Mid-winter update!

Hello folks, Cristen here! I wanted to update you all on the happenings around here.

As some of you may know, we had to leave the trailer yesterday. It's very unfortunate that circumstances turned out the way they did but it's time for a new start. We can't even begin to express what we're feeling right now. It's a mixture of uncertainty (although, I must admit, I'm not all that uncertain anymore :), extreme relief and freedom. My anxiety has already gone down a couple of notches just being away from the negativity of that place and Mark is very relieved to be out of the position we had been put in. I'm proud of him! :)

I got a job! I start today, in 50 minutes to be exact. It's a small bakery up here in Chesterland, pays decently and will give me good hours. We've also found a possible apartment a short distance to the east that we could afford to move into in a paycheck or so. Life seems to be looking up, at least for today. I'm excited for this job and very much hopes it works out.

For now we're couch hopping and maybe grabbing a hotel room from time to time if we have to. We're lucky to have a good friend that is willing to help us out as well, and many others encouraging us along the way. We are so grateful for these people, they have renewed our faith in the human species and showed us we're not crazy (phew!).

Here's to the next update!

Where it all ends I can't fathom my friends
If I knew I might toss out my anchor
So I cruise along always searchin' for songs
Not a lawyer a thief or a banker
...
I'm just a son of a son, son of a son
Son of a son of a sailor
The sea's in my veins, my tradition remains
I'm just glad I don't live in a trailer

-Son of a Sailor, Jimmy Buffett

New Adventure: Update

It's been a long time since we've posted and seeing as it's the end of the year, we thought an update was in order.

The end of this year has been a tough one but we're hoping it was our lowest and there's nowhere to go but up!

Job update: Cristen got what she thought was the minimum wage version of her dream job (well, one of them) and after a month of waiting it fell through. No worries though, she is currently very hopeful that a job will come along soon and is job hunting like mad. Mark hasn't had much luck either. He's working hard hunting, got a couple of interviews but nothing has worked out as of yet. So that's the story on the job-front and hopefully by our next update we'll be able to say we're comfortable at our jobs (or at least have one) :)

Cristen is excited to start a couple of new techniques in painting. She happily spent her Prizm gift card (Prizm is a local art supply store) and is now the proud owner of a massive amount of gloss medium and glues. It should be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Mark is currently working on our car, repairing our rear breaks. He is amazing with cars and has yet to not be able to fix something when we've had the money to. Hopefully after we buy the last piece he needs the Saab will be up and running again in no time!

Something has happened that neither of us thought would ever happen. We've become babysitters. Cristen was always adamant about not babysitting children and Mark had never held a baby until this summer (oddly enough, the same baby we're now watching). Somewhere along the line our thinking changed and we started to sit for our friends baby about a month ago. It's been a great experience to watch him grow so fast over the short month we've seen him. And it never hurts to see old friends on a regular basis again :)

This past year was an incredibly difficult year, maybe the most difficult of our lives so far, but we're extremely hopeful that this year will prove to be different, that the best thing to happen to us this past year is the worst that happens to us this year. Honestly, if no one dies it will be a better year.

"What do you most value in your friends? Their continued existence." -Christopher Hitchens (RIP)

All Creatures Great And Small

Times, they are 'a changin'. Cristen got the Barn Staff job she applied to in our last post! It's been four days and she has never been happier. This is the first time she's been comfortable and happy enough in a job that she can see it becoming her career. As barn staff she helps feed, turn out and take care of the horses. Every single person she has come in contact with, staff and volunteers alike, has been very nice and welcoming. Management is professional and level-headed and the horses are unbelievably well behaved. It's such a turn around from other barns she's worked in and other management she's worked under.

This job is going to be a life-changer for Cristen. Her depression and anxiety are being kept in check without the aid of pills and she'll start to tone up and get in better shape. She says she's very excited to see what her pant size will be come December. :) After a couple of very hard years, things finally seem to be turning around. Hopefully we'll be able to move out into our own place in the next couple of months, but until then we're going to enjoy what it feels like to be human beings again. To be part of a world that doesn't struggle day to day, that can look forward to better things happening in the future with doubt cast far aside, it's truly an amazing feeling. It's very freeing and, for lack of a better phrase, life changing. Plus, she gets to drive a John Deere Gator (which she is over the moon excited about) :)

Summer seems to be coming to an end. Days are getting shorter, and cooler, leaves are starting to change, kids are back in school. You can feel the changing of the seasons in the air. Part of us will be sad to see the green go, but the other part can't wait for the pumpkins, spices, apple and grape picking, sweaters and beautiful colors that will fill our world. Best of all: no bugs! We've been unable to do any Geocaching this summer, but will jump back into it this fall when the GPS signal will be clearer and we won't have to fear West Nile Virus carrying mosquitoes.

We hope everyone in the path of recent Hurricane Irene stayed safe and evacuated when necessary! To those thinking that Irene is a "harbinger" of what's to come (NYTimes, I'm looking at you!), keep in mind that this is one of the least active hurricane seasons we've had. This is not a "bad sign". Weather patterns fluctuate year to year, season to season. One season can be catastrophically bad while the next can come and go like a kitten. Some of our worst weather outbreaks in recorded history have occurred in the early-mid 1900's. Remember that when you're freaking out that the newest storm system spawned a deadly outbreak of tornadoes.



All I pay my psychiatrist is the cost of feed and hay, and he'll listen to me any day. ~Author Unknown

Back to reality

We had a very nice, quiet and relaxing two weeks watching Marks parent's place and Kiira. For the first time in four years nothing broke, Kiira didn't need to go to the vet and nothing flooded. We were able to just do our thing, get some stuff done and run out of what little money we had. At least we got to do that in a house with indoor plumbing (Cristen is getting tired of the bucket). This will be the last year we watch the house though, we will not be missing another year in the Outer Banks. If we're left out of other people's plans, we're making our own.

It was nice to come back to the camper and find that our fire pit had been left untouched and there were no puddles in the trailer from the recent storms. Now we're back to daily/nightly fire building, eating once a day and trying to stay balanced.

We were able to get another car, thankfully. It's a decent car but it's been lowered. Couple that with the wide wheels and it performs horribly in the rain, which means it will be awful in Ohio winters. So we've decided to try and sell it and get something else, something we can test better. The sale shouldn't be hard since it's a pretty nice car, so we're hopeful. At the very least our car isn't breaking down on us while we're looking to sell it. Yet.

Job hunting has recommenced after both of us were sick with the Flu for two weeks straight. Cristen even got an interview for today at a stable in town that specializes in therapeutic horseback riding. It's not a lot of hours but as long as it pays over $8/hr and she's offered it, she'll take it. She misses being around and working with horses a great deal and this position would be a mental health saver for her, even if it is hard labor (mixed in with some not-so-hard stuff). Getting a job isn't about moving out anymore, it's about being able to live day-to-day without significant hardship, and this stable assistant position can give that to us. One simple part-time job can change our lives. It's just hard not to get discouraged interview after interview. We are always so close to getting that change before it's ripped away.

Note to hiring managers: Please tell your potential employees whether they'll be called back or not. If you're not planning on calling an applicant back, please don't tell them you will. Let them move on to something more promising instead of making them wait a week or so to never get a call-back. Give your applicants some courtesy.

Ok, enough with the job rant.

Parting thought: Take care of those you love. Listen to them when they try to tell you something. It may very well be something they've been trying to tell you their whole life. Include them in your life, let them know that you think about them too. Don't let them feel abandoned or passed over. Make sure they know how much you appreciate them and let them know that you'll always be there. Don't let them grow up questioning where their growth, or lack-thereof, came from. Don't ever let them feel like you gave up on them.



Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted. ~Paul Pearshall

The lack of emotional security of our American young people is due, I believe, to their isolation from the larger family unit. No two people - no mere father and mother - as I have often said, are enough to provide emotional security for a child. He needs to feel himself one in a world of kinfolk, persons of variety in age and temperament, and yet allied to himself by an indissoluble bond which he cannot break if he could, for nature has welded him into it before he was born. ~Pearl S. Buck

Fresh Produce

One of the best things about summer are farmers markets. Fresh vegetables and fruits, homemade goodies, thick cut bacon, all of the local treats you can think of, all in one place.

We started house sitting today, which gives us access to a car for the next two weeks. This allows us to attend more garage sales and markets than before. One local market specifically stands out. Sirna's Market and Deli across from Geauga Lake is the finest in local produce, free-range/antibiotic-free meats and crafted foods. Whenever we go, there are fresh samples at their bakery where they make beautiful pastries, chocolates, cakes and pies, all at incredibly decent prices (example: $.99 for a large gourmet brownie or slice of pie), and their prepared foods section is equally impressive.

One of our favorite buys is their Amish bacon, cheaper than the packaged stuff but of a much higher quality. The best thing about this store are their sales which gives serious discounts to slightly older produce and prepared foods (example: $.79 for 2 decently sized zucchini). We've gone in with $10 before, come out with three large bags of groceries and $4 change. The same food at other local grocery chains would have easily cost two to three times the price.

Don't be fooled though, not everything in the store is cheap. They carry a lot of fine and gourmet items, many of them locally produced, and their boxed/jarred foods are a bit pricey, which is to be expected when your fresh food is so reasonably priced.

They have a massive wine cellar as well (of which we haven't yet taken advantage) with many events throughout the year. If you're ever in the area, you have to stop in and check this store out.

Remember, any time you can, buy locally. Summer is the best time to grab fresh fruits and veggies at roadside fruit stands, weekend farmers markets and other local events. The USDA has a great site that shows you local market events happening in your area and Local Harvest shows you stores like Sirna's in your area. Take advantage while you can!

Dog Days

Welcome to the dog days of summer. Tons of heat, tons of humidity and very little to do.

We've been stuck in a stalemate for the last two weeks waiting for the insurance claim on our car accident to pay out. We're not sure why we didn't mention it in the previous post, but a quick update: we were broadsided by an older woman and pushed into a ditch while taking Cristen to an interview. It has taken three weeks to settle the claim. We only received the settlement check yesterday and still can't access the full amount to purchase a vehicle until mid next week thanks to bank bureaucracy. We have been without a car since, so job hunting and money making have come to a stand still. Luckily we are able to use a family car for the time being as we are house/pet sitting for the next two weeks. Very, very lucky break on our part. If you are ever in an accident with someone who has Allstate insurance, be prepared for a lengthy claim process. Their agents don't answer phone calls until 3-4 hours after they're supposed to "open". You will get a different story and different "policies" from every agent that calls you, and be prepared, three or four agents will call you. At the same time.

Also, if you're expecting a package from FedEx, expect that package to not show up. The FedEx carrier that was supposed to deliver the settlement check never showed. Gave them a call and found out that he got to the end of the street, to the end of our driveway, ignored the four obvious address signs for the house (and the mailbox) and claimed our address didn't exist. So our choice at that point was to either wait until the next day between 9am and noon or drive to their headquarters 30 minutes away and pick it up later that night. We chose to drive. Not being able to find a hidden mailbox address or the address for a house that has a mile-long drive way is understandable, but you could see our house from the road with the address on it, there's a huge green address sign at the end of the driveway (right where he would have turned around), there's a plaque with the address number on it at the base of the biggest tree in the yard and the blacktop road ends halfway down the driveway. Either he didn't even try to come down the road or his IQ is legally below 10 points. Either way, he shouldn't be working for a delivery service. Ok, rant over.

It's been too humid the past couple of weeks to venture outside the air-conditioned RV. Furniture, carpeting and clothing become immediately wet without it. The plus to this moisture being the lush foliage that is surrounding the man made landscape. Butterfly bushes and Queen Anne's Lace are in full bloom and the very first Goldenrod bushes are popping up. Butterflies and woodpeckers are everywhere and bats flit around the trees at night. Summer in Ohio truly is beautiful.

We are very, very excited for the next two weeks. As we mentioned before, we will be pet/house sitting and will be living in an actual house! Indoor plumbing, indoor cooking with more than a microwave and a dog to play with :) The best part is that the house is level! It will be nice to walk around and not trip and fall face first into an angled counter top. This is where we feel we must put a disclaimer (there are some people who might take offense to what was just said). Our excitement does not mean that we do not appreciate what we have, it is clear that we do. A break from those conditions is a vacation for us. It means that we can live like a real couple, in a real housing situation. We would hope that those who care about us are happy that we have this opportunity.

And finally, congratulations to The Jacobs, our dear friends, on the birth of their beautiful baby boy. We can't wait to see him and spoil him rotten!


“I bought a doughnut and they gave me a receipt for the doughnut... I don't need a receipt for the doughnut. I give you money and you give me the doughnut, end of transaction. We don't need to bring ink and paper into this. I can't imagine a scenario that I would have to prove that I bought a doughnut. To some skeptical friend, 'Don't even act like I didn't get that doughnut, I've got the documentation right here... It's in my file at home. ...Under "D"." ~Mitch Hedberg

Lazy, Hazy Summer Days

So far so good on the home front and not much to report.

We've had a lot of heat and humidity that have brought out every single biting insect that exists in the Ohio woodland. The soil and grass are getting desperate for rain. There is so much moisture in the air and none of it helps feed our beautiful local foliage. However, corn flowers seem to flourish in a hot climate. Bunches of purple line the roadways and paths, along with purple, white and pink phlox. The birds are out in vast numbers and we've even been able to catch a glimpse or two of a pair of hummingbirds flitting past the RV.

Cristen is still in the process of going to a few interviews, two admin. assisting positions and one horse tack shop position. As much as she loves and misses being around horses and that specific industry, she really hopes the assisting positions pan out.

Mark has gotten making a fire for dinner down to an art. Within thirty minutes he has the coals burned down and we're ready to cook! We end up smelling like camp fire for the rest of the evening, but that's what summer is all about, right? :)

Seeing as most of the country is in the midst of a heat-wave right now, we hope everyone is staying cool and enjoying all of the fun activities that summer brings. (But bring on the fall!)

I walk without flinching through the burning cathedral of the summer. My bank of wild grass is majestic and full of music. It is a fire that solitude presses against my lips. ~Violette Leduc