Blooming.

"Bloom where you are planted." Remember that? I heard it back in the late 70s, during my tortured soul searching days. Good advice, even when you've planted yourself in a freezing cold city where it will eventually snow and nothing else is blooming. Especially then, eh?

Honestly, I'm such a frickin' Pollyanna, if a nuclear device exploded in my back yard, I'd find something good about it.

So here's the silver lining du jour: we love this house.

It fits us perfectly, it's not so big it requires a truckload of furniture (and an Early Bucket Shop decor is pretty durn cheap). It's well insulated so stays pretty warm. The kitchen is PERFECT! We can all be in there tasting stuff while Hal cooks. Great location: close to all my family, U.K., downtown Lexington and five minutes away from Whole Foods and the Good Foods Coop. Too far from Costa Rica, but this is temporary.

I guess in the big picture, it's all temporary. My computer's motherboard will outlive us all. Might as well enjoy the ride!

Oh, yeah, baby. Life, she is sweet. Oh, and only $950 a month plus utilities, which will be about $200-$300 a month. Including firewood. We can do this. And get this: cable internet is $55/month for 20mgs down, 1.5 up. Whoa. (You don't get that all the time, of course, but still wicked fast.)

I met one of my neighbors yesterday. She told me right off that she is Muslim "but we are Persian, not Iraqi." I told her I didn't care and she squeezed my hand. Wonder what kind of pressure that is to live under. I think I have problems.

Mom is good, still happy living with all those other old ladies. I don't think I could do it. Her hip is hurting her which means she's not sleeping but we went to the doctor this morning. Poco a poco, she will get settled in.

The boys are going for their GEDs this week, then they can get jobs and sign up for schooling -- YAY! I'm practicing for my new job as a seminar leader (I get to stand up in front of people all dressed up with a microphone and help them discover how to bloom where they are planted -- it just doesn't get any better than that), plus all signed up for acupuncture school starting in January, and joining the local board of REALTORS® (just in time for this market to crash... timing is everything.) AND Sam is coming to visit - double YAY!

I'm looking forward to so many things, including the Weston A. Price Foundation conference coming up in a few days! I'm not positive I'm going, but I'd rather do that than have a dryer. At least, today I would. Ask me after the first frost.

Don't forget to vote tomorrow!!! Here are my voting rules because you are probably asking:

1. Vote. Seth Grodin echoes my sentiments exactly.

2. Vote principle over party.

3. Never re-elect anyone unless you know for certain that person votes the way you want them to. Otherwise, vote for the newbie, no matter who it is. Here's why: a newly elected official will listen harder to their constituents because they want to win re-election. Once you prove to the ruling class that you can vote out an incumbent, it knows you can vote out a newbie. This turns up the volume loud and clear!

4. Remember: it's all temporary.