Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

I wondered the other day why gas prices have gone up. Today, I read an article examining the hike in prices, specifically throughout the Midwest. Several factors, a few of which involve Russia and Venezuela, are impacting gas prices. While I care about the increase, I'm not affected much since I barely drive anymore. Last week, I drove my car once -- to go out to the farm where I buy eggs. It's about twelve miles to the farm, and my plan for the next time I want eggs is to ride my bike out. Another plan I'm hatching is to be completely carfree by August 1. What's interesting is the dealership where I bought my car has been calling, texting, and sending me letters saying they want my car. It's a 2014 Jeep Patriot Latitude, with 33,000 miles. The Blue Book value if I sell it myself is between $13,700 and $15,800. The dealership has offered me $9300 trade-in, though the Blue Book value for trade-in has it between $10,000 and $11,500.  The dealership has also indicate...

Well, January was fun! If the rest of the year goes along as January did, I'll not be sad. Monday my youngest turned 19. While memories of the day he was born have blurred around the edges, I still remember being in the delivery room, way beyond ready to give birth to the little guy who was nearly two weeks overdue, and feeling incredible relief once the ordeal ended. This guy came into the world at ten pounds nine ounces. A big boy. My doctor had estimated him in the nine pound range before all the action began, so I decided to go with a natural childbirth since I'd delivered Funny Delightful Son naturally, and he'd weighed in at just over nine pounds. I figured I could do it again. I did, but it wasn't fun by any stretch of the imagination. Thankfully, all turned out just fine, and that big boy is now a tall, lanky young man who can't get enough to eat. The four of us went out to eat for Angel Baby's birthday dinner. He absolutely hates going anywhere that...

Today I moved between writing, reading, vet, landlord, more writing, and sitting in front of the fire just watching the flame while listening to the rain patter against the roof, accompanied by a favorite jazz album playing softly. It was truly the kind of day to stay inside, snuggle into comfy clothes, and sip on hot chocolate. Although, to be honest, my choice of beverage this evening was a very delicious warm and fuzzy apple cider. Just lovely to sip on. The toughest part of the day definitely had to be the writing. I have three new pieces going at the same time while trying to revise two pieces that are closer to being "finished." I had one of the pieces workshopped by members of the online site I recently joined, and the critiques have been mixed. Several readers weren't able to make the connection to the time element working, which I thought might be problematic. That being said, the last person to critique did pick up on the lapse in time. A couple of other issue...

For nearly three years now, I've been on a journey to live with less, to simplify and find happiness in the small things. Before becoming more intentional about the way I want to live, I thought about it a lot while reading anything and everything offering ways to pare down, to do without, to recycle and even upcycle. Along the way, I threw in anything and everything about Buddhism, at first out of curiosity but then because I found the teachings fit with how I want to continue with my journey. Most days the journey is smooth, with me considering others' ideas, needs, and wants and doing what I can to help. Other days, the journey's path becomes full of potholes that are difficult for me to maneuver. Sometimes, I even fall into a pothole. And while I climb out, brush myself off, and continue on, I do feel a bit bruised, which is how I'm feeling right now. Today was beautiful. Sunny. Very little wind. I spent the morning reading then hanging out with Funny Delightful S...

After much thought, I have decided not to ride the Indiana/Illinois segment of Bike the US for MS Northern Tier this summer. I'm a true believer in listening to that inner voice that speaks up at times, saying something just isn't right, and every time I thought about leaving for the Indiana/Illinois segment, that voice spoke up, making me feel doing the ride wasn't the right thing to do this summer. For a long time, I tried to ignore the voice, but the closer the time for leaving approached, the louder the voice became. I finally sat down last week and really examined exactly what I was feeling and why. Truth be told, I'm loving being home. I'm loving working on my gardens and my creative pursuits. I'm loving taking my youngest to marching band practice then listening to him regale me with all the funny stories afterwards. I'm loving going out on my overnight camping trips, my trekking bike loaded with just the bare essentials for one night away from home. ...

One of the local bike shops loaned me a beautiful mountain bike to play with for a couple of days. Unfortunately, rain moved in and drenched the trails, leaving them too muddy to ride yesterday as well as today, so I didn't even get to try out the bike in a proper setting. And I have to return the bike tomorrow. Sad face. Just to get some idea of how the bike feels, I took it across the street and rode up and over piles of rubber playground mulch the school district had dumped a couple of days ago. While not the same as riding trails, I had a bit of fun. I confirmed, too, what I had initially thought: I could really get into this mountain biking thing. The thrill (I know, that's probably overstating how much fun I was having) of feeling the bike maneuver up and over the piles just made me want to do it over and over. I was like the kid out having fun and being called to come inside by Mom because it was getting dark. The problem I see with getting the mountain bike is spend...

Back in September, I received notice at work that I was eligible to apply for promotion. I filed the email away, not sure if I wanted to actually go through the motions of putting a promotion portfolio together, and when only a couple of days remained for me to declare my intentions to do so to the VP of Instruction, I decided I would go ahead and let the chips fall where they may. At that time I had six months to work on the portfolio, so I began sorting through all the "stuff" from the last three years and categorizing according to the different sections of the portfolio. Then Mom collapsed. The promotion portfolio was the furthest thing from my mind. And with Mom's death, thoughts about the promotion portfolio became nonexistent until about three weeks ago, when I could feel myself beginning to ease out of the grayness of grief. With encouragement from Hubby and colleagues, I began considering trying to put the promotion portfolio together. I didn't think I had e...

Okay, so running today in 104 heat index wasn't a good idea. And running the day after biking 32 miles isn't a great idea, either. I've never felt so horrible while running. Even doing the mental inventory and telling myself to just keep going, just keep going wasn't enough to get me through the three miles. I had to walk quite a bit of it. I haven't walked the three miles in a really long time, so I wasn't real happy with today's outcome. In fact, I was close to tears. That's when I stopped, literally, on the side of the road and thought if running makes me cry then I shouldn't be running. How many times have I said I absolutely hate running? How many times have I said I don't know why I do this to myself? Like I tell others who moan and groan about something they don't like doing and they have complete control over doing it or not--DON'T DO IT! How hard is it to figure this one out? It's not hard at all. So, as I stood there, flanke...