One of my favorite things

I love really cool house plans/floor plans and this Katrina Cottage is a great idea for starter homes in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast.
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=pg&p=2006_landing/Katrina_Cottage/KC_544.html

New day

I was just thinking it had been a long time since I posted. Well, that's life for you! Nothing much new going on with me. Still working the J-O-B. Yippee!!
It has started to feel like spring here (80 degree high today) and I like it, but I am not looking forward to the hot summer I know is coming. I would much rather be cold than hot. I'm happiest at around 65 degrees. Not hard to please, right?
I'm looking for some land in the mountains of North Carolina, not that I can afford it at the moment, hoping to expand on the farming life. (See early post with picture of my chickens.) I don't know when this idea took hold but I really like having the chickens and would also like to get a few cows. Maybe even do some organic farming with veggies like zucchini, tomatoes, and pumpkins. I love pumpkins!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year, Year of the Rat
I was born in the year of the tiger. And I'm a leo...hummm? I'm beginning to see a trend.
I love astrology, horoscopes and the like. Recently I have been hearing a lot about positive energy and I'm going to try my hand at it. I going to make a Vision Board to help me visualize the things I want. (more to come on this later!)
On the writing front I have been writing again. This is my year!**vision board hint**
Gotta go back to work...

New day, new year...

Just a quick hello and Happy New Year! Still working the job, finding a little time to write and getting myself into trouble, but in a good way!
Something I really believe in is hair donation. I lost my father to cancer in 1994 after an eleven year battle. He like many cancer patients lost his hair. Now my dad was a bit vain about looking sharp and after the first time he lost his hair we of course couldn't afford a nice wig so he had to make do with one "off the shelf". But after the second time he was able to get a nice wig made special for him and that came in handy the third and final time. Knowing how much it meant to him I have started donating my hair to Locks of Love. The first time I donated 10 inches, then I donated about 11 inches the next time. Thankfully my hair grows fast so I can continue to donate and I did. This time to Pantene's beautiful lengths, www.beautifullengths.com to find out more. I had 9 inches cut this month to add to the million inch chain. How attached are you to your hair? What if you lost your hair? I think of this every time. It's not easy to cut your hair and I tend to hold on to the last moment. But I always feel so much better when I get it cut and know that it is going to serve someone more than it was serving me.
Do something get this year!

Poem by Emily Dickinson, "Hope"

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers by Emily Dickinson.

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Miscellaneous musings

On the house front, we did close on the 30th of November...yippee! No more worrying over that.
I started another blog, www.babystorytime.blogspot.com to keep track of all my baby pictures. And to let others see the cutest kids in the world.
I got a job, posted a few back, and yes it is the kind that I'm just making a paycheck at. I like the people but the "work" part is kind of the same thing as I did before and didn't like. Go figure. But I was in a financial bad way so I'm digging out of that before re-evaluating the future.
My friends in my writers group are doing an attainable goal list for the coming year and I thought about it and as usual don't like to do goals because I tend to lose track of them and only disappoint myself when I realize I didn't do them.
But...I still do it. Am I Masochistic? Probably. (2. gratification gained from pain, deprivation, degradation, etc., inflicted or imposed on oneself, either as a result of one's own actions or the actions of others, esp. the tendency to seek this form of gratification. definition from dictionary.com)
I'm trying to think about the word attainable. I guess you call things you want to happen and that you can work to achieve goals, but what of dreams? A dream is a wish your heart makes-to borrow from Disney-and I am a DREAMER. I guess that's why I don't normally do the "attainable" kind of goal making. I might make that my goal to work on this year. Do you have goals or are they secretly dreams?
No matter what...have fun and don't settle, at least not for too long.
Love ya and see you with new thoughts and ideas in two thousand and eight!
Kim

Travel goal - Ireland

PS I Love You

I just went to see PS I Love You, and all the ladies know why-Gerry Butler
-but really, the movie was great. I know I'm bias to anything Celtic and we have Gerry playing Irish and a part of the movie in Ireland but the weaving of tears and laughter was amazing. And I think it explained love like I've never heard before with beautiful words given meaning to the emotion. Can't say enough great things about this movie other than go see it!

Finally...

OK, OK. I know I had to bite the big one and do it!
I am now gainfully employed. (Picture of workplace.)
Well, I'm enjoying learning the new job. And the people (including management) are very warm and inviting. The company is small but it has a big heart. I forgot how it feels to be a part of something. I hope things continue to work out favorably. Until the next time...cya

Belated Thanksgiving

I want to take a moment and be thankful for my life, my family & friends, my health and to thank God for being so good to me. Blessings abound.
We tend to forget to be thankful for anything much less the small things we take for granted each and every day. Remember that everyday is a chance to give thanks.
Our new edition this Thanksgiving was Baby Layton, the first baby in the family in thirty-one years. (The now 31 year old is holding the newborn)

Where have I been?

OK so the house got finished and we have accepted an offer, closing is November 30, 2007 so fingers crossed.
I have been able to visit my writers group and friends recently and am glad for that.
Job...still a no go. Big problem as I have no money and serious bills to pay. Guess the interviews next week (at the jobs I really don't "want" to work at) will be good and I'll get a job offer. I can always work somewhere horrible for a short while then move on. I just wish I had a dream job that would probably make me really strive to do what ever it takes to have a career. But I don't have that drive or need to do something specific. Do you have that? I used to in high school. I worked very hard to get into a certain school so that I could become a Marine Biologist. That definitely didn't last, when I went away to college, big eye opening experience. And as you may have read in previous post I went to Real Estate Appraisal school and qualified as a Registered Trainee yet can't beg or borrow for a supervisor to accomplish that goal. But I did learn something about myself, I had forgot. I can go back to school and learn new things. That felt good. I have looked into going back to college but again I fall into the predicament of not knowing what I want to do. I know I like to be at home and have a flexible schedule but there aren't a lot of jobs to facilitate those things. I also like to be creative. Again not many jobs seeking creative people to work from home. I do love to travel but have responsibilities at home that I can't be gone from too long.
I'll keep you up to date on what may or may not happen in the next few weeks but do know one thing for sure...I will have to have a job of some sort. Can we say, "Show me the money!"
Until the next time...Bye