What word best describes the way you’ve spent the last month of your life?

So Marc and Angel Hack Life had a blog post recently that asked 365 "thought-provoking questions".  I've picked some of the ones that stood out to me and hope to occasionally use them as writing prompts -- join me if you'd like!

 What word best describes the way you’ve spent the last month of your life?

Transitioning.   So much change, this last month, let alone this last year.  Fiona started a new schedule for her time with her dad and I.  I had three more job interviews, met more potential housemates, and looked at more available apartments.  On June 8th our divorce was final and on June 12th Fiona and I moved from Highlands Ranch to Lakewood, to live with our friends, Jen, Kellan, and Josie, for a bit.  June 23rd I saw the doctor and celebrated 2 years of not being hit by a car -- I also started weaning off my pain medication.  And yesterday I started a new job! I really like it and it is something I can be good at.  I'll be looking for a second job to supplement . . . . 

I know that I don't have a clue what this next month will bring or be like, but I know that it will be full of more transitioning and also that all will be well.

What can you do today that you were not capable of a year ago?

So Marc and Angel Hack Life had a blog post recently that asked 365 "thought-provoking questions".  I've picked some of the ones that stood out to me and hope to occasionally use them as writing prompts -- join me if you'd like!

What can you do today that you were not capable of a year ago?

This is kind of a crazy response, but one of the first things that comes to mind is that I can rest in bed, at least for a few minutes at a time, on my right side.   I can't really sleep on it, but just being able to change position in bed for a bit is a nice thing.  Last Thursday I celebrated two years of not being hit by a car and it's nice to remember that I *have* made a lot of progress in those two years.  I'm starting to wean off my medicine and that's tough, pain-wise, but also a good thing. 

Support the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011

From MomsRising:

Talk about unsafe!  Women use an average of 12 beauty products containing more than 125 unique chemicals every morning before they walk out the door, every day. Even worse: Only 11% of chemicals in personal care products in the U.S. have been assessed for safety. 


Congressional leaders just introduced the federal Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 in the House of Representatives. This bill (H.R. 2359) would give the FDA the authority it needs to ensure that personal care products are free of harmful toxic substances.

Click here to send a letter to your representative!

Teaser Tuesdays -- The Clockwork Three by Matthew J. Kirby

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading. To participate, all you have to do is the following:

• Grab your current/upcoming read
• Open to a random page
• Share 2-3 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!

Mister Grumholdt and Miss Wool had seemed to be talking about a treasure hidden somewhere in the east wing of the hotel.  But what kind of treasure was it?  If It was lost, did it belong to anyone?

page 31, The Clockwork Three by Matthew J. Kirby

Fiona and I read this together.  The chapters alternate between three characters -- (from the front cover flap) -- "Giuseppe is an orphaned street musician who sees no way to escape until the day he finds an enchanted green violin.  Frederick is an apprentice clockmaker with a past he cannot remember, who secretly works to build the most magnificent clockwork man the world has ever seen.  Hannah is a maid in a grand hotel, whose life is one of endless drudgery, until she encounters a mystifying new guest and learns of a hidden treasure."

Fiona says, "I thought that it was very interesting because you didn't have to be concentrating on any certain part of the story because sometimes that's hard to do -- there were many different parts of the story."  

Pictures on my way to and from meeting a potential housemate a week ago

Bindweed on the way there.

Beautiful rainbow at the bus stop on my way home.

What was your last major accomplishment?

So Marc and Angel Hack Life had a blog post recently that asked 365 "thought-provoking questions".  I've picked some of the ones that stood out to me and hope to occasionally use them as writing prompts.

What was your last major accomplishment?

Well, two weeks ago Fiona and I moved from Highlands Ranch, Colorado (where we'd been living with friends) to Lakewood, Colorado (to live, at least for a short time, with other friends) -- Not much more than 17 miles, but a move nonetheless.  It's a good move geographically for us as it puts us much closer Fiona's school and to where we want to be living and working.

I also got a job offer last week, which feels like an accomplishment.  I told them I wasn't ready to make a decision because I had another interview coming up that I wanted to go through with.  That interview was on Thursday and I'm hoping I'll hear back about it by Monday.  It definitely feels like a risk, because I know that the first place may very well interview and hire someone else before I hear back from the second place, but it feels like the right decision in several different ways.  One job is full-time, working at a veterinarian front desk, and one is part-time, working at a natural family living store -- I could bring my daughter with me.  I am attracted to both jobs in different ways.  So we'll see what happens with that.

I've also been meeting with various people looking for housemates this week.  What I'd love to be able to do -- rent a house in  a co-housing community from a woman who is taking a year-long road trip.  I love the co-housing idea and it is in a great location for me and she has two cats that we would take care of.  However, the rent is too much for me to do on my own.  I've spoken with the woman on the phone a few times and may try to meet her soon and see the house -- who knows, maybe something will come together.

I may be getting close to being finished with the insurance settlement from being hit by a car two years ago and I've restarted the process of weaning off my pain medicine. Meanwhile, I'm very much living out of boxes as I'm not sure if I'm moving in two days or two months.  I guess a lot of this is accomplishments-in-progress.  But, really, I am accomplishing major things on a regular basis these days, and that is a good thing.