Rose Cottage Ltd

After a long week of icky political news and unexpectedly hot weather, I could probably take a nice little Saturday nap in this Gnome Home!

Gnome Village Garden Set

Outdoor Accents make great gifts. Check this and other unique statuary, fountains, and birdbaths – Father’s Day is just around the corner!!

Happy Weekend!

I’ve given up on NASCAR. Number One, my favorite driver of all time, Mark Martin, finally retired. Number Two – too many commercials and too much gabbing. Number Three – NASCAR has priced out many of the middle class families who have been loyal to the sport for a half-century or more. I do like to watch the Grand Prix – if I remember it’s on…

But yesterday there was one HELLUVA horse race at Belmont. American Pharoah had already run the Kentucky Derby AND the Preakness and won both. Last year California Chrome also won the first two races, but did not have enough left to win the title. Could American Pharoah do it? Heck, I didn’t know, but I was sure going to watch.

These are the only three horse races I watch each year. I know diddly about horses except that they are strong, beautiful, and sometimes very, very fast! But I’ve gotten in the habit over the last several years of watching to see if this will be the year we have the first Triple Crown winner since 1978 and this year, we did!!!

There is nothing boring about that 2.26 minutes those horses are on the track. Although we do hear something from the owners, trainers, and jockeys, we don’t have to listen to the horse talk about how well he thinks he’s going to run. He just gets out there and runs that damn race. Oh if only NASCAR would take note!

If you didn’t get a chance to see the race yesterday or maybe if you think it sounds boring, have a look here:

I don’t watch horse races very often, but when I do I am never disappointed with this series. I don’t have to buy tickets and be there to feel the power of the horses and I can fast-forward through all the commercial BS and just enjoy the two minutes. This year, it was surely time well spent!

Well, I guess there really is always a silver lining to every cloud.

I missed out on a really nice job a few years ago because the IT company I was interviewing with required a minimum “Secret” security clearance for the position. I didn’t have one. The estimated time to be cleared was at least six months – so of course I did not get the job. But this morning, based on yesterday’s news of a massive security breach at the Federal Office of Personnel Management, I don’t have to worry about who has MY data and info!

More on that story here.

Even better news, I found this little calculator online this morning that has predicted I have a very slim chance of dying in the next five years! If you are between the ages of 40 and 70, you can answer the few questions yourself here, and hopefully get some positive news to start your weekend.

I’m planning on my first meal of Maryland Steamed Hard Crabs for the 2015 season this weekend. I’ve managed to convince myself that spending $50 for a dozen crabs is okay for a one-time event. I’ve been both catching and eating hard crabs since I could wade in the water so, I’ll have to slow down my advanced crab-picking skills in order to extend the enjoyment of my $50 meal. If it gets quiet on this blog, I am otherwise temporarily distracted.

Have a great weekend…

Taking a break from politics for a moment to ask this important question. Actually, it’s only important if you don’t already live alone. If you live alone, you don’t even recognize whether you are neat and organized or not – you just are.

The problems arise when a lone neatnik or lone hoarder has to share space with one of the opposite persuasion. I’m observing a clash of styles at fairly close hand right now and have a few observations. In an effort to be “transparent” let me state here first that I am a lifelong neatnik.

First, neatniks can’t stand clutter. Hoarders thrive in it. A neatnik will see a pile of old magazines or newspapers and think “trash.” The hoarder however, sees potential opportunities on every page, magazine, or paper they’ve “saved.” Five years worth of recipe magazines? The hoarder will need to review each and every page of each and every magazine so they don’t miss something.

Try to point out the fact that the magazines have been there for 5 years already and are covered with dust? How dare you!! Even if you get the hoarder moving towards the magazines for trash potential, you’ll probably find two or three hours later that they’ve stumbled upon an exciting recipe on every page and so, will keep the lot anyway.

Second, most neatniks require organization and full functionality of whatever they own – house, car, tools, KIDS – everything. Things that are not readily at hand and ready for whatever task create stress for a neatnik. If I own something I need and I can’t find it – what good is it? And most neatniks only own what they need. If I have a great frying pan for my chicken, I don’t need three of them – just one.

Functionality is not an issue for hoarders. When you put a bottle of mustard in the refrigerator and then can’t find it among the “leftovers” you’ve lost functionality. When you have to remove 10 pans from the oven before you can use it – because your cabinets are already too full to house them, you’ve lost functionality. When you hang grocery bags from cabinet knobs because your dry goods cupboard is chock full, you’ve lost functionality. And it only gets worse.

Spare bedrooms become storage units until doors can’t even be opened. Paths amongst the items have to be made to walk through rooms. Every flat surface has SOMETHING sitting on it. After about 24 hours of this living, the neatniks’ eyes ache from the sheer noise of all the clutter.

I don’t understand (obviously) what goes on with hoarding. I’ve watched a few of the TV shows on the subject and I admit to having little sympathy for those who choose to live in some (to me) alternative world. I’m sure there are psychological issues at play – since hoarders – even when they’ve asked for help, will often refuse to get rid of anything and actually get angry at the very people they’ve asked for assistance.

I’m not sure how the little scenario I’m observing will turn out but right about now, my money is on the hoarder. A neatnik will be happy, (in fact ecstatic!) to help get the home in organized and working order, but they won’t do well with no progress and procrastination. The jury is still out…

I just made a two-state move. Even though I managed the process about as clean as possible, it was a total pain in the butt!

I had to laugh at the difficulties associated with moving now versus say 25 years ago. It used to be you just unplugged your TV and had the movers put it in the box. Not these days! Between the return of the cable equipment and the cancelling of the services plus trying to keep the internet for usage until the last possible moment – the world has become rather complicated.

So far I haven’t attempted to update my addresses for my banking and online accounts. I’m waiting for the appropriate mental moment and a freshly-made Vodka Tonic! One slip-up and I and my online world will cease to exist! It’s made me realize once again that the convenience of virtual business and online accounts may be great, but it sure makes a more complicated move to-do list.

One of my first changes will be to find my local senators and representatives so I can make sure they know I am here! My North Carolina representatives heard from me quite frequently and I would not want to lose my momentum coming into the 2016 election! I’ve moved from a conservative to a liberal state and I’m feeling a little creepy about it. It’s almost like having to recreate yourself and your persona when you move while familiarizing yourself with a whole new group of players.

I also found out that states are making a KILLING financially on people who move into their states. I’ve got a paid-for Mini Cooper that I paid sales tax on when I bought it and have paid property tax on for the last 7 years. Now I find that two get plates for my car in my new state I will again pay a 5% of Bluebook value – just for the tags! Oh goody!

This is my first big move in decades and I have to say it was an eye-opening experience. Compared to the many and more frequent long-distance moves I made with my military spouse “back in the day” the times and processes sure have changed. Still waiting to get some new services started with the “sometime between 1 pm and 4 pm” appointments – guess that is one thing that never changes!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!