Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Public Storage Unit Pictures




I'm just praying that my unit, which is the second floor on the right half of the banner wasn't too badly affected, but it's not looking too good from this photo.
Thank you to my friend Chris for stopping by and talking to the police officer for me, as well as taking these pictures.
I have to consider some of the information I've gotten and don't know when I'll be able to have access, but will check on my stuff when I can.
Sigh... I just hope and pray I can salvage something... at least the kids pics, etc...


snow in October.


I woke up to overcast skies, a dusting of snow and it currently sleeting here in PA... that was the view out my bedroom window.
Yuck.

Monday, October 27, 2008

I am so blessed.

I'm still waiting to hear if there may be the possibility of some things that can be salvaged. I'm praying for it.

In the meantime, one of my friends from Nashville sent me a MySpace email (I hadn't updated my status on MySpace yet to reflect the news), and sent me a new number for him and said to call, and he was praying for me.

I called him back, and he didn't know a thing about the fire, but offered to put together a benefit concert for me to help at least offset the costs of the things that were valuable in there. I mentioned I may be making a trip down soon. I had a wave of emotion come over me, because here in this little town up here, I'm so far away from so many people who care so much for me... my family, my friends... and literally 5 minutes before I sat to check my MySpace, I sent up a prayer, asking God to please not let me handle this alone. To please send help my way and I kept praying I could at least save a couple of things...

In the end... this is how God is answering my prayer. Just the randomness of the email and the phone call that followed saying that I would have full support of not just him, but his friends and any of my friends.... I just can't help but cry and have this wave of thankfulness just bowl me over.

So, thanks, Billy Dawson. This one's for you- your favorite Psalm...

Psalm 91
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. [a]
2 I will say [b] of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you make the Most High your dwelling— even the LORD, who is my refuge-
10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."


**my friends who really know me, know that I'm very spiritual - and lately I've been praying to find out where I really belong in this world... to find people I can identify with, love, and eventually settle down in a community.... this is just one very big sign that I'm so loved by my southern friends, and I just can't even begin to explain how significant of a sign this is for me. **

I want to cry.

Just got a call that my Public Storage unit was affected by a fire. There is obviously some sort of arson or something because it's the second time in three days that there was a fire at that storage location.

I had ALL my kids pictures/albums/my personal albums from when I was a kid, things my grandparents left me that I couldn't bring with me when I had to come back to PA that meant something to me, my grandma's chair (the one I gave birth to Madelyn leaning on)... my sewing machine/embroidery machine. Three computers that had business information/files/pictures on them. Furniture. Art...

It was a storage unit that I had packed tightly with my stuff that I held dear.

I don't know what the extent of the damage is... and there's no way to get access to the location yet anyway. Not that it would help much, with me being in Pennsylvania. I do want to see just what I could possibly salvage, if anything.

Oh... gosh. :(

What's weirder is that I dreamt of a fire there several times, and that was what was making my mind up to go and get some of the kids stuff out of there at New Years... and to really just get what I could, as well as the computers because they had more pictures.
Obviously, I'm not sure what, if anything survived, but I really hope and pray that I can at least salvage some of it.

I can't believe I dreamt it and then it happened. They had a smaller fire at the office part earlier in the week, which is why when they called, I was like, see... all the more reason for me to go down there and get the special stuff... and I had some fears eased... and then the call today, that they think someone set the fire.

Nashville Fire Department is looking into it... I just wish I could see pictures of the unit building... find out where the fire started, etc... maybe by the Grace of God, my unit wasn't horribly affected??? I can only pray.

We're talking about everything I owned in that storage unit... except for clothes. That's what I came to PA with... so everything that was my life- was in that storage unit.
Sigh....

When will the gut punches end?

Sunday, October 26, 2008

random thoughts, very personal and long.

I don't know what to write today, but I know it's been a long time since I have written.

Because of that, I'll warn you in advance that I'm probably going to ramble.

I'm still coughing. Getting over a sinus infection, on antibiotics and in general, I want to sleep. I feel like crap. No energy today.
I'm sitting here, hanging at the house with the kids, and the sun has finally come out.
They're watching movies and playing playstation.

My best friend from High School just called me to check in, and damn it, I missed talking with her. However, because of what my state of mind is like, I found myself talking about Jon again.

I've tried dating. It's not working for me. I mean, don't get me wrong. People want to date me. I have offers, but I'm not always interested. I have fun going out when I do see people, and have even attempted to date someone recently. I find that it's always more of me wishing that the other person was Jon. I keep trying to find a substitute for him, but the sad thing is that there just isn't one out there.

His main concern is having someone who will be able to travel with him. I told him that it's silly, he doesn't travel, he just works in random places for extended periods of time. I also told him that if he wanted a life together, we could do that. We could make things work out where we could have time together and time with the kids. He's wants all these things individually, but doesn't see how mixing them all together makes a much better end result.

For instance, you can have all these ingredients for a cake that are good things, but when you mix the batter and bake it, you get cake - a better end result than just having flour, milk and an egg separately.

It's pathetic, really. I am officially pathetically in love with a man who loves me, but doesn't want to allow himself to be loved. He's been hurt, I understand that. In the end, the best end result would be us together with our children, our bar, our lives intertwined... but if that doesn't happen for whatever reason, I will be happy for him if he finds happiness elsewhere.

I just have to wonder if I will be happy for myself if I find happiness elsewhere. I have to trust God that I will.

I'm feeling exceptionally punchy today because this time of year marks ONE year since we told each other we loved each other. And here we are, still in love, but not together.
It hurts. To say it any differently would be lying.

And we both have tried to move on. I've tried harder this summer and fall especially.

I was talking with my friend Keith about life. We were having one of our weird conversations that starts out all lighthearted and then ends up in some deep area of conversation pretty rapidly, and it occured to me that Keith is one of very few people who knows me so well - who I feel able to discuss the things that go on in my head, things I've done, things I wish I've done, etc., without feeling like I'm going to be judged for what is heard. And truthfully, that kind of friendship is very healthy for me. He knows all my vices (past and present) and likes hanging out with me anyway.

**there was a knock at the door, it was the nun from the school who came by to grab the social studies book and the bag of uniforms. I'm sick, so obviously still in my pjs - a t-shirt and boxers. Lovely. **

So my random thought stream was just interrupted.

At this point I have to ask myself, do I really still love Jon, or do I love the idea of loving Jon? I dissect my feelings for him so many times over because I want to be clear about what it is that we have or don't have.

So many friends of mine have told me that I should just move on. I have to agree with them, to a point, because I've tried to do just that. At what point of a relationship do you either sever the ties completely- as in not being friends, not being lovers, but going back to being strangers? Is that what it will have to be if we're not together? Would that be hard for me or healthy for me?

This is the pursuit of a life with no regrets, so I feel like I should give it a try and see what the possibility is for Jon and I before closing that door completely, locking it and throwing away the key. Deep in my soul there's a reason for our connection. Something is there... I just can't deny it or walk away just yet.

At least I know I'm not imagining it. At least I know he feels the same way.

I'm being about as lazy as lazy gets today, trying to rest my body and soul. I'm seriously contemplating meditation right now... for peace and possible answers.

I bought this great Tarot set that I loved about 6 months ago. I got them, took them out of the box, put them and the explanation booklet into the little black bag that came with the set and they disappeared. As in completely. I have not been able to find them. I didn't do ONE reading with them. Not one. I keep wondering if they will turn up at some point. All boxes have been emptied, and I bought them after I was living here. It's like they vanished right into thin air.

It was the World Spirit Tarot deck from Llewellyn.

I'm looking for answers. I'm looking for direction... but the right direction. The one that will lead me to fulfilling my purpose here. The one that will inevitably lead to me having a companion in life that I can share my life with. I want normalcy again, for myself and for my children. I'm doing a pretty good job of creating that on my own, but I'm lacking personally in having that someone else to talk to about my day, or to curl up on the couch with at night. The person who would handle life if I got sick, or baby me when I was. I want to be taken care of, I want to be provided for (just like I would provide for them, equally).

And now my blog rambling has reached a point where I'm no longer comfortable posting more. It's simply gotten too personal. I'm debating putting this whole post right in the delete pile.

My inner thoughts and desires, revealed.

I've thought a lot about an old friend of mine recently. My friend B, who pulled me aside in February of last year, and very seriously told me that she was officially "husband hunting". When I laughed she explained that she was tired of dating, her ex husband had moved on, she wasn't getting any younger and she wanted to assure herself the style of living she was used to, as well as security and companionship for the rest of her life and for her children. It made sense to me, but I couldn't believe she was serious. I know how serious she is. She completed her mission and was engaged before the year was out to a longtime friend of hers, and got married early this year. She's happy, he's happy. Her kids are happy. I think about that a lot. Maybe it's time I officially went "husband hunting".

Well, I am off to take a nap, and let these antibiotics do their magic. My body is weak and sore today. My mind is obviously rambling at full speed.

Here's to dreaming I'm in Europe... wandering around the streets of Florence, or sipping red wine in a small cafe. Or a pub crawl through Ireland... and visiting castles and countrysides in Scotland. Who knows... we'll see where my dreams take me.

I dreamt about Jon earlier, that's what kicked off the day. I dreamt of him IMing me telling me that "the mad face on his profile was because things with Melissa didn't work out again and it was a mad face at her". Is that completely weird? I hesitate to contact him, because I know the rules of engagement at this point in time. Still, I find it odd. Forgot about that until I started thinking about my dreams.

Ok, bye for now.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Life and such

I'm ready to move on in my life...
After the conversation with Jon, realizing he's not going to move forward any time soon- and that he's actually moved backwards- in talking with M again, and entertaining the thought to date her again simply because she can travel with him (that's a dangling carrot for him), I just told him that I wished him happiness and told him good luck.
I realize that even though I had all those lovely thoughts and at one point, he did too... he's not willing to step up. I have to move forward, I have to move on. And I'm ok with that.

I know what I want, so now it's time I asked the universe for it.

I want to be around friends- new, old, doesn't matter- but just good friends- ones that would come over just to hang out, ones that think of you and send you something, ones that you enjoy hanging out with doing silly things like game nights... couples... and I think that's it... I want that couples lifestyle.

I want to be someone's better half. Ha... to spend nights not alone on the couch... someone who likes to go out and do things too... someone who knows what I am all about... someone who I can be myself- and as quirky as I am... and they love me anyway and STILL want to spend their time with me.. and share their life with me.

It's not too much to ask, right?

I find myself feeling a little jealous lately of some of my old friends from high school. I'm happy for them, I guess envious would be a better word... Some of these people grew up together, stayed together, and they have friends that they've known for so many years. They go out together, they spend time at one another's houses... and now, they're starting families. It's interesting to me that here I am at 30... and I have my kids... and I honestly don't know if I could have any more right now. My youngest is 5. The thing is, most men my age would want kids of their own. I don't know if I could give that to anyone.

Argh... I'm just so confused. One moment I'm this strong independent woman, and another there's this desire that's so deep to share my life with someone. To have a life partner to share my life... and that loneliness is sometimes so heart wrenching, I don't know how to feel.

And some of this is more personal than I'm used to sharing on my blogs... any of them. But, in an effort to get what you want in life, I'm leaving it up here.
_________________________


I just got interrupted by my second phone call of the day from the same person. It's so random, but it's this guy that I knew in HS. He was a senior when I was a freshman. We were friends then and would talk on occasion. He liked me when I was 14-15. I didn't know then... but he wrote in my freshman year yearbook, the sweetest note, professing his affection. I lost touch with him after he left for college, then the next time we met, I was married and pregnant with my second child. His family owns a hardware store that I used to frequent once I bought my first house. We saw each other on a few occasions, but then I left South Florida in 2001 and have not seen him since. We recently reconnected on Facebook/MySpace and started talking on the phone. As it turns out, he's single - and I am too... and we still have a lot in common.

We've made plans to see each other at Christmastime when I'm down south.

He just called to say "goodnight". He's in the middle of Florida, hunting with his friends, and was turning in for the night in his trailer in the woods. How cute is that?
______________________________________

I have another friend of mine sending a few texts. He's from Nashville and is a friend of mine from there.

I guess I should feel pretty blessed that I do have people who care about me, even if I do sometimes feel pretty lonely.

It's a pretty cool feeling sometimes to know that some friends stay friends forever. I've been thinking about that a lot lately.

When I got laid off (can't believe it's been almost a whole month!), I lost not only a job, but my friends (or at least I should say, "friends"). I am a little disappointed that most of the people I would hang out with haven't extended an invitation to stay in touch. Not like I really can right now, but... the thought that counts, or at least the same kind of interaction online and on Facebook, etc. It's just odd to me to think that I considered these people friends, and I am feeling pretty shunned.

It's not like I know many people up this way, they were like my entire social network. So it's weird for me.
______________________________________
Phone rang again, it was this guy who lives up here, my karaoke friend... called to ask me out again. He wanted to know when we could get together and probably hit up a karaoke place again. We made plans for Sunday. (he works fridays and saturdays)

______________________________________

I have so much in my head, but it's after midnight and I'm worn out. Time for me to fall asleep and drift into my own little dreamland... hopefully I can stay there for at least 8 hours!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

People Watching

Ok, so I’ve never seen it in person with my own two eyes, on anyone over maybe 5 years old unless they were eating lobster, and even then, it’s rare.

What is it? I am sitting here at Olive Garden, having lunch and working on some stuff, and there is a lady across from me with a napkin tucked in the top of her red top. She’s a little more on the heavyset side, with no makeup and a diet coke in front of her. She’s wearing a red short-sleeved top and athletic pants with two white stripes down either side, along with no socks and backless Crocs. Have I ever mentioned, that I hate Crocs? Anyway, instead of leaning in to eat her soup, she brings the spoon to her face, and inevitably, the soup drips onto the napkin.

Yes, good thing that she put it there, but oh, the sight. I so wanted to take a picture, but I missed my opportunity and couldn’t do it subtly enough to get a shot. I tried to line it up too. Napkin’s gone now, as the soup was taken away.

Damn.

Anyway, that brings me to my next point, people watching. It’s been a hobby of mine since I was a child, as I’ve been very observant over the past thirty years. It’s true, if you ask my mother, she’ll say I came out wide-eyed and looking all over the place like, who are these people and where the fuck am I?

I love people watching.

I can sit in the middle of New York City with a café mocha from Starbucks, and just park my ass on a bench and watch people. I also love just walking around and being observant in general.

There’s so much to see if you just open your eyes to look.

I often wish that I could take what I see with my own eyes and snapshot a moment. Much like a photographer would, I want prints of some of the things I see. Of course, if I had it going all the time, I’d probably end up in trouble of some sort…

While at a traffic light the other afternoon, I saw an old man and a young child. The exchange that happened between them was silent for me, but the body movements and body language between the two of them spoke volumes. I wished immediately for a camera.

I'll have to look into that as an option for myself as a Christmas gift. I know which one I want already. It's a Canon XLR - about $550. Ouch, but potentially worth it...

Ok, enough for today...

Friday, October 10, 2008

All quiet on the mental front...

I know I've been pretty quiet lately, but it has mainly been because I've been busy. Most of my best blogging thoughts come to me while I'm driving, or somewhere without computer access to write it down real quick.



My life has taught me some interesting lessons lately. Some for the better.



Here are the ones that have reappeared:



1. Be the bigger person - Sometimes walking away and having saying nothing is better, even when you have mouthfuls to say if provoked again.



2. Self confidence rocks people's worlds. - Knowing what you want, going after it, not being afraid to ask for what you're worth... all good things.



3. Faith, Faith, Faith. - That old saying, when God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window... it's true. I've been through a lot, but I can say this: what has happened, has been a blessing I wouldn't have known otherwise.



4. It is possible to love yourself more no matter how old you are. - I've spent my life loving others more than myself. Lately, I've made a decent attempt at loving myself more. I have found that in loving myself, even MORE doors have opened. I've also realized that I did have the strength to shut other doors that needed to be shut.



___________________



Interesting commentary from others that I've heard lately, and found applied to my life:



So, what are YOUR intentions in telling me this? - said by a bartender at a local bar I know, after some boy issues disrupted my fun. I responded that I just needed to vent, I was over it and needed another beer. He laughed, and got me another beer.



__________________



Courage is found in odd places. I found mine deep within myself. Somewhere, my self worth found the light again. I found the courage to ask Jon point blank if he ever saw a future with us together... if he was ever going to try, or if he was happy with the status quo.

His response? He likes us being just friends, more than attempting anything further. My response? Sounds good. Just letting you know that being friends does not come with benefits.

He was ok with that but slightly offended that I said it. I explained that I had to draw a line in the sand.



I also had the courage to tell someone new that I have been seeing that I wasn't ok with his current status and I thought we should just cool it for a while. I decided that I didn't want to put up with hanging out with him while he was still accepting texts and calls from his ex... or that our last "date" ended up with me driving him home to meet the ambulance and police at his ex's house. Yeah. Told him it was getting too "Jerry Springer" for my tastes.



--------------------------



Where are all the normal people? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Friday, October 3, 2008

Intospace.org - I'm going to space... in 2010!


Wanna go into space? Send your picture up for $2
That’s the idea behind a site called IntoSpace.org that, for $2, will send your photo into space on a space vehicle it plans to launch in 2010.

It will print a catalog that will consist of 300 sheets (300 “rockets”), every “rocket” will be able to deliver up to 1000 “astronauts” by occupying the place of 25×40 cm. on a single sheet.

Cost of 1 seat(1×1 cm ~ 0.4×0.4 in.) is only $2.But if you have a blog and mention it, like I just did, they’ll give you a free ride.

So now I get to decide what picture I want to send into space.... Hm.


New Country Artist I like...

Her name is Jaime Fox, not to be confused with the actor Jamie Foxx.

I love this song... The Heart Of Me...

She's playing in Frederick, MD tomorrow - if you're in the area, stop by. Details on her myspace page - linked below.



If you like her, add her as a friend on MySpace!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

yawn.

quiet evenings.
music softly playing.
little angels sleeping soundly.
tapping of keyboard keys.
rhythmically.
moonlight shining.
night sky twinkling.
yawn.
time for bed.

-Audrey Korshoff 2008