So Why am I doing This?

I suppose the short term answer is its another project for me to start and hopefully it will lead to something good.

I'm 35 years old with only a part time job and I don't have my own place. But I do have goals. There's a river I haven't seen in at least 3 years. I'd like to eventually see it everyday. There are car trips I want to take and retake. I haven't left the state in 11 years after I spent 2 years traveling to 24 states and another country.

Will using coupons and blogging about it help me figure out how to take control of my life? I don't know. But I do have some inspiration telling me to try something.

First is
My grandmother Lillian.
I wish I had known more about her when she was alive. It took a eulogy for me to know what an inspiration she was. But she was always encouraging me. Had I known what I wanted to do perhaps I could have done something with the encouragement. She was a fighter. She fought off cancer for years and I remember one of the last times she was in the hospital her hands were wrapped up in white gauze wrap and they looked like boxing gloves.

Second is my Dad.
His goal was always to have some sort of place up north to retire to for hunting or fishing or relaxing. It didn't happen. But for 20+ years he was my best friend and at times my only. He took me to the Soo Locks in 1990. When I got into Nascar in the early 90's he took me to the Michigan track for a few races. He was there when I climbed my first lighthouse tower at Tawas Point, MI. He taught me to drive after the high school drivers ed teacher barely taught me. One of my favorite words of advice he gave was "a poor ride beats a proud walk" meaning if the clunker car gets you there it'll get you there faster than any walking. I want to reach my goals. I want my place by the river or my store by the river or whatever it is that gets me there. Maybe it'll turn out that there's a better goal to reach. But I have unfinished business and I hope to finish it.

Third is my grandfather Paul.
Until age 3 my family took our vacations down in Ohio at Sea World and Geauga Lake. After that we started talking 2 weeks in the summer to spend in St. Clair, MI along the river at a small cottage rental place. My grandparents would come up and spend a few days also. It was there that I first started seeing the 600 - 1000 foot long Great Lakes ships. It was by staying there that you would see them pass each other and give their loud horn salutes. On a trip into town to the Riverview Plaza we saw a book in one of the drugstores called Know Your Ships. It contains all the info you need to know about the ships such as how long, what company, etc. My grandpa and I would sit out on the dock jutting out into the river and learn the names and look them up. So after a few years of that I was more than hooked. The other thing I got from him was the love of sunday drives. We'd go over for weekend dinner and then pile in the car and just take a ride somewhere. Something I've tried to do with my niece a few times. So far I've made it up to Imlay City and back but not over to the river yet.

Speaking of Niece she would be a big inspiration to mention. She just turned 5 and while we haven't gotten to watch the big ships yet we've substituted watching for cars and school buses for now. Especially Bubble cars aka VW Beetle.

Now for some non family inspiration.

Evelyn Ryan & her daughter Terry "Tuff" Ryan - Terry wrote a book about her mother called "The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less" which was made into a movie "Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio" starring Julianne Moore. It was the movie that I saw that caught my attention. This woman got through a lot of tough times by winning contests that asked people at home to submit slogans for products or complete a fill in the blank jingle. Her daughter Terry also had some struggles that she needed to overcome and fight.


Julie Powell - author of Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen AKA Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously
Which was turned into the movie Julie & Julia featuring Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as Powell.

Its the story of Julie Powell who enjoys cooking and decides to try cooking all the recipes in Julia Child's book Mastering the Art of French Cooking and writes about it on a blog.

THE JULIE/JULIA PROJECT
http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2002/08/25.html

WHAT COULD HAPPEN?
http://juliepowell.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_archive.html

I have not read the books and I have not read the entire blog. But I did read enough to know that while I was very inspired by the character version of Julie I kinda like the real version a bit more. But as someone who does not subscribe to any particular religion or political view I guess she wouldn't bother me.

But at a time when I needed some inspiration the real Julie Powell accepted me and didn't say hell no I'm a big star get the heck outta here. If you like her you can find her on FB just being herself.

Colonel Harlan Sanders - A man who held several jobs during his life but didn't find his greatest success until he was 65 when I-75 threatened to kill off his cafe's business by taking away the Highway traffic. He drove the country offering to show other cafe owners how to cook his chicken with his special recipe and well the rest is history. But I do have a bit more personal interest. In 1998 I was on my way to Georgia to see some internet friends and I stopped in Corbin, KY to hotel for the night. I figured I would go for the pun and have Kentucky Fried Chicken in KY so I looked in the yellow pages and saw a location at the next freeway exit. I went over and got some chicken at a regular KFC location. Earlier in the day I saw billboards on I-75 saying something about a KFC or Sanders museum but I didn't catch where it said it was at. Here in MI there are billboards for places that are 300 miles away. After I went back to the hotel and ate my chicken I went for a drive around town and it was then that I passed by the Sanders Cafe which happened to be right there in Corbin. So it went from a pun to being in the original location. When I got to GA I looked on the computer to read about it and then on my way home I spent another night in Corbin and visited the cafe the next day.

A few months later I flew to Salt Lake City to visit another friend during the after Christmas week. Turns out the first person to franchise with Colonal Sanders was Pete Harman sp while I was there I got on a bus and went up a few blocks to eat at the first ever KFC franchise. I've recently learned that they tore it down and put a new KFC on the spot.

In 2000 I drove down to Nashville, TN to pick up my lighthouse friend Dawn and drive up to New England to see lights. On my way home after dropping her off I stopped in Louisville, KY to see the small KFC museum at the headquarters.

Anyway the fact is if he can make something happen that late in life then I have no reason to give up at the young age of 35.

Roberta Guaspari is another inspiration brought to me by movie. Music Of The Heart starring Meryl Streep as a violin teacher who gets a job teaching violin in East Harlem, NY and helped bring music to many who might not otherwise have a chance to give it a try. You can watch the movie or find out more by visiting Opus118.org