my yard watching my dogs run around.  The wi-fi reaches that far so I enjoy the fresh air.

As of late, I've been writing my posts in the Library at work.  (I know that makes no sense, explanation to follow.)

I like to think that I'm a relatively structured individual but at the same time, I kinda fly through life by the seat of my pants.  I tell myself that it's just a balancing act that is healthy.  Sometimes I'm really good at it and sometimes, not so much.  I feel like if you're life is too structured then maybe you miss out on some really good stuff.  But if you're life isn't structured enough, well then it's just chaos and I can't handle that.

Example: My laundry situation is often kind of a fly by the seat of my pants type deal, at least for now while I still have to go to the laundry mat....which I despise.

However, the part of my morning routine that involves feeding animals and myself - Very Structured.

Balance.

So now why am I writing at work and do I work in a Library.

No, I'm what you call a land man.  I work in the oil and gas industry and I look up records in small courthouses in "oil country" to figure out exactly who owns what under certain pieces of land.  And I really enjoy it.  I get to read some very funny wills and family history documents.  I read lots of stuff but then I have to put it all together so every so often, I walk over to the local library where I look at all my notes and start to put the puzzle pieces together.  I follow the land from the moment the State gave it to someone in the beginning to present.  As a result I am often following very lengthy family histories and multiple sales of the land.  I like to think I am very good at what I do and I work very quickly but after several hours of reading these very "legalese" type documents, you just have to take a break.  So usually on my break I write my blog post, sitting on a couch in the Library.  Sometimes I write it while I'm at lunch.  I'm usually all on my own, so I go to really small restraints in really small towns and I sit and type while I wait for my food.  It provides a very welcome mental break and then I'm right back at it.

Maybe one day when I'm a real grown up I'll have a designated place for my computer and I'll have the proper discipline to sit down and write in a certain place or at a certain time...but that is just not my life right now!  For now, I fully embrace the concept of the "lap top."  As far as I'm concerned, it goes where I want to be, not me being restricted to its location.

 - Scarlett

DBC 2: Favorite? I Don't Understand the Question

So if you've been reading my blog since last Friday you know I'm doing a daily blogging challenge.

Today's challenge asks me to identify my favorite character of all time, which is ridiculously difficult to do.

I'm traditionally a Disney girl and though I love all the Disney ladies, I have to say (even as a 26 year old "adult") my go-to-girl is Mulan.  I love Belle, but I just can't always identify with her.  Cinderella and Snow White, yeah forget it.  I'm not naturally graceful or poised and I was a total ugly duckling until about the age of 21.  I am also a true Leo in that I am the latest bloomer ever!!  Mulan was such a misfit but she found her place in the world and she rocked it.  She was challenged and she rose up and overcame.  Instead of waiting for someone to find her and just passively hoping something would change she made a decision and went with it.  Now we could argue the various ins and outs of that decision, but regardless, she was one of the few Disney women of Action!!  And I can appreciate that!

But she is still my second choice.  Not quite my favorite, but so so so close.

By the way I do have HUGE Disney posters hanging in my house to this day.  They don't really go with my decor but I couldn't care less. 

You know those days when you just feel like you suck at life and everything is going wrong and literally the best thing you can do is go home, put on sweat pants and then just start fresh tomorrow??  Well when I have a day like that, I do go home and put on sweatpants.  Then I pour myself a glass of chocolate wine, not in a wine glass, but a cup that looks like it should belong to a 5 year old (it's pink with bumps all over it), stick a straw in it and pop in Mulan.  On VHS. :-)

Yes, I do still own and operate my VHS player!

There were several others, for example the Queen in 300.  But I'm not married, much less to a warrior king and she did make a more than questionable decision that I would have made differently.

I thought about Jo, the bold and outspoken sister in Little Women.  The rebel/writer of the bunch.  But still that wasn't quite it.

I ultimately settled on the character Elizabeth Bennet, from Pride and Prejudice (the book people, not the movie).  I do love Elizabeth.  An odd duck herself.  A young woman portrayed to have an independent way of thinking and to be a touch more bold than women of that era should have been.  I can't remember exactly how old I was when I read Pride and Prejudice, but I remember I loved her.  She was smart and she was a woman of action, at least as much as she could be in that time period.  But she was also a perfect balance of graceful and spunky.  She was ruthlessly protective of her sister (which I can completely relate to) and she didn't take crap off of anyone, regardless of how high and mighty they thought they were.

My favorite part of the book is when she tells off Mr. Darcy's awful, rude and haughty Aunt.  One of my favorite "TAKE THAT" moments in a book, ever. 

And she ended up with a Mr. Darcy.  And I mean seriously, who doesn't want a Mr. Darcy!!!!!!

So that's my favorite character of all time :-)

 - Scarlett

Have You Ever Been Glad The Weekend Was Over??

Man Oh Man, do I have a story for you.  I couldn't make this up if I wanted to.

So I left you with my excitement to rip up carpet yes?  Let me tell you what the past 24 hours of my life have been like.

I was sitting on my bed, about to start packing up some boxes of stuff when my phone rang.  It was a girlfriend of mine who had moved away about a year ago. We'll just call her Sue.  From the moment she started speaking, I could tell Sue was on the verge of tears.  She began to ramble, telling me all about the awful day she'd had.  Sue was in town to help her uncle, who had just had hip surgery.  Her troubles started when Sue went to help a friend look for her lost college class ring.  Her friend was in such hysterics she was unable to function or drive.  So Sue drove her friend home, hoping she had left the ring there. With no success, they were going to return to campus when Sue backed her friend's car into a pole attached to the carport.  Sue's hysterical friend just burst into tears.  Ultimately, Sue found her friend's wring in a huge trashcan full of pumpkin guts.

Feeling sad and depressed at having damaged her friend's car, Sue took herself to a local eatery.  She was driving her uncle's truck.  Having zero desire to be around other people she chose to eat in the truck alone.  After she finished her meal, she turned the key in the ignition and it wouldn't start.  She did everything she could think of as she became more and more panicked.  Her uncle was at home in bed unable to help and her friend was already unavailable.  So Sue called me to come give her a jump.

I had been on my way to run an errand but immediately changed my course to go help her out.  I may my way through the parking lot to her.   Her frustrations had intensified because she could not get the key out of the ignition and she was officially freaking out.  I tried to turn the key.  Nothing happened and the key was indeed stuck.  So we get out the jumper cables and get everything hooked up.  We wait a bit and let it run.  When she tries to start the truck...no luck.  She was about to cry. To her credit though, she chose to laugh.

I told her "Look, this is a well lit parking lot, your uncle has a spare set of keys.  Just lock the truck and come run my errand with me.  I'll take you home and we will deal with all of this in the morning when you're not stressed and have a clear head."

So she got the garage door opener to her uncles house (her only way in) and her purse, locked the door and off we went.  We ran my quick errand and before I took her home I asked if there was anything else I could do for her.  Did she want to get some hot chocolate, or maybe a beverage?

She immediately said, "I want a beverage!"

Hey I can't blame the girl.  After a day like that, I'd want a beer as well.

There is a little low key bar not far from either of our houses.   We decided to go there, have a beer and then start the day fresh in the morning.  When we showed up, the place wasn't crowded.  We parked, went inside and we both nursed a beer each over the next hour and a half.  For the most part we people watched and laughed while my friend got hit on by a very intoxicated young man.  Oh and we had some of the best cheese and bacon potato skins ever.  At a little after midnight we close our tabs and head outside.

Only one problem.

MY CAR WAS GONE!!

That's right.  My car was no longer in the parking lot. At all anywhere, much less where I left it parked.  There was a small moment of complete confusion in my brain.

How could my car just disappear? 
Did someone steal my car?
Why would someone steal my car, it's an old and unremarkable car?
Where would they go with it?
Should I call the cops?

Then I heard some guy loudly cursing someone on the phone about how the parking lot was not sufficiently marked and who the hell did they think they were?

Then it hit me.  My car had been towed....

As it turns out, the business owner next door has a HUGE beef with the owner of the bar we went to and had set up a 24 hour tow service to monitor his half of the parking lot, which was, in my opinion not very well marked.

So this officially sucks and now Sue was down even more than when we showed up because she felt responsible.  So I called the number on the sign at the other corner of the parking lot and sure enough they had my car.  I asked what did I need to do to get it back and the woman very rudely said I would just have to call back at 8 am because they didn't release cars after midnight.  It was 12:10.  Ugh.  So now we are stuck at a bar with no ride.  I only lived a mile away and we thought about just running home.  But it was wicked cold and it was Saturday night of Halloween weekend.  We decided to just stay put and call for help.  A friend of mine graciously came to our rescue and picked us up.  Only problem, everything Sue needed to get back into her uncle's house was in my car.  FAIL

So Sue spent the night at my house.  Sue was again laughing because it was the only alternative to crying for her.  Lucky for her I have critters and they are great therapy.  She started loving on critters while I got her some shorts and a tshirt.  It occurred to me that I should get the address for the towing company so I could be there first thing in the morning.  I called them back and the woman responded, again in a very rude tone, "Oh we do NOT give out that information.  You have to call back at 8 am. This is only an answering service."   Geez these people must hate their lives.  I was nothing but nice to this heifer.

Sue and I passed out and woke up bright and early this morning ready to tackle this issue.  We called a cab and had it scheduled to come get us at 8:10am.  At 8 I call the towing service again.  A different, but equally rude sow answered the phone.  She informed me that the towing fee is $293.30.  Oh and I had better bring exact change because she does NOT make change oh and all the credit card machines are down so they only take cash.  She was not willing to work with me, no checks. No nothing, oh and she wasn't going to be there for another 30 minutes anyways.

So now we had a bigger problem.  Typically when I go to a bar, I don't take all of my stuff with me.  That night I hadn't taken cash, I had just taken a debit card in that I new only had like $120 in the account and wouldn't allow for overdrafts.  The theory being if it gets lost or stolen, someone's not going to wrack up a bunch of crap on my card and there's not much to be lost.  Everything else was in my car.  I keep a credit card at home just for emergencies.  Either way I was screwed because "they don't take cards" and I only had access to $120 via atm.  Sue came to my rescue and offers to help me bail my car out of car prison.  The cab driver picked us up, took us to a gas station with an ATM and Sue and I pulled out the necessary cash.  We also bought a couple drinks so we could make "perfect change" for this hagetha at the impound lot.  (Whatever, maybe that's company policy but I was nothing but nice and upbeat and polite and she was rude as hell.)

Paperwork filled out, we got the car back and everything situated.  Everyone regained access to money and keys and such.  I  took Sue home and met her grandma and uncle.  After telling them of our epic saga, we return to the truck left in the parking lot with the dead battery.  Sue got in the truck and realized the truck was still in drive.  Not park.  She pretty much slammed her head against the steering wheel and started laughing, again to avoid tears.  The key instantly slid nicely out of the steering column.  We attached the jumper cables again, this time with success.  We drove around a bit to give the battery time to get some juice back in it and then we went to IHOP.

We decided that everything before IHOP was still apart of yesterday and IHOP forward is actually where today started.

After we ran a couple errands for her family we loaded up and headed out to rip up carpet.  The original goal for the day.

Here is what the carpet looked like to begin with.

This is the bedroom, but the carpet looks the same in the living room.

This is a picture of it as we were ripping it up and getting hit in the face by 40 year old dirt....

It was nasty.....SOOOOOO Nasty

And I only sustained one injury!!!  ( I am my mother's daughter)

When it was all said and done the wood floors in the living room looked like this: 

Still dirty and need some cleaning but actually quite nice!

Then I let my undiagnosed ADD get the better of me and my landlords and I went down a rabbit trail!

Look at the first picture above, with the green paneling.  Want to know what's under it??

For the most part it's sheet rock that's already been painted.  My landlord is going to get the rest of it prepped and ready and then retexture it.  Next project is to get the carpet up in the bedroom.  It has two layers of old linoleum under it.  It's going to be a little tougher than the living room but I'm excited.  

At the end of the day Sue and I were exhausted.  We had worked out all of our frustration for the past 24 hours and we were ready to start the new week on a clean slate.

Hope your weekend was more relaxing than mine!!

Happy Monday tomorrow.

 - Scarlett

The Value of Change

Ok, so I'm in my mid-twenties.  Graduated (a few times) and I have a good job.

Once upon a time, everyone would think that now I should be settled and married, right?  Well not this girl, not today.

I say that laughingly because I know I have a few family members that would really like to see me settled and married but let's face it.  I'm just not ready for that to happen yet and anyone who knows me knows that if I pretty much do my life on my terms.  So if I'm not ready, it's not happening. In the meantime I am embracing the change.  Sometimes that means embracing the suck, but hey what's life without a little balance.

My newest adventure.  I am getting ready to move WAY out to the country and I am super excited.  I've never felt comfortable living in town.  It just freaks me out being around that many people.  I don't know them and they could be and likely are TOTAL weirdos.  Now if you just want to be a weirdo, then go for it.  I could care less about your weirdness so long as it does not affect MY weirdness.  And when you've got a bunch of people living close together, well....I find that their weirdness has significantly affected mine.  I've had windows bashed in, my car broken into and stuff stolen.  And I'm just not really interested in playing anymore.  You're not really safe anywhere.  If you live in the ghetto nothing's safe because people will break into your stuff just for fun.  If you live in a nice neighborhood you're just as likely to have your house broken into because you probably have really nice stuff.

You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.....and frankly I'd just rather not be damned.  So I'm moving to the country.  And I am even MORE pumped because I discovered the original hardwood floors under this ugly gold shag carpet today and I'm going back out there tomorrow to rip it all up!!

I'm also at a very crucial turning point in my little life.  I can feel it.  I just found out that I failed the most important academic test of my life to this point.  My degree, that I invested over $120,000.00 in, is pretty much worthless until I pass it.  My personal relationships have been sort of a roller coaster in so many ways.  My job security has until recently been well, less than secure.  I spent so much time throwing my energy in every direction and not focusing it anywhere in particular.

AND I AM TIRED!!

So I've started cleaning house.  Figuratively and literally.  First, I finally got a good job.  With really good people who I actually enjoy working for.  People I respect and who have been willing to teach me a lot to make sure that I could be successful.  Then I started purging some things out of my life.  I quit hanging out with some people.  Quit texting some people. I was only halfway dedicated to it.

Then suddenly some people I knew said some of the most outrageous things to me.  I'm not going to go into what they said to me, but I'll just say that it was extremely inappropriate and disrespectful and if anyone ever talks to my future daughter like that, I might shoot them.  These people didn't say these things to my face....because there is no way they are that ballsy.  But they said them from behind the safety of a keyboard.  So I got on Facebook and I went through my phone and I just started deleting everything and everyone that did not add something useful or meaningful to my life.  The only exceptions to this were people that I maybe hadn't talked to in a while, but who I had always admired and respected.  Other than that, pretty much everyone got the boot.

THE ONLY REASON SOME PEOPLE DON'T TREAT ME LIKE A LADY IS BECAUSE I ALLOWED IT. 

WELL NOT ANYMORE!!

I decided there is a certain way I deserve to be treated because that's how I treat people and I will no longer allow people to participate in my life unless they can give friendship like I can.

I started writing this post because I'm excited about ripping up carpet but kinda got sidetracked.  Sorry.  BACK TO CARPET!!

I have an aunt who is kind of like a remodeling ninja when it comes to old houses.  So she and my mom are my number one go to sources when it comes to making your home better.  I called my aunt and told her of my discovery of the hardwood floors and she was thrilled for me.  She asked me a few questions and with my responses came to the conclusion that it would be quite easy to take the carpet up.  I asked her if she thought I could get it done in one day and she said she was sure I could.  She pulled all her carpet up one day while her husband was out playing golf (you know because she wasn't supposed to be pulling up carpet haha).  I love the women in my family.  My mom did something like that only on a WAY more epic scale. She ripped up a whole house full of linoleum and decided to try to paint and seal the concrete in less than a week while my dad was out of the country for business.  I'm not married so I have the luxury of doing whatever the hell I want whenever I want.  That might end one day, so I'm going to live it up while I can.

The ultimate point of this post was the point out that sometimes, extreme change needs to happen if you want to see extreme results in your life.  If you wake up and realize that your life sucks, or that you are unhappy with it, then you need to get to work!!  It won't fix itself! I want some pretty extreme results and I could not be more excited about the changes that are moving and grooving in my life.  This is going to be a brand new chapter and here I am, pen in hand, ready to write it out.

I'll take pictures of the carpet project as I go through it tomorrow and will post on my progress :-)

 - Scarlett 

DBC 1 - The Million Dollar Question

So I'm participating in this blogging challenge and today is day 1.

(FYI All of my posts that start with DBC are for the Daily Blogging Challenge.  Everything else is just random stuff happening in my life that I wanted to share.)

So today's prompt asks if I found one million dollars in the morning and had to spend it by nightfall, what would I do with the money?

In this order:
                                               $1,000,000.00
1. Pay off student loans           - $120,000.00
                                                  $880,000.00
2. Contract for homeless          -$500,000.00
    Shelter to be built                  $380,000.00
    in Lubbock, TX
   (maybe a couple)
3. Buy my sister a car                -$30,000.00
                                                 $350,000.00
4. Buy my best friend a              $30,000.00
    car                                        $320,000.00
5. Give it away                        $320,000.00
                                                           $0.00

And here's why.
1. I will never be free to really live my life how I want or do what I want until I am debt free.

2.  Even at my lowest points in life I have always had a roof over my head.  Lots of cities have homeless shelter but Lubbock, Texas does not.  We have what we call Tent City.  That's right, our homeless people camp out, live in tents, most of which have been donated.  And they do this through the deepest parts of winter because that's all they have.  If you're not familiar with West Texas winters, here's an overview.  Extreme cold, snow, rain, and strait line winds that never stop blowing.  Now we're not like the northern states with sub-zero temps, but we get pretty damn close. I know the prompt said spend it, so I said I'd contract to have it built and go ahead and hand over the money to the construction company, which is technically spending it.  I have good connections with some construction companies in Lubbock and while I have no idea what it would actually cost, I know the cost of everything is pretty cheap in Lubbock.  And I also know that if word spread on the news that this project had started and more funds were needed, people would donate.  Most of the people in this community live pay check to pay check so there are few that have the funds to jump start a project like this.  But if I could get it rolling the people of this community would give what they could and it would get built.
(Lubbock actually passed a city ordinance that banned the random collections of tents spread across town and it is my understanding that someone donated a private parking lot for the homeless and "vagrants" to use for "Tent City".  While that was extremely generous and helpful, it shouldn't stop there.)

3. My sister sold me her car when I lost mine in a really bad car wreck.  While she needs a car, she still has a way to get around technically, though not conveniently.  I needed it and she did me a solid by selling me hers for less than what it was worth.  Without that I'd be struggling, unable to do my job, which requires a LOT of travel, and possibly stuck under a car note.  If I could, I'd make sure she was properly situated in something that was safe and reliable to give her more independence.

4. One of my best friends is really struggling right now.  It's a long story but I can relate to her struggle and of all the people in the world she does not deserve what she's going through.  There are tons of things I could buy her that might help but she's like me.  I don't believe in just handing people a fish when they need to be taught how to fish instead.  My friend doesn't need to "learn how to fish."  She KNOWS, she just has no pond and her fishing rod is about to break.  I can't make job opportunities pop up for her, but I know that if she had reliable transportation then she would find a way to make life work for her.  Because that's just what we do.  Life may not always go our way, but as long as we have the tools we need, we WILL make it work.  She is my constant inspiration and even though we have lived 300 miles apart for almost 3 years? now, we talk every single day.  So I'd get her a new car and whatever was left over from the $30,000.00 after the purchase would be used to immediately prepay a gas card for her.  I could buy her a house so she could have the independence she desires, but that's no good if she can't work to pay the bills.  I could just give her the money or pay off her debts, but she wouldn't want me to do that.  She wants to stand on her own two feet and know that the debts incurred from previous school/mistakes/life/hard times was completely paid off because she pulled herself up by her bootstraps and took care of business.  Why would I take that away from her?  Instead, I would help by making sure she had the tools she needed.  If she has reliable transportation, she can work, and if she can work, she will find a way to be successful. I keep telling her that the most successful people in life are the ones life tries to drag down the most.  She wouldn't be challenged as much as she has been if she weren't a big enough badass to push back.  Which she is.

5. The remaining $320,000.00 I would need just a little help with.  I'd have the bank put it all in $100.00 bills and then I would literally wander around Lubbock with my friends looking for people who needed the help and I would spend it on whatever they might need.  This is where I'd need help because that's a lot of $100 bills to dish out before sundown, but I think the community would help me out.  A year ago this time I had lost my job and I was sleeping on a $15 air mattress on the floor in an ancient house because I had already sold my bed and most of my furniture to pay my bills.  An old man randomly stopped and walked in my yard (the gate was hanging wide open because people had just come to pick up the bed) and knocked on my door.  I chatted with him for a bit.  He was friends with some of my neighbors.  Nothing creepy about it and I haven't seen that old man since.  He said he was a bathtub refinisher.  I'm not sure how much money a contract labor bathtub refinisher makes, but I can't imagine it's much, especially by looking at the 1993ish Ford Ranger he was driving.  But he asked why my gate was wide open and told him about the people who just bought my bed.  He asked if I was getting a new one and I told him no.  That I sold it to pay bills and save up money because I didn't know how long I was going to be out of a job, but based on the responses I WASN'T getting from my applications, it didn't look good.  Then I jokingly asked him if he was in need of any furniture.  He said no he had everything he needed and we sat there and chatted for a bit longer.  He got up to leave and I walked him to the gate and he said "You know, I've been where you've been before.  And it get's better." I said "I know, and I have faith.  Just kinda sucks not knowing what the future holds."

He smiled and said "Someone did this for me once and I'm happy to do it for you" and he pulled out his wallet and handed me a $100 bill.  I tried to refuse it.  I had some money saved up, I wasn't completely broke and I knew there were people way worse off than me who could use it.  Hell this guy looked like he could use it.  The people in Tent City could use it.  But he said "No, just keep it. Save it for when it get's really tough."  And I did.  I saved it as long as I could and then I used it to pay a bill or two right before I finally found some employment in January.

I have TRIED to find this guy.  I can't remember his name because well I just suck with names and I never knew what company he worked for.  And the neighbors he knew moved earlier this year.  The other day, in a way to try to pay him back, I pulled a panhandler off the corner of a street.  After a few minutes of talking to him, got him to give me a strait story about his situation.  I can't blame the guy for lying.  His sign said need food to feed family.  After talking to him for a bit I found out that he was actually gay and had lost his job and him and his partner were living out of a van, which was the only thing they really had left.  West Texas isn't known for it's tolerance of anything other than white southern baptists.  Not saying everyone out here is a racist homophobic biggot at all.  But if his sign had said I'm gay and homeless not many would have been willing to help.  Regardless of my thoughts on religion, politics, sexual orientation, the facts are that he was hungry.  And in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA that is unacceptable.  I had him tell me where his van was.  It was right around the corner, so I had him and his partner follow me to a grocery store in their van,  Filled it up with gas and then took them inside and together we filled up a cart full with groceries.  Food they could keep in the van with them and that wouldn't spoil, gallons of water and soap so they could stay clean.  After we were done we took everything back out to their van and they piled everything in there and then I remembered, it's starting to get really cold here.  I asked them if they had warm clothes and jackets.  They said they each had a jacket but no blankets, so I gave them two big comforters that I keep in the trunk of my car, just in case I get stuck on the road.

Now before I get chastised and yall start throwing stories out about the danger involved and the people who get killed by hitchhikers and stuff, know this.  1. I had my 80 pound schutzhund trained and VERY protective black german shepherd dog with me.  2. When I first approached the guy, he was standing on the corner of a VERY busy intersection in broad daylight.  And I had my dog at my side.  3. He and his partner rode in their own vehicle to the store and I went and ran tons of errands and hung out with my dog after I parted ways with them at the store so...no one followed me to see where I lived or anything. My big thing is that I will not just hand people cash, I will not buy alcohol, and I will not buy cigarets.  But people should not be cold or hungry. Both of these men had clear eyes, steady hands, big smiles and sad eyes.  They showed no signs of major or frequent drug use.  If I knew of any programs that specifically hire for second chances (ie released felons, homeless etc in an attempt to rehabilitate) I'd have helped these two connect.  But the best I felt like I could do was make sure they had food and blankets.

So in honor of the man who helped me when he had the opportunity, I'd ask my friends to go around Lubbock with me and find people who needed just a little help.  Go to the grocery story and buy some groceries for people, fill up gas tanks, pay utility bills for those who just need a little extra help.  I feel like if we made that public and if I had enough help, I could find a way to spend $320,000 by sundown.

That's what I would do if I had a day to spend $1,000,000.00.  

 - Scarlett

Bad News

Ok I apologize for my absence.   It's been a crazy couple of weeks.

I have a ton of new things to tell you and write about but this little nugget just came to me yesterday.

Yesterday I got some really bad news.  Not life altering.  But bad news.  I found out that I failed a MAJOR exam that I took in July.  This is the exam that I must pass to become licensed in my field of study to practice.  And I did not pass.

It hurts to write it but it is a fact. And it sucks.  But after talking to my mom and my bosses and lots of friends, I've got a grip on it and it's game on.  My life was pretty much in total chaos the first time I took the exam.  A lot of it was of course my fault and a lot of it was work.  Not making excuses, just laying out the facts.

The point is I've spent the past 24 hours going over my life with a microscope and I know exactly what I have to do to make sure this bad news never comes again.  I have already started the process to reapply for the test and I am about to streamline my life like no other.  I have already cut out a lot of people and will spend most of the weekend cutting out a lot of things from my life.  I'm getting ready to move to a new place that is much closer to work and so far out in the country I won't be able to waste time on Netflix or Facebook.  And I really couldn't be more pleased about that. I don't, nor will I, have cable TV.  As a matter of fact it could be some time before I have a TV at all.

When I move all of the clutter in my life will be left behind and all I'll have time for is work and studying. No distractions. No excuses.  I know I should have been more prepared the first time but frankly I deserved to get bit in the ass on this one and that's exactly what I got.  I reaped exactly what I put into it and that's not going to happen again.

I can't wait to start this next chapter of my life and I'm glad that you guys are coming with me.

In other news, I've decided to sign up for a blogging challenge for the month of November...so there will be more posts and I expect to see more people than Crossroad Farm commenting!!

Loves and Hugs and Keep your chin up.  Life sucks sometimes but look at the big picture.  The people I love most are still alive, I'm alive and healthy. And this is a BRAND NEW MONTH.  Let's rock it.

 - Scarlett