Life, My Universe, and Everything (apologies to Doug Adams)

 
 

When I started drafting this post in my head, the first thing that popped in my brain was the title "Life, My Universe, and Everything" even though it has nothing to do with the amazing author of some of my favorite books. So I decided to just go for it. 😄

Once again, I've fallen off the blogging wagon, and my feed just has Hive Power Up Day posts from the beginning of the month. In times past, it wouldn't bother me as much, but now that I'm continually preaching the, "post consistently, engage authentically, and you'll grow your audience" message whilst doing my curation duties, I feel like I should do a better job of leading by example. 😜

And it's not like I'm lacking for content - while my camera has been gathering dust over the past few months, I still have oodles of pics I need to edit and share. I also have a wrap up post I want to do for #HiveBloPoMo and #NaPodPoMo, a sort of directory post for my AMA About Hive podcasts (and thanks for the nudge @epodcaster), some #HiveChat recaps, a bunch of writing prompts I wanted to do in November, and, and, and... 😂

So to help get the creative wheels in motion, I decided I'd do a bit of an update on how things are going in my life lately. And since my post feels naked without images, I thought I'd use a few of the dozen shots I got of some Lady Slipper flowers I took in May of this year, and have been gathering dust on my hard drive ever since (hence the photo in my thumbnail pic).

Life

 

Lady Slipper in the woods next to our driveway

 
 

I've mentioned before (and in an effort to not get distracted, I'm not going to look for the post, lol) that I started driving again in the spring, after not driving for five years because of my Essential Tremor diagnosis. I'm happy to say that I'm still at it, and because of health issues ongoing with our oldest two (and the ridiculously busy work schedule of our youngest, which is delaying her getting her license), I'm the primary person behind the wheel of Mom's Taxi Service. My husband jumps in when he can (another one with a busy work schedule), but I'm not complaining in the slightest.

Well, I could've done without the two days of driving through a Nor'easter at the end of last week, but other than that, no complaints!

I've also mentioned our ongoing car issues, and sadly that's not much better yet. Our main car was off the road for most of the summer/fall after the steering went wonky, so we were reliant on our Jeep - which is a nice vehicle, but when we bought it, it came with off road tires which make a bit of a racket when driving on regular roads. Plus, it developed a rattle in the back (something suspension related, no doubt) and we'd planned to get it fixed over the summer, but couldn't fit it in when Bessie (my new name for our Buick, as "Albatross" seemed a bit negative...lol) went down for the count.

As of a few weeks ago, Bessie went to the shop and came back with better steering (but still a bit troublesome), however she continues to seem like she's not in the best mood. Jack (my new name for the Jeep, as it didn't seem fair to not name him too) seemed to take issue with being sidelined, and showed his displeasure last week. I'd gone out to start him up (so the battery wouldn't die...again...), then when I returned fifteen minutes later, he was spitting out some liquid from just under the front bumper. We're hoping to get him a visit to our mechanic in the nearish future, but in the meantime, we're back down to one vehicle again (not including Jim's work van). Fun stuff! Wait, I think that's the wrong "f" word. 😂

The biggest frustration (no, still not the right "f" word, but closer) is that I had high hopes of finally being able to take the family down to my hometown and visit my mother again. It's been about a year and a half since we've seen her in person, which is about a year and a half longer than I'd wanted.

Car health aside, and speaking of health, mine has been... okay. Ish. I know I've talked before about my Essential Tremor and Fibromyalgia (I'd say the joys of getting old, however neither are actually age related, just make me feel ancient), but I really try not to dwell. On here, anyway - my family gets to hear my whining complaints on a regular basis. 😄

In the past year, I've discovered how miserable fibro can be, but I'm managing. And my tremors have settled down to the point that 99% of the time, to look at me you'd never know I have a constant... hum? flutter? in my core. Mine (unlike some, but as with many chronic conditions, people experience them differently) are more episodic, instead of continuous.

As ET and I have become acquainted, I've gotten less stressed about them, which in turn helps to lessen their intensity. The one thing that hasn't changed though is showering - regardless of the time of year (there was a moment we thought a chilly bathroom triggered them) any time I hop in, I hop out with a full blown episode. But that just means I need to plan ahead so that I don't need to do much the rest of the day, and have Jim on hand to help me step out of the tub. I can still drink my coffee without wearing it, so I consider myself extremely lucky.

My Universe

 

Another Lady Slipper a short distance from the first

 
 

While I don't talk much publicly about my family (I promised when I first starting blogging that I wouldn't share stuff about them without getting their permission first), I think anyone that knows me knows I consider them my universe. I've been privileged to be able to raise three amazing human beings, and even though their in their twenties now, they're all still at home, and I've been treasuring every moment. I know there are lots of parents who can't wait for their empty nest, and I totally get it, but I'm not one.

However, I'm realistic enough (most days...lol) to know they'll eventually move out, and it seems the time for our eldest might be soon. Like, in the next month or so soon. I admit I'm struggling - happy to see her spread her wings, apprehensive of how it will go (again, not trying to be coy, just trying to respect her privacy), and devastated at the thought she won't be in the house every day.

I get the feeling the other two won't be far behind - our youngest is kicking butt and taking names at her job, and is building up a good financial foundation to take the plunge herself. Our boy is still struggling with his health issues, but in conversations I can tell he's considering what he wants to do to be able to strike out on his own. I know I'll figure out how to adjust, but for the moment, I'm doing my best to not think about it. And for a few seconds each day, I even succeed. 😄

EDITED TO ADD: Completely spaced this bit - I know I promised @nickydee forever ago a sort of "treatise on longterm relationships" but for now, after 35 years together (33 of those married), I'll leave it at, we remain an effective team (yes, we're geeks and quote that at each other from time to time). 😂

And Everything

 

Same Lady Slipper, different angle

 
 

So, so, SO many things could fall under this heading (because, everything...lol), but I'll limit it to two, so I can get this post out before next year. So I'll talk about Hive, and my WordPress blog.

WordPress first - recently, I had the amazing opportunity to switch my hosting company from my reliable-but-raised-its-price longstanding one, to another through a private deal with a friend. A friend who accepts crypto for payment.

I know there have been some on Hive who offered a similar sort of arrangement (like, they buy a hosting plan that allows for a large number to be hosted, then have people pay them directly), but I was always cautious about participating. This is a very small group that I feel very confident about.

And before anyone asks, if this ever opens up to others to join, I will be sure to shout out, but for the moment, I believe this is more a favor to friends and not a budding business.

In the meantime though, I've had some downtime on WordPress as things are migrating over, and I might have more in the coming weeks. Though I realized belatedly that what I thought was my website being unavailable in late November was actually me not being able to login - everyone else could still see my posts. Which reminds me - I still need to add the last of my NaPodPoMo podcasts over there. Hopefully before next November. 😆

Last and obviously not least (because again, anyone who knows me, knows I live and breath Hive these days...lol) is my impending (if small) whalehood on the blockchain. While my lack of posting (which means lack of post payouts) slowed things down this month, the continuing dip in the market might make it possible for me to invest a little bit of fiat (for the first time since our legacy chain) to be able to push myself over the current amount of powered up Hive needed which is 55,590 HP (and thanks to @arcange for giving me a way to obsess over see the amount each day in your stats posts).

For my non-blockchain blogging friends, a proper definition of what a "whale" is (from Investopedia ) -

Which means (again, according to @arcange's stats post) I'll be among about 250 people who are considered Orcas (aka, a small whale) on Hive. There are currently only 37 who are proper whales with over 555, 900 Hive Power. Those two numbers might seem small, but to put it in perspective, there are currently over two million (2,432,933 to be exact) wallets on Hive. 😲

It only took my five years to hit this goal. That might seem like a long time, but I managed it without being on any whale auto upvote lists - yes, I've been fortunate enough to have had support from a number of whales over the years, but definitely not on every post. That's not a complaint, and in fact, it makes me all the more grateful for the times I've gotten those awesome big bumps, especially as it means I wasn't upvoted blindly, and someone actually saw (even for a brief moment) my content.

So I'm crossing the line of 55.5K as a result of my blogging, curation work, and a small bit of cash investment. If I do end up buying some Hive in the next few days, it will push the amount I've paid to somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,100 over the past five years.

By comparison, since 2017, I've paid roughly $1000 for hosting & domain registration, and made just over $200 from AdSense in that same time frame. The difference being - if I wanted to give up my WP site right now, I'd simply stop paying for it and it would go away, with no benefit to myself. If I wanted to start the process of powering down my Hive blog right now (start to finish takes 13 weeks), even with crypto prices in the dippiest dip ever, I'd be able to cash out somewhere in the neighborhood of $16K.

And even if the fuckery that is Sam Bankman-Fried and co somehow manages to tank the crypto world completely (which I don't see happening), I'd still be on Hive because of the community. Yes, I know I'm starting to sound like an informercial for the blockchain... again...lol... so I'll stop there before I climb back up on my soapbox.

While I try to wrap my brain around the fact I'm on the verge of hitting my goal (and as I wrap this post up), I promise to keep this in mind after I stake this last bit of Hive (on January's Power Up Day, obviously)...

 

 

Thanks for reading, and I promise not to be such a stranger. Well, no stranger than I usually am. 😊

 

Oh, and here is the link to my post on WordPress

 
 

Image Credits: blog thumbnail created on Canva. Any GIFs found and/or created using both Giphy and ezGIF.

 
 

Thanks for stopping by!

My posts may occasionally contain affiliate links. If you click through,
I might get a wicked small commission, with no extra cost to you.

My photographs are taken with my trusty Nikon,
sometimes utilizing my handy dandy tripod.
Blog graphics created on Canva
GIFs either found on or created by using Giphy, Tenor and ezGIF.

All words and images are mine (unless otherwise indicated),
and can also be found on my various social media sites.
Speaking of witch which...