I'm NOT Old!

I'm not old. I swear it! I had this wonderful great idea to write about tonight. It was thought provoking. Added value to you. Made everyone think. Then... 

Then I had  dinner out with my amazing husband. Then we went to the grocery store. Then I experimented with making some yogurt pops in my fandangled popsicle maker (that is now on its way to be donated.) And now... I have no idea what my really great idea was. Not at all. So, I'm babbling...

I think the most challenging part of this exercise is going to be coming up with ideas of value Each and Every. Single. Day. over and over again.  Or, I need to learn  new ways to tell you, yet again, about what I'm working on.   (That just sounds boring for both of us.)

And now, I'm out of time... At least I wrote it...  I'll do better tomorrow, I promise. 

A Picture Is Worth a 1000 Words

If a picture is worth 1000 words then what is a picture with words worth?

I collect picture quotes from Facebook and Pinterest. I love them.

One day I want to DIY craft them into something neat for our bathroom. I think it would be uplifting to read and read and read them every time you're at the sink. Till then they are a slide show for my screensaver.

Here's a collection of some of my favorites....

After looking at these, I guess the most important thing to be is to laugh while having and inner strength.

I would love to thank everyone who posted these! I admit, I don't know where a lot of them came from or I would personally acknowledge you. If the picture has a link please check out their site and see what other neato things they have. And with all of them, I hope you would motivated a little bit, or at least cracked a smile.

I Don't Want to Be Here Right Now!

I would totally love a SteamPunk inspired kitchen!

To tell ya the truth, I don't want to be here right now.  It's Sunday. It's late. I'm experiment cooking (I'm making yogurt!) and hanging out in the kitchen. I'm trying to get ready for tomorrow... And... I didn't remember to do this earlier in the day...

I did, however, spend a long morning with my journal thinking about life.  And the mystery I uncovered... That there isn't one thing I want more than something else. There's nothing I can put my finger on and say "Yes!". Instead, what I discovered was I want a new Life Style!!! I want the kit-and-caboodle.

Yes, that life does come with different things. And No, I'm not unhappy with my life currently. (On the contrary, I'm grateful for my life!) I just want more of what I'm working towards.

• Following through when I say I'm going to do something. (Hello - I mean - Good-bye kitchen counter typing to complete the day's blog.)
• Organic, locally grown food to play with and eat naturally.
• A home cleaned, organized, and representing everyone who lives here.
• Being a professional with a creative and honest reputation where people look me up for their Social Media needs.
• Regular time with my husband dating.
• A beer to close the day and lots of smiles.

I'll get there...

And, I promise, next week I'll work out more of a plan (ok a how about just a plan in general?) so I can stop whining about what I want and start giving you something more to look forward to when reading these.

Until then. It is 10 and the new house rule is no electronics after 10. So, I must bid adieu till sweet marrow...

Happy 4th of July

ps. Happy National Country Music Day too.

Time for a Small Reward!

It's 9:00pm and my entire body HURTS!

My amazing husband and I spent the day purging, sorting, organizing and downsizing from 2 storage units to 1 unit. After 7 hours, we did it! A car full of stuff to donate. A trunk full of paper to go to recycling and some goodies brought home to the apartment. And I'm tired!

As we were driving home at the end of the day with the 2nd load of "treasures" to incorporate into the already filled apartment and 2 very stinky dirty bodies TJ told me how proud he was of what we accomplished. Downsizing and getting rid of more things. Saving $300 dollars because we don't have to pay for the 2nd unit. Following through on what we said we were going to do this weekend.

On the flip-side, all I could think about was how much work still needed to be done. Deal with stuff we brought home. Sort through everything already here to make room for the new stuff. Figure out here the artwork is going to be hung. Along with all the other day to day chores. I couldn't wrap any energetic energy around a positive lining in our day.

Then he said he would take me to the bar to celebrate. That... That started to change my thinking! (There's a bar up the street with garage doors they open on nice nights that I really want to check out. I swear that's it... I'm really not a lush *she types between sips of beer*.) With a teeny, tiny bit of  excitement, I started to re-think the money. I don't care so much about the $300 (that amount doesn't go as far as it used to!), but I do care about the financial snowball effect ending the monthly storage fee and applying it to getting out of debt will begin building. Being debt free will help us get to the life we want.

I was nice to start to feel good about what we had done today. They say, one should reward themselves for small accomplishments. Acknowledge the milestones so you stay motivate to complete the journey. I was able to do that. I wasn't able to look at what we finished until I began to look at it from a different angle. Now, I'm really proud of what we did! And I'm so tired that we are just going to go to bed for the night as our celebratory reward and skip the bar. (Proof that I'm old!)

How do you work through big, multiple tasks? Do you celebrate the parts or wait till it's all done? Do you only see the next step or can you appreciate what you have checked off the list? 

Who is Responsible for Your Life?

On the radio this morning the DJ's were talking about a Playboy Bunny who wrote a book about her time in the Mansion. She was 1 of 3 of the bunnies in a reality show about what life was like there. The radio folks implied she didn't paint her experience there very favorably. She wrote about all the things bunnies where "forced" to do: dye their hair blonde, get plastic surgery, date Hugh Hefner, and more things. 

So, as I understand it, this girl who was on skid row with a drug addiction was given an opportunity to clean up her life, became one of the most beautiful women in America, and had exposure to things only the Top 5% have. Now, she is feeling used and mistreated. That it wasn't her fault.

I can totally believe that Mansion life came at a cost. That things happened that you wouldn't want your little girl to know about, or see, let alone doing. I can believe life would have been a rollercoaster of straight up excitement where a person can get swept away without noticing. But... Didn't she still have a choice?

I'm 43. I have no retirement. I don't have any of my own money. It's been years since I worked a typical "Adult" job with vacation, 401k, and benefits. I'm not at all proud of these statements. Not. At. All.  But, it is where I am in life.  

I would completely love to blame someone else. Escape taking responsibility for the finical toilet bowl my life is in.  I would love to say I wasn't given the Right tools growing up. That my ex-boyfriend didn't support me and my company. That my teachers didn't help me in college. But... That's not true.

Everything in my life was a CHOICE I made. I quit my "good" job without having a backup. I stayed in an unhealthy relationship too long. I didn't work on my self-esteem until later in life.  My life today is solely an outcome of the choices I made in the past.

Don't get me wrong... I did the BEST I could with what I had. Being in an unhealthy relationship is not an easy thing to leave for anyone.  It takes a lot of determination and consistent actions to build one's esteem. And, people can't do life very easily without the support or generosity of others. But, ultimately, it is MY amazing life. And MY responsibility to manage it, ask for help, or hide.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I wish people would limit blaming others so much for their lives, realize we all have many possibilities, and to know we are responsible for where we are in life.  (and YES! I do know that this is so totally completely easier to say than live!) I'm not saying we are alone, or that we shouldn't ask for help, that we shouldn't offer help not that we shouldn't try to understand another person's life. Just that we take responsibility for our own life.  

So, how is your life? Is it where you want it? What are you doing to get it there?

I Made It!

Oh. My. Gosh. Call me Brittany... I did it again. Well, almost. Here it is after 10 pm and I'm writing my post for the day. Good thing I remembered, this time.

This is going to take some getting used to. I'm working on a daily "Chore" list so I know what things need to be done every day. I opt to forget some things because they aren't a habit (yet). And then there are the things I just don't like doing that I need a larger reward for accomplishing them (laundry, dishes, making the bed, you get the picture).

I guess this one is going to be short and sweet... I will, however, leave you with one of some motivational pictures from the vacation we just had in Nantucket. (Motivational for me, hopefully pretty for you.) Nantucket has become one powerful reason for going all this and making these changes... I crave to have a life where of living in a small town on the ocean and visiting this the beautiful island regularly.  

Hope you have a wonderful night.