Connections to Health, Car and Trainings
I was really looking forward to my morning Earth Healing Group, but for some unknown reason, it was cancelled.
I was looking for that that to keep me centered and calm as I drove my unfixed car to my Health Appointment. As I was getting ready earlier, I had started to put on a lotion on my body, when I realized I shouldn’t do that. Jumped back into the shower to rinse off again. No essential oils or lotion is a difficult habit to break any morning, glad I remembered in time. This had to be the least painful Mammogram I have ever had, really nice technician also.
Of course, the car acted perfectly on the drive to the Health Center for my Mammogram, and back to the mechanics. I did avoid going on the highway and I was really gratefully to my guardian angels that the trips were uneventful and was able to relax driving this morning.
My mechanic drove me home as a test drive for the car and he took it on the highway. It never did its “hesitation dance” for him. But the Throttle codes did come up for him when he got it back to the shop. Later he called to tell me a rather expensive part was needed. I just didn’t feel comfortable not having it fixed now, and then have this happen later in a way that was unsafe or I was even farther from home. Makes my financial situation even tighter than it already was, but hopefully in April, nothing new will be that expensive.
I have a hair appointment for a cut and perm that I am going to keep on Friday. I am really ready to do something nice for myself! Time for a new look. And I have places to be that night and going into the next month will be nice to have hair that has more curl without much work each day.
I made some phone calls that got me connected to some solutions relating to the Art Festival and a new person with lots of ideas and energy.
My roommate had cooked a chicken meal, but then called to say she wouldn’t be home for dinner. I have never been a fan of stew-like meals. I prefer different foods to be a bit more separated, but her Midwest cooking tends towards stews. It was tasty, but I do hope she takes some for her meals at work the next few days.
Tony Laidig’s Free Expert Media Show was on Puzzles, Contests and Challenges. I think I have enough challenges in my world – oh, not that type of challenge. He revealed the answer to a puzzle he had written 8 years ago that no one had ever solved. It was very complicated and involved many different types of puzzles and challenges one would have to unravel. Interesting Case Study, but beyond anything I would ever attempt. But it did give me an idea for a way to engage people in the Commonwheel Artists Co-op’s 40th Anniversary Gallery show and year. Create a Word Jumble Puzzle with the names of the artists in the show. Plus there is are old photos of members in a meeting in 1977 and a couple around the Town Clock that we could have them try and name the folks in those pictures. Giving a Gift Certificate to use at the Commonwheel Gallery would be an easy prize to offer.
As tired as I was, I was inspired by this webinar to come up with some new advertising approaches for Commonwheel and ideas for a couple of books I could create doing puzzles and word scrambles. Then on Tony Laidig’s Easy Content Creation webinar on Thursday he showed us a site where you can easily create Word Scambles Puzzles for free! I will take advantage of that and present my idea to the Marketing committee next week.
I didn’t see the email from Gary until later in the day. Had wondered why he hadn’t left the logo on my porch, but he had. Just not where I had suggested he leave it. Luckily the squirrels and weather didn’t hurt this large paper file.
My roommate told me she could give me a ride to pick up my car the next day around noon, which would have been perfect timing. But when I got up in the morning, she was gathering things to go to work. Her schedule had changed and she told me her boyfriend could take me. I called my plumber friend and since we needed to get some parts, asked if he could take me to my car and then we would get parts. He had a health appointment and would be back around noon, so we made this plan. When he did get back, he wasn’t feeling like doing anything more than taking me to get my car. I asked if I could take him to lunch, at first he said “no”, he wasn’t feeling even well enough to eat. But after I got my car, he realized he was hungry and could use lunch. He suggested an Ethiopian restaurant nearby that I had never heard of. The owner greeted him like a dear family member. That alone I think made him feel a lot better. I splurged on my meal, had the rose ice tea and we split a very chocolate dessert. The whole meal was Gluten-Free, interesting food and very tasty.
We had interesting conversations about the webinar I had in the morning. Tony Laidig and Felicia Slattery’s third webinar on “Your Genius Factor” spurred me to talk to my friend about what could help motivate him a bit. I want to share some of my notes with him to see if they can help get him out of his “funk” that he has been in all winter long.
I took the Commonwheel Logo to get scanned. Then showed it to or Marketing person. Realized I was close to the Dollar Store and got a few things I needed there, like dish soap that we were on the last drops of at home.
When I opened up the logo file, it was a pdf, not a jpg. So converted it. Then I noticed it had many dust specks and lots of the areas that were black had white spots. Spent an hour cleaning it up. Not worth having a clean logo if it really wasn’t clean! Or Marketer needs a rasterized / vector file, but even though I own Adobe Illustrator, I can’t remember from Tony’s training how to do this simply. I think I will ask him who did one for him, or what training that was in . . .
Walked down to MAC for a Manitou Springs Art Council meeting. I stopped and got my Commonwheel dues paid on the way. I had set out my camera to bring, but left it at home. I told myself to just enjoy the day, and I would have been late if I had tried to snap pictures of the cleared creek areas. As I walked down Lover’s Lane, there was a lovely deer just a few feet away. Dang! That would have been a perfect image, but no camera, no photograph, just the moment in time to appreciate being that close to this lovely creature.
At the Art Council meeting we discussed sending some Board members and Natalie, who had put the proposal together for Manitou to become a Creative District to the Creatives Conference in Salida in very early May. I had wanted to go, but was sure Commonwheel wouldn’t pay for it this year, and it was far enough away that it would involve an overnight stay. The Board decided to send 4 of us, and I do get to go. Gonna ask Commonwheel to pitch in something for the lodging at the Monday Board meeting.
A couple of the Board members wanted to stop for a glass of wine on the way home. I almost got distracted, but since I hadn’t gotten any real work done today, declined.
At home I worked on the Old Spokes Gallery show and put that information and the logo in the DropBox for our Marketer.
Had hoped to get to bed early, but that did not happen.
Hike at the Paint Mines and a Car Challenge
I got up Monday morning and packed to go hiking and grabbed items for my accountant.
Later I discovered I missed some getting items in my car for both places. Including the Chai I had set on my counter to wake me up. But fortunately I had put in all three of my rechargeable batteries for my camera, as I took lots of pictures on the hike.
I filled up my tank with gas and got some banking done on my way to my appointment.
The weather was predicted to be near 70 degrees. But it didn’t get near that on our hike. And I hadn’t quite dressed properly. Again, lucky I have a variety of coats that just hang out in my car. But I somehow hadn’t put any of my many head bandana’s in my pack, but there was scarf that sort of worked to keep my ears and head warm on the hike.
At my tax appointment, I discussed all the things I thought I had done wrong for the LLC. She mostly focused on if I had accounted for all the income, and I had definitely done that. We discussed how I could do it better this year. And she felt that since I had such a good record for accounting for income and expense, including cash income, in the past, that the first year would not be a problem even if audited. And we decided what would be a reasonable rent for the business to pay, and should have paid last year. She will work on making that show up in my taxes, even if not specified in my notes. I left feeling much relieved and with a good understanding of what to do this year to correctly handle the LLC business and my other businesses that are not under that umbrella.
My hiking partner wasn’t quite ready for me to pick her up, so I went to get some supplements. The owner there was in a talkative mood, and we chatted a short time about life and Commonwheel. He also mentioned that it was predicted to be windy today. He had lived out East of Colorado Springs for many years, and said if it was windy in the Springs, it could feel like a tornado out East. Yikes!
Picked up my hiking partner and headed out on highway 24 to the Calhan Paint Mine Interpretive Park.
We spent a delightful 4.25 hours hiking around the prairie that opened up to spectacular formations in many different areas.
At one point we could see Pikes Peak that towers above Colorado Springs.
The views one gets are amazing. The black line on the horizon is the Black Forest.
I had been here once before and had always wished I had more photos of this incredible place.
Now I have over 300 photos that show the many facets of this area.
Some of course better than others. But I think there is a book or two waiting to be written using these photos.
These spectacular formations rival any seen in Arches or the Garden of the Gods.
And the colors, my, oh my, purples, magenta gold and greens contrasted against a very pure white make this a very unique place to hike.
Some of the trails just wander through the park’s prairie until one is surprised by a view of spectacular formation.
Then there are the trails that let you wander among these incredible formations.
Many times on this hike I got lost in wonder and forgot about everything except being in joy and feeling blessed to have this natural wonder in my backyard.
You will have to visit my Spirit Renewing Hike Web Site and search for Paint Mines to see more photos of this awesome landscape.
Walking out, the wind was of epic proportion. The expression of “leaning into the wind” was one I thought of then. I could literally lean forward and get supported by the wind as we headed toward my car.
We had planned on eating at a cafe in Calhan, and I was pretty hungry at this point. But my hiking partner wanted us to drive back to the Springs, which she tried to convince me was only 15, 20 minutes max away. I knew it was more like 40 minutes, no less than 30. But she convinced me that an Italian restaurant that was having Family Day Meals on Mondays was worth going there for a great meal at a very reasonable price. I told her to give me some of her peanuts, as the only food I had left was pistachios that would need shelling, and off we went.
Just a few minutes out of Calhan, my car began to act very strangely. I kept feeling like it was hesitating, not actually losing speed, but sort of like a power hiccup. Not much to do but keep driving. It kept doing this, and closer and closer together, having me very nervous. I had actually felt this hesitation a few times in the past, but never this consistently. When we got to Falcon, I pulled into a shopping mall where there was a JiffyLube. The young men there were very kind and helpful. My steering wheel is at such a place, I hadn’t seen the Check Engine light. But after checking my fluids and I started it up again, the one young man could see it was on. He plugged the computer into the car and it came up with 3 codes all relating to the Throttle. He said he had a similar problem in his manual shift vehicle, and that was a better situation than in an automatic. We asked if I should continue driving and he said we would probably be fine, but get it to my regular mechanic as soon as possible. My hiking partner asked if he would stop for dinner on the way home if he was us, and he laughed and said, “Sure.”
This was a very nerve-racking situation., but I put my trust in my Spirit Guides and set off for Colorado Springs. But my hiking partner lost her bet about how soon we would have been at the restaurant, as it was past her estimation of time when we stopped at the mall. Not that I really cared about that at this point in time.
The restaurant was very pleasant. The food was good and plentiful and very reasonable when we ordered a Monday Family Platter. I had a Sangria that helped calm my nerves and went well with an Italian pasta dinner.
When we got back in the car, encountered a major construction zone and the car made a nasty KALUNK sound a number of times. Breathe, I told myself. Asked my Spirit Guardian to just get me home safely please, and they did.
Many Ways the Cottage Will Get Attention
Took time on Sunday to figure out what needed to be done on the Cottage before the new tenant moves in.
With most of the current tenants massive amount of “stuff” moved out, the cottage look very spacious. But could see it needed some thing attended to before the next tenant moved in. Two tenants ago, when the 5+ year couple moved out, I had to do lots and lots of work. Thank goodness I had help from a friend and got it back into shape with many cracks in the walls and windows repaired. So it was in much better shape than it was 3 years ago.
Sunday morning I started print and gather the items I needed to take to my Tax Accountant. I decided to put the Excel spreadsheets on a Thumb drive as I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t need to makes some changes. I hand not perfectly handled my LLC funds relating to where they were deposited, but labeled them as Income properly. I wrote up a series of questions for her so I could be sure I handled the funds for that business better this year.
My new Tenant and his Mom came to check out the cottage. They liked it even more seeing how much space there was and how light it was with the curtains off the big windows. I had gathered some cans of beige paint from the basement to offer to cover the deep, dark purple that was on many of the walls. They had a different idea. They have a formula for a white that they really like. They just want to get that paint and paint the whole space in white. I won’t argue with that! I have offered to take off $100 of the first month’s rent for him, so am going to see if they ask for me to pay for the paint or not. Either way, I am happy with them doing the painting.
They measured everything. Looking at getting curtains for the windows and where his furniture would fit, where the bedroom would work for him, etc.
I need to get two sets of locks as one of the doors deadbolt is falling out and not sure if all the locks have keys that go to them. A comparatively easy thing to fix. The told me that his Dad could help me haul some junky cabinets left by past tenants in the yard to the dump. He has a big truck. And last year things just got away from me with the flooding and other challenges and there is some junk in my yards that should be removed.
I told him that the gas and charcoal grills and the picnic tables could be used by him and moved into his yard if he had a party or friends over. He especially liked the idea of having a picnic table in his yard.
They mentioned that his Spring Break was the last week of March, and that would be a time he could easily work on the cottage at that time. I said I would text the present tenant and see if I gave her back $100 in rent, if she could finish moving out this coming week. She was almost out, just has carpets and some other cleaning to do, but hadn’t given me a time she could be finished with the move out process.
And they both reminded me that his Dad was very handy and would make some other improvements that would make it a more comfortable place for this young man to live there. What a joy to meet people that were so pleased with this little cottage and looking forward to visiting and living there.
Then my plumber friend came over and we discussed the solution for keeping the cold water line from freezing in the future. It won’t be cheap, but it will mean that the back of the kitchen cabinet can be closed off and won’t need a heater in there in the winter. So probably will save money in the future, and definitely be easier to handle when deep freezes happen and threaten to freeze that water line. The hot water line burst last year during a deep freeze. That was costly on a number of levels. And it had to be run inside the building, which is what will happen with the cold water line from a certain point where it can easily be brought up from under the cottage to inside.
This whole process will be much easier for him to do with no one living there, needing to turn off the water and crawl in the crawl space. Not a fun concept, but he is up for it.
Then we looked at the fact that there has never been an electric outlet in the bathroom. He had a couple of suggestions, I countered with a couple that seemed simpler to me. And he wants to bring one of the outlets in the kitchen up to code. We will see where that goes. But the plumbing must be done first.
When I texted the current tenant with my suggestion, she succinctly texted back “I can do that.” So when I see some progress, will let the new tenant know when she will be totally moved out and they can come work there.
After this series of cottage inspections, I decided to tackle my filing cabinet and get rid of some really old papers, and organize my most important documents in a way they could be easily accessed should I ever have to evacuate again.
Not a fun thing to do, but it did get my office one step closer to being more organized. And that feels good.
Ended the day getting information and photos emailed to our marketing persons for the Commonwheel’s 40th Anniversary Gallery show. I tell better stories than write succinct information only press releases, so hope they can use what I sent to create a series of Press Releases with some great photos to get the press interested in a story or two focused on this landmark year for Commonwheel.
And I did keep getting caught up in photos of the past in the scrapbooks, but some of the stories helped me to write a bit more about our past accomplishments. Reflections on a group of young and adventurous artists who filled our Gallery with art and then there were the “naughty” puppets who performed in the basement for the short lived time it was called “The Side Door Theater” and performing artists created unique shows for children and adults to enjoy.
Cottage, Commonwheel and Cookies Filled My Time
The Three C’ made my day interesting.
Got to the Post Office and no one else was in line. Collected the over-sized mail for the Festival. Learned about what it would cost to ship a mask to the UK. The Postmistress was in a chatty mood, so she even looked up what was not legal to send there. The mask person has contacted me after I told her the cost of shipping and the concept she would have to pay a customs fee also that I couldn’t determine before the mask was sent.
Then at Commonwheel the desk person was in a grumpy mood. And I once again didn’t get my dues check entered into the register. Checked my sales and I have sold more FantaFaces masks after Carnivale was over, than before or during it. Interesting.
My roommate fixed us a lovely brunch that was ready when I got back from my walking errands. Got me fueled up for a day of getting things done.
I called the new cottage tenant to set a time for him to come look at the almost empty cottage to be sure it was all he hoped it would be. He and his Mom will come by tomorrow at 11 am and do some measuring.
I also set a time for my plumber friend to come and assess what needed to be done while the cottage was empty on Sunday, after the new tenant would have left. Wanted to see what he wanted to do themselves before talking about hiring my friend.
My roommate had baked more gluten-free cookies the night before. A bit crunchy. Best good when dipped in milk or Chai. Then my Greek walking friend came to the door with raisin oatmeal cookies she wanted my opinion on. I liked the ginger spiciness. She had deemed it too cold for a walk today, and I had to agree. My walk to and from the Co-op was quite chilly.
I set up the scanner I had bought through Amazon at the end of December. It did not work how I had hoped. Since it has no power supply of its own, it needs to be connected directly to the laptop. Not convenient as the mouse and the back up hard drive take up the two USB ports. So I need to disconnect the backup hard drive before I use the scanner, as I can’t work without a mouse using my larger screen . . . and I had thought I had researched this well before purchasing it. Obviously not well enough!
Before I figured that out, I learned that the software on the CD was out of sync with my Operating System. So at first I thought that was the problem. Downloaded the newest drivers, and the scanner still didn’t work plugged into the axillary USB port or the keyboard port. Got frustrated and emailed to get it returned. Then when a Thumb Drive said it needed more power than the axillary USB port would provide, got the concept that the scanner needed to be plugged directly into the laptop. So tried that. And it sort of works with the Preview program. The buttons don’t work at all. Nor will it scan more than one page to pdf. At least I can’t find a way to say, scan another page into one document. My older MAC has a program that works better than this one for pdfs, but the quality of images that I scanned with this new one were way better than the older scanner can do. Plus this new scanner lets me put a book or magazine open flat to scan these types of items to pdf without having to cut up the magazine or book. So it has some good qualities, just not as easy to use as I had hoped. Will make do until I can afford a better solution.
Spent more time on the Commonwheel Scrapbook. I am really too involved in this project. I am not treating it just like another Gallery show. I start looking at the scrapbooks and get possessed with what I could do to get Commonwheel’s 40th Anniversary more attention. And then on my Tuesday’s Expert Media Show with Tony Laidig, I got the inspiration of how to do a contest using old photos and having people identify past and current members that are pictured there. Now that could be a new and different promotion later in the year . . . and there are some great old photos of young Commonwheelers. Will have to put the scanner to use tomorrow (Wednesday) and see how well these photos do come out then had it over to our marketing committee with this suggestion.
Sometimes I feel like I am just spinning my wheels, but realize how much I do get accomplished in a day and feel much better. Everything I get done, is something that helps move me forward in my business and life.
When one stays on a path but can’t see where it will lead, often wonderful results or visions await them just around the corner. Turning around before getting to the top of the hill or giving up before reaching one’s goal can mean missing out on what awaits them in the future on that path or an incredible view of nature’s wonders.
Imagine if my hiking partner and I had turned around before reaching the top of this path because we were just too tired or uninspired to walk any higher?
We would have missed a spectacular view of these colorful formations.
In many areas of this hike in Calhan’s Paint Mines Park, the prairie landscape hides from view what can be seen only when one keeps walking without knowing what is around the next bend.
Just using this as metaphor for what was revealed to me on Saturday when I was feeling I was spinning my wheels, then realized I was actually moving forward with everything I got done that day and in days past, that would support what I would get accomplished in the future.
A Webinar Filled Week and Challenges Continued
It is days later, not the next day that I have a bit of time to write.
Thursday night, I had thought I would go to a Deja Vu Singles gathering after my third Tony Laidig webinar. But that was not to happen. What do they say, “Best Laid Plans . . .”
His webinar was so filled with useful information that it lasted 2.5 hours. I don’t think he realized how long he talked until near the end. If this is any indication of what we will learn in “Easy Book Content Creation” then my head will be spinning at the end of the sixth session.
Needless to say, I wasn’t motivated to go to the Singles gathering across town. Next month for sure! Or definitely in April when they are celebrating Taurus birthdays!
Instead, I shut off the computer and worked on clearing up some of my chaotic office space for a couple of hours. It seems as if the more I clear up, the worse it looks. But really not true, there are actually some desk tops that are empty, the photo props are all in on place and most of my Public Domain magazines and books are easily accessible now. So did make some progress.
Friday started a really challenging phone call that came before I saw a distressing email. and a really lovely email.
I had sent a Wingless Tiger FantaFaces feather mask to Tony, along with a bottle of Thieves. He received it before predicted by the Post Office receipt. He liked it and posted it on his FaceBook page. And yes, he got the connection to the humorous “Tony the Tiger”, but I reminded him there was another side to Tigers that he should tune into. The mask was for his emotional health and the Young Living Thieves was to keep him healthy in his travels.
The challenging email wasn’t seen until I received a phone call from Commonwheel’s President who wanted to let me know about a member quitting Commonwheel. Gary Vigen has been on my Festival committee for many years. He is my favorite curmudgeon, a very talented artist who has created our festival posters for many years and is a top seller in the Commonwheel Gallery. 
He also was an important person for working with the Zebulon Pike Boys that did community service at the Art Festival. He always had them under control and working hard. Being a teacher, he did have some idea how to handle unruly kids and that was a big plus for keeping these boys in line when they were at the Art Festival with work assigned to them.
I knew he had been not totally happy with the way things were at Commonwheel, but then, he hadn’t been for many years. He was also cleaning up the Commonwheel logo, so I really didn’t have a clue he was about to leave. Rarely do I think someone who is doing something for the future good of a group that they are a part of, would just quit. I emailed him and tried to assure him of his value to the group, and that there were changes coming that he had wanted to see, a new POS system would be up before summer, etc. But the only response I got was that he would drop off the final poster at my house soon. So guess he is determined to leave the Co-op.
Sat in the sun talking on the phone to the President, then sat in the sun and had a quick bowl of cereal thinking about all this and what it would mean to the Festival. Some times not sure why I do this, then others, it is a fun and I know it is one of my “missions” in life. And when I look out at the park filled with artists and entertainers, I am filled with joy.
While having my cereal the cottage tenant showed up. She told me she didn’t have a day off yet, and didn’t know when she would finish clearing out and cleaning up the cottage. When she was gone, I realized she didn’t get her mail from the overly stuffed mailbox.
I got a short email note from the people working on the beer garden saying he had some suggestions for the Sound person quitting and would get back to me next week about that and with a contract to look at for the beer garden.
I did a lot of work on the Artist Statements for Commonwheel’s 40th Anniversary Gallery Show that I am curating, it seems almost alone. My fellow curator hasn’t even sent in his own photos or Bio information. Kind of frustrated with him a bit.
I had what I thought would be a meeting with the folks working on getting Manitou Springs declared a Creative District at 4pm at the new Brew Pub in Manitou Springs. I don’t drink beer, allergic to hops, but figured there would be something else I could consume there.
I headed to the Post Office to pick up Festival mail and find out what it would cost to mail a mask to the UK. There were 8, count them again, eight people in line and only one window open. Not good timing, so left with that undone. Then stopped at the Co-op and wanted to pay my dues, but noticed I had picked up the Utility Bill check, not my dues check. So couldn’t do that either. Got to the Brewery and no one else had arrived. Went and stood in the glorious sunshine and waited for someone to show up. Natalie did and then a couple of other women, including the Co-op’s President. Mostly Natalie wanted to have gatherings of heads of art organizations in Manitou Springs just to get to know each other better. She is in a group like this in Colorado Springs and finds it easier to talk to other members of the group in business and social settings when she knows them better. Seems like a good idea to me.
I was hungry and the menu had a couple of tasty sounding items. So I had a mushroom and cheese Panini and a glass of wine. I think I really needed the wine more than the sandwich, but both were good.
They Mayor’s wife showed up with a newly hennaed hand. And we had a lovely visit among ourselves. Learned something about everyone. And an interesting discussion about eating Gluten-Free. Was almost chilly on the walk home, but not too bad.
Decided to make more progress in my office clearing, then went off to bed a bit early.
And it is late now, so heading off to bed as have a lot to do tomorrow.
And was suppose to get to bed earlier with my pack packed . . . not done.
Festival Meeting and a Really Long Webinar
I had three webinars with Tony Laidig this week.
Each one was very different from the other.
On Tuesday night for his Expert Media Show the topic was how to “Live in Balance” and Tony talked about some of his real life experiences that brought up emotions in him, in ways no other internet marketing coach would share. I related to some of his experiences very deeply. Wished I could have hugged him, as I am sure other listeners wanted to do also. In lieu of being able to hug him, I knew I had to pack a mask to ship soon, so decided to sent him one also.
And when he had been really sick and traveling, I had thought to send him some Young Living Thieves, but he was far from his home for many weeks, so didn’t do that then. I decided to pack a Tiger FantaFaces mask. Thinking about which mask to send, of course the idea of “Tony the Tiger” came to mind. Humorous and yet filled with Strength.
I also added the essential oil blend to the package as he will be traveling some more and his voice didn’t sound like he had totally gotten over the winter cold. So I sent them off to him as a thank you for all the free trainings and awesome sharing of his knowledge in a very human way.
I got posts done for the upcoming show “Spectrum of Spring” that will open in Commonwheel’s invited guest gallery March 21, 2014. One of the artists was a long ago Commonwheel member, so will be fun to see what she is doing now. I then worked on the Festival committee meeting agenda, got it pretty close to done. I had a call from Kathleen who needed some printing done for her Sharing Inner Health business, as her printer wouldn’t print for her. Short detour, and easy to do.
Wednesday started with a webinar with him and his partner Felicia Slatterly on “Your Genius Factor” looking to inspire us to find ours and share it with the world. Some of this sounds very familiar and similar to some training I did in the past with Eben Pagan. They have a little different approach, and I am looking for this to help get me where I need to be with my writing and publishing business.
My roommate fixed a really lovely lunch for us, and we sat on my sunny porch basking in the winter sunshine. I took a walk to the Post Office to pick up Festival applications that don’t fit in our PO Box properly and ship the mask to Tony and the other one I had sold on Etsy. Then on to Commonwheel to get my Festival agendas copied. It was a beautiful day outside and I really enjoyed this walk in the sunshine.
When I got back, I made a call that I found out about new challenge for the Art Festival that was a surprise. I guess most challenges come as a surprise, and I got another one on Friday that was even more challenging to handle. This first one was that the person who had done the sound for our stage for I believe about 10 years was retiring and selling his equipment, so we needed to find a replacement. He hadn’t told the person who hires the musicians yet. So I had to send out a few emails and made some inquiries to the folks that will be doing the new idea of a beer garden and runs other music festivals. With luck, this will not be a huge challenge and get resolved quickly. Still, an extra piece to handle that was unexpected.
I came home and put together a simple meal for the group, spinach salad with sweet yellow tomatoes and pickled red peppers. I had three types of cheese, two types of gluten-free crackers and regular crackers. My roommate had baked gluten-free cookies earlier, so had an easy desert. The goat cheese with figs was a big hit!
One of the committee members called and told me she had a fever, so would not be at the meeting and she had not completed any of the tasks she had taken on last month. That meant she missed a deadline for a grant, and some other items I had thought were being handled were not done. We were all glad she chose not to come with a fever, but not having her jobs done was not good for this smaller committee.
She is the committee member that had suggested time and time again that I should give up not just some “tasks” but whole sections of the Festival to committee members. If this was any indication of how she would handle a whole section of the Festival, I am really glad I have only given her tasks. Then at the meeting, I asked the person who was taking on getting information about signage and where CDOT would allow them. In last month’s minutes it pretty much stated he would contact with one of two MS Public Works people and get information from them, then contact CDOT. At the meeting, he said he was waiting for me to get him CDOT’s info. Not sure how that was so misunderstood even with the written directions in the minutes. Luckily we have time to work on this part of the Festival.
One of the committee members is doing a minor bit of updating our logo to use for the Art Festival Poster. Some of it looked really great, as in the Columbines at the top looked like flowers again. But when I saw it, something still looked not cleaned up as much as I think the whole group would like to see. I hesitated saying this, but then decided to see what the committee thought. I brought my white out tapes, but neither worked, so he said he would take it back and do the clean up. He had multiple copies, and I did keep one.
I realized I had lots to do myself for the Festival, especially since no one was taking on some of the tasks I was trying to give away. But I am the only one paid, and know I must do the lion’s share of the work. Still, I would have liked a couple of tasks to have been taken by others as there is much extra to do because of the move to the different park.
Thursday I did Tweets for the Gallery Show. I had forgotten about them earlier this week. I had a conversation with our marketing person who had been on a leave of health related absence and was slowly getting back into the job again. I told her I could do the Facebook pages at least until my 40th Anniversary show was over. And I would do the Tweets as long as needed, as she had never done them. When I do Facebook posts, I make them a bit more story-like than hers had been. Hers just seemed to be a press release. I would add something about the photos I added to the posts and try and engage people more than just tell them there was a show to come see.
When I first started doing Tweets, and I only do them for Commonwheel, I had found that if I thought of them like writing a Haiku, the flowed easier and were almost fun to write. For all of the posts and Tweets I create a Word doc and write them all out, then use the scheduling tool, so it is easy to get them all done in just one or two sittings. I can always add more when the show is actually up and I have photos taken there, but even then, I write a series and make a note of which photo is used, so the readers can get a taste of what they would see when the come into Commonwheel that month.
I think I need to end here and continue catching up tomorrow night.
Really Long Hike Among the Cedars and Old Spokes
Hiked a hidden Trail in the Garden of the Gods.
I am grateful that my hiking friend is really adventurous. I hadn’t been on this trail since before the flooding, so it was looking a wee bit different than I remembered.
My friend hadn’t brought her hiking pole, but I have a driftwood stick with the perfect handle. At first she refused my stick, saying she would be fine without a pole. She had never been on this trail that I call challenging. When I said I was going to attach my pole to my pack and use the stick. She then agreed to use the hiking stick and I could use my pole. Many times on this hike she was grateful for that hiking stick, and at the end admitted she could not have done this hike without it.
I knew it would not be an easy hike if we were to get to the Cedar Grove I loved to visit. And I was right. But actually wasn’t that hard, as we both are willing to stop and rest and enjoy the natural beauty we walk among.
You start by going up a creek bed that isn’t too rocky, then find a place to climb up past a ridge where some of it has collapsed since I was last there. Next you get up to a skinny trail to high wide area where my favorite resting fallen trees still resides.
I think I could have stayed here for hours enjoying the views. One can sit on this old Cedar log facing two different directions. This way I could see Pikes Peak and the valley below us. Turned around, there is another branch to lean against and view the multicolored formation to the East and a view of Colorado Springs.
My hiking partner kept asking me how I remembered trees and rocks that helped guide me on the trail. I guess I take photos not just with my camera, but with my mind’s eye. Some of Nature’s offerings are very are memorable and I can remember them from one hike to the next. And I have hiked this trail a number of times with others and once or twice alone.
I know I have photos of some of the same Cedar trees and the trail areas. I do want to do some comparison photos, but not today. And probably would show up in my hiking blog, rather than here.
Next we hiked straight up an hillside covered in cactus.
Big long needles made it pretty scary walking up this long hillside.
I have to say, looking at this hillside of prickles had me thinking about some of the challenges I have had in my life. Very thorny problems that I needed to carefully maneuver through to not get stuck or hurt. I found myself not only stopping to take photos, but to just meditate on how grateful I was that I could still be hiking and out in Nature after all the Health Challenges I have experienced. And to be doing it with a friend who bravely went on this adventure with me, willing to climb to the top of a slippery and prickly hill to enjoy the view of a lifetime.
I made it to the top unscathed, but my friend did slip once and got a few needles in her hand. And actually the long needles were easier to get out than the small ones on cactus we have experienced on other hikes.
You can see the beautiful live and dead Ancient Cedars we hiked among.
At the top of this trail we were in a small forest of these Ancient Cedars.
All along the trail I would stop and take a deep breath to enjoy the scent of these Cedars. It took us places far away in space and time. Biblical times and images of Tibetan hillsides came to mind at different places.
It was so very quiet, just the sound of an occasional bird calling out would break the silence.
We mostly were hiking on deer trails for this hike. We knew this from all the deer poop that we saw everywhere we went.
We also saw boot prints and animal tracks of those that came before us. So I know we were not the only ones exploring this trail recently.
On the way down we sat in a small groove of Ancient Cedars and had a snack. I put out a couple of pistachios as an offering to the wildlife and thanking them for letting us share this beautiful place.
A couple of Mountain Blue Birds came close in the tree above us. I moved out from my rock bench among the Cedars and we tossed more Pistachios to these hungry and brave blue birds. I think we spent a half an hour here being delighted by their antics.
We came down a different way than we went up. There are more photos and views of the trail and tress on my spirit renewing hiking blog.
I had wanted to go down a trail to the left, but my hiking partner got ahead of me, and kept veering to to the right until we ended up in a boulder filled creek bed. It was very tricky hiking on this creek bed filled with large and small rocks. Sometimes we had to get up on the sloping ground to the side to make progress. We did great! And the colors of the rocks were amazing – everything from pure white to turquoise to purple. Nature sure can put on a show when she wants to show her diversity.
At the end of the hike, my friend who is usually really time aware guessed we had hiked for just two hours. It had been almost 3.5 hours since we left the parking lot. That was much longer than I expected to be hiking this day, but so it goes. And it was a glorious hike. My friend did say she didn’t think she would be doing it again any time soon. Which is fine, as once Spring comes and the possibility of rain is upon us, I won’t be hiking there again either.
I felt really energized when I got home and got a great deal of work done on gathering information sent to me from people participating in the 40th Anniversary show. This gave me a good start on the information I needed to send to the Indy to decide if Commonwheel would be a big or small story for the Gallery show.
After sitting at the computer for a few hours, I was a bit stiffer than normal. But considering I had danced on a concrete dance floor for an hour on Friday night, hiked straight up a Manitou hillside, then down in two hours on Saturday, having taken a strenuous 4.25 hour hike earlier in the day, I felt pretty good. And I knew if I rubbed my legs with Pine essential oil and had a good night rest, I would be good as new in the morning.
Taxes and Dancing and Hiking on My Current Tenants Moving Day
Focused on work to clear the way for writing.
On Friday, and early Saturday, I also got most of the images my nephew and brother needed done in a way they liked them for Ellis Brush Mowers. I sent off 300 dpi ones to my brother to create a brochure, and put some on the web site to show his newest equipment creation that was finished and mounted on a Bobcat.
The amount of odd buildings, wires and trees that were behind these photos that he took, you can see just a glimpse of in the window reflection. I could not clear that in any way that looked better than leaving it there. And I finished the one they wanted for a new promotion, that I won’t talk about until it is in print. That was a fun project, but took a bit of back and forth communication and lots of time to get it how they wanted it to look.
Friday I also listened to the Tony Laidig webinar I missed: Your Genius Factor. I kinda multi-tasked and wrote an intro for myself for the Facebook page. I had heard many of their stories before, but listened totally when something new was discussed. My intro got really long. Then I tried to write a shorter one, and it was pretty long also. I have been so many things, hard to define just who I am. And I am working on many aspects of my life right now. But a couple of threads that showed up was most everything I have done has some art connection and relate to my ability to network and help others. Then there is the essential oil and health elements that are threaded into my world in many ways. Hard to define myself in just a few sentences. So I didn’t really try. Just put the shorter of the two on the FaceBook group page. Have a few more tasks to accomplish before next Wednesday’s session.
On Saturday, I got my tax information to the point that I am ready to talk with my accountant about a few final items and how to handle some expenses and income. That feels really good.
I have seen lots of information come in from people for Commonwheel’s 40th Annual Anniversary show I am curating. I will work on that Monday after my hike. As a publisher who wants to present it as a possible feature story needs some solid information by Tuesday end of day. DEADLINE!
Saturday night, I drove to Stargazers to hear Spirit Machine. A musician friend and fellow MSAC Board member was there. Another band was playing first, and they sounded like a long Jimi Hendrix song, jamming well together, but not danceable. And actually not even fun to listen to at all. Good techniques, but just not what I came to hear. My friend suggested we go to another bar where her son was going to be in Downtown Colorado Springs, so we headed there.
Her son didn’t show up, and was kind of a bluegrass band with a very young crowd that filled every sit and there was barely standing room. The took a break shortly after we arrived. She said hello to a friend she knew in the band, then we walked to another very close bar. We got great seats facing the stage. But that band didn’t start for another 30 minutes. We chatted and got assurance from some kids sitting near us that the band was worth waiting for and would be very danceable.
I had had two glasses of wine at the Manitou Hair Emporium Grand Re-opening, and had chugged the Margarita I had gotten at Stargazers, so just drank a Club Soda with Lime. We both had two of these. And when we got ready to leave and pay our bill, our waitress said they were free. So we left her a very nice tip.
When the band began to play, they were very good and fun to dance too. Unfortunately the dance floor is concrete and my feet didn’t like that very much. We stayed and danced until a little after 11pm. My friend wanted to go to another bar in Manitou Springs, but since it was “Spring Back” clock night, and I had a date to go hiking the next day, I passed on going with her there.
Now I am almost caught up with my blogging. Maybe not daily, but journaling the daily happenings.
Today, I got my newspapers in from the driveway just in time for them to not get run over by many vehicles. My cottage tenant had trucks and friends and parents come to help her get moved out very early from her moving deadline. She has so much stuff in that little cottage, it is amazing!
The day was glorious. Blue sky and very warm. Wouldn’t guess that it had snowed just 36 hours ago. How I love Colorado!
I called my friends that were going to meet at my house for the hike today, and told them that they couldn’t park in the driveway. They were able to park near Kathleen’s new office and walked over here together.
Now my Greek friend is in pretty good shape, but I didn’t think as good of shape as me. And although Kathleen is a marathon runner, when they suggested a walk/hike, I didn’t expect it to be a major mountain hike.
When talking with them this morning, Kathleen suggested we go up a new trail next to the Incline. At that point in time, I knew I had guessed wrong. Luckily, I had decided to pack my Camelback pack rather than a smaller hip pack. This meant I had lots of water and food if I needed it.
The trail began very mellow compared to the Manitou Incline. But it soon turned steep and took us uphill quickly. I have hiked this area many times from different directions. The Ute Trail is what they were skirting to make it a little less steep, with more switch backs, less straight up. On the down trails, it got a bit snowy, but I just hiked slower and carefully, and it was more mushy and muddy than slippery.
But during the decision making process of which pack to take, I had forgotten to put my extra battery for my camera in the pack I took. That meant that I didn’t get many pictures. But some I took were very interesting, and a couple could be useful in the next Flood Book with a view of Manitou Springs downtown below the Williams Canyon. Plus, that picture made me really appreciate how much better pictures it does take than my last camera. The clarity of details on the buildings I zoomed in on was amazing!
But the not having a view-finder makes it challenging to get the shots I think I am getting sometimes. Still, most work for what I am looking for in an image. Would have been good if I had taken one a little more to the right, my house might have been seen in it.
Then I ran out of battery and realized I hadn’t put the extra one in this pack. Dang! Well, just had to hike with out a camera and enjoy my time in this beautiful mountain area so close to my home without taking photos.
We took about two hours to complete the hike. I am sure Kathleen could of done it quicker, but my Greek friend and I took more breaks to catch our breath and enjoy the views. And I did take some pictures, which always slows the hike down. We all had a good time and talked about other trails and hikes that are spurs off this one.
When I got home did my normal email viewing, and decided I had too many relating to the Commonwheel’s 40th Anniversary Gallery show I am curating to work on that right now.
Emailed my new tenant that he might get to move in sooner than expected. That I would do some inspecting and fixing of the property when the current tenant finishes moving out, then let him start moving in, and painting if he wanted to lighten up the wall color a bit.
Enjoyed my dinner and a little entertainment, cleaned up the kitchen and some space in the living area during the entertainment.
And now I am doing my blogging / journaling to catch up on the last few days.
Another Health Test and a Great Webinar
On Thursday last week I had a Cat Scan.
This was ordered by two Doctors, so felt was necessary to do.
I really didn’t like the idea of drinking the “Berry” (Barium) Smoothie and having dye injected into my veins, but also don’t like to disobey two doctor’s orders.
I am visioning that they were concerned because neither had seen me before, and hadn’t felt the uterine fibroids I have lived with for over 15 years. Yeah, they were suppose to shrink and go away with menopause, but that didn’t happen. My doctor of 25+ years went into private practice about 3 years ago, and my world hasn’t been very solid on many levels, so this is the first time I’d had a check up since my last visit with her.
I had done a MAP coning the night before, and asked my Spirit team to protect me during all this procedure. And I connected with them as I drove to the hospital for the test. The smoothie wasn’t hard to drink, and all the warnings of bad feelings I would experience with the dye injection were very mild. No big deal!
Another Great webinar with Tony Laidig that night relating to creating content using Public Domain content. I do look forward to getting my life back on track in a way that I can start writing again and using some of his trainings. Have some goals to get things finished this weekend and finalize the Cottage Rental challenge. I really liked the young man that saw it on Wednesday, but have a couple of other promised showings to do the next couple of days.
Then when I checked my email, saw that the Friday person had cancelled and another person hadn’t set a time. HMMMM!
And Snow was predicted for Friday. A storm that sounds big, but then this is Colorado and one just never knows what will actually come over the mountain.
I had a “Tune-Up” with Kathleen, Sharing Inner Health, Friday morning, and walked over to her new office in Manitou Springs. I had almost forgotten that she was moved back into Manitou Springs. But then I had put a photo of her new office building on her web site, and had no excuse for forgetting where I needed to be. Sometime that day, my memory was jogged into where I would head in the morning. And I wouldn’t be getting my favorite Pretzel Rolls from the German Bakery that was near her old office. My bread “sin” is to enjoy these a few times a month when errands take me near that Bakery.
So on Friday morning I set out to do some walking errands an hour before my appointment. First I walked to Commonwheel to take some items left over from the meeting that needed to be returned there and pick up a necklace form a friend had gifted me with and get my Carnivale FantaFaces Mask signs out of the window.
On my way there, I heard noises in the creek and there was equipment pulling debris out of the creek in front of Adams Mountain Cafe.
I had my camera with me, so took a few photos. Realizing I had to hurry, I didn’t take many.
I need to go back and find them doing this more this next week.
This sight and sound will make many business owners very happy to see that Manitou Springs is working on getting the creek bed lowered before Spring melt and the rainy season begins.
I also stopped at the Post Office to check for Festival applications, and there were a few. Put them in my bag and hurried on to my appointment. I had seen Kathleen’s VW bus pull onto to the street in front of me, so knew she was headed there also.
She wasn’t quite ready for people and I helped her move a table from the kitchen into the “reception” area so she could put out tea water and her special popcorn to snack on while waiting. While she got things together, I took some photos of her treatment room and a space that is for rent that Commonwheel might consider for office spaces if our basement is not usable for a long time.
When I was done with my treatment, my Greek walking friend showed up for her treatment. It was raining! Lightly, but not what I had expected. These ladies suggest that on Sunday we all do a walk together. So I agreed. (A walk was what I expected, but it turned out to be a challenging hike.)
When I got home, I called the young man and assured myself he was the right person to rent the cottage. We set a time for him to bring the deposit on Saturday. I emailed the other prospects telling them I had many good prospects, but had chosen someone else.
There are times when email comes in really handy. And doing this switch of tenants with very few phone calls was a blessing for saving me time when my time is so very full right now.
Then I looked out the window and it was snowing big fluffy flakes.
Oh, so beautiful!
Hearing Test and a Magnificent View of Pikes Peak
Errands and Cottage Showings and Health Appointments, oh my!
I went to pick up something I needed for tomorrow’s test and learned I had written down the wrong address. Close enough that I was able to get what I needed with little distress. And tomorrow I will be at the right place on time.
Just too much going on in my world right now. And I still haven’t caught up on my sleep yet.
Need a real break, but not in the cards for a few more weeks for sure.
Driving around Colorado Springs I had a magnificent view of snowy Pikes Peak.
I took time while driving around Colorado Springs to appreciate this view of Pikes Peak and snap a few pictures in many places.
I pulled over to the side of a street to take on photo where there were no wires hanging in the view, and was perfectly aligned to be out of the way for an ambulance that sirened by me while I was stopped. Nice to not to have had to try to move out of the way with more traffic where I would have been if I hadn’t stopped for the photo op.
Did some grocery shopping across from the place I was to have my hearing tested. Very convenient and timely.
So my hearing test shows that I have moderate loss of hearing in both ears. Sort of what I expected to learn. Will see where that leads in the next few months.
And the testing room had the view of Pikes Peak from where I sat. Very comforting and beautiful office space with an expansive mountain view.
Unfortunately my hearing test coincided with a Tony Laidig webinar I would have liked to have been on in person, so couldn’t show up. Luckily there will be a replay that I can listen to soon. Will find time either Friday or Saturday to do that, so I will be caught up for the one next week.
Got home in time to listen to four messages and have a good lunch in preparation for the showings.
All three candidates were very qualified for renting the space. And then there is the person from far away that is interested and is interesting.
I really prefer to meet potential tenants face to face to get a real feel for who would be the best tenant and neighbor.
The young student had his mother with him, as the current tenant had done a couple of years ago. She and he were both interesting. And the very shy, rescued cat who lives there and wasn’t seen during either of the other showings came out and loved on him. He jumped in his lap, rubbed all over his feet. Sat next to him on the couch. So very unusual of him. He isn’t even that friendly with me who he knows from other visits! What a great couple of references he had.
I took the listing off Craig’s List, and need to take the signs down in the morning. Emailed a couple of other inquirers and told them that I wasn’t showing it any more. And emailed the faraway person.
All the while working on a book that I had hoped to get a draft done today, but that needs real concentration to get in the condition I am willing to send it off to the author.
Mostly I worked on my brother and nephew’s project. Putting a Flail Mower Arm on a Tank. Each time they have something different than what I have done. Not very clear in instructions, nor are the photos I have really the best resolution to work with for a brochure. It is a fun marketing concept. And getting closer to the final image I think.
Last night I attended Manitou Springs City Council Meeting to support Natalie who put together the application for Manitou Springs to be designated a Creative District. There was total support from the Council for this and the read a resolution into the minutes.
There was also a heated discussion about the timing of changing the pay for parking hours back to summer hours. Everyone who spoke thought it was way too soon. But the Council can only suggest to the Parking Board that they might consider waiting a few more weeks. So not much to be done and when the time change happens, so will the parking fees.
Oh, and Monday’s Commonwheel meeting was interesting. Will have to see where we go in the next few months. Stay, Move or Expand – if Move or Expand, how and where will that work. The finances are not very clear.
Our landlord is doing everything he can to make the property flood safe. He is working with the neighbors, even putting his own money into a neighbors property, and the City of Manitou Springs. He is offering to tear down some garages across the creek and road from our building to make room for more parking spaces and have it graded to encourage the water to flow away from the buildings if it should overflow its banks.
He got some good answers from the City about the funds that have been secured and what they will be doing with them to protect all of Manitou Springs as much as possible from experiencing the types of devastating flooding that happened last summer.
Off to a quick blog on my hiking blog about Carnivale in Manitou Springs where I will share some more images of the fun and creative people that participated in this year’s frosty parade.