Almost

My friend's mother passed away last year and my friend asked me to go through some the mother's stuff to see if it was of value.  I said sure, especially since now I have a lot of free time on my hands.  Well the other day she sent me a picture she found in the garage and asked me to look into it.  I could not find anything so I asked yesterday if there was a signature and so she sent me it to me.  It took a little bit this morning but I identified the signature of that of JH Sharp, a well know artist that was based in Taos, NM.  As I was looking around I found an article of someone who has a JH Sharp painting in their home, did not know the value, brought it to the Antiques Roadshow, and it was appraised it for $400.000.  I was like WOOHOO.  I was less excited about the value but more excited over possibly finding a treasure!  I love stories like that although I wish on one of my Salvation Army visits I could true Faberge egg or something like that!  Well long story short she sent me the original picture the other day and I only looked at it on my phone.  I did not realize that it was just a lithograph not a painting.  I said she still needs to have it checked out.  I know lithographs can do well also but there are so many variables.  I was still a bit excited but not as excited when I thought it was an actual painting.  In my text to her today I wrote, "I liked this game better when it was a $400,000 painting -lol".  Oh well :) 

Always A Challenge

When one door closes then another one opens.  I have kinda come to hate that fucking expression.  Things were really looking bright for 2015.  I thought I had finally gotten things lined up but now I no longer have my part time job.  Cut backs do to poor store sales and I am below part time and full time so off they sent me.  Although I did a good job I always knew I was totally disposable, everyone working there is just a number and they know it.  They get a regular customer satisfaction score and it was always in the toilet overall for the whole store even though I got numerous 10's (the best possible score).  One month I got 8 surveys on me rated as a 10.  Management does not want to see that since everyone knows they are nothing but a number it reflects in the overall score being sucky.  No one cares because they are not cared about.  Anyway I can't solve their problem and just need to focus on my own.  I am scared because the money really, really helped but I still have my full time job and it is going well.  I was getting tired of working so much so maybe the universe is saying I need a break.  I absolutely know I need to focus on my weight too as it is atrocious.  I can get by on my day job it just keeps me on a tight, tight budget which I am used to.  I do have eBay stuff I can post.  I can get back to that.  I enjoy doing that.  I dunno, so many doors but I will figure out which one to open.  

Academic Challenge

Carla drives a bus for Escondido school systems.  She had to drive some kids from one high school in town to another high school in town so she had me meet her downtown for dinner.  We got sandwiches and it was good to see her.  BUT the super awesome part was the high school kids she was driving were having an Academic Challenge.  I love Academic Challenge because it is really just trivia and I am so good with random, useless knowledge.  Just ask Matt - we played trivia at the bar and he was surprised at both how good I was and how competitive it made me.  The school it was in was where they used to make the local newspaper and they just converted it over to a school.  We went in to check it out.  It was cool to see the building being re-purposed - made me happy.  But then we went into the actual challenge to watch it for a bit and I was in heaven - was sooooo awesome.  They were two teams of nerds.  One team of nerds had matching polo shirts with their embroidered logo and we super competitive.  The other team was just a bunch of super awkward high school kids -- I was dying!  The professional looking team was the team that Carla drove and they were kicking butt.  The awkward kids were super bad.  That team was made up of 5 kids - 4 girls and a boy.  The boy sat at the end and totally did not interact with the girls at all and kept making faces at how hard all the questions were (and they were!).  He was so funny.  You totally knew that girls begged him to be on the team that day because they were short a person and would not have been able to complete otherwise LOL.  The really good team had alternate players and everything.  They kept swapping out players like it was the super bowl.  The questions were so hard but I was trying to guess them - oh I so wanted to be on that stage with a buzzer!!!  This was all serious business and there were parents and students in the audience cheering the teams on.  I was trying sooooo hard not to be loud and make a disturbance when they were asking the questions but that is usually a difficult feat for me in general never mind when I am all excited over something like this.  How crazy fun that all turned out to be.  The team Carla drove won big team but of course I was rooting for the rag tag team cuz everyone loves an underdog.

National Cheese Lovers Day

National Cheese Lovers Day (which is today 01.20.2015) seems like an odd day to return but it is as good a day as any, especially since I went to the discount grocery outlet and get this huge wheel of brie for only $3.99.  That is almost 2 lbs of brie!!!  So not good for my waistline but a treasure and indulgence that I will enjoy.  Money is still a little crazy but hey I can afford to snack on brie lol.  

OK so where have I been for 4 months?  I guess the short answer is here.  2014 was very, very, very difficult year for me.  I could not think or write anymore.  People say I should write whatever I think but this is public so I cannot.  I can say again that my last company threw me for a huge loop and so caught me off guard when they let me go.  Then I had to work on money and still do not have that totally resolved but am getting there.  Now I have been at my new job for 6 months and am very, very happy there but everyday I think - what happens if I get the rug pulled out from me again?  I have zero magic tricks left and that makes me nervous.  

But I look back and I made 2014 work somehow.  My part time job and eBay.  I so sold the shit outta eBay and it saved me.  It was a lot of work.  I felt scared for so long it just made me numb.  But on a better note, how did I end the year???  I went to Massachusetts for Christmas!  Oh it was so awesome.  It had been over a year and a half since I was there and that was just way too long for me.  I loved every single second of it - every second.  I missed my mother A LOT and she missed me even more.  I talk with her regularly but seeing someone is different.  I spent sooooo much time with my nieces and nephews and it was fantastic.  We talked and ate and laughed and enjoyed!  I also got to see so many friends.  Has been hard to make real friends out here - REAL friends like I have back there.  Judy even came and spent Christmas with my loco family and she survived.  Made me happy to have her there and spend time with her but also for her to see firsthand why I like my nutty family so much and so enjoy seeing them.

I am even more energized because I already have my tickets to return in June.  I had some points that I used so got a super deal.  This is great news because I will able to see both my nieces graduate from high school this year.  It make me happy to be there for moments like that.  I cannot wait.  Ok so I will write more soon.  I am feeling more excited about writing and have stuff to say again. I just don't wanna say it all in one big post.  I have to pace myself.   

Sad Day

Today is Michelle's birthday and she is at the hospital visiting her father.  He has been ill for a while and now has pneumonia.  She said she thinks "this is it".  It makes me sad to think that once on this very day they were also in a hospital together and yet it was so completely different.  So bittersweet.  I told her that time is a friend that constantly stabs you in the back.  I just hope he is comfortable.  I know it is hard for her but I also know he is happy she is there.  Man birthdays were just so difficult this year.

The Shape of Things

I saw this crosswalk sign and it killed me.  Right away I noticed that he has a shape just like I do!!!  How funny is that - no more stick figures - lol.  Seriously I have been super bad with diet and exercise this year, maybe because of the stress but probably some laziness too.  Things are going well and so I am going to refocus on that area now.  I may never be a stick figure but can find a happy middle ground.

National Bow Tie Day

Today is my friend Judy's birthday.  Man, August is an exhausting birthday month - mine, 3 nieces, and my friend - not to mention Belinda Carlisle and Madonna.  I guess it is a good thing that I love birthdays especially mine.  This year I was off and so I went to Mexico to have Chinese food and see a movie with my friend Oscar.  It was a good day.  Chinese food is sooooooo good in Mexico (how odd is that) and tickets to the movies are only $5 each - woohoo.

Well back to today.  Judy is not fond of the b-word, which is fine, we all have our things and I know plenty of other days she loves, like Halloween.  About a week ago I found out that today, August 28th, is National Bow Tie Day - how great is that?  Bow ties are fun.  I have never rocked one but I did learn from youtube how to tie one because I get asked that at my part time job.  I look at them and perhaps one day I will give it a try but for now I am just an admirer of them.  Well I told Judy this and that I would instead wish her a happy Bow Tie Day -- how is that for a loop hole?!?  Well it turns out that she had a wonderful Bow Tie Day and thoroughly enjoyed herself, even though she had to work.  This makes me very happy for her.  Bow Ties are fun and make you smile and she had a smile today so what more could I, or anyone, want.