Same Ocean, Different Beach

We had a great week at Edisto Beach.  Its a sweet little island in South Carolina.  No hustle and bustle, just families, beach houses and ocean. The actual beach sucked because the beach it self was super short, meaning we were cramped with everyone else on the beach, and the sand was super saturated and shell-covered as hell, resulting no non-optimal beach strolling conditions.  But it had a great bike path all the way around the island and tons of trees and foliage, especially those big cypress trees with the hanging moss.  I took pics on the old Canon A-1, keeping my fingers crossed that they turned out alright.  The food was amazing, but I did not get enough boiled peanuts (my own damn fault).

We had a rainy yet beautiful drive back to Kentucky.  Whats not to love about driving through the Smokey Mountains?  You can't turn around and not see lush green jutting toward the sky. One of these days, we are just going there to vacation. As is expected, I had a  little time to reflect and get some perspective.  Vacation is my new years as far as those things go.  The result is that I feel like I'm too tied into the internet.  I really don't know what to do with myself here anymore.  I know I have some things I want to journal and say but I don't think it makes sense to do it so publicly.  I have even started the process of eliminating myself from Facebook, a challenge that I'm sure just about anyone can relate to. Facebook is something I used to revel in, but I don't get anything out of it but that constant pull to see if anyone sees me.  People just post random shit that I couldn't care less about.  I have over 200 friends, but I only want to hear from about 30 of them.  I know damn well that I could hide everyone, but there's still the issue of my personal damn business out there that makes me nuts, along with the pull of not being present in the world and the ability to just fucking looking up and out once in a while.  All I see when I walk around any public place is people looking down at the their screens and for what purpose? 

When I was a kid on vacation, some of the best parts of the trip were listing to my walkman/discman, reading a book and just looking out the window at the scenery. We drove through mountains, big cities, long bridges and rural beach towns to get to our vacation spots.  My parents took me to various spots on the Outer Banks like Kill Devil Hills to fly kites and for my dad to fly over the dunes and jet ski the sound.  And there's also Nags Head, Kitty Hawk, Avon, Duck, Sunset Beach and Pawleys Island, SC.  They are all treasured memories, even the bad parts.  I'm lucky to have had such wonderfully adventurous parents.  They gave me a world that filled my imagination...an imagination, dreams that are all still fresh in my brain but may be slipping away to make room for all the junk I have been filling it with via the internet.

The result of all of this pondering: I'm pulling out for now.  I don't think I add anything of use to anyone here on this blog for the time being.  At the end of this week, if I haven't changed my mind, I'm going to click the "un-publish" button in blogger.  I'm also going to turn off everything else as well: my old blog Funny Farm, Facebook, tumblr, LinkedIn, podcastin stuff and Twitter. 

I wonder how much brain power and time I'm giving myself.  Maybe that'll be my first post on the next chapter of this or a new blog. In the mean time, put your phone down and look up once in a while, would ya?

Until we meet again, 
Live long and prosper,
Molly

Some Thoughts for Friday

Since I don't have time to record this for the podcast, I'm going to type out these most urgent thoughts for the day: 

1. Scientology is a religion thing created by a science fiction author.  Science. Fiction.

2. Tipper Gore, Democrat or not, can still suck my dick over this and I don't care that she's dating (Damnit, DailyBeast. Stop it.).

3. This is the kind of week that makes me think I can accomplish all of my dreams, far reaching as they may seem.

4. Andy Griffith/Taylor/Matlock was a wonderful man.  I don't' know what his politics were and I don't plan on researching them.  He brought some special things to the arts and I will always treasure him for it.

5. Awkward 12-year-olds can be assholes too, well meaning as they may think they are.  I schooled one at the mall yesterday and it felt kind of good.

6. Facebook continues to be a massive waste of time and I continue to want to break up with it. But breaking the addiction of social media is very, very difficult. 

7. I'm also thinking about shutting down this blog and, after archiving the posts, deleting it forever.  I feel the need to try to take some sort of control over my internet presence, but I'm not completely sure its possible.

Food for thought.  Now, time to go get my kid and load up the car.  Vacation is 14 hours away.

 

Molly's Guide to Vacation Travel Prep

My name is Molly and I love vacation.  I'm now going to provide in gory detail all the things I'm doing to get ready and provide some friendly advice for vacation that may talk you into making an adventure for yourself.


We are looking at a good 10-12 hours in the car in one day with myself, my husband and a 3 year old.  Planning is muy importante! Here's how I'm rocking out this year.

Mental Prep.  Sometimes its hard to separate from the problems of life when we go on vacation.  I'm attempting to plan ahead in this regard. Here's how:

• Get the bills payed early so they aren't hounding you while gone or when you get back.
• Finish up big projects at work or establish a good stopping point, either way, leave it at work. No checking/responding to work emails.  Period.
• Clean your house: Nothing worse than coming home to a dirty house after a likely long journey.  We have house guests while gone, so it will be half dirty, half clean.  Oh well, can't complain with all the free dog sitting, which is a savings of about $500.
• Don't take an online class during your vacation.  Because it sucks.

Car and Travel Prep. In essence, hunting & gathering:

• Scrub out your car, inside and out.  Its very important to make sure the inside of your windows are clean.  They can get scuzzy and hinder your view, especially at night.  Your car is going to be a hot mess when you get back, but at least for the first leg of your journey, it will feel, look, smell good and you'll be able to see. 
• Plan & purchase your road food: This year, we are not eating out as much as we can help it.  I'm packing a loaf of good bread, lunch meat, cheese and condiments.  I might even throw in some pimento cheese. I'll make some sort of potato or broccoli salad. Apples, baby carrots, fruit leathers, water, cokes, juice boxes and maybe some homemade party mix or granola. Utensils, paper towels and many, many wet wipes.
• Kid stuff: Crayons, markers, coloring books/pages, movies, kid apps on the iPad, books, a few baby dolls, snuggle blanket, pillow...that should do it. 
• Adult stuff: I'm loading up the iPod with music (mine and my husbands), some podcasts, books and magazines and both digital and analog cameras to capture the amazing views and my adorable kid. 
• Navigation:  We don't have a fancy navigation device and I don't have a data plan for the iPad, so I'll be printing this info on paper.  Its so easy to make some maps on the computer with all of our travel info included.  I'm going to make a little booklet or three ring binder so we aren't fumbling with 15 sheets of paper.  and constantly wonder where we put it. 

What kind of vacationer are you? Once you get to your vacation destination, the rest is really up to you.  I've learned over the years that there are really two kinds of vacationers: those who chill and those who need constant activities. We are chillers through and through.  If my parents have taught me anything, its how to slow it down and relax while you can because when you go back, it all cranks right back up again.

Next up, I tell y'all how I'm packing the car.

Appalachian T-Bone!

Its almost time to hit the Holiday Road, yet again!  If you've been reading this blog for any period of time, you can glean that I love vacation and road trips (and writing monotonously about it).  If you've been around since this time last year, you also know that last year's vacation wasn't so great.  My husband and I were so very depressed.  He was out of work, we were poor (we still are, but much less) and he and I weren't relating all that well.  My mom and dad gifted us some money and we were able to go, barely.    Little did I know at the time, my dad was going through a major depression and lack of employment as well, and my poor mama was trying to lift up everyone on her own.

Does that suck?  It sucks hard core.

Things have been looking up with a few exceptions.  First of all, I have the most amazing 3 year old a girl could ask for.  My husband, with some great persistence, got a full time job.  It pays decent and has benefits, amen.  He also started a band that is gaining popularity in the indie music scene.  My father, a contractor, got a good gig installing Pella Windows.  He doesn't even have to find the jobs, they find Pella, Pella calls dad.  He was also able to pay off a big tax bill that he's been diligently and painfully paying off for a few years.  Its a major relief for him and will allow him to have some spending cash for the first time in a very long while. The exceptions to all of this are as follows (I'll keep it short): The two hardest semesters of school I've ever experienced, the declining health of my grandparents and the stress my parents have taken on in caring for all of them, depleting any time they may have had for their own personal interests.  Caring for the old people is part of life and I know my sister and I will get our turn.  Its just tough seeing my middle aged parents under so much stress at a time in their lives when they should be playing. 

So, we're now gearing up for vacation and all we can do is hope and pray everyone keeps it together enough for us to get through the week with no disappointing events back at home.  If for any other reason, my parents really fucking need it.

I have had so many great post ideas this week...

But they have all slipped away from my mind.  I usually think of them in the car on the way home from work in the evening, I need to keep my pen and notepad out so I can jot them down. 

 Dang.   I'm so sad that this thought gets its a solo post.

Been Climbin' Out.

I've been spending the last two weeks digging myself out of a hole that I fell in this past fall and it was way deeper than I knew.  For a few days there after summer school ended, it really felt like I'd been gone for a long time and that I needed to get used to being home again.  But not in a fun, post-vacation kind of way.

I'm actually doing things again.  What things, you ask?  Things like cook dinner, watching a lot of TV, exercise, sewing, talking to old friends that I've missed dearly, visiting my family, laughing, playing with the monkey, sleeping, having a drink, day dreaming, taking care of the house, keeping up with the laundry.  These things don't seem that exciting, but when you are consumed by stress of many colors, you forget.

In all of the things I've listed above, there's a few still missing that I'm just not ready for yet: reading books and being more active on my blog/podcast.  I just don't have it in me at the moment, but I'm getting closer.  I guess my tank is empty and needs to be re-filled with experiences, hugs, laughter and contemplation. 

Sadly, I must report that the great Appalachian Roundabout of 2012 won't be happening this summer as far as I know.  The timing is off a bit with Baby Sister's WV visit, which is perfectly fine.  She's off with the Baptists at camp deep in the mountains of WV getting her own personal reboot. I might see if I can talk her in to coming down to KY for a few days next week just to play.  In about two weeks, we head off to the beach in SC.  Its a new place and we're getting excited.  You know me, I love the drive and the sites and the ocean.  Maybe I'll use vacation as my Appalachian Roundabout instead...but I may have to rename it Appalachian T-Bone instead.  I'm just excited to be back in a place where they make fresh boiled peanuts and baby crabs occasionally pinch your toes.  I must see about growing my own peanuts in KY.  Or, well, you know, move east!

Love,
Molly

Little Old White Haired Ladies

Long weekend back in the holler in WV.  Got home Friday evening to find Mom across the yard at the grandparents' house.  My mom is a saint, just for the record.  She takes care of everyone.  Grandpa had low blood pressure, ended up in the hospital on Saturday morning.  He has pneumonia and no lungs to fight it with. I'm going to try to stay positive for mom and dad. Grandma has Alzheimer's and really counts on grandpa to be there as her cornerstone.  I think its how she makes connections. His loss will be tough on her.

All these old boys are passing on leaving a slew of little old white haired ladies.  For a while, they'll have to keep each other company.  That just seems to be how it goes.  And as they pass on or their personalities change, my memories of those times long ago are shifting into a big pile that I have a hard time sorting through. Of course I have to make room for new memories, for my kid.  I am making peace with that because all of what was is a big part of who I am now and what she will be.

I thought I'd be fine after a good night's sleep, but alas I'm more beat up from this weekend than I thought.  But I won't complain too much.  After a full two days of taking care of things with Grandpa, my mom had to go to her mom's house and give her a bath.  Saint.
 

Class Act

It is done. Summer shall now begin.

All those things I've been yacking about, I'mma do now. All that extra brain space can be utilized for writing, traveling, watching TV and drinkin'. And exercise too, of course.

 I'm gonna yuck it up real good.


I think I might even throw a cigar in there too. But just one.  Because I'm a classy bitch.

Stripping Back the Crazy or The Quitter, Part 2

Jon-Boy

When my good friend Jon isn't at work to chat with me all day, I don't have any one to talk me back from a philosophical ledge or to provide me with an outlet for all the crazy that's neatly tucked away in my head.  I dedicate this post to him.  Thanks for always accepting me and all my shit. I also dedicate this post to my sister, the funniest and kindest human being I have ever met in my entire life. Thanks for making me laugh tears.

My Adorable Sister

In my latest post, "The Quitter," I mentioned all of the things I've started and subsequently quit in the last 12 months or so.  All of them fall under the category of "extreme" and require difficult and expensive life adjustments.  All of them have subsequently resulted  in my quitting said life change and ended with more of a "cutting back" philosophy.  I don't know what made me think I was capable of such changes.  In general, I'm over worked, underslept, barely making it on a tight budget.

My Grandma's Bread

 There couldn't be worse timing in my life to take on any of the following things:

• The Forks Over Knives Diet: lets just call this what it is: a VEGAN diet.  Anything that requires me to utilize something called "egg substitute" or "yeast sprinkle" to replace cheese will never, ever last. 
• P90X: These workouts last a good 1 hour 30 minutes.  I liked them.  They were fun, they made me sweat and I felt GREAT.  I also have a family, a job and I'm in school.  Getting up at 4:00AM or working out at 10:00PM is nothing shy of stupid. Talk about a fucked up internal clock.  My brain was really hating me toward the end and I was dreading each workout.  
• The In-Law/G-F Diet: My in-laws didn't really push the gluten free thing as much as the whole foods thing but it was always there on the surface.  But I'll say I've had little trouble living without bread in my life.  But at some point, I've started to miss it.  I miss the convenience of making a summer veggie pizza or whipping together some pasta on the fly.  Rice spaghetti noodles really blow.  The GF mac and cheese isn't so bad.  And then there's the issue of sandwiches.  I love a really good sandwich. Especially a Cuban at the little Cuban grocery store down the road.  I probably haven't had one of those in two years, GF or not. And corn meal in a cookie recipe does not a cookie make! But a trip to the dessert does inspire in many ways and I gave it an honest try. 

I don't want to give up meat.  I don't want to live without butter or yogurt.  I don't want to live without home made, warm crusty bread smeared with butter and blackberry jam or WV applebutter. I don't want to have to take time away from my kid so I can be sure to get my ridiculous 90 minute work out in when I can easily get at a good sweat in about 30 minutes before she rises in the AM and still get plenty of sleep.. 

Its only taken me 32 years, but I'm slowly finding some sense of balance in my life.  No matter your age, I implore you to do the same. I post this information so that maybe you can avoid some of the stupid shit I've done, like the trouble of trying, figuring out how crazy it is and then quitting.  Save your money kids and do this:

• Love what you do
• Eat healthy, mostly whole foods & Exercise
• Spend time with your family
• Surround yourself with friends of good character

  

The Quitter.

 I'd like to just get this out.  I have a tendency to sign myself up for stuff.  I've recently signed myself up for P90X program.  Don't get me wrong, I didn't pay for it, but I've been doing it.  The videos take at minimum 1 hour  per day, but really average more than 90 minutes per workout.  I'd love to have a stone cold smokin' body, but once again, getting the workouts in daily is something that weighs heavy on me stress-wise to get done and is a massive time suck.  I don't have "free time".  In order to do these workouts, I have to either get up at 4:00-4:30AM to start it our do it after my kid goes down and that means I don't start it until about 9:00 or 9:30PM, meaning I don't even finish until about 11PM. 

After the last three semesters, I just really want to chill the hell out! Its like having another part time job getting these work outs in.  I'd rather destroy my knees and start running again 3-4 times per week.  It only takes about 30 minutes and then I'm golden...and I don't feel quite so guilty for not getting it done when I can't.  I just needed to get this out to process the fact that I'm not living the kind of life that allows me 1.5-2.0 hours of workout time per day.  Especially this month when I'm technically still in school + working almost full time hours. 

This is something I do regularly: digging in deep and then quitting.  I just want a normal life where I work, get my homework done, and hang out with my family without the commitment of some workout program (or whatever the hell it is: being Vegan, Roller Derby, not using artificial sweeteners, whatever, changes with the moon).  Make sense?  It does to me and that's all that really matters.

My name is Molly.  I'm quitting.  I'm good. 

Looooove Nashville Style

Where does one begin?  Friday afternoon we had a great drive down.  Truth be told, once I got Monkey pottied, in the car, gas, through town with traffic and on the road it was 4PM.  We shot down the highway and didn't stop until we were about half way there at a rest stop.  It was a really nice, big, clean one.  Also, when we stepped out of the car we had to quickly come to grips with how fucking hot it is about 100 miles south of here!  Holy shitballs batman, it was 90 degrees and we could immediately feel our skin burning.  Not. Ready. For. All. That. 

We pulled into Le Chateau du Friend around 7:00PM.  It was perfect timing.  I whipped together a lite dinner from the pantry and fridge (with their welcome permission of course) and then we went out to water the plants and garden.  I filled the jug about half way like 15 times and helped her water stuff.  Then Monkey chased her first Lightenin' Bugs (that's Appalachian for Fireflys).  We ran all over the back yard, it was great fun.  We went in and took a bubble bath in the giant tub and we both konked out at around 9PM. Seriously.  We were soooo tired we slept in until about 6AM.

Saturday we got up and had breakfast, then we showered and headed downtown. Because everything is so different, I wanted to have a game plan on where to park and the quickest way to get from point A to point B.  They live about 5 minutes from downtown so it was perfect.  After I got my bearings and I told Lilly all about the "Church of Music" (at the Ryman of course), we drove over to south 7th and popped into Third Man Records for a little record shopping.  That would be Jack White's (formerly of the White Stripes) glorious recording studio with a little shop out front.  Glorious. I bought his new album on vinyl and I can't wait to listen all the way through.  Lilly likes dancin' to it, hooray!  Of course, Jack's taste is a smidge dark and his decor features some taxidermied birds and such.  This resulted in some awkward question and answer sessions in which I dropped the ball.  I should have said that they were just pretend, but instead tried to explain how they were alive once but died and were stuffed.  Lilly kept trying to re-explain it to me in the car and wanted to know who killed the birds.  She cried, I held her hand, then it was over.  The end.

The wedding was beautiful.  It took place in the Downtown Presbyterian Church with its ornate Egyptian revival decor and humorous pastor (a must for all weddings if you ask me). Afterward we all schlepped a few blocks over to the Berger Building for a Cinco de Mayo themed reception.  We had pulled pork for dinner, rainbow cake, there were pinatas, snacks, candy and lots of dancing.  Lilly's a kick ass dancer and just really threw down. She made lots of new friends that you'll see in pics on FB.  Super dang cute. Like, ridiculously cute.  I'm sure Erin will see and hear lots of Lilly in her wedding video.  So happy for Erin and her fella.  Erin was the first friend I made in college and is a wonderful human to know and be around.  She's got a great family and lots of good friends and I feel blessed to have been a part of that special night. 

Going to Nashville and getting to kind of wander a round and see the folks that I used to hang with before we moved, it brought up some stuff and I've about worked through it.  I really did love living there.  Its too bad its so far from home because I honestly wouldn't mind living there now (although downtown seems to resemble Myrtle Beach more and more....if you've never been to Myrtle Beach, that's what we call the Redneck Riviera). Its just weird thinking about how I walked away from my life there and my friends and didn't really look back.  Of course, lots of life events happened around that time to distract me, but still.  Thank goodness for the internet and pushy, unrelenting, forgiving friends.  Amen. 

In short, it made me realize how much I've missed and how much I love my dear, dear friends from the college/early-adult years.  I need to do a better job of keeping up with everyone, daunting as that may seem.  I just hope they know that I love them and I miss them all the damn time.

One trip down, LOTS more ahead.  Happy Monday.

Love,
Molly

Summer Plans Arise from the Ashes

• Appalachian Roundabout:  A wild and wooly road trip starring Myself, Baby-Sister and the Monkey (Petite Bebe). A "girls trip," if you will.  So far, the plan is to start in KY and travel in a circle to see family starting in OH, then WV, then NC, then back to KY.  We're hammering out details and dates.  We will be posting some notes, pics and interviews from the road. I promise to deliver the goods this time. I'll have help this time around so you should anticipate some excellent summer entertainment for my faithful 5 readers/listeners. Truth be told, I'm desperate to drive over those misty mountains when the sun comes up. Picture credit to Chatchai. Dude has some amazing photos, so go have a look.

• Vacation to the Beach: My immediate lovies, the parents and Baby Sister will be gathering in South Carolina (gasp!) for our annual summer beach trip.  We're "trying something different" according to mom.  My prediction is that this place is exactly the same as our usual spot in NC, just further south.  As always, you'll get my full post vacation commentary and review.

• Summer Kick-off Trip to Nash-Vegas: This weekend, Monkey and I start our summer of fun by attending a wedding in my beautiful, former Nashville, TN.  We will be heading out Friday evening after work/school and driving 3 hours south west.  My dear friends have offered their home for us despite being out of town in FL.  I'll be going solo, so I don't think I'll have time for much other than keeping the Monkey entertained. Better remember to pack the Tinker-Bell night light.  We're finishing off the weekend with Sunday breakfast at the Loveless Cafe.  Its a place that I actually lived fairly close to but never got to go.  Its likely the breakfast of my dreams and Gluten Free living will be off the menu that morning.  Biscuits are eminent.
• Other trips happening but not on the books yet.  Stay tuned. 
  

Go have a gander at our Roundabout loop and make suggestions. Leave suggestions in the comments box below. Sites to see or, more importantly, eats to eat!


 I'm so happy to have time to write/daydream again.  More in a few!

Semester in the Rear View

Another painful, taxing semester of nursing school is behind me.  I can almost relax but I don't have yesterday's final grade posted yet.  This semester was focused on Pediatrics and OB.  OB was big for me because that was the experience that drew me into nursing in the first place.  Now that I've seen it, I don't think that's my thing.  It's still very interesting and its amazing just how many things can go wrong in pregnancy, labor and delivery and in the postpartum period. Peds is an absolute NO-GO for me. Not after a kid who will never ever get to taste food again because of swallowing some toxic chemicals used in the family meth lab.  No thanks. I think I prefer med-surg and oncology nursing.  Hopefully I'll get to do my intensive "synthesis" semester in that area.

I do have a summer course starting next week, but it only lasts about a month and I'm not sweating it.  Hopefully I can breeze through it and get it behind me.  Microbiology.  Jealous much?  I thought so.

More shows coming very soon to an iTunes download near you.  Road trips.  Vacations.  Kiddy pools.  Bourbony drinks and boiled peanuts.  Stay tuned! 

Survival for Purpose

I think regularly about the word survival.  I have almost survived 1.5 years of nursing school.  That's 3 whole semesters.  We don't really make enough money to make ends meet, but we do survive thanks to things like student loans and bitchin' tax returns.  Sure, I get tired of living right under the wire, but I continually remind myself that in one more year, I'll be a straight up survivor. Let me tell you a little about my life and the roles I play: 

• Wife, daughter, sister, friend
• Mother to a 3 year old Petit Bebe
• Part time employee in an administrative office
• Full time Nursing student
• House keeper/meal planner/grocery buyer
• Clothes washer/dryer/put-away-er
• Household bill payer/accountant/panic-er
• Event/trip planner

I am in no way attempting to induce sympathy or declare my martyrdom.  For I do not exceed at all of these things.  In fact, I fail regularly in most of the above categories.  Lets count the ways:

• Monthly forget to pay a bill
• Wait until clothes are piled all over the house to start laundry...or clean house
• Forget to call my family for weeks at a time despite their attempts at contact due to stress-induced poor attention span
• Argue regularly with my husband about everything
• Forget to do things at work d/t constant studying or day dreaming
• Get angry at husband for playing on the internet when he could be doing dishes
• Over scheduling myself (at work/school/home) so that I lack time to just kick back and watch a movie with my old man on the couch
• I am almost NEVER in the moment

The young people I go to school with often list all of my responsibilities to me and follow it up with a "girl, I don't know how you do it all" or "wow, you have a lot of responsibilities".  I usually just kind of nod and sigh, because what else can I say?  I don't know why I signed up for school the semester after my daughter was born, I just new that I had to do it.  It came to me like i've always dreamed my life's purpose would: like a bolt of lightening to the forehead.  Right after delivering Petit Bebe, I just thought "wow, this nurse is really amazing....I need to give this back to the universe." Its been hard, these last 3 years of school and learning to be a mother, but I know that the payoff for me and my family is huge.  And nothing has been more reaffirming to me that this is what I'm meant to do than coming to school, digging my heels in and learning.  Its almost the hardest thing I've ever done and I love it. 

Two semesters to go.  We will survive them. 

Buying Jeans

Fuck me, I hate buying jeans.  I've set out and tried many, many times the last few years to purchase a pair of jeans that fit/look/feel right for my body.  Alas!  I walk away so many times unfulfilled to come home to the same two ill fitting pair.  I'm a high-rise woman in a low rise world and I've had it! Wow, I sound like Cathy.  Sorry.  I finally found the right size/fit at Macy's in their own generic brand, Style&Co or whatever it is.  I even opened a Macy's charge card to get the discount, which I'll be paying and closing shortly.  Its not the best pair of jeans though, its that thin denim material that is so popular right now.  Maybe some day I'll find a pair of Levi's that are right for me.


Oh, and by the way: "Natural Fit" = Mom Jeans.  Seriously, see image above.  I am not kidding.  Its 2012 and these exist in real time at Macy's.  They didn't look good on me and I can't see how they'd look good on ANYONE.  Whoever designed them can go fuck themselves.

The end.

Ohhhhh the West Virginia hills...

Its time for another episode of Molly packs up her kid and takes her away to the mountains!  I'm running away on Friday and I don't care who knows it. No, we aren't scouting for locations for our zombie apocalypse bunker/camp.  Just seeking some quality time with the family back home.  Lovin' on some old folks who need it and getting some love for ourselves. 

Had a decent week.  Did a lot of work on some papers and got pretty good grades in kind.  I'm thinking this semester is going to fly by like the rest but with better grades to show for it.  Before you know it, I'll be blogging about being a new nurse.  I am very excited for that day to come.  The monkey was so excited to go to school and have her "Balentimes Day" party.  I got her all dolled up in hearts today.  Even got a brush through the hair!

Had a fun show with baby sister this weekend.  She got us all caught up and for all intents and purposes, it was like a recorded phone conversation we'd have any other day of the week.  Hopefully it is as entertaining as I think it is in my head. 

Next weekend, February 24th, Jon Gent will be sharing his film insights and opinions with us.  I'm real excited about that one.  Ooooo, and Lara the Zombie Expert's husband Bryan will be joining us sometime in May or June to talk about Mothman and Shadow people.  It may be a two-parter. Excellent things to come!

More soon...or later,
Molly

Should have been there....

Greetings!

We had a super fun and informative episode of Greetings from Kentucky Live via Blog Talk Radio on Friday night.  You can listen to it right here and you should go do that as soon as possible so you know the Zombie odds and how to approach your survival.  Meanwhile, I'm pondering building out the crawl space under my house a bit for comfort.  I think we e could get a better door, seal some nooks and crannies up, install some benches and find a creative source for heat.  Figure out some non-perishables for our food supply and how to tell the kid we had to kill the dogs for protein.

Planning on packing up the kid in a few weeks and driving to WV. Mom's had a rough run with Grandma and is nearing complete caregiver burnout.  My mom is a nurse, but she doesn't need to be her mom's nurse.  Considering the situation, there's plenty of room to lose objectivity.  Also, I need a change of scenery for a few days and I absolutely love traveling with my daughter. Its just special and I love that we have places to go to that within a reasonable drive.  I'm pretty lucky in that regard. 

I've been thinking about job prospects once school is over and I'm considering applying to hospitals outside of the one associated with my current school.  From everything I've heard (and know from working and schooling here) there are much better places to be.  Its kind of a milestone for me to disassociate from this place.  I've been here for a long time and it wouldn't hurt me to get out in the world a bit. 

Love,
Molly

No Waves

Hello,

Its been a long week full of sleep deprivation, dieting and disappointment.  Turns out a friend of mine, who failed med-surg last semester and was retaking it, was accused of cheating.  Now, I love this girl and don't think she cheated.  She didn't need to cheat.  But her history with the college is full of heated meetings with professors, some too quickly sent angry emails and other such excitements.  In other words, she made lots of waves here. 

What this week has confirmed for me is that if you make waves, they can find a way for you to go away.  Although sometimes in life we need to make waves, for now I'll just be here, keepin' my head down and gettin' my work done.  I suggest you do the same.

Love,
Molly

Slapped Together and Tinny

I've just edited a short podcast that I recorded in my closet with my iPad.  What that means is I sound like I have a speech impediment and there's lots of digital noise.  I promise next time I'll use the good microphone.  Would love some serious feedback on the new format.  Click on image to load.


Love,
Molly

Cold, Wet, Inspired

This rain and misery in central Kentucky has inspired  in me a renewed desire to get off my bootay and do a few podcasts.  I've written more than one show and half of another.  I'm excited about it.  Sadly, I've had to drop Libsyn. Although it brings me many of my favorite podcasts, for the novice like myself it is very difficult to use and costs the monies. I'm going to try PodOmatic and see how that works.  If it is also too hard, I'm bailing and going back to my free account over at Blog Talk Radio.  Because to heck with all that, I just wanna have some fun again, y'all.  
Can you tell I'm trying not to use curse words? Because I am.  No cursing is warranted here. 

I cleaned out my CafePress shop because there was a bunch of illegal stuff in there.  Like logos that don't belong to me.  But I do have $2 to my credit.  Thanks Kim!

Its time to hit the skids. 

Love,
Molly

There's Grit in There Somewhere

Yesterday was my last full day off for a while.  It was great.  I cleaned, I took a long bath, I watched True Grit (2010), I made pumpkin pie.  It was super, duper.  Grilled pork steaks on the grill for dinner and fun with petite bebe followed by an early bed time.  Going to have to kick it in gear tonight to get the rest of the laundry folded and put up.  I also watched a movie called "Somewhere" by Sofia Copolla.  Really lovely.  Go watch it for some very quiet, and at times painful, introspection.


Having some time alone at home (with the dogs, of course) has resulted in me starting to love my home.  I've enjoyed working on it a bit and hope to get more done this semester.  Its a work in progress.  Someday I'll have it how I want it. 

Our 1997 Buick Skylark P-O-S is about dead in the water.  After over $1000 spent, no much luck.  We are going to have to sell her "as-is" on Craig's List here pretty soon.  Couldn't be better timing. Ahem.  

School officially starts tomorrow.  I'm pretty indifferent.  Trying to think about how to plan my day.  That will include bebe drop-off, trip to book store and then some reading prior to class.  Don't know how much of that I'll actually get done before class tomorrow.  I'd be worried, but that's not how I roll these days.  I'll for sure be missing my friends who either dropped out or will now be a semester behind.

I love endurance races, I love endurance races, I love endurance races. 

Love,
Molly