I haven’t been writing in here very often these days. I am not sure if this is here just for me or if anyone will ever read what I write. 

It is now 2025, time has gone so quickly. The Dumpster lied his way back to the Presidency and is completely wrecking everything. I am sick over it. I’m not even sure what the future will bring, or if we even have a future. 

In the meantime I am going to rent an apartment in Milwaukee to have some fun. So there is that. Stay tuned. 

Life update

December 15th 2016

I've got a day off due to my classes being cancelled because of a children's Christmas program. It's nice to just chill out around the house!

Things that have been going on lately:
My Uncle Louie passed away from a horrible lung disease and the funeral was yesterday. Mom and Bill came up and stayed with JoJo. We then hung out at Tim and Kris's house for wine snacks and soup. It was so nice.

The election: Well, having Donald Trump elected President has been the most hideous political catastrophe that I have ever seen in my lifetime. I have been extremely depressed and sick to my stomach and taking Xanax much more than normal. There is just so much I could say about the whole thing, but I just can't.

Xmas is coming up and Shannon and Laney and Kepler are coming home as are Hilary and the kids so that is really great! I decided that I can't do the whole 2 families here anymore so Lil is taking over this year in their big Victorian home. A big Load off my shoulders for sure. Next year since Shannon and Laney won't be coming up, I think I will just visit them in November and then go to Florida for Christmas. Maybe we could even get Hilary's family down there too.

The house is still in need of a lot of work but I still love living here in town! And the house!

I have not written in a long while. A lot has happened. My husband and I bought a house in the city and gutted it,  renovated and added an addition to it, so we've been busy! I was very lonely living in the country and wanted to move back into town for quite a few years. We finally moved in October. We still have a lot of work to do on this house but it is finally livable and we were able to have our family home for Christmas!

Another new thing is that I decided to stop coloring my entire head of hair. I had to go in for Touchups every month and wondered what that chemical was really doing to my scalp etc. I went to the Beauty Shop school and they did what they call, low lighting and high lighting so that my natural color growth won't be quite as noticeable. So far, I really like it. So Barbie is going natural (gray) haha!

The other thing is that Barbie is now 60! How did that happen? Life is going way too quickly. I'm afraid that I won't have time to do all of the traveling and other things that I wanted to do. I feel that I need to continue working until I am 65 and on Medicare. In the meantime since I am self employed, I have to pay for everything.

At least I am enjoying good health. Knock on wood!

Thoughts for today:

I really admire my daughter Hilary. She really puts herself out there for all to experience. She is beautiful, creative, intelligent, a wonderful loving mother, daughter and friend to all who know her. I am really very proud of her in every way.

I wish I had more time to be creative. I have so many ideas of things that I want to do. It's kind of mind boggling to me. I must say that I am getting a little bit more done lately, so that's a good thing and I shouldn't bash myself so much.

I made three pillows for a woman's son who has autism. We had a lovely conversation and she really seems like an incredible woman. This young man is 30 years old and is non-verbal, but she's got him living in his own home with round the clock help and a dog and his own business of making dog treats. She also raised 5 other children! I think this woman is amazing!

I feel ready for a short vacation by myself. Planning to go to New Orleans in November to visit my son Shannon and wife Laney. Can't wait!

Need to see my friends more often.

Love the Autumn weather, warm days, cool nights.

This has been a long winter. It is the end of March and we still have a lot of snow. There has been a lot of ice and two of my friends fell and broke their wrists. I have a lot of compassion, since I broke mine two years ago. Because of all the ice, I haven't been out walking much and really feel like a slug. I have 5 pounds to lose. I hope the ice leaves soon so I can get back to the routine!

We have lived in this house 13 years. It's the longest I have lived anywhere. I feel pretty grounded here. We have been toying with moving back into town, but every time I look at a house, I come home liking my home much better. I'm kind of psyched to fix up and decorate a new place, if the right one comes along. I'd really like to build a house, something energy efficient.

I like change. Haven't had much change lately, but maybe I'm getting to a stage in life where I want to stay where I'm at. I like what I do for my work, I can't imagine being with anyone other than my husband, and our home is good. Is this an age thing? Perhaps.

So, here is the update on my supposed dairy allergy. As you can see, I am enjoying a Brandy Alexander on a recent Birthday celebration. By chance I was listening to a program on Public Radio where they were talking about studies of taking calcium supplements and how it can affect some people's digestive system. Well, I have been on Calcium since my doctors have been prescribing it for many years, as they do most women. I stopped taking the supplement and BINGO, I can now eat dairy with no problems! I could have possibly gone the rest of my life, not realizing it was the calcium supplement and not the dairy!

Birthday gift from Granddaughter Leta!
So, for my birthday last week, My daughter and family come over and she has a present which she quickly explains was Leta's idea. She said Leta (8 years old) knew right away what to get me for a BD present, because "Grandma loves Barbie's" which is so, so true! I still have my original Barbie and the dream house and 2 suitcases full of clothes and Ken, Midge and skipper! Probably THE most fun toys I had and I always wanted Barbie stuff for presents! My BFF Laurie and I would haul our stuff between our houses and set it all up in a bedroom and play for hours! Wish there was video of that!
Well, Leta and I had to play Barbies of course, so I got out a fairly recent 14 years ago, "Gift shop Barbie" that Rich gave me for our first Christmas while dating. My co-workers at Conkey's bookstore used to call me that. Leta was gift shop Barbie and I was Holiday Barbie pretending to be buying a holiday dress. My Barbie to her Barbie, "So what do you think of this dress." Her Barbie, "Oh that is really beautiful" On it went choosing a purse and jewelry to go with the dress, until we became best friends! My Barbie said "we should hang out together", her Barbie paused and said "Well, you won't be able to come to my house, because my parents are alcoholics, and they smoke cigarettes and my dad was in prison!" Imagine my Barbies shock to hear this about her new friend! My Barbie asked her if she wanted to stay with her family because her mother was awesome and made her favorite meals all the time and her dad was great and took her to movies and bought her the biggest box of popcorn. My Barbie said, "why don't you call your parents and ask them if you can stay with us?" Her Barbie says, "Well, I don't think I'll ask my parents, I think I'll call my Grandma instead?" LOL! The most fun ever!