An angel among us

I have been blessed my whole life to be surrounded by angels. Some of them I cannot see, but many of them I can. One angel that has made my life richer is my sweet cousin, Becky. I have never known Becky as a healthy woman. And yet while I always check in on her health status, I have never thought of her as sick either. Becky has fought cystic fibrosis for so many years now, and yet in my eyes her battle has been invisible. Never have I known someone to love life so much. Never have I seen a more positive and optimistic person. She makes jokes about her needs such as her oxygen tube and her many stays in her hospital bed. No one feels uncomfortable around Becky, like they do around so many others fighting health battles. She has always been so comfortable with who she is and what her trial is that within an instant you see past everything else and only see her shining spirit. It's a gift that I have contemplated a lot lately.

In fact Becky was such a fighter that I think I never thought she would finally go. This is a hard one to accept for so many of us. Becky has finally left us for greater adventures. She is now with her sweet brother, Parrin, who also fought the fight against their "65 Roses". She is with our beloved and greatly missed grandparents and Uncle David.

She has left a wake of people behind her that will miss her so much. Our lives are without a doubt a little more empty. When I think of the incredible relationships she had with her parents, her daughters, her brothers and sisters, and especially my dad, my heart breaks. The world is a little darker.

So tonight as we set out, once again, to our homeland to say our goodbyes, I will tuck the lessons she has taught me into my heart. I will try a little bit harder to be a little bit kinder, a little bit more patient, a little more thankful, a little more forgiving. I will be reminded how precious this life truly is and how small all the rest of it is. I will love. I will serve. I will be thoughtful and generous. I will say "See ya later" to my cousin, friend, and angel. And I will try my hardest to make up for my past and live in the future the way she did so that I can end up where I know without a doubt she is now. Even now, she gives her gifts of life and living.

The Huntsman Hunts Again!

I am a woman that loves me a good bargain. I think this is true for most women, but for me it’s a hobby, a passion. This love, this slight obsession, is in my blood. My Grams gets up every Friday and Saturday morning to hit whatever garage sales she can find. Sometimes she comes home empty handed, sometimes she spends some pennies just to have the joy of spending, and sometimes she finds a true treasure. Treasure hunting – that’s what this is. It calls to us constantly. Something’s out there that I could love for the rest of my life and it will probably only cost me 75¢. What could give more pleasure than that? Some might claim this is a sickness. I can rarely drive passed a thrift store (even a Savers or 99¢ Store) without going in. My first instinct is to head toward the clearance racks of stores. I been known to walk down every aisle in the Wal-Marts. You just never know. In fact I have a whole storage unit full of things you’d never know…. But one day I will have a house decorated like no other – a museum of my finds. It will be wonderful. It will be my heaven and sanctuary and I will become lost within the walls of my own findings.

And they call this a sick passion.

Anyway

Yesterday Mom and I did Dad the great favor of taking a load of our junk and garbage to the DI (Deseret Industries – a church run thrift store). Ya know, clean out the closets and garage. Organize and straighten things up a bit. Seems fairly innocent

Muahahahahahahaha

I found me some finds!!! So today I pay a tribute to yesterday’s discoveries; a tribute to passion for the hunt, for finding something no one else has ever seen before, or could never expect to pay my price for. I pat myself on my back and salute every second hand store out there.

I got the ribbons for $1 a spool. That's pretty close to million yards right there. The flags have a ton of potential! The book and trunk were picked up a few weeks ago during our garage sale weekend. Those were both great finds as well that couldn't be ignored.

My new electric fish soup tureen!!!! I absolutely love this guy!!!! I can put cheezy dips or soups or wassail in there and he'll keep it warm as long as I need!!! I love him. I LOVE him!!!

The time is right for you to make a career move. Your talents are developed well enough for you to take the next step towards your goals. Go after that promotion or start searching for a better position elsewhere or even go out on your own. You may be a little nervous about, but the planets are in your favor. Act boldly and you will get to where you want to be much quicker.

This was my horoscope today. It's cracking me up because last week I started working at Staples. It pays the bills and I'm grateful for the work, but come on...it's Staples. It's part time and I work for pennies. But I'm grateful.

Then today I hook up 2 more job interviews. The first is for Starbucks. Being a barista won't really help my situation out anymore than Staples - I'll still be part time and working for pennies, but I'll get free drinks and the atmosphere is much more appealing. People are friendly, it's like a little village and everyone knows everyone and their drink and their pets names. My kind of job.

I also got an interview to work at the zoo!!!! That's right people! The Phoenix Zoo!!!! Come on!!! So I have a very vague idea of what I'll be doing - the job position is called "Night Camp Instructor". So I'm pretty sure I'll be staying all night with people that love animals and adventure and I'll get to hold spiders and bats and things...maybe? Ok, so the spiders bit pretty much scares the crap out of me, but it's a start. Maybe I'll move up to birds of prey!!! That would make me pee my pants with excitement, not fear!!! Oh man. Anyway, so the possibilities at the zoo are huge. It looks great on a resume, it's a passion for me, I might could make a career out of something. But the zoo if friggin forever away from the house, I don't know how many hours I'll get, and I have no idea what the pay scale is like.

So here I am, after all this time - almost a whole year of being unemployed and I'm getting all these offers now. What's a girl to do????? Anyway, loved the horoscope and thought that was one for the journal.

Camping Binge

Can anything be a "binge"? If you "binge eat" don't you typically puke it up afterwards? Oh wait, I guess that would just make you bulimic...not a pretty problem to have.

It's no big secret how badly I hate living in "The Valley of the Sun". I can't handle the heat. It messes with my mind. I refuse to make long last connections here so that no bonds tie me (of course this automatically excludes my family) Basically I literally go nuts and lose myself when I'm here - especially in the summer. So this year I was lucky enough to go camping for 3 consecutive weekends in a row. I only went for the weekends, determined to find a job during the weekdays, but Mom was up there non-stop. Anyway, those three weekends has given me enough fuel to survive for another month I think....we'll see.



WEEKEND 1



Basically this was time to mentally let down. I haven't been in a very good place lately so feeling the beauty of the mountains and the relaxing peace that they can offer took awhile to truly open up to and accept. Once I found that peace I crawled within myself, forced my body to move like a machine, and found fabulous treasures in the process. I basically went on a scavenger hunt for myself, only I had no goal in mind, I simply knew I wanted to find anything beautiful that I could and try to capture it the best I could. This inspired me in a very familiar way. The last time I was inspired in this sense was when I found a new appreciation of birds. I've since become a bird nerd and try to identify as many of these unbelievable creatures as I can. Now my purpose is plants, mainly wildflowers. Our camp site was right next to an incredible meadow that turned into a faerie land, laboratory, Garden of Eden, thought-provoking dreamland for me. It was perfect for my mental state. Here is a sample of my drug of choice:

My one, pure sanctuary lately.

Doin my thing Seeding grassesLadybug hotel
A strawberry in the makingAnother Strawberry Shortcake fetus

I thought I discovered a new species. It was too fascinating not to be familiar. It was going to be dubbed the Tyia Lilly. Turns out it's a Sego Lilly (Utah's state flower...I suck haha)

Fleabane...does it really piss off the fleas?
Foggy mountain morning - day 2
glistening sap on a pine cone
Mullein
Blue-eyed Grass

Richardson's Geranium
Oak
Narrowleaf Penstemon
Sego Lily
Mogollon Rim
Arizona Thistle
Wild Blackberries...all stages of ripeness
Mullein
Yellow Columbine

WEEKEND 2


This weekend started out on a much better note. I was getting my mother nature groove on. I had spent the week looking at all my lovely pictures from the previous weekend. That does a heart good. So I continued on with my zen photo opp and added to my collection of peace keys.

Stacking Stones for Sanity

Bergamot

Baby Bergamot

I think this is a Purplish Fritillary (Boloria montinus)

In addition to all the magical wonder I was able to see, it was also time to start harvesting the wild blackberries. This is one of my most favorite things to do. There's something so satisfying and addicting to getting the crap cut out of your arms just to get that plumpest, sweetest berry on the bush. This is something we've done since we were kids. I have so many great memories of picking berries all day and getting to eat pies at night. Then we'd bottle dozens of jars of jam. There is nothing more delicious on homemade bread.

Dad

Mom

We also got a visit from Oliver and a couple of his friends - Pat and Stevens. They stopped by for breakfast and spent most of the day hanging out. It was a good day. Lots of good conversation. I got to stretch my mental muscles a little and those muscles actually liked it.

WEEKEND 3

This weekend got a little spicier. Kattie and the Ritters came up to spend their weekends up there too. (Kattie and the Ritters...haha...sounds like a band)

We did a whole lot of eating (courtesy of Dad)

Played games

We take our badminton very seriously

Dad's superpower ring...it was the source of his mad skills - he won every match.

What?? Crap! I thought we were playing poker! Traditional Paintball Wars...
And of course our nature walks with the dogs

Go Speed, goooooooooooo!

Amour...

I love this little guy!

Abandoning thin!

Analyzing berry filled poop

What a little cheese monkey!

Reliable Mom always recording our trips

Non-stop laughing the whole time

And what family event would be complete without a Rittermoble having a little trouble? hahaha