On The Road Again...

One thing about the weather in Central Florida, if they say there is a chance of rain it will rain however, estimating the time of the rain is like spinning the Price is Right wheel and landing on $1.00. It has rained every day since Tuesday at my place. Since Michelle fired the lawn care guys last week, I volunteered to cut the 2 acres of yard for a small compensation and with a push mower. 

Cutting grass really flooded me with memories growing up on Deborah Circle. Many summers I spent cutting the neighbors yard for $5-15 dollars, some even paid me for the gas I had used. For the most part, it was a great neighborhood to grow up in. We had lived there almost 11 years before we moved out to the country. It was the longest my family occupied a home for. Eleven years doesn't compare to a lifetime but that was eleven years I'll never forget. 

I am usually an early riser thanks to Boogie. It doesn't matter if I let him out at midnight, he will still wake up at 630-7 am needing to go outside. Thanks to the dew and super thick grass, I had to wait til 10 am to cut grass. Thursday I had only got to cut that morning for and hr and a half. I had waited for it to cool back down in the evening but at 5 pm it started to pour. Yesterday wasn't much different. I cut from 10 til noon and again at 1 til 2:45 pm. The rain wouldn't wait any longer and without warning, opened the flood gates. I was already drenched in my own sweat and mother nature gave me a half-ass bath, running to get the tarp to cover the mower and then get inside.

Thanks to cheap pre-paid cellular service, I have to drive down the road to get a signal to make any calls. On occasion, if I set my phone just right on the window sill in my room I am able to text, if I don't move the phone. I drive down the road to call my soon-to-be roommate letting her know that I wasn't going to make it out there due to the weather brewing. I then received a call from one of my girlfriends wanting a ride-along for her trip to Port St. Lucie that night to meet her sister. I had no other plans for the evening, so I accepted.

Though we were only meeting her sister at a half-way point, HWY 60 from Lake Wales to the Turnpike is 45 minutes of nothingness! I completely understood why she wanted someone to ride with her. I'd hate to be stranded out there without a companion. The idea of her being stranded alone on the side of the road scared me but also humored me. I imagined a swamp man pulling up, dressed in only coveralls, taps on the window and asking 'Do you need help?' with only a few teeth to complete his smile and an accent that of Karl Childers. We cracked up at the thought of him liking 'taters'. 

Drum Roll....

This is my second attempt at starting a blog. I failed miserably at it once before; second time's a charm right?

I woke up at 7 am this morning thanks to my set alarm to let Boogie outside to potty as well as get ready for the day. Before I could take a shower, I ask Michelle if she was going to the ranch today and if she mind taking Boogie a long with her while I was at work today. She interjected stating that I had only 5 days to find a new ‘home’.

Home is a term I use very lightly. I haven’t had a true home since I was in high school; even then that was pushing the boundaries a bit. I once had someone compare me to a gypsy  by definition of a wandering soul. It is my goal to put an end to this suggestion. I despise moving more than anything in this world. It is exhausting, packing then unpacking only to pack again, and not just in the physical aspect of the word but emotionally as well. I moved to Central Florida in August 2010, rapidly approaching my three year anniversary, in hopes of a new beginnings and a clean slate. I did not mean to be so literal with it either. I've had twelve ‘new beginnings’ and working on lucky number thirteen. I can only wonder which end of the spectrum my ‘luck’ land.

Once I arrived to work this morning, I am reminded once again why I have a ‘love-hate’ relationship with my job. I am a nanny by profession. I absolutely love that I work with children on a day to day basis, yet I loathe how underpaid I truly am. It’s my fault really. I am too gullible for a ‘pushing’ 30 year old. I’d like to blame this on my upbringing but then I wouldn't really hold true to the meaning of the word; be more of a see-saw effect. I know I've always trusted a stranger quicker than I would someone I've known for a while. My logic is that a stranger doesn't have any dirt on me as someone who knows me may have, therefore without any regard or worry of what is said to a stranger, I have no fear it’ll be thrown back in my face at a later time. I speak from experience. Now I’m not saying I would trust a stranger with just anything, but mostly just facts about myself, nothing of great value really.

It is summer vacation and Alexa currently has no ‘bed-time’. If and when allowed, she has slept most of my shift away, leaving 1 or 2 hours of ‘play time’. I felt guilty after the first day of allowing her beauty sleep, now instead I promptly have her up and at ‘em no later than noon. She isn't quite the morning person either, which reminds me of an ex who literally growled at me when waking him for work in the mornings. Thankfully, she doesn't growl, just some groaning and shrieks when I say I’m going to tickle her.

As soon as she woke up today, she starts complaining about her leg. I take a look at it; I see no cuts or bruises and she doesn't yelp when I touch it. I immediately think she’s faking it, she can be quite the drama queen when it comes to getting her way. She wobbles her way into the living room for ‘breakfast’ complaining with each step about her leg.

I prepare our lunch and turn the T.V. off or else she’ll take 2 hours to eat. I always have to re-heat her food if the T.V. is on. She reminds me of a cat watching a laser that is pointed on the wall, patiently swinging its tail back and forth, eyes glued to the red dot in any direction it moves. If the Disney Channel is on, forget it! There is no getting her attention whatsoever when Disney is on.

Once she is fed, I suggest a nice warm bath for her leg, her mom had asked for her to have one anyways when she got up. I let her soak, really play, in the tub for 40 minutes. She says her leg feels a little bit better by pinching her finger and thumb together when I asked how she felt. I can’t help but chuckle, I know her games all too well.

After her bath, we worked on some math skills and reading. She struggled a little this past school year in math. Brandi, her mother, and I agreed it would be for her benefit for next school year to keep her in a routine with math and reading during the summer. Her reading improved tremendously this school year; almost a third grade level reading! Between math and reading, I let her have a ‘play time’ break, either outside or indoors. Today she chose to play in the back yard with her English bulldog named King Louie.

After we finished her ‘schooling’ for the day, she was ready for a snack so I switched Disney on for her and suggested she lay on the couch with her legs straight as a board. Two episodes of Jessie later I hear, “My leg feels much better!” I can only wink at her in reply. She really is a little stinker.