Travel, less of a good thing

The weather should be great for our trip north. Victoria is not thrilled about Mama and I going. She cannot make the trip with us this time, but she has gone to visit Brittany and the twins recently. Additionally, she will be tasked with the care of all our animals in our absence. It is a chore Victoria does not relish. She gets it done, but it is not at the top of her list of favorite things to do. So, Mama and I are working on a plan to get help tending to the farm as she and I begin travel for our real estate business. During the month of April through the month of September we may be on the road every week for several days at a time each week. It may turn out that our schedule is not that full. It may be every other week until we run out of money to purchase homes at the auctions. But we will definitely be on the road to attend as many auctions as we deem necessary. Following those initial trips will be return visits to oversee or participate in the remodeling of the houses purchased. It is a lot to consider and we do not want to needlessly bother anyone with obligations we have taken on while we are taking on new obligations, but we have not come up with a good resolution yet. As we move forward into this business, we will see what direction we need to head, but for this year we are concentrating on only Arkansas and Oklahoma; specifically, Lawton. We are beginning to wonder if Lawton, of itself, may prove to be enough for us. This year should prove that out.

My work schedule is starting to fill up. As we fly into 2019, there seems to be a revived interest in the instructor led training courses offered by the company I work for. Some of those courses will be taught at the client location. Requiring travel. Some will be taught here in Decatur. No travel required. My forecast for this year was an increasing amount of travel versus last year with the caveat that the travel requirement would peak next year. (Due to clients wanting classes taught at their sites.) I am predicting ten to twelve travel required classes this year. Classes I am specifically required to teach. Perhaps as many as fifteen to eighteen next year; especially as we add classes to our repertoire. Fortunately, there is an increasing desire among our company staff to be instructors, so the burden can be spread around. I still plan to be fulltime in our personal business by April. No later than July. We will see how that works out as the year progresses, but both Mama and I are getting anxious to get that started. But as long as I am here, I will be faithful to my commitment to this company. I will also ensure that I am properly backfilled before I leave.


Mama is planning to go sugar less (not to be confuses with sugarless) starting in February. I am not sure how that will work out. We have a house stocked with sugary foods from candy to breakfast cereals to cookies and pop tarts to cake mixes and canned fruit – in heavy syrup. She has begun to give away some of the breakfast cereals we have accumulated. She even cleaned out our candy drawer. That was a good thing since many of those items were several years old and desperately needed to be discarded. We are not buying any soft drinks or other high-sugar drinks. She is switching to Maple Syrup in her coffee since it as more of a natural sweetener. It is too expensive for me to do that also so, I will still use raw sugar in my coffee. We are not discarding our jams and jellies yet. We do not consume enough of those to be an issue. At least not at this point. Victoria is on board with the dietary challenge. Mama has done this in the past with a good deal of success. I will support her in this renewed effort as well.


I am moving to a more alkaline diet. It is best for me to avoid meat and dairy at my age. I do not digest either of those food groups efficiently anymore.  Avoiding eggs and grain is more problematic. We have those in abundance in our diet. We need the fiber they provide and many of our preferred meals center on grains. However, I like most of the alkalizing food groups and switching to them will also help Mama and Victoria in their quest to eat more responsibly. Adding avocadoes, broccoli, spinach, all kinds of greens, sweet potatoes, kale, bananas, etc. will be a dietary improvement. Unfortunately, cucumbers and Bell Peppers are also among the top ten alkalizing foods, but I cannot eat those without suffering for house after consuming them. All this seems counterproductive when we are raising our own beef, pork and eggs. Looking back to yesterday when Mama and I met at the Chinese restaurant for lunch – she took Aubrey to the library – I ate only meats from the buffet. Chicken, pork, shrimp and fish. The only vegetables I ate were zucchini and cabbage. No wonder I felt bloated that evening.


I will have to train myself to think vegetables.