Life is full of transitions of late.

I made the leap to a new iMac! So far, I’m loving it. I do, however, find that I’m pretty busy right now between getting all my old info backed up and transferred to the new machine, settling into my new “small is beautiful” apartment, and working to transition WickedBlog and WickedWordCraft to a whole new platform (TBA soon, I hope).

In the meantime the client work is keeping me hopping during the day and my personal life is absorbing all my evenings. Nothing exciting, mind you… just getting organized.

So, if you don’t see a regular flurry of updates for the next couple of weeks… now you know why.

I’m also working on transitioning my daughter to public school again (with additional “home school” work in the evenings to maintain her educational progress). We are doing this on a trial basis, so it may not last for the entire year. She’s been doing school work all through the summer and wants more than anything to rejoin her peers in the public system.

Peers are important when you are 10. So, depending on her performance at home and at school, we shall see how it goes. If she doesn’t do well, I will pull her back home to continue with the current homeschooling schedule.

I’m looking into a summer program for her next year at Duke — for gifted writers. At the age of 10 she really impresses me with her writing. (She actually puts my own creative skills to shame!) I may do web content, copywriting and such, but she’s probably the true novelist in the family. I want to encourage that and Duke has an amazing (although expensive) summer program for young writers. I’ll be looking for other options between now and next summer, but this is the best I’ve seen so far.

In my spare time, I’ve been learning to use my little moped (aka “the beep-beep”) to get around town, do grocery shopping, run errands, etc. I currently have my motorcycle permit and will be trying for the license in August so Alex can ride with me again (legally this time, now that I know the difference).

Prince (the puppy) is also learning to stay on the platform so he can ride with me. He hates the getting on, getting off part, but loves the “riding with wind in my hair” part.

Lots of changes, but I’m happy. REALLY happy. And that’s nice for a change.

I’ll be back soon, once the bulk of the transitions are made. Until then, bear with me.

When you are a remote professional, making a sweeping business change is a big step. Your business identity becomes inextricably intertwined with your personal identity. After a few years on the web, you consider your business URL in the same way you do your physical address. Like a cross-country move, any big change can be traumatic.

If the time has come to narrow your scope, deepen your niche or completely reinvent yourself online, there are a few steps you can take to make the transition a bit smoother.

Get an unbiased opinion… or two or three

Because you are so “close” to the project, having outside opinions from people you trust is paramount. There are things that you simply won’t see solo. Your business may often seem to be a solitary venture, but this is a place where you need to reach out to your network. Don’t fall in love with one option before seeking feedback. Go to the “floor” with your top three or four ideas.

If you blog, post your ideas there and see if any readers will offer suggestions. If you have a professional network, toss your ideas out and get feedback from peers. If you have family members that aren’t too close to your business, get their impressions of your new direction.

Once you have narrowed the field, pay a marketing consultant or business planning specialist to give a professional opinion on the pros and cons of your plans and how they will affect your bottom line and your ability to market your new brand. You don’t want to put all this effort into something that won’t help you in the long run. A single meeting may make a huge difference in the effectiveness of your efforts.

Take all these opinions and really listen to what was said. Keep notes on all the feedback for a couple days of agonizing push-me, pull-me evaluation. Once that period is over, pick the one you love. After all, you should be in love with your business name and concept. You will spend much of your life building, growing, nurturing and living with it. It should be something you love.

Plan ahead

Don’t jump into the transition. It’s going to be a challenging project. It will require a great deal of pre-planning to make the move smoothly. Start with the baby steps…

Your new URL

• Your URL should be a brand that you can love and one you can quickly take to heart and adopt as your online “alterego.”
• Select a URL that carries a keyword or two if possible. It should be short, focused and possess a little “zing” to capture attention. Make sure the URL will serve you from a marketing perspective. Why would you rebrand in a way that actually HURTS your online marketing?
• If at all possible, use a “.com” URL. Forget .net, .info, and all the upcoming extensions. Select a .com for a timeless and established look.
• The URL should be your legal business name. Register it as “MyCompany.com” to give you the advantage of “silently” promoting your URL whenever you give your business name. Even websites and directories that don’t offer a web link will accept this type of legal business name.

The Omni-important Tagline

• Forget the pain and agony of developing an elevator speech. The classic wisdom of a 30-second regurgitation of who you are and what you do and what value a potential customer would find in hiring you is soooo outdated and old school. (Besides, that is the purpose of your website!)
• Don’t assault strangers with all this information. You will only make them sorry they asked. Thirty seconds will seem like a lifetime to your marketing “victim.”
• Instead, develop a self-apparent business name with matching URL and a tiny 5-6 word tagline that clarifies your unique marketing position. You can use this combo on your voice-mail, business cards and in person, when asked what you do.
• It will take some time and quite a bit of effort to find the perfect combination of so few words. If well-executed, it will pay huge dividends and will make you memorable.

Marketing Materials

Over the years, I’ve spent thousands of dollars on all the marketing “fixings” including letterhead, multiple logos and images, envelopes, branded note cards, custom postage stamps, business cards, business websites, blogs, custom rubber stamps (with my logo), embroidered denim shirts, t-shirts, ball caps, table spreads (for events), etc, etc.,

Of those items, the most effective have been my business cards for in-person face-to-face encounters and my website/blog. Of the printed materials, I’ve used the branded notecards more than all the other business stationery combined. When I drop a physical note to a client, a peer or a prospect, I prefer it to be a personalized, handwritten item. The rest of the time, I use email and/or PDFs.

How you handle this will depend on your business and what niche services you offer. The more online your business, the less printed materials you will need… so your mileage may vary.

Before you automatically reorder all the stuff you had in the old business name, determine what really works for you. Don’t reorder out of rote. If you ordered 1000 custom envelopes three years ago and you still 995 of those, it’s probably not the best use of your funds.

Enjoy a Clean Slate

If you are rebranding, it’s a wonderful opportunity to purge any old ideas you have about how to run a business online. You have, no doubt, learned a great deal as a result of your “hands on” experience. Advise yourself in the same way you would advise someone who is just getting started.

Think about all of your “if ONLY someone had told me…” moments. Think about all the wasted time, money, and effort you expended when you first started.

Then, take a deep breath and plan. Make sure you don’t do any of that this time.

My Clean Slate

Personally, trying to keep my blog separate from my business website, and managing multiple branded websites was a mistake. I’m not a big business and I have no need to project that image. I should have accepted that fact early on.

People hire me as much for my personality as for my skills. It was weird to realize that, but it shouldn’t have been… after all, I accept or decline clients based on that “gut” feeling I have about them. Working so closely, and being happy with that situation, requires a good rapport. It just does.

Accepting that makes it easier to develop a single site (which contains a blog) to maintain.

Keep Records

You will be going (temporarily) backward to re-brand when you change your business. It’s a fact. There are places all over the web where you have promoted your old brand.

Keeping a record (a spread sheet will work fine) of all the places that you “find” your old brand will help you transition. Change all your profiles to reflect the new business identity. You will probably be surprised how many you have online. Going through your password list is a quick way to determine the identities you need to rebrand right away.

Legal Stuff

Don’t forget to change your business name legally; even if you are using a DBA you need to register it. Do the paperwork for any required business licenses for your area. Secure a new EIN, if necessary.

Change the information with your bank and PayPal accounts. Let your current clients know how to make out future checks/payments.

Redirect Traffic to Capture Visitors

Apply a Google-friendly 301 permanent redirect to capture as much of the old site(s) traffic as possible. Use your website’s 404 logs to determine when people are looking for something they don’t find.

Fix/forward every link. It will take time, but it’s worth the effort. You don’t want to lose visitors by frustrating loyal readers.

Re-Introduce yourself

Once you are up and running, take the time to go to your favorite blogs and websites and comment to help establish the new identity. Social networking can actually make this process easier. Some platforms allow a username and URL change without any problem (like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn), while others will only allow a URL change and you are stuck with the same username or the prospect of opening a new account and trying to recapture your friends (like StumbleUpon and ActiveRain).

Do a press release. Produce a little fanfare. This is a big deal! Celebrate it.

A Final Thought: Be Sure

Before you start this process, be sure it’s necessary. It involves a tremendous amount of effort and should not be undertaken lightly.

If a change is needed, it’s better to make that transition sooner, rather than later. The availability of good URLs is diminishing by the second and unless you have already captured the URLs you may want to use in future years, merely getting the perfect URL can be a costly endeavor.

Don’t forget to have fun recreating yourself!

I had such high hopes for Apple’s “cloud.” I believed (I really did) that it would be the answer to my mobile dreams. For years I’ve searched for a way to get what I need quickly and easily from anywhere. I’ve tried sync programs, I’ve tried web apps. I’ve used a laptop, a Treo (or two or three), a Tablet PC, and now an iPhone.

I’m so in love with my iPhone, I just assumed MobileMe would be another fantastic product from the mind of Apple. I’m glad Newton wasn’t under the tree when this Apple product fell. History may have been quite different.

I don’t want to use Outlook and although I’ve been seriously considering buying an iMac, I’ve not done so yet (despite the rather suspicious “second chance” offer on that one eBay iMac that I nearly won). Mobile Me won’t let me upload my information from Google. Nope, I can’t upload my calendar, not even in iCal format. I have to Sync it. That means I’d have to either load up Outlook on my computer again (ain’t happenin’) or hand enter all the calendar items (that’s probably not going to happen either.)

I love Gmail as a “cloud” app — the search ability is obviously without competition, the spam filters and the ability to avoid viruses and not have to maintain alot of extra CPU-devouring programs on my system is made possible by Gmail. I adore using Gmail with only a few caveats (notably the “sent of behalf of” addressee information) and I think using Google Apps may address those. I’ll know soon.

I want to keep Gmail. Does the Apple email program have the same quality of spam filtering, virus protection and search? Doubt it.

But I can’t upload my email to MobileMe from Gmail either. If there’s a way, it’s some convoluted backward, third-party app sort of methodology. I’m no longer interested in finding a difficult way to get things done. Nor am I willing to change the way I do business to facilitate the use of certain technology. I’ve done that for years. It’s over.

So, the simplicity that is the beauty of the iPhone is completely lost on MobileMe. Suddenly I don’t really want to be “mobile-me” I think I want to be “mobile-somebody-else” — somebody who has an easier way to make the cloud, the iPhone, and the computer play nicely.

Aside from the lack of functionality it’s SLOOOOOWWWW. I mean creeping. Like molasses in January… outside… during a particularly cold snap… in Vermont. It’s THAT slow. And, it throws errors after making you wait.

I’m going to give it a full 30 days out of my 60 day trial period before making a final decision. I hope I’ll be eating crow… Maybe there will be enough of an uproar from people like me that they will add some real-world functionality to the product… but somehow I doubt it.

I had hoped MobileMe would be my “IT” app. It isn’t.

Ok, I’m 42 now.

(…Geeze what a HUGE number. How’d that happen, anyway?)

At this ripe (a nicer way of saying gray and saggy) old age, I’ve finally learned some long-overdue lessons. Even though one of the things I’ve learned is that you can’t tell people anything (they have to figure it out on their own), I still have this urge to share.

So here goes…

(Before I start on the lessons and the things I’ve learned, it may be helpful to understand my position on religion and philosophy.)

My philosophy about God

As I recently explained to my eldest son, I do believe in God. I also believe in free will. I am now fairly certain that we are doomed to repeat the lessons we don’t learn… even if it takes multiple lifetimes.

With that said, I think we have the free will to select from all our options at any point. I don’t think God punishes us, I think he’s too busy. Besides, we do most of that ourselves with fantastic success.

I’m not big on hell — other than the one we create for ourselves by making said stupid decisions over and over again and being required to live with the natural consequences. (I’m a big fan of that hell, apparently. Maybe I should start a fan club.) Said consequences may or may not be readily apparent to the person enduring them, but the most disinterested bystander can usually identify them at a glance.

God is forgiving. He forgives us basically anything. Historically, I preferred the image of the Old Testament, vengeful God, with a huge ego and big demands. It seemed somehow sexier to me in my youth. As a parent, and as a middle-aged woman, I realize that God is simply too busy to get angry every time one of the children screws up. Parenting is exhausting. Being God must be infinitely more so.

God’s job, in reality, is to continue to give us the opportunity to do the right thing, make the right decisions and go the right way with our lives.

If we choose to veer too far to the left or right, he lets nature take its course, then gives us another opportunity to learn the same lesson in the near future.

The failed lessons get harder with each exam. For instance the first exam may be likened to a simple addition quiz. If we flunk it, the next one is the addition of  several numbers and an averaging of the sum for the mean and median. So, if you are a fast learner, life is pretty easy.

If you are a slow learner, your life will be a bit more challenging. (I’ve experienced the equivalent of multivariable calculus equations a few times. Either I’m a painfully slow learner, or incredibly stubborn. I’m not sure which one is worse anymore.)

So, we bumble along and God places opportunities DIRECTLY in our path. Stay on the “straight and narrow” and you 1.) make the right choices 2.) pass that exam and 3.) move on to the next grade level. It’s just that simple. Dodge the lesson, take a wrong turn, screw it up… you get another chance, and another and another with compounding complexities and additional variables.

I have determined that God must love me very much to have showered me with so much attention and so many opportunities to learn a few simple lessons. I must be an extremely trying child.

You Can’t Tell Anyone Anything

You really can’t teach people their life lessons. You can (as a parent) position their “pre-independent decisions” in a way that exercises a child’s decision making skill set, but you cannot ultimately expect anyone to learn from your lessons… not even your own children.

I wish I could.

I recognize myself in my grown boys and I wish I could save them the heartache and the pain of learning what I’ve learned. I can’t.

Instead, I have to remember to tell them that I love them, that I know they will make the right choices (eventually), and that I’m sorry life is difficult for them at that particular moment. Oh, yeah, and to listen to their gut… and be safe.. (then I have to remember to shut up an let them live their own lives.)

Control Freaks Are Dangerous (To Themselves)

They are also annoying to others. Being a natural control freak, from a long line of control freaks, I feel adequately experienced to say that being a control freak sucks.

We, as a group, feel that our only way to guarantee our own freedom is to control everything around us. That includes our environment, our family, our friends, and anyone that comes into our ever-expanding realm.

It’s exhausting. It’s bad for your health. It causes stress-related issues.

Controlling vs. Being Controlled

The lesson to be learned here is not how to control everything and it’s not to determine what organizational method will finally make this impossible task more manageable. The answer is to realize that the easiest way to gain freedom is to let go of all that… and make the personal decision to not only quit trying to control everything, but to simultaneously ensure that no one controls you.

A Basis in Fear

I think control freaks are mostly just scared of being controlled. In response to this fear, we try to control everything. This, of course, is an impossibility and is naturally doomed to failure. Failure cranks up the control freak and makes them even more fearful, more controlling, and more out of control. It’s a horrific cycle.

On a personal note, realizing that I didn’t need to control anyone else, means I have more time to determine how to keep myself free from being controlled. I’m more happy-go-lucky than I’ve ever been. The only real change is this realization. And, I think I annoy others less.

Control freaks also have natural tendencies to be:

Fixers - We are great at fixing other people’s problems. It’s soooo obvious what they need to do. So we tell them. We are lousy at doing anything about our own problems and we aren’t so great at listening. We are busy solving the problem, we can’t be bothered to listen to our friend tell us the whole story. We forget that sometimes people simply need to be heard and loved.

Empathetic – We are those people that have “the look” — you know, the one that makes the lady in the checkout lane at the grocery store tell you her long, sad story about her health problems, her ungrateful children, her financial woes. We are also the people who have this compelling desire to remedy at least some of those issues, preferably on the spot.

Giving - We will give you the shirt off our back. We will do anything to help, including self-sacrifice. We are GREAT at self-sacrifice. (Of course we are also pretty darn good at being martyrs afterward, but you won’t know it, because we won’t say it. We also never forget it — or forgive you for it.)

Organized – We don’t rid ourselves of stresses, possessions or difficult situations; we collect them. To prevent any resulting incapacitating mental illness, heart attacks and the like, we must find a way to manage our collections. It never occurs to us eliminate all the “stuff” — instead we spend our lives finding creative ways to organize it all. We are MASTER organizers. Everyone is so jealous at how well we can multi-task and juggle everything. We are the first people asked to help with new projects, events, and impossible undertakings.

Want something done? Ask the control freak, s/he will get it done and make you shine. Go enjoy your round of golf and quality time with your family, we have it UNDER CONTROL! A control freak on the team will guarantee your success. Isn’t that special?

Drama Queens – we aren’t just drama queens, we are drama kings and knights and the whole blasted Round Table. Personally, I’ve walked around most of my life with a drama magnet lodged in my posterior. For years, I thought everyone had that kind of drama. Then it became so overwhelming that a few months ago I had to stand back and say aloud “Is this REALLY my life?!?” I had to repeat it several times.

My magnet was one of those neodymium, super-magnet varieties. You know the kind… they have a warning on the package about mishandling causing bodily harm. My drama magnet attracted the most bizarre situations and people. All of whom I felt the need to fix, adopt, organize or marry (and sometimes ALL of the above).

Sad. It really is. Drama magnets CAN be extracted, but they have a tendency to regrow if you don’t meditate, pray or smudge the house regularly with cleansing sage brush or some such. I better go do that now…

****

Angela is currently in a self-led 12-step recovery program for control freakishness. She still has difficulty discerning the things over which she has no control, and an even more difficult time resisting the urge to grab control of some situations, but she is working it out. She reports that it’s going extremely well but does claim to have recent, resurgent cravings to smoke, despite being smoke-free for many years.

She is enjoying a more simple life, a less stressful daily schedule, and the ability to enjoy the particulars of each day. Until she is farther along in her program, she has decided not to spend much time outside the house. By the middle of August, she plans to re-emerge from her cocoon. ..like a butterfly.

This little physics-based puzzle game is amazing. See for yourself:

AquaForest Game for iPhone

Now, you go buy it too. My daughter loves it so much, I may have to send her to bed early on a Friday night, just to get it back so I can play.

I’m loving the new iPhone apps. I love that many of the best ones are free.

Freebies Worth Gold

Pandora - Now I can have my Pandora tunes in my pocket! I only wish I could have them playing in the background while I did other things, like I can with the tunes on my iPhone through iTunes. If you already have an account at Pandora.com, it takes seconds to connect and start enjoying.

Morocco – Because I love “reversi” games and can’t get enough of having a computer kick my butt.

Picocalc – I use this tiny program as a way to keep a running balance on my checking account. No muss, no fuss — I always know where I am.

Light – Although there’s a paid version of this, this freebie is better. I use my iPhone’s considerable backlighting power to “light my way” quite often, and this tiny app makes it easier — I no longer have to find a screen that’s bright to use, this one is an all-white screen. You will be amazed HOW bright this thing is.

Shazam - A music identification tool that actually works. Hold it up to the speaker when a song is playing and it gives you the complete stats (artist, song, album, etc.) along with the option to buy it on iTunes.

eBay - bidding from the iPhone on the day’s “must have” items just got simple… maybe too simple! I’ll probably go broke!

Twitterriffic - An easy way to twitter on the go. Beautiful interface. It’s like having twhirl in my pocket. Driving has never been so dangerous! A paid version is available that will remove the ads. I’m ok with free for now. (Tried another Twitter client, but it kept throwing errors.)

Puluwai – A real estate tool that should capture the attention of all real estate agents. I tested it on some of the most rural areas of Kentucky with great results. Love this thing!

Weight Tracker – An easy way to face the horrible truth, right there on your iPhone… EVERY TIME YOU TURN IT ON! Has online sync and standalone options. I’ll keep my info to myself, thank you.

Zenbe - nice little “to do” list app that’s free, and (supposedly) works with the Zenbe.com website. After syncing my iphone, I don’t see my to do lists on Zenbe.com yet… but maybe that’s something they are still working out. After all, it’s just been released. Even as a stand alone, it’s a nice list app.

Spinner - Infuriating game that promises to become addictive. Uses the iPhone as the controller, twisting and turning it to get the arrow to the goal location.

Cube Runner - Another infuriation masquerading as a game. But, I like the abuse.

Blip Solitaire - great for the old computer folks who remember playing pong. It’s like lonely-girl pong. I like it, but my fingers seem to get in the way of seeing where the blip is when I whirl it 360 degrees.

Rotary Dialer - Cool little app. Fun, if useless. Allows you to low-tech your high-tech iPhone into a standard rotary phone. Animations are nice and the touch screen lends itself well to this use.

Molecules – this will be a cool app when Alex gets to that section of her science studies. Allows the 3-D virtual manipulation of a string of dna. (At least I THINK it’s DNA!) Offers a great view of what’s possible with 3-D rendering for this device.

iPint - because it’s funny and amuses me. I don’t even like beer, but the idea of “drinking” it from an iPhone is something I find cool, for some reason. It’s a free version of the iBeer and the iMilk type applications. Why pay for novelty if you can get it for free?

NYT - Nice way to peruse the headlines in the NYT quickly on my iPhone — and the ability to read the whole story with a single tap. Ad block at the bottom isn’t too bad. Is worth it to get this info for free.

Am still playing with “Pocketpedia” and “Mobile News” and “PayPal” and “Facebook” apps. No determination on those yet.

I’m going to be playing with “Where” and “VoiceNotes” and “TruPhone” and “eReader” programs over the next few days.

Purchases:

I purchased a few things too. I must say that Monkeyball makes me crazy. I can’t seem to manipulate that marble anywhere I try. I will never get past the second level. Ever. I think I hate it… but if I ever get any good at it, my attitude may change. The graphics are quite impressive.

FuelGauge- Helping me to keep up with gas mileage (with an eye toward conservation) on both my car and my moped. Simple easy to use interface that simply works. (.99 pricetag)

VoiceRecorder – May be helpful, but it’s awfully low, even with my mouth right next to the iPhone. Since buying this, I’ve found several other apps with this as one of the features, so it may not last on my iPhone.

iGotchi is a cute Tamagotchi immulation (and cheaper than the physical version), but it does take the “parenting” of the little thing seriously. If you get five warnings for neglect, your little fluffy-fuzzy guy goes away and you have to EMAIL the company and explain why you should have another chance to do better before it’s returned. Not sure about that! (But if my daughter had an iPhone, I’d think this would be a great way to pre-test prior to an actual pet!) My daughter is NOT getting an iPhone, however.

After spending years of preaching about simplicity, I’m finally enjoying it. I mean REALLY enjoying it. Over the holiday weekend, I moved from the cabin on the lake into an apartment in the tiny town that rests 10 miles south of my farm. The changes and decisions I’ve made leading up to this lifestyle leap have been numerous.

Since it’s just Alex and me these days (and the puppy, Prince, of course), our space needs aren’t that great. I spent quite a bit of time determining if I wanted to travel or stay put, move to the farm or move into town. I’ve evaluated everything from my personal life to my business model — from my bills to my living quarters — from my personal belongings to my life choices. I’ve applied the 80/20 rule to it all. ALL of it.

It’s been exhausting.

But, finally, it’s really making a difference.

I have one more load to make from the cabin on the lake… which will be complete this weekend… and that’s all going straight to storage. I have the apartment set up almost exactly the way I want it in just under a week. The apartment is a second-floor suite in what (until recently) served as a bed and breakfast. It has nothing in the way of frills and everything in the way of essentials. It has character and charm. Alex’s room is shaped like an A-frame with rough hewn side walls and painted plaster ceilings. The rooms have hard wood floors, great tall windows with natural light, and central heat and air. There’s even an old claw-foot style tub. It’s perfect.

I have a grocery store two miles from my home. My daughter’s doctor (and my own) is one mile away. The vets office is within walking distance, if Prince ever has a need. I have my moped here and can use for nearly everything we need. In addition to being useful, it’s a cheap form of mobile entertainment in an age when gasoline is over $4 per gallon.

This afternoon, Alex and I donned our helmets and went out to explore. We located the city park (complete with swimming pool, tennis courts, and playground). We went downtown and poked around in a second hand shop just for fun. We also found a pawn shop that has great prices on used DVD’s (cheaper than rentals — 3 for $10) and passed by Kroger, Save-a-Lot (groceries), Kmart, the Dollar Store and three hardware stores all in a 1/2 mile radius.

There is pizza, Mexican, Chinese and fast food within two miles of the apartment and we stopped to enjoy a soft-serve ice cream cone at a local shop that serves 24 flavors of soft-serve. 24 flavors of soft-serve!! I had pina colada and Alex had tutti fruit. The cost for our thoroughly enjoyable, three-hour outing? Under $3 including gas and treats.

The lady that owns the apartment is probably one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met. She lives downstairs and rents the two upstairs suites. She’s more than accommodating and is a genuinely thoughtful individual. We shared a quiet cup of jasmine tea on the stone-floored front porch the other morning, just after dawn, under the shadow of the two-story southern colonial columns, looking out over a field of hay. It was one of those mornings that made you just breathe in deeply and feel thankful. That was the moment when I knew I’d found a place I could finally feel a restful sense of calm. I had only been here one day and wasn’t completely moved in and I knew I’d found “home.”

There’s a yard here for Alex and Prince to run in… and it’s not a yard I have to mow or tend. There are flowers all over and a small vegetable garden. The street is a tiny one without any real traffic.

In the back of our suite is a second entrance that consists of a tall deck landing with a built-in bench on each side and steps that spiral down to the back yard. Alex has already claimed it as her “reading nook” — but she may have to share! I park my car near the door and my moped goes in the garage.

I have no stresses here.

There is one bill that covers my rent and all my utilities… ONE… it’s simply amazing! I had that experience once before, but that was in my college days, and the place was an efficiency and a dump — and although I loved it and spent time painting it and fixing it up, it was still torn down three years after I moved out. This is a lovely place. And the price per square foot is actually less than I paid then… and that was 21 years ago!

I have the ability to use my cell phone anywhere in town… even where I live! Now that’s new. I’m enjoying high-speed cable Internet (so I eliminated my DSL and land line bills) and have the ability to use cheap VOIP long distance. I’m cutting bills left and right! The “unlimited” long distance service before cost me $30 per month, Skype’s service for unlimited is costing me $2.95 per month. I have paid off most of my bills, so I don’t have huge monthly obligations. That’s liberating!

I think I’ve been looking at this idea of simplicity all wrong. I think I confused “rustic” with “simple” and I won’t make that mistake again. Being a technology lover, making my living over the Internet, and having to constantly find a “work around” because I live in the boonies is a horrific way to survive. It’s not living. Being a person that’s all about family and caring for my kids… yet having to work 12-18 hour days for years just to be able to be at home when the kids get back from school… is kind of missing the point.

I see that now.

I love my farm. I love the cabin I’m building there. It’s paid for and it’s mine. Initially, I rented this little apartment to serve as an office. It was cheaper than renting a commercial space and the atmosphere was much more conducive to writing. With the decisions I’ve made about how I do business, this was important. The change in my business model to an emphasis on writing and less work in the various fields of technology support, made this “office” seem like a good fit.

But, what I thought would be a place to work is quickly becoming a place to live. When I need the wide open spaces, I have my farm. If I decide I want to work on the farm, I can do that without driving for 45 minutes. I can be there in 11 minutes. I’m 45 minutes closer to my parents now too. With gas prices, this is a big deal too. I’ve recently purchased a little truck (with cash) and am in the process of getting the work it needs completed. Once I finish that, I’ll be able to do the work I need on the farm without so much outside help. I’ll sell the car and keep the truck for long-distance travels and farm work with the moped for the “around town” errands.

I’ll be setting up my utility room on the farm as my first priority. I have a washer and dryer in storage right now and I despise laundrymats. Getting that set up will mean I can go and do my laundry while I piddle at chores on the farm. And, instead of feeling all this pressure to get things done, I’ll be relaxed as I work. It will be at my own pace.

It’s amazing that I didn’t figure all this out ages ago. I was so busy fighting to be completely independent, that I was indenturing myself. Craziness!

But all that’s over now. Life is getting better every day and I’m genuinely happy for the first time in a very long time. Happy in the morning, happy in the evening, happy in-between. I think I may actually have a LIFE now. Go figure.

And the bonus I wasn’t expecting… I’m sleeping at night, all night. That hasn’t happened in as long as I can remember. Who knows, with all this reduction in stress and with the sleeping and eating better (except for that soft serve), I may just feel better physically too. It could happen!

Right now, I’m enjoying my work AND my time away from work. Life is pretty sweet.

The concert yesterday was a great way to spend July 4th. My daughter got to experience her first concert (she’s been clamoring for that) and she saw a line up of great country-rock artists. I think I was expecting pure country, so the rock covers threw me a bit, but it was a nice surprise.

The rain made life a bit interesting for awhile, but my daughter and I simply got soaked and continued watching the concert. When you have second-row seats in the VIP section, you don’t just jump ship when it rains a little…or even when it rains so hard and so fast that every square inch of you is soaked.

All the artists were good, some were great. Tracy Lawrence was a laid-back performer who didn’t seem to take himself too seriously – even when some technical difficulties that caused unexpected loud “pops” in the audio equipment a few times during the show. Despite that, his crooning sounded as good in person as it did on disk. He appeared surprisingly early during the day, considering his level of fame, but Lexington was only the first concert stop for him in the state on that day — he had a second show in Ashland.

The newcomers were energetic and entertaining. My daughter (who is 10) became immediately star-struck by Canadian, Adam Gregory. This little shaggy blond (with a five o’clock shadow from sometime a couple days ago) did give a great performance. He offered some original songs, including his own “Crazy Days” and pleased the crowd with his rendition of Vince Gill’s “Liza Jane.”

Sarah Johns was definitely a “Kentucky daughter” and spoke as if she were a Casey County native. Her songs were light and upbeat, and she seemed to enjoy performing and interacting (even to the point of playing matchmaker) with people in the audience.

Julianna Houghs offered a solid performance and enjoyed the last set before the rain drenched everyone in attendance.

When the clouds parted, Bucky Covington took the stage. My daughter (along with much of the crowd) adored this performer from the second they saw him. Not being a person who watches TV in general or American Idol in particular, I didn’t know him. So, when I say he (along with his band who included his twin brother, Rocky, on drums) offered the best performance of the day, it’s not because I’m predisposed to say so. I really enjoyed the sound, his obvious joy in the act of performing, and his interplay with the crowd.

This band did win the prize for the “cockiest” member… the base player. (I’m amazed there was room on stage for him, his ego, AND the rest of the band.) In spite of the bass player, I’ll be buying some of this band’s music just to see if it’s as good in the studio as it was live. Bucky and band demonstrated breadth with (surprisingly) some rock covers… like Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” — WHO expected that?!?!? And they did a beautiful job. I was truly impressed, all the way around.

I may have enjoyed Billy Currington if the sound check had not made the bass (and I LOVE bass) and the audio in general — painfully loud. It actually hurt to listen to his music. My daughter spent his set with her fingers in her ears… I joined her.

The sound issues seemed to be mostly resolved by the time John Michael Montgomery took stage … or maybe we were just too deaf to notice. It was a treat to see this mega-artist so “up close and personal” and to listen to the old favorites. I did notice that the songs I loved most (I’m dating myself now) were not as crisp sounding as the newer sets. I don’t know if his voice has changed in the over-a-decade since their original release, or if he just doesn’t practice the old favorites (Life’s a Dance, Beer and Bones) anymore. By the time he got to “Letters from Home” the sound had improved. That one sounded great! I didn’t expect rock covers from this particular band (Caught in the Crossfire) so that threw me off a bit, but he was the consummate crowd pleaser.

The damp evening ended with a traditional fireworks display and we left a bit early to avoid getting caught in the en masse exit of the crowd. My little one thoroughly enjoyed the day (except for a few minutes during the downpour when she was skeptical about my claims that this was all a part of the adventure and that she should just give into it). I enjoyed it too. Great way to spend the holiday.