Catching up on Sleep?

Was miserable at work yesterday.  I could not sleep at all the night before.  I think I may have gotten 2 hours total.  Part of the reason was trying to get my sleep schedule back on track after vacation.  Other reason was working up to yesterdays ramble.  I slept for over 10 hours last night and I'm feeling better this morning. 

I know I want peace, with a little excitement thrown in here and there.  I also want to feel safe.  Feeling safe.  That's a big order.  What does 'feel safe' look like?  It's safe physically, economically and emotionally.  Is it possible for someone that is not to keen on people?  Is it possible to feel safe economically and not have a reliable pay check?  Is it possible to feel safe all the time and still have excitement?  There is a quote I have leaned on during difficult times in my life.

FAITH

When you walk to the edge of all the light you have,

and take that first step into the darkness of the unknown,

you must believe that one of two things will happen:

There will be something solid for you to stand upon,

or,

you will be taught how to fly.

Patrick Overton, The Leaning Tree, 1975

I can research and save and plan all I want.  In the end, It will come down to faith.  Faith that I am doing the right thing for me.  Knowing that all the work and risk are worth it.  My safe feeling will come from faith.  Some days faith is stronger than others.  Will be interesting to see where I end up. 

In the mean time, it's back to work.  Gotta go earn that dog food money.  Hope all is peaceful out there in blogland. 

This is the time

I would usually be writing in my journal but now I put it in my blog.  Warning! rambling ahead. 

Is the RV lifestyle the answer? I must be crazy? Will it be too much?  I have a job that I am good at.  Nothing particularly wrong with it.  It pays me well, so I can support my life any way I want.  I have a nice home and two wonderful dogs with a yard.  I want to move into a small box with my dogs.  Work as an independent contractor.  WOW!  Big change.  What for?  To slow down, meet wonderful people and learn all about America.  My life is not what anyone would call crazy now.  I just spent 4 days/nights playing an online computer game with little interruption.  Any hobby I want to pursue, I can.  I could move to a smaller home and change to working only part time.   I could take 1 week trips 2-3 times per year and learn a particular part or spot in America.   But I don't like to fly and driving to the locations can take away a lot of time.  I don't like leaving the dogs or my stuff, I don't like hotels.  I know about, and have budgeted for insurance that will help in case the worst happens.  I know about Escapees Rainbows End where I can go if there is an accident or I need surgery for some reason.  All the cleaning, repairing, planning and daily maintenance will be up to me.   Only me.  When I get overwhelmed here, I can back off and shut down.  No place for that in an RV.  Things seem to break more often in an RV than in a stix n brix.  Either because of weather or the fact that the home is going through an earthquake every time it moves.  I rarely ask my family for help, but If something happens now, I know they are there.  They can give me input.  My family does not know about RV's or living on the road.   Will I be able to get enough work as an independent contractor in medical transcription.  If I can't, I have to get a real job.   If I only have a motorcycle, commuting to a job may become problematic.  So, I rent a car or buy a used one.  More money output.  So I make sure I have more money saved before I quit my current job.  That's more time before I can start the RV life.   Is it worth it?  Isn't there another way? 

When I get this way I tell myself to stop and take a deep breath.  This is not a foregone conclusion.  It's a process I can stop at any point.  I'm talking about making the final decisions 2 years from now.  No matter what I decide, I know there needs to be a change.  No matter what the change may be, it will require paying off my debt and getting into better physical condition.  Keep plugging, keep trudging, keep doing what you have to do for today.   Just focus on today for now.   

Time to go to work.  I'll be back later.

Vacation days come to an end

Last day off.  I was able to finish my goals with Everquest last night.  Today, will be picking things up and doing laundry.  Will be trying out the rice cooker.  It's a beautiful day today.  Dog walking is definitely in the plan.  Have to go in to work tomorrow.  I'm glad I had a break and was able to get a good start on the Everquest II expansion land.  Back to reality and working toward my new RV life. 

It Slices, It Dices, It walks your dog... But WAIT, There's MORE!

I'm an instruction kind of person.  This morning I broke out the instructions for my new rice cooker. 

In my immediate family, we tell each other what we want for presents.  Otherwise you end up with very odd gifts.  So, when asked,  we give a list of things we are interested in (complete with product names, item numbers, and links where to find the products) .  The rule is that the gifts have to be things you would never buy for yourself.  This year I asked for a rice cooker.  I would have never gotten one for myself because they are too expensive for a single task item.  My hope is, if rice is easier/cleaner to make, I will eat more brown rice instead of pasta.  I am a Pastaholic.   In researching which cooker I wanted, I found that some of them don't cook brown rice.  So I had to get one that could make brown rice and that means I ended up with one that can also work as a slow cooker.  A slow cooker (crock pot) has been on my RV list.  My research on the RV lifestyle has indicated that pot luck meals will become a part of my life and I'm not a cook.  Crock pot seemed an easy way to cook, be able to take warm meals to the pot lucks, and hopefully, make it more appealing for me to cook real meals for myself (aka save money). 

So I break out the instructions over coffee.  I was primarily looking to see what kind of rice to put on the grocery list.  Who knew there were so many kinds of rice?  Sweet rice, mixed rice, rinse free rice, haiga rice, whole grain brown rice (is there another type of brown rice?), and quick rice.   The blurb on the thing said it will also steam veggies while you are cooking the rice.  Not clear on how to get that done.   As with any new kitchen appliance, it came with recipes.  Little did I know, I also got a 'porridge cooker' for my birthday.  There is a recipe for porridge, and a special setting just for porridge.   I've heard of porridge before, but never knew what it was made of.  I can say the recipe does not sound appealing to me (rice, onion, asparagus, garlic, tuna (optional), chicken bouillon, salt/pepper, and olive oil).  Mind you..  it doesn't specify what kind of rice??  And the asparagus is supposed to be "parboiled", whatever that means?  The silly thing also has a special insert just for making your own Tofu.  Tofu??  Not a fan!!  I think I will be skipping these particular offerings.  

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sanyo-Micro-Computerized-Rice-Cooker-Slow-Cooker-5.5-Cup/10779344?sourceid=1500000000000003260370&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=10779344

I did my exercise last night and back is better this morning. I'm off to the grocery store this afternoon (trying to beat the incoming snow storm). I'll let you know how the rice cooker does.

If anyone, that comes by here, gets any strange e-mails from my e-mail address, please let me know.  I had 2 'undeliverable mail' notices in my inbox this morning.  I haven't sent out any e-mails from that address.  Hope I didn't catch a bug from blogging and pass it around.  I have excellent security on my computer, but I am new to blogging, may be something I didn't know about.  Hope not!! 

 

Days off Take a Toll

I dislike aging.  I love being an adult and having my own stuff, doing what I want, when I want.  I don't like my body getting older.  My body quickly let's me know when I am indulging too much.  If I spend all day at the computer, my back hurts.  If I eat too much junk food, my stomach burns.  If I smoke too much, I wheeze.  If I stay up all night, it throws off my sleep routine and takes many days to get back on a regular schedule.  So, this is my last day in vacation slugville.  Will be more pics and more activity starting tomorrow.  For today...  I'm off to play :0)

Woke up to a Tragedy

How do I manage to forget I'm OUT of COFFEE between yesterday morning and this morning?    I've already discussed how important coffee is.  How could I forget?  Obviously I'm distracted with my Everquest adventures.  Needless to say, I let the dogs out and took my jammied, socked footed self to the Seven Eleven on the corner.  What a wonderful country we have.  What a wonderful morning I have now that there is coffee.  Beautiful day here.  It's been warm enough to melt the snow off of the roads and sidewalks but all the snow is still on the grass.  I've got the windows open and I may just have to practice walking the dogs later today. 

Mom came by to visit.  It doesn't happen very often.  It was nice to see her and catch up.  I got a rice cooker for my birthday ( Sanyo ECJ-HC55S ) .  I really like to eat rice with dinner but cooking it is a mess so I never do it.  Now I will be able to have it whenever I want.  I'll keep you posted on how it works.  It will also steam and works as a small crock pot.  I usually get the frozen veg that steams in the bag but it is expensive.  Another money saving device.  If I like it, it will make the RV cut, we'll see? Expectations for my stuff has gone up a notch.   IF it doesn't do it for me, it will not make the cut :0)   Time to Play!! 

What do Big Girl Panties look like?

First day of my short vacation.  I worked late last night and man I had vactionitis!  Was so ready to go.  I wanted to show you where I will be spending my time off.  Here is my Everquest II character in the new, expansion pack, land. 

Mntnwmyn the Conjurer, in our vacation location

I woke up (no dog waking me up today) and it is a beautiful Colorado day.  Cold, clear day with bright blue skies.  The five years I lived in Texas, there were 2 things I missed the most.  Bright blue skies and squeaky snow.  It will be interesting to find other places I can find that special color of bright blue.  The squeaky snow comes from very dry & very cold weather.  Hopefully, I won't be seeing a lot of that in my RV life.  Dogs fed and coffee made, I went to dig for my big girl panties. 

With the help of a little hot chocolate in my coffee, I sat down to catch up on my financial tracking.  It didn't hurt a bit and I'm proud it's done.   My life is a fight with the bratty 14 year old inside my head.  Good thing I didn't have any kids.  They would be teen-age now and it couldn't be a good thing for BOTH mom and kid to be bratty, whiney, & stubborn.  I am a good employee but when it comes to life, I learn and develop very slowly.  Could be called stubborness, I prefer to think of it as persistance :0) 

Maybe it would help if I made wearing the big girl panties more fun?  What if I could picture the big girl panties?  Searching 'big girl panties' on Google yields poor results initially. 

This YouTube video made me LAUGH OUT LOUD 

Put On Your Big Girl Panties . Laugh

I'm off to Play.  I'll see you down the road.