• 15 minute posts,  gardening,  Slow Living,  The Desert,  the dogs,  the sticks,  The Zoo

    Hemet’s Not So Bad

    HemetsNotSoBad1

    It’s about time I popped back on here to tell you that I’m getting over my funk. Hemet is not so bad. I grew up here and there are so many things that I do truly love. I think I just needed some time to adjust from all the fun I had in the Bay Area. It’s a bit of a culture shock at first.  But now I’m back to loving the sunrises and sunsets, the beautiful wild flowers and cactus blooms, all the time I have to do fun projects with my parents… It’s good to be home.

    sunshine-and-hobbies

    My bedroom is full of sunlight. I’ve had time to sew a dress with very visible mending (something I’ve been fascinated by for a while.) I started a newsletter for the entire park and of course I’m up to my usual hunting for great things to photograph. Hemet is photogenic when you live way out in the sticks like we do.

    skies-for-days

    I miss having a car. I miss going places. But I don’t think I’ll ever get bored here.

    desert-girl-forever

    There is always something to look at here. I’m a desert child forever. I find so much beauty in the desert. It takes a lot of strength of character to live out here. The temperatures are extreme and I know summer heat waves are just around the corner. But like mid-westerners go inside all winter, we go inside all summer. Homes are built different. They have low roofs and long extended carports built in light colors. Inside we stay cool with just a simple swamp cooler. I know the word “swamp cooler” sounds gross but in a dry heat, running air over cooled water feels just like air conditioning. We don’t have humidity out here. It’s not swampy at all. And a swamp cooler is a lot cheaper than air conditioning. When I sit in the stiff breeze of a swamp cooler it reminds me of my childhood. I start thinking about popsicles and BMX bikes…

    then-theres-this-guy

    Another thing helping me stay happy and uplifted lately is, Marley, my neighbor’s dog who I’ve been dog-sitting all week. He is SO CUTE.

    many-faces-of-marley

    They don’t know it but I’ve been spoiling Marley rotten with all the walks, tummy rubs and treats. My secret agenda is to love him up so much that he comes back to live with me for good. Just kidding. I don’t want to steal  my neighbors’ dog but I do want him to come running to me when we meet each other out on the streets for our morning and afternoon walks. I love all animals. I’ve loved not having to worry about who’s going to take care of Cody when I travel and never worrying about getting back to him to let him out to pee BUT I do miss him as a constant companion.  There are an awful lot of serotonin hits to having a pet around loving you constantly.  Someday I’ll get Momo and Cody back. Sigh…

    sunrise-sunset

    So yeah, these are the skies I love. When the June gloom is gone I get to look at these skies and these mountains every day. They help a lot.

    add-gardener-to-my-resume

    I’ve also added a new job title to my resume: Gardner. My dad needed help whacking down the weeds at my cousin’s house this week so I picked up a weed-eater and went to town. It was fun! Yes, it was brutal sweaty work but I love it when I can combine a work-out and making money at the same time. Physical labor has its perks.

    she-brought-her-mama-flowers

    Bug came to visit me this Friday and brought flowers. She knows me. Peonies are in season and she brought a bunch of them. I love them and her!  I made her an apple pie per her request but my parent’s oven is not great so it was kind of not done all the way. Good thing we both love semi-cooked dough and soupy apples!

    Anyway, that’s the latest update from Brenda in the Sticks!

  • aging parents,  domesticity,  Lemon Week,  Life Lessons,  Slow Living,  The Desert

    Stay at Home Daughter

    wize-old-agave

    I’ve been simmering on this post for a while. The more I adjust to my new life in the desert with my parents, the more I love it here. My depression has lifted (completely!), and I wake up every day excited about whatever I’m going to do that day. Yes, of course, I worry about politics, the state of the world, and my money problems, but outside of that, I am happy in my quiet little life. I don’t wake up in a panic anymore. That is a huge deal! I’m sad that I let myself wake up full of fear and stress every morning for two years straight. How did I let it get that bad? I didn’t think I had a choice then, but maybe I did.  If I had known what I know now,  I should have moved in with my parents earlier but I had Bug to support and worry about so everything happened the way it did for a reason.

    blue-mornings

    Now, my mornings are full of beauty and thankfulness. Everywhere I look, I see pretty things to take pictures of. I hear birds chirping and I see lizards darting here and there.  I have all kinds of baby plants that need my attention. Sometimes, I even forget to look at my phone in the morning. Isn’t that crazy? Maybe that’s why some bloggers and Instagrammers that we love have disappeared. Maybe they just stopped looking at their phones first thing. But I’m not here to preach about phone use. That is a tired argument that I can easily debate both ways. I embrace technology. I need my bionic brain.

    home-where-the-sun-rises

    I wake up for nature now. How crazy is that? I wake up to see what kind of sunrise it will be. I’m addicted to sunrises as if they were a tv show I wanted to catch. I know, night people are probably rolling their eyes but this is how morning people work. If I wasn’t so busy cooking dinner in the evening, I’d probably feel the same way about sunsets. I’d love to sit with a glass of wine every evening and tune in for a sunset but the way the mountains are situated here, we are in shadow before we get to see any pretty colors. Maybe I can fine tune my routine to catch the sunsets but so far I haven’t managed that.

    spring-is-springing

    Something else big has shifted in my mind. It is my shame about not working full time. YES, I would love to have a full-time income. Believe me, it would solve so many problems. But now that I need to be home to take care of my mom and be available to travel when they travel (the latest HOA complication) I can’t even get a day job if I found one. I can only have odd jobs that allow me to be flexible. So in a way you could say I’m semi-retired. Doesn’t that have such a better ring than unemployed? It’s just a change of phrase but it’s a massive shift in the way I think of myself.  I’m not a failure. I’m a success! It’s a dream to live the slow life at fifty-two!

    home-stuff

    I don’t have to feel guilty about gardening or sewing or organizing my parents mountains of stuff.  I love this stay-at-home lifestyle. I’m not a stay-at-home mom anymore. I’m a stay-at-home daughter!

    When I was a new mom I fought against the homemaker lifestyle.  I wanted to stay competitive with my peers and I was terribly jealous when my friends landed prestigious jobs while I was playing with a toddler and bored out of my skull. BUT I did get to rock my daughter to sleep every night. I played with her every day and we did crafts together. I went on walks to the beach every single day. I traveled and blogged it all.  I wasn’t winning awards or contributing to a hefty 401K but I was illustrating children’s books and fostering a healthy blog readership. The days were long but the years were short and I would do them all over again if I could.

    So here I am again. This time I’m not fighting it so hard. I’m going to treasure every day with my parents. I am so lucky that I get to spend time with them when they are happy and healthy. I know these days are numbered.

    lemon-jelly

    I’m going to keep track of the days here for as long as I can afford to. I thought I’d take this blog down but the parallels to my old mom-blogging self are too similar. Maybe elder-care-blogging will become a thing. Whatever it is I’m going to keep track of it. This is all I’m really good at it seems. For now anyway.

    valentinesday-train-visit

    I did get to see Matt for Valentine’s Day. My car is out of commission (it needs a new transmission) so I took the train into Orange County and we had a nice weekend together.

    happy-valentines-day

    He took me out to all my favorite restaurants. We ate all the steaks and drank all the drinks and walked all the walks. It was really nice.

    fullerton-station

    Then I spent the rest of Sunday cleaning for my old neighbor and then I caught the last train back home. It’s not the most efficient way to travel but it was an adventure.

    sad-car

    I am really sad about my car. I’ve had her since Bug was six months old. She was the best car. So much fun to drive and so reliable! (Until now.)  I always thought I’d give her to Bug when Bug learned to drive, but unfortunately, she’s not safe to drive. My dad won’t even let me drive her out of the driveway.  She’s not worth much, which is sad because she’s such a pretty car. I’m trying to find a mechanic who’s looking for a project. Surely, somebody out there sees what I see in her.

    retired-stay-at-home-daughter

    Having no car secures my “retirement” status even more. I’m literally stuck here. I might as well live it up. I attended a “potato bake” last week at the HOA clubhouse and won an IHOP gift certificate for drawing the best Mrs. Potato head. This is the life, what can I say! I took Bug out to breakfast for dinner on the one day I borrow my dad’s truck so I can drive into Irvine to help my old neighbor.

    sunrises-forever

    I spend the rest of the time admiring the sunrises and sunsets and walking with my dad.

    walks-with-dad

    It’s not so bad. It’s the cure for depression!