Irish's Thoughts

Interesting – 2011

2011-02-16T21:18:00.001-06:00

I love events such as this, I found it in an news letter that I read – very interesting

The cosmic moment on 11.11.11 at 11.11 promises to be more awesome than any of us can comprehend. It will literally bring in divine energy that will transform us if we are ready. So prepare yourself and be ready to receive it. It may help to be at a high frequency place or portal.

This year we will experience 4 unusual dates. 1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11, 11/11/11. Now take the last 2 digits of your birth year plus the age you will be this year and it will equal 111. Try it. It works."

Thank you, 2010 – by Irish

2011-01-08T14:11:00.001-06:00

Thank you 2010, you have been the greatest year to Scott and me! I will list just a few of the the good things we have shared together.

Since Scott and I have been on a “live more need less mission” for the past 10 years. We accomplished another step this year we moved into a one bedroom 1 bathroom apartment. This move has also helped us get rid of more stuff that we used to have… just to fill up our bigger place. Our apartment is now just blocks away from grocery stores, malls, gyms, the library and many beautiful parks! Just that alone makes it a great place to live. We can walk for everything we need and move toward maybe getting rid of a car altogether, right Scott?

Also the apartment building has a guest suite we can rent when we have company for a small fee of 40 dollars. Where else in Edina can you rent a nice suite for that money? We also have a nice little gym at the apartment we can use if we decide to get rid of our big gym that we pay for now. We have come a long ways over the past 10 years on our minimalist journey…and a long ways to go. If you would like to read where we came from here is a link to some of my past posts on downsizing.

2009 an Emotional Year

Vacations

Our first trip was to Arizona in March 2010 we have taken this trip in March for many years. Two reason we have done this many time is #1 to get a break from our Minnesota Winters, # 2 is to spend some time with family. Scott’s, mother and father own a little piece of heaven in a retirement park there, called Sunflower Resort. This year we did something a little different. We took two weeks off work instead of our usual one week. We spent one of those weeks with our family there. When our family left to go back to Minnesota we spend the other week alone in their little piece of heaven. Thanks Enie and Neil for the use of your little home, we truly enjoyed it.

We spend many great weekends all summer 2010 in northern Minnesota in our Dutch Star motor home on our lake lot. Again we almost always in 2010 took a longer time away from work than we have in the past years.

I guess you can say we are weaning ourselves slowly out of the 9 to 5 rat race. Read my last update about the lake!

Summers at the lake

And then there was that trip of a lifetime! My sister and I though it was time to take a trip back to visit our homeland Ireland for our mother’s 92nd birthday and to enjoy the beauty of Ireland. 2010 just felt like the right year to do it. So we did.. for two short weeks… Read:

What if there isn't “Anymore”

Health / fitness

Other than a few aches and pains here and there we made it through the year in fairly good health. Those aches and pain were 2010’s way of reminding us that we should get out of our cozy little apartment more often to the gym that we pay for, and get in better shape.

Finances

2010 you were the best year ever finically for us since your sister from hell 2008, took a chunk of our retirement savings and gave it to the “Wall Street Boys”. We are back at least for now on track! But 2010 you did not do it alone, I have stayed on at my job passed my retirement date, and we both feel lucky that we still have jobs so we could make those choices. Read:

A Year from Hell

All things considered 2010 you have been a very good year for us. Thank you 2010. Now will you please let 2011 know that we are happy with what you shared with us and would like more of the same from him.

Happy New Year! from Irish and Scott.

Two Years later, and still blogging!

2010-10-12T18:30:00.004-05:00

Happy Anniversary to irishandscott.com Two Years and still blogging!

If you have not already read some of Irish and Scott stories you should start with how it all begun.
Read - First post ever12 October o8 - also - A Year of Blogging

2008 brought many changes to our life good and bad. Somehow two years later we are fortunate enough to still have our jobs. Our portfolio that had taken a loss is back on track. We are still working towards our dream of living and travelling in our motor home. The world is a miraculous place and we must see more of it!
So… what is a good day in the life of a blogger?

A good day in the life of a blogger is when someone say’s to you, “When are you going to update your blog?”

It’s even a better day when you get a comment like this from one of your readers.

“ Margaret, I just have to say this, you are such a wonderful woman! I have been reading more and more of your stories on line. That anniversary to Scott was so wonderful. The Little Fiddle, Reading between the lines, the pictures, the memories almost makes a person live your life along with you. I admire you, the courage you have lived your life through and especially the ability to make lemonade when life gives you lemons. So, so, many wonderful and yet hard memories. You and Scott are something special for sure! I adore you both! “

Another reader said:

“Just took a long look over your website. I just can't get enough of your stories. ♥”

As I start this next chapter of my life. I am hoping to have many more stories to tell, pictures to show, and dreams to share with you, in this wonderful world of blogging!

Summers at the Lake

2010-09-11T07:39:00.047-05:00

Another fabulous summer is coming to a close at our lake lot on Crow Wing 11 in Northern Minnesota. Summer 2010!

I thought this would be a good time to bring you up to date on the last couple of years since I wrote my last story on our lake lot.

Read Weekends at the Lake

Since we came back from Europe we have spent most springs, summers, and fall weekends, at the lake. Even thought the 3 hour drive one way to get there was not always fun, for me. It was worth it all when we got there.
Anyhow back to this story. What have we enjoyed there, what changes have we made, and what is the plan going forward.

With the 2008 crash of the economy and the stock market. We started seeing our portfolio going the wrong way and our jobs in jeopardy. We took action fast, maybe to fast. Since we have had another dream on the table of living and traveling in a motor home we though maybe this was the time to get a head start at putting that dream together.
First we put our condo in Edina up for sale, lucky for us it sold within a few months we also got our money back.
Next we started looking for a motor home.

Read Pick Up Day

If you have read pick up day you know by now how sad I was at having to part with my little house!

My little House before we traded it in on our Dutch Star! The garage is in the background.

The Dutch Star sitting in the spot where the little house sat.

The next year 2009 we still had our jobs, and our portfolio is holding it’s own. Scott who has always been a hot tub person decided to add on a small room to our shed and put a hot tub in there!

Scott also wanted to rename the shed “The Garden House.”

Then - the shed

Now - the Garden House!

Through those sliding glass door sits a beautiful hot tub surrounded with stained glass windows and the man that made it all happen!

We also got a canoe for those calm days when its just beautiful out in the water!



    And a paddle boat to paddle around in!

   My most favorite time of the day is the morning it is always a treat to sit at this little table in our Dutch Star

and have my morning coffee!

We have had some great bonfires, and happy hours!

The yard and Garden House!

The yard looking from the garden house to the Dutch Star!

Steps going to the lake.

Steps going up from the lake!

Our boat, and boat lift and dock.

The Lake!

Our dock and lake front.

Early morning when everyone is still asleep you will find me out by the lake waiting for the sun to rise or if I am lucky like I was this morning to have gotten a foggy morning also. I love foggy mornings. You might be saying what’s so interesting about a foggy morning. But then you might not be Irish!

As I was hunkered down waiting for the fog to burn off so I could get my sunrise picture. Baby eagles are soaring over my head! Yes all that was happening in one morning the fog, baby eagles, and then a beautiful sunrise all at 6:00 in the morning.
What a way to start my day!

As the sun rises over Crow Wing 11 2010, we bring to a close another chapter of our lives! at Crow Wing 11.

The plan as it is now!
When we retire and start traveling and enjoying this beautiful country in our Dutch Star. We plan to get off the road in the summer months, to enjoy some down time at Crow Wing 11.

But then life can have other plans for us. But for now that is our dream!

You also might enjoy reading - A Dream On Hold

Crow Wing 11 2010

“ My Final Run”

2010-07-21T04:56:00.015-05:00

30 + years ago I met the man of my dreams. Well I should say I met a boy, who is the man of my dreams today. That boy I met loved to play in the water. Water skiing being one of his most favorite water sport at that time. He also was a barefoot water skier, I on the other hand had not even graduated out of the wadding pool.
Even though I knew I would never be a barefoot skier I at least wanted to learn to ski.
That is where this story begins. Weekend after weekend all summer long Scott dragged me around the lake trying to help me become a water skier!

After a couple of years of almost drinking the lake dry, one day OMG! She is up!

Finally I can say I am a water skier!

With the sun in my face, and the wind in my hair I hung in there with the big guys for over 30 years as a water skier.

On Thursday the 8th of July 2010 it was a beautiful morning 80 degree with solid sunshine, no wind, and no other boats on the lake.

I said to Scott let’s go out water skiing. Scott said OK. What he did not know is that it would be my final run. Yes I had decided it was time to hang up my skies! Even good times have to come to and end, to make room for the new things that are waiting for you. Been there done that for thirty year. I got the wind in my hair the sun in my face and many, many beautiful weekend of fun in the water at the lake with friends!

My Final Run video

My Final Run photos

With a tear in my eye!

I would like to give a special thanks to Scott the boy turned man. You drove that boat tirelessly Scott for hours, picking me back up out of the water after I fell, and fell, and fell. You never gave up on me, You always encourage me, and in the end when I finally made it as a water skier! I will never forget seeing you jumping out of that boat with a big hug and kiss to welcome me to that beautiful world of water skiing!

Who was the first person to invent water skiing?

Water skiing began in 1922 when Ralph Samuelson strapped two boards to his feet and rigged a clothesline up to his boat on Lake Pepin in Lake City, Minnesota. The sport remained a little-known activity, with Samuelson as its daredevil pioneer for several years. Samuelson began taking his "stunts" on the road, performing shows from Detroit to Florida. Numerous claims began to surface as to who was the first water skier, but in 1966 the American Water Ski Association formally acknowledged him as the first on record. Samuelson has also been credited as the first ski racer, first to go over a jump ramp, first to slalom ski and the first put on a water ski show. The first woman to water ski has been credited to Katherine Lomerson of Union Lake, Michigan, who completed the feat in 1924.

I’ll be Happy When…

2010-03-14T12:38:00.012-05:00

How many time in your life do you read something and you think to yourself OMG that's me! That has happened to me many, many, time. Then there is that one story, that I could not have written any better myself.

This story is one of them and this is me over, and over.

Do you see yourself in this story? I do.

Many people spend their lives thinking "I'll be happy when …" (I finish school, get my degree, get a job/promotion, get married, own a house, kids leave home, retire).

They spend their lives in anticipation of the next stage, never really enjoying the process or the journey.
Do you put off being happy until this or that happens, or waiting for some special event to lift you temporarily, only to feel flat and depressed once the event is over?
Do you also put off spending time with your loved ones until everything has been done and the in-tray (actual and metaphorical) is empty? In the meantime, our family or friends may have lost interest or moved on, and it's too late to regain the time we might have spent with them while we were busy emptying the tray. Face the fact that the in-tray will never be empty, there's always going to be tasks to be completed. Decide to make time now for the people that are important to you. All your work will get done in due course.
The present moment is all we have. Many of us spend our time focusing on past difficulties or anticipating future events, and end up living in fear of what might happen. However, regardless of what might happen tomorrow or happened yesterday or even in the last hour, the present moment is where it's at! If we allow our thoughts to be dominated by past events or anticipation or worry about the future, we'll never be happy in the present moment, which is really all we have.
Often we will be in a certain place and wish we were somewhere else - on holidays, in a new home in a different area, at a different job. Then we will be happy! Actually, if you spend your time feeling frustrated, unhappy and wishing things were different, then that state of mind will follow wherever you go. The opposite is also true - if you refuse to spend your time being negative, angry, or frustrated, and focus on being happy in the present moment, then happiness will follow you wherever you are. You may well find that your positive energy attracts to you the places, people and circumstances that you desire.
Do something creative such as painting, writing a book, music, or cooking something new and enjoy what you are doing for its own sake, not the end result. Don't worry what other people will think of your efforts, just immerse yourself in the activity and get lost in the present moment. Becoming immersed in something which is not generally considered to be a fun activity, such as vacuuming or ironing, can also put a whole new perspective on the task. Enjoy the physical side of vacuuming or sweeping, using your muscles and getting exercise. Enjoy the look, feel and clean smell of clothes and pillowcases (not the sheets - I wouldn't go that far!) as they are ironed. There's an old Buddhist saying, "carry water, chop wood", meaning that if you undertaking these tasks, then focus on the task and become at peace with it, rather than thinking about something else or wishing you were somewhere else.
The Buddhist art of "Non-attachment" is a useful tool to helping us live in the present. If you are attached to people, places, things, and outcomes which don't co-operate with your expectations, then you will experience fear, conflict and other negative emotions. Learning to release or detach from people or outcomes frees our spirit.

I can only hope by sharing this story, that I have help one person live in the present moment even for a day. It has help me!

“2009 an Emotional year”

2010-01-01T10:33:00.008-06:00

For seven years we have been working the downsizing plan. read “Stuff of Life”
A Year in the life of a downsizer
“Pictures of Life” and “Scott Downsizing”
Now in the first few years of downsizing it was very liberating. I do not miss, or cannot remember most of the stuff that used to sit around, or that we had stored in boxes.
In 2008 we took it a few steps forward and sold our condo on beautiful Centennial lake park in Edina Minnesota.

Our condo was one of a kind, and cannot be replaced here in Edina. It also was very nicely furnished.

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After moving out we rented a condo in downtown Edina. It is very comfortable, but not our home. We moved our furniture and what was left of our stuff with us. It did not seem that there was that much stuff at first, but we still carried boxes for hours.

Now I already know before I move again, a lot more stuff will have to go.
With me being the organizer that I am, I started again soon after we moved into our rented condo.

I got 4 boxes.
one for things to sell,
one for things to donate,
one for things to garbage,
one for things to keep just in case I ever need them again: One rule here, this must be the smaller box of stuff.

One year later in 09 all the stuff in the boxes is gone sold, donated, garbage, and the just in case box got moved up north to our” garden house” and yes it is small.

That was the easy part. Then I started with the furniture, even though we do not have an exact date when we will leave here.

I am a downsizing junkie now.
Most of my nice stuff I sold to coworkers just by word of mouth, for a very low price. For a few weeks.. I watched my beautiful furniture go out the door piece, by piece. In a few weeks there was only enough left for Scott and I to sleep on, eat at, and sit on.
“A choice of ours by the way” we have found out that we do not need much.
Most of what we have now will go to garbage, and what is left of the good stuff is spoken for by family members. I still have some downsizing to do, clothes, shoes etc!
We still have land on a lake in Northern Minnesota with our little garden house on it that we plan to keep for awhile yet.

We have our coach that we plan to live and travel in when we leave this chapter of our life.

Our 08 Jeep that we hope to keep for a long time.

Now the big question, and the reason for writing this post in the first place is how do I feel?
Since I grew up in Ireland with no unnecessary stuff, you would think this would be easy. However I have since become very American and I have worked very hard for my stuff. I have come to believe that stuff makes a home, stuff is growing, stuff is who I am. So how do I live without all my stuff.
I love this little piece of advice I got for a wise old man, have you ever seen a U-Haul behind a hearse going to the graveyard.
Another piece of wisdom I read a day or two ago. it is called “Five Remembrances” that some Buddhist Monks chant each day: I will lose my youth, my health, my loved ones, everything I hold dear and, finally, life itself by the very nature of being human.
Those remembrances told me I need to let go of the past, to make room for the future.
I must retrain myself to live with my needs not my wants.
A great little video I found.

Some days I am feeling like I might have met Jack.

The only days that are good days, are when I am downsizing because that also gives me a feeling of growing … just in a different direction.
Scott and I have worked hard, played hard, have had nice cars, boats, houses, and motorcycles.
Now we are getting ready to get rid of them all to smell the roses.

As we bring 2009 to a close and ring in our new year. We will dance to a different tune. We look forward to all the beautiful tomorrows we have yet to share in “ A New Day.”

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-26T07:56:00.003-06:00

Scott and I have had many things to be thankful for over the years. A roof over our heads, food on our table, we have never been out of a job in 40 year, and most importantly our health.
Read my last year Thanksgiving blog Thanksgiving

In the last year I seem to do a lot of dreaming my mind just wanders back in time all by it self with no real sense of direction.

Sometime I find my self back in Ireland in my childhood days, other days I am that young lady dancing and dating.
Read Irish stories
Their are days when I am on some of those great hike I have taken, and countries I have seen.
Read Our Adventures
Then there was the great American dream.
As I move towards this next chapter of my life with many new dreams and hopes for tomorrow.
What I am the most thankful for this thanksgiving day is,” All the memories that I have been so lucky to have”.
“Colors of Memories”

Happy Thanksgiving Family and Friends.

Our Home has Wheels

2009-10-24T12:11:00.008-05:00

Because our home has wheels this time around does not mean it doesn't get the same treatment that

“Our Building were Dreams” got.

I had a list of stuff to buy for my new home starting with the basement. We had to get new lawn chairs, since we plan on this dream lasting for 5 years or more, and we plan on sitting out side a lot. We wanted to get some comfortable recliners.

We also needed covers for the chairs, and bags to put our wheel covers in when we are traveling.

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Then we had to get some happy hour chairs. We wanted ones that have that little pocket on the side to hold our drinks.

Cool!!

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The happy hour chairs fold up nicely into their own classy bags for transport.

Of course we had to have a cocktail table for our happy hour chairs

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We already had our picnic chairs and picnic bag for those road side stops.

Of course you have to have a good grill before you take off so we got a nice stainless steel one.

While our coach is entirely self contained it didn’t have an ice maker so we had to purchase a portable one to get ice for our happy hour drinks.

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We have one bay on our coach designed for a basement freezer but it did not have the freezer in it so we found a deal at Camping World on a sell out

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Here is our refrigerator freezer in its tray ready to go into the basement bay.

Now that the bay in our coach has an ice maker, and refrigerator in it. I just had to have good set plastic plates, spoons, and forks also a snack tray for my outside kitchen.

Tupperware and glasses.

Dishes and silverware.

Bedding,Sheets, billow cases new pillows, place mats.

Stuff for the bathroom

On our list of hobby equipment was a new set of powerful binoculars and we found a nice 10x43 pair of Bushnell field optics that fit the bill.

We currently, each have a larger laptop, but thought it would be wise to have a smaller version for traveling and opted for a beautiful burgundy colored Sony TX one of the smallest full power machines available at the time. We named her cutie.

Cutie got a nice leather bag to travel around with us in.

To round out our computer network we needed a new wireless printer and picked up an New Epson Artisan 700 6 color wireless printer and scanner. It’s 6 color prints are amazing although the ink is a bit expensive.

All of our camera equipment for taking movies and photos for blogs include:

Olympus E510 10 megapixel with 2 zoom lenses (Scott’s camera)

Sony 7 megapixel Cybershot pocket camera ( Margaret’s camera)

Sony Hard disk digital Video Camera (Margaret’s camera)

Just in case we get lost a Garmin Nuvi 780 GPS

For those too cold evening where the Coach furnace can’t keep up we acquired a Mr. Heater dual core ceramic propane heater

Also we found an electric fireplace we plan on installing in the coach (more to come on that)

New tools:

Scott got all grumpy when I opened his tool box the wrong way for this picture and all the tool fell out.

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A new bike rack to carry our mountain bikes behind the jeep.

Our bikes that we purchased in Holland when we lived there.

We have also have a pair of fold up bikes. I call them our minis.

Our tow vehicle a 2008 Jeep Liberty with stainless steel step rails.

We tow our Jeep with a Blue OX Acclaim 10,000 lbs tow bar.

We bought a new Flat Screen TV, for our coach. It will not get installed until spring. We would rather have had a Sony, but it was the only size that would fit into the TV cabinet in the coach. We got it on sale at a good price. Now we can enjoy it in our bedroom at the apartment until spring.

Now, I am sure their will be a few more things added to this list before we are on the road. We might just have to work a little longer to get them all paid for. Scott might have to anyway.

Right Scott?

A Year Of Blogging

2009-10-12T02:21:00.004-05:00

I can’t believe its been a year since I was introduced to blogging, my memories and thoughts! click on next line to see it.

First Post ever 12 October 08
It all started around 7 year ago when I started downsizing and getting ready for that next chapter of my life.
Getting rid of that excess stuff was easy.
When I looked at album after album of pictures that was not so easy. Since we plan to live and travel in a motor home for 5 year there would not be any room for all of them.
Scott suggested scanning them all into my computer. Good idea Scott! Sunday after Sunday during the winter of 08, I scanned picture after picture. “Pictures of life “
Along with that came another though: how do I put some of these pictures and memories into the story they belong to. Scott came through again he said: “ Do a blog “
“I always do what Scott says” ( Ha Ha) So on that cold October morning in Minnesota another blogger was born.

Oh how much fun I have had renewing old memory, thoughts, and bringing old pictures back to life.
I spend weekend after weekend in the winter of 08 blogging, crying, and laughing.
Even though we have not put our website out there for all of the world to see we did give it to our family, and a few friends.
I have learned so much from my year of blogging. The greatest reward of all was when a family member or friend, would say to me I read your story last night. “You made me laugh you made me cry”
We all have stories to tell, and lesson to learn, during this time called life. I hope to share many of them with you and maybe some day you to can “Make me laugh and make me cry”

Irishandscott.com

“My Husband My Friend”

2009-08-01T10:33:00.009-05:00

Scott, happy Anniversary, 32 years. Where has the time gone. For all those years we have worked together, laughed together, cried together loved together. We have had many dreams together, and even a few swear words. Many people have said we were very different from one another.
“ They were reading the cover, not the book.”
One time I was asked why I married a man who never smiled.
I have always seen that big smile in your heart for me.

We have discovered that love means a whole lot more, than we know when we first got married. We have weathered change,acquired more patience, and learned to laugh when life doesn't turn out exactly as we planned.
Sharing everything that comes our way has given us something that most people never knew… and on our anniversary, I am looking forward to all the beautiful tomorrows we have yet to share. I love you.
“My Husband My Friend”

We have the Itch

2009-06-09T19:32:00.005-05:00

Its no surprise to me now that we are getting closer to retirement that we would have a dream of living and traveling in a motor home. All of our after work life has been in the great outdoors. When Scott and I met some of the first things we talked about was his camping trips he went on, when he lived in Germany and about an old VW van he fixed up to camp in.

Scott Camping in the woods in Germany

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When he came home it was off to northern Minnesota for some great fishing and camping trips with his father and some friends. Look at this picture of an old Polaroid. He sure looks young there.

Scott and I started out our life buying and fixing up a van to camp in. Now that was really fun! I just loved that van. It was also our all around transportation. When Scott and I got married we took off on our honeymoon in our van.

Scott and I leaving on our honeymoon in our van with our cooler full of beer and food. I cannot think of anything better our own bed, and beer with Scott and I in our van in the great outdoor.

Now that was real freedom!

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Now being the dreamers we are nothing stays the same. After our van, we got a tent too.

It was a way of living in the great out-doors and gave us more ways to see things.

Then we moved up in the world again. We were able to buy an old camper. Even though we could not run water in the sink because it leaked. We still loved having a roof over our heads and a little table to eat on.

Here is Scott’s grandpa who loved camping sitting at our little table. Some of the camping genes must have been passed on.

When Scott bought his first Harley Davison, the first thing after the bike was a trailer to carry our camping stuff ! We went on some great trips with our Harley and trailer.

Most everything we did with our friends was camping. Here we are on a camping trip in our boat going down the river. We cruised down the river for a days finding beautiful sandy beaches, that we camped at for the night.

“Ah! the Good Life” We’ve got to have more of this soon!

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At the park with friend and a bonfire, drinking beer, and log rolling. It looks like Scott lost.

“Simple Fun”

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As we got more adventurous there was hiking and camping in the mountain peaks of Colorado

Of course it always seemed like we ended up back camping on our own property at the lake.

Camping on our first lake lot.

Camping on our second lake lot

Scott grew up camping. That's what his family often did for vacation. “Lucky for Scott” In the early years when I first knew Scotts family they had an older motor home. I just loved it when they invited us to join them when they went camping .

Here we are camping in his mother and father’s motor homes over the years

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Scott Grandparent also were campers and had many different way of camping, over the years. We did not get to spend enough camping time with them. Scott’s grandmother went to heaven a few years after Scott and I met. “We miss and Love you Grandmother”

Granma in her motor home Scott’s mother in her motor Home

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Scott parents moved up in camping over the years. Here we are camping by a lake together, in one of their last motor homes.

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My dream was that some day Scott and I could have a motor home of our own.

“Looks like we Made It”

We have spend many years of our vacations in this beautiful camping home that Scott parents traded their motor home for. It’s called a park-model, and it’s parked in a beautiful seniors resort in Arizona that has every luxury you can imagine.

A dream for Scott and I some day maybe?

“ So many dreams so little time”

I know, I know - you will say this is not camping, its OK to cheat a little after all we worked hard for it!

“To Your Best Life”

Pick Up Day!!

2009-05-26T18:46:00.013-05:00

Even though we had spent many years talking about what we wanted in a Motor Home big or small, I still was not ready for this day. Scott on the other hand could not wait to get behind the wheel.

Read Dutch Star to see how we got here.

With 2008 being full of uncertainty's in our job’s and economy, this dream had been on the back burner for awhile. We had just sold our condo, with a little money in our pockets and being the dreamers we are,”We just had to have It”. Scott had been researching for over a year and it had most everything we wanted other than a few color choices. The money was within the range of our budget and there was another couple wanting in the door to look at it, but I did not want them in there maybe that is why we bought it that day.

Two weeks later we took a Thursday and Friday off work to have a long weekend, and went to pick up our new coach. It looked so nice out there in the lot all ready for us. I had packed our bags with everything we needed for our two day stay on the lot to get our walk through and training.

While Scott was having the time of his life with the mechanic going over everything,

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I was having the time of my life, looking over my new home. It looks like at this point that I would have a place for my need’s and a few of my wants. Finally after a long day going over everything we get to have a moment to celebrate. It was a bright sunny day and there is nothing better for me and Scott than a sun beam, and a new dream with our glass of wine.

Next day the RV mechanics came back to fixed anything we found that we were not happy with. I had found a few things I wanted fixed. Our chair needed a little work, but they were great! They worked with us on any concerns we had.

While all this excitement was going on, I saw these two men coming and reality set in. They were coming to get they keys to my little house (the old travel trailer). We had just traded it in on our new motor home, and they were going to pick it up on our lake lot. I did not like these two men.

Bad Men

I want to take a moment to mourn the lose of my little house, an old dream now gone we mourn, a new dream begins.

Bye Little House I will always Love you!!!!

We are finally on the road with Scott behind the wheel, and me scared to death. I did have my camera in hand and the only real bad thing that happened on the way to our lot, was I saw those too bad men again as we passed them going the other way with my little house. “ Another tear”

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When we got to our lot my little house was gone a few more tears and I moved on.

OMG we got the coach in the spot where we had out little house. A lot of work will have to be done before we can get it out again. Nothing new there.

Scott, “The Great Stump Man” has to get his shovel out again and start digging “A Job He Hates” to get the coach in and out of our parking spot easier in the future.

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Many weekend later he did it. It looks beautiful, and it even works well. What a job this man had done with just a shovel and a few swear words.

The back of the coach in its little spot

The front of the coach in its little spot

After a full summer of digging and getting the coach ready Scott gets to enjoying a book, and a beautiful sunrise over our lake lot.

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Here to many Trip’s living our New Dream.

"A New Day"

A Dream On Hold

2009-05-10T15:22:00.002-05:00

I have shared most of the dreams with you we have had on Lot#8 on Crow Wing 11 lake lot, and its history.

We have been going there most every weekend in the summer for 8 years. We have also went there at other time of the year to see how we like it in different weather conditions. We are not cold weather people, now that we have gotten older.

We have had a dream of building a log House there to retire to ever since we bought it. We have done all our homework and even picked out the house, and the spot on the lot where we wanted it. What we found out even though it is a beautiful place in all seasons of the year, we seem to go home sooner when it is cold, windy, or rainy.

We spending many many hours talking about our “Log home dream” It has just never made sense to build “at this time” The time we really enjoyed the weather there was so short just June – Sept. We keep thinking is it worth it for such a short time every year?

We had another reason to put this dream on hold. One of the many things we learned about ourselves over the years, was when we build a house the dream is over and we are ready to move to the next dream. Dreams are harder to come by lately and we are not ready to end this dream yet. With the living and traveling in a motor home dream on our plate, we thought we would go out and explore this beautiful country and spent a few months in the summer in our Motor Coach on Lot#8 and keep the dream alive.

A Dream On Hold

This is a very hard decision for Scott and I to make. We never put a dream on hold.

The First Family of Crow Wing 11

2009-05-03T08:46:00.003-05:00

If you have read my story “My Great!! Stump Man” you will know that Scott and I were the first “people” family to own lot # 8 on Crow wing 11.

Now let me introduce you to the real owners. Even thought Scott and I paid money and worked our you know what off to make this spot home, the real owners remind us every time we are there, who really is in charge. That is something I highly respect. I work hard every time I am there, to make sure they know its still their home.

The Loon’s call, is my favorite piece of of morning music. They are so much fun to watch and we spend many hour just enjoying them.

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My most favorite time of the year with the loons is when they have their babies. It is so heart warming to see how they take care of their babies and teach them to take care of themselves.

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Then there is the Bald Eagle. There is no real way to explain what he can do to all of us when he leaves his house across the lake and come out looking for food for his young ones we all just stare in silence.

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Every once in a while when we are having happy hour, the eagle will land on an old dead tree right in front of our noses, waiting for a dead fish meal to float by.

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Chipmunks are all over the place, and they are so much fun and so smart. Not long after we show up, they know we are there and they sit waiting on the edge of the deck for their hand out.

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The hummingbirds put on our happy hour show every night. Usually their is 2 or 3 of them and they will fight, chasing back and forth competing with one another for the food. I cannot believe something so tiny can fight like they do.

Now to stay in the good books with Scott I need to say something about his fish. That’s not that he is a big fisherman, not yet anyway. He has not had a lot of time with all his other dreams. “Good catch Scott”

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We cannot forget the little tree toads. We never know when, or where, they pick a spot to call home for the summer. They have scared me to death many times in many strange places.

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Like all families there is always the members you accept that it is their home, but refuse to put their picture on the wall.

They are the one’s that take down good healthy trees with only their teeth. Trees that are 100s of years old gone in a single winter by their work.

The work of a beaver

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Then there are the ones that eat beautiful bushes, or the one’s that move foundations every winter. They all have a place here, but until they can give up their bad habits, they will never have their picture on my wall.

What we like most about crow wing 11 is that we are surrounded by nature, the animals, the trees, the water the peacefulness of it all. But then we are getting older and we are more in touch with reality now.

“I am talking about Scott when I say older”

“To Your Best Life”

My Great!! Stump Man

2009-04-19T17:17:00.006-05:00

Before Scott and I bought Crow Wing 11 lake lot it was an overgrown woods. We are its first real people family, and that is very special to us. Along with the woods, came many years of dead trees, stacks of dead brush, and lots and lots of Poison Ivy. Scott can tell you some horrific stories about Poison Ivy. Making the land useful required a mission to take down all the dead trees, clean up, and burn all the dead brush. So Scott bought a chain saw and became a lumber jack.

I know this might sound like I’m bragging, OK I am bragging. You could not believe what he could do with that little saw. Scott must have removed 30 trees that were over 60 feet tall with a little chain saw and a rope.
Cutting up the downed trees
I took care of carrying all the brush to the fire and keeping the fire burning and safe. That was a job I loved!

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We tried to get started early in spring before the leaves came on the trees because that made it easier to carry the brush.

Spring Tree Cutting

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After the trees were down and all the the clean up was done. Scott would start removing the stumps. He used everything you could think of to get them out of the ground ropes, jacks, our jeep, shovels, boards, axes or whatever worked. After a few foul words they always seemed to come out much easier.

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This stump was a big victory. It took many foul word’s to get it out. Often after a difficult stump, a victory dance was performed on the defeated stump carcass.

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Weekend after weekend, me and My Great!! Stump Man went up to our lake lot and spent most of our time taking down dead trees.

On the particularly difficult trees like this one where there is a danger of the tree falling on a house or other important things the stump dance is always preformed. I was lucky to catch this primitive ritual on film!

With all that dry dead wood it was easy to have great bonfires. I took so much pride! in them.

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Morning Coffee By the bonfire

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Happy Hours by the bonfire

After many summer of tree cutting, brush burning, stump pulling, and grass planting and a few foul words.

We have a beautiful front, side, and back yard.

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I would like to give this story and all its great!! memories to “My Great!! Stump Man”

We have more dead trees every year to cut down, and we plan many more summers at the lake with many more bonfires to enjoy.
“Live your Best Life”

Weekends at the Lake

2009-04-15T17:16:00.014-05:00

With 20 years of dreams on lake Jefferson coming to an end, we were already talking about buying a lake lot in beautiful Northern Minnesota.
Getting rained out at Scott’s annual Mille lace lake windsurfing race , we thought it would be a good time to do some exploring of Northern Minnesota lake lots. Already half way up north and having recently received some advertising for Lake lots offered for sale we thought why not. We had nothing else to do while we were waiting for the rain to quit.
What we were not ready for, was how much money they cost and how big a demand there was for them. We also did not have any intention of buying one that day. We still had our other lake lot and no extra cash.
When we arrived at the lots for sale we saw lots of real-estate signs and people along the road. We stopped to look around and ran into a real-estate sales person. We asked about the lots and he said they had just gone on the market and most of them were already sold.
He then told us about a lot that was sold, but just went back on the market yesterday when the buyer could not get money arranged. We went to look at it and absolutely fell in love with it “Just got to have it” The real-estate person returned to his original customer, but he had given Scott and I his phone number to call him if we were interested.
After a couple of hours of exploring the remaining lots as well as the newly returned lot we decided we should try to buy the returned lot. We called the cell phone number on the card we received, and got a hold of the real-estate man. We made plans to meet him in an hour at a restaurant a few miles down the road.
He told us the seller would do a contract for deed for the purchase. Now that was great with us as it would give us time to figure out how we were going to pay for it! Because at that moment we did not have a clue how we were going to do that.
“WE BOUGHT IT “ off we go to the liquor store for a bottle of wine to celebrate then back to our new lot. We were very excited about our new found dream!

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One of the reasons we just had to have it was it is such a great area! Walking and biking tracks along with the Paul Bunyan State Forest were just outside our door.

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This new dream lot was a about a 4 hour drive one way, from where we lived and where our our jobs were. It was already September in Minnesota which means that the weather can get bad anytime, so we were sad leaving because it would be awhile before we would see our new dream lot again.
Since life had other plans for us that we did not know about at the time, it tuned out to be a lot longer than we thought.
Life Interferes with dreams
October of that year a mere month after we bought our new lot we were offered an enticing work assignment in Europe that we accepted. We put everything we had up for sale except our new found dream lot.
When our other lake place sold right away we paid our new lot off with the money we got from the sale . Funny how things just fall into place sometimes in life. We put our new lake dream on the hold, and went off to explore Europe. See our Europe adventures for more on that.
Four year Later 2001 Part II
Returning to Minnesota after three years of working in Europe, and one in Colorado our next assignment was in Minneapolis. We were not that excited about returning to Minnesota, but we were excited about getting back to our lake dreams. It did not take us long to get “Up North” to our lot. Even thought it was a six hour drive round trip from Minneapolis.
Our first goal was to try and clean up just enough brush, and dead trees so we could start enjoying weekends there in the summer.

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It was memorial day weekend and we had just bought a new Sunnybrook travel trailer. I called her my little home. It was a bit ugly getting the trailer into the spot where we wanted it, or to look like the picture on the left but we just loved our little setup. Now we have a place to call home at the lake again.

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Scott had a lot of tools and we were paying for a shed in town to store some of our stuff, so the next goal was to build a shed at the lake. Weekend after weekend we drove the six hour roundtrip drive to the lake to build our shed. Now we had a place to live, and a place to store our “STUFF” again.

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You cannot have a lake lot without a boat, that’s what Scott says anyway. This time we are thinking about retiring here part time so we wanted a boat that was easy to take care of. Scott thinks we might want to fish more than ski in the years ahead, so we bought a good all around family boat. OMG we have a family boat! Who would have thought!

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Now if we are going to have a boat we will certainly have to have a garage to store it in! Off we go on another dream to build a garage. Scott was doing all the work himself with only a weeks vacation for the shell. Then weekend, after weekend, all summer we drove the six hour roundtrip drive to the lake to finish our garage and get it done before winter. I also would like to thank Scott’s, Mother and Father for helping and especially the food they brought. Now we have a nice garage!

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Now we need to easily get down the hill to the lake. Maybe their will be time to enjoy the lake in the years ahead, so we set out to build some steps. “Scott what a builder you are”

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So far all this time we have been carrying water, and cleaning up by the lake. We thought it was time to get a well in. We found a great well driller and it made life in our little house so much easier “running water can you imagine that"

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Now its 2008. Its been 7 years getting us to where we are at. I spared you “the dirty bad and the ugly details” that took up about three years.
We do not get much company at the lake up north. Summers are so short in Minnesota and its too far for most people to drive. Scott’s mother and father always try to come once a year and we always have good time with them. Here we are having happy hour on the end of our dock.

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Now do not go away this dream is still alive.

Our Buildings were Dreams

2009-04-04T07:53:00.018-05:00

Early on in the beginning years of our life together we both knew we were dreamers. Since Scott was a man of many talents maybe that is the wrong word to use, I should say he could teach himself almost anything he wanted to. We started out on the dreams like all couples do. To have a nice home since we could not afford or want one all fixed up, we bought a fixer upper. That was the beginning of many homes we fixed up. We also had so much fun doing them. We even got on the front page of our local newspaper for turning the impossible into the possible. It was also the year of the hot tub and Scott and I being the dreamers we are, had to have one of them in every house we fixed up.

When I say fixed up Scott did everything himself with me being his helper. I loved to decorate and I got to buy new stuff, for my new houses as our projects took shape.

Our Hot Tub room was built in the back of the garage in a cedar sun room with a handmade cedar spiral stairway going to a new master bedroom over the garage. The stairway took Scott 4 hour per step to build.

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Since we started out, our house as a home, and a dream, the next dream was always to start again with new ideas and a new set of plan’s. We had learned so much with the first house that we wanted to try out everything we learned. When we sold our first little dream house we got our money back, and enough to start another dream.

Off we go in search of another house to fixed up. This one was a lot nicer to begin with than our first house. It was bigger but,very out dated. So the fun begins. Just what we wanted two year of very hard work and another dream. It turned out to be a beautiful house and it sold without every going on the market. “Another dream was over a new dream begins”

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This Hot Tub was on the deck and much bigger

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We bought a lot overlooking our city and the new dream was much bigger. Now we wanted to build an earth shelter home. With the help of 2 men that like working on earth shelters the dream begins .This dream contained a bit of “the good the bad and the ugly” but in the end “WE DID IT”. We were the local tourist attraction. Every day you looked out the window to see someone sitting outside staring up at our House

I could never begin to tell you on this post the work and creativity that when into this house I can only tell you that we sold it to one of the plant presidents of GE, who had moved to town. They called it their “penthouse” . We got back our money and enough to start another dream.

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The Hot Tub Room was build on the Roof of the House and made of stone

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We already had a lake lot. Up to this time the lake lot was about camping and water sports but a new dream started. We got the itch to have a house on the lake even thought we were a little scared that would end our dreams at that lake. We did it anyway.

To see the end of that story go to Spring in Minnesota.

This was by far the hardest goal of all because Scott was going to do it all himself with 4 weeks vacation and me as his helper. We had to get it all closed in weather tight before going back to work . Some how “WE DID IT”. We also have to be thankful for Scott’s Mother and Father for coming out to help us on weekends. As well as a few skiing friend that Scott had. They did a lot of work in exchange for help on their project. “It’s nice to have friend and to share”

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Of course it had a Hot Tub on the corner of the Deck

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We have had a few condos since our return from Europe. They were very nice. They were places to go home to after work but not dreams.

Looking back on life so far, for Scott and I, it is about the dreams. Even though we are always sad leaving an old dream, we are also excited about the start of a new dream.
Now life is going too fast. We have been sitting a little bit too long , “GOT TO GET GOING” and “START ANOTHER DREAM.”

"We Made a Difference One Home at a Time"

Spring In Minnesota

2009-03-20T18:23:00.009-05:00

With spring in the air and the long dark nights and cold days as a Minnesotan are almost over my thoughts turn to the lake. For the last 30 something years spring means “The Lake” to Scott and I.

In the very early years of our marriage while we lived in the land of 10,000 lakes, our dream was to own a lake place. We had a great passion and love for the outdoors, we had an old boat and loved to play on the water, but hauling the boat somewhere every weekend tuned into too much work, it seemed like it was time to look for a place on the lake to go to every weekend.

After spending many weekend searching for one close to home that we could afford, we found a lake lot. Our big dream was coming true. Even thought it was very small, and very close to all of our neighbors, it was the the beginning of many year of weekends of fun with Family and friends at the lake

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Special memories with family.

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But finding it was only the beginning. Then there was all of the work of clearing and cleaning it and making a sandy beach to have those happy hours and lake adventures on.

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Since Scott already was a great water skier I knew I had to learn the sport. Weekend after weekend, Scott dragged me around the lake until that exciting day that I finally got out of the water on my skies. Now I was a water skier. I could now play out there with the big guys, well not quite, but I made it look good anyway.

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We started out with a tent and not to long after that there was the camper dream. Over time we had a lake lot, an old boat, and our very own camper.

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But dreams don’t stop, one day we saw this beautiful shiny red boat we just had to have.

The first day we got the new boat I drove it and as it skipped across the lake I thought Whoa! What a girl I was turning into.

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Then one day we got a call that the shed we stored the shiny new boat in over the winter burned down along with our boat. Off we go in search of another dream boat.

This time the boat was the dream boat of all skiers a “Master Craft” barefoot ski boat. It was not as eye catching as our shiny red boat, but it was a “quality plus” boat with much more power and speed. All of our skier friends loved it.

With a new boat again it was back to updating our camper. We got a bigger brand new camper. Then we got a well and septic in and had running water in our camper

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By then we had add a lot more water sports toys, windsurfing, boards,tubing, and of course we still dreamed.

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In One one of those dreams we thought it would be exciting and challenging to build a small cabin. We set out on our final dream for our lake lot to build a house. With Scott being the guy to plan and build it all, and me as his helper we accomplished this difficult task and ended up with a beautiful little lake house.

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A couple of year after this we got offered an a assignment to work in Europe. With this 20 year lake dream coming to a close we found another lake lot in northern Minnesota “just in case we had more dreams” We sold our little lake lot and all of her stuff. "But not her memories or her dreams"

Spend your life wisely!

Drowning the Shamrock

2009-02-28T08:34:00.041-06:00

With St Patrick day just around the corner memories come to mind. Growing up in Ireland St Patrick's day in our house was a day of going to church with our shamrocks pinned to our shirts. Lead by my mother to the front row in church to pray and thank St Patrick for running all the snakes out of Ireland. At least that's what I was told. Maybe it was just another Santa story? If you have read any of my Irish stories you will know what I mean. Then there was the drowning of the shamrocks afterward. I did not know how the shamrock got drowned then, because that was for grown ups.

After coming to America I was living in a small town. I also was the town only bar, "bartender" and with a nick name of “Irish” Being the only real "Irish lass" in the town, along with all of my "Wish we were Irish friends"I started out to prove to them I knew how to drown the shamrock.

From St Patricks day

First I got myself a green dress with a few shamrocks on it. Then my bra and underwear were made out of green material like a shamrock. Along with a green wig, green shoes, and of course that famous Irish button that says "KISS ME I AM IRISH"
I’m all ready to drown the shamrock!

From St Patricks day

The first St Patrick day drowning the shamrock was a lot of fun. I had the whole day off work and we started bar hopping around noon. Meeting more wannabe Irish people at night that had to work that day our party grew. We were all excited about the next St Patrick's day before this one was even over.
We did this year after year with me adding more shamrocks and doing a better job at drowning the shamrock every year. Even the bars we went to waited for us to come in on St Patrick's day.

From St Patricks day

I started dating Scott around that time. One little drawback there was that he was not into this whole green thing at all. Even though he was part Irish he did not have to advertise it. I on the other hand had a lot of friends to live up to, with this drowning the shamrock thing. Scott was a good sport and let me go with my friends. Off we went on our annual St Patrick’s day to drown the Shamrock. From bar to bar we were all welcomed and I could tell I was doing a better job of drowning the shamrock this year because around 3oclock in the afternoon I was asking everyone in the bar if they wanted to see "My shamrock"
All I remember about that evening is that my Irish wannabe friends carried me home long before dark leaving me to drown my head in the toilet and having to answer to my new husband. At that moment I would have rather meet my mother with the broom. That was the end of my green outfit also the end of an Irish girl and her "I wish we were Irish Friends" trying to drown the shamrock.
Over thirty years has passed since that bunch of friends set out to drown the shamrock. I don’t see those friends anymore and my green outfit is long since gone. Did we drown the shamrock or not? You decide.
"To your Best Life"

Drowning the Shamrock

The custom of imbibing alcohol on St. Patrick's Day comes from an old Irish legend. As the story goes, St. Patrick was served a measure of whiskey that was considerably less than full. St. Patrick took this as an opportunity to teach a lesson of generosity to the innkeeper. He told the innkeeper that in his cellar resided a monstrous devil who fed on the dishonesty of the innkeeper. In order to banish the devil, the man must change his ways. When St. Patrick returned to the hostelry some time later, he found the owner generously filling the patrons' glasses to overflowing. He returned to the cellar with the innkeeper and found the devil emaciated from the landlord's generosity, and promptly banished the demon, proclaiming thereafter everyone should have a drop of the "hard stuff" on his feast day. This custom is known as Pota Phadraig or Patrick's Pot. The custom is known as "drowning the shamrock" because it is customary to float a leaf of the plant in the whiskey before downing the shot.

A Hikers Wish!

2009-02-15T17:19:00.030-06:00

Hiking up the side of a mountain or a cliff gives you lots of time to think. That can bring out some of our wishes and dreams from the back of our minds that we have had for years. It might come from just struggling to breath or at time just hoping you will live and wondering what the %$#%$ &^%& I am doing this for anyway. But you just gotta do it. Something is driving you.

One of the many time that I've done the annual yearly climb of of Squaw Peak while visiting Scott's family in Arizona I started thinking.......

Since I had left Ireland at a very young age I had never did much with my family and that was what I missed the most in life. I did have a sister in American though (more on that story at a later date) but we did not see each other very often. We were both busy living our lives. My sister was busy with her family, business, and friends She also had many sports, but at that time hiking was not one of them. While I was trying to take a breath a thought came to mind, I wish I could climb this with my sister.

A few years later I got a phone call from my sister saying she had bought a winter home in Arizona.

At that moment I could see the beginnings of a dream coming true. Next year she invited me to stay at her beautiful home and we did my dream hike together. We even made a yearly hike together whenever we were in Arizona at the same time.

From Angie-Jeff-home-Arizona-2008

Since then my sister is a dedicated Arizona hiker. Thank you Sister Angela for a dream come true and sharing your beautiful home, and time out of your busy life. For these memories I will always treasure.

A taste of Hiking.

2009-02-01T13:07:00.011-06:00

As Scott is closing in on finishing up on our Colorado adventures my mind wandered back to how we got the taste for hiking in first place. In the early years of our marriage we had a lake lot where we spent all of our off work time, camping and having fun with our boat, and friends.

Maybe Scott will do adventure on that some time since it took up a very large portion of our life and we have great memories from it. He also is the adventure writer in the family. Now to get to the part of the story I want to share. We spend most of our money and time on our lake lot. That did not leave much money or time left for any trips.

Scott's, mother and father have always had a motor home of some kind over they years, and we joined them once in a while for a few day on what ever camping trip they were taking. When they were getting ready for their retirement they had their hearts set on Arizona for the winter weather. They were going to become Snowbirds.

I am not sure if it was their first year or their second year out in Arizona they invited us out for a week or two. That was a big adventure for us as we had an inexpensive place to stay, and food. As well it was quality time with Scott's parents, not to mention getting out of Minnesota winters for a great break. All we had to come up with was the money for our plane fares.

At that time they stayed in a place called Desert's Edge.

It was a small camp ground where Scott's parents parked their motor home for Snowbirds. Just outside the gate of the campground was a small mountain. Even thought at the time it looked big to us we set out to challenge it.

We were hooked. The next day we asked Scott's mother to go with us again, and as you can see we celebrated with our wine.

From Desert Edge

While we were there they always took us on a trip someplace to see something new. We could not wait for they next year to come.

After a couple of years Scott's parents moved to a bigger and nicer Campground with lots of pools.

From Sunflower Resort and Pool Arizona.

A few years after that they bought a park model and put on an Arizona room.

From Sunflower Resort and Pool Arizona.

This was great for us because we then had our very own room at night to sleep in. I even had room to leave a few things there so I did not have to carry as much back next year. Which I caught a little hell for when Scott's mother found them.

Almost every year for the last ten year we have shared this time with Scott's family and always looked for bigger more interesting mountains to climb. This lead us into our many hikes in Europe and Colorado. You can read about them in "Our Adventures".

I know many children talk about, and thank their parents for putting them through college, but we could never have learned in any collage what we learned on those hikes. I hope we can enjoy many more years of hiking new place's, and time with them.

Thank You Enie and Neil you have "IT"

"Spend Your Life Wisely"

A Year in the Life of a Downsizer

2009-01-11T01:38:00.026-06:00

2008 was a big "Downsizing" year for Scott and I, even though we started this long before the 2008 financial collapse. Maybe in our semi-conscious minds we saw it coming.

If you are reading our journals, Stuff of life, Pictures of life, and Scott's Downsizing you can see we have been on a mission. For around 10 year now we have had a dream about living and traveling in a Motor Coach.

It all started when I was having a hard time at work in 2000 and I went on a vacation to sunny Arizona. I was sitting by the beautiful pool reading a magazine that I found on a chair nearby called "The Good life". I read in it about a couple that had sold everything and left the "Corporate World" or should I say the "Corrupt World' to live and travel in their little 24foot motor home.

I do not know if it was that I was having a hard time at work or the sun in Arizona, but that was the life for me. Now I am Irish and a fighter (Right Scott?) I have always felt that I wanted to leave my job on a good note. I had to accomplish that first.

A year later I had accomplished that, but it did not come easy. I had to learn from the bad times how to make it good again, work even became fun again. but I never let go of the dream.

I also had to talk Scott into it since he is younger, and we needed more money. Anyone who would read this that knows Scott knows it is not easy to talk him into anything. But being an Irish fighter I had another mission to accomplish.

Since Scott is also an adventurer. he loved the idea so we set out on a seven year goal of downsizing and saving a little money when we could . I also have stayed on my job longer to make that dream come true. We moved along at a comfortably time frame for 5 years then came 2008 and all her glory.

Even thought we were almost there, things started looking bad, in 2008 when the company that we both worked for, for 31 year started losing sales. Since all we have ever seen from the corporation was growing, this made us uncomfortable, so we took action fast.

We thought if we lose our jobs we can live our dream. That is why it is always good to have a dream and a plan. We put our beautiful condo up for sale and three months later it sold even in a bad market for a fair price. We were sad but free. Selling the condo did not come easy the people that bought it wanted everything. To make an already long story short we still have our jobs for now, and we have found a condo to rent that is comfortable.

Then Scott started downsizing from 2 cars to one. Since I car pool we only need one. That was very hard on Scott since he is a car person. See his downsizing for more on that.

Even thought 2008 was a very bad year for all of us in our 401ks. and our lack of confidence in our leaders, we still feel that we are still a lot better off that some.

Maybe just having another dream and a plan outside of the security that we thought we had helped us. We are still seeing many people losing their jobs in our company and we do not know what day might be our last day but if it comes. We have a plan, we do not live in fear.

To Your Best life!

Pictures of Life

2009-01-01T12:04:00.025-06:00

Picture where did they all come from year after year, camera after camera, moments that we cannot part with.

I tried lately in my downsizing adventure to give some cute little albums full of pictures, to family and friends of moments we shared together only to get them back at the next get together saying thank you I just have no place to store them.

Now my first thought was: I am going to through them out but, as I got closer to the recycling bin my heart said no these are part of a life. It sorta felt like murder. Well at least to me.

My next thought was: I will go through them and get rid of they ones that had very little meaning but every time I tried to recycle one a memories came back. I give up!

Scott has just bought us a new wireless printer/scanner and I will have to take on the job of scanning all those baby picture of him his mother gave me.
I got to admit he was a cute baby."What happened to you Scott!" Just kidding.

Then there was all those Granny and Grandpa pictures, aunts, and uncle and even all their dogs, cats, all those boyfriend I had, well they were all a part of who we are in life. From one picture to another they will have to be scanned in all 15 albums.

Now that the job is done many weekend later, I've got a special joy out of renewing the memories. I just did not spend enough time enjoying them then I was doing them. "Enjoy the Moments". Going forward I wish for a lot more pictures of special memories. Since we plan to live and travel in our motor coach we should have lots of them. Its nice to know we will not have to scan them as the only cameras we have are digital now.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T03:07:00.022-06:00

A Special day to be Thankful!

When I grew up in Ireland every day that the chickens were laying their eggs, the goats and cows gave milk, or we could see new plants growing in our field was a day we would not be hungry. That was a thankful day and we said a prayer every night led by my mother, but we didn't celebrate one special day of Thanksgiving

In America after Scott and I met he invited me to his home for Thanksgiving. What I was the most thankful for was a family all around the table. Since I missed my grandparents it was nice to have a grandpa and granny again.

After Scott's grandparents went to heaven, and his sister moved to California and his parents go to a warmer

state for the winter. Family Thanksgiving gatherings are over. "Nothing stays the same."

This year I am doing a lot of thinking on the real meaning of life and I have not yet figured out all the things I should be thankful for. I do know to be thankful for the moments because you do not know when they will be gone. I have a roof over my head now, a job, and food on the table. All this

would only be survival if it were not for the love and friendship I get from Scott.

That's what I really have to be thankful for. I do not want to ever think about the day when that will be gone. With all that said I will give this Thanksgiving day to my husband my friend Scott.

A Senior Moment

2008-11-15T01:41:00.018-06:00

Sunday was cold and wintery in Minnesota. Scott and I decided to go to the Science Museum and take in a movie at the Omnitheater. While there we also thought we would try and buy a lifetime pass to our National Parks since we plan to live in our motor home and visit as many National and State Parks as we can.

I have reached that age where I could buy one for ten dollars. While the person was taking the information to set up my card I got that felling of excitment that I had reach another millstone in life where I was old enough for something.

My mind wandered back in time to the first time that happened. I had just turned sixteen I was getting off the bus from my cleaning job and the neighbor boy was there to meet me. He walked me up the long dark lane to the old straw roofed house where I lived with my family. Before I went through the gate to our front door he kissed me and said "you are my dearest". That was the last time I saw or heard for him in those days.We all left home young to find work so that was the end of sweet sixteen and never been kissed.

Next time came to mind was twenty one. I was of legal age to go to the bar and have a drink and a cigarette with my friends. Since I was of age during the"Wood Stock" days I could have also gone to the country roads and maybe found a joint. It was not about the bar, the drink, the cigarette, or the joint, it just was cool to be old enough to do it.

Just as I was enjoying memories of the past the person getting my card ready said sign your card. He brought me back to the moment of being a senior. I do not have any trouble finding a joint now, arthritis finds them for me.

Election Day

2008-11-04T02:41:00.000-06:00

Thank you America, for the freedom to vote for the person of my choice without being stoned to death.
Scott and I walked hand in hand to the little church on the corner of our street in Edina, Minnesota and voted. We walked home again feeling good about our freedom and for the first time in my life I watched minute by minute the returns coming in. It was not about who I voted for or my beliefs, it was about this great country that adopted me making history. I also found a great inner strength that I could do anything I wanted to do if I was willing to work hard for it. If I was only a little younger this would be my time. Young people of America go out there and be what you want to be. Since I have already worked 40 year of my life my dream is seeing this great country and giving back to her for the freedom she has given me. "Where is my Motor coach"

The Stuff of life

2008-10-15T10:53:00.005-05:00

When I came to America I was carrying a small bag with a few clothes in it. A big adventure,

young and free. I made friends fast. Most Americans seem to love the Irish.

It must have been clean up week because when I went to the sidewalk one day people had put out old stuff for the garbage man. It was still good stuff! I took the stuff for my new apartment and the stuff made the apartment looked great!

I found a job fast as a waitress those jobs were a dime a dozen in those day. Then payday came and because I never had money before I bought some of my own new stuff. With many more paydays and paychecks I accumulated lots more new stuff . I then found I had to put some of my own old stuff out on the sidewalk. I even had to get another job to pay for more new stuff.

When Scott and I became friends and we decided we wanted to spend the rest of our life together we bought a house. I just loved decorating it with all new stuff.

For the next 20 years we bought and sold and fixed up houses. Each time we did we had to buy new stuff for the new house. Now I had lots and lots of stuff. We bought a little lake lot and built a house on it then I had to get more stuff to fill that up too. We had a double garage in town and a single garage at our lake house.

I did not like how clutered they were, so we bought a piece of land and built a big shed on it to store all of our extra stuff in. I liked that, because our garages were not so cluttered. Now we were working very hard to pay for all that land, houses, cars and stuff.

One of my favorite's things to do after work was go to the gym with my friend Kim. Scott would meet me there later to lift weight's together one night while I was at my favorite class, Scott came up to me and asked how would you like to go to work in Holland for two years. I said yes without even another thought. The next day I thought what will I do with all my stuff?

To make a long story short we sold our lake house to a coworker and he wanted all the stuff that was in the house. He then he asked if he could buy the land and the big shed for all his stuff that used to be our stuff. We sold it to him. We also gave some stuff away and we stored some stuff for our return. Off we went with only our clothes in a suitcase. We felt so liberated in Europe we hiked and traveled all over "see our hikes for more on that."

It's been seven years since our return to America I am still downsizing and trying to buy only our needs not our wants. There is still days when I fail. I do not get down on myself I look at it as one step backward two steps forward.

Our dream is to travel and hike and live in a motor home. Can't have much stuff in a motor home! More on that coming up.

Sunday 12th October

2008-10-12T11:09:00.004-05:00

Today is my first try at posting in my blog. I know I have a long ways to go to learn how it all goes together. If you get a good laugh that would make me even happier.

Notice how hard I am working on it Iam still in my pajamas.

I am really excited about it because my goal is for me to stay a little closer with family and friends on this new journey in my life. More on that when I know what I am doing with this. I also think it would be nice if they could go see what I am doing on their own time, without me writing them every day and not being sure they really want to hear from me. Have a really good Sunday.