Our house is a very, very fine house With two cats in the yard Life used to be so hard Now everything is easy 'Cause of you....Thank you Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young!

I haven’t blogged for so long. I was so sick for a while there with my teeth and it just continued out. I was having a reaction to my antibiotics and didn’t realize it. L Now I am better and get ready for a blog post and a half!!

They are tearing down the house! Demolition has been started. We went by the other day as is habit and they had torn part of one outside wall off. We were beside ourselves thrilled. I came home and got Scotty and Loren to take them by and at this point they had torn down all of the outside walls!! Progress!! Real progress!!

We spoke for a while with Adrian who I believe is leading the demolition at our house. He told me that they had found someone passed out in the yard last week. I guess that chemical toilet is just too big of a draw. After all the stars for a roof and your own private chemical toilet is a huge draw. Who doesn’t want that kind of glamour?

Today Loren, Kody and I went by. We got a chance to visit with a neighbor and watch them work. They are tearing of the roof!! I could not be more thrilled. This is amazing!! I know that deep down I should maybe sad for all that we lost but I see this as the beginning to our lives being normal again.

I look so forward to being able to be in our own home with the neighbors we have known for years. These are friends that have been a part of our lives for years and frankly they are like family. We have been through great joys like the birth of our children, and the loss of different family members together. I look forward to spending more years as neighbors to them.

Our house….it has a nice ring to it!

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned? Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains? Can you paint with all the colors of the wind? Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

What’s in a color? Are there foods that make you hungrier than others? Are there colors that encourage you to eat less? I wonder, I am sure there are several different conclusions and studies about this. Are there taboo colors you don’t use on the outside of your house? I mean can you paint a house red? Or purple for that matter? Would it hurt a man’s masculinity to live in a pink or purple house?

We started looking at paint colors almost right from the beginning. I thought it was a good way to get the kids to look for a positive side to the fire. As in why don’t you pick out some paint chips? Kody has been gung ho on this from the beginning. She has picked out so many purple chips we could do a wall in them alone. Plus she will have a chalk board section for doodling or whatever. I love the idea by the way. I am trying to figure an excuse to do it Scotty and my room, no real reasons have come to mind yet.

I immediately started looking towards outdoor paint. I originally wanted to go with a grayish blue with white trim. I wanted to go as far from our bland cream with brown exterior. Every house I have ever loved in has been cream with brown trim, only the shade of brown has changed. Blah, boring, p u, yuck, just plain NO! Well I was out voted by a wide margin. A light gray would work but not a dark one like I wanted. Fine I will give in when I have to, so it was time to pick another color so I gave up easily and went back to my corner to pick a new color scheme without a fight………right? If you think that you don’t know me.

I was set, even if nobody else was. I was going to do it. So there! Then we moved in next door to a tan house with a dark green trim. I would compromise, this was a color scheme I could live with. My only change would be the fact that my front door will be red. The whole feng shui and all of a red door really attracts me. Sounds a bit Christmasy doesn’t it? Kelly I know you love that color palate my Christmas loving friend. But I am more Ebenezer than that. So a decision had to be made. It wasn’t a hard one, the house is now to be tan with red trim, not a Santa red more of a deep red than that. More like a blood red maybe. Are you picturing it?

Then colors for other rooms. Kacy wanted to paint her room BLACK! For this I said no. It is impossible to cover black when it comes time to cover it. I did concede on her painting her closet black and that I can deal with it. Loren has not decided on a color. Scotty and I have bandied about colors no set colors in the wind. J

it's a world of laughter, a world or tears its a world of hopes, its a world of fear theres so much that we share that its time we're aware its a small world after all.....Thank you Walt Disney

Today is D day. D is my new favorite letter. It starts deconstruction. Yes, my friends it is that time. Deconstruction on the house has started. I really hope that it ruins the day for the creeps that have kept going into my home. May they all got rot in a hot place. As my mom used to say when I was a kid “H E double toothpicks!”

I decided that I wanted to go by the old homestead because I wanted to see it. My mom wanted to come and I vetoed it. I didn’t think it was a good idea for her to see the things that we have accumulated over the years in the dumpster. I am not sure just exactly what she can handle. There are things that need to come out of the house like her piano that was made in 1906 that her parents bought her. It wouldn’t be a pretty sight.

My mom questioned me as to whether I could handle it or not. These are just things. Sure there are memories that surround the things but it is the memories that I treasure the most. Now there are things that I am sad about losing don’t get me wrong. But in my heart I know that the lives we have are far more important than our things ever were.

I am sad at the loss of my autographed books. I had books autographed by favorite authors that meant a lot to me. Like the Tamora Pierce novel that I took my girls and my niece Stephanie to go get. That was a fun time. This was one of those experiences that means more than the loss. Kody was picked to introduce her and Kacy kept giggling the whole time. Kody finally told her to shut up. Come to find out Tamora Pierce had been making faces and sticking her tongue out because she knew it was making Kacy giggle. We all 4 got the book. One still exists.

My Janet Evanovich book that I went to Roseville and waited hours at the Barnes and Noble to get a chance to meet her and get an autograph. Stephanie, my sister Kathy and I had a lot of fun that night. I at least have pictures of that book and the night. But I also have fun memories of the night and what fun we had meeting her daughter and that was fun.

I was blessed to have my very prized autographed Dakota Banks books replaced. She saw my tweet on Twitter about the fire and the loss of the books. She very kindly sent me a box full of things from her. Included were her books, pens, a tote bag, magnets, bookmarks and a calculator. Very many thanks to her because that truly made my day when I got that package.

I had “Still Hungry After All These Years” by Richard Simmons that he wrote a personal message to me in it when I met him for the first time. Scotty and I had gone down in 2006 to exercise with him. He is a great man and the salt of the earth. I can get another copy of the book and I am sure he would sign it but it wouldn’t be the same. It was from a personal moment that we shared.

One of the sweetest gifts I have received since the fire is a book that Stephanie gave me. She had a book written by Kim Harrison who is one of my personal favorites. It is an autographed copy she won in a contest when she worked at Barnes and Noble. It is with my Dakota Banks books. I am blessed to have these things and these memories.

Tonight in the Monday night chat with Richard Simmons we had the homework he had given us. We had to tell him three blessings. I had no problem coming up with three blessings, I had problems limiting it to three. My blessings were as follows;

1. I am blessed to be alive. The Lord kept me alive in 2007 when the Drs said I would die.

2. I am blessed that the whole family including dogs survived the fire in April and that we are all together.

3. I am blessed to have a great group of loved ones to share life with.

I stand by these and I don’t offer any apologies. 

We've Got The Right To Choose And there Ain't No Way We'll Lose It this Is Our Life, This Is Our Song we'll Fight The Powers That Be Just don't Pick Our Destiny 'cause you Don't Know Us, You Don't Belong.....Thank you Twisted Sister

Have you ever thought of immersing yourself in local politics? Starting to work on the campaign for another person to affect change? Well I am about to. Our town has always been a town that had a surplus of money and a police department we could be proud of. It used to be one of the best in the nation. Not anymore. I don’t blame the police. In my opinion this lays directly at the doorstep of the city council and the mayor.

It’s time for the city council and mayor to start thinking about the citizens of this once great town. It used to be that you could go anywhere in town and not worry about the neighborhood. Not anymore. I am not sure there is an area of town that is a great neighborhood. The one our home is in has always been a good neighborhood.

When the local park started getting some not desirable teenagers in it hanging out and trying to extort money out of the kids from the neighborhood Scotty took up the fight. The answer was that we didn’t have a gang problem here in our town. Every other town but ours. The local sheriff took a stand and said yes Fairfield has a gang problem and we need to stop it now. It took him to make changes.

Scotty embarrassed the city council, mayor and chief of police by writing letters to the editor of the local paper. It got to the point that the city council started reaching out to Scotty and giving him the direct line to the chief of police. It finally changed and the park was made safe for the neighborhood. The kids and adults alike that have always enjoyed the park.

But, now I see our neighborhood has truly declined. I would not want my kids in that park and I won’t walk in the neighborhood without a big walking stick. My eyes are open. Look at how many times our home has been looted? Look at the times that our home has been used for Lord knows what. I spoke to two of my neighbors in the last few days. The one tells me that he has been calling the police and if they come they cannot help. The other neighbor says that when she walks to the bus stop before 6 am she has noticed strange men following her.

This is not a safe environment. This is a situation that needs to change. I think that in order for things like this to change that we as a people need to stand up and say we are not going to take it anymore. That the bullies are not going to scare us and force us into our homes. We need to stand unified with our police, fire fighters, teachers, etc.. We need to take back our towns and our lives. I am going to start by helping other people to get into office politically. I am not going to stick to party lines I am going to stick with my gut.

I have always tended to vote along political lines but not anymore. I will vote the straight who does Michele trust and believe line. Watch out politicians. I am a voter and I have a voice. I am not afraid to voice my opinions and I am not afraid to tell you all to GTFO. If you don’t know what that means get in touch with the people. Maybe one of them can explain it to you.

So, now as I step down from my milk crate I will say again that I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore. Join me in voting for who you trust not what party they are. It might be fun to see what that might bring about. Vote!!!