2013 Blog Plan

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Yesterday, I introduced a Facebook tied to this blog to my friends.  Most them knew I wrote a blog and read it at least sometimes.  Some of them knew that I have a dream of figuring out how to blog full-time.  A few of them knew about the fits, false starts and failures in launching that kind of enterprise.  There's been a lot of fits, false starts and epic fails... many of which come from my lack of technical expertise with things like SEO, migrating onto a different/more useful platform, deciding just how to beef up the content enough for a 'real' website and navigating the maze of how to generate an income stream from all this work.

Sigh!

I'm trying but I really don't know quite what I'm doing.  It's not intuitive to me and I haven't managed to stumble into it... yet.  Through it all, I keep tinkering and plugging along and even when I think I've hit a point where I have nothing to say... something gets me all worked up and words come.  That renews my hope that someday I'll get this all figured out and working right if even it I have to drag myself through it kicking and screaming.

Toward that end, I thought that today I'd let you in on what's going on with my life and, therefore, blog plans for the rest of 2013.

Right now I'm looking for a day job.  Still.  I didn't really expect to still be in this awkward in-between position 3-months out but here I am.  Many days it's terribly discouraging... sometimes so much so that it tests my faith that I'm doing the right thing.  But I'm trying to hard to be open to doing something completely new and reinventing the 2nd half of my career.  If my application/preliminary interview turns out to be anything tomorrow maybe I'll have some good news to share.

I'm also kind of 'city-steader' interrupted because I don't have a home of my own right now.  I don't even have a closet I can duck into for some private alone time.  Seriously, the only place that's entirely mine exists between my ears.  And with a not so great filter, I say pretty much whatever is on my mind so it's not really all that private in there either.  Sometimes I feel like I'm about to lose my mind.  I want my own place with my own stuff where I can do my own thing in my own way and on my own time and I want it so desperately my teeth literally ache.  But this arrangement is necessary for a few months.

Towards solving this... I'm loosely scheduled to close on the sale of my house in Salt Lake City on the last business day of May.  And that means, job situation willing, that my fiance and I will be closing on the purchase of a home here in Georgia during the first few days of June.  We want to stay in the Cobb/Paulding/Cherokee County vicinity and are willing to look at just about anything with 3+ bedrooms and 2+ baths including townhouses, single family homes, multi-family homes, new construction, historic homes and fixer uppers.  Derek is less than thrilled with the fixer upper idea and I'm less than thrilled about the shared walls of a townhouse but we're both willing to consider the possibility if the right thing comes along at the right price.  As we start seriously searching, instead of just dreaming over online listings, I'll document the process right from choosing a realtor.

The timing of this move also means that I won't be growing a garden again this year since the most plant knowledgeable person I've met here so far told me that I needed to plant tomatoes in mid-March (what!?!) before the hot part of summer starts.  I'm still toying with the idea of planting one or two in large flowerpots and just moving them from this patio to my new patio when we do move.  Also thinking that might be a good way to grow some herbs.  Then again, maybe this will turn out to be more of a learning year because of new gardening conditions and therefore a different schedule and different plants.

Once we get housing sorted out I'll have some painting and decorating to do, too.  I'm not opposed at all to re-purposing old things so, over Derek's complaints, I have plans to explore thrift stores and some antique/vintage/gift shops I've found that have great prices in their online posts.

Mixed into all this, I have a new locale to explore.  Within less than 5 miles, I've noticed two historic markers I keep meaning to pull over and read.  Maybe Saturday when we have a sunny day again?

I like to do all sorts of crafts from time to time and most often do original projects.  I'm really looking forward to having a little spot that I can dedicate to this and have my own little office.

And, of course, I love to cook.  Trying new recipes is always fun for me!  Derek has a big sweet tooth so most weeks I try out a new chocolate and/or peanut butter dessert.  But I'm also learning to make gumbo from scratch and, hopefully soon, his mom will teach me how to make her very delicious version of red beans and rice.