Get Motivated!

I spent yesterday at a Get Motivated! Seminar in Memphis, TN. There were awesome speakers & great prizes such as a flat screen TV, an Ipad, a Disney vacation to Orlando & $10,000 cash (none to me unfortunately). It was a great day & I enjoyed it very much.

The trip to get there, not so much. I rode down with my BFF and we spent the night so we wouldn't have to leave by 4 am to get there in time. The drive was good, we spent it talking and just enjoying each other's company.

We had booked a hotel room that was just down from the venue. It was much cheaper than other places we looked at, which should have been a clue. But the reviews weren't bad & the photos looked really nice of the neighborhood & the rooms. When we drove up to the place, the surrounding area was completely deserted. Not a soul was walking around or standing outside; and this was downtown Memphis. So, we started to worry a bit.

We got inside & checked in, got our things from the car and went to wait for the elevator. We waited and waited and could see it was moving, but very slowly. It finally got down to us and we got on. We stopped on every floor until we figured out that if you hold the button of your floor down it would bypass every other floor. Not exactly my idea of a safe ride. But we made it to the 10th floor and found our room. The room wasn't bad & it was clean so we felt good about that at least.

We decided to go get something to eat & maybe check out Beale St to see why it's "World Famous". It was raining a bit so we took the car & drove the few blogs to the restaurant where we wanted to eat. No parking. And the prices were jacked up to $10 to part because the Grizzlies played the Spurs that night. Needless to say we didn't stop & just headed on down to check out Beale St. Only the roads were all blocked and the ballgame had just let out. We got caught in traffic and couldn't seem to get out of it.

We finally got through and decided to just head back to our room. We parked in the hotel parking lot and walked to TGI Friday's a block away to eat. After that we were exhausted and went back to the room to sleep.

The seminar itself was awesome! Great speakers such as Steve Forbes, Terry Bradshaw, Krish Dhanam, Laura Bush, Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani and more. I enjoyed every second of their sessions and can't wait to attend another one.

Lunch break was another lesson in disaster. Thousands of people at the seminar and the food vendors ran out of things to serve. The BBQ place ran out of buns, the sandwich shop ran out of coldcuts and the hot dog vendors ran out of hot dogs. Not exactly great planning on their part. After an hour of standing in line for food we made it to the counter and were able to order Chicken Alfredo & cheesecake. Not bad, for a sandwhich place.

We finally made it home about 9 last night and I'm back at work today. I'm exhausted, but I enjoyed the adventure even with all the issues.

How about you? Any misadventures of your own lately?

Follow Your Dreams

Unfortunately following my dream is not something I've always done. My dream when I was a teenager was to go to college and become a reporter. Instead I got married, had kids and quit writing altogether.

I let my insecurities and an abusive husband tell me I wasn't good enough to be what I wanted to be, so I gave up my writing and I didn't go to college. I am glad, though, that I didn't become a reporter. I don't think I have the get-the-story-at-all-cost mentality and wouldn't have made it far. Perhaps I could have been a columnist, and probably still could if I wanted to. And since I still haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up, maybe I will. Who knows?

But I do know that I wouldn't trade my life for anything else. There have been a LOT of hard times and I've gone through things that no woman or mother should have to go through. But those things have made me the person I am today. And I happen to like that person.

And now it's time for me to finally follow my dream. My dream has changed over the years, but it's still basically the same beneath it all. I have always wanted to write. And now that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm not very good at it yet and sometimes I get so blocked and insecure that I don't write for days or weeks at a time. But I'm still following my dream every time I sit down at the computer (or notebook) and write even a single sentence. And that is the greatest feeling in the world.

Never, never give up on your dreams. Put them aside for awhile if you must, but never give them up completely.

What a great weekend! Saturday was MCRW with Mike Breedlove of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation giving us info on crime scene investigation and relaying stories about cases that he's worked. Fascinating! I was engrossed the entire time. Then we all went to lunch at O'Charley's. The group goes out for lunch every month, but this is the first time I've gone with them. After two years of being a member. I really need to get out of this whole can't-talk-to-people-I-don't-know thing. It's nuts and it's holding me back.

Sunday I had to work. With furloughs finishing up this week there are several people out in our group so I helped cover the obit department. Thankfully it was slow and I didn't have a hard time keeping up, but it would have been nice to be out in the beautiful weather. On the bright side, though, I got overtime!

Tired

It's Monday again. Minus an hour. Daylight savings time is kicking my butt today. Not to mention CDM was up sick last night & I got up to help clean her up & get her back to sleep, KAM was depressed because my son did/said something he shouldn't have. And MAM was just plain cranky (so was pawpaw, but that's another story).

So all that means that today I'm cranky & not feeling up to snuff. But it's my job to make sure everyone else is taken care of. Of course, who's gonna take care of me when I'm not feeling it?

My babies are home!

I'm so excited to have KAM & the kids back home now. She's always so miserable when she goes to visit her mother & it drives me nuts. I don't understand how a mother can treat her child that way. It just doesn't seem normal to me.

But they're back home now & I'm so happy to have them around. CDM & MAM are the most adorable babies ever. Of course, they can get loud & messy & just plain fussy, but I love it. It's good to have babies in the house.

HNM will have one to add to the mix in June. I can't wait. But boy could I use a bigger house!

Ok. I'm an Idiot!

Called the Home Warranty company & got a repairman to come out & check the stove to see if it could be repaired or would need to be replaced. He pulled the whole thing apart & checked every wire & every connection and nothing was wrong with it.

He finally checked the breaker box for a tripped switch and guess what. The switch was tripped just enough to allow enough electricity to power the lights & clock, but not enough to power the elements for cooking.

So, I paid $50 for someone to flip the switch on my breaker box. Can you say stupid? Why didn't I just check the darn thing to begin with? Because I'm an idiot that's why!

Oh, well. At least my stove works now.

New Kitchen

Well, looks like I'm getting my new kitchen. Piece by Piece. We had to buy a new refrigerator last year. This year it's a new stove. I got home last night and found the stove was completely gone. Oh, the lights were on to show we'd turned a knob, but nothing got hot. Not a single burner burned & the oven stayed cold. Grrr...

Luckily, we renewed our home warranty last month & upgraded to include the appliances. Now I'm waiting for them to come check it out and see if they'll actually cover the cost or if I'm going to have to buy it myself.

If I have to buy it myself I want the solid cooktop so I don't have to clean those darn burner plates. It's such a pain when food gets underneath and you have to take everything apart & clean it. With the solid cooktop that won't happen. I hope.

Maybe we'll indulge & go ahead and get the dishwasher to match everything else. Then I can concentrate on the granite countertops & new cabinets later in the year. Then I'll finally have a really nice kitchen. If only I could make it bigger!

New Release

NEW RELEASE: The Summoning by Tatiana Caldwell, from Liquid Silver Books.

Everything comes with a price …

Gailyn Bridges is a psychic who is ready to end her troublesome career as a private investigator. For the last time, she summons a powerful spirit to help her close a final case.

However, the mysterious entity who answers, Malak, is no ordinary spirit. He’s more than willing to help Gailyn save the would-be victim of a violent crime.

But who’s going to save Gailyn when Malak returns to collect payment for lending her his power?

Read a free excerpt and buy the book here.