It’s All About .METhe Life and Times of Carrie Hill

So the kids and I wanted to shop somewhere other than Target so we headed to Grand Junction to hit a real mall along with Kohls, Old Navy & Ross.  To give you an idea of the trek this entails here’s a map

This is a trek – nothing short of an hour down and an hour back – we found good deals so i guess that makes it worth it – but I really would like to see this podunk area have something besides target and a craptastic mall to its name

Lois – i feel your pain

#thatisall

Instead I’m here – because I cant figure out what to write for my SearchEngineLand column……I have some topics but everything I write sounds like that guy that spoke at that conference that everyone wanted to kill…….

Maybe I’ll sleep on it….tomorrow morning a topic will come to me, and so will the words to articulate it…yeah – that’s it – procrastination is my friend.

So for a funny – this is Sandy my other daughter, in her XXL sweater, that’s about 4 sizes too small.  Its ok, girlfriend – I know how you feel on a fat day.

…she looks like a bumble bee on acid …or maybe I’m on acid?

I havent blogged in awhile – suprise suprise

Not making any promises – I’m going to try to share something meaningful to someone on the planet at least once a day – even if its a stupid picture from my favorite site- peopleofwalmart.com

Here’s a fave from icanhascheezburger.com with an excuse for not blogging:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I’m restless…and I’m not sure why.  Life is good.  The painting business is running smoothly – even in this economy – work is going very well – just got back from Pubcon and was asked to speak at SES Chicago.  I’m happy with what I know and the growth and knowledge I’m gaining – I’m impatient so the process is slow – but I’m not discouraged.

My workplace is frustrating – but not to the point that I’m ready to chuck it all in.  I mean – for the right deal – who knows, But right now – I’m happy with what I’m doing and where I’m going.

The kids are kids – and hubby is a hubby – joys and frustrations every day – but that’s pretty normal from what I’ve seen.

So why am I restless?  I feel like there’s an adventure around the corner that I’m missing out on.  Is it because I was married with children so young?  Did i miss out on some grand adventure by starting my life earlier than my friends have?  I figure my kids will be out of the house before I’m 50 – so i’ll have money, comfort and time to find that grand thing that piques my interest then.

In the mean time – how do you cope?  I’m going through the motions – but i’m not really living.  Wow that sounds like some corny movie line – but I sort of relate.  I watch movies and want to be the adventurer or the love interest…I read books and dont want them to end – and then I’m sad when they do. 

I could try harder to find a hobby and stop living my life by the glow of a screen.  I’ve searched for that thing that makes me complete – yoga, writing, shopping, exercise (yuk), reading, cooking – which I LOVE – but with cooking comes eating – and that leads to a whole other set of problems (i think I mentioned how much of a weight watchers flunkie I am.)

I just read through this post – and I think I used the words “I” and “My” about a hundred times.  Maybe that’s my problem – am I selfish?  I coordinate and contribute to charity – I am available for my friends and family whenever they need me – but maybe that’s not enough.

I need to work on my motives maybe.  My pet charity is the Heifter Project.  They give livestock to people who are starving in 3rd world countries.  They teach them to care for the animal(s) and as a condition they need to pass on the first offspring to someone else in the village….a way to pay it forward….maybe I could do more.

Mine is a life that is a work in progress - That must be what life is – a work in progress?

This is about as verbal as I’m going to get, politically that is.  I’ve tried to keep my mouth shut – but something keeps tumbling around in my brain and I just have to let it out….

I’m not going to say what party I support – although it will be quite eveident by the end.  I believe it’s my job to exercise my right to vote – to stand up for what I believe in as it applies to me.  It is not my job to argue or foist my political views on someone else.  Their circumstance may be completely different than mine and that’s what influences their vote.  That’s not to say I dont think some people have idiotic reasons for voting the way they do – from skin color to “because that’s what my parents did” — all dumb.  Form your own opinions and exercise your brain, people.

12-years ago tonight – I was 8 months pregnant, miserable, poor, and living in a 10×49 trailer house (ok it was probably a camper.)  I worked, my husband worked – but the valley where we live didn’t provide a ton of “affordable housing” opportunities we could live with making $7 & $13 dollars an  hour.  We had insurance through my job (which we lost when I had the baby because of a pre-existing condition – we tried to switch but who the heck can afford COBRA on $13 an hr?) but were still very scared trying to figure out where we were going to come up with the money to pay the hospital and our heating bills through the winter.

In hindsight – we had no business having a baby.  It’s not like we planned it – but those were the cards we were dealt and we played them.

12 years LATER I’m sitting in the house we own – 2700 very nice square feet on a 1/2 acre of real estate.  My kids are well fed, well clothed and we take a couple vacations a year.  Here’s where the “political” comes into play – NOBODY handed it to us.  We worked our asses off.  We started a few businesses, ate ground beef a LOT, relied on hunting and fishing to feed us sometimes and sometimes had no meat.  We invested, scrimped, saved, started, failed, and succeeded…without any government official saying “here’s some money because you’re poor.” 

In our valley – if you dont have 5+ kids with more on the way – you’re not going to qualify for assistance.  When we lived in that shitty trailer hosue with a newborn baby and no health insurance – I wanted help buying formula and a damn jar of peanut butter – the government said we made TOO MUCH….are you kidding me? $13 an hour was too much in 1996?  I dont think so.

I earned every damn thing i have, and I dont think ANYONE has the right to take from me to give to someone else who has the VERY SAME opportunities I had to succeed.  Nobody helped us, when our car broke down – we got it fixed or got a ride.  We went to work every day even if it meant getting up 3 hours earlier to catch the bus.

“Redistribution” of wealth is bullshit.  As small business owners – do you know what is going to happen if our business taxes are raised?  We’re going to charge people more to paint their houses.  We’re going to get rid of our highest paid employees and hire some with less experience, at lower wages.  We’re not rolling in dough – but we’re not hurting – and we got here by ourselves.  For those of you who don’t believe in trickle down economics let me paint you a picture.

Corporate tax rates are raised, our paint supplier raises his prices to compensate.  Our cost of doing business has been raised, we have to cut costs (read SPENDING) to stay in business.  We buy less paint and supplies – so the paint manufacturer has to cut jobs.  We keep the cars we have instead of trading them in – Detroit cuts more jobs because people arent buying cars.  We (and the employees we cut) spend less per week on groceries – so the grocery stores cut jobs, as do the grocery suppliers.  Who is hurt in the raising of the corporate taxes?

• The auto worker
• The grocery store clerk
• the vegetable farmer
• the vegetable picker

Wait a minute – arent those people the ones this “wealth” was supposed to be “redistributed” to?  Didn’t raising corporate taxes just make the problem worse?

Businesses don’t survive by absorbing increased costs – they pass them on…don’t delude yourself into thinking raising taxes on people who make $250k a year or more is going to redistribute wealth…its going to grow poverty and unemployment.  This country gives everyone the SAME OPPORTUNITIES – those that take advantage – work hard, use their brains and fight succeed – those who wait for endless handouts….they fail.