May Thoughts

It seems impossible that tomorrow will be May. As I get older the days seem to race past me...well, not exactly race...it's more of a relay race with the hours between 7am and 3pm doing the turtle strut. But the rest of the time flies by as if on the wings of eagles. May is the last ditch effort at wonderful weather before summer takes it's toll. I despise the heat so I am hanging on to May for dear life.

May also brings Mother's Day, a day I have loved for 22 years. My son is a very thoughtful young man. He is always very good to me, but on Mother's Day he makes an extra effort to make me feel special. I'm sure he is aware that the best mother's day present I ever got was on July 2, 1985 at 1:50am, the day he was born. It was a record breaking hot and miserable July that year, but who noticed? Not me! I was in the air conditioned hospital saying hello to the love of my life. 22 years later he is happily married (I must have done something right) and still the most important person in my life. I am blessed to have a great daughter-in-law who is also very good to me. She puts up with all my inhibitions and idiosyncrasies with great aplomb. Bless her!

May brings those beautiful flowers that the April showers are supposed to bring and along with it allergy season...oh well...you can't have everything. Welcome May! Put on your finest array and let us enjoy!

OMG!

So, I stopped at the gas station yesterday because I was very low on gas and about fainted. $63 to fill up my 17 gallon tank!!!!! I'm thinking it's time to get on the band wagon with my niece, Shegazelle, and figure out ways to conserve my fuel. I already drive like a turtle so I think I have to give up those short hops on and off the freeway in the afternoon. I think speeding up to get on the freeway must use a lot of gas and if I just stick to the side streets I'll be better off. Freeway? you say...there's no freeway between your job and your house. And you would be absolutely right, however, I pick up my 13 year old nephew and bring him home with me and there there are two freeways between his house and mine! I'll either have to stock up on "his kind of music" or get a book on cd that we can both enjoy while we plod along. :)

Celebratory Dinner

Last night my wonderful neice and nephew took me out to dinner in appreciation for helping with the children. As if I needed to be rewarded! But, it was very nice and I accepted. I was celebrating my lack of credit card debt so it seemed an opportunity to do both. We had a very nice dinner at the Olive Garden and I ordered the Chicken Gnocchi Veronese which I love and rarely get a chance to have. I have purchased the kind you can get from the grocery store in vacuum packed packages and added my own sauce, but it doesn't compare to the one they serve at Olive Garden. YUM! It was delicious and I had a very nice time with the family. I feel really blessed.

Today's the Day!

In the words of a famous rabbit..."He bidged, he badged, he budged! Today is the day!" I mailed the last credit card payment today. That's it. I'm done with credit cards! It feels soooo good not to have those payments hanging over my head. I can't tell you how many years I have been paying on credit cards. While I am not very different from most people, I still feel a sense of shame at my stupidity. However, that is in the past. I am a smarter, more savvy, less gullible member of society these days. 90 days is NOT the same as cash!

I was counting up today and it has been one year and three months since I started on this journey to get out of credit card debt and I am so happy to be free! I have practically freed up my greatest wealth building tool. Now it is time to roll that snowball over onto the car payment and get rid of that one as quickly as possible. Then on to building up the emergency fund and retirement.

Happy, Happy Day!

Smooth Sailing

Well, folks, the weekend has been smooth sailing for me after all. I helped a little with the child minding, but mostly the grandparents were up to the task. I have had a quiet weekend. I did some shopping that needed done and puttered around the house a bit. Saturday night Tim came to stay over and today Haley is visiting, but at the moment she is quietly napping so even my Sunday afternoon is peaceful. I heard from my own children and the travelers have come home safely so all is well. I hope you had a nice weekend,too!

Hold on to your Hats!

Hold on to your hats, folks, we're in for a bumpy ride. This weekend my neice and nephew are leaving town for a much needed weekend away. Since her parents (and back up child minders) are having a few medical issues I have volunteered to help with the three children. If the grandparents are not feeling well I will have all three children for the entire weekend. Good thing I already read the Series of Unfortunate Events, huh? I am prepared!

I love the little tikes, and everything will go smoothly, I'm sure. I just feel tired ahead of time knowing that I have forfeited my weekend. Still, it's all in a good cause. And just think how happy the rug rats will be to see their long lost parents again and how much more they will appreciate them. I am very close to the little buggers on a regular basis so I'm sure we will have loads of fun....or laundry, one of the two!

On a final note, I am very happy to have the lovely children in my life. They are a joy to me and give me hours of pleasure with their antics and their love. And I get to read to them! This week Haley (6 years old) and I are reading Six by Seuss, some of Dr. Seuss's most famous stories. Tim and I are reading "The Clay Marble" and Jayden, well...he doesn't read yet, but I'm sure he'll sit with me for a short book.
Wish me luck!

My Space

It seems most of my family, friends and acquaintances are jumping on the "My Space" bandwagon. I understand the enjoyment it brings to people to connect with one another and express themselves in their own way. I, on the other hand, am content with my blog. This, in essence, is my space. Here is where I write about whatever pops into my head, post poetry that makes me happy and show pictures that express my feelings of adventure. It doesn't reach the same number of people as a "My Space" account does, but then, I am content with less.

Thanks to those of you who check my blog. I hope that once in a while you find something interesting to read on "my space".

Armchair Traveler

Today I am visiting Martha's Vineyard...no, not really, only in my mind. But I have a pretty clear picture of what it looks like because I'm reading a series of books that take place on Martha's Vineyard and it is described to me as I read book after book in the series. Besides that, I get curious about the places described and look them up on the internet.

I have always longed to see other places, but am too timid to leave the comfort of home to do it. So, the next best thing is to read about the places I want to see. For some reason my "journeys" have taken me mostly to Great Britain. Of course, many places in the United States as well, but when I think of traveling I usually think of actually leaving the country I'm in. I sometimes think I could recognize Picadilly Circus or Hyde Park if by some miracle of science fiction I was beamed there. In Britain there would be no language barrier even though, believe it or not, they speak English much differently than we do here in America. I've read enough books written by British authors that I feel I would understand them quite well. In fact, some of their sayings creep into my conversations from time to time without me realizing it.

While my journeys only last while I'm actually reading, I feel like I've been transported for a little while to a different way of life. Today Martha's Vineyard....tomorrow....who knows?