A Single Middle-Aged Woman...

Recently, I joined a baby boomers meetup group in an effort to meet people and have some folks my own age to play with.  I like singer songwriter music so I rsvp to attend a festival in a local town.  A short appointment took longer than expect so I arrived an hour late. On the drive to the event I crossed two low water crossings, the second of which was a little too high for my comfort level. Onset anxiety creeps in with fears that it’ll rain while I’m at the event and the water will get even higher, too high for my little compact car to wade through and I need to take that road to get work. Add to that I’m going to walk into an establishment alone to meet total strangers. The place was mildly crowed, the singers were good and the bar had only Waterloo sparkling water. I’ve become addicted to Topo Chico in glass bottles..a sparkling mineral water from Mexico. Tingles the tongue and is super refreshing on a hot day, which today was not. So, I guess the Waterloo wasn’t a loss ...

On a lovely, sunny day in June, the 14th to be exact, I put a contract on a house...specifically to build one.  Not to sound too darned ungrateful, it wasn't my dream house.  My dream house is a big farmhouse with a wrap-around front porch on a some land with a tree-lined creek running along side the property far enough away that you can see it from the porch but not so close that it floods your driveway or the house. This cute little dollhouse, I call it that because it ain't gonna be much bigger than one.  There I go sounding all ungrateful again, but it is a small house...no garage and if I try hard, I won't see my neighbors undressing in their upstairs bathroom or bedrooms.  Yeah, the property lines are that close. But...and this is a big but and one that's highly desirable, at that, but, the builder is a good builder and they pay 2.5% of closing cost. You see, I have zero cash.  I haven't done so well financially in the selling real estate or divorcing o...

Close your eyes and imagine a picture of Lucy holding a football on end for Charlie Brown to kick. Last summer I took a suggestion from my eldest daughter to post a profile on Farmers Only Dot Com. I've done my fair share of online dating over the years...and my first step in that murky water was at the suggestion of a friend.  I was two years into being a widow and they said I needed to "get out there."  Beware of those words, girls.  I'm just saying.  So, I gave it a shot and for the next few years met a few, how shall I say this, horny, selfish and immature men out to have a good time.  A couple hung around for a couple of years, but only because they were too lazy to date, and well, I'm really easy to get along with and super nice...too nice.  Remind me to write a blog about how much most men love crazy bitches, which I am not but I envy them a little.  I swear...it's an enigma. It had been two years since I dated, so, when my kid suggested ...

News and weather reports say this storm is unprecedented...different than Katrina and Ike and Rita. My take on that is that those devastating storms hit hard and fast whereas Harvey is hanging around, swirling slowly through SE Texas and into Louisiana, dumping millions of gallons of rainwater on the southeastern portion of Texas...most especially the Houston area.  Those folks are in a world of hurt.  So are those in Rockport, Port Aransas and Corpus Christi.  So far, one fatality, as far as I'm aware. I haven't left my house since I got home from work at 9:30 p.m. Friday night (the 25th), in case you're reading this years into the future and Buda got washed away a week from now and you're wondering which Friday night.  It hasn't stopped raining since it started around 3 - 4 a.m. Saturday (the 26th) morning.  It's a steady rain, not torrential, with a steady wind that gusts fairly hard (25-40 mph) on occasion, driving the rain at an NE angle that permeates th...

This will be supa short.  I've got to go to bed...back to school hours are kicking my butt.  Plus, I'm older now and less resilient to lack of sleep. I attended a class about blogging. I vow to write here more often. I vow to start a professional blog...not linked to this one because I vent (and curse) here and that's just not professional. I vow to be honest as I dare in an effort to be relevant and raw. It's a rough world out here for women, especially single middle-aged women and you deserve the validation of the transparent truth.

Have I lost my mind?  I resigned in June and I still have no job offers.  What's wrong with me?  Why can't I get a job?  Did I just make the biggest mistake of my life?  I just couldn't take the stress any more. Teaching is great. The kids are great.  I miss them.  I miss the camaraderie with some of my parents and colleagues. What I don't miss is the paperwork, the constant stress and deadlines and data collection and progress reporting and lesson planning from scratch with no curriculum framework and bosses who are titty babies or self-important assholes! What am I going to do now?  I put in an average of 20 + hours a week applying for jobs, sending emails, following up on emails.  I have had half a dozen interviews or the promise of them and no job offers. Every lead I follow is a dead end.  Every single one of them!  Nobody wants me.  What am I going to do? Have a I screwed the pooch?  I know I can't go back to th...

Show Low ~July 20: I've been up here on White Mountain, in Overgaard and Showlow since Thursday. I've got the coolest little rental hybrid car made by Ford that befuddled me in the beginning with its push button start and kick under the bumper to release the hatchback; which to an onlooker must look pretty silly.  It's growing on me though.   I'm staying at my adopted brother's house in Overgaard. John spoils me by having coffee brewed every morning when I wake up. He's one of those early risers.   It's a great house, that looks like a log cabin, with a fantastice front porch with glider and a chair.  You would not believe how cool the temperatures are up here.  I noticed on the bank display when driving from Show Low to OG the temp was 57 degrees last night.  It was so cool today I had to borrow a jacket from Cordy, my adopted sister.   As far as the adopted stuff goes, we aren't legally adopting one another, it's just that we all get along so w...