Our adventure begins now.

Wow. Just wow. We listed our house for sale. Just to get ahead of the spring showings and hopefully be on our way to Alaska sometime soon. Fast forward two short weeks and two showings later and we are now in closing on an offer and have about three weeks before we move out. Three short weeks to pack up, simplify and sell off 80% of our lives in preparation for the 3000 mile journey of our lives. Three short weeks in the shortest month in the history of my life. As my sister put it "Your adventure begins now." Indeed it does.

A new day

Today is the day that it all starts over for me. I am going to smile and be happy and begin again.

Answer: "Wish She could crawl under a rock"

And the question is: "What will Tawnya do on the 4th of November?" Ugh. I hate this date. I really do. I lost my mom to a ravenous cancer 10 years ago today and my grandpa on basically the same date 17 years ago. (Mom died at 11:45 pm on Nov 4th and Bumpy died at 2:30 am on November 5th so I have always considered it the same date 7 years apart.)

You know time makes things easier and I don't cry even close to as often as I used to. I've learned to "live with it" as some would say.

But just the same, I am so excited for day when I have her and grandpa back in the resurrection if Jehovah wills so that the title of this post can change to Jump for Joy and the date will become one of rejoicing and the most special of all dates forever.

Dear Diary

It has just sunk in. Blogging is like a diary of sorts - only public. Perhaps I haven't given it enough time to catch on. Perhaps I haven't given it a fair chance to be therapeutic (if that was ever a goal?) But here we are.

Summer was incredible - minus the plague-like mosquitos. They seriously chased me in the house one night from my jeep! On the upside, it really was never too hot. And yet not very entertaining either. I worked....A LOT! I did have the chance to take my nephew to our county fair along with a co-workers young daughter. But it just wasn't the same as it has been. Just me and two kids. Except Felix got on stage and got into a showdown with the tap dancers who were performing at the time. But I digress, the camera failed to record (insufficient memory). So I went to get a new memory card only to find I'd been outsourced and would require a new camera - at the airport on the way to Maui. :) While I would have preferred to know this well in advance to research the purchase, overanalyze, just to find myself back at my original decision anyhow, I did find it liberating to make the purchase on the spot and came away with an incredible camera. And I even got to keep the receipt from the Maui Costco for it too. What can I say? I'm a nerd.

So here we are in Maui for our 15th wedding anniversary/honeymoon that never happened celebration and visit with three of our dearest friends, no they are family! I still can't believe I made it to Hawaii! I feel so blessed to have had such an incredible experience. It has made me want to become an avid explorer of my planet and world around me.



It was an incredible adventure and vacation. Everything went just perfect. There is not one single, solitary thing I would change. Everyone should have a vacation like that. The smile on the husband's face of total relaxation and enjoyment was worth everything to me. I will have to relate a few experiences that we enjoyed while on the island as time goes on. It might just be enough to keep the winter blues from setting in. Maybe.

Aloha! Maui No Ka' Oi

Time marches on

I just don't know where to start. How to title this. Or what to say. But I'm here trying anyway. So as you can tell I'm not much of a blogger. But...

I've had a great couple of weeks I suppose. Things are moving forward rapidly and happily and I don't have anything to complain about. Life is rough but I'm still here fighting. That's good...no that's great!

My sister is going through a rough patch...I will withhold details for her privacy... So my heart is with her. Which is what got me thinking of this post. Why do people do the things they do and think the way they think and say the things they say? If we could only for one moment think of someone other than ourselves...well I'll let you fill in the blanks.

Sis, I know it's hard right now and it's going to get rougher. But hang tight kid. You can do this~I know you can.

Why I simply adore cats and kittens.

Jehovah has a sense of humor to be sure. Just spend a few seconds watching this video and you will understand why I love kittens and the cats they grow up to be.....



And another....

Smile! You're on Candid Camera.

Sometimes you wonder who might be watching and what they are thinking. If that somebody were to follow me around today they would be truly amazed. I know I am. I had an absolutely perfect day almost and did some things I never thought possible.

The list is as follows...
1) Worked on taxes. They should be in the mail by this time next week if I have anything to say about it.
2) I chopped kindling. Yes, you read that correctly. I made a whole bucket of kindling for starting the fire with an axe and a piece of wood on my very own for the first time. I am the proudest of this accomplishment but mostly of the fact that I kept all my fingers and am injury free. A rarity for this clutz.
3) I took the Jeep in to the dealer to schedule a replacement for a glow plug for tomorrow and it will be fixed tomorrow afternoon.
4) I broke up all the ice (well 90% of it) on the front porch with a mallet that weighs a ton. Fun times!

So that about sums up my day of fun. I am so proud of my new found talents to take care of things needing done as they come up. I never knew I had it in me. And I am about to be 35. And I thought I knew myself...