Yes, I'm still here...

As if it weren't obvious...I'm a bad blogger. Actually, I've thought about updating the blog but I keep finding things to distance myself from actually doing this. But I feel the need now to face the music with my viewing public...(which is so small and I think that those that still read love me anyway...so I should be okay with this but I'm not.)

Work: Things have changed drastically with the new administration. My office lost one main player but there are departments that lost everyone. I've been through some major emotions during this time but have come to the conclusion that I have a job to do and that I can't let personal feelings get in the way of that. I will continue to work hard in the position I have now until I have something else to do. There are possibilities for opportunities on the horizon and I am very open to them. I've been disappointed that nothing has happened at this point but I'm finding peace in the hope that God has a bigger plan for me...and when it's right it will happen.

Home: I refuse to give up my room. I refuse. So now, I have someone sleeping on my couch. Not Choo-Choo...Monkey's other daughter. So far, it has been peaceful as this daughter is not one big mouth. I am, for my husband's sake, trying to be supportive and quiet. But if Choo Choo moves back in, I'll be convinced that God hates me. An eerie sidenote to this story: This step-daughter evidently ended up on my couch in the wee hours of Sunday morning...because she was there when I woke up Sunday morning. It must have happened after I went to sleep and nobody woke me up. But anyway, she did get up and got dressed and went to church with us. As I knelt to pray before mass, I prayed that something in church today would touch her and bring her peace and back to a place that she needed to be with God. Well, the Bishop gave the homily and spoke on being a shepherd to those who needed us and to "welcome" the outcasts...and to be a living example of Jesus' love. I walked out of mass with such a peace. It was a slap in the face because I was (and I admit to some degree still am) uneasy with this situation. But I knew that God spoke to me through the Bishop's message.

Failure: Pets Royale is closed. I'm embarrassed and sad to even admit this. This is one of the big reasons I haven't posted. Sales have not been great and even though, webstore overhead is less than a brick and mortar store, the expenses were out weighing the sales drastically. I could not afford to keep the site up. I can't afford to invest any more money into the business...and when I got a tax bill for more than my total sales, it was time to make a decision. I had big dreams for this business but things didn't work out the way I hoped. Chalk it up to experience and loss and time to move on.

Lack of change: I'm still a Diet Coke and fast food addict. I've made a little progress on the fast food addiction...but not to the point I'd like to be. This is an issue of frustration for me.

Another birthday: I just turned another year older. I do not want to smell like an old lady. I do not want to look like an old lady. I do not want to think like an old lady. I do not want to be an old lady. I will never be an old lady.

My focus: I've been really working hard to eliminate the excess clutter in my house and I've made some major progress. I've also been doing as much scrapbooking therapy I can possibly do lately as well. I'm almost caught up with the current year's pictures. I have a huge stack of scrapbooking magazines by my bed so lately, I've either been scrapbooking or reading about scrapbooking. It's an addiction but I think this one is a good one.

My promise: I am going to catch up with all of my favorite blogs in the very near future. I also want to update my blog list with a few new blogs that I've come across. So yall come back soon...I promise it won't be so long before I write again.

Later Dudettes.