The End of Penny...

I have gotten off track on my 30 Days of Penny, mostly because I've got to round up some pictures.  I've got a lot of prep to do this week for other things, and other blogs, but I will have a grand finale sort of bit for this on Friday.  I've got something in mind, and I don't it to be something I threw together at the last minute just to stay on a schedule that only exists on the world wide web.  It's been a fun project, and I feel that I should probably put a little effort into it.

Day 26 of Penny

This is me when I was seven or eight.  My Aunt Charlyn took this picture, when we were playing in the snow at Mt. Charleston.

You know, I suppose there are quite a few people out there who genuinely don't like me.  I'm not afraid to speak up when something obvious needs to be said, and other than the occasional revealing blog entry I keep most of my communication pretty superficial.  There's more than one person I've unintentionally burned by not being completely open with them, but still saying exactly what I think.  So do I think the community I live in perceives me as nice person, I'm going to go with probably not.

At a glance, I suppose I blend in with the crowd pretty well.  I don't have anything particularly stand out about my appearance.  I'm not particularly fashionable, my house is just a house, and my truck is just another vehicle.  So I would guess that unless someone actually talks to me, I'm quite forgettable.

On the flip side.  When people really need someone to talk to, they usually open up to me.  Even people I don't normally pal around with.  I think that is because I'll be honest with them about their feelings, but not tear them down.  When something hard needs to be done, I'm the cavalry and I don't expect to get a pat on the back.  All in all, despite everything mentioned above, I have a good circle of friends.  I think it is because people who do take the time to find what I'm about learn that I'm genuine and loyal, even though I'm about as cuddly as a hedge hog.

Day 25 of Penny

Ten Things I'd like to do before I die, broken down into 5 Categories.  There is no particular order to these, not one that I must do any more than any other.

 International Travel:

1.  The UK and Europe

2.  Japan

 Personal & Family:

3.  Have kids, I'm open to adoption

4.  Get back to my ideal weight and stay within 10lbs of it

 Hikes:

5.  The Grand Canyon

6.  Summit King's Peak

 Monetary/Financial:

7.  Amass $2,000,000.  I believe you can live quite comfortably on 2M if it is invested and managed correctly

8.  Get completely out of debt and then pay cash for everything

Day Dreams and Silly Things:
9.  Have a pet Burro, that I will name Sanchez
10.  Learn to make really good homemade pie

Day 24 of Penny

You know, I'm pretty luck to live where I do. Even though people get bored and gossip, for the most part they take care of each other. Most acts of kindness aren't really all that random. I have one neighbor who helps everybody else get the snow out of theirs first before he finishes his. When someone here has a major medical problem the whole community pitches in to make sure they have enough money to cover it. Recently we had two different men have terrible medical struggles and the community got together and donated goods and services for an auction and dinner fund raiser for them. Over $40,000 was raised in one evening. This, from a community of around 5000 people total. You can't drive anywhere without someone smiling and waving at you, and you can't help but smile and wave back. I guess it's that whole thing about cold hand and warm hearts.

Day 23 of Penny

Hehe, the last thing that made me cry? I think you'll remember from a previous post that I'm neither graceful nor beautiful. I don't know that it's crying in the classical sense, but I tear up quite regularly over smashed toes, turned ankles, minor burns, cuts, and scraps.

Well, the last thing that made me cry was smashing my pinky toe. I was getting a drink of water, Radnar was pestering me, I tried to avoid him, tripped over him any way and smacked my toe into the corner of the wall in the kitchen. This happens so often that I'm not really sure that my pinky toes have joints or toenails anymore. I have no idea how many times they have been broken, but it's been a lot. The more it happens the more it hurts, so now my eyes immediately tear up and I can barely catch my breath.

I know what some of you are thinking "Pen, have you been tested for MS?" yes, yes I have. I don't have it. I'm just incredibly clumsy. If there's coffee table, I will run into it (I don't have a coffee table). If I've got a kitchen knife in my hand and I turn to talk to you, there is a good chance I'm going to accidentally stab myself in some way. This is another reason I don't own a lot of high heels. I own a lot of shoes, but fancy shoes do not make the ranks very often. I have a pair of 5/10 trekking shoes. They are a hybrid of climbing shoes, hiking boots, and sneakers. They have a very wide foot bed and excellent traction, and when I wear them they keep me from injuring myself. I'm seriously thinking of investing in Chacos and some of those toe training shoes to try and build up the strength in my feet and ankles.

Day 22 of Penny

Some people would argue that cats are not real pets. You don't really own a cat, a cat does what it wants. This is true. If you want a low maintenance pet, that doesn't really require a lot from you, then cats are perfect.

I have two feline companions, because together they make one good pet. Radnar, the orange tabby is my favorite. I got Malcom who is his brother and litter mate, because I thought Radnar should have a buddy to play with. They have full names; Randar Vesuvius Danger-Kitty, and Malcom Murderface, Murderface, Murderface. Congratulations if you understood the pop-culture references.

Malcom is a sensitive loving soul. He is a super-mouser and prefers to spend most of his time down by the river hunting and performing black opps. He likes to make small talk and even though he is a rather large cat (12 lbs) he has a tiny little voice. Kind of like Mike Tyson. His tail looks like it belongs on a Raccoon, and he has very large green eyes. He likes to touch your face, and will try to lick your nose or clean your finger/toe nails when you are not paying attention. I love him to pieces, but he drives me nuts.

Radnar is a man of leisure. However, when you get out his favorite toy he will jump and do back flips. The little guy has hops and can clear the couch when properly motivated. His bone structure is smaller than Malcom's, yet he out weighs him by 2 lbs. He's built like a stripy brick outhouse. Rad's favorite thing to do is sit in my living room window and watch stuff. He likes to hang out in my office with me while I'm trading, and when I have guitar students over he lays on the couch and watches them play. When he is feeling frisky he runs drills to work on his Cat-Fu He also has beautiful green eyes, but closes them every time I take his picture.

They are my buddies. Raym is really only home about 10 days a month, so I spend a lot of down time in the evenings with my cats. I watch Top Gear and they run Cat-Fu drills and have MMA fights in the living room. It's rainy outside today and Mal sprained his leg, so they are shedding all over my couch. I vacuum a lot.

It's cool though, for the amount of effort I put into my cat relationship I get high returns in awesomely bad cat behavior. The run on top of the house at night. Mal broke into the house last summer and woke us up at 4am to let us know there was a hole in the window screen in our living room. Radnar has an ongoing turf war with the Yorkie next door. I'm pretty sure Malcom slaughtered an old stray cat on our lawn mafia style a couple of months ago. He came in that morning and in his tiny little monotone basically said "Um, Mom, I totally killed a guy on the front lawn. He was eating my cat food and peeing on my stuff. Um, Haters don't be playin me. Where's the cat chow?"

They both have girlfriend cats (they are fixed, so it's cool), and they invite them over sometimes. There was one meowing on the back porch last summer and Rad was like "Let'er in mom, she's with me." So I did, and they all watched a movie together while I did laundry. Mal's girlfriend looks exactly like him, only she has a white tip on the end of her tail, and I think she's a little bossy."

As you have probably seen, my cats go on road trips with me. They love to hang out with my folks, even thought they don't much care for the two hour drive to their house. I get some pretty funny looks when people see a large orange cat stretched out on the dash of my pick-up. Malcom, of course, complains the whole time and gets into things.

Bottom line. I think everybody should have a pet. I love dogs, and horses too, and someday when we move "out of town" I will have a whole menagerie. I do plan on having a "normal" family someday, and I think kids should get to grow up on a farm. I'd like to have some Watusi and Longhorn Cows and some pigs too. And Chickens, you can't not have chickens--you've seen the ones with Afros? And peacocks, and....

Day 21 of Penny

I actually think this topic is pretty funny. How did I get my scars? Well fortunately for me, none of my physical scars are tied up into anything emotionally painful. I have many talents, and I am something of a renaissance woman, but grace and beauty did not make the list. As a person, I am more of a blunt instrument. I have three major scars, and I'll share them and their stories in chronological order.

1. Birth=There is a 1/2 inch long scar above my left eyebrow. When I was born apparently I had some kind of bone grown there when I was a baby. This doesn't seem important now, but it will come into play later.

2. 12 years old=On my left shin I have a 3x1/2 inch scar about 4 inches below my knee cap. I was riding a barrel horse practicing the clover leaf pattern at 4-H. I was really pushing myself, but my horse wasn't into it. On the third barrel, she cut it too close and the lip of the barrel caught my shin and basically filleted the skin and pants right off of it. It was pretty horrible when it first happened, the whole first layer of skin was gone from my knee to just above my ankle in about a 2 inch wide strip. In the spot that is scarred, the skin and flesh were missing all the way down to the bone. It still hurts when I bump it into things--which happens a lot. However, for as nasty as the initial injury was I count myself lucky. People usually don't notice it unless I point it out.

3. 12 years old, 2 weeks later=There is a 1/2 inch pencil thin scar above my left eyebrow. I had twisted my ankle jumping on the tramp and I was on crutches. My cousins talked me into a game of softball. I tried batting with my crutch, which promptly broke, flipped around and smacked me above my left eye in the exact same spot that I already had a scar. It hurt like crazy, and acted like it would never stop bleeding. In the end it wasn't very deep and it was just a flesh wound. It sort of made the scar worse though.

4. 17 years old=There is a 1/2 inch crescent shaped scar sort of above my left boob, from where a dog bit me. I honestly don't think there is much too it, but it has gotten a lot of notice over the years. Probably more because I spent a lot of time in shop class rather than the fact that the scar is impressive. Allow me to explain. I've never been one for ultra revealing clothing, but if you've got it you should show it off a little. It's a gift from God, so enjoy it right? Anyway, I often wore little t-shirts, nothing that was like "Hey look at my rack," but cute little t-shirts. I was wearing one in shop, and my friend, Kevin, was 'a little high' and he was just staring at me like I had grown a third arm or something. I finally said "What is your deal Kevin," and he turned bright red and started giggling and stoner -slurred out "You've got a scar on your boob!" "It looks like somebody bit you or something." "It's f---ing awesome!" How do was I even to respond to that? From that day forward it kind of took on a life of it's own, separate from mine. I occasionally still catch people looking at it, and that only cracks me up.