Morgan Shoemaker doing a perfect head stand at Amanda’s Bench in 2017
There is a bench at the Hummingbird and Rocky Peak trail intersection that my husband put there in honor of our daughter Amanda Shoemaker.
The bench that was there was falling apart and he asked the Santa Monica Conservancy if he could repair it. From scratch.
He ordered special wood and sanded, carved and finished it.
Then we asked for help getting it up the trail and so many people joined in. There were more people than needed but it was more about being part of this really special event. It was heart warming to be surrounding by so many people wanting to help.
We put something special beneath the bench at the last second. Next time you hike up, take a peek.
Now that we are leaving Simi Valley to begin our next adventure we have asked a special person to keep the bench up. It means they have to visit it off and on to check on how weathered it has become.
We lost Amanda in 2009. April 28th.
Her gravesite is Oakwood Memorial Park in Chatsworth. I don’t know the exact way to tell you where she is resting. When you pass through the gates you carry on straight over a speed bump. About 300 yards past the speed bump is a road. Amanda’s grave marker is in the next field on your left (west side). There is a bench made of stone and it is above that toward the one tree. Everthing in that area was brand new when Amanda was laid to rest.
During cooler months we come and sit to think about life and Amanda.
Randy “under the hood”.
Living at Stayton Acres has been a dream for us. Not only have I learned how to wash a horse, we have had a slow and much needed education in RV life and how things can go wrong.
After a very rocky start to our “RV Career” we grew to expect that we would be fixing problems every single trip and that pushed us to plan ahead on our time and finances. It has been TRUE. Something has gone awry every single trip! Now we anticipate it and it isn’t painful or frustrating.
This is our 5th day here in Santa Rosa California.
It’s a farm along with a citrus and avocado grove. Missy asked us today, “Have you gone out to pick your breakfast yet?” It’s nuts and awesome and we are so grateful. Last night I felt like we were in a dream.
A little hiccup happened on Day 2.
We are hooked up (dry camping) to power and water. We have access to a full bathroom and shower just a few yards away.
Shower’s in the Lorax are completely cool but full blast plumbing and long hair are just dreamy.
The water hose is hooked up well. We turned off the pump because it isn’t needed. We discovered today that our pump regulator plug is defective.
At 3:45am (we wake up early enough to get the pets all handled and have some coffee) Randy walked into our 2 x 2 foot restroom only to find it had flooded!
“Shit! I think Zoey peed in the bathroom!”
This woke me up to “Paying Attention” sleepy level. “Do you need me to help you?”
“No, just tell me where the junk towels are.”
“The top linen closet, on the right side at the bottom of the stack of towels.” We saved ONE large junk towel to wash the dogs with and donated the other twenty we had collected over the decade at Monticello House.
I hear rummaging around and held my breath to listen for the sound of the towel being pulled out. It never came.
“Do you mind if I use the white towel? Can’t find the junk towel.”
SIDEBAR: Over the last decade we have had a bit of a crisis with me caring too much about what a towel is used for. I do not dig cross contaminated towels. The face towels must not EVER be used for bodies and never EVER use a cleaning rag to wash dishes. If I find you used my dish drying towel for anything OTHER THAN drying a clean freshly washed dish I will lose my mind. I just cannot get full buy off by my husband to stop doing it. When I am drying a dish and a brown hair appears I now show him immediately. It’s useless though.
“Go ahead” I say and wait for him to ask me to help do something to remedy the situation.
He doesn’t so I snuggle deeper into my covers and pillow.
10 minutes later (and I am supposed to be up by now but I’m not) he tells me the pump is leaking, again.
This is the second time it has happened and we have to figure it out.
He turns off the pump, the water is swabbed up and he turns off the water at the main house then takes off to camp. I stay home to write (which was the plan) and now keep an eye on the water situation. That was 4:40am.
At 8:30am he returns with a plan to drive to Conejo RV and talk to Mike.
Mike is, by far, one of the greatest RV repair men ever. His advice is direct and there is a line out the door of people getting his help, repairs and/or modifications to their rigs. Shurflo gave us excellent service.After a quick breakfast and attempts to contact CoachNet, the manufacturer of the Water Pump as well as Forest River (our RV manufacturer) he sets off into town.
Not even an hour later he returns with the conclusion that our pump is defective!
We have two options: tow it to Upland to the RV Spa where we purchased it to have it serviced or buy a pump for about $150 and replace it.
Our experience at The RV Spa was not that great and we’re pretty darn sure they could care less that we’re having any difficulties. For the record: I would not recommend a new RV’er use them for ANYTHING. They are all about getting the rig off the lot and you assuming the responsibilities. No friendly check up, no inquiring about how things are going…NOTHING. They also try to sell you things you really, honestly, sincerely do not need (like warranties). We got a different shower head and toilet based off of their scare tactics. We did NOT buy their warranty after taking the time to fully read every single word out loud to each other.
He chose to buy a new pump and replace it. It was critical that he record how to take it apart and put it back together and he set the space up fully to work.
The pump manufacturer was awesome too. They are sending us a brand new pump, no charge!
We’ll post the video of the process just in case you happen to need help on this topic.
So, the shitter technically wasn’t broken directly and everything is going to be OK.
We are SO thankful to be at Stayton Acres and learning a lot about how to survive in this beautiful bread box we call HOME now.
Yep, they’re bananas AND walkie-talkies.I love walkie-talkie stuff. My sister and I had Chiquita Banana Walkie Talkies and inbetween building forts of our mom’s sheets in the livingroom we would run around the neighborhood testing their range (which was about 10 feet).
1985 was when I was stuffed in a Greyhound bus and taken from the secret Scientology International Base with WAY MORE PEOPLE THAN SHOULD HAVE BEEN ON BOARD to help fight for RELIGIOUS FREEDOM in Portland Oregon.
My actual pin from the Religious Freedom Crusade in 1985.We marched the streets chanting. We slept on the floor of the Portland Organization (Church) in hallways. The senior executives stayed in fancy hotels. I was chosen to be a Communicator for Nancy Pomerantz. In ENGLISH, I was her PERSONAL ASSISTANT. It meant I got to have AN ACTUAL WALKIE TALKIE and communicate over it in ACTUAL HAM RADIO LANGUAGE. Granted, this was for a few weeks of my life but I will always remember what 10-4, ‘what’s your 20’ and 10-10 mean.
I’ve got to share that whole experience in another blog post.
The point of this blog post is to share feelings about people in my life.
To anyone that knows me reading this post I can sincerely tell you that I feel for you exactly what you feel for me. Actually, DOUBLE my feelings for you.
This goes all the way back to the day I was born.
I have learned so much in the last 10 years. As I wrap up my 40’s I have to say that this point has become crystal clear.
No matter how old you are or when you came into my life I can see clearer now than ever before. That is very grounding and makes me feel good.
Forget “Facebook Friends” and “Likes” and the “Followers”. That is superficial bs in my opinion. You know who your friends are by that energy you get and hopefully you give it back double.
Think about the people around you and what they give you. Don’t second-guess or question it – it is for real!
Time for a speech. Tough.Last night was a special night for me. I’ve never experienced something like I did. It was overwhelming and heartfelt. I want to thank our friends that wanted to celebrate and send us off onto our next adventure. I’m reading the notes and I admit I’m crying. I know exactly what I am going to have as a giant void in my life when we lift off and that part just sucks.
It’s not a complete 10-10 just yet. 🙂
But that day is coming soon and I’ll be in touch with my 20.
Check out this CRAZY delicious cake made by Lizzy Whitlock. Without a doubt she is a young woman to keep an eye on – I can’t wait till she opens up her own business. Thank you Lizzy!!
Incredible cake. The USA! Made by Lizzy Whitlock.I will put more photos on my blog as they come rolling in. I didn’t take ONE photo last night which is a miracle. What a night packed with so much LOVE. Ugh my heart!
This stew is hearty and flavorful. I love to make HOT (spicy) foods for Randy and this one got two thumbs up from him in the flavor department.
We at it with corn chips but you could have corn bread with it instead (I just ran out of time to bake it).
Ingredients: 1T EVOO 6 garlic bulbs, crushed 1 yellow onion, chopped 5 carrots, diced to bite size 5 cups of red potatoes, diced to bite size 1 cup red quinoa, rinsed 1 cup celery, chopped 1 cup broccolini, chopped 4 cups kale, chopped well 5T of Southwest Spice Seasoning* Water (to just over the vegetables, for me it was 6 cups)
Prepare all of your ingredients BEFORE you turn on InstantPot.
Put InstantPot on to SAUTE mode. Add EVOO. Add garlic, let simmer in hot oils for 30 seconds. Add onion and mix well allowing it to soften (about 1 minute).
Put InstantPot WARM mode. Add carrots and repeat onion handling (1 minute stirring). Add celery, stir for 30 seconds. Add broccolini, stir for 30 secs. Add spices, stir well. Add kale (no need to stir). Add quinoa (flatten and press it down). Add potatoes, press down – no need to stir). Fill water above (like 2 centimeters max) the potatoes.
Place cover securely on top. Put steam release into CLOSED mode.
Set MANUAL MODE to HIGH and 15 minutes.
Do not force the pot to open! Allow the pressure to reduce on its own. If you must “help” it along, use oven mitts when you OPEN the release valve. SOUTHWEST SPICE SEASONING I adapted these from Emeril’s – place all of these in a container you can shake or stir. If you have these herbs FRESH I’d highly recommend you use them instead of the dry spice from a jar. 2T HOT chili powder 2T ground cumin 1T smoked paprika 1t black pepper 1t coriander 1t cayenne pepper 1T salt 1T dried oregano
Just wanted to post this awesome quote because it is so true.
Today, just now, I stopped to think of all of the people that are in my life and how I treat or speak to them.
When I turned 30 I made a conscious decision to not participate in rumors, negative comments, spreading anger, sharing information I didn’t see/feel/hear with my own ears or eyes.
I won’t tolerate it and will tell the person sharing it with me I’m not interested.
For 19 years (almost 20) I’ve been practicing this.
I guess it helped me feel better.
Who knows if it is directly related to reducing the stress in my life and then, in turn, helping me out of an awful sickness that was probably going to kill me. Some of my friends might remember the awful blisters I would get that filled my mouth (every surface), went down my throat, into my ears and nose. I’m happy to say they are GONE.
WARNING: The photo here is in 2011 during an extreme blister breakout.
One day I will write about exactly how and what happened. They began in February 2005 and I haven’t had them for going on 3 years. Coincidentally when some seriously negative people “unfriended” me. Along with these two they took their like-minded “friends” with them. They did me a HUGE favor! I’m sure it contributed to my health (mental and physical) making a turn for the better and stabilizing.
Anywho… be part of a movement that spreads only nice words. Be consistent.
I’m not talking about being sensible and giving advice that might not be what someone wants to hear. I’m talking about the type of people that thrive over bad news, share rumors, create drama, make things difficult…ON PURPOSE.
Eventually, when you stop “dealing it” yourself you’ll find out how many people enjoy your company and those that do not.
Sunshine smothers drama!
Gotta run now.
Have over 10,000 photos to get scanned in before we move!
Backstory: We met on E-Harmony over a decade ago bringing our families together. Two kids each.
Then there was that time at band camp where we decided to quit our cushy full time 6 figure jobs and open a business that we believed in. Both of our mother’s were battling cancer (brain and breast) so life with them along with our own children became a top priority. We were working long hours and pretty much OWNED by our employer.
Both Pat (Randy’s mom) and Mary (Sarita’s mom) pushed us to work hard and believed we could do this on our own…whatever we set our mind out to do. Both of us have held jobs since we were 14 and in looking back we both gave 110% to whatever the employer asked of us, if not more. We did not have the courage to jump into the Entrepreneur world individually but as a team we decided to go for it.
That’s when we began 805 Boot Camp. No, wait, we started as Extreme Boot Camp and thought we would be partners with the owner of Extreme, Linda Taix.
Randy’s mom had already passed on and my mom was on death’s door. She was able to understand that we’d made the leap and were starting our “own business”. I am so grateful she loved photography and was with us at our first Street Fair taking photos of our beginning. I am thankful she was able to see we got on the FRONT PAGE of our local newspaper announcing our camp had begun a fundraiser to fill the Simi Valley Library with the latest Health, Fitness and Nutrition books. She was extremely proud!
We had two full camp tours when we were called to the Extreme HQ’s to discuss the “agreement” we had signed to go into business with Linda. She took us out to lunch at a local La Canada steakhouse where she was well known by every person we met. Seated in a corner booth she told us we needed to “sign some papers”. It was a contract to be a Franchise. Thankfully Randy had already had experience with a franchise model and he began reading while Linda and I talked about how great our Simi boot camp was going, the locations and marketing needs and wants we planned. She smiled, nodded and excitedly agreed with me on most everything. Then we talked about our Thanksgiving Day boot camp where we raced a relay carrying a frozen turkey. She explained that she really did like the idea and in the future we’d just need to run it by her before doing anything like that. I got immediately confused because I actually did not understand what in the world she could be talking about “getting her approval”?
Randy had finished reading over the 3-inch stack of contract paperwork and pushed the binder to me to begin reading. I did not listen to their conversation, I read…every word. I have this irritating (to the sales person) habit of reading every word in every single document I’m supposed to sign after making some dumb moves trusting people when I was the General Manager at Panda Software.
I hit the section about costs and compensation. There was a $35,000 amount due to have the franchise. I interrupted Randy and Linda and asked about this $35K, “what does the $35K buy?” You see, at this point in time, EBC was a giant boot camp in La Canada California – known only by the local community. ZERO marketing or public relations had happened to make this business model known by Linda (or anyone she hired). While I, on the other hand, began writing for the local paper, sending press releases out on updates and covering our fundraising and community involvement with photos. As of our 2nd camp I had a website created (because Linda could not or would not) and we’d done newspaper ads (which I created using PAINT!!), mailers and we walked business to business MEETING people in our fatigues and announcing our program. So, when I saw that $35K I was again puzzled and confused.
“It’s for the name Extreme Boot Camp” Randy replied.
“What do you mean, ‘the name’?” I choked on my iced tea in reply and looked at Linda and Randy.
“Oh, you guys don’t have to pay that. It’s just for the future Franchises.” Linda assured us. “I love you guys and we’ll work it out.”
This was my friend Linda.
Linda, by the way, was at our WEDDING along with a few of her Trainers.
She, as well as her employees that did not have families to spend Thanksgiving with, were invited to my mom’s yearly Thanksgiving Feast. At this point I trusted Linda and believed she would make this happen. BUT after decades of experience in marketing and sales, her lack of action on helping us create the Simi Valley boot camp made me realize she did not know much about marketing and how it was crucial in building a business, let alone Public Relations. Businesses don’t build themselves.
I kept reading over the other expectations: full access to our personal computer, we would use her email system and server (my personal experience was sending her multiple emails and calling multiple times before getting an answer to a question on a regular basis and I assumed it was because she was busy creating the Franchises for EBC). We would pay her a percentage of our income. She would dictate how we would run the camp. I did not see this as being in alignment with what we quit our jobs to do but I didn’t say anything at the table.
We finished up lunch and lugged home the binder. I continued reading while Randy drove. He told me the story of the franchisee that had be allowed to not follow the same rules of the other franchises. The only person at risk in this is the FRANCHISEE (that would be Randy and Sarita) who would be hit with penalties, paying what was not paid and attorney’s fees. That freaked me OUT.
It was crystal clear: we needed to begin our own business and do it without Extreme Boot Camp. We made an appointment to get back to Linda and give her the news. For us we figured we would remain friends and help each other – we were 40 miles (and 40 minutes on a GOOD DAY) away…ONE WAY. There would be no risk at us taking her clients or business at all.
In her tiny office in La Crescenta we squeezed in a third chair to tell her our decision.
As Randy spoke she absorbed what we were saying. I was sitting in the doorway (there was no other space) and she was unable to leave the room. If she were able to I think she would have run out and begun screaming at us. Her face got very red and her eyes became furious. I was snot expecting this from someone that called themselves a friend. Someone that knew about our moms, our kids…I would have expected she would want the best FOR US. It seems I was very wrong on that assumption. We were screwing up some plan we did not know we were part of.
We left there with her angrier than a hornet AT US.
And that’s the start of our adventure as 805 Boot Camp! Yipeeeeee!!!
Sued in Federal Court for a variety of things but the courts show “Trademark Infringement”. The paperwork was 6 inches deep of all that we had taken from her. She claimed she had invented outdoor boot camp as well as certain exercises like push-ups.
We had to hire an attorney and like idiots we got one that knew NOTHING about this sort of thing. He was cool and we liked him a LOT but if you ever get sued for something seek help by an attorney that specialized in that area.
Our attorney told us we could easily fight this and quite possibly persevere but it would cost us a lot of money (and we did not have it). So we settled and paid her $15,000 plus attorney’s fees.
We had an explicit date to have absolutely zero Extreme Boot Camp essence on our business model. From the website to the apparel. We were not allowed to have a name that began with the letter E. We were not allowed to have black shirts. These demands were silly and as though we WANTED to be Extreme Boot Camp or mistaken as them, which we did not. If we did not comply 100% with the demands in the injunction we would be open to be sued AGAIN and pay for her attorney’s fees. The date we had to make was May 1st, 2007.
I got on that task immediately writing back and forth with our attorney proving COMPLIANCE to him. He helped with an extra set of eyes to make sure I was correctly moving forward.
Meanwhile, my mom was on her last days on earth. I was up doing camp then driving to the hospital in the Sunland area to see her. It was an AWFUL period of time and then I’d come home late and be crying all the time. I was also very sick with those blisters so couldn’t eat or drink much. I watched my mom die every day while working and trying to get the injunction complied with.
My mom died on April 29th.
On May 3rd we were served with 12 inches (NOT KIDDING) of paperwork that Linda’s attorney’s had printed from the website proving we had NOT actually removed all the remnants of Extreme Boot Camp. SHE WAS SUING US AGAIN.
The evidence she included were screen shots of photos, of SEO tags… our website (and I built it with the help of Go Daddy) still had crumbs of Extreme Boot Camp on it DESPITE the fact that I’d spent hours with Go Daddy being assured I’d complied with it. I kept meticulous notes of these tech support conversations because I was new to this world of web design.
Either way, my mom died and two days later Linda sued us. Cold, huh? I thought so too.
The prior months we had to come up with a new business name (that did not begin with the letter E so the acronym would not be EBC which was Extreme Boot Camp’s acronym). I went to the Simi Valley Town Center and personally surveyed 50-70 people describing our program and asking them what single word came to mind. Endurance. Nooooo!!! I could not use Endurance because it was the letter E.
I noticed the pride people of Simi had though. Coming from La Crescenta, Glendale, Los Angeles, Hollywood and Burbank I’d never been in a neighborhood where people were NICE to you. It was a point of pride. I was happy to leave the 818 and live in the 805.
That’s when I realized: we should be 805 Boot Camp. Again, leap of faith in an idea.
We hired a designer for our logo (I’ve got to write the story of this rip-off) and have a website built. We paid him $5,000 and got a rendering of our logo and THAT’S IT. Do NOT trust a guy named R. Grant Perry, Jr who had a business called Cre8v Planet with the address of 37 Langhorne Circle Newport News Virginia. He took our $5,000 and left us high and dry. I just now hunted the internet for him. He’s STILL claiming to do websites and probably ripping people off. What a jerk. What a LESSON.
We got our new logo (which I really like), printed our letterhead and shirts on every color but black.
Camps continued and we hired two Instructors.
But Linda wasn’t through with us just yet.
She immediately opened a storefront (which was a stipulation on that original Franchise) on Erringer (right behind El Torito) and staffed it during odd hours. We peeked in when they were closed once and saw a few stationary bikes and racks of weights – that was it.
One dark morning in Lemon Park we were running the dirt path and her campers purposely ran into (physically) our campers going in the opposite direction. That could have been bad but we’re not into fighting and shrugged it off. Clearly there was animosity being carried on by her employees and transferred to her actual clients! Crazy! It happened more than once, so we chose a different park.
Lessons learnt so far:
Do your own website and UNDERSTAND what is going on rather than believe what a tech support person tells you
Do not trust someone you believe is your friend…look at their actual actions rather than their words
Hire professionals with MEGA references to help you create in an area you are not knowledgeable in
Trust your gut on humans
Don’t give a dime to someone to work for you without seeing the results – if anything give them HALF.
The plan to keep our business open was looking more and more difficult.
We called a friend – a REAL friend – Joan Murphy-Contreras (know Byrd) who set us on the right path back to believing in our original purpose.
Despite dropping everything we knew to be stable for ourselves in 2005, we did.
And 12 years later we’ve got LOTS to share on what went great and what went south along with people you might trust and those you just cannot trust.
Always learning!
805 Boot Camp had its first camp and it was rocky and sketchy and we were worried about that damn law suit for years…nothing happened on it.
We moved on and it looks like she opened up 30 franchises!
On a whim I was taking design classes at Moorpark College with Svetlana Kasalovic and a student sitting near me in the lab noticed my 805 Boot Camp water bottle. We struck up a conversation and it seems her boyfriend had purchased THREE Extreme Boot Camp franchises and they were all doing awful with zero support on marketing and public relations. I felt bad for the girl and her boyfriend but there was nothing I could do.
She told me that the Simi Valley boot camp model was used as a way to close him on purchasing because it was so successful.
When I got home I looked up how many Extreme Boot Camp Franchises existed. They were ALL OVER Southern California. I took screen shots at the time but they’re on another external hard drive so I cannot be sure. I’d guess 20? WOW.
Her website was word-for-word a copy of our introduction. She started programs that matched our program (like our Low Impact Program). Her photos were the ones my sister took and she was asked to remove them (and she did). It was hard to not be angry about her behavior.
The law suit was never heard in Federal Court. That was 11 years ago.
Since then we have had a few other face plants and learning experiences getting our diploma from the University Of Hard Knocks.
We stuck to it and in the end we survived the attacks from her as well as the few other people that sincerely wanted to put us out of business.
I’m a believer in karma and I am pretty sure when they get served up it is going to suck big time.
Southwest Red Potato Quinoa Stew
Our entrepreneur plan started off AWFUL.
Sarita Shoemaker 