Well, been hiding a bit, hoping the world would leave me alone for a bit.

Sorry about that. It’s just been a kind of rough couple weeks.

Started out with a bit on unpleasant towing and mobile home park experiences, feeling a little bummed about the strict harshness of management towards the residents that pay the bills and generate the income in the first place for the park. Had a super slow business month and had to really tighten the budget belt. Got my car back but it died about a week after, leaving me stranded in another state. Lost my camera at a gig… made me pretty sick to my stomach for a day or so until I found that someone had turned it in. Got ripped off to the tune of $422 dollars by some dorky Asian con artist stealing jams from iTunes in my name. (Got the receipt too… they didn’t even have the courtesy of stealing like good music… not a lick of bluegrass on the playlists….) Old Blue, our other car croaked, 45 minutes after I started driving it… (talk about some bad karma) Couldn’t pay my gas bill in time and had to make the decision to have it shut off for a bit… (Cold water showers are a WHOLE lot of fun, let me tell you) and to top it all off, my dog is not doing very well at all, and our time is very limited.

So… perhaps you can understand why I haven’t been posting a whole lot. Just been trying to keep from curling up in a fetal position and sobbing uncontrolablly.

Well, not really. Just a little, maybe. Had a few moments, here and there.

I’m a big fan of positive thinking and that there are reactions for actions or well, that our decisions leave us with consequences, good and bad. SOme call it karma, others call it the Secret, some just call it positive thinking. I’m not sure what I think I’d like to call it, but I will admit, that thinking positively, even in pretty rough situations, does seem to work better than just laying there in a pool of failure, grief and frustration. A bit of panic, maybe some tears or angry words will help to diffuse the initial situation, sure, but in the end, it really only makes you a mess and then, you still have the same problem you had before.

Slowly, these issues are resolving. I’ve learned my parking lesson, painfully and expensively. Gunnar was been successfully retrieved from Michigan and is currently at the transmission shop and they think it’s something simple. Not the whole trans, which was replaced not once, but twice in the last 6 months. Blue is home, she got a new starter and the cable to her alternator was replaced since it had frayed badly and was burning a spot in the engine blanket on the underpart of the hood… (not a good safe thing) Unfortunately, she needs tires all the way around and some front end suspension work, but it can be dealt with in due time. Jessy’s Dad was gracious to come to her aid and help out with the repair, because even though he’s an ex, he really is a good guy. (Afterall, I did think he was a good guy about 20 years ago…)

PayPal is on the trail of the bad guys that ripped me off… they are still investigating it, but something about the fact that I’ve never been overseas and well, I don’t use computers over there, nor do I listen to anything like what they ordered, seems to point to fraud. I’ll probably get the money returned, but it’s likely to take 7 to 10 days.

Gas, well, I’ve had to deal with that before, back when I was loosing my house and my world was crashing around me. Since we don’t have a dishwasher, or washing machine and use the Laundromat, the only REAL inconvenience is hot showers and washing dishes. The girls make sure to visit their Dads shower and well, I like to think of cold showers as an incentive to work harder and smarter soon. Dishwashing, well, for the hopefully BREIF bit of time till I raise the cash for the bill and turning it back on, we’ll heat washing water in a hot pot and use paper plates for a bit. Recycled ones, for sure, but well, paper… just to help offset the extra work for heating hot water.

My dog? Well, there’s not much you can do for a very elderly old lady. My vet is wonderful and we’ve been phone consulting for free, and trying a few meds to make her comfortable and try and ease some of the skin issues. She gets a lot of nice shampoos and brushing, massage, and special food. We’re trying to get her off wheat and yeast products because it is very related to making her skin condition worse. So I’m cooking chicken breasts and rice in broth for her and she’s also getting some raw bones and some cooked beef roast. She’s loving it. Did I mention that she also gets wrapped in a fleece blanket and lays on the couch where everytime we walk by, she gets loving and liver treats from her little dish? She may be elderly and dying, but she’s pretty happy about it, it seems. We have to help her down the stairs for potty time and give her a boost back to the couch, but she’s still bright eyed and tail thumpy and sighs contentedly when she gets her body massage and snuggy blankets. I hope when my time comes, I can get that kind of treatment.

Sales are perking up a bit. Got a couple nice purchase orders from wholesales, bulking up on “back to homeschool” supplies and we’ve seen a little rise in orders. June is ALWAYS super slow for us, and I checked, this last month was right in line with the last five years. Just have to weather the storm for a little more. July is better, but August is more normal. We’ll make it. We always do. The road is rough and rocky, though, but we’ll make it.

Sorry to be a bit of a downer, but hey, not every day is perfect here at the Moby and I think maybe you’ll see that I’m just a person too, and it’s super easy to only pick the great and fun things that happen around the homestead. But that’s not the whole story. There are car problems, money problems, bills, stupid outside forces, and even illness and death. I thank God that we have so much, and that so many things are perfect and wonderful, and that with His hand in the mix, we’ll be guided through the rough patches. He never promised a rose garden. Didn’t even promise a perfect life without strife or hardship. But He did promise to be there through it all, and I believe that. This too, shall pass. I’m just thankful that we have our health and our well being both mentally and physically.

When I look around at my gardens and see that they are thriving, especially now that they had weathered the mini-drought and scourching hot temperatures of last week and with a few good days of storms and rains, they are FLOURISHING, I know that we too will make it through these rough days and come out even stronger. Hope everyone else is making it through their own rough patches of their journey, too!