2024 Progress….

On a slightly less amusing note than broken bones, I wanted to give a bit of an update on 2024. I know it’s not quote my “mid year” check. We aren’t 6 months down and 6 months to go, but I don’t often update the blog like I used to so here’s where it’s all at.

I broke my toe a few weeks ago. It wasn’t fun. 10 out of 10 NOT recommended. It hurt! I’ve also come to realize that I’m a wuss and I don’t handle pain well.

My husband and I started up a 20g aquarium also a few weeks ago. While I have experience with my own fish from 20+ years ago and also multiple fresh and saltwater tanks over another decade that I don’t talk about…. I haven’t had fish for at least 10 years and we had been talking about it, so we thought it would be nice.
It’s been an absolute disaster. We set the tank up and ran it for weeks like you’re supposed to before adding fish. We added water conditioner and treatments to lower Ph and build a healthy tank.
We started adding fish, and while a few seemed to do just fine, over the course of about 7 days adding some fish here and some fish there, we had catastrophic losses and almost all of them died. We tested and tested and sought help from multiple sources including 2 fish stores. I had never had trouble like this setting up a tank, and it definitely triggered my ever so fragile anxiety. I was in tears when they all started dying. We actually lost 7 fish ($60 of fish!) in 5 hours.
We’ve finally discovered that the tank has no healthy bacterial byproducts (nitrates, if you’re familiar with fish keeping), so somehow the bacteria buildup we added and the 3 week long bacterial bloom managed to result in a tank with no fish-supporting eco system. Somehow, 5 guppies are doing just fine, but now the tank is just waiting until something positive happens to create a healthy atmosphere before we add more fish.

I feel like it’s been absolutely forever since we took a trip. Our next one isn’t until Labor Day! We are going to DragonCon and may or may not (money dependent) take an additional 2 days and go to New Orleans. That’s yet to be determined.

Then in 6 months today, we finally get to go to Disney! The countdown has been happening for about 2 1/2 years. Just 6 more months to go and we truly cannot wait.

I’ve also been continuing with piano lessons and daily French on Duolingo. I am 3 years deep into French now, and while I can read and write pretty well, I can not speak or understand verbal language at all. It’s really difficult. Hopefully when our travels take us back to Paris in a few more years, I’ll have that a little more well rounded.

And on the note of learning things, that brings me to my last update. Many months ago, I made a huge change in my life finally deciding some 25 years after high school to earn my Bachelor’s Degree online through my state university system. I enrolled, got a student loan, and started down that journey to get a business degree. The ultimate goal of getting it, of course, was to open the door to a higher paying job. Money. The goal was money.

It was also going to cost a fortune, but fortunately my work offers tuition reimbursement, and after multiple failed (aka totally ignored) applications for tuition reimbursement, I was finally approved. I had completed 6 months of school already before the approval went through and the next “subscription period” (aka online semester) was going to be the first one with actual business classes added in.

I had been taking just general education required classes, as I needed to earn 60 credits, and then 66 credits of business classes through 2027 to ultimately meet the BA requirements.

Now… the general education classes were not exactly what I would call enjoyable or fun. Mostly, they were an excessive amount of work producing videos and Power Point presentations or writing essays on nonsensical metaphorical subjects. The biggest problems I was having was with “teacher” response time. It could take anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks to hear back from one of the professors. If I had a question before I could continue, it was an incredibly frustrating waiting game to even hope I got a response.

So I passed Digital Media, Spanish, Women’s Voices, Intercultural Communication, Intro to Business, and Nutrition and Weight Management (easily the most absurdly ridiculously difficult class out of the bunch) with all A’s. I had final grades of 93-99.

I thought for sure the business classes were going to be more structured, more well instructed, and have better response times. So I eagerly jumped into getting those set up. I had to figure out how to balance gen ed classes that I didn’t want to take like Chemistry, Jazz History, and so many other irrelevant classes with learning new materials like Economic Studies, Statistical Analysis, Business Law, HR Management, you name it….

But heck, I was excited for a change of pace, right? RIGHT??? RIGHT??? It’s not like I’m dumb. I could do this.

And then I received my syllabuses, bought my books, and started into those classes. And knowing that overall there was an incredible lack of guidance or support, pretty much the structure is “you’re on your own, read this chapter and figure it out as you go”. There were no lectures. There were no instructors you could speak to easily. Essentially, it was $36,000 in self- education I thought I needed to hopefully maybe take a chance on getting a higher paying job.

Remember how I said my ever-fragile anxiety made me break down hysterically because some fish died? Well… what do you think it did to me when I saw in my syllabus that I had to write 25 pages of research and analyze other research papers? Or learn about economics and create graphs and charts of pricing trends and make power points on my analysis of economic structures and concepts I had no idea about, all from reading a few chapters of a text with no instruction or guidance and no response from the instructors?
And learn a totally new analytical program without instruction….. oh, and perform job analysis and create fake hiring and firing letters based on basically no information?

It did not go well. I broke the classes down piece by piece and reached out to instructors with questions.

Ultimately, after speaking to the instructor on the 25 page research paper, it went well and I started having a solid understanding of the expectations of that class, while I was fruitlessly working my way through the others waiting on instructor responses. I actually pretty much started sobbing daily every day logging in. I dragged my poor husband into helping me through the analytical requirements with excel and the new program I had never heard of prior to starting the class, like that’s what he wanted to do for 4-5 hours on the weekends. Every evening, every morning, I was researching, plotting, graphic, praying and hoping I could understand the requirements, and of course get a good grade.

So I tried to convince myself that the breakdowns and anxiety and stress would be worth it. I tried to convince myself that doing this daily for 4 years, and fighting with my work to get approved 12 more times for tuition reimbursement and all the breakdowns and crying was going to pay off. I tried to get through the classes, and I did. For weeks – every assignment at the start that I submitted did come back graded between 93-99. It’s not like I was doing poorly, but as I got deeper and deeper into it, and looked ahead at all the course requirements, the videos I would need to produce, the interviews I would have to do, the undesirable general education classes I would have to work through, the $36,000 bill I would have when it was all done…

I could not do it. I could not see myself crying daily because trying to self-learn and hope for the best when submitting assignments was just too much. I wanted to do it, and show that I could, but I also didn’t want to put my stress levels (and my husband’s!) through hell.

The previous 6 months of classes was un-fun and frustrating, and it showed. The next semester I was facing, was beyond even unhealthy and it showed. Trying to do those classes was taking a massive toll on my mental health. As such, I had to put my health, sanity, and anxiety first, and so, I became a two-time Bachelor’s program drop out. Twice.

I dropped out when I was 18, and I dropped out again 25+ years later. Clearly this just isn’t the path for me. It wasn’t that I couldn’t manage good grades, it was a whole heap of other factors that ultimately I decided were more important to me.

It was a disappointing run, but I will say, it was definitely educational. We learn from every experience, even ones that don’t turn out the way we hope. Often, especially from the experiences that don’t turn out the way we hoped. So…other than the fish dying and breaking my toe all in the same month as dropping out of school, my stress levels have gone down dramatically.

(Ironically, I got an email from a professor explaining requirements of an assignment, 3 weeks after I sent the email, and about 2 weeks after I had already withdrawn…. )

So, now to just get back to planning vacations. Live and learn.

Daily Prompt: Broken Bones

Daily writing prompt

Have you ever broken a bone?

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Ha! This prompt amuses me. I can answer this two different ways. 1) I am a horse person. What do you think…. and 2) I am also a klutz, so that aligns itself with broken bones.

Let’s start…..

I had my nose broken in middle school, 8th grade, I believe, by a bully who burned my hair with a cigarette lighter and then punched me in the face. I was later told by the principal of the school that perhaps if I wasn’t “the way I am” I would get bullied. I could get into alllll kinds of other bullying I went through in school (it’s hard being a social misfit), but this post is about broken bones.

When I was 13, I convinced my dad to get me a horseback riding lesson for my birthday, and while I’m quite sure he thought it was going to be a 1 or 2 time thing, and was not willing to invest anything further into it, the next 30 years of my life have had horses in them.

With horses, often come broken bones. Shall I begin:

Hairline fracture 2 ribs
Hairline fracture right humerus
Hairline fracture right metacarpal (that sucked!)
Hairline fracture of pubic bone (that sucked worse…. and I still got back on the horse and showed!)
Fracture of right tibial-tarsal (ankle — on New Year’s Eve, too!)

That one has a story behind it (well, they all do, but mostly they were from kicks or rears) because my horse actually fell on me. I limped myself into my car, drove home, and barely got my boot off (not cutting off those riding boots!). Eventually around 8pm or so, after I called off work (at a restaurant) because I couldn’t walk, and having had the manager tell me I needed a doctor’s note (because obviously, it was a holiday and I was being irresponsible…. never calling off before, you know and all ::: insert eye roll here :::) I ended up having my dad take me the ER where we proceeded to watch the ball drop (2000!) while I was getting a cast applied.

And then there was the DOOZY…. It happened when I was just 4 years old! I was playing at my elementary school playground (it was summer, my dad was a teacher there. My older brother and I were there with my Dad while he was inside doing some work. We were playing outside).

I had climbed up onto a pyramid structure that looked a little like this, only solid, made with 12 x 12 beams (like the kind you’d see in a house’s ceiling)

And….. the last words I said to my 4 year older brother was pretty much “catch me”. I jumped.

Not only was the pyramid (probably 5-6 feet high) made from those big wood beams, but it was also enclosed in sandbox surrounded by an octagon frame of those same wood beams.

When I landed, I cracked my back on the edge of one of those 12 x 12 beams. I immediately curled into a fetal position and was unable to move or breath. I still remember my brother picking me up and carrying me, gasping for air and trying to cry, into the school to find my dad. I don’t remember a ton else, but I definitely do remember the 6 months I spent with a metal brace like a belt around my body, and my parents having to put guard rails up on my bed so I didn’t roll out of bed and reinjure myself.

I ended up having multiple compression fractures of 2 or 3 lumbar vertebrae. I do have the xrays of it somewhere in some very very old hiding spot that some day I may find again. So, I actually broke my back. Yep. Good stuff.

BUT…. my most recent mis-adventure was the result of my own klutziness.
Some of those breaks happened 20 years ago… this one happened 3 weeks ago… siiiiiiigh.

Pictures or it didn’t happen:

You know what… breaking your pinky toe in 2 pieces HURTS. OUUUUUUCH!!!!

And do you want to know how I did it?? (You really probably don’t. It’s dumb).

I stubbed it.

Yep. Right on the coffee table base.

Coffee table 1. Pinky Toe 0.

Ha! Klutz.

Enjoy the day!

Tattoo

Daily writing prompt

What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?

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Ooooooo today’s daily prompt is an easy one for me! I’ve thought about this long long long and hard. Unfortunately, an irrational fear of needles (like completely freak out level….) will probably forever keep me from getting a tattoo, but I would love to get a semi colon on my right thigh, inner.

Why?

Because the semi colon has the most wonderful meaning; it means the sentence isn’t done, there’s more to write. The story still continues.

My right inner thigh bears a 6″ long scar from cancer surgery and damaged skin from radiation therapy, but my story is far from over.

There’s always more to write.

Maybe one of these times I’ll get over the needle phobia and do it. Doesn’t have to be big, and definitely not right over the scar, that would be painful! Yikes. I do enjoy a good tattoo, but I just can’t convince myself I could deal with the pain to have one done.

Autobiography

Daily writing prompt

You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?

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This was a prompt on the WordPress home page today. I rather liked this one, because as it happens, I *do* have an autobiography in progress. It is literally thousands of pages. I always write a bit more every few months, and I’ve covered everything from my earliest memories of my life and my experiences from the beginning (as much as I can remember) to present day, complete with photos and more history about me than anyone would ever want to know.

I do think I have one hell of a story.

My first sentence:

“This is the story of my life, as it is.”

There you go.

Happy Monday, Welcome to March.

It’s Almost time for Life in 2024!

Well, 2023 is almost closed out. Has it been one heck of a year for you? It has definitely been quite a year for me! I used to make annual lists of goals, because I don’t like the idea of making new years’ “resolutions”, but honestly, I really haven’t even been making lists of goals. I don’t have a huge list of goals anymore! I’ve accomplished so much, but I am just standing at the edge of an ocean full or more to accomplish.

When I started at my new job in Aug 2022, I headed into it with a short list of important goals. I love my new job, and I’m still there thankfully. One of the things I wanted to do was start back into school and work on getting a bachelor’s degree. It’s late in life to do something like that, but really, I don’t think it’s ever too late to try, right?

I never wanted to go to college when I was young; I did, and chose the wrong career path, and then life just never sat right with me to go back again. Now, I am a full time college student on top of my full time job, and I’m hoping for the best.

I spent many many years being underappreciated at my jobs, and most of all – under paid. I spent the majority of my working life making far less per hour than was reflected in the work I did, and yet, I can’t quite get the actual paying job reflective of that work without that degree. When I took my new job last year, I feel like I got into a company that I can advance, and after I get the degree, hopefully that will happen. We shall see. It’s a long road to getting that degree, and it will be stressful. It’s already been stressful.

My first semester ended well enough, I got all A’s. My 2nd semester started already and is a work in progress. We’ll see…

In other news, I’m happy to say that our rabbits and Jesse are doing well, though Jesse was diagnosed, after long suspected, but normal blood tests, with Cushing’s. He had a test come back high for the first time in 3 years. It’s hardly unexpected since he is 27. He’s still totally adorable, though, right?

Again, he is 27. That weighs on my mind a lot. He will be my last horse. Physically, my back is so bad, I can’t even sit on my sofa without pain, so I don’t have it in me to be around horses. Mentally and emotionally, I just can’t take it anymore. My last group of horses, 10+ years of bonding and relationships, and they end tragically. Financially… well… you did see I’m going to school, right? LOL. That’s a big loan to have to pay back, like a 2nd car I didn’t want to buy….

Sometimes I think about it- try to get another horse, maybe a nice draft cross (always a favorite) and hope I can ride without pain and not fall off. Then I remember all the years of learning why I shouldn’t be riding in the first place, not to mention my back problems. I also think about the costs, and spending every single penny I have on horses for some reason has lost its appeal. I like travelling, imagine that. Easier on my back, too, and less chance of falling off things.

Speaking of travelling, my husband and I took a wonderful trip to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, TN in November for our wedding anniversary. We had a great long weekend trip and did a lot in just a few days. We also stopped in Louisville and visited Churchill Downs and the Louisville Slugger Museum, too. You can check out my YouTube Video here.

One other super fun we did during this trip was that we visited the famous restaurant, The Chicken Guy! And tried all 22 of their house sauces. It was the most expensive chicken tender dinner we ever had, and we didn’t even finish it. It sure was fun tasting all of those sauces, and we plan to do it again in Orlando in 2024.

We have lots and lots of plans in 2024 and 2025, so stay tuned! Fingers crossed that 2024 will be a great year for us, and you too. I’m hoping for the best with school, work, health, travels, and everything else.

We have a trip to New York City planned, DragonCon 2024 is on the books, though we don’t have a hotel room yet (and yes, I’m panicked about that!), and the BIG trip of 2024- Disney World ! Wow!! 2 years of planning, and we are now less than a year away! Still have more saving to go.

So those are goals for 2024, for sure:
School (I can’t believe I have until 2027 before it’s done… ugh!)
Trips (Disney!!!!)
Keeping Jesse healthy of course is a goal, along with our bunnies and… well, ourselves, too of course.
And job health!

Make the most of every day. That’s all we can do.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Making Huge Changes

This week, I started down an incredible new journey. It’s going to be difficult, stressful, and expensive, but in hoping for the best.

No, I did not buy a new show horse.

I made an investment in myself and I hope that it was the right choice and it will be something I’ll be able to do successfully.

When I was young, all I wanted to do was be a vet – for the very narrow minded reason that “I love animals” especially horses so I want to become an equine vet. Sciences always came fairly naturally to me, I usually passed with flying colors. Not straight A’s, but strong grades all the same.

Eventually as I got older, closer to college searching age, I lost that desire. Already by the age of 16, trying to work at McDonald’s and buy a car, I did learn pretty quickly that expensive things are expensive and college, especially 7 years of veterinary school was very expensive.

All the same, my Dad pushed me (aggressively even) to go to college and get a degree.

Amongst many other factors going on in my life at 17ish, I had no direction or self worth at all. None.

“Dad, what do you think I’m good at?”

“I don’t know,” he said. ” You need to go to college and find out for yourself, even if you take basket weaving, I don’t care. You’re going to college.”

Those uninspiring words at that fragile time when I was at my lowest mental wellness I had ever been at that point in my life, did not stir me into college.

Oh I looked. And I decided I wanted to ride horses. I found a college that actually was a riding college… The whole degree was an equine sciences degree.

When my Dad asked what I can do with the 2 year degree, I honestly said I have no idea. Manage a barn maybe? Work at a race track? Who knew. When my dad saw the cost he flat out said no.

So, the one college I picked, for the vague career plans I didn’t have, was shot down. After highschool, I did enroll per my Dad’s ultimatum into our state college. 3 months later, I dropped out.

I didn’t hate college; I was always good in school. I just had no clue what to do with myself in life and didn’t think I was going to figure it out sitting in a classroom. I wanted to ride professionally and pursue that.

Every horse show I then went to, my Dad asked me how much money I was earning. How was I going to support myself? I had no idea, and I certainly wasn’t winning money.

So, eventually, I settled on a college path that would allow me to be a professional and a horse person, but not in a riding capacity.

At 20 years of age, I re-enrolled into Veterinary Technology at a local 2 year college and after graduation, I went on to be a vet tech at a mixed animal practice.

After 2 years, and a very long road, I moved across the country to be a tech at an all equine veterinary practice. I got out of my Dad’s house, I had my degree, and I was going to finally be able to support myself and my horses as a vet tech. Right?

Let’s suffice to say that none of that happened. While I did remain an equine vet tech for 6 more years, to keep a long, horrible story short, it was not the career path for me.

That was so many years ago now, it’s hard to believe where my life has taken me. It’s been a very very very long road. If I detailed it, this post would probably break the Worspress site….

So last year, I started a new job. While searching for a new job, I found a lot of very well paid jobs I could totally do based purely on over 20 years experience. Manager level type jobs, overseeing efficiently run business matters. I applied to all of them every time. $100,000 a year? Heck yea, I can do this job!

The only qualification I lacked…. Was a Bachelor’s degree in a business field. I never got a single response from any of those upper level positions despite my strong case for my experience which I emphasized repeatedly in my cover letter.

So, when I did land an amazing new job (not in a management position) at an awesome new company, one of the first things I asked my recruiter before I even interviewed was….. Does your company offer tuition assistance?

Like when I was 18, I still had no way to pay for college 25 years later, but I wanted to get that missing degree to open up my future to one of those high paying jobs I am already capable of.

The recruiter said yes, and I was thrilled. But it didn’t kick in as a benefit for a year.

That year mark passed last month, and I had submitted my request for approval for tuition assistance, and applied to my State’s University.

As of this week, at a ripe old age, this old somewhat broken down hag, is a college student.

It is fully online, at my pace, and while it’s not quite what I was expecting, I am thrilled to be in college.

When I was younger, I barely studied, I didn’t care to double check my work, I knew it would be right. I handed in assignments without giving them a second thought. And I was always on the honor roll getting A’s, maintaining a high GPA. School at that time was easy, or I didn’t care enough to bother.

The decades of damage to my self confidence and years of anxiety and worry now has totally undeniably changed my carefree attitude. I’m completely stressed and totally worried I might fail.

I’ve been in college officially 4 days, already handed in my first assignment wich I’m stressed about the grade, and already wrote an essay, which I’ve reached out to the school’s tutors to help me make sure it is done right.

This is not going to be an easy adventure…… Fingers crossed that pass.

I don’t care about Honors or Straight A’s, I just want to do well, pass and in 3-5 more years land that upper level job thwiat ll actually help me build a retirement.

Oh boy, what have I gotten myself in to??

“Trip of Lifetime…”

Ok, so I decided to start a separate blog for all of our trips that we have taken or have upcoming. A lot of those trips are nothing short of trips of a lifetime, or once in a lifetime trips.

We have a literal bucket list hanging on our wall- all those dream trips that we are slowly working on checking off. You can have more than 1 once in a lifetime trip, but those are usually going to be the trips you take once… ever.

We have on our bucket list, once in a lifetime trips that include Disney (which we are booked for 2024!), Italy, Costa Rica, and even the Maldives. Eventually, we will get to all of them. We already have a plan for almost all of them, but the Maldives one… welllllll… that’s gon’ be a while.

You can have once in a lifetime experiences, too, during your once in a lifetime trips. Maybe you take a helicopter ride to a glacier in Alaska, go to the summit of Mt. Vesuvius in Italy (which we plan to do), or take a camel ride to the Pyramids in Egypt (also something we plan to do).

Maybe you’re a bit more extreme in what you want to do – scale a mountain, sky dive, zipline over a jungle.

Every one of us has a dream trip or dream experience – those once in a lifetime things you would just totally do if you had the money.

You just expect to have a great time, a great memory, and then return home maybe dreaming up of the next epic adventure. Maybe you dream big and crazy, like you are eagerly awaiting your chance to buy a ticket on the first passenger faring spacecraft to the moon.

Maybe your big, crazy, “totally would do if you had the money” trip is a little more down to Earth….. very down. Down, down, down, down…..

About 3 years ago, some time in 2020, I read about a company that offered a high dollar trip to one of the most incredible, amazing things I could ever imagine doing – and would totally do if I had the money.

I told my husband about it; it would be the once in a lifetime type of trip that was right up my alley and yes, if I had a spare 6 figures laying around, I would have signed up. I really would have. I even told a friend about it and she would have wanted to do it, if we were elite enough to afford the experience.

It was a company that offered trips to the Titanic for $250,000.

Yes. That company.

That’s the one.

I have SO MANY deep opinions about what happened this week, and maybe I feel it just a bit more, because literally if I had the money, I might have well been on that thing.

I think we all want adventure with safety; a thrill, with security; a solid backup plan; a challenge, with an escape.

If we go do these extreme things, maybe say ziplining (which my hubby and I have done before), you simply expect, that you buy your ticket, have a knowledgeable guide to help you, and safe equipment. You expect your harness to work, the buckles to lock, the zipline to stay taught. Things can and do still go wrong – people get stuck, stop, grab the wrong part of the zip line and lose a finger; but over all, you simply expect to pay your money and have a good, safe time.

Usually those safe times are reinforced by regulations, inspections and maintenance to help prevent problems. Safety regulations, safety checks, equipment inspections – those things should not be overlooked or taken lightly; heck our cars have those things done to them regularly.

If you ride on a rollercoaster, you simply just trust the park, and expect the seatbelts to work, the tracks to stay in place. You actually assume there’s really no risk, just a thrill, because you expect that the safety regulations are done and in place.

And the fact is that you wouldn’t know if they weren’t. Do you know what a roller coaster with a bad bolt holding a track down looks like? I’m pretty sure none of us do. If a zipline harness had a weak spot, would you know it? Probably not.

You simply pay your ticket and expect to have a good, safe experience. If you go into an airplane, you expect (and certainly hope), that the captain/pilot knows what he’s doing, and that the plane has been assessed and inspected for flight readiness.

I know I’ve personally been delayed at airports because a plane I was about to get on was deemed unfit between stops and had to be pulled from use until another plane was found. An inconvenience, but better than the alternative.

If I boarded an airplane, being told that it’s safe and good to go, would I know what I was looking at if something was really wrong with it? Like if it just wasn’t built right? I mean… if it looks like an airplane, I’m pretty much going to assume it flies and will get me there safely or I would expect I would be told otherwise.

I know, I know… the people who went aboard OceanGate Titan knew there were risks. You are talking about a place that is honestly probably harder to get to than the moon. But risks, with safety; adventure with security; that’s something different.

Proper construction, proper inspection, proper safety regulations adhered to and in date.

If you got into a submarine that couldn’t handle the depths it was intending to go to – would you know? Could you know? No, because you’re probably not an expert on submarine construction or deep diving equipment. You assume you are getting into something that’s been safety inspected and is “good to go” and the risks, while possible, are attempted to be prevented by keeping up on those safety parameters.

I’d like to think that I might have asked about its sea worthiness before getting in, but maybe not. Maybe I would just assume if I’m paying $250,000 for something I am going to be given a good experience and good information. I do not think for a second that the CEO doubted its construction or he probably wouldn’t have been on it, but at the same time, it also sounds like he really didn’t know or care to or want to hear about the potential for critical failure.

Why didn’t the pilot, who had years of experience, and had been to the Titanic before, become concerned at all about the safety of the thing before it was launched? Were they both absolutely sure of its construction so much so that they really just didn’t think they needed to adhere to any kind of safety standards? Including a window that wasn’t designed at all to handle the depths it was going to?

I know the vehicle made several trips before and survived. So, was it just lucky? Did that luck really just make them all think the equipment didn’t need to be inspected or safe or secure?

I think the whole thing was a tragedy; and as most people easily and quickly point out – an incredibly easy one to have prevented.

I assume for the future that trips down to the Titanic will either be halted completely or become outright illegal except for major research expeditions with qualified crews and regulated equipment.

I don’t think any of those 5 people expected that trip to be the trip of their lifetime in that way.

None of us do, really, but it always can happen. I will not sit separate from my husband on a flight for that reason. That almost happened to us once on an airline – we were in 2 different seats not even close to each other, and I was extremely unhappy. I ended up asking other passengers to move seats when the stewards refused to help me and told me I was on my own. My husband and I love our airplane adventures, but there is still a risk; there’s always a risk. I’m not going to be rows and rows away from him on our flights!

It will be interesting to see what happens to the OceanGate company next week; I’m sure they will no longer exist. I’m sure the fallout will be exponential. And as of now, the Titanic has claimed 5 more lives.

So very sad.

The Big Cruise!

Well, we did it! We did the big 14 night cruise – so many firsts! Our first time taking a 16 day vacation, our first time crossing the Atlantic Ocean in any fashion to get to Iceland, Ireland, France, and England. We took over 2,000 photos and videos, and came home with souvenirs galore and many, many memories.

It was the trip of a lifetime for sure. There were definitely hitches and issues, but in the end, it was worth it.

I am working on getting YouTube Videos and Blog Posts up all about on my new travel blog, so please click here to follow along on those adventures!

In the mean time, late winter/ fake spring/almost summer is upon us in Wisconsin. (Please remind me why we haven’t moved to Florida yet???). I got Jesse out on the trail on one of the few and far between nice days so far this year, right after returning back from the cruise.

At 27 years old, this little kid is still rocking it. He is doing great, but of course, we mainly walk anymore on his once a month 3 mile trails. We do some cantering occasionally but not often and he still has a solid trot and will just go and go.

We are still dealing with his hair loss/rubbing/itching issue, and it’s definitely going on longer this winter than it has in the past winters. It acts differently ever winter! The first winter it was horrible! It occured within 5 days and was so serious it caused facial swelling and huge lesions all over his body.

The 2nd winter, it happened in March and only lasted a few weeks with him rubbing out some hair.

This winter, it began in December and hasn’t quit. He’s been rubbing constantly, enough to pull the hair out, but not actually cause lesions. I feel I’ve run the gamut with treatments and tests, and the 2 vets he’s been seen by really don’t know what’s going on. Best guess is possibly allergies and possibly an autoimmune disease. So we’re experimenting with treatments and nothing has really worked and it’s been 5 months and counting! UGH!!

I am always a bit torn between retiring him or not. It’s a tough choice. I don’t feel that the once a month in nice weather 3 mile walks is too much for him – even if he would rather stand around and eat, lol. But I also don’t know if it’s worth it to keep on keeping on with him or just sell his tack and retire him fully. It’s bittersweet for me, because it marks the end of horses for me, after a long 30 years.

I can’t ride anymore, physically with my back the way it is, sometimes I can barely get out of bed without pain, so I am a bit terrified of how my back might feel trying to post a trot or sit a canter – or risk a fall. I’m also too broke. LOL! Horses were expensive 25 years ago when I bought my first one. They are quadruple or more expensive now. Yikes!

The start up costs to get back into horses, including tack, a truck, trailer, board, vet bills… You know the rabbit hole… it’s prohibitive, and I truly would rather use the money to travel and fulfill those dreams as my husband and I are doing.

So we have the bunnies (who are wonderful!) and a mostly retired anyway Jesse and a lot of trips!

I consider myself VERY LUCKY to have had 30 years of riding and driving, and so many exceptional horses. It took a lot for me to realize I needed to stop riding, and it was a painful choice that I still struggle with. There will, I suppose, always be a part of me that yearns to ride and drive competitively and be active with horses again, but the reality is I can not even handle mucking a stall because my back is so bad (probably from said years of riding – poorly – lol).

But, it is true, when doors close, new ones open. My husband and I are truly blessed to be able to do what we do and every day we work a little closer towards retiring to Florida. By the time we get there, we’ll likely have done all of our travel, as our travel calendar is full until 2034!! Not kidding!

Well, anyway, check out my travel blog for our adventures and I am working diligently on getting those YouTube Videos up!!

The Countdown is on!

I am enjoying writing entries for my new travel blog, and the countdown is ON for more entries. I’m going beyond just a blog post for chronicling our travels; my husband and I have bought some needed video equipment and he gifted me with some video editing software, so when we return from our trips, I will have the ability to make videos for YouTube and I’m very excited!

Our next trip has been years in the making. We booked it in February 2021! We took advantage of what we felt was a great deal due to covid affecting travel and pricing. We will be gone for our longest trip ever, and the farthest so far. I mean, we are close enough to start packing… although, I admit, I wanted to start packing like 6 months ago.

Everything is set. The monies are all paid (thank goodness). I have no doubts this trip will be worth the years of paying for it. And this big upcoming world adventure isn’t the only one we are currently planning, saving, or booking. We are already booked for a beautiful road trip to an amazing location for our anniversary later in 2023, and we are counting down the days until we can book Disney 2024. In addition to that, I will be jumping into action to snag a room at the Marriott Marquis for DragonCon 2024 the instant those rooms release. Plus, we are looking at potentially going to the Everglades and possibly Seattle as well between now and next year.

We’ve been very lucky. Neither one of us ever travelled before we met. I mean, I did – I had been to quite a few places but then I had a basically 12 year period where I couldn’t travel at all, or wasn’t “allowed” to go anywhere that wasn’t a short weekend road trip, that of course, I had to fully fund. Plus horses. I had horses.

I think of my horses often. I miss them so much. Losing them over the years has been hard and heartbreaking mentally and emotionally for me. I struggle with the sadness the memory of them brings. I had 12 beautiful, amazing horses. I failed to meet my showing and competing goals with all of them, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t accomplish anything. Luke, Chewbacca, and Jesse, especially, I accomplished so much with. We showed, we did parks and events and travelled where ever we could. I had a truck and a trailer and hauled to every venue we could go to.

I never was able to show to the levels I wanted to, not riding or driving, due in part to finances and also … probably to a bigger part… talent. I wasn’t the best rider, but I wanted to be. I wasn’t the best driver, but I had the best driving horses. Jesse, now almost 27, is basically retired but I try to take him down the beautiful trail once a month or so when the weather’s nice. This was March 5. No snow, and it was almost 60. Not bad for Wisonsin!

I sure do miss his showing days. I miss how good he was. He was showy, flashy, moved like a big horse, and he could be speedy. Speed events aren’t “my thing”, but he could make times doing cross country, and we tried our hand at barrels and poles and keyhole in fun events. With a cart, it’s so much fun! More shows should offer speed driving classes. Just don’t flip.

Luke was a rockstar for speed classes. He was built for them. But I wasn’t quite as daring weaving through poles or around barrels with his cart because I didn’t want to tip. Jesse’s cart it very lightweight and easier to whip around tight turns.

Anyway, so while I miss the horses greatly and a part of me will always wish I got to the upper levels and was able to travel to the big shows and big national events, I also fully recognize that a huge part of the reason I can live out my other dreams, like travelling and home ownership – is because I do not have multiple horses anymore.

I have no regrets from owning horses since 1998, but I definitely do recognize that without board, farrier, vet visits, show organization memberships, show fees, lesson fees, truck and trailer payments and insurance, tack, and the laundry list of other expenses that go into keeping happy, healthy show horses, my income sure does last a LOT longer.

My husband and I are blessedly able to travel, and as I get older, I just appreciate that so much more. He’s adventurous like I am, willing and ready to hop on an airplane to anywhere just as I am. Of course, we still have to plan and save.

While when we first met, we would do last minute spontaneous trips for a short weekend, we learned pretty quickly that the longer trips are better, but they take planning, saving, budgeting, and are less spontaneous.

So…. two years later, we are now just weeks away from our 16 nights, 17 days making our way to London by way of Iceland, Ireland, and even Paris.

I’ve been learning French since we booked this trip too! I can not wait to see how well I can communicate when we spend time in both France itself and St. Pierre, which is a French territory near Newfoundland.

Please check out my travel blog to keep up with new and old adventures, and enjoy!

New Travel Blog

I have decided to start a new, separate travel blog!
One of my goals for this year is, along with all the travel we are doing – especially our big cruise halfway around the world in April, is to develop my video skills and make our own travel videos and accompanying blog.

It’s just started but if you’re interested in travel destinations (and eventual travel videos), please feel free to check out Where To Next…

Caio!