Whew!

At this point in my life I don’t have the man who promised to love me forever, I don’t have a mortgage to a house I really can’t afford, I don’t have bills I really can’t pay off.

What I do have is menopausal night sweats like no body’s business, the loss of old friends, the gain of new friends, a sweet puppy who replaces the other puppy I had to put down for health reasons, and a son who loves me.

Happy holidays and I hope everyone has the most happy New Year!

Actually, it’s not all that bad, is it? It’s just too bad that each guest doesn’t bring their own steam cleaners to clean up after themselves. And just think — there’s New Year’s on the horizon!

Suggestion — when having a holiday party, instead of “bring your own bottle” have your guests bring their own garbage bags and vacuums. It could be a lot of fun!

Heh.

I prefer to look at this season as Yule rather than Christmas, and intend to celebrate very low key. There’s too much commercialization anyway, and that stuff wears mighty thin. It’s easy to look back and remember old Christmases as the epitome of all that is good, when in truth they probably aren’t. Still, I’ll hold the good memories close and hope they warm the nest a little.

A friend of mine gave me a copy of a local biking magazine, and when I read it, I thought maybe they would like my letter. So, I mustered the nerve and emailed them a copy and promptly forgot all about it. I never heard anything, so I figured it was just too offensive for them to publish for their audience. Imagine my surprise when my friend showed up at my door with the latest edition, with my letter published inside.

I guess the lesson here is not to assume, and it doesn’t hurt to reach out once in awhile. After all, if you don’t try the answer is automatically no, correct?

If you’d like to see, the letter appears here on page 36.

With Miss Netta doing most of the grunt work and with loads of help from the fine folks at our hosting company, Hostmonster (btw, anyone interested in a great place to host, let us know, we’ll give your our referral number, so yes, we can make a few much needed bucks to keep this place going) we were able to weather this one tiny storm, although in all honesty, it felt like a hurricane.

I’ve had my own personal computer problems. See, I left my computer unprotected (shame on me, I know) and I’ve caught some viruses. Not having anything backed up, I freaked out, until I found Mozy.com, a great little online backup system. It’s easy to use even if the initial backup time is a little long (again, if you’re interested, just let me know, and I will give you my referral number…much needed money to keep our enterprises rolling along.) Once I pass this hurdle, I should be safe and ready to wipe my precious computer and start all over. Once I pass this backing up hurdle, I should be safe and ready to wipe my precious computer and start all over. And you can bet, I’m going to use one of the best free anti-virus software program out there—Avast.

And last but not least, not only has Miss Netta been struggling with a broken furnace in the beginning of the dead of winter (where she lives anyway) but she is working on 2 weeks without hot water. She’s dirty and cold, folks. Let’s keep her in our prayers and thoughts and hope that the powers that be see that she gets this fixed soon.

I tell you, if this keeps up, we’re both gonna have to hunt down a great life insurance lead because coupled with this time of the year, we’re just not sure how much stress our ole hearts can take, and in this economy, our loved ones are gonna need some extra cash.

I was lucky to have decent supplemental health insurance in NC to go along with my Medicare. I have yet to find something decent here in FL.

However, take my fellow Goddess who is one of the 47 million people without health insurance. As most of you know, several months ago she had to have emergency gall bladder surgery. During that surgery, the doctor placed a stent. When after several months post-op she called the doctor about having said stent removed, he refused until she paid off the surgery bill.

Like many Americans, myself included, she struggles to pay her basic bills much less feed her self. And also like many Americans, she’s not sitting at home sucking off the government teet asking something for nothing. She’s paid her taxes, she’s paid her dues. She’s worked her ass off for years and years, and still does.

In other words, she’s not lazy as so many bloggers and pundits would have us believe that those that go without insurance bear no personal responsibility and are just to lazy to work. Either that, or they seem to think all the health care a person like Netta needs can be gleaned from free clinics or the ER.

Wake up, people. Light a fire underneath our Congress on the take by large corporations and the insurance lobbyists. While we voted overwhelmingly for change in the form of Obama, and on many levels he still has a lot to prove to us, significant social change starts with the everyday man and woman.

Somehow, I’m sure people like Susan B. Anthony and Rosa Parks would agree.

Instead plan a 4-hour river tour investigating dolphins and manatee. Or take them for a air boat ride where you can see alligators.

Honestly, this goes for any vacation you take. Don’t do the typical touristy thing. Hop online and find interesting, not everyday adventures for you and your family to have.

Instead of hitting the winter ski slopes of Aspen, go instead in the summer. Off season vacations save money. You can pan for gold, raft down the Colorado River, or take a guided jeep ride up to the top of the mountains.

Staying away from normal tourist activities will also save you money, as well as give your family unusual experiences to tell their friends. So next time you plan a vacation, think outside the box.

I’ve been thinking (for nearly ten years) about starting a business of my own. It’s kind of been a dream of mine. Of course, a sure fire, good business to open is a franchise opportunity, you know, like opening a McDonald’s or Subway. Both are sure winners. I mean, you get corporate help with the business end, plus with the product end. You can’t go wrong and I guarantee you, you’ll always make money.

But I want something a little more personal. Something closer to my heart. I want a Cyber-café/bookstore/art shop. I want to highlight area artists. Of course, I’ll take a cut off of anything sold there, just like any gallery would. But I’m also a booklover. So I want big comfy couches and lots of used books. And on top of that, being a tourist town, I want a cyber-café. A place where people who didn’t bring their computers on vacation can come in and surf the web. Or maybe someone needs to print something off, or scan something in. We don’t have a Kinkos here, so that is a pretty big need in this area.

Basically, I want a place where you can come in and surf the web (it would also be a wireless café so you could use your own lap top), have a cup of coffee or tea or soda, read a good book and discover local artists.

I’ve been talking to a friend about it. She loves the idea and wants to serve Italian Gellato. So she tasked me with checking into funding. Being disabled, I thought I might have a shot.

Seems like government small business grants have dried up. They don’t exist anymore. They did 10 years ago, when I first looked at this idea in Charlotte. However, seems two wars kind of has a tendency to re-direct funds. Congress is suppose to decide if they will release some funds to BANKS who will then supposedly lend to small businesses. See, the TARP money that so many of us on both sides of the aisle were against, was in part, supposed to do the same thing. Only it didn’t.

As a result, because of big box stores like Wal Mart, Home Depot, Target, K Mart (good luck finding one of those…we don’t even have one in our county) and Lowes, not to mention banks, specialized, mom and pop, true entrepreneurial businesses, the one thing that should save our country, is just about to be a thing of the past.

If I want a business, I’ll have to win the Lotto to get one.

Signed
the 46 year old cynic (been a lifetime member, however only now have I realized I was right to be one,) Lala.

Ah, youth. How ignorant and innocent! Little did I know at the time that a person will change careers over the course of a lifetime depending on circumstance and situation.

Still, it seems the hot jobs in the millennial years are still in the health care field. Baby boomers are aging fast (I should know) and according to an article in the Reader’s Digest, health care is expected to add over a million jobs in 2010, and the demand is outstripping the supply. That’s the good news. The bad news is, a lot of these jobs (but not all) require a higher skill set, which means more education.

The hot heath careers as cited by the Reader’s Digest include surgical technologist, health care administrator, RN, and medical records tech. All require some kind of college degree or accreditation course, but the investment in education in this situation may actually pay off, as opposed to a degree in Political Science or Liberal Arts.

I was in nursing for many years, but moved on to other things as life dictated. One good thing about education — once you have it, you always have it.

I think the thing that strikes me is how life continues to travel in full circles. I am, like many people in this economy, struggling to make ends meet. But it looks like my early education may play a part in helping me get out of the hole.

Who knew?