holiday flashback

I've have been shamefully negligent on my posting. One would think that being in a location for 2 weeks without a job would be the ideal situation for updating and posting and keeping in touch, etc. Or it would be, if one also didn't have a little niece that needed squeezed--daily--family gatherings, a room to pack up (Mom finally kicked me out, no hard feelings), high school friends to reconnect with. So, I have totally justified myself and I don't feel bad at all for ignoring this little blogspot for 3 weeks.
So, what did I do while back in the Midwest?

(I apologize for the hard-to-read font. But this was the 5th time I'd redone it, so tough. Grrr. Technology. Sometimes, I wish all I had was a typewriter...oh wait, I do have one!) 

 A brief explanation: months ago, we stenciled this whole wall in pencil, using rulers and everything. Then we went over all the lines in paint. We finally finished it up, to her man's delight, over Christmas...I left her to scrub off the pencil marks. 

I finished some longstanding projects. The wall at Larissa's, reorganizing my photos, storing ALL of my doodads and whatnots. I was feeling slightly guilty for the masses of dishes I've accumulated in my relatively short life, even though most of them were steals at Edelman Auction. And someday, I will have a use for pink sherbet glasses and four black goblets and a gold-trimmed cake stand, even if I don't right now. (That's a mere fraction of my dishes, just in case you were wondering at my previous descriptions of "masses".) On a side note, if you ever want to borrow some for a dinner party, I've got about 20 boxes in the basement of my mom's, labeled. Just put them back exactly how you found them.

Only a few boxes made the trek out to SoCal. It might shed some light on my priorities to know some of the things that made the cut--and it was tough, I mean, there's only so much you can fit in the trunk of a Buick, no matter how big and long some of you (us) may consider them--were my apron collection, typewriter, and a box of my favorite books. The important things, you understand.

The drive back was...better than I thought it would be. Between newlyweds, winter, & whiling away hours on the road, I was anticipating it being much more painful. The Lord was merciful, and we had perfect roads the entire way. It only took us 29 hours, 2 days, and 1.5 boxes of granola bars. After 1,000 miles the first day, yup, count 'em, we got a hotel room in Amarillo. Yes, we got a hotel room. Not rooms. Then it was another 1,000, although it felt exponentially more, through New Mexico. If I wouldn't have had to drive the whole part of it, I would've taken more photos to prove how absolutely mindnumbingly bleak that state is. I think giving the Native Americans New Mexico was worse than smallpox. (I'm only partly kidding.) I've never been more glad to see snow than I was when Flagstaff, AZ came (that's where the photo of Carmex was taken). Anything to break up the monotony of New Mexico wasteland! We stopped in Prescott, AZ to see Zach Roth, but other than that, we only stopped to get gas and go to the bathroom. Never one without the other.
The closer we got to Ramona, the more I started to feel relaxed. I have to admit, it was a lot harder to leave the Midwest this time than back in November. Right now, I have no trips planned to come back. And I have no idea how long I will be here. Could be forever. The realities of life (I know, I know, cliche that it may be) have crept in a little. My family may be a nice complete little unit back in middle-America without me. Bryan & Lisa will be getting David & Roxie soon. I won't be there for that. Mad took her first steps New Year's Eve; I won't be there to see her take off. But I content myself with the fact, and it is a fact in my mind at least, that this is where I'm supposed to be right now.

And this afternoon, I went to the beach. And I was outside today without a coat! So I will survive. And my family and friends will come for visits, and leave me lots of comments on my blog, and I will go on with life.

By the way, it may interest you that Will asked about me everyday while I was gone.