Being Single is Awesome

Here is my article published this morning on CNN regarding singlehood and how great it is. I love being single, here's why:



Reading about how so many women get a bad attitude about being single, it just amazes me. For years I dated actively, never being single for long. It was fun to date at first but got more and more tedious so I just lost interest in it and stopped a few years ago. Nobody needs to feel sorry for me, not at all. Why? Because my life is better now than it ever was in the past.

For years I played the dating game, but now my energy is put into my career, and I've learned to really have fun with it. The passion of my younger years is back into my life, as I can fully concentrate on meeting the needs that just weren't met when I was a wife or girlfriend. I have the satisfaction of my business growing, respect from my peers for not just ending up in another relationship nighbmare. I truly think being single is totally underrated.

In my twenties, I knew older women in their forties and fifties who loved being single and thought they were just giving up. It wasn't true, they were professionals with full careers and happy lives. In time, I too learned that being single is a glorious sense of freedom, giving me the time and energy to put all that energy formerly used for dating into myself, my friends and work. It is beyond satisfying, allowing me to travel and socialize freely with no romantic stress.

Single ladies who think that life is over without a man, change your attitude and look at the positives in life as a single. You can eat breakfast for dinner, in your underwear in front of cartoons without ridicule or scorn. You don't have to cook dinner for anyone, nor do you need to account for where you went, or what you're doing to anyone. It's a wonderful feeling to have time alone, with no apologies. The beauty part is, if you decide later that you want to date, you still can.

Men have asked me out in the last few years but I haven't taken them up on their offers. I don't hate men, but I just consider my freedom a precious gift and don't want to give it away to anyone. For me, being single not only works but helps me to really know myself better and enjoy life. It may not be for everyone, but the trick is not to be miserable about it.

Life is what you make it. You can either make it the way you want or you can wait for Mr.Right to come along and save you from your sadness. I got wiser as I aged and at 45 I'm happier now than I was when with a significant other in my younger years. Give singlehood a try, without judgment. You may just like it.

Moving Day isn't far Away

I'm busy packing, sorting and organizing, in preparation for my move back to Ohio from Florida. It's about an 18 hour drive, and I'll be driving a rented truck with two cats along for the ride. I'm both excited and horrified at the same time. I like adventure but not when I'm bringing along all my stuff. I've always been a passenger when in moving trucks long distance, not the driver. So, it's a new experience and I'm going to make it fun by not pushing myself too hard.

In a packing frenzy over the weekend, I inadvertently packed the coffee scoop/measure. When I went to make coffee, it occured to me that it was located in the bottom sealed box of a six foot stack of boxes. Forget that. I used a tablespoon instead and made coffee so strong it was like a cup of Brazilian espresso, thick and potent. The only way I can drink stuff like that is with a ton of sugar. I prefer my coffee black, and am getting better at portioning the coffee so I don't go nuts on a sugar/caffeine high.

It will be a wonderful day when I can pull out of the parking lot of this miserable condo complex to a beautiful new place far, far away from the urban sprawl of where I am now. How wonderful it will be to be home for Thanksgiving, and to be in horse country in Ohio, where it's more affordable to ride at quality horse farms than it is down here, where most farms are overpriced and shabby (unless you spend really big bucks to go to a superior one). Up north, superior ones are not as pricey, since hay is farmed up there. Here in Florida, they have to import hay from the north, making it more expensive.

After much travelling and globe-trotting, I am glad to settle in a more quiet atmosphere. It's quaint, in an elegant atmosphere and my building is historical. No taking my life in my hands to cross the street here. Where I am now is at the third most dangerous traffic intersection in Pinellas County (at the end of our street, in walking distance from this place). I hired a cab to take me across the street to Starbucks, to avoid getting creamed by cars, the other day. It was worth it, loooove Starbucks. I plan to visit many along the route from here to home when I do the move. Life is always better with a venti Caramel Macchiato in your hand.


Rainbow over Starbucks



A good song I found on You Tube from years back, "Respect" by Erasure

The Crazy Mess with CafePress

Find my CP store at http://www.cafepress.com/twopurringcats
and the main store at:
http://www.zazzle.com/twopurringcats*

By now, CafePress shopkeepers have been made aware of a nasty revision to our commission amounts if we offer our products on the CP Marketplace. Whenever you search on CafePress' search engine, it brings up results on their marketplace. The new rule makes it so us shopkeepers would only earn 10, yes I said TEN percent commission for our Marketplace sales. Knowing that my work is worth much more than that, I am opting OUT of the Marketplace but keeping my store since I have loyal customers who know where my store is on the internet. Items sold directly from the store itself don't have that 10% rule. If it ever does, then forget CP completely. Big shop owners like myself are opting out in droves to get away from the new "rules", leaving only those who are new and don't know how to price or those who are profoundly desperate to settle for meager chump change as earnings.

From now on, if you want to access products at my CafePress store then you must type in my URL directly, do not search on CafePress for it (use Google or other engines search term, "Two Purring Cats Studio" ). This allows me to keep my normal commissions, and not bother with the Marketplace at all. My store URL is:

http://www.cafepress.com/twopurringcats

To repeat, you can reach my store, either at the above address or search for it on Google (or other search engines except for CafePress). The store goes on as usual, you just won't find it searchable on the CafePress website itself.

As for my feelings on this whole CafePress terms of service/commission rates, well, I'm thoroughly disgusted and know better than to devalue my work like that. Having worked in Accounting departments when younger, I understand business budgeting somewhat but come on, this is ridiculous.

You can always find me at Zazzle, my main site, at:

http://www.zazzle.com/twopurringcats*

Check my store out there, it's been reworked and I've maintained my ProSeller status so I'm happy with it.












Here's some old but good songs that sum up many shopkeepers' feelings @ CafePress:

We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister



I Can't Go for That by Darryl Hall & John Oates

Susan Boyle is the Definition of "Talent"

The world has rightfully fallen for a talented singer from a Scotland village named Susan Boyle. Nearly everyone snickered in the "Britain's Got Talent" audience and made fun of her as she stood on stage and said she wanted to be a famous singer, but she made them eat crow really fast when she began to sing! This proves to the world to never judge a book by its cover, because talent comes in all packages. I hope Susan Boyle continues to be the superstar she is, and gets everything she wants out of life. Thank you Susan for showing the world that us over-forties have talent too, and yours blows away all the youngsters and everyone else! I hope you don't change and become "Hollywoodized", that you stay the way you are and enjoy the limelight for the rest of your life. Bravo.

An Excellent Explanation of the Credit Crisis

Not sure what the credit crisis is all about? Here it is, explained in plain language that is easy for us non-MBA's to understand by Jonathan Jarvis:

Part 1



Part 2

Preparing for the big move

Preparations are underway for my big move back to Ohio from Florida. It's a big job but worth it in the end. I could stay where I'm at but Florida is too hot and I miss my family. My new place is big and historic, in the outer suburbs of Cleveland near my hometown of Chagrin Falls. It's close enough to the city to be accessible to everything but far enough away to have fresh air and Amish neighbors. Amish cooking is the best, and I am looking forward to having breakfast in local restaurants every day. Such a difference from the urban sprawl of Largo, Florida. This part of Florida is great for those who love the city. I like it but only now and then, not all the time. It will be a relief to be among higher quality people than my current place, which is an unpleasant and less than safe condo complex. It's back to safety and refined living for me instead of humidity and scary people. If you're thinking of moving to Florida, interview your potential neighbors to make sure they aren't troubled people. It's a melting pot of good and bad down here.

I've rented a truck to drive up north, and will visit relatives in different states on my way up. I usually rent hotels when driving long distance but have been invited to visit so I'm going to enjoy this trip and take my time as I travel. With two cats traveling along, they will benefit from animal-loving family too. It's going to be fun. I'll get my usual Starbucks coffee for the road in a thermos, stop at the Florida produce store along the highway on my way out of state and load up on Florida products then hit the road.

Lucky for me, my business is not affected by the move in the least. And my friends are still accessible by email and chat, so it will be wonderful to live in my new home in horse country, away from the rat race somewhat. Down in Florida, it is expensive to ride but where I come from, boarding is cheaper and in my opinion riding stable facilities are nicer (you get more for your money). I'd done portraits at a riding stable in South Tampa where the rent was $1000 per month, the horses were old and overpriced and the owners were rude to anyone who didn't make large amounts of money. The nice ladies I did horse portraits for were buying horses way past their prime for $20,000 and up! Wow, it was eye opening. I came down to Florida thinking this would be a great place to ride, but see that it is the opposite, unless you have big bucks for the higher quality stables in Ocala or other places than South Tampa. Live and learn.

So, the movers come fairly soon, and will pack my truck for me, then off I go. It's been a long time since I've lived up north, and it's hard to believe that I actually miss the snow and variable northern weather! I'll have to buy a winter coat since my Florida-weight coats and jackets aren't good enough for the snow belt of Ohio, where I'll be. But it's ok, I can safely say that I have the wanderlust of wanting to live in Florida fully out of my system now. It's possible in the future I may live in a warm climate again but not this far south. Virginia is a gorgeous place, and a strong possibility later on, but for now it's back to Ohio's maple syrup producing countryside, true Midwestern life with nature all around. It's exciting, and I'm looking forward to it.