december happenings

Since I last wrote, my mom had her annual cookie and ornament exchange Christmas party. I wasn't going to go this year because it fell on a day I had to work, but she had to reschedule it due to some bad weather we had, so in the end, I was able to go. Cool story, huh?

I made Italian lemon cookies this year. In retrospect I should have taken pictures of everyone's cookies, or at least my cookies, but that didn't happen. I did remember to take a picture of my ornament though. I was having a hard time finding an ornament that met my high standards of ridiculousness, until I tagged along with my brother into Tractor and Supply and found this beauty.

The bad weather I was talking about was an ice storm. We'll generally get snow/ice twice a year in North Texas. Once around Christmas and again around Valentine's day. This year it seemes to have hit a bit early.

When you looked out the window, it didn't really look that bad,  just a few inches of snow on the ground. Except it wasn't snow, it was solid ice. Most of my smaller plants, including my poor little Yaupon Holly tree went horizontal due to the extra weight.

School was closed for about four days, so Perry didn't have to go to work, but since I work in a hospital I wasn't so lucky. The first day it iced, I drove to work very slowly and it went just fine. However, when I tried to drive back home, I discovered the bottom inch of my tires were covered in ice, and my car was literally frozen to the ground. It took Perry an hour to de-ice his car and then he came to pick me up. We tried to get my car out of it's parking space for about 30 minutes before we gave up. He ended up driving me to work for the next three days, until the temperature got above freezing and I was able to get some traction.

I would like to officially state that I am not complaining. A few of my co-workers lost their electricity. At least I got to go home to a nice toasty house after a 10 hour shift.
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So, Christmas happened. Hadn't you heard? With the exception of my father's gifts, I did all my Christmas shopping online. In one day. I really dislike crowds. I get all anxious and unhappy. And I worked retail for 5 years. So, no busy malls and congested parking lots for me if I can avoid it. The thing about Christmas shopping online is that you have to do it early, like 3-4 weeks before Christmas kind of early, and then you'll be just fine.

For a while now, I've known that in addition to the regular Christmas gifts, I wanted to make something for Perry. I thought I had figured out what I wanted to do a few months ago. The problem is that it involved me learning how to crochet. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal since a few years ago I learned to cross stitch for one of his gifts. Well, crochet isn't cross stitching. I tried, I failed, I moved on.

So, have you ever seen Bee and Puppycat? There's only one episode out so far, but Perry's a fan of it. So I decided to draw him as Bee and Reggie as Puppycat.

For reference, here's Bee and Puppycat:

As you can tell, she's not a big fan of her suit. Maybe it's the pink puffy sleeves.

And just because, I decided to paint it on a ceramic mug.

I gave myself a little pep talk before I started and told myself not to give up until I finished. Because I could already see it not looking like I envisioned in my head and getting discouraged and scrapping the whole idea.

Like here, before I realized I needed to mix the paint to get the colors I wanted. (Seems obvious doesn't it.)

Or here, when Reggie puppycat looked like Blobby poopyturd.

You should persevere, because once you start outlining with a black paint pen, everything will start to look better!

Tah-freaking-dah!

I did forget to respect the power of the black paint pen at one point, because I shook, shook, shook it too hard and several big fat drops landed right on my half finished Perry Bee. I was able to just paint over the ones that landed in a painted area, but two of them hit in the white background, so I just covered it with some white paint, which you can see by the left arm.
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So what did sweet Perry give me in return? An I.O.U. He ordered my gift online, but didn't follow the 3-4 week rule, because he don't follow no rules. Surprisingly, it only arrived one day late.

For backstory, I should mention that at work we had a Christmas "Angel Tree" where you can buy gifts for a child. The child I picked wanted a Lego set. I never had Legos as a kid and when I went online I was really impressed with all the cool sets I found. I mentioned to Perry how I was actually jealous of a toy I was getting for a 12 year old.

The set he picked is beautiful and just happens to be perfect for us to work on together. It's symmetrical, so while Perry works on one tower, I'm working on the identical one. We've gotten to the second story and haven't had a fight yet. I'll keep you posted.

thanksgiving week

This Thanksgiving was the first one that I've had off of work in seven years. It was nice to do a normal Thanksgiving dinner and not the tupperware leftovers that I've grown accustomed to. Perry and I did lunch at his parent's house and dinner at my parent's. We weren't as overly full as you'd think since we just ate a little bit of everything. His family does a potluck, every one brings a dish type thing and my parents...don't. In fact, I made two pumpkin and one key lime pie to bring to Perry's parents and Perry suggested that we bring one over to my parent's house. I laughed. As far as my mother is concerned, bringing food unless specifically asked is a breach of etiquette. Most people would welcome an extra pie at dinner, but to my mom it's a thinly veiled critique of her cooking and/or party planning skills.

Anyway, it was a happy Thanksgiving all around and the following day I got to participate in another family tradition that I've missed out on for quite a while due to work: visiting the tree farm down the road and cutting down a Christmas tree. Everyone went except my youngest sister who was in College Station.

I've never put up a Christmas tree before, but I made an impulsive tree purchase while we were there.  My brother dropped it off at my house and was kind of enough to immediately take me to Lowe's so I could go lights and tree stand shopping since I had neither.

Perry is an atheist (like myself) and he thinks Christmas decorations are a waste of money and space. I mostly agree - which is why I have no holiday decorations and have never put up a tree before. But I really am enjoying having a tree this year. I did most of my Christmas shopping online a few days ago, so I'll have lots of packages to put underneath it soon.

I had to give myself an early Christmas gift last week. My desktop computer died. It was six years old which I feel like was a respectably long life. Actually, the internet says about 3-5 years is average and looking back on it, I was really in denial about my need for a new computer for the past two years. In those two years I had to restore it to factory setting five times and it was soooo slow. For the past two months it was taking an unusually long time to start up and simply open an internet browser. I thought it just needed another factory restore. Wrong. It needed a bullet to the head. So I got a new tower.

I realize now that this old vs. new computer picture has a deceptive perspective which makes the old computer look even larger, but I think you get the point. My new CPU is super smaller. And I can open chrome in under ten minutes now.

Oh, and the day after the Christmas tree farm my mother, middle sister, and I went to the Dallas Arboretum for our annual Holiday Tea visit.  We've had a few freezes in the past month, so everything wasn't still (creepily) blooming in December like last year when we went. It was still a beautiful day though.

I am hereby putting a new camera on my Christmas wish list since I took about 15 pictures while were were at tea and this is the only one that turned out unhorribly.

And it's just a shot of the decorations in the room. I guess my six year old camera is as obsolete as my six year old desktop.

And just because (I've turned into a crazy dog owner), I tried to take a picture of Reggie with a Santa hat and beard. Yes, I've become one of "those people." And I want to say that I have no idea how people manage to pull this off, because even my mild mannered, lazy dog simply was not having it. Actually, it was easy to get it on his head, but how do people get their pets to sit still long enough for a posed picture?

Happy Halloween?

Wow, it's pretty late for a Halloween post. Despite having the day off, I did absolutely nothing for Halloween. However, my sisters sent me pictures of their kids dressed up, so I still got to experience one of the best parts of Halloween without leaving the comfort of my own home.

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My mom threw her annual Halloween themed Bunco party a few weeks ago. Since her last one was such a success, she went over and beyond this year to try to top it. Every square inch of her house was decorated. There was even a fake graveyard in the the front lawn. Everyone wore costumes to the party and while most of the middle aged housewives chose something subdued or cutesy, my sister went full on zombie. 

And I did her makeup. It was 10 minutes before people were supposed to be showing up and she let me know that I was going to do her makeup. Thankfully, zombie makeup is really easy. Just put on regular makeup very very badly. 

10 minutes before the start of any party my mom throws is always frantic. It doesn't matter how many hours, days, weeks, she spends preparing. We are always running around throwing everything together until the moment people start walking in the door. 

I wanted to take some pictures of the pretty table settings like last year, but they turned out pretty bad because 1: I was in a hurry 2: my cell phone camera gets worse every year. Behold.

And here's a good example of how overboard my mom likes to go with these things: the different rooms in the house had different themes. The living room was witches, the dining room spiders, and the spare bedroom: zombies. This was the centerpiece of the room.

I have no idea how much this thing cost, but it's motion activated and rocks back and forth and sings to its little zombie child. This is haunted house quality stuff.
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Since it took up a large portion of my week off, I feel I should mention that I participated in my annual Autumn Repainting of One Side of my House last week. It only took three days, which seems pretty good ,since I didn't start working on it until after noon every day and the first time I painted a side of the house it took me a full seven days. Yeah, I know it's sad. But now I feel like I finally know a little about what I'm doing (and it only took me 4 years!)

Day one: scrape old paint, wash off dirt and gunk, caulk, NO SPACKLE
Day two: prime and paint
Day three: paint trim and clean up
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I use a good, old fashioned paper wall calendar to keep up with bills, birthdays, reminders, etc. Thanks to a printing error on my calendar, all year I thought that I had to work on Thanksgiving, which didn't surprise me much since I've worked every Thanksgiving since I graduated college. 

Guys, November 21st is not Thanksgiving Day. This calendar is a liar. It's the following Thursday and I have the day off! I was excited for a few minutes before realizing that between Perry's family and my own I will be sitting at a dinner table having awkward extended family conversation all day. 

October so far

Here's all the happenings in my life lately both large and small:
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I finally found a grocery store that carries figs. At my old job, I had a co-worker who had a fig tree and would give me some every summer. Since I no longer work at that hospital, my summers have been fig-less. Until now. Apparently figs are a terribly finicky and seasonal item, so I was pretty excited when I visited the same store three times in the course of two months and they had figs every time. 

But, no figs were to be found last week. However, before I could even be sad about it, I saw that they had the season's first McIntosh apples out and I was instantly excited again.
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Perry continues to solider through his first year of teaching. He puts in fairly long hours and it's unusual for him to get home before 7 p.m. He's not afraid to get involved in a lot of after school and weekend activities, and he even started a club a few weeks ago. I can tell he really enjoys certain parts of his job.

So, he got to dress up as Slender Man for school one day.

But then there's other parts of his job I can tell are really stressing him out. Physics isn't really his subject and I know he'd much rather be teaching biology or chemistry. He's putting a lot of pressure on himself to be this super inspirational, all-knowing, loved by everyone kind of teacher but I kind of feel that with it being his first year, he should focus more on just surviving as being an indicator of success.

Part of me is glad that he's found something that he cares about so much and is so passionate about, but an equally large part of me wishes he would just cut himself some slack and maybe phone it in for a few days. The world would not end. I'm pretty sure, anyway.
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My middle sister graduated from her diagnostic sonography program!

niece, sister, nephew, dear brother

Well, almost. She officially graduates in about two months, but the school she goes to has a bunch of other programs (medical assistant, dental hygienist, etc) and instead of having several small graduations, they pick a date and just have one large one.  It was still nice to see her so close to completion, and I'm sure she's really excited about being done too. She moved back in with my parents so she could go back to school and I think she's more than ready to be back out on her own again. Not that my parents are awful or anything, it's just hard to live on your own and then...not.
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Stage one of fall has hit in Texas. Highs are about 85 instead of 95. It's pretty wonderful. The best part is all the rain we've been getting. It's like having a second spring. The grass is alive again and a lot of the flowers and shrubs have started blooming. The Texas sage bushes I have by the house have erupted with hundreds of purple flowers. There are so many bees attracted by them that when you walk by, it sounds like the bushes are humming.

The majority of the insects in the sage are bees, but there were a few butterflies also. And like a crocodile in a watering hole, I saw this guy waiting patiently for easy pickings.

I imagine it was a great opportunity for him. Being so nicely camouflaged and with this prey being preoccupied, all he would have to do is wait for a butterfly or bee to visit a nearby flower for a meal.

There's something about praying mantises I really like. They look so interesting and alien.  It seems odd to have a favorite insect, but if I had to pick one, they would be it. Sorry, butterflies and lady bugs.
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A few weeks ago I received my very first jury summons. I was actually excited to go and hoping so much that I would get picked that I rescheduled it so I could go on my week off of work. Crazy? Maybe. I didn't get picked though. I just sat in a large room watching The Today Show for a few hours and then was dismissed.
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I haven't drawn anything in so long, last week I decided to make a point to sit down with some paper and markers and see if anything would even happen.

 And look. I got some weird birds out of it. So, that should do it for drawing for a while.

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My youngest sister and her boyfriend came up from College Station to see a concert with me and Perry. Her boyfriend just happens to have similar taste in music to me and seeing a concert makes such a nice excuse form them to come and visit.  

It was raining that evening, but thankfully the show was indoors. This was actually my third time to see Queens of the Stone Age live. There's nothing else to really say, other than they were fantastic, as usual.

the time of your life

Last week Perry was telling me a story about his workday wherein he said to his class of high school juniors that overused platitude "These are the best years of your life." 

10th grade Amy's reaction to said platitude.

"Really?" I asked him. I hated when I was told that by a few of my own high school teachers. High school wasn't exactly that great for me, and if I had honestly believed that it would be my lifetime's highlight, it would have been quite depressing.

I was surprised that he had said this since I know he had some very rough times himself when he was in high school, so I asked him to explain. He followed up with what I expected: "You don't have any responsibilities. No job. No bills."

Not exactly a bad time here.

More people are using the "best years of your life" label on their university years now, but I suppose the reasoning behind it is the same: little to no responsibilities (and the added bonus of no parental supervision.)

I've never agreed with the idea that less responsibilities = more happiness. I would much rather go to work every day and pay my own way than have to follow someone else's rules. I don't think responsibilities have to mean stress or unpleasantness.

If you'd ask me what the best time of my life was, I'd say now. Right now. Since I've graduated from university every year has gotten easier for me, which I almost completely attribute to having the means (money) to do as I please and live my life on my own terms.

I wouldn't say that I had a terribly unpleasant childhood. I was well provided for, healthy, and had some very good friends. However, I couldn't say that my childhood was idyllic either. My father had anger issues, and only when looking back years later, I can see that he had a drinking problem also. My parents both worked full time jobs an hour away, and much of my later childhood years were spent taking care of my three younger siblings: getting them up and ready for school and after school making dinner, packing lunches, and making sure baths were taken and teeth were brushed. So, from the age of 12 on I couldn't say that I had "no responsibilities". 

Faking it.

Oh, and college. Almost all of the time I wasn't in a classroom, I was studying or working. I was broke and sleep deprived all five years.  I have never been so exhausted in my entire life.

Not faking it.

Sure high school and college had their good times. I made some friends. Had some fun experiences. Started figuring myself and the world out a bit. But oh, god. Would I want to do it again? No. No. No.

I hope you like hearing about birthdays

Well, I didn't intend to take such a long break between posts. I wouldn't say that I've been terribly busy or anything. I just got out of the habit. So...anyway...

I turned 31 a few weeks ago. Huzzah! I was fortunate enough to not have to work on my birthday. I celebrated by going out to eat (twice). I had lunch with my brother (who just happened to buy himself a beautiful new silver truck earlier in the day) and dinner with Perry. And the next day Perry's parents took me to another restaurant. And the following day I went to my parent's house where they cooked me an extremely large dinner. Earlier in the month during my annual physical, my doctor told me I should start exercising because "on average people in their 30's and 40's gain 3 pounds a year." I remember thinking. "Sure, doctor. Citation needed. That sounds like a bit much." However, over the course of my birthday weekend I think I fulfilled my yearly weight gain quota. At least I got it out of the way early. Right?

Two of my birthday gifts left me feeling a bit old: a mp3 player and a Kindle Fire. First, let me explain the mp3 player. I already had one, but I put a new one on my birthday wish list because I had lost the charging cable for my old one. When I turned to the internet for a replacement one, it turns out they no longer make charging cables for obsolete, five-year-old 1 GB mp3 players. I only used the little guy when I mowed the lawn, so 1 GB of music seemed like enough. With my new mp3 player I have the ability to put my entire music collection on it, which is something most people under 40 did ages ago. I still only have about half of my CDs transferred to it. It has turned out to be a bigger job than I was expecting. Now the 6 disc CD player in my car seems embarrassing.

Oh and the Kindle Fire. Perry was having a jolly old time laughing at my expense while I sat on the couch next to him and tried to navigate a touch screen for the first time. I shouldn't really say "the first time." We have touch screens on some of the instruments in the lab. But they're more of "push a box on the screen and it takes you to a menu" kind of touch screen, not the rolly, slidey, zoom in/out, touch screens on most people's phones nowadays. Two weeks later and I feel like I've gotten the hang of it. During my work week I usually spend the last hour of my day in bed reading. Now I spend the last hour of my day in bed watching fluffy costume dramas set in England on Amazon Prime.

 

 So many corsets and complicated updos. So many tears and unrequited loves. It's wonderful.

I do intend to use my Kindle for reading books too. Eventually. I just happened to get some physical paper books and comics (I'm in the middle of the Sandman series right now) for my birthday, so I want to finish all of those first, which could take some time. I am still in love with physical vs. digital things. I still like buying CDs, even though I know it isn't necessary or really practical anymore. I think physical books will be harder for me to give up though.

I want to mention that this Kindle was the first gift I've gotten in a long time that genuinely surprised me. For a while now, if I really want something, I'll just budget for it and buy it. I've wanted a Kindle for a year now, but never quite got around to the whole budgeting for it thing. I would get a windfall, but then something would come up like hey, we bought a dog, or I need to pay for vacation. Buying nice clothes for Perry's new job and supplies for his classroom really obliterated any ideas I had for some fun discretionary spending in the near future. I don't think of myself as hard up for cash, but up until very recently I was a single person (with a single income) that owns their own house. If something breaks and needs fixing, I need to have the money to fix it. So there's a set amount of money I have saved that I just won't touch. Kindle be damned. Besides it being a bit pricey, I hadn't mentioned wanting one in a while, so I was very surprised when Perry's parent's gave me one for my birthday. I think they like me.

I guess this will end up being a birthday post, because I also want to mention that my one and only brother had a birthday earlier this month too. I had to work that day, but he said he had a good time celebrating with the rest of the family. I got a phone for him since the phone he had would turn off  and freeze randomly and only 75% of the buttons on the keypad functioned properly. Yet he still carried around the phone in this state for a good two months, because according to him it wasn't really broken since he could still sorta kinda text on it. My dear brother will buy a new truck to replace one that's only one year old, but $30 for a new phone? Nah. Not when the one he has hasn't burst into flames yet.

Since my brother is also a Game of Thrones fan and is perpetually single, I got him this shirt too.

He immediately put it on as soon as he opened the package. He has a good sense of humor about these things, really.


And, finally, last weekend Perry and I went to a party for his grandfather's 70th birthday. Perry and I have been dating for over three years. That's three years worth of Thanksgiving dinners, graduations, birthdays, Christmas parties, and family reunions, and I have yet to meet all of his family. At this get together, I recognized less than half the people. I still inwardly cringe a bit when meeting new people and dislike the awkward, ice breaker, small talk that always ensues. For example, I've been in my profession for almost ten years now and I still don't think I have a suitable answer for when people ask me "So, what do you do?" I've answered before with my exact job title "I'm a medical laboratory scientist." but that normally just leads to a pause and either a follow up "So what does that mean?" or the equivalent of "That's nice, dear." At this function I tried to just answer with "I work in a lab" but that generated just as many questions as the medical scientist bit. I think I just need to resign myself to the idea that I'll never have to answer one question about my job, but several. I'm 31. I need to learn how to socialize properly eventually, right?

Also, if you're wondering what to buy a 70 year old, apparently the answer is gag gifts. At least that's the answer in Perry's family. His grandpa is a bit of a gambler, so we got him some lottery scratch off cards (which I now realize was the first time I've ever bought lottery tickets). I like Perry's grandfather. He reminds me of my father and grandfather a lot. Grumpy, outspoken, and inappropriate at most times, but with a soft, cuddly, teddy bear center.

michigan

Every summer my father and whoever else can tag along, goes up to Michigan to visit relatives for a week or so. I haven't gone the past two years, so I decided I shouldn't pass it up this time. Actually, it took the full two years to get a desire to go back up there again. My father always drives there and it's a loooong drive. About 20 hours. And then we stay in my grandmother's tiny two bedroom cabin on the edge of a forest. The shower only has enough room for you to stand in one spot and twirl around. And it's at least an hour drive from anything. But since we moved to Texas, this annual trip is my only opportunity to see my grandmother.

The area around her house is really beautiful. Here's my grandma's back yard.

 

 I found it odd how quiet the forest was. I expected to hear a lot of birds and squirrels and whatnot but there was nothing except some cicadas buzzing. I took a few walks and my grandmother's dog ended up following me.

It's funny how she looks wild and wolf-like in this picture, but in actuality she's a 90 pound tub o' lard. My brother and I were given two single beds in the basement to sleep in. On our second night I heard that husky husky waddling down the stairs and then smelled a smelly smell. She had left a turd right next to my bed. I had to sleep on the couch upstairs the rest of the night. My brother, toughed it out for about 20 minutes until he relocated to the recliner upstairs. I always knew he was lazy but 20 minutes? That's dedication to laziness. Even my grandma's dog had enough sense to leave the basement promptly after doing her business.

And to change topics abruptly: here's a picture I took of a lake we drove by. 

Or should I say one of the numerous lakes we drove by. There are lots of lakes and rivers near where we were. Normally we go canoeing on the Pine River, but it was too cold. Our first two days in Michigan the high was 62. I packed a sweater "just in case" and I ended up wearing it every day.

My grandma has cable, which we watched to kill some time after it got dark. I've talked about why I don't have cable before: it's bad for me and I have no self control. This is still the case. We watched Fast and Loud, Gator Boys, and Naked and Afraid almost every evening. I hate myself.

And that was my vacation.

my days off

 It's my dad's birthday this weekend, but since I have to work, I made him a cake last weekend to celebrate early. I make him the same cake almost every year: a yellow cake with vanilla whip cream icing and lots of sweetened shredded coconut everywhere. He's a big fan of coconut.

There are a few foods that I have a problem with not because of the flavor, but because of the texture. Shredded coconut is one of them. The other most notable mentions are oatmeal, rice pudding, and soggy cereal. This cake is for my father's birthday but it still hurt a little when I pressed coconut into perfectly good icing and mixed coconut into unsullied cake batter. This is how he should know I love him.
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This is what my dining room table has looked like for the past two weeks:

And I feel like that's how it's going to stay until late August when school starts again. So far Perry and I have only made one trip to an office supply store to buy some classroom supplies and I can already see that this is going to get expensive. Perry won't start getting paid until September, so I don't know how new teachers are expected to come up with the money to buy all of these things. Is it considered along the same lines as having to buy nice clothes for an interview before you have a job?

I've gone with Perry once to see his new classroom and it's going to take several more trips to get it cleaned and organized. There's a lot of throwing out to do since the teacher that had the classroom prior to him was a bit of a pack rat. Four people mistakenly thought I was the new teacher when they saw us together cleaning out the room. I thought it was because I'm older, but Perry says it's because I'm a girl.

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I visited my parents and nephew like I do every weekend I'm off. My nephew was making paper swords at the kitchen table, so I sat down next to him and made him a crown to go with it. Less than 10 minutes later he was ordering me to attach a helmet to the crown so he could be a prince knight and had devised a rather elaborate system of "leveling up" crowns.

For each enemy he defeats he would get a jewel affixed on his crown until it was full and then he would level up to the next crown until it too was jewel encrusted. Most of the time I see him, he just wants to play Pokemon on his DS, so it was nice to do something aunt-like with him, even if it was just holding up a paper dragon while he threw a paper sword at it.

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This summer hasn't been very hot at all. Just a few days in the 100's and we're almost done with July. It's been really dry though. My mom stopped by my house to pick up the mail when I was on vacation and she mentioned this weekend how "crispy" my lawn looked. Well la-dee-dah. I've had a lawn for over 5 years now and I still don't get the allure of an eternally green lawn. It's summer. Grass dies in the summer. It comes back in fall. It dies in winter. It comes back in spring. It's the circle of life. And it seems like a waste of water and time to fight it. I'll water something new I've planted for the first year and after thats it's on its own. If it can't handle the Texas summer, 'twas not meant to be in my yard.

texas sage was meant to be in my yard

Back to the point, I was saying how dry it has been...but then it rained for almost four days straight. My lawn is no longer crispy and the temperatures have been hanging around the low 90's.  Best summer ever?

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I woke up last night because the ceiling fan kicked off and I found out the power was out in half of my house. I got dressed, checked the breaker box, found my electric company's number, and was forced to listen to Matthew McConaughey talking with his aw shucks southern drawl while I was on hold (that didn't even turn out to be my lowest point). They gave me another phone number to call and told me that if there wasn't really a problem (?) that I would be charged $50 for having them come out to check my power. Um. Ok. So I called the other number which was automated and put in a work order. Then since my dog Reggie heard me up, he decided he needed to go outside and pee. While we were outside a large mysterious winged insect flew into my hair and I whipped my head back and forth (name that song) so furiously my glasses went flying off my head and into the mud.  By the time I got back in the house the power was back on. Well, shit, I'm not paying $50 if they come to my house and see there's nothing wrong with the power. So I called the phone number again, but it is completely automated and no amount of pounding the zero button is going to make a real live human start talking. In fact by pushing all of the buttons I think I created another work order. So I called my power company again and they said tough shit, that's the only phone number we have, so I accepted defeat and went back to bed. When I woke up the power was 100% out in my house, not 50% and I was so happy since that means I don't have to pay $50. Actually, no. I was hot and angry. And that was my morning.

san antonio

Perry and I recently got back from a four day trip to San Antonio. Since I work 7 days on/7 days off and Perry will have summers off being a school teacher, we have big summer vacation dreams in the future. But that's still the future. Right now we're a single income household and a 5 hour road trip is as extravagant as we can comfortably get. Since the room at the bed and breakfast I booked had a extra bedroom attached and my dear sister just happens to live on the way down, we invited her and her boyfriend to come along too.

I have a confession to make that's rather awkward. I don't do well on vacations. I enjoy planning vacations. New places to see, new foods to eat, new things to do. But there's always a point in every vacation I can remember where I feel extremely...well I don't know. Irritated isn't really the word for it, it's more of a general feeling of unhappiness, loneliness even. Crowds of people make me feel lonely. After a while the unfamiliar seems draining. So much to see that I can never see, so many people I will never know, my small life seeming smaller by the vastness of the world. There's something depressing about seeing an image in a picture and then seeing it in actuality before you and thinking "Huh. Yep. Exactly like the picture." I expect to feel something more and when I don't, I feel wrong and hollow. So much moving around and so little...experiencing. I know vacation is not the best time to have an existential crisis, but there you have it. No matter how excited I may be about a trip I am always incredibly excited to go back home, to my own well worn corner of the Earth, filled with the things I know and love. Have a mentioned that I'm an introvert?

I've gone on a bit, but all I mean to say is this trip was no different from all the rest. I've come to realize that these feeling will pop up on any journey I take, so I acknowledge them and put on a happy face until they wane. Which they always do.

Now here are some pictures. Because that's what vacation posts are about, not whining.


We visited Mission San Jose. I've already seen it twice, but I really love this place, so when our bus tour went by we hopped off for some pictures.

 See? Beautiful.

 The day after our bus tour, we visited the zoo. I don't think I've ever seen a scarlet ibis before, but I recognized them immediately from the illustration in a book of short stories we had to read in middle school. The story with the scarlet ibis was...The Scarlet Ibis. That story scarred me, so I still remembered the picture after all this time.

 And here's a green mamba, from The Poisonwood Bible.

 But since I don't take pictures of animals solely because of the roles they played in literature, here's a hippo.

Taking pictures of your food is lame unless it's of the best sushi you've had in your entire life and you want to document it. Here's Perry's:

Those rolls in in the red sauce may have been the best thing I've ever eaten. Ever. Oh and see the milky looking sake? Perry got drunk. He drinks alcohol about twice a year and had a BMI of 17. It doesn't take much to get him drunk.

Here's my bento.

They served it with two small salads instead of the typical fried roll and wonton. It was so good.

We ate a lot of good food on our trip. I thought we would be eating almost exclusively Tex-Mex since we were in San Antonio but we only had Mexican food for one meal. I went to San Antonio once with my mother and all we ate was Mexican food: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We became so enamored with one restaurant we ate there at least once a day. At least.

And since we were at San Antonio we had to see the Alamo.

Yeah, we didn't know what was going on either. It turns out they were holding a promotion for a boxing match in front of the Alamo. Which seems strange. Oh and there were numerous groups of Christians with backpacks everywhere. Every. Where. It turns out there was some kind of church youth group meet up that week.

My sister and I went back to the Alamo a day later around sunset to take a ghost tour (no judging). And here's a much better photo I took while we were waiting for it to start.

That may have actually been my favorite part of the trip. No, not the ghost tour. But sitting in front of the Alamo on a stone bench eating a snow cone and talking with my sister.

It occurs to me that I'm not the first person to be disillusioned with vacations. Modest Mouse did say "we are the places that we wanted to go." I wonder if that's what was meant.