Winter Warming

Winter is upon us and the temps are really dropping. It's interesting to me that there is such a similarity some days between Kansas and California. The wardrobe is quite different between the two though. Just about everyone in California wears North Face apparel and one could easily get lost amongst the crowd if they're wearing north face jackets. I had found one that I loved years ago and wasn't able to pick it up at the time, but my monkey-thumb hoodie works just as well. Even DD loves her sweaters and gear!

Aging with Adventure

I have a friend who lives in one of the Carolinas who totally amazes me. He has a form of a degenerative disease that's really been taking a toll on his body but yet he's out doing everything he possibly can. Most recently he flew a plane, skydiving is next on his list. I always had assumed he was on disability knowing what I do about his condition but it turns out he never has been. He's owned a number of small businesses and when that doesn't make ends meet he's gone out for jobs. He's lucky in that he and his wife are able to worry less about the house because they hired a durham maid service and have much more free time on their hands now. How wonderful that must be!

Stages

I'm finding the people I've come to recently know quite interesting. It seems that my personality has changed over the years and I'm no longer meeting people who are "losers". They all have jobs and have been at them for some time (although they may not care for them) and are responsible. I laugh sometimes just at that, but more at the fact that most of the males I know now aren't nearly the types I used to associate with. One of my close friends is sending me a late Christmas gift, a therapeutic hot/cold bag. And not just ANY bag, one he sewed himself! Just the other day I found out that my BF liked to cross stitch when he was younger too. Maybe we're finally at that age where sharing these things isn't as embarrassing as was before, who knows, but all the same, I'm loving every minute with them.

Mainstays

Back home most all of the houses are quite old and you can see the different eras they went though just by looking at the exterior. Many of them have things added on that were related to the sign of the time, the main one being those big funky outdoor tv antennas. Not that they didn't come in handy, I never realized that the reception in that area wasn't all that great and many of us still used them until the digital change over. Even after that, those antennas came into use again. It will be interesting to see where the future takes us.

Ahh! New house!!

Guest written by our friend Mason Abbott

We finally closed on our new house last week! It’s so exciting! The house is so cute and it took us forever to find it (because we are awfully particular). The first thing we did was get an alarm system installed. The neighborhood is actually quite nice; we talked to some of the neighbors before we made an offer to discreetly ask about the crime rate in the area and the general consensus was that it was pretty low but I’m so paranoid, I insisted we get one and said we couldn’t move in until it was installed. In our usual sharing-the-load fashion, I did all the research at homesecurityfamily.com and made my husband do all the communication. We’re a really good team like that. It was installed a few days ago (we used the in-between time to work on painting and some minor repairs) so at last we are ready to start moving in! I usually have a hard time sleeping in new places - weird noises and things like that, you know - but I bet that security system is going to help me sleep like a dream. Thank goodness for technology, because honestly, my dogs are wusses and would probably be hiding under the bed with me instead of scaring off intruders.