Neil’s CharlotteFive.com project has taken off like gangbusters and has been fun to help out with (I do some minor editing/proof-reading for him from time to time). And as proof of that, a local publication recently stole some of his work..maybe borrowed is a better term? While on the surface hearing about it made me angry, I am also proud.  It means his work is doing what he wants it to do…get folks reading his site and promoting the local talent. So YAY for that! (And BOO for lazy media “professionals”.)

I need to get out and work on my photography more. I’ve hauled my camera with me on my business trips, but weather and work project deadlines have kept me pretty much chained to my hotel rooms in the evenings. I am hoping after this next week some of that will let up. I will be in some lovely areas of PA at the end of the month and hope to have time to get some photos of some of the historic areas of the towns I will be visiting.

Work has been crazier than ever – working late nights and weekends…the industry has been turned on its head and we are all just trying to keep up. Things should  settle back to a dull roar here in the next week or two for a little while anyway. Of course, that is right when my CRCM prep classes start, so really there won’t be much break in the hours dedicated to the job. The exam is in April 2012. If I pass I will officially be a “Certified Risk and Compliance Manager”. It does not mean I will be a manager (thank goodness – managing people is not my cup of tea), but the designation should help with future employment and pay. I hope.

Last night we took Moo out to the USNWC to see our friends, Overmountain Men, play. It was the first time I’ve actually heard them play and loved it! Moo was incredibly well-behaved – there were just two snarly/growly incidents when dogs got too “close”. She didn’t bark at any people which was the biggest relief. I think I will keep taking her whenever we can make it out there…I hope this sort of environment (largely unstructured, people and dogs having a nice time) will help her get over her fears or whatever it is that sets her off.

I think that’s about it for now…

Here it is:  photochro.me

Several photo galleries are available via the page tabs at the top of the site. Posts are dedicated to new photoadventures – my layout plan is to include a short “blurb” about the trip or the subject matter or…whatever…and then a single photo followed by the gallery behind a cut to keep the home page from getting too out of control.

I’d appreciate any feedback, comments, suggestions as the entire site is still a work in progress (though, I think I’ve got most everything set up the way I want it now). My only significant outstanding project for it is to find a good lightbox viewer. The one I have installed is OK, but it needs to be updated to work properly with the latest WordPress build. Hopefully the creator will do that soon.

And I suppose it is about time for me to dust off my running blog and get back into that…both writing and the actual running. I dread it. I am back at square one. But there will be more about that after this weekend on Thirteen Miles.

Also, while I am pimping other blogs, you all should check out Neil’s new project: CharlotteFive  As he describes it: 1 Band, 1 Show, 5 Pictures, 5 Questions at a time. His goal is to showcase local artists and try to help promote the local Charlotte music scene. We’ve already met some darn cool people through this and it seems to be growing quickly! I look forward to seeing where it takes him (and me).

First, I’d like to officially welcome Mila to the world!

She is an absolute doll – tiny by our family standards. She was only 7 lbs, 4 oz when she was born, but the same length as Caleb (20″)!

Speaking of Caleb…he has turned into a little man already. I am missing so much not living closer and getting to see him more often. He is the happiest kid I’ve ever met.

It seems he is adjusting really well to having Mila around. I could tell while I was there was right about the time it was starting to sink in that she wasn’t going to “go away”. Poor guy. He had a couple melt-downs, but mostly I think he was overtired…we did a lot of running around and visiting folks while I was there and he didn’t get a very good nap most days.

He was never 100% sure about me while I was there, but we had a blast regardless (as long as mom, dad, or grandma was near-by).

The real heart-breaker was having my sister text me the other day telling me that he has asked for me. I really wish airfare would come back down to Earth so I could plan more trips home each year (or have them come out this way). Hopefully next spring we will be able to work out a big family trip to the beach with my mom, Amy & Nick, the kids, and Neil (and the dogs)…we’ll see!

Anyway…this weekend I am going to measure the length of all the shelves in each closet and head out to Lowes or Home Depot and find some deeper shelving. I am certain they  make “pantry” shelving that has the wires closer together so smaller items don’t topple over. And I think it is 18″ deep. It will be so nice to not have to fold spare blankets into tiny rolls to fit them on the shelves! And the extra room it will create in the kitchen is much-needed.

I already found some cool, stackable metal and bamboo shelves at Costco for the coat closet. Since there is little need for coats most of the year here, the coats got moved to the guest closet and with the new shelves, and I am now storing kitchen appliances in the smaller closet (things I don’t use all that often – the rice cooker, crock pot, ice cream maker, etc.)

My other organization need came from the discovery that I like wine. I really, really like good wine. Really. I’ve accumulated bottles to try and bottles I know I like and have run out of room on my tiny counter rack. On Amazon I found this cool wire wall rack - it is due to arrive today. The impending arrival did spur me to clean up the kitchen. I created more counter space, cleaned out the spice cabinet, and dusted everything (including the disgusting top of the fridge…it had been a while). I was considering putting the rack against the wall at the end of the counter, but after rearranging things I realized that it is just too crowded there. I think instead it will go in one of the corners in the dining room.

Wine. I have never been a huge fan of wine. Reds in particular used to give me HUGE headaches after just half a glass. But then I attended a wine dinner with Neil last year at our favorite Italian restaurant (which is no longer there and makes me cry every time I think about it) and discovered that good wine was…good. Sadly, as with everything else in my life it seems, I have expensive tastes. The wine I liked most ran somewhere around $40 a bottle. Go figure. Since then, I’ve tried other wines at dinners, tastings, etc. and have begun venturing into buying bottles for home. Thankfully, Costco carries nice wines that are well priced and I am working my way down to finding decent wines that are affordable as an everyday thing and not just for special occasions.

So that’s where I am. Once I get the shelves in, the house will be as organized as I can get it. Then it is time to move to the garage – though, that may end up waiting until fall due to the heat and humidity. I’ve rocked along with the Dave Ramsey financial stuff and have started tackling my debt (step two). Go me! Simply creating a true, working budget has helped me feel less stressed about my finances. I don’t feel guilty about spending money on the shelves because I know I am not piddling the rest away. Instead I know that it is going toward the principal on my credit card. I really can’t express what a great feeling that is.

All in all things are pretty good these days. Work is insanely busy. The dogs and cats are all well and have more energy lately than they have in a long time. And I get to go home in another week (and a few days)!!

This past week I got another chance to visit my aunt and uncle down there. This time the review I did was right in their area which was fabulous – I got to stay with them the entire time. I flew down on Saturday, so I also had some weekend/fun time with them. It is so rugged and yet peaceful out there. Hotter than blazes and I am hoping for rain for them (the area is at stage 2 drought conditions), but not humid and the evenings and mornings were very nice.

My dad still owns a lot down there…and I wouldn’t mind living there someday. Maybe.

Also, in even more exciting news, this week: my sister had her baby! This is baby number two – my niece was born on Thursday. Happy and healthy. I can’t wait to go home at the end of the month to meet her and see the rest of the family. She is quite adorable already!

In less happy news, I am so, so incredibly sad to hear that my friends’ dog was diagnosed with cancer this past week. I am hoping they get some good news about treatment options for him. My heart goes out to them all – I know I would be absolutely devastated if it were one of my own.

And last but not least – TGIF. It has been a long week. I am glad it is Friday and that the work-stuff is almost done for a few days.

I had an awesome weekend of sleeping in (as much as one can with two dogs and three cats who are on their own schedule), napping, and lounging around. I had the weekend to myself and really enjoyed the alone time. I got very little done around here, but I am OK with that. I needed the time to breathe. I feel like lately I have gone non-stop with work and other life stuff. Mostly I think stress has me feeling like that, rather than it actually being the case. Regardless of the reason, the lazy weekend has me feeling better.

Tomorrow (June 1) is the day I’ve chosen to ‘begin again’. That includes just about everything: Organizing and cleaning. Revamping my budget. Eating better. Exercising. Trying to better balance work and personal time. You name it, it is on my list.

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Organization – my house is a mess, especially the garage. Sometime over the next few weeks I am going to tackle getting rid of things I do not need or use and giving it a thorough sweep-out. It is also time for some deep house cleaning: dusting shelves, reorganizing cabinets, etc. I find as my house gets farther and farther into disorder, so does everything else. Or at least it feels like it does. Yes, I am slightly OCD (just ask Neil), but I am OK with that.

Budget – I am re-committing myself to paying off the rest of my debt. I was doing really well with a nice emergency fund saved and then the AC went out…and with it, my emergency fund along with my “fun” money. Time to start over there. I did, however, pay off my truck this spring, so one item down, a few more to go. Along with this is a commitment to no longer use credit. I will pay cash or I do not need whatever it is. I fully expect to be able to support myself and my household on a single income, though for emergencies I may have to ask for help until the debt is gone. I am going to give Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover” a try…I like structure and this definitely has it. I also like that every little thing is completely spelled out. I’m a detail person so I think this will work well for me. Yes, I am sure I could figure out how to do this all on my own, but I am OK with the $12 cost of having someone plan it all out for me and provide me with forms for expenses and budgeting, etc. I am very good at completing forms and following instructions – this way I can focus on what I need to do rather than also trying to formulate the plan to actually do it all.

Diet – holy moly have I fallen off the bandwagon here. This afternoon and evening I am purging the house of any junk food. There is plenty of healthy food in the freezer so all I really need is to get to the store for some fresh veggies. Mostly I just need to get off my tush and start cooking real meals again. Thankfully I haven’t gained a ton of weight, but I have definitely gained size. I feel it when I put on my pants and shirts for work. (All my casual clothing is oversized and elastic waisted so I don’t notice as much when wearing them.) I also need to work on reducing my sugar and carb intake, but most of that will get taken care of as I get rid of the junk food.

Exercise – another bandwagon that I’ve let run over me. I don’t really have a plan here yet…I will work one out this week. I simply know that I need to start out slower than I did last time to avoid another stress fracture (or other injury). Walking first. Then we’ll move on to running. I still want to get a gym membership, but due to personal budget restrictions, that is really going to have to wait until next spring. *sigh* This week, I will get over to the Whitewater Center to get my pass thing activated…I still plan to take kayaking lessons.

Life Balance – this is an ongoing struggle for me. My job requires a considerable amount of travel and due to the new banking regulations being thrown at us, it looks like that is going to increase again for a few months. I am tired of never being here, but I am also spoiled by the flexibility allowed by my job when I am home. I don’t think I could go back to working an office job (unless I absolutely had to, of course). There may be new opportunities coming due to these new requirements, though, so I am going to see what pans out there. And I am sitting for my CRCM next April which will help open some other doors as needed. I do feel better knowing things are finally happening which will help facilitate my being able to find another ultra-flexible position with less travel required. (I don’t mind some travel, but the every week thing has to go in the next year.)

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So there ya have it. Time to get back on track and some general plans for doing exactly that. I don’t have any deadlines or due dates or the like because I want to eventually make these things everyday practices. And eventually, I think I can, but it isn’t going to happen if I never start.

One last note: I am sooooo excited to go home at the end of June. I miss my sister and can’t wait to meet my new niece. And Caleb has grown up so much in the last year, I can’t wait to re-introduce myself to him, too. YAY!

I am so excited! Giddy, actually. I can’t wait to meet my new niece, see my sister, and re-meet my nephew (who is now, by all reports, a little man!). It will also be good to see the rest of the family. I miss my sister terribly and hate that I am missing out on so much by living all the way across the country. If I could just figure out how to get them to move farther this way…

My mom was just out here for a visit the week following Mother’s Day. In fact, she arrived the morning of Mother’s Day, so we got to celebrate together. It was a great week – we potted up some plants for the patio, filled bird feeders, and just hung out and talked and drank. A lot. LOL!

Summer has pounced upon us. This past week temperatures jumped up into the 90′s and have stayed up there. Hot, humid, and little to no rain, though that part may change going into tomorrow. Ugh. The heat I don’t mind so much, but I really struggle with the humidity part.

Tonight we head back out to the US National Whitewater Center for their weekly River Jam event . Leadville Social Club is playing tonight – our friend Bill plays bass for them. I am really looking forward to it. We went while my mom was here to check it out and had a great time (at least I did), though, I forget who was playing. There were tons of dogs there as well, so tonight we are going to take Sadie along to join in the festivities! I am sort of bummed that Moo is so unpredictable around other dogs (and people) because I would really love to take her along, too. Maybe someday.

That is about all that is happening here these days. Today I worked from home conducting meetings by phone…my least favorite thing to do, but sometimes it is unavoidable. And at least I didn’t have to travel to do it!

I hope everyone has a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend!

I need to vent. Rant. Rail. Whatever the correct term may be…but I need to get some of this out. I feel like I have plunged down into an ever-deepening pit and can’t seem to crawl my way back out.

It really all started this winter with the stress-fracture in my leg. I had to stop running. In the process, I seemed to stop doing everything. Or at least stop caring about much of anything. I quit blogging. I quit eating right. I quit cleaning my house (except for the very basics like dishes, general vacuuming, laundry). I quit being nice to my boyfriend (sorry, honey).

This Spring there was a period where I seemed to finally be coming back up into the light – I paid off my truck (woohoo!) and I wanted to join a gym where I could hire some extra one-on-one help and have access to low-impact machines like ellipticals and bikes so I could get stronger before jumping right back into pounding on my bones (which apparently don’t like that much when it happens all at once). I was semi-motivated to get back into things. Those ideas were all fine and dandy until my AC crapped out (see previous entry). That set me back every red cent I had set aside for “extra” stuff.

Once again I feel like I am deeper  than ever in this hole. I am not sure how, or even if, I will be able to fund my trip home in June to meet my new niece and see my family. I definitely can’t join a gym any time soon. And let’s just hope there aren’t any medical emergencies or car emergencies in the coming months.

I try to be proud of the fact that I live (mostly) on a single income. I take care of my menagerie (they are my kids), own my vehicle outright, and own my home (rather the bank does, but I do an excellent job of paying them for it a bit at a time). However, doing all that on a single income is no easy task and leaves little room for extras and can be close to devastating when unexpected large expenses come up. I should add that I do not have large savings because  I’ve been digging myself out of self-inflicted debt…and I’m almost there! But not using credit makes things that much tighter in the process.

Now I feel like I am starting over again at square one. It is frustrating, somewhat overwhelming, and in general makes me wonder why I try at all…especially when looking at all the “entitled” folks out there these days that I am also supporting. But I won’t get into too much political debating here. I feel like throwing in the towel, opening a new credit card account and saying ‘screw it’.

I won’t. But I want to.

Maybe someday I will find an exceedingly wealthy sugar-daddy who will support me financially and with whom I will never have to worry about money again…but that day isn’t anywhere in the near future.

In the meantime, I need to find some motivation to start taking care of myself again. At the very least, to start eating right. Maybe I’ll even find the energy and will-power to get out and walk. And I will go back to scrimping and saving until I have a new emergency fund established. Maybe next year the gym will happen. Heck, maybe next year I’ll meet the guy who owns the gym and not have to worry about it at all!

Thanks for reading my pity-party. I’ll get through and over it just fine…I know this, but it still helps a lot to get it out.

P.S. I also need to start taking pictures again. Just sayin…

P.S.S. Must also get Whitewater Center pass thing activated so I can use it…

My AC went out again. Second time in less than five years. Last time was just the motor starter thingy. This time its the entire compressor. It was also out of freon, but thankfully, it seems the leak is also part of the compressor problem and the system appears OK everywhere else. The guy said it looks like it got fried during one of the storms. Who knows. I guess I need to see if my insurance will cover it if that is the case. Thankfully it was nice and cool here last night and should to stay below 80 until they can come back to do the work on Monday.

The kicker is that there is still a small possibility that something else caused the compressor to fail, but no way to know that for sure until it replacement is done. Neato eh? So the whole deal is bordering between just replacing this part or the entire system.

I am really bummed today. (It’s been a bad week even before this…this is just the cherry on top of it all.)

I have been sick this week – no idea what to even call it. Sort of a mono-type thing where I’ve been exhausted to the point of falling asleep in the middle of doing things and have had monstrous headaches and body aches. I slept most of yesterday. I feel slightly better today in that I don’t feel like I am going to give myself a concussion from my head hitting the desk while passing out asleep. I still have a monstrous headache and am really tired. It has made me extra crabby and irritable. Getting woken up by barking dogs after 10pm and having annoying alarms going off in the morning didn’t help with the grumpy-ness. And I’ve fought to get my work laptop booted up for the past two hours. It seems to finally be functioning.

This weekend I have a bunch of things to do:

• Moo to the vet: It is time (actually way past time) for her annual check-up and shots. She also needs some allergy medicine to help with her itchy ears. Spring has sprung around here.
• The Y: I am going to finally get myself over to the local Y to check it out. I might even be so adventurous as to join if it is a decent facility.
• US Whitewater Center: I need to get the pass my dad bought me activated and such. Thankfully the weather has been pretty much yucko since he was here so I have not missed out on anything over there.
• Doggy-sit: My neighbors are heading up to the mountains for the day so I get to have their pups come hang out at my house. It will be mayhem and madness around here, but they will all love it. If I can get any of them to hold still long enough I will try to get some photos.

Right now I need to get caught up on work-stuff. And I have all kinds of conference calls today. I am so glad I am not traveling next week…