Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Texas vs New Mexico

A Texan and a New Mexican are sitting in a bar.

The Texan tells the New Mexican "Where I come from, the ranches are so big you can get in your truck in the morning, drive all day, and by sunset, you still haven't made it to the other end."

The New Mexican says "Yeah, I have a truck like that too."

Friday, December 7, 2012

Connecting the Dots

I was looking on Facebook today, and noticed a comment from someone I met when I first moved to San Antonio. I clicked on her profile, just to see what she was up to (yes, I Facebook stalk. It’s not a crime!), and I saw that she now has two kids! What the heck? She was just about to get married when I met her. Then I realized that I have lived in San Antonio for four and half years. That’s a really long time! It seems like it wasn’t very long ago that I pulled into town with everything I owned in a UHaul truck. The chain of events that brought me here is so crazy.

Everything happened so fast, I was here before I really had a chance to think about it. One morning I woke up and realized that I lived in Texas. I. Lived. In. TEXAS. It took a few months for that to really sink in! (It also took a few months to get over the disappointment that my chances of meeting George Strait hadn’t significantly increased…)

My favorite memory from moving here (other than my dad taking a Greyhound bus to Phoenix so he could drive my UHaul back to San Antonio – Love you pops!!) is rolling into town in the afternoon, finding my new house, and before we unpacked anything we went down to the Riverwalk. The weather was muggy and exotic feeling (Growing up in the dry desert, I associated mugginess with exoticness. Now I just associate it with bad hair days!!), and the whole river was packed with people having fun. The atmosphere was amazing, and I just couldn’t believe that I lived in such a cool place. I’m still as in love with the river as I was that day!

I had a few freak outs (mostly related to getting lost every time I left the house, seriously Texas, what’s up with these roads??), a few mornings when I woke up and wondered why the heck I had moved a thousand miles away from anyone I knew, but overall, moving here was one of the best things I have EVER done.

Looking back at the last four and a half years, I see how everything fell into place just like it was supposed to. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:

“You can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.”

Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Address, 2005

Monday, December 3, 2012

Poor People Don't Have Microwaves

I've still been thinking a lot about deserving things. I hear a lot of people complain about not having enough money, and I feel like that myself a lot. Whenever I get to feeling like I don't have enough, I always remember something my Young Women's leader told us many years ago.

She was complaining to her mom about how tired she was of being poor, and her mom told her "Honey, you're not poor. Poor people don't have microwaves." Of course, this was a really long time ago when microwaves were a lot more expensive, but the message has stuck with me all these years. Even if I don't have everything I want (and who does, really?) I still have more than most!

If I were really poor, I wouldn't:

  • Have cable TV.
  • Go out to eat.
  • Have a cell phone, or at least not with a data plan!
  • Have a car. I would ride the bus or walk or get a ride.
  • Have a warm home in the Winter and a cool home in the Summer.
  • Have the internet at home. I would use the library.
And if you really are feeling poor, but are still doing all the above, maybe it's time to stop doing those things and save your money!! 

If you still feel like you don't have enough, try this statistic on for size:


Saturday, December 1, 2012

Time Flies

Ok, seriously, is it already December?? How did this happen?? It's almost Christmas!

We got out our Christmas tree last weekend. It was a breeze to put up (I want to kiss whoever invented pre lit trees. On the lips. Possibly with tongue.) and might be the world's most perfect fake tree. It has LED lights (hello energy savings!) and it has both white AND colored lights. For someone with decorating commitment issues like mine, that is a huge plus! And all we had to do was take it out of the box, put the three sections together, and fluff!

We went to Hallmark on Monday to get our yearly ornament, and also snagged a "New House" ornament! I loved looking at the Baby's First Christmas ornaments. I can't wait to buy one for next year!

When we got home from Hallmark we started decorating the tree, but then we ran out of ornament hooks, and our new favorite show came on, and we were both tired, so we stopped decorating. And we haven't started it up again... So in addition to all of our unpacked regular boxes, we also have half unpacked Christmas boxes laying around. I've decided it's my new decorating style. I'm going to call it Just Moved In Chic. Luckily the boxes totally go with our wall color, so I think it's really working for us!

Baby (who is still without a name for now) is doing well. At my last appointment she weighed over two pounds! They were trying to check on a little spot they found on the heart, but she was all curled up and wouldn't move (she's stubborn. Of course she gets that from Steve, not me!!), so I get to have another one in a month or so. I'm fine with that, I love seeing her! I'm still feeling really good. My back hurts if I overdo it, so I wear grandma shoes every day and spend quality time with my back massager. I also developed pregnancy induced carpal tunnel syndrome... It's annoying, but as long as I wear my wrist braces at night and drink enough water, it doesn't get too bad.

Our calendar is jam packed full until after Christmas. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with everything that still needs to be done! Luckily my sister Jalenna is coming to stay with us in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to having a full time slave for a while. She said she would work for food. Which is fine with me, my whole life is an all you can eat buffet!