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Last summer Donald and I planted 4 Hydrangea bushes in the planter that we fixed up. They were blue and white and beautiful (though I completely forgot to take pictures to prove it) and then they were dead. In less than 3 weeks. I know squat about gardening, and as it turns out, mid-summer is not the greatest time to plant anything. Flowers and plants don’t like the 90-100 degree heat that I hardly notice. Oops.
I was too lazy to remove the dead plants, and just kept putting it off until spring, when I planned on putting in something new. And then suddenly I looked out back, and saw this:
Click the pictures for a close up view
They grew back! In full force! With flowers and everything! I cannot tell you how astonished I was.
The moral of the story is: Be lazy and your garden will flourish. Or something.
I turn 31 today, which for some reason is scarier to me than when I turned 30. I’m not sure why it’s scary, but it is. (95% of my friends are older than me, and they’re probably all scoffing while reading this, but you know you felt this way too once upon a time!)I know things don’t always work out the way you plan (Hello! My job!), but I still feel like I’m behind in the grand scheme of life. I’m 31 and have no kids, no job, and no house (technically, since we’re just renting). I know it’s not a competition or a race, but it still feels like I’m missing out.
The funny part is that despite the fact that I feel like I’m behind, and that I’m unemployed, I have never been happier. I have awesome friends and family, and an amazing man who loves me more than I ever thought anyone could. I have the time to do the things I want to do, like learning to cook, planting flowers, and line dancing. I am just plain happy.
I was taking a FREE line dancing class at a nearby senior center every Monday for the past month and a half. A little over a week ago I got an e-mail from the instructor informing me that someone had actually complained that I was not old enough to be in the class, and therefore I was not allowed to come back. Apparently, you need to be 50 to enter the senior center. (Might I point out that 50 isn’t even technically a senior citizen? Oh, sorry. Logic need not apply here.) I was angry at first, because it’s just a stupid rule. If the class was full, and I was taking a spot from an actual senior, then I might understand it a little. But the class isn’t even half full, and while I’m a large woman, I’m not so big that I take up more than my share of space. I wonder if it were a fee-based class would I still be kicked out? In that case I’d be providing money to the center, so I’m actually helping them, rather than using up their precious air for free. Now, I think it’s funny. I got kicked out of a line dance class because I’m not old enough. At 31.
I have years and years to buy a house, find a job, and have kids. I need to keep reminding myself of that. Because while I feel like I’m getting old, I guess I’m still not old enough for some things.
Last Thursday morning we piled into the car and headed off to the Colorado River for the first trip of the season. The river is one of my favorite places to be, and I had been looking forward to this trip for a long time. Normally we’re on the California side at Big River staying in a 5th wheel, but for this trip we tent camped up on the Arizona side at Buckskin Mountain State Park.
 I am not a fan of tent camping. I’m a bit of a princess in this aspect. But this was not the tent camping I expected. There were clean restrooms and showers close to the site, electrical hookups in every cabana (which is a little like a carport with some shelves for your stuff), and running water easily accessible. Everyone brought air mattresses, and Kathy & JG brought a mini-fridge for food, so it’s not like we were roughing it.
By mid-afternoon we were all unpacked, had the tents and canopies set up, and were ready to relax and hang out. We drove into Parker for a delicious dinner at El Sarape, one of the only Mexican restaurants I actually like eating at. The food is always good, but the service is usually terrible. Thankfully, it was a Thursday night on a quiet weekend, so we had no problems with the service at all. The food was good, as usual, and the company was great. We spent the rest of the night hanging out and chatting before going to bed.
Due to the sun, and the loudmouth birds nearby, we were awake by 7am on Friday morning. Those of you who know me well know that this is not my best time of day. I was cranky and tired, but I think I hid it well. We lazed around for part of the morning, and then packed the coolers and headed out to the boats. At this point there were 12 people in our group, and 4 boats. This was more than a little amusing to me. It worked out well that we had extra boats, however, as Jen and Red’s boat had some problems and had to be brought back and tied up. We drove up to Parker Dam and floated most of the way down river. We eventually ended up at the south dam where we anchored and hung out for a few hours. I’d never seen this part of the river before, as there’s a dam in between Big River and Parker Strip, and we’re usually south of it. Parker Strip is really busy and crowded, and kind of made me miss the (relative) quiet of Big River. We did have fun hanging out there, however. My friends are quite entertaining when they’re drunk. When we got back, we took turns playing Beans (just a simple bean bag toss game, that everyone is quite competitive about) and then settled down to eat dinner. Kathy & JG had purchased a brand new barbecue just for this trip, and on the drive there it managed to jump out of the back of the truck, missing both the truck and the boat they towed behind them, without making a sound. I still contend that a band of Fast & the Furious type barbecue thieves drove up next to them, lifted out the barbecue and drove off without notice. Sadly, I think the gust of wind theory is more likely. So they bought another barbecue and we all shared it for dinner. The food was delicious (it’s amazing how tasty a barbecued burger can be when you’re outdoors) and we spent the rest of the night just sitting around the fire pit making s’mores and waiting for the rest of our friends to arrive. (It took them 6 hours to make a 3 hour trip.) They finally arrived at around 1am, and I went to bed, though a bunch of them stayed up and were loud for a while longer.
Saturday was much like Friday. We were up at the crack of dawn (in my world) and drove down river to one of the many food places that you can dock your boat at. We had a nice breakfast and then went back to camp to pack the coolers for another day on the river. I discovered I failed Sunscreen 101 on Friday, when I saw that my foot had visible finger marks on it where I had put the sunscreen. Apparently I forgot to rub it in. I also missed a stripe on my inner arm, so that was a lovely shade of pink as well. I rock. I made sure to fix those lovely mistakes on Saturday, and ended the weekend with a light tan (which for my fair skin, was exactly what I wanted). The water was colder than I liked, so I spent much of the time alternating between sitting on the boat getting fried, and standing in the water trying not to shiver. When we got back to camp Saturday night, we barbecued steaks and chicken for dinner (and by “we” I mean everyone else did. Donald was tired and went to bed before we had dinner, so I just ate some of the chicken and salad that Kathy put in front of me). We passed the rest of the night around the fire pit, watching Claudia create a huge fire.
Sunday morning came early again, and most everyone was gone by 9. It seemed like such a waste of a day to me, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. Donald and I stayed to help Kathy & JG pull their boat out of the water, and the 4 of us left Buckskin around 11. We all had a really great weekend, and I’m looking forward to spending many more weekends at the river this summer.
Big thanks to Kathy & JG for letting everyone hang out on their boat all weekend, for feeding me on Saturday night, and for just being great friends. You guys are awesome!
Watching the Kings vs. Canucks game
Me: Wow. There are a lot of Vancouver fans there tonight.
Donald: That’s because they’re playing in Vancouver.
Me: Oh…
Donald: You’re so pretty.
Sometimes I amaze even myself.
- I started taking line dancing classes twice a week. I am having a blast and a half. Everyone there is wonderful and helpful and just so damn nice. It’s a great way to kill some time (and exercise!) while I’m out of work.
- My Ontario Reign didn’t make the playoffs this year. It was a fun hockey season though, and we became pretty good friends with the people in our section. I’m already looking forward to next year.
- My LA Kings, however, made the playoffs for the first time since 2002! I’m cautiously optimistic about their chances this year. I’m not sure we’ll make it to see a live playoff game, but you can bet I’ll be planted in front of the TV for them!
- My Anaheim Angels (no, I will not call them the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, because that’s the DUMBEST NAME EVER) started their season yesterday, and for the first time in my life, I was at the opening day game. It was awesome. We were two rows off the field, within shouting distance of Bobby Abreau. The Angels defeated the Twins 6-3, and the new halo was lit for the first time!
- I bought this to start keeping a record of all the new dishes that I cook. I love it. I’ve written most of the things I’ve made so far, as well as entered things I want to make in the future. It’s far easier than having a ton of loose pages of printed out recipes floating around my kitchen.
- I joined a book club of sorts, and am halfway through the first book, entitled “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion. I’m not going to lie, I don’t really like the book so far. But I’m going to keep at it because I’m hoping it gets better.
- I’m ditching my old (pre-3G) iPhone & AT&T this week in favor of a Motorola Droid and Verizon. I am so SO happy about this. The only negative about this move is that I can’t play Bejeweled Blitz from my phone anymore. I guess I’ll have to go back to playing online.
- I’ve discovered a slew of new (to me) blogs to read lately, and find myself spending a huge amount of time reading and thinking about different ideas and issues. This has also given me some ideas on how I want to improve my own blog and will hopefully prompt me to write a bit more often.
- In that same vein, I’m currently looking for some voice recognition software that I can use on my phone, because I’ve been spending a lot of time in my car (the line dance classes aren’t really near me) and I swear my best blog posts are written while I’m driving.
I think that’s it. What have you been up to lately?
Looking for a job is hell on your self-esteem. Between the unanswered applications, the lack of return calls, and the flat out rejection letters, it’s hard to stay upbeat and keep plugging away at it. I spend a lot of time on the edge of depression, trying to keep myself from losing my grip and plunging down. It sucks, but I’m managing.
The plus side of being unemployed:
- I got to watch a ton more Olympic coverage than I would have if I’d been working. (Granted, all the good stuff was on from 8-midnight, but at least I didn’t have to worry about staying up late and getting up early.)
- I get to spend hours online planning my new garden, and picking out which flowers will go where.
- I got to spend 4 days at a Line Dance Rally with my Grandma, who’s visiting from Ohio.
- I can avoid the after work rush at the stores because I can shop during the day.
- I can make complicated (for me) dinners from scratch.
- I can spend time with my sister when she comes for her weekly dinner.
- I can start my summer tan early, especially since it’s been so nice out lately.
I’m sure if I were working right now, I could think of 20 more things that I wish I could be doing. So, what do you working people wish you could be doing right now?
My Grandma and Grampa have an RV that they leave out here in California, and when they came out to visit, they’d stay for a two month stretch. It was always in March and April, and it always coincided with the Wilderness Line Dance Rally. It’s been a favorite event of my Grandma’s for years, and I’ve always wanted to go, but had to work. This is the first year she’s been able to come out since Grampa died, and since I’m still not working, I was able to go with her.
It’s held at the Wilderness Lakes RV Park, and consists of mostly retirees as the coordinators and participants. I was the youngest there by at least 20 years. It was 4 days of instruction and practice, combined with some social hours, and potluck dinners. They taught 2 or 3 dances every hour from 9 to noon, and then another 2 dances from 2-3. A group review was held from 3-5 to go over all the dances taught that day.
Let me tell you, those little old men and ladies kicked my young ass.
I was so exhausted by lunch on Monday that I had to take a cat nap before hitting the afternoon class. When I got home after the review (the RV park is about 40 minutes from me, so I commuted instead of staying with my Grandma), I passed out and took a three hour nap. And that was just the first day.
I managed to get through the next 3 days without napping, but not without pain. My calves and thighs and feet were screaming every day. I thought that I’d be able to handle it. I mean it’s line dancing, right? How hard can it be? Well, friends, it’s hard when you’re doing nothing but dancing for 6 hours a day, and are much more accustomed to a 30 minute treadmill stint, followed by 8 hours on the couch.
Despite all of the pain, I had an absolute blast all week. It was great spending time with my Grandma, and everyone there was incredibly nice and friendly. By Tuesday I’d met at LEAST 15 people who wanted me to come to classes with them, or who wanted me to talk to someone or another about finding a class in my area. I went into the week knowing 2 very basic line dances, and nothing else. People kept asking me how long I’d been dancing, or what classes I was taking, and were stunned when I said I didn’t dance. I just have a knack for it, I guess, since I picked up a lot of the harder dances without much trouble. (This amuses me greatly, as I’m known for tripping over my own feet while walking on a flat surface, and yet I had no problem doing complicated steps and turns.)
The best part, I think, was that it wasn’t just “Country” line dancing. We learned dances to songs by Elvis, Jason Mraz, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Manhattan Transfer, The Beatles, Andrea Boccelli, as well as a couple songs in Dutch and Spanish, and a slow version of Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” (performed by Mike Zito). The variety was great, and the teachers were phenomenal. If you had trouble on a particular move, they’d go over and over it until you got it. If you cornered them in the restroom with a question on a particular dance and where you were getting something wrong (which I may or may not have done), they were happy to help you right then and there. Even the other participants were awesome. I’d never taken a formal line dancing class before, so I had no idea what they meant when they said a “coaster step” or a “rocking chair” and now I can do those moves in my sleep, thanks to the people around me giving me a little extra help.
Since I still have a lot of free time to kill, I’m going to start taking line dance classes during the day. It’s great exercise, and while I might be the youngest by far, it’s still a ton of fun. And next year at the rally I won’t be the new girl who doesn’t know her shuffle steps from her step locks. I’ll just be one of the crowd.
The Life List – Part 1 can be found here.
- Own a home – It often bothers me that I’m almost 31 years old and I’ve never owned a home. Not even a condo. I’ve been a renter all my adult life. I know it’s not that big a deal, that I’m not alone, but still, it bothers me. So I’m putting it on my life list. Because dammit, I WILL accomplish this.
- Fill all my picture frames with pictures – I love picture frames. Collage frames, stand alone frames, black, silver, or colorful frames. I have a collection of frames. And yet, only half of them have pictures in them. I realized, after trying to fill some of my larger collage frames, that I just don’t have that many pictures of my friends and family. So I’ve been trying to take more pictures, so I have more to print out. But, since I hate having pictures taken of me, I find it hard to force others to stand still while I get a picture of them. I’m trying to work on that. (So if you have a favorite picture of you, send it to me! Then I don’t have to do the awkward “Can I take a picture of you, please?” thing, and everyone is happy.)
- Train For and run a 5K – I’m not trying to kid anyone: I’m fat. I’m not in great shape. I constantly start and stop exercise routines. If there was a way to exercise my body by only using my mind, I’d be super thin. Sadly, that doesn’t work. So, since I’m going to try hard to make this life list happen, I’m going to make myself put this on the list, even though I know it’ll be tough.If anyone wants to join me, I’ll be happy to have you.
- Send 1000 postcards – Since I joined Postcrossing, I have exchanged postcards with people from many countries, and I want to continue doing that. I love checking the mail every day to see if something new has arrived, almost as much as I like dropping off a stack of postcards at the post office.
- Take a ride in a hot air balloon - I’m afraid of heights. This isn’t a huge secret. But I want part of my life list to be things that challenge me to do something different. Hot air balloons are beautiful, so I’m picking that to try and conquer (or at least fight back at) my fear of heights.
- Watch ET: The Extra Terrestrial from start to finish – It’s a well documented fact that I’m irrationally terrified of this stupid movie. But someday I want to get past that and be a normal adult who can watch a kid movie without having an anxiety attack.
- Learn to snowboard – A huge chunk of my friends are snowboarders or skiers, and they always make it sound like such a great time. I’ve seen snow all of twice in my entire life, but I still think it would be fun to try. You won’t see me in the Olympics any time soon ever, but I’ll at least give it a shot.
- Have a lovely garden – I love flowers. All sizes, shapes, and colors. I’ve tried growing some of my own with a little success. Some have made it, and some didn’t. But I’m learning which thrive best in my area, and someday I’ll have a fabulous garden with lots of lovely plants and flowers.
- See a play on Broadway – It’s no secret that I love going to the theater. I’ve seen many different Broadway plays on tour, but I’ve never seen one actually on Broadway.
- Spend a week without electronics – Specifically a television, computer, laptop, phone, or anything that keeps me connected to the world. I want a week away from everything.
It’s taken me quite a while to come up with just 20 things to put on my list. What do you want to put on your list? Maybe we can trade ideas!
I’ve mentioned before that Mia sleeps all the time. Sometimes she just cuddles up with me, and other times she cuddles up with a toy. She and her cousin, Skeeter (my sister’s dog), have a particular affinity for frogs it seems:
The Mia & Frog  The Skeeter & Frog
It’s been a while since I’ve done a Mia Monday, and I thought it was about time to start again.
Mia spends 18 hours a day sleeping, it seems. She loves to crawl under any blanket available, and I usually leave one on the couch for her. She was under the covers and snuck out to watch me cook one afternoon. I guess I’m not an exciting cook, as she started falling asleep a few minutes later.
 You bore me to sleep, Momma.
I guess next time I should let her sample the food. I bet that keeps her awake.
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