I bought a house

I am tired but exhilerated today. After signing a contract on a house in early April, the closing was today and I am now the proud owner of my dream house in upstate New York. I haven't seen it since early April and the trees and flowers had yet to bloom. Today I see that the deck and picnic pavillion have been absorbed by vines growing everywhere! The greenery is awesome and alive, like a haunted castle. The landscaping in the front yard is blooming and filled with color.

I am closing down business for the next few weeks as I pack and move in July 13. I hope to be up and running by August 1. I will be retiring from my day job and pursuing business fulltime! I'm so excited, you have no idea.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Thoughts on MJ

I was at home on Thursday June 25 when I was online and starting reading that Michael Jackson was rushed to the hospital in cardiac arrest. I knew then that he wouldn't make it. It was shocking, but not unexpected. I had read he was in poor health, but what was surprising is the aspect of drugs. It's always drugs, isn't it? Even when the celebrity has not been known to be a drug user, which I thought Michael was not. My mistaken impression was that he was into healthy living. Who knew? I didn't. But it is disappointing that drugs are usually at the forefront of a celebrity death it seems.

When will people start intervening? When will the payoff take a back burner and a person's health take precedence? Why don't friends and family take action? Does money really buy everything these days?

I make no judgements on his life. He was a great entertainer and will always be remembered for that. I believe he was not a pedophile, but only God and he knows for sure. I do believe he was a child who never grew up, who never had a childhood, and lived as an innocent child even as a man. Even with all the legal safeguards in place for child celebrities, I believe that childhood is robbed. He never had a chance to be a child, a teenager, and grow normally into an adult. He was used and manipulated his entire life. If blame is to be placed, I place it at the feet of his family, most especially his parents who lost control of his celebrity status and failed to intervene.

His was a sad life, but he gave it all to us. I hope he finds peace now.

It's Happening

So it looks like I'm leaving NYC after all. After months of anguish, the house I bid on is finally coming to a close on Tuesday June 30. It's been one hassle after another, with the poorest communication I've ever had with the bank. Every time I called for status, I was told they needed something else. They never called me to keep me updated on what evidence was required - it was always a result of me calling them. I'm not going into detail, but we had to put the mortgage in my name only, needed a water test 1 day after the last one expired, more bank statements, no commitment letter... You get the picture. Although the market is at its lowest in years, financing is extremely tight. But above all, we prevailed, and the house of our dreams will be ours in 3 days.

I'm looking forward to waking up and deciding my plan for the day. One day, I might wake up and say I want to sew, another work in the garden or yard, or make candles for a wedding order. And if I get snowed in during winter, I won't care. As long as the propane tank is full, I can wait out any storm. I can hunker down and peruse seed catalogs for the spring, read mysteries, crochet, or just take the day off and putter around in the kitchen. Although my main business is soy candles and home fragrance, I'd like to set up a new torch and re-acquaint myself with lampwork beadmaking too.

I have a feeling I'm going to be busier than I've ever been. I want to wake up early each day and on warm days take my first cup of coffee out on the balcony off my bedroom and breath in the fresh country air as I plan my day. I want to smell the scent of fresh cut grass, something I haven't smelled in the years I've live in Manhattan. I want to listen to the silence. No noisy cars and car alarms, loud music, fire sirens, parties in the building......just silence of the country. Birds, breezes..

Will I still have enough time to fulfill all my dreams? Probably not. But I'm going to try.

She touched my heart

As I contemplate retiring within the next few weeks, I am thinking back on some of my special adventures. I do home visits for my job a few times a year, and I spent 3 days in the Catskills on one of my more memorable trips. This one is just unforgettable.

One of my clients lives so far out in the country, I couldn't see her house from the road. I had to park on the road and literally climb down to her house deep in the woods.

She is 71 years old.
She has no running water. She goes down to the creek for water and buys water for drinking and cooking.
Most of her electric outlets don't work, so she just doesn't use them.
She heats with a wood stove and in the winter the temperature never goes above 55. She scavenges wood all winter and closes off the upstairs. The state only pays for some of her wood.
There's a tree on her property about to fall on her house and no one wants to do anything about it. She can't afford to have it cut down.
Her house is damp and full of mold and she has to clean it constantly.
Her son & daughter live out west.
Wild animals come up to her house, so she can't let her cats out, ever.
Her stove is broken, so she uses a hotplate.
The door to her fridge fell off one night, but she put it back on.
She needs to go up on her roof to fix it, but she has enough sense not to do it herself.
She has no phone, not even a cell.
Her mailbox is at the top of the hill on the road.

You think she has it bad?

She doesn't. She won't hear of moving. She said when she leaves, it will be in a black bag. As hard as living is for her, she loves her home because growing up, she never had any roots and moved 15 times before she was 8 (depression years). She helped build this house with her ex-husband, has built a greenhouse herself on the side of the house and has a gorgeous collection of green growing things. She has a patio full of pots and flowers everywhere. She has 3 feral cats who love her. She has more energy than I do. She's not afraid (well, a little because of the tree that might fall on her house).

I want to adopt her.

It's also amazing that she survives on about $700/mo. I really wish I could contact a local church or agency to go out and help fix up the place for her. I felt like hugging her when I left. I'll be checking on her remotely, though. Someday when I retire, I want to live in the woods like her, but on level ground with a 4WD with a plow.

I also visited a house with 10 people, various friends and relatives, dad in jail, and about to foreclose on their home. She'll be ok though, I'm pretty sure.

I see a lot, and as bad as I think my situation is, I always feel grateful. It kind of puts things in perspective for me.
Her name is Olive, how cool is that? She's as feisty and cranky as anything, yet had a great sense of humor and smile. I want to buy her an LifeAlert. I'm frightened that something will happen and no one will know. Off-duty, I'd love to visit her again.
I've been doing this for almost 30 years mostly in an office, and the home visits for the past 3 years, which have been the most fullfilling years of my career. Mostly I see welfare rats taking advantage of the system, but I understand they're doing whatever they need to do to survive, and I bend the rules even for them. I fill out forms asking about their daily activities, and it makes me sick when all they can think of is watching TV. I mean, your life is all about watching TV? Someone else does all the cooking, cleaning and laundry for you? I know you're disabled, but so is Stephen Hawking. I know, not everyone can be productive in the usual sense, but some people don't even exercise their minds. I see a lot of disabled people here trying to make a go of it. They're trying, for chrissakes. Some people just don't even try.

And here is this 71 YO lady who should be enjoying her retirement years, living hand to mouth and loving her life! Who needs a million bucks!