Family

Roadtrip Day 1: Texas & New Mexico

Mom and I began our Crazy Summer Roadtrip A La Thelma And Louise But Without The Murders and Driving Off Cliffs this morning.(I’ve posted my photos on Flickr.) It’s funny how your perception of how long you’re spending in the car (or, I suppose, any mode of transportation) is relative to your total travel time. For instance, the 4-1/2 hour drive to Houston from Dallas seems to take absolutely forever, yet the eleven hours we spent in the car today seemed to go by fairly quickly, and I think that it’s because I know we have another three or four full days still to drive. So does 1/4 of a journey always feel like 1/4 of a journey, no matter how long that journey is? At any rate, we spent most of today in Texas. I’ve lived here my whole life (sigh) and I still marvel at the fact that one can drive literally all day and still be in this same damn state. That being said, West Texas skies are amazing. So big. Here is the route for today: 635 to 35 in Dallas.35 to 380 in Denton.380 to 287 in Decatur.287 to 40 in Amarillo.40 to 385 in Vega.385 to 87 in Dalhart.87 to 25 in Raton, NM.And 25 to Trinidad, CO, which is where we are right now. Just outside of Amarillo, we stopped at Cadillac Ranch. I have wanted to see Cadillac Ranch ever since I first heard of it years ago, and now I am very happy that I can cross this one off my Must Do Before I Die list. It seems a little less “larger than life” than I was expecting (Cadillacs 20 feet tall? Not so much), but it was still pretty cool. Normally I really like New Mexico, but today it […]

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ShinyGirl Across America

Our new web designer started at work this week. There’s a lot for him to absorb but he’s doing a fine job so far. I’m having to learn how to be a boss, which is kind of weird. I’m spending a lot of my time this week training him, and I’m not getting much of my own work done. However, after tomorrow I do not have to care for a week and a half. I’m leaving on a roadtrip with my mom from Dallas to Seattle. Two women, a hyperactive labrador retriever, and an angry cat, 5 days, 2500 miles. There was a slight change in plans last week, and now we are driving Mom’s comfy Honda Accord instead of Dad’s small-cab stick-shift pickup truck, with the dog in the middle and the cat carrier under the passenger’s feet! I plan to take lots of pictures, stop at weird roadside attractions, and blog from the road! Love you, laptop. 🙂

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Garage sale

Sorry for the two week hiatus. I just haven’t felt much like writing lately. Last weekend we held a garage sale. Mom and Dad, whose house is finally on the market in Houston in preparation for their move to Sequim this summer, brought up 3 vehicle-loads of stuff to sell over the past several weeks. Doc and I had some stuff too, and Brittney and Chris brought a few things over. Kat was sick and couldn’t come hang out, but she did make us the most fabulous purple-painted sparkly garage sale signs. I am certain they drew more business than standard signs would. I’ve decided that will be my last garage sale; they’re tiring and time-consuming and I really hate haggling with people who want to give you five cents for something that you’re asking $3, and which cost you $100 new. However, at garage sales you always meet interesting characters who purchase interesting items, and I make up little stories in my head about why they want what they want. I’ve always thought it would be interesting to be a checkout clerk at a supermarket for the same reason. Anyway, here are two examples of strange people we met: Mom was trying to sell a pair of lambswool nipple warmers (never used! new in package!) that were a gift from a New Zealander friend with a sense of humor. She also had a tiny flip calendar of penis art from around the world and through the ages, as well as a David (Michelangelo’s statue) puzzle and postcard, featuring the most important bit, and various other naughty things. Mom unloaded them all on a lady who was extremely chatty and asked us if any of us wanted to feel her recent lap-band surgery. Feel a stranger’s recent surgery scar? Sure, […]

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What have they done to my house?!

My parents sold the house I grew up in and moved several years ago. My mom was heartbroken — this was the house she’d raised her children in. I was sad to see my parents leave, of course, but I’d said goodbye to the house long before that. Seeing it turned over to another family wasn’t an overly emotional event for me at the time. However… it has been brought to my attention that this house is once again on the market, and through the magic of the Internets (a.k.a. a series of tubes), I found the realty company’s photos. Now, I fully realize it’s not my house anymore, I haven’t lived there since 1990 (well, and that brief period in 1994 after college). And I fully realize that all homeowners do things to houses to suit their own tastes, to make them uniquely theirs. But this is just making me sad. Look what they’ve done! The Disturbingly Ornate Antique Jampacked Christmas Fairy threw up all over the house!! And aren’t you supposed to, you know, put away most of your decor and things, and go kind of minimalist, if you’re trying to sell your house? I guess these people never heard that little tidbit of advice. Oh yes… this one was MY room. Now it’s junky floral — and it is a pretty damn small room for all the crap that’s apparently in it. Under that yellow paint are layers of pink (the original, when I was very small), light blue, black with Jackson Pollock white drops (when my parents went out of town for a week; boy did I get in trouble for that), and also paintings that both I and my youngest brother painted directly on the walls. My parents’ bedroom. Boy, that bed almost doesn’t fit, […]

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