About Me

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I'm 39 years olds and I'm just trying to find my place in the world. I've had a few careers, owned a few businesses, and overcame a few challenges. Now, after an entire life-time of trying my hardest to be who and what I thought everybody else wanted me to be, I'm finally ready to be myself. The fun part is uncovering who that is.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Inverter, Battery Starter, Solar Panels - Oh My!

today has been somewhat slow and confusing. i woke up and got out of bed around 4pm which is late even for me; however, i partook of some thirst-quenching wine and wine coolers last night. considering that was combined with my medication, 4pm doesn't seem that bad.

i did come up with an awesome name for my minivan. his name is dude. i thought and thought and thought and it was the only name that fit. so now i can go "dude? dude." lol. i'm pretty happy and i think dude is pretty groovy himself.

i also stopped by my mechanic's shop and asked him to take the middle row seats out. he said ok for $20. he wanted to come by today but it didn't happen. i was at the gym later than i thought i would be - oh, i found a gym i liked and signed up today - so i called and rescheduled for tomorrow.  

then i started researching how i'm going to have power in dude. it left me so freaking clueless. my main needs are power my laptop, my printer (rarely), my camera, lights, a fan in the summer time, and maybe a heater in the winter.  right now, i think the simplest way may be to buy a battery starter and get some solar panels to recharge that.


i found a battery starter on walmart.com. it's the wagan power dome ex compact generator. below is the description walmart has for it. the only thing i understand is that it has 600 amps and they claim i can run and charge appliances:




Wagan's Power Dome EX EL-2454 is a portable power source so you can run and charge your appliances. It's powerful enough to jumpstart your car and inflate your tires in an emergency. Plus it includes 2 AC and 2 DC power outlets, 5 built-in LED utility lights, an AM/FM radio, USB port plus iPod / audio input socket.
  • 600 cranking amp jumpstarter
  • 260 PSI air compressor
  • two 18 amp hour DC power sources
  • two 400 watt AC power sources
  • 5 built-in LED utility lights
  • AM/FM radio with antenna
  • USB power port to charge your MP3 player, cell phone, digital camera, etc.
  • iPod / audio input socket allows you to listen to your tunes <18 AH sealed lead acid battery>
  • Heavy duty rust resistant booster clamps
  • Industrial quality #6 gauge cables
  • Safe storage for booster cables
  • Quick flow inflates 16'' tires in 5-10 minutes
  • Sports ball needles included
  • AC and DC charging adapters included
  • Quick and easy recharging time - AC: 34 hours, DC: 12 hours
  • Built-in safety features: overload and equipment protection
  • 18 amp hour sealed lead acid battery
  • Perfect for cars, vans, SUVs, trucks, bikes and rafts
  • Able to run TVs, laptops, CD players, DVD players, thermo-electric cooler/warmers, etc.
  • Recharge digital cameras, camcorders, cell phones, PDAs, tools, etc.


then i ran across a website where this guy said he put solar panels in his windshield and used them to charge his deep cycle battery. ok. my thing is, if a $100 generator can do what i need it to do, do i need a battery too? or do i just need one or the other? and where does the inverter come into play? do i need that for a battery starter as well as a battery?  and how do i connect the solar panel up to the generator? 

i found some solar panels i think might work but one of the reviewers said that the panels have surges that would fry your appliances so you needed to make sure and get a volt regulator. does that apply for panel to generator connections also? 

i have 1001 questions and i hate having questions.  which is just my $hit. i'm going to have to mosey on over to the vandwellers group and ask them for help cause there's no use in my recreating the wheel.  

below is a picture of the solar panels i was looking at: 


sunforce products folding solar panel -25 watt, model #22020. 

they're over $300 on amazon. before i spend that kind of money, i really need to know my electrical problems are forever a thing of the past.


in addition to all that frustration, i went ahead and purchased some more stuff for my virgin voyage.  i bought a heater and a chair. i'm on the fence about the chair. i don't need it now but i will need it for the rendezvous in january. i would hate for them to be out of that specific chair if i wait until december. anyway, below are pictures of that and some of the other stuff i purchased today and yesterday.














take care and be blessed.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

i found it! my first MAJOR vandwelling trip!!

I'm going to the Richmond Tattoo Arts Festival, in Richmond, VA, November 18 - 20th! It's at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. I'm so freaking stoked! I've already found a 24-hour vet hospital - VESC Carytown - two 24-hour Walmarts, numerous pharmacies, plus hotels, motels, and apartments. I'll have all the stuff I already bought, my windows and seats will definitely be taken care of by then, and I have some friends who are going to be working the convention so if anything goes screwy, they'll be there.

i'm so excited!!!!! i need ear plugs.

ok. take care and be blessed. =D

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

missed appointments, slow day

i tried to get up. i really did. but it wasn't happening. ughh! that's over $100 missed. on the bright side, it's 6 hours saved. i'm choosing to look on the bright side. i just rescheduled everything until january. parties, resolutions, surgery. seems to have a nice flow to it.

so, what else have i done. nothing that entailed leaving my humble abode. i called and straightened out some of my financial affairs which my awesome user-ex was nice enough to wrinkle. i read a few more vandwelling blogs, which motivated me to start purchasing the necessary items for my first virgin bon voyage.

i bought a coleman ultimate cooler from sears. i found some coupon codes online and i signed up for the free trial membership so i saved $20. next was walmart.com, where i purchased a sleeping bag rated to -5 degrees, a $15 black granite mess kit, and a straight talk phone for my son. i'm actually going to leave my house and go to a walmart store to purchase the two burner coleman propane stove. while i plan to follow the warmer weather which should allow me to cook outside as much as possible - i'm thinking tailgate at the park - i'm pretty sure will be times where i have to cook in the van. another blogger used a backpacking propane stove to cook all his meals inside his vehicle so i'm pretty confident i'll be ok cooking mine also.

i'm still undecided about the bed. in addition to my two color choices, i found two more beds that may be better.  this one is only $69 and the dimensions are 76x33x4. it's wider than i wanted - i wanted 29 to 30 inches but i love the fact that it's easy to carry:




the other one is a sleeper ottoman. it's more expensive at $119 and the dimensions are 78x26x3. i love the fact that it's an ottoman. when not in use, it's seating. now that's stealth. the only way i can get it is if i go ahead and remove the third row seats which is extra work but still a possibility.





my beloved flip chairs from yesterday are $99.88 and the dimensions are 79.53 x 29.5 x 5.1. lol. i don't know what's up with the funky numbers. apparently someone forgot how to round.

that's all the gear i'm buying for now. my next priority is to grab some velcro, black fabric, and reflectix (sp?) to cover the windows and separate the driving area from my living area. hopefully by this weekend i'll have that done and the middle and/or rear seats removed.  the stuff i ordered from walmart and sears won't be in until the end of this month but as long as the windows are blacked out, i can still do a mini test run.

hope everything's happy go nappy your way. take care and be blessed.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

change of plans


today did not go as presumed. i didn't feel like leaving the house so i didn't. i rescheduled my dental appt and just didn't bother to go visit my ex. on top of my desire to stay home, i really don't see what good it would do me for us to see each other. he wants to act like we're all lovely dovey and getting back together when he gets out of jail when the truth is we were really never together to start with. he's a user. that's who and what he is. one day he might be more, once upon a time he might have been more, but today the buck stops at user. he wants me to visit so i can put money in his canteen. that's the gist of his intentions. he even had his aunt call me last night to ask when i was going to visit him. in 8 mos of dating, i never even knew he had an aunt. or that he had any family that would speak to him. other than his mom, who he would call for his monthly belittlement, i thought he was estranged from the rest of his family. goes to show what i knew.

i did deal with my ex-best today though. not the way i should have but the only way i could. i may have told you she threw her phone and broke it. if i didn't, she did. i don't know the story behind it and i don't want to know. it would just be another one of her "cheer me up, build me up, tell me i was right" scenarios that has gotten old and played out. anyway, she had the audacity to send me a fb message saying she hopes my surgery on friday goes well, she may be going to alabama this weekend (to see dumba$$ of course), and she wants us to get together before she moves november 4th. i'm like, is she freaking kidding me? first she ditches me then she wants to act like nothing's wrong? yeah. don't think so. it's so stereotypical A. i love her but she's the kind of person that would stab you in the back then send you good well balloons wishing you a speedy recovery. in the past, i was like whatever. her assets outweighed her defects so i was willing to put up with a little fly in the cereal every now and then.  fortunately for me, that's not the case anymore. it's not who i am anymore. our friendship has to be about more than me being there for her and her being there for her.

so i replied to her message letting her know how her actions affected me and basically ending the friendship. our friendship has ran its natural course.

am i sad about it? yes. she's had a place in my life for a long time but to be honest, it means a lot less work for me. A is a 24-7 job and a large part of me is relieved i don't have to be on call anymore. yet there is another part of me that's sad it had to come to this.

i 100% accept my part in creating such a one-sided friendship. when we first met, i was emotionally twisted. i felt safer being there for others, to the point where they became dependent on me, and never allowing anyone to be there for me, so i wouldn't become dependent on them. no dependence, no true intimacy, no real hurt. it was a "you need me" sitcom and it was the only one i had ever known. literally. the theme of every relationship i've ever had centered around how could i make myself indispensable to whomever, so they would always need me and therefore never leave me. it was a lot of work but it was also quite effective. i attracted the needy, the helpless, the victims, and the f*ck-ups. we would then precede to have a symbiotic relationship that lasted until they died, got arrested, or their behavior got so disrespectful or needy that i finally rebelled. a lot like this friendship with A, now that i look at it. in my defense, i have spoken to A several times about my needing her to be more supportive of me and i was met with complete silence. literally. she would look at me and not say a word. eventually i would get so uncomfortable i would change the subject and she would follow along, as if the prior 5 or 10 minutes had never occurred. while frustrating, it really is a pretty nifty tactic and i hope to master it someday.

thankfully, A's is the last relationship set on that type of foundation that was grandfathered in. i've finally, finally, finally gotten to a point in my life where i don't need to be needed or to be "a part of." i'm not scared to ride solo today. if anything, i prefer it. before i would feel anxious at the thought of not having a boyfriend or friendship to define myself by. that anxiety drove me to create relationships with anybody that would stand still long enough to have a conversation and i could easily pick out the sickest one in the general vicinity to latch onto. =D not anymore though. today i'm quiet in my skin. i'm ok with me - the pretty, the ugly, and the question marks. i don't need to be a "we" to be ok with me. me is pretty awesome all by her lonesome.

i also know and believe and feel that i - independent of anything physical or material - have value today. i didn't use to believe that at one time. i use to feel that people were doing me a favor by being my friend. "oo, i get to hang with this cool person and everybody likes them so everybody is going to like me and since they're awesome then i must be awesome by association."  =D oh, i was so sad but you couldn't tell it from looking at me. from the outside i was this attractive, cheerful, highly intelligent woman who loved life, always had to be the center of attention, and had more friends then she knew what to do with. someone once told me at parties that i was like a butterfly, just flitting from group to group. i worked hard to keep that mask up. but on the inside, on the inside was a cavern of darkness, nothingness and numbness all the dynamite on earth couldn't blast open. i just knew, from a young age, that i was defective. that something was broken in me that wasn't broken in anyone else. thus i lived in abject terror that someone would care enough to look past the mask and discover the real me. then my secret would be out and they wouldn't like me, let alone love me, anymore. alas, i was worried for not. no one ever cared enough to even look in my eyes, let alone past the mask. now i know that had nothing to do with me and my suspected inability to be loved or cared for and everything to do with the selfish, self-centered people and the subsequent shallow relationships i purposely surrounded myself with.

it took a long time, most of my life, to get from there to here. here where i know and believe that love and favor is my due, as it's due to all God's children. here where i know and believe that i am an amazing, loving, caring person and i expect and demand to be treated as such. here where i know and believe that someone else's bad behavior has nothing at all to do with me and everything to do with them - their life experiences, their perceptions and beliefs, and their level of spirituality. here where i don't make excuses for people's bad behaviors and i don't try to fix them. i just refuse to tolerate it.

i don't know why it took me so long to figure all of those simple, blessed principles out. i'm just grateful that i did and i pray for the sick and suffering who are still trudging that road of darkness and misunderstanding.

this has gotten way off topic. other than to confess my laziness, i really wanted to blog about taking the van for a test run tonight, even though i don't have anything packed or ready to go. i have an appointment tomorrow at 9:30am at a va hospital 3 hours away from me. as you know, i generally get up between 12 noon and 3pm so getting up at 5am and being on the road by 6am just doesn't seem likely.  it's possible but not really probable. but now it's already 1130pm and i really don't want to be on the interstate this late especially with it raining. i just have to set my clock and get up no matter what. getting up earlier was one of my goals anyway. the universe is just giving me what i wanted.

good night and be blessed.

ps cross your fingers if you get a chance and wish me luck.

pss i ramble a lot. knowing is half the battle.

sleep schedule is off

my sleep schedule is so off. i finally got to sleep around 4 am or 5 am and i'm just waking up now. i was reading the yahoo vandwelling forum for most of the night. i ran across one post where the guy said he stayed up all night and  slept during the day so that way he didn't have to worry about parking or whatever. that might be an idea. my only concern would be the noise factor while i slept and becoming even more of a loner.  i don't want that. tonight i'll try to be in bed no later than 11pm and set my alarm for 8am. even if i'm off by a few hours, i'll still be in bed before 1am and awake before noon, i hope. 

in the meantime, it's off to the dentist and the detention center for me.  i can't say i'm looking forward to either one of them but it is what it is. good, bad, or in-between, i just have to do my part.

take care and be blessed.

Monday, October 17, 2011

which bed to pick? best friend issues? ghosts in attendance?

i didn't get a chance to take the mv to the mechanic so i'll probably do it wednesday since i'm going out of town tomorrow. it's only 35 minutes away but i'm getting dental work done and going to see my ex in lockup so i'm not sure what time i'll be back home.  i'm trying to take care of everything medical and dental now so i won't have any issues when i leave next year.  one good thing about having served my country is that i have access to any va hospital or center in the country but i would rather not visit any if at all possible.

i'm trying to decide between two zone chairs from walmart. they come in pink, navy, green, and black. while i adore the pink color, it's just too bright and cheerful in such a small space. the green is cute, not as bright, and cheery as well as calming but not as bright is still bright.  i want to keep a low profile and if i open my side door for some reason, the green is going to shout "hi! look at me! i'm a bed!" so that leaves the black and navy. black is just too boring. i don't want to feel like i'm in a cavern or crypt.  that leaves the blue. it's pretty color. it won't screen "look at me" if i open the door. it's the sensible choice. problem is, i don't want to be sensible. my heart says go for the green while my head says go for the blue. what do you think?



i'm also looking at toilets and stuff but i think the bed is the most important item. i read somewhere that no matter what, you have to be able to get a good night's sleep.

on another note, i've fallen out with my bestest, yet again. i love her but this girl is about a dependable as a hurricane. i'm having outpatient surgery on friday and i asked her 3 weeks ago if she would be able to drive me home since they won't let me drive myself. she said yes. i brought it up to her last week and she reconfirmed. then yesterday she told me she would have to check her schedule to see if she was available friday. i'm like wtf?!! i said never mind, my ex-hubby would do it (he's still one of my best friends).

i'm so tired of never being able to depend on this girl. it was my fault for even asking her since i know her character. she's notorious for going back on her word if she commits to something. i just never thought she would do it to me. along with some other stuff she's pulled, i'm ready to let this friendship die a natural death. she's moving two states away next month anyway so i won't try too hard to keep in touch. it's sad because i really do love her and she does have some good qualities, just not enough to offset her negative ones. i'll hold on to the memories and love her from a distance.

that's about it for me but i do want to note one thing. on two separate occasions i've walked into my living room and the blinds over the living room window were pulled up. i didn't pull them up and there's no one else here but maku. no one has visited or anything. i'm really hoping that maku is pulling the strings somehow and raising the blinds himself, since he loves to sit in that window. if not, i don't know what's going on. i have an alarm system but it's been having a few issues lately. hopefully this will straighten itself out without me having to clock someone or call 911.

have a great night. be blessed.

status of honda odyssey

i looked at the honda odyssey yesterday and discovered i have the 7-seater, not the 6-seater,  so the middle row bucket seats don't have tabs that allow you to easily remove them.

below are some generic pictures showing the layout.



the middle row seats collapse and fold up against the front seats. the seat back can also recline until it's flush with the rear seat.


the rear seat can fold flush with the floor by dropping into the trunk area, the seat back can recline until it's parallel with the floor, and the seat back can fold forward onto the seat.



this is the trunk area behind the rear seat.


the picture above shows the the middle row seats collapsed against the front seats and the rear seat folded flush with the floor. if i was a little shorter than my awesome 5'8", this would be perfect but i'm not so it's about 4 or 5 inches to short for me to lie straight. i would have to lie at an angle with the middle seats taking up space and limiting what i could put on side of my bed. the spare tire is already imposing into the interior space. i don't want to lose even more space to the seats.  (on another note, i remember reading on a vandwelling blog where someone else moved their spare tire from the inside to either to the top or bottom of their vehicle. i'll try to find that posting later.)

another option i have is to recline one of the middle row seats until it's flush with the rear seat and then recline the rear seat until it hits the back of the rear door. that would give me enough room to lie flat and i could just put a futon chair mattress on the bed to even out the dips. i could use the the other side of the rear seat as a chair to knit, read, etc and i would be able to use some of the trunk for storage. to get to it, i would just have to fold the back of the rear seat forward.

the problem with that is the unused middle row seat would still take up much needed space, i wouldn't be able to store anything under my bed, and i wouldn't be able to use all the vertical space in the trunk because i have to recline back.

my last option, and the one i'm going with i think, is just to have someone remove the middle row seats and keep the rear seat. that way i could use storage bins as the foundation of my bed which would give me storage. i could use the right side of the rear seat for sitting, and i would have some of the trunk for additional storage. plus i would have space on the right side of my bed (assuming i place it behind the driver's seat) for maku's litter box, which is an entirely different set of concerns.

that being decided, it's off to my local mechanic to see if he can remove the seats and find out how much he's going to charge me. i'm thinking, guessing, hoping removing the seats won't be a big deal but who knows. life is seldom as simple as i want it to be.

take care and be blessed.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Maku - let's see if this posts correctly


3:16 AM

this blog post was from two or three mornings ago but it went into drafts instead of posting. i'm just including it now.

-------------------------------------------------
it's 3:16am and i just finished reading the entire blog of the most awesome woman. i think we have a lot in common as far  as circumstances. not so much as far as reactions. she seems so self-sufficient, strong, and grounded with this unwavering sense of who and what she is and her place in the universe. me? i'm the opposite of that, most of the time. the vast majority of time.

but, despite all my shortcomings which her awesomeness has highlighted in my mind, she wrote something that gives me hope. she said she's scared to do things but she does them anyway. that's a large part of how i've lived my life. i had to do things because the consequences of not doing them outweighed my fear of doing them. then finally it became too much and i started searching for external remedies to lessen my fears and gift me with the courage i just knew i lacked. now, there are no external remedies. there's just me. and i'm recognizing how strong i was to even survive to be the me i am today, irregardless of the external courage. some days just getting up was a marathon, but i ran it. it was vietnam, but i fought it. so now, it starts again. but this time, i have an armory of resources and a league of experience at my disposal.

testing cell phone 2: picture of maku

this is Maku surveying his territory from the top of my headboard.

this pic came out just fine. hopefully the first one was an anomaly.  so going forward, i can send pics from my phone. i'm so excited.

testing cell phone: picture of maku

this is Maku, my cat, my friend, my baby, my heart. he's such a gorgeous, personable cat. and his fur is so freaking soft. it's literally like rubbing cashmere or mink.

that being said, the picture came through from my cell phone but it's really messed up. not sure why. i'll send another one and see if the same thing happens.