Day four in Tahoe

Today we drove home and I think the cleaning trip was a success although we didn't get to the garage...

Here is grandpa freeing the windshield wipers from excess ice...

The drive home was beautiful...

Day three in Tahoe

Guess what, more snow. Not much during the day but I overnight there was over a foot. You know how I know this? My mom and I got to shovel it in order to get out to the early bird special at the gross Lakeside Inn and Casino. To rebel against back-breaking labor I didn’t order off of the early bird special menu but got a dry turkey sandwich instead. Don't worry we still got our money's worth, my mom ordered a tea and they brought her a basket of tea bags to choose from, she took one and then grandpa stuffed eight more in his pocket.

Here are some pictures of me and mom shoveling (grandpa started and then decided he would help by warming up the car). Normally grandpa hires someone to do it but when the guy came by to offer to grandpa declined because “his girls were here to do it.”





Before the whole snow shoveling adventure we cleaned his “studio”. Which meant putting the 600 bottles of acrylics together.


I threw away a lot of his stuff while he was taking a nap. So far I’ve only been caught once when he pulled this

out of the garbage yesterday (I guess I didn’t hide it good enough). I did find a real treasure of a glasses case in a bag of eye-glasses and accessories so the trip isn't a complete waste.

Day two in Tahoe

It snowed a lot but we were able to get out to stock up on some necessities (garbage bags) and hit Taco Bell for lunch (it was that or the Senior Center). Good thing I am strong willed because my mother was completely content never leaving that house, just working all day.
Besides that exciting outing there was lots of shifting junk from one place to another, one of my tasks was putting all of his picture mats together. Hopefully that will make it easier for him when he sells them at his art classes.


We were supposed to go out to dinner with ex-almost-grandma Ethal but she canceled because it was snowing to much. No prime rib special for us.

Lake Tahoe Day One

It is snowing outside and I would like to say that I am nice and cozy inside but the thermostat in my room is broken so I am freezing. This afternoon I took a nap with my down vest and scarf on. Fortunately I’ve taken to stealing my dad’s wool socks so at least my toes are ok.

Besides the cold here are some points for the day:
1. I like the snow, it makes me happy.


2. I hope the snow doesn’t turn into a blizzard because I had the task of cleaning out grandpa’s fridge of expired food – now we have no food. There was one thing I found that I honestly had no idea how to classify – animal? Vegetable? Mineral? It is in the trash now along with lots of pickles that expired in 06.

3. I also got to clean out some of vernon’s closets. He stood there and decided which of his 200 shirts were keepers as I pulled them out. Pretty much all that were “really something” or “stellar” that he could wear to the art league he kept and all the normal ones he got rid of. I found an old bowling shirt of his with these 250 pins. I told him that I went bowling last week and told him my scores, he quickly changed the subject (I think out of embarrassment).

4. After chores I sat down to watch TV with him. We watched Kull the Conquer with Spanish sub-tittles and no sound. Surprsingly little language is needed to really understand the movie.

5. During a Penny’s commercial he pointed out that Mexican girls always dress up nice, not like the trashy American girls always wearing levi’s and t-shirts. Yes, I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt when he said that.

6. From Thursday to Sunday of last week I dog and fish sat at a really cool place in SF.

Mascota, and surrounding territories

I'm writing this while sitting in my car in my parent's driveway listening to Christmas carols because my niece, Callie, fell asleep and now I don't want to wake her up. This wouldn't have been a problem but I left my sister's house later than intended because Grady stole and hid my keys (we found them in the bathroom trash). So yes, yesterday and today I've been baby-sitting but before that I went to Mexico and that is the purpose of this post.

From January 30th to February 9th I was in Mexico with my mom and family friend, Luz. This was my third trip to visit Luz in Mascota, Jalisco. It was my mom's first time. I love Mascota and when I am there I always think it would be a great place to live, or at least question why I didn't live there instead of Nicaragua for the past two years.

This trip was very different than the last two, partly because I was with my mom and partly because I'm personally in a different place in my life than I was the past two visits. Overall it was extremely relaxing and clarifying. For 11 days I had no internet, phone, watch, TV, newspaper, or radio. So basically I just read and talked to my mom and Luz and went to Bible studies and slept. I also decoupaged a chair and baked bread and made chili relleno.

I think I would be a much better person if I always lived that simple of a life. But that is not the life that God has given me, so I need to learn to apply the same disciplines in my life here. That is not easy for me to do, maybe I should take Luz up on her offer to move there permanently I'm sure that running away is the best way to solve problems. Or maybe not.

One funny story. On Sunday nights the whole town goes to the town square to hang out. Luz asked this girl Deisi to take me so that I could experience it (I had gone once but on my first trip). It is a pretty important event and I had to borrow a sweater since my grubby clothes weren't appropriate. So Deisi and I walked to the square and then for and hour and a half walked around it smiling and nodding at the boys walking around in the opposite direction. Quite the cultural experience and it was great getting to know Deisi better even though I didn't get a husband or anything. Luz thinks I would have had better luck if I went both Sundays not just the second one. Or maybe I would have had better luck if I wore heals instead of flip-flops (heals and cobblestone don't really mix in my mind)

That sums up about none of my trip but oh well. Tomorrow marks me living here for 2 months, I'm still scared of getting a job but it isn't quite March yet.

love, joy

reunions and taxes and more

Reunited
Just about 7 years ago, like many highschool Seniors, I was deciding where to go to college. I very adamantly didn't want to go to UC Davis, however my desire to be a weather girl out-weighed my dislike for Davis so that is where I went (to later graduate as an organizational studies major). Not long into my stint there I fell in love with the town, its people and its sandwiches. A few weekends ago I went back to meet up with some of my favorite people and eat some of my favorite sandwiches. It was fabulous bonding with my college roommates, those are 5 of the people that know me best in the world and I had forgotten how refreshing it is to spend time with them. The weather that weekend was perfect and we got to spend a lot of time outside walking around the town and campus. I was excited to see some changes to the town like 3 frozen yogurt shops and a new Peet's, there were changes to the campus too but who really cares about those. I started writing this a while ago and I think it used to have more of a point, but I've since forgotten what that was. I guess you should just know that I had a great time.

Then (+1)

Now (I think we are more happy)

Etcetera

• I am going to Mexico with my mom on Friday for 10 days.
• I filled out my tax returns the other day, hopefully I get my returns before the federal economy crashes more. I'm letting California keep the $4 they took from me this year, it was that or an IOU.
• I put away laundry today and filled papers so there are only 4 boxes I still need to unpack before my bedroom will be settled.
  
• I finished writing my resume. It is good, full of euphemisms. Now I have to decide where to apply, boo.
• I am not ready to be a parent, fortunately I'm not in the position to become one any time soon.
  

in the land of the living

In my mind I am constantly writing but sometimes the sitting down and making my fingers move takes a little too much effort.

I now have been back for almost one month and people keep asking me if I’ve found a job yet, no I haven’t and I’m not looking, remember I have until March. I am taking steps towards the whole job thing, I am about 1/3 of the way through writing a resume and my sister e-mails me about ten job postings a day.

I finally realized this weekend that one of the reasons that I have been so unmotivated to do anything is that it is cold and dark. Every time I walk in my bedroom I get depressed and have to return to the living room where there is light and a fire. Now that I have come to this realization I can modify my behavior some, by taking steps to turn on the heater and open my blinds. The transformation is incredible.

Even though I’m not working I’m still coming up with things to do. I went to Memphis over New Year’s, that was nice. I don’t really have any friends so they don’t take up much of my time. I’ve mostly just been baby-sitting, or hanging out with people that share my last name.

My car is insured now so potentially I can leave the house. Unfortunately the mostly likely thing to do is go shopping and that is highly overwhelming, first of all there are too many options and desirable things, second of all, contrary to popular belief, I don’t actually have money to spend. Even when I attempt to simplify my life people like Danny and the Verizon store are so pushy that I crack under pressure and end up buying things much more deluxe than necessary.

Last week I went to the optometrist to get my eyes checked and get new reading glasses because I lost mine. I don’t like it when people put their perceptions of my generation onto me. After he told me that I’d better not answer my phone and try to set up any hot lunch dates during my appointment he told me that I must have lost my glasses at a drunken party. Really, who loses their reading glasses at a drunken party.

Well, this might sound more depressing than I intended, sorry about that I really do like being back and Trader Joe’s Greek Style Yogurt.