Update to Bobby Pins post

I wanted to do an update on my bobby pins post - that post has generated the most comments on this blog!

Once I started really noticing them, picking them up, pointing them out - I of course slowed way down on the sightings.  I hardly ever see one anymore.

And I find that the most bizarre thing of ALL.

To go from finding hundreds of these things - seriously I had them in a bowl until I got completely grossed out and tossed them - to finding NONE AT ALL?  Completely weird.  I actually miss seeing them these days.

I still do believe it was a 'pennies from heaven' kind of thing, but I still haven't sussed out exactly who was sending the message.  I believe it was my Great Aunt Kay, because she was a protector of mine when I was a child.  I get the feeling I am well protected from the other side - I just feel a sort of 'arms around me' feeling anymore.  (didn't help when I broke my foot, dammit spirits, where were you then, huh?)

Anywhozle.  That's the update.  Please comment here or on the original post if you have had any experience with this, whether it is bobby pins, pennies, birds, whatever.  I'd love to hear about any stories y'all may have.

**and of course, the day I posted this, I found a bobby pin.  Nicely played, spirits.  Nicely played**

Happy 2019!

*sigh* Another year, another floundering blog on the interwebs.  I'm just going to pretend I haven't abandoned this blog.  If I can believe it, you can too.  Just try!

We moved back to Maryland (Lexington Park, land of absolutely nothing) in March of 2018.  Looks like we will be moving back to San Diego in March of this year.  And let me tell you one thing.  One real, true thing.

I AM DONE MOVING

I mean it.  NO, srsly this time, I mean it.  I mean it so much that we are IN FACT buying a house in San Diego.  Planted, that's what I want to be.  Since Jeff and I have been together we will have moved 6 TIMES.  That's not taking into account the 30-plus times I moved in my 20's and 30's.

I AM DONE MOVING

There.  I said it again, I mean it.  

But there is a twist to this!  And this twist is we are buying not a brick and mortar home, but instead a mobile home in a retirement community there in San Diego.  A double-wide.  A DW in SD.  Is there still a stigma about people living in a mobile home park?  Am I now White Trash?  Discuss.

It will be a newer one, with a nice deck and a tiny yard.  Because I am Positive Energy-ing that into reality.  Also, we will be spending approx. $185,000 on a 3-bedroom 2-bathroom home, rather than the $550,000 it costs in San Diego to get a condo.

More info on that when I have more info.  Still need the work offer letter for Jeff from new company before I can pull the trigger on any moving plans.  Anyone remember 2014 (I think?)  Second verse, same as the first.

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My foot is slowly but Shirley healing.  It only hurts when I first get up in the morning, or if I have been sitting on the floor.  So that's good news.  I'm not feeling so shaky on my feet these days.  I did of course just break my pinky toe, so don't be thinking I've become graceful at all.  The toe is on the other foot, thank ya Jeebus.

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Living here has been better this time around.  The first time we were here was when I started this blog I think (it was called Devious Integrity in that era). I was so sad and depressed and lonely!  The nothingness of this small town was such a downer.  This time, it's taken me almost a year to start feeling depressed and stir crazy, a new record for me!  I'm fine really, but the boredom really takes a toll.  I go up to Annapolis (Kent Island really) to visit my sister fairly often, that breaks up the monotony a bit.  It's a 2 hour drive, so some planning and mostly overnights have to happen to make the trip.

I tried volunteering at a cat shelter but that turned into a shit show fairly quickly.  The cats were mostly feral and were hissy, they refused to be petted or cuddled (what I imagined doing).  One cat would leap onto your back if you bent over and dig his claws in.  That made cleaning litter boxes (what I really was doing) quite the challenge.  I cannot bend over like that for much time anyway, it hurts my sciatica.  And cleaning cat boxes is a sweaty, smelly, dusty job.  I was perhaps a bit naïve when I began that project, but I certainly didn't expect long hours of cat pee and poop and getting scratched and bit.  So I quit that.

I've kept my Ebay side hustle going.  On my trips up to Annapolis I make stops at the Goodwill or Salvation Army there and buy stock.  It's going well, but as it's just after Christmas business is a bit slower than I would like right now.  

But here we are, mid-ish January, and I'm feeling very down and like life is worthless.  I'm certain the weather has a lot to do with it, but the fact that there is literally NOTHING to do down here but go out to eat or drink really does take a toll.  Jeff is leaving today for two weeks in South Korea, so I may be a drooling blithering idiot by the time he gets back.  I'm thinking this weekend is a good idea for a trip to my sister's.  Yeah, that's the ticket.

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I wont be discussing narcs and my childhood much anymore, I don't think.  I've said as much as I can think of on the subject, and I'm still fully estranged from my step-mother, so there isn't much happening in that area anyway.

I've been spending some time on Baby Center - there is a forum there called Dealing With In Laws (DWIL) that is ALL about narcs and their affect on their children, especially those just having babies.  Because that's when the crazy really comes out to play.  I recommend the site, it's interesting and very interactive.  DWIL Nation <-- there's the linky.

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I think that's about all the news there is!  Now I'm off to read all ya'lls blogs and get caught up.  I noticed Jonsi has quit blogging - I'll miss her bright energy that's for sure.  Anyone else still up and around?

Happy 2018!

Happy 2018!

I successfully let this blog flounder for all of 2017 - but it was a bad year anyway so any posts would have been whiney.  Here's how it went...

In April, I broke my foot.  Like, BROKE IT broke it.  I tripped while walking (on a sidewalk, not running, just walking.  You know, *graceful*) and ended up dislocating my entire big tow away from my foot.  I also broke it  - I had two plates and 11 screws holding it together.  I was consigned to bed rest because I absolutely had to stay off of it.  And it took 6 MONTHS to heal.

One plate and the 11 screws.  Pen added for size comparison

It wasn't the *best* of times.  I finally got a boot to wear and one of those knee scooters to use, so I could leave the house once in while.  Jeff had to come home at lunch every day to walk the dogs - it was a strain there for a while.  In October I had my second surgery to remove the hardware, and I've been relearning to walk ever since.  I'll never wear flip-flops again.

In the midst of all of that, we ended up having to put both our dogs down.  It was traumatic and so sad - they both were just very old and could no longer function well at all.  Charlie began to get aggressive, Fiona went blind and deaf, at any rate, it was a huge blow to lose them both.

We found out in August that Jeff was being hand selected for a job - a job that will be a big life changer for us!  We were told the paperwork was going through at thtat moment, and we should anticipate being in Maryland (again, yes) in November.  I quickly began packing up the house because I would need to get most of it done before my second surgery when I would again be on bed rest.  So, you see, my ENTIRE HOUSE has been packed since September.  No pictures on the walls, second bedroom furniture sold and gone, almost everything in the kitchen packed.  I've been living with one small frying pan and one small pot now for four months, along with a pile of cardboard boxes in my dining room.  Because, see - he IS up for this job, and the paperwork IS going through, but since it's the government the pace has been less urgent than we were given to believe.  Less RUNNING and more of a *stroll*.  Now it's January and we still haven't received the final offer letter yet.  My patience is running thin here.

And the capper of it all - Jeff's brother passed away just before Christmas.  From complications of cancer and all other manner of things.  We just buried him on December 27th.

It's been one shit show of a year.  *clink* here's to 2018, may it rise from the ashes like a phoenix.

So tell me, how did YOUR year go?