Going to the lake sounds like a good idea. At 10am, after I’ve eaten, walked, showered, and have worked a bit. The reality is not exactly the same as I imagined.  3 dogs, a husband, a sister, and a 5 year old, at 3pm is not what I was hoping for. I get razzed for wanting to keep the dogs near by, accused of being crabby because I want to be responsible. I also get frustrated because I don’t know how to get a 5 year old to listen when there are rocks and water involved. Plus there’s good ol’ aunt flo affecting my attitude. 

I love the beach. But I don’t seem to know how to take time and come here myself.  Why do I make myself wait for 5 hours to go with others?  I find it sad that I don’t think of nice things to do with D and I.

I keep fighting who I am. Who I wish I was is not necessarily who I am.  So do I embrace who I am, and just accept it?  Or do I fight myself an try to change my basic nature?  Is that even possible?  Is it healthy?  Where is the line?

As someone in recovery, my basic nature is that of an addict/alcoholic. But every day, I choose to do something different.  It took a long time, but I think that, yes, my basic nature did change, and every day I make a choice to maintain that change.

Today is my 15 year sobriety birthday.  Sometimes it feels like 1 year, sometimes it feels like 100 years.  I definitely find myself contemplating my life every year on this day. 

The last couple of years have really been about finding myself and the next level of growth.  I have to admit, I haven’t done a lot of 12 step work these last few years… But in the past year I have done some major therapy around some pretty deep-seated issues.  I have also discarded a lot of the self loathing and discovered some of the root causes of my depression.  I’ve worked on my ADD, admitting that meds actually are good for me (and those around me!).  I’m trying to be true to the inner me and listen to myself more. 

But most of all… On my sobriety birthday, I remember the people who have made an impact on my life.  Those who carried me when I couldn’t drag myself.  The ones who showed me what healthy relationships looks like.  How a healthy, responsible, and mature woman should act, cause lord knows, i still feel like a gawky, dorky, 12 year old.

Every year on this day, I am so deeply grateful for those relationships and people that have given me strength, love, hope, and love.

Thank You.

This was a pretty big one for me.  We went looking for ruins and such… We found an old building for making charcoal or a smoker… It was most likely to be a cowboy or settler building.

More pics to follow the break…

The Englishman peaking through the door:

There was no roof and it was built into the hill, so I was able to sand outside and on top to get a few pics.

The sky is such an amazing blue…

Here’s a pic heavy post of our first hike.

More pics after the break…

We brought our friend Julie’s dog, Pippen.  He’s a cutie!

The pups have been walking this particular trail since they were really pups!

They even learned to swim in the river here!

I love the hidden vegetation… The low-to-the-ground barrel cactuses and the brightly colored plants hiding between the rocks. 

First off… I have 3 blog posts that are sitting on my hard drive.  Unfortunately, that drive is on the counter, waiting for the external drive enclosure.  I’m hoping that I can get a little bit of data off of it… I had a crash last week…

Anyway…

I got my cell phone bill today.  When I opened it, it was ridiculously expensive… again.  I had a couple of questions about my bill, so I called AT&T.  The fella who helped me was very friendly and helpful, even when I was cranky and a little sarcastic (who, me?)  I mentioned that I regretted switching to AT&T just for my iPhone, that my cell phone bills have just gotten worse and worse, and how much would my early termination fee be?

He started asking what I switched from and what my plan was like.  I honestly don’t remember exactly what my plan was, but I confidently told him that I has 900 minutes, 2 lines, and one of them was a blackberry with data for about $90. I asked if he could look at my usage and if there was a way we could lower our bill.  He said that there were not any cheaper plans that he could offer, but if I would speak to a customer satisfaction rep they maybe could offer me a better plan.

Wow…  Really? 
I just mentioned Early Termination, and I’m whisked off to someone who will “hook me up?”
Yep.  Really.

I was transferred to another gal.  She was able to offer me a plan that doesn’t really even exist!  I’m saving $20 a month! 

I think AT&T must be feeling the pinch.  They seem to be very willing to help you save money when you start talking early termination!

Here’s some idea of the plan switch:

Average monthly minutes for the last 6 months: 789 / month

The Englishman was happy to hear I’m saving money… but just wait until I hand him this month’s bill.

More pics …

Keira is my 4.5 year old niece.  I’m betting she’s going to grow up to be a rock star, an actress, or a neurosurgeon… or all of the above.  My job is to make her as geeky as possible.  She talked, I typed.  heheh

Niece Keira: Hello.  My name is Keira and I like to  play always.  Not really always.  Can I play right now please?  After I do this, whatever it is I’m doing.

Auntie: Why don’t you tell people what you did today?

Niece Keira: I went swimming.  We went went and looked at sunken boats and went looking at the eagles nest.  But we couldn’t find the nest.

Auntie: Is there anything else you want to tell us about yourself?

Niece Keira: I don’t know.  I like to play always.  And I take a break to eat. 

Now Keira will type something:  mhlaspoiqfgjh,i.  

It’s Labor Day weekend.  It’s probably the nicest weekend we’ve had all summer.  It’s in the 70’s, sunny, the lake has finally warmed up enough to stay in it more than 3 minutes. 

Our friend brought us out on the Lake in his boat.  What an adventure… heh.

I woke up way too early for a Sunday morning and got ready.  Grabbed the snorkel kits, the snacks, and thank god… the wetsuits. 

We drove 45 minutes to J’s cabin.  Then find out the boat’s battery isn’t fully charged.  So… while J charges the battery, we head into town to grab some sandwiches then all meet up at the marina.  J gets the boat in the water… the engine still won’t start.  So we putter over to a friend’s dock to charge the battery.  Oh yeah… and grab a kid’s pfd because we forgot the niece’s.

Finally…

We take off! 

The boat’s roaring over the water.  The lake is a deep blue-green.  The waves make it a romping, rolling ride.  I’m giggling like I haven’t giggled all summer.

And then the engine dies…

Thank god for the tiny trolling engine.  That saved the day!  We putted over to a sunken schooner.  The Englishman and I put on our wetsuits and snorkeled above it, checking out the wreck.  It was pretty cool.  We could see a diver down in it as well.  I love Lake Superior. 

Then we puttered around an island, looking for an eagles’ nest.  We didn’t find it, but it was a beautiful island to see.

After another hour of puttering back… we finally make it back to shore.  Stop for ice cream.  Head home. 

I’m wiped out.

That’s enough Laboring for this Day.

So here’s the story of this summer…

We packed up everything we own, rented a U-Haul and headed to the UP. 

We looked for a house to buy, but couldn’t get a mortgage because we’re both self-employed in a new state. 

We looked for a house to rent, but it had to meet certain criteria:

• Have high speed internet – Cable, or DSL if necessary.
• Have room to store our toys: Camper, ATV, & flat bed trailer.
• Allow Dogs and a Cat.
• Not be a college house. (it’s a college town, so a lot of rentals are trashed or apartments)
• Be under $1000 a month.

We couldn’t find a rental.

Meanwhile, we’ve been staying in our camper on my dad’s property. 

The first month was great.  I got to see my niece almost daily.  The dogs love my dad.  The Englishman had time to build a custom canopy for the back of our camper.  (Check it out!)  And I set up an office at my dad’s house to build my online businesses.

The second month we were stressed.  We still didn’t have a place and we needed to make some decisions. 

It was time to get outta the box.

We are both self employed.  Me, the designer and e-commerce queen, him, the software developer.  Neither of us looking forward to a long, dark winter living in an apartment we don’t like.  We put our heads together and tried to look for alternatives…

We decided to go mobile for the next year! 

So we started looking for a truck bed camper to turn into a mobile office. 
Boy, that was harder than we imagined.  Try finding a truck bed camper that’s reasonably priced, that fits’ a full-sized short bed truck!  We looked and looked!  Finally, I found one in Wisconsin on Craigslist!  For FREE!  The woman was friendly, she was an older woman who just wanted it out of her yard.  She said everything worked fine and it was in good condition.  But her son was staying in it. Could we wait a week? Sure!

We waited a week.

Her son’s wedding in Vegas was cancelled, we would have to wait another week.

We waited another week.

(I forget, but I think we even waited another week in there somewhere.)

Ok… We can come pick it up.

We went.  It was a 6 hour drive.  One way.

When we arrived, after driving through a small town and out into the country, I thought I could faintly hear dueling banjos in the distance.  It was in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin.  We pulled in.  There was a 50-something skinny man, sitting in an old lawn chair.  When he smiled at us, his few yellowed teeth shone in the sun.  His mother ambled out of the trailer.  We said our hellos and she walked us over to the camper.  My excitement faded as I saw the sag in the the cab-over part.  We walked around to the door.  Mold and mildew was rotting at the bottom corners.  When we opened the door it was FULL of her’ son’s stuff.  He hadn’t moved anything out. 

With as much tolerance, patience, and dignity I could muster, I told her that the camper was just too big for our truck and that it was a bigger project than we could take on at the moment.

We drove home.

The third month, we compromised.

We decided a truck camper wasn’t necessary and a truck bed cap would work, hopefully a contractor’s type cap. 

Again, having a short bed truck posed a problem.  No luck finding one.

By the end of the third month, we didn’t care. 

We are going to head out in a few weeks.

I’ve searched and searched, and haven’t found either a suitable truck camper or a truck cap.  But we’re going anyway.  We’re going to search en route and just be flexible. 

My online businesses have been steadily doing better and better.  I’ve created a “transportable” office out of a vintage suitcase and some memory foam.  I’ll post about that soon.  We’ve got a campsite reserved for the entire month of October in Utah.  And before that, we’ll head to NC for a couple of weeks. 

After Utah… Who knows…

But this weekend, I’m heading out in a boat on Lake Superior.  I’ll enjoy the couple of weeks I have left here.

So… I wanted a blog that looks like a blog.  Something simple and cool.
I “wasted” a day on this… So let me know what you think?

I think I just like designing more that I actually like writing.
I can’t type as fast as I can think, and that just frustrates  me.

But I am going to try to be more vigilant with blogging.  Maybe I’ll spend the first 30 min at the computer in the morning blogging… That would be interesting!  See what happens in my head while waiting for the caffeine and the ADD meds to kick in!  hehehe!