"Bits and Pieces" (update)

Just a little bit of this and a few pieces of that to take care of some odds and ends....

**** I would like to assure everyone (just in case anybody cares), I am not all melancholy and wishing I could change my life, despite writing for the last two days about things that happened nearly 50 years ago!  I am approaching a rather large milestone in my life, and that is making me somewhat introspective and wondering where the years have gone. 

At the time when I was 16-17 my life took a significant jog to another path than the one I had been on and I resented it for a long time.  1963 was the worst year in my life, but it led me to the life I have lived for the vast majority of the years since.  Without 1963, it is extremely doubtful that I would ever have gotten many of the gifts that life has given me.  Without the events of 1963, I wouldn't have the Big Guy, or Ratchlet, or Maddie-the-Great.  I wouldn't have the confidence that I found that year, nor would I have ever had music become such a large part of my life.  I wouldn't give up any of those things, not for anything on this earth!! 

The first 17 years of my life were kind of rocky, with lots of ups and downs.  At the time I had a lot of things to be upset about; but now, looking back I know that I was blessed with challenges to help me grow and learn and become the person I was always supposed to be.  Sometimes I wonder about the "what ifs", I think everyone does from time to time.  I am honest enough to know that had things never changed for me in 1963, my life would have been quite different and most likely would not have been for the better.  It would be hard to top some of my life experiences and I truly would never want to try.  Like I said yesterday, life happens the way it is supposed to!

**** I don't know if you noticed, but my post on Monday was post #365!  That is a full year's worth of writings.  Some posts were a lot better than others.  My favorites were not necessarily the ones that got the most comments or the most hits.  Some of them happened pretty early into the game, but the ones that came out well were the incentive to keep writing on days when I had to work at it.  I never know what is going to touch the heart or funny bone of a reader, some I thought were terrific, didn't catch the attention of anyone....and vice verse!  Still, 365 posts is a lot of writing and I am happy that I stuck with it, even if nobody else cares much!  lol!  Those 365 posts took me about one month shy of two years of blogging; which means an average of writing every other day!!  That's a pretty good record, don't you think?

**** Today was the last day of school for Austin schools.  I always loved the last day of school!  Summer had arrived and we had weeks and weeks to enjoy being a kid.  I don't think the kids today are one bit different!  "School's out, school's out.  Teacher let the monkeys out!"  I hope all the little monkeys love every minute!!

**** There is a lot of building going on in and around Austin.  Mostly commercial things like offices and stores, but there is a bit of residential building too.  When the construction industry picks up that usually mean things are on an economic upswing.  That would be great.  There are way too many folks still struggling to find work and make ends meet.  This current economic climate is not following the usual patterns though (i.e., good financial picture but still not hiring), so who knows what the increased building means, if anything.  There are a lot of empty or nearly empty office buildings and stores and that doesn't bode too well for the success of the new buildings going up!  These things usually go in cycles, and most of us are really ready for some good news on the economic front.  Wouldn't it be great if it really was finally turning around?

**** I don't know about you, but I can generally get two years out of a pair of summer sandals, sometimes three if I don't wear them often.  Austin has a LOT of summer though, so I wear my sandals a lot.  This year I need to replace a pair of navy blue sandals.  I have been looking for two months (trying to get a jump on the season rather than waiting until July like I sometimes have in the past.)  Well, it appears not to matter.  Navy sandals are in short supply, in fact, nearly nonexistent.  I've hit the Internet and a ton of stores, but those all-powerful "they" have decided that navy is not a hot color this year.  Even the shoe store staffs agree that there just isn't much out this year in navy.  I have moaned about this before I think, but it just irritates me to no end.  One little pair of navy sandals that fits and doesn't cost the national debt really doesn't seem like too much to ask!  Truly!

****  I had a hard time deciding to let my hair color go "natural".  After decades of coloring my hair to cover up the grey that started appearing before I was 30 (!), about a year and a half ago I thought I'd give it a go.  To my great surprise I liked it!  There was a nice mix of grey, silver, and white and it actually looked kind of pretty.  I got a lot of compliments.  Well, it's probably my imagination, but since I got my last haircut (at the beginning of April), all of a sudden it seems to me to be coming in DARKER!  Is that even possible??  From the front I can't see very much white or silver, it mostly seems like a boring, nondescript, non-color....kind of brownish but  not really.  Am I going to have to go back to color???  What the heck is going on??  Has anybody every encountered that??

**** Austin has definitely moved into the summer temperature range.  Daytime temps in the mid-90s or higher.  Not unbearable, but definitely warm!  That makes me happy, but the Big Guy?   Not so much.  Soooo, it's back to the thermostat wars at my house.  Can't pack away my sweaters, I still need them at home!  Arrgghhh!

That's it for this time!