Hello to all and thank you for allowing me to (hopefully) add to your community. I am single mother of an incredibly gifted little girl, she amazes me everyday.

I am currently helping my father run a small general contracting company which specializes in cabinetry. I grew up in the garage with my father and get out there every now and again when we are busy and I have no forms, filing, et cetera to do.

I have had many jobs and tend to find something I enjoy, learn it, conquer it and move along. I have been in customer service on and off(my least favorite due to the contact with the less than intelligent general public). I have been a waitress, receptionist, patient care assistant, (civilian side) worked in a casino to name a few.

My most interesting and challenging career was when I joined the U.S. Army at 19 and became a combat medic who never saw combat. Days before I was to graduate and ship off I broke my pelvis and was given an honorable medical discharge despite my pleas to remain in the service. I refuse to accept my V.A. rating and have fully healed from my injury. I think I am in better shape now than I was in the service... I digress, after leaving Army I went home to pick up the pieces and eventually ended up somehow in Alabama, and pregnant...

(if you are curious it's a long personal story.)

I would not change it for the world as it gave me the greatest gift, my beautiful child.

In Alabama I became an abstractor, searching the various courthouses for titles and liens to local houses, it was my second most trying, although entertaining and rewarding career.

I moved back to California after having the rivers, real trees and genteel, or not so genteel, culture which will always remain a part of who I am, and began working fulltime in a local casino. I became depressed by the situations that are so common there and left after year and a few months, I will not go to a casino again, it left too deep a taint on my perspective of a seemingly glitsy and glamorous world.

I love my new job working with my father as I have the best of both worlds, I get to see what I am producing and have the opportunity to get my hands dirty or sit inside and hack away at the computer while making phone calls and doing paper(computer) work. An added bonus, I have my daughter with me all day long she is finally getting the stimulation, attention and education she needs.

I consider myself to be an artist, I paint sketch and make beaded jewelry when I find the time or have the inclination.

I love all things furry and scaly or feathered. I even enjoy all of my little spiders and winged things... with the exception of mosquitos (I was ambivalent until I spent a few years in Alabama). I love all things that grow.

My garden is one of my refuges, along with my sacred ipod full of my favorite music, it accompanies me pretty much everywhere when I am not in public (I think it is rude and reclusive) I occassionally will slip in into my pocket on a trip to the bookstore or library, however as those are usually fairly private places I have little or no guilt for doing so.

I am constantly seeking knowledge and am very opinionated when I finally form an opinion, sometimes I miss the bigger picture and sometimes I fail to see a small detail, human I suppose.

I love literature and poetry and have been known on occasion to create my own.

There are so many things I want to do and try and learn, I look forward to every day and try my darnedest not to let the trivial things like finance and schedule get in my way. I am easily manipulated but rarely fooled. I try to have compassion and love for all of my fellow beings and yet find myself being hypercritical.

"Perhaps love is like the ocean full of conflict full of pain, like a fire when it's cold outside or sunshine when it rains."

Enough for now I guess, I also tend to be long winded ;-)