PNW First Winter

Having my first winter in the PNW was what I thought was going to be an amazing challenge. Well let's be honest I thought it would scare me s*******. From a girl who snow skied, surfer, scuba diver, sailing the list goes on.....any sport I did it. I had balls bigger than any man you knew. But here's the deal you pop a couple of kids out and you suddenly become aware of all the dangers God forbid anything should happen to me what will happen to those poor darling children? We put so many things aside in our life when other things become more important which is really not a problem until you're my age and you want to do something again.

 What it comes down to is now that I'm older even step stool poses a challenge. 

I found out that having no choice is really creating a challenge.

First thing I did was make sure I have the right tires on my car luckily it is a four-wheel drive vehicle snow ready. I got little spiky things to put on my shoes for when I walk. I learned that from an almost slip and fall hugging my mailbox for dear life. You all heard in my one post about my aha moment in the  home while eating my soup alone go back to read about that. 

The second thing I did do was when we had our first snow I got outside with my snow shovel large plastic but easy to use. And shoveled down the driveway now my driveway in itself is a challenge because you have two concrete stripes one for each tire and dirt in the middle. But while I was doing the job I got a little warm so that was a good sign letting me know that if you go out in the freezing cold you will get warm by doing physical work.

My next challenge was the drive itself. That was interesting some people are very cautious in the snow up here when they're driving but there are still a few Speedy  Maniacs. The beautiful thing about this city is that there are two lanes one is for the slowpokes the others for the people that want to drive the speed limit or a little faster and everyone is so kind about staying in the right lane. Now as you know when you get older your eyesight isn't so good so driving when it's icy is the biggest challenge so I usually will not go down any hills yet. Not so easy because I do live on a hill.

My son did give me his old snowblower which was quite kind and I did get out and use it on my driveway noting that the snow was being sucked into my snowblower and blowing onto my neighbor's driveway. At the time my neighbor was out of town so I really didn't care but when they got home and there was only a couple of feet of snow and their driveway had five feet I think they might have questioned it. The snow blower has been in the Garden Room ever since. Shhhhh

Okay the next issue was my feet. The bottom of my feet had started getting well let's put it this way a couple of toes I have gotten little red lines through them and had a little shooting pain. I of course immediately thought I had diabetes or neuropathy or God knows what else. So I immediately made an appointment for the doctors knowing I had a life-threatening disease on the bottom of my feet. Well within moments the doctor told me I had Chilblains this is something that happens when your feet get too cold and aren't kept correctly warm. 

So go figure that horrifying life-threatening disease was cured by getting warmer socks and thicker shoes. I'll tell you some of the things my mind puts my body through are crazy.

Now to put everything in perspective for you readers this last winter up north was very mild which of course for me was a gift from my higher power. Giving me the ability to live, drive, eat, and adjust to cold weather but trust me this coming winter is going to be a whole another thing they say it's supposed to be a mother.

All right I'm going to leave you guys with a few pictures of how beautiful the snow is up here and will continue on recapping 2024. God bless

The first Year

Good morning this post is going to give you a lot of information last night I thought about the fact that it's the end of 2025 and I have been here over a year and had a gazillion things happen. But what I want to do is try to put that gazillion things into one post and move on to now. I'm hoping I can get all the emotional b******* on my YouTube station live as well as everything else that's going on but that's a whole other thing. 

When I moved into this adorable little house I loved it otherwise trust me I would never have bought it but it was tough. Being alone after 25 years is not easy to say the least. I had a lot happen as you read and a lot more to happen as We Know. But I had an aha moment last year during the winter. 

I was sitting in my chair looking out my beautiful front window eating a bowl of soup and being a big baby. My thoughts at the time were    " Oh poor poor me here I sit all alone eating my little soup out of my little bowl in my little house all alone why why why?? " Within a few moments it started to snow the snow fell gracefully down onto the ground and I was in awe of the beauty and clarity of the moment. I had what some would call a spiritual moment others would call it hallucination. But in those few moments I was able to pull myself out of my martyr stage look at this beautiful snow and landscape and realize how lucky I am to be sitting here healthy and soon to be happy, joyous and free! 

It didn't take away the emotions I was going through nor did it make anything I had been through any easier. But it was a little wake up call.

Since the time I moved up here I have done so much. I've made changes to this adorable little house trying to get it back to its 1934 look. I tiled the kitchen and the stairs. I had a patio built on the back. I joined the Senior Citizen Center and began to play Mahjong again that in itself is a whole another story. I joined the gym and it's been a year and I never have gone seriously that's bad not for me physically but for my pocketbook. I've adjusted to cooking on an electric stove I'm even able to do my canning. The garage sales up here are super fabulous. I made a few acquaintances. And like a wise woman said once " You'll never make new old friends". 

In California had many friends that I really did think we're close friends why haven't they called?? But I'm finding now at this time in my life the most important thing for me to do is to allow myself to be involved in everything around me it keeps me busy and I enjoy the camaraderie and the fun I can have. If I sit around and think about what happened yesterday or project on what's going to happen tomorrow how the hell am I going to enjoy today??  

I've done a heck of a lot of gardening around this little home. And I'm proud to really call it my home. Each month I get to go and watch the local soccer team play. I've watched four distinct Seasons, learn to clear out snow from my driveway, got over the fear of driving in the snow. And lo and behold I'm reading books don't drop your drink but I even have a library card. Life is taking on a whole new Journey now and I'm hoping you can join me. I'm going to get as much of what's going on in my life in the last year into these next few months so we can start out 2026 as fresh and not posting about the past.

I did a lot of traveling this year I went to California, Texas and Tennessee.  Challenged myself to drive the coast of California as I haven't taken a long drive by myself since my car accident in 2010 yet another post.  I learned that all those people that I thought were such good friends not so much. And not because they did anything wrong they were just there and there's no doubt they were my friends. But there's also no doubt that when you move you're gone people remember you, people make nice comments about you, people miss you, but people you're gone and nobody gives a s*** except for the fact that you should be doing okay. 

And if you're waiting for people to call you get off your lazy ass pick up the phone and call them. And anything I ever say in any post is only my opinion what I think and how I feel. There is nothing definitive about it nothing saying you have to do it I just hope everything I talk about and everything I do can become a lesson for someone or possibly someone can sit and say "Oh I'm not the only one that went through that".

 Oh and I found a great AA hall up here so I'm still going to my meetings and I just took a chip this year for sit down people 38 God damn years of sobriety now there's a story. Okay so now we know that for the next couple of months I'm going to be going in and out of 2024 emotionally physically and everything else and I'm going to tell you stories about the travels I've done this year and blah blah blah have a blessed day and thank you for being

First thing ...

Good morning as you can see by the picture no ego here ! now that we have all that emotional b******* from California a little bit out of the way let's talk about what I did where I went. I took off to the beautiful PNW. Here I had my son in case as we all know once we get old we should make sure we have a dependable person, people or child that we raised and gave everything to in a pinch. Personally after two rounds of cancer and heart disease I think it's good for me to have a little backup but beyond that here's the rest of this story. 

After the whole Gunsmoke trauma I spent a lot of time looking at houses from California and the amount of houses I flew up to see I could have put it down payment on a bigger one. But there was a limited amount of things I wanted smaller yard and that was a joke after what I just bought but we haven't gotten there yet. A manageable yard let's put it in perspective down in California had nearly an acre plenty animals and gardens that would make any gardener tickled pink. But I'm going to give you a couple of pictures of this little home I got.  I wanted a fireplace, patio in the front so I can watch all the neighbors going about their business. But let's be honest I'm a nosy girl, just like when I walk I like to go just at dusk because I can look in everybody's window and see how they've decorated. oh my back to the house it was just what I needed. 

Such a funny thing here up in the PNW everybody has a basement and my basement is like a little apartment it's really pretty cool not that I would ever sleep down there. My personality means I have to be in the thick of whatever's going on including my own home who's out there? What's that noise? etc etc. It took a bit of time to find this little home but it was a great choice I have a window where all my plants gather and get their sun. 

And that patio well it didn't have one but don't think I didn't build one. Up here during the winter beyond the part that he gets cold we can all handle a little cold I had a lifetime of sunshine. But I wanted to make sure that was somewhere outside where I would have the ability to sit and do my relaxing, water coloring and eventually should it happen get a dog. 

Now here's the thing with getting a dog. Now that I'm a free bird I thought about a lot of places I want to travel and having an animal is a big responsibility. And I've had children, husbands multiple and many things that I just have to take care of. This is the first time in almost 70 years that I haven't had someone to take care of anything but myself. This is not a complaint in any way because trust me this is a change that nobody would want but I'm led to the fact that I have to accept and adjust. And during that adjustment I'm really not going to be able to give the time that's needed for a puppy. 

Now as I was looking for homes and my son helped locate this one I didn't want anything bigger than what I lived in in California which was approximately 1600 square feet. But lo and behold this one is a little larger I think because there's more room upstairs to downstairs if that makes any sense. It's that damn basement. So here are a few pictures of my little place. 

And I'm incredibly excited and incredibly sad this is going to be quite an Emotional Adventure but I'm going to make sure you enjoy every minute of it and share it with you!

The Story that changed my life......

I Went up to Oaktown to visit the Bean. I do this quite often as she is my granddaughter. So nothing different then the usual stuff food and games. Saturday 3am my phone rings it is the Local Police Department. To try to make a life altering call simple..... your partner has made a reckless decision and you must return home. This involved guns and our friend (NOT) Booze. 

So home I go. When I returned home he was in jail and I had an important decision to make. I will go into this further once I get this all caught up to what's going on today. So 25 years of marriage lost in 25 seconds snap your fingers that's how fast my life changed. The year that followed this crisis was probably looking back at it one of the most emotional things has ever happened although I've had a lot of stuff happen.This event was what changed my life in ways I could not have imagined. It may of course  seem like a rush but file for divorce I did  the day after the event. The next project grab my partner's  belongings as much as he would need to get along put it in his truck and drop that and the keys off at the jail. My daughter came down from Oakland as emotional support and I couldn't have been happier at the time of course me being so brave and so strong you didn't need anyone. But the day I went to the jail I saw my partner was heartbreaking. There's a part of my story I don't make public because anonymity is everything to me but I've done a sober member of AA for 38 years and drinking is something that I will not tolerate what is that something you ask? Drinking as an active alcoholic. But just so that you know he was aware of this and I do not want to be categorized as a heartless b****. And my partner understood he knew the coincidences of his actions and accepted them probably didn't want to but did. So that's the story to start and get us back on track with our website life and letting you people know what's going on. Some of these posts will have pictures some of them won't because there are many things that I did not take pictures of which I'm sure everyone will be glad. Another thing I will not do is name names because this is my story and it is not my place to tell someone else's part in my life. 

2025 Let Go

We are finally here. I have been blogging since 2008 on this little blog and have taken many a break. But as I come to the end of 2025 and yes it's only August but trust me it'll only be a blink of an eye when I'll be saying what happened how could it be 2026?

I find that it's time for me to share my experience, strength and hope. Every one of us has a story. Some quite exciting some exceptionally bland. But let me give you a little idea of what I'm trying to get across here. My name is Lani and I am a 70 year old woman who has had a heck of a life and I want to share that with you. Let's give you a baby clip. I was born the year Disneyland opened 1955 that should say it all. My life has been an incredible ride with many incredible ups and just as many downs. So many rewards and more lessons than I could ever hope to share with anyone. I grew up in what at that time was a dysfunctional family but whose wasn't. 

During this period it was very different than now and what happened stay buried and what you did you were 100% responsible for yet nobody knew. The first 32 years of my life were wonderful the next 38 years of my life were even more amazing. But from day one until today my life has just been one of the most amazing adventures one person could have experienced. And I'm going to share all this with you. Lucky

These posts may go from one extreme to another pretty quickly but with each post I will try my best to get across the story, the lesson learned, and the solution. Trust me you'll see and no doors closed to anything I've been through. But keep in mind this is my story anyone that was involved in this story their names and issues will not be mentioned.