Day 1: Still Friendly

It's the end of our first day of travel and my friend Steve and I are in Kerrville, TX, staying in the same hotel I stayed in when I came east a little over four years ago. It's part of the German part of Texas, about a 6 hour drive from Houston. We took someone's advice and drove through Austin instead of San Antonio; not only did we save some time, we also saw a really cool, bustling college town and had lunch at a great little cafe.

While Steve and I have many differences of opinion and each tend to feel that our opinion is the right one, and while we do bicker a bit, we still enjoy each other's company. At least for a while.  :)  As of tonight, we are still friendly with one another. If I had some kind of gauge gadget, I'd put one up so you could watch it move around as the trip goes on!

We are currently trying to figure out how to see some of the places we've been exhorted to see and yet get home within a reasonable amount of time and without either driving for only u hours or for 10 (breaks not included). And there are a lot of in-between places that have no amenities or even small towns, so there is a lot of checking Google maps for towns and distances and our phone apps for places to stay.

I've gotten everything done except turn off my electricity. I really have to do that now. Last time I didn't and I got dinged quite a bit for electricity used by the next renters.  :(  So tomorrow, while I'm riding shotgun, I'll have to call the electric company and turn off my account.

We got started a day later than expected because I couldn't arrange a cleaner for the day after the movers came. It gave Steve and I the opportunity to see a couple of my friends and to do a lot of last-minute errands, and the next day we fit in quite a bit of stuff before collapsing.  And I found out that I was getting sunburned through the car windows, so I am now using Steve's SPF 50 sunscreen on my arms and the back of my neck, with my 25 SPF moisturizer on my face, neck and chest. I don't seem to have any sunburn today!

We've been eating a lot of desserts. Now we are going to be in a car all day for several more days. We plan to make some stops to see some scenic sites and take some pictures and walk around, but we cannot eat lots of sweets and drive the car and not expect to gain weight. And I really like the weight I've lost, thank you very much. Even if it is from stress! So today I had half of a huge salad before splitting a slice of tiramisu. (I was going to finish the salad tonight, but all I really wanted was a bit of yogurt. My bodily systems don't exactly travel well.)

It's late and I have to go to sleep, so I'm not going to take the time to upload the picture of the little cafe we ate at. I'll upload it tomorrow night, along with a picture of the gorgeous courtyard of our hotel that I will take tomorrow when it's light.

Stay with me. The day after tomorrow, we may visit White Sands, New Mexico and have some lovely pictures from there. And two days after that will be Joshua Tree National Park. So stay tuned and see what we truly end up doing!

Catching Up

Movement and power

It's been a while since I blogged, I know. I just haven't felt like blogging and haven't had much in mind other than moving. I even run out of things to say in therapy that aren't about moving. But my therapist, brilliant as she is, can tease knowledge and learning out of any aspect of my life.

For example, for several weeks, I went in to therapy feeling overwhelmed and stuck, not getting much done and not feeling as if I could get anything done. My therapist pointed out I was feeling like a victim of my feelings and my circumstance and feeling powerless. That I needed to remember I had other options for how to feel and what to do, that I indeed had power over my situation and myself. Then I started to accomplish a few things, and that started me feeling more powerful and like I could get even more done.

My friend Deb has taken on the task of "nudging" me daily to see what I plan to do and what I've done. I seldom do everything on my list, and I continue to take naps that disrupt my day and my flow of activity, but I am accomplishing things and Deb's nudging helps a great deal.

I had my organizer back to help me organize things for the move: pack a few things, sort a lot of things, and get rid of a lot of things to charity. That helped me so much that I can now see how my friend Sierra and I will be able to pack the whole place when she gets here this week to help me (yay!). And I still have things to take to donate; I don't want to take the time to try to sell them. At this point, I'll just wait until Sierra can help me.

A Blog Award!

My friend Delia nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award. Thanks Delia!

I've been nominated for a couple of other awards in the past and always flaked out on doing my part, so I swore I'd do the next one that came along.

The Liebster Award requires the following (which I snagged directly from Delia's post):

1. You must tell 11 things about yourself
2. Answer the questions your nominator gives you.
3. Create 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate.
4. Choose new blogs with fewer than 200 followers and link them to your post.
5. If you're nominated, please leave a comment on this post with the URL of  your Liebster Award post.

I'm going to do what Delia did, to avoid an excessively long post, and say that number 2 fulfills the requirements for number 1, also.

Here goes, my answers to Delia's questions.

1. What is your preferred beverage?

Tea, preferably black tea with a little bit of milk. My favorite tea is Kenilworth Estate Ceylon. Why yes, I am a bit of a tea snob!

2. Are you afraid of any animals?

Um, I'm afraid of many animals. But my fear of dogs has eased and I don't go swimming in the ocean and so am not going to get bitten by a shark. So I would have to say cows. Yes, I am afraid of cows. They are very large and they don't give way if you are walking through a herd of them. They don't even seem to like to give way to cars. Plus, when I stayed at a bed & breakfast in North Wales many years ago, the owner told me how cows with calves are much more aggressive than bulls and she was chased right up to a wall by one (she herself went over the wall).

3. Would you ever go hang-gliding?

I don't think so. I like the idea, but there's nothing to prevent you from dropping like a rock if something goes wrong. At least when I went bungee jumping, I was tethered firmly to the bridge!

4. Country, city, or suburbs?

Suburbs or edge of the city. I like to have neighbors, but not right in my face.

5. What is the easiest way to make you laugh?

Act goofy or surprise me in a happy way.

6. Do you enjoy a good cry?

Not really, even though sometimes I feel better afterward.

7. Are you multi-lingual?

Nope. I know bits and pieces of German and Welsh, as well as many word roots from Latin and Greek, but am not fluent in anything but English.

8. How often do you read for pleasure?

Depends. When I am going through a major reading phase, I'll read every day, sometimes all day long. When I'm stressed like I am for my move right now, I only read maybe once a week or less often. And I generally read a lot more during the winter.

9. Can you do anything crafty (sewing, knitting, woodwork, etc.)?

I crochet fairly well. I draw and paint a little. And a friend is teaching me to knit. I did some wood carving in a class once and did very well. I think that some day I'd like to do more of that.

10. What was the worst thing you've ever tried?

That's a very open question. Do you mean an action, or a situation, or something to eat? I'll say The Zipper, a carnival ride. Almost lost my cookies on that and it wasn't fun in the least.

11. Johnny Depp or Sam Elliot?

Johnny Depp.


Wow, those were some thoughtful questions.

My 11 questions for the people I'm nominating are:

1. If you could go anywhere in the world for a long visit, say three to six months, where would you go?
2. What's your favorite kind of movie to watch?
3. If money were no object, what kind of home would you have?
4. Have you ever wanted to be in movies or on TV?
5. What is your dream job?
6. Do you prefer to wear dresses/skirts or pants?
7. What is your favorite kind of weather?
8. Do you like to work with your hands? If so, doing what?
9. Do you prefer to drive or be driven?
10. What's the weirdest thing you've ever done?
11. Do you prefer to shop at stores, through catalogs, or over the internet?

And, I'm nominating the following three people:

Lora
London Mabel
Nan

Have fun!

As for the rest of you, pick a question from the list and answer it for the fun of it.